Winter Wonderland

I'm procrastinating on my taxes. So far today I went for a long run, went grocery shopping, pulled the meat off a roast chicken and made stock out of the carcass. I had run out of things to do instead and had actually sat down and started my 1040 when I remembered that I haven't blogged in ages! Excellent. At this rate I can put the forms off until tomorrow.

I have gotten into the swing of running long on Saturdays. Usually my marathon training is set around my crazy work schedule and ends up with long runs whenever I can fit them in but with my very normal M-F 9-5 (ok 3:30, let's be honest, it's cold at work) winter work schedule, I have been able to meet up with the Rhode Island Road Runners for the past few Saturdays. My first 10 miler was a few weeks ago by myself down the Cliff walk and around Ocean Drive. I ramped it up to 14 last week in honor of the holiday. I met up with a couple from RIRR and we ran a great route in Jamestown from town out to Beavertail and back with a couple loops tacked on. This weekend I met up with RIRR again at their usual spot in Bristol at Colt State Park. I arrived early so that I could run a few miles before the rest of the group arrived to do 11. I wanted to run ~16 but was feeling pretty sore from this week. I fit in 3 before the group arrived and we pounded out another 11 by doing two laps of the park and a little street running. All of the runs have been great and not too cold. Saturday morning seems to be the time when the weather takes a breather. The wind dies down and the snow stops long enough to get a few miles in before it all comes back on again. The weather has been a determining factor in when and where I have been putting my workouts in. It was so cold two weeks ago when I headed out for a Friday morning 6 that I had to turn in a mile early. The next week had 7 on the docket and it was a slow, slippery, painful 7. I finally admitted to myself that I might have to find a treadmill or other workout options.
I started looking around for anything other than the dreaded T. One of the local running groups meets up at URI and uses their indoor track for repeats on Tuesdays. I drove out there last week and fit in an interval workout. It was great to focus on speed instead of footing and staying upright!
I also signed up for a circuit HIIT class at Pulse. I have been meaning to try their classes for awhile and was very happy I went. The class was for an hour on Thursday morning and was great! Circuits are fun and hectic and it's nice to wake up some other muscles from time to time, too.
And what would winter in New England be without a bit of skiing? So I have been trying to get back into it. I've managed to fit in 2 weekends and a couple days here and there at various mountains. I haven't skied very much since middle school so I'm pretty rusty but I'm getting back into it for sure.  I also haven't had a set of ski gear that was my own since high school. I didn't really ski in college, choosing to sail in the winter because I had the gear and it was cheaper, and moving to the Caribbean afterwards meant not having a lot of wintery things. The few times I've managed to be around snow I have rented gear and been pretty happy with that. Luckily I have very talented and generous friends, a few of whom have spent their winters on mountains instead of beaches. This winter a friend of mine gave a pair of K2s that were too long for her and fit me pretty well. Another friend had found a pair of ski boots at his town dump and grabbed them for his wife. Unfortunately, his wife has size 7 feet and the boots were size 10. Good for me! Finally, having huge feet has paid off! With my new skis and old boots I am rocketing down the mountain. Sort of.

All of these activities make all of this crazy snow not so bad. I would be disappointed if I spent a winter here and it wasn't snowing, honestly. They also make for very little time to do tedious things like my taxes....

Newton, New Shoes and a New Name

Getting on a plane after a great week is not my favorite part of my job. I get incredibly melancholy on planes. Maybe its the anonymity of airports. Maybe it's coming down off of the adrenaline spike that's present in racing and traveling. Either way when I arrived back in Newport I was bummed. It was bitterly cold and overcast and seemed awfully quite after a hectic week in the islands.  My first day back I didn't run.  Now we all know I love running but I still run into the inevitable mental block that stops me from getting up early or out the door. I don't know why this is still an option in my brain, I never regret going for a run and always kick myself for not going. Still, I hit the big wall of excuses sometimes. Newton says an object in motion stays in motion and I completely agree and not just because of gravity or lack of friction. When I'm busy and have 100 things to accomplish in a day I will hit them all, fit in a run and love it. When I don't have a whole lot on the schedule everything seems to come to a crawl and I don't want to do anything at all. After a jam packed week of sailing, running and socializing my life in Newport seemed wide open, plenty of time to fit in some running, and yet I danced around it for the first two days. I did get out the door after work on Friday, the second day, and it was great. I just need to get moving and keep moving and when I run into doubt or excuses keep I have a list of things that motivate me near by.
My list includes;
-Buying new gear and trying it out
-Making a new play list and rocking out
-Racing or group runs
-Increasing the accountability by blogging or telling a friend what I'm doing

