Previously on MM…May 2011

I am soooooooooooooo totally aware that today is June 10th. AKA we are officially in mid-June.  And I never put up my May recap-y post.  In all fairness I didn’t put up any posts this month so far.  So in one sense I’m really not that late because this is my first post all month.

Needless to say I’ve been busy.  And once my computer got that virus 2+ weeks ago I haven’t turned it on once after getting it fixed. And then I went away last weekend for a graduation (in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful. But middle of nowhere.) So I’m popping in real quick before I head away for a wedding this weekend and I go even longer without posting. I have some awesome pictures from my weekend away that I want to share. (I totally rubbernecked on my runs) and I’ve had some strange/amusing encounters on my runs lately so I know I’ll be back.  I sure hope so because I’ve missed y’all!

Anyone remember when I posted daily? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

thanks google

May 2011

• 425.6 miles
• 67 hours 16 minutes 3 seconds
• 9:29 pace

May 2010

• 286.6 miles
• 42 hours 40 minutes 49 seconds
• 8:56 average pace

The biggest, most obvious, difference is the increase in miles. WOW. I posted my miles with my Dailies crew and got a couple of questions/remarks of “how do you run so many miles?”.  Well I really don’t know.  It’s not like I’m sacrificing much here: I’m an early riser in general so getting up between 0530 and 0600 typically happens no matter what time I go to bed and I’m lucky that I don’ t have kids or a spouse or those obligations.  That frees up lots of time.  Plus I”m young so my social obligations don’t start until at least 2000.  Somehow it all works out.  I mean, I definitely skimp on the sleep and many runs have been a little dehydrated from the night before.

And obviously pace suffers.  That’s pretty obvious is the stats too. Which, at this current moment, is something I don’t really care about.  I have prospect races but nothing that I’ve laid down the cash for so I’m perfectly happy just going out there and running big.  Or twice in one day and with the weather getting to be SUMMERTIME is something I’m loving.

Overall: good month. Some other highlights? Well this was a really stressful month on the family front but I got some good stuff out of it too.

• Spectating my first race was the most amazing thing EVER.  For realzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Do it.

• Some of my stress was relieved when I found a place to sublet for July and August (and a place for beyond that! I AM SO EXCITED!). Turns out I will not be living in a cardboard box on the side of the road for the remainder of my time in PVD nor beyond that. Holler.

thanks google

• WARM WEATHER. Borderline hot. Holler again.  It’s so nice to be able to go out at night and not wear a jacket or sweater.  It’s definitely helped my social life.  Which, speaking of, going out with Lacey over Memorial Day weekend was fan-freaking-tastic. I love dancing.

• Evidently not baking though as I only made one recipe. And if memory serves me correctly I stated such in my post.  They were cookies though.  Win?

Yum.

• Cracked ribs.  Okay so maybe not a highlight per se.  But it makes a great story.  Luckily I’m almost at 100%.  I don’t need the painkillers to sleep anymore, which is nice, but I can still feel that my ribs are a little damaged when I take deep breaths.

Hopefully this post was coherent. When I started typing I felt like I forgot how to blog! It’s Friday so it’s a half day for me (don’t be tooooooooooo jealous. I had to work several 9-10 hour days to get it!) and I’ll be

1. Catching up on your lovely blogs
2. Enjoying the wonderous(ly hot) weather
3. Cheering the Bruins on tonight

Ready? BREAK!

Previously on MM…April 2011

I totally meant to post this, well, when the month ended but life stuff got in the way and I haven’t been able to get onto my computer regularly. Bleh.  Well not bleh because I’ve been feeling good, productive and happy.  But bleh because I like blogging-life (reading, writing, etc).

Anyway…

Some numbers as of April 30th.

• 328.9 miles
• 51 hours 59 minutes 17 seconds
• 9:29 pace

• YTD: 1431.3 miles.

Compare that to April 2010:

• 152.4 miles
• 23 hours 41 minutes 21 seconds
• 9:20 pace

And, well, color me impressed with the increase in miles. I guess I really ran lots this month of this year. I’m actually speechless, although I know it’s because I didn’t run for at least 2 full weeks in April 2010. Mostly because I had access to a gym and could go to XT there.

Injury played a huge role in the pace as I wasn’t able to do any speed work this past month. At all.  Plus there were 2 weeks where I could not run faster than 10:00 pace. But I made it through.

One not-so-running related number, but still pretty damn important.

• Sunburn tally — 3 burns in 2 weeks. I’m getting cancer tomorrow.

