Daddy’s Girl

Seventeen years ago, our phone rang in the middle of the night. I didn’t hear it, so John wound up answering it. He came into the bedroom, “Maria…” I stirred. “Something’s wrong. It’s your mom.” I looked at the clock it was o’dark thirty – maybe 3 a.m.? I picked up the phone and all I could hear was my mother wailing, all of these whirling noises. “Your father died!” she managed to say between her sobs. I felt myself entering a vacuum where I could no longer hear my mother on the other end of the line. I could only …

Process or Outcome? 7 Ways to Tell if Someone is a Serious Athlete

Many of us have in our minds a picture of what a “serious” athlete looks like, or an idea of what a “good” athlete does. Usually, these pictures and ideas have something to do with chiseled muscles, and speedy movements. *Cue the montage of olympic-esque figures and movements* However, the look or the speed of a person is not the only way (and many times not the best way) to determine the seriousness with which that person approaches the sport. “Seriousness” can be (and should be) defined by more than one’s speed or appearance. “Good” can be evaluated and interpreted in multiple ways. …

Just Do It

Nike had it straight when they came up with this gem: By now, this tagline is cliche. But, think about it this line as if it were fresh, and recognize how powerful the sentiment is. You have a goal that requires hard work. Sometimes, you might not want to do this work. Other times, the work might seem too hard – too far outside your comfort zone. In another moment, there might be fear or anxiety about the uncertainty that comes with training and racing toward bigger and bigger dreams. Think about those moments in light of this line. Now, just …

Boiling Frogs and Gradual Adaptation

Every new distance seems impossible when you first begin to wrap your head around it. Think about the first race you ever signed up for that you thought was really long.  Before you started the training, the race distance probably seemed almost insurmountable, right? I mean, how could anyone go X miles? The very first distance I ran that made me think: whoa, this is going to be LONG was a 6 mile run I did during a high school crew practice, circa 1989. We ran daily, but never that far. But, we had gotten in trouble, so we were punished by running 6 miles, …

Life is an Adventure Made for an Adventurer

In 2010, John and I were training for our first Ironman in Lake Placid. During that training season, I was thrown off the road by a car, and it shook me. I remember being so afraid to ride my bike outside. In fact, that crash affected my cycling confidence for at least 2 years. (I’m not quick to recover from sliding across the road at almost 20 mph. Call me a sissy if you must.) A few weeks after that crash back in 2010, John and I went for a ride in the New Hope, PA area, using a cue sheet …

Post-Race Analysis: Next Time I’ll Be Bulletproof

The final 10k of Ironman Lake Placid 2013 haunts me. After almost a year, I finally did the type of post-race analysis that I recommend for my athletes. Sadly, I confirmed what I had guessed to be true for the past year: if I had I stayed on the pace I ran for the first 18 miles of the marathon, I would have run from 11th place off the bike into 4th place in the final mile or two, and the Kona slot would have been mine. Instead, I finished in 6th place, and a little under 5 minutes from the glory spot. …

The 9% Solution: Take the Tough Option

Last year, my coach Vince scheduled a treadmill-specific hill workout that had a series of different inclines, from 3% to 9%. As if the changing incline wasn’t enough, I did each interval at the same pace (approximately tempo effort) – without any recovery interval throughout the duration of the workout, which was typically 45 minutes. Despite the lack of a recovery interval, it’s amazing how a 3% incline at tempo effort can feel like a recovery after a 9% interval. The first time I did this workout, the 9% interval crushed me. And, when I say crushed, I mean smoke blowing …

2013 Reflections: What matters most

Our calendar is a human-made construction that helps us mark the passing of time. While nature has its cycles, it doesn’t care about new year’s resolutions, or season goals, or any of the other symbolic things we project on to THE. NEW. YEAR. But, we do care about those things – and we should. The symbolic meanings we give to time, to experience, and to the calendar allow us to reflect upon the significant moments in our life, the moments that make life worth living, and the moments that act as teachers. 2013 was full of those moments, as I …

2014: The Year of the Plow Horse

Recently, when reviewing my site analytics, I discovered a blog, from Russia, that was referring visitors to my site. That’s odd, I thought. Sometimes, international sites link to my blog, which I usually determine to be spammers. But, I was curious. So, I navigated to the site, and looked through the page, to find that I was featured at the bottom. But, what does it say? Ever the curious sort, I copied the words into Google Translator, and discovered that this post was about women bloggers that this particular blogger reads. Cool. But, what was she saying about ME?! 7. Maria ( her …

The Pain Cave: Suffering Loves Company

I rowed crew in high school. It was an incredible experience, that taught me the value of discipline and how much fun it could be to suffer with a group of other athletes. To be on the crew team required an enormous amount of discipline, especially for teenagers. We trained hard for hours after school–and sometimes before school. We gave up every weekend for at least half of the year–if not more. As members of the lightweight 8, my crewmates and I restricted every morsel of food that went in to our bodies.  But, it wasn’t all hard work all of …