Gretch Runs

This might be a weird title for a post of a running and training blog, but I was listening to the song by Florence + the Machine , and one line in the song stuck out to me: Run fast for your mother run fast for your father Run for your children for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind you Can't carry it with you if you want to survive This line really resonated for me. I feel like I'm no longer running just for my own satisfaction, but for all of my friends and family. They're all just as invested in my progress and training as much as I am, and truly motivate me every day to keep working hard. No longer am I just running fast for myself, but for everyone in my life as well. Running is also an extremely emotionally and physically intensive activity. To me, it's much more psychologically taxing than physically, and in order to do well I always have to leave all doubt or uncertainty behind in order to "survive" this process, and ...

" There are no shortcuts to any place worth going ." - Beverly Sills Happy (very belated) new year! I had an extremely hectic and crazy end of 2011/start of 2012. I took trips across the country and across the state, played in my very last football game, and had an amazing Christmas and New Year. In top of that, I was able to keep running and working out...maybe not as much as I'd like, but a substantial amount. Now that the marathon is right around the corner ( only 112 days away!! ) it's really time to kick my training up. Luckily, Penn State hasn't had a typically frigid winter until very recently, so my training has been great so far this year! I've been a bit slack on tracking my runs and have just enjoyed being outside and running for fun, but it's time to get a plan and track miles! My friend, idol and amazingly talented runner John sent me a great tool he uses to create customized training plans. It's from Runners World and can be found here . ...

What a week it's been! Last week was finals week at school, and although I didn't have any finals I was very busy with final projects and group presentations. Luckily, the weather was very cooperative and I had some great runs. Unfortunately, my watch wasn't cooperating much, but here is a look at what workouts I did! Monday: 3 mile run on the treadmill with 30 minutes of strength training. Tuesday: 4 mile run around campus . I hit 200 miles on my watch, which means it took me 8 days less than the first 100! I can't wait to keep increasing my miles and see them add up! Wednesday: 50 minute power sculpt Thursday: 4 mile run around campus. It was sprinkling when I began, which turned into a downpour by the time I finished. I forgot how much I loves running in the rain! Friday: trip home! Christmas vacation starts! Saturday: off day Sunday: 6 mile run at North Park I'm so excited to start my marathon training plan, which I found with help of one of my running idols:...

At lot has happened since my last post. I went home for thanksgiving break and went running at home a lot, which was great to get back on track. While there, I ran a five mile race, the Turkey Trot . I've run the race in the past, but always the 5k, not the five miler. It was a great day and wonderful weather, and I got to run most of it with my friends. I've also been getting back on track with running at school. I'm almost ready to start my marathon training schedule and I'm SO EXCITED! Right now, I'm working on getting my endurance back and weight lifting again. I've done some great runs and can't wait to move forward with this! Here's a look at what I want to do this week: Monday: 3 mile run Tuesday: 3 mile run and half hour power sculpt Wednesday: 5 mile run Thursday: cross training Friday: 3 mile run Saturday: 1 hour run at home! I can't wait until I can start updating my blog regularly again. I have some great ideas to make it b...

Well, I have definitely been missing in action for quite a while. It has been such an emotional and insane few weeks being a Penn State student. As a result, my training has suffered, as well as my updating of this blog. I have been getting back into running and working out; however now realize running the Nittany Valley half marathon is basically out of the picture. Not only am I not nearly in the shape required, as a result of the past few weeks, but the football team is one win away from being in the first-ever Big Ten championship, and as a result, the BlueBand would also attend. There is good news, though! I am back to running and lifting and working out ! Tomorrow for thanksgiving, I will be running, for the second year in a row, the Turkey Trot! I will be doing the five mile race. It should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it. Other wise, I'm going to be looking into marathon plans and begin my official training for Pittsburgh! I'm so excited and...

Hello! Well, it's been a very hectic few weeks, and I have to admit that my training has suffered quite a bit due to life happening all around me. Last weekend, I took a trip home for my grandparent's 50th anniversary. Here's a picture of our beautiful family: We've had some unseasonably warm and beautiful weather in State College. Luckily for me, my boyfriend is a wonderful photographer, and took me to a gorgeous wooded area and got some pictures. Here's one of my favorites: I squeezed in some workouts and runs as much as I could. I did have a terrific run this weekend and did my longest training run yet: 9 miles. Even better news for me was the fact that my 9th and final mile was my fastest! (my Nike watch gives mile times for each mile run, then tells you your fastest and slowest miles). Here's a look at the runs I completed the past two weeks and used my watch: I'm now over 150 miles on my watch! I c...

What a week! I did my longest run of training so far (8 miles) and felt absolutely amazing during it. I also had a great interval workout on Wednesday that made me feel like I'm really getting into shape and it feels INCREDIBLE. Here is my week of workouts: 10/10/11: Stretching and 1 hour of strength 10/12/11: Treadmill intervals: 1 mile warmup at 9:00/mile pace, 7x400 at 7:00/mile pace, cool-down at 10:00/mile pace in between each, 1 mile cool-down at 10:00/mile pace. Total of 5.5 miles 10/13/11: Unfortunately my watch died half way through the run (I need to remember to always keep it charged!) so the rest of my run is highlighted in green. Total of 30 minutes, so I'm guessing a little over 3 miles. 1 hour of strength 10/14/11: Rest 10/15/11: PSU 23 - Purdue 18 10/16/11: Rest (Study Day..ew) This is going to be an easier week of training and I definitely need it! It's been a lot of hard work and my body is so sore. I'm loving adding mileage every week, so I ca...