Wildcat Trail Half Marathon Recap

Yesterday I ran the Wildcat trail half marathon as a fun trail run. I always love running on new trails and enjoying the race spirit, and I signed up partly because I've always wanted to try a Brazen Racing event. All I can say is - what a fantastic race company! The race was well done with great food, nice shirts, awesome medals, and even free photos. I most definitely didn't go at this as a race and had my slowest ever trail half finish time, but I'm glad I did it.

The run was in Wildcat Canyon in the East Bay, about an hour from San Jose. The 8 am start time made it easy to drive race morning without being super tired. They had $5 parking by the race start, the money going to the school at the staging area, and we could use the school's indoor restrooms too. We picked up our race bibs and shirts that morning and got ready to run.

Ready to go.

The start was low key, a few announcements on the course markers and off we went. The course was almost entirely exposed fire road with a little bit of tree cover somewhere in the middle. The tree cover section was wonderful, smooth trails and lots of fun. The rest was another story. 

Even though I've run trail half marathons with a similar climbing distance, this one felt really, really hard to me. One reason is that the climbs were steeper both up and down, so there was even more walk climbing going on than in other races. Even a lot of the downhill felt too steep to run without falling down the hill or hurting myself; honestly, I'm not sure how some people ran those downhills. You know it's steep when you see people side-stepping. 

The real problem that made it so tough was the condition of the trail. It was bumpy, grassy, and had lots of ruts, so landing was hard on the feet and joints. In the last few miles my feet just hurt from the bumps and ruts. I'd also come really close to a bad fall (luckily caught myself somehow) when I jammed my left toes into a rock, making that foot feel like a complete mess for the last 6 miles.

Posing for the photographer near the end. So tired.

The course had some great parts too. The views from the top were spectacular - San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, other surrounding cities. There was a nicer trail section along the top ridge for a mile or so in the middle that basically gave you a 360 degree view of the area below. The tree cover section was enjoyable and had a stream crossing. The weather was pretty good at the beginning, but it warmed up a lot in the sun and was hot by the end.

After what felt like a never-ending climb and some really painful downhill in the last few miles, I finally found the finish line. I'm not happy with my time and think I should have been able to do better, but I also know I had a really tough training week before this one. I'm pretty sure the hard hill repeats, which I was still feeling on Saturday, didn't help my climbing speed. My glutes were way more fried than they should have been after the first big climb. All in all I finished and that's what counts, even if it was a trail half marathon worst at 3:03:31.

Done, finally!

Onto the race itself. As I mentioned, it was my first one with Brazen Racing and I loved them. They had so much food to choose from at the finish from Its It ice cream sandwiches to bagels to chips and cookies. The aid stations on the course were more often than most trail races. They had volunteers taking photos and posted them all to Picasa web albums for us to download at no cost. Overall a wonderful experience. Oh, and sweet medals!

Roar.

Women's specific v-neck tech shirts.

A few more photos courtesy of the Brazen volunteers. I loved getting all of these!

 An uphill smile around mile 4.

 Kevin working it.

Enjoying some not so steep downhill.

Unhappy later...this one makes me laugh.

Kevin's finish.

Training Recap - May Week 2

The week after the Eugene Half Marathon was an easy recovery week, which my body needed following a mileage peak and a race. Last week I went back to planned workouts and have been feeling good, although a bit tired. The Hanson half marathon plan is definitely a butt kicker for me, and I'm not hitting the full mileage yet. I might have to admit I need more time to build a base or that it's not right for me, but I haven't quite decided yet. More on that in another post!

Monday, May 6
Planned: Speed Work at the track
Completed: 4.65 miles (Short hill repeats + 400m workout)

We call it the 5-4-3-2-1 hill workout for short. Basically, 5 short hill repeats + push-ups, squats, oblique twists + 400m, 4 short hill repeats + push-ups, squats, oblique twists + 400m, and so on. This is one of my favorite workouts because it combines so many different things. We did the usual warm up, drills, and post-run core work too.

