Choosing Goal Races

December 9, 2013 by 16 Comments

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I’ve been pouring over race options lately trying to figure out a plan for 2014. Thanks to GI issues and a tumble that left me seriously hobbled, I came up short in my goal races and there were no PRs this year. While I don’t have all my goals figured out for next year, I am clear on one thing, I’ll be gunning for some personal bests!

Obviously there are lots of factors that can play a role in whether you snag a shiny new PR on race day – some you can control and some you can’t. In talking with Coach Bennett, who I’ll be working with again for my goal race, he urged me to pay much more attention to the course when choosing the race. While that may sound obvious to some, I’ll admit the course map has rarely factored into my races choices before. And while yes my current half marathon PR was earned on the Newton hills, it does make me wonder what kind of time I could put down on a more forgiving course!

So many things to consider: the timing of races (especially in light of family commitments and a goal to go after #14in2014); local vs destination, and now the course map — decisions, decisions!

How do you pick your races?

Do you have your 2014 races figured out yet?

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Filed Under: #14in2014, goals, PR, race calendar, race shopping

October Rewind and November Goals

November 5, 2013 by 4 Comments

Well October is quickly in the rearview mirror!

While a very busy month in the RWA household, there wasn’t much running thanks to the fall that left me with this knee photo (16) — who knew the foot would turn out to be the bigger issue?!

There was just enough running/shuffling to get me through the BAA Half to complete the BAA Distance Medley  BAA medals2

October was largely about rest and recovery – an exercise in patience that I didn’t prove to be very good at! But my foot is improving and I’m running again, so it was well worth the mileage shrinkage.

November Goals:

Just run! — My biggest goal for this month is to complete all of my training runs. I have five weeks until my December half – and how many training runs I complete and how well my foot tolerates those runs will determine whether or not I’ll take a DNS.

More Small Changes — I joined with Marcia for her One Small Change challenge in October. The goal is to add one small change each week – or you can repeat a week if you need to which is what I’m going to do this week as I didn’t get very far with my plan of daily rolling of my very tight quads and hamstrings.

How was your October? Any big goals for November?

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Filed Under: B.A.A. Distance Medley, building good habits, goals, injuries, month in review, Small changes

Nutrition Update – New Recipes

September 18, 2013 by 8 Comments

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One of my goals for this month is return to healthier eating, after letting a lot of things slide towards the end of the summer. So the timing could not have been better when I was contacted by the great folks at Runner’s World to review their new cookbook!

The Runner’s World Cookbook is a collection of 150 of the magazine’s best recipes – and from my first quick scan of the book it looks like there’s something for everybody no matter your training goals or dietary needs.

A school event kept me from busting out a recipe last night but I’ll be diving in today! Full review coming soon – and by the way, the cookbook will be available on October 1st.

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Filed Under: food, goals, Nutrition, Runner's World

September Goals

September 2, 2013 by 8 Comments

Happy September! I love Spetember – it signals so many new beginings…the start school, the begining of fall (my favorite season!) and cooler temps, and the fall race season!

My goals for this month:

  • 100 Miles — after cranking my mileage back up in August despite the heat, this should be doable.
  • Yoga — my favorite class was unfortunately canceled at the begining of the summer. I’ve quickly discovered that I’m not nearly as dedicated on my own so I’ll be checking out some new classes this month.
  • Racing — Races #8 and 9 on the road to #13in2013 are up next! I’ve got two tune-up races this month a 10K this Saturday and the Wicked Half in 3 weeks. These races will give me a chance to see where I am in my training and to see if I’ve finally got my recent racing stomach issues in check.
  • Hill Work —  Knowing the hills I’ll face at the B.A.A Half next month (not to mention some decent inclines at Wicked), it’s time to get back to hill repeats.
  • Healthier Eating — Things definitely got a little lax last month in the heathy eating department!  I blame it on the birthday celebrations at the begining of the month…kinda just kept celebrating 😉
  • Embrace a New Schedule — The start of school always means a change in schedule, but this year we have the added twist of my boys being on completely different schedules as my oldest heads off to middle school. Different start and end times, buses and carpooling, plus homework and sports schedules – yeah I can already feel the summer zen slipping away.

What have you got planned for this month?

