Weekly Wrap – Training and a 5K

October 30, 2016 by 26 Comments

Once again the days are flying by at an alarming rate and October is drawing to a close. As always, I’m joining Holly and Tricia for the #WeeklyWrap link-up. When you’re done here, please visit these two great ladies and all of the other fun bloggers linking up.

Monday: An easy run of 4 miles.

Tuesday: The plan called for 4 miles and I’ve been trying to shift to some late day running to get ready for Vegas. Well, life and family schedules caused me to keep pushing this run later and later and eventually it just didn’t happen. (This is exactly why I’m a morning runner!)

Wednesday: Strength day with Trainer Stacey. Turkish get-ups, deadlifts, bear crawls and lots of core work were all part of the mix.

Thursday:  3-mile tempo intervals. I don’t know where the RC coaches came up with this one! Plan called for two sets of tempo intervals with a 3 min rest, plus warm up and cool down. I’ll just say there was a lot of swearing!

Friday: 4 more easy miles in crazy swirling winds, followed by a much needed sports massage.

Saturday: Just a two mile shakeout run.

Sunday: Canton Fall Classic 5K. I haven’t run a 5K in ages and I forgot just how hard they can be. I also forgot how challenging this course is – mile 2 is just one hill after another. But this is a great local race – it’s always great to see so many of the runners I see out and about every day all running this race. There are also a lot of families running together and it was fun to be out there with my son. He totally smoked me, by the way, but he waited at the finish line and cheered me in (and to be fair, he asked if it was ok before he took off).

Tell me something about your week.

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Filed Under: Canton Fall Classic, half marathon training, Weekly Wrap

Races, races everywhere

January 15, 2016 by 10 Comments

 

race-memeAh the race calendar…so many possible races…I’m still weighing a number of options (and, of course, trying to figure out potential family conflicts).  Here’s what I’m thinking…

B.A.A. 5K (April) — both of my boys are talking about running this year, but sports commitments could say otherwise.

Boston’s Run to Remember (May) — this is one of my favorite half marathons and I’m already registered. It was my first (you can read about it here) and I can wait to run it again!

Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia (Sept) — I was so bummed to have missed this one last year because of my surgery, so when I got an email offering an early bird special I jumped on it.

Tufts 10K (October) — I haven’t run this one in a while and am still not sure it will fit in this year. This race is always Columbus Day and there are a couple of half marathons that are either that same weekend or the weekend before. Right now that list  of halfs includes Wineglass, B.A.A. and Newport.

Canton Fall Classic (Oct) — This is a great local race…the start line is literally 2 miles from my house – win!

Race in November TBD — Like October, there are a handful of half marathons I’m debating and they’re all clustered around the same weekend or two. Vegas? Savannah? Richmond? or stay local? Decisions, decisions.

Have you figured out your race schedule? Have you run any of the half marathons on my “maybe” list?

 

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Filed Under: Boston's Run to Remember, Canton Fall Classic, race calendar, RnRPhilly

Fall Racing – A Moving Target

September 4, 2015 by 8 Comments

When I saw that this week’s #FridayFive link-up topic was Fall Races, I was tempted to skip posting. Racing has been such a moving target for me, between injury and conflicts with my family schedule, that I’m almost hesitant to count any race as a sure thing at this point. But, if you’ve been around here for a bit then you also know how much I love a fall race….so here’s what I’m hoping for at the moment.

1) #StripAtNight 

RnB15_LasVegas

This is my one and only definite race…well it’s actually two because I’ll be doing the Remix Challenge (5K and Half). My husband and brother are running with me, and I just saw friends yesterday who confirmed they’re in! I’ve been waiting all year to get to a Rock ‘n’ Roll race as part of the Rock’n’Blog team – and, well c’mon it’s Vegas! And, speaking of the Rock’n’Blog team, we were just given special codes for a Vegas discount – use code RUNATTITUDE015LV and you can do either the half or the full for $145!

2) Still Rockin’ — Staying with the Rock ‘n’ Roll theme for a minute, I’m still hoping to get to RnR Philly at the end of October, but family conflicts are starting to crop up from all sides…keep my fingers crossed. But, if schedules don’t work, then I’ll be looking at finishing up my 3-race Tour Pass by heading to San Antonio for #RnRSA the first week of December.

3) Tufts 10K for Women is one of my favorite Boston races. It’s always held on Columbus Day, which means it could potentially come in conflict with the boys’ sports schedules/tournaments – it’s happened before, but if I’m free this is always a great race!

4) Canton Fall Classic is another local favorite – I usually run the 5K and my husband J runs the 10K. My son is thinking about running it this year…so once again as long as schedules don’t collide, this could be a family race.