I got that one at Boston but I got even more sun after Easter weekend (with the 74* weather!) and now am sporting a red face from this past weekend. At least red brings out my green eyes right? And, while we’re on numbers, $8.94 spent on sunscreen after I got burn #3. Ouch.

And other highlights

• Boston Marathon (and this report is a picture one). Worst marathon to date but one that I ran 100% injured. I don’t know whether to be proud of the fact that I did it or ashamed that I tried! But since I’m recovering nicely (thank goodness for finding a athlete-friendly PT!) now I’ll go with the former. And who can argue with a smile like this?

• ONE RECIPE because, well, I tried my hand at cooking/baking and decided that I don’t really enjoy it enough to create extravagant meals. But when my roomie wants to rope me into it it can be fun. And tasty.

And of course the most important thing: warm weather…finally. I’m pretty sure that it snowed at least once in April…on the first if I’m not mistaken…but the average temperature for the fourth month of 2011 was

Wait for it….

58* for the high. 38* for the low. Extremes were 74* and 30*. I like where this is going.

May better listen up. How’d your April go? Anyone else glad that it’s done and over with?

Previously On MM…March 2011

What is it that they say about March? In like a lion, out like a lamb.  Well if I remember correctly (*cough*weatherchannel.com*cough) March 1st was windy with a high in the low-40s.  Which is nice.  Last night was a bit like this

 

Big, fat, snowflakes.

Not quite the lamb I had wanted.  Maybe the expression was more for my mental state as I started the month overstressed and all crazified.  And, knockonwoodRIGHTNOW, it’s alleviated and I’m in an excitement mode. I did a lot of detox from my life this month.  It feels good.

That said, that’s pretty much it. No trips happened this month, no recipes to share.  Mostly because I didn’t blog much! But, as I mentioned above, there are lots of good things going on right now that are keeping the bad stressors at bay.

I did run.  A lot. March saw my surpass 1000 miles for the year.  That’s goodness right?

But that might be the only goodness as March is also the month of injuries apparently.  Last March (in 2010) I was plagued by such bad shin splits that I ended a race in tears and was sent to PT.  This year, well I skipped out on racing a bunch of races that I thought I was going to do, and managed to avoid rehab PT.  And this time is was the IT band, not playing nice.

I guess I should also share some numbers for March?

• 401.3 miles
• 64 hours 52 minutes 33 seconds
• 9:42 pace

Despite being injured I managed to log big miles.  Maybe that’s why I ended up being injured in the first place: too many miles coupled with really intense speedwork.  Granted, there are 31 days in the month so it doesn’t average out to 100 miles / week BUT the first two weeks of the month were 100+.

And the pace is slow (to me) because I dropped speedwork after session on the 5th of March, first due to being sick and then the IT. Essentially missing out on Monster Month altogether.

So maybe not such a stellar month. It was kicked off with a bang, a good MP run (or rather what I thought MP was going to be at the time), and it ended with a very encouraging long run yesterday getting really close to the  upper end of the 15 I wanted, coming in at 14.7 miles.  All pain free.

I’m hoping that this bodes well for April.  I mean, I do have this little thing called a marathon to run.

Previously On MM…February 2011

I’m going to copycat echo Aron and say BUSY was the word on the month for February.  Or STRESSED.

Still got the running done though, despite feeling a bit off during my workouts and my drive to hit them hard.

Totals? Here you go!

• 345.7 miles
• 51 hours 21 minutes 9 seconds
• 8:55 Average Pace

This is only .3 more miles and 7 minutes less than January.  Talk about consistency! Digging back to 2010 I ran 390.5 miles in February.  So I was down some (mainly because I’ve been *gasp* taking rest days!) but I ran these miles 8 seconds faster on average.  Considering that I’m training for the exact same race as I was this time last year (Boston baby) I think that’s really good.  Sure, I could probably be hitting workouts harder (like I’ve been complaining about forever it seems) but overall a good solid month.

This month my training *really* began and I hit 4 interval workouts, 4 tempo workouts and only 3 actual long runs (hello cutback week).  Considering that this month has exactly 4 weeks in it, and we got about 30 (?) inches of snowfall, I’d say not too shabby.

Whenever I say the phrase “not too shabby” I think of this song. Yes, I’m weird.

What else besides running was I up to this month?

Well stress ( so I’m going to really have to think about what I’ve been up to!) and dealing with massive snowstorms every week, but I went to Philly to…ummm….do some activities to shake it off.

gor.geous.

And got to see some really cool medical stuff at the Mutter Museum.  I really want to go back there!

