Author Archives: amyreinink

About amyreinink

I'm an award-winning writer and middle-of-the-pack runner who moved to the Washington area as a freelance journalist in October 2008. I'm also a marathon runner who recently signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct. 25, 2009. This blog, which I first started to chronicle my training for the National Half Marathon on March 21, 2009, is the story of my training for the MCM, and for many shorter races before it. I have run one full marathon and three half-marathons previously, and I'm looking to improve my time of 4:34 from the Nashville Country Music Marathon in April 2007. To avoid burnout and injuries, I'll be using the FIRST marathon-training method — running three hard days a week and cross-training hard two days a week. In this blog, I'll provide suggestions for running routes, training strategies, staying motivated, cross-training without boredom, injury prevention, playlists, sports nutrition and more. I live in a revamped Canada Dry bottling plant in Silver Spring, Md., that serves as a jumping-off point for running in Rock Creek Park, camping in Shenandoah National Park and skiing at Whitetail Resort, where my husband, Steve, and I are members of the Mountain Safety Team.

by amyreinink | January 13, 2009 · 6:11 pm

Partners in crime, part deux

According to the National Weather Service, tonight will be 20 degrees and “blustery.” I feel silly bitching about this since I spent four years bitching about running in the sticky, swampy heat in Florida (in the summer, it’s like trying to breathe through a hot, wet washcloth), but this is NOT my preferred running weather. I have a few resources to help me cope, and I’ll share them here.

First, check out an awesome compilation of Runner’s World stories and tips for cold weather running here. The stories have all been incredibly helpful. The best tip I’ve culled so far: Draw a hot bath before you leave for a short run. It provides double motivation: You’ll look forward to the hot, steamy bath waiting for you at home, and you’ll wanna run quickly to avoid that hot, steamy bath turning lukewarm.

Another tip: Mizuno Breath Thermo gloves, made from some fancy material that actually heats up when you sweat. If you’re a sweaty little dude like me, the effect is truly magical. Our friends at Pacers, our local running store, recommended them a month or so ago, and I’ve been borderline obsessed with them ever since.

Which brings me to my third secret weapon in fighting the cold: Pacers’ “fun runs” on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I get an e-mail with a brand-new running route in the Silver Spring area. We then meet half a dozen (or more in warmer weather) or so runners at the Pacers in downtown Silver Spring, and head out for a great big group run.

In the past, I’ve talked myself out of running with partners because I’m afraid I’ll either slow down my training buddy or vice versa. This is partially because I’m totally spoiled from running with my best friend, Jen, in high school. We were almost exactly the same pace, which was awesome. More importantly, we had run together for so long, we could communicate solely by grunting and spitting (we try to only do this when we run — it can really make things awkward at the dinner table). My only real running partner since then has been my husband. He’s faster than me, which makes even casual runs kind of like tempo runs for me. The key is, I can make him slow down without guilt or shame on account of the fact of us being married.

Pacers has been great in breaking me of my fear of running with new people. We break up into pace groups ranging from the insane 6-7-ish minute miles all the way to 10-11 minute miles. Steve and I usually fall somewhere in between. We’ve met some great people doing it, and it takes SO much of the guesswork out of running. Where should I run? When? With whom? These questions are all answered for me. And since it’s in the evening, I have something to look forward to all day long.

What’s motivating you to get out and train in the cold? Share your tips by posting a comment below.

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by amyreinink | January 12, 2009 · 5:15 pm

A partner in crime

In half-marathon-training and in life, it helps to have a partner who shares your goals. It’s even more helpful if that partner is more experienced and more ambitious than you are.

For me, that’s my friend Whitney, who’s training for the National Marathon (note that the “Half” is missing — she’s going for the full 26.2). She is both experienced (this is her fifth marathon) and down-to-earth, a rare and awesome combination I’ll be counting on frequently throughout my training.

Best of all, you can rely on her expertise and support, too, ’cause she’s gonna be blogging, too! I’ll be hosting her blog on my Web site. Check back often for progress updates from both of us.

Swim workout suggestion

Just a quick post today sharing the swim workout I did this morning. Full disclosure: The way I train makes no sense (more on this later), but it works for me, and occasionally, I stumble opon what seems like a good workout. I did what was a long workout for me to make up for a total lack of activity yesterday. You can adjust the total workout length by messing around with how many repeats you do in the main set.

1,650-yard warmup

1 x 100 butterfly
1 x 400 freestyle
repeat five times … or however many times works for you

350 cooldown

4,500 total, unless my math is worse than I ever imagined.

Misadventures on Rock Creek Trail

Here is a thing about me: I am lost more often than not.

The phrase “couldn’t find her way out of a paper bag” could have been invented for me. Except the paper bag is unnecessary: A good pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey spin, and I have completely lost my bearings.

This became important yesterday, on what I never intended to be a long run.

