While some folks got up early yesterday for some Black Friday shopping, I decided to work off the 5,738 calories that I ate during Thanksgiving dinner instead. I was going to turn the beast mode on! Got up at 5:30 am, headed to the gym to train with my trainer and then set off to meet a friend for a trail run. I was supposed to meet her at 8:30, but as I left the gym, I got a message from her that she wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t make it. Continue reading
When I came across this video in my research, I had to share. Most of these stretches are the same ones that I do when I practice Yin Yoga. These post-run stretches are great your flexibility and for stretching out tired muscles. It takes about 10 minutes to do this routine and it hits all of your major running muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
Try it out and let me know what you think!
It’s been a tough week for me personally. Nothing serious, just the pressures of work that can be overwhelming. Let me be frank, this week, it sucked. In fact, it was pretty shitty last week also. On the way home from the office yesterday…the loooong hour and a half drive home…I swear I was going to have a breakdown right there in the car. All I could think about was putting on my running shoes and getting out there on the road. I hadn’t ran since Saturday so the “ick” was building up. Continue reading
Before a big race, I go through a ritual (handed down by my running friends) of laying out my entire running gear, taking a picture, and posting it on Facebook. Now, I couldn’t post my Philly Flat Runner because it was a secret marathon, but you bet your sweet cheeks that I took my Flat Runner photo for good luck. Well, I guess it’s for good luck, it could be just a way to make sure you have everything ready the day before the race. Not sure how this phenomenon came about, but I’m starting to be come superstitious about it.
Do you make a Flat Runner before race? Is there a ritual that you have to go do before each race to ensure that you’ve got good running juju?
Ever since I injured my calf this past summer, I’ve been very careful about not injuring it again. I wear a compression sleeve during races and long training runs, and I make sure that I stretch them and warm them up before running. It occurred to me that I probably do some exercises to increase and develop strength in my calves too. I found this very simple exercise on Kinetic Revolution, one of my go to sites for running advice, and thought I’d share their Ankling Drills Exercise. Continue reading
If you recall, my recovery sucked for MCM. I did everything wrong, wrong, wrong. I waited 7 – 8 hours to get a REAL meal in, endured a not so great massage, didn’t stretch, didn’t take an Epsom salt bath, didn’t foam roll, and didn’t continue to hydrate. Remember when I said “lessons learned,” well I heeded my words and paid special attention to make sure I recovered correctly after Philly. This is what I did different: Continue reading
Surprisingly, when the alarm when off, I sprang out of bed ready to go. RACE DAY WAS HERE! RACE DAY WAS HERE! I guess it was the excitement of the anticipation of actually pulling this off. I geared up and became “Joseph.”
I hate to break this up into two parts, but there’s just so much to write. And if you have a short span of attention like me, you would probably stop half way through any way, so there it is, Part 1 of 2 of the Philadelphia Marathon Recap.
Earlier this week when I told people that I just ran a marathon, they assumed I was talking about Marine Corps. When I say, “No, I just ran Philly.” I get the “Wha-whaaat??” Call us crazy, but we did. I got a text message from my friend Kendra the day after MCM which said, “I wanna run Philly.” And that was the beginning of our mad quest to secretly run a marathon without letting anyone know, well, with the exception of our families.
Wonder why I’ve been so quiet lately? Well, I’ll let you in on a secret…I just ran the Philadelphia Marathon yesterday. Yep! That’s right! First Marine Corp Marathon on 10/27, then Philly yesterday. Two marathons in 21 days! I’ve been dying to tell you all about it and the days leading up to it, but I made a pact with my running partner in crime about keeping it a secret until we actually pulled it off. It was killing me! Every time I sat down to write, I wanted to tell ya’ll what was going on, so I just had to keep mum. I’m sorry for the teaser, but I haven’t had a chance to do a race re-cap, but I hope to have it published by tomorrow. Continue reading
Well, it happened. The cold weather has reared it’s ugly head and now I have to transition my summer gear to my winter gear. I remember when I first started running, it was in the winter time, and boy did I get it all wrong. I remember going out with two layers of sweatpants, three layers of shirts (all long sleeved, once was a fleece), PLUS a coat, hat, gloves, and double socks. It was no wonder that I was burning up after the first mile. Continue reading
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