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NYC Marathon training started today....


I don't even know where to begin after my silence from the past 18 months. All I can say is that 2013 was a CRAZY and AMAZING year both personally and professionally and after the spring, long distance training really dropped off while I focused on work and personal stuff.

No I didn't have a baby...but I did get married :)

It was below freezing and if you look closely (above) you can see our hands are purple!

They were thawed out by this point :)

He got me unexpectedly!

By no means did I stop running or working out but with working 50-60 hours/week (not including commute), planning a destination wedding (no coordinator) and traveling nearly every weekend during the fall (football season!), I needed to focus on QUALITY. HIIT and strength training became my go-to, mixed with shorter (3-5 mile) runs, yoga, zumba (and here in 2014...Pure Barre). I also started working with a nutritionist (NO, not for the wedding...) and have made some fairly significant changes to my diet (but I'll leave it at that for now).

So, anyway, after 3 years of striking out in the NYC marathon lotto, I finally got in this year via guaranteed entry and will be running the marathon on November 2nd. That's 16 weeks from yesterday in case anyone is counting ;)

I've seen some pretty decent improvements in my fitness and pace over the past year and entertained getting a coach but after doing a bit of research (and realizing that the coach I truly wanted was WAYYYYY out of my budget), I've signed up for the NYRR Virtual Marathon Trainer. Not only was the price right ($49.99 for the whole program!) but I love that when setting up the program it took into account how I have recently been training, past running experience, and how I want to approach this training cycle. There is a place online to log each workout (paces, RPE, details, etc) and the trainer will actually adjust based on how I'm actually performing and translate this into predicted race day performance along the way. (For example, after logging tonight's miserable 5 miler in 97 degree heat/10000% humidity, the trainer has already adjusted my paces for tomorrow's run!)

Don't worry, you won't be getting a daily diary, but I will be posting a weekly log of training for others to use as reference or if you just happen to be curious.

I'll also try to update on some of my other shenanigans, including other fitness classes or experiences I'm getting into and reviews of some travels as they come up. (7 months later and we still haven't taken a honeymoon but one is in the works. We'll see how this may or may not impact my training!)

If there is anything else anyone is curious about, just leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer. I've missed this outlet and am happy to be back in action!

One more non-sweaty picture since those have consistently dominated the blog over the years. Yes, I wear real clothes (not just running shorts and wedding dresses...or running capris and high heels...)

Yes, I am a die hard CFB fan! Thanks to my cousin for the sign and for accompanying me on our CA adventure.