I also really got into rockclimbing and took out a trial membership at the climbing gym. The membership ends in the next few days so I need to come up with the cash money to keep going! It’s been great for XT and my arms / legs are getting more of an “athletic” look rather than “runner” look. I like it. Especially since *fingerscrossed* spring / skimpy clothes season is soon!

Because I was really stressed I didn’t really cook at all.  I relied on other people to feed me.  But that’s what friends (and roomies) are for right?  BUT I did make some really good “Crack Bars”

as well as Chili (repeat of a recipe from….December according to when I posted it)

But to relieve my stress I did get some lovely mail! AKA I got my WR trophy and my updated Boston confirmation.  Which helped my waxing and waning motivation to train (which a lot of you made some really insightful comments on my last post which I shall muse over when I have more time to think / mull them over and develop my own thoughts on them!).

Yes I know I put both of these images up recently. Deal.

 

So a mixed month for sure. I’m sincerely hoping that things calm down a bit.  I mean, I love being busy and having stuff to do but there is definitely such a thing as TOO MUCH of a good thing! Upcoming in March is the monster month for training so it’s time to get serious about my workouts.  Hopefully in my next post I’ll be able to recap the hard (yet decent) tempo I did the other day and the long run or intervals that are supposed to shape up tomorrow.

Happy Hump Day.  Now I’m off to rockclimbing? Fingers crossed!

Previously on MM…January 2011

Oops. Guess I fell off the grid this weekend.  I stayed with a friend Friday afternoon post-work until…well technically since I haven’t been back to my apartment, I’m still staying.  And since I didn’t bring my computer with me blogging fell by the wayside.  And my commenting. And my replying to comments. Which sucks because I love y’all but I was having fun so I can’t *really* apologize 😉

Story of my month of January I guess.  I’d guesstimate that I spent about half the days not at my place.  But story of January running wise was good, and even though I typically post these posts on the first of every month, I got a really good run in before the sun came up. So my month of running is done.  And I really didn’t want to give a play-by-play of my weekend.

I will say that this weekend (and lots of January too) reaffirmed my whole “I seem to run well on: no sleep, lots of alcohol the night before and greasy foods” as my friend and I were jonesing for a “Philly” cheese steak (with fries) on Sunday.  Very weird because I never crave cheese, or steak.  But we walked downtown for a couple hours trying to find a place that served it and succeeded and it was the best idea we’ve had yet.  Given that I yet again had a good run post-bad-life-habits-that-affect-running, I think it makes it an even better idea.

Anyway, onto January. I wasn’t recovering from WR anymore but I wasn’t yet in training.  I started re-introducing tempo and LR before last week (which was T-12 weeks, so I’m at T-11 today. Eeeeep) and I also actually introduced XT in the form of winter activities such as skiing and snowtubing

and then there was ROCKCLIMBING.  Yes: rockclimbing. I went with a friend on Saturday night because he joined a climbing gym at the beginning on January and had only been doing the solo climbs, which aren’t as fun.  So I tagged along to be a belaying buddy. And I’m definitely going back.  Hopefully tonight.

thanks google.

And I had a blast. As a bonus, because I’m a runner and have really strong legs, I was not sore on Sunday.  Surprisingly there’s actually very little arm strength involved.  It’s all in the legs to propel you up, the arms just hold on.  So you can bet your booty that I’m going to keep this trend going on beyond January.  In January I also took a couple *complete* rest days which I rarely (if ever do).

I also did lots of baking this month. Like I’m hoping-my-pants-still-fit-tmrw kinds of baking 😉 My favorite recipe that was made was the apple crisp, although I did make afair amount of cookies. Like 3 different kinds.  And brownies. That may not be a lot to you but to me that’s a ton.  In all fairness I have been actually cooking dinners, like real dinner too (this one has been made at least for or five times!).

Let’s talk training and January.  Like I mentioned above training for Boston started this month.  More like last week but I’d been slowly reintroducing a training set up to my week: aka tempo Tuesdays, LR Thursdays. I have yet to do a speed work session so far.  I was going to do one this weekend but my motivation has been lacking. I want to mail out this letter:

Dear Motivation,

Anytime now.

Love, MM

Maybe the snow and cold was a factor. We have been hit with three separate and big storms this month (with another coming Tuesday night. And supposedly this one is supposed to be the worst of them all. Ugh!) Who knows. That said, January was a decent month mileage wise:

January 2011:

• 355.4 miles
• 51 hours 28 minutes 10 seconds
• 8:56 average pace

Compare that to January 2010

• 397.1 miles
• 58 hours 58 minutes 17 seconds
• 8:54 avg pace

Less miles this time around (-13%) but roughly the same pace.  Considering that my Boston training was going on during the whole of January 2010 I’m still going to say: all in all a GREAT month.

