Mindfully Moving

Oh I love a race recap and I hope you like them as much as me. For some reason I always feel like we can glean something or learn something from reading other runners race recaps....Emma Bates race recaps might be the most well known! While I certainly don't run like Emma Bates, in fact well over an hour slower :)... this is my race recap for my 7th marathon where I set a 7 min Personal best AND finished 3rd in my age group!! What?? I think I surprised myself but WHAT.A.DAY!!  So I made the travel from CT to SC with my parents (yes they came to root me on...such good parents right??) 2 days prior to the marathon. Kiawah Island was about 1 hour from a family members house that we stayed in Thursday night. Got up Friday morning hoping I could pull off a 2 mile shake out run without too much pain in the left leg that had been looming over me for most of the taper. Welp...that didn't go well. I had to walk, I had pain, I was discouraged. I couldn't believe how I would run a ful...

  Having a strong runner's mindset is something that is easier said than done. It requires just as much practice as the physical training that goes into a training block. Like training your gut to take in fuel, runners often forget that they have to train their minds to handle the dark places of endurance running and racing.  And it does it go there... I ran the Boston Marathon in 2023. Yes, it was the first hot day of the year at a warm 70 degrees, but all my training runs had been through the cold winter mornings so the idea of being heat acclimated was far from the case. A late start, close to 11am didn't help. Standing in Boylston and walking in the crowd with thousands of other runners on small narrow New England streets with the sun beating down made for a rough start. When the marathon volunteers were handing out last minute sunscreen at the start line, I knew we were in for a rough day. Anxiety and fear started to build. I tried to come back to my training, back to my ...

My Chicago Marathon Race Recap to my coach:  Having had two days in the city prior to the race allowed me to figure out the transportation and allowed me to get my bib and do some sight seeing a bit, two days prior. The day before the race I enjoyed my shake out run so much down by the lake. I just couldn’t wait for race day!!! I spent the rest of the day in my room reading Deena Kastor’s book and couldn’t put it down. I was taking away so much on the mental side of racing. I walked to CVS and got a marker and wrote my mantras on my arm. “Make them proud” “Find a thought that serves you better” “Stay in this mile” “Define yourself” “Keep going” “Smart… Fluid…brave”  I was in a good headspace despite traveling alone to a new city (yes I’m 45 but the anxiety of this can be a lot for me). I told myself I’m going to stay positive. I’m not going to go to the negative. If my legs are sore, focus on my arms.  Got into my corral earlier than I wished I did. It felt rushed by the ...

When I first started training seriously for marathons, I was all in on running. I would follow my training plan consistently and exclusively, but what it lacked was a strength training component. I trained for the NYC marathon and met my "C" goal on a very hot and humid record breaking day in the city. Definitely a race I am proud of and without a doubt LOVED the NYC Marathon. An experience like no other. The bug hit me for the marathon majors and I quickly realized I was close to a BQ time and was going to go after it. Meanwhile I applied for the Chicago Marathon lottery and while it was a shot in the dark....I got accepted!! I had a plan for running the Sugarloaf Marathon in May of 2023 in an attempt to qualify for Boston and 5 months later running the Chicago Marathon. I knew at this point, the only way to get through both marathons with time goals was to add in strength training. I added body weight and heavy lifting workouts 2-3 times per week in an effort to sta...

 Bodi Lava  The perfect Summer training program using body weight to build strength and add on to a run!  Described as an athletic strengthening power yoga/primal movement program it is designed to improve balance, coordination, strength, core strength, agility, mobility and flexibility with opportunities for HIIT. You will sweat, you will burn calories.  This is NOT your slow flow Yoga class. This is 20 minutes of hard non-stop work that although it requires no equipment, is hardly easy.  As an experienced runner and an experienced Yogi, the style of this class combining the athletic movements with holding intense yoga positions creates a level of difficulty that is just enough of a challenge for the experienced athlete and a great beginning (with modifications if needed) to someone new to yoga.  Not going to lie...it isn't easy. I have been lifting heavy for a year or so now and find my legs to shake holding a Warrior 3 position or crescent lunge for upwa...

Mastering marathon training as a single mom…   I am a single mom who has managed to train and run 4 marathons in the last two years. In that time I have qualified for Boston 2x and got a 30+ minute PR!! And never missed an activity for my kids for running. Anyone who has trained for a half or full marathon (or ultra) knows the commitment and dedication to the process is the hardest part. I have been able to successfully get my training in, stay strong mentally in training, and commit to the process. This is what you can do if you want to commit to your running goals.   1. schedule your running and strength training into your week. write it down. Put it on a calendar or planner.   2. Journal about your progress and each run. What is one positive you can pull from each run? how did you feel? See below for the ones I use.   3. Set goals. I created a vision board with running goals included in my overall vision board. See a pic of mine below :)...