2011: A Year In Races

2011 Race Results

St. Malachi 5 Miler 44:58

Cleveland Ten Miler 1:36:49

Cleveland Marathon 4:58:32
Memorial Day 4 Miler 35:59
AkRUN 5k 28:03
Akron Marathon Relay 3:58:13/26:03 for my leg
Towpath [Half]Marathon 2:04:40
Twinsburg Turkey Trot 46:09

We’re well into 2012 and I haven’t put more than 6 miles on my running legs yet, but I want to take a second to look back at my last year of running…and to let you know that I have big aspirations for the year ahead.

I can’t give you my total year’s mileage because somewhere in the middle of the summer, I stopped wearing my garmin. I’ve loved every single minute of my life without knowing my pace and mileage, so I think I’m going to keep it that way.

69.5 miles

My 2011 race mileage.  I know that would be dwarfed in comparison to other CLE runners (ahem…Kali, Moja) but I’m pretty proud of it. I’m even more proud to say that almost all of my races were run side-by-side with my best friend. Brandon. (*cough*cheeseball*cough*)

The year started with an awesome showing at the St. Malachi 5-miler where we busted out a 9 minute mile on a beautifully sunny winter day downtown. It wasn’t a PR but it felt great, despite the monster hill/bridge at the end.

The Cleveland10-miler was our warm-up for the main event – the Cleveland Marathon – and it just so happened that it was another amazing day for a run followed by a huge Easter dinner.

I can’t say the same for the marathon….as you probably already know, it was 60 and misty at the start and 50 and sopping wet by the end. It was my toughest race of the year, but worth every second.

The Memorial Day 4-miler was one race I ran solo. Brandon was hurt at the time, so he tagged along with the pups. It was basically in my backyard and even though it was the first 90-degree day of the year, I busted my butt through those miles and had the best finish-line cheering team around!

The AkRUN 5k was my only PR of the year! Even though it was a PR by 3 seconds, it was a PR and it felt good. I celebrated with ample brewskis, since there was a post-race pub crawl.

Thanks to twitter, I teamed up with Kali, Julie and a few other to run the Akron Marathon Relay. Even though I ran the shortest leg, I doubled it up by running back on the trail on Sand Run Parkway. Including running to and from the exchange points, I totaled about 7.5 miles…all in my vibrams!

Best race of the year? The Towpath Half Marathon. I won’t say I didn’t train, but I never had a set schedule for training. It was a PR for Brandon and the second fastest half I’ve ever run!

Rounded out the year with a Turkey Trot in Twinsburg. We ended up skipping out on the CLE Turkey Trot so we could get to our turkey dinner in PA as quickly as possible. It was another beautiful day in the neighborhood and we were happy with our time.

So that was my running 2011…what’s next in 2012? Probably less races…but these are the ones on my 2012 wish list:

• March – St. Malachi 5 mi
• April – Cleveland 10 miler
• May –Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon
• June – Towpath 10-10
• September – Akron Marathon Half Marathon or Relay
• October – Towpath Half Marathon (maybe, it’s on my birthday)
• November – a turkey trot
• December – the great NYE race (also a maybe, New Year ’s Eve is typically our night in!)
• Sometime before October 7: a destination race

How did your 2011 races go?

Race Recap: Cleveland Marathon 2011

(photo credit: mojamala2)

That's a picture of the Cleveland Marathon race shirt this year (courtesy of Jess, I neglected to take a picture of my own shirt!)

Oh what a Cleveland Experience it was!!

Let's just start from the very beginning here...Alicia hosted an OBA pre-race carb fest for anyone who was running and any other bloggers/significant others who wanted to be there! It was awesome to meet so many other bloggers from the area who I regularly stalk via their blogs :) Plus it was an awesome meal before a big race!

Race morning, Brandon and I woke up at 5 a.m. after we both had nightmares about various aspects of the race. We had every thing ready for the morning and only had to get up, let the pups out and get out the door. The plan was to take the 5:40 rapid into Tower City and use the walk over to Browns Stadium as a warm-up lap before the race.

That was the plan.

We waited for the Green Line at Shaker and Green, where there were about 10 other runners/spectators there waiting for the train to get them downtown by 6:03. 5:40 rolls around...no train. 5:53...no train. 'Um...okay...should we just drive? It's going to be a mess if we do.' A minute or so later, we see a bus labeled "Green Line" drive into the parking lot and beckon us over. 

The bus driver goes, "there's a car across the tracks and the train can't get down here, I'm going to take you to the Shaker Square stop"

Brandon asks "But if the train can't turn around at Green, are there any trains going west into downtown?"

