It’s a Party

Hard work is… hard. One of my favorite things about running and racing is you can’t hide. You don’t work hard? You can’t hide from it. And many times, even hard work will just show you where you need to .. well…work harder.

I love that.

I used to be a perfectionist. The younger me was so concerned about times and crushing workouts that I lost the love for it. You know… the reason we all get started in the first place. Race day would stress me out so much. I’d panic over making sure the whole week went perfectly. I’d freak out if something bad happened on race morning and of course, it always did. Life doesn’t care if you’re lining up or not. If you’re gonna lock your keys in your car, it’s gonna be on race day. And then somewhere along the way over the last few years, something changed. Now the race…IS A PARTY. It’s a celebration of all the things you got right and especially the things you got wrong. The workouts that made you better and the ones that made you mad. It’s all wrapped up into a giant ball of blessings because it made you READY. Ready for race day. And you know what? After that, my races got so much better. The pressure was off. Instead of stress and anxiety I chose joy and excitement. What an awesome opportunity to put myself to the test. And if the day doesn’t go my way, it’s just one more lesson in that big old book of life. A good story. And let me tell you, I just LOVE a good story.
The gun’s going off for everybody but you get to choose how you get there and your perspective to the finish. Choose wisely! Cheers! ❤️

A Letter to Little Me

When you clean and declutter your life, you’re going to find old, and sometimes painful pieces of your past. This is a love letter to the younger.. me. I wish she knew how strong she was, but the good news - I know now.

I ‘ve been going through lots of boxes and recently found my old running journals. This is pre-Strava or running apps. In these journals, you log your mileage and workouts and even put notes about how you felt… and for some of us.. WHAT YOU ATE.

“Dear God.” It’s the only appropriate answer for that tiny food log listed out beside my daily runs. And over to the side, there were phrases like “gotta get it together,” and “do better.” It was a tough thing to see. Especially after I decided to add up the daily calories I’d listed and discover I was barely surviving on roughly 1,000 calories a day… as an athlete. But at the time, in my mind, I was never working hard enough and I still wasn’t disciplined enough to “get it right.”

A little back story for those who don’t know. I was a fat kid. A really fat kid. And it didn’t matter how active I was as a child, and I was SO ACTIVE… I was fat. I ate. A lot. And as a grown woman with much understanding now, looking back, I was sad and lonely and just trying to feel better. My family and friends loved me but there was always an all-out assault on how to make little chubby Mary…thinner. It didn’t work. In fact, it always felt like shame, and made me eat even more. Until one day, it all stopped. Literally. I’d had enough and just decided to stop eating altogether. One sad extreme to another. And as a runner, it’s easy to hide in plain sight because the problem surges through our sport like an electric current and it’s nearly impossible to shut off the power. It became a cycle that lasted far too long.

So now, it’s a conversation I’m having daily. With my athletes.. and the old me.

Our bodies are machines and not only do they need the loving nourishment of food and fuel.. they… YOU .. deserve it.

The experience of clearing out the junk of the past usually goes one of two ways, but today I’m grateful. And sad. For the young woman I used to be but also for the I machine I made with hard work and brutal honesty. Sometimes you really have to decide if you’re willing to save yourself.. then take that scary step forward AND.. really hear me .. AND be willing to fail. I’m so grateful to be happy and healthy but the road was a long one and definitely not always fun. But we’re here. We made it. And it’s time to celebrate what’s still to come.

Cheers!

Quick Core Triplet

When you're short on time, you can still get a core-crushing workout with very little equipment or minutes to spare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogd2WkLvN9c

12 Minute Bodyweight Workout

Strength and stability are crucial to being a healthy athlete and runner.  It doesn't take much extra time to make it happen.

Strong Core = Strong Runner

A strong core can keep you quick and injury free.  Here's a quick but not so simple core routine to add to your running regime.

"Aternative tools" for Strength Work

You don't have to be a member at a gym to work some basic strength and stability moves into your routine.  In fact, you can do it with some simple things you probably have around the house

Dear Diary

Dear diary,

Today I ate 2 eggs for breakfast…….nothing until dinner..and I'm too annoyed with tracking this to finish up the day....

Hmmm.

