Sincerely By Nicole -

August 26, 2019 / running

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think, not wonder, not imagine, not obsess. Just breathe and have faith that it will all work out for the best.”

Okay, so it is no secret that I have been uncharacteristically absent from social media. Not only have I not posted anything, I just simply haven’t had much interest in logging in.

This has been a tough year for me mentally and physically. It’s been a year of far more downs than ups.

Let’s start at the beginning.

My left foot began bothering me in late February of this year. My mileage was higher than it’s ever been and I was training harder than I ever had so I expected little aches and pains here and there. I was also in the bulk of marathon training so I really didn’t think much about the subtle pain in my foot at first.

I was slated to return to Boston in April. I had my eye on a huge PR and I was in arguably the best shape of my life. While I knew nothing short of a miracle would have to happen for me to finish in 6th place again, I was determined to show myself that Boston 2018 was not as much of a fluke as it felt like it was.

As my Boston training progressed I was noticing my left foot was bothering me when I was walking, standing, and even laying down. Although the pain was not unbearable it was a near constant dull ache. I tried to keep my mind off of it but I knew I was past the point of “normal” pain or soreness.

Since the Olympic Trials are in February 2020, my worst fear was to run on an injury and further injure myself. I didn’t want to think about anything even potentially keeping me out of running the Olympic Trials in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia next year.

I went in for an MRI in early March. The MRI revealed two stress reactions on either side of my Fibular sesamoid bone.

I wasn’t necessarily surprised or upset with the results. I felt a sigh of relief knowing I didn’t have a full blown stress fracture. I also felt a little comfort in knowing I had a bone injury* rather than a soft tissue injury.

*stress related bone injuries are typically (not always) easier to heal that soft tissue injuries. Most of the time they require time off instead of the trial and error with what helps a soft tissue injury heal. As an added bonus after the bone heals, it recalcifies and becomes stronger. The recalcifiying of the bone makes the probability of a the same injury happening again incredibly slim.

Pete and I made the tough decision to scratch from Boston. Although I was mere weeks away from the starting line and my injury was “just” a stress reaction, we were unsure if I was one step or 100000 steps away from cracking the bone completely through.

I was okay with everything that was happening so far. I was disappointed I had to pull out of Boston, but if an injury was going to happen this timing was “perfect”. I still had plenty of time to run a fall marathon and get back into shape for the Trials.

I took recovering from these two stress reactions like it was the most important thing I had ever done in my life. I knew the sesamoid bone only gets a small amount of blood flow, so it was crucial that I limited movement (even in a boot). I basically spent 7 weeks sitting on my couch back at home. It was boring, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world because I had a ton to look forward to.

After 7 weeks I began non-impact cross training. I was working my butt off in the pool and on the stationary bike at zero resistance. It wasn’t running, but it was a hell of a lot better than sitting around.

I spent about 3 weeks in the pool doing strict pool workouts and finally began to run (no workouts yet) in mid June. I cannot express how excited I was to run again. I think this injury gave me a new perspective on life. It was a sort of reality check that I subconsciously needed.

I allowed myself more forgiveness in this period of my life than I had in a long time. I accepted that I was starting from scratch and I was okay with my runs and workouts being slower than I wanted. I was honestly just happy to be healthy and doing what I love.

I got into a nice groove and I started to slowly but surely get back into shape. On top of that, I was lucky enough to be running the New York City marathon in November.

Ever since I started marathon running, New York has been THE ultimate marathon goal for me. I love NYC, I love that the course rolls, and almost every runner I have talked to about the race says it is one of the best running experiences they have ever had. I consider the moment it was confirmed that I would be racing New York as one of the highlights of my running career.

This is also around the same time that USATF announced the new rules to make the team in 2020. I could go into detail, but I will just give a little brief overview.

Traditionally the top 3 finishers at the Olympic Trials were the three people that would be going to the Olympics. The revised rules stated that the top finishers must have met a certain time OR finished top 10 in a marathon major. The time for women was 2:29.30.

The revised rules for women were not too crazy. However, my marathon PR is minutes slower than the standard and getting a top 10 at New York was going to be tough. I knew I could train as hard as I could and make one of those (hopefully both!) happen. Given the timing of the announcement and how out of shape I was, I felt a lot of added pressure. (So did a lot of runners)

I kept chugging away at my training. I was feeling a little bit stronger every day and I was proud of how my workouts were progressing.

Around mid July my foot pain came back. This time the pain was much worse than it was in February. It was a constant ache that was often times so bad that it would give me a migraine.

I had a sinking feeling in my heart knowing I was running out of time before the 2020 Trials. I had no idea what this foot pain was, but I knew it wasn’t just a stress reaction this time around. I went in for my second MRI in five months at the end of July.

