Category Archives: Training

30 Ways You Know You’re In Peak Training

  May 17, 2013

Training comes in multiples phases, but there’s one thing that’s for sure: peak training is a beast worth noting. The key identifiers of which are easy to spot and are sure to make any outsider question how you make it as a functioning human being. Perhaps I should wear a big sign around my neck that says, “I’M IN PEAK TRAINING. DON’T JUDGE ME!” Or maybe I could provide a list of essential indicators for anyone in said state.

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You know you’re in peak Ironman training when…

  1. Your racer back tan line could be mistaken for a whale tail tattoo.
  2. Piles of laundry are now considered your interior décor.
  3. You go through at least three changes of clothing per day, with your work attire being the least important.
  4. You’re so tired of eating that you actually like the idea of intravenous feeding.
  5. This is day 39 that you’ve worn your hair in “top knot.”
  6. You start to wonder what people do with a full 48 hours of free time on the weekend.
  7. You questioned your coach multiple times asking, “Are you SURE this is humanly possible?”
  8. You have a perma-ring of broken hair all around your head from the swim cap. I call it the “Halo Effect.”
  9. Your wrists feel naked when you don’t have your Garmin strapped on. Good thing you have a tan line to comfort you.
  10. Date night is watching old episodes of “Arrested Development” and staying up way too late: 10 p.m.
  11. You’re 16-year-old acne has all reappeared, strategically where your bike helmet and straps hit your face.
  12. Heels are the equivalent of ancient torture mechanisms.
  13. You no longer feel awkward training with old men every weekend.
  14. The complete disarray of your home makes you worried that the “Hoarders” film crew might show up on your doorstep.
  15. Your dog no longer wants to play, but just waits to lick the sweat off of your feet.
  16. You train solo so often that carrying on conversations with yourself for six hours straight is no longer a problem.
  17. “Hurts so good” is your favorite phrase. So is, “SCREW YOU, HEAT!”
  18. Your pinky has gone numb from being in aero too long.
  19. “Hangry” is your most frequented emotion.
  20. Falling asleep at dinner is NBD. You’ll wake up in 15 minutes and eat again anyways.
  21. Trips to the chiropractor are the most social interaction that you get.
  22. You start to see the “blue line” in your sleep.
  23. When Training Peaks or Gamin Connect bugs out, you better pray no one else is in the room.
  24. You plan your work attire based on if you can wear compression sleeves underneath.
  25. Your foam roller is the closest thing you have to a BFF right now.
  26. Water bottles. EVERYWHERE!
  27. Salt caps seem to be falling out of the sky…or just every pocket.
  28. You feel like you could eat dinner with Michael Phelps and totally keep up.
  29. Helmets, heart rate straps and wet suits can all be found draped and drying from any shower or sink ledge. No space is safe.
  30. Your car’s stench of sweat and lake goop is enough to never let another soul inside your vehicle.

And you love every last minute of it.

Any others to add to the list?

Happy Running!

   
13 Comments | Posted in Training

IMCDA Training Begins!

  January 14, 2013

Hello! I’m back from vacation and feeling exactly what I set out for: rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to take on 2013. While I’ll share the tales of my trip to Utah with Oakley and to Mexico with my family later, today is an exciting day that I wanted to share.

Today marks the first day of training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene, Idaho!

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I kicked off this training cycle with a short swim (actually, my first swim in over two months) at Club Sport and my longest run to date (3.5 miles). More important than what I did today is how I am planning on approaching this training cycle differently:

First and foremost, I am working with Coach Paul again. He was incredible throughout this entire journey, plus he listened to me sobbing multiple times as I gave him the bad news.

Second, we decided to take each day as it comes and monitor my ankle closely. While I am getting back into the swing of being active again, I need to make a natural progression and not push it. If I push it, I risk re-injuring myself.

With my IMAZ training not too long ago, Coach Paul and I are going to focus on a) rebuilding my fitness, b) rebuilding my endurance, and c) work on speed over multiple long, long, loooooong workouts. The goal: GET FAST and STRONG!

IMAZ’s training cycle was long…too long. While much of it wasn’t specific IMAZ training but rather teaching me three different sports and how you put them altogether, I will admit that I was burnt out by the end. So much so in that it is probably what caused my body to be lazy, trip and sprain my ankle. This training cycle will be just about six months. My mind, body, family and friends much prefer the sound of this.

Preventative care will be a top priority. With the mysterious knee injury behind me, I know I’m not out of the woods. Regular rolling, stretching, ankle strengthening, chiro ART and monthly sports massage appointments are incredibly important.