 
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Filed Under: #13in2013, back to school, fall racing, goals

Midway Point

July 1, 2013 by 6 Comments

Amazing to think that we are already through the first 6 months of 2013. Seems like a perfect time for some reflection on my goals for this year.

13 in 2013 Challenge — I’ve completed five races so far with two more on tap for this month. Despite missing two races earlier this year, both thanks in part to Mother Nature (1 canceled due to weather and 1 missed due to minor injury after slipping on black ice), I think hitting the magic 13 is still possible.

Chasing PRs — After missing my target at Run to Remember, I’ll have to wait to see what my fall races bring.  Knowing that I was so close in May despite battling stomach issues the final five miles of the race has me more fired up to get after this goal. I know when I resume training next week I’m going to be more focused than ever to crush it.

Staying off injured-reserve — A patch of black ice took me off my game momentarily at the end of February, but I wasn’t down long. Time with my chiro, yoga and some strength training has all helped to keep me feeling pretty good. I know there is a lot more I could be doing in the strength training department, so I will be giving this a lot more attention during the second half of the year.

Race Volunteer — Had the great pleasure of volunteering for the Boston Marathon helping to greet runners in Hopkinton – it was a great experience and I’m already looking forward to next year.

Run an Obstacle Course — My running buddy E and I are eyeing one for September – stay tuned 🙂

Keep having fun — Running with friends, blogger meet-ups, running in new locales and most recently running with my son — all good stuff and I’m looking forward to more of all of the above over the next 6 months!

How are you doing vs your 2013 goals?

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Filed Under: #13in2013, goals

Missed goal – #WhatsBeautiful Update

June 7, 2013 by 14 Comments

As you know I’ve been participating in Under Armour’s “What’s Beautiful” campaign. I’ve been hard at work on my stated goal:

“Focus on speedwork, strength training and core work so I can own new PRs for the 10K and the half marathon; and most of all, be a stronger version of myself!”

My first chance to achieve part of that goal was running Boston’s Run to Remember…. but I fell short of my target by 2 minutes.

My stomach went south around mile 8 and despite my best effort I couldn’t overcome those lousy two minutes!

So what do you do when you fail to reach your goal?

Have  a pity party? Question how hard you trained? Take time off? All of the above?

WB3_FBP_02

Well I’m having none of that! I’m choosing to …. Assess, re-group and get going! While I’m ticked off that I missed my goal, there are some good lessons to take from the race and training cycle to help fuel me as I get ready to go after my goal again:

  1. During this training cycle I ended up not running enough longer runs with RP miles – in part because of the timing of other races I had on the schedule and because of a cranky ITB 
  2. Once I started paying attention to the strength exercises Coach Bennett gave me for my IT, the IT became a non-issue in my training and in the race.
  3. Looking at my splits I can see that my time on the track is starting to pay off.
  4. While there was more core and strength work  during this cycle, this is still a weak link for me.

So as I go after my 10Ks this summer and start training for my fall half marathons, I WILL:

  • Put in more long runs with RP miles
  • Keep doing the exercises my Coach gave me
  • Continue to hit the track and hills for speed
  • Be consistent in my core and strength work
  • Find new nutrition game plan – while I treated every long run as a dress rehearsal for my races in terms of fueling something’s going terribly wrong on race day. So I’m starting from scratch here – I will keep a food journal and go back to trying new options pre-run. I will not let my stomach derail another race!

 So what do you do when you fail to reach your goal?

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Filed Under: #IWill, #WhatsBeautiful, goals, lessons learned, refocusing, Uncategorized, Under Armour

Under Armour Challenge – #WhatsBeautiful

May 8, 2013 by 4 Comments

UA Beautiful

 Under Armour just launched their third What’s Beautiful campaign and I’m very psyched to be a part of it through FitFluential.

Under Armour’s What’s Beautiful is all about pushing limits and redefining the female athlete.  This is for women who want to push past where they have been before — To put a goal out there and then go after it in a big way. It’s easy to get started, just declare your goal on the What’s Beautiful site and then get to it! You stay accountable and get extra motivation by accepting challenges and interacting with other participants. You can also team up with others who share similar goals for additional support and motivation.

