The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast Episode 3-293 – Boston Marathoner Jill Maguire Trotter
(Audio: link)
[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi3293.mp3]
Link epi3293.mp3
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Introductory Comments:
Hello my friends. We find ourselves once more together to share an episode, episode 3-293 of the RunRunLive Podcast.
It’s been busy few weeks training-wise since we last talked. I made the mistake of telling my coach that I wanted to qualify and was willing to do the work. He reciprocated by hammering me with hard, long workouts that have kicked my running life out of balance in a good way.
I’m still only running 4 times a week but last week that included an 8 mile tempo run, a 10 mile tempo run and a 20 mile long run. This week is more of the same. I’m hanging on by my fingernails but it’s all good. It’s a great way to narrow your focus.
I was down the Cape over the 4th of July holiday. Nothing really eventful but it’s a different climate down there. Very hot and humid. I think it is somehow closer to the sun. It’s all well and good when you’re snoozing on a beach towel but not so much when you’re trying to hammer out a run.
Today we are going to chat with a local marathoner and running friend of mine Jill Maguire Trotter. I was interested in getting her take on running because she’s one of those people who manages to live her life, train and compete at a high level.
In section one I’m going to share an essay I wrote about work. And in Section two I’m going to get you fired up to face the daemons of discomfort. I didn’t travel this week so I got some good Miracle Morning time to cogitate on these themes.
That first week of getting back into the hard work of training was discouraging. I’m heavy and my legs are slow. But I know that I can do it. I believe that all I have to do is battle with the effort and keep bringing my best work and have patience. I believe it will turn around and the fitness will come and the training effect will kick in.
I’m beginning to see signs of life. I’m completing these workouts successfully and it’s encouraging. It’s tempting to declare victory and just walk away from the hard training at my age and ability level. I’m never going to be more than average no matter how hard I train. I’ve got nothing to prove. But it just feels worthy to be training to exhaustion. It feels right.
My garden is coming in nicely. I’m eating cucumbers and chard and kale. The hops are budding up. The berries are ripening and soon I’ll be sharing fresh tomatoes with the squirrels.
Buddy doesn’t like the squirrels. He doesn’t like the rabbits either. For some reason we have a proliferation of rabbits this year. And they are a brazen lot. They sit in the yard and mock the dog, smugly devouring my parsley. I wonder where all the local hawks and eagles and coyotes got off to?
We are through the nice part of summer up here in New England. Now we are into the hot and humid, turn on the AC time of year. The dog hates it. I can’t take him running. He’s exhausted by going to a walk. The mosquitoes and deer flies are out in full force. It’s a quiet and languid season. The dog days.
Toss your fresh salads and let’s Get On with the Show!
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On with the show!
Section one:
Work – https://runrunlive.com/work
Featured Interview:
Jill Maguire Trotter
From Level Runner -> A Trotter in Name Only
Jill Maguire Trotter has hopped for east coast to west and back east again, getting a little bit faster with each successive leap. Growing up in the Worcester suburb of Millbury, MA, Trotter played youth soccer, softball, and most notably field hockey. She intended to play the latter sport in college (Babson) just like she did in high school (Notre Dame Academy), but those plans never came to fruition. After a brief stint as a sedentary person, Trotter became antsy and joined not the field hockey team but the cross country one. Although she “lacked the mental toughness” (her words) to be competitive, she stuck with it up to and through graduation.
After moving to San Francisco in 1995, she joined the Leukemia Society’s Team in Training and starting ramping up for her first marathon on the trails of Mt. Tam. In June of 1996, she ran 3:33 at the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska and qualified for Boston. Of course, this led to a return trip to the east coast in both ‘97 and ‘98 where she ran 3:33 and 3:30, respectively.
Finally, in 1998, after all those trips from the City by the Bay to the City of the Beans, she settled for good (so far, at least) in the Merrimack Valley. She married, started a family, and took a break from marathons but not running.
She gave birth to her first son in 2001, then a daughter in 2003. Having missed the 26.2 distance, she started up again and ran a 3:22 at the 2005 Boston Marathon while unknowingly pregnant with her 3rd child, and a mere 9 months after giving birth to #3, she won the 2006 Baystate Marathon in 3:11. Three children under the age of 5 led to the purchase of a treadmill, and like many a dedicated runner/parent she snuck in her runs while the kids napped.
