This morning, Mal and I headed back to our old stomping grounds in South Boston for our first long run with our Team In Training (TNT) team.
We met at the South Boston Running Emporium, which is located practically across the street from our old apartment. Wouldn’t that have been a nice commute!?
Mal and I are the only two people in the group who are training for the Honolulu Marathon, but we’ll be running with other TNT participants on Saturday mornings. The other people are training for different events, like the Disney Marathon and Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2 Marathon. Mal and I ran with about 12 other runners this morning.
Our first run was just 3 miles, but Mal and I killed it! We finished in 23:12 (7:44 pace), which was probably slow for my speed demon husband, but it was fast for me!
After everyone finished the 3-mile run around Southie, our coach, Christina, talked a little bit about pacing and the run-walk method. Her advice for long runs is to start out slow on the first half and leave “gas in your tank” for the end the run. She said this will be especially important on marathon day.
Christina also talked about the run-walk method, which is basically alternating running for 9 minutes with walking for 1 minute. But, instead of lazily walking during the 60 seconds, she suggested speed walking to keep up your pace while catching your breath and regrouping before running again. (Some people do this at water stations.) This method will help with one’s endurance when tackling longer distances.
Once we said goodbye to our team, Mal and I visited our favorite place for iced coffee in South Boston: P.S. Gourmet!
P.S. Gourmet offers so many yummy flavors of iced coffee!! I picked brown sugar with milk, which sort of tasted like maple brown sugar. Mal picked regular iced coffee. How boring! 
Hooray for P.S. Gourmet! 
Breakfast
Before running this morning, I ate a small-ish breakfast of whole wheat toast with cashew butter and sliced strawberries.
Christina suggested eating breakfast about 2 hours before our long runs. She also said to experiment with what we eat– some food combinations work better for some people than others.
I also drank a small glass of iced coffee with soy milk.
After our run, I ate a second piece of whole wheat toast with cashew butter.
Up next: shower, pool party, and a very special dinner!
Enjoy your Saturday! 
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow you both ran super fast today! I am such a slow poke compared to you both!
I’ve thought about training with a running group — it would be great to get advice, tips, etc from other people. Plus, when I run with a group (or a partner) I run much faster (kind of like you with Mal today!)
Have fun at the pool party!
Your speed is incredible! Be proud
wow, that’s fast for just a training run! you should do a 5k race and see how well you do..i bet you could finish in under 22 min
Wow that cashew butter is smooth – it looks ace!
And 7.44 pace!?? YOU are a speed demon, not just Mal!
Holy cow, Tina! You are FAST!
The pictures of you and Mal holding your coffees are funny because he looks like a GIANT!!!!!
Also, that pace is smokin’. Damn.
The pictures of you and Mal holding your coffees are funny because he looks like a GIANT!!!!!
Also, that pace is smokin’. Damn. I am jealous.
That is an awesome awesome pace!!! That iced coffee place looks awesome!
Wow you guys are fast runners! I’m such a snail! If I can run 3 miles in 30 minutes I’m excited.
Good for you!
I agree with everyone else, that is one fast paced run!
You’re rockin’ those running shorts! & you ROCKED that run – awesome!
Umm…you are both fast!
Aaanndd…all of those iced coffee flavors make me jealous!
What an amazing pace! That is SO impressive.
Coconut macaroon coffee? Mmm!
You guys are too cute! Thanks for sharing all of the info you learned, it’s always good to learn more about running!
I love coffee places that have all of the iced coffee flavors. The next time you are in the financial district you have to go by Olga’s I think it’s like 99 summer street in one of the office buildings. They have the best iced coffee flavors like coconut hazelnut, birthday cake and snickerdoodle!
I love cashew butter! So rich and creamy! Enjoy your day Tina!
Wow, you guys did kill that 3 miles! Good for you! Holy goodness, all of those great Iced Coffee flavors! I would have gone for the Banana Hazelnut. Yummmm! Have a wonderful day Tina!
you and mal rock! married couples doing things together rock!