My What’s Beautiful goal is:

Focus on speedwork, strength training and core work so I can own new PRs for the 10k and half marathon; and most of all, be a stronger version of myself.

For added motivation I also created Team Core Strength for anyone who wants to make building a strong core a key to their overall success – you can join my team here!

You can also keep up on what’s going on by following along on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtags #IWILL #WHATSBEAUTIFUL.

Are you ready to set some new goals or re-up your current ones? Join us as we redefine the female athlete. #IWILL.

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Filed Under: #IWill, #WhatsBeautiful, FitFluential, goals, motivation, Team Core Strength, Under Armour

Running and eating

February 28, 2013 by 8 Comments

One of my goals for 2013 is to set back and take a hard look at my nutrition. As I have said before while I don’t eat a lot of junk, I know there’s room for some improvement. Lately, I’ve been feeling really sluggish during my runs – this morning’s slogfest was a perfect example!  I need to not only re-examine what works best as fuel during my runs, but look at what I’m eating both before and after a run – not to mention what I’m eating on rest days.

This isn’t about dieting per se (though I am about 6 pounds above “fighting weight” at the moment) – it’s really about fueling my body for optimum health.  So it’s time to do some research  like testing out fueling options to see beyond whether or not they agree with my stomach to whether they’re actually providing real benefit. It’s time to do some reading, try out some new recipes and make some shifts in my overall diet.

My brother-in-law gave me Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run – which I have been dying to read and now seems like a good time to start. I’ll also be posting more regularly about nutrition – what’s working and what’s not and hope you’ll share tips and tricks that work for you.

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Filed Under: food, fueling a run, goals, new perspective, Scott Jurek

Goals – One month down

January 31, 2013 by 8 Comments

So it’s the end of January – 2013 is 31 days old.

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How are you doing with your goals so far?

My goals? Well it’s still early but I’m doing the things I need to do to lay the foundation.

  • My pursuit of the 13 in 2013 Challenge begins with two races in February. I also recently registered for the Boston Athletic Association’s Distance Medley, which adds 3 more races. So I’m more than half way to my goal (at least from a registration point of view!)
  • PR goals will have to wait for my goal races in May and June.
  • Now that I’m back to double digit long runs, I’ve returned to the chiro (in addition to yoga and foam roller) to stay off of injured-reserve.
  • After reading Jason’s post on Cook Train Eat Race about core work, I joined the 30-day Ab Challenge-Core Work Facebook group. The goal is to do 30 straight days of core work — this will go a long way towards my strength training goal!
So that’s where things stand for me. 
Tell me – how did things go for you in January?
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Filed Under: #13in2013, BAA, goals, month in review

Turning Motivation into Habits

January 7, 2013 by 9 Comments
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Right now everyone’s all fired up to make a change, to bust out some new goals, declare their resolutions. The gyms are busier than ever, and all types of assorted diet products are flying off the shelves.

But what happens in a couple of weeks…after the dust settles…after the New Year’s confetti is gone?

Here are a few tips to help turn all that New Year’s motivation into good habits all year long.

Pace yourself — It is very easy to get too hyped up – even “over-motivated”? – go out too hard, and then fizzle, or get injured. Start small…baby steps can add up to big payoffs down the road.

Be consistent — Everything I’ve ever read says that it takes between 21 and 28 days to build a good habit, and from personal experience I believe that to be true. A little something each day during the first 3 – 4 weeks will help ensure the new habit sticks.

Be kind to yourself — Everyone experiences set backs. When you fall down (either literally or figuratively), the key is to not beat yourself up over it, but be willing to pick yourself up and begin again.

Find a partner or group — There’s a lot to be said for being accountable to someone else and having someone to draw motivation from on those days when you’re not feeling it.

Surround yourself with success — Part two of finding a partner is to beware of spending time around others who don’t support your efforts – they will drain you! As much as possible, spend time with others who model the behavior/habits you’re striving for.

Keep visual reminders — Whether it’s a word, phrase or photo, posting visual reminders where you’re sure to see them will help keep your goals at the forefront. Energy flows where attention goes so make your goals hard to ignore and you’re more likely to follow through.

What new habits are you trying to build?
What tricks work for you?

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Filed Under: building good habits, goals, motivation