Found this great list of advice. Enjoy!
Friday, January 23, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
latest running notes
Gooooooood morning and a very happy MLK day! I have started it off with an easy 6 mile run. NJ has great running weather in the winter. It was a bit icy today, but still great nonetheless.
A few weeks ago, my friend and I went out for our (now) weekly run and when we came in I was incredibly itchy. She has a cat so I thought that might have had something to do with it, but when I got in my car I was still ridiculously uncomfortable. I got home and showered, and realized my legs were quite red. I did a lot of googling and found that the top layer of my skin had begun to freeze. Yikes! I think the windchill that day was -2 or 2. I had two layers on top, but only one on the bottom, which is why it only affected my legs. But lesson learned: layer layer layer! I ran a 10K the following Saturday and wore two layers on bottom. It was also stupid cold that day, but I was completely warm during the run, and did not have any leg-freezing symptoms.
I mentioned before that I wanted to PR all of my standard race distances this year. I am 1/1 so far :). I ran the 10K comfortably without paying much attention to my watch, but at mile 5 I realized I could probably PR. At mile 6 I realized it was a definite possibility and I fought for it. I PRd by 22 seconds. It was a small PR, but a PR in any case. The Central Park loop has a fair amount of hills, and my last PR was set in 2012, so I would say its a sufficient improvement. The 2012 PR was an 18 s improvement off the previous one (2010).
I am officially (I guess?) marathon training. I have a full in 14 weeks. I have developed my own long run schedule, because I want to run without walk breaks (and in turn, PR by a landslide) and have planned out training accordingly. I am going to piece together the weekday runs using other plans. I think I will stick with 4 days a week. That schedule works well for me (and my science) and I think it prevents burnout and keeps my legs happy and injury free. That I am about to ramp up mileage means that I successfully stayed in running shape between seasons :). That was another goal of mine. My frequency slowed down a bit the first few weeks of December because of conference travel and personal travel, but I was able to keep in shape with other workouts and definitely never had to feel that first-day-back feeling. Its absolutely amazing to me what we can accomplish when we make it a priority.
I am coming up on my 29th birthday! I'm pretty excited about that and I want to enter the last year of my 20s in great physical shape so that the year can be spent focusing on other specific fitness goals. I took a photo on my way out for a run the other day. It was intended to be a "before" but I sent it to my bud, who said he was completely motivated by it (and my midsection lol). That made me feel so good. What I want people to know is that you just have to do a little bit consistently. I have been running about 3x a week, no longer than 5 miles with the exception of the race. When I do other workouts they are 30 min or less. I have been eating way too much sugar, and I may or may not have eaten an entire pizza a few weekends ago along with a whole bottle of wine (and it was great lol). But 80% of the time I try to do what I'm supposed to do, and do a short workout when I don't feel like it, as opposed to nothing at all. The little things add up. So be encouraged! Now that you don't have to be perfect you can be good.
And lastly, I got a great message in my inbox this morning from a friend who just signed up for her first marathon :). She has definitely done the hardest part. I think we often make things so much harder than they are, but she has chosen not to. I couldn't be happier for her.
See you on the pavement! Happy running!
A few weeks ago, my friend and I went out for our (now) weekly run and when we came in I was incredibly itchy. She has a cat so I thought that might have had something to do with it, but when I got in my car I was still ridiculously uncomfortable. I got home and showered, and realized my legs were quite red. I did a lot of googling and found that the top layer of my skin had begun to freeze. Yikes! I think the windchill that day was -2 or 2. I had two layers on top, but only one on the bottom, which is why it only affected my legs. But lesson learned: layer layer layer! I ran a 10K the following Saturday and wore two layers on bottom. It was also stupid cold that day, but I was completely warm during the run, and did not have any leg-freezing symptoms.
I mentioned before that I wanted to PR all of my standard race distances this year. I am 1/1 so far :). I ran the 10K comfortably without paying much attention to my watch, but at mile 5 I realized I could probably PR. At mile 6 I realized it was a definite possibility and I fought for it. I PRd by 22 seconds. It was a small PR, but a PR in any case. The Central Park loop has a fair amount of hills, and my last PR was set in 2012, so I would say its a sufficient improvement. The 2012 PR was an 18 s improvement off the previous one (2010).
