Boston Marathon Training: Learning to Be Flexible

All in all, another solid training weekend. Shaun and I handled six miles on the Charles today…with minimal ice (thank you New Balance for clearing the ice and snow this year!) and a serious wind kicking up on the Memorial Drive side. We finished strong, running about a 9:30 mile. This was Shaun’s first 6 miles EVER, and he killed it! (He’s passed out right now as I write, but well deserved!). My ankle held up pretty well too. (I’m icing now as I write). So I am psyched to run 8 next week on the roads of Western Mass!

As we were running, I was thinking about what I should blog about, which brought me to My 2 Rules of Flexibility that all runners should abide by:

1)Always remain flexible with your training schedule. This doesn’t mean skip a long run or train without paying attention to mileage, but make sure to listen to your body and your mind. If you’re sick, injured, or just plain exhausted..it ‘s OK to move your long run a day or so to give your body some recovery. Or, if you get impromptu all you can eat “Hungry for Hockey” Bruins tickets for example, doing your long run on Sunday instead of Saturday is fine too (Thanks Laura and Kev! We had lots of carbs before our long run today!!


2)Keep your body loose and Flexible! If you haven’t tried a foam roller and you’re a runner, you’re crazy. This thing massages deep muscle tissue like no other. I finally got my own from City Sports this weekend. I love it more than anything else I own. I love it so much, Shaun is worried.

Also, a big congrats to Nicole Pinney Farrell who just ran her first 4 miles without stopping. These Pinneys are natural born runners!!