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Tag: training

How To Start Running

October 2, 2017

As the Fall racing season is upon us, I have had several people approach me and tell me they wanted to start running but needed advice.  When the summer heat breaks and the cooler temperatures come in, more people enjoy running because it isn’t so unbearable.  And those who may have not had an interest during the heat of the summer take up running as a change in their workout routines.

I will give you advice from what I learned not to do, as well as what I learned when I started to use Jeff Galloway’s run/walk/run method, attended his seminar, and hired him as an e-coach to help me survive my first runDisney Dopey Challenge in 2015.  I am now going to finish my fourth Dopey Challenge in January of 2018, and I will be running the NYC marathon in just about a month from today!  To date I have run 8 marathons and countless half marathons, 10Ks, and 5Ks. But it all started with the basics.

How to Start Running

Footwear

First, one of the most important things you should do before you even head out onto the road is to go to a local running store and get fitted for the proper pair of running shoes.  Don’t go to your closest sports store and pick something off the shelf.  You need to go to a specialty running store who can fit you for the appropriate shoe for your foot, your gait and your mileage.

Running Shoes

Clothing

Clothing is almost as important as footwear.  You need to know how to dress for the weather.  You also need to find the right clothing that won’t cause you to chaffe.  Many people think they can put on their cotton t-shirt and a pair of shorts and tube socks and hit the road.  That may work for the first few runs; but eventually, you are going to need to purchase clothing that removes moisture from your skin as well as socks that won’t cause you to get blisters on your feet. The key component to running attire is the fabric that pulls the moisture away from your skin to help regulate your temperature and also avoid chaffing.  When it is 85 degrees out with 80% humidity nothing is going to keep you dry, but at least your clothes won’t feel like they weigh an extra 5 pounds because they are soaking with sweat.  If you are unsure if running is going to be your sport, I suggest going to WalMart or Target to purchase some of their workout clothing to get your started.  They are affordable, come in bright colors (good for safety) and really do the job.

Running Tank

Socks

I put socks in their own category.  It’s important to get the best socks for running.  Believe it or not wool socks are perfect for running.  The brands I like are Balega, Feetures and Thorlo Experia.  Out of the three brands Balega is my favorite.  It’s important for the socks to pull moisture away from your feet for two reasons.  One is to avoid blisters, and the second is because in the winter your feet will feel cold if there is moisture on your feet.

Running Socks

Sports Bra

When picking out a sports bra I like to keep a few things in mind when making my selection.  I do not like the bra to have any brackets or strap adjustments in the front of the bra near the shoulder because it hurts my skin.  I also want to make sure the bra fits me correctly.  If it is too big or too small it will cause chaffing.

Sports Bra

Note that this bra has the adjustment pieces in the back near the shoulder blades.  They don’t dig into my skin when they are on the back like they do with bras that have them on the front.   

Getting out on the road

When you begin your first time out on the road or the treadmill, I recommend you start slow.  Using the run/walk/run method allows you to use an interval time (you can purchase one or use an app on your phone) and set it to the amount of time you want to run and the amount of time you wan to walk.  Then as you find what intervals you like best, you use those for your training.  Jeff’s site also has a lot of information on the intervals he recommends.

What NOT To Do

Don’t do too much at once.  What I mean is, don’t run every single day, a mistake I made at first.

Don’t go out too fast, build up to the speed you want to run at.

Don’t run too far too soon.  When increasing your mileage you should increase it by 10% each week.  This will help you avoid injury.

What to Do

Cross training is also very important.  You need strong muscles in your hamstrings, glutes, quads, and also your upper body to hold you up.  I like to incorporate Beach Body On Demand videos into my weekly routine so that I am building muscles on the days that I am not running.  I used to run and ignored cross training and have found that I was constantly fighting injuries that were so bad I needed physical therapy.  Now that I have been cross training more I feel stronger and recover faster from my long runs.

Find a friend.  I enjoy training alone, but I love making new friends and all the friends I have met at the races.  If you find a running buddy you will have someone to share your successes and failures with.  That’s what I love about the sport of running.  You can do it alone or you can run with a group or team.  Or you can be alone in a large crowd!

This is my first blog post to help you get out on the road and work towards your first race or just to get out and run for your enjoyment and fitness.

Newfound Lake

NYC Marathon 6 Mile Training Run

August 16, 2017

To follow my new format for logging my runs, I’ll report in with a longer run that I did during my vacation in New Hampshire.  I intend to get 10 miles in this weekend but I wanted to keep my general mileage higher so I went out for a 6 miles run.

