Saturday January 31st 2009 You Can Eat Candy While Running?

This morning was time for another team run. We were all at Forever Fit early so that we could hear the Sports Nutritionist Nancy Clark speak. I have been lucky enough to hear Nancy speak several times but as always it was great to hear her and you take away something different each time. Nancy talked about how we need to fuel our bodies all day long, how to fuel leading up to the marathon and of course how to fuel during the marathon. And yes you can eat candy, in fact it works just as well as the Gu's or Power Gels. Hmmm...I knew I had a sweet tooth for a reason.

This week was a down week for my training. I only had to run 6 miles which felt good to my body, it was ready for a break. I ran to Betty (who was wonderful enough to do water stops for us again) and helped her finish handing out Gatorade and then got a ride back to Forever Fit.

Run Info:
Distance: 6.0 mi
Location: We ran out to the marathon course and then headed backwards on the marathon course - resulting in having to run up Grossman's Hill (normally we get to run down it which is much more fun!)
Time: 58:03
Average Pace: 9:40 min/mi
splits to come...

On Another Note....
This afternoon after my run I raced home to get showered and changed and then headed over to Harvard to watch an indoor track meet. Sarah Hall, who I helped coach when she ran in high school, was running for UNH today. It is her senior year of running track for them and I want to make as many meets in Boston as I can. Sarah came and found me before her race and managed to let me know she was not happy about running the 400 M and that she was even less pleased about being in the fast heat. (You would have thought I was coaching her again!). I reminded her that this is good for her, she is good at it, no matter how much she hates it. While Sarah went to warm up and check in I got to watch some of the other track events. I love running Marathons, but I often forget how much fun track meets are. There were some great races watching those who knew how to go out, work efficiently and win to those who just went out with all their guts and heart and left it all out there.
Sarah had a great race, it was a very fast heat which made it difficult for her. In good tradition Sarah had to throw up after her 400m (she has done this after every 400m since I met her). I wandered over with gum for her, made sure we found her some powerade and enjoyed spending time with her. I have always loved watching Sarah race, and will be enjoying it as much as I can during her senior year.

Thursday January 29th 2009

Ok yesterday I skipped my first strength training workout since the 1st of the year. Hmm...this did not make me happy. Not only that but I still had to get new running shoes (this mission was accomplished this afternoon) so I needed to hold off on my run until I got the new running shoes. I met Emily instead to do a yesterday's strength training workout and rested my feet for a day. Oh yes and bought new running sneakers!

• Chest Press x 3 sets 10 lbs
  
• Pull Backs x 3 sets 20lbs
  
• Skull Crushers x 3 sets 5 lbs
  
• Bench Crunches x 3 sets (last 2 sets with 5lb dumbbell held between feet)
• Butterflies on ball x 3 sets
• Knee to Chest on Ball x 3 sets
• Butterflies seated x 3 sets
• Scissor Kicks x 3 sets
• Overhead press x 3 sets
• 1 Hand deadlift x 3 sets
• Pendulums

Wednesday January 28th So Much For That

Well New England has taken a beating this winter with storms and today was to be no exception. Between up late studying, up early to get ready for my commute to classes, coordinating everything at work, commuting back and forth to class, and working the workout just did not happen today! There is always tomorrow......

Tuesday January 27th: The Treadmill is Evil!!!

This morning I was meeting Bob for our Tuesday morning run. Emily had to be at a work meeting so she was unable to join us, which meant we were able to push our run back to 8AM vs 7AM, which was nice for me since it meant almost 6 hours of sleep for me!
When I got to the club Bob asked if we could run on treadmills instead since he was starting to fight a cold. I was fine with this even though I truly hate the treadmill! I survived my treadmill run and my feet were letting me know each step of the way I needed new running shoes ASAP - project of the week.

Run Info:
Location: treadmill
Time: 29:19
Distance: 3.0 MI
Average Pace: 9:41

Monday January 26th: Start of the week

I spent yesterday taking another rest day and recovered from the 10 mile run on Saturday. I was up early this morning to be at the gym for 6:20AM to get my strength training workout in before heading over to classes for the morning.
My sleep has become limited since starting classes between class, work, studying and of course fitting in my workouts. But so far I am balancing things - at least with a lot of help from caffeine.

Workout: (not really sure how many reps I did per set so I just put the number of sets per exercise)
Deadlift x 3
Bench Crunch x 3
Bent over row x 3
Leg Raises x 3
Overhead press x 3
Side Crunch with Dumb bell x 3
Upright Row x 3
Side Step Ups x 3
1 Hand Snatch x 3
Triangles x 3
Bench Press x 3
Leg Kicks x 3
Resistance Bicep Curls x 3

Saturday January 24th "The Infamous Hopkinton Run"

Well I used yesterday as a day of rest, although I spent a great deal of time in class and studying so I think that should count for something. This morning was the morning of the "infamous Hopkinton run". We all carpool out to the start line of the Boston Marathon to run 5 miles out on the course and then turn around and run 5 miles back.
For those of you who are not familiar the first half (or more) of the marathon course is mostly down hill which take a great toll on your quads because you are consistently "breaking" along the way. So when we run the out and back at the start line, not only do we run 5 miles downhill but then we must turn around and run 5 miles up hill (and that hill is much bigger than you realize while running downhill!).
In the past this run has not only been brutal because of the course, but it also is a bit mentally defeating as we are not used to running back into Hopkinton and it has been horrendously cold for the last few years.
Saturday morning many of us met at Forever Fit at 6:45AM to carpool out to the start line. Once we arrived Vic dragged us out of our cars so we could fill out our BAA application, it's time for things to start becoming official. I am running the Boston Marathon!
Thankfully the weather wasn't nearly as cold today as it hsa been in past years or past weeks. I got started with Emily and in all of our excitement we started out at a very fast pace. We slowed down and found Christie and the 3 of us worked on settling into a comfortable pace. Just over a mile into the run, we all really had to pee!! The only problem with this is there were huge snowbanks in the way of getting to any tree's....hmm. Well thankfully the snowbanks are huge and work just as well if you have friends that are willing to look out for you. It reminds me of an advertisement Nike used to run of a runner peeing behind a tree with her friend watching out and it said was "Runners yea we're different".
We continued to settle into a comfortable pace, ran along enjoying the morning and eachother's company, and of course the grumpy drivers on the road who felt we should not be on the road running.
Overall I am very happy with my run.
Run Info:
Distance: 10.0 mi
Time: 1:36:56
Average Pace: 9:41
Weather: really cold!

Thursday January 22nd

Today's run took a great deal of effort to get me out the door. I realize I seem to be writing that everyday this week but my body is adjusting to adding classes into my schedule, studying, along with work and of course getting in my workouts. I was yawning when I headed out the door to fit in a short run but as always I feel so much better once I was done.

Run Info:
Distance 3.0miles
Time: 31:14
Location: Out towards Comm Ave and back

Next run in Hopkinton on Saturday!