This round of MRI results revealed a “mess of a sesamoid bone”. At the time I was unclear about what that meant. The only answer I received was that I had a full fracture in my sesamoid bone.

My options for this diagnosis was 7-10 weeks of the same recovery I did back in April (no impact/limited walking in a boot). After I took my 7-10 weeks I would start training for the trials and hope that the injury doesn’t reoccur. My second option was to get surgery to have my sesamoid bone removed.

In that moment neither option sounded good to me. I felt like there was so much at stake with both options.

On one hand it sounded like I would just wait it out and try again. If the injury came back I would be out of time for the Trials.

On the other hand I get a full bone removed from my foot. If I chose surgery it would be possible the nerves around that area of my foot wouldn’t work properly, it would be possible that the tendon in that spot never heals, it would be possible my entire left foot would simply never the same. (among about a million other potential complications that go along with surgery)

After talking to dozens of other runners, Tyler, doctors, coaches, basically anyone that would talk to me, I ultimately (and somewhat timidly) decided surgery was the best option. I figured that if I had this injury twice in a row, the likelihood of it occurring a third time was high.

To emphasize how much of a whirlwind this decision was, here is the timeline:

8/6 I get my MRI results, 8/13 I am at home in Atlanta, 8/15 I am on a plane to California, and on 8/16 I am in a hospital in Palo Alto California.

I was laying on the hospital bed in hospital gown and my hair in a hair net still doubting my decision to have the surgery done. I wanted to get up and leave more than anything in the world. Getting surgery just seemed like such an extreme decision and I honestly wasn’t sure it was worth it.

During my pre-surgery briefing with Dr. Amol Saxena I told him I hadn’t gotten a straight answer about the specific diagnosis on my foot. Dr. Saxena said that my fibular sesamoid bone was completely dead and completely shattered. Since it was dead/shattered there was absolutely no chance that the bone would have ever healed on its own.

I felt more peace in that moment than I had in months. I knew right then I made the right decision. Sometimes that’s all you need.

So here I am, 10 days into my 21 days of pure rest/recovery. The protocol is that I cannot put any weight whatsoever on my left foot for three weeks. If I want to move I need to use crutches or a wheelchair. I can’t do much by myself in case of an accidental fall. If I fell or put any weight on my left foot I risk destroying the healing tendon and having to have a possible second surgery.

After the three weeks of not moving I am allowed to limit movement and pressure on my foot for another 3 weeks. I will still be in a boot and using crutches, but I will be allowed to put a small amount of weight on that foot. I’m excited for this step, but I was warned that it will take me about a day or two to “remember” how to walk.

After those three weeks (6 weeks total) I will be able to start doing a small amount of cross training and walk without a boot.

Overall, the recovery isn’t much longer than it would have been to just wait and see if the bone healed on it’s own.

Unfortunately with this timeline, I will not be able to race New York this year. Naturally, New York was the first thing I thought about when my foot started hurting. I wanted to race more than anything in the world. I was really hoping I was having some sort of random lingering pain from my previous stress reaction and not a full blown injury.

While I am devastated about New York, I am looking at my build up for the trails as a fresh start. My foot bothered me for most of this year. Now after I had a dead bone removed from my body I have peace of mind knowing that I will never feel that pain or have that injury in that spot again.

I’m excited for the next chapter, and I am thrilled I will be able to compete at the 2020 Trials. (Because what’s better than the Olympic Trials in your favorite distance in your hometown????)

March 4, 2019 / running

The truth about transition periods & how to handle them

Back in 2017 I was training for the California International Marathon (CIM). CIM would be the first marathon I would actually train for, and I was more than excited to get started in the marathon world.

* I ran the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials in LA. I had never run a marathon before and I qualified for the Trials off of a half marathon five weeks before race day. Needless to say, not a lot of marathon specific work happened in my build up to LA 2016.

For CIM in 2017 I was targeting the B standard for the Olympic trails (which is 2:42). My workouts for CIM were a bit harder than I was used to, but I also had no problem handling them. My mileage was also bumped a bit to about 70-80 miles a week.

On race day I surprised myself with a time of 2:36, the Olympic A standard. I was ecstatic, but also knew that I could run much faster.

I also knew that in April of 2018 I would be running the Boston Marathon.

My training leading up to Boston 2018 remained the same as it had for CIM. My training for CIM worked for me, and with a marathon in December and one again in April, I was essentially doing back-to-back marathons. I decided not to tweak any of my training for Boston in fear of overworking myself and not making it to the start line.