I am officially (I guess?) marathon training. I have a full in 14 weeks. I have developed my own long run schedule, because I want to run without walk breaks (and in turn, PR by a landslide) and have planned out training accordingly. I am going to piece together the weekday runs using other plans. I think I will stick with 4 days a week. That schedule works well for me (and my science) and I think it prevents burnout and keeps my legs happy and injury free. That I am about to ramp up mileage means that I successfully stayed in running shape between seasons :). That was another goal of mine. My frequency slowed down a bit the first few weeks of December because of conference travel and personal travel, but I was able to keep in shape with other workouts and definitely never had to feel that first-day-back feeling. Its absolutely amazing to me what we can accomplish when we make it a priority.
I am coming up on my 29th birthday! I'm pretty excited about that and I want to enter the last year of my 20s in great physical shape so that the year can be spent focusing on other specific fitness goals. I took a photo on my way out for a run the other day. It was intended to be a "before" but I sent it to my bud, who said he was completely motivated by it (and my midsection lol). That made me feel so good. What I want people to know is that you just have to do a little bit consistently. I have been running about 3x a week, no longer than 5 miles with the exception of the race. When I do other workouts they are 30 min or less. I have been eating way too much sugar, and I may or may not have eaten an entire pizza a few weekends ago along with a whole bottle of wine (and it was great lol). But 80% of the time I try to do what I'm supposed to do, and do a short workout when I don't feel like it, as opposed to nothing at all. The little things add up. So be encouraged! Now that you don't have to be perfect you can be good.
And lastly, I got a great message in my inbox this morning from a friend who just signed up for her first marathon :). She has definitely done the hardest part. I think we often make things so much harder than they are, but she has chosen not to. I couldn't be happier for her.
See you on the pavement! Happy running!
Monday, January 5, 2015
Happy New Year!
Monday Funday!!
Have a great Monday, January, and 2015. Make this the year you prioritize your health. Take it to the next level and be your best you! Here's to 2015!!
Have a great Monday, January, and 2015. Make this the year you prioritize your health. Take it to the next level and be your best you! Here's to 2015!!
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
hello!
Hello there! It's December now, whoops lol.
Fitness update: I ran the Philly marathon, completing my mission to run 3 halves and 3 fulls this year. I feel like the mission was accomplished once I signed up. Next year I will set the bar a bit higher as far as attainability, i.e. I will set goals that I know I may fail at. Actually one of those goals is to run a sub 4:20. I also want to PR my 5K, 10K, and run a sub 2:00 half. And there are my 2015 goals lol.
Another thing I really want to work at is staying in running shape in between training sessions. Normally I train for a marathon, run the marathon, get incredibly out of running shape, repeat. The first day of marathon training is usually a 3 mile run and I usually struggle through that run at an incredibly slow pace. I'd like to not start my next training plan that way. I think a good baseline level of fitness is 8 miles. When I can run 8 miles easy, I race well. So this is the goal. I am learning that this may not be as difficult as I think. After Hartford, my training really slowed down (work and traveling), but I was still able to break 4:40 for Philly. Anything less than 4:40 is a good run for me. And after Philly, I had another small hiatus, so I expected to run slow for the 15K (9.3 miles) I had this weekend, but I ran a really good pace, 7 seconds per mile faster than the 10 M race I did when I was training. Again I'm seeing that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.
Best of luck with your goals for 2015!
Fitness update: I ran the Philly marathon, completing my mission to run 3 halves and 3 fulls this year. I feel like the mission was accomplished once I signed up. Next year I will set the bar a bit higher as far as attainability, i.e. I will set goals that I know I may fail at. Actually one of those goals is to run a sub 4:20. I also want to PR my 5K, 10K, and run a sub 2:00 half. And there are my 2015 goals lol.
Another thing I really want to work at is staying in running shape in between training sessions. Normally I train for a marathon, run the marathon, get incredibly out of running shape, repeat. The first day of marathon training is usually a 3 mile run and I usually struggle through that run at an incredibly slow pace. I'd like to not start my next training plan that way. I think a good baseline level of fitness is 8 miles. When I can run 8 miles easy, I race well. So this is the goal. I am learning that this may not be as difficult as I think. After Hartford, my training really slowed down (work and traveling), but I was still able to break 4:40 for Philly. Anything less than 4:40 is a good run for me. And after Philly, I had another small hiatus, so I expected to run slow for the 15K (9.3 miles) I had this weekend, but I ran a really good pace, 7 seconds per mile faster than the 10 M race I did when I was training. Again I'm seeing that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.