Here are the stats of the run:

Nutrition

Breakfast was cereal with almond milk
1 cup of decaf tea

Time of day

I began the run at 11:50 a.m.

Weather

It was 75 degrees, overcast and 69% humidity with a light breeze along the lake

Fuel on the run

None

Gear

Under Armour running shorts, hot pink sports bra with more support and no clips in the front and a tank top.  New sneakers.

Pace

I walked a little on some of the big hills; but maintained my 30/30 for the entire run.

6 mile run splits

Post Run

I felt fine after the run.  Drank cold water, had a turkey sandwich and enjoyed time at the beach with the kids.  From time to time when I walk a certain way I do feel my right knee’s issue talking to me but it doesn’t affect my run.

When I finished my run I definitely felt like I could have gone farther.  Had I had water and a little fuel with me I think I could have done 10.

Some views from my run

7 Mile Training Run for NYC

NYC Marathon 7 Mile Training Run

August 1, 2017

I am starting a new format to log my training runs so I can look back on them to identify successes and not so successful elements related to the training run. This week in increased my mileage a bit and got up to 7 miles on a long run for the weekend.

Here are the stats of the run:

Nutrition

Breakfast was 3 pieces of light wheat bread as french toast
1 cup of tea

Time of day

I began the run at 1:30 p.m.

Weather

It was 79 degrees and full sun with a slight breeze, very low humidity

Fuel on the run

One water bottle and my family met me at mile 4 with an additional water bottle.  I drank some and poured some on my head.

Gear

Skirt Sport and a tank top.  Note:  the skirt sport started to chafe around the last mile.  That will either require me to use Glide or choose something else to wear when I run longer distances.

Pace

I walked a little extra here and there; but maintained my 30/30 for the entire run.

 Post Run

I felt fine after the run.  I went to the farm and walked up the fields (approx 1.5 miles) in the sun.  Very little soreness the next day.  Mostly felt a little sore in the hip flexors.

Overall I was satisfied with this run.  After mile 4 I felt like I was getting into a groove.  I stayed on the roads that were shady and was pleased to get in a little more mileage with the walk at the farm as well – some cross training.

I hope to continue with this increase a little bit more each week/weekend.

What Can’t I Get To The Double Digits

July 27, 2017

I don’t know why this is such a challenge for me; but I am struggling with getting up to the double digits when it comes to my training for the NYC marathon. I should be past this mark by now; but life has been a bit busy and I haven’t been able to, and I have been also reluctant to.

I should have taken advantage of the colder weather we had earlier in the week.  It was 60 degrees and we were wearing long pants and sweatshirts!  But I wasn’t available to get out there for it.  I finally was able to put aside a longer lunch to get in my 5 mile run this week.

Remember the Jeff Galloway Fundamentals

I had to think back to the beginning of when I started training for my first marathon.  Jeff Galloway recommends that training runs are run at a pace that is significantly slower than your race pace.  The purpose of the training runs is to get the miles under your feet.  It’s not about how fast you run those miles.  That is, if your goal is to finish the marathon and don’t have a specific time you want to finish it with.

That is my goal for the NYC marathon.  I want to finish it, I want to enjoy it, and I took that advice to heart and put the miles in and ran it slower. I’m going to get to that 10 mile run and review the training calendar that I keep purposely ignoring so I can see how far off track I am from the plan that I made for myself.  Then it’s time to get serious.  I have to remember what happened at the Marine Corps Marathon and respect the distance.  November seems far away; but really, it’ll be here before I know it.

5 mile splits

Dopey Challenge – It Really Is A Challenge

October 19, 2014

This past month I started a new job. I really enjoy the new job and so far it hasn’t gotten in the way of my training for the Dopey Challenge. The challenge for me is that I was Dopey to sign up for this challenge when I never before even did the Goofy challenge! What have I gotten myself into?

My training has been going well, I will admit that. But I don’t feel as successful as I think I could feel. Maybe I just don’t know how I am supposed to feel. I do know that at times running does feel like work. Mike and Michelle talked about it on their podcast in a recent episode and it hit home with me. I do enjoy running still and I get out for my two short runs during the week and then my assigned run per Jeff Galloway. Typically if it isn’t a long run or race weekend then it is a 4 or 6 mile run. Again, I still enjoy those runs. It’s when I have the long run showing up closer on my calendar that I start to feel anxious.

I knew that next weekend I have a long run on the schedule and I can’t take a day off of work to fit it in. This means I will have to spend a weekend day running for 5 hours. It also means that I have to figure out when and how I will get out there because my husband is starting a new job and has to work on Saturday. I don’t want to spend my Sunday out running for half the day when it is the only day he will be home with the family.