I’ve seen countless nutrition and weight loss experts write about the importance of using a food journal to help clients lose weight.  The theory is it helps you keep track of everything you put into your mouth.  And I couldn’t agree more.  Most experts believe people mindlessly eat and underestimate how many calories they take in each day.  But – there’s another major benefit of food tracking and this one might come as a surprise.  For the most part, athletes attempt to eat healthy.  There’s an occasional splurge but folks tend to keep a moderately clean diet to accompany all their hard work. So what does that mean when it comes to tracking food?  It’s much easier to UNDER EAT than you might think.  Enter the diary.  You might think you’re eating SO MUCH FOOD, whether you really are or not.  The only way to know for sure is to plug it all in and let the calculator be the judge.  There’s a great mobile app called My Fitness Pal and its capabilities are pretty impressive.  The food database is enormous and you can also monitor macronutrients (carbs, proteins, and fats) as well as other nutritional details like your sodium or even your iron intake.  But here's the important piece of this "pie" when it comes to food and your performance - it's a tangible thing you can track and study and what athlete doesn't want that?  Did you crash on your track workout but you crushed it the week before?  Check the food log to note what's different and whether it's something you can actually see. 

I am not a nutritionist and it’s important for me to stress that.  I am, however, an athlete and an endurance coach, who’s been training and competing for more than 20 years.  I do know what works for me, what’s too much food and definitely what’s too little and it all starts with the raw data that’s so easy to use.  This is not about a diet and it’s definitely not a fad.  It just comes down to knowledge and the ability to arm yourself with one more set of tools.  Sound like a lot of work and something that’s just a little too overwhelming?  Stop it.  You’ve just spent hundreds of dollars on race entries, thousand dollar bike tires and a pair of brand new shoes.  But guess what?  All the gear in the world can’t feed you.  It won’t fuel your body to do all the things you want it to do.  So come on and take the 3 minutes per meal to point and click your breakfast, lunch and dinner and really bump up your own nutritional IQ.  

Return to Racing

Rock Creek Rabid Raccoon 25k - Chattanooga, TN - May 7, 2016

I love racing.  I love pushing beyond what’s comfortable and trying to find that sweet spot between the wheels falling off and knowing you had just a little left in the tank.  To me, when a race goes well, it’s an example of the mind-body balance and a person’s ability to really dial in and manage themselves in the moment.  Saturday was a good race. 

I haven’t truly raced in several months.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m training.  And training hard.  But I haven’t towed the line since late summer of last year and I was nervous to see if I had lost some sort of mythical “edge” that folks talk about.  I’m a coach and I love helping my runners get “race ready” but for me, it was time to put myself to the test again.  Health and honestly, just life, had kept me from getting on the line, so this was a chance to get back some of what I’d missed. 

Stress plays a big role in how I train and recover, and I’m not going to lie, the last few weeks leading up to this race were about as brutal as they come.  Saturday was race day, so for me the biggest goal of the week was to keep everything as low stress as possible and GET SLEEP! SLEEP IS KEY and I’m learning how much more of it I really need, now that I’m not a kid anymore.  

We’re blessed to live in a region where tough and super competitive races are happening literally all around us, so it was a great chance to race and not drive 6 hours to get there.  Friday was low key and I focused on making sure all my bottles were mixed up, gels packed and everything was ready to go.  Ate well and hit the hay.  Nothing fancy about that plan.  Just the basics.  I will tell you, I kept waiting for the nerves to kick in, but this time, I felt calm.  Honestly.  I just had this feeling of peace because I knew my number one goal was to have fun.  It was a feeling I’d missed for a while and wasn’t sure how long it would last. 

SATURDAY MORNING-PRE RACE : The alarm went off and I realized I had slept through the entire night.  THAT is a sign of peace and calmness that I rarely get the night before I race.  I got up and did an easy little warm up to get my CNS (central nervous system) firing, and then stretched out.  Then I ate a quick breakfast, showered, and got ready to go. Still no nerves.  The drive up to Raccoon Mountain is relatively close and the view gives little glimpses over the Chattanooga Valley.  If you’re lucky, there’s usually a thin layer of fog rising over the mountain in the morning and Saturday was definitely a lucky day.  We arrived about 30 minutes before start time, and that was perfect for me to get a little warm-up in and a quick stretch before heading to the line.  Still no nerves. 