I ran Friday as a warm up for the Trail 10k on Saturday. I have started to join some running groups, or have at least joined their facebook pages. Talking about running and running in groups is a great way to find races and other activities in this area. I have never really explored RI outside of Newport or what you can get to by boat and now that I have some wheels I have been trying to get out there and run in new places. The 10k was a great example of that, through a nature area you would never have guessed was there! It was also an interesting eye opener to the amount of running gear most people have. I have always been pretty minimalist due to packing restrictions and thus I have my running shoes until they blow out. One pair. Looking around at the ground yesterday people were wearing all sorts of trail shoes, Trax, Crampons, gaters and even the racing snow shoes. As I looked down at my very comfortable, light weight, mesh New Balances I realized I could probably do with a new pair, that had a little more shoe to them. Shoe and gear envy aside, my shoes are blown out on the toe edges and have started to feel dead in the soles.  After the race I headed up to Providence to the Rhode Runner shoe store. I have seen Rhode Runner jerseys on a lot of the runners around here and they set up a few of the races and group runs and I had never been up to the store. The store has treadmills and a track for you to run on so they can analyze your pronation and what type of shoe you should run in. I already know what type of shoe I like but I seem to keep growing out of the ones I have. I loved the pair of Merrells I ran Sugarloaf in but when I went to buy another pair they were too small. I bought the next size up but they seemed too tight on my toes. Yesterday I wanted to try on some of the wide models to see what brands fit best. I tried on women's 10s and even they seemed tight in some styles so the man helping me started bringing me men's sizes. I ended up with a new pair of New Balance RC 1400s. On my way home I stopped at Marshalls to continue the credit card abuse. Middletown, Rhode Island has the best Marshalls. Ever. And on the clearance shelf because no one has feet as large as mine, was a pair of Mizuno Sayonaras in just my size! Well, I guess two pairs can't hurt!

I laced up the Sayonaras for 9 miles this morning around snowy Newport. It snowed a couple of inches last night and dusted the streets and sidewalks. It was pretty warm and I pounded out to the beaches and the bird sanctuary. I was out early enough that the roads weren't too slushy and there was minimal traffic to avoid.  Well, except for the geese!

I realized that my blog is still titled 30 for 30 and that it is time for a new name. I was hoping something clever would come to be as I ran around in the snow. or on the beach. or in Europe. oh...There it is. 

White Sandy Beaches and Plently of Snow

I have been a runner since my father took me out on the road in our neighborhood when we were little kids. I kept running through high school and college as exercise and stress relief. I played lots of sports and am a total joiner, I love activities! When I started traveling it became harder to be apart of any sports teams or clubs because I never knew my schedule or where I was going to be and anytime I was in one place particular I knew I would be leaving soon. Since running only requires a pair of shoes it was an easy thing to continue. It is also a great way to see new places, a 6mph pace is just about right to see a lot of things in a short amount of time. Little things you might miss if you were zooming past in a car. It has also turned out to be a good litmus test of the type of people in an area. When arriving in a new place I will head out on my morning run and wish every person I pass a Good Morning! It's shocking, since I'm from New England, but I like to greet people and be greeted as they pass. I have found some very friendly environments (the caribbean) and some snobby ones (San Fran) but mostly people smile or respond as they jog along. My running app has little tips for every day and yesterday it said, "Don't forget to smile at other runners. Most are friendly and don't care how long you've been running, just that you're out participating and enjoying their sport." It's true, we're all out there having a good day or a slow day or a first day, but we're out and that's awesome!