Jingle+Bell+15) Jingle Bell Run — OK this one may technically be a “winter” race as some years it falls on the weekend before Christmas. As you can see from the picture of my brother and I on race morning, this one’s all for the costumes and post-race beer fest. (And, yes that is a giant ball of mistletoe on his hat!) 🙂

Do you find your race schedule is pretty well set or is it a moving target?

(As part of the Rock’n’Blog team, I receive a 3-race Tour Pass. If you want to add a RnR race to your fall schedule, don’t forget to use my code on my sidebar for a discount (or the code above for Vegas!)

I’m linking up with Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia – be sure to stop by to check out where they’ll be racing this fall!

 

 

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Filed Under: #RocknBlog, #StripAtNight, Canton Fall Classic, fall racing, family running, Friday Five, Jingle Bell Run, RnRPhilly

My fall race schedule

July 11, 2014 by 5 Comments

fall running

After mentioning that I was getting ready to start my fall training soon, I got several emails and twitter inquiries about which races I was doing – so I thought I’d share my fall race schedule here!

October:

Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon — advertised as “flat and fast” with beer and lobster rolls served at the post race party – what’s not to love? This one’s been on my N.E. must-run list for a while.

Tufts 10K — This one’s going to be a “wait and see” since it’s a week after Smuttynose – but I love this event and I haven’t run it in a couple of years. There are always a few friends running so I’m going to try to keep this day open and if the legs feel go enough I can always register on race day.

Canton Fall Classic — The starting line is literally 2 miles from my house and the course covers streets I run on a regular basis. It’s a great local race and it’s always fun to see so many familiar faces!

November:

Philadelphia Half Marathon — I ran Philly in 2011 and by half way through the race I knew I wanted to come back (you can check out the recap HERE)! I loved the course, the great crowd support and the 3+ minute PR I snagged — I’m hoping lightening will strike twice as this is my goal race of the fall.

December:

I’m sure there will be some fun 5K requiring Santa garb 🙂

I’d like to slip in something during September to kind of track how my training’s going – but I’m going to wait to see what Coach Bennett has to say on that.

The fall should be a lot of fun – can’t wait!

What have you got planned?

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Filed Under: Canton Fall Classic, fall racing, half marathon training, Philly Half, race calendar, Smuttynose Rockfest, Tufts 10k

Thursday Thoughts

October 24, 2013 by 12 Comments

Small Changes — I’m a couple of days behind on my #OneSmallChange update. So I was on a roll with Week 1‘s daily planks and then Week 2‘s keeping my coffee table clutter free, but I hit a bump in the road with Week 3’s change to up my daily water intake. Don’t know why I have such a tough time with this one, but I’ve decided to re-commit to this change for week 4 and see if I have better luck.

Race Debate — I’ve done very little running in the past week and half – in fact I’ve run exactly 3 times. I’ve been trying to give my bum foot and knee as much TLC as possible.  And while the knee feels pretty good, my foot was sore after Tuesday’s run. I saw my massage therapist and she treated it and gave me the hairy eyeball when I floated the idea of running in this Sunday’s 5k. The Canton Fall Classic is one of my favorite races – it’s local so I get to see and catch up with a lot of friendly faces – I’d really hate to miss running it. I may hold off till Sunday morning to make the final call on this one.

And speaking of races... I did register for one more half for this year – it’s December 8. Yes I recognize that living in New England the first weekend of December can bring everything from freakishly mild temps to snow, but I’m going to cross my fingers and dig out my Yak-Traks just in case 🙂 My half marathon performance this year has left me underwhelmed to say the least and I’d like to take one last shot at putting together a good race before closing the book on 2013.

So tell me — what’s your best trick for making sure you get enough water? Would you run on Sunday?

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Filed Under: #13in2013, Canton Fall Classic, foot pain, hydration, massage, Small changes, to race or not

October Rewind

November 3, 2012 by 7 Comments
Good things for the month:
Things I could do without:
  • No complaints – it’s all good.

What’s up for November:

  • Chilly Half Marathon is next weekend! 
  • Running without a training plan. I haven’t been without a training plan since I started working with Coach Bennett in July. And, while I have really enjoyed training, I’m looking forward to having a break and just running whatever and when ever I want.
  • Continue focusing on making my left ITB happy again. With some down time coming, I need to get this ITB beyond just the “manageable” stage.
  • Once again I’ll be participating in the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge organized by Amanda at Run To The Finish. The Challenge starts November 19 and is an awesome way to stay motivated during the holidays. Amanda does an amazing job pulling this Challenge together and there are some great prizes for added incentive. There’s still time to register, so come join me  — and if you do sign up, please tell her I sent you 🙂
How’d your October go? What have you got planned for this month?


