Epicurious Runner

Runcations Countdown

Last night I did an awesome speed workout. It was tough just like last week, but the reality set in that I CAN run 7:xx minute miles! Having a 7 in front of a mile always scared me, like A LOT, it seemed so impossible, and it seemed like something that would take a lot more time to achieve, but low and behold I’ve done 2 sets of mile repeats with that #7 right in front.

I know people usually do 3-4 mile repeats, or even more, but my coach has me starting out slow on these, since they are so fast and I’ve only been doing 2. Next week’s workout looks insane and from here on out they just keep getting harder, so it’s time to see what I’ve got. This is the training session that’s really going to push me to my limits and I couldn’t be more excited to see and feel the results.

1o weeks to go!

If you don’t follow me on Twitter or aren’t friends with me on Facebook, then I’m sure you don’t know because I haven’t talked about it yet, but I am running the Eugene Half Marathon!!! I know, it feels like everyone and their mom is running it, but I am so excited! It seems a lot more real since I booked my flight today. It happened a bit randomly, but the price was right, so I bit the bullet. I’m mostly excited to be reunited with some Nuun friends and to meet a whole new set of running friends, it’s going to be a party out there.  I will be shooting for my sub 1:50 here, go fast take chances!

This is one of several runcations that I have planned for the year. It seems so close, yet so far. Coming up before that is the NYC Half, which I will be racing for sure, but I’m not sure what my goals are yet, I will decipher them once the time comes. The NYC half was my very first half marathon and where I scored my first sub 2, it was a fantastic race and I’m excited to finally run it again.

4 weeks to go!

And in between these 2 races, is the Cherry Blossom 10 miler down in DC. I’m not sure what to expect from this race, but I’ve heard nothing but good things. It will be a short weekend trip and I’m really looking forward to meeting some Oiselle birdies!

7 weeks to go!

March and April are going to be busy months! I feel like they are already here, which also makes me feel like the Vermont marathon is here! It’s going to happen so quickly :0

Also, this.  Even though some of those things don’t pertain to me, I LOVE THAT POST, it makes me so freaking excited!! Pumped that Emily announced that she is going for her sub 3 marathon at Vermont! I want to be there to witness celebrate her victory!

Vermont will be the ultimate runcation where I score a major PR, and spend 4 glorious days in Vermont drinking beer with Lauren, Emily, and my husband!

14 weeks till Vermont!

24 days till we turn the clocks ahead and it’s light out after work again!#lifechanging

ps. Happy Valentine’s Day! Go eat a lot of chocolate and make sure it’s dark with sea salt (only the best).

Marathon Excitement + A NYSC Giveaway!

I know some of you (mainly non-runners) may find this hard to believe, but I am so freaking excited for marathon training to begin! I’m not sure if it’s the hype around the NYC Marathon, or just the fact that I finally feel like I’ve gotten my running groove back and I can’t wait to crush my first marathon time, but the excitement is there and I am so ready to commit.

Since, I know it’s going to be tough to fit in strength training or cross training in general once training begins, I am trying to fit in a bunch right now. I’m working on finding a good routine to stick to for the next couple months, in hopes of building up a good base of mileage and strength.

When NYSC offered me to try out 2 of their new classes, I jumped at the chance! Starting on June 4th, I will be taking the UXF class twice a week for 4 weeks.

UXF (Ultimate Fitness Experience

Description:  Burn calories. Build strength. Big results fast. What happens when you combine personal training with team motivation? You get in the best shape of your life with the UXF ultimate fitness experience. This eight session, cross-training workout blends strength training and cardio conditioning to improve your flexibility, agility, strength and endurance. Equipment such as TRX, kettlebells, ropes and bars are mixed with plyometric exercises to create a balanced circuit where you progress at your own pace. UXF is your one-stop shop for a total-body workout. Nonmembers welcome.

Locations available: every New York Sports Clubs location offer classes (check out the website for class days and times).

Sounds intense, right? I’m glad that it’s twice a week, it’s easier to get into something the more often you go. After this class is over, I am lucky enough to also be able to try out their new vBarre class once a week for 8 weeks.

vBarre

Description: Vbarre transcends the typical ballet barre exercise class by blending ballet, Pilates and resistance training into a calorie-burning workout. The result is a lean and sculpted body in minimal time. Choreographed movements using a ballet barre, light weights and a glide board are set to motivating music.

I’ve never taken any kind of barre class, so I’m not sure what to expect, but I am definitely excited.

I am taking the UXF class in Astoria and the vBarre class on 36th street in Manhattan. Both classes retail at about $350! I would never be able to afford these otherwise, so I am super grateful and pumped to have the opportunity to try them out.

And guess what? You do too!!!

Yep, today I am giving away 1 session of UXF classes! That’s a total of 8 classes in 4 weeks, starting on June 4th. The classes are available at all NYSC locations. Check here to see if there is one near you.

To enter, just leave a comment telling me why you want to cross train more.

I will randomly select a winner Saturday morning, May 26th at noon. Good luck!