Bus Driver "I'm not sure"

Holy crap! I am in panic mode at this point, 'what if we don't make it in time? How on earth are we going to get downtown?! All the roads are closed!!'

The bus takes us down to the Shaker Square stop, and on the way we see a car flipped over on the train tracks. As we are driving up we see a train (that is headed west!) pulling up into the station. So everyone jumps out of the bus and sprints to the train. It gets us to Tower City at 6:30. So, Brandon and I jog down to the stadium and get there by 6:40 (give or take a minute). We both need to poop. We need to check our gear at the bag check. I manage to find a bathroom with no lines and run in while Brandon waits outside for me. No such luck with the Men's bathrooms...they all have lines out the door. Oh, and where in god's name is the bag check???? 

Finally, I see signs for the bag check so Brandon decides to wait in line for the bathroom while I got check our stuff. We agree to meet right outside the bathroom he's going into. I go check our bag, by this time it's 6:53, and I run back to the bathroom to wait for Brandon. 

6:54

6:55

6:56

I start panicking (again) because I am seeing people filter all the way through the line and out of the other door while I was waiting there...but no Brandon. 'Maybe he tried to find me at the bag check?' I start hearing announcements outside and I am no longer seeing people with marathon-colored bibs anywhere in the stadium. I called him, thankfully we both had our phones on us in our trusty Camelbaks...but he didn't answer. I run back towards bag check...nothing. I head outside towards the start...nothing. At 6:59, I call again and he answers. He was waiting for me by the bathroom, where we agreed to meet. Dummy...why did I even leave? Apparently there were like 30 urinals in that bathroom and 4 stalls.

Honestly? Every runner there is going to want to poop. Not pee. Get real Browns Stadium.

Thankfully, either my watch was fast or the race didn't start quite on time. We got down to the starting area (for lack of a better word for the cluster that was the start of the race) and had a minute or two to calm down (well, I had a minute or two to calm down). Deirdre, my favorite yoga teacher ever, who was also running the race with her boyfriend, managed to find us right before we started to say hi. Then we were off.

I have never experienced so much anxiety before a race like I did that morning.

Seriously, my heart rate was probably higher at the start than it would be for the entire rest of the race.

Our plan was to get a couple of solid miles in before we started our 4 minutes running, 1 minute walking. Well, we ended up running the majority of the first 13 miles...and killing it! If we had kept up that pace for the whole race, we would have easily beat my PR. 

There was a problem with that. I hit a wall early. As soon as the half marathoners split off and we began to heat east, the field in our immediate vicinity suddenly went from about 50 people to about 12. The wind started blowing. It got cold. The 60 degrees and misty of the beginning of the race quickly turned into 50 degrees and rainy. My hands turned into two ice cubes. I seriously underestimated how cold it was going to get. My shorts and t-shirt were not keeping me warm anymore.

By mile 14, I had to start run/walking. I was getting tired, cold and the worst part was, my shoulders were tightening up on me. It started feeling more and more like there was a gorilla sitting on my shoulders and I couldn't shake the feeling. Thank goodness that Brandon was able to stay positive through all of those miles that I couldn't. Mentally, that second half of the race got the better of me.

At some point, the 4:45 pace group passed us, and I couldn't find the heart to catch up. I apologized to Brandon a few times for slowing down so much, but he kept reminding me "We trained together, we started together and we're going to finish together. That's all there is to it."

Love him.

At mile 20, I got a good jolt. Liz, a good friend of my from college, rode her bike down with her husband to see us. In the crappy weather, they came to cheer us on! That meant so much to me. I can't even put it into words. She asked how I was doing and I said "dude, I'm struggling". She reminded me that I only had 6.2 more miles. I could do this

Liz posted this picture on facebook after the race. Our mile 20 smiles:

We continued to run/walk all the way to the finish. I just had to digest it in 4 minute bite sized pieces or it was going to get the best of me. My shoulders were tight, I was soaked, my hands were icicles (isn't it freaking May?!?!) but I had Brandon next to me the entire time. Smiling and keeping me positive. I am so lucky for that. The clock time at the finish was 5:06 and we crossed the finish line holding hands. I swear I almost cried, until I heard them announce our names and then everything just dissolved. I made it...in once piece...so did Brandon...phew!

All I could think of was chocolate milk. Thank goodness they had some for us at the end.

Even though we wanted to beat my PR, I think the bigger accomplishment was working through four months of training and running that entire race right next to each other. We finished. Together. That 26.2 mile journey  with Brandon by my side meant more to me than I could ever put into words. Pretty sure we can conquer just about anything now.

