Race Report: Carolina Beach Half Marathon

I love doing new things and I got a chance to do something new on Sunday by being a pacer in the Carolina Beach Half Marathon!  You've seen pace groups before - they are the herds of runners in a race clustered around a runner carrying a big sign with a time on it.  Running with a pace group is great because a) it's fun, b) it helps prevent you from going out too hard, c) they help you keep pace when the going gets tough, and d) you get to forge a little camaraderie with cool peeps who happen to be the same speed that you are.  If you're a spectator in a race, it's nice to have pace groups because you know where the runners are in the race that are going by you and it can help you know where to look for the person that you're trying to spectate.  The role of the pacer is to finish the race in exactly the time that is printed on the sign that he or she is carrying.  People are relying on you to carry out this duty - their PR's depend on it.  The best way to do this is to run the perfect negative split.  This can be tricky because you don't want to go out too fast and risk people blowing up at the end of the race, but you don't want to go out too slow such that you don't reach the goal time.  The pressure is on and you better be able to deliver the goods.

When I originally agreed to pace for the Carolina Beach Half I signed on for the 1:40 group.  However, upon seeing that this race was a month out from my A race (Savannah marathon), Tom Clifford told me to switch into the 1:30 pace group so that I would get a good marathon-pace workout.  I was nervous about doing this because I wasn't 100% sure I'd be able to run a 1:30 half in the midst of 65-mile training weeks on fatigued legs.  But he said, "If you can't run a 1:30 half, how are you going to run a sub 3 hour marathon?!"  So I dropped into the 1:30 group.

Come to find out I would be pacing the race w/ Eric Torrey, a veteran 1:30 pacer.  This was good because I knew that if I couldn't maintain pace he'd be able to finish the race easily.  I did a mile warm up with a few pick ups and felt good.  The weather was cold (50s) and there wasn't much wind.   We gathered at the starting line with our sign (Eric carried it for about 1 mile before ditching it to volunteers) and a 4-5 people huddled around and spoke of hopes of breaking 1:30.  I remembered back to when I first broke the 1:30 barrier and how impossible it seemed at the time!  It was a good group and everyone stayed together for the first half-ish.  Local celebrity Richard Segal was amongst us and there were people cheering for him at every turn!  When runners in our group broke off and ran ahead it was kind of hard not to go with them, but it was our job to stay on the 1:30 pace so Eric and I ran together from mile 7-12.  I was surprised to find that I felt really good for pretty much the entire run.  Within the last mile we caught back up to Steven Dees and tried to give him a final push of motivation to get to the finish.  He gave a gutsy performance and ended up with a PR by over a minute!  Just awesome!  I spent the remainder of the morning chillin' by the lake and watching friends finish the race - fantastic job everyone!!!

Overall it was a great race, well-organized, and very enjoyable.  Weather was perfect and post-race Moe's hit the spot.  I'm super pleased with how well this run went.  We nailed the pace and finished right at 1:29:07.  While I can't say that it was easy, I can say that it was not difficult.  I feel like this is a good sign that my training is working.  It bodes well for Savannah and I'm starting to get really excited for that race.  I believe I can crack 3.

Congrats to Amanda & Kristina on their first 1/2 marathon!

Mr. Enoch does it again!

The Mark Allen Approach

If you're looking for a great summer sports-related motivational inspirational read, try picking up Iron War.  I read this book a couple years ago and really enjoyed the intense tale of rivalry between super-human triathletes Dave Scott and Mark Allen.  The book chronicles their numerous battles at Kona, culminating with the legendary 1989 Ironman World Championship race in which *spoiler alert* Mark Allen finally beat Dave Scott for the first time.  In addition to being entertaining, this book also made me start thinking about the science behind the training.  It was the first time I'd ever encountered the "Mark Allen Approach."

Early in his career, Mark Allen had the same approach to training that most people do - the harder and faster you train in training, the faster you will become as a racer.  He has openly talked about how this approach led him to fatigue, burn out, and the inability to reach peak performance.  As he matured he started doing things differently which he believes allowed him to ultimately beat Dave Scott and become a 6-time Ironman World Champion.  What did he do?

At the start of every season, he spent a long (3-month) block solely focused on aerobic threshold training, meaning that he monitored his heart rate and kept it at or below aerobic threshold (AeT) for all training sessions.  Even if it meant he had to slow down or walk up a hill he did not exceed that number.  Week after week he would time himself in an 8K, keeping his heart rate at or below AeT.  In these time trials he would expect to see a consistent 5-6 second drop per mile per week.  The theory is that during this time, his body's aerobic capabilities were increasing such that he could spare carbohydrates, rely on fat as a fuel source, and run at a faster pace at the same given heart rate.  Year after year of this type of training allowed him to run at 5:30 pace with a heart rate of only 150 bpm!