So we discussed the plan over breakfast and since he will only be working 5-9 on Saturday I will head out when he gets home. This is similar to when I would go out for my long run after getting Kevin on the bus and dropping Adrienne off to preschool last year. So if I keep that mentality I will be ok.

However, the difference this time is that I have to do a 3, 5, 8 and 23 mile run in 4 consecutive days – The Dopey part. It’s getting dark out very early and it’s also dark early in the morning. I can’t run in the morning because my husband is starting his new job this week. So I’ll have to plan on doing my 3 miles Wednesday after work, 5 miles Thursday during lunch since I am taking online training at home, and I am not sure yet how I am going to get in my 8 miler on Friday. Here’s where the crazy juggling comes in.

I think what helps me not freak out too much is knowing that I only have 2 more groups of training runs like this in the next two months. One right before the Philadelphia Marathon and then before the WDW weekend the week before Christmas. I guess I’ll worry about how I’ll fit that all in when the time comes. I may have some accrued vacation time to squeeze in the long run on a Friday. I may have to fire up the treadmill in a few weeks and put in the miles indoors early in the morning. I don’t know how to get back into treadmill mode. I swore it off four years ago.

Do you have any advice on how to integrate the treadmill back into my training routine?

My Garmin Debacle

May 12, 2014

So I was running the Simsbury River Race a few weeks ago and prior to the race I was sitting in Kim’s car with her discussing my race strategy.  She asked me what my current running pace was.  I pulled out my phone and starting to look at my stats and she told me, “Girl, you need to get a Garmin!  It’s time to get away from all that phone crap.”  (Well maybe not word for word, but that’s what she was trying to say).  So I decided to use the birthday money my mom gave me towards a Garmin watch.

As soon as the race was over, I came home and pulled up the Garmin site and amazon.com and did some research.  There were two specific things that I had to consider when purchasing a watch, battery life and interval training.

Well, I should have done more research because the first watch I ordered, The Garmin Forerunner 210 could only do interval training in increments of 10 seconds.  It’s a nice watch, but I wasn’t really sure if it was going to suit my training needs.

forerunner210

So I ordered another Garmin, the Forerunner  310XT and when it arrive it was the size of a laptop on my arm!  I wasn’t too happy about the size of that watch, but it had a lot of features I was interested in like the lap pace and other data on the larger screen while doing the interval training.  So I figured worst case, I can wear it on my fitness belt and look at the data as I am running.

forerunner310

The other mistake I made was testing out the watch very little prior to my marathon. I had an epic fail on race morning because I charged the Garmin Forerunner 310, but didn’t put it in power save mode overnight.  So when Gail and I got to the lobby on race morning it was dead!  So we ran upstairs, she grabbed her watch, I grabbed my Forerunner 210 and we went back downstairs.  I used it during the race with the 20/20 intervals, but when we hit 99 reps of intervals it stopped and I didn’t know what to do!  I thought I lost all of my data.  Come to find out, the data is still in the watch, but I have no idea how to restart the intervals.  I did restart the timer but I assumed I was starting at mile 0 again and starting all new stats.  We used Gail’s watch at this point in the race, but I was trying to capture as much data as I could because I like to review the numbers after my races.

My most recent purchase is the Garmin Forerunner 220 and so far I love it so much that I wore it as my every day watch.

20140509-170941.jpg

 

It is simple to use, the battery life is great and I like the screen and information it provides me during my run.  I like that I can select intervals for my own specific times for run and rest, and I came across a walk/run timer built into it today.  I am still learning the watch, but it is very easy to use and some time on YouTube will really teach me a lot about it.

garminscreen

 

The watch is very light weight and is comfortable on my arm.  When I first started running with a watch I hated the feeling on my arm.  It really irritated me.  Ironically, when I was running the Providence marathon with it on, it didn’t even bother me.  I charged it when I received it last week and used it twice for running, and as a watch for time and it hasn’t required a charge yet.

The Garmin 220 is a keeper for sure.  I already returned the other two watches and have no regrets.  The Garmin Forerunner 210 is a nice watch, but when comparing the 210 to the 220 I’m all about the 220.  Easy to read screen, cute colors and very light weight.

What I Learned From The Cox Providence Marathon

May 9, 2014

Image

What I love about running is that you can learn something all the time.  Always growing. What I learned from this race also came from something Jeff sent me in my follow up email about the race.  This past weekend I ran the Cox Providence Marathon with my friend Gail.  Here’s what I learned from that experience.