Now, I think that deserved a day off work yesterday, don't you??

Marathon Monday: Training Week #15

Ahhhh.

That is the sound of me sighing, because the past week was a beautiful and easy running week for us!

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 6 mi easy. I took Pele' out for the second half of this run to give him a little lovin' after bringing home the new puppy and we stopped by Ben & Jerry's to see Brandon while he was muscling through his personal hell: Free Cone Day.
Wednesday - a mile-long walk with the puppies.

Thursday - 6 mi easy. 

Friday - 7 mi easy.

Saturday/Sunday - rest.

Our training was, more or less, uneventful last week because it was a much needed easy week and we had a lot of work to do around the house...getting Buck used to our home and our rules, tending to our garden and our herbs, a wedding to go to on Saturday, etc., etc., etc.,

Last week was the week to get the exhaustion out. I didn't even bother cross-training much. I needed the rest. This week, it's back to lunchtime yoga practices and  

This week, is a little less "rest-y" but we're foregoing a 20-miler for a 10 mile race this weekend. I'm totally okay with that. Save the 20 miler for a weekend when we don't have to spend that evening partying with the family for Easter!

Today is the start of Passover, but since I'm traveling to Roanoke for work (and missing the OBA April Meetup AND Emily's Passover seder) I won't be having a seder until Thursday or Friday. I was so excited to have my own seder for Brandon and I this evening...but running, packing and going to bed is going to have to take precedence.

Peace, Love & Bagels,

p.s. Housekeeping note: for those of you who subscribe to the PL&B feed by email (or potentially even a feed reader??) I had to update my feed due to the domain name change. I'm working on trying to get it to switch so you can still get updates on posts...but if you're not receiving them, please re-sign up using the "subscribe by email" in the right sidebar!! Sorry for all this weirdness! 

Marathon Monday: Training Week #14

Training week 13 recap:

Monday - crosstrain. It was too rainy to get out and run so we had a challenging yoga practice instead. We followed one of the doyogawithme.com classes, Connection to Core. Like I said, it was a challenging practice and I am still a tiny bit sore from it. I really like the classes on that website though, they are more like going to a yoga class at a studio than watching a video. I've been using they're classes at lunch fairly often.

Tuesday - speedwork, total of 6 miles with 3 x 1 mile repeats at 8:39 and 1/2 mile jogs in between. I also had an easy yoga practice at lunch because I have been really tight, but this run was a challenge for Brandon and I. We rocked our speedwork a few weeks ago, but this time we knocked about 5 seconds per mile off the pace...and we could totally feel it! We also started the run doing the first mile in our VFFs. I am pretty sensitive to cold weather (even if it's only marginally cold) because I have terrible circulations to my fingers and toes! So my toes were SO COLD because the Vibrams keep them separate and they can't warm each other! I think they'll be better to use when the weather is a bit warmer outside!

Wednesday - rain. Haha, kidding. We were going to do our 4-miler today, but it was yucky out and Brandon was still at the recording studio, so I practice yoga instead. A class full of twists was just what I needed to wring out the toxic office goo that I accumulate throughout the day. I also threw in a few cards worth of Hit The Deck to warmup. For the record...I hate burpees. So I usually turn them into mountain climbers or something that doesn't make me wanna vomit at just the thought.

Thursday - 3 mi easy. Turned out to be a 3 miler completely in our Vibrams. We considered putting it off until Friday but that goodness we didn't because it was more rain all morning.

Friday - rest. Cav's game!

Saturday - 18 miles. This run kicked my ass. I wasn't in it mentally just about the entire time. I felt like I dressed too warm and had to shed some layers in the beginning only to put them on again halfway up MLK. There were several long stretches where I just had to walk because I simply couldn't get one foot in front of the next. I was mentally and physically in a bad place...my body was just breaking down. Low on self esteem, high on self doubt. I think the only way I got through this run was because Brandon was right there, encouraging me and sending positive vibes my way. This was the fourth week of long runs in a row and I think my body was showing that.

Check out the map of our run

and the elevation...no wonder I died towards the end!

Sunday - rest, rest and more rest.


Now we have only four more weeks to go! This week is a low mileage, no long run week! Phew. We have a wedding to go to on Saturday so we're only going to do 7 miles for our long run and I think our bodies are going to thank us for that. The schedule looks like this (the dates are incorrect, because I shuffled weeks around to accommodate the wedding this weekend):

I'm really looking forward to an easy week AND spending lots of time with our new puppy!!! (New pup post coming soon!)