So last week I packed up my shoes and my sailing gear and headed south to Antigua. I took a plane this time and was there for a Superyacht Race. Superyacht racing is a special kind of racing. Not thrilling like AC72 sailing and not competitive like dinghy sailing but it's a whole other spectacle that I personally love to watch. There is a grand piano aboard the yacht I race on and we move that beast around the course just as seriously as we would any other race boat. It's just a baby grand after all. We had a good week sailing and I had a mediocre week of running. I managed to fit in a couple of my favorite runs and hiked the goat trail with some friends. Antigua is probably my favorite Caribbean island to run on. Many of the flights were canceled coming back into the North East so I used my extra day to run to Rendezvous and join up with a beach bbq.

Yesterday after work I bundled up and headed down to the beach. It was a beautiful afternoon and not too cold. The sidewalks are icy and the roads are only cleared to the yellow lines so there is no shoulder to run on. It makes for a good adventure and trying not to slip on the ice helps pass the time!

This morning I headed across the bridge for a 10k trail run, not really thinking through the fact that there was a blizzard last week and the woods are full of snow. The trail ran around a pond in North Kingston and was packed down for only about 1/2 of it! Deep snow running is actually pretty fun! Luckily it has been cold and the snow is still fluffy and thank goodness for Smartwool socks, feet are wet but still warm! Who doesn't love a little contrast? White sandy beaches one week and woods full of snow the next!

Running, Biking and Warmer Temps

It was above 30* again this morning when I woke up for my run. Living in New England is definitely an exercise in relativity. Two months ago I wouldn't have even considered getting out of bed when I rolled over to see my window thermometer pointing to the blue zone. These days as long as it is somewhere above zero I can't wait to get out on the road because it's 'so warm out!' There as also been very little wind the past week or so which also helps keep temps up. After spending the recent winters in the Caribbean my stock of cold weather/warm running clothes has been seriously depleted. Thankfully Jules and I took a winter hiking trip to the Grand Canyon over New Years so I had two very good excuses to go shopping for some technical cold weather kit. Marshalls came through, as usual, and I found an awesome Saucony running hat, some Nike gloves with booger thumbs and some fleece lined tights and tops, all on clearance! Buying new gear is very close to the top of my ways to get motivated list.  Right under keeping a training journal blog!

With my new clothes and the spiking temperatures I have been celebrating the weather (or the fact that I've finally acclimatized to it) by running in the mornings and biking to and from work. The morning runs are ~3 miles with some hill work thrown in and the bike to work is 8.5 miles on pretty flat roads. Luckily my job doesn't require me to wear a business suit or to look (or smell) presentable at all so I can get away with arriving a little sweaty.
Doubling up with running and biking landed me in a conversation about running vs biking muscle groups, PRE (perceived rate of exertion) and AT (anaerobic threshold).  I have always maintained that biking is harder and therefore must use different muscles groups than the ones I have from running. I can run a marathon but I struggle on a bike for even a couple miles. I don't think anyone could say I have weak legs. My calves don't fit into boots or skinny jeans and my quads and butt dictate my jeans size more than my waist does! Don't get me wrong, I have always been proud of my runner's legs but what is the deal with biking? I was convinced that there must be some other muscle group that bikers develop. Apparently, I was wrong. A friend of mine tried to convince me that there was no secret biking muscle group, that you use your legs, just like running, to push a bike forward. So we both went home and did what anyone else would do to prove we were each right, GTS. According to this article on livestrong.com the same muscles are used, just in slightly different ways. Push vs pull and four stages in running to only two in cycling. This abstract points out that the PRE is higher and the VO2 max and AT happen earlier in biking, however, and that's why I feel so out of shape on a bike. Any cyclists feel the opposite is true when they hit the road running?

Either way, it's been a pretty great start to the week. Hopefully the weather holds through the week. Here's to lots of miles, get out there!

