across the country, 26.2 miles at a time

"Recreation has its reasons."

2012-01-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

Last week I read Born to Run, Christopher McDougall's 2009 account of a 50-mile race staged in the Copper Canyons, deep in Mexico's Sierra Madre. In spending time getting to know the Tarahumara Indians, a reclusive tribe of natural born runners, he answered a host of fascinating social, anthropological, and biological questions about why we run, why we get injured, and - most importantly - why we don't have to. I loved it like I haven't loved a book in years, and wish everyone I know would read this. I wish I could buy a hundred copies and have them on hand for all of those people who like to tell me about how they "used to run, until I wrecked my knees" (as a way of telling me that I should stop before the same fate befalls me) or how "I really admire the way you run; I just am not built for it." He makes a great case for what I have always believed - that we are all built for it, in an evolutionary sense, and that running can be a lifelong gift, enjoyed well into our old ages.

A few of my favorite insights:

That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain ... Distance running was revered because it was indespensible; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running or you wouldn't live to love anything else. And like everything else we love - everything we sentimentally call our "passions" and "desires" - it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run; we were born because we run.

... consider these words by Dr. Daniel Lieberman, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University:
"A lot of foot and knee injuries that are currently plaguing us are actually caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate, give us knee problems. Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented by Nike, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet, and much lower incidence of knee injuries."
And the cost of those injuries? Fatal disease in epidemic proportions. "Humans really are obligatorily required to do aerobic exercise in order to stay healthy, and I think that has deep roots in our evolutionary history," Dr. Lieberman said. "If there's any magic bullet to make human beings healthy, it's to run."

... there are two kinds of great runners: sprinters and marathoners. Maybe human running was about going far, not fast. That would explain why our feet and legs are so dense with springy tendons - because springy tendons store and return energy, just like the rubber-band propellers on balsa-wood airplanes. The more you twist the rubber band, the farther the plane flies; likewise, the more you can stretch the tendons, the more free energy you get when that leg extends and swings back.
And if I were going to design a long-distance running machine, Dr. Bramble thought, that's exactly what I'd load it with - lots of rubber bands to maximize endurance. Running is really just jumping, springing from one foot to another. Tendons are irrelevant to walking, but great for energy-efficient jumping. So forget speed; maybe we were born to be the world's greatest marathoners.
"And you've got to ask yourself why only one species in the world has the urge to gather by the tens of thousands to run twenty-six miles in the heat for fun," Dr. Bramble mused. "Recreation has its reasons."

The reason we race isn't so much to beat each other ... but to be with each other.

breakdown

2012-01-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

so much for all of that confidence. it's been a rough couple of weeks of training, but i am doing my best to hang tough in the face of a little breakdown. i was feeling so ready for that first 20-miler on new year's eve, even though i felt like i'd been a little sick early on in the week. i ran from del mar, up torrey pines and into la jolla, and had a good run up the hill. but about 6 miles into the run, my left achilles tendon started to tighten up. very quickly, it became really uncomfortable, and by the 7-mile point, i was nervous and turned around. i decided i would just shorten the run to 14 miles in the hopes of preventing an injury, but unfortunately by the 10-mile point i knew i needed to stop running because the ache, while not terrible, was starting to affect my gait. even more unfortunate, i was four miles away from my car! it was a long and discouraging walk down torrey pines and back, but the pain wasn't any worse, and i felt good about having made the difficult decision to stop running. by the end of the evening, it was pretty achey so i decided i would take a week off of running and R-I-C-E it.

unfortunately, even my plans for a week of rest got sidetracked, because i officially came down sick the following week with whatever had been trying to get me after christmas. so i didn't do much cross-training, didn't do much of anything during that week off. blech.

i did some very gentle yoga in the park on saturday 1/6, which felt great on my flu-y, ache-y muscles. on sunday 1/7, alicia and i ran six easy miles together, as we were both trying to get back into the swing of things. it felt good to be moving, and i was hopeful about being able to work back up my speed and mileage again. i got in my two mid-week runs, but kept my paces in check so as not to push too hard.

tuesday i did a fun set of intervals at dusk in carlsbad with joan, which felt great. thursday i ran on lake murray at lunch, which didn't feel so great. i really wasn't feeling well that day, and struggled with a 6-mile tempo run. after a few miles, i decided to just go easy on myself, and walked/jogged the rest of it. this weekend should have been my second 20-miler, but i knew that was a bad idea, so instead i did just 13. alicia and i ran together on the 56 bike path, which was probably more challenging than i needed! it's all downhill on the way out, and all up hill on the way back. phew! but i averaged 8:50s overall, which felt acceptable, considering my lingering cough and fatigue.

so i've had to move things around on my schedule in order to get in the second 20-miler that i should have done this weekend, and am (tentatively) planning to run it next weekend. fingers crossed ...

2011-12-27T22:53:00.000-08:00

had to skip my tempo run and some cross-training last week due to long work hours in the run-up to the christmas holiday, but the weekend long run was so fantastic, i don't feel like i missed a beat. i did 17 on the silver strand on a bright blue-sky christmas sunday morning, and felt strong. my goal was to run 9:08s, and i very comfortably made a 9:01 pace. going to see how this first 20-miler goes, and if all is well i might even adjust my training pace down even a little further ...

woke up this morning feeling a cold coming on, congested, sneezy, and achey. as the day has gone on i've started to feel a little better, and can't tell if it's that i allowed myself to properly rest (for once), or that i wasn't really getting sick. guess i'll know soon enough.

two weeks in

2011-12-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

i've kind of lost track of what i did in the way of running and workouts in those next couple of weeks after we got back from vacation. catching up with work was super busy, but i did get in three short runs every week, including a 10-miler and a 7-miler over the weekends so that i'd be reasonably ready for the long runs when training started back up (week of december 5th). it's taken a while to get back on the cross-training and strength-training horse, but i started training for my next marathon a couple of weeks ago, and have slowly been bringing it back into the mix.

we did quite a lot of traveling last year, so for my spring marathon, i decided to stay close to home. i learned of a small marathon held in sacramento at the end of march that is run along the american river discovery trail. this seemed perfect in terms of timing, the opportunity to see my family, and a nice flat course that (assumig i get lucky with a dry march sacramento morning) should make for good BOSTON QUALIFYING conditions.

i am ready! so, so ready.

so my 16-week program started december 5th. tuesday 12/6 i had a meeting in south bay, so did mile repeats on the silver strand that morning. i hadn't slept well the couple of nights before, and was pretty fatigued and felt it out there, but i always love running down near the estuary. thursday 12/8, i did a 6-mile tempo run in balboa park: 2 miles easy, 2 miles @ 7:35 pace, and then 2 miles easy. on saturday 12/10, i was scheduled to do 13 miles at an 8:53 pace, but for some reason i got a bit ambitious and decided to run up into bay park from mission bay, and then down and back up to/from tecolote canyon. i ran three really good sized hills in the first 8 miles, and was pretty wiped out, but still managed to keep a decent pace overall (averaging 9:10s for the 13). i had taken a spin class the night before, which was probably not the best idea; i was really feeling it on my way down the last hill.

on tuesday 12/13, i had to run in the dark after work (thank goodness for good reflective gear!). i was supposed to do four 800m repeats, but had to modify it a bit; i ran around north mission hills, and did three half-mile repeats up the reynard hill. thursday 12/15, i did a 7-mile tempo run in balboa park, which was great. after a one-mile warmup, i did 5 miles at 8:23 pace, and then a final cool-down mile.

today's long run was amazing. i'm on call this weekend, so i did my usual "on call long run" loop around the miramar reservoir. my goal was to do 15 in 9:08s, but i managed to finish averaging 8:48s -- and fairly comfortably. it was a flat route, and the weather was perfection (about 60 degrees, cloudy, and even a little drizzly for about an hour of it), so that certainly contributed to my great pace. i did the 14th mile at an 8:00 pace, just to see if i could, because i was feeling so strong. super fun.

With thanks to my sponsor

2011-11-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

Loved rocking some Run Naked Sports, central coast style, on this vacation! This was taken about halfway through Friday morning's super fun five miler on the ocean dunes in Half Moon Bay. There's a Coastside Trail that runs, well, along the coast, and it was definitely one of my favorite runs of all time. I love that dune landscape in this part of California, just couldn't get enough. I love the beautiful places that I get to run at home, but do hope that I get another chance to run in these parts soon.

And so concluded my recovery week after the Santa Barbara half. We'll be home again soon, and it will be time to think about what's going to be next ...

2011-11-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning, I enjoyed a lovely four-mile run along this beautiful ocean-front wooden boardwalk that was right outside of our motel in Cambria. It was a warm, blue-sky morning, with amazing views of the coastline on this pretty stretch of the San Simeon State Park. Bliss.

HOOKED

2011-11-20T19:43:00.001-08:00

Here's how I know that Alicia's got the bug: Monday morning, she wanted to get up and run a few miles together in Solvang before she left town. There she was at 7am on a freezing cold morning, ready to go! We did a nice easy 3-mile recovery run in the fog. Felt great.

Santa Barbara Half-Marathon

2011-11-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

NAILED IT.

So I'm having to back-blog on this, since we've been vacation for the week-plus since the SB half, which was on Saturday November 12th. My recall of the race was startlingly poor even right afterward, and by now it's really bad ... but I do recall that I kicked some butt.

We drove up to Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon/evening, and by the time we got to the expo to pick up my packet, we were in a huge - and I do mean huge - downpour. The forecast for Saturday was calling for a 30-ish percent chance of rain, so we were hopeful that it was going to blow over by morning. We went out for pizza and beer with Alicia and Pat, and went to bed early to the sounds of pouring rain, and hoped for the best.

Saturday morning John and Becky picked me and Alicia up at 6:45, and we were thrilled to find cool, cloudy, and perfectly dry skies! The good weather brought my confidence that I could pull off a 1:45 back to me, and I just couldn't wait to start running. It's a small race, so the start was pretty easy to deal with. And the fun part was that they had two waves, and because the first was for runners who anticipated an 8:00 or faster pace, I got to be in the fast one! It was so much fun to have Becky and Alicia to hang out with at the start, to help them through all of the familiar routines -- porta potties, bag checks, etc. They were super excited and nervous, which got me excited.

"Where the Streets Have No Name" was playing as we were sent off, and there I was, in the back of that first wave. The course was really lovely, through some nice residential areas, along a pretty wooded bike path. There wasn't much in the way of "fans," and in fact in some parts I can remember running past masses of gathered people who weren't even clapping or cheering. They were just waiting for their own runners, and didn't seem to know the deal. But fortunately the scenery, and the perfect ongoing rolling hills made up for the lame spectators. The three exceptions to those lame spectators, of course, being Marc, John, and Pat, who got up early and were out there to greet us at Mile 7. John and Pat were new to the spectating gig, and so had to follow Marc's lead. (Which was funny, because Marc is usually just doing whatever Sarah tells him to do out there.) They happened to be perched at the top of a fairly decent hill, so that timing/placement worked out well. I was averaging a 7:57 pace at that point, and was feeling really strong as I waved and kept on cruising. But I knew that the one major hill of the race was coming up soon, and was trying to keep something in the tank.

The hill came at Mile 10, and although it wasn't a monster -- just a half-mile long, and not terribly steep -- I am definitely not used to pushing up a hill when I've been working that hard, and I felt it! By the time I reached the top, my overall average had slowed to 8:02s, but I still felt good, and knew that I had 2.5 miles to get it back down to under 8:00. When I turned the corner and saw the beautiful mountains and a nice downhill slope ahead of me, I was pretty sure I could do it. And then I turned another bend, and saw two miles of ocean laid out before me -- and I KNEW I was going to do it. And that was it. I ran hard for those final 2.5 miles, and suddenly I was at the finish and it was over. I felt great, no soreness, no stiffness, no discomfort whatsoever. I shed a few tears when I looked at my finish time: 1:44:36, and then went and got into position along the finish chute so that I could be sure I wouldn't miss Becky and Alicia's finishes. It was really a lot of fun to have friends out on the course to cheer for, I hope that I'll have more of those kinds of races in my near future.

After everyone was in, we stretched for a while, had a great seafood meal at Brophy Bros., and then soaked in the pool for a little bit. I think it was the perfect recovery regimen, as I hardly felt a hint of soreness when I got up Sunday morning. The backs of my calves/ankles were a little tight, but otherwise I felt great. And ready. SO READY to start thinking seriously about training for my Boston qualifying pace.

2011-11-11T00:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I've made it to the end of the line! I set out to train hard for a half-marathon for the first time ever, to see what I can do, and now it's time to see what I can do! It's been a good 18 weeks, lots of challenging runs, lots of personal breakthroughs. So can I really conquer the 8:00 mile beast?

Tuesday I ran at lunch in the park. The workout called for 6x400m repeats, so I ran the 6th Ave hill four times, and then two fast 400m intervals, all with a 400m rest interval afterward. It was a fun workout, although I'll say, I think I might be becoming a morning runner. Today's workout called for just an easy 3 miles, which I did this morning before work. It actually takes some conscious effort to keep my pace down in the 9:00 range now. Cool.

Tomorrow we leave for Santa Barbara -- the race on Saturday, and then 8 more days of vacation along the California coast. I predict some beautiful running.

2011-11-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

Thursday called for another ridiculously early run, this time at 5:30 am, to accommodate my catching a 10:00 flight to Las Vegas for a 3-day conference. I only had time to get in four of my scheduled six miles, but at least I didn't skip it altogether. I have realized this week that I've really reached a new level of commitment when it comes to running.

Friday the conference ran from 8-5:15 and then it was out to dinner with colleagues (and then a 9:30pm show -- how I was still awake at midnight I'll never know!). There was only an hour's break in the entire day, but I squeezed in 20 minutes of cardio at the hotel gym, which I hope was worth all of the effort that it took! Saturday was my day of "rest," but I was in the conference nonstop from 8-4:30 and then caught a 6:00 flight home. Not my idea of a restful day. I am sleep-deprived from a couple of bad nights of sleep (the air in Las Vegas hotels is so difficult for me to tolerate), and now have a few very difficult work days ahead of me as I try to get everything in place in order to leave on our trip. So it will be a serious challenge to stay properly rested in these final few days leading up to Santa Barbara ...

Today I ran 8 miles mid-day, in the midst of a cold, wet, windy day. It was kind of miserable, but considering that the forecast for SB on Saturday is currently 50s and raining, it was probably really good preparation. I ran on Fiesta island, and ran a pretty comfortable 8:13 average pace overall, although there were some moments where I had to push pretty hard in the wind. It left me feeling a little nervous about being able to hang on to my goal pace in a storm, but I am just trying to remind myself:

Training is training, and you get what you get on race day.

2011-11-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

Had to get up ridiculously early today in order to get in my run, and I did it! There I was at 5am, on the streets doing my hill workout. It felt kind of miserable, but also kind of awesome. I just wish the sun had at least been up by the time I finished ... but I did a fun 6.3 mile workout of hill repeats, and was glad I got out there. I started down Laurel, then up State/Goldfinch and back (twice), and then up Curlew and back (twice), then home. I felt strong, if a little foggy.

2011-10-29T09:45:00.001-07:00

just breezed through my final double-digits training run in preparation for santa barbara. i stuck with my plan to stay on track with my training program, and do today's 12 miles at an 8:18 pace. in these final couple of weeks, i shouldn't be wearing myself out by running hard even though i feel like i can; this is the time for "resting," while maintaining what i've gained in the past few months. finally, i am figuring out this whole tapering thing.

today's run through PB, crown point, and around sea world was a beauty. i got out early, and the sun was shining but it was only in the high-50s. perfection. i stayed on pace through the first 7, and thought about speeding up, but decided against it. i did one fast mile at the end (7:53), but overall held steady, and finished with an average of 8:17s. most importantly, i felt great, running strong but not "pushing." so so ready to get up there!