Peace, Love & Bagels,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #13

This was a "take it easy" week for us - well, okay, minus the 16 mile run on Saturday. We decided to completely forgo our tempo run on Thursday so we could just REST, which turned out to be an excellent idea. We rested on Friday as well, since it was a Cleveland holiday that day and obviously had to attend the Tribe home opener!

It basically amount to us running an easy 4 miler on Tuesday and our long 16 miler on Saturday.

16 miles. Phew. I haven't done that in two years! It was Brandon's longest run to date. I'm not going to say it wasn't tough. I think at some points it was tougher mentally than it was physically even. We tried something new also, instead of running 4 minutes on, 1 minute off (walking) the whole way, we started running the first three miles 1 mile on, 1 minute off. Then we switched to 4 on, 1 off for a mile. Then did another 3 miles in a 1 mile on, 1 minute off pattern. We switched back and forth between those two patterns the entire way, pretty much. I think that's probably how we'd like to run the actual race; 1 mile on, 1 minute off. It's a good way to keep myself from starting off too big and too fast and then dying at the end...which is exactly what I did in my last marathon. I'm not trying to PR, I'm not trying to break a certain time, I'm just running to run and to finish. Finishing with a smile on my face is my goal...and hopefully Brandon will too!!

This week's schedule is looking like this:

If the weather holds out, we'll be running our 4 miler today (mind you, it's 70 degrees and stormy!) but the best part of that is that we get to try out our new Vibram Five Fingers!

photo credit: http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/women-vibram-bikila-reviews

In honor of spring, and Brandon's 28th birthday, we got ourselves [matching] Bikilas. So hopefully by this afternoon the rain and lightning and thunder will have let up a little so we can spend a mile or so in these beauties during our nice easy run! I am SO looking forward to bringing these into my shoe rotation!

...which is currently at five different pairs of shoes. Ha!

I'm interested to know...Do you wear vibrams (or no shoes) running? What do you think about barefoot running?


Happy Stormy Monday,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #9

This week marks the [drumroll please...] halfway point of our marathon training!

Last week went something like this:

Monday - 48 minute, run 4/walk 2. Fairly easy run, south on Belvoir and back home. Brandon and I had a good run talk, which I think distracted me from over focusing on the fact that it was our first run back after a weekend-long break. I love having a running buddy!

Tuesday - 7 mile run. We did this 4 on, 1 off and discovered some new neighborhoods while we were at it. That was the best part! I mapped a run on mapmyrun.com so we could get away from our regular loops around the house. It was definitely a good move - broke up the monotony.

Wednesday - 6x800. This was supposed to be our Thursday run, but since we're doing our long run on Friday this week, we decided it's better to have a day in between hard 800's and the long slow run. I felt really good with these splits! We walked in between instead of jogging, but that's what both of us needed. My body was like "ok, I'll run these 800's hard, but you better give me more rest in between". At our slowest, we ran a 4:07 (for the 800) and at our fastest, we ran a 3:50. Stronger everyday!

Thursday - rest! Although, I might do some of my pushups, situps and squats. I decided to spread the workout out over the whole week instead of trying to get 5 sets in, three days a week. That might sound silly, but I am still doing the same amount of strength training in one week, just not concentrating it into three days.

Friday - 13 miles. I mapped a course similar to our 7 miler on Tuesday and it ended up being a pretty nice run. It wasn't too cold, until the wind blew of course. Yay for 13 miles, three days off and HOBOKEN ST. PATTY'S DAY!

Saturday - Sunday - REST (plus, green food and green beer!)

Our training last week essentially looked something like this (I love the garmin website, because it gives weekly mileage)

Next week will look something like this:

except, Monday is a rest day due to a seminar at Great Lakes Brewing Co. on keeping backyard livestock and the 7-hour, turned 10-hour drive back from NJ we had yesterday. There was a freak snowstorm in PA that absolutely covered the roads and had us moving at 30 mph (at the fastest!) Needless to say, we need a day off before getting back into it.

How did you spend your weekend??


Peace, Love & Bagels,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #8

So long, warm weather. Last week we had to do a little mixing and matching of our run days:

Monday - 48 minute run turned rest day. Problem #1: I broke one of my Yaktrax. Problem #2: snowing/icing all day made the road/sidewalk conditions unsafe. Problem #3: I hate treadmills. So we decided to do this run some other time during the week.

Tuesday - 7 mi pace. This was an awesome run, paired with a few sets of push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Our longest tempo run yet! We warmed up for a mile and ran the next 6 miles at about a 9:30 pace. It was so cold, but I felt strong. These tempo runs are becoming one of my favorites, because they are very telling of how strong we are getting. About a third of the way through our training, I am feeling very confident, especially after tempo runs.