That P.S. Gourmet place looks awesome!! I definitely would have gotten the butterscotch but brown sugar sounds good, too!
I would definitely be proud of a 7:44 pace! Great job
Wow awesome 3 mile run! You guys look so cute!
Oh my gosh! That is CRAZY fast. You guys are awesome
What a great run! I used to live in Southie too on F st (near W. Broadway) that picture was quite reminiscent. And..that deli was one of my favorites for coffee as well.
Wow you are fast. Does running faster affect your hip more though? Those ice coffee flavors sound so great, I want to go to Boston just for that! I don’t know anywhere in NYC that has cool flavors like that.
That is very fast! Great job! Have a great weekend.
I love all the running info! And dang, run fast much? I’m a newbie at this whole running gig, so I’m not sure I’ll ever see a pace like that!
And I need to go to that coffee place!
Congrats on that pace – amazing! I’m running my first 5K soon and I could only dream of a pace like that!
Wow, you guys are fast! Good job! My husband is a speed demon (20 min 5k) but he his going to pace me for a marathon. I’m built for endurance, not for speed, and I’m not sure if he can run that slowly.
Enjoy your saturday!
wow yall are speed demons! good job
What up legs!? Where’d those muscles come from!? Bodypump? =)
Wow you guys were FAST! I always hear to eat breakfast two hours before a run, but how many people actually do that? If you are going to run before the heat (and still have time for your day) you’d have to wake up SO early to eat breakfast. I never run that long so I either don’t eat, or eat something small and wait like 45 minutes at the most. I don’t know what I’d do it if I was doing really long runs!
Wow! You two are speedy! Rock on! And Thanks for sharing the tips from your coach! They will come in handy as I’m training for a half!
That was some speedy run! Thanks for sharing the advice from your TNT coach.
Whoa! White Russian iced coffee!?!? I’d be allll over that!
Great time on your run! Good luck with your training.
Wow you guys are seriously speedy! I remember all the experimenting I had to do with fueling & long runs…I always ate a medium-sized breakfast and waited 2 hours before I went.
What a speedy run! I am not crazy about coffee, so the flavor makes all the difference
Those are great running tips! Thanks for sharing them. I know once I’m able to get back into running post baby I will be all about the run/walk methods. Saving energy for the end is vital. I hate crashing and burning in workouts.
Wowowww look at all those flavors of iced coffee. I would be in heaven at that place!
Thanks for the running tips, they are really helpful.
That coffee shop looks amazing! Love all the iced coffee flavors!
Great pace on that run! You’d kill a 5k
The coffee place looks fab, I love Hazelnut anything so I would have tried that kind of Iced Coffee!
what an awesome pace Tina!
I want to add that the walk run method (sometimes known as the Galloway method) can include a variety of time intervals. For example, my running group does 2/1, meaning that we run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute. You can do any interval that works for you! Target sells watches that you can set to beep at certain intervals.
Also, your coach is right about the walk pace. The walking intervals are still a very brisk pace!
There are a few running clubs in Portland that I’ve been debating about joining. I like the concept and the idea of having some new friends to run with….but I am also nervous that I won’t be fast enough and can’t keep up with them!
I loooove P.S. coffee. http://selfishlyhappy.blogspot.com/2010/05/moving-day.html
We use to live behind South Boston Health Center on Silver Street. I miss it so much but Northampton is fun too. Love your blog!
I love visiting my parents because they always have flavoured coffee – at the moment, Irish Cream, which is so good! I’d love to try toasted marshmallow though, yum! And it’s been far too long since I had cashew butter…
you and mal are the cutest couple together. Congrats on how fast you ran that 3 miles thats awesome.
Thanks about the pre-fuel information
You guys look so happy! I bet this running experience will be great for both of you. I love Honolulu, it’ll be gorgeous as well.
Hey I’m from Hawaii! Let me know if you need any help with anything. Donated to your team good luck with training!