Tuesday, May 7
Planned: Barre class
Completed: Barre class

Nothing specific to report, although we did this glute exercise called 'the Pretzel.' It's so hard but so good.

Wednesday, May 8
Planned: Speed Work at the track
Completed: 5.7 miles (4x 1K repeats)

My first time doing 1K repeats was awesome! I always thought it was an odd distance when I read about people doing it, but for some reason it worked for me. We actually did these back and forth on the straight section and it gave me something to count (maybe I liked them because I was preoccupied?) Again, we did our warm up, drills, and post-run core work. Considering how much I fear 800m repeats, I'm happily surprised that this was so fun.

Thursday, May 9
Rest day

I took advantage of this rest day to...buy my new iPhone! I decided to split my personal phone from my work phone, and in doing this I needed to buy a new phone. Even though I was ok with my Galaxy Nexus and Google experience Android OS, the phones have just gotten way too big. I'm absolutely loving the iPhone, both the small, gorgeous hardware and iOS. Know of any iPhone apps I should have?

My pretty, small, white phone. 

Friday, May 10
Planned: 6 miles
Completed: 6 miles

What a gorgeous day for a run! It was very windy but also sunny, and I had fun doing an easy pace run in Shoreline Park.

The real Friday highlight? I passed by Sprinkles Cupcake shop on the way to buy my iPhone case at the Stanford Shopping Center, and of course I stopped by. YUM.

Vanilla and Milk Chocolate. Basic can be the best.

Saturday, May 11
Planned: 10 miles
Completed: 5 miles

I swapped my weekend run days in favor of a Sunday long run group. Saturday's run was absolutely amazing. I felt perfect, no calf tightness, it felt easy. Days like this are so wonderful!

Sunday, May 12
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 10 miles

Another awesome run day, making the weekend spectacular. I met up with Go Far run group (my first time with them) to do 10 miles on the Los Gatos Creek trail, and I ended up running with another group newcomer named Ashley. We were chatting away, and my average pace ended up faster than planned (and faster than usual, race pace-ish) even though it didn't feel like I was pushing it. Most of the group stayed for coffee and social time after the run, which was awesome. I love meeting new runners and will be going back to this group for sure.

I felt so incredibly happy on Sunday afternoon because of the great running, plus the weather both days was awesome and not as hot as expected. Nothing like a relaxing weekend at home to refresh the body.

And now for a little cute overload, my first iPhone camera photo. It just had to be my kitten. Caption courtesy of Facebook friends.

Can i haz iPhone!?

Little Motivations

Sometimes it's the little things that end up being the biggest motivation. Why? Who knows. What's important is what makes you happy! Here are my little motivations as of late.

1. Girls at work started a workout calendar, complete with a sticker per workout. They asked me to join in and I did. They like to see others workout to motivate them. And for some reason, I love adding my sticker to the calendar each day.

May is on a bigger calendar...

2. I discovered that the promise of pizza after a track workout makes me really happy. I mean, REALLY happy. I was extra motivated and smiley during my Monday track workout because I'd planned to have pizza for dinner after. It might not be great to use food as motivation, but I needed dinner either way, right?

[I did not photograph my pizza.]

3. Group runs and new outfits are both awesome. I wore my new Oiselle bum wrap to the Fleet Feet Menlo park group run last Thursday and found myself supremely happy. It's like wearing a cute new outfit to a party, or I felt like it was. I'm so glad I went to the group run because it was 80+ degrees (even at 6:30 pm) and I needed the motivation.

Mio Mesh tank + bum wrap = new favorite outfit.

What are your little motivations?

Do you Like Race-cations?

My guest post on the San Francisco Marathon Blog today is all about traveling for races. Check it out for a few travel tips from the SFM Ambassador team!

Post: It's Race-cation Time

If you are still considering the SF Marathon events, make sure to sign up before the next price increase on May 15.

