• A day in the life. Today I’m sharing what a typical weekday is like for me. In the winter, all of these times are a little later. In the summer, they are earlier. Before I worked from home, it was earlier due to the commute. — 5:15: Wake up naturally without alarm — 5:15-6:00: Lay in bed, check the weather, check email, training schedule, social media etc. — 6:00: Get out of bed, put contacts in, go to the bathroom, get dressed for the run, put hair up. — 6:15: Drink water, have UCAN if I’m doing a long workout. Put on Garmin and shoes. — 6:30: Leave house to go run, usually with Greg. Greg takes photos either at the beginning or end of the run. — 7:45: Return home, post my Instagram photo, drink water. — 8:00: Shower, get dressed for work (Zoom calls), have breakfast. Maybe get at latte from Peet’s or Starbucks, both very close to my house. Breakfast is a bagel with cream cheese or oatmeal maybe with cottage cheese or yogurt. — 9:00: Start working. Have meetings. Work on marketing stuff: the website, emails, blogs, webinars, advertising, presentations, etc. — 12:00 Have lunch while working. Usually a turkey sandwich, tuna melt, soup, or leftovers from last night’s dinner. Continue drinking water. — 12:30 Continue working. Maybe take a break to do laundry or take a walk or foam rolling. Have a snack around 3:30. — 5:30: Finish work but do you ever stop checking emails? No. If it’s a strength day, do strength training. Relax. Play online chess. Clean up a little. — 6:00 Start working on dinner with Greg. Maybe baked chicken, turkey burgers, chicken stir fry, salmon or other fish. Always with vegetables. — 6:30 Eat dinner with Greg. — 7:00: Relax while watching Netflix. Get a foot massage from Greg. Clean up from dinner. More online chess. — 8:15: Get ready for bed. Brush teeth, etc. — 8:30 Get in bed, relax and put on a podcast or sleep story to fall asleep to. — 8:45 Asleep.
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    A day in the life. Today I’m sharing what a typical weekday is like for me. In the winter, all of these times are a little later. In the summer, they are earlier. Before I worked from home, it was earlier due to the commute. — 5:15: Wake up naturally without alarm — 5:15-6:00: Lay in bed, check the weather, check email, training schedule, social media etc. — 6:00: Get out of bed, put contacts in, go to the bathroom, get dressed for the run, put hair up. — 6:15: Drink water, have UCAN if I’m doing a long workout. Put on Garmin and shoes. — 6:30: Leave house to go run, usually with Greg. Greg takes photos either at the beginning or end of the run. — 7:45: Return home, post my Instagram photo, drink water. — 8:00: Shower, get dressed for work (Zoom calls), have breakfast. Maybe get at latte from Peet’s or Starbucks, both very close to my house. Breakfast is a bagel with cream cheese or oatmeal maybe with cottage cheese or yogurt. — 9:00: Start working. Have meetings. Work on marketing stuff: the website, emails, blogs, webinars, advertising, presentations, etc. — 12:00 Have lunch while working. Usually a turkey sandwich, tuna melt, soup, or leftovers from last night’s dinner. Continue drinking water. — 12:30 Continue working. Maybe take a break to do laundry or take a walk or foam rolling. Have a snack around 3:30. — 5:30: Finish work but do you ever stop checking emails? No. If it’s a strength day, do strength training. Relax. Play online chess. Clean up a little. — 6:00 Start working on dinner with Greg. Maybe baked chicken, turkey burgers, chicken stir fry, salmon or other fish. Always with vegetables. — 6:30 Eat dinner with Greg. — 7:00: Relax while watching Netflix. Get a foot massage from Greg. Clean up from dinner. More online chess. — 8:15: Get ready for bed. Brush teeth, etc. — 8:30 Get in bed, relax and put on a podcast or sleep story to fall asleep to. — 8:45 Asleep.
  • 10K progress! From 8:02 pace to 6:42 pace! (Actually my first 10K in 2005 was an 8:20 pace and my fastest was a 6:37 pace in 2020–but I like these photos!) — 14+ years of running 10K races and you learn a thing or two. It never gets easier and the faster you run, the harder it is to set that next PR. Here are some of the ways I’ve improved my 10K pace over the years: — 🌟Speed intervals. 200s, 400s, and 800s are a great way to teach the legs to turnover quickly. Don’t have a track? You can do these by time. 1-minute, 2-minute, etc! — 🌟Increased mileage. Running a higher volume of mileage has helped me build endurance so I can hold a hard pace for longer. — 🌟Fueling. It’s a good idea to have a gel or some other easily digestible carbs just before the race. — 🌟Mentality. Keeping the self-talk positive and staying focused is super important, especially in the middle miles when it feels like you still have a long way to go.
