Tag Archive | marathon training

Berlin Marathon, yey or nay?

Jul18

I am the ultimate worst at making any personal decisions!

keanu-reeves

I have the chance to do Berlin this year. I’d have to register in less than 3 weeks.

ME: I really have no interest in doing another marathon / Ugh, the frigging long runs

Myself: What if I could have a new PR??? All indicates I could PR. Last time I had a Marathon PR (3:27, also in Berlin) my half time was 1:44, now I am down to 1:36 (did TWO 1:36s this year). And I had PRed at the half in the second half of Berlin with 1:40. I am sure a PR is a given now. Finish time calculations put me anything from 3:15 to 3:21. Which would be insane!!! I actually never thought of PRing ever again since Berlin 2012.

ME: But…  have 9 weeks to train, and I haven’t done any long runs in 2 years. The longest I’ve done is the 3 halves I’ve run this year and a couple of 15 milers in the winter.

Myself: It’ll go super quick, you only have 9 weeks of long runs!

ME: I need rest. I am exhausted. I haven’t taken a week off or an easy week since my trip to Italy last November!

Myself: Ok, it’s happening. This week. While we decide.

rob lowe

For now, I am taking this week as an EASY week. While I think. Easy weeks are harder than Marathon Training. And I HATE marathon training…

Here we go

fuck it

 

Giveaway: customized Official NYRR ING New York City Marathon Online Training Program (or for a half marathon!)

Jun28

I used this program twice already, for the 2011 Footlocker Five Boro Challenge NYC Marathon, and then this year for the NYC Half. You enter ALL your running information in there and it gives you a predicted finish time. You get a (weekly or daily) email with the  workouts and you have an online hub where everything is recorded, listed and explained. If, midway through the program, you run a race and want to adjust your times, you can do that! It’s really cool because you can customize with your personal history and data, but also with races and times that happen thru the training, and keep it realistic. Plus, it gave me workouts I had never tried before… It also predicted I’d run a 1:35, which I thought was ridiculous (my last halves had hovered around 1:42s); and, I did 1:35:37!! I definitely recommend it. Also, you get the support of all the NYRR coaches, so, why not?

For this giveaway, we have available a program for NYCM marathon OR any half marathon.

You have THREE chances to play and win:

– Post below a comment: what you will be training for starting July 15 and why you’d like to win it, and maybe what you think your training needs help with = 1 entry

– Follow me on twitter, comment below you did so and your username = 1 entry

– Follow this blog via email (bottom right in the bar there –> on the right), comment below you did so = 1 entry

Every entry counts, do all 3!!! The 16-weeks program starts Monday, July 15th., so on July 8th we’ll randomly select a  winner! Super easy, right? Go for it and, also, share!

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And in case you want to keep reading about the Official NYRR ING New York City Marathon Online Training Program here is more info, and their website:

The Official ING New York City Marathon Training Program is unlike any other; it uses data you provide about your fitness level, race experience, and scheduling needs to generate a workout schedule that will prepare you to run your race. Input your age, gender, training history, race results, and schedule to start training like a pro for November 3, 2013. You’ll be able to set realistic goals, and your online program will adjust as your fitness changes.

Other marathon training plans are neither dynamic nor flexible, they don’t cater to your schedule, and they aren’t specific to the ING New York City Marathon course. Our program uses proprietary insights from the NYRR marathon-finisher database and unique knowledge of the NYC course to get you on track. Let our experts take you all the way to the Central Park finish line!

Mission Accomplished: I am a Certified Track and Field Coach! Now what?

Dec7

Two weekends ago I attended the Track and Field 21.5 hours certification course. Over the past week I was determined to read the material before I started with the online test. The test was 200 questions… One coach on twitter told me he did it in 3 hours… hm… the instructors had warned us that  some questions were tricky.

By Friday, coming back to the city from a ridiculous Thanksgiving OverEatingFest, I decided to tackle it anyway, I had read nothing and if I waited, I’d never get around to it. I wasn’t 100% sure about some of the topics, mostly the jumps and the throws, but jumped (ha) right into it.

