January 2015

#146: How to Run a Sub-30min 5K or Sub-60min 10K

race clock

Sarah and Dimity realized it was high time they talk about how to bust a move in shorter races. In this podcast, they welcome back Christine Hinton (the genius behind the training plans in Train Like a Mother) to impart wisdom and practical tips about breaking the popular time goals of 30 minutes in the 5K and an hour in the 10K. After explaining why running a timed mile is critical, Coach Christine goes on to share crucial elements of success in reaching these time goals. Two spoilers: believing in yourself, and sticking to a training plan (which builds confidence and fitness). Coach shares sure-fire speed workouts, and she advises racers, “be prepared for the pain.” But the payoff, as the mother runners remind, is well worth it.
Basketball is this podcast’s warm-up, complete with “Coach Davis.”

*If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes. Many thanks.

**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!

Martini Fridays: Like the Boss

The past two week’s worth of training, in short, have been a Bruce Springsteen song. This one. Really, just one line in the song, then line about being tired and bored with myself. Because I am.

I put this here for women in their 40s who spent some quality time during their teen years enjoying the cut of Bruce's pants.

I put this here because I love a good photo of a red baseball cap.

It’s still winter here, in case you missed the coverage of the snowmageddon and have spent the last week with your head in a bucket, which is totally your choice and I won’t judge. As I type, big, fat, fluffy flakes of snow are coming down. It’s a picture postcard of all that you could want a New England-y snow to be. It’s just darn scenic out there.

I dig winter. I like the hush and the thrill of new snow. Blizzards are cozy-making when you know you are warm and dry and well-stocked with the beverages and baked goods of your choice.

I am, however, so freaking tired and bored with schlepping to the gym to run very slowly on a treadmill that I might just bite someone. When my 6 a.m. alarm goes off, I just want to slap it back off again, not because I don’t want to run, but because I don’t want to get up in the dark, put on running clothes, put on sweatpants, tie my boots, grab my Brooks Ghost 6s and heart rate monitor and phone, zip my bulky parka, pull on gloves tromp out the door, brush snow off of my car, drive to the gym, clomp up to the locker room, strip most of the layers back off again, tie my sneakers, find an open treadmill, and run to nowhere.

I mean. Seriously. So. Many. Steps.

It doesn’t even feel like a thing that should be complained about because it’s such a First World problem. I have enough perspective to know that. I also am enough of an adult to know that before too terribly long, I’ll be able to yank on some running gear and start my workout from my front porch. Right now, however, all of the logistics required to get a simple run in are bringing me down. The fact that I am irked by something that is so not really a big deal is what has put me in Bruce Springsteen mode. I was tempted to not even write a column because it’s been such an enervating couple of weeks.

But here we are.

This past Sunday the weather co-operated long enough for me to take my long run outside. I want to say it was bliss — and it was lovely to cover seven miles on mostly clear sidewalks in not completely frigid temps — but it was still gross out there. Plus my heart rate wasn’t being terribly co-operative for the last 3 miles, which meant that I had to keep to an almost walk so that my ticker could stay in range. But slow and gross outside is still a change from slow and soul-crushingly dull inside so I’m putting it in the win column.

A scene from Sunday's run. Snow! Ice! A touching message!

A scene from Sunday’s run. Snow! Ice! A touching message!

See what I mean? I just can’t shake myself out of this mid-winter running funk and grouse. Blarg.

One of the most useful expressions my Dad taught me is: You are entitled to the work; not the reward, which is what he’d remind me of every time luck didn’t happen to break my way. Over time, I’ve come to more fully what this means. All I can do is invest in the process itself and focus too much on the end result. And, right now, I am still invested — but am not enjoying it very much.