2011-10-27T13:18:00.001-07:00

HOO BOY. the mid-week runs this week were a struggle. perhaps the 8:06s on sunday were, in fact, faster than they should have been. the old "just because you can doesn't mean you should" principle at work ... think i will stick to the 8:18 goal pace this weekend.

tuesday morning i got up early and was out running before dawn, which is unusual for me. it felt great, and i definitely understand why most runners do it. i wish i had the constitution for it! it was a fun set of long intervals: a mile warm-up, 2 miles at 7:40s, a 400m rest, 2 more miles at 7:40s, and then a final mile cool-down. the 3200ms were supposed to be at 7:32s, and i came close but really couldn't do it!

today (thursday) i had to fit in my run at lunch. it's a warm day, so i planned to do the 5 miles at 8:17s (slowed down from the original goal of 7:47s), but couldn't even make that. i ran in the park, and had to really push it to keep an 8:25 pace. i felt hungry and really sluggish, maybe also a little fatigued from a tough circuit training workout i made up for myself at the gym yesterday (strength, bike, and rowing). or, today was just not my day! not worrying about it, going to just do some easy cross-training tomorrow, and look forward to an awesome 12 this weekend.

feeling it

2011-10-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

calling it right here, right now. if i stay healthy for the next three weeks, and we get a cool morning on november 12th, i say i run a 1:45:00 in the santa barbara half. i realize this isn't an earth-shattering pace, but 8:00 miles would be a huge barrier for me to break. it won't be a walk in the park, but i think i can do it.

this week's training was SOLID. i did a short strength-training session at the gym on monday. after an incredibly stressful afternoon on tuesday, my head was pounding and i could feel that my blood pressure was up, which scared me a little. i went out to mission bay and returned a few calls and let myself unwind for a bit, and then did a great interval workout along the bay. it was already pretty dark, so i only did two of the three 2000m repeats i was supposed to do, but they were solid, at about a 7:15 pace each. it is so much fun to pass men runners out there, which i now do on a fairly regular basis. i probably take more pleasure in that than i should ... :-) wednesday night i tried my first spin class, which was tough! kari is teaching it at her newly-expanded studio, and i really enjoyed it. hope i can get back for another class soon. thursday i had an awesome tempo run in the late afternoon, after wrapping up work. it was a mixed-tempo 7-miler, which i ran along the famosa slough and into OB along the bike path, and it was great: one mile at 8:45, two at 7:45s, one at 8:45, two at 7:45s, and then one at 8:40. felt super strong out there, and the intensity gave me a good calm going into that evening's high-stress board meeting. this was a week where being a distance runner really saved my sanity. i took a rest day on friday, and went to the gym on saturday to do a short strength-training workout and just a quick 20 minutes on the bike.

this morning i was chomping at the bit to get out and run, a good sign! it was a nice cool, foggy morning on coronado, and my goal for the 10 miles was 8:18s -- which i crushed! around mile 4, i spotted becky, who was heading back on the second half of her 11 miles. it's been so fun to watch her getting fast and feeling great. we waved and kept on speeding by! ;-) after 6, i was feeling great and averaging 8:07s. i told myself i'd take a little walk break to slow it down at 7, but when i got there, i really didn't feel like it. so i didn't, and just kept going. but i did slow my pace a bit, just in case. at 8.5, i still felt great, so i decided to do a mile at my goal race pace (8:00). it ended up being a 7:46. i finished the last half mile at what felt like an easy pace, and wound up averaging 8:06s overall.

so crazy excited for santa barbara.

PR + plus!

2011-10-15T12:20:00.001-07:00

this week's training was a mixed bag, but ended on a high note! i've had a very packed work schedule all week, with not enough time to squeeze in all of my workouts. unfortunately i didn't get in any cross-training (will make a point to get something in tomorrow), and only one strength-training session (i aim for two weekly). but the runs were good, so i'm feeling encouraged.

tuesday i had to run at twilight, and headed over to fiesta island after work. i had to be somewhere that evening, so only had time to do five of the ten 400m repeats i was scheduled to do, but it felt pretty good. the run was only about 4.5 miles altogether (should have been 6), and by the end it was quite dark out and fiesta island kind of spooked me, being out there alone. don't think i'll do that one again. but it was one of the most beautiful sunsets i've ever seen, which made the whole run worth it. as i headed out on the western edge of the island, the sun was low on my left, bright orange with a strip of clouds crossing it, and the sky on my right was brilliant dark blue, with the nearly-full moon just risen. amazing!

thursday was a HOT day (we had a freaky october heat wave this week, well into the 90s for several days), and i had to run in the late morning, by which time it was already nearly 80 degrees. i looked up some heat index/pace adjustment tables online, and realized i haven't been running very intelligently on warm days -- which i think explains quite a few of the disappointing runs i've had lately. it was suggested to slow your pace by 40 seconds per mile when running in temps between 75-80, so i tried it for my 5-mile tempo run, and boy if it didn't feel great. lesson definitely learned; i will take heat more seriously. those were 8:30s, which sounds slow but felt plenty challenging.

today was my favorite training day of the year: the train run! i caught the 7:39 surfliner out of solana beach, and started from oceanside around 8am. it was low-60s (aaah) and totally cloudy. PERFECT. i felt great, and was working hard out there but made my goal pace of 8:28s for 15 miles! even with some pretty decent hills. so i'm excited. i walked the final mile back to my car at the solana beach train station, feeling good.

the awesomest part was to see at the 13.1 mile mark that i was at 1:51 -- 7 minutes faster than my previous half-marathon PR. and then i ran two more strong miles! feeling super psyched for santa barbara. particularly because alicia and becky are both training well (and injury-free), so i think it's going to be a great race for everyone. love. it.

2011-10-09T12:48:00.001-07:00

well, this is getting frustrating.

i had a great run on thursday morning, down at the southern end of the silver strand (i was working in south bay that morning, so took advantage of being there in the middle of the week!). it's one of my favorite places to run, and it was a nice cool, breezy morning. i was scheduled to do 6 at an unprescribed pace -- just "easy and relaxed," which turned out to be 8:58s. very comfortable.

this weekend's long run was supposed to be 10 miles at an 8:21 pace -- a pace i've attempted a couple of times now, but still haven't made. i had a stomach ache when i woke up this morning, and so waited a couple of hours for it to pass before i ran. and because i'm on call this weekend, i needed to do a loop (so i'm close to the car in the event that i need to get somewhere quickly). which when doing a run of 10 miles means lake miramar -- which on a warm october late morning means HOT. it was already over 80 degrees by the time my stomach settled and i got out there, and i really felt it. after about 4.5 i was wiped out - hot, and a little nauseous. i walked for a bit, and then decided i had it in me to get around the lake one more time (it's a 5-mile loop), if i took it slowly and walked when needed. the second loop went better than i thought it would, but it was still slow and i had to take a couple of walk breaks. i was hot, but i had plenty of water, and the nausea had subsided. all together i only ran 8.6 miles, which averaged 8:26s. but i walked the other 1.4, which slowed me down a lot. i'm feeling frustrated at my training, and worry about my confidence in santa barbara. just a few more long runs left to get it back!

2011-10-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

having failed to post any training entries for a few weeks, i've since forgotten the details of a few of my runs, and almost all of my other workouts (cross-training, strength, etc.), but training for the santa barbara half-marathon (now 5.5 weeks away!) is coming along.

on my birthday, i had taken the day off of work, and so had time to really give my interval workout my all, which was a lot of fun. usually i'm cutting the warm-up and cool-down short, and maybe cutting out a repeat or two, in the interest of time, but that week i was able to do all six of the 1200m repeats as scheduled, and the whole run ended up being about 7 miles long. on friday of that week, i had planned to do a 6m tempo run after work, but wound up working late and needing to get home to norma -- so instead i packed her into the car and we did a few miles together off-leash on fiesta island. the days have really shortened, so it was dark after just a couple of miles, and it got difficult to run out there (no lights, and i didn't think to bring a flashlight or headlamp), so we cut it short after just 4.5 fairly slow miles. but at least i got something in, instead of missing it altogether. that sunday, i ran the silver strand. my goal was to do 10 miles at a pace of 8:23s, and i struggled to make 8:21s. at the time i was frustrated that i couldn't shave off those two seconds per mile, but as i write this over a week later, all i can think is "damn, 8:21s sounds pretty awesome."

last week, i did my intervals on tuesday after work, directly from the office. i ran over to chatsworth blvd. and ran hard up and down the rolling hills of point loma there for about 5 miles (in lieu of a formal interval workout). on thursday, i did a 5 mile tempo run in balboa park, and was super excited to make my goal tempo pace, for the first time in a LONG time -- 7:50s! on sunday i was scheduled to do a 14-mile run (in 8:31s), but had woken up to the sad news that a very dear client of mine had passed away early that morning. i felt like running in a pretty and quiet place, and so decided to drive north and run at san elijo lagoon. i entered the reserve on the eastern (rancho santa fe) side, and the paths were soft sand and fairly hilly and rocky -- a lovely place to hike, but not a good place to get in a long run at a good clip! i got pretty exhausted and turned back early, only finishing about 8 miles out there. i did get the solitude and scenery that i was looking for, however. such a pretty place. but as i drove home, i felt disappointed about missing the opportunity to get in some good mileage, so i stopped at mission bay and did another easy 4 before i went home. that was tough, as i was super wiped out and my legs were sore from all of the sand running (which i'm really NOT used to -- two days later, i can still feel that run in my lower calves and around my ankles), but it felt like good training for a tired, demoralized racing scenario. :-)

today i did my interval workout in the park, after work in the early evening before my networking meeting. it was raining for much of the run -- my first wet run of the season! i felt good out there, and did my 3x mile repeats at pretty good paces (7:21, 7:20, and 7:28 -- the goal was 7:21 for all three, so i was close ...).

i've only got five long runs left, and am feeling some pressure about my goal for a 1:45 in santa barbara next month. at this point, with how my workouts have been going, i feel fairly confident that i could pull off a 1:47 or so, but i hope that with a few more weeks of good training, my 1:45 aspirations will return!

2011-09-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday was the day of this year's "big moon swim," an annual late-summer moonlight swim organized by some folks at the Tri-Club. I didn't find out about it until last weekend, and so wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it, since Marc and Norma have agility class on Thursdays. (Not to mention that I was at our conference's opening reception that evening until 7:30.) But I put out the call on Facebook (because I didn't want to swim alone, or at least have someone waiting on the beach to make sure I came in), and my awesome friends responded! Becky agreed to come and hang out on the shore as my "spotter," and Joan agreed to swim as long as she could get out of a board meeting on time.

Not being totally sure that I was going to swim that night, but also not wanting to wear myself out in case I did, I shortened my planned 5-miler that day, and did 4 miles in the park. It should have been a pretty quick tempo run, but I was tired after 3 and let myself slow down for the final mile home.

I did get to do that night swim on Thursday (with Joan and Becky!), and it was awesome. This was my second time doing it, and it wasn't any less scary, but also wasn't any less thrilling. I just loved being out there, even though the moon was hidden in the clouds this year. Truly, amazing.

The rest of my week, in terms of training, was less than stellar. I didn't get in any strength training, and only one other brief cross-training session (on the rowing maching). My long run was on Sunday, out on Mission Bay after our 3.5 day conference at the Catamaran Resort ended, around 11:00am. It was warm out. I was tired, and I was SLUGGISH. I completed the 13 miles I'd intended, but it was a huge struggle, and I ended up averaging 9:12s. But I'm giving myself a break. It was a tough week, dealing with some chronic pain (too gross to detail publicly here), a lack of sleep from several nights in great discomfort, and then all of the events related to the conference. So I'm not going to let it psych me out, and instead will look forward to a good long run this weekend!

2011-09-19T23:21:00.001-07:00

Last week was a SUPER fun week, even if not some of my best running. On Tuesday, in lieu of my usual 4-6 miles of intervals or hill repeats, Becky and I ran from the bottom of the Torrey Pines State Beach up the hill and to the gliderport (4.8 miles total, and averaging 9:17 overall, which I think is pretty awesome when you consider that monster of a hill!). Marc and John met us at the gliderport with a pizza and beers, and we all enjoyed the beautiful sunset together, rooftop on "the shack." It was great watching the gliders jumping off the cliffs together, and just having some quiet time with friends in such a beautiful place, even in the middle of a busy work week. One of my favorite runs EVER, and one that I hope we'll do again soon.

Aaah, now that's more like it.

2011-09-11T21:57:00.001-07:00

This was a weird week, between a) unusual heat and humidity on Tuesday that prohibited me from running until well after dark, and b) the enormous county-wide all-night blackout on Thursday that waylaid my plans for an evening run (among a lot of other things!), between traffic snarls and hours of extra work to make sure all of our clients were safe and well. It was a very busy, very difficult-to-schedule week, and I missed a lot of workouts, so I was unsure of my preparation for the long run.

Today I was scheduled to do 8 miles (step-back week) at an 8:24 pace, and I finished with an average of 8:22s. It was a fun loop around Mission Bay -- Deanza Cove, Grand Ave. to Crown Point, boardwalk to Ingraham, and then past Sea World and back to the visitor's center, where I'd started. I was working REALLY hard out there, but I felt strong throughout the run, and never "crashed," as has been happening the last couple of weeks. So even though it was a shorter long run, I think it was just the confidence-booster I needed.

Nite Schmooves

2011-09-06T22:00:00.001-07:00

Today was a really hot and humid day, which meant that neither Norma or I had gotten much exercise before the sun went down, so Marc and the Schmoo met me out at Liberty Station tonight after my networking meeting. She and I did 400m repeats around the NTC park (where the fun summer Thursday night "Nite Moves" 5ks have been held), while Popsy waited patiently the park. What a good sport.

It was kind of a crappy run; I wasn't feeling super energetic, but Norma definitely was -- she was hauling all over the park, having tons of fun and not sticking with me the way that I want her to when we run together, so I expended a lot of extra energy yelling at her. I gave up after just a few miles, but when I finished I still felt so warm and happy. Marc has some app on his phone that allows him to listen to the tower as he watched the planes landing and taking off at Lindbergh (the park is situated directly in the flight path), so that was a nice end to his evening. And Norma and I both got to burn off a little steam.

Tonight I'm reminded again of how it takes a village to raise a marathoner. Love love love my family.

Don't call it a comeback

2011-09-05T09:56:00.001-07:00

After last weekend's crash-and-burn on The Strand, I felt pretty rotten all day on Saturday, and then very low-energy on Sunday. It was clear to me my body was telling me something - although I still don't quite know what - so I gave it some rest. I took a couple of days completely off this week, ran only about half of my scheduled mid-week mileage (and even then, struggled to keep pace), and only one strength and one cross-training session this week (I usually do two of each). By Saturday I still didn't feel up for my scheduled 12-miler, so I gave it another day. Come yesterday morning, I was feeling rested, but very intimidated by the long run, and found myself lingering over my coffee, procrastinating. Eventually I sucked it up and got out there around 9:30, reluctant but willing to give it a try.

I love when running mirrors life.

I parked at Fiesta Island, and ran the full perimeter once (on pace, in 8:34s), and then the inner loop once; so after 6.5 miles I was halfway through the run and still on pace. I'm not usually "ticking off" the miles this way during a run, but this one was a struggle. By 6, I was already more tired than I'm used to, and I was definitely ticking. I told myself that I had to stay on pace through the first 8 miles, and after that would just do what I could. I went out onto the bay path for the rest of the run, and through 9 I actually felt pretty good. By 10, I was struggling to stay on pace but managed to stick with it until 10.5. That final mile and a half, I slowed down to about a 9:00 pace, and finished the run with difficulty, but not straining (which was my goal). So by the end, I got off by only 4 seconds per mile: 8:38s. Not too bad.