*This giveaway is just for the UXF class. I will also be giving away a session of vBarre classes in a couple weeks, so stay tuned

The New Plan

(Click to enlarge)

It was time to make a new schedule. I thought I would be able to survive just working out freely without any specific plan, but I can see now that that’s not going to work. Besides the More/Fitness Women’s half in 2 weeks, I don’t have anymore long races coming up for quite a while.

I am going to focus on getting my ass into good shape! After not PR-ing, I’ve decided that I need to do more strength training. In the past, it has helped me a lot and I know it makes a difference in my running. Most weeks I will be doing it twice a week and focusing on the quality of the workout to make sure I get the most out of it.

I’ve also upped my Tempo speeds since my runs are going to be shorter overall. I’m planning on maintaining a 10 mile long run, so that by the time July rolls around and NYC Marathon training begins, I will already have a good base under my belt.

This starts on Monday!

I’m racing the Colon Cancer Challenge 15K on Sunday and I’m so excited to be upgraded to a new number and color for my corral! This was thanks to my 4 mile PR at the Gridiron Classic in February. It’s had to believe that was my last NYRR race.

Yay, for being a 3!

Remember When I Have a Blog?

It seems like I’ve forgotten about this poor old thing huh? Well, I have not and I do not have an excuse for not writing except for the fact that I am ALWAYS so busy.

I’ve been trying real hard to keep up with my training for my HM that is in 2 1/2 weeks, but I’ve been having trouble finding motivation. This weekend will be my last real LONG run before the race, so I better make it a good one. I am going to shoot for 10-12 miles and hopefully it won’t be 900° again like it was this past weekend. I attempted an 11 mile run this past Saturday and it was just not happening. It was impossible to battle the heat!

I’m hoping this weekend will be a lot better!

I’ve been real busy with IRLF lately, but in a good way. There are new interns writing for the site and they are all doing really great!

I’ve also been training at work, I am going to be a full time logger on the night shift. My new hours will be 6pm to 2am. I was a little bummed out at first about the hours, but now I’m over it and I have come up with a list of all the good things that they could possible bring. I honestly think I will be able to write a lot more with these hours. My mind is way more focused and relaxed in the morning than when I get home at night. The only real negative thing that does kind of suck, a lot, is that it messes up my running schedule. My main time frame will be the middle of the day when it will be the hottest and it’s going to be real hard to run in the heat. I’m sure it will all be okay and I will figure something out.

Derek has been working like crazy this past week, I’ve barely seen him at all. Most nights he doesn’t even get home until after 3am! I miss him.

This is my last free weekend for the month because the last two weekends in June I will be traveling back to NH. The weekend of theh 19th we are going to the American Craft Beer Fest. We are going with Kerri and Scott and I absolutely cannot wait! These festivals have kind of turned into a tradition for us, I’m not sure, but this is maybe the 4th year we’ve gone? It’s held in Boston and it is always such a fun time. The weekend after is back to Boston for my second half marathon!

I’ll be back soon I promise.

I leave you with a picture from my favorite restaurant…ever!

I’m Back With A Challenge!

Yeah, I know, I’ve been gone, but that’s what always happens isn’t it? I’ve been spending a lot of time on the IReallyLikeFood site and I finally feel like it’s actually becoming my own. I find myself constantly thinking about it and always wanting to put more and more time into it. It’s great and I am really happy to be doing it. I think it will seem more real and official, when I get my first paycheck

I’ve also been trying to keep up with my Mapcidy writing, there is always a lull for me between every few chunk of posts I put up. If you haven’t heard of this site, it’s a great little site that is specifically dedicated to all the wonderful spots around New York City. I also write for this site along with many other great writers who are constantly adding new material.

Anyway, other than all of the writing I’ve been doing, I’ve been trying hard to get my motivation back. For about a week I had no interest at all in running or even moving for that matter. I was sick for a little while and then it kind of just went downhill from there. My sister and her husband Scott came to visit last last weekend and we had a great time! It was Derek’s birthday on the 19th so we celebrated by eating and drinking A LOT! Come on, what else do you expect us to do?

That’s besides the point, the point is that my motivation for blogging and running is back, I can feel it and I am ready to run and blog my butt off, literally. I did a great 7 mile run this past weekend and it made me feel like I am back in the swing of things. 7 miles feels like an actual long run to me, the barrier between 6 and 7 is a huge difference in my opinion. I’m happy to be building up my mileage and long distance runs again, it feels great. I have a 10K race coming up in a few weeks and I am so ready to kick my old PR’s ass out of the water.

Upcoming Races:

May 15th: Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park

June 5th: A 5K fundraising race in Central Park

June 27th: Half Marathon in Canton, MA, part of the 13.1 Marathon Series

I’m trying hard to keep up with my strength training because it’s important and I want to be strong therefore I have declared the:

PUSH UP CHALLENGE!

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to be able to do 30 push ups in a row. As of right now I can do 10, the most I’ve ever done in a row was 15. I want to be able to do 30 push ups by the end of the year, but hopefully it will happen a lot sooner than that.