And above were just a few of the highlights.  The running wasn’t spectacular (nor was my sleeping patterns) but I feel happy with how the year is starting. I did fun activities that I’d never done before and baked lots of goodies. And that’s a great thing. I also got a hair cut.  Which is a big deal because I go forever between cuts.

So YAY January. Even if it’s going to look like this. Again.

thanks google.

For Once I Feel Content With the Past 12 Months

I know, I know. Y’all are sick of these posts. I alluded to it in my last post and then spent some time typing it out. In the end I decided to cut down the words and try to let pictures speak some of them for me with notes of the good and bad etc.  So I guess this post is more for me that you because this one is getting printed off and put into my training / scrapbook that my sis is making me.  And I know that in the end I want this year documented for myself which is why there are so many links so that I can find stuff if I really want to. But I hope you enjoy it nevertheless.

Oh and P.S. That gingerbread house was definitely in the mid-drinking stages.  I should go into the gingerbread house making business.  Next year I’m tackling the village 😉

January: 396.8 miles (8:54 avg pace). Training run with Lacey (and I just noticed that I did a lot with her this year. LOVE YOU!).  It probably set the tone for the year as it was a LR that was *pushed* fast and out of my comfort zone.  And I handled it.

February: 390.4 miles (9:03 avg pace). I honestly cannot really remember anything remarkable about this month.  Nor can I find a picture for it.  Oops.

March: 432.3 miles (9:00 avg pace). Ugh Eastern States 20M. ‘Nuff said. Except that this month, while the monster month for Boston training, was tough on me physically.  I ended up in PT for stuff and horrible shin splints.

Little did we know what was ahead...

April: 152.4 miles (9:20 avg pace). Boston. Marathon. (Goal for 2010:Requalify for Boston. Yup.  Did this.  Twice in fact. Holler)

May: 286.6 miles (8:56 avg pace). Lots of stuff: graduating, accepting a job, paying the security deposit and first month rent! Exciting stuff.

Scary stuff too.

June: 500.5 miles! (8:42 avg pace) Getting to meet (and run with!) Jess during her trip to Boston. I also ran lots and lots of double and some triple to give me my highest month of the year.

Naturally I chose the non-running pic of us 😉

July: 354. miles (8:37 avg pace).  I dominated the local 5M Fourth of July race. I also took my Philly trip for my job pre-service orientation and I got to run with Flo!

Philly Pretzel!

August: 270.2 miles (8:33 avg pace).  This month I took a trip to Texas and, by a twist of fast (or a really delayed flight stranding me in Houston) got to run with Jess again!  When I got back from the vacay I took the MCAT and moved and started my job.  Hello real world?

Well this pic was from her June trip. But still a good one nonetheless

September: 328.6 miles (8:36 avg pace). I raced a half marathon with Lacey(goal for 2010: sub 1:40:00 half Check), stayed with her family, went apple picking, mini-golf and drinking with her 🙂 FUN.  I also broke 20 minutes (by ONE second) in the Providence 5k: goal for 2010: sub 20:00 5k  Check

October: 422.1 miles (8:48 avg pace). Race the Tufts 10k with Lacey where I remember her telling me to “JUST DO THIS” (goal for 2010: sub 43:00 10k Check) and I signed up for WR. 5.5 weeks before race day. Eep.

Zoom

November: 454.1 miles (8:54 avg pace).  This was the month that training went “hardcore” for WR.  I also celebrated my birthday by running my age in kilometers.  I probably could have run my age in miles as I was training but km just was more appealing. Especially after going out to celebrate my birthday the night before. I also started the 100 pushups and 200 situps challenge. Woot.

December:260.8 miles (avg pace).  December always gets the shaft from peeps in terms of having it’s own recap.  And I’m going to do the same here.  The biggest thing was White Rock (goal for 2010: sub 3:30 marathon Oooooooh man, that’s a check), which was awesome because I got to hang out with my RW peeps, saw bloggers, and hang out with Jess again. And I guess in order to give December a little boost to make up for the lack of a favorites post I’ll also say that I made lots of yummy desserts, and threw together some from a not-so-homemade standpoint which were just as yummy.  Hopefully that continues into the new year as well.

HELLO RUN SIS. LOVE YOU!