So, why don't more athletes employ this type of training?  In this video, Mark Allen says that it's because "aerobic training isn't really sexy."  Because the intensity is so low you don't feel like you are really getting a great workout.  It can be kind of boring and difficult to run at a slower pace if you are used to burning it up for every workout.  And it takes patience to continue with this type of training for an entire 3-month block!

Granted, Mark Allen seriously ratcheted up the intensity of his training after the base period once his speed phase kicked in, but he believes that doing the aerobic base training allowed him to make greater gains from the speed block of training which lasted about 10-12 weeks.  After the speed block, he did a short recovery period before a very hard 8 week training push leading into Kona.  In addition, through the entire cycle he was putting in 30-40 hours per week of training.  I also forgot to mention that he did weight training twice per week in the base period.  Here is a link to an article on SlowTwitch with an except from The Lore of Running that goes into much greater detail on Mark Allen's training regimen and is certainly worth the read.

Anyhow, I find his approach interesting and I think scientifically it does make sense.  My previous coach had me do something very similar to this the year that I ended up qualifying for an elite license in triathlon.  I started my season with very high volume low intensity base training.  As the races got closer I started working on speed.  And then some of my hardest sessions, although short in duration, were at the beginning of a taper leading into a big race.  That approach worked for me.  However, I never religiously monitored my HR.  And I believe that too many people are going too hard when they should be going easy.  Then again, I was doing high volume (20-25 hours/week) and some people say that volume is the ultimate trump card...

So, at this point I'm training for the Savannah full marathon in November.  I obviously don't have time to do an entire base training period right now, but I have started training by heart rate, so I guess you could say it's going to be a little mini cycle of the Mark Allen Approach.  These are the reasons I'm using it:

1) I'm working on gradually building up my mileage and I want to prevent injury.  If you increase mileage too quickly, intensity too quickly, or both at the same time your risk of injury goes way up.  I'm hoping that keeping the bulk of my miles at low intensity will help me stay healthy.

2) Doing easy runs at AeT allows you to have enough energy in the tank to really crush the hard days, which is where you make your speed gains.  This method of training is also referred to as polarized training and I am a VERY strong believer in that model.  Here's a great video (long but worth it) on the subject.

3) I want to see if the Mark Allen Approach really works.  It may take an entire year to really test it out, but if I can get a decent result at Savannah, I just might do that :)

If you've ever tried the Mark Allen approach, please leave a comment and let me know how it worked for you!  And if you are a naysayer, I'd like to hear your thoughts as well!

Shoe Review: Mizuno Wave Elixir

How do you know when it's time to buy new running shoes?  The correct answer is to keep track of your mileage and once you reach the known life of your shoes, replace them.  I have not been following this protocol.  I usually run my shoes into the ground with reckless abandon.  Once I start to feel any sort of pain (usually in my knees) I know it's time to get new shoes.  This is a dicey strategy because while I have been able to get a lot more miles out of my shoes than prescribed, I have to replace them immediately upon feeling the ache or pain, otherwise face risk of serious injury and time off of running.  A few days ago I started feeling some foot pain after a run.  Stupidly, I ran 11 miles the next day and 9 miles the day after that.  The pain worsened, I had to take a day off of running, and I knew it was time to spend money on new shoes. 

Anyhow, on to the new shoes!  I first tried on the Brooks Pure Connect, Saucony Kinvara, and Nike Free 3.0.  I've tried on the Connect and Kinvara before and I immediately noticed the same thing I have noticed before about these shoes.  For me, there is too much material underneath the arch of the foot.  I'd say I have a medium arch, but I really don't like anything to be built up under there.  My take is that the natural function of the arch is to support your foot and help absorb the impact of your steps and I DO NOT like anything underneath it messing with the natural mechanics of that mechanism.  In addition, I found the Kinvara too wide, especially in the toe box; I have a narrower foot.  The Nike Free 3.0's felt decent, but there was not much cushion at all.  They didn't feel like they'd have the gusto to last muchos miles.

