The December That Wasn't

At the beginning of the month, I was excited to start upping my running a bit and get back into shape before I tackled my first marathon. Midway through the month, I had some inspired runs in Central Park and got to meet a coach whose philosophy on running and training clicked with me. After the coaching clinic I emailed him for help running my first marathon, my "debut," if you will. I was going to title this post "Stop...Treadmill time" because so many of my RunStreak runs had been inside and after dark. I was hoping to run between my boyfriend's parents' houses on Christmas Day, a nice 8 mile, head and stomach clearing jaunt between all the gluttony and sloth of the holidays. I was going to continue with my Run Streak all the way to New Years Day...and then I broke my leg.

And then the Run Streak stopped

As my cousin described it, I tried to "ice skate without skates." I simply fell while walking and did some pretty bad damage. I broke my fibula, probably sprained my ankle, and kissed those marathon debut dreams goodbye. Luckily I was on the edge of winter vacation so I've spent the last two weeks at home on the couch catching up on new and old TV shows. My friends and family have been awesome about taking care of me, even my angsty teen brother.

It's definitely been hard not moving at all over the break, and seeing other people's pictures from runs or a beautiful day outside makes me miss the ability to lace up and get out even for an easy run. My right calf is already noticeably atrophied and I know that it's going to be a long and slow process getting back to even be able to run. I'm currently still on crutches but extremely hopefully that I can just be in my walking boot before I get back to school. It's scary how much I'm looking forward to going for a walk. The marathon plan is definitely off the table for the spring, and likely for 2014 all together. Depending on my recovery, I'll shoot for a 5 or 10k in the spring to have something doable as a goal. But for the moment, I'm looking forward to that New Years Eve cheese platter and the day I can wear shoes on both of my feet.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and fast New Year!

Rachel "yoga pants for days" Runner

Concrete Jungle Where (Coaching) Dreams Are Made

One of the biggest perks of my job is that they support continuing education and professional development, in and out of the classroom. I have attended a number of seminars and conferences on teaching already in my year and half at the school. Last year, when I was visiting other private schools, I noticed that one of the cross country coaches was USATF certified and got it into my head that I wanted to obtain that certification as well. It was a long process but I finally accomplished it: USATF membership, an online course on fundamentals training and then this weekend a 22-hour coaching education level 1 certification course.

The course was awesome, and way better than I imagined. Although we spent plenty of time on horizontal jump approaches and the blocking position for throws (which I'm still not sure I understand), we covered so many topics that will definitely help me coach and train better. Obviously the endurance section was the most helpful for learning about drills and running-specific recovery, but I also nerded out during the training theory, physiology and biomechanics sections. One of the biggest points I took away from the course was the importance of multilateral training. I'd heard about this concept before but now I understand why it's so important. Basically, there are five biomotor training components that athletes* should constantly and consistently be addressing in their training: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Flexibility and Coordination. The integration of all of these practices into one's training is crucial to success. I've already expressed on this blog that I often eschew speed work and put off my lifts. I knew that I shouldn't and that I should always strive for a more well-rounded training plan, but now I have to practice what I preach. Fortunately, I already coach this way, and reviewing my training plans from the past xc seasons has shown me that between dynamic mobility, strides, long runs, strength circuits, etc, my girls are pretty well prepared. I base my coaching on how I was coached at Colby, and Deb definitely knew her stuff. I'm grateful for a coach who trained us as well rounded athletes.

*Speaking of athletes, another great takeaway from the course is that as coaches, we want to train athletes who run marathons/10k/800m/etc, rather than a marathoner/10k runner/800 runner. Being generally strong, flexible, coordinated, fast and enduring in any event or sport is infinitely better than being confined to one specific race because of your training. Do we need to go into why? Glad we're all clear on that.

Aside from spending 22 hours in an elementary school auditorium, I was able to get in some touristy moments as well. I ran (and took selfies) in Central Park both days, once during sunrise which was pretty neat. For a decidedly country mouse, running in the city was a fun change of pace. I still don't like waiting at crosswalks, but I saw so many people running and that was really refreshing. The whole gamut of runners were out, especially on Sunday. I passed a bunch of ladies waddling in their yoga pants and jackets, and then definitely got lapped by some Columbia runners out for a workout. It was exciting and motivating, and had I not been so exhausted from the work week and the demands of the weekend, I would have stayed in the park for hours.

While I was not running or learning about running, the boyfriend and I got out to explore the city a little bit. We ate at Chinese, Italian and Cuban restaurants and saw the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. We also visited with a good friend and saw her new apartment. We did a lot of walking and exploring. I've always been and will always be a Boston girl, but it was a weekend well spent in the city that never sleeps.

Rachel "Level 1" Runner

A tale of two turkey trots (Part 2)

Confession time: I got cold feet...