I was targeting a faster time than 2:36 in Boston. Even though I really didn’t change much in my training, my body was used to the stress of increased training. I knew that even without changing anything, I was becoming a much stronger runner.

Well, everyone knows how Boston went this year. The time I was targeting was impossible to achieve. That is okay, life happens sometimes.

Fast forward to November of 2018. My coach, Pete, and I had been targeting the Osaka Marathon (January 2019). As I was about to head into my first few days of marathon training, I was told that Osaka was now a Gold Label Race and that my time of 2:36 was not fast enough to get in.

This was a hard pill for me to swallow. I remember telling myself that I had wanted to run a fast time at Boston in 2018 in order to avoid a situation like this. I was upset that I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to race in a fast and competitive race like Osaka, and of course that I wasn’t going to be able to take a trip to Japan.

Pete and I went back and forth about what marathon to target this year. Do we still go overseas? Or should we stay in the states? We ultimately decided to stay put and choose between LA, Boston, and Grandmas.

I was nervous about LA because of the how hot it was at the 2016 trials, and I knew that Grandmas was a little late in the year for me. I was already excited to be heading into marathon training and I didn’t want to wait all the way until June to run a marathon.

Like most people I’ve talked to about running Boston this year, I had some serious reservations. What if the weather is that bad again? I also felt a lot of personal pressure because of my placement last year. Ultimately, I decided that I although the Boston atmosphere was incredible last year, I wanted the “true” Boston experience.

So this leads me to the main point of my post.

Pete and I sat down for a meeting and I told him that all of the women that are faster than me were running at least 100 mile weeks with much faster workouts than mine. I told him that I wanted to bump my mileage significantly and train like I was going to hack minutes off of my PR.

To my surprise, Pete agreed with me. He also warned me that increased training like that would be a shock to my system. I agreed but also knew I was tough enough to handle it.

I mentioned this in January, but Pete and I tested out some 100 mile weeks at the beginning of the year. Basically I would run a 100 mile week, and then take a week (or two) of running less. My first 100 week was the most exciting thing ever to me. I was sore, I was tired, I was hungry, but I had never felt so accomplished in my training.

* These test weeks also didn’t include workouts. It was simple aerobic running to get my legs used to the continuous pounding.

When it came time for me to actually start marathon training, I was ready to go. I was ready to hit 100 mile weeks in a row and tackle some harder workouts.

My first few weeks started out without any bumps. Sure, I was tired, but I was still on a high that I was actually doing this. I couldn’t believe that I was actually taking the first few steps to being the level of runner I want to be.

Around the end of February I started to feel all of the training. All of my miles were adding up. My easy runs slipped down into full minutes slower than they usually were. My breathing was always labored while I was running, and my heart rate was abnormally elevated throughout the day.

I was running twice most days, and I was waking up thinking “holy crap I just got done running – I can’t believe it’s time to run again”. Bags under my eyes were (still are!) a staple, and my walking can only be described as dragging my legs with me.

A few Fridays ago I had a workout that I actually had to stop. I told Ryan (my other coach!) that I could not physically do another set of that workout. I left that workout feeling more confused than anything. I was used to talking myself through workouts, and often used that as a strategy to become mentally tougher. I really couldn’t believe I had to admit I couldn’t do something.

I was upset, but I didn’t have time to be upset. Mental fatigue would only delay my physical recovery, and I had a 22 mile treadmill workout in two days.

The two days leading up to the 22 mile workout felt as terrible as the workout I had stopped. I didn’t understand what was going on, but I just told myself I felt great, to not overthink it, and more than anything – to just suck it up.

The 22 mile workout went well and it was arguably one of the best workouts I’ve ever done. I had no idea how it happened. My legs were dead, and I was more than tired. I knew I was in shape, I was just wondering when I was going to feel normal again.

This brings me to Road To Gold this past Saturday. Road to Gold was a test event for the Atlanta Track Club on the last loop (8 miles) of the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials course (!!!). The event itself was an absolute success. It was a great way to experience the Marathon Trails course in a race setting (and without all of the Atlanta traffic!)

I arrived in my hometown (loose term, I’m from the suburbs) on Thursday. My legs felt pretty dead, but I also knew I had all day Friday to bring them back to life.

I woke up at 4:30 on race morning for the 7 AM race. I felt the same way I had felt through this entire build up – just not quite ready to get moving. BUT today was different. I was so excited to race. I walked to the mirror and saw dark bags under my eyes and hair that desperately needed a good brush. I splashed some cold water on my face and reminded myself that if I wanted to be as fast as I want to be, I’m going to have to get used to this transition period.

