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 :)