I definitely like - and expect - my runs to be more enjoyable than that one, but it felt like a necessary evil, to get through a tough spell and come out on the other side. Today I've got that good mild muscle soreness, and am feeling great after an indulgent late-morning Labor Day oversleep.

Onward?

And this is why I run with cab fare

2011-08-27T12:32:00.001-07:00

Blech, terrible run today. Just terrible! I had planned on ten miles on The Silver Strand in 8:24s (which, coincidentally, is exactly the pace at which I'll eventually need to run an entire marathon in order to qualify for Boston), but it all just fell apart out there today. I ran out the first five close to my goal pace (8:25s), but I could tell pretty early on that I was going to suffer out there. By the 7 mile point, I had a full on cramp in my left calf, and was down to averaging 9:00s. Serious breakdown. I stopped and walked for a half mile, and then sat down in some shady grass to stretch and cool down for a few minutes. (Did I mention the 85 degrees and humidity?) I worked the cramp out and got back out there, but I was seriously slogging the final 2.5 miles back to Tidelands Park. I have never been so glad to see a vending machine as I was in that moment, and used my emergency stash of cab fare for a package of M&Ms, which quite possibly saved my life. All told, my average over the 10 miles was 9:42s. Again I say: BLECH.

There were a lot of factors in play today, but I think the most significant was probably the 5k race I ran after work on Thursday. I did a 1.5 mile warm-up in 9:00s, the 5k itself in 7:22s, and then a 1 mile cool-down in 9:15. That was supposed to be a mixed tempo run, with the fastest pace at 7:53s, and I think my run today suffered for my pushing that. I also did an ambitious set of hills out at Torrey Pines on Tuesday (in lieu of a speed workout). Neither run was anything crazy, just probably a little more than I ought to have tackled the same week I wanted to do today's long run. Not to mention that I should have gotten up out and early on a warm and humid day like today, instead of starting at 10:30.

Lots of lessons learned today. Ready to try again next week!

Tourist attraction

2011-08-20T12:13:00.001-07:00

A TOUGH week. Now granted, I didn't sleep more than about six hours most nights this week, and I drank more than usual and more often this week (party and/or event involving a couple of drinks every night from last Friday through Tuesday), which definitely took its toll on my mid-week runs. I did 3x mile repeats in the park on Tuesday morning, which I'd hoped to do around 7:05 pace each, but only made the first one on target; the other two were WAY off. Thursday's 6-mile tempo run on Fiesta Island was supposed to be 8:08s, but I struggled and barely made 8:30s. I did get in a good strength and bike/row workout on Sunday, a short swim on Monday, and a solid strength and bike workout on Wednesday, though. (A better week for cross-training than I usually manage to pull off.) But as I sat on the couch this morning contemplating today's 11 miles, I was feeling really intimidated.

I drove out to Vacation Point (near Sea World), and just as I arrived realized I'd forgotten my Garmin. I knew that I wouldn't know my mileage out there, and that I would need to push hard today to stay on target pace (8:34s), so I drove all the way back home to get it. An auspicious start.

But things got better. It is a BEAUTIFUL day, if a little warm and crowded for a late-morning run at the beach in the height of tourist season. I ran the bay, the boardwalk on Mission Beach, and up to Law Street, where I turned around and headed back. At the halfway point, I was averaging 8:38s, and feeling pretty ragged, but sucked it up and managed to get my pace down for the second half back. It was a struggle, but I made it!

The highlight was passing a little group of people taking a segway (sp?) tour, around my mile 10 point. They were stopped looking out at something on the bay, and by this point I must have been quite a sight. I was really hot and super sweaty, having already run 10 miles, but was still working hard in order to make pace for that last mile. (And I was in my cute yellow running skirt today, which always makes me look like a more serious runner than I actually am.) The tour guide said as I approached "And that, folks, is some serious runnning. That ain't no joke, right there."

DAY. MADE.

What a Week

2011-08-13T10:45:00.001-07:00

Rocked some really great runs this week, feeling so strong! Tuesday after work I parked near Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, and attempted to do a hill workout, but couldn't find any long enough hills. (It's funny to note how Torrey Pines and Laurel Street have changed my perspective on "hills.") So instead I did 1000m repeats, and if I wasn't running up a hill, I just ran a 7:00 pace. The workout came to 6 miles altogether, and just felt great. Afterward I attended a talk given by Dave O'Brien, an Irish ultramarathoner who ran the world's four great deserts at the age of 56! Put me and my little 1k repeats to shame. :-) Super inspirational.

Thursday I did the Nite Moves 5k at Liberty Station after work. I was scheduled to do a 5-mile tempo run that day, so it worked out perfectly to run an easy mile to warm up, run the race, and then another easy mile to cool down. I told myself that I'd keep somewhere between a 7:35-7:55 pace, and not "race," because this is a mid-week run from which I need to recover in time for a long run on Saturday. And even not pushing hard, I averaged 7:23s overall, which really shocked me. I came away feeling like I definitely could have beat my Carlsbad 5k time, if I'd raced it. So I guess that means I've officially made a full comeback from those 7 weeks off in the spring due to that stress fracture. Exciting.

Most exciting of all was today's long run. The America's Finest City half-marathon is next weekend, and I've been finding myself thinking and talking with others about it a lot lately -- about how much I hate it and its gnarly 1.5m hill at the very end, from downtown up to Balboa Park, which is always so disheartening. So as I headed out for my 9 miles today (goal pace: 8:28s, same as last week), and decided I was going to throw that hill in, just to prove to myself that I'm not scared of it. I ran from my house into downtown, out to Harbor Island, and then turned around and headed back up, via Ash and 6th, my much-despised hill into Balboa Park. I then had about two miles left, which I ran in the park and back home. And boy howdy if I didn't finish that run in 8:28s on the nose! I mean, I definitely would have wussed out if I hadn't been wearing my Garmin to keep myself on track in those final four miles. But the fact is, I did it. This was probably the hardest I have ever pushed at a fair distance such as 9 miles, and I am stoked.

2011-08-06T15:07:00.001-07:00

Just finished today's long run, 9 fun miles on Mission Bay, around Sea World to Crown Point and back. I had to run mid-day, but it's a nice mid-70s and there's a good breeze and tons of people out picnicking and playing on the water, so I had a lot of good people watching. Another great day to be a runner in San Diego! My goal pace for today was 8:38s, and I wound up averaging 8:28s, even forcing myself to nearly jog toward the end. Feeling awesome. This week's speed run and tempo run were both really tough, and I didn't make my target paces, so I'm glad to have some positive reinforcement today.

Just got a message from a friend who will be running the Santa Barbara half with me in November; she's up there this weekend and just ran five miles on the hilliest part of the course, and reports that it's not too bad. Nice.

2011-08-04T11:04:00.001-07:00

sweat dripping down your shins when you get finished with a run = total badass.

"ten easy miles"

2011-08-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

my 18-week training program for the santa barbara half marathon began a couple of weeks ago. i'm following the F.I.R.S.T. (3+2) program again, but this is my first time using it to train for a half. my project to speed up at these shorter distances in 2011 is well underway, and at the moment my goal for santa barbara on november 12th is a 1:45 finish. (my PR at this distance is currently a 1:58, but that was many years ago, and i've gotten a lot faster since then, so it will be fun to blow that one away!)

the prescribed run for this weekend was "ten easy miles at a relaxed pace," with no particular goal/pace. i drove down to imperial beach early yesterday morning, and ran through the tijuana estuary and along the silver strand, one of my favorite runs in the county. when i turned around at the 5 mile mark, i saw that i was averaging around 9:10s, which was exciting because i felt like i was going to slowly and easily. when i finished the run, i looked at my overall average and saw that i had been doing 9:02s. i'd actually sped up on the way back, and still felt super comfortable. the realization that i'm no longer really a "ten minute miler" hit me again, and with great pleasure.

in other "amy is a happy runner" news, we spent the day yesterday at the spa at the rancho bernardo inn. we had massages scheduled for noon, and i had arranged for a deep tissue massage (thinking i would have run on saturday, instead of the day of the massage; but i'd slept in too late on saturday ...). so i was talking with the massage therapist about going a little easy on the IT bands, which might be a little tender after that morning's 10 miles. it turns out that they totally weren't, and i was just as pleased as punch when he observed toward the end of the massage that i am "a fantastically healthy runner." he said that if i hadn't told him i was a distance runner, he would never have guessed it, because my feet, legs (with the exception of that crunchy right hamstring with the very old injury), and lower back are all in really good alignment and problem-free. so awesome!

i am such a believer in this 3 days/week distance running strategy. i do still need to get a little better about committing to the full cross-training sessions, which i frequently cut short due to limited time or attention span. but overall, it's really working for me.

7 (to 8) minute miler

2011-07-04T19:45:00.001-07:00

Marc just sent me this photo that he took at the beginning of April's Carlsbad 5000. I was giddy to find myself corralled up with the 7-minute milers, and hopeful I'd be able to keep up. I've self identified as "a ten minute miler" for so long, it still surprises me to realize that I'm not any longer.

This weekend, I ran the Firecracker 10k in Sacramento, and finished in a respectable 48:49. Considering the 6.5 weeks I had taken off while training for it, and the 101 degree day (it was mid-high 80s during the race), I was pretty pleased. I averaged under 8:00 miles for over six miles, which was another big milestone for me.

We were running a one-mile loop within Land Park, and at the halfway point, I could tell that the race was only going to be 6 miles (versus the 6.2 miles that define a 10k). So during the fourth loop, I double-backed in order to add the additional 0.2 miles -- because dammit I'd trained for a 10k and I wanted to see what I could do! So while technically, I finished 4th in my age group, I know in my heart that I was 2nd (looking at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finish times), and I'm pretty stoked about that.

teachable moment

2011-06-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

well, today's run kind of sucked. i did a downright treacherous 8 miler out at miramar reservoir mid-afternoon, hoping to start acclimating to warm temperatures in preparation for the upcoming 10k in sacramento. this was my longest run since i came back three weeks ago from the 6.5 week break to heal my foot - and in fact, i think it was my longest run since the miami marathon ... ? but instead of leaving me with the intended confidence, i'm feeling pessimistic. i averaged 8:48s overall, and seriously crashed and burned around mile 6, at which time i was averaging 8:31s. so based on today, i'm guessing i'll be lucky to break 51:00 in the race, which is a LONG way off from the 47:30 i was aiming at when i started training (pre-injury). granted, i'm not yet used to the heat (it was high 70s out there today), i haven't slept much all week, i was a little hungry, and frankly a bit hung over from last night's wine tasting fundraiser ... so all in all, the conditions were far from perfect. maybe i should just shake it off.

the bright spot was awesome runner dad out there today who totally gave his kids an earful when they cut me off on their little bikes. he apologized to me, stopped them and gave them a lesson on riding near runners and passing them properly, and then made them go past me again the right way. totally cool. thanks awesome runner dad!

twenty five minutes

2011-06-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

squeezing in a short 25-minute run before work used to mean two and a half miles. today it means a solid 5k. woot! woot!

schnergel-about-town

2011-04-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

since it's easter sunday and the Y is closed (and it's too cold to be out swimming in the real water yet), my only option for some non-impact exercise today was another long walk with norma. she doesn't mind this whole "recovery" thing one bit so far. we took an urban trek from our house into downtown, and took in all of the sights that we could while covering about six miles. norma visited the historic el cortez hotel, petco park (where we'll be taking in a game later today), and then home through the gaslamp district and up the long slope back into bankers hill.

adding injury to insult

2011-04-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

well, looks like i've got a stress fracture on the top of my right foot. it's been a little sore for about a month, and when taking a week off (after the carlsbad 5k) didn't make it any better, i went in to see the doctor. no fracture is visible on x-ray, but the pain is localized in a classic spot for a distance runner, and the timing seems about right (it began hurting about 6 weeks after my last marathon). so, i'll take four weeks of rest, and then see the sports medicine specialist in mid-may, to check in.

i'm super bummed out, to be sidelined just as i am getting so much stronger, but i really want to nip this nagging pain in the bud, so i'm committed to the rest. i figure there are upsides, too. it would take a lot of cross-training to not lose a fair amount of fitness, but that might be a fun challenge. i've got access to pools, bikes, rowing machines, and elliptical trainers at the Y, and miles and miles of beautiful neighborhoods and parks to walk, right outside of my door.

so today norma and i hit the road, and we had such a lovely (and much longer-than-usual) walk together. we trekked through hillcrest into morley field, and then into florida canyon, which was so lovely in full, colorful bloom.

we made our way back home through balboa park, and even though i am in the park nearly every day of my life, i never tire of it. today was such a beautiful bright morning, the flowers are all standing tall and bursting with color (lots of purple right now), and there was a choir singing hymns at the organ pavilion (the organ was out and being played), which was a nice pre-easter surprise to stumble upon. later today i'm planning to hit the pool, so that i can hopefully take in a little more of this cool spring sunshine.

so no ... it's not all bad.

carlsbad 5000

2011-04-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

after the fun and success of the miami marathon, i decided that taking the break from distance running last summer had been a good thing for my running overall, and that i'd do it again in 2011, but this time with more focus. i am READY to finally qualify for the boston marathon! (even though they recently revised their qualifying standards, making it even tougher.) so you heard it here first: i am going to qualify in 2012, which means a marathon finish time of 3:40:00 or faster. GULP.

so after taking my standard post-marathon month off, i decided in march to start training for the carlsbad 5000, a world-famous 5k held every april in that beautiful coastal town. my stated goal was to finish in 23:10 -- but my secret goal was to finish in 22:40. and thanks to lots of good speed workouts and tempo runs, and consulting with a great personal trainer who has really helped me get more out of my strength training, i did it!

my official time was 22:33, with mile splits of 7:15, 7:10, and then a 7:11 average pace for the final 1.1 mile. i felt great throughout the race, although the experience of really working that hard, and being exhausted and out of breath, was novel. i was super stoked by this photo that my friend shot, somewhere just after mile 2, because it is the first photo of myself along a course that i've ever seen where i'm not slumped over with terrible running posture:

the carlsbad 5000 provides pretty detailed statistics, so i was able to see that i finished 96th/1274 overall, 83rd/1006 among females, and 36th/351 in my age/gender division. never before have i been a finisher in the top 10% of just about anything, so this was super exciting. but most exciting of all was realizing that, based upon the tables provided by the F.I.R.S.T. training program, if i can run a 5k in 22:33, i should be fit enough to train for my boston marathon qualifying time! my plan, however, is to stick to the shorter distances for now, and rock my equivalent paces in the 10k and half-marathon distances this year.

so for now, my sights are set on a july 2nd 10k in sacramento (where i'll be over the holiday weekend, for a family wedding). i'll be running it with my brother, my niece, and a couple of friends, and other than those scorching valley temperatures, i'm really looking forward to it! my goal at the moment is to finish in 47:30. we'll see what the next twelve weeks of training (and the weather that morning!) will bring.

anima sana in corpora sano

2011-03-20T09:01:00.001-07:00

i just read today that this is what ASICS stands for, which translates into english as "a sound mind in a sound body." i don't know how i've managed to avoid learning this all these years, because i've been running in asics almost exclusively for nearly two decades (shame on me for my lack of curiosity!). it's always fascinating to me how wise we can be without realizing it. a chiropractor who specializes in treating runners told me a year or two ago that, even though i have never had one of those fancy scientific "gait analyses" at a running shoe store, i have managed to find on my own, through trial-and-error, the perfectly-constructed shoe for my particular arches, gait, body type, and style of running. and now i know that i've also been running all of these years with this mantra right there on my feet.

i've struggled with a particularly difficult past year or so, but have managed to stay not only physically healthy but (reasonably) mentally healthy as well throughout. for that, i give my love of running a lot of credit. being able to look forward to a long, private, silent, joyful run has gotten me through many a difficult day. i have the physical freedom to get myself up out of bed, bend myself down to lace up my shoes, and head out to spend a few hours in fresh clean air. i think it's no accident that as life has generally become more challenging for me, i have gotten stronger and my running has improved enormously. a strong physical body, modeling good behavior for my mind, which is trailing only slightly behind ...

miami marathon

2011-02-06T22:27:00.000-08:00

miami, FL january 30, 2011 4:05:05 (a big, fat new personal record!) my 13th marathon, in my 12th state. details of the run will get here eventually ... in the meantime, h ere are the photos from a great race, and an even better vacation.

