Distance Means Nothing & The New Look...

"Distance means nothing" is not entirely true as it relates to running (and anyone who has ever run a marathon can attest to that); but it's certainly true when your Valentine is miles away...

LDRs are hard but he makes it worth it...

@SitariPoetry

Valentine's Day or not, training never ends so I woke up early this morning and ran with Jani...

Tangent Tuesday (version 1.31)

I've officially completed my longest running streak!!!!

31 days of running 😊

I'm also doing a 10 thousand steps a day challenge but unfortunately I haven't been as good with getting my steps in...

(the broken blue line represents all the days that I didn't have 10,000 steps... as you can see that was a lot 😞)

I may not have done well with the steps challenge but I'm really proud up myself for keeping up the running streak. I've made getting my run completed a priority so I just hope I can continue to do so for the rest of the year, especially on the days after my really long runs when my muscles are aching.

***

The Taper...

I am tapering, I promise. But, yesterday was the ZOOMA Amelia Island Half Marathon and I'm a ZOOMA Race Ambassador. So obviously I had to do it...

Unfortunately I wasn't able to travel up to north Florida for the race on Saturday morning because I spent all day Thursday and Friday course directing an advanced trauma nursing course...

So instead of being able to enjoy all the festivities of the event I ran the race virtually...

The Last Long Run...

This morning I ran 21 miles as my last really long run before the NY Marathon...

I ran the first 16 with my friends Mary and Will...

And then I ran the last 5 miles with Will (Will is also running NY). We decided to do loops (since it's so much easier to refuel that way) but because I don't pause my watch on the really long runs (or at least I try not to because I can't figure out how to turn off the auto save feature on Garmin) our two stops for refueling messed up my splits...

Because... Bees (and let's talk about what's next)

So there are bees in Chicago in September. Not cute "honey nut cheerios" bees, more like "annoying, on the verge of stinging you" bees. They were EVERYWHERE. Well, everywhere outside including all along the 13.1 mile Chicago Half Marathon course. I'm going to post the full race recap in the next few days, but in the meantime I'll fill you in on some upcoming stuff...

source

I have one more really long run and one more half marathon before the NY Marathon in November. The 20-23 miler was originally scheduled for next weekend, but it may have to change to this weekend (I'm still trying to figure out the logistics etc). 

If I could afford it, I would travel to a cooler state for this training run because I'm really over humidity right now. It was humid in Chicago for the race on Sunday (which did not help to control the bee situation); it was humid this morning when I ran; and it's been humid for the past four months. I think the last time I had ideal running weather was during the Miami half marathon in January. 

My upcoming half marathon (ZOOMA 1/2) scheduled for October will be run as a virtual race. I have a major work conflict that is going to prevent me from traveling but I'm being allowed to run it virtually (thankfully!) so I'm looking forward to that. 

Apart from those two major runs, the rest of my NY training (over the next 39 days) will consist of 10 mile long runs, 3-5 mile midweek runs, strength training, swimming, and waiting patiently to find out if I got into the 2017 London Marathon (I should know by October 18th!)

Once I know what the status is for the London Marathon I can start continue planning for next year. There are a couple of swimming events already scheduled (January & April), the Miami Marathon (January), and a Ragnar Relay (temporarily scheduled for May). 

2017 already looks like it's going to be a pretty busy year (I can't wait!)

How far ahead do you plan for races/events?

What does your 2017 running schedule look like?

Is anyone planning to run in the London Marathon next year?

Begin Gradually...

I really intend to do blog posts more regularly than once a week. I really do. But this year has been crazy and the past several weeks months have been particularly hectic and busy. Some of the "busyness" have been welcomed distractions and so while it has kept me away from blogging it was the kind of distraction that I needed (and still need). The rest of the stuff has just been your typical work stuff.

But thankfully none of that has kept me from running. And more importantly none of that has kept me from completing my long runs. The ability to complete the long run mileage is not something that I take for granted. Like Henry (below) it's taken me a while to get to the point where I can complete a long run and still be able to walk after...

A Summer of Virtual Challenges...

I might have gone a teeny tiny bit overboard with my virtual challenges. I'm currently participating in three of them; but thankfully I only had to pay for one, and most of the activities and requirements overlap.

This past week was the first week of the Amerithon Challenge (which started on July 4th)...

This is a 3,521 mile virtual journey from the West coast to the East coast and I want to finish it by the end of the year (which is a very lofty goal since I am doing it by myself instead of with a group). The race organizers allow you to count any "movement miles" so I'm counting running, walking, swimming and the indoor cardio stuff I do, like the stair climber, upright and recumbent bikes, elliptical etc. I'm counting walking (including my daily steps) because I'm intentional about completing at least 10,000 steps a day. And since I also participate in a step challenge (aka virtual challenge #2) I have extra motivation to get up and move so I can reach the 10K step goal. 

At the end of the Amertithon Week 1 I got my first virtual badge...

..and I'm about 93 miles away from reaching my next landmark.

The Best Kind of Support

One of the cool things about being a ZOOMA Race Ambassador this year is all of the amazing support that I've gotten. The running community (in general) tends to be pretty supportive, but this year it's been really nice to have an additional support system for training. As a blogger I've been a part of several blogging Facebook groups, and as a Race Ambassador I'm a part of the ZOOMA FB group as well. We do the usual stuff in the group: post pictures of races and runs, get feedback on and ask questions about different running related things, and encourage each other for upcoming events, like the ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon coming up in June!!!!

[You can check out the race site HERE]

I also get a 10% discount code on all race registrations and I get to share that with everyone!!!

{REGISTER HERE}

Highlights from the past five days...

Today started with a quick session at the gym...

I'm going to aim for more cardio before and after strength training; and longer reps or increased sets for the weights (I only do light weights so increasing the reps and sets will be ok).

In addition to doing more cardio and weights in the gym, I'm trying to improve my swimming endurance in preparation for the April Swim Miami event. I went into the open water swim less than 100% prepared last year, and I want to avoid making some of the same mistakes this year. So I've been doing research to help me perfect my freestyle stroke...

and to learn more about the open water swimming process...