I was trying out a route around the Mormon Temple in Kensington suggested by Montgomery County Road Runners Club Coach Mike Broderick. Check out an extended version of the run here. The portion of the route I did starts at Meadowbrook Stables in Rock Creek Regional Park, follows Rock Creek Trail for about two miles, then spits runners out at the intersection of Beach Drive and Stoneybrook Drive, where Stoneybrook Drive provides a killer hill workout before taking runners back to the stables on Rock Creek Trail.

This runner decided to go the other way on Rock Creek Trail instead.

Let me be clear here: This was in no way a confusing route. There are only two ways to go on the trail after the hill loop, and while the trail is not clearly marked, it IS pretty obvious that you go back the way you came. I should have known: I had to forge a washed-out section of the trail with a makeshift bridge of two long sticks, which I definitely did not have to do on the way out. But as previously discussed, I have good reason not to trust my directional instincts.

Plus, I kept recognizing things. I’d rejoice when I passed “my” meadow, “my” playground, “my” bridge. Problem is, Rock Creek Trail kind of looks alike in both directions. Until you get up to Rockville Pike, that is (those of you in the Washington area can confirm that this is really, really far from Meadowbrook Stables in Chevy Chase).

When I finally saw another human walking on the trail, I stopped her and her miniature Schnauzer.Panting and desperate, I asked her if I was heading the right way to get back to the Meadowbrook Stables. She surveyed the sweaty-mud spattered runner in front of her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, wincing. “You’re really, really far away.”

I whimpered to myself as I turned around, knowing I had added at least three or four miles to my run at a time when I am trying hard not to overtrain. I tried yoga-like deep-breathing and mantras, which are helpful when you are calm already, but not so helpful in times of crisis.

And this was a crisis. So I turned to old-school gangster rap. Biggie, Public Enemy and Dr. Dre carried me back home. And my iPod, which had been running on reserve battery power since mile 2, miraculously kept on going.

I got back to Meadowbrook Stables an hour and 40 minutes after I left – at least 10 miles, by my estimate. This was my longest since before I injured my hip. It also happens to be the longest run on my beginner half-marathon training schedule, so I guess it’s nice to know I’m ahead of the training game.

And the route really is awesome. Rock Creek Trail winds through playgrounds, meadows and dense thickets of mature trees, providing great views of the creek along the way. Even the starting point is pretty — when I got back to the quaint, lovely stables, with the horses milling about and neighing, it almost made me forget how much of an, ahem, donkey I felt like.

Need motivation for a tough workout? Try the gangsta-rap playlist that fueled my extended run:
Til I Collapse – Eminem
Scenario – Tribe Called Quest
M-E-T-H-O-D Man – Wu Tang Clan
You Can Do it – Ice Cube
Sure Shot – Beastie Boys
The Watcher – Dr. Dre
What’s the Difference – Dr. Dre
Fight the Power – Public Enemy
Fugeela – The Fugees
Kick in the Door – The Notorious B.I.G.

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by amyreinink | January 7, 2009 · 1:08 pm

Putting it out there

Motivation has many sources, and everyone finds it in different places.

As far as I can tell, the thing that drives me is shame.

This is the story of my training for the National Half Marathon on March 21 in Washington, my new home city. I have run one full marathon and two half marathons previously. One half ended with a stupid hip injury that continues to trip me up more than a year later and a stupid time I would rather forget. The other half ended with jubilation, mostly thanks to — you guessed it. Shame.

It was the Five Points of Life Half Marathon in Gainesville, Fla., in 2007, and it was my first distance race. My friends Jessica and Adam promised to come cheer me on, and warned that they would appear on the race course when I least expected it. During every rough patch, I thought of how horrified I would be if I was limping, clutching my cramped-up sides and groaning when I finally came upon them. So I pushed on, running longer and harder than I ever had before.

Turns out, Jessica and Adam had run out of gas on the way to the race, so they never made it to the course. But my fear of embarrassment helped me I post a time I never thought I could as a solid middle-of-the-pack runner, Jessica and Adam took me to a fabulous post-race brunch, and I discovered a powerful motivator.

It is in that spirit of motivational shame that I share my plans to run this race. I figure the more people I tell, the more embarrassing it will be if I get lazy and drop out.

My plan is to follow a combination of a Hal Higdon half-marathon plan, and a neato three-day training plan I read about recently in Runner’s World. I’m going for the less-is-more approach to avoid more of the aforementioned stupid injuries, and will be supplementing my running schedule with swimming days. Keeping me motivated to swim is the 1-mile Bay Bridge Challenge, an open-water swim in the Chesapeake Bay in June I recently plunked down 60 bucks to sign up for (another great motivator: the threat of financial loss).

Check back here a few times a week for workouts, running routes, playlists, training advice, injury-prevention tools and other cool stuff I find helpful while training. I may even post some non-shame-related motivational material while I’m at it.

I’m putting it out there. Now, I guess I actually have to do it.

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