Back to Hill Workouts

My first hill workout in over 2 months--very exciting! My weekday morning runs usually include several hills, but the special hill workout challenges me a bit more. Its only downside is that I have to do it on a treadmill.

The idea is to run in 10 minute sets such that the incline is never 0. After a 5 minute warm up run, I run for 2 minutes at the incline level of 2, then 2 minutes at level 4, and so on, such that I run the last 2 minutes of the set at the incline level of 10. Today I ran 4 sets, but hopefully in a couple of weeks I can work it up to 6 sets. Going back to level 2 after running on the incline level 10 feels simply amazing. I definitely recommend it!

Enter to Win Tickets to the Boston Ballet Nutcracker

It is still not too late to enter the opportunity drawing for 2 tickets to the Boston Ballet performance of the Nutcracker at the Opera House on Saturday, December 15. The drawing will continue through December 1. Please see the original post for more details.

Other Athletes' Advice

Over Thanksgiving I have received some excellent advice on proper nutrition and training from fellow athletes I have met here in Texas.

Miss Lillian Beans is a long distance veteran who is now retired. Despite her respectful age, she still takes brisk walks around the neighborhood twice a day. Miss Beans says that to stay in shape one absolutely must take long midday naps. She attributes her success to always allowing herself to indulge in regular meals of boiled chicken.



Mr. Deacon is a promising young sprinter. He is particularly sensitive to rainy weather, and he finds that mud has a detrimental effect on his feet. When he cannot run outside due to inclement weather, Mr. D keeps himself busy by doing high jumps indoors. He attributes his slim yet muscular figure to regular consumption of rawhide treats. Mr. D also likes to exercise his brain by memorizing the location of all edible objects in the house.


Miss Singe is a gymnast sharing the house with Miss Beans and Mr. D. Unfortunately Miss Singe is a bit secretive and not willing to disclose her training routines. I did notice that Miss Singe likes to provide a melodic meow'ing background to everything she does. Perhaps that is her secret to success.

Thanksgiving Run in Sunny Texas

We are spending Thanksgiving in Texas this year. Great, I thought, it would be a nice break from the cold windy Boston weather. Yet with our arrival on Wednesday night, the sunny 80's changed to gloomy 40's. But I am in Texas, and it is supposed to be warm! Ignoring reality, I donned my little shorts, skipped the warm up, and went out for a 4.5 mile run. Then the wind hit! I felt the blood vessels in my held starting to constrict. Without any knowledge of the surrounding area, I kept running back and forth along the small grid of the few neighborhood streets. It took more then 20 minutes for me to break a sweat. I would have dressed warmer in the same weather in Boston, but clearly I could not bring myself to do it when surrounded by banana trees and cacti.

Run Helen Run Merchandise

Run Helen Run merchandise is now available for purchase at my Run Helen Run Online Store, and certainly all proceeds will be donated to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. I mainly created the store because I just discovered the CafePress website and thought it would be so much fun to create my own products. Non-Helen specific items are also available at the Have More Cake Online Store.

When announcing my stores, I really do not want to mislead you. I have created the stores purely for the entertainment factor. Most of the money you would have to spend to buy any one item would go to CafePress, and just a fraction will go to me, and hence to DFMC.

In other news, today the actual Boston Marathon Invitational Entry form arrived in the mail. I could hardly believe my own eyes and my good fortune. Several minutes have passed as I stood in the hallway completely mesmirized still in my coat and wearing my backpack. Suddenly the cell phone rang and brought me out of my stupor--my friend, also a DFMC teammate, called to share her reaction to receiving the form.

Am I Running Again?

Some people have been asking me if I am running already. The answer is yes. I did not run at all for 5 weeks after completing the Adirondack Marathon in September, and now I am slowly building up my mileage again. I will start following my "official" training schedule sometime in early December though.

It's great to be running again. I have been running outside as much as possible to catch the last warm sunny days before the temperatures drop for good. Then running outdoors might become all about wearing the right layers, and not so much about enjoying the scenery.

You can actually see how much I have been running by looking at "My Latest Workouts" section in the sidebar on the left. This section shows my three latest runs. Every run is a link to my running log where you can see all my completed runs. Hint: those of you who are considering to participate in the "Bet on Helen's Training Miles and Race Time" fundraiser might find this information rather useful.

Dana-Farber in the News

Check out this Boston Globe article published on Monday about lung cancer research. Dr. Matthew Meyerson, one of the leaders of this project, is a scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is also a former Claudia Adams Barr Program Investigator whose early research efforts in this area were funded by Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge.

Win Tickets to the Nutcracker

Enter to win 2 orchestra seat tickets to the Boston Ballet Nutcracker performance at the Opera House for Saturday, December 15th, 7:30pm.

Instructions:

1. Make a donation. Suggested donation is $20 per entry. Yes, you can have multiple entries.
2. Please use the Contact Helen form to let me know that you would like to enter this opportunity drawing.

Hurry, the drawing will close on December 1st.