hello everyone!
mary, sorry to hear that you didn't get today off.
but congrats on that awesome pace run and your 17-miler!
like you, i don't have too much exciting to report to the blog crew. this weekend i ran a 16-miler along the charles river. (next weekend i plan to jump up to 20).
this morning's run was fabulous (fyi, that's sarcasm). i didn't think it was raining too hard....so decided to go out again to the river (since i had run on a treadmill yesterday and couldn't bear the thought of another run on that machine). anyways, so at first it was fine....raining somewhat steadily but all in all, not too bad. then i crossed to the cambridge side and was heading in the opposite direction and it was like all hell broke lose. the sky opened up and rain just poured down. and the wind was insane. the raindrops were literally stinging my face.......it sucked so much i almost had to laugh out loud during the run. but nonetheless i finished the mileage i wanted to do. and spent the rest of the day warm and cozy in my tufts sweatshirt.
by the way, am i allowed to ask what everyone's goal times are for boston? and has everyone on this blog already run a marathon?
as for me, i'm taking this marathon as a 'let's see what i can do with limited training'....in other marathons, i've been much more insane with my preparation (track workouts, running journal, hill workouts, etc.).....but i've decided to go easy this go-around.
well....hope everyone had a good 3 or 2-day weekend.
keep up the good work ladies! almost to the 2-month mark!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Successful Weekend
I don't have anything exciting to post....I am sort of just procrastinating at work. (I work for an unpatriotic company that doesn't give us President's day off. Or Patriot's Day! WTF?) BUT I am going to share my most recent triumph. On Friday I did my 9 mile pace run. I averaged 7:42 (goal is 7:40-7:50) with a bit of a fast start, a couple 7:50's in the middle but a 7:30 last mile. And I felt fantastic. It was the best pace run I've had yet. The next day I did 17 and felt decent considering the pace run the day before. So it seems the hard work is paying off after a difficult couple of weeks (the long skiing break probably helped too).
How is everyone else handling the increased mileage? Please report your adventures! Even though running adventures are sometimes hard to come by ("Um....I put one foot in front of the other. For a long time. It was good.")
I will try to find a good picture for you guys too. Maybe something inspiring.
Okay I didn't find anything good. But this one is Old School and has three of the Bloggers on it.
How is everyone else handling the increased mileage? Please report your adventures! Even though running adventures are sometimes hard to come by ("Um....I put one foot in front of the other. For a long time. It was good.")
I will try to find a good picture for you guys too. Maybe something inspiring.
Okay I didn't find anything good. But this one is Old School and has three of the Bloggers on it.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Training = another job?
Hmm. After reading about that woman and her daughter, I do feel like this training regiment is a cakewalk. But there are times when I feel like it's like having a second (or third in my case) job. We make schedules and programs that dictate the pace of our week. We (ahem Caputo) get up at ungodly hours to squeeze in our track workouts/runs before our next scheduled activity. We pound water like it's beer (especially if we had too many beers and need to "hydrate" in time for next morning's long run.
Why do we do this? Because we feel awesome after the completion of each workout, speed session, long run, and tempo. It's like our Zoloft, a stroke to our running ego, a reason to feel little/no guilt for hitting the Kirspy Kreme. It's totally worth it, sometimes difficult to explain to the non-running community.
Next weekend, I'm doing my first "speed check" race- the Coach Bubba 20K. It's a race put on by my track club (Carolina Godiva Track Club) to honor our club member Bruce that died during a run. He was a marathoner himself, a big guy (don't you feel like all Bruce's are big guys?) that was a motivational "coach" to newbie runners.
I'm pumped-it's a mix of hills and flat goodness. And I had to take the day off of work at the clinic to for this race; my other job comes along with its own set of responsibilities too.
Why do we do this? Because we feel awesome after the completion of each workout, speed session, long run, and tempo. It's like our Zoloft, a stroke to our running ego, a reason to feel little/no guilt for hitting the Kirspy Kreme. It's totally worth it, sometimes difficult to explain to the non-running community.
Next weekend, I'm doing my first "speed check" race- the Coach Bubba 20K. It's a race put on by my track club (Carolina Godiva Track Club) to honor our club member Bruce that died during a run. He was a marathoner himself, a big guy (don't you feel like all Bruce's are big guys?) that was a motivational "coach" to newbie runners.
I'm pumped-it's a mix of hills and flat goodness. And I had to take the day off of work at the clinic to for this race; my other job comes along with its own set of responsibilities too.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Two Trials
Hi folks,
My parents found out about this woman in Maine who is running the US Olympic Marathon trials in Boston (the same weekend as the Boston Marathon). She is doing a fundraiser for the Maine Children's Cancer Program because her daughter is undergoing treatment for childhood leukemia. You should check our her website:
http://twotrials.org/.
It's really inspiring. She has a training blog on there telling about her daily runs, as well as a blog about her daughter's treatment. Seriously, both in the intensity and volume of her training and in the other stuff she's dealing with on a day-to-day basis, it makes what we're doing look like a piece of cake!
I had a fabulous weekend of skiing with Megan and Liz in Colorado (and five days off of running!). We did do some cross-country skiing on Sunday, which was a blast. Now I'm refreshed and ready to get back into it...nine miles this afternoon. Hope you all are having a good week. Caput and Stef, I am amazed at your early wake-ups! I hate doing speedwork in the morning because of that tired, dazed feeling. Easier runs I can handle...I just go really slow though!
