What songs get you fired up to run? Who’s your go-to artist for track sessions?
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (image:Bing)
My playlist is woefully outdated – I haven’t downloaded new music in (gulp) three years. I don’t listen to music ever on the trails or roads, so this hasn’t seemed like a big deal until I started a new marathon training block several weeks ago and realized I needed some fresh tunes to fire up my speedwork.
Here are my current (as in what I’m listening to, but definitely not “current” LOL) favs:
“Bad Reputation” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
“Can’t Hold Us” – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
“I Disappear” – Metallica
“I Want You To Want Me” – Chris Isaak
“It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” – R.E.M.
January was all about the skiing and consistent strength training, with easy base running miles sprinkled in to maintain fitness. I continue to be encouraged by how strong my legs and core feel from the consistent PT work I’ve been doing – I was originally concerned that all the work on the hamstrings, inner thighs, and gluts wouldn’t translate into strength for skiing, but I have been very pleasantly surprised. I can hold control going much faster now, my legs don’t get tired, and I don’t get gripped (with the exception of when the ski terrain is really bumped out, that technique is still requiring some coordination I don’t quite have yet, but I’m working on it!).
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I do use the turning of the calendar page to look ahead for 12 months and sketch out some fitness goals and priorities. I always feel a little antsy if I don’t have anything on the horizon; the structure of a training plan and the sweet march of the journey towards an event add soul to my life. Here are the races I’m gunning for (so far, hopefully more to come):
April: Salmon Run trail half marathon
July: birthday self-supported trail 50K
August: Haulin’ Aspen trail marathon
October: Chicago Marathon (reschedule from 2020)
One of my go-to trail race training guides
I’ll be following Krissy Moehl’s 50K training plan for the August trail marathon (26 vs 31 miles is basically apples to apples when you’re talking trail events). 24 weeks long, I start in mid-February, and the mileage/intensity build-up is gentle enough that it will be compatible with skiing at least 2 days most weeks and continuing to crush the strength work.
Although I’ve run several 50K and marathon events, I am essentially starting over due to the “hip blip” of 2020 (it’s all about the marketing, and “hip blip” sounds kind of minor, maybe a little fun, and not nearly as scary as “injury”). The next several weeks before the plan starts will entail mostly easy trail and road runs with weekly mileage around 15-30 miles.
Almost a year into blogging, and I’m finding that publishing training logs on a weekly basis has been fun, but I think with this weird free-flow year of pandemic and injury and crime scenes and not following a specific plan lends itself, in the near future at least, to a monthly training recap.
Big running news this month: my only IRL race this year (Happy Girls Sisters Trail Half Marathon) and completed registration for the 2021 Chicago Marathon next October (deferred entry due to this year’s event being canceled).
Nov 2-8: W & S PT strength exercises. W gym climb
W: 5 miles easy on road, 10:03 pace
Sa: Trail Half!!
can I get you some trees? Happy Girls Sisters Trail Half
Total run miles 18
Nov 9-15: Tu & Su PT strength exercises
W: 5 miles easy on road
Th: 10 mile trail hike
F: 11 mile trail hike
Sa: 5 miles easy on trail
Total run miles 31
Nov 16-22: PT strength exercises W, F, Su
Tu: 8 miles easy on road 10:15 pace, w/6x 20 seconds hard hills & 2 minute recovery
Th: 4 miles easy on road 10:24 pace. R hip creaky for the first time in weeks, so opted to not do as many miles as I originally planned. Wasn’t easy to stop early, but trying not to be a jackass. With typical runner goggles, I assumed the hip creakiness was due to wearing new shoes on Tuesday, but now realize it’s far more likely it was due to speed work for the first time in months. Duh.
Sa: 7 miles easy trail, 10:27 pace. Felt AMAZING. Wow, what a difference 48 hours can make. Also this run was AFTER ski touring for the first time this year. Shrug.
Su: 11 miles easy trail, 10:38 pace. 8 x 20 seconds hills hard w/2 minute recovery.
Total run miles: 30
Nov 23-29: PT strength exercises Tu, Th & Sa; Ski tour Th & Sa.
Tu: 8 miles easy on road, 10:17 pace w/ 8 x 30 seconds hills hard w/1 minute rest. After this workout, realized that yeah, it’s probably this speedwork that is making the hip creaky. Going to step back from the speed. I’ve been able to run up to 3 hours comfortably and maintain my PT strength exercises without issue, so I think my body is just not yet ready to add the speedwork back in.
W: 6 miles easy trail, 10:54 pace. Legs felt good but low on fuel
My favorite self-elected, very semi-part-time profession is to be a RMOH. For the uninitiated, this stands for “Running Maid of Honor”. I’ve only done it twice, but it makes me silly happy and my services are available for anyone who needs an enthusiastic but not super fast pacer and can tolerate my “yapping”, as my better half so diplomatically calls it.