So, I am declaring upon myself a push up challenge. I am aiming to do push ups about 3 days a week and to continuously measure my progress.

Also, check out this post on what I had for Easter Dinner at my parents house!

Brrr…It's Cold Outside!

I had a 30 minute Tempo Run planned for this morning and man was it cold! I knew what to expect though by looking at this!

I guess it wasn’t so much the cold, but the wind was absolutely terrible. I could barely control myself. I bundled up real well, I was wearing two pairs of pants, a sports bar, a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, a short sleeved shirt and then over that I had 2 zip up coats. I also had a pair of gloves and a hat! It was completely necessary. Okay maybe I could’ve done without one of the coats, but it was brutal out there. At one point my left leg kept hitting my right leg and causing me to trip in the middle of my stride, it was crazy. That was the coldest temperature I’ve ever run through.

• Distance: 2.9 Miles
• Duration: 26:47
• Pace: 9:14

So, it wasn’t exactly a tempo run and I didn’t exactly hit the 30 minute mark, but seriously I was glad that I even got out there and ran because that is what really counts. I was ready to stop, I was tired and my lungs were hurtin’ for some warm air.

I got the book ‘Run Less, Run Faster’ for Christmas and I started reading it last night and I already love it. I’ve heard so many good things about it in the past that I knew it wouldn’t let me down. I am going to revamp my training schedule for the HM and base it on the book so that I can follow along with it. It basically is a training plan that involves running 3 days a week with 2 days of cross training. That is exactly what I am looking for in these winter months. It focuses on quality, not quantity.

Please don’t forget to donate! I have until January 9th to reach my 25% mark!

My Fundraising Page

13 Weeks for 13 Miles

I know I haven’t been around the past couple of days, but I’ll be back in the swing of things starting tomorrow. I spent some time today planning out my Half Marathon training schedule. I based it off of Hal Higdon’s plan, but made a few tweeks so it would fit my needs.

NYC HALF MARATHON SCHEDULE

I have it so that it starts the week of December 20th and the race is March 21st.

Wish me luck!

and don’t forget to donate….

My Fundraising Page

Officially Training for a Half Marathon!

I went to the Team in Training information session last night and I must say it really exceeded my expectations. I was really impressed with how many people showed up and the benefits of running a race through TNT is amazing! I am also really excited about raising money. It is a very rewarding challenge. I am required to raise $1800, but I set a personal goal of $3000. I also had no idea that they provide you with coaches and training. After hearing that I was seriously considering signing up for a marathon! I got really excited about it and was thinking about doing the marathon in Vancouver. I’ve got this serious drive lately to run a marathon. I’ve been reading a lot of marathon recaps lately and they just sound so amazing and I can not wait to be there some day. Probably like 3 months ago I had the thought process of ‘oh yeah I’ll run a marathon some day, but not anytime soon thats for sure.’ But, seriously I feel like I am ready to tackle the marathon training very soon!

I also like to tackle distances in ascending order. My next big race is definitely a Half, then a Marathon. Anyway, I am psyched about Team in Training and the fact that I will be meeting up with people twice a week to run! Yay! I will actually be making new running friends. Oh and one more great thing about TNT is that there were so many people there that were completely out of shape and have no running experience at all and they were signing up for triathlons and half marathons! Amazing.

Help me raise money for the fight against all different types of blood cancers!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/halfnyc10/sbarkerf1a

I can not even express my excitement about the fact that my very first Half Marathon is going to be the amazing NYC Half!

2 weeks left…

I woke up at 8:30 this morning, which NEVER happens, but I looked out the window and saw the sun! I was so excited to get up and run. I mapped out a new route and this was going to be my first long run outside in a while due to it raining every day for the past century. I don’t remember ever being this excited for a run before. I knew it was going to be a good one. I ate some clif shot bloks, chugged some water and headed out. It was almost 70 degrees outside, which is pretty hot for ideal running weather, but it was still sooo nice! I was just so happy to be outside in the sun and in the warmth. I NEED it to be summer, I can’t stand this rain anymore. My new route was awesome and I can’t wait to run it again. There were a lot of people out running/walking today and I said hello to most of them. I completed my 6 mile run in 54:52. I was extremely happy with my time. A 9 min. mile is now becoming my norm, when it used to be my speedwork. I’ve definitely been improving a lot with my running, I think all of this cross training for the triathlon has been helping a lot! 

National Running Day

I completed my first 8 mile run today! Most of my long runs are on Saturdays, but I have a 5K race to run this Saturday. Today is National Running Day, I figured it was a good day to go out and attempt my first 8 miler. It went well I think. I ate some Clif Shot Bloks to help me along the way. I really need to invest in some apparel with pockets, I don’t really enjoy storing my ‘energy’ inside my bra, ha! I had to stop and walk at two points, which kind of sucks, but one was on a killer hill that I completely forgot about and the other was on a hill toward the end of my run. It went better than expected and I call it a victory! I’m excited to perfect this 8 miler and move onto 9, although I’m sure that won’t happen until after my triathlon.