Recent Posts
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Run streak or junk miles?
Coming off of a 2 week illness, I managed to get in a 7 mile run on Sunday. It was pretty slow and I took a lot of walk breaks, but I’m pleased to be able to get in a long run.
Normally, I only run twice a week, occasionally three, and always take the day after a long run off.
Monday was different.
First, I had to write a check to the IRS that could have bought me 2 tri bikes. My grandmother has been in a hospice without an IV, feeding tube and was unable to swallow after suffering a stroke. For days, I’ve been struggling with how, when and paying for a trip back to Pittsburgh to see her and my family. I got a text from my mother around 2:45 telling me the doctors found out she has breast cancer and has probably had it for a long time. At 4:00, I heard about Boston on the radio.
It was just all too much. I felt like the only thing I could do is go out and run. So it got in 3 slow miles. Felt much better.
Afterwards I got the call she passed away. I think having gone out on that run gave me the strength to get through the rest of the night of making travel plans and figuring out the rest of the week.
Yesterday, I felt the urge to run again. 3 more slow miles.
Not only do I rarely run that much in a week, I almost never run on consecutive days (which is probably why my legs are toast).
So…. Do I keep my running streak alive? I’ve done some math and think I could probably get in 12 days easily. If I really, really wanted to, I think I can schedule in a run daily for the next few months.
Coming off an illness, not sure this is the wisest decision. Plus, as a triathlete, its not necessary for training and could possibly be detrimental.
But it could be fun. And I think it’s my way of dealing with all of the stress and sadness.
My legs are exhausted, will they catch up? Will I get enough recovery? I’m slwoing down, can I work on speed properly doing this? What’s even the point?
Thoughts?????
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Ready for Ragnar
Here’s something I haven’t blogged about yet: I’m signed up for Ragnar Washington D.C.!
One of my FB friends (who I only know from twitter and have never met) posted that she was looking for a few more people for her team. The race is on Oct 4-5 which is my 40th birthday, so clearly I had to do it!
This past week, we were assigned our legs. Actually, we were supposed to pick but we all kind of himmed & hawed, unable to make a selection. So Leslie, in her brilliant leadership, assigned us legs.
Check out where I ended up:
Oy vey!
It’s nice that she has such confidence in me, but I’ve got a lot of training to do. I don’t want to disappoint my teammates. First step: stop avoiding hill work.
This is going to be very hard but I’m really looking forward to it. I figure this will likely be my only relay so I should do it up right. Plus, it’s a great way to kick 40 in the face!!
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Progress
I set out for a long run this morning the length of which are usually determined by my knees. They’ve been around 8 miles for the last few weeks. I feel like I can increase mileage, but haven’t had the cooperation I need.
Today I managed 10 miles. Knees were a little creaky, but nothing too bad. I just focused on form and that seemed to help a lot.
The last 10 miler I ran was last August - it took me 2 hours. Today is only took 1 hour 35 minutes.
I took a full 25 minutes off my time!
Even more important, towards the end I realized that I didn’t stop to walk at all. Ran the whole way!
Consistency & patience. It works.
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Updates to my 140.6 challenge
Just a few updates to the 140.6 Iron Distance Challenge I posted last week.
Here’s the Facebook group to join:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/386219808138100/If you don’t swim at all, you can move the 2.4 miles of swimming to running just as if the swim was cancelled. That’s 28 miles of biking and 7.15 miles of running each week.
I’m going to keep track of everyone’s distances and announce all of the Ironmen as they finish.
A lot of great triathletes have already joined. There will be a lot of support and people to answer questions and a great way to meet some new people as well.
Join us today!!!
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January iron distance 140.6 challenge
My workouts lately have been a mish-mash and disorganized. I’ve been just focusing on the holidays and some other things.I’d like to get back on track with my schedule and diet in January, so I’m challenging myself to an Iron Distance challenge.
My main goal is to get back into a consistent schedule.
Over the course of the month, I’ll do the equivalent of a full Ironman distance triathlon. It’s actually quite achievable for people of all abilities.
The total distances are 2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles biking, 26.2 miles running.
If you break that up over 4 weeks that’s:
- 1050 yards swimming
- 28 miles biking
- 6.5 miles running each week.
Depending on your speeds, you can swim that in 1/2 30-minute sessions, 2 1-hour biking sessions and 2 40-60 minute run/walk sessions.
If you walk/run and are a beginner swimmer, that’s around 4-5 hours per week max! Probably less.
Anybody want to join me for accountability? It will be fun and a great way to start off the new year.
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Updated:
Join this group here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/386219808138100/
We have a few experienced triathletes so if you have any questions there are a lot of people here to help you out. I want to see everyone succeed.
If you positively, absolutely can’t swim, we can add the 2.4 miles to the run portion and turn it into a duathlon for you.
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High Res
Summers are earned in the winter
(Source: attimesiramble, via penguinsareourfriends)
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Strength training and running economy in female runners
I was researching something last night and ran across this great study that I wanted to share with all of my endurance sisters.Strength training in female distance runners and impact on running economy (Johnston, Quinn, Kertzer, & Vroman, 1997)
12 female distance runners were either assigned to a 10 week endurance-only training plan or an endurance + strength training program.
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Can you do 13 races in 2013
A fellow Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, Jill Conyers, announced her new challenge for 2013. Run 13 races in ‘13. I LOVE this.Find out the full details here
You can pick any distance and they’ll have some virtual races to help fill out your schedule. Plus there are prizes. I recommend anyone else to look into this, it looks like a lot of fun.
Being a triathlete, this immediately brings up the question of HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST!!
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Wicked Fit 5k race photos
The photos for my recent 5k have been posted. This finish line photo might be my new favorite.
They caught me mid-air which is awesome, but I’m clearly crossing the center line with my arms which is a no-no. I was HURTING in this photo.
Here’s my family, my daughter’s wearing a butterfly Dorothy costume.
They ended the day with a kids race. She had such a great time.
She loves running! She’s soooooo going to be a triathlete :)
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How I gained speed fast
