Trail Run in Fairmont Park - 12 miles

I woke up this morning around 6:30 am not wanting to get out from under my comforter. This was truly the first day of the fall weather season; my car’s temperature read 58 degrees. As fall weather hits, so does the Philadelphia running season. Tomorrow is the ever-so popular Philadelphia Distance Run. The PDR was my first big race in my life. I believe my finishing time for the 13.1 mile run was 1:57. I do not think this time would have placed me on the podium, but it was a thrill to be amongst all of these runners on a perfect Sunday morning.

I reached Manayunk minutes before the 8:00 am run. Steve, Paul, Marissa, and Todd (coach) went on a different route today due to all of them doing the PDR tomorrow. I was joined by Lindsey, Franny, Brady, and Lisa (coach) for our long run through Fairmont Park. The run was a comfortable pace allowing for all of us to talk. I learned a lot from Lisa during the run. Lisa was giving me advice on IM Louisville; this will be my first in August. Lisa not only completed IM Louisville two years ago, but placed third in her age group and qualified for Kona World Championships.

When I heard this, I instantly became excited to pick Lisa’s brain on every aspect of training, nutrition, hydrating in a race, and etc. I was waiting to hear about the secret carbohydrate to protein ratio or the natural supplement that will help in hydration during races. I was pleasantly surprised on the numerous tips from our discussion including: Red Bulls give you wings in a race, Swedish fish are her favorite on a run, and lastly Lisa drinks Coke every two miles in a race. Folks, it is really that simple.

6 miles out - 51:47
6 miles in – 47:49

Hours after the run, I headed to the pool for some laps. I warmed up with a ten minute session. The warm-up was followed by ten minutes of leg kicks using the kick board. Then I ran through one set of drills. Lastly, I cool downed with another ten mile interval. This was the first time the pool had the heater on months.