Friday Five - Follow

The theme of the Friday Five link up with the DC trifecta (Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia) this week is "Follow Friday."

I'm going to use this as an opportunity to talk about five information sources I follow that may be useful to new (or not so new) runners :)

1. The Mickey Miles Podcast is a podcast that I really enjoy listening to. There are two episodes a week generally, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. As I'm sure you can tell by the name, it concentrates on Run Disney events. But it has a lot of useful information that is applicable to running in general and much of it is aimed at beginners since there are so many new runners at the Run Disney events. They have had people from teh Run Disney orgnaization on multiple times to talk about topics that can benefit new runners in general such as training, nutrition, etc. They often have episodes that concentrate on answering questions from runners that they receive so you also have the opportunity to submit questions which might be addressed on the podcast. And they're just a lot of fun!

2. Embrace Running is another podcast I enjoy by two people who live in Northern California. This one isn't as applicable to me as a lot of the races they review are in the western part of the country, but I just love their attitude and presentation. It really seems like it's just a casual conversation with friends. And they are a great source for running news from the running community in the US in general. I listen to this one more for entertainment and news rather than specific tips I can use in my own running. But it is great to be able to keep up on various news and events in the community at large.

3. Runner's World is something that I would think most runners keep up with. But if you're new to running and haven't gotten around to it yet, definitely head over to their website to check it out. They have a great section for beginners with articles, tips, and training plans. A recent article that explained different types of runs like fartleks, tempos and intervals was so useful to me as I kept hearing these terms thrown around but had no idea what they meant!

4. Twitter is something I just joined recently (feel free to follow me if you're interested) and I love it so far! One of the things I'm loving about it are the articles and sources of information that people post and re-tweet. @Fitfluential is a great one to follow on twitter as they're often posting alot of useful information. I also love the various twitter chats that they regularly host. #runchat is a great hashtag and there are weekly chats using this hashtag on Sunday evenings which are also a great way for runners to connect. If you're new to twitter and a little uncomfortable with jumping in, you can even just follow along with these chats without posting. It's still a great source of information and a way to see what other runners are doing.

5. I also like to follow local running groups or media, which of course will be different depending on where you live. A good one in the DC area is Run Washington. It is a great source of information on the local running community and local races. I think most cities and larger communities would have something similar given the explosion in running's popularity in the past several years. Your local running club is also a great option for keeping up with local events and maybe even meeting local running friends. I love Montgomery County Road Runners Club for anyone who's in Montgomery County. It might also make sense to sign up for sources of local deals/coupons. I've used groupon and living social in the past to get discounts off race entry fees.

So that's it for my Friday Five :) I hope everyone has a great weekend and I would love to hear about any podcasts or websites that you think are worth following!