7:23AM

I'm just about to leave for my 3rd training run - we're running 6 miles today. I couldn't leave though without thanking all of the people who have donated thus far! Thank you so much for your generosity and support. 


We had our Jumpstart holiday party last night and it was a great time. The people I work with are so fantastic and it's always great to spend time out of the office with them. I got a lot of questions from people about how my training is going, which is so encouraging. I'm hoping to get a group of Jumpstart staff out to a Saturday run or, more realistically, start organizing after work training runs since so many people are runners at Jumpstart. 


I'm looking forward to more hills today, which I can really tell are going to help come race day. This is definitely a short post, more later (and I still need to post the peanut butter recipe!). 


Have a great weekend!

first flakes.

So last nights run, which was supposed to be yesterday mornings run, was the epidomy of Rick's mantra - "the difficult runs are the best for mental strength." It was cold, it was a bit windy, I had a slight clothing malfunction and I didn't feel well half way through. All I kept thinking is 'this is making me stronger mentally and a stronger runner' and I think that definitely helped me get through the run - that and the fact that my destination was home. 


The highlight however of the night was that it was lightly snowing! I love the snow and can't wait until we get some real snow soon. I think it's the reason that I can get through New England winters; I cherish snow walks. 


I made the peanut butter the other night but forgot to take pictures during the process, however, I will definitely post the recipe this weekend because it was so good!


After last night's run, I'm really looking forward to cross training tonight!

2 down, 18 to go.

Sunday was our second team run - again a very nice morning, yet colder than last week. Coach Rick had a sports psychologist speak to us about motivation, race day jitters, facing our fears and overall mental health during training. I found it very interesting, considering I at one time thought about going into sports psychology. It's such an interesting field the studies the mind of athletes, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and ultimately how the good ones are the most mentally strong.


I did became a little anxious as we began talking about race day and how all of the mental preparation that motivates you day after day to train and run is in the end just practice to be mentally tough on marathon day. Rick made a great comment that really resonated with me - he said that your worst runs are actually the best training runs because you learn the most about yourself when facing adversity. I had always thought that was true to a small scale since I always feel the toughest workouts and most grueling conditions were the most rewarding, but never thought of it as a building of my mental toughness. 


We ran 5 miles on Sunday in Newton, starting in the same general area - we will start at the same church from here on out. I really am enjoying the team runs because they are going to include lots of hills, an element of running that I enjoy but don't necessarily seek out. I ran with Jen, the other Jumpstart employee on the team, and we discovered we run at similar paces. I'm looking forward to running with her more!


On a VERY exciting note...I bought a food processor! I'm so thrilled because I've wanted one for so long (merry christmas to me!). I will be making homemade peanut butter tonight and can't wait to share the pictures and recipe :)


Tomorrow morning I'll be running 4 miles - hope it's not too windy. 


Goodnight!

my fate is in the schedule.

Happy Wednesday! Today I went to the gym, which is conveniently right across the street from my office. I have no excuse to not go - that can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. I've started week one of my training, which will be the easiest week yet. Today I did 1 hour total of cross training:

• 10 minutes warmup (elliptical)
• 40 minutes strength training
• 10 minutes cool down (elliptical)

As the weather gets colder and colder, I think I'm going to look forward to the cross training days more and more. I will run on the tredmill from time to time, but my goal is to run at least 3 of my weekly runs outside per week. 

I'll be using a training plan that my coach Rick put together and it is very well designed, focusing on rest and total weekly milage (note the pattern of Saturday runs). Below is the schedule - I hope you'll follow along with me (and hopefully some of you might run with me!). Click on it to enlarge.

Tomorrow I'll run 4 miles (outside) and I'm looking forward to Saturday's run with the team, especially since we'll be having a holiday party that evening! 

Have a great night :)

team training - day 1.

Today was the first team run and I couldn't have been more excited for it. It's really amazing all of the work that has been put in to support the charity runners! A few years ago a coalition was formed for all education-based charity runners to help support training and fundraising over the course of 5 months before the actual marathon. Rick Muhr, our coach, is one incredible guy. Not only is he an expert runner, but he is incredibly inspirational and has stories that really make this experience more of a journey than an undertaking. 


Fortunately I'm a morning person so the 6AM wake up time wasn't terrible. We started the morning with a talk from Rick and were out on the roads of Newton for our first run. We originally thought it would be about 4 miles, but turns out it was closer to 5. I was feeling great though! Our training will be mostly on the actual Boston Marathon route and today we tackled Heartbreak Hill. It wasn't so heartbreaking when it was the start of a run, but there better be some cheering support on marathon day because I can definitely see how that's going to be a beautiful challenge after already having run 20 miles. 


I learned two new pieces of advice today that I think are worth sharing for runners out there. 

1. Rick preaches the importance of running efficiently, something I've heard before but never really seen in practice. He says to "run like a grandma on a frozen pond." As strange as it sounds, it really works. A way to put this into practice is to count your steps in one minute - everyone time your right (or left) foot hits the ground, count that as one. In one minute, your foot should have hit the ground 90 times (180 total for both feet). This helps keep your stride efficient and your body from getting tired faster. 
2. Walking during a run is a good thing! For every 9 minutes you run, you should walk for 1 minute. This allows for your heart to regain strength and pump blood - essentially it's like taking a break between reps during weightlifting. I was always a naysayer of walking/running, but I'm definitely going to start trying this out!

All in all, a great Saturday morning and I can't wait for next week's team run! This week, I'm also going to post my training schedule to give everyone an idea of what my next 5 months will look like. Anyone that would like to join me for a run - please let me know!

Have a great weekend :)