Best of luck with your goals for 2015!
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
the rambling that comes from running on fumes
The other day I wondered if I was in the best shape of my life. I decided I am close. It's a difficult thing to define, though. What constitutes best shape? Is it lowest weight (no)? Is it PRing in a race? Is it overall fitness? Is it body fat percentage? Hard to define, as is everything. But I'm just going to continue on this journey until I can definitely know. And then I will continue again...
On Saturday I ran the Hartford Marathon. All summer I envisioned that it would be beautiful. I didn't look up much because it was raining. I love running in the rain so I was excited about the forecast. Unfortunately I didn't really pay much attention to the temperature; It was in the 40s and 50s. My legs (quads) definitely went numb. A skirt was not enough. I felt that I ran strong, especially at the finish. I still have not run a marathon without stopping, but I'm getting there. I definitely wasn't crawling across the finish line. I ran the last 3 miles very strong, the last 2 I was flying. I would bet i ran sub 9's. I can't confirm because my Garmin mistook my wet sleeve for my finger and deleted all of my history around mile 23 :-/. Anyway, the race felt really good. I never walked more than a few minutes, and I think that bodes well for my next.
Oh, I did something a bit whacky and ran a half the next day. New York Road Runners is the best thing that ever happened to my running, seriously. The Staten Island half was Sunday and when I realized this earlier in the year, I felt a strong desire to run it anyway. It is part of the five borough series and I wanted to run it. I asked my more senior running friends for advice and one of them told me to go for it, that I'd be fine. Lots of people do the Goofy Challenge at Disney (a half followed by a full), so I figured this would be similar. With respect to recovery, maybe a bit more risky, but 39.3 miles in two days is 39.3 miles in two days. So I signed up. My friend told me to take the races easy and run happy. I ran the marathon in 4:33, which is about "average" when I'm properly trained pending weather. I bag checked protein so I could start the recovery right away. I was a bit stiff on Saturday, but noticed that once I was moving I felt fine. I figured worse come to worse I would just walk parts of the half. It went better than I expected though! When I ran the first mile, I felt painfully slow, but I looked at my splits later and it really wasn't. I think I felt each step a little more than usual, but overall it was a good race. I actually never stopped in spite of the hills. And when I got to mile 13 and realize I could break 2:10, I went for it. I finished in 2:10:01 lol. I have a bit of pain in my left knee, but I am fairly sure it is not cause for concern; I think after running a marathon (and a half) something ought to be sore lol. I'm resting up this week, though, as I always do the week post marathon, so we will see how it feels next week.
The body is a phenomenal thing. We can do anything if we just try.
Happy resting.
On Saturday I ran the Hartford Marathon. All summer I envisioned that it would be beautiful. I didn't look up much because it was raining. I love running in the rain so I was excited about the forecast. Unfortunately I didn't really pay much attention to the temperature; It was in the 40s and 50s. My legs (quads) definitely went numb. A skirt was not enough. I felt that I ran strong, especially at the finish. I still have not run a marathon without stopping, but I'm getting there. I definitely wasn't crawling across the finish line. I ran the last 3 miles very strong, the last 2 I was flying. I would bet i ran sub 9's. I can't confirm because my Garmin mistook my wet sleeve for my finger and deleted all of my history around mile 23 :-/. Anyway, the race felt really good. I never walked more than a few minutes, and I think that bodes well for my next.
Oh, I did something a bit whacky and ran a half the next day. New York Road Runners is the best thing that ever happened to my running, seriously. The Staten Island half was Sunday and when I realized this earlier in the year, I felt a strong desire to run it anyway. It is part of the five borough series and I wanted to run it. I asked my more senior running friends for advice and one of them told me to go for it, that I'd be fine. Lots of people do the Goofy Challenge at Disney (a half followed by a full), so I figured this would be similar. With respect to recovery, maybe a bit more risky, but 39.3 miles in two days is 39.3 miles in two days. So I signed up. My friend told me to take the races easy and run happy. I ran the marathon in 4:33, which is about "average" when I'm properly trained pending weather. I bag checked protein so I could start the recovery right away. I was a bit stiff on Saturday, but noticed that once I was moving I felt fine. I figured worse come to worse I would just walk parts of the half. It went better than I expected though! When I ran the first mile, I felt painfully slow, but I looked at my splits later and it really wasn't. I think I felt each step a little more than usual, but overall it was a good race. I actually never stopped in spite of the hills. And when I got to mile 13 and realize I could break 2:10, I went for it. I finished in 2:10:01 lol. I have a bit of pain in my left knee, but I am fairly sure it is not cause for concern; I think after running a marathon (and a half) something ought to be sore lol. I'm resting up this week, though, as I always do the week post marathon, so we will see how it feels next week.