I did all of my weird pre race traditions and headed to the starting line. I showed up feeling like I was ready to go. I had my eye on at least a top 10 finish, I just knew it was going to take everything I had to get there.

The gun went off, and it was game time. The pack cruised through the mile at a nice and smooth pace of 5:40. In my head I was screaming “wow!! I’m really going to be able to do this!”. We went through the next mile a touch faster and I still felt pretty good. The third mile was around 5:30 pace, and I could feel my body telling me that this was a little fast for me right now. It was a strange feeling. My mind wanted to keep going with the pack, but my body was saying “HAHA not going to happen!”

I fell back from the pack, and the next five miles consisted of me getting passed and feeling like absolute crap. I crossed the line and burst into tears when I saw my dad. I wasn’t upset about my time or place, I was upset about how fast my average pace of 5:43 felt. Negative thoughts about how I will never be the runner I want to be overwhelmed me regardless of how hard I tried to block those thoughts out.

I saw Pete, and he assured me for the 2393849032th time (bless him) that I was going to be okay. That everything I was feeling was normal, especially since I’ve been training to run minutes faster than I’ve ever run.

My mom had the chance to talk to one of my running role models. She told my mom that she remembered her first hard marathon training cycle. She explained that she was so sore that it was hard to even breathe in that first build up. Above all, she told my mom to tell me to keep going. She told my mom to tell me that how I feel during this build up should not discourage me or make me want to quit the sport. She also told her that without her mom she wouldn’t be where she is today (I’ve heard that from my mom no less than 14 times today)

The bottom line is that increasing your training is tough REGARDLESS of how much you are increasing your training by. Your body has to go through a transition period and get used to the stress that you are putting on it.

Here are a few things that have helped me handle increased training:

Getting at LEAST 8 hours of sleep (and tracking it to hold myself accountable)
Taking long baths
Taking a few minutes to myself a day without phones/computers
Cooking healthy recovery meals
Getting a massage whenever possible

Transition periods are never easy. Whether it’s moving somewhere new, starting a new job, or just increasing your training, transition is hard. Just remember to be easy on yourself and that transition and change usually brings good things!

February 13, 2019 / Q&As

Q&A With Run Wild And Be Author Sydney Zester

Okay guys!! I am so excited to have Sydney Zester to kick off a new year of Q&As!! This was such a fun Q&A to do, and Sydney has the patience of an actual saint.

I’ll provide a bit of backstory:

I was a little overwhelmed with starting my blog right around the holidays (total rookie mistake). On top of that I was a last minute entry to the Houston Half and had to up my training game AND THEN I got the stomach flu. To say the least my communication was s p o t t y .

So let’s get back to the Q&A

I absolutely love how this Q&A came about. Back in late November I posted an Instagram Question Sticker about who people would like to hear Q&A’s from. I got a ton of amazing responses, but my favorite response was from Sydney. She responded that she was releasing a book out in 2019 and would love to do one.

My response was yes duh I absolutely wanted to hear more!! I started following her as well as her Run Wild And Be Instagram and I was absolutely obsessed with her message. Not going to lie, her effortlessly cool vibe made me a little nervous to ask questions. Like what if she thinks I’m lame?? Of course she didn’t, she was incredibly responsive to work with, and provided some of the most detailed answers to a Q&A I’ve ever seen!

Sydney has an amazing story to tell. She has run from San Francisco to Baltimore (yes, you read that correctly), she has a Master’s in Public Health, she just got married, and on top of that she can build a website. I mean could keep going, but you’ll just have to read more to find out 🙂

Her message is all about freedom and finding your inner peace. I hope you enjoy this Q&A as much I did!

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I am originally from Maryland and currently live in Chapel Hill, NC with my husband Brian and our dog, Rue. I went to University of Maryland, College Park for my undergrad and University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where I got my Master of Public Health degree. I graduated from grad school last May (2018), got married in October, and am now working as a writer and Communications Coordinator in the outdoor industry.

Tell us a little about the run from San Fransisco to Baltimore.

I was on a team called 4K for Cancer and we raised funds, awareness, and support for our nation’s young adult cancer community. Often times this population (young adults battling a cancer diagnosis) face particular challenges because in general we as a society tend to view young adults as vibrant, invincible, healthy individuals.

Our run started at the Golden Gate Bridge and took us all over the country. We seriously ran through the Mojave Desert, over the Rocky Mountains in Idaho/Wyoming/Colorado, through Kansas flatlands, and into the east coast humidity. It was the hardest, most rewarding and life changing thing I’ve ever done.

