Elizabeth Clor's Blog, page 25

Crystal City 5K: Chipping Away at It

Last night I ran the Crystal City 5K Friday. I know, that sounds weird, but "Friday" is actually part of the race name. This race occurs every Friday evening in April, and I ran the second race in the series. Now that the marathon and the 10-miler are done with, I'm going to spend the next few months focusing on speed. I haven't done much speed work since the marathon, and I decided that the Crystal City race would give me a nice baseline from which to start.

Background
I've run this race sever...

Graduating Sports Psychology

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know about my work with a sports psychologist. A few weeks ago, Greg asked me if I had been to see him lately. And I realized that it had been over four months since my last appointment. I hadn't intentionally chosen to stop going, but things had been pretty hectic over the past few months with the holidays, marathon training, and my new job, and I hadn't felt the need to see him. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was pro...

Motivated by a Mug: Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Race Report

Dear Fast Runner,

As part of the 45th Running Celebration of Credit Union Cherry Blossom, we are awarding mugs that read "I would have won this race in 1973" to all males who finish faster than 1973 winner Sam Bair's time of 51:22 and to all females who finish faster than Kathrine Switzer's winning time of 71:19. You are receiving this message because the seeded time you entered on your entry form for the 2017 race is within two minutes of these times. This means if you have a good day, you co...

Feeling Fresh

It's now been three weeks since the Myrtle Beach Marathon, and my legs are finally feeling fresh after some rest and reduced mileage weeks.

Saturday, March 25thThis recovery period has come at just the right time because work has gotten extremely crazy lately. I've been meeting with our CEO multiple times a week, and preparing for those meetings has resulted in long hours and additional stress. I'm not complaining-- I truly enjoy my job and the challenge that it brings. But suffice it to say,...

Recovery Reflections

Now that I've had some time to truly process the race, I have a few additional thoughts I'd like to share.

First of all, this week has been a shock to my system. I took Sunday-Wednesday off completely and I don't think my body knew what to do with all the energy it would have spent on running. Without fail, I woke up between 2:00-3:00am each of these mornings, and was awake for at least an hour. In fact, on Monday morning, I woke up at 2:30 and never went back to sleep.

Physically, I haven't be...

Faster than I could have dreamed of

About four years ago, when I was working with my sports psychologist, he asked me what I thought my fastest possible marathon time ever would be. I told him that I believed I was capable of a 3:30, which seemed fast at the time, and the notion of running even faster than that didn't seem realistic. For years, I had plateaued at around 3:50 and even though I believed I was physically capable of
Myrtle Beach Marathon 2017faster, I knew I had some mental roadblocks to overcome.

Fast forward to th...

Taper Tips: Taking my own advice

It's taper time and my body couldn't be happier! After my most intense marathon training cycle ever, I'm definitely ready for a little down time before I race 26.2 miles in Myrtle Beach. Now it's time to focus on mental preparation: my pacing strategy, my plan to get through the difficult parts, and my
confidence.

I'm taking some pages out of my own book and using this time to focus on "the process" of the race instead of the outcome. Although I'm highly motivated to run a fast time, I know th...

A Few Curve Balls

This final week of intense training has been rather complicated. But I guess if there was ever a time for things to go awry, it would be once most of the training is over, but not close enough to the marathon to affect the race. So, now!

Monday: 8 miles easy @ 8:48 average
Running during a "high wind watch"If you read my previous post, you'll know that I was struggling with an odd pain in my right foot after my last long run. Also on Monday morning, we were experiencing a "high wind watch"...

Marathon Running: The Pressure to Succeed

In my book, Boston Bound, I address the idea of "expectations" when it comes to racing: what I expect from myself, what others expect from me, and how that impacts my performance. I've been thinking about this topic lately with the Myrtle Beach marathon just a few weeks away.

Saturday, February 11 on the W&OD TrailI used to approach marathons with an enormous amount of pressure on my shoulders. I would have put in all the hard work of training, and then expect a certain outcome. What's mor...

Racing a 10K During Marathon Training

This morning I ran the "For the Love of It" 10K.

I'm in the height of my training cycle for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, which means I've logged 70+ mile weeks for the past several weeks. The past seven days were no exception. From last Saturday through yesterday, I logged 71.3 miles.

Because the Disney World Half Marathon was cancelled, I wanted to run another tune-up race prior to the marathon on March 4th. But because it's February in the Washington DC metro area, there were no half marathons...