Tag: Running

Feeling Boston by way of Arlington

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When I travel, I like to “collect” runs as souvenirs. I’m convinced it’s the best way to get to know a place. The latest addition to my collection is Arlington, VA, where I visited for the Eastern Communication Conference. While running in a new place is always a special treat, this run was extra special. It finally kicked in. “It” is the feeling of excitement mixed with fluttery nervousness that comes when race day is imminent. In this case, the mother of all marathons: Boston. The day I’ve been dreaming about since I started training for my first marathon in …

It’s not all about me

Training makes me selfish. As the volume increases, the focus on “my” training increases as well. I open my eyes, and the first thought is that day’s workout. I close my eyes at night and think about what I did that day to get closer to achieving my goals. Last week, I spent a lot of time brooding because I didn’t have a great week of training. Physically, I wasn’t feeling so hot. I had tight hamstrings, general feelings of fatigue, and problems achieving my training targets on the bike. Psychologically, I was starting to doubt my decision to run …

33rd Annual Atlantic City St. Pat’s 10 miler: Race Report

I look forward to the annual Atlantic City St. Pat’s 10 miler as the “official” start to my race season each year. Community, friends, positive energy, and running to raise money for a worthwhile local charity–the Donny Fund. Whatever the reason, this event is a perfect way to start the season. With a 10 a.m. race start on Sunday, March 12, there was no need to set the alarm for the O’crack hour of the morning. (I told you: PERFECT!) This “late” start allowed us to wake up naturally, which is a nice change from most race mornings where the …

Going From “How far?” to “How fast?”: Part 2 – Running

  Setting a goal to run a new distance may cause uncertainty: Can I really run [insert your dream distance here]? Then, as training progresses, we start to realize, “Oh yes, I CAN run that far. But, hmmmm, I wonder how fast I can do it?” It’s a natural and possibly inevitable progression: moving from how far to how fast. In my previous post, I talked about two key workouts for improving speed: tempo efforts and repeats (intervals), and discussed how these basic workouts apply to cycling. This post is the second part of that discussion, and applies speed strategies …

The Caped Cruise-aders Cruise the Cape to Gate Relay Race

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The Cape to Gate 44-mile Relay Race, held on Saturday, February 25, was my first “race” of the season. I use the term “race” very loosely, as our team– alternatively named Team Gimp, Team BQ or Caped Cruise-aders–did not plan on racing at all. Our team runners consisted of Tracy, my sister-in-law (you may remember her as my pacer for the VT50), Carole Donohue, our new running buddy, and myself. Our team also benefitted from having a head cheerleader, sherpa-in-charge Mrs. Regina Jenkins, my lovely mother-in-law, who chauffeured our stinking asses 44 miles from Cape May, NJ to Margate, NJ. …

Test anxiety: Finding my functional threshold power

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On Wednesday, I took my first ever “functional threshold power” test. The FTP is a 30-minute test, using my CompuTrainer, which is designed to measure the average wattage (or power) I can maintain while cycling for 30 minutes (CP30). The above image illustrates the results of this test. (Side note: I don’t have a polar heart rate strap yet, required for CompuTrainer HRM, so the HR data is below, imported from my Garmin HRM file.) Fitness tests are not new to me. I rowed crew in high school, and we had regular tests of our fitness on the ergometers (rowing …

The best day of the week, even if it hurts

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Sunday is my long run day. It’s the crown jewel of the training regimen. The piece de resistance, the bees knees, the cat’s meow, the best part of waking up, the main event. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I really enjoy the long run – even when it hurts. While I mess around with this triathlon gig, running is my thing. It brings me joy, peace, and just the right amount of pain. I feel most alive when I go on these long, almost-always solo jaunts, during which time I experience the gamut of human emotion …

Training begins anew: setting goals for the new year

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When I was a young girl, one of my favorite things about the beginning of a school year was a clean notebook, with its crisp white pages just waiting to be filled with notes of my learning experiences. Today, I still enjoy the promise of empty pages, waiting to be filled. Now, however, those clean pages are those of my training log for the 2011 season. It’s time to start filling them with experiences as this week marked the beginning of the 2011 training season. It’s not like I have being doing nothing. It’s just that I’ve been working out, …

Spirit of the Holidays: Exodus 10 mile Holiday Run

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The sounds of “Eye of the Tiger” awoke me as my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. Race morning! I can almost hear the blare of trumpets in my head on race mornings. I walked into the kitchen to get the coffee started, and took a quick peak at the thermometer. 18 degrees. Hmmph. That’s cold. Er, I mean, invigorating… John and I were running the 10 mile Exodus Holiday Run, hosted  by Exodus Wellness in Ocean City, NJ. To give you a sense of the spirit of this race, the announcement from Exodus Wellness founder Amy Godfrey started with …

All training and no playing makes me a cranky pants: Thoughts on the holidaze

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I love this time of year: Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, each complete with gatherings of family and friends. Yet, all of this merry making, combined with  colder temperatures, dark mornings and evenings, and busy days, comes with a price with respect to training and health. I’m by no means an expert in overcoming these holiday hangups with training and nutrition. But, I have few key guidelines to keep in mind during the holiday offseason. All training and no playing makes me a cranky pants. We can’t train hard every day, all year long. Well, I guess we can if we …