Archives

Monthly Mileage: July 2013

Ramping up the marathon training mileage. Compared to June 2013: 92.75 miles.

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CPTC Founder’s 5K

Coach: So you’re ready to run fast tomorrow.  Me: Believe so, Coach.  Coach: That wasn’t a question. You are ready. A few weeks ago, Coach Kevin requested I get a 5K race on the calendar. The intent being to benchmark my current fitness, and fine-tune my Chicago Marathon training paces. This made me giddy. I’d […]

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Chicago Marathon Training: Week Five

Week five saw my first 5 runs/week scheduled out of three marathon training cycles (love it), running in Nike LunaRacers (nice), and weekly mileage that nearly exceeds last cycle’s peak mileage (wow!). Monday Run: Tempo. Expected a battle of a run due to heat, humidity, and nasal congestion. Instead, was greeted with that “feel like […]

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Chicago Marathon Training: Week Four

Week four consisted of more hot and humid running (makes for a strong fall), a thwarted attempt to run in Nikes (fate?), and a really satisfying round of intervals (love, love, love). Monday Run: Tempo. Evening run. Warmed up comfortably; started to drop pace at end of warmup to head into tempo miles. Set Garmin to […]

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Chicago Marathon Training: Week Three

Week three featured heat and humidity (’tis summer), a full week of workouts (hooray!), a fantastic-feeling interval session (elated!), and popsicles after the NYRR Pride Run (heaven). Monday Run: Tempo. Holy freaking hot. Granted, running a tempo at noon in summer isn’t ideal. But, that’s what worked with my schedule. Took advantage of water sprinklers […]

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Chicago Marathon Training: Week Two

Week two: New racing flats (total awesomeness), speed work (more awesomeness), and a Philly run (so lovely). Monday: Run. Tempo. Adore tempo runs; they’re always my favorite workout. Can’t wait for these to pick up in mileage. Had to cut cool down short by few minutes because of time constraint. Fueled with one packet of protein-enhanced UCAN. […]

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Chicago Marathon Training: Week One

Week one: a return to speed work (love) and tempo runs (love). Learning to slow down those long and easy runs (dealing). Monday: Run. Tempo. First tempo session since Eugene Marathon. Soft surface run – bridle path/reservoir. Felt fantastic! Fueled with one packet of protein-enhanced UCAN. Plan = 15 min wu; 1 mi @ 8:10-8:20 min/mi; […]

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Oakley New York Mini 10K

Let me first admit: it’s been over a month since I last posted. Leave it to you, Oakley New York Mini 10K, to help break the silence. This was my fourth year running the Mini. I quite like this race. It’s a fantastic distance (long enough to pace, way shorter than a marathon), a nice […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Fourteen

Week fourteen was a full week of taper, although there wasn’t much time to focus on the typical feeling of “taper madness.”  Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings and following events put the week on a surreal timeline. Thankful all friends who were in Boston running and spectating were safe. Thoughts are with those who were not […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Thirteen

Week thirteen was what I dubbed “Hell Week” in terms of balancing work, personal and training schedules. For work, Erica Sara Designs took on our first major race expo with the More-Fitness Women’s Half Marathon. It was amazing! Meant being on my feet Friday and Saturday for 7-8 hours. With my last long training run […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Twelve

Week twelve was a lower-mileage week. Swapped the nine- and six-milers in order to make the NYRR Scotland Run 10K fit my schedule. First week back to strength training also meant I was sore for a few days after. Good lesson not to let cross-training slack. This upcoming week has my last high-mileage long run […]

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NYRR Scotland Run 10K

The Scotland Run’s always one of my favorite NYRR races. Let’s face it: it’s scattered with kilts and bagpipes – two things of which I’m quite fond! If only they were part of every race… Last year’s Scotland 10K was a PR for me. That’s not saying much since I’ve never properly raced this distance. […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Eleven

Week eleven ended with the second to longest run of training before taper. It went very well – a bit over 20 miles – over two bridges and into two boroughs. However, I slacked on cross-training this week. Time to get back on track with the personal trainer. But, the running went well and my […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Ten

Week ten had some amazing runs and some “okay” runs but they all served their purpose in training. Especially the 13.1 New York half marathon as training run. That one was a prime lesson in just how the mind can will the body to keep moving in a less-than-ideal state. Overall, came out of the […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Nine

Week nine was a bit opposite of last week in that there were less workouts. Where week eight contained extra workouts, this week was sparse. I was unable to get my strength training session scheduled due to schedule conflicts on both sides. However, the time off to recharge was needed after a busy week prior. […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Eight

Week eight was supposed to be an easy week. Two extra workouts (for networking/business-related purposes) meant it wasn’t quite as easy as intended. Made sure to get extra sleep to compensate. Had no problem meeting the requirements of all workouts; am looking forward to taking a total rest day now! One thing I certainly won’t […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Seven

Week seven was one heck of a workout week. Despite a hectic personal schedule, I managed to keep my workouts on-target. Unfortunately had to miss a strength training session, but caught a body sculpting class in its stead. Had some fantastic runs this week. Body’s feeling strong, which my long run confirmed. Capped the week […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Six

Week six had two workouts that were definitely challenging. Wednesday’s strength training session was fantastic and worked some muscle groups that needed attention. Felt this one the next day. Because I’d moved some workouts around (Thursday’s workout to Monday; Tuesday’s workout to Thursday) hill repeats followed strength training. Sore body and robust winds made for […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Five

Week five went very well despite some necessary schedule manipulation. Moved Thursday’s run to Friday due to unforeseen events between Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. That left me a bit tired on Friday’s run, and may have contributed to the delayed soreness in my hamstrings (not enough active recovery on Wednesday afternoon). But, an early bedtime […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Four

Week four was a good, solid workout week. Moved my rest day to Friday due to incoming snow and a schedule conflict. Also moved my weekend run to Saturday to run with visiting friends. like allowing some flexibility in schedule as long as I’m still hitting my workouts. I admit, I’m feeling ready to start […]

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Lack of Motivation Turned Inspiration

Last Sunday was a bit of a slog for me. My scheduled “long” run wasn’t all that long (as far as marathon training goes). I only had 10 miles up, with a mini tempo workout built into it. Even though I had been looking forward to the run, I couldn’t get myself moving out the […]

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Eugene Marathon Training: Week Three

Week three was a hectic week that required some schedule manipulation. But overall, the running felt good. Love the return of tempo runs on the schedule. Threw in a 5K race for fun; wound up running it but not racing it. Trying to stay on top of stretching and foam rolling to address tightness in […]

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