I then went to Trysports at Mayfaire (where I should have gone from the start and am embarrassed to say that I did not) and tried on the Mizuno Wave Elixir.  As soon as I slipped my foot into this shoe it felt fantastic!  I was pretty much sold before I even went outside and gave them a test spin.  Sometimes you just know when the shoe fits.  And when I did go outside and run in them, they still felt great.  My foot didn't even hurt one bit!  They felt like a minimalist shoe with just the right amount of cushioning to hold up over long runs and increasing training mileage.  I wanted to buy them right then and there. 

However, I obliged the helpful sales guy and proceeded to try on the Brooks Pure Flow, Brooks T7 Racer, & Mizuno Wave Sayonara.  The Flow actually felt decent, but didn't fit as snugly on my foot as the Elixir.  I've always thought the T7 Racer looks really cool and have wanted to try that shoe for a while now.  It felt like I could run a really fast 5K in those shoes!  They were super light and would be perfect for racing or speed training, but maybe not so ideal for marathon training.  The Sayonara's just felt awkward across the top of my foot and I didn't care for them.

So, of course I went with the Elixir.  I had my first run in them today and was super pleased.  They were lightweight, comfortable, and provided just enough cushioning.  I'm a very neutral runner and they allowed me to maintain my mid-foot strike.  I had no foot pain whatsoever and no blisters or hotspots.  I did a total of 10 miles at about 7:15 pace and felt awesome.  These shoes remind me a lot of the old Mizuno Musha that I used to run in and really liked.  They are also similar to the Pearl Izumi Isotransition, which were a dream come true shoe for me.  Definitely a solid shoe for anyone looking for a lightweight, minimalist, training shoe on which you can rack up some marathon miles.  Mizuno got this one right when they pegged the Elixir as "a performance shoe with just enough support that also delivers on longer training runs."  And as for looks, they may not be the prettiest shoes I've ever seen, but they do have a certain attitude about them, and I like that.

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

I was going to title this blog with the cliche line of "Practice Makes Perfect," but then I realized I couldn't in good conscience do that because it was drilled into me at an early age that practice does not make perfect.  Instead, perfect practice makes perfect.  When learning any skill, whether it be how to shoot a basketball, kick a soccer ball, or 'catch' the water while swimming, it's imperative to use correct technique.  Otherwise you are simply training your body with the wrong mechanics, which will in time lead to incorrect muscle memory, which will never result in perfect technique no matter how many times you repeat the process.  So yes, I subscribe to "Perfect Practice Makes Perfect." 

Anyhow, I wanted to talk about how I've started going to Without Limits team practices and I really like it.  My first appearance was at the track.  We did 10 min @ 6:20 pace, 2 min break, 10 min @ 6:20 pace, 2 min break, 5 min at 6:20 pace.  This nearly killed me.  My second rendezvous w/ the team was for a tempo workout.  I did 2 x 2.5 mi at 7:00 pace with 2 min rest in between.  This got tiring b/c it was super humid that day, but was not as painful as the track.  Today was my third team practice and I ran 2 x [1000 @ 10K pace, 400 @ 5K pace, 200 @ FAST pace.]  At least that is what the pacing was supposed to be.  As one team member put it, "Are we doing heart attack pace or stroke pace today?"  Haha.  This workout almost killed me as well.

So here's what I like about being on the team and going to team practices so far:

1.  The coach, Mr. Tom Clifford, is there, usually yelling out splits like a maniac and I find this both helpful and humorous at the same time.

2.  The people on the team are quality peeps - all real friendly, funny, and genuinely nice folk.  Can't wait to get to know them better!

3.  The people on the team are freakin' fast!!!  When I run with them they make me push myself harder than I ever would if I were running alone.  Thanks guys! 

4.  Practices also include stretching and strength work, two things that I usually always neglect and I know are good for me so it's good that someone else is forcing me to do them.  (However, I do have a theory that stretching leads to injury so we'll see what happens with that...)

5.  Interaction with the coach - whether it be critique of your form, how your legs are feeling from the previous workout, or discussion about your training plan it's nice to have face time w/ your coach as opposed to digital long-distance communication.

6.  Camaraderie.  It's nice to be part of a team and it's really cool that so many people are training for the same races.  LOVING having training partners galore :)

Looking forward to lots more painful practices.  It'll make me faster, right?

Oh!  I almost forgot to mention that last Friday I got a call from the radio station and I ended up winning the $50 gift card to Massage Envy!  How cool is that!!??  It was certainly not a bad way to start the weekend :)

Marathon Training

Well, it's official!  I'm decidedly in marathon training now.  How did that happen?  Pretty easily actually, haha.  I've been wanting to get a coach for a little while now and finally decided to bite the bullet.  I've had a coach in the past and always enjoyed having someone other than myself in charge of and responsible for planning and periodizing my training.  Plus I like the accountability of having a coach and knowing that someone else is invested in your efforts.