Last year I learned a lot about how to fuel, but I’m almost glad that I’m getting this extra chance to really optimize and perfect my fuel plan. To be honest, I still feel like I wasn’t 100 percent sure what was best for me.

We’re also switching to TrainingPeaks from WorkoutLog to schedule and track workouts and I’m excited to be better about uploading detailed data and analyzing it.

Oh, and I WILL overcome my continual fear of open water swimming, seamlessly fix flat tires, learn about bike maintenance, and take better care of Dora’s chain. It got pretty bad.

These are some of the big changes, but I’m excited to continue adding more triathlon knowledge to my neophyte athlete’s knowledge library. More than anything, I’m ready to show failure that it hasn’t deterred me. I can, and I will, pick myself back up and give it the bird as I fly by on Dora.

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Happy Triathlon-ing!

   
18 Comments | Posted in IMCDA, Training

Sacrifices

  October 15, 2012

This weekend, my little sister got married and I was so excited to be a part of her special day.

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It was an intimate ceremony followed by a private dinner with just immediate family. It was after the ceremony that she also passed out these adorable little cards that revealed the baby’s gender: I’m going to have a nephew!

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I’m so, so excited for my sister, my now brother-in-law (who we all adore) and my soon-to-be godson (did I mention that too?!). I say this not only to celebrate their marriage, but also to mention how completely selfish I feel.

Training for an Ironman makes me feel incredibly selfish.

Let’s take my sister’s wedding for example. Chicken Face and I left California Thursday afternoon and made the 3.5 hour drive to Nevada. I saw my sister for a bit and heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time, then went to sleep only so I could wake up and get my long run in before the wedding festivities began. I thought I had planned accordingly but at mile 8 of what was supposed to be a 16 mile run, I got a phone call from my sister.

“Hey…gasp…gasp…gasp…I’m running. I’ll be home in an hour or so.”

“AN HOUR?! I thought we were going to breakfast!?”

Granted, I wasn’t aware of any breakfast plans, but it was her wedding day and I thought I’d be back before she even woke up. Thus, I cut the run two miles short and made it home as quickly as possible for a total of 14. All was fine in the end, but that day was supposed to be about her, not my training.

To take it to the next level, not only did we drive up Thursday night, celebrate the nuptials on Friday at 4 and dinner at 6, but we had to leave that night by 10:30 in order to get home in time to get some sleep for a big training day on Saturday.  Not only did we leave that night, but Chicken Face drove into the early morning hours just so I could get some sleep. He never complained once. Man I love that kid.

I felt horrible about the entire thing and it made me miss my family terribly, but I also felt that it was the best solution – October is critical as it is peak training time and the long workouts are key. I had to make sacrifices to make it all work.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg because when they say that you have to sacrifice during Ironman training, they weren’t exaggerating. In fact, I think no one really warns you.

I’ve missed birthdays.
I’ve missed sleep.
I’ve missed mother’s day.
I’ve missed blogging.
I’ve missed father’s day.
I’ve missed races.
I’ve missed seeing friends.
I’ve missed post-work outings.
I’ve missed taking care of Lola the way a good puppy parent should.
I’ve missed being with my family.
And most regrettably, I’ve missed being with my husband.

All to hopefully say that I’ll be an Ironman one day.

When I look at the list of just some of the things I’ve sacrificed in the name of the Ironman, especially over an entire year, it would be easy to dismiss this entire thing as being trivial. Why do this? Look at all of the genuinely important things you’ve missed! However, I need to look at it a different way.

Yes, my journey to (hopefully) becoming an Ironman was a year in my life that nine times out of 10, I had to put myself and my training first. You have to. If you don’t train, you won’t finish. I’m almost having difficulty writing this because it sounds so awful, but I had to be selfish. But by choosing to go from zero to 100 and tackle a full Ironman with minimal triathlon experience, I was wandering into uncharted waters in an effort to discover myself, face my fears, and to see what I’m made of. And all the while, I learned that it’s because I really love it. It is what makes me the happiest and most complete.

What I’ve learned about myself since then is another post itself, but I will tell you this. I’m thankful for the people around me who have forgiven my absence and still supported this journey.