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    10K progress! From 8:02 pace to 6:42 pace! (Actually my first 10K in 2005 was an 8:20 pace and my fastest was a 6:37 pace in 2020–but I like these photos!) — 14+ years of running 10K races and you learn a thing or two. It never gets easier and the faster you run, the harder it is to set that next PR. Here are some of the ways I’ve improved my 10K pace over the years: — 🌟Speed intervals. 200s, 400s, and 800s are a great way to teach the legs to turnover quickly. Don’t have a track? You can do these by time. 1-minute, 2-minute, etc! — 🌟Increased mileage. Running a higher volume of mileage has helped me build endurance so I can hold a hard pace for longer. — 🌟Fueling. It’s a good idea to have a gel or some other easily digestible carbs just before the race. — 🌟Mentality. Keeping the self-talk positive and staying focused is super important, especially in the middle miles when it feels like you still have a long way to go.
  • 8.4 treadmill miles this morning due to icy roads. Started at 6.0 and progressed to 7.3. I’m in love with my new home gym! — In my stories, many of you asked about why I don’t take rest days so I wanted to address it here: — I do take rest days when I need them. For example, I took one on Christmas Eve when I felt like my body needed extra rest because workouts had felt sluggish. Over the summer I take them when the humidity really wears me out. I’m in tune with my body’s needs, which is really key. — I have been running for 20 years now so my body is used to it. This is why I can run so many miles without injury. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to run 70+ miles per week without rest days. I have built up to this gradually over many, many years. Running high mileage safely is a skill. — I have a coach. I’ve been working with him since 2014 and when we started, I was running 6 days a week, rarely over 60 miles. I started running 7 days a week in 2016, when my rest days became a 30-minute jog. It remained a 30-minute jog for months until he bumped it up to 40. — I don’t recommend running 7 days a week for most runners. You need to have years of experience, you need to be in tune with your body, and you need to build up to it smartly, ideally with the guidance of a coach. — I don’t run 70+ miles a week year-round. I’m currently training for a marathon in March. When I’m not training for a marathon, I run 45-60 miles per week. But still no rest day unless I feel like I need it. — The last thing I want is for any of you to follow my training and get hurt! I’m not a coach and I share my workouts for inspiration and to document my journey. 💕💕
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    8.4 treadmill miles this morning due to icy roads. Started at 6.0 and progressed to 7.3. I’m in love with my new home gym! — In my stories, many of you asked about why I don’t take rest days so I wanted to address it here: — I do take rest days when I need them. For example, I took one on Christmas Eve when I felt like my body needed extra rest because workouts had felt sluggish. Over the summer I take them when the humidity really wears me out. I’m in tune with my body’s needs, which is really key. — I have been running for 20 years now so my body is used to it. This is why I can run so many miles without injury. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to run 70+ miles per week without rest days. I have built up to this gradually over many, many years. Running high mileage safely is a skill. — I have a coach. I’ve been working with him since 2014 and when we started, I was running 6 days a week, rarely over 60 miles. I started running 7 days a week in 2016, when my rest days became a 30-minute jog. It remained a 30-minute jog for months until he bumped it up to 40. — I don’t recommend running 7 days a week for most runners. You need to have years of experience, you need to be in tune with your body, and you need to build up to it smartly, ideally with the guidance of a coach. — I don’t run 70+ miles a week year-round. I’m currently training for a marathon in March. When I’m not training for a marathon, I run 45-60 miles per week. But still no rest day unless I feel like I need it. — The last thing I want is for any of you to follow my training and get hurt! I’m not a coach and I share my workouts for inspiration and to document my journey. 💕💕
  • Speed work! This was a new one for me. 25 x 1 minute at 5K effort, 1 minute steady. Normally when I do 1-minute intervals I get 1 minute to do a recovery jog (around 10:00 pace). But today my coach advised me not to jog the recoveries but to keep steady running. — As a result, I wasn’t able to run the hard 1:00 portions as fast as usual, but I think that was the point. This was 50 minutes of pure grind around a 1.4-mile flattish loop. Paces: — 7:00/7:55 6:47/8:11 6:45/8:13 6:37/8:01 6:50/7:56 — These first five were hard and I wasn’t feeling it and I doubted if I could do all 25. I was running 10k pace and not 5K pace and already it was tough. But I kept going: — 6:39/8:02 6:38/8:08 6:35/8:12 6:33/8:22 6:35/8:03 6:29/8:05 6:39/8:21 6:35/8:15 6:33/8:39 6:32/8:15 — Now I had only ten left to go so my confidence increased. I was getting into a groove even though my paces were still a little slower than I was targeting. — 6:21/7:56 6:30/7:57 6:33/7:53 6:37/8:35 6:36/8:03 6:27/8:01 6:34/8:04 6:31/8:03 6:34/8:13 6:23/7:43 — I really gunned it on the last one. I was happy that I finished strong and was consistent. Including warm up and cool down, I ran 11 miles total. 7:16 is around my goal marathon pace so averaging that for nearly 7 miles was confidence-boosting. It’s WAY easier to run a steady 7:16 pace than to get there via interval running. — I fueled with the @maurten_official Gel 100 right before the intervals started.