I think one of the funniest moments for me personally was a day we were running from Barstow, CA to Las Vegas. The entire stretch of road is just wild desert. For our safety, we always were paired with a teammate to cover the daily miles. That way no one was ever totally alone in the middle of nowhere. That day was the first day I was running with my teammate, Jovia. We got started running and probably within the first mile I realized I really had to use the restroom–only we were in the desert and there was none.

It was a wildly humbling moment where I had to walk far off the road, squat down in the desert, covered by absolutely nothing and do my business. Jovia was incredible and just kept chatting away the entire time! We both laugh about it now because it certainly breaks the ice in a relationship!

4K, more than anything, cracked my world view open and showed me I had so much more to reach for than just my relationship with Brian. Before I left, that was an enormous part of how I defined myself. That’s really not healthy and it’s a recipe to just be unhappy. I learned that if I wanted to be truly fulfilled and full I needed to find that within myself; my relationship should never (and really could never) be what fulfills me entirely.

I absolutely love your website runwildandbe.com. What made you decide to go from blogging to writing a book?

Thank you!! That’s seriously the best compliment you could give me because I LOVE building websites. It’s for sure one of my dream jobs.

When I started the blog it was for two specific reasons. The first being I was in the middle of grad school and feeling a real creative void. I was actively missing having an outlet for creative writing and I’ve always loved reading running-specific blogs. I started just quietly asking myself why I couldn’t be someone who writes about something I’m passionate about and make it my living. When I began to challenge the “I can’t” narrative I had adopted for so long, things just really started to snowball. I found I loved designing the site and loved writing posts!

More than my desire to write, I also wanted to create a space for the stories of female runners to be told. I felt there was a HUGE void in traditional coverage of endurance running. The narrative tended to focus on the white male “conquering” this huge race or wild mountain. They were gritty and intense. Those stories are awesome but they simply don’t resonate with me. I wanted to know the stories of the female athletes I had begun to excitedly follow on social media. Even just simple things like what an average week of training looks like. I did a quick search on Amazon looking for books written by female runners and there were only a few results! I wanted my blog to help fill that void.

I felt like if I wanted more content covering this and it wasn’t out there, I should create it! After a few months of blogging things began to shift for me. Instead of only talking to the gals who were doing awesome things and writing a few posts a week, I wanted to use my voice and create something concrete to contribute to our community as well. I began to put together pieces I had been working on and focusing on writing more poetry and a manuscript sort of just came together!

I am absolutely obsessed with the photography on your personal Instagram (@syd_zeb) as well as your Run Wild And Be Instagram (runwildandbepoetry). Do you have any formal photography training?

You are seriously SO SWEET! This may actually be the most amazing compliment because my photography is something I’ve been actively trying to improve!

The simple answer is, no, I don’t have any formal training. Basically I just love, love, love beautiful images and was consuming that medium of art all the time. I began to ask myself the same question as with my writing- why did I think I couldn’t capture beautiful, artistic moments?

I started to view photographs through a more analytical lens. Instead of simply thinking “oh wow that’s amazing,” I would try to understand why I loved it. I began noticing how people used light and what themes I was consistently drawn to, and then just got to practicing!

You just got married! Tell us a little about your wedding and how you met your husband.

Yes I did!! Brian and I got married on October 19th, 2018. It was such a surreal day. We actually met when we were 11 years old and started dating as sophomores in high school. So, like, we are the real deal high school sweethearts (ha!). Our relationship has changed over and over and over again in the past 9 years and sometimes we look at each other and are like how the heck did this happen haha! We certainly know that a story like ours is rare.

I’m insanely proud of our relationship and of Brian as an individual. We spent 4 years doing long distance which really forced us to look at ourselves and our relationship and assess who we wanted to be individually and who we wanted to be as a unit. We learned that being in love with someone is a conscious decision and takes work. Nothing is effortless forever (but when it is, dang it’s the best!). We challenge each other to grow and change and set huge goals and he’s just my best pal and my favorite person to hang out with 🙂

We half joke that the book is also sort of a love letter to him. A lot of the uncomfortable change and growth that happened for me over the past few years was because I was unhappy in our relationship/ doing long distance/ growing back together after being apart for so long. I used long distance running and spending time in the outdoors as a HUGE source of healing during this time. So, to be able to write about how the love I have for my husband has changed but throughout the entire time having long distance running is really special to me.

The wedding was so much fun and so focused on our love of our family. I am not a planner and actually really hated every second of wedding planning so I’m happy that’s done. But I feel so lucky to have had every person we love in one place for a day. A ton of my 4K teammates were there which was also made my heart feel whole 🙂

I often have my best thoughts on my runs. Do you think that running/being outside in general boosts creativity? If so, why?

