It’s been over a year since I last raced and I decided it was time. Jamie and I and a few other LDFs signed up for the all women MORE/Fitness Magazine Half Marathon in Central Park on April 25th. This girl-power infused race around Central Park is a great energy boost. And although this is not the ideal course (as Liz Robbins noted in her “a bold pace questionnaire”), it is a gratifying loop around a fabulous park. Running with all women always proves to deliver a different experience than the co-ed versions. All are so polite, positive and actually throw their cups in the provided trash receptacles instead of at your feet (nothing like a little Gatorade bath during a race). Weaving through the abundance of walkers can be a challenge for runners, but the cheers and support from fellow participants can counter the annoyance. I don’t think this is PR territory, but a fun girls-day-out in New York and an open door back to race mode.
So with race mode as the goal, it’s time to do some research and planning. I hardly ever buy a book anymore. We have a well-endowed town library that is always on the cutting edge of newly released titles. Every couple of weeks I scan my favorite sources ( Book Beast, NPR Books, EW Book Reviews, NY Times, a list of highly regarded recommendations from Jamie) and fill my online library queue with a fine selection of books. They are, however, not as interested in running as I am so I am sometimes forced to resort to Amazon. I’ve had my eye on three books that I thought would fuel my training and they had all of them at a more than agreeable price. I received them yesterday and spent my night reading.
Running Anatomy by Joe Puleo and Dr. Patrick Milroy was a recommendation from LDF and running guru Dora. She is a PT and I can see how she would love the clear textbook style of this book. The detailed illustrations showing targeted muscles in motion shed light on how our bodies work when running. Insight into how specific strength training exercises can effect running will be very helpful.
Racing Weight–How to get Lean For Peak 
Performance by Matt Fitzgerald is one I read about on a blog. This is a 5-step plan for endurance athletes to improve performance by reaching optimal weight. Not a new topic, but one that plagues me when racing. So far there is nothing ground breaking here. Rules like: eat early and often, stick to whole grains, and no refined sugar can be found but the sections on timing of meals and sport specific diet concerns make it interesting. Of course I had to skip to the chapter that chronicles some of the exact training meals of such endurance athletes as Ryan Hall…no sign of donuts there!
And finally, I decided as a 47 year-old injury prone woman with menopause on the horizon, I need to run less. But I don’t want to stop racing! I thought Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster was a program I would like to try for my next marathon. Three key running workouts per week plus cross training may be the new balance I need to get me to the starting line of the Chicago Marathon, strong and injury free.
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