Most importantly, thank you to Chicken Face for putting up with my never-ending messes, stacks of water bottles, CarboPro dust everywhere, load after load of laundry, the helmet in the shower, the wet bathing suits drying throughout our bathroom, our increased grocery bills, the drawers full of fuel, the bike still sitting out on the trainer in the living room, falling asleep far too early, abusing the ballerina bun hairstyle, the never-ending Amazon orders, my incessant rambling about all things Ironman, my moodiness, my freak outs, my breakdowns, my happy moments, and most importantly, being part of this wild ride. We’re almost there.

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Happy Running.

   
27 Comments | Posted in Life, Training

And So It Begins…

  May 18, 2012

Only five days ago I was struggling and felt completely defeated by the open water. But today I realize what friends can do for you, and why I’m lucky to have some that will go swimming with me at 6 a.m. on a Friday morning.

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Today, I swam with Simon, Jeff and Andy, all of whom knew about my fears and were nothing but supportive. Simon even offered to stay with me in the swim lanes and coach me through each lap with tips and tricks. With my mind focused on his sage advice instead of the negative thoughts that would normally be running through my mind, I was able to swim in the open water (largely) anxiety free! Let me repeat that for you: LARGELY ANXIETY FREE! WAHOO!!!

I focused on sighting, on drafting, on feet bubbles and anything else EXCEPT how deep and dark the water was, and my anxiety subsided. Lesson: focus on anything but your fears.

Well, there were still some moments, especially in the beginning, and I still stayed in the lane lines, but by the end I felt like a new person and I have Simon to thank for this. So here’s a shout out to you, Simon – THANK YOU!

And it all came right on time as Sunday is a big day. It will be my first triathlon.

Ok, ok, Chicken Face likes to remind me that I did a couple triathlons in college, but given that I can’t even remember any semblance of a training plan or the fact that it was over seven years ago, I’m calling this weekend’s race my “first” triathlon.

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The Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon is a 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike and a 5 mile run.

The Swim & Run:

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The Bike:

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This morning, I also met my coach for a "Triathlon 101” pow-wow. I literally asked the world’s most basic questions so I don’t make any rookie mistakes on Sunday. Did I sound like an idiot asking them? Probably. Am I glad I asked them? You better believe it. I’ll be sure to share them with you soon!

My race strategy for Sunday: think of it is a triple brick workout to get used to the sport, but leave everything out on the course. We’ll see what happens.

I have another open water swim tonight and some race prep tomorrow morning, so pending another confidence meltdown, I’m nervous, excited and anxious all at once. Here goes nothing.

Happy Running!

   
23 Comments | Posted in Training

The Truth In Trying

  May 13, 2012

It’s important to me that my blog isn’t all rainbows and sunshine.

Far too often I read blogs that are nothing but dancing unicorns and it’s easy to find yourself falsely comparing your life to these seemingly perfect lives. But in reality, the blogger just chooses not to post their struggles, thus creating a fake perception of reality.

I don’t want my blog to be pathetic rants or any sort of pity party, but I do want it to be an honest reflection of my athletic endeavors – the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think it’s important for anyone who is reading about my journey to know that it is not seamless. I also know that my “struggles” pale in comparison to serious hardships, but they are still part of the process and I want to be honest with you guys and myself. Plus, putting it down in writing is my version of therapy.

This morning I went back to the open water, dragging my mom along for the ride as she was in town for mother’s day. Last week, I made small progress in the open water by staying in the lane lines and only swimming short distances at a time. Sticking with my motto of “baby steps,” I decided that I would once again swim before the rest of the group arrived and swim the longer swim lanes (150 meters each way), but not outside of the lane lines.

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I zipped up my wetsuit, moaned “Mooooooooom!” when she insisted on snapping photos, and was anxious to see what today would have in store. I made my way out to the swim lanes with the intention of not necessarily getting a workout in, but rather working on my open water comfort. I once again spent some time blowing bubbles in the water before starting the swim and trying to get comfortable.

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This is the “my wetsuit is choking me” look.

I started swimming and felt good; same feeling as last week and thought I was making progress. But as I got into the 100 meter marker of each lap, my heart would start to race. The water got deeper, a little foggier, different plants underneath, and even my first fish sighting. My mental freak out makes absolutely no sense as there is no reason for it. I would flap around for a few more meters until I reached the end and had to take two  minutes at the end of each lap just to calm down.

Absolutely nothing went wrong except for my mind doubting everything. I thought I was done with doubt?! Apparently not because once again my wetsuit was seemingly “choking me and trying to kill me” and the negative thoughts of, “Why am I doing this? My triathlon next week is going to be an embarrassing disaster. I can swim in the pool just fine, but I am deplorable in the open water. Just give up. I can’t F-ing swim. I hate this. Why is this happening?!” raced through my head. It was pathetic.