Which means that I’ve been spending a lot of my treadmill time thinking about where I would rather be running. This fantasizing may simply be making the situation worse, I know, but it’s the straw I’m grasping right now. When I’m listening to the AMR podcast, I dream about running in  Portland, which I imagine is a lot like running through Middle Earth, with all of the trees and ferns and beards. I nearly never dream of running in Denver because the altitude might kill me. Besides, there’s snow there, too. Sorry, Dimity.

I dream even bigger, of course, and cruise through the Runner’s World Rave Run  photos like a junkie. My current computer wallpaper is this one, even thought I’m pretty sure that location is under several feet of snow for most of the year. I wonder what it would be like to run in Hawaii. And New Zealand. And pretty much anywhere that isn’t right here right now.

Help me come up with other ideas, mother runner. Where have you had your best runs, the ones where the temperature is perfectly cool and the scenery divine? Spare no detail.

In Her Shoes: Breaking Up With a Running “Friend”

Wendy, victorious—and solo—after a recent Turkey Trot.

Wendy, victorious—and solo—after a recent Turkey Trot.

One section Tales From Another Mother Runner is called In Her Shoes, which is first-person accounts of different running situations and tales. We love running stories as much as—or maybe more than?—running itself, but we had a surplus of In Her Shoes stories…if we put them all in the book, it would’ve been bigger than a dictionary. So we’re going to run these every other Friday for a while.

Wendy found a friend she didn’t really want on a run…

I have a neighbor, the father of one of my son’s friends, who used to wait for me at the end of his driveway so he could run with me. For the record, I never asked him to run with me.

He looks like a total computer nerd. Average, kind of balding, and about my age. He’s married. I don’t think he was looking for romance. I think he just wanted someone to run with. I always ran at the same time in the morning through the same neighborhood route. He figured out when I’d be running past his house, wait for me, and ask to join me. When this first started, I changed my route. Then I gave up and ran with him.

Sometimes I’m slow on the uptake. Even though I knew what he was doing, I didn’t really realize what was happening. I run alone; everybody knows this. He was hijacking my time, plus I had to talk when I ran with him. My friends called him my stalker and joked I had to break up with him.

It was about six weeks before I got up the courage to end it.

One morning, I came up the hill, and he was standing out there. My heart just dropped. I thought, “Oh, geez, not again.” And that was it. It was time.

I said, “You know what? I can’t. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t run with people.” He said, “I thought you liked running with me.” I gave him the it’s-not-you-it’s-me speech. He said “fine” and started running the other way. He was crushed. I felt like I broke his heart, which made it all the more creepy.

It was awkward at first because I’d be out running and see him running. He’d put his nose in the air and look the other way. But it’s been a couple of years now, and he’s cordial.

Wendy (Thanks to the strength solo running gives her, she can still get up on one waterski – and tried wakeboarding at age fifty-two.)

Have you ever had to break up with a running “friend”? Or have somebody run with you without really asking?

Tales from Another Mother Runner Thursday: Marit Fischer

marit board

Welcome to round three of Tales From Another Mother Runner Thursday, where we preview one of the 22 essays and authors in our forthcoming book. While our names are on the cover, the book is a truly celebration of this amazing, badass community: not only does it contain 22 essays from a range of talented writers and mother runners, it has miles of insight, advice, stories, and humor from hundreds of you.

Up today: Marit Fischer, a trail runner in Park City, Utah and mother of Hazel, a five-year-old.

My running history: As a kid, I loved running because I was good at it. No matter my focus sport through school and in my twenties (soccer, basketball, track, fencing, triathlon), I always ran as part of my training, until, in my thirties, everything else lost its allure and running itself became my passion. Specifically, running on trails.

I don’t race anymore. I used to, but I don’t anymore. I don’t feel the need. I don’t require a goal. I don’t want a deadline. Running, for me, is meditation. It’s friend time. It’s free time. It’s fun. I go long because I want to. Because there’s nowhere I’d rather be than in the mountains, on the trails, among the aspens, under the blue. And because there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than running.

My writing history: I write like I run: for the joy of it.

