ISLAND BRIDGE RUNNER

Training Log March 18-24, 2019: 48.2 miles. Monday – REST DAY!! Tuesday – 9.0mi @ 8:39. On the hotel treadmill (in California for work). Easy warm-up, 2mi at MP, cool-down. MP was 7:08 and 7:00. Felt good. Strong. Wednesday – 6.6mi @ 9:03. Back on the treadmill. Nice and easy. Thursday – REST DAY!! Friday – 4.9mi @ 9:17. Treadmill again. Just a comfortable run. Saturday – 1.3mi @ 9:22. Super easy shakeout. Glad to be back outside! Sunday – 26.4mi @ 7:25. Los Angeles Marathon.

There are days in running, and in life, where everything just clicks. Movements are smooth. You feel great. Unstoppable. Days that PRs are made. Everything in life, and running, is a balance. So, there are also days when nothing feels right. You feel awkward. You want to just pack it up and call it a day. Maybe just curl up on the couch and binge watch your favorite show. While eating ice cream. Or, maybe that’s just me. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a good bit of time

Boston Qualifier. A time run on a certified marathon distance course under the qualifying time for your age and gender. Basically, your ticket to the most historic, and arguably, the most prestigious marathon in the world. At least that’s how it used to work. For the past few years, people who had a BQ, who met the qualifying standard, were not necessarily accepted into the big race. The Boston Athletic Association receives entries from anyone meeting the qualifying standard,

In my earlier posts, BC (before coaching), I always had a target pace for my runs. Or paces, depending on the workout. You may have noticed that since I’ve had a coach, I’ve not listed any target paces. This is not because I’m only putting what I run. It’s because my coach doesn’t usually give me target paces. I get target efforts. This is not an uncommon approach, especially for those in the ultra world. I mentioned the by-effort approach before, but a few of my past workout

This is a new mantra that came to me this week while running. Who says you can only have one mantra? That could get boring. And, some mantras are more targeted. Like this, “run for the boom”, isn’t really appropriate for getting me through an easy run. For a better explanation, let me give a bit of a backstory. I’ll start with some thoughts on being coached for the first time in 20+ years. I mean, there are pros and cons. A big pro is that I don’t have to think (or overthink)

What?!? She who has taken pride in being self-coached. Has hired a coach? Why? The reasons are many. But, I want to start with the opposite. Why haven't I enlisted the services of a coach earlier? I’d spent a lot of time, energy, and effort learning all I could about different approaches to training. Both by reading and by doing. My time kept improving. I was, am, (knock on wood) injury-free. Everything is going in a good direction, so keep at it. If ain’t broke, don’t fix it

This seems like a good point to talk about “carb loading”. Why? Well, I talked about what to eat, how to fuel, during a run. It’s a critical part of good running. Good meaning reaching goal times, and not feeling like you are going to die. I’ve also talked a about my thoughts on general nutrition. For runners, endurance runners in particular, there’s a third aspect to nutrition. Really. I’m not making this up just because I love food. Though, I do. We all know that distance r

I talked (wrote) a few weeks ago about journaling. What I do. Why I do it. A training log can be a powerful thing. This past week, I’ve found mine particularly useful. For getting through some of my struggles. Mental and physical. So, today, I want to share with you an expanded look at my training log/journal. And, some of the thoughts I didn’t put down in my journal. Training Log June 4-10, 2018: Planned, 70 miles. 69.4 miles for the week. Paces: BF = by feel; E (easy) = 8:0

I talked earlier about the problems with trying to define “healthy” eating (Nutrition Matters). For now, I’m talking about going sugar-free. Well, free from added sugar. Sort of. Since Monday, I’ve focused on not eating foods with refined, added sugars. What does that mean? I’ve been reading a lot of food labels. Avoiding added sugar is easy. Make sure the ingredient list doesn’t have sugar. Or brown sugar. Or high fructose corn syrup. Defining refined sugars can be a bit tri

