New Bedford Half

Thursday Thoughts (aka 3 Things)

March 14, 2013 by Michelle 4 Comments

Returning to Running

After Sunday’s not-so-long long run, Coach Bennett insisted on 3 days of no running. Cross-training yes, strength training yes, but no running. Of course, Mother Nature decided to serve up some of the best weather days of the month so far – but I left my running shoes in the closet and stuck to my strength work and walking my dog. But today I get to run, and despite the crazy drop in temps, I’m going!

More Race Shopping

Well now that I’m not running the New Bedford Half this weekend, I want to find another race of a decent distance this spring before Boston’s Run to Remember at the end of May. A ten miler would be perfect and I think I may have found the race! It’s at the end of April so the timing is perfect. I’m going to see how cooperative my ITB is over the next couple of weeks, but I’m tentatively penciling this one in 🙂

ZOOMA Ambassador

I’m very happy to say that once again I been selected as a race ambassador for the ZOOMA race series. I was an ambassador for their inaugural race in Falmouth, MA last fall and had so much fun! I’m very excited to be part of such a great group of women when they return to Cape Cod in September! So stay tuned, much more fun stuff on this to come!

Filed Under: 3 things, Boston's Run to Remember, ITB, New Bedford Half, Newport 10 Miler, race shopping, ZOOMA Cape Cod

Change in race plans

March 11, 2013 by Michelle 6 Comments

Black ice and an already tweaky knee quickly turned a 10 mile run in to 3 miles yesterday morning. I was lucky to not fall but the slide aggravated an already cranky left ITB/knee. I was only a mile and a half into my run when it happened and this little voice in my head said don’t push it…go home. Usually I’m fairly stubborn and would have kept going, but this time I think I made the right call.

I have been quietly agonizing for the last couple of days over the question of whether or not to run the New Bedford Half next Sunday. That same little voice I heard out on the road today is the same voice that has been getting increasingly louder over the past two weeks questioning whether running New Bedford is a good idea. Despite it not being a goal race, the truth is I am not where I’d like to be going into a race – and slogging through a race just for the sake of saying I finished it sounds really unappealing! Nor do I think it makes sense to push this knee/ITB and jeopardize the rest of my spring races and beyond.

I had this race on my calendar for two reasons – as a check in to see where I am in my training and because it’s suppose to be a fun, well-run race. Well I think I have my answer to where I am right now and as I said, the fun will quickly be negated if I’m out there slogging along.

So after an email exchange with Coach Bennett I’ve decided I will not be toeing the line next weekend. Still hard for me to type that, but I know it’s the right choice.

Have you ever gone through with a race when you know you shouldn’t have?

Filed Under: choices, ITB, listening to your body, New Bedford Half, to race or not

February Buh bye

March 1, 2013 by Michelle 5 Comments

Good things for February:

Started working with Coach Bennett again!
Ran the Frosty Virtual 5K
Started the 30-day ab/core challenge
Enjoying my new gym, despite too many runs on the ‘mill
Unveiled the blog’s new look!

Things I could do without:

Snow, snow and more snow!
Mileage shrinkage (see above)
Wampanoag 10-miler canceled (again thanks to snow)

What’s up for March:

Really looking forward to more miles – outdoors! March can be fairly rainy in New England, but I’ll take it over the frigid and snowy conditions we had in February!
I’m looking forward to running the New Bedford Half in a couple of weeks! While I did have a little freak out over the fact that this race is just a couple of weeks away and my mileage has been down, Coach Bennett was quick to remind me that this is not a goal race – that I’m running it just to see where I am in my training. I’ve also heard that this is a fun race with great crowd support which makes it a win!
As I mentioned yesterday, focusing in on my nutrition — Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month? I just heard that…so my timing’s perfect 🙂