CrocFest 8.18.10

2010-08-18T21:43:00.001-07:00

I made the last-minute decision to do another one of the Wednesday night "CrocFest" aquathlons down at Spanish Village after work tonight. I'm definitely getting the hang of this whole thing, and had a really fun time. My swim (800m) was almost five minutes faster than last time! I recognize that the buoys may have been off either this time or last, but I also know that I definitely swam harder, since I knew that I could. The transition was smooth, still took me about 2 minutes (I don't have a feel for how long that should take!?), and then the run felt great. My legs have definitely figured out how to transition from swimming to running -- the dancing goat was nowhere to be seen tonight! It was a warm and humid day today, still in the 80s by the 6:30 start, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and ran an 8:02 pace (just under 25 min for the 5k). My time overall was 40:24, and I hope to get back out there again next week -- for the last race of the summer!

la jolla 2010 self-transcendance swim/run

2010-07-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

wow! today was my first "real" multi-sport event, and it was great fun. every year, the sri chinmoy marathon team organizes this one-mile swim across the la jolla cove (from the lifeguard station at the cove to the beach at la jolla shores), followed by a 10k run on the beach at la jolla shores. here are the photos from the event.

after the first quarter mile or so (which was tough -- the water was low-60s, i'm not used to swimming in a crowd, and i was terrified about the recent rash of stingray stings and giant jellyfish sightings in the previous few days), i settled in and it was actually a very comfortable swim. i had my moments of terror, to be sure (i am always very imaginative when it comes to kelp taking the shape of large sea creatures), but really enjoyed the experience of pushing through it and just sort of hanging with the terror until it passed. i will push a little harder next time, now that i know what it feels like to get out of the water after a mile swim and start running.

when i got out of the water, my watch read about 38:30, but i had probably spent a good 45 seconds dawdling at the start, building up the courage to jump in. i'd estimated it would take me between 40-45 minutes to do that swim, so it was a bit faster than i had guessed. the transition into my running clothes took about 2.5 minutes -- i looked down at my watch again when i was up and running and had just taken a cup of gatorade from the first aid station, and i was at 41:30, so i estimate that i'd actually started running right around the 41:00 mark. i finished at 97:43, which means that the 10k took me ~53:43. that means that i averaged 8:39s, after swimming a mile and running on sand. super excited about that (i'd planned on a ~10:00 min/mile pace). the run felt pretty good, except i started burping and got a little nauseated for a while between miles 3-5. this happened briefly at the croc fest aquathlon, too, so i think i'm taking in some sea water during the swim without knowing it. fortunately, both times it's passed "without incident," but i'd like to try to figure out what i'm doing wrong. not only does it make the run uncomfortable, but it's just disgusting to think about drinking ocean water.

joan did the event, too, and as predicted, kicked my butt! she's such a natural athlete, i love having someone like that to "compete" with. even with what now appears to have been a sprained toe, she finished around 90:00, and is ready to shave off lots of time next year, now that she'll know what she's doing. i was so freaked out by the prospect of the stingrays and jellyfish, it was a really good thing that joan had signed up to do this with me. i would very likely have chickened out, and would have missed out on a really marvelous experience.

really looking forward to doing it again next year. the one advantage of the repetetive, 6-loop course on the beach was that marc and norma were able to cheer from the sidelines, which was hilarious, norma barking at me whenever marc yelled my name. what a family.

croc fest aquathon

2010-07-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

so tonight i attempted my first aquathon, a little wednesday series that the tri-club is sponsoring down on spanish landing this summer. it's a 1/2 mile swim in the san diego bay (not as gross as it sounds), and then a 5k run along the landing. WOW! what fun. this was practice, a "warm up" for "the real one" that i'm planning to do on the 18th, to see what it feels like to swim in a group in the open water while managing my pace such that i'll be able to get out and run, and figure out the whole transition thing from swim/wetsuit into running clothes.

i was a little panicky out there in the water during the first 200-300m or so. i didn't mentally panic, but i definitely physically went into panic mode, which i understand is pretty normal. i was kind of flopping around, not sighting as efficiently as i should, kicking too hard, and breathing irregularly -- but at least moving forward in the right direction. eventually i settled in, and the rest of it was really fun. i came out of the water at around 18:30 - a slow half mile - but i felt totally ready to hit the road, so that was good. the transition took me almost 3 minutes, and i was surprisingly relaxed about the whole thing, considering i had no idea what i was doing (or perhaps, because of that fact). and then the 5k took me just over 25 minutes, an 8:04 min/mile pace. i could definitely have gone harder on the run, i now realize, but am just really glad to have the experience under my belt.

i admit that i'm a little more intimidated about doing the longer aquathon now -- a longer swim (one mile), and then a 10k on sand. yikes. but at least i now have a bit of a sense of what i'm in for.

fargo marathon

2010-06-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

fargo, ND
may 22, 2010

well, the fargo marathon now has the distinction of being the first and only (so far, anyway) marathon for which i have managed to oversleep! i was supposed to get up at 5:30 a.m., and instead woke with a start at 6:00. now don't get me wrong: oversleeping is a major part of my life. but never when it comes to races. fortunately, i had gotten all of my gear ready the night before, and so even though i only had ten minutes to make/drink a cup of coffee, take a shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast, i managed to make it downstairs only a couple of minutes late for my planned 6:10 meet-up in the hotel lobby with joan. i guess practice makes perfect, and i am well rehearsed in the art of running late in the morning.

the nice folks at the fargo hilton garden inn were kind enough to drive us over to the shuttle pick-up spot at the west acres mall, which was only about 1/3 of a mile away ... but it was cold and drizzly out. we'd been expecting "the hottest fargo marathon on record," per all of the local news and weather reports, so were sort of relieved. until, that is, we got to the shuttle spot and waited for about 40 minutes in what was soon pouring rain. fortunately we had a covered area in which to wait, but the shuttle system was a total disaster, and it took for-freakin-EVER to get over to the fargodome. as we boarded our bus, joan overheard our shuttle driver calling in to someone with the news that her brake light was on, and it wouldn't stop beeping -- so we just held on tight for our rainy ride in The Death Bus. joan's start (the half-marathon) was at 7:30 a.m., and we didn't pull in until right at 7:30. we ran to the porta-potty where joan shed her outer layers, and then she took off for her start, crossing the start line about 7 minutes behind the gun.

the full marathon started at 8:00, so i went inside the fargodome to stay as dry as possible during my ~20 minute wait. i checked my bag and got my whole situation in order, and headed to the start -- where they played "o canada" before our national anthem, which was sweet (there were about 900 canadians running). the gun went off on time, and i was about 3 minutes behind it. as i crossed the start line, i got myself some "high fives" from the beautifully-moustached governor of north dakota, john hoeven, and his lovely wife. i guess i got distracted by that ample moustache, because apparently i never re-set my watch. somewhere around mile 1 i realized that i had just re-started my previous workout instead of starting a new one. ah, well. i re-set it then, lowered my visor down on my forehead (it was really pouring by now ...), and got to work. my goal was to finish in 4:27, which i knew would be challenging, but felt realistic -- requiring an average pace of 10:11/mile.

around mile 3.5, i got my first view of the red river, which just a few weeks prior was threatening to flood the city of fargo (again). it was still raining, but had definitely let up. by mile 5, it had pretty much slowed to a drizzle.

the 8th mile was, for some reason, a really tough one for me. we had just crossed back over the red river via the iconic veterans memorial bridge, and started on a long straight-away that led away from the downtown area. the rain had stopped and in fact the sun had come out around mile 7 and it was already hot! with still-wet clothes and shoes, it was a little miserable and i just got completely psyched out at the thought of "18 to go." these are the kind of thoughts i usually start to have around mile 16 ... so then i started getting psyched out about getting psyched out ... and it was way too early for all of this nonsense. but i maintained my pace, and thought about joan (who would be finishing the half shortly), and how i'd be seeing everyone in another hour or so.

and then the wind started. the first really strong gust that i felt hit me on mile 12. not even halfway done. we'd been reading about the 25 mph winds that were predicted, but i was kind of hoping that, since the forecasters hadn't seen the rain coming, that perhaps they were wrong about the wind, too. they weren't. by mile 13 i was still on pace (my time at the half was 2:12:34), and was starting to work myself out of the "psych out." we'd arranged for marc, super, and joan to meet me around mile 15, and as i came around a corner i could see a green t-shirt off in the distance. hooray! i stopped to stretch and chat for a bit (tight, tight hamstrings!), and just talking about the fact that i had started to freak out kind of made it all go away. i ran away feeling strong and energized.

i honestly don't remember much about what happened between 15 and 20, where i saw my friends again. i had maintained my goal pace, but knew i was starting to break down as i approached that 20-mile mark, that i wasn't going to be able to maintain it. passing the third relay exchange at this point was really hard, because the full marathoners are only 3/4 done and are friggin' tired, and suddenly we're inundated with all of these fresh and fast 4th-leggers! running wet for so long had caused some pretty uncomfortable thigh chaffe (delightful, i know), so i was looking forward to getting some lube from my backpack when i saw them. alas, marc had forgotten to bring the backpack, and had left it in the car. sucka! but they hauled ass and caught back up to me around mile 21, so i stopped for a bit to stretch and apply some ointment. this stop officially got me off-pace, and i knew i wasn't going to be able to make it back up. i really just didn't have much left, but hoped i could maybe just maintain my pace and finish only about a minute off-pace.

this point of the course (miles 21-23) was a lovely tree-lined residential area that provided a welcome reprieve from the winds, which had gotten pretty serious (25-30 mph). by mile 23 i was pretty well broken down, and my pace had slowed significantly -- but i'm happy to report that i never had to stop and walk! i just kept my head down (literally. the wind was blowing dirt on us, so it helped keep the dust out of my eyes) and plugged along. it felt good to occasionally still be passing runners at this point along the course, being all too familiar with what it feels like to be barely moving in those final miles. when we got back into the downtown area, i noticed that the fargo theater (which was playing the movie "iron man 2") had changed their marquee to read FARGO MARATHONERS ARE IRON MEN 2, which was cute. we passed it again later that day, and it didn't say that anymore. but i'm pretty sure i didn't hallucinate it. i'm just not that clever.

the rest of the race was just plain slow, but i kept on keepin' on, and eventually caught a nice gusting tailwind when i reached the fargodome. we turned that final corner, and entered the dome for the big finish which was playing on the jumbo-tron inside. that was a first! i pushed it in to the greatest extent possible, and was stoked to hear my name being called, first by the race announcer and then by marc, super and joan, who were up in the stands.

my official time was 4:30:01 -- three minutes slower than i'd hoped (average 10:19 min/miles overall). it's always disappointing to miss a goal, but considering the conditions, i'm trying to just give myself a break.

the folks of fargo just couldn't have been lovelier. we had a really fun long weekend in town (see the photos here), and they were the nicest race volunteers and crowds that i can remember anywhere. sweet little families camped out at the ends of their driveways banging pots and pans, spraying us with hoses, and thanking us for "running fargo."

y'ah welcome, fargo!

2010-04-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

well, shoot. lost track again. i've been pretty faithful to my training program, though, if not to this blog.

getting to the gym for twice-weekly weights/x-training has been really tough lately, but with some minor modifications to the schedule i've been getting close to doing what i'm supposed to be doing. my interval workouts have been good (did the last two on fiesta island), but are definitely getting tougher as the program goes along. last week, i couldn't make my goal pace for the last 800m to save my life, but overall i think i've been on target. i've been working on fitting tempo runs into my work week a little better, but it's still a huge challenge. last week, i only had time to do 3 (had to do them on the treadmill, because i didn't have any daylight hours to get in the entire 6), but the two weeks prior to that, i did the full 8 and 6 that were planned, and they went well.

the long runs have been good, until this last one. i did a great 13 @ 9:54s (goal was 9:59s), my first long run in probably several years that had me back under 10 minute miles. woo hoo! then last weekend i was in sacramento, and i ran on the american river bike path. a really fun and scenic 18 @ 10:10s (goal was 10:14s). so i was feeling pretty strong and confident going into this past saturday's 20, but i missed my goal (10:14s) ... by a lot. first of all, i thought my goal was 10:19s, so that's what i was aiming for out there. but i didn't make that mark, either! it was a really fun train run, perfect weather, with joan riding along side for many of the early miles up in oceanside and carlsbad. but the hills in the second half (encinitas and cardiff) really killed me and i slowed way down. i finished with an overall average of 10:22s, which was discouraging. especially since i will be in new mexico for my next 20-miler, and i know that altitude's gonna slow me waaay down. so i'm really banking on a strong final long run the week of 4/26, to get me psyched up and feeling confident for fargo again.

shake it off. shake it off.

purple shoes: ~449

orange shoes: ~300

2010-03-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

woops, realized i haven't been logging any of the cross-training so far this season. i'm sticking pretty faithfully to the F.I.R.S.T. 3+2 program, which includes two cross-training sessions weekly in addition to the three key runs. i usually swim once a week (20-30 min, usually intervals), bike once a week (30-45 min, usually intervals), and lift weights twice a week.

this was a brutal work week, just logged some really long days and my training unfortunately suffered. monday and tuesday i just couldn't get anything in, but wednesday i did a good morning weights (upper body) session and swam for 20 min, and then did a short speed workout that evening (3.5 miles). thursday i did weights (lower body) and rode the stationery bike (35 min), but then on friday my work day got away from me again and i missed my 6-mile tempo run. so, i decided to just do my long run on saturday, hope for the best, and try to get back on track next week.

it was a 20-miler, and i was on call, so i had to do it out at the miramar reservoir which is five miles around, so that i'd never be more than about a 25 minute run back to my car in the event that i got a call (i didn't!). my goal was to do the 20 miles with an average pace of 10:29, and i finished it with an average of 10:24! it felt tough; it was a tiring week and i felt it out there. but i didn't wuss out on myself, and for that i am really proud. i took care to get a lot of sleep thursday and friday nights, and was well-nourished and hydrated, so i think that went a long way to overcome the missed workouts and overall (mental) fatigue.

today i got up and went to my favorite sunday morning pilates class, which i'm making about once a month these days. great, as always, although the instructor went a little heavier on the legs today than usual (she's usually more focused on core and upper body), which i was definitely feeling post-20 this morning. hope to get back there more often. love it.

purple shoes: ~390

orange shoes: ~300

2010-03-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

Thursday I very nearly got in the full 6 mile tempo run that I'd planned. I had to run mid-day between a full day of appointments, but got in a great 5.5 in the park, the middle 3 of which averaged 8:38 min/miles (goal was 8:44).

And I just finished RULING today's 18 miles! The pace for today's run was 10:29s (with training goal now re-calibrated for a 4:15 finish in Fargo), and I did them out on the Strand in easy(ish) 10:19s! Finished feeling like I could definitely have tacked on the final 8.2 if I had to today. Such an awesome feeling. Now I have the next 11 weeks just to get stronger and faster. Haven't felt such confidence in my running since ... I don't know when.

2010-03-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

I can't even remember the last time I posted to this journal (submitting this via the Blackberry, so I can't see! aaah, technology ...), but I've had some pretty kick-ass runs lately, so I figure I'd better get these down for posterity.