I promised myself I would do eight laps (1,200 meters) and the good news is that I did it. I don’t even want to tell you how long it took me. As I walked way out of the water, I made my way past the group and tried to avoid any eye contact or conversation with anyone. This was the same time that my mom and aunt came back from their run around the neighboring trails and met me at my stuff. Still avoiding eye contact, they asked how it was and I just replied, “Fine.” and nervously gathered my stuff.

I stripped my wetsuit off stupidly back down in the water, my coach came to tell me there was a shower, and I forced a smile and loaned out my swim cap to a fellow swimmer. As I made my way to the shower, my mom and aunt followed me to a hidden corner, away from the view of everyone else and I lost it.

For the first time in Ironman training I cried.

I cried because I felt like a failure at something that should be easy. Something that I know takes time, but I should at least be able to swim the swim lanes. My self-esteem plummeted.

In perfect timing, my mom and aunt were there to do the things that moms do best: comfort me.

I know that I’m far too hard on myself and that things like this will take time. They assured me that come November I will look back at this and laugh, but I just have to keep at it. I know they’re right, but for a confirmed type-A, it’s a hard pill to swallow.

Am I back to my “I can do anything!” mentality? Not at the moment. But it’s almost as if it was supposed to happen today, Mother’s Day, when my mom was in town and it was her first glimpse of my training. I got knocked down and she was there to pick me back up. Love you, mom.

courage

Tomorrow, we try again.

   
23 Comments | Posted in Training

Baby Steps

  May 6, 2012

My dad always reminds me, “Life is about the journey, not just the goal.” This weekend I relished the journey and the small successes. Fist pumping silently ensued.

On Saturday, my aerobars asked me on a romantic rendezvous through Mines canyon and instead of fretting about whether or not I was saying or doing the right thing, I just did what felt right. And would you look at that, when I stopped thinking and just started doing, I actually enjoyed my time in aero…well, except when I tried taking off my arm warmers, but that’s a different story. Regardless, we’re now going steady and I can’t wait until our next date.

On Sunday, I made an even bigger baby step as I vowed to face open water swimming again. I won’t lie; when I woke up on Sunday I would have rather spent the morning pounding my forehead against the wall. I literally thought of every excuse of how I would put it off until this afternoon, until next week, until the grass grew about three inches longer. Then I told myself to man up and just get it done, with the caveat being I would go early before any of the group got there and I could just do my own thing.

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The scene of the crime.

After wiggling into my wetsuit, I reminded myself that this was not the time to swim to the “rock pile” and back (the same 1,600 meter swim I did the first time that goes far into the reservoir and caused the panic attack). Instead, I was going to stay in the lane lines where I could see the bottom, where it wasn’t too foggy and my mind thought it would be “safe.”

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Awkwardly taking horrible self-portraits pre-swim.

As I got out into the water, the first thing I did was put my face in and blew bubbles. I sat there for probably five minutes just practicing my breathing and calming down, and you know what, it worked. From that moment on I simply swam and whoa, shocker, I didn’t die! First open water baby step COMPLETE! Next up, immersing myself back into the “Oh my god I can’t see anything!” open water swim zone. I’m still anxious, still scared, but I know that taking each piece at a time will ease me right into it.

While each of these small happenings may not seem like much, to me their baby steps that I’m proud of and all part of the journey.

What baby steps were amazing parts of your journey this week?

   
15 Comments | Posted in Training

Fueling Like A Fool

  February 26, 2012

One of the biggest struggles I have had throughout all of my athletic adventures has been fueling appropriately. It’s either been too much (ehem, LA) or too little (ehem, New York), and unfortunately I still don’t have it down yet. Thankfully, I have my trusty Coach now and as we are getting into longer rides, here was his early fueling advice:

For a 3 hour ride, you should be eating 200-250 calories/hour beginning about 15 minutes into the ride.  From a hydration standpoint, you should be drinking about 24oz. of fluid per hour.  Had the temperatures been over 80F, you would have had to increase that fluid intake to 30+oz./hour.  Play around with different calorie and fluid amounts on your long rides and runs to see what works best for your body.

With an almost four-hour/55+ mile ride on tap this weekend, I knew that I couldn’t wait any longer trying to practice and find my perfect fueling strategy. Some quick mental math indicated that for this ride, I should consume at 800 – 1,000 calories and drink about 96 oz. of fluid. 1,000 calories? What?! It seemed like an extraordinarily large amount to me.

