Coach Jen B

Nothing ever goes as planned.  Right?  This past spring I was feeling great, at the peak of my marathon training, when I received the notification that my application for the Great Cranberry Island Ultra had been accepted.  I had pretty big plans for this Ultra.  It's a BQ'er.  I thought that after Sugarloaf, I'd have time to recuperate then come back stronger to BQ on a super course.  Funny how my heel had other plans in store for me after I jumped off the paddle board.  I had finally wrapped my mind around being able to complete Saturday's 50k with a walk/run, spend a great day with friends and family, feast on a well earned lobster dinner, and camp out on the island that night.  I even wrote the blog post about it, yesterday. Then, shortly after writing that post, I left to pick my daughter up at daycare.  As we were leaving, I bent over to tie her shoes, and POP!  Then instant pain that brought me to the floor (with tears), and ins...

I'm not really sure if I should even do this race on Saturday.  GCI  I have a ton of self doubt going on.  Have I trained enough?  Do I have what it takes to actually complete this thing?  50K?  Are you kidding me?  I've been injured for the past 3 weeks.  I must be insane to think I can do it.   There is an option of an early start - if my pace is going to be slower than 13:30 min/mile.  Hmm... I just don't know.  I just don't know what my body is going to be capable of.  I've never done anything over 26.2 miles and now I'm going to take on 31.1?   My training up to this point Running was going really well until the end of June.  Then all hell broke loose and I was in pain.  I experienced some pain on some runs, changed up my shoes.  Then had a really speedy run in some fun shoes I was testing out and not I'm officially injured.  See that 48 miles?  Not so sure that's Ultra ...

Hello July 1st!  Summer is in full swing now, and I am really enjoying getting up at 6:30 or 7 and knowing that I've already slept in for hours.  Awesome!   I am also loving running in the morning, not in the dark, during times that I would normally have to be at school.  This change is so refreshing and liberating.   Sweaty Mess 6 miler this morning - holy humid! And I am loving spending all of this time with my kids.   What I haven't really liked is that my ITB hasn't been very happy with me.  And now the arch of my foot has been sore.   I am seeing my chiropractor weekly now.   And I'm less than a month away from my first 50k.  Keeping this in mind, here's my June mileage: Miles run:   120 (Ward had 119!  Woohoo!  I beat him.) - lower mileage, but I'm not going to push it! Miles biked:   118 (I am really loving my bikes - indoor and road) - probably my highest mileage biking ever!  Ma...

Last Friday I made the trip to my monthly chiropractor appointment.  Usually when Dr. Jen asks me how I'm doing, my response is "great!"  But this time, I said "not good, I hurt.  I went on to explain where I hurt."  She just looked me and shook her head. She went about doing her business with my adjustment and then got to my legs.  She said "are you rolling?"  I admitted I hadn't.  Ooops.  I knew it.  I know better.  I just got lazy.  She did her magic, told me to roll and take it easy, and to come back in a week. I went home and immediately began rolling.  I rolled for about 45 minutes.  It hurt so much, but I felt fabulous afterwards. I rolled everything I could: - back - glutes - hamstrings - inner thighs - quads - calves - inner calves The entire time I kept singing to myself "rolling with my foamie" - mostly because I'm a dork, but because it made me smile thinking about Terry, my yoga instructor, duri...

I have a whole lot of running new to share with you.  First and foremost, yesterday was a big race day for me (and a lot of people I know).  Yesterday, at 7 am, the Beach to Beacon 10k registration opened, and then closed 4:58 later.  Not 4 hours and 58 minutes, 4 minutes and 58 seconds later.  Craziness.  How many people exactly registered for this race in record time?  4,000 people!  And I'm in!  Ward is too.  And many more of my friends got in too.  It was so much fun to watch facebook light up yesterday with many of my friends proclaiming their acceptance into this race! Now, why on earth is this race so exciting?  There are a multitude of reasons. For me, #1: the brains and organizer behind this race is Joan Benoit Samuelson.  My idol. #2: the race takes place in a beautiful coastal town in Southern Maine - Cape Elizabeth and ends at my mom's most favorite lighthouse.  It's always emotional for me to enter the g...