Overall 2010 was an amazing year (goal for 2010: Have fun. Check!).  And a record year too with those prs and the yearly mileage of 4248.4.  This is a percent change of 36.4% from last year (3116.0 miles in 2009).

And since I had lots of time on my hands earlier this evening I decided it’d be fun to calculate exactly how much time I spent running this year:

• 26 days, 1 hour, 50 minutes, 20 seconds
• Average pace: 8:51

So I’m just putting it out there (again) that 2011 better be ready for me.

Previously On MM….November 2010

I think when I wrote my October recap I ended the post saying “Let’s hope November is just as good, shall we?”.

Well it was. It truly was — anyone know that quote? It’s not really a memorable quote but whenever someone says that line, the scene from this movie pops into my head!

I kind of liked not breaking down the month week by week like I’ve done all year and doing a previously.  Like LOST and 24.  I consider myself as BAMF as the great men in my life 😉

And I have to only pick one LOST pic? UGHHHHHHHHH

Thanks google for both images

Anyway.  November was another great month.  While October brought about the firsts for lots of things (including baking as well as Dallas WR marathon training), November was really where the magic was made.  I put in LOTS of hard work and to go purely by the numbers, this was a colossal month.  Not as big as that crazy June I had but pretty darn big.

Since I liked the format I used last month, I’ll keep it the same.  For your sake as well as mine.

November

• 454.1 miles
• 61 hours 23  minutes 15 seconds
• 8:54 average pace

Comparing 2009 to 2010

• 2010: 454.1
• 2009:  293.6
• Percent Change:54.7 %

YTD (as of 30-November)

• 2010:  3988
• 2009: 2766
• Percent Change: 44.2%

Races:

None here.  I was debating a Turkey Trot with my lil’ bro but opted out.  Oh well.  I’m sure that in a few days I can make it up to myself.  He did school me in an xbox dance off on Thanksgiving so I’m sure he’s over not running with me.

I did, however, get my official-in-the-mail acceptance to Boston which is hard to see past WR but it’s there. Waiting.

Not my image. Google images

Training:

Lots of good stuff here.  Last month I linked to all my quality workouts leading up for this WR cycle.  This month I’ve done 3 quality ones a week.  That’s a lot to link to.  So here are the memorable ones / highlights of what I was trying to accomplish (the links are mostly so I can go back and re-read if need be in the future):

• 20 miler with my RW friend. Wicked fast.  Wicked confidence boosting.
• Discovered my “favorite workouts ever“
• And actually found a good rhythm at the track for “a workout to put me on the podium” and some mile repeats. Did I mention that I love the track?
• Saw fleetingglimpses of GMP.  Nothing concrete though.

I think the biggest thing of the training here was that it was all about learning. I’m slowly trying to wrap my head around how to train right.  That there are many types of workouts and each has their own place. That I’m a pretty decent runner if I put my head to it.  That I set expectation really high and can be disappointed because I expect so much from myself.

I think this month really is laying the foundation for how I approach running and training and RACING for the future.  It’s a bit weird to put it like that but I just feel like this month was special (or maybe it’s been there all fall and just now I’m starting to notice)

Oh man, sentimental much? Lots of other confidence building workouts in there this month but those above were the best of.  I also started the hundred pushups and two hundred situps challenges, of which I am in Week 4 of 6 on currently.  Plus some foam rolling.  Maybe I’m changing my bad-runner-habit ways?

I guess I can’t wait, then, for the first weekend in December.  I get to “run the rock”

Preferably in that time too. Asking too much? 😉

Baking (ahem slash cooking):

• Chocolate Cheesecake.  The baking queen herself was impressed.  I’m not going to lie: the idea to do this (and to bring it to a Celtic’s game?!) was born after a glass or two of wine.  As all ideas are?
• Sweet Potato Soup. I was a complete brat and emailed my mom (not even a phone call!) a week before Thanksgiving to request that she make this for me.  I did make it at the beginning of the month but still.  I am such a terrible daughter.

I actually also made Apple Cinnamon muffins but just haven’t yet shared the recipe.  Here’s a sneak peak? (because I’m sure y’all are tired of seeing pictures that I’ve already posted)

Trust me: better pics in the actual post. I'll try to get it up this weekend 🙂

Life

Despite working 40+ hours a week, running 454.1 miles this month (including marathon training runs!) I maintained a really good social life as well.  The highlights include:

• I celebrated a birthday.
• Had the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.
• Drank the most tequila I’ve ever had in one night.

All in all a very good month. I mean, we did get the first snowfall at the beginning of the month but I got a tiara.  Who can argue with that?

