Today is the Boston Marathon. Obviously, I am not there. I am sitting here writing a blog post. One of my coworkers is running and I am living vicariously through him. Guess what? It's not enough. I want Boston for myself!
It's been a long time since I updated my blog. Since then, I've done the DC Rock n Roll Marathon (March 16) and finished strong in 3:44:47 - only a few seconds off my PR. I didn't look at my watch for the first half of the marathon - it was fun to just run and enjoy myself. For a while now, I've been really unfocused on Boston. It seems so far off, even though it's less than 10 minutes now. In case you were wondering, 10 minutes seems like a LOT when you're doing 26.2 miles!
I have the Flying Pig Marathon coming up on May 5 and then Richmond in November. In the meantime, I'll do the Back on My Feet 20in24 in July. There's lots of running going on, but the big question for me is, how do I knock off those 10 minutes?
Well, I am taking some calculated steps to try. I met with a yoga instructor/fitness guru one-on-one a few weeks ago. She worked with me on stretching and gave me some good advice on how to stay strong (some hints: I need to strengthen my hip abducters, ie the insides of my thighs. Those don't get worked when you run, oddly enough. However, if they're weak, you can blow your knee). I learned that I actually have a tight back and a tight butt, but my hamstrings are relatively loose. I've also been instructed to do a strength workout (yoga, weights, etc) once a week. I'm also going to get monthly massages and I'm even going to go see a sports massage therapist - a big deal for me, since I usually only go for the prissy spa setting, where you might have a plush robe, but the massage probably isn't doing as much as it could.
Some of these may seem like common sense to some runners. For me, it helps to have someone tell me to do this. I'm not a great stretcher. I probably never will be. If given the choice between running and weight training, I will pick running every time. So it was incredibly helpful for me to do this.
I've also been doing more speedwork. For me, this is anything from going out to the soccer fields by my house to doing an occasional fartlek (you should have seen boyfriend's face when I told him I was going out to do these!).
Will all of this lead to Boston? I really can't say. It all depends on the day, the weather, my shoes, my hair....you can train and train and train and never be able to tell what will happen on race day. And today's a great day for a run!
It's been a long time since I updated my blog. Since then, I've done the DC Rock n Roll Marathon (March 16) and finished strong in 3:44:47 - only a few seconds off my PR. I didn't look at my watch for the first half of the marathon - it was fun to just run and enjoy myself. For a while now, I've been really unfocused on Boston. It seems so far off, even though it's less than 10 minutes now. In case you were wondering, 10 minutes seems like a LOT when you're doing 26.2 miles!
I have the Flying Pig Marathon coming up on May 5 and then Richmond in November. In the meantime, I'll do the Back on My Feet 20in24 in July. There's lots of running going on, but the big question for me is, how do I knock off those 10 minutes?
Well, I am taking some calculated steps to try. I met with a yoga instructor/fitness guru one-on-one a few weeks ago. She worked with me on stretching and gave me some good advice on how to stay strong (some hints: I need to strengthen my hip abducters, ie the insides of my thighs. Those don't get worked when you run, oddly enough. However, if they're weak, you can blow your knee). I learned that I actually have a tight back and a tight butt, but my hamstrings are relatively loose. I've also been instructed to do a strength workout (yoga, weights, etc) once a week. I'm also going to get monthly massages and I'm even going to go see a sports massage therapist - a big deal for me, since I usually only go for the prissy spa setting, where you might have a plush robe, but the massage probably isn't doing as much as it could.
Some of these may seem like common sense to some runners. For me, it helps to have someone tell me to do this. I'm not a great stretcher. I probably never will be. If given the choice between running and weight training, I will pick running every time. So it was incredibly helpful for me to do this.
I've also been doing more speedwork. For me, this is anything from going out to the soccer fields by my house to doing an occasional fartlek (you should have seen boyfriend's face when I told him I was going out to do these!).
Will all of this lead to Boston? I really can't say. It all depends on the day, the weather, my shoes, my hair....you can train and train and train and never be able to tell what will happen on race day. And today's a great day for a run!
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