Running Naked

I have been running naked since October.
It has been ages since my last blog. After 30 for 30 summer was in full swing and between getting up to speed running my new boat and logging lots of miles, blogging got pushed to the back burner.

I have been running consistently and ran the Newport marathon in October. I was training for Newport pretty hard and may have even 'over trained' as the race didn't go as well as I had hoped. I felt stiff and tired for a lot of the second half. Thankfully, I had a great running buddy for the whole race and her goal of finishing sub 4 helped us both get through and across before the dreaded 4 hour mark.
After Newport I felt a little burned out from training.  I think of training and running as two different entities. Training is great by having set workouts and times to strive towards I can focus what I'm doing and it makes it easier to get out the door. Running between races can be refreshing and enjoyable, getting back to the root of why we're all out there in the first place; because running is awesome.

So after Newport I took my headphones out of my hears, turned off my pace watch and headed out the door. They call it running naked in the magazines. No set workouts, no pacing or time goals. I would go out when I wanted for as long as I wanted. I threw in a few races here and there, the Pie Run on Thanksgiving and a NYE 10k in Vegas but it was all just to see how I could do, and I ended up doing alright!

Now it's time to get back in the game. May is just around the corner. I know it doesn't feel like it as we pull on our third layer and gloves and head out for a jog, but it is just about 18 weeks until my birthday, May marathon weekend and summer racing season. I would like to run Sugarbush Marathon again on May 17 but the Volvo stop over in Newport might get in the way. Either way I'll be racing 26.2 again soon.
This time I am trying to train with the Hal Higdon marathon guide and use the pace times from the Runner's World training. Hal Higdon has you running 6 days a week which is more my style than the 3 day guide. I'm traveling a bit this winter but not nearly as much as the past few years so I should be able to work more daily runs into my calendar.
The first run this morning was a 3 miler that I turned into 4 because turning around on the Cliff walk before the 40 steps just feels wrong! It's pretty warm out, somewhere over 30 anyways. The roads and sidewalks were a little slick this morning with a film of ice but it was a beautiful morning for a run. I'm going to take it as a good omen towards a successful training season and a sign that it will warm up eventually!

30 for 30

The Sugarloaf Marathon in Eustis Maine took place on May 18. With approximately 700 participants the race was small and personal. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect for a run. The air was cool and the sky was clear. The promised rain showers were nowhere to be seen. The lakes were full and the mountains were vivid and green with the recent rain and snow run off. The race ran down route 27 along the Androscoggin River which was high and tumbling fast down the riverbed. The race starting on a flat, going up hill and cresting at the midpoint, and finishing downhill broke up the miles and made the course easy to break up mentally.
The best part of the race was the fans cheering on the side of the road. Since the road was open during the race cars and trucks leap frogged like the runners. Cowbells and car horns and signs and streamers were all along the course. A few clever signs made us all giggle a little and informed us that; 'You run better than the Government, Humpty Dumpty had wall issues too, and Sweat is liquid awesomeness!'

Right from the start I was leap frogging with a small group of people from Connecticut. I shared my 30 mile goal with a woman in rainbow socks who cheered me on and one uped me with having run 42 this year on her birthday! I was maintaining a 8:20 ish pace and was worried that I made my usual mistake of going out too fast. Everything felt good so I told myself to relax and keep going. Going into the hill I felt strong and thankful for all of the Caribbean island training. I knew Julia was meeting me at mile 11, after the crest of the hill. Just after mile 10 my shoulders started cramping up a little. Jules was bringing energy gummies with her. The sugar, potassium and caffeine were an instant pick me up. As the decline increased I let myself go with it and held a pace closer to 7:25. Jules dropped out before mile 14 and Reg jumped in at 15 to finish off the hill. My legs started to feel the miles around 17. My father joined me for a mile, Jen for a half mile and Julia jumped back in at 23. Doubts started creeping in just before 24. As another runner ran past, I expressed my doubts at speeding up. Before I could get too discouraged, Jules just said, "Go with her, you can do it." and as she peeled off I pushed through the tight hamstrings and mental doubts and kicked past the girl runner as well as a few guys in front of her. I had enough in me to finish the final two miles at a 8:30 pace and jogged it out after the finish until my watch reached 30 miles.