The body is a phenomenal thing. We can do anything if we just try.
Happy resting.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Why I love Serena Williams
I have found myself discussing this frequently as of late, so I've decided to dedicate an entire blog post to it :o).
I love Serena Williams. I am inspired by her athleticism. She's a phenomenal athlete and seems to be getting better with time. She makes it very easy to be a fan.
I love a lot of other things about her too. I remember when I was younger, and she and Venus started gaining fame, I heard so many racist and rude comments about her and her body. It's sad to me that for some people she, as a woman, is just reduced to what she looks like, regardless of how powerful and strong she physically is. But such is the world we live in. I actually find her body very attractive (though again, her athletic ability is FAR more important and relevant in my opinion), and it is actually quite similar to my own. Beauty can take many forms, and to me strong is beautiful. The mass that many black women naturally have is different than so called "standards" of beauty that society generally holds. But it's great that Serena is different and yet beautiful in her own, unique way. It's a very positive thing for young girls with our shape to see and love.
I love her for her passion. I know there are many frowny faces regarding her behavior at times, and that's understandable. There are many athletes I can't get into because of what I perceive to be their character. But I am inclined to believe that her actions mostly always stem from her passion for her sport. She was just as elated to win her 18th Grand Slam as she was her 1st. And she is equally frustrated when she loses. I think this is a great character trait. And for those times she has clearly gone overboard, I can forgive her. We forgive people all the time for things much worse, and we should. She's human too.
I love her for believing in herself. She is the minority in a sport of majorities, but she believes in herself. This is something that obviously resonates quite heavily with me (I am a black (and female) mathematician. We are few). I often talk about how being the "only" is constant silent reinforcement that you shouldn't be there. "No one else like me has succeeded in this. Why should I think that I will?" But she does. She gives it her all anyway. And because of her, there are countless other people who are letting her show them that they can succeed too.
I love Serena Williams. May you be as inspired by your favorite athlete <3.
I love Serena Williams. I am inspired by her athleticism. She's a phenomenal athlete and seems to be getting better with time. She makes it very easy to be a fan.
I love a lot of other things about her too. I remember when I was younger, and she and Venus started gaining fame, I heard so many racist and rude comments about her and her body. It's sad to me that for some people she, as a woman, is just reduced to what she looks like, regardless of how powerful and strong she physically is. But such is the world we live in. I actually find her body very attractive (though again, her athletic ability is FAR more important and relevant in my opinion), and it is actually quite similar to my own. Beauty can take many forms, and to me strong is beautiful. The mass that many black women naturally have is different than so called "standards" of beauty that society generally holds. But it's great that Serena is different and yet beautiful in her own, unique way. It's a very positive thing for young girls with our shape to see and love.
I love her for her passion. I know there are many frowny faces regarding her behavior at times, and that's understandable. There are many athletes I can't get into because of what I perceive to be their character. But I am inclined to believe that her actions mostly always stem from her passion for her sport. She was just as elated to win her 18th Grand Slam as she was her 1st. And she is equally frustrated when she loses. I think this is a great character trait. And for those times she has clearly gone overboard, I can forgive her. We forgive people all the time for things much worse, and we should. She's human too.
I love her for believing in herself. She is the minority in a sport of majorities, but she believes in herself. This is something that obviously resonates quite heavily with me (I am a black (and female) mathematician. We are few). I often talk about how being the "only" is constant silent reinforcement that you shouldn't be there. "No one else like me has succeeded in this. Why should I think that I will?" But she does. She gives it her all anyway. And because of her, there are countless other people who are letting her show them that they can succeed too.
I love Serena Williams. May you be as inspired by your favorite athlete <3.
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