My essay “A Ghost Story”: is a view into the soul connections I’ve experienced through trail running. It’s a peek at the supernatural that comes from simply being open to, and running through, the natural.

Trail running seems to have a spiritual component for you. Can you talk a little about that? I’ve recently left a 20+ career in PR and marketing to become a spiritual regression hypnotherapist and Reiki master. Hypnosis is intense self-focus. It is a form of meditation. Trail running is, for me, just that. The rhythmic breathing and foot fall of running, in the most beautiful of settings, has inspired some of my clearest thoughts and my deepest connections.

Favorite nearby running trail: Park City, with its Mountain Trails Foundation and Basin Recreation, does trails right. There are hundreds of miles of them, which I can access right up the hill from my house. Round Valley is open space that I can connect to easily from the trail out my front door. I can run six miles or 20 there, depending on my mood or the amount of time I have, and I can do it year round. Of all the trails there, the Rambler loop is my favorite.

Favorite meal after a long trail run: Give me a burger. A good one. Thick and juicy and medium rare with garden-grown tomatoes and lettuce, more spicy mustard than ketchup, and a soft bun, ever-so-slightly toasted on the inside. And good salty fries too.

What you carry on your back during a longer trail run: Even my shorter runs are 6-8 miles, so there’s never a time I don’t run with a pack. I carry plain water, salt tabs (4-8 depending on the temps), Ibuprofin (2), lip stuff, a Band-Aid, my phone (for Strava, Spotify if I’m alone, and in case of emergency) and food. (I like ProBar Bolts and Honey Stinger chews and waffles.) Sometimes, I carry one of my daughter’s small toys with me. She gets to pick the creature. Then at some point on my run, in a particularly pretty grove or under a brave sunrise, I’ll take a pic of the two of us together so I can share it with Hazel when I get home.

Next up on your running calendar: My running partner, Cathy, and I like doing long, self-supported runs. We’ve got the Zion Traverse, the Winds Traverse, and the Four Pass Loop on our to-do list. We’re also looking at good, challenging, long routes in Europe for when we both can afford it and take the time. The Haute Route is on the dream list. And so is the Camino de Santiago.

Are you a trail runner? If so, does it have a spiritual component for you? 

Bethany Takes on Boston: Missing Sam Smith, Hot Cross Buns, and the Flu

boston-1024x652

Bethany Meyer hits her first speedbump on the road to Boston. Bethany is running as part of the team sponsored by Stonyfield Organic Yogurt: to check out the other badass runners on their team and see what’s going on with them, check in here.  

“I am a runner, thank you very much, Doc.” Nicole Blades’ voice flooded through my headphones. I pounded up a hill wearing a smile, listening to the journalist reading an excerpt from her essay in Tales from Another Mother Runner.

Halfway through a four miler, the podcast distracted me somewhat from the freezing temps. It was 16 degrees on a Saturday afternoon, but the wind chill made it feel like 5 degrees. I kept shifting my favorite buff clockwise around my neck. The heat of my breath combined with the frigid air was actually making it crunchy. Yes, crunchy. My iPhone shut down twice from the cold. I finally zipped it into the back pocket of my fleece-lined shirt, and then tucked the shirt into my tights. Were it not for my ample hot cross buns, my smartphone would have repeatedly crashed.

Don’t laugh, I was proud of my resourcefulness!

Despite the cold, I was happy to be outside. I had been up every hour the night before with my 8 year old son.  My poor boy had the stomach bug. I could have listened to Podcast #141: Returning to Running after Fever or Flu. But there was a method to my madness.

If I don’t listen to it, maybe the rest of my house won’t catch it.

Sound logic, right?

Sound logic indeed. Because Saturday night was perfectly quiet.

See? I knew it. I never get sick when I’m running.

Sunday morning I was up early and out the door for 8 slow miles. It was 14 degrees…still colder than I like…but I felt great.

Fever or flu my foot. I can wash my hands with the best of them. 

