Tag Archives: 50 States Marathon Club

My Name is Athlettuce. And I’m Addicted to Smoothies.

Posted on by
10

 My name is Athlettuce.  And I’m addicted to smoothies.

I’ve had a smoothie almost every morning for at least six months, and I’m showing no signs of stopping.  I have one on days I run, on days I lift, on days I sleep in.   They make me feel so, so good, and like I’m starting my day on the right foot.  They are also portable–I can tuck them into the side pocket of my backpack and drink once I get to work or after Orangetheory.  I can drink while walking the dog.  Or I can enjoy at home on the couch.  They are easy to digest, so I don’t need to wait long after drinking one to work out, but they are also refreshing and protein-packed to help with recovery.

I should note that I’m not like those creative folks on Instagram coming up with a variety of colorful smoothie bowls with lines of seeds and nuts and coconut strips on top.  No, I’m more of a practical smoothiewoman.

FullSizeRender

Here’s what I throw in the blender:

Continue reading →

Mapping (and Starting!) My Mississippi Blues Marathon Training Plan

Posted on by
8

Screen Shot 2015-10-25 at 9.59.02 PM

I’ll start by saying that there are millions of philosophies about race training.  Here I’ll share what has worked for me, and what I am planning to do for the Mississippi Blues Marathon, but this is not the only way (or even the best way) to train for a marathon.  I’d love to hear thoughts about what has worked well for other people.

In short, I like to make a rough sketch of a training plan for each marathon so that I don’t get completely off-track, and so that I can anticipate holidays, travel, and work events and prepare accordingly.  Usually I just jot it down on a calendar or in a Googledoc (or now, in a blog post).  The most important runs for marathon prep are the long runs, so I make sure to note what my goal long run is for each week, and then I have the option to do that run any day during the week (but usually Saturdays or Sundays).  I don’t generally write the week’s non-running activities (Orangetheory, pilates (upcoming post!), barre, yoga (also upcoming post!), swimming, etc.), or my run commute, in my training plan, and while I do sometimes put in shorter runs, all of those are subject to change.  Each week is different, and I vary based on my own schedule and how I’m feeling.  Missing a few runs isn’t going to totally kill your training.  Really.  I take at least one, but usually two, rest days each week. Continue reading →

Planning My 2016 Race Schedule

Posted on by
6

First:  CONGRATS to everyone is who running/ran the Marine Corps Marathon today!  What a great race!  Hopefully it isn’t too wet out there today.  I saw folks picking up packets earlier this weekend and I got super jealous, but this morning I am cozied up in my home and sort of happy about it.

And now to the topic at hand: When possible, I don’t like to sign up for races too too far in advance, just in case something comes up and my plans need to change.  At the same time, I also don’t cut it so close that the race might fill up, and my plans are thwarted, or so close that I have the option of quitting the whole idea when I get to my 17-mile training run.  But even when I haven’t hit the “Register” button, I still need to map things out well in advance.  In fact, I have a nice little Google spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my races and states, completed and uncompleted.  Here is a snapshot:

Screen Shot 2015-10-24 at 9.19.16 PM

As you may be able to see, I have the columns sortable by state and month, so I can say “hmmm… let’s go to Indiana!  What’s there?” (No, really, that’s a question.  Any answers?)  Or I can say “February is looking open… let me choose a race then.”  I also include the city of the race because some of these states are damn big, and I might be excited to go to one corner but not the other.  And when the city doesn’t have an airport, but I’ll need to fly there, I include a reference to the appropriate airport.  Finally, I include a note if there is a lottery or qualification requirement for the race.  It doesn’t make sense to plan a whole marathon cycle around the New York City Marathon, especially if you forget to register for the lottery.

So now that 2015 is coming to a close, it is time to refer to my spreadsheet and really start thinking about 2016 and what races/states I’ll be tackling.

Continue reading →