They were really tricky, the wording was unstable to say the least. I had to reread a few of them outloud! 200 questions. 80% had to be right. So I’d be fine with getting just 160 right… it took me a while, NOT 3 hours. Basically big chunks of Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. I am sure you’re doubting my brains right now… I might have been a bit overparanoid with the trickiness and English not being my native language…

Then, I was done, press “Grade my Exam”, closed my eyes, and:

Congratulations on successfully completing the USA Track & Field Level 1 Coaching Education program!

You scored a 97.5% on the exam, which is a passing score. Hopefully by having passed the exam, as well as having attended the classroom instruction, you have a better understanding of coaching concepts for track & field.

ehem… that’s just 5 wrong answers in 200! Quite happy with that! These were the topics on the course and exam:

Topic Philosophy, Ethics, and Risk Management Psychology Physiology Biomechanics Training Theory Biomotor Training for the Speed and Power Events The Sprint Events The Hurdle Events The Relay Events The Jumping Events The Throwing Events The Endurance Events The Racewalking Events 

Well, there went two weekends! As for my coaching future, there’ll be some updates soon.  As for my own training, I am now really going to pour over some of the new physiology and training theory I learned (and all the interesting stuff they give us access to online!!!) and create all my workouts for the first half of next year. The decision is made: I am going to focus on the half marathon again, as I did this year. No Spring marathon for me, again. And, what I did this year worked, but that doesn’t mean it’ll work next year. Workouts will be adjusted based on goals, pace, fitness level, etc. As soon as it’s all ready, I’ll share, I promise! Here we go.

Mission Accomplished: I am a Certified Track and Field Coach! Now what?

FITTEST

Dec6

This is really hard for me to write, acknowledge and also say outloud, but here it goes. I hope it doesn’t sound horrible. But I think I have to say it. Outloud.

I have never ever ever been FITTER. In my life. I am the fastest, lightest, smoothest, efficient I’ve ever been.
 
Why is that so hard to say? Yes, well, it sounds horrendous to everybody else, but it’s probably because maybe I don’t feel like I deserve it, or that I did enough to get here, or at least enough in everybody else’s eyes… Or something. It’s hard to say. And having had sooo many injuries in the past year, and not PRing for 16 months, this is a huge mental game change.
 
I just feel it. It’s like the wiriness I felt before the marathon, it’s palpable. And sometimes we feel feit, but there is nothing tangible. There is proof in this case. 
 
It is not just that I PRed like nothing in Berlin, and felt amazing, great, and in control and no pain.
I also PRed a week before, doing the Fifth Avenue Mile, and it felt effortless, like I was gliding.
 
My runs since, have been phenomenal. And faster than ever. Even on dirt.
And I really feel it, like I am in some kind of virtual world, where my weight is ok, my endurance is there, where my pace is effortless and efficient…
 
I never thought I could be in control of what shape I was on. I just run. Some days slow, some days ok. I feel like now have a handle on it what is happening with my body. And I don’t think I’ve done much to create the change, but the change is really palpable. Or that I just can’t believe it and adjust to it.
 
It’s amazing. I want to write a poem but it would make no sense. I am just going to keep running.

FITTEST

Size?? Who Cares, It’s Monster Month!

Aug30

Last week I was trying on a cute skirt at a store, I poked my head out and ask the girl there Do these come in anything smaller than a zero?

There was a long line of women waiting for the fitting rooms. They ALL turned around and stared at me. ALL of them. Some gasped. You’d think I had just screamed bloody murder. 

I was hopping they’d have a 00 or something… As soon as I get out, and told my friend about it, how everyone turned as if I had said something ridiculous, she said the problem is you live in a fantasy world where that is normal. how many of your friends are non-runners?

Really? NOT all runners are skinny. And my sister is way tinier than me and she’s not a runner… at all. But I guess I got used to having people around that don’t get shocked by that and/or are not so judgemental…! SO glad runners (and MOST people I know!) love their bodies for what they can push them through and the milestones they can help them achieve and not just because of what they look like!!!!!!

PS: Monster Month is doing a number on me. With 40 days to go, and the highest mileage, and most intense speed, I keep losing weight everyday no matter how much I eat. It’s that month of the year when nothing fits right but everything looks good. Pretty confusing for my wardrobe. Glad it’s summer though!

Size?? Who Cares, It’s Monster Month!