I wasn’t as ravenous as I typically am after the run. But that was probably from lack of sleep, don’t you think?

I will not get sick. I will not get sick. I will not get sick.

It hit my husband at 2:30 Monday morning.

Uh-oh.

It had me in its evil clutches before sunrise.

By Monday night, my 11-year-old and 6-year-old sons had also fallen victim.

The only one still standing was the 13-year-old.

Teenage sarcasm repels everything. Even the most violent stomach virus.

Teenage sarcasm repels everything. Even the most violent stomach virus.

Ginger ale and saltines sustained us. We wore the same pajamas for days. We existed like the human survivors in The Walking Dead–but we looked much more like the zombies.

A friend texted me, “You’re sick? Oh, no! There goes your 2nd week of training.” That was my fear as well.

Turns out I was wrong.

The plague had arrived, but my training barely suffered. I was able to engage in a variety of exercises while my family and I were sick.

Full body toning and sculpting: Army crawling from beneath the covers to avoid disturbing the sleeping cat and my dozing husband so I could get myself to the bathroom to be sick.

Plyometrics: Springing from the bed to rush to the aid of two kids whose bedrooms are on two different floors who had perfectly synchronized their vomiting.

Upper body strength training: Folding twelve consecutive loads of laundry put a smack down on my arms and shoulders.

Cardio: Removing the sheets from the top bunk. Wrestling on the clean sheets while straddling the mattress. Is there a more intense cardio workout in the history of housework? I’m hard pressed to find one.

Advanced strength training: Overall dismantling of bunk bed in tag-team fashion with my shop vac-wielding husband in our rendition of “do you think we got it all?”

Increased lung capacity: Holding my breath while sitting in the bathroom with a 6 year old who begged me to keep him company but insisted on keeping the window closed because of the freezing rain and frigid 7 degree temps. Note to self: I’ve got to toughen that kid up.

Cross training: Stair climbing repeatedly in a split level house. Back and forth to the laundry room, to the trashcan, for medicine, for the mop, in search of more buckets, in need of more trash bags.

It was a rough week, you guys.

There were several casualties: two adults, three children, one fitted twin bed sheet, one Pottery Barn rug, several pairs of superhero underpants (I’m sorry. It’s not even TMI Tuesday), one hill run, and–most regrettably–two Sam Smith concert tickets. I’m still not able to discuss missing the concert.

On the bright side, if we had to get sick, week two of training was a good time for it to happen. Coach responded by adjusting my plan to ease me back into the mileage. I finally got around to listening to that podcast about returning to running after fever or flu. (Because if I listen to it, we won’t get sick again, right? Right?!) Best of all, I enjoyed hours snuggling on the couch with my boys, watching Looney Tunes marathons while we regained our strength.

I’m happy to report that Bugs Bunny is just as funny now as he was when I was their age.

And that is what’s up, Doc.

For more articles about Boston Marathon training, check out this page on Runners Connect website. 

#144: Quick and Easy Healthy Eating

Bec Wassner, tri-ing like a mother, with 4-month-old daughter, Amy, in her arms at end of last year's Philly Triathlon.

Bec Wassner, tri-ing like a mother, with 4-month-old daughter, Amy, in her arms at end of last year’s Philly Triathlon.

The Another Mother Runner duo hosts a pair of active moms—Rebeccah “Bec” Wassner and Melissa Lasher, two of the three gals behind the Athlete Food website. The two gals share insight in how eating healthy doesn’t have to be a Herculean undertaking. Pro triathlete Bec describes her favorite gluten-free fueling and re-fueling foods, while Melissa shares an easy pre-workout energy booster. Talk turns to always-have-on-hand ingredients and sauces to spice things up. With all the yummy food suggestions, Sarah and Dimity drool through much of the second half of the podcast. Find out why an off-hand comment about slicing off a fingertip turns out to be psychic!

*If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes. Many thanks.

**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!

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