My parents found out about this woman in Maine who is running the US Olympic Marathon trials in Boston (the same weekend as the Boston Marathon). She is doing a fundraiser for the Maine Children's Cancer Program because her daughter is undergoing treatment for childhood leukemia. You should check our her website:
http://twotrials.org/.
It's really inspiring. She has a training blog on there telling about her daily runs, as well as a blog about her daughter's treatment. Seriously, both in the intensity and volume of her training and in the other stuff she's dealing with on a day-to-day basis, it makes what we're doing look like a piece of cake!
I had a fabulous weekend of skiing with Megan and Liz in Colorado (and five days off of running!). We did do some cross-country skiing on Sunday, which was a blast. Now I'm refreshed and ready to get back into it...nine miles this afternoon. Hope you all are having a good week. Caput and Stef, I am amazed at your early wake-ups! I hate doing speedwork in the morning because of that tired, dazed feeling. Easier runs I can handle...I just go really slow though!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Morning Bird
Nice posts girls! Right now I am hanging out in the critt cott (critter cottage...that is my my apartment with Sheedy)...we're drinking some wine and just finished watching Project Runway. I was just lamenting how I don't get enough sleep anymore...because I stay up late watching tv...and because I get up between 5:30 and 5:45 nowadays!! Yes, you read that right. Lauren Caputo...the usual night owl...gets up at the crack of dawn. I am the ultimate morning bird now! How is this possible? I have no idea to be honest! I myself cannot believe that I get up that early to go running. It's insane to me. Tuesday morning I woke up at 5:25 so I could eat a little granola bar and get ready before Stef came over to the crit cott. Then Stef, Sheeds, and I left at 5:45 to jog up to the track where we did a little trackie workout...and we were back at the crit cott by 7:15! It's actually kind of nice cause you don't have any time to think about the workout at all, and it's over before you know it. The only bad thing is you are kind of tired in the first couple of intervals...you need a little more time to get into the workout. Pretty crazy huh!
Stef and I are doing a long run on Friday morning since we are both really busy this weekend...(Stef has Meet The Parents weekend and my sister Kristi is visiting this weekend)....so I'll fill you in on that soon.
Happy Hump Day!!
Caputo
Monday, February 4, 2008
Poor Patriots! :(
Morning ladies! How was everyone's weekend? Did you all enjoy your long runs?
The mood is pretty sullen and dreary here in Boston.....poor Tom & crew. Though I must admit I'm kinda pumped b/c I won some money from our office pool.
Anyways, this weekend my runs went pretty well. I did an easy 14 miler on Saturday along the Charles. It was sunny and somewhat mild.....yet I was fighting a nasty headwind on the Cambridge side.
Yesterday I went for a brisk 7.5 on the Charles again. Funny story - did the run with a random guy that I had met at the Field (bar in Central) on Saturday night. (By the way, for the record, I don't normally do this). My friend Emma and I just started talking wtih some guys and it came out in the conversation that I was a runner and was training for Boston....and one of the guys said he was into triathlons and had run a marathon in Buenos Aires....and he was dumbfounded when he asked my best marathon time....so he said we should run together on Sunday. Little did I know he would totally kick my ass and we would be sprinting the whole time. But it was a nice change of pace...and perhaps we'll run together again soon. :)
Alrighty....time to start the workday.
Happy Monday!
The mood is pretty sullen and dreary here in Boston.....poor Tom & crew. Though I must admit I'm kinda pumped b/c I won some money from our office pool.
Anyways, this weekend my runs went pretty well. I did an easy 14 miler on Saturday along the Charles. It was sunny and somewhat mild.....yet I was fighting a nasty headwind on the Cambridge side.
Yesterday I went for a brisk 7.5 on the Charles again. Funny story - did the run with a random guy that I had met at the Field (bar in Central) on Saturday night. (By the way, for the record, I don't normally do this). My friend Emma and I just started talking wtih some guys and it came out in the conversation that I was a runner and was training for Boston....and one of the guys said he was into triathlons and had run a marathon in Buenos Aires....and he was dumbfounded when he asked my best marathon time....so he said we should run together on Sunday. Little did I know he would totally kick my ass and we would be sprinting the whole time. But it was a nice change of pace...and perhaps we'll run together again soon. :)
Alrighty....time to start the workday.
Happy Monday!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Pace runs....
Scare the crap out of me!
In my effort to improve my marathon time in Boston over my qualifying race in Austin, I am trying a more aggressive training program. I am (roughly, and with less mileage) following this Hal Higdon program: http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/advancedint.htm because I'd heard good things about it. (There's a nice picture of Hal for you too....he's pretty hard core.) One of the cornerstones of the program is the marathon-pace runs done two out of every three weeks that increase in distance up to 10 miles. I've been doing them faithfully and so far I have done one 5-miler, two 6- and one 7-. Today I have to do 8. I do them Fridays after work at a measured running trail around this lake. And every time they make me nervous all day!
The thing about them is, I try to hit my goal pace of 7:40-7:50 miles, which is roughly 3:20-3:25 for a marathon. I've done it successfully so far, but when I run that fast for 6 or more miles, it's hard, man! So it makes me doubtful that I can actually run 26.2 miles that fast....but hopefully in any case these workouts will make me stronger.
Anyway, wish me luck, and I wish all of YOU luck on your long runs, etc. this weekend (or Monday). I am running 16 this weekend but next weekend I am taking a break from running to go skiing in Colorado with Megan and Liz. Woohoo!
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