Currently in Week 5 of training for the Fargo Marathon (5/22), and it's going better than expected. When I began, I was aiming for a 4:20 finish time, but after four pretty strong weeks, finishing all of my workouts faster than my goals, I'm upping that (downing that?) to a 4:15. Rock on.

First four long runs (13, 15, 17, and 20) have been solid, making goal pace pretty easily. Now that I'm changing the plan, they'll get a bit tougher, though. Tempo runs are consistently hard to fit in to my workdays, and although I haven't missed any completely, I've had to shorten 3 of the 4 so far. Days are getting longer, though, so I hope that issue will resolve. My speed workouts have been great fun. Last week we discovered that Norma will run around a track with me, off-leash, through an entire 5+ mile set of intervals. The coolest ever.

I did this Sunday's 20 miles averaging 10:30s, and felt remarkably well afterward. Today I had to get up with the sun to get in my speed workout in the park, and it was awesome. 3 x mile repeats with 1 minute rest intervals, averaged 8:08s (goal was 8:11s). Five miles total, felt really strong. My legs are still a bit stiff from Sunday, though. I suspect I'll feel this one tomorrow.

california international marathon

2009-12-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

sacramento, CA
december 6, 2009

got up at 4:00 a.m. to eat breakfast and shower before everett picked me up at 4:30 to drive to the red lion sacramento inn, where i'd catch my bus to folsom. this was my earliest-ever wake-up for a marathon, and was soon to be followed by my coldest-ever start. unfortunately, these were the only personal records that were going to be broken that day ...

it's always sort of fun to be up at ridiculous hours like that in the dark, once i've gained consciousness. steph and scott had stayed the night at mom's, too, and were up waving goodbye from the front porch as we drove away. so cool. everett, bless his soul, had a hot cup of joe waiting for me in the car, which made everything okay. after an hour long and uncomfortably cold bus ride to folsom (it always amazes me to drive 26 miles -- believe it or not, it makes it feel far longer than it feels to run it), i arrived to the start in folsom around 6:25. after a 25 minute wait in line for the porta-potty (and please keep in mind that it was 27-28 degrees out ...), i had just ten minutes to get myself situated, drop off my bag, and get to the start. my fingers were so cold i could hardly get safety pins pinned or zippers zipped, but they started blasting some jackson 5, and all became right in the world. it wasn't a wave start (7,000 full marathon runners, and about 1,000 first-leg relayers), so i just looked around at the crowd to assess where i fit in, and took my place. at this point, i was really expecting for this race to go badly, but i was so freakin' cold that i didn't care one bit. i just wanted to start running. i started the race in shorts with my throw-away thrift-store sweatpants on over them, a long-sleeved t-shirt over my regular t-shirt, gloves, and a knit cap. i expected to shed most of this stuff early on, but was surprised at how cold it stayed throughout the race.

i have never experienced running on numb feet before, and it was downright unpleasant. i make a point to buy shoes that have a well-ventilated toe box, because i am so prone to cramping and discomfort in my toes - and very rarely run in wet weather. but on sunday, it was definitely working against me. i had nearly no warmth or protection from my shoes, and could actually feel the cold winds blowing in my feet. ugh. it wasn't until mile 3 or 4 that i began to feel my feet again. but come to think of it -- i had less toe pain in this race than i've had in a long time, so perhaps numbing them at the start with below-freezing temperatures actually worked in my favor.

my goal for this race was to maintain an average of 10:30 min/mile pace throughout, and finish in 4:36. this would be three full minutes slower than my last race, but i knew that my training this time around had been basically garbage and, in fact, thought i was being ambitious at that. i prepared my family (who would be meeting me at various points along the course) with times that ranged between a 4:36-4:45 finish, thinking that 4:45 was probably more realistic. i was running 10:00 miles for the first few miles, figuring it was early enough in the race (and cold enough ... and downhill enough) that i was safe to bank up a little bit of time. my aunt and grandma were planning to meet me around mile 3.5-4, and i hoped to be able to stop and chat for a few seconds without getting too far off track. somewhere around mile 3 i heard my name being called from behind me, and there was krista! she was running the first leg on a four-person relay, and i couldn't believe our good luck to run into one another on the course. we ran the rest of her leg together (through mile 6), which was a little bit faster than i'd planned on, but still manageable. i figured i'd just slow myself back down after she left the course, which worked out well. i did eventually spot cheryl around mile 4, with a really sweet sign! it was too cold out there for grandma (still in the low 30s, i'd guess), so i blew her a big kiss and asked her to give grandma my love and kept on truckin'.

after mile 6, i was still in parts unknown to me of orangevale/citrus heights, and it would be a few more miles before i got my bearings. but i knew i'd be seeing george and julie around mile 11 or 12 in fair oaks, so i just put my head down and kept on moving. this is a challenging part of the marathon to me -- it's still so early, and so easy to get overconfident. i fought to keep my pace slow enough, and did a pretty good job of maintaining a ~10:15-10:30 min/mile pace during these few miles. i couldn't believe i was still cold enough to need all of these layers of clothes! when i finally spotted them on fair oaks blvd., i decided that even though i wasn't totally warmed up yet, it would be a good spot to shed my sweatpants (since julie could keep them until i saw her later in the week). so, i chatted with them for a few seconds while i stripped, and was back off on the road. it is amazing to me that they were out standing in this cold to cheer us on. it was probably just above freezing at this point, and poor little carson was screaming his head off. it just couldn't have been a fun morning. what friends.

at this point, i was starting to feel some fatigue, but it was more mental than physical, rooted in a fear of my poor training and what might be ahead. i knew i was going to be seeing my family around mile 14 at carmichael park, and this was really encouraging. passing the half-way mark was fun, and when i crossed my watch read 2:18. if i maintained an even pace for the rest of the race, i'd make my goal of 4:36, which was a great thought. but in reality, i have never maintained an even pace throughout a marathon. so, i figured i was probably on track at this point for a 4:40-4:42 finish, which was solid. i spotted everyone in carmichael park (marc, mom, everett, steph, scott, and becky -- i had outfitted them all in bright green scarves, so they were easy to spot!), and stopped for about a minute to get a refill on my honey packets and salt pills which i'd left with marc, and to stretch and chat for a bit. it was still so freakin' cold out, i couldn't believe it (my honey was actually semi-solid, it was that cold!). it's hard to imagine that they'd all been standing out in that as long as they had. the wind was blowing, which probably made it feel more like mid-20s than the mid-30s that it actually was at that point. i kept my knit cap and long sleeved shirt on, and away i went.

the next six miles (until i knew i'd see them again at mile 20) were definitely the loneliest stretch. i know that my personal mental breakdown usually starts between miles 16-18, but i really wanted to fight it. i was running stronger than i'd expected to be running, and i decided i was going to give mental toughness a try this time around. i began drafting off of runners in front of me, using their pace and watching their feet to keep myself moving. i've never successfully used this strategy in a race before, but it really worked. somewhere around mile 16 i had settled in with a couple of women who were running about 9:50s. this was faster than i wanted to be running, but it felt good and i was enjoying the pace and rhythm of their feet so i just stuck it out. it was going great for about two miles, until suddenly one of them veered off to the right and puked in the bushes. i was not expecting this at all, and it sort of shook me up, but i just kept on moving. not long later, i realized that there was a guy in an orange shirt who was pacing with me -- and it became a whole new form of motivation. for some reason, i felt compelled not to let this perfect stranger down, so i made sure i kept my pace around 10:00 min/miles. i eventually lost him, which was a little bit satisfying, and by the time i got to mile 20, i realized that those six miles had flown by! i was actually early in my arrival at loehmann's plaza, where i'd planned to meet up with marc, becky, scott & steph. so ahead of schedule in fact, that steph was still in the porta-potty when i ran by. i will never forget scott pounding on the porta-potty to let steph know i was running by, and steph screaming from inside and eventually stumbling out (once i was well past), arms flailing. truly, one of my favorite marathoning memories of all time!

at this point, i was still feeling pretty good although i had the beginnings of a very large, very nasty cramp in my left hip/thigh coming on. for miles, i felt like it was going to seize up on me with every step, but somehow i held it at bay. and the fear of slowing down enough to let the cramp come on was incredibly motivating -- i didn't stop to walk throughout this entire marathon (with the exception of stopping at aid stations to drink/eat), and it's been a lot of years since that's happened. i definitely slowed down in the next five miles as my muscles tightened up and my stride got shorter - at times to an 11:00 min/mile pace. but i never got that whiny/whimpy feeling that i usually get in those mid-20 miles. i just really felt strong the whole time. somewhere around mile 21 i finally took off the knit cap, and the quick cooling from my wet hair in the cold air (it was probably high-30s or maybe low-40s by then) gave me a little boost of energy. it wasn't until mile 25 that i finally took off the long-sleeved shirt. the sun was finally shining on me in that last mile or so, which i ran at a 10:00 pace. i heard/saw marc and becky yelling for me along the finisher's chute, tossed them my shirt, and then cranked it in for a strong finish. they announced my name when i was maybe 50 feet from the finish; krista was in the melee watching for the final leg of her relay team, so she knew i was coming and started yelling for me and i spotted her. so cool.

my finish time was 4:35:25. a negative split! this is the first time i've ever run the second half of a marathon faster than the first. although i didn't train very effectively this summer/fall, some kind of magic happened out there on sunday. the support of so many friends and family out there (and rooting for me from back home) was invaluable, it was fun to run through familiar territory, and the cold weather was ultimately probably of tremendous benefit. i wasn't expecting much from this race (personally), but the atmospherics the CIM made all of the difference.

2009-11-14T23:04:00.000-08:00

Another frustrating run today, and as this was my last long run in preparation for CIM, I am feeling discouraged. Had to run super early because I had an early afternoon flight (to Oakland), and although my route was really enjoyable (from home, through Mission Hills, Old Town, then river bike path to the bay, north on the boardwalk to just past Crystal Pier -- then turned around and went back home), I was whooped by about mile 14. Brutal. Then there's the Old Town/Presidio hill at mile 17, which nearly killed me. In total, my average pace was nearly 11 min/mile (goal was 10:10 -- yikes). So I think I'm looking at a pretty slow marathon next month. Boo ...

Thinking of Joan, who is running San Antonio Half tomorrow and has come down with a flu. Healing thoughts, friend.

2009-11-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Fail. Too much to do this a.m. to run first thing, ran out of time after work and before dinner. I did 3 fast miles around Liberty Station after work, though (orange shoes). Felt good, wish I could have run longer.

2009-11-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

Late night weights at the gym, 20 min of rowing, 20 min on stationary bike. Yawning through the whole workout, but darn if I didn't finish it. Let's see how 8 goes tomorrow ...

2009-11-10T20:09:00.002-08:00

wow, that mobile blogging's pretty cool! i think that will help, to just be able to send my post right from wherever i am, after my workout. in the meantime, i've got 4-5 weeks of workouts to log here, and instead of going into any detail (since i don't really remember much) i'll just refer to the workouts in my garmin log. it's been a pretty crappy few weeks, several skipped workouts and no really oustanding runs. i'm less than four weeks from the CIM at this point, and it's not looking good for me to have a very fast race. but hey ... it will definitely be fun!

sunday october 11: 12.5 miles at lake miramar (was supposed to be 15, but after about 10 i knew i wasn't feeling strong and decided to cut it short)

tuesday october 13: morning speed workout in balboa park. 1 mile @ 8:04 min/mile pace, 2 miles @ 8:44 pace, and then three x 1/2 mile @ 8:15 and 8:36, with 1/4 mile rest intervals in between. total 7 miles.

thursday october 15: short 3 miles along friars road/river route @ 9:02 min/mile pace. i must have been squeezing this into a busy work day, probably also did weights and/or x-training at the Y ... ?

i got sick on the 16th, had to skip my long run that weekend. supposed to be a 20-miler. ouch.

tuesday october 20: late afternoon speed workout on mission bay. four x 3/4 mile repeats @ 8:23 min/mile pace, 8:18, 8:07, and 8:04, with 1/4 mile rest intervals in between. total 5 miles.

skipped my tempo run that week ... don't remember why ...

sunday october 25: really slow 13 mile run in p.b./mission bay. 11:23 average min/mile pace; the first 9 were @ 9:50, but then i lost it. it looks like i walked quite a lot of the last four.

no run the entire next week. my left hamstring was really hurting after that 13 mile run (it's been "popping" on me, and is tender), so i just cross-trained.

sunday november 1: slow and difficult 20 mile run on coronado. 11:39 average min/mile pace. uuuggghhh ... first half was decent (averaged 10:25, which was my goal pace for the entire run), but the second half was a complete wreck. could hardly sleep that night for the pain in my legs and feet.

tuesday november 4: had to do an abbreviated speed workout early in the morning at the park. mile repeats -- only had time to do two, @ 8:14 and 8:24 min/mile pace, with 1/4 mile rest interval between. ran four miles total, hips and hamstrings are really stiff and painful.

skipped tempo run again that week, just couldn't work it in to my week. very frustrating.

sunday november 8: did a fun 14.5 with rene out on mission bay (goal was 15; my hips were really aching), averaged 10:12 min/mile. managed to very nearly make my goal pace. i felt great after this run, compared to last week's 20. encouraging.

tuesday november 10 (today): speed workout in the park - in the dark - after work this evening. i had to be finished by 6pm, so i could only do half of the 1/4 mile repeats i was suposed to. that seems to have been the story of this whole training period -- trying to just squeeze it in and not quite making it, rather than the level of commitment i really needed to make. did five x 1/4 mile repeats at 8:53 min/mile pace, 8:35, 7:59, 8:10, and 8:26, with 1/4 mile rest intervals in between. four miles total, felt good. thursday's going to be another challenge, to get in my 8-mile tempo run.

there's also been lots of cross-training (swimming and stationary biking) and a little bit of weights sprinkled in and around these runs over the past several weeks, but it's not worth my trouble to re-create it.

orange shoes: 267
purple shoes: 91

will mobile blogging help?

2009-11-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

It's been over a month since I've made an entry on my running blog; fallen off the journaling wagon again! So I'm going to try to see if getting this blog set up for mobile blogging might help me stay on top of it better. Let's see how this first try works ...

2009-10-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

thursday i got up in the dark to run before we caught our flight to philadelphia, which is always hard for me to do. i was scheduled to run 8 miles, but only had time to do 5. they were good, though, with the middle 3 run at 9:10 pace, on target.

saturday sarah, julie and i went for a run on the delaware river -- so lovely. sarah did the first 3.5 with us and then we dropped her back off at the b&b, and julie and i ran the second half; overall, we averaged a 10:25 pace. it was slow and really pleasant, although it was my first run in the new purple asics and i didn't have my metatarsal pads put in yet which was a bad idea. the toe pain was back, for the first time in months. but o' to run in that cool misty autumn weather with the river in view all along. mmm.

today i went out to mission bay to do my intervals after work, my first run in san diego's recently cooled-down fall weather. it was mid-60s, so so perfect, and definitely made a difference in my speed. i did 2 sets of 6 x 400ms, all between 7:55-8:20 min/mile pace (goal was 8:18 for all). total mileage was 6.5, and it felt great.