I totally agree! I write some of my favorite pieces in my head while I run, process something that challenges me, or come up with awesome business ideas. It’s just such a beautiful, creative time.

I believe at our cores, humans are meant to be moving outside. I always think about the pure joy a baby has on their face when they learn to walk, then run! Or how naturally children will just run around barefoot outside. But as we get older and are told “ugh exercise” we begin to attach negative feelings to movement. Breaking away from that conditioning and just practicing a bit of “rewilding” does amazing things for our spirits.

Your message is amazing. It’s all about freedom and finding your inner peace. In a world full of routine and schedules, how do you recommend someone can feel free and peaceful in their everyday lives?

That makes me so happy! I totally love this question because I spend a lot of time practicing this. For me personally it started when I felt anything but peaceful but so desperately wanted to be. So I sat down and wrote a list.

I closed my eyes and thought about anything and everything that has ever brought me true fullness–the kind that makes you shiver with happiness. I wrote these things down and then decided that it was my goal to try to live a life that adopted as many as these things as possible. That would define a successful life for me. If that wasn’t my focus, if i was more concerned with what other people thought or their definition of success, I wasn’t living honestly.

Then, on days that feel blah and routine, take a moment to pause and be grateful. Walk through something on your list and just be fully grateful that you are able to be there, doing that. It’s not always easy but it certainly adds so much depth to my days.

Or go for a run 🙂

And there you have it! Thank you again to Syd for reaching out to me and providing such amazing answers. I am SO excited to read this book! If you’re looking for an example of what Run Wild & Be will be all about, I highly recommend heading over to runwildandbepoetry

Run Wild & Be will be available March 25, 2019 and you can order it through Amazon. I will update my Instagram as well as this post with a direct link.

I’m tempted to do another Q&A after I read it 🙂

January 22, 2019 / running

On to bigger and better things

After a few weeks of loving my shoes and clothes / posting about how much I love these things (but blocking the logo out) I am so so so excited to finally announce that ZAP will now be representing On!

Okay so who/what is On??

On is a Swiss sports brand. They are focused on performance athletics as well as an active outdoor lifestyle.

Fun fact: On is the fastest growing shoe company in the United States.

On In the United States:

On sponsors two teams in the United states: Mammoth Track Club and ZAP.

What separates On from different shoe brands?

On uses a technology called Cloud technology (CloudTec). The round pockets you see in the bottom of the shoes are called clouds.

You can read more in depth about the technology here. It is incredibly fascinating and worth the read/watch.

In a very short and fast summary, the Cloud technology offers cushioning when your foot strikes the ground as well as an explosive takeoff when that foot lifts back up.

Fun fact: one of the inventors of cloud technology first tried out his idea of a cushioned shoe with an explosive takeoff by taking a garden hose, cutting it up, and gluing those pieces of garden hose to the bottom of his shoe.

Why I’m already obsessed with On:

I will admit, I was extremely hesitant to try these shoes. On shoes look much different than the shoes I was used to running in, and I figured they would feel too strange to actually train in.

This was not the case! I put a pair of the Cloudflows on and cranked out 10 miles with no issues. Honestly, I actually felt like the shoe had more cushion and response than I had received with any other brand of running shoe.

I could feel the cushioning as I landed, as well as a nice bounce back as I was moving into my next stride. I was sold. Not only did the shoes look cool, they were so much different from what I was used to in the best way possible.

This was a definite don’t judge a book by it’s cover situation.

Okay so their stuff is obviously cool, but that’s not the only reason I love them.

Another thing I truly admire is their dedication to running retail stores. You won’t find On products in big box stores or Amazon. However, you can find them in local running stores as well as REI and Nordstom. (They will be adding more stores like this in the future!)

As someone that worked in running retail for a couple of years, I appreciate this effort. In my opinion, there was nothing more irritating than offering someone a full fitting and then hearing that they were going to buy the shoe online.

With that being said I completely understood why customers would do that. They knew the shoes fit, they liked the shoes, and they could find the shoes cheaper online.

Running retail creates a relationship between customer and seller. Not only that, most running retail stores create a community by offering group runs (or meet ups).

In my opinion, these are things that are incredibly important to the running community. Running is always more enjoyable with company, and these meet ups provide an incredible opportunity to meet and make friends with a new group of people.

What I’m looking forward to with my relationship with On:

I’m looking forward to getting to know the brand more. I absolutely love their message. It’s clear that they are a brand focused on performance, community, and quality.

You can tell that everything they do is well thought out. Everything from their social media to their products show that they are a company that isn’t just going to do something for the sake of doing it.

For example, I have known I was going to be with On for about a month now. However, I wasn’t allowed to announce until created a press release that all of the appropriate members of the company agreed on.