I laid out some new fueling options I had shoved in my fuel box and even with all of that food, I was only around 600-700 calories. I thought that there was no way I would eat more than that on the ride. I grabbed one more pack of ClifBlocks and thought that should suffice. What an idiot.

 

I’m pretty sure Saturday’s ride was worthy of a new nickname. Perhaps, Butter Fingers? I ended up dropping the entire pack of ClifBlocks, turned around to get it, and dropped it again. I muttered a few expletives and said, “Forget it.” To add to my cycling shame, I’m still too much of a Fred to smoothly drink on my bike and I barely finished my entire bottle in the four hour ride – which includes dropping it once as well.

In addition to my inappropriately timed slippery fingers, I also was trying new types of food. I’ve never had something as solid as a ClifBar on a ride before, nor had I ever had a Stinger Waffle. Two hours into the ride when I tried the waffle, I thought to myself, “What the hell is this?” It’s like a cookie with a hardened Gu waffle on the inside – weird. But around three and a half hours, I gave it another try and you might as well told me it was one of these it tasted so good:

 Chicken Face’s Valentine’s Day Surprise: Sprinkles!

The pure deliciousness of the waffle was a sure sign that I was starving and not fueling appropriately. Needless to say, I have a lot of fueling practice to do: getting enough in to sustain my energy and, well, just holding on to the damn things.

What is your long ride/run fueling strategy? What’s your fuel of choice?

Happy Running!

   
19 Comments | Posted in Training

Las Vegas Half Marathon Training Schedule

  October 18, 2011

With the success of my easy seven miles on Sunday and four miles today at a slightly faster pace, I want to make sure that I have a plan going into the Las Vegas half. Pending a full hip recovery, the next seven weeks of my life will have a new look and feel. That’s right people: it’s half marathon PR training time.

I used a mixture of Hal Higdon’s advanced marathon training, Runner’s World Smart Coach and my own training goals to create the following plan before I got injured, but I still want to print it out, hang it up and try to go after that PR. But please note, if at any moment my hip acts up, I will choose listening to my body before anything else. I have mixed in a variety of cross-training in this plan so should I need to, I can opt for cross-training only, or I can do a double day.

(Note: you can also access this training schedule via Google Docs here.)

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Here’s the strategy for this training schedule:

  • Focus on speed: As any running book will tell you, if you want to get fast, you have to train your body to sustain faster paces. This doesn’t mean doing speed work every day, but making sure that I get in one speed/track workout and one tempo run per week. I’m going to start gradually mixing in speed next week, of course, all pending on my hip.
  • Embrace the easy: With a renewed focus on speed, it’s important that you give your muscles time to rest, and in turn, repair the tiny rips that you make in them while training so they grow back bigger and stronger than before. The runs in between my speed work and my long runs will act as easy recovery runs, but will ensure that I’m getting the mileage in.
  • Saturday long runs: As I’ve talked about in the past, Saturday long runs work best for my personal life. Thus, I’ll be hitting the road every Saturday to get in the mileage.
  • Sunday options: I always allow one complete rest day, which will be Sundays in this training cycle. However, I’ve also left the option to do a bit of cross-training as I want to learn how to ride my bike again (gasp)! This will also come in handy should I have to skip a workout mid-week, I can rest assured that another weekend opportunity will abound.
  • Cross training: Every Monday I’m going to take a spin class at my local. Training different muscles and will only help my overall efforts and gives my training a nice change in pace.
  • Swimming: I found a beginner schedule on the Speedo community and will try to stick with it for the next seven weeks. While I realize that this does mean double days (which I’m not usually a fan of), the only reason it is going to work is because Chicken Face will be in grad school on those days. Thus, making the most of both of our time. If I am unable to complete a swim workout, no biggie. The goal is simply to start getting comfortable in the water and de-stress after work.
  • Adjusting to my personal life: As you can see, I have definitely accounted for my personal/work life. The launch of my client’s new product and that weekend that I’ll be working? It’s there. Thanksgiving and increased time with family? It’s there too.

So there you have it folks – my half marathon training plan. Let me know if you have any questions and tell me, what are you training for next?

Happy Running!