Wednesday - 48 minutes run 4, walk 2. Lunchtime run, in the sun! I don't necessarily like running at lunch from work, because that either means running laps around the parking lot (boring and more importantly weird - my colleagues already think I'm nuts) or running for about half a mile down Route 18. The speed limit is only 50 mph, but cars frequently drive 65 or 70 because it's a big long stretch of road. I chose running on 18, it turned out fine.

Thursday - 48 minutes run 4, walk 2. Again, running at lunch along route 18. The run actually felt a little better than yesterday, but I'm starting to become a bit concerned about my left calf/shin. My calf is ALWAYS very sore when I run, which has been the case sine our trip home to Maui. My shin has always been a problem child for me, but I'm trying not to end up with another stress fracture.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday - yoga and rest. We decided to take this weekend off because my shin has been hurting a bit. I want to nip this before it becomes a bigger issue. No stress fractures this time around!! Resting now is the best way for me to just listen to my body, and let myself heal before a shin splint turns into a stress fracture.

Here's what is coming up this week:

We will be doing our long run on Friday instead of Saturday, because we're taking a trip to Hoboken, NJ for the weekend. Parade Day is Hoboken's day to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and not compete with the New York City St. Patty's Day parade. It's basically the happiest day of the year; lots of green bagels, green beer and Gio's pizza! It's also become a quasi-reunion for my friends from college...and I'm thoroughly looking forward to it. Even if that means running 13 miles and then driving 7.5 hours to Jersey.

Peace, Love & Bagels,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #7

So last week, our runs went a little like this:

Monday - run/walk for 30 minutes. I did this one at lunch and it was kind of a nice change of pace, running in the daylight instead of dusk/darkness. I felt really great about it all (well, except the half mile long stretch of Route 18 that I have to run to get anywhere). It was a little colder and definitely windier than I anticipated, as I (regrettably, I might add) wore my thin spandex. Plus, it's always fun coming back from a run in spandex to work...I can't wait until the summer so I can wear real clothes that I don't look ridiculous in.

Tuesday - 6mi pace. This is our bi-weekly tempo run, and we KILLED it again. I can't begin to tell you how great this makes me feel, because I can tell I'm getting stronger. We averaged about a 9:30 pace for our 5 tempo miles! That pace used to be very difficult for me to hold. I attribute it 100% to having a running partner to keep me motivated. If I was running alone, it's highly likely I would slow down if I got uncomfortable. Now, I have Brandon to look to. If I get uncomfortable and I see that he is still going strong, I just dig a little deeper and keep it up. That is making all the difference this time around. Thanks, Brandon!

Wednesday - rest!


Thursday - 5x 800. Wow! I am so amazed at how strong we've gotten. We ran all of these half mile repeats consistently at about an 8:00 minute/mile pace. Last time we ran 800's (three weeks ago) we did four at about the same pace, but by the fourth one I felt like I couldn't possibly do another. This time we slowed it down at the start a tiny bit, and ran all five very strong repeats. I was dreading the run all day, but it's much less intimidating now that I am feeling real changes in my running strength. Oh and guess what? It was 60 degrees out!

Friday - yoga. Brandon and I generally practice at home for our cross-training day (speaking of cross training, I started doing my sit-ups on an exercise ball, which seems to be MUCH more effective than on the ground - so if you're following the twohundredsitups plan, try making that change if you hate sit-ups like I do!)

Saturday - 11 miles. Ok, so this run turned into a 9.2 mile run because my Garmin froze on me 10 minutes in, so we had no clue about the time or mileage...and we got lost. It was the best time though! An absolute Cleveland adventure, and even though we didn't do all 11 miles, I feel really good about it! We got to see the city of Cleveland from a whole new perspective, and we spent the last half of our run trying to figure out where the heck we were. I'd like to do more runs, sans watch.


Sunday - rest!


Here is what Week #7 is going to look like:

So, despite the fact that there is another half inch of ice on the ground and it took me two hours to get to work this morning, hopefully we can have another strong week. I need go to Dick's straight after work and invest in a new pair of Yaktrax so I can actually run tonight. 

Oh Monday. 

Peace, Love & Bagels, 

Marathon Monday: Training Week #4

So this past week was an interesting one in the world of "Becca and Brandon Train For A Marathon". First week back in the cold, sub-freezing snowy tundra that is Cleveland right now. Thank goodness it didn't actually snow while we had to be outside running, but there is about six inches of snow on all the sidewalks and there is no sign of it melting anytime soon (according to accuweather.com, the "real feel" in Cleveland is -1 right now, and it's only going to get colder!)