So, upon return from FL I signed up with a local coach whose specialty is running --> Tom Clifford of Without Limits.  We discussed whether to train for an early season full or half and in the end the full won out.  For me this was mainly due to the fact that I know I want to eventually get to the full distance so why not just jump right into it?  And, a lot of the awesome training buddies I've met will be training for the full so it makes sense since we'll be on similar schedules.  And, if I eventually get as fast as I'd like to I'll beat my half PR in the full anyways (yeah, keep dreaming ;)

I'm excited about working with a coach and what's really cool is that he has practices each week where all his athletes show up and share in the pain of mile repeats, track workouts, tempo runs, or whatever the punishment may be!  I think I'm really going to like the camaraderie that I envision these team practices will afford.  Most coaches can write you a training plan, but do they get to see you, actually coach you, and provide in-person feedback to you each and every week?  For me, it's a new dimension to the coach/athlete relationship and I cant wait for the first practice on Tuesday!!!

Lastly to put this out there right from the start, my goal is to run a sub 3 hour marathon in March.

Three For Three

I've been in FL for the past week on business.  It's made it a little bit more difficult to run because I've been so worn out from working, but I still got in at least 40 miles this past week.  I found a great path which parallels a freeway that traverses Tampa Bay.  In case you are wondering how pretty it is:

During one of my work breaks towards the end of last week I started googling local races on my phone.  I thought it might be fun to sign up for a half marathon for my long run on Sunday to switch things up a bit and give me some company.  The greatness of this idea was confirmed when I found out that the XTERRA Wild Horse Trail 1/2 Marathon was to be held a mere 45 minutes from my hotel!  What luck!

XTERRA races are fantastic because you really never know what they're going to throw at you.  They are also perfect "train-through" races because you can't become preoccupied with or focused on your time - each course is so different that comparing times from course to course is impossible.  My goal for this race was to get in a long training run, have fun, and if possible get the win. 

I signed up on race day and it was a small venue but well organized.  I lined up at the start behind a fast-looking woman (same MO as my previous trail race) and ran behind her for about a half a mile.  Her pace was a little uncomfortably slow for me, so I took the lead at that point and ran at my own decent but comfortable pace. 

Within the first mile things started getting crazy!  There was a steep downhill (don't ask me why this race had so many hills in it for being in FL - I still haven't figured that one out for myself) that led straight into a river.  Yup, there was no way around it.  I watched the guy in front of me plunge in with reckless abandon.  He tripped and was up to his neck in water, which prompted a volunteer to shout out, "Be careful, it gets a little deep in the middle!"  I took things a little more cautiously, but still found myself chest-high in water.  So much for not getting my shoes wet or dirty.  It had rained all day the previous day so actually the trails were very muddy and slippery.  There was one insanely technical section that lasted for about a mile where I was essentially walk/hiking because otherwise I would have 100% for sure hurt myself.  At this point, I modified my goals; not getting injured became top priority!

I tried to make up for my slowness on that section on the flats.  However, the flats weren't all that easy either because being in FL, they were mainly composed of soft sand!  There was another section of "trail" which was basically a swamp with 10 old tires through it.  I thought it was way too likely for me to slip off a tire if I tried to run across them so I just trudged through the swamp.  This worked out pretty well, though I almost lost a shoe!  There were some sections of "trail" in which there was literally no trail.  They called these "off road" sections and I'm pretty sure they just handed someone orange flags and had them set them up randomly in the woods.  Needless to say it made for slow goings at times. 

After two laps of this craziness I finally made it back to the river crossing.  The cold water felt kinda good on my legs the second time around.  The same volunteer as before yelled out, "Great job!  Only about a mile left and only a few more surprises left for you!"  The surprises were more "off road" sections and a crazy hill that was so steep you could not run up it.  Instead they had tied a rope to a tree at the top and you had to pull yourself up the hill with your upper body while running to get to the summit.  I laughed out loud when I saw it and thought it was fitting that they put that in the last half mile of the race! 