…literally and figuratively. I didn't run my turkey trot this Thanksgiving. I signed up a few days before Thanksgiving, but in reality, I hadn't been running a lot, I was unprepared to deal with the cold, and to top it all off, I got sick. Even though I wasn't feeling well the night before, I planned to race and I even had my racing clothes all laid out. But on Thanksgiving morning, I wasn't up for it. I'm going to be honest: part of me was afraid of racing when I knew I wasn't ready. But a part of me was actually not ready. I made the right choice not to run, but since Robyn and I had already named our blog posts "A tale of two turkey trots," I knew that I'd have to report back here. In the end, my entry fee helped support a local food bank so all was not lost.

Feeling bummed that I couldn't follow through on my turkey trot, I've rededicated myself to running. During the holiday season when it's often hard to stay motivated and people worry about overeating, Runner's World sponsors a run streak, where runners run at least 1 mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years. I'm in on this, and hopefully it will keep me outside in the cold while I build some milage before my spring training cycle starts.

To kick off my run streak, I needed to get a little silly. I wanted to conquer the cold, but unfortunately I hadn't brought enough layers to stay warm on my run. So I threw together the silliest outfit I could find with a little help from my family,  and headed out for a photo shoot with my dad pre-run.

Pictured here: Mizuno Wave Riders, my mom's old Smartwool socks, my new Oiselle Lesley Knicker, my brother's oversized soccer warm up top, and my team's new headband. I looked ridiculous but it gave me enough giggles to get in a good run. I ended up ditching the top layer less than a mile into the run. The general rule of thumb for cold-weather running is to dress for up to 20 degrees warmer than it feels. I've known this forever, but I needed a reminder that the cold isn't that bad or intolerable. This was a great run on some of my favorite trails and it completely set me straight for the rest of the month.

Going forward, I'm excited to say that I think I've picked a marathon training plan and a marathon for the spring! I'm thinking the Cox Providence Marathon in early May. It's a fast and flat course, not too far from me and it has pacers. This is an important aspect for me for my first marathon, so that I'm not running for hours and hours on my own. The training plan I've picked is a Hal Higdon program. It's the Intermediate 1 plan. There's no speed work, but the long runs get up to 20 miles. Since this will be my first attempt, I'm going to focus on just finishing, and then I can reassess to see how my training can help me get to the next level.

So even though Thanksgiving was almost a complete bust, I haven't given up. I'm not a speed work kind of gal, so I would much rather stick to a plan that has me running far than fast. Especially for a marathon, I have to be committed and willing to do the work. For now, I'm just building up my base of miles, but on January 1st it's go time.

Happy holidays and happy running!

Rachel "loves all kinds of streaking" Runner

A tale of two turkey trots (Part 1)

Twas the eve before Thanksgiving and 60 degree rain poured about, an unseasonably warm day in New Hampshire, no doubt. The racing flats were placed in the entryway with care, in hopes that the cold front would stop in midair.

Unfortunately, no amount of thanksgiving-tainted Christmas poetry could change the weather forecast for the turkey trot that I raced this year. Back in August I had decided that my long-term goal would be to break 5 minutes in the mile by the time I turned 25. At the time I had just taken nearly a month off of running to study for the GRE and apply to PhD programs (and escape the Baltimore summer heat), so I was in desperate need of an aerobic base. I thought the best - and most motivating - way to get mileage up was to train for a 5K. Last year I ran the Portsmouth Turkey Trot with my family. My mom was in a neck brace but took it off to run. My dad had thrown out his back the day before but ran anyway. I had done about one speedwork in the past three months but still managed to set a road 5K PR. My brother bailed on us but we gave him crap for the past 365 days so he ran it in 2013. This year he's in the midst of a 50 day running streak. They make me look a little more normal, huh?

This year, I had hoped to be in (just barely) sub-19 shape, which would be a roughly 25 second PR from my track 5K. Based on my speedwork I feel like I have the fitness to at least attempt sub-19 right now. I worked my repeat 800's down from 3:00 to 2:53ish (which was my criteria for "in shape") and in my tapering 400 workouts I was consistently 75-77 on my own and not on a track, also a good sign. Therefore, it was rather disappointing that the weather decided to work against me at this turkey trot. Not that I'm making excuses, I'm still happy with the 20:23 that I ended up running, but something about 20 degree weather with 25mph winds doesn't make for a fast day. It came down to frozen limbs and lungs holding me back, but I still managed to pull out an age group win meaning I walked away with a Dunks gift card and a necklace from a local jeweler. Not a bad outcome by any measure.

My crazy family:

Kevin: (the guy in the "LOCO" singlet, center, with me off his shoulder) 

Refuses to run in pants. Ever. 

If it's minus 10 degrees he wears two pairs of shorts.

Linda: (on right) My 54 year old mother who finished only 30 seconds behind me and won her age group.

Mickel: (center, LOCO singlet) My dad and exercise-induced asthma partner-in-crime.

Me: Competing with the turkey mascot for puffiest outfit of the day.

I ran track with Rachel (middle) in high school.

Until next time,
Robyn "Doesn't like cold but is from NH" Runner