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    Speed work! This was a new one for me. 25 x 1 minute at 5K effort, 1 minute steady. Normally when I do 1-minute intervals I get 1 minute to do a recovery jog (around 10:00 pace). But today my coach advised me not to jog the recoveries but to keep steady running. — As a result, I wasn’t able to run the hard 1:00 portions as fast as usual, but I think that was the point. This was 50 minutes of pure grind around a 1.4-mile flattish loop. Paces: — 7:00/7:55 6:47/8:11 6:45/8:13 6:37/8:01 6:50/7:56 — These first five were hard and I wasn’t feeling it and I doubted if I could do all 25. I was running 10k pace and not 5K pace and already it was tough. But I kept going: — 6:39/8:02 6:38/8:08 6:35/8:12 6:33/8:22 6:35/8:03 6:29/8:05 6:39/8:21 6:35/8:15 6:33/8:39 6:32/8:15 — Now I had only ten left to go so my confidence increased. I was getting into a groove even though my paces were still a little slower than I was targeting. — 6:21/7:56 6:30/7:57 6:33/7:53 6:37/8:35 6:36/8:03 6:27/8:01 6:34/8:04 6:31/8:03 6:34/8:13 6:23/7:43 — I really gunned it on the last one. I was happy that I finished strong and was consistent. Including warm up and cool down, I ran 11 miles total. 7:16 is around my goal marathon pace so averaging that for nearly 7 miles was confidence-boosting. It’s WAY easier to run a steady 7:16 pace than to get there via interval running. — I fueled with the @maurten_official Gel 100 right before the intervals started.
  • I ran 76.5 miles this week! It included a track workout with short intervals. A workout of 8 mile repeats with just 2 minutes recovery, and a 20-mile long run. Also two strength training sessions + foam rolling, Achilles exercises and the @rapidreboot compression boots. Definitely a big week. — The Myrtle Beach Marathon is in six weeks! I can’t wait!!!!
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    I ran 76.5 miles this week! It included a track workout with short intervals. A workout of 8 mile repeats with just 2 minutes recovery, and a 20-mile long run. Also two strength training sessions + foam rolling, Achilles exercises and the @rapidreboot compression boots. Definitely a big week. — The Myrtle Beach Marathon is in six weeks! I can’t wait!!!!
  • I was 50/50 on whether I’d be able to complete this run given the 15 mph wind and a cranky hip. But somehow I managed it. — I decided to run a conservative pace throughout because of the hip and the wind, and also the fact that just two days ago I ran 13.1 miles that included 8 x 1 mile at 6:37 average. My only goal was to complete the run, throwing any time goals out the window. After all, I had plenty of speed earlier on the week. — I had just half a serving of @genucan before the run and planned to take a @maurten_official gel at mile 12. But my hands were not functional due to Reynaud’s Syndrome so I never had the gel; I couldn’t even get it out of my pocket because my thumbs didn’t work. — You can see the wind burn on my face and I got some on my arms too. That wind was fierce. 💨 💨 — I progressed down to an 8:20 pace during the first 8 miles and then kept things between 8:10-8:20 for the most part. Splits: — 9:10, 8:44, 8:39, 8:31, 8:27 8:26, 8:23, 8:22, 8:17, 8:20 8:19, 8:15, 8:07, 8:13, 8:16 8:13, 8:42, 8:15, 8:12, 8:09 — I ran into a friend and had done company for 2 miles around the halfway point. That helped the time go by faster. So happy that’s done with. Thawing out in a bath now. 🛁
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    I was 50/50 on whether I’d be able to complete this run given the 15 mph wind and a cranky hip. But somehow I managed it. — I decided to run a conservative pace throughout because of the hip and the wind, and also the fact that just two days ago I ran 13.1 miles that included 8 x 1 mile at 6:37 average. My only goal was to complete the run, throwing any time goals out the window. After all, I had plenty of speed earlier on the week. — I had just half a serving of @genucan before the run and planned to take a @maurten_official gel at mile 12. But my hands were not functional due to Reynaud’s Syndrome so I never had the gel; I couldn’t even get it out of my pocket because my thumbs didn’t work. — You can see the wind burn on my face and I got some on my arms too. That wind was fierce. 💨 💨 — I progressed down to an 8:20 pace during the first 8 miles and then kept things between 8:10-8:20 for the most part. Splits: — 9:10, 8:44, 8:39, 8:31, 8:27 8:26, 8:23, 8:22, 8:17, 8:20 8:19, 8:15, 8:07, 8:13, 8:16 8:13, 8:42, 8:15, 8:12, 8:09 — I ran into a friend and had done company for 2 miles around the halfway point. That helped the time go by faster. So happy that’s done with. Thawing out in a bath now. 🛁