After a lemonade and some homemade granola (only in Maine) I read out my watch statistics. For 30 miles my elapsed time was 4:18. My marathon time was 3:43 with an average pace for the whole thing of 8:36 minutes per mile. My shoes, that had been holding on by a string, finally ripped apart during the race and I bought new ones yesterday. Interestingly, I had to buy a half a size larger than I did last time. I broke them in this morning with a 3 mile jog around downtown Portsmouth. I picked up the New England Running Calendar to look for the next race before the high wears off. I had a great race and was surrounded by my awesome family, I couldn't have asked for more. 

Here I go....

I’m running 30 miles tomorrow. Realistically, I should have chosen a marathon in June. I have missed some significant parts of the training due to work and life changes. I think pushing the date could get me back on track but those marathons wouldn’t be on my birthday weekend. I set out to run Run 30 miles on my 30^th birthday, happy birthday to me!

I’m incredibly lucky to have a family that likes to get together and will use any excuse to do so. We have been known to move holidays around to suit our travel schedules. This weekend we celebrated three May birthdays and mother’s day. They all decided to head up to Maine to join me in one way or another in my run. Kate hosted a pre race cookout at her house in Saco and my mom made me a wicked awesome shirt that I will run in. Julia, my father and my brother in law are going to jump in and run some of the race with me. Jen is going to run a mile with me and her kids, sort of a cool down victory lap.

My friend Jillian blogs about her running and training adventures ever since she traveled over to Ireland to run her first marathon. She’s pretty incredible and I read her blog to stay current in her life and for the inspiration it provides.  She’s not training for anything specific at the moment, but wrote, “when asked if I was training for a marathon and I thought about how even though I wasn't, I kind of was. In running or in life. We all are. In every marathon there's a rough stretch. At some point in every single race, it's gonna suck. And yet, almost always, we finish. We come back for more.” Funnily enough, some pretty amazing opportunities have come out of leaving Antigua abruptly and heading out to sea. This week I was in New York City working with The Atlantic Cup, a sailing organization that is trying to save the world by being a carbon neutral event. Last week I was superyacht racing in the Palma Vela and the month before that I had the best crossing of any of them that I have sailed.

As for running in the past month, my Nike+ gps is getting pretty tired. Linking to satellites seems to take longer when my runs are 2,000 miles apart. I hopped off the boat in Palma and ran 7 miles along the waterfront. Later in the week I ran up to the castle and back the morning after the first team dinner. Since I may have had a glass of wine too many the night before, I joined Amy that afternoon for another run. It was a beautiful run through the olive groves in Alaro. Before leaving Mallorca I ran down the waterfront again for 10+ miles. From Mallorca I flew to Charleston, SC for the start of the Atlantic Cup. The event kept me pretty busy but I managed to squeeze in some half mile intervals early one morning. Between Charleston and New York I had to drive through Beaufort, NC to meet one of the race boats. I stayed over night and, after sending the boat off the dock, I ran 12 flat miles around Beaufort and Moorehead City. This week in New York I tapered by running around the city instead of taking the subway. Am I ready? I think so. I know that I’ll finish, I’m just unsure of how I’ll be feeling when I do.

The race is in the area around Sugarloaf Ski Resort. Sugarloaf is approximately at the half way point as the course winds down route 27 from Eustis to Kingfield. The first part is flat road leading up to a hill climb that starts around mile 7. It climbs for 2 or 3 miles before heading down hill for the rest of the race. In order to bump it up to 30 miles I am going to run a 3 mile warm up on the way to the start and finish with a mile after the finish. It’s what most people do anyways, warm up and cool down, but tomorrow I’m going to count it all. I think it’s going to be a nice run. The weather hasn’t decided if it’s going to cooperate yet, it could be cold and rainy. After all, it’s a race in New England, as long as you keep running the weather will probably change.