Monday's are generally an easier run for us, so we've decided to start taking Pele', our puppy, out on our easy runs. Last Monday, that meant trudging through 2 feet of snow in Bexley Park (I know, I know...dogs are not allowed). It blows my mind how different it is to run in the snow! I would invest in a pair of snowshoes, but living in the 'burbs of Cleveland doesn't really lend to the terrain always being snowshoe friendly.

Last Tuesday and Thursday were two challenging runs; one tempo and one speedwork run.

The tempo run was a 5 miler. We warmed up for a mile, did three hard miles - which ended up being slower than our goal pace...thanks, in part to all the snow on the ground, then cooled down for a mile. The speedwork came in the form of four 800m repeats. For those of you that think in English, not metric...that's about half a mile. Luckily, that's exactly how long our street is.

Here's our schedule for this coming week:

Hopefully it'll be a bit easier than last week. 

We're going to start doing our push-ups, sit-ups and squats this week too! AND, we're bringing back our daily morning yoga practice. It was a little too difficult to begin yoga again last week because I was still highly jetlagged...mornings were more difficult than they normally are! It's amazing how even just a short yoga practice helps get my day started off on the right note. 

I'm really looking forward to this week.

Oh, and one more thing...

LET'S GO STEELERS!

(source)

Peace, Love & Bagels,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #3

Alright folks, back from the two week Maui vacay. Two weeks of training under our belts. Training on Maui has been a blessing (I absolutely love running in SHORTS!) but it has also been a whole different world. Running on the beach is much different that running on the road; even in the snow. Now I'm working on not getting sick because of the 70 degree temperature difference between Cleveland and Kihei.

This week should be a tiny bit easier than last week since we don't have much of a "long run"...instead, just a 10k pace run. That, and Cleveland is just flat, flat, flat compared to Maui. The lack of hilliness will be a welcome change to our runs, but the sub-freezing temperatures will absolutely not be.

So thank goodness that tonight is an easy run, because I'm pretty sure the weather looks something like this:

Um, that's approximately a 65 degree difference from what we've been training in for the past two weeks!! I have to make sure I take this easy so I don't get sick. I plan on wearing mucho mucho layers...I once counted twelve articles of clothing on an early winter run, this is going to have to be at least fifteen. It's an absolute must to get out of my wet clothing as soon as I get back inside. I'm definitely recharging with an Emergen-C, a shower, and dinner as soon as I get inside. 

Later in the week the weather shows a picture of a blue thermometer...I don't even know what that means!! I guess I'll be hanging up my running shorts for a while, huh?

Welcome Home to Cleveland!!

Peace, Love & Bagels,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #1

Today, my friends, is the day that Brandon and I officially begin our marathon training! The picture above is our first week of training. Nothing too difficult, except our first 8 mile run since last August. Other than that, you already know my run/walk plan and how to do a tempo run and a Yasso 800. I'm so excited to officially log some miles toward my next marathon! 

We're being completely spoiled for the first two weeks of training, given that we're on Maui right now visiting my parents. Beautiful 70+ degree weather. Runs along the beach. Breezy, fresh ocean air. Sunlight!

As soon as we return to Cleveland, it's going to be back to winter workouts and training in below freezing temperatures, snow and darkness. I'm okay with that though. This is the first race I'll be training through the winter for and it'll only make me stronger. Running in a few feet of snow is not only great cardio, it's like a strength workout too! So the long runs toward the end will not be so daunting; since we were out in the cold, dead of winter, dredging through the snow!

Since the  Monday is generally a rest day, but it's the first day of training, we are going to a yoga class with my mom and then going for a hike in the West Maui mountains. We will also be continuing our daily morning yoga practice on most days...OUTSIDE because the air is crisp and warm and beautiful. Maybe even on the beach.

I hope you guys enjoy some of the guest posts that I have coming in the next two weeks, I'll check back next Monday to let you know how our first week of training went! I'll leave you with some fun Maui pictures that my dad has taken:

Kealia Pond at sunset

my baby sister, fingerpainting

Peace, Love & Bagels,

Anatomy of a Training Run

Anatomy of a Training Run: the Yasso 800

Anyone that's trained for any long distance race know that there is enough running jargon in one 16-week training plan to fill a dictionary...the Yasso 800 is no different (the workout is the brainchild of Bart Yasso, hence the name).You've probably been living under a rock if you're a runner and you haven't heard of them. At it's simplest, it's just another form of speedwork to enhance a training plan. The more complex explanation: if you want to run a 4 hour marathon, you train to run 800 repeats in 4 minutes each (a 3:30 marathon? run the 800s in 3 minutes 30 seconds, etc.etc.etc.)

