Filed under: People/Person | Tags: Bittman, cooking, diet, kastor, marathon, nyc, running, video
On a long run, I looooove thinking about what big meal I’m going to have when I finish. (At around mile 22 of this year’s NY Marathon, I began to set my sights on a burger and a nice cold beer).
Recently, the NY Times blog Well (one of my faves), featured an article and video with Mark Bittman and Deena Kastor. Mark Bittman, of whom I’m a HUGE fan, is a NYTimes foodie. Apparently, he’s also a runner who is training for this year’s marathon. Deena Kastor is a super US marathoner. The two paired up for a run, and for some cooking.
Check out the article and the video here.
Happy Fourth of July!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: injury-prevention, marathon, run/walk, running, training
A few years ago I began running again after a hiatus that lasted the four years of college. In order to gradually get back into running shape, I used the “Couch to 5k” plan so I wouldn’t do too much too soon and injure myself. It worked really well. It forced me to gradually increase my running distance, even though sometimes I felt I could do more. It employed a plan of mixing running and walking that could ease you into the workout without too much risk of injury.
Since then, about 4 years ago, I have run 2 marathons, about 10 half-marathons, and countless other races. However, I didn’t really go back to the same run-walk methods that were so successful before.
That said, a friend of mine swears by the run-walk method. She has used it to train for and run 3 marathons. She has never experienced a running-related injury. The run-walk method was popularized by Jeff Galloway, a running coach. The idea is that forcing your body to take these walk breaks during a run can help your body to recover better.
This friend of mine and I bumped into each other at an 18 mile training run in Central Park last fall before the NY Marathon. I have always trained for and run my races solo, but we started chatting and I ran along with her. Taking her walk breaks with her. Every five minutes, her watch would beep, we would walk for one minute. Her watch would beep again to signal our running. As someone who was pretty skeptical, it really made the 18 miles pretty painless. And not that I’m always concerned with time, but our finishing time (mysteriously) wasn’t too different from what mine would have been otherwise.
As I’m about to begin (again) training for the NY Marathon, I’m seriously considering the run-walk method…
For more information, check out this great article in the New York Times.
