Now that we’ve finished the planks (for now), let’s work on our obliques and lower back. Continue reading
30 Day Core Challenge (Days 5 – 9) Russian Twist and Superman
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Category Archives: Marathon Training
Week 15 – Long Run (12 Miles and Killer Acorns and Geese)
Another strong long run for the books and I’ll take it any time I can get it. I would like to thank Mother Nature for giving us another beautiful day to run. Overcast, no humidity, upper 50’s lower 60’s. But I’d like to ask Mother Nature to keep her acorns and attack geese to herself. I missed getting hit in the head with one and my friend had the unfortunate luck to step on on one and wipe out. It’s a good thing that Carrie’s bad ass because she took the wipe out like a champ, despite spraining her ankle, busting up her knee and elbow, and braking her Garmin <gasp!>. Continue reading
30 Day Core Challenge (Days 1 – 4) Four Position Planks
As I said in my FB post, we’re down to the 30-day count-down to Marine Corps Marathon. I plan on fine tuning some of the training that I’ve been doing this season starting with my core. I am challenging you guys to do this with me! These are quick exercises and will change every so many days. Continue reading
The Importance of a Recovery Run
As I sit here with a heating pad on my back, I’m now realizing that no matter how tired I was on Sunday, I should’ve went out for a recovery run. After speaking with my personal trainer/coach, apparently, Saturday’s long run took a harder toll on my body than I thought. And being sedentary on Sunday allowed for my muscles, in particular my back, to stiffen up. Because of this, I will now have to skip tonight’s track workout (partner 800s) and tomorrow’s personal training session. Continue reading
MCM Training – You Deserve a Break Today
Some days you just need a break. And I’m not talking about a rest day, but a total break from running, blogging, and whatever is consuming your life. That day was yesterday. Saturday’s 18 miles wasn’t hard on my physically, I mean I had the expected rubbery legs, but I wasn’t gimping back to the car. But for some reason, it wore me out. I don’t if it was navigating on crappy pavement, or navigating through town because we got lost, or the traffic and the constant stop and go at the lights, but whatever it was, it was draining. Weird thing was, I felt fine after the run, but that declined as the day worn on. Continue reading
MCM Training – Week 14 Long Run (18 Miles with Bad Manners)
Well, there goes another 18 miles for the books. Today’s run was a practice run on the Baltimore Marathon course. Those doing the Baltimore full had to run 20 miles, while the halfies did 10-12. Since MCM is a little later, our mileage was 18. We decided that we would cut the 20 mile course short and in doing so, we got a little lost and ended up a mile short at the end. No worries…we found the 18th mile. Continue reading
MCM Training – Week 13 Tempo Run (The Confidence Builder)
Yesterday morning I headed out early with a goal of 7 – 8 miles with a couple of running buddies. Right at the 6 mile point, I felt a twinge in my calf right where it was injured previously, so we stopped and walked back about a mile to our cars.
Believe it or not, I was fine with it. For me, it was a tough run with hills and after looking at my times, I’m pleased. I guess when you’re running with folks who are faster, you have no choice but to speed up and yesterday’s run definitely showed a slight increase in my speed. I’m also not worried about my calf. I think I took the hills on a little too strong and I wasn’t wearing my compression sleeve. I’ll need to remember to wear it during tomorrow’s long run. Continue reading
Yep…I got the Jimmy Legs
Ever get the “Jimmy Leg” after a long runs or hill workouts? I’m famous for them and they drive my husband nuts. He says it reminds him of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer dates a girl with the “Jimmy Legs.” Not only do my legs twitch and kick on their own when I’m trying to fall asleep, but apparently, my feet do some sort of running motion while I’m asleep. Now, it’s not as bad as last year when I started running, but I still get the Jimmies after tough runs.
Is it just me or do other runners get the Jimmy leg?
MCM Training – Week 13 Long run (16 Out of 17 Ain’t Bad)
This weekend’s mileage for our long run was between 16 – 17 miles, so I had my heart set on 17. Even posted on Facebook that I was running 17, cause you know you MUST do it if you post it. But at 16, I was done and I was fine with it. Well, I wasn’t actually totally fine with it, but fine enough to stop and not whine too much about it. My Garmin had died, my legs were tired, and I wanted brunch. I’m pretty sure I could’ve pushed through to the 17, but after running 4 yesterday, I decided I didn’t need to…brunch was on the brain instead. Continue reading
MCM Training – Week 12 Track (Time Trials and an Unexpected Patriotic Moment)
Last night were two mile time trials. I did a 9:09 for my first mile and an 18:04 for my second…negative split! YES! Using the McMillian Calculator (https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/), it looks like my marathon race pace is set to be 10:59. If I’m on target, I should finish my marathon 4:47:38. Ok, so it’s a far cry from doing a 4:00 marathon, but when I set the goal of shaving an hour off of my time at the end of last year’s marathon, as Kendra said, I had “Marathon Goggles” on. It’s amazing what adrenaline does after you finish your first marathon. I hope you all have or will have the experience to know how that feels.
Last night at the track, the college had some sort of game going on. At the beginning of their game, they played and sang our National Anthem. I was surprised and touched that EVERYONE at track practice stopped where they were, faced our American flag, put their hand over their heart and listened. I looked around and smiled…folks scattered around the track loop just standing there honoring our country. I don’t know why I was surprised, but I loved it. Continue reading
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