In 2007, with her children almost out of diapers, Trotter got serious. Encouraged by her Baystate performance, she joined the Greater Lowell Road Runners and recruited Nate Jenkins for coaching duties. Her goal: run sub 3:00. About enlisting Jenkins as coach Trotter says, “I credit Nate for teaching me how to train for the marathon; he instilled in me that it is about hard work and I should have confidence in my marathon goal times since they are based on results that I’ve achieved during workouts.” Her hard work paid off. Trotter ran 3:00 at the Vermont City Marathon in 2008 and then 2:58 at Cal International later that year. In addition to Jenkins, she credits Jim Rhoades with a valuable assist as they did most of her long runs together.
Trotter turned 40 in 2012 and has been one of the best master runners in the region. She considers her best event the marathon, and her competition would likely agree as she placed 1st in the masters division at the USATF-NE GPS Manchester City Marathon. Her time: 3:09. She is inspired by Kara Haas, Trish Bourne, Liane Pancoast, Nancy Corsaro, Cathy Pearce, and Barbara McManus and credits them for contributing to her success. She says, “I find that while I like to be competitive with women from other clubs, I also want them to succeed in their own goals; the New England running community is amazingly supportive.” Beyond running, Trotter aspires to be a good influence on her 3 children. Above all, she wants to teach them that if they work hard they can achieve their goals. I’d say that’s on The Level.
PRs
5k – 18:42 @ Hollis
10k – 39:55 @ Tufts
15k – 61:37 @ Boston Tune-up
Half – 1:28 @ Hyannis
Full – 2:58 @ Cal International
Section two:
The Dark Place revisited at middle age – https://runrunlive.com/the-dark-place-at-middle-age
Outro:
That’s all we have for you today. Hope you’re all fired up to go throw yourself at some tempo workouts. But, seriously you draw your own line. Don’t base your self-image on what I say. If you have never done speed or tempo training then give yourself 3-4 weeks to ease into it with strength training. Make sure you’re form is right. Do your stretching and physical therapy before you hit it hard.
Any weak spot or chink in your armor will turn into a injury when you go to the dark place. Your ability to figure out what’s a real injury and what’s another bothersome niggle will be needed to stay with it. When I’m in the throws of one of these hard, big bounce cycles something always hurts.
There were a couple days last week where I had trouble sleeping due to the exhaustion of my leg muscles. Pain is a signal but it’s neither good nor bad and you have to be able to figure out what’s real and what’s not. There’s no black and white.
If you’re going to drop into crazy big workouts make sure you stretch and warm up well. Make sure you fuel well before and after. Make sure you stretch and massage and ice where necessary. Because all the fitness in the world can’t help you unless you make it to the starting line.
If you have the discipline to do not only the workouts but also the whole package of things you need to do to stay healthy then the dark place is the shortest path to your goals.
I successful moved the RunRunLive website over to a new hosting service. I’m still working out some bugs and I haven’t gotten a chance to back update the episodes and articles that fell into the gap. I’ll get to it over the next couple weeks. At some point I’ll revamp the whole site because it is getting a little long in the tooth.
For the next iteration of the show I’m collecting blog posts from others. I’m going to read them. So if you have a post you’d be willing to share with me just send it along. I’m also going to look for some guest interviewers to add some new voices in as well – if you’re interested in doing an interview for me let’s talk.
Get ready for RunRunLive 4.0.
Just trying to spread the RunRunLive love.
Cheers,
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And I do have an email list that I shoot the shows out to. I’ve been writing some extra posts on my website RunRunLive and I may start recording them as a bonus for those of you who are paying attention!
Happy Mother’s Day people.
Be good to each other – party on.
Cheers,
Outro Bumper
Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support. RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.
I also love to meet folks so feel free to reach out to me at Gmail or any of the other social networking sites. I’m CYKTRussell. And as you know that’s Chris-Yellow-King-Tom-Russell with two Esses and two Ell’s.
My Website is http://www.runrunlive.com and most if not all of this content is posted out there. If you want the show notes to magically show up in your inbox when I publish a show in a beautiful HTML wrapper you can subscribe to the mailing list at my site. It’s a useful thing if you are moved by something I say and would like to see if what I wrote is the same thing! It also has all the links to everything and everyone I talk to and about.
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Ciao
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Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in
The Mid-Packer’s Lament
On Audio (Read by the author) – http://www.runrunlive.com
The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy
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Bio
Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.
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