GO TIME:  I looked around and noticed a few other women I’d seen before, including the very talented Sarah Woerner, 3rd place finisher of this year’s Georgia Death Race.  I knew I couldn’t hang with that badass, but little did I know I’d see her a later in the day.  There were a few quick announcements and boom – we were off.  The first ½ mile or so was on the road to help thin out the runners before jumping onto singletrack trail.  I was able to keep a decent pace on the road, holding around a 6:30’ish, HR 155-160.  That was exactly where I wanted to stay for the first few miles.  We took a quick left and disappeared into the woods and immediately a real race was on.  As I’d mentioned before, I hadn’t raced in a minute and my last race was 100 miles.  Very different than this fast paced and technical, down-the-mountain-and-right-back-up 25k.  I kept telling myself, “Mary, you probably need to slow it down a little bit,” but my heart rate was hanging steady so I just said, “well..let’s go.”  I’d counted the ladies and I knew I was sitting in 5th.  Honestly I was feeling very happy about that.  Still no nerves.  The temperature was perfect and it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  It took me about 2 miles to settle in and really start having fun.  After that, I zeroed in my on my fueling, which turned out to be spot on for the day.  With such a short distance, I’d normally never wear a hydration pack, but the entire first half of the race went straight down the mountain and I prefer to have my hands free for technical downhills.  My goal was to have everything I needed ON ME, with the help of my amazing “crew.”  The first aid station came around mile 4 and I cruised right through it, which made me feel pretty confident.  I typically break races into aid stations and things tend to feel better once the first AS is gone.

MILE 4-8- MAINTAINING: this is the part of the race where a lot of people around me started making silly mistakes.  A race that starts with descents, tends to give people false ferocity, while their quads are plotting against them, for revenge a little later down the road.  People flew by at a screaming fast pace.  I actually thought to myself, “should I pick it up” and then I realized that my strength would be coming very late.  I just maintained a steady pace and kept telling myself to keep my feet under my hips, stay patient and relaxed.  By this point, I’d already made my way to 4th place and assumed that I’d hold that for a little bit but honestly had no expectations for anything more or less.  Then we hit a spot around mile 6.5 or 7 which was the most technical downhill portion of the course.  It started as a rocky, ruddy ditch under TVA power towers and for a brief moment, you could see the gorgeous river city, before disappearing back down into the woods.  This section of the course is called Live Wire and it definitely kept you on your toes.  Downhills are my biggest weakness but after months of working them pretty hard, I was pleased with how Saturday turned out.  At this point the pack had thinned tremendously and I was between two guys who stuck with me for much of the first half of the race.  We were cruising right along and I was amazed how I felt.  Great energy and nothing hurt.  I hadn’t felt this great in a race in years.  Then I saw her.  Lady #3 was right THERE.  For a split second I felt this urge to quickly chase her, but the “grown up”  in me said to dial it back.  We were approaching the next aid station and I had planned to hand off my pack and switch out for a handheld bottle because I knew we were getting close to the climbs. Packs are amazing but if you have the option to NOT have them on the uphills, I find it helps to keep me more upright.  With a quick “snap- snap and pass” the pack was off and my bottle was in hand all with a blink of the eye.  (having the perfect person to crew you is a huge perk I have. I’m always very blessed) In fact, the person running behind me even said, “I’ve never seen a smoother hand off than that in my life.”  He was right.  We definitely nailed it.  Absolutely NO WASTED TIME.   Still no nerves.

MILE 8-11: This is where things really started to get fun.  I felt so good and my HR was at a steady place so I decided at mile 10, I would start to go.  BUT, before I could get there ….BAM.  I was down.  The earth just yanked me to the dirt and my knee was now covered in mud and blood.  My two buds stopped to see if I was ok, and I just waved them on.  It felt like 3 hours but I think it was about 10 seconds before I realized I was good to go.  Something happened when I fell and it was like a fury just blew up inside my head.  I’d fallen and was fine and now it was time to just finish this thing.  In my mind, that was it.  The REAL RACE WAS ON.   I caught back up to the group and as they rolled into the last aid station at mile 11, I just kept trucking, also noticing that my two dudes AND lady #3 were all stopping for a quick break.  A part of me thought about it so I could chase and not be chased but instead I chose to go, so that meant no holding back.

MILE 11-to the FINISH.

Now – a little bit of the nerves. 