These few weeks of training have been a grind. A necessary grind. The day-in-day-out logging of miles. Not a lot of variety in distance or pace. Just getting the miles done. The base built. This coming week I’m starting to add a little “speed” back in with a few workouts, so that’ll mix things up a little bit. As much as my body needs the rest of some easy miles, this past week it was a bit of a struggle to get it done. Mentally. You’ll see some slower-than normal paces becau

Literally and figuratively. The last two weeks I've started my new training plan. Beginning with a 12 week cycle of base mileage. It also was the start of an incredibly busy summer. Work. Travel for work. Travel for fun (a bit). I have very little “free” time between now and August. I knew this when I set-up the training plan. I figure not only does my body need a little rest, I won’t have time to train hard these next few months. So, it’ll work out nicely. At least I hope so

Before I get into my new training plan, I realized that I haven’t really covered the idea of training cycles. Both running and strength/stability fitness. This is an important point. As each specific run has a purpose, so does each phase of a training cycle. What I’ve shared so far jumped in the middle of my recent cycle. Heavy speed and speed endurance work for the last few weeks before the taper for Boston. My training cycles are generally 10-16 weeks. This last one was lon

The 122nd Boston Marathon. My 4th Boston, is in the rear-view mirror. For all the reasons detailed earlier in the week, I did not reach my goal time. Often after a goal race, the post-marathon blues can settle in. I’ve not very often felt it. But, a little bit this week. A flip-flop between disappointment and celebration. Disappointment in putting in all the hard training and not getting a real chance to go for my goal. Celebration for finishing in the toughest marathon condi

So, what is a taper? It’s the period of training immediately before a target race. During the taper, you decrease mileage to allow the body to more fully repair. Recover. Be prepared for the beating of race day. Some use ‘dreaded’ to describe the taper. Others talk about ‘taper madness’. There are reasons for this. Legitimate reasons. The science geek in me is fascinated by the physiology and psychology of it. The runner in me is just as irritable, hangry, and restless as eve

I saw a quote somewhere that read “Athletes don’t diet and exercise, they fuel and train”. Or something along those lines. It stuck with me. I don’t remember the last time I said that I “exercised”. But, I’ve used the word “diet”. So, why the different mindset? Not sure. This was my first realization that what you eat impacts overall performance. I now look at food from two angles. Other than it being yummy! One is nutrition. Meaning what you consume on a routine basis. The s

I mean, really. An race that I love. The Azalea Trail Run (ATR). Held every year near the end of March in Mobile, Alabama. A sign of spring. Perfect timing for a final really hard run before Boston. It’s a big deal. Rich in history and tradition. Boston Billy (Bill Rogers) was here last year. He won the race its first year. And three other times. I got a signed copy of his book. Joan Benoit still holds the 3rd fastest time for a woman at the event. Elites, sub-elites, and the

Okay, so not everything that isn’t running. But, the other exercise activities. In my intro blog, I called this aspect of training “cross-training”. The more I think about it, I’m not certain that’s an accurate term. Cross-training usually refers to activities done in place of running. I use it do describe things done in addition to running. So, maybe “fitness training” is a better term? Whatever you want to call it, some coaches, and many athletes, swear by it. Others say

(Photo credit: Bear Bait Ultras) Last week I mentioned the three aspects of my training: running, cross-training (or fitness), and nutrition. Today, I want to expand a bit on my approach to the running part of my training. I’m a relatively high mileage runner. And trying to be even higher. I believe that the closer my training mimics elites, the better I will be. Makes sense, right? Well, if they run 100+ miles a week training for a marathon, then I should too. Or at least tr

Welcome. As my first blog post, I’d like to introduce my goals and what you can expect (hopefully) from following my journey. Everything I’m about to say (write) is what I’m thinking now about how I’d like this page to shape up. No guarantees that this won’t change over time. That disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to it. Why do I want to share my running journey with you, the internet universe? Well, I joined some social media running groups a while back and found some gre