Devin: Major Crusher of His First Road Marathon
My first go/run as RMOH was the 2019 Pac Crest Marathon with Devin, my work brother. This two-loop marathon conveniently used the same course as the half marathon, so I registered for the half and ran it with Devin as his second loop of the marathon. A life-long endurance athlete, Dev was a total champ at the distance and placed 2nd in his age group. My main duties were trying to keep up with him for the first half of the half, then helping him stay on a competitive pace for the second half of the half, which sadly for him was much harder as it was the final quarter of his marathon. I also (oh pre-COVID, such an innocent time) cajoled the many, many civilians we passed on the route to cheer for him as we went by. As Dan always says, “you scare people”, which comes in handy when you need perfect strangers to root for your tired buddy.
Heather: she’s got soup, she’s got a blanket, and now she’s got a half marathon under her belt!!!
I had the great privilege of donning the RMOH cap again a few weeks ago for Heather’s first half marathon, the super scenic Happy Girls Sisters Trail Half. Heather trained like fearless warrior through cold winter/spring conditions and hot summer days, often while pushing a lot of pounds of children IN A STROLLER ON TRAIL (if that doesn’t make you a strength badass, nothing will), and went from not running at all only mere months ago to running 13.1 miles on trail. Which is a pretty impressive progression and inspired me many days to get my own butt out there, because I knew Heather was getting her miles in. For this event I worked my friendly paparazzi skills and got lots of action shots of my runner on the course:
ya know, Heather just making it look easythe heavens shining down and highlighting how cute Heather’s hairstyle isone of the many gorgeous views on course
So…if you’re looking for a supportive racing buddy who resembles the love child of Tigger and Chris Traeger from “Parks and Recreation”…call me.
F: 12 mile trail run at Horse Butte, 12:38 pace. I will be running my buddy Heather’s first half marathon with her in two weeks, so today I practiced her interval system (run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute). It was SUPER FUN – you get excited every time you get to run, then chilled out and relaxed every time you get to walk, and both just keep rolling around. Cool way to organize a workout!
Su: 5 mile road run w/2 half mile hiking hill repeats
Total running miles: 23 Meditated 3 days
WEEK OF 10.26 – 11.01: Tu, F, Su: PT strength exercises
M & W: gym climbing
Tu: 3 miles easy on road, 10:26 pace
Sa: 11 miles trail on my favorite loop near our house, practicing “Heather Intervals” of 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking in preparation for running her first trail half next Saturday.
Su: 7 miles trail, easy out and back to keep the legs moving
I am pretty awesome at: running long distances. I love the process, the challenge, the friends I make, and continuing to improve myself.
Future goals in running: I want to run road marathons into my 80’s if possible. I started in my 20’s and my goal is to run at least 1 road marathon per year. I want to continue trail running as long as I can. I love both!
RR100 (Grace eats ultras for breakfast!)
Random fun fact: My husband loves to surprise me at races. He proposed to me at the end of the North Face 50-mile race in November 2015. We got married in August 2017 on the top of Hope Pass which is the highest point of the Leadville 100 mile trail run. We have both run the race and love it!
This book was sitting in our large communal to-be-read pile on the dining room table for months before I picked it up; Dan and I both thought the other person had ordered it (so if this is a gift from someone, thanks, and we didn’t get the memo). According to the book jacket, Ryan Holiday is “one of the world’s foremost thinkers and writers on ancient philosophy and its place in everyday life”, which while impressive, makes me feel a little bit skeptical.
That said, I found the text to be interesting and occasionally insightful. Holiday is not the best writer, but he does a sound job of providing interesting examples of contemporary and historic (though it should be noted mostly male and white) figures who have or haven’t embraced stillness to guide their choices and how that impacted their life’s path. He also gives the reader practical, tangible, and realistic ways (organized as chapter headings) to consider their mind, spirit, and body, and how to honor and nourish the needs of each of those components of your lived experience. The narrative on ritual and the healing power of the outdoors resonated in particular with me, as did his words regarding our inherent connection with all other lives: “No one is alone, in suffering or in joy. Down the street, across the ocean, in another language, someone else is experiencing nearly the exact same thing. It has always been and always be thus” (160).
If you are looking for a tool to help you check-in on your priorities, this one may be a good starting point. The chapters are short, making it easy to pick up and put down within the busy rhythm of your life, and if you are of the journaling sort, I think it would lend itself to prompting exploratory writing.
W: 11 miles easy run/hike on trail at Horse Butte w/Alex. One of my favorite trail systems – wide open and rolling and windswept, with one of my favorite running partners – so much chatting!!
Th: 5 mile easy road run – ran to my PT appointment and back – I’d consider that major progress!! I’ve graduated from 2 PT appointments a week to now only once every 3 weeks. I’m sleeping like a champ and am not experiencing discomfort when running. Right hip still feels generally a little sticky, but I am making progress!
Su: 6 miles easy trail – 10:33 pace, felt SO STRONG.
Felt really tired and worn down this week. Not compartmentalizing work stress well at all, and wasting energy feeling like a failure for not compartmentalizing work stress. Sigh. Tried to listen to my soul, which told me to take extra rest days and not feel guilty about it.