In doing a little research on the topic, the Y800s are a pretty controversial subject when it comes to marathon training (you can read more about it here, here, here and here). Some people believe they are a good predictor of your marathon time, many don't, and others like to think they're simply optimistic. There is a lot of disagreement about whether or not they're even a good way to train for a marathon - after all, the energy system your body employs to run an 800 (anaerobic, running at a pace above your lactate threshold) is different than the energy system used for a marathon (aerobic, paces below your lactate threshold). I'm no running coach and I'm not a trained professional, but my training plans always come from a mix of professional running advice, advice from friends and my own experience. It seems like Yasso 800s aren't the BEST way to train for a marathon, but paired with long runs, short runs, pace runs and crosstraining...they become just another tool your marathon training arsenal.

For me, it's all about breaking my marathon up into smaller, bite-sized pieces...because speed intervals are the bane of my marathon training existence. Sure, running mile repeats would be a more effective predictor of my finishing time and maybe even more beneficial in the long haul. I've been through mile repeats and back, though, and I hate them. Yasso 800s are going to give me a chance to change things up. I've said it from the beginning, my marathon training is going to be flexible. If the 800 repeats don't work for me, then I'll try something different. This time around, it's all about listening to my body.

So here's the workout:

Begin running your 800s a few months before your goal marathon

On the first week, do four repeats:

    run 800 in your goal time (a 3:30 marathon translates to a 3 minute 30 second 800)

    jog in between repeats for the same amount of time

Each subsequent week, add one more repeat until you get to 10

Complete your last Y800 at least 2 weeks before race day

Have you used Yasso 800s in your marathon training? What do you think? What other types of speed work do you typically include in training, if any?

Anatomy of a Training Run

Anatomy of a Training Run: the Run/Walk Run

One "different" type of run that I'm following in my marathon training is the Run/Walk run. At a very basic level, it's just interval training: run for an allotted amount of time, walk for an allotted amount of time. 


I scoffed when I first read about run/walk training, thinking, "doesn't that defeat the purpose? I'm a runner for pete's sake!" Walking was the enemy in my training runs. It made me feel like less of a runner...lower on the B.A. scale. Well you know what? I was a runner, but one that was all too often plagued by injury. I'll be the first to admit, thinking that way was just plain stupid.


First, let's walk through some of the benefits:

• decreased chance of injury
• the mental benefit of breaking longer runs up into segments
• interval training often equals maximum results (be it a time goal, distance goal, etc.) many people have even PR'ed by following a run/walk training plan
• if you're trying to lose weight, intervals actually burn more calories and fat

According to Runner's World, Jeff Galloway pioneered the idea of taking frequent walk breaks during marathons and marathon training and it has been used successfully by thousands of marathon runners. So how does it work? ...and more importantly, why?


"By using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. When a muscle group, such as your calf, is used continuously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. The weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward. By shifting back and forth between walking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. For veteran marathoners, this is often the difference between achieving a time goal or not. Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown." (source)

There are a lot of different ways to utilize run/walk training. I generally follow a 4 to 1 ratio (in minutes) of running to walking, but my marathon training will be structured as follows:

Weeks 1-4: run/walk ratio of 3:2 on some weekday runs and long runs
Weeks 5-9: run/walk ratio of 4:2 on some weekday and long runs 
Weeks 10-18: run/walk ratio of 4:1 on some weekday and long runs

You can also structure your run/walk training based on your pace:

8 min/mi—run 4 min/walk 35 seconds
9 min/mi— 4 min run-1 min walk
10 min/mi—-3:1
11 min/mi—2:30-1
12 min/mi—-2:1
13 min/mi—-1:1
14 min/mi—30 sec run/30 sec walk
15 min/mi—30 sec/45 sec
16 min/mi—30 sec/60 sec
(source)

You don't have to follow such a regimented run/walk plan either, if spontaneity is your style. Just take walk breaks early and often. I tend to like the 4:1 run to walk ratio because it breaks those longer runs up into 5 minute segments and sometimes makes it much more bearable. But you don't need to run every single one of your training runs this way. As my own general rule, anything less than 3 miles is pretty much a run all the way run. Between 3 and 6 miles is always questionable...sometimes I like to walk a bit, sometimes run. 6+ miles is where I almost always utilize my walk breaks. If I'm feeling extra good about my run for the day, I'll just take a 1 minute break for every mile I run. It's all up to you and your body, the only advice I can give you is to listen to it! 