You could tell there was time and effort put into the release, and even though both sides were extremely excited to announce this news, nothing was going to be released until it was absolutely perfect.

My favorite things SO FAR:

Okay so I’ve only tried a few things from On as of today but of course that will change soon. These are my absolutely favorite things I’ve tried so far (I know there will be much much more later!)

Cloudflow – On’s neutral and cushioned shoe. I have a narrow foot so these fit me perfectly. If you’re looking for a little more room in the toe box area, try the Cloudflyer.

Training shirts – Breathable and light! I wore a gray long sleeve and minimal sweat was showing. What’s not to love about that??

Cloud – The casual/fashion shoe! Not going to lie, I feel really cool when I wear these. Mine are the Coral & Pacific color option.

Weather Jacket – the most comfortable and fashionable jacket I have ever worn. I mean how does a company create a weather jacket that is actually flattering??

Weather Shirt – Love love love this! It’s a half zip top BUT the zip goes to the side of the neck instead of up and down. That was a horrible description, but I’m wearing it in the picture at the start of this post (or just click here to see what I’m taking about)! I’m not cool enough to pull off 90% of their clothes but I’m going to try.

Cloud Flash – I raced the Houston Half in these this past Sunday! I was super excited about this because A) they are gorgeous and B) they are a perfect weight for a half marathon racing shoe. I prefer a lighter shoe, and so I will be racing Boston in these as well. If you want a little extra cushion in your racing flats I would suggest the Cloudrush.

Did you know?

Every pair of On shoes comes with an Owner card. This card contains an owner ID to register at www.runonclouds.com. How cool is that???

What’s up next?

This week ZAP will have a new logo! We will also be rebranded from ZAP Fitness to ZAP Endurance. Be On (get it?!?) the lookout for it! I’m excited to see it. I’ll share it with you guys via Instagram!

January 14, 2019 / running

Training This Week + What I Did On A Day Off

This week was my first full week training with my Garmin Vivoactive!! I absolutely loved being able to keep track of everything! Plus when I got done with my run, I got a map of exactly where I went on that run. Turns out I’m a huge fan of out and back runs!

ZAP is in Tallahassee, FL for winter training camp. We come here every year to escape the wintry weather in Blowing Rock (and not have to do all of our runs on the treadmill!). I know Tallahassee doesn’t sound like a great place to run, but they have a ton of soft surface trails! My personal favorite (and where I do 85% of my runs) is the Miccosukee Greenway.

Here’s what I ran this week!

Sunday (1/6): Just relaxed 12 mile single. I updated a running playlist and took this run super easy.

Monday (1/7): Off! I used to dread off days, but now I embrace them. I took this day to catch up on work and cook something I normally wouldn’t. I went with soy-free kung pao chicken!

Tuesday (1/8): Today I had a choice of doing a 13 mile single or a 15 mile split. I usually like running a bit the afternoon before a workout (Thursday was my workout day this week) so I opted to do the single.

Wednesday (1/9): Today was the day I did the 15 mile split! I ran 11 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. I prefer to do my longer run of the double day in the morning rather than in the evening. I also take at least five hours between runs on my double days (preferably longer if I have the time and it fits into my schedule!)

Thursday (1/10): Workout day! Today was 1x2k +5x1k times two. Even though I didn’t get a great night of sleep, I felt really good during this workout. This was the last big workout I will do before Houston on Sunday, and it gave me a bit of a confidence boost. (Don’t you just love workouts like that?!?)

Friday (1/11): To play it safe, Pete wanted me on the anti-gravity treadmill for my primary run after the workout. We are lucky enough to have access to the FSU Alter-G, and I was able to schedule a time slot last minute. I also ran 6 miles VERY slowly in the afternoon on land. Today I also learned that “Baby Shark” was ranked 42nd on the Billboard top 100 songs and honestly that powered me through both runs.

Saturday (1/12): Today was an “athlete choice” day. On these days Pete gives us the freedom to pick our training for the day. This week I chose to do a 10 mile single. Usually I keep these days a little shorter, but I needed the mileage for week!

Sunday (1/13): 14 mile single. This will be the longest run I do before Houston! I mentioned this on my Instagram story, but somehow it felt like a 20+ miler.

Total mileage: 91 miles! Still pretty good for having a day off! I’m slowly but surely getting my mileage up, and I can tell it is working. I can feel longer singles and doubles are starting to feel fluent instead of forced. I’m still tired from the mileage, but the process takes time!

Side note!

I had the chance to run in a new band of shoes this week !!! I haven’t trained in anything but Reebok for the past three years. I am SO obsessed with these new shoes, and I can’t wait to share with you what brand they are and why I love them.

