T minus 5 days until Blue Ridge Marathon… – Where DID the time go?

Here I am in the middle of taper week...Seriously, where did the time go??? I wrote my last training post about 7 weeks ago and it covered weeks 3-7 of my training for the Blue Ridge Marathon. Yikes... At the end of last week, I finished up my last big climb to try and simulate …

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Blue Ridge Marathon Training Weeks 1&2 – Sometimes you just want to be told what to do…

Hello and good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Many of you are still in your weekends and I'm happy for you. 🙂 I just finished up a 6 mile run this morning (I'll run 4 more later today...two-a-days are back) with some sprints/surges at the end and it felt GREAT to …

This Week in Running – If there isn’t a race to train for, are you even training?

Hello friends! I hope you are all staying safe and keeping your distance. We are in some tough times. My kids are at home for the next couple of weeks, so my wife is working much harder than she expected to. I'm just glad we are fortunate enough that she can be there. I know …

This Week in Running – This is a test, this is only a test…

It's Sunday morning and I didn't have to run (thanks Coach), so what better time to write a post? Daylight savings robbed us of an hour, but I went to bed pretty early to prepare for that. 🙂 This extra rest day was definitely earned, since I busted out a 20 miler yesterday. I was …

This Week in Crazy (oops, I mean Running) – When it doesn’t go as planned…

Hello, everybody! It's a little late in the week for my update but better late than never, right? I've been battling a cough that just won't die for at least a couple of weeks now. I even went to the doctor (that's how you KNOW it's serious) to get a hodge-podge of drugs and an …

This Week in Running – Sometimes, it’s just about surviving…

Ahoy hoy! It's Monday and it feels like it's Monday. I have a doctor's appointment today to check into a cough that I just can't shake. I'm hoping that I've been running at a low lung capacity and that once I get this fixed, I'll be FLYING. Let's quickly recap last week's marathon training, so …

This Week in Running – Vert does in fact, hurt.

Hello! I hope you've had a great weekend! You may remember that I had this shirt made a few weeks ago. Well, it's a lie. VERT DOES HURT.           Things are ramping up quickly as I get ready for race season. I feel like I'm doing it all with speed work, …

This Week in Running – Some runs can make or break you

Hello and Happy Sunday! I've finished up my 5th week of marathon training and woah was it a doozy (doozy is SUCH a dad word, so I'm gonna own it). I'll recap the week in training, but most of this post is about just one of the runs. My long run this week was something …

This Week in Running – Learning the true definition of hills

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I find myself sitting in a cozy chair with a cozy cup of coffee after a 7 mile run where my legs feel better after I'm done than they did before I started. I guess recovery miles or shake-outs are real after all.

Hill:

a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
an incline, especially in a road:This old jalopy won't make it up the next hill.
an artificial heap, pile, or mound:a hill made by ants.
a small mound of earth raised about a cultivated plant or a cluster of such plants.

Above is what I found when I looked for the definition of the word "hill". When it comes to running, I don't think that any of these accurately portray the meaning. I'll try mine:

The portion of a run where lungs burn, legs fatigue and goals die.

This Week in Running – Flip the Switch

With all of this work I'm putting in, I feel like a couple of switches flipped. The first switch is related to getting used to this increased volume, or "building my base". The 6 days of running a week are feeling more normal. The track workout once a week is feeling more normal. My body and my mind are in training mode now.

The second switch is related to another way that ramping up for this training has effected me. I AM HUNGRY. I've been eating everything in site. I'll admit that I've cut back on some things (sweets and alcohol), but nothing is cut out. My meals have been HUGE and I always seem to have room for more. It's kinda fun.