Previously On MM…..October 2010

We were under another freeze warning here in the North East so it was a brisk 28* when I rolled out of bed this morning.  In some ways the temp was nice for a recovery run just because I didn’t have to go fast in such cold weather but I definitely ran faster than a normal recovery pace just because it was so cold. I wanted to get back into my warm apartment! Still shorts weather although I did break out a second pair of gloves 🙂

I typically do a week by week summary of how the previous month has gone.  I’ve been doing this for maybe 10 or 11 months now and I’m sick of it.  Mostly because I’ve been getting lazy about recording my thoughts on each week as it passes and by the time the last day of the month comes I only have numbers.  Which are good and all (I’m a numbers nerd remember) but it’s not as exciting as recapping the bet of the month.

So, at least for this month, I’m going to nix the *weekly* numbers and data and give you a brief highlight from this month.  Kind of a “previously on MM…” (in fact I like that title so much I just went an d re-did my title post from “Very Best of” to what it is now haha!) I’ve seen other bloggers recap their months this way and I like it.  Especially since I’ve been doing quality things, not just in miles and paces but RACING and TRAINING.  As well as other things.  Ummmm I apparently can add cookie baker to my resume 🙂

But just for the record, because I still love numbers and data, in October of 2010:

• 422.1 miles
• 61 hours 51  minutes 36 seconds
• 8:48 average pace

October

• 2010: 422.1
• 2009: 307.8
• Percent Change: 37.1%

YTD (as of 31-October)

• 2010:  3533.9 (this is the running tally I keep at the top of my log book. According to my monthly total tally my miles are at 3534.4 miles. Weird.)
• 2009: 2472.4
• Percent Change: 42.9%

Races:

• Sure I did more races in September (2)  than October (1) but the Tufts 10k was pretty freaking fantastic.  Where I continued my trend of smashing PRs and ran a (to me) astounding 41:20! Plus I got to run it with Lacey. Makes it even better and sweeter.

• I also registered for Boston (and have been officially confirmed too. Woot) AND spontaneously decided to register for White Rock

Therefore, because WR is soooooooooooo soon, I got to do some seriously hardcore

TRAINING

Okay, so maybe even before registering for WR I was running intensely, but within the second half of the month I got in some focused workouts (and I know these links are really recent.  So you probably remember these workouts without clicking.  Or maybe I just like to think I’m important enough that you remember haha!)

1. 18.1 plus 2.3 mile run — when I thought that I’d be running a portion of a November marathon with a friend
2. 10 X 800 meter repeats
3. First tempo that I completed feeling good about — but maybe that’s because I had literally registered for WR 10 minutes before going out the door!
4. Official first 20 miler of cycle — and on a workday too!
5. 2 X 3..errrr 2.85 mile repeats

All of which I feel really good about. Don’t get me wrong: I did have my first aborted speed workout ever this month too — and on the FIRST DAY. Way to start off the month!)

But the rest of the month? Very confidence boosting and the hard work I’ve put in this summer and early fall translated into a GREAT month of training.  When I think back to October I’m going to think of the goodness that made me start to buy into this “I can do whatever I want in running.  I CAN DO IT” aka confidence building.

Therefore some good food must be involved.  And by good food I mean cookies.  Because that’s all I’ve really had to make that’s been blog worthy.

BAKING

I channeled my inner baking queen this month with

• PB Chip and Oats Cookies

• As well as Chocolate Cookies with Frosting.

I know that 2 cooking things isn’t a huge number but hey: I am not a cook in any way, shape, or form.  I’ve never before felt the need to cook for myself  (and hello dining hall for 4 years!) and suspect that will change now that I’m on my own.  Granted I still don’t find the time often because of my work schedule but October has taught me the satisfying nature of baking.

So two this month.  Who knows how many next 🙂

LIFE:

I know I don’t really blog much about my life in general (just little snippets here and there) but October was really good to me. The first few weeks after moving here were really exciting and then September was pretty painful: the excitement had worn off and I felt a bit lost. October was really good to me socially and ended with a bang on Halloween weekend.

Which, by the way, I got to give out candy to trick or treaters for the first time. I think I may have been more excited than the kids 🙂

The Girls

So a GREAT month.  Let’s hope November is just as good, shall we?

Monthly Recap: September 2010

I need to do a better job about keeping this post as a draft throughout the month rather than creating it as the month is ending! I can’t remember all the stuff that went on and what I was feeling as I was doing it! In which case I’m going to talk a bit about the month first and then give give the data as I can’t give anything more than that I’m afraid.

