When Mike did Ironman Florida last November, I met lots of people on the plane, race transportation buses and expo that I wished I could have kept in contact. Some of them had the same races on their race schedules, and with some I just really hit it off. When we came home, I ordered some business cards with my blog address on them. Now when I meet someone, I at least have something to hand them so that we can maybe connect again sometime.
The reality has been that I’ve been too shy to hand out many of these cards. I’ve probably given out 10 at the very most. It turns out, however, that my husband has been handing out a lot of my cards. While it’s great that he is my biggest fan, sometimes it’s a little embarrassing.
This weekend, Mike and I were at a charity ski event in Vail. It’s three days of skiing, auctions, and activities to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. Each of the three evenings, we were seated with the same group and I was seated next to Larry. Very nice man. Turns out he runs a little bit and oh, by the way, he works for Fox Sports and has a “C” in his title. The last night of the event, we are having a lovely conversation and Mike whips out my card and hands it to him! Larry, if you did not throw that card away immediately and are reading this, you are a fascinating dinner companion and it was wonderful to meet you. For everyone else, what was Mike thinking?! This guy is a big dog in sports media! The Super Bowl! He sees elite athletes and deals with professional journalists every day. The thought of him logging onto my homemade blog about my athletic adventures is more than a little intimidating. Larry put the card in his pocket. Very generous of him.
So I met a runner, his girlfriend even does triathlons, and Mike gave him my card. Isn’t that why I bought them? To make connections with other runners and athletes? I’ll just keep telling myself that.
by Beth on February 26, 2010
I’ve decided to go rogue. Everyone else is starting their spring marathon and half marathon training plans, with their speed work, long runs and recovery runs. For me, it is the beginning of my training for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on June 6th. Oh, there is nothing I like better than printing out a brand new training schedule and then following it religiously. The training schedule has been my task master and I’ve always done exactly as it dictates.
Not any more. I’m going off-road, going onto my own path for this round of training. The words I’m going write next are shocking, so prepare yourself. I’m not going to do any speed work. That’s right. I’ll miss the track, but we must part ways for now. Why? Because, while I love you track, your tough love hurts sometimes.
NYC Marathon is my goal this season. End of story. That means my goal race is 8 months away, which means I have 8 months to hurt myself. Pessimistic? I would say realistic. Another reality for me is that a ten minute mile is about as fast as I can go. I’ve been running consistently for 5 years now. I ran about that speed when I started, and that’s how fast I run now. I would love to run a 9 minute mile, but 2 seasons of speed work haven’t made that happen. I’ve come to accept the 10 minute mile. It is my friend. Even the 10:30 mile and I are on friendly terms. They are lovely paces and they make race day math easy.
The last 6 months or so, I’ve also been friends with “the pain free run”. We haven’t been friends very long, but I would like to make this a long term relationship. The track workouts and the pain free run have not gone hand in hand for me. If you saw me run in person, you would know why. My feet barely leave the ground and I pretty much gimp along. Maybe I was reaching when I thought that the track would be nice to me. Don’t get me wrong, I like the track. It’s just that over time, it wears me down.
With no speed work, it makes my training for this race pretty straight forward. I’ll run 4 days a week, with one run being between 8 and 11 miles. That’s it. The other days I’ll run between 4 and 7 miles, depending on how I’m feeling. I’m going to actually attempt to listen to my body and run more when I feel good and run less when I feel like I’m starting to hurt. I have never done that before. I’ve always been a slave to the schedule, afraid that if I didn’t do exactly what it said that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. Well, Mr. Half Marathon, I’m not afraid of you anymore. I’ve done enough of you now that I’m not going to let you frighten me. I’ve got my eye on the NYC Marathon goal, and you will not distract me. My friends 10 Minute Mile, Pain Free Run and I are a team now. We’ve got 10 and a Half Minute Mile on the bench if we need him, and we are not afraid to use him. Let’s go!
by Beth on February 23, 2010
Even though low temperatures are hovering around zero this week, the longer days and daytime highs of close to thirty are giving me spring fever. Thoughts of riding my bike outside and long runs in shorts are constantly popping into my head. Since my marathon is so late in the season, this seems like the perfect time to experiment and try new things.
Yesterday, I ran 10 miles and decided to try something new for me. Natalie said it was one of her favorite things, and Helen has mentioned it in her race reports. It is:
These are tablets that dissolve quickly in plain water and, shazam, you have “a light refreshing electrolyte drink without all the sugars”. Ya, I stole that right from their website. What I get out of that is that it has the electrolytes of a sport drink without any energy. I am trying out the tri-berry flavor right now and I love it. It adds just a little bit of flavor to my water. I thought it was great for a longish run like 10 miles. The workout wasn’t so long that I felt low on energy, but I was sweating and the nuun satisfied my thirst. I’m going to keep using the nuun with water instead of my usual G2, and for longer runs I’ll use it with GU’s for energy.
I’m also tinkering around with my bike set up. I love my bike and I felt like it fit me well last season. Two problem areas, however, were my pedals and my seat. I was using the SPD clips and my pedals could only be clipped on one side. I was constantly frustrated as I had to get my pedal flipped to the correct side before I could clip in. My seat was okay but not the most comfortable on the “sensitive” areas, if you know what I mean. I now have Speedplay pedals and a new “female friendly” seat, both of which I tried out for the first time today on the trainer. I had to keep getting off the bike to adjust the seat and to figure out why my shoe was making an annoying clicking noise. It was driving me crazy! I won’t bore you with the details, but basically there is a wad of toilet paper in the bottom of my shoe that seems to have solved the problem for now. I didn’t ride enough to asses the seat comfort, but now that everything is adjusted, hopefully next time I can ride longer to know if it is going to work for me. I have been avoiding the bike trainer all winter, so it was an accomplishment just to get the bike loaded up and to give it a try.
I’m hoping to be working on my swimming, too. I requested a couple books from the library. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one thinking about swimming so there is a wait list. In the meantime, I’ll amuse myself by futzing around with my bike and drinking my nuun.
