Vermont Priorities

Good morning from Vermont!

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It’s amazing how things can change over the years. We’ve been coming up to Vermont for 10 years and the Manchester Center Outlets used to be the highlight of my trip. We’d spend at least a day shopping through all the stores and leave feeling as if we’d accomplished a great deal by securing some amazing deals and a new season worth of clothing.

These days, our trips revolve around the outdoors. Since I arrived Thursday night we’ve spent more time outdoors than indoors and it has clearly become not only my priority but also my family’s. I’ve fallen back in love with this area so much that I’ve cancelled a Fall trip so I can come back up here to experience the fresh air, mountain hikes, late night fires, family, bike rides, and delicious wine and food.

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Since I’ve taken the weekend off to spend time with everyone, I’ll step back a bit and give you a few separate recaps, beginning with this weekend’s long run.

Since I didn’t have to fight the heat up here in Vermont I was able to sleep until 6:30 on Friday. After enjoying a half cup of coffee and peanut butter toast I headed down to the Manchester Center Post Office, my starting point for the run.

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My uncle who is an avid cyclist, was able to give me a great route which was exactly the right distance and included a few challenging hills. Starting at the post office gave me a safe starting point that could also easily be looked up on Google Maps in case I got lost.

IMG_3432Per Gia’s advice I did my best not to stress out about the run and instead focused on enjoying the gorgeous scenery, keeping my pace slow and steady, fueling appropriately, and enjoying myself. The two roads, River and Ridgeville Roads, where I ran were new to me which made the route even more fun as it felt like a bit of an adventure.

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I was able to successfully finish 13.1 miles in 2:15:22 with only 2 picture/fuel breaks which were each under one minute long!

 

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Five Marathon Mistakes

It’s Wednesday which means I only have one more day in my work week! Tomorrow I’m heading out of town on an Amtrak train for a relaxing weekend in Vermont with my family. Other than my long run, which will be one hell of a hilly challenge this week, I have no other plans. I’m looking forward to sipping wine, going on a few hikes, and just enjoying the time with my parents since I haven’t seen them since Hawaii in April! I wish Bo was able to go but unfortunately he’ll be hanging back in NYC due to work. Oh well, I’m sure he and Meg will have a great weekend without me!

Before we get to today’s guest post from Whitney, I want to see who else is heading to BlogHer 12 this year? I am looking forward to the amazing sessions and getting to meet and interact with new bloggers and old friends alike. If you’re attending please leave a note in the comments as I’d like to organize a run or get together of some type!

Now, for some marathon inspiration, here’s this week’s Marathons+Moderation guest post!

Whitney blog’s at LiveRunLoveYoga. Most recently she ran the Boston Marathon with Team in Training and is now working towards becoming a certified yoga instructor. She shares lessons and experiences from years of running and yoga, the foods that fuel her and bits and pieces from a healthy lifestyle!  You can read about her journey with running and yoga at LiveRunLoveYoga and follow her on Twitter too!

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I love marathons; from my very first one I was hooked. I ran the NYC Marathon in 2009 and loved training, the race itself and the lifestyle it created. I had ran cross-country in college and since I had graduated the year earlier I thought I could handle a training plan that had 55-60 mile weeks at the plans peak. I learned through injury, Iliotibial Band Syndrome, and frustration that to “beat” the marathon I had to practice moderation.

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After running the NYC Marathon I took some time off from running to heal and strengthen my IT band. I started running again in the spring of 2010 and took it slow, enjoying races and becoming a stonger runner. After a PR in the half-marathon in the fall of 2010 I knew I was ready for another marathon and decided to sign up for Chicago 2011. In order to accomplish my goal of breaking 4 hours I knew I needed a plan that eliminated the flaws of my first marathon plan and evolved from the mistakes I made in 2009. So here’s a list of 5 marathon mistakes and fixes!

  • Mistake: Due to the high mileage while training for NYC I was often fighting a cold and sick. Instead of taking time off and getting healthy I would rest and then immediately start running high miles again in order to make up for the extra rest days.

Fix: I signed up for the Smart Coach plan on RunnersWorld.com. One feature is that you are able to enter in days or weeks that you are sick, it automatically adjusts and updates your plan to account of the time off. It took the guess work out of it for me.

  • Mistake: Skipping yoga classes to get in more training runs.

Fix: Build in yoga classes to my marathon training schedule. Yoga allows me to stretch my body and strengthen my muscles which in turn helps my runs. I ended up practicing about 3-4 days per week while training.

  • Mistake: Making up for missed runs.

Fix: I now follow the rule that a missed run is a missed run. If I missed my Tuesday night run and could reschedule for Wednesday, I often did while training for Chicago and Boston but if I couldn’t reschedule a run I didn’t worry about it. Marathon training is a culmination of your training and one run won’t make or break your marathon.

  • Mistake: Everyone run must be perfect.

Fix: Not every run is going to be perfect. Some days you’ll be doing speed work and will be 15 seconds faster per mile or half mile and others you’ll be 15 seconds slower. That’s ok. Some long runs you’ll feel like you can run forever and others you’ll struggle to make it through 14 miles when you are supposed to run 20 miles. On those days just embrace that it’s not a good day and be happy with what you did accomplish. If your body is telling you enough is enough, listen and rest!