In general September went really well. Granted both my runs on the 1st and the 30th were nasty slow blahhh runs.  But that doesn’t diminish the fact that sandwiched in between there was some good stuff and liveliness.

September truly was a transition period in LIFE as I’d been moved for a couple weeks once the month started and it was more like real life than excitement.  AKA paying *real bills* for the first time. Scary. But I settled in pretty nicely and found the time to relax and catch up on the MASSIVE reading list that accumulated over the spring semester (gasp so long ago!) and  summer.

In terms of running my miles slowly increased and my desire to train for a marathon returned.  I injected a few speed workouts before my 5k and increased my long run to 15.3.  The semblance of a training plan starting to shape up.  Regardless of what marathon I run I don’t want to go into any training plan without having some type of re-introduction to speed / distance.   Training = training.  Full throttle.  But that’s a post for another day and September started laying the foundation for it.

Racing wise it was a smashing success (said in a faux British accent).  I’ve linked below to my race reports (duh) but I dominated both races I entered.  Which was a HUGE boost for me.  I’ve slowly started to warm up to the idea that I’m not a terrible runner and I need to give myself credit.

Here’s the raw data (and some calculated data too.  I’m a numbers nerd for sure:)

He may not be a math nerd but he is running. And hot. (courtesy of google images)

Week of August 30 – September 5

• 66.5 miles
• 9 hours 27 minutes 1 seconds
• 8:32 average pace
• 0 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

Swanzey Half with Lacey (click on the link if you want more than just the bare bones facts listed below)

• 1:33:57
• 7:10 pace
• PR by 7:59 minutes
• AG win and 4th overall female!

I know you've seen this picture countless times. But I still love it. A lot.

Week of September 6 – September 12

• 72.7 miles
• 10 hours 16 minutes 57 seconds
• 8:29 average pace
• 0 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

Week of September 13 – September 19

• 80.7 miles
• 11 hours 31 minutes 18 seconds
• 8:34 average pace
• 0 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

Providence 5k: (click on the link if you want more than just the bare bones facts)

• 19:59 minutes
• 6:26 pace
• Major pr by 93 seconds. Woot.
• 206/5977 overall (top 3.4%) and 23/1974 in my division (top 1.2%) (Women’s Open 34 and under)

And a picture because I just got the link from the photo company:

I'm pretty sure this is at the end when I wanted to vomit.

Week of September 20 – September 26

• 82.1 miles
• 11 hours 47 minutes 19 seconds
• 8:37 average pace
• 0 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

Week of September 27 – October 3

• 79.6
• 10 hours 31 minutes 32 seconds
• 8:49 average pace
• 1 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 1 rest day

A high mileage week but that was due to a double on one of the days because of a friend coming into town.  And I got two quality speed workouts, although the track intervals (which I’m happy to keep reading your advice on them, pacing, recovery between!) were in October.  And you might notice that I did one core session.  I’m hoping to keep them a more frequent occurrence than they have been as of late.

Month of September

• 328.6 miles
• 47 hours 4 minutes 31 seconds
• 8:36 average pace

And because I LOVED being a nerd last month and doing comparisons to last year and percent changes:

September 2010:

• 2010 : 328.6 miles
• 2009:  281.5 miles
• Perfect change: 16.7%

Year to date (as of 30 – September):

• 2010: 3111.8miles
• 2009: 2164.6 miles
• Percent change: 43.8%

Interesting to note that I am only 4.2 miles (as of 30-September 2010) short of hitting my yearly total last year. WOW.

Indeed a good month. Looking ahead a bit to October I’ve got the Tufts 10k coming up soon.  Not much more than that I’m afraid except for trying to decide what marathon I want to do. And then of course coming up with an appropriate training plan.

Monthly Recap: August 2010

Whoa there. This year has just been FLYING. I can’t believe yet another month is over and especially August.  Despite not being a student anymore (TEAR) the beginning of September is always bittersweet.  Sure we’ll get hot days (and are kind of having some this week), and likely could until October or November, but summer just feels over once I turn the page in my calendar to September.  Plus because it’s New England we could have snow in October or November.  Gahhh.  I need to move to a warmer climate! NOW.

Enough sadness. Because September means things like Labor Day Weekend, pretty foliage and APPLE PICKING.  I am anxiously awaiting for the first opportunity to do so. And I know that you’re sick of me talking about it by now muahaha!

Cooler weather (theoretically) also means that exciting stuff can happen with my running too.  I have a half marathon Labor Day weekend which will be a good barometer of where I’m at.  And maybe I’ll really start contemplating a late fall marathon.  I keep saying it and I do want to do one but the timing is just off.  I’d love to do a winter race but New England is not conducive to that.  We’ll see.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s look back at what was August shall we?

