Author Archives: AshleyM

That Metric Half-Century Is So Close That I Can Taste It!

Today’s bike ride was an LSD day and I started out with no agenda other than ‘bike for as long or as far as you want.’ Well, I ended up biking 30.14 miles today, and I feel pretty damn good. Around this time last year, I was dying just biking 10-12 miles in one trip.Continue reading “That Metric Half-Century Is So Close That I Can Taste It!”

So…Bike Sprints/HIIT Isn’t THAT Bad

After Wednesday’s rain, I was forced to push my bike sprints forward another day. I finally got out there yesterday (Thursday) and got ’em done. After a brief Google search, I stumbled onto Cycling.com and their HIIT circuit for biking. I made a few small modifications since I’m on a hybrid/gravel bike and not aContinue reading “So…Bike Sprints/HIIT Isn’t THAT Bad”

It Gets Easier

One of my favorite inspirational quotes comes from season 2 of the adult animated comedy/drama television show Bojack Horseman. In the show, the titular character Bojack (who is an anthropomorphic horse) takes up running to help him prepare for a movie role in which he would play the horse Secretariat (also anthropomorphized) who was hisContinue reading “It Gets Easier”

Encountering and Overcoming My “Blerch”

Feel free to take a look at The Oatmeal comic that I reference to fully understand “The Blerch”: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/running I weigh-in twice a week, once on a Monday and once on a Friday and I record the lower of the two weights. Today’s weigh-in showed no weight loss. In fact, since I started training overContinue reading “Encountering and Overcoming My “Blerch””

A Long-Slow Distance Day with My Sister

Long-slow distance days were my favorite days in Cross Country running when I was in high school. I was already a slow runner so having a day where it was okay to be “slow” was a boost to my morale. Ego aside, the science behind long-slow distance (LSD) days lends well to my current andContinue reading “A Long-Slow Distance Day with My Sister”

A Bad Case of the “I Don’t Wannas”

I’ve been in a difficult headspace these past two days. Yesterday’s rest day was indeed restful, but I spent most of the day feeling guilty that I should be “doing more.” I should be doing more as a teacher, as a wife, as an athlete in training. I shouldn’t have half a chocolate bar. IContinue reading “A Bad Case of the “I Don’t Wannas””

Let’s Talk About Rail Trails

If you’re like me, the term “rail trail” may sound self-explanatory and also highly obscure at the same time. When I first heard the term, I had no idea that the trail I had been using for the past year and a half is just that…a rail trail. So what is a rail trail? SimplyContinue reading “Let’s Talk About Rail Trails”

Frailty Thy Name is Bodyweight Circuits

All night and all morning, my waking thoughts were preoccupied with today’s training plan: bodyweight circuits. I wasn’t anxious or even doubtful that I could do them…okay maybe I was a little anxious … but I was almost overconfident. I pulled a bodyweight training plan from the website Nerd Fitness. (It’s mostly a website thatContinue reading “Frailty Thy Name is Bodyweight Circuits”

The May Training Plan

Alright. So you’re gonna do a cross country skiing equivalent of a half-marathon, how are you going to train? If you’re like me, you would end up Googling training plans and then you would get overwhelmed by all of the information that’s out there. Then I remembered an important tenant when starting anything: KISS (KeepContinue reading “The May Training Plan”