No woman passed me throughout the race so I knew I had won as I ran down the finish chute.  I was pretty happy because it was a fun, outside the box, enjoyable 13.1, and I got the W!  The funny thing is that this is third trail 1/2 marathon I've ever run and the third one that I've won.  So I'm 3 for 3 in trail 1/2 marathons and I guess I can say undefeated :)  Pretty cool!  As I was accepting my award for top female they told me I was only 3 seconds off the course record!  Dang it!  I so could have gone 3 seconds faster.  I had no idea what the course record was or that I was close to breaking it!  Well, I suppose it gives me a reason to come back next year...

16 miles at 6 am

Ah, Saturday...a glorious day for sleeping in.  Not so for the runners of the world.  Honestly, why runners feel the need to get up at the crack of dawn, even on the weekends, to run is beyond me.  But if you want to run with other runners, then you'd better get your a$$ out of bed!

Saturday morning I met a small group of people for a long run.  We met at 6 am and it was not even close to being light outside.  The only good thing about this is that it's a legitimate excuse to geek out in my headlamp.  The four of us ran 6 miles at a decent clip and I was kinda feeling it b/c the humidity was literally 98%.  We circled back to the parking lot after the first 6 and met up with a larger group of runners for the final 10.  As the miles wore on, the group thinned out and some people peeled off as they felt fit (or should I say unfit).  By the final 5 miles or so there were only 4 of us left.  I felt like I was in a pretty elite pack, especially considering one was a former olympic marathon trialist and another was in training for NYC with a seed time of 2 hrs 34 min.  The plan from the get-go was to do a progression run, starting out at around 8 min miles and dropping to 7ish by the end.  We stuck true to plan and finished out the last mile in 7:02.  Average for the entire run was about 7:30. 

Can't remember the last time I ran that far that fast.  Actually I can't remember the last time I ran that far period.  In my previous training my longest long run usually topped out at about 15 miles so it's quite possible that I haven't run 16 miles in one stretch since the last time I was marathon training.  But, it felt good and I feel pretty excited that I have a decent running fitness base right now. 

My current plan is to run a half marathon on Thanksgiving to get a base time and then to start training under a coach for an early season half or full marathon (still haven't decided yet; there are merits to both).  In the meantime, I have been trying to run 5-6 days per week with one long run on the weekends and one speed/tempo day during the weeks.  I'm traveling for the next 10 days so we'll see how well I can keep that up...

First Race Back: Triple Lakes Trail Race

Yesterday I raced for the first time in quite a while and it went....well.  Surprisingly well.  Especially for being a half marathon, on technical trail, & full of hills!  Before the race started I scoped out the competition and picked out a few women who I thought could be in it to win it.  I lined up at the start right behind them and figured I'd take it out at their pace and see how long I could hang on. 

There was just under a mile of paved road before the single-track trails started and one woman got off to a pretty swift start.  So I followed her b/c I thought, "Hmm, this could be the race right here."  My Garmin is still broken so I really have no idea how fast we were going.  We got onto the trails and I stayed behind her, probably about 30 sec back.  However, after a while I felt like I was going a little too hard and decided to back off around 2.5 miles and settled into my own pace b/c I was getting a side cramp - not a good thing that early in the race (or ever really). 

At 3.5 miles the trail broke onto more pavement for about a quarter mile and I could see that I really hadn't lost much ground.  This was encouraging and as we got back onto the trails I noticed I was gaining on her.  Of course this was exciting!  It took me until about mile 8 to fully close the gap and I ran right behind her for a mile or so.  Then the trail broke into a wider grassy section and she motioned for me to go ahead of her.  I really didn't want to b/c I was tired and content to just run at her pace.  I wanted to stick behind her for a while then race the last 1-2 miles.  However, she wasn't having any of that, so I made the pass with about 4 miles to go.  I kept an honest pace for the next mile and we passed 1 guy and caught another who tagged onto us.  My legs were hurting but I could tell she was breathing harder than I was so I was pretty sure I could pull out the victory. 

We got to an aid station before starting the last trail section and I took a swig of water.  I had planned on eating a gel every 30 minutes but my stomach wasn't up for it.  I am not used to working at such a high intensity and I felt like I was going to vom from miles 11-13.  Anyhow, after the aid station, the woman behind me slowed and the guy and I put a bit of a gap on her.  I let the guy take a turn leading, though his draft smelled terrible, and finally when I noticed that the other woman was creeping back up, I re-passed him. 

By mile 12 I was very fatigued!  I must have hit a root or something b/c I took a pretty hard fall.  The guy behind me was like "Whoa!  Are you ok???"  I got up as quickly as I could b/c I didn't want to concede any time to 2nd place.  Thankfully I only had some superficial scrapes on my knee & elbow. 