(pink shoes are officially retired -- thanks, pink shoes!)
orange shoes: 260
purple shoes: 14

2009-09-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

took a day of rest yesterday (monday), and - surprisingly - wasn't too terribly sore from sunday's run. today i went out to the park after work, and did a pretty good interval workout. i did 6 x 800ms with 90 second rest in between. i should have been running them at just under an 8:00 min/mile pace, and didn't quite make that. but at least i completed them all at a good clip, without any of the crapping out i've been experiencing the past couple of weeks. felt good, and i'm sure the cooling of the weather has really helped. unfortunately, i've been really achy and stiff this evening, since getting home from my run. i got my flu shot yesterday, and i suppose it's possible it's from that -- but i suspect it's just general tightness from the run.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 495

2009-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

i got talked back into another pair of my asics after all -- they just feel better than any other shoe, and the movin' shoes guys convinced me that if it ain't broke, i ought not to fix it. done and done. cute crispy new purple pair on the shelf, ready to get broken in. just a couple of more runs left in the pink shoes, and then i'll start an orange/purple rotation.

saturday i did some catching up, with a nice weights session, and then 20 fairly easy minutes of swimming at the Y.

yesterday was my first attempt at a 20 miler of the season. as with last weekend's long run, the first 13 went beautifully (averaged 10:30 min/mile pace, which was my goal), and then i lost it. it was, however, a remarkably beautiful run - i did the silver strand, and hadn't been all the way south to imperial beach in years. the preserve is really gorgeous, and kept me good company during those tough middle miles. my gps battery died late in the run, but i know it wasn't going well those last few miles - i was run/walking, and barely running at that! i believe the entire run took about 3:37 (my goal was 3:30).

an important lesson was learned yesterday, and that is that my days of running 20 miles without proper nutrition, hydration, and adequate rest and sleep the day/night before are officially OVER. we decided last minute on saturday night to go out to a nice dinner, where i ate a steak, drank a martini and a glass of wine, and stayed up later than i'd planned. there was definitely a time i could pull that off, but no more.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 489

2009-09-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

still not running as fast as i feel like i should be, but i've been doing some reading about running in heat, and suspect that when things cool down, my times may get back down where i think they ought to be. hope so!?

took monday as a day of rest, and meant to cross-train and do weights on tuesday -- but unfortunately never made it. wednesday i did an intervals workout in the park that pretty well sucked -- i was trying to do 2 x 1200s and 4 x 800s, but it sort of fell apart. i did two of each distance, but only a couple of them were at goal times. overall, the run was 4.6 miles, at an average pace of 10:55 (lots of walking). i just got hot and exhausted, no two ways about it.

thursday i swam at the Y, doing two of the buildups workout (1 length fast, 1 length easy; 2 lengths fast, 2 lengths easy; 3 lengths fast, 3 lengths easy; 2 lengths fast, 2 lengths easy; 1 length fast, 1 length easy). felt good, wished i had time to do some weights - feel like i need it.

today (friday) i did my tempo run in the park, and it was closer to a decent run than i've had in a while, but still no cigar. my goal was 6 miles with 5 @ 8:58. i did 4 @ 9:03, but at the 5 mile mark i was tired, so i did the last mile slow (9:40). hamstrings felt TIGHT first couple of miles; i think i need to spend some time working on those.

joined the tri club of san diego this week ... looking forward to jumping in to some group runs and swims, hopefully i can make one next week! super excited about this.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 469

went to SDRI yesterday, wanting to try on the new model of new balance - but they don't carry them, so i need to find them someplace else. the review in runner's world makes them seem like a pretty good fit for me, and i'm feeling like it's ready to move away from the same model of asics i've been in for 5+ years now.

2009-09-20T13:45:00.001-07:00

yikes, way behind in updating my training journal. i'll do my best to re-create the last couple of weeks ...

sat 9/5 (labor day weekend): up early, did a slow 7 - averaged 10:25 min/mile. this was supposed to be a tempo run with middle 5 miles at 8:23 min/mile pace -- they were actually 10:05s. honestly, can't remember exactly what happened out there that day. sunday was day of rest in preparation for long run on monday.

mon 9/7: 16.5 mile run (averaged 10:20 pace) that started at the la jolla cove, wound through pacific beach to mission bay, and then back. i met up with sarah and michael (who were in town from NYC) at crystal pier, and they ran the last five miles back to the cove with me -- they're training for their first 10k (9/26), and totally rocked it out there. i was kind of dying the last few miles, but it was still really fun. afterward we changed into suits and went for a swim in the cove. love-love-lovely.

tues 9/8: only had time for a very quick trip to the gym after work, before dinner plans; did a quick 25 min ride on the stationery bike.

wed 9/9: did intervals in the park at dusk with joan -- so much fun! that woman kicks my ass, i can't believe how fast she is. we did about 7 miles altogether, including 5 x 1000m repeats (a nice loop around the fountain/natural history museum). my goal was to do them all at a 7:40 pace, but the quickest one i managed was a 7:50 pace. the rest were between 8:00 - 8:30. joan blasted them. really fun.

thurs 9/10: i was good and stiff from wednesday's workout, and did laps at the pool after work. ~1250m total, with some sprints mixed in.

fri 9/11: four quick miles in the morning before work, averaged 9:10 pace. flew to sacramento that evening, spent the weekend basically eating and drinking, got not even a moment of exercise. missed my long run -- which would have been my first 20 miler. feel okay about that, though. honestly didn't feel ready for 20 miles yet!

mon 9/14: joan and i were planning on an ocean swim after work, but the surf was a little heavy and we didn't feel brave enough, so we ran instead. ran from main lifeguard tower in del mar to the top of torrey pines hill and back (7 miles, i forgot to stop my watch so i don't know exactly what our pace was, but it was pretty slow overall). i felt okay going up the hill (slowly), but got really dizzy when we stopped at the top. i'd been having an odd experience all day, a very heavy and visible pulse in my abdomen, which creeped me out. then during our run, my ears started popping -- joan the nurse said both of these indicated dehydration. no surprise, really, after the weekend i'd had. these were new symptoms, though -- something to watch for.

tues 9/15 - fri 9/18: i totally flaked out on my workouts the whole rest of the week. this was a very busy week at work, with the planning and execution of our big 5th anniversary event on thursday evening. i didn't get a lot of sleep, and had very busy and physical days. sticking to my workouts would surely have helped me to manage the stress, but i simply couldn't make the time.

sat 9/19: i decided friday evening that i was going to do the train run on saturday, although i wasn't sure i was going to be able to get myself up early enough to catch the 6:45 am train in solana beach. but i woke up to that alarm really excited for the run, and made it! i met a super cool guy on the train (jim clement, who is 65 and has run several marathons in the past six years -- including FOUR bostons!!! it turned out that he, too, is training for CIM!), and we talked routes and training the whole way to oceanside. he was much faster than me, so we didn't even try to run together. i did two extra miles north of the station in oceanside, and then headed down toward solana beach. the first 13 went great, averaging a 10:30 pace including walk breaks. the last 5 didn't go so well -- i got pretty tired, and averaged an 11:15 pace. overall, the 18 miles averaged out at 10:40, which wasn't too bad. my training program called for 10:20s, so i'm still not quite where i want to be. but it was a super fun run, and i couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. when i got back to the solana beach station, jim had already been there for 25 minutes. what a bad ass!

sun 9/20 (today): got up early (again ...) for my first roughwater swim, the powerhouse paddle in del mar. it was supposed to be a mile swim, but all of the experienced swimmers i talked to (including the guy who had told me about the race and WON THE WHOLE THING!) said it was longer. some said 1.5, some said 1.75. i sure don't know, but it took me 36 minutes, which is really slow -- i was one of the last ones in, out of about 150 swimmers. getting through the breaks was really an experience, but i loved the race. i can't wait to register for another one, and get better at ocean swimming. it was a perfectly gorgeous day in del mar, and i spent the whole rest of the morning watching the paddlers and stand-up paddleboarders racing, which was great fun.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 458

2009-09-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

awesome workout in the pool after work today -- with marc! (i ask him weekly if he'll come swim with me, and weekly he refuses. but for some reason, today he said yes!) he got held up at work, so i lifted some light weights for about 15 minutes before he got there, and then we hit the lanes. i did 5 sets of 8 lengths swim + 2 lengths kicking, with one minute rest in between, and then a few extra lengths of backstroke, breaststroke, and dolphin kicking. whew! totally fun, and i hope marc will come back someday.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 398

2009-09-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

intervals this morning were such garbage! ugh. i tried to do 1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, and 400m intervals at paces between 7:33-7:45 (w/200m rest intervals between), which i totally didn't pull off. i completely melted down in the middle of the second interval, and it didn't get better from there. the entire run was 5.5 miles, and i averaged a 10:55 pace overall -- which means LOTS of walking. i was probably not yet recovered from last night's workout at the pool, which was (fortunately) really fun. i did a cool drill with 1 length fast/1 slow; 2 lengths fast/2 slow; 3 lengths fast/3 slow; 2 lengths fast/2 slow; 1 length fast/1 slow. i did two sets of those with a minute rest in between, and then another 450m of drills. worked hard, and it felt good. but i was swimming late at night, and then tried to run this morning which was probably wasn't good timing.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 398

2009-08-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

i made a last-minute decision on friday to take a weekend surf clinic -- SO MUCH FUN! four hours of sun and water, and even a few good rides thrown in here and there. i pushed my long run out to today (monday), knowing that the surfing would exhaust me (which it did ...), and it worked out perfectly. i was out at mission bay at dawn today, and woke up to a cool and foggy morning - our first in weeks. after weeks of sunshine and a particularly hot and sunny weekend (that was perfect for the beach), it stayed overcast through my entire 15 miles this morning. miraculous! my goal pace was 10:06, and i averaged 10:04 overall and felt great.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 392

2009-08-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

yesterday i skipped my formal workout (swim & weights) and instead opted for an evening of surfing after work ... wow-eee. i can't remember the last time i surfed, but it's been years, and i am TERRIBLE. i rode a couple small ones all the way in, and really enjoyed being back up. but we were in too-tall (4'), too thick, and too frequent waves for my first time back, and it was brutal out there. i got pretty banged around, but it was pure joy nonetheless. i'm definitely going to go back out on the next slow, flat day that i can find. it was awesome.

i am SORE today in all manner of strange places, and my knees are brutalized (no, one does not normally spend a lot of time on one's knees when surfing ... but i certainly do ...). but i got out for my tempo run this evening nonetheless. i was planning on 7 miles, with the middle 5 @ 9:21 pace. i actually got in 6, with the middle 4 @ 9:11. not bad! i cut it short because i had a horrible stomach ache the whole time. but i managed to keep a good clip going, and i felt strong. if a little pukey.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 377

2009-08-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

still not quite feeling my oats, but headed back in the right direction. yesterday i went to the gym and did weights and then swam for about 30 minutes (missed class ... again ...). i was pretty tired in the pool, but it felt good to move my sore muscles around.

this morning i tried another interval workout out in the park. it went better than last week's 1600s, but still wasn't fantastic. i was shooting for 4 x 800m at a 7:36 min/mile pace, with 2 min rests in between. i actually did them in 7:59, 7:37, 8:11, and 8:14. so really, off by quite a lot. but it's warm and very muggy out, so i'm hoping that is also at play. i'm realizing how great it was last time to be doing intervals on a track, first thing in the morning (and in the spring!). cool and flat. all together, today's run was 5 miles at an overall average pace of 9:49 -- including the 15 min warm up, 10 min cool down, and the 2 min rest periods. a good, hard run.

time to put the metatarsal lifts/pads in my orange shoes and start them back in the rotation.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 371

2009-08-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

FAIL! i gave this week a decent shot, but it was pretty much garbage. week over.

i'd planned a long run of 13 miles this weekend (at 9:51 min/mile pace), but didn't think through my schedule well enough to pull it together intelligently. i went to all that trouble to run on thursday (at the end of a ridiculous work day), thinking i needed friday to rest before a saturday long run. but late in the day friday realized i had a work event scheduled for all day saturday ... so my long run got moved to today (sunday). i didn't want to miss another weights/x-training session, so i went to the gym yesterday after my work event. good idea in concept, except a) i know darned well that i need a day of rest before a long run, and b) i did squats AND rode the bike, both of which i haven't done in a while. stupid, waking up new leg muscles the day before a long run. what i should have done (if anything at all) was a light weight session and maybe 30 minutes in the pool. i woke up this morning (slept in, by the way, strike THREE on a hot and humid morning), and my legs were stiff and sore. i was in no condition to do 13, and by about mile 6 i'd given up and decided to cut it short. i did the first six averaging 9:45 min/miles, and then walked/ran 3 more, averaging 11:05.

so, let's give this another go, shall we? like so much a chronic dieter ... week 2 of training starts tomorrow. :-)

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 364

2009-08-20T21:28:00.001-07:00

i planned a six mile run this evening (2 easy, 2 @ 8:23, 2 easy), but our board meeting ran long (marking the end of a 13 hour work day ...), and i really wanted to get home so i cut it short to just over three (1/2m easy, 2 fast, 1/2m easy). my gps was being odd, no matter how fast i ran i couldn't get it to read under 9:00. it was definitely a challenging run, because it was dark and i was on pretty poorly lit and uneven sidewalks, but i KNOW i wasn't running that slow. when i slowed back down after my fast two miles, the screen was reading the same paces ... ? anyway, i'm pretty sure i did about 3.5 miles, and that those two middle miles + were definitley not slower than an 8:40 pace. felt good, wish i had time to do the full 6. ah, well.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 355

2009-08-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

worked too late to make it to swim class tonight (ugh), but i got out to the pool at the MV Y tonight instead, and did a 1300m workout. i did a timed 500m swim, but realized tonight that the MV Y's pool is 25 meters long -- the TW Y's pool is 25 yards long ... so what i thought were time 500m swims last week were actually timed 457m swims! my most recent one (last week) took10:30, which works out to 0.73 m/sec. today's 500m swim (a full, actual 500m!) took 11:34, which works out to 0.72 m/sec. so i swam a full a minute longer but maintained the same pace. looks like the week "off" didn't affect my swimming as much as my running.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 351

2009-08-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

unfortunately my energy level just never picked up last week, and - again - i just couldn't muster the energy for a run on saturday. OR sunday. and then i skipped swim class yesterday (monday), came home and just dropped into bed. last week was an intense week at work, and then i put in some really long hours over the weekend, too. there was definitely a hormonal/cyclical element at play, too, but at its core i think it was a good old fashioned breakdown. it's time to start getting psyched up for training for CIM, and i think i was just needing to hole up for a little while first. but today, i woke up (after ten hours of sleep ... aaahhh) feeling much better, and hit the roads. i attempted mile repeats (3 @ 7:52 pace with 1 min breaks was my goal), but i definitely wasn't up for it quite yet. i did the three miles (with 90 second rests in between) in 7:50, 8:25, and 8:40. just wasn't happening today! but it still felt good to be out there again. after work, joan came over and we did some stand up paddling on mission bay, about 4 miles or so, which was really nice.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 351

2009-08-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

busy week at work (yay!), but unfortunately that (in combination with the good old hormonal cycle) has really been zapping my energy this week. yesterday, i simply couldn't muster the energy for my run, and skipped it. can't remember the last time that happened - it's been months. but i'm not feeling bad about it. sometimes your body's telling you to just give it a rest. i forgot to write about monday's swim -- class was canceled (a girl had thrown up in the pool earlier in the day ....), so i swam on my own, about 1250m. i did another timed 500m, to see how i'd do, and finished in 10:34 -- 15 seconds faster than last week.

on wednesday, i did a moderate weights session, and had swim class. i think we probably only swam about 800m, but it was a gnarly hard class that included the timed 500m (i finished in 10:30), and underwater swim drills that blew my mind. we PUSHED A BRICK along the bottom of the pool, for two lengths (with a good rest in between). this is to increase lung capacity, and man it was rough. but what a great drill! i would definitely do that again.

thursday i crapped out, as i mentioned above. today i was planning to surf after work, but my plans fell through. i figured maybe it was meant to be since i've been so fatigued, so i could rest up for a decent mid-distance "long" run tomorrow. think i'll go for 8 or 9, see how i feel in the morning. i'm on call this weekend, and just got a new blackberry, so i'm going to have to figure out how to run with that thing ... ?

