A Post Titled “My Massage Therapist Says I Can’t Run Today” or “A Huge Pain in the Sacrum”

Where to start?  I’ve asked myself so many times in the past few weeks to put together the timeline… when was the beginning of all this?  Christmas.  I’m pretty sure.  But probably before then.  Let’s just start there.  My husband and I went to Orangetheory in his hometown over the holidays.  It felt great to sweat but after the rowing portion of the class, my lower back felt a little tweaked.  I had been trying to use good form, engaging my core, etc. etc. so I decided that my historically, notoriously tight hip flexors must have pulled something in my back when I was rowing.  My back hurt for a week or two — longer than I expected, but everything felt muscular.  I didn’t think much of it and proceeded with my life…

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Checking in on My 2018 Goals — One Month Down!

5ZNPrTjOSi1wq6jg3DAAt the beginning of the year, I set out a few goals for 2018.  Here I’ll provide a little update on how I am doing, now that we are one month in.  Note that because it wasn’t one of my official 2018 goals, I’ll write about my experience attempting Whole30 in a separate post.  So the goals…

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Vermont City Marathon Taper and Pre-Race Thoughts

IMG_1389Tomorrow is the Vermont City Marathon! Woohoo! Stop by early next week for the recap. Here, I wanted to give a few thoughts about the race, my preparation for it, and most importantly, the taper I’ve been doing for the past two weeks.  In no particular order:

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What A Training Cycle REALLY Looks Like

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Training for the Mississippi Blues Marathon

At the beginning of each training cycle, I set out my plan for the workouts I hope to do each week.  But I’ve never looked back after the fact to see what workouts I actually completed.  Until now!  (Since I’m in taper mode for the Asheville Marathon, I had a little time on my hands.)

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Last Week of Asheville Marathon Training

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View from Sunday’s long run

Did anyone do RnR New Orleans this weekend?  I did that marathon a few years ago and it was pretty fun!  Check out my recap here.  

This week was do-or-die for me, given that my longest run in this training cycle was 11.4 miles until this week.  Yikes!!!!  I usually like to get to 17 or 18 miles, if not 20.  Last week I stepped it up with three Orangetheory sessions and two longer runs, and this week I wanted to keep the momentum and finish this training cycle strong.  Oh, and do a true long run.  Here’s how I did…

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Ten Things I Learned at the UVA SPEED Clinic

IMG_1430I’ve been listening to a ton of podcasts lately, and one running-related podcast I’ve enjoyed is the Run to the Top podcast from Runners Connect.  In a recent episode, host Tina Muir documented her second trip to the University of Virginia SPEED Clinic in Charlottesville, VA (wahoowa!).  This, of course, played right into (1) my recent speed-related goals and (2) my newfound interest in body mechanics.  About three-quarters through the episode, I Googled the SPEED Clinic and emailed its director, Max, to set up an appointment.  Here’s a little background and what I learned from my visit…

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Asheville Marathon Training — T-Minus Three Weeks

Yikes… How did that happen?… Now only three weeks until the Asheville Marathon??? Maybe that honeymoon break was a bad idea, especially given my goals for this race?  Well I had my wakeup this week and jumped back into it with both feet…

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Running in compression tights and short sleeves!

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Asheville Marathon Training T-Minus 6 Weeks

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This was my last week before taking a little break for my honeymoon in Hawaii (!!!!!). I really wanted to get in a lot of core work while I was thawing out from the snow storm and while my legs were getting back into distance-shape.  But I also was really hoping to (finally) get myself out for a long run, especially given my new goal

 

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Asheville Marathon Training — 7 Weeks Out

IMG_0016According to my training plan, I was supposed to be spending the first two weeks of Asheville Marathon training doing a ton of Orangetheory and running 10 and 15 mile long runs respectively.  As I wrote last week, I really needed a second week of recovery after the Mississippi Blues Marathon.  That trend continued this week, until Snowzilla hit and then my options were really limited.  I cannot bring myself to get on a treadmill except during an Orangetheory class, so the idea of doing a long run indoors had about as much *traction* as my feet out on the ice.  But I tried to make the most of the snowy weather!

Here’s my recap…

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