It was a little odd running without my nameless buddies.  I’m a talker and one was pretty quiet, while the other kept me in conversation throughout the first half of the day.  But in a matter of minutes, I’d found a new pack of dudes and we began the brutal 3 mile climb back to the top.  I’m not going to lie – this is the part of the race that I’d been waiting for all day.  I was really nervous but really excited.  I love to climb.  I love the burn.  There’s something about a great deadleg and it’s even better if it seems to last for days.  I’m sure you think I’m kidding but I’m really not.  There’s just something about it for me that I cannot explain.  This is the part of the race where I made up the most ground.  The climbs kept going and going and we hit these machine cut switchbacks that left a lot of carnage all along the trail.  Remember all the folks I spoke about who flew by me on the downhills early on?  I saw several of them nursing their trashed quads.  Some even sitting in the dirt because everything had just locked up.  The race description said it was “not for the faint of heart” and this sight proved that statement was not wrong. Finally the climbs flattened out and I realized I had about a mile left to go.  I took off and was ready to rip – then BAM.  DOWN I went one more time.  (mind you, I’d taken 2 other falls early on – 1 was small.  One was a blood-bearer) Of course I’d fall this close to the finish line.  I was totally fine but it was just enough to annoy me and slow me down.  I frantically found my pace again for fear that lady 4 was coming back for more.  But as I got closer and closer, I realized that I was going to do this.  I was going to podium and I had a feeling that’s been long overdue.  Then I saw a few friendly and beloved faces waiting in the woods, before the course dumped back out onto the road.  I ran as hard as I could for about a half-mile and then straight to the grass for about a 200m sprint to the finish. 

I crossed the line in a bit of shock and then immediately met the 1st and 2nd ladies right off the bat.  The female winner was the badass I spoke of before.  She is a phenomenal athlete and super humble human and 2nd place was a young woman, 18 years old, who will seriously go on to crush this sport.  It was an awesome day and we were given the coolest and most ridiculous awards I’ve ever seen.  It was a block of wood, with a raccoon skull mounted to the front and the words “Rabid Raccoon – 3 place female” burned into the grain. 

WOW:  I’m calling this section “wow” because I still can’t believe it.  It might seem like no big deal, but to me this race was HUGE.  It’s just 15-16’ish miles, but a flying-fast field on a super technical course.  It was a chance to test myself and remember I’m still me.  I’m still the person who used to run and race her heart out and I’m healthier now than I’ve been in years.  Saturday was like a gift and I’ll cherish that feeling for a long as I can.   Find joy.  Focus on the moment.  To me, that’s the perfect race plan.

Beat by Beat

We are constantly looking to push.  As athletes, most of us don't need motivation.  In fact, we're usually signing up for the next event, on the ride home from the last.  It's a beautiful thing to be that passionate about something and it's what keeps us going...but sometimes your body needs a little break.  

I remember a time in my life where I'd drag myself to run or workout up to 3 times a day, without any rhyme or reason.  It was something I did and it slowly became an obsession.  I was sneaking in runs and hitting up the gym during lunch, only to go home and jump back on the treadmill if I could find the time.  I'd turn down invitations to hang out with friends and spend my nights slogging out miles all by myself.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for tough training when you're working towards a goal...but this...this was something different.  It's easy for us to convince ourselves that more is always better and if you can get a little MORE than that, then that's the best.  Push, push, push.  It's going to pay off, but what's likely to happen is one of two things: burnout or a broken body and many times, it's the a little of both.  

It took me years to turn around my way of thinking and eventually it dawned on me that recovery was still training.  In fact, it often takes more discipline than the training itself.  I started listening to my body and intuition and I could really feel a difference in the way I felt.  My heart rates started dropping as my times just kept getting faster.  I was able to train at a different level, just by dialing it back.  Beat by beat, I'd watch my pulse get strong and steady and I was able to maintain paces I hadn't held in years.  It was the physical breakthrough I needed to finally convince myself of what I'd done for so long.  

I write this to remind us all that balance is the key to success.  If you battle burnout, your brain AND  your body will bear the brunt , but you have to pay attention before it goes too far.  Take a minute to breathe and make a mental checklist of how you feel from your nose down to your toes.  Be kind to the body you built and give it time to repair, recover and be renewed.  We only get one of these beautiful little machines and you just can't take it for granted.  Listen to it and I promise it will take care of you too.