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 347

2009-08-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

had to squeeze my run into my lunch hour today, pretty warm out! did 4 miles in the park (averaged pace was 9:35), including the 6th avenue hill. as i plugged away at it, i thought of all those badasses that will be out rocking that hill at the end of the AFC half-marathon on sunday ... go go GO!

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 347

2009-08-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

took my normal friday "day of rest," and then got up far too early on saturday for my long run. had to be on the road to orange county by 9, so i was out on the bay around 6:30 a.m., which was brutal. but my old running club happened to be at the same spot yesterday, so i ran into rene, which was a nice surprise. i did 8.5 miles, at a 9:20 pace, along mission bay. i did about a mile of it in the sand on some random trail i'd never seen before and decided to follow -- didn't know it was sand until it was too late. so that slowed me down considerably, but i still ran a good pace overall.

training for CIM will start next week ... going to take another lower mileage week in anticipation. hopefully going to throw some extra swims in. or maybe hit the surf.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 343

2009-08-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

second swim class last night, swam 1250m altogether. we did some drills, and our first timed 500m. the instructor will time us every class (there are six more classes), to see how we improve. i did my first in 10:49, felt fine. didn't have a sense of how fast i should swim it. i guess that was the point!

5.5 miles this morning, average 9:25 pace. realized what a difference technical materials really make today, because i wore a regular t-shirt (all my favorite running clothes are dirty ... huge laundry monster looming in our closet right now) and i felt like it was just trapping in all of my heat, on a warm and very humid morning. guess those manufacturers know what they're doing.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 335

2009-08-04T21:33:00.001-07:00

went for a brutally warm late afternoon run on mission bay today, 4 miles at 9:30 average pace. high 80s, and still shockingly humid. i did quarter-mile pick-ups over the last 1.5 miles, really fun. today i found myself telling someone that i'm going to run the california international marathon in december. funny, i hadn't yet totally convinced myself of it. at least, i didn't think i had ... ?

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 329

2009-08-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

a.m. pilates and then some stand-up paddleboarding on sunday ... the junk in this trunk got quite a workout. felt good yesterday, and feeling even better today. oh yah ... the obliques. i remember those.

i started next level of adult swim class at the Y tonight (level 3, the pre-requisite to join the masters swim team), which will run for the next 4 weeks. i can't believe the way i am swimming, truly. i smoked everyone in there! i'm starting to realize how much fun it is to actually be good at something. i've been running since i was 11, and while i've always been head over heels with it, i have NEVER been any good at it. it's something different altogether to blow past the person in the next lane (especially when it's a man). think i could get into that.

today sarah posted a facebook status that says she has fallen in love with running, and she blames me for it. couldn't be prouder.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 325

2009-08-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

did my first full mile open-water swim on thursday after work at the cove with rene. felt GREAT, with a 5-10 min rest at the half mile buoy. really fun! took friday off, my regular day of rest.

did 10 miles this morning on mission bay/fiesta island, and it was much better than last weekend's long run! even though i was running in the heat of the morning (i didn't get started 'til 10:00 am), i felt a lot stronger. the rest really makes a huge difference. averaged a 9:40 pace overall, and felt good.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 325

2009-07-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

yesterday i did a weights session at the gym, and then a short but challenging 1/2 mile workout in the pool. i threw some sprints in the middle of it, 5 x 50m all out, with 30 seconds in between. whew!

today i did an easy 6.5 mile run in the park - well, it should have been easy, but it's still really humid and i felt it. dripping by the end of the first mile, but i averaged a 9:55 pace. was planning to take it easy, around a 10:00 pace without any major hills or fast miles thrown in, since i'm going to be swimming at the cove after work today.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 315

2009-07-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

short 3.5 mile run this a.m. (didn't have time to run longer), but it included the mile long reynard hill, so it was a workout. averaged a 9:45 pace, which was pretty good considering that hill.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 309

2009-07-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

last monday, i went for a swim at the Y after work, did 1250m mostly freestyle, felt good.

tuesday i didn't have time to get in my planned run, so things got switched around for the week, and it became my day of rest.

wednesday i went for a 3.5 mile run at the Y after work, and then immediately showered and changed, and swam 1250m. my first "multi-sport" training day, and it was fun!

thursday i did a short weights session in the morning.

friday, ran 4.5 miles in the a.m., and then spent the evening stand up paddling in the lagoon with joan. we were thinking about maybe trying an ocean paddle, but an 8-foot swell came in! hopefully soon. still unbelievably fun.

saturday, i went to a new "fitness yoga" class at the Y, which was great. my hamstrings were really tight - i guess from the balancing required for the stand up paddling? felt good to get them stretched out. then joan called to see if i wanted to go out and paddle again, and i couldn't resist! spent another evening on the lagoon ... just too, too enjoyable.

turns out that my usual day of rest before a long run is not to be taken lightly. i got up early on sunday morning planning to do a 13-mile run on coronado (to coincide with becky's running of her first half-marathon in san francisco that morning), and i was just d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g. after 5 miles, i realized i wasn't going to snap out of it, so i decided to cut it short and turned around at 6 (i did 12 altogether, averaged a 10:08 pace). it was a warm and very drippy humid morning, but more than anything else i think i just wasn't sufficiently rested. lesson learned.

tonight i did my first full mile swim at the pool at the Y, with 500 m that were done nonstop. feeling pretty tired tonight; it was tough!

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 305

2009-07-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

thursday i did weights at the Y and then a very hot and sticky 6 miles from the Y out onto/around the bay (averaged 9:45 pace). wow-ee, it's summer. friday i took my day of rest.

saturday i had to be up and out early, so shifted my long run to sunday. went to the gym for a good weights workout in the late afternoon.

sunday i got up around 7, and was out on mission bay around 8:15 for 9 miles ... definitely should have been out sooner. before i took my first step, i was uncomfortably hot. it was a longer-than-usual feeling long run, and i was dogging by the end of it; walked a full quarter mile around 7.5, and averaged 10:10 pace overall. last night i tried stand up paddling out on the lagoon in carlsbad with joan, which was a really fun workout. not too strenuous, but took a lot of balancing that used some new ankle and calf muscles. surprisingly not too hard on the upper body ... thought it would be.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 285

2009-07-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

yep, no pain left in that left hip/glute. phew. did a 1500m swim at the Y tonight, which took about 45 min. getting a little more confident with the flip turns, and my three strokes seem very comfortable. still too chicken to practice the butterfly in public, though. i'm signed up for the adult level III (pre-masters) class, which will start first week of august, so i think i'm scrapping the fly until further instruction.

2009-07-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

last thursday i worked later than planned, and only had time to do 4 quick miles in the park before dinner (was planning on 7). so, i did another 3 on friday morning. i've gotten really used to not running two days in a row, and even though they were short runs, i could really it on friday, especially in my knees which felt a little achey. so, that seals it. my high-mileage/high-frequency running days are officially over! i'm definitely going to stick with running just 3 days/week -- as much as possible. friday after work, joan and i did a half mile swim out at the cove. FUN, FUN, FUN. definitely felt like we could have done more, but again, we were fitting in the workout before dinner plans (story of my life).

because i'd run on friday, i switched my long run to sunday, and went to a new pilates class on saturday morning. it was an intermediate class, and it was really different and felt good.

sunday morning i got up as early as i could muster and was out on mission bay by 8. not early enough, it turned out -- it was a HOT day! i got in 8 miles averaging at a 9:45 pace. i ran into rebecca, who was blading with the baby out there, so we did about 2 miles together, which was fun!

monday i went lap swimming at the Y after work. i swam for 35 mins, and (as best i can tell ... still not good at keeping count), swam 1050m.

this morning i did a hill workout, 4 x up and down the 6th ave hill (a 1/3 mile hill, between elm & juniper). 5 miles total, averaging 10:00 pace. not bad, considering the hills. have been feeling some pain in my left hip/glute muscle that i think is from saturday's pilates class. but by mile 3 today i noticed it was gone. hope it stays that way.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 270

2009-07-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

sunday, felt pretty stiff from the race on saturday. it's been a while since i ran that "fast" for any significant mileage, and i felt it. morning pilates felt particularly challenging and good.

monday night i went to the Y for my first "big girl" swim in the outdoor pool on my own, sans instruction. had to jump into a lane with two other guys swimming and do my thing. flip turns and all. i lost count of my distance; need to figure out a system for that. but i swam for about an hour, stopping for 30-60 seconds every 100 or 200m. felt good other than a cramp in my left foot that stuck with me for the last 10-15 minutes of the swim. it may just be that i swam more than my body was ready for ... not sure. anyway, it was really fun. found out last night that my friend amy is a former swimmer and has been looking to get back into it. AND she lives up the hill from my Y. so, i may have a new lap swimming partner soon!?

tuesday morning i got up super early and ran just over 5 miles in/around the park. my whole body felt super heavy, and i struggled to maintain a 9:35 pace. probably just not recovered from monday's swim. i need to learn my limits there. i know what running for an hour feels like, and how i'm going to feel afterward, the next day, etc., but swimming brings a whole new learning curve.

weights at the gym this evening (wednesday). skipped doing any cardio since i'm planning on an ocean swim on friday evening this week. YAY! can't wait to get back out there.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 245

coronado independence day 15k

2009-07-04T09:54:00.001-07:00

1:23:05 (9.5 miles @ 8:44 pace)

a GREAT race, although it was just about the most disorganized running event we've ever attended. marc ended up dropping me off so that i wouldn't miss the start and parking over a mile away, so he and norma didn't get to see me off. but i met up with rene and a few of the striders in time for the 7am start. the first mile was a disaster, we were really crowded running on a narrow little path; it took us 9:34. but after we rounded the foot of the bridge and got to the golf course, things opened up and i was able to get into my desired stride; my goal for this race was 1:23, an 8:54/mile pace. i ran the first half with rene, and then i picked it up a little, but she finished only a minute or two behind me. it was a great day for us both! it was a fun course out onto and around the naval amphib base, and then back to tidelands park, where it started. by mile 7, i knew i could have definitely been running faster than i'd paced myself. ah, well! i think i ran the last mile under an 8:00/mile pace - i felt really strong at the end, and very encouraged.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 240

2009-07-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

wednesday was the last day of swim class (although i confess to considering signing up for another four weeks ...), and it was an awesome workout. since most of us pretty much have the techniques down, our instructors just put us through a workout for this last session. we did 1250m, which is about 3/4 mile. a huge improvement in just four weeks, to be able to do that with nearly no stopping to rest. really fun.

yesterday morning i parked at the Y and did a fast 3-mile run in the valley before going into the gym for a weights workout. although i definitely still have some lingering respiratory issues (a little phlegm, a night time cough), i'm feeling pretty much back to normal. on the run i averaged about 9:00 miles, and felt noticeably stronger at the gym. feeling ready to get my mileage back to normal after a week of holding back to recover.

today i'm going to try to take a complete day of rest, but it's a holiday and it will be hard! i made a decision yesterday to do the independence day 15k on coronado with rene and some of the other striders -- really looking forward to that.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 230
(i absent-mindedly ran in my old-old shoes yesterday)

2009-06-30T21:12:00.001-07:00

went to swim class last night although i was still definitely down and out with this cold, but i took it pretty easy -- with the notable exception of 50m of (my best attempt at a) butterfly stroke ... yowza. so hard. i woke up today feeling better but still not well, and decided i'd just run three easy miles after work if i was feeling up to it. by the end of my work day, i was feeling much better, and had a really nice short run in the park, averaging a 9:35 pace. feeling really good this evening, hopeful that this thing has nearly run its course.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 230

2009-06-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

um, wow. turns out that ocean swimming is definitely for me -- just could not have enjoyed myself more out there. joan and i did a half mile at the la jolla cove after work on thursday, and i couldn't believe how comfortable it was. it would definitely take me some time to build up to swimming continuously that entire distance, but it's much more manageable than i'd guessed it would be, even after having run six miles that morning. there was lots of lollygagging to enjoy the view of the cliffs, look at the fish below, and of course catch our breath.

unfortunately, after the high of thursday, i came down sick on friday night with a little cold. nothing terrible, but pretty achey all over, especially my head, and a very sore throat. following the "neck rule," i took the day off on saturday and missed my planned long run and instead laid on the couch ALL DAY. today i just couldn't take it anymore, so i did get up and go to pilates this morning. i took it fairly easy, resting when i felt like i needed to, and then after running a couple of quick errands i spent the rest of the day on the couch -- again. feeling pretty good now, and hoping i'll be feeling close to normal again tomorrow. only two more swim classes to go, and i definitely don't want to miss them.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 227

2009-06-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

what a great week!

went back to pilates class on sunday, which is pretty strenuous and in my mind pretty much counts for a session of weights.

monday i had swim class, and we started learning the butterfly stroke -- brutal. the class was a good, hard workout!

tuesday marc, norma, and i went back out to fiesta island for another family run! so cool!!! did two miles with them at about a 9:35 pace, and then they went and played on the beach while i did another three. i did one at my BQ pace of 8:35, which was not nearly as hard as it used to be. a good five miles altogether.

yesterday (wednesday), i did weights in the morning at the gym, and then had swim class again last night. we spent a lot more time on the butterfly, which is just exhausting. i stayed after and did laps for about 15 minutes after class, and came home just totally wiped out. woke up twice in the night needing to drink an entire glass of water (twice!). guess i need to work on staying hydrated while swimming ...

this morning (thursday) i did an easy 6 mile run in the park (9:40 min/mile pace). i'm planning to go for a short ocean swim after work at la jolla cove. i'm really not sure how much i've got in me -- i don't have a lot of endurance as a swimmer yet, but i'm just looking forward to seeing how it feels out there!

