October 7, 2014
Join old friends and make new ones at the upcoming Paralympic Sports Day co-hosted by Wheeler Regional Family YMCA and Gaylord Sports Association!
The event is being held on Sunday, October 19th at the Wheeler YMCA located at 149 Farmington Avenue in Plainville from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Call or email to register: April Rodrigues at 860-793-9631 or at april.rodrigues@ghymca.org
October 5, 2014
The final week before a marathon can be exciting! Months of training have prepared you for your marathon (or half marathon). You’ve done the long runs, completed the workouts and are almost through the taper.
If this is your first marathon, you’re probably feelingexcited, nervous, and a little apprehensive. If you’ve done these before, you’re probably feeling excited, nervous, and a little apprehensive. The marathon does that to you – beginners and seasoned pros alike.
In my final week of preparation for my fourth marathon, I surveyed my running buddies to gain valuable insights from dozens of collective marathons. Here are some tips for your final race week preparations.
One of the best things you can do now is chill. Assuming you’ve worked hard and followed a good plan, this week is about rest and short easy runs to stay loose.
Obviously runners attempting a marathon need more sleep. I have found (anecdotally) two – three nights before might be the most important. Stockpile sleep! If you can’t sleep the night before because of nerves, don’t worry.
You’re probably used to eating whatever you want. Lay off that second dinner or late night snack this week. No need to gorge yourself. Also, avoid high fiber foods or anything fried. Only predictable foods!
Sip on water during the day, and monitor your pee to stay hydrated. Seriously. Urine too yellow? Drink more. Crystal clear? Back off. You’re looking for a lemonade shade.
Now isn’t the time to tackle that home project. Go about your normal routine, but get off your feet whenever possible. Run as per your taper, stay still and relax.
If you live locally, you’ve hopefully been able to run at least part of the race course. If not, try to study the map provided by the race organization. Better yet, run it, bike it or drive portions of it. This is helpful so you’ll know where the hills are, where the aide stations are, and porta potties.
Do you plan to hold one pace or run the second half faster? Negative splits? Planning to get paced by a Pacer? Regardless, rehearse it in your mind, monitor how you’re feeling on race day and adjust accordingly.
Plan the following now.
*Pre and post race transportation. It’s hectic at the start. How will you get to and from?
*Sweats check and post race bag. Consider what you’ll want immediately before and after your race?
*Help friends and family pick spots to cheer. Let them know where you’ll likely need a friendly face and help them navigate the course.
Race week isn’t the time to try new shoes, new hydration strategy or new racing shirt you purchased at the expo. If it hasn’t been tested through the rigors of your training (from gear to food), don’t change.
A successful training cycle might be more difficult than the actual race. It goes quick (as grueling as it is). Different moments from your training will become part of your total marathon memory.
Whatever your goals, whatever the outcome, you’ve worked hard to get here. Do your best, don’t quit and take pride knowing you’ve done something difficult.
October 3, 2014
This blog entry was written by Natalie Kronick in her blog entitled “Try 2 Serve.” Natalie is an Achilles Guide and accomplished triathlete!
Labor-day weekend I had the amazing honor to guide my first athlete through her longest
run of the season at the New Haven Road Race 20k (More like a ½ Marathon Run). This fabulous lady has had a seriously long battle dealing with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and has undergone 58 (yes, 5-8) major surgeries over the last 20 years to get to where she is today. She was completely paralyzed from the head to toe on her right side and had to re-learn how to walk, talk, her coordination and how to write. She is every bit of an all-encompassing warrior-ess who not only is lucky to be alive today, but is out to show the world that if you keep trying and keep training, you can overcome the worst!
Monday morning was by far, the most humid / hot day of my running career. By 7 am, it was already 72 degrees (F) and humidity was around 90%. Now, I know, all of you folks who live in the South are probably laughing at me. But seriously, September in Connecticut is so bizarre. I mean, we have our share of hot and humid over July and August, but this is getting ridiculous. Anyways, pressing onwards. I got my Achilles ‘Guide’ shirt out and was so excited to wear it! It only got used once on a training run a couple of months prior. Got my racing glasses and my cap (didn’t want the sun in my face all day) and a THROW AWAY WATER BOTTLE. (Yes, I’m still venting about my water belt… haha!)
Jen (my awesome athlete) was ready to go at 7am and we were off. Got into New Haven around 8am to get sufficient parking and to take our time getting around, bathroom breaks (there would be a few) and do a little dynamic stretching. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I literally had to pee like 3 times before this run. I wasn’t even RACING! My bladder just knows when there is a race going on or something. Probably the fact that the heat was up to almost 80 deg by race start and I kept drinking water. Oh well. Jen would laugh because I wasn’t alone in this situation. 😉
Now, Jen had run the Hartford Half Marathon in 2013, so I had every confidence in her this fine morning that she was going to do great. She would tell you otherwise, and I had to lull her back into the startup field (J/K) but we had a good plan to start out REALLY EASY and build up. Of course, you get going and you realize, “wait, I have to slow down. Not gonna maintain this pace!”. She went right into an 11-min pace (after telling me she was a 13-min) Way to fake me out, Jen! 😉 You know you’re faster…. I think she was trying to get rid of me from the beginning. (We had a lot of running jokes to dull out the pain on this course. It was SO HOT!!!)
Well, as it was, we eventually settled nicely into her long-distance pace and she was a hustler. Really kept it going. We hit a few hills in the first 3 miles and she just pushed through. For someone who tells me her coordination is not so great, she ran in miraculous straight lines. Not ONCE did she have to lean on me! That’s a praise-report right there.
Flashback to April when I started training with her at our Wed Night group: she had a hard time running without holding onto shoulders for a bit and could barely stand on 1 leg for balance for more than 3 sec. This is just epic progress!!
Now, regardless of going fast or slow on any long run, 12 miles is still 12 miles. It hurts
around mile 9.5 and those last 3-ish miles are always a big mental barrier. It’s not far, but your brain wants to shut down and make you stop. You have to use your body brain to tell your mental brain to just shut up and go! The body is VERY capable of taking on a lot of pain, but it’s not comfortable. So, naturally you want to stop! Thus, I had to pull out all stops to keep Jen in the ‘comfort’ zone (as if ‘comfortable’ was even an appropriate word at this point). We agreed on a plan of run / walk for 1 min on, 1 min off until the end. The last bit of course was primarily flat, so we just kept pushing on. Later, she would tell me that I actually helped her get out of her head and focus on the time. We dreamt of frosty cold beverages and ice baths. We briefly spoke of the fact that we were kicking butt before most people were getting out of bed for the day. And then, the last 1/2 mile came upon on and the finish line was there and we hustled! Then, just like that, we were DONE!
If there is one thing I learned on this endeavor, it’s that Jen is no longer a ‘survivor’; she is a ‘living warrior’! She is taking on the task of running the Hartford Half this October and I have every hope in the world that she will continue to amaze and inspire!
No matter where you are in life, you can reach your goals if you set your heart and mind in the right place. It takes time, but eventually, you get there. Slow and steady, folks…. slow and steady.
October 2, 2014
The Achilles Connecticut family of athletes guides, and friends came together for a pre-race celebration to prepare for the upcoming NU Hartford Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K.
Go Achilles!
September 28, 2014
Did you know that the NU Hartford Marathon is offering real-time athlete updates on Facebook, Twitter and SMS.
Athletes or spectators can search and select an athlete and receive real-time updates with course time and pace from the splits and the finish line.
The service is FREE and it’s easy to set up! Just go to this link to get started.
Athlete Tracking at NU Hartford Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K