Have a good week!

Eugene Half Marathon Race Report

Eugene had to be on my spring calendar this year because I'd heard SO much praise for the race, and it didn't disappoint. From meeting up with Twitter and Oiselle team friends to the race itself, it was fantastic! This one might need to be a permanent fixture on my race calendar.

Why so great? Ok, I admit knowing and meeting so many people there was a big part of it. I loved seeing them running on the course and having people cheering my name when I ran by in a number of places along the route. Aside from the people I knew, there were tons of people cheering along the course basically the entire time. The course itself was fun, only had a few minor hills, and had tons of green scenery to enjoy along the way. The highlight was definitely the last few miles along the riverside Prefontaine Memorial trail; I could have run that all day. The full marathon follows that trail for the second half of the race and I could totally see myself doing the full in Eugene for that reason.

Going into this half, I knew I had to watch the side pain issue and went out more conservatively than I did in Oakland (although based on my splits, not as conservatively as I thought.) The side pain crept up during the mile 3-5 slow uphill grade and by the top my brain started to panic, but luckily it was much less than it has been (thanks PT) AND it was more localized to one spot than usual. I told myself the temperature is cool and you can deal with it, focused on breathing and pushed the pain out of my head. I did slow down a little bit to get through the worst of it as is evident in my splits, but nothing like in the past. I'm considering this a little victory.

Mile 1 - 9:40
Mile 2 - 9:42
Mile 3 - 9:56
Mile 4 - 10:22
Mile 5 - 10:21

Around this time I went by a guy holding an inflatable dinosaur who yelled 'Go Oiselle' and I high-fived the dinosaur's nose. For some reason this made me really happy. After the downhill in mile 5, I felt good and the miles started to tick by super fast. The biggest hill of the race was in mile 8-9, and again it was followed by a nice downhill that completely made up for it. The Oiselle cheer group was stationed at mile 9 and I was thrilled to see them; I've never felt so special during a race that's for sure. Banana suit, chicken hat, cowbell - it was all spectacular!

Mile 6 - 9:42
Mile 7 - 9:40
Mile 8 - 9:37
Mile 9 - 9:50

Passing the Oiselles at mile 9 - photo courtesy of Abby.

Right after passing through mile 9 I realized I'd quickened my pace, and I stupidly slowed down to what I thought I 'should' be running. Most likely, I could have let myself pick it up before mile 10 but didn't. These are the lessons I need to learn to properly race, but I have such trouble letting go of my happy pace for fear of running out of gas before the end. At mile 10 we headed onto the Prefontaine trail and the scenery was awesome. I finally let myself drop the pace just a bit from there into the finish line, enjoying every minute of that trail.

Mile 10 - 9:49
Mile 11 - 9:23
Mile 12 - 9:29

As we came out of the trail and back into the road, I realized we were almost back to Hayward Field and the finish line. We hit the track (the edge of which I tripped on and almost hit the ground hard...but didn't) and I went for the finish as fast as I could. The track surface felt like magic under my feet and there were people cheering from the stands. Wow, talk about a finish line making you feel like a rockstar!

Mile 13 - 9:29
0.13 - 59.8 sec (7:36)
Final Time - 2:07:57

My final time isn't quite a PR, it's 29 seconds off to be exact, but this is the first race in many that I didn't end up in pain and I'm thrilled with that outcome. Could I have pushed harder? Yes. Should I have pushed harder? Probably. Am I mad I didn't? Well, yeah. But hindsight is 20/20, and I ran the race I needed to run given the side strain nerves.

Race detail time.

