Endless tomorrows

I thought not of the day's worries and sorrows but rather my mind filled with flurries of endless tomorrows. 

As I sit in a seminar, contemplating how long it will take me to finish my experiments this afternoon, I waffle about whether to run 8 or 10 miles later today. My hip flexor felt a little tight this morning on my walk in, perhaps I should just do 8, my legs need a little rest. "Just do 8? Who is writing this blog?", you ask, perplexed. Certainly it can't be the quality-not-quantity middle distance runner you've grown to know. 

"It is still me!" I exclaim, a newly minted mileage buff. The past couple of months I have been flirting just above and below 60 mile weeks, and partially adopted a naive sense of being part of the club. The club of long distance runners, marathoners, those undergoing the real trial of miles. I don't want to mislead you, I am very aware that I'm not running high mileage. BUT I have been running high Robyn mileage. In other words, I've (finally) figured out a training regimen that does not result in physical breakdown over 40 miles per week. 

No, I'm not moving up to marathons (or 10Ks for that matter), I'm still focused on breaking 5:00 in the mile. August is wrapping up and I have just a few more weeks of my mileage base before I transition to lactate threshold and tempo work - sticking in the 50's for weekly miles. I'm not sure how my indoor track season will pan out, but it's fun to find new comfortable states in my training. Especially finding a way to reliably increase my volume by a whopping 25-30 miles per week. I still surprise myself when I think of an 8 mile run as an easy day, however, there are many training challenges to come... I'm just going to savor this feeling for now. 

PS - Random destination run recommendation: Niagara Falls, Toronto side at 7-8am (before the tourists!) to the butterfly gardens

PPS - If you're curious, the main 3 changes to my training are:

1. Inhaler - controlling my asthma has drastically improved my recovery between training runs

2. Hip circuit - religious strengthening & range of motion exercises 3x per week has kept me moving relatively pain free

3. Dairy - this delicious food group makes me feel ill/fatigued, so now, sadly, I eat less of it. (<3 cheese forever)

On Not Running Alone

After my marathon, it took me a while to feel like my runs had purpose again. Physically, I was fine after about a week of rest. But emotionally, I was really tired for a while. The amount of time I spent thinking about my race, the focus on each individual workout and the pressure of one goal really wore me down. Once I started running again, it felt refreshing to run without a goal. But I also felt a little lost. Throughout high school, college and even since graduating, I have rarely run without some race in mind. This has been the first extended period of time where I have been running more or less aimlessly. It wasn't until very recently that I even had an answer to the question "when is your next race?"

So I found motivation in other places. In the beauty of Vermont and the respite from intense academic work during my grad school program. In the stories and humor of podcasts. And in new and old friendships that spanned the miles. As we gear up for another cross country season, I've been reflecting upon my friendships that make running such a pleasure. I, and we as harriers, run for any number of reasons, but the company that make the miles fly by is by far one of the best motivators.

As always, I spent many runs this summer with bestie and training partner Jillian. I could always count on her to cheer me up, or to motivate me up another hill. In grad school I met another cross country coach and super speedster, also named Rachel, who showed me numerous new beautiful running routes. She was kind enough to let me tag along on her easy days and it was on these runs that we became close friends. The bonds you create with someone while sweating together is unmatched. I found this to hold true on a run one weekend with fellow Colby xc alums. We were gathered at Robyn's lake house for her birthday (happy birthday Robyn!!) and a bunch of us headed out on an out and back trail run. We were all surprised at how fast the time flew by while we were trotting and catching each other up on our lives. I unfortunately don't get to see these friends nearly as often as I would like, so getting to run with them is extra special. Once back to CT, I caught up with the boys xc coach for a trail run one muggy afternoon. We headed out on our favorite trail, and under the shade of the summer foliage we traded stories of our summers and compared plans for our upcoming cross country seasons. Having a buddy to slog through the miles and bounce ideas off of really fired me up for the fall.

With the start of cross country season comes the opportunity to run with many new "friends," my runners. Over these past few years, I've formed the strongest bonds with my runners because we are out there working, sweating, struggling and celebrating together in a way that I can't with my classroom students. Coaching these girls and our daily runs are the highlights of every autumn and of my job in general. And I know that for them as well, not running alone also pays off in spades for their races and their friendships. This is why I have been running all summer.

Summer miles bring fall smiles,
Rachel Runner

Runcationing

It's true, the best and fastest way to explore a new place is by running. Unfortunately, I can't stand running with my phone so usually the cool places I visit go undocumented. Earlier this summer I was in Newport, RI for the first time and enjoyed a run/hop/skip along the cliff walk. Unfortunately, no T Swift sightings. Ran to something called Purgatory Chasm, wicked cool spot on the ocean, wish I'd brought a camera for that one. I was there for a scientific conference, so I also went for a walk on the cliff walk (what a crazy notion) with some colleagues and took pictures then. The views were incredible...

Newport Cliff Walk

This past weekend I was in beautiful Bar Harbor for a quick vacation with Ben's extended family. We ran around Eagle Lake on Saturday which brought back all sorts of memories for me;  huffing up the hills in my one-speed Huffy back in the day with my family, the final "long run" (it's 6 miles) we took the campers on for Colby XC camp, doing LTP with friends after said long run, dangerously hurdling the gates with terrible form, and chatting with the sub-4 miler crew of guys filming a documentary up there. I've been battling a hamstring/IT band issue for about 6wks now (although pretended it was fine the first 4 of 6), so I and Ben's brother opted for rental bikes Sunday and accompanied Ben on his long run. After biking to the trailhead, we set off. All was rainbows and butterflies and fun downhills until we started going up. And up. And up. Turns out we picked a loop that included going up Sargent mountain and we ended up on continuous incline for 2 miles. Woof. Jumping on a bike for the first time in a year should not have involved climbing a mountain. We didn't manage to get sunshine for either of the days we were there but it was serene and wonderful as always. Glad to get this healthy dose of trails and nature.

Bubble Pond

View from our room at the Bar Harbor Inn

Eagle Lake

Until next time,
Robyn "running wild" Runner

Hitting the Trails

Recently I've been getting off the roads and hitting the trails. I'm really digging the scenery, the shade, and the post-run tick checks. Embarrassingly, I'm not the best at remembering to apply sunscreen before I head out on my runs, so if I'm running in the woods I can at least feel a little better about all the sun exposure I'm getting. One of my favorite parts of trail running is that you work hard for your run. You need to stay focused and maneuver the trails and because of this, it never gets boring. My Garmin watch doesn't love the trails so I often just run a timer and forget about my pace. These are the days that remind me why I love to run. It's not everyday I wake up and instantly want to hit the trails, but when they're beautiful and not sweltering hot, I just can't resist.

Since I'm into this whole being a responsible runner thing, I always bring my cellphone with me now, for safety and for music. The bonus is that I get to document all of my noteworthy and particularly verdant runs. This June, I have run on trails in Lincoln, MA (bike trails and Mt. Misery), Dover, MA for Father's Day:

Noanet Woodlands

Squinty family (minus Mom), Oiselle, and Boston in the background

Newly blazed and beautiful trails in Pomfret, CT:

A muggy morning run in Portland, ME, while visiting fellow CCTF teammates: 

Back Cove Panorama

My old stomping grounds in Concord, MA: 

Old Rifle Range

Obligatory selfie. Go Mules!

And attended a wedding on a beautiful estate in Virginia, where I got completely lost and loved exploring the winding paths:

Goodstone Inn trails

Post run, what a handsome date.

Up next, I'm headed to Vermont for 6 weeks of grad school and hopefully many more trails!