Maybe it’s because my very first “real world” job was with an email newsletter, but I have a soft spot in my heart for newsy deliverables that arrive in my inbox every week. Now that email newsletters that specifically focus on running exist, I wanted to highlight and share a few of my favorites that I now consider “must-reads.”
Continue reading “3 Running Newsletters To Subscribe To In 2017”
Over Labor Day Weekend, you may have seen me post about the Lake George Triathlon Festival on Instagram. Throughout the festival, Adirondack Race Management hosts a variety of various-distanced races (from the Olympic-distance bike and swim, to the all out half ironman event) in Lake George, New York. Last year, I competed in the event’s signature “Big George,” or 70.3-mile course, as my first half ironman-distanced race. It was also my first “big” race as a triathlete. Luckily, it was a good one — good enough to come back this year for round two, and still have my sights set on the Maryland Ironman on October 1st.
Continue reading “Lake George Triathlon Festival: Half Ironman Recap”
If you’ve ever witnessed the finish line at a triathlon —especially a long distance triathlon race right before the seventeen hour cutoff — you were probably exposed to a wide range of raw human emotions.
Once past the finish line, some athletes are in a state of euphoric jubilation, and others are crumbled in intense agony from putting their body through something that it was not necessarily meant to do. The long distance format of an Ironman consists of a 2.4- mile swim, 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run. This event is not for the faint of heart. (Don’t worry: there are many races below these epic numbers for the beginner triathlete!).
Spectating a race could cause you to catch the triathlon bug, envying the experiences of the athletes as you witness them finish the race in a heap of emotion. If you are moved to compete, jump in with two feet and start your journey! To help you on your path, we asked Meredith Kessler, eight-time Ironman champion who will be competing in her 55th full Ironman race at the Kona World Championships in October (and hoping to be the first American-born female athlete to win the title since 1985!), to recommend five things first timers should know about doing triathlons. Continue reading “5 Things You Should Know Before Your First Triathlon (From Pro Athlete Meredith Kessler)”
Sometimes, we all go a little too far — in life, in love, and for some of us, especially in training. As someone who takes pride in pushing herself, even I reached a point in May where even I had to acknowledge I’d taken measures to an extreme, in a not-so-great type of way.
After months and months of training for the Boston Marathon (my 2014 recap is here… still working on the 2015 recap!), I finished the 26.2-mile race in a personal best time for the course. (Yay!). Yet after just one weekend off, I was back to the grind: I completed a 10k with an elevation gain of 1,212 feet in Bear Mountain State Park, then set off to Cape Cod for the all day/all night Ragnar Relay, where I ran just under 35 miles in 24 hours.
And I wasn’t done yet! One week later I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon, a race I had to scramble to buy a bib on Craigslist…then finished in a disappointing time, in pain.
By the time I crossed the finish line along the Coney Island boardwalk, I was mentally and physically exhausted. A pain was creeping up my left knee, and both my hips ached.
The last thing I needed was an injury, but what did I expect? I’d just broken every rule in the recovery book. My runner’s high was running out, and I had officially given my friends and co-workers who labeled me “crazy” a legitimate reason to do so.
So I set out to rest for a few weeks. And I did. Try, I mean. Really. But as most runners and athletes know, not training for something is often worse than training for a specific race, even if you’re tired. So when I heard that a group of friends were signing up for triathlons, I started toying with the idea of registering for one myself.
I’d swam as a kid at my local swim club (thanks mom!) and I’d once biked 26 miles with my high school gym class … so how hard could a tri really be, right? After some encouragement from a few buddies, I signed up for the Lake George Half Ironman, a course boasting a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run in upstate New York.
Well, I was wrong about the “easy” part — riding a road bike is completely different than the mountain bike I’d used to commute in college, swimming might be the most exhaustive sport, ever, and running after both of these events is a feeling I cannot even describe into words.
However, what I did find is that by training with three sports instead of the usual, “run every damn day” workout routine I was previously doing, was that my body didn’t feel overly strained in one specific area anymore. Plus, mixing up my workouts was fun. I wasn’t dreading my next sweat session — as long as you don’t count the 5am wakeup call — or feeling exhausted before I even put my sneakers on.
I completed my first Triathlon Sprint in Connecticut this July as a “warmup” for the big race (Lake George). The Greenwich Cup’s half mile swim, 15-mile bike and 3-mile run was a refreshing change up from my beloved marathon. I even came in second for women in my age group, which, as SNL’s version Hannah Montana would say, is, “Pretty cool.”
Now, all that’s left to do is conquer the half ironman distance, without forgetting the real reason I compete in endurance events to begin with: Because it’s fun, because I get to train with amazing people, and because I like proving to myself, and to others once in awhile, that I’m strong and capable of conquering challenges — both big and small.
Stay tuned for a race recap, and leave any advice/words of wisdom in the comments below.
Run From Your Problems 