The Expo. The expo was held at a building on the fairgrounds and it was small. They had a few tables for races and some for retail, but mainly it was just to pick up packets and shirts. It's for the best; I'm a sucker for buying random stuff at big expos. Packet pick up was easy, they had lists on the wall to find your bib number and tables separated by bib number for pick up. They gave us reusable shopping bags with a few goodies like coupons for free Jamba Juice smoothies and Clif gels. T-shirts were at the other end of the expo after you walked through the vendors, and they gave us dark gray short sleeve Nike tech tees. The highlight of the expo for me was Lauren Fleshman's talk on Saturday afternoon and seeing/meeting so many Oiselle teammates!

Shirt, bib, and medal.

Oiselle ladies!

The Support. The race company and volunteers were great, really on top of almost everything. Aid stations were plentiful, they had water, gatorade, gels, and bananas on the half course, and there were lots of porta-potties along the way. The one big issue was gear check - yikes. The gear check truck was set up to take bags by bib number, but for some reason the lines for the lower bib numbers were super long and the others had no line at all. Lucky for me, I had one of the no line numbers. When it was time to get bags back, there was no system for finding bags. They were strewn all about, some on the ground and some in the truck, and people were holding bibs up in the air while volunteers looked for bags. I guess I don't know what the better way is, but this was the craziest gear check situation I've ever seen. Thank goodness I checked my bright pink Oiselle spike bag instead of the reusable shopping bag; I saw it sitting on the ground and was able to grab it.

The Finish Line. The finish on the Hayward Field track was spectacular, and after crossing they ushered runners onto the nearby fields for food and drinks. I grabbed a bottle of water and some Gatorade from the fluid carboys, and it was a little odd no one was manning the carboys to fill cups. Not a big deal though. They had Krustaez pancakes (which I didn't eat because I can't stomach solid food that fast), bagels, fruit, bagged snacks, and chocolate milk. I only went for the chocolate milk. After leaving the initial finish area with the free food you couldn't go back in, and then you ended up on another field with the band stage, massage tents, beer stand, and food to purchase. It was a great set up and not over-crowded.

Enjoying my Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout.

With Kevin, who ran his first sub-4 marathon with a 3:56!

Now, what do you do in Eugene post-race? Head to the Picky Bars party at Ninkasi, of course! We love Ninkasi beer and were happy to visit the brewery tasting room itself.

Oiselle cheers!

Kev, new Ninkasi t-shirt and all.

Random one for fun - Saturday shake out run to find Hayward.

Nerves

Confession: I'm nervous for this weekend's half marathon in Eugene. I usually love half marathons, it's a good distance to work hard but to recover quickly. I have a big goal this year to run one in under 2 hours, and overall my speed work and training has been going well. Except for one big thing: this side cramp that won't quit bothering me.

For those who haven't heard me whine about this yet (which is likely no one because I whine about it a lot), I started having the issue last June at the Seattle RnR marathon. It comes back consistently, worse when it's warm outside and better when it's colder. When it flares up, I end up running through as much as I can but ultimately walking some of the race. After the race, it stays sore for days or even weeks depending on how severe it was. I'm nervous because my last half marathon in Oakland was pretty miserable and I just don't want to feel that bad again. It's one thing to be in pain because you are pushing hard and working for it, but it's another thing to be dealing with 'bad' pain like this. Even more, I have NO idea how I'll ever meet a time goal if I can't even push myself during a race. I'm discouraged.

I've been hoping to run well in Eugene, especially because I know lots of people going to the race and it'll be a big Oiselle team meet up. I also feel ready to go for the PR because I've been working hard during training. But I'm scared this race will turn out like the last couple, side cramped and way off my PR pace. I can't say I know how it'll turn out, but I'm trying to keep the negative thoughts away and to focus on how much fun the Eugene trip will be instead.

The one thing that gives me hope is how Physical Therapy has been going. Because the side cramp isn't the usual location and doesn't go away when I stop running, my doctor ran a bunch of tests and imaging to see if it was an organ. When they found nothing, they attributed the pain to muscle. A few weeks ago I started PT to figure out the cause and to (hopefully) make it go away for good.