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 227

2009-06-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

took my usual day of rest yesterday, friday. slept in this morning and ran some errands before my run, because it is a cold and misty day so i didn't need to try to beat the heat. a FUN change of pace today -- marc and norma joined me for the first two miles! we all drove out to fiesta island together, and ran the perimeter of the huge off-leash area. marc hung tough for the two miles, and norma was all over the place, dashing around on the beach into the water, playing on the hills, running in the grass -- she is a BIG fan of this new arrangement. we'll just have to see if marc comes back out with me ever again. i hope so ... it was really fun. they drove home, and i ran (plus a little bit in balboa park before heading home, to make it an even 9 miles). averaged a 9:46 pace, felt great. the laurel hill at mile 7 was pretty tough, as usual, but i was able to still keep a decent average pace overall.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 216

2009-06-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

becky was in town last weekend, and she's training for her first half-marathon! she needed to do 9 miles, which is more than i would have run on my own, but since we'd be running a 10:00 pace, i figured i could hack it. we ran at coronado, and it was really nice. a perfect cool and cloudy day, and it was the longest run becky had ever done -- it was pretty cool to be there with her! felt great all around, and i was surprised at how easy 9 miles has become.

sunday i went to pilates class for the first time at the hazard center y, which was challenging! really liked the class and the instructor. she was kind of bitchy and mean ... what does it mean that i enjoyed that?

monday i joined the "big kids" group in swim class, where they're working on the finer points of technique and building endurance. whew. quite a workout. i learned how to do flip turns that night, which was just about the coolest thing of all time. i really want to get that down. do i really need to do them? no, of course not. but it sure makes me feel like a badass. i decided that this week, since i've moved into a more challenging swim class, i wouldn't lift weights beforehand like i did last week.

tuesday i ran in the morning out on crown point, five miles at about a 9:30 pace. it was pretty flat until the last mile or so, when i did the ingraham bridges. i feel like i'm running really well right now, getting a little anxious to start trying to run faster. but i'm still not a month out from the marathon, so i'm still holding back.

yesterday (wednesday) was our fourth swim class, which is just getting more and more fun. we swam about 1000m, which isn't a lot -- but considering i've been swimming for less than two weeks, i think it's not bad. one thing that was cool was that we started racing one another and being timed doing different strokes for 25m. and i'm happy to say i'm one of the fastest women in the class -- i even beat one of the men! wuut?

today i ran five miles at la jolla shores in the morning, on the sand. i was pretty tired by the end of it, but i maintained my pace. the sand definitely slowed me down, but i think i still averaged around a 9:40 pace. a perfect, beautiful morning. and i can't believe i can just go out and run on the beach like that. what a dream.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 207

2009-06-11T21:36:00.001-07:00

oddly, i wasn't too sore on tuesday, but by wednesday it seemed to have really set in. swimming is definitely a shock to my body, but boy it feels good! loving it.

on tuesday i ran 4 miles in the park that evening, averaging about a 9:40 pace. on wednesday i did a morning weights workout at the gym, and then had swim class in the evening. after class, my instructor said i'm "a natural" in the pool and that he's moving me up to the next level next week. HEE-EEY! tonight i did another 4 miles after work, which included the long and difficult reynard hill in south mission hills. averaged about a 9:30 pace, and felt great.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 188

2009-06-08T22:05:00.001-07:00

i did two quick three mile runs on tuesday and thursday of last week, both back in balboa park again. i'd really missed running there regularly during the training season! i also went to the gym on wednesday, for a first post-marathon light weights session and 20 minutes on the stationary bike, which felt good. while there, i signed myself up for some adult swimming lessons -- level two, to learn proper technique and increase my endurance. i've decided to spend this summer getting stronger as a swimmer, which i think will keep me interested while also helping me become a better runner.

i was in sacramento for the weekend (made a surprise visit up, to cheer on krista and julie as they completed their first sprint triathlon, which was really awesome!), and spent my early sunday morning out running on the discovery bike path along the american river. it was a nostalgic and beautiful 7 mile run -- i saw deer, wild turkeys, and hardly a soul out there (even though it was a perfect morning). lots of fun.

today after work i did weights at the y before my 7:15 pm swimming class, which was great. i really enjoyed being in the pool, and am glad i signed up for these four weeks. i came home tired and hungry -- it's an entirely different kind of workout, and i suspect i'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow ...

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 180

2009-05-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

i've enjoyed a nice week of some well-earned rest and recovery! and so has norma. i've had a lot more time and energy for long walks without all of the training (my program calls for no running or weight training for a week after the marathon), so she's been getting lots of extra walking and hiking this week, which will hopefully help burn off a little of that sausage belly. =) it was a pretty good recovery; i was fairly stiff and sore on monday, but didn't have any trouble cruising around milwaukee sightseeing or at the ballgame, and by the time we got home on tuesday afternoon i felt pretty well back to normal. i was suprised, however, by how tender my rib cage felt after the race. that's a new one, and i'm actually still kind of tender, so i'm curious about that. i haven't felt especially fatigued this week, but have been taking it pretty easy. seems like all is well.

today was the san diego rock & roll marathon, which many of my training buddies ran -- for rene and rebecca, it was their first! so exciting. i got up and out early, ran to the trolley station (about two miles from our house), and then took the train to linda vista where i met up with the runners around the mile 14 mark. then i ran out to pacific highway, and met them again around mile 23. it was a really fun morning of running and cheering and being inspired by all of those badasses out there! i saw dean karnazes flying by at around mile 23 (a 3:15-3:15 pace, i'd guess), which was really exciting. i ran with several of my friends for a little while each, and then ran with rene from mile 23 for as far as i was allowed -- to the gate of MCRD, about 3/4 miles from the finish. i didn't remember to start my garmin every time i ran, but i know i ran at least 6 miles, probably closer to 7. from the gate at MCRD, i just ran home. it was kind of fun to feel how easy running like that has become for me, and i just cruised right up that washington street hill, which used to kill me.

probably ran more today than i should have (was planning to run 5-6 miles total), but there were a lot of walk breaks, so i think it was okay. looking forward to some short and easy runs this week, and getting back to the gym.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 167

madison marathon

2009-05-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

ever my faithful number one fan, sarah was up bright and early with me, and we met up outside the alliant energy center at 6:45 am. i felt good and ready, more nervous about the race than i can remember feeling in many years, probably because this was the first race in a long time for which i actually had a time goal i was trying to meet. the porta-jon line was outrageously long and slow for such a small marathon (6,000 total; 1,500 full marathoners and 4,500 half marathoners and relay teams), and by the time i'd finished up, i was already late to the 7:30 start. thank goodness for modern racing chip technology! i gave sarah a quick hug goodbye and started across the start without any of the usual crowds of runners around me, not just a little disorienting.

i tried to start out slow, which was really hard to do without the masses of runners elbowing and tripping me. i felt anxious to get back up to the pack, but i maintained a 10:00 min/mile pace until i finally reached the slowest of them, about 3/4 miles into the run. i worked hard at keeping my pace slow throughout the first half, but didn't quite keep it slow enough. i did the first ten miles at about an average 9:50 min/mile pace, which was a lot faster than i'd intended (my goal was 10:18). these first several miles were just beautiful, running in and around charming downtown madison, around lake wingra, and through the UW arboretum, which was amazing.

when i first saw the Family around mile 10 after passing the zoo, i was feeling really high, having a lot of fun on the course, enjoying the cool weather (cloudy and low 60s) and rolling hills. the next 6.5 miles i continued to feel strong, and keeping to my goal 10:18 pace had gotten considerably easier due to the fatigue. this was another fun part of the course, through the campus and the surrounding residential neighborhoods -- i knew that my pal joan (who went to college at UW Madison) had lived and run in and around these parts in the 1980s, and that was fun to think about. i was still running well on the rolling hills through these miles, but the sun was out, and i was starting to feel really hot. although i don't think the temperature exceeded 70 degrees throughout my run (the high on sunday was 74), the humidity was up around 80%, and i sure felt it.

i saw my crew again just after the 16 mile mark, and was definitely feeling some tightness in my legs, but was still running mentally tough. i was sure that although i was going to have a positive split this race, i would still finish by that 4:30 goal mark. that confidence, unfortunately, as well as my general well-being, seriously broke down when i reached mile 21. it's hard to say exactly what happened; there wasn't any specific ache or pain. i stopped to walk while i drank at an aid station right at the 21 mile marker, and saw the Family up ahead waiting for me. sarah and michael jumped on the course planning to run miles 21-23 with me (we'd planned this in advance, because i know that's a tough spot for me in the marathon distance, and they wanted to run a little bit of it with me for support), but there was just nothing in the proverbial tank. i couldn't run! i didn't want to tell them exactly how terrible i was feeling; if i said it out loud, i was doomed. but my legs felt like dead weights, and it took a minute or so of walking to get started back up. i eventually did, but it was slow going and i was in bad mental shape. i felt uncomfortably hot although i knew it wasn't all that warm of a day, and so, so sluggish. these two miles took 24 minutes -- a 12 min/mile pace -- and by the time we reached the 23 mile marker, i was a wreck, really pissed off that i was feeling and running so poorly. we met up with marc and super there, who had planned to pick sarah and michael up after two miles and drive them to the finish (can you believe these guys? they are all so great). but my situation was pretty bad and they knew it, and so they decided to run the rest of the way with me, which was another three miles. i couldn't believe it. sarah had been running a little bit on her own in preparation for running those two miles, but michael hadn't. a five mile run is no small accomplishment for anyone, but especially for someone who doesn't run! with tremendous appreciation for friends who would do such a thing, i sacked up and pulled myself together as best i could, and we kept on going while marc and super made their way in the car to the finish line.

this turned out to be another beautiful part of the run, along lake monona and through monona bay. these last three miles were still very slow (11 min miles), but at least it felt more like actual running. i was wishing that i had the energy and cognitive integrity during those miles with sarah and michael to chat and enjoy the scenery with them, but it was taking everything i had just to muddle through. they were incredible, getting spectators to yell my name and cheer for me as we ran past, and pulling out every inspirational phrase you have ever heard. when the pace group leader for the 4:30 runners overtook me around mile 25, i was pretty devastated. until that point, i was really holding out hope that i had enough in me to power through the final one or two miles and pull it in. but there he went, and my 500 lb legs just wouldn't respond when i asked them to go catch him. the final quarter of the 26th mile was a slow uphill that really pissed me off (i believe my words when i turned the corner and saw it were "are you f@$#ing kidding me?"), but sarah and michael stuck with me to the top of that hill. when we reached the top, there was the finish -- another quarter mile away, but all down hill. they peeled off, to let me finish alone and with a modicum of dignity.

time: 4:33:25. total mileage, per my gps: 26.35, for an overall average of 10:22 min/mile, or 4 seconds per mile slower than goal pace. there's a saying that the marathon is two different races: the first 20, which are physical, and the last 6, which are all in your head. i've never experienced this truth more clearly than i did in madison.

i finished decently strong, but when i kneeled down to untie my shoe for the volunteer who was collecting the timing chips, i broke down in tears with marc (who had run over to join me in the finish chute). at first, the tears were anger that after training so well and with such dedication i still had such a meltdown, and finished 3 minutes off of my goal time. but that quickly passed and soon they were tears of joy at the realization that i had shaved 37 minutes off my last marathon finish time. thirty seven minutes! that's an average of 1:24 faster (per mile) than i was running less than six months ago, and that is pretty remarkable. i'm definitely headed back toward that elusive four hour mark, and although i didn't get as close as i thought i would this time, i have made huge progress.

click here to view the race and trip photos, or here to read about the rest of our trip to madison.

and so concluded my tenth marathon. in ten states. in ten years. i've now run in 20% of our beautiful united states, and can't wait to see what the remaining 40 have in store for me.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 160

2009-05-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

got up and out to the gym very early for some final easy cross-training -- more than anything else, i have a lot of nervous energy to burn off before catching my 11:30 am flight to milwaukee. did a few sets of light weights, 25 minutes on the stationery bike, and lots of stretching. AND NOW IT'S GO TIME.

2009-05-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

three quick miles with rebecca and rene at mission bay after work -- our final training run! together, that is (they've got another week to go). it was a nice run on a beautiful evening, and we're all feeling sentimental as we near the end of these four months of training!

2009-05-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

totally rocked it out at the track this morning doing 6 x 400m repeats. my goal was 2:04, and i completed them all between 1:44-1:50.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 134

2009-05-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

busy week, no time for blogging of any sort! so let's see ...

last sunday i went to the gym in the afternoon, did a short/light weights workout, and 25 minutes on the stationary bike.

monday morning i slept in and missed the track workout. ran 5 x 800 m repeats on my own after work along the waterfront at liberty station, using my garmin. this was a great spot; wish i'd found it sooner! i ran them all around 4:15 (goal was 4:12 ...).

wednesday i met up with rene after work, and we ran at mission bay. she did 8 miles, i did 6 at about a 9:20 pace. feeling quick and strong!

thursday i went to the gym after work, did another light weights workout, and 25 minutes on the recumbent bike.

saturday was my last group run with the striders! they were doing 13, but i only did 10. we ran at coronado, and i ran with rene until about 6.5 miles in, then headed back to tidelands park (where we started). these were ten great miles, i felt really good. ran the last mile at my BQ pace (8:40) just to see what it would feel like. and it was tough!!! but not as tough as it used to be. average pace for the ten miles was 9:50 (goal was 10:18).

feeling so ready for madison. i think my goal of 4:30 is realistic, although it's going to be a challenge. the taper is in full effect. i am full of energy, feeling really strong.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 131

2009-05-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

phew. kind of a brutal run today. since i'm off-schedule from the rest of the group right now (they were doing 20 today, i only needed to do 13), i decided to let myself sleep in this morning and go run on my own. i thought it would be a good idea to a) run a good hilly route, since i haven't been doing a lot of hills on my long runs lately, and b) wait until it warmed up a bit, to get used to running long in warmer temps. so really, i was asking for it. additionally, the sun didn't really come out until noon, and i failed to eat enough in the late morning before i left the house, so i was hungry just a few miles into the run. a classic "bonking" situation out there today. not to mention that the route i chose had me going up the laurel ave. hill in mile 13 -- stupid. i walked it.

anyway, i finished it in 2:18, averaging 10:38/mile -- my goal was 10:18, so that's discouraging. but it was a tough run, and that includes a lot of time getting stuck at long streetlights, behind a train once, and dodging huge crowds downtown (i picked a stupid route, too -- the red bull air races were today, and i was in the thick of all of that nonsense). so, i'm trying not to let it psych me out.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 111

2009-05-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

did 6 decently-paced miles at mission bay with rene and rebecca (they did 8, since this is their final week before their taper starts). averaged 9:21 min/mile (goal was 9:28), felt good. pretty warm and humid evening, which is good. average temp in madison on may 24th is 73, and i suspect it's pretty humid out there, too.

went to the gym after work today, did a short weights workout and 25 min on stationery bike. weird couple on recumbent bikes next to me both wearing headphones and watching wheel of fortune, competing with each other and shouting out answers (with likely no sense of how loud they were yelling). at first they drove me bananas, but then i realized it was really sweet and funny, and it kind of made my day.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 98

2009-05-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

another late-night trip to the gym this evening, which was tough. as i was cranking away on the stationary bike at 95 rpms, i was yawning. =) did a moderate weights workout (legs, arms, and abs), and then 50 min on the stationary bike.

2009-05-04T07:47:00.001-07:00

woke up still pretty stiff from saturday's long run, but went out to the track for today's interval workout, and eventually loosened up. we did 10 x 400m repeats, and my goal was 2:04 for each. i completed the first nine between 1:55-1:57, and then for the final 400m decided to go all out and see what i had left; i finished that one in 1:44! felt good, and the blister is nearly callused.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 92

2009-05-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

well, today was my fourth and final 20-miler, the "train run." we boarded the train in solana beach, got off in oceanside, and then ran back. the rest of the group was doing 16 today, but i needed to do my last 20 today (my race is one week earlier than the rock 'n roll marathon, for which they're all training). so, i stopped to chat for a bit back at the train station, and then kept on truckin' into del mar for a couple more miles before heading back to the station. the crappy part was that i was late in getting to the station this morning to catch the 6:45 am train ... and missed it. boo. so, i had to run on my own. fortunately i was running strong so i actually wasn't that far behind everyone else, and the aid stations were still set up -- in fact, i actually passed several of the striders, which was kind of crazy. joan knew i was doing this run today, and after she finished her own 8 miles this morning with her own running group, she headed down the coast highway and found me around mile 6, and joined me for a little while, which was really cool. rene and lee ann were still there when i arrived at the station, and i was SO glad to see them. i was in need of a boost at that point; it was tough to pick up and keep running! i didn't have as good of a run as i had hoped - my goal was 10:33 average pace, but i averaged 10:42, with a much-too-positive split. BUT it was a really fun run, and finishing madison in 4:30 still seems very much within the realm of possibility.

OH, and the blister seems a lot better. my friend recommended applying a baking soda paste to help dry it out, which i tried last night. totally helped! i could definitely feel it on the run, but not nearly as much as i was feeling it on thursday. looks like it's on its way out ... phew.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 88

2009-05-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

Get this widget!

this blister hurts!!!!!!

2009-04-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

went to the gym after dinner last night, a feat of willpower i haven't accomplished in a long time. i did weights (legs, arms, abs), and then 40 min of interval training on the stationery bike. i was working HARD, and sweating like a pig in there. a swine?

today i met up with rene in coronado and we did 8 miles there, averaging 10:01 min/mile (goal was 10:18 -- cool!). my toes did okay - the right middle toe is still achey, but overall they feel a lot better. but that huge blister on my left foot is just killing me. there's nothing in it to drain -- it just burns. not looking good for my 20 miles on saturday.

orange shoes: 255
pink shoes: 68