If you're stuck on determining your pace, but still want to use this type of training, you'll be happy to know that you generally only lose 15-20 seconds when you take a 60 second walk break. Over the course of 26 miles, this could end up being negligible or even add to your overall time, because you'll be less fatigued and able to put in more effort in those last few miles. Fortunately, Runner's World has a nice little chart to give us all a little bit more pacing information:

If you run a mile in... (Col. A) and then walk 60 seconds, your overall pace will be...(Col. B)

6:00		6:40
7:00		7:37
8:00		8:34
9:00		9:31
10:00		10:29
11:00		11:26
12:00		12:23

Will you use run/walk training in your next training plan? What other training techniques do you employ in order to stay injury free?

Fun Things Friday

Well folks, being that today is Friday, I'm going to give you a look into what makes my world go around. Today I'm kicking off my Fun Things Friday posts. My weekly (er, as long as I remember to post every week) list of cool things that I've stumbled upon during my copious amounts of quality time with the ubiquitous internet. Let's start with a little bit of pure happiness...

It's time to smile. 

Christmas is right around the corner. Leo Babauta [Zen Habits] makes a great case for why should shouldn't worry that your Christmas shopping isn't finished.

Even though Thanksgiving have come and gone, there are still plenty of reasons to be grateful and to show it.

Gather inspiration from this list of ways to really live and not just exist. (This one is courtesy of my old blog, Sole Heeler, disguised as a post about a long treadmill run...last January).

The inspiration for my first tattoo.

This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but you'll need some mesquite flour (I searched high and low for it and finally opted just to get it online).

Face of Beauty is an incredibly inspiring and beautiful blog with the mission "to celebrate the incredible and unique beauty in all of us." Heather posted some pretty scary statistics yesterday.

A beautiful mess.

Simplify! Simplify! Someday I want to own only 47 things too.

...and, last but not least, a VERY BIG announcement! Brandon and I are signed up for the Cleveland Marathon! It will be Brandon's first marathon and my second. This is the course map:

Let the journey begin!

Marathon Training Plan REmixed

First off, I need to explain the picture above. It's from the 2009 Akron Marathon. My colleagues put together a 5-person relay team to support me and run with me through the race. Why are there two people running with me? Because Andy (in the middle...light blue tee) ran his relay leg (from mile about 9 to about mile 15) and then decided he was going to finish the race with us. Mind you, the most he'd ever run at that point was like five and a half miles. Nuts? Yep. He ended up finishing 16+ miles. I love my colleagues <3 They are the best, most supportive people, ever.

So it's just about a month before I begin marathon training! This week, has been incredibly tough as far as working out goes (remember, control the controllables). Last night I got a change of perspective, and got re-motivated!

My old roommate, Emily, had a Hanukkah party at her mom's place and her Uncle Dale is a marathoner. He gave me some perspective on my long run training. Taking some of his advice, things I've learned from browsing training regimens and articles on the internet, and some of my other training experience, I formulated a training schedule that I'm pretty excited about and really looking forward to:

Let's get some things straight though:

• Things are bound to change a little bit, every week is not the same and sometimes I just don't have time to get a run in.
• It's going to be the middle of winter. Some of these runs may very well turn into indoor (cross my fingers) bike rides, yoga practices or (groan) treadmill jaunts
• If there is every any point that I am feeling overwhelmed by the mileage, I'm going to scale it back to something more palatable. I'm going to do everything in my power not to get injured again.
• Now, I not only have my own schedule to think about when I planning when I get my runs in, but I have Brandon's to think about as well. Now that we've moved in together, things are no longer about just me. 

In order to get myself ready for training I need to push up my mileage a bit, I'm talking 6-7.5 mile long runs by January...so it's not unattainable at all. I also want to concentrate a bit more on what I'm putting into my body; namely, processed sugar, "edible foodlike substances" (so Michael Pollan would say) and alcohol. I'm not going to watch my "diet"...the holidays are coming up, for goodness sake. I'm talking about eating with intention. Eating real foods. Eating local foods. Lastly, I need to be very conscious about cross-training. If I start working it more into my schedule now, I will be hopefully find the motivation to make it more routine when I'm training. I have no doubt in my mind that I got injured during my last marathon training jaunt because of my lack of cross-training. 

If you have any other good marathon training advice, please send it my way. I'd love to hear about how others are training for marathons (especially through the winter) and what you're doing to keep motivated and injury-free!