Gail has done several marathons this year and is an experienced runner.  So running together for this race was going to be easy for her (I assumed).  What I learned was that when you are going to run a race together it’s a good idea to discuss the intervals that you plan to use for race day ahead of time so that everyone trains with the same intervals. Since Gail uses longer intervals, the frequent stop and starts of the 20/20 intervals bothered her legs and hips.

Jeff Galloway also asked me in my race recap email what her longest run was 3 weeks prior to the event.  I don’t recall excatly what her longest run was, but this is good information to know to make sure that the person you are running with is sufficiently trained for the race you are running.  Since Gail has done multiple marathons in the past few weeks that thought never crossed my mind.  In my opinion, she is sufficiently trained.  But what Jeff is referring to is for anyone.  Be sure you talk to your running partner and make sure you are both trained equally if you plan to stick together for the entire race.

Something else that occurred to me is that we should talk about a bail out plan.  If someone is on the quest for a PR and are running with a friend, you need to know ahead of time what the plan is if someone is falling behind or having trouble.  When Gail began to hurt I wasn’t sure what to do.  We tried to use different intervals to see if we could sync up where she could run her longer intervals and I could run using my shorter ones, but then we were pulling apart from each other.  We found a middle of the road interval pace that worked for both of us.  But I was on a quest to get a 5:30 marathon finish and she was doing an awesome job of getting me there.  Then when things started to slow down we weren’t sure if we were going to make it.  But I didn’t want to leave her behind. I am too loyal like that.  I also didn’t want to run to the finish alone without her because she helped me get to where I was.  So it’s important to talk about the plan of action ahead of time prior to the race and not when someone is having a hard time because honestly, it’s hard to think and make decisions like that on the race course and you don’t want to worry about hurting someone’s feelings during that part of your race.

Despite the rough patch we hit during mile 18 of the race, we found a plan that worked for us and we happily crossed the finish line together and I am so glad I had a friend there to help me and to also experience this special event with me!  Thanks Gail! Looking forward to more races and more PRs!

finished

e-coaching with Jeff Galloway

March 25, 2014

I had been considering hiring a running coach for about 6 months now but didn’t do it.  I wanted to do it last August after pulling my hamstring and needing physical therapy.  Then after the therapy worked and I wasn’t hurting anymore I decided I didn’t need to.

After the WDW marathon I came home and wanted to do another marathon sooner rather than later.  I didn’t want to wait until the fall and because I had the mileage base under my belt I wanted to get one done in the spring.  I found the Providence Marathon.  This was perfect!  It’s a short drive from home, the course looks nice, the price was good and several other friends of mine decided to run it.

When I went to the Princess Half marathon a little over a month after the WDW full marathon, I wasn’t happy with my training.  I was struggling with hip flexor pain and my running was very, very slow.  I was hoping to talk to Jeff Galloway at the expo, but didn’t get the chance.  When I got home I made the decision.  I was going to do e-coaching with Jeff Galloway!  Why wouldn’t I?  I follow his training plans, I met him twice and I love his training method.  I already read several of his books and I believe in his method of run/walk/run.  Because I was planning on running another marathon within 6 months of my last, I wanted to do it in a way where I wouldn’t hurt myself, since I seem to be prone to injury.  I also wanted to use it as a method to prepare me for a decision to do Dopey in 2015.

jeffgallowayandmejanuary

What comes with ecoaching?

  • Individual Training Program to the goal of your choice by Jeff Galloway
  • A copy of one of Jeff’s books (Galloway Training Program, Galloway’s Book on Running–2nd Ed. or Year Round Plan)
  • Direct email access to Jeff, for questions and clarifications, with priority
  • Free Monthly E Newsletter
  • Opportunity to ride on the Galloway Bus for the New York City Marathon start
  • Discounts on Fitness Vacations at Lake Tahoe Meet and run with other Galloway Members at races around the world

I am  three weeks into the training plan now and I have been very happy with it.  I was surprised with the intervals Jeff recommended and the pace for my long runs, but I can see now why they are recommended.  I also liked the other workouts he prescribed from cadence runs to hill repeats.  I never took those workouts seriously before, but now I see how they are effective for the whole process of building other muscles and to help with speed.  My recover on my 2 last long runs were very quick and just this past Friday with my 20-miler I was able to hike Sunday and ran and rode my bike on Monday and didn’t even feel like I ran 20 miles just days ago.

On April 6, Jeff will be at the Harvard Pilgrim Middletown Half & Legends 4-mile run.  I hope I get the chance to run with him during the 4-mile run.  Every time runDisney had a meetup the guests had the chance to run with Jeff.  I never had the chance.  If not, I will be sure to get another picture with Jeff!  I am also looking forward to participating in his Jeff Galloway 13.1 Inaugural race in Atlanta in December.

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