With a Little Help From My Friends

"If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten." - Roger Bannister

With that being said, I've recently began my career under Coach Jason Kilderry with ETA Coach. The decision to become an ETA Coach Athlete was pretty simple. Many of my friends have seen tremendous improvements through Jason's science based training and coaching. For more on Jason's training philosophy check out www.ETAcoach.com and find them on Facebook.

After a decent showing at the Feel the Love 5k, I've been running 4 or 5 miles a day, 5 or 6 days a week. Through some recommendations from Coach Jason, I've eased back on the pace. I'm trying to keep my runs at around 7:30/mile and it's been very difficult because I've been used to running much faster. I'm excited and anxious to step on the track for some workouts this week, but I'm sure that will wear off soon. The weather has also been fantastic for the last couple days. I'm getting used to the 50-60 degree weather, even with the rain. I've been hoping into the trails by my house to keep things interesting. It's been pretty muddy, but a lot of fun.

Next up on my racing schedule is the Adrenaline 5k in Haddonfield, NJ on March 19th. It should be a fast one.

Getting Ready to Feel the Love

Snow, Thaw, Freeze, repeat. That's the best way I can describe the weather the last couple weeks. I haven't been good at updating my online training log recently, but I have been getting the runs in. I'm averaging between 4-6 miles a day with 3 days off every 2 weeks. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. Most of my runs have been only on the roads because most of the trails around me are inaccessible or too dangerous to run fast through. On Wednesday during a 55 minute run I started to feel the effects of running on the hard surfaces. I got a minor pain in my shins (the early stages of shin splints) which I'm pretty sure is from running the Ice Steeple for the last couple days. Hopefully, it's just some aches, but I'll be watching it. I've been running through neighborhoods to avoid the narrow shoulders, traffic, and ice. Because of this, I've had to practically steeple frozen mounds of snow and ice at least every quarter mile. I took a rest day yesterday, and did an easy 25 minutes today and felt pretty good.

Tomorrow afternoon is my next race, the Feel the Love 5k in Bryn Mawr, PA. I'll be racing with Laura O'Mara (Team Lomstead) and hopefully we win some type of award. Even if we don't, we'd win for most fantastic racing uniform (if that was a category). From my training, all I know is I'll be able to finish. LoM will be a biggest factor in our placing because she'll place better among the women than I will against the men. I'll be happy if I break 18. The weather is looking like the best we'd be able to get for February, 38 degrees and sunny. I have no idea what the course is like, but from the times in previous years, it looks pretty fast.

Wish me luck. I'll need it.