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Filed Under: Canton Fall Classic, Chilly Half, Holiday Bootie Buster, ITB, month in review, PR, product reviews

Fall Classic Race Report

October 31, 2012 by 9 Comments
Nice tech shirt this year!

On Sunday, I ran the Canton Fall Classic. I just love this race! It’s really well organized, it’s a challenging course and, being a local race, it’s fun to see so many familiar faces.

My goals for this race were simple: to have fun and to hit the target of 30:00 Coach Bennett had set for me — done and done!

Unfortunately, when I woke up that morning I had a good headache brewing and my left ITB was feeling crank…hmm not exactly how you want to feel on race morning. But I was psyched to meet up with my friend E and her son (who was running his first 5k!) and head over to the race, so I went through my usual pre-race routine and got moving. E’s husband dropped us off, we picked up our numbers and race shirts and then milled around chatting with friends.

E was planning to start out slow with her son towards the back, so we wished each other good luck and I weaved my way to about the middle of the pack. Soon we were off! The start was a little crowded and I did my best to find an open lane to run without doing too much bobbing and weaving. But within the first half mile I found some space, I spotted J and the boys cheering and then settled in.

The climbs begin in the 2nd mile, my cranky ITB was not happy and I could feel my pace started to slip. There’s a short down hill before the second climb and I started targeting people to pass as I pushed up the hill. Thankfully, most of the final mile is a straight flat shot with a final turn towards the finish. It was great to spot my guys again right before that final turn. Garmin time: 30:00/Guntime 30:28 — a new PR!

I caught up with a few more friends and then found E and her son. He passed me, by the way on his way to a 28:44 finish and E PR’d too! I checked out a couple of the vendors and it was nice to get to meet Nick Warren the creator of Perfect Fuel Chocolate – a new fuel option I’ve been trying out.

It was a fun morning and I’m already looking forward to running it again next year!

 

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Filed Under: Canton Fall Classic, PR, race report, running coach

Monday Morning in Bullet Points

October 22, 2012 by 9 Comments

It’s Monday, I haven’t had coffee and I started my morning in a school gym with 40 very energetic kids…it’s a bullets kind of morning!

  • Saturday’s 12 miler was my last double digit run before the Chilly Half Marathon. Just 3 weeks to go!
  • I did go and check out the race route yesterday…let’s just say, sometimes ignorance is bliss! The good news is the course winds through some lovely neighborhoods in the picturesque town of Newton, MA. The bad news…I’ll be rolling through the hills once again.  Could someone please remind me to check the course elevation before registering for another half 🙂

  • I’ll be running the Canton Fall Classic on Sunday. This is a great local race that I’ve run the last couple of years. I haven’t run a 5k since the Jingle Bell Run last December and I haven’t “raced” a 5k since this race last year when I PR’d! This race is always a good time so I can’t wait!
Saucony Triumph 10
  • These lovelies showed up on my doorstep at the end of last week – Yes those are the new Saucony Triumph 10s (due out in November)! It took great restraint to not deviate from my training plan and go run in them immediately! But I’m off to take them for a spin now….review to come!
Happy Monday!
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Filed Under: Canton Fall Classic, Chilly Half, long runs, Saucony, Triumph 10

September Rewind

October 1, 2012 by 15 Comments
Good things for the month:
Yes Dimity is very tall…and I’m so very not 🙂
  • PR at ZOOMA Cape Cod! 
  • Managed to cut off an ITB issue before it turned into an injury.
  • Lots of fun blogger meet-ups thanks to a great ZOOMA race weekend – plus I got to meet and chat with Dimity & Sarah from Another Mother Runner!
Things I could do without:
  • Cranky ITB that resulted in decreasing my miles – just 78 for the month.

What’s up for October:

  • Returning to speedwork to get ready for November’s Chilly Half Marathon.
  • Continue to build on the strength training (3x’s/week) so any ITB issues don’t flare up and I can complete all of my training runs.
  • Focusing on better post-run care — consistently using the foam roller after runs and Epsom salt baths after long runs.
  • Cleaning up my eating – which definitely got a little sloppy as I was adjusting to the new schedule of the kids back at school and all the after-school activities.
  • Running the Canton Fall Classic – a fun local race. I’ll be looking to shave some time off my 5k time, though I’m toying with running the 10k to make up for missing the Tufts 10k for Women (I’ll be cheering my son at his lacrosse tournament instead!)

What have you got planned for October?

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Filed Under: Another Mother Runner, Canton Fall Classic, Chilly Half, ITB, month in review, ZOOMA Cape Cod