And in true MM style it’s long.  But there’s a picture at the end so don’t get mad. Mmmmmkay?

Week of August 2 –  August 8

• 49.5 Miles
• 6 Hours 56 Minutes 11 Seconds
• 8:25 Pace
• 0 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 1 rest day

If I had known how close I was to 50 miles I sooooooo would have run that extra half mile. And that likely would have gotten me to 7 hours even.  Oh well.  This was the week that I was on vacay so I can’t really complain.  I had a great time in Texas and the running was great too, especially as I got to run with Jess again.  Plus: look how fast I was this week 🙂

Week of August 9 –  August 15

• 65.5 Miles
• 9 Hours 10 Minutes 43 Seconds
• 8:25 Pace
• 1 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

I guess I can look at the previous week as a cut back week and once I got back from vacay my stress amped up with the MCAT and moving.  And I took it out on my running.  But looking back at this week in my log book all my runs have comments saying how fast and ON I was feeling.  I also got to run my first run at my new place on Sunday of this week which was exciting 🙂

I also started going core on that Sunday too.  Let’s just say my abs were not ready for their wake up after 5 weeks off!

Week of August 16 –  August 22

• 61.4 Miles
• 8 Hours 51 Minutes 51 Seconds
• 8:40 Pace
• 4X Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

My pace just shut down this week as I started running at 0530 in the morning.  And as my body adjusted to the path I was running on as opposed to the roads.  But it’s okay because I also started working this week which, being week one, was WAY stressful.  But great at the same time.  I think this was the week that I really was starting to feel life come together a bit.

Week of August 23 –  August 28

• 67.3 Miles
• 9 Hours 36 Minutes 4 Seconds
• 8:34 Pace
• 0 Core, 0 Lifting, 0 XT, 0 rest day

And then the core work stopped.  Oops.  I need to really make an effort to keep it up because, and I’ve said this before, I am such a vain person and love the way my abs look after consistent core work.  Not that my abs are terrible as is but I like having definition there.

My pace was at a good place this week and I remember having some “race” runs with some of the males on the running path this week.  If I recall correctly I won them 😉

The mileage was a bit higher than I’d like but I know that’s because I ran a long run this week that was much longer than what I’ve done since the spring and some of my weekday runs have had 1-2 miles tacked on because I was feeling good and fast.  I’m not worried about this becoming a trend.  I may stay low 60s but I don’t plan on increasing the miles anytime soon.  Unless I find a marathon in November/December/January to commit to.

Month of August

• 270.2 Miles
• 38 Hours 27 Minutes 32 Seconds
• 8:33 Pace

Definitely a good solid month for me.  The fastest overall monthly pace! Woot!

Not the biggest month ever (I don’ t think anything could top this past June) but a good month indeed.  I actually just checked and it’s the LOWEST monthly total this year.

I could be extra nerdy and go back to last year’s data to compare August 2010 vs 2009 (and I’m doing this kind of stuff for work so I’m in full nerd mode) but I think it’s accurate to

Eff it. I’m a nerd and these research reports are now my job. I’m loving that I get to work in MEDICINE and with NUMBERS.

August:

• 2010 : 270.2 miles
• 2009: 264.3 miles
• Perfect change: 2.2%

Year to date:

• 2010: 2771.0 miles
• 2009: 1883.1 miles
• Percent change: 47.1%

So clearly up in both.  Crazy how much more I’ve run so far in 2010 than this same time in 2009.

But back to August 2010.  This is a currently monthly recap after all.

The weekly miles are a tad high (by like maybe 5-8 each week) but I’m not worried about it.  I’m still down from July’s monthly total which I’m sure a lot of you guys enjoy seeing 😉

So the fast overall pace, despite having some slower times since my move, makes the upcoming fall, which I touched upon in my first paragraphs, really exciting to think about. I think my body would be primed for a marathon in the next 3-4 months.

I don’t really have any goals per se for this month.  Maybe try to fit in lifting.  Without access to a gym, however, my motivation to do so is very little.

And I want to try to find the funds to race more.  I have 3-4 5ks that I’d love to do, as well as the Tufts 10k that I’ve done the past 2 years.  Oh yeah and my upcoming half this weekend.

It’s time to turn all these miles and wicked hardwork into PRs and hardcore bamfness 8)

I need to feel like this again

Providence Marathon 2009. Debut and BQ 🙂