That’s it for this week! I hope you had a great week of training last week and have an even better one this week!

January 7, 2019 / running

3 Reasons I Went Back To Training With A GPS Watch After A Year Off

About a year ago I decided to ditch my GPS watch and train the “old fashion way”. Before I ditched it, I had a Garmin Forerunner that I trained with for about seven years. I swore by that thing! I honestly wouldn’t leave the house without it.

If I was so obsessed with this watch, why did I make the decision to change to a basic watch last year?

The reason is quite simple. I was in a transition period.

I was training much differently than I ever had in my entire life. My easy day recovery runs were much slower than they ever had been and I was getting frustrated. On top of that, I was having trouble hitting some of the faster paces in my workouts. I simply didn’t want to see these things on my watch because they made me feel like I was failing.

The truth is I was just tired from training. However, I was still using my GPS watch in December 2017 leading up to California International Marathon. My easy day paces and workout paces were all over the map, so I had no idea what kind of shape I was in. I didn’t go in to 2017 CIM with much confidence, but I surprised myself by running a 2:36.

As I reflected on CIM at the end of 2017, I decided I was going to start using a basic watch in 2018 in order to get to know my body a little better.

I wanted to run easy days easy and workout days hard. I didn’t want to always be staring at my watch and worrying about what I could and could not do that day. I had proved to myself that even though my paces were all over the place in my training I was able to execute on race day.

Changing back

This leads me to today. As I trained over the 2018 Christmas break I could feel myself wanting to go back to knowing my paces and how far I was running. So (after much deliberation with myself) I finally decided to go back to using a GPS watch.

Here’s why:

As I get into Boston 2019 training I want to know exactly how many miles I’m running in order to avoid overtraining.
I want to keep my recovery day pace honest. I make it a goal on my recovery days to run as slow as my body needs. This pace will vary from recovery day to recovery day, but I still want to keep track of the pace! Most of my recovery day runs are around 8:30/mile.
As the season progresses and I get a little more in shape, I want to keep track of the pace on my every day runs. I am curious to see how my pace changes as I reach peak shape.

So what’s different this time?

The difference is that I know my body better now than I had in the past.
I know that pace and distance doesn’t matter on every run. I am simply just curious to see these fluctuations and when/why they happens.
I now know to expect training ebbs and flows and to not think too much about them.

Finally – which watch did I choose and why did I choose it?

I decided to go with the Garmin Vivoactive 3 with music. I liked how the watch looked, it has all of the things I wanted to track, AND it stores music!

Side story – I never want anything, so when I said I wanted this watch Tyler jumped on the chance to get it for me for Christmas. It was a very sweet gift, and I started crying when I opened it. (I cry like Kim Kardashian – it’s FINE)

Bonuses!

This watch tracks my steps, sleep, heart rate, stress levels, calories burned, active minutes, floors climbed, and much more.

For a type A person like me, this watch is a dream. I look forward to checking my stats at the end of the day as well as my sleep every morning. Tracking all of these things is not completely necessary for training, I just like numbers.

I am a terrible sleeper, so it gives me a confidence boost in the morning when I see that I actually got eight full hours of sleep. I am also a highly stressed individual, so I like to see when throughout the day my stress spiked (and figure out why!).

Cons:

There aren’t very many cons with this watch for me. The only thing I can think of is that Spotify isn’t compatible with the Vivoactive yet (only the Fenix and Forerunner). Hopefully it will be compatible soon!

Is a GPS watch right for you?

It’s all personal. Having a GPS watch is far from necessary to be better runner. It all depends on your personality and how you (and if) you log your training!

Here are a few things you can ask yourself before getting one:

Do I live in a location where GPS signal will be strong? (I say this because my watch does not work very well at ZAP. It works fine in Blowing Rock and Boone, but not in ZAP’s remote location!)
What will I do if paces are slower than expected? Will I get frustrated or understand that it’s part of training?
GPS watches are not always cheap. Am I willing to make an investment in something I might not end up liking?
Why exactly do I want one? Do I want to track training? Steps? See my running routes? Or connect with other people.
- It doesn’t matter what your reason is, but having at least one is incredibly important!

Summary

Training with a GPS watch by no means necessary to improve your running. Depending on your personality, it might not be a good thing for your training at all. I decided to get one because I like to keep track of every detail of my training. It’s entirely personal, and the choice is entirely up to you! I just wanted to share the experiences I’ve had training with as well as without one 🙂

Recommendations

I am currently looking for a pair of bluetooth headphones to use with my watch. If anyone has any recommendations PLEASE let me know!!