PT suggests this is an intercostal muscle strain in my right side rib cage. Two of my ribs were super close together - basically no space - and that is radiating pain through the whole muscle and down into my center abdomen when my rib cage tries to expand (i.e. to work harder when running). I thought I was crazy saying it is worse with heat, but she said it really could be because of how the muscles and body react and expand in heat versus cold weather. She has been working on the tension via massage and exercises during PT sessions, and I'm doing additional daily exercises outside of sessions. Dare I say it's working...the ribs are more spaced out and the pain wasn't as bad this past weekend even though it was most definitely still there. Notably, the were again closer together after Sunday's side-cramped half marathon.

Hopefully PT will keep improving the issue and maybe, someday, I'll be able to go for the PR or even the sub-2 hour goal minus the side cramp. For now? I guess I keep doing those exercises, slow down when I have to, and hope for the best.

Weekly Recap - April Week 3

I'll eventually get back to doing these on Sunday nights, but for now I'm still running behind. Lots of fun this week from spectating at Boston to a great half marathon deal! That said, I backed off the mileage on a number of my runs this week and that wasn't entirely planned. I knew I needed to drop a few miles to ramp up more slowly than the plan, but it was a weird week after traveling and I was struggling to get through it all. Sometimes plans change, and I can't let myself stress about that.

Monday, April 15
Planned: Rest
Completed: Boston Marathon spectating

I don't think this 'rest' day was much of a rest day due to the jumping, cheering, and even running from place to place. For more on my experience with everything in Boston, check out this post.

Tuesday, April 16
Planned: 6 miles
Completed: 4.3 miles

After the previous day I was pretty tired and dehydrated, and when I started out I had a bad side cramp. It didn't feel like my normal rib-issue side cramp either, it was the standard kind. It was easy to tell my body wasn't doing well so I cut the run a short.

Wednesday, April 17
Planned: 5 miles with speed work
Completed: 4.06 miles with speed work

Track night! I love meeting the group, even when I feel the post-work blahs before I get there I have a great time. We did the workout we call 5-4-3-2-1 hill repeats: 5 hill repeats + core exercises + 400m, 4 hill repeats + core exercises + 400m, and so on. The core exercises are push ups, rock the baby, squats. This is one of my favorite group workouts because it has so much variety.

Thursday, April 18
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 3.3 miles

Super hot day. I needed to do an easy run so I ran up and down the Vista Slope by work. I love the little dirt trails there.

Friday, April 19
Planned: 6 miles
Completed: 4.1 miles

I didn't want to run at all, but Kevin convinced me to go out for a few miles after work. It was still hot but not so bad, and we had a great run together. I was still feeling super tired though.

Saturday, April 20
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 3 miles

Cut another one short because I was tired, but I only wanted the shakeout for the long run anyway. Nothing special here.

Sunday, April 21
Planned: 13.1 miles
Complete: 13.1 miles

I bought a Zozi deal to run the Silverado Half Marathon for $35, and although I was tired I decided to run it anyway as a training run. I told myself no racing, only long run pace, and I stuck to it so I'm proud of myself! It's hard to not 'race' when you are in an actual road event. My usual side pain came back although not as bad as usual, and it was a really hot and exposed course, so I was much happier to stick to a training pace that day. I'm working with a physical therapist on the side pain issue because it's muscular; hopefully it keeps improving.

The race overall was a fun time, mostly because we had friends there and I love running by vineyards. We did an out and back on Silverado Trail from Calistoga, starting and finishing at the high school. The race was put on by Envirosports and they aren't my preferred company, but overall they did a good job with the event.

Start line with Natalie. Yay diamond rogas!

Medal, back at our cute hotel in downtown Calistoga.

Reward: cheeseburger and beer at Bear Republic. Yum.

Race stuff. The shirts are...pretty ugly.

Total for the week: 31.86 miles

Again, I didn't add as much mileage this week as I hoped but sometimes plans change. I'll get there! A couple of miles increase at a time, slowly but surely.