  • Mistake: Running 5 or 6 days per week.

Fix: Some runners can handle this, others cannot. I am one of those who cannot. While training for Chicago I only ran 3 or 4 days per week and never felt stronger or faster!

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Learning from all of these mistakes really made training for Chicago a breeze. I was able to follow my training plan to a “T” and had a successful marathon, finishing in 3:51.21. I was so energized and motivated that I went on to run the Boston Marathon with Team in Training. I followed a similar training plan and the same “rules” above and was successful yet again! You can read my Chicago Marathon recap and Boston Marathon recap on LiveRunLoveYoga! Marathons do not need to be about high mileage and tough runs, you can be just as successful with moderate mileage and quality runs!

You can read more about my experiences with running, marathons and yoga over at LiveRunLoveYoga!

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Coach Knows Best

I hope everyone had a wonderful Bastille Day yesterday! We ended up posing for this picture at Almond, while searching for perfect sangria after a celebratory dinner at Dos Caminos in honor of Meg and Lauren, below on the left, finishing NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute and finding an apartment in NYC!

I was in an especially celebratory mood last night since my second long run of marathon training was a great success!

As you know, Gia is coaching me this year for the New York City Marathon and after last week’s run I learned a valuable lesson. If I’m going to employ a coach because she is the expert, then I really need to listen to her.

Gia and I had a few pep talks during the week from which I put together a Friday checklist in preparation for Saturday’s long run.

  • Where my compression sleeves all day Friday.
  • Do some deep hip stretches Friday to help relieve the tightness.
  • Drink plenty of water all day Friday.
  • Don’t go out Friday night.
  • Drink a container of plain coconut water Friday evening.
  • Don’t eat too much or too heavy a carb rich dinner on Friday night.
  • Make sure that I have my CamelBak cleaned and filled with ice cold water for Saturday.
  • Buy Cliff Shot Blocks that I like so I’ll actually take them during my run.
  • Use my Garmin heavily for the run to ensure I’m keeping the pace slow.

It sounds like a lot and probably overkill for a 12 miler, considering that I’ll have far longer runs in the next few months, but the goal is for me to start getting accustomed to preparing and respecting the mileage. I can’t treat every run the same and therefore my long runs need to help Gia and I figure out what my marathon pace can be on November 4th without hitting the wall and bonking.

I woke up at 5:15 so I could eat breakfast and let the food settle some before my run. I also chugged a glass of ice cold NUUN after reading the research regarding the affects of ice water on athletes.

IMG_3376I left the house at 6 to log 1.5 miles on my own before meeting up with Kristin at 6:15. I know, I know, I was supposed to run by myself yesterday. But, when I saw her tweet asking if anyone would be running near Gramercy at 6:15 around a 10:30 pace I thought it was fate!

894c9b8acdbc11e1984522000a1e95e6_7 It was really nice running with a new friends and time flew by since we had plenty to talk about including, but not limited to marathon training. She actually got into New York City this year via the lottery! I am also more and more intrigued by the Gap Athletic workout line after she raved about her cute tank.

We ran 3 miles together across town and North on the West Side Highway until reaching Riverside Park.

IMG_3377IMG_3378I took these two pictures when I paused to hug her goodbye as she headed back downtown towards her husband and refueled with 2 Shot Blocks since I’d already done 4.5 miles and thought it was best to get fuel in me early.

I didn’t want to get stuck on the West Side Highway and don’t know the higher section well enough to know when I can cut East. Therefore, I cut over at the entrance to Riverside Park and headed towards Columbus Circle, weaving around to add some extra mileage.

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I entered at Columbus Circle and then did the bottom loop before heading towards the race corrals for the NYRR Race for Central Park with my friend Katie. I was thrilled to introduce Katie to her first NYRR race!

IMG_3380When I stopped at 8 miles I reviewed my mile splits so far and was happy to find that I was right on target, if not a tad faster than planned.

Mile 1 10:19
Mile 2 10:24
Mile 3 10:26
Mile 4 10:23
Mile 5 10:55 (1/2 uphill)
Mile 5 10:40
Mile 6 10:49
Mile 7 10:20
Mile 8 10:15

I told Katie that she should run her own race and enjoy the experience as I knew my legs weren’t going to love the stop and start. I expected my pace to drop for the last 4 miles but made it my goal to just finish and get the 9+1 credit and log the mileage.

The race itself wasn’t that interesting other than that I saw many friendly faces during and after the race including Sara, Stephanie, Meghan, and Ali! The park was alive with runners both in the race and completing their own runs.

The last miles were definitely tough and I hit a bit of a wall around 10.5 but I pushed through knowing I just wanted to be done. The race was packed yesterday which helped spread some much needed energy and luckily there were plenty of restrooms, one of which I finally had to use towards the end.

Mile 9 10:19
Mile 10 9:56 (caught up in the fun of the race)
Mile 11 12:20 (bathroom stop)
Mile 12 10:33

My goal wasn’t to PR this race, just to finish it and conquer some hills on tired legs. Running 12 miles at a slower pace (10:39) than I’ve kept in ages was definitely tough but the fact that I didn’t hit a full wall and was able to keep going and push through, even in the heat and humidity, reaffirmed for me that Gia is on to something!

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Week 2 of marathon training was an official success!

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