   
11 Comments | Posted in Training

Goodbye and Hello: The New Fall Plan

  October 9, 2011

After traveling and working for nine days straight, I can confidently say that I miss my little NorCal life and am ready to go home. Traveling is one thing, traveling alone is another, and traveling for work is just an entirely different ball game. I’ve worked from (and consumed) more Starbucks in one time period than ever before and will be likely needing a chai tea latte detox (I never thought I’d utter such words). New York, Boston and Chicago, thank you for welcoming me and giving me a small taste of your urban-goodness, and more specifically, thank you Chicago for lighting my fire again.

As you may recall, due to work I will have to forgo my A-race for this fall. I wrote about the possible alternatives for a fall marathon and all of you chimed in with your thoughts on the contenders. I thought long and hard about the decision while also considering the next couple of months in my personal and work life and came to a strangely difficult decision:

I will not be running a marathon this fall.

Why did deciding this pain me so much? It’s not like I was giving up running and the races that I did have planned (e.g. Las Vegas) will simply become a half marathons. But still, something inside of me wondered if I lost my mojo.

But there’s something special about one of the world majors. I’ve never spectated one before but when 50,000 people all share the same energy, focus and excitement to run 26.2 miles, it’s inspiring, or maybe better put, invigorating. With the energy still fresh and in an attempt to not insanely register for something in the heat of the moment, I’ll renew my focus this fall.

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Goal: be fast like Katie. She just ran a 3:06 Marathon in Portland!

Next weekend is the Nike Women’s half marathon. I didn’t win the contest (thanks for your votes, though!), but with almost every Bay Area blogger I know running it, I’m going to run for pure pleasure. I know that some mock me and say, “Page, you NEVER run for just pleasure.” HA! I did for Big Sur and I plan on doing it again. Why? Well allow me to explain…

With eight weeks until Vegas, I’m going to up the training again to try and get that sub 1:30 I’ve been gunning for. Apparently they’ve made a new course that is completely on the strip, flat and fast. The fact that it’s at night still makes me incredibly nervous, but that is the game plan for now. I’ll be sure to share the training plan soon.

So there you have it folks, no fall marathon this year. Instead it will be a fun half in October and a race for a new PR in early December. I’m sure there will be a Turkey Trot in there and the addition of some new types of cross training, but I’ve got a new focus and am ready to go for it.

What are your fall goals? Have you ever had to completely renew your focus? How did you do it?

Happy Running and congrats to all of the amazing racers out there this weekend!

   
17 Comments | Posted in Training

The Marathon Consideration Set

  September 27, 2011

In the marketing world, the consideration set is a highly coveted place within consumer behavior. While it’s no final decision, it is the set of options that a potential consumer deems valuable enough to consider when putting down their money on something.

Today, I’d like to present to you my personal, A-race, marathon consideration set. I’ll pretend that it’s a highly esteemed set of options that marketers are crossing their fingers for me to choose, but in reality, it’s more like what part of the country am I going to drag Chicken Face to next.

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1. Rock ‘N Roll “Strip At Night” Marathon – Dec. 4, 2011

So here’s the funny thing about this marathon, I’m already registered for it! However, my original plan was to run it after Fresno and take it in as a fun run (as fun as 26.2 miles can be). The thought of making this race my new A-race is daunting given that it starts at 4 p.m. While this could sound appealing, here’s the catch: I usually loathe running at night. Well, I usually loathe running after work because by the time I’m home, I just want to eat and be lazy. It’s apparently flat, fast and full of “entertainment.” What’s a girl to do?

2. Disney Marathon – Jan. 8, 2011

Not a race Chicken Face would want to go to, but I think I could convince my mom to spend a weekend reminiscing about my childhood in the happiest place on earth. Have you run this race? How humid is it? This race is ridiculously expensive, is it worth it?

3. Rock ‘N Roll Arizona – Jan. 15, 2011

Closer to home than Florida and is an opportunity to explore a new west coast state. Supposedly flat and fast, and a ticket down south wouldn’t be that expensive. The downside: it’s $135! Holy expensive! Tell me, have you heard anything about this race?

4. ING Miami Marathon – Jan. 29, 2011

I don’t know much about this race other than going to Miami in January sounds like a dream. Plus, I like to drag Chicken Face to new parts of the country that he would otherwise not choose to go to. That’s how I got him to fall in love with Chicago, right Chicken Face?

So there you have it folks – my initial consideration set. Did I miss any races that should be on my radar? Specifically any in California?

Thanks for your help and happy running!

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P.S. They extended the deadline for the Nike Women’s Marathon Runway Crew contest. If you haven’t voted yet, I’d love your vote and will love you forever. Just click here to vote – THANK YOU!

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35 Comments | Posted in Training, Uncategorized