Now, before the race started, the race director informed us that the half marathon was a little long, more like 13.5 miles rather than 13.1.  I got to mile 13 in 1 hr 28 minutes and was so thankful to know that at absolute max I probably only had 4 more minutes of running!  However 4 minutes went by and the trail kept going.  I was like, "OK, 2 more minutes max."  Two minutes later, no end in sight...  Finally, a full 11 minutes later I reached the finish line!!!!  Craziness!  I felt completely beat and the volunteers at the finish said "You don't look very good."  Gee thanks.  Actually, the volunteers were very helpful - they cleaned up all my cuts and filled my hands with pretzels, bananas, water, & soda, which was all much appreciated!

All in all, I was happy with this race considering my state of fitness and level of training leading into it.  I had fun, got to run a race I've always wanted to do, and even came away with the win and a respectable time.  It definitely motivates me to train more and I'm already trying to decide what race I'm going to do next.  It's gonna be another 1/2 marathon for sure, probably November time frame.  I kind of like the idea of running a race on Thanksgiving morning so I can spend the rest of the day feeling completely justified in pigging out!

A Race On The Horizon!

I'm kind of excited b/c I signed up for a race today!  I suppose it was somewhat impulsive, but when I realized that there's a 1/2 marathon on Saturday that I've always wanted to do (Triple Lakes Trail 1/2 Marathon) and that I don't have to work this Saturday I couldn't help myself.  Plus, I haven't raced in over 3 months and have missed the thrill of competition!  Not that I will be all that competitive...my training has continued to be sub-par as per my standards.  This past week I probably ran somewhere in the viscinity of 35 miles.  I'm not totally sure b/c my Garmin has been broken for a while now and I have just been using a regular old Timex watch for my runs.  Sometimes this is nice because I can't look down and see how slow I'm going ;)  I had planned to run 6/7 days, but ended up skipping one day, for 5/7. 

I'll probably see similar mileage this week, as I don't want to kill myself before Saturday.  I'd much rather go in rested and undertrained than unrested and overtrained!  However, I do want to start upping the mileage soon like I mentioned in my last blog. 

Lastly, one very cool thing about my "training" this past week was that I got to run with a seriously fast runner.  I met up with a friend for a run and she brought a friend.  Over the course of the run, I found out that this woman ran in the Olympic Marathon Trials a couple years ago!  How cool is that!!??  Definitely very inspiring and I'm pretty psyched to have met such a bad ass training partner.  Now all I have to do is get my ass in gear!

Out of Shape

It's been a few months since I stopped training and I feel so out of shape these days.  Still, most people would probably look at me and think I'm in great shape, and if I told my coworkers I wanted to drop a few pounds they'd probably laugh at me. 

I also used to eat really healthfully.  Like super healthfully.  But when I stopped working out I stopped caring about what I put into my body.  I still probably eat better than 90% of Americans and if I mentioned to my coworkers that I thought I needed to start eating better they would definitely scoff at me.

But, I can feel the difference.  Before I was like a finely tuned machine, everything oiled and running smoother than Roger Federer's shiny hand-crafted Swiss timepieces.  My cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems worked effortlessly and harmoniously in tandem, fueled by plants and water.  Training was hard, but easy at the same time if that makes any sense.  Now I just feel rusty.  I can't find a rhythm, my body feels tired, and I'm afraid I'm always one mis-step away from injury.  I feel like I'm physically 10 years older than I really am and I can't stand it!  I want to feel the silky feeling of fluidity again. 

At this point, I'm transitioning into running with a goal of getting up to 70-80 miles per week, a PR half marathon, and a sub 3 hour marathon in 2014.  I've decided to continue my blog and write about the process, as well as other musings that pop into my mind and the day to day minutiae of my life.  Plus, I realized that I really do enjoy writing and blogging.  Like health, fitness, and nutrition, it has become one of my hobbies. 

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I wrote the above post a few months ago and before publicly publishing my blog again wanted to succinctly add this.  I've been going through a really tough time personally over the past 6 months, which is why I've taken a hiatus from triathlon & social media.  I've had to take a hard look at myself and my decisions and how they affect others.  Sometimes its not fun to look in the mirror and see where we fall short of our ideals.  As someone wiser than myself put it, "introspection isn't for the faint of heart".  At the same time, I do believe that life's lessons are the impetus for positive change, as they provide opportunity to grown and to learn more about ourselves.  And one thing I know for sure is that even if it's not all sunshine and rainbows, there is no facet of my life in which I ever want to stop learning.