Training Week Four

This was a very low mileage week because we spent the week skiing instead of doing a long run, especially considering that I cross train a lot and am not a high weekly mileage person anyway. It should work out fine - I started training early in order to have a few off weeks during ski season.

Sunday, January 22
Rest after 11 mile run on Saturday

Monday, January 23
Planned: 3 mile run
Completed: 3 mile run + strength
I felt great even though I ran in the dark after work. It was a short run so I added strength and toning exercises for legs and core.

Tuesday, January 24
Planned: Indoor Cycling Class at IPF
Completed: Indoor Cycling Class at IPF
I felt really good and worked hard during class, and we did quite a bit of out of the saddle work. We followed the class with core work as usual. All in all a fantastic night.

Wednesday, January 25
Planned: 6 mile run
Completed: 6 mile run + Vinyasa Yoga
The run was decent, although my legs were feeling Tuesday's biking workout. My pace was slower than last week's 6 miler by 40 seconds per mile. Yoga was an add on to relax and stretch and it did the trick. I'm loving Yoga now.

Thursday, January 26
Planned: Strength Work (Buddy Training Session)
Completed: Strength Work (Buddy Training Session)
Our trainer gave us a great workout this time including quite a bit of cardio. I felt tired after and we squeezed in a lot of exercises in that hour. Whew, just how I like it.

Friday, January 27
Rest

Saturday, January 28
Planned: Skiing
Completed: Skiing
We went to Heavenly for the weekend and skied all day Saturday. I took an annoying fall when a kid stopped in front of me at a narrow trail merger and I had to cut of the way - really hard hit to my left shoulder. No fun, that's going to be sore for a few days! The snow was very hard and fast, and icy on Saturday. We still got some good skiing in.

Sad because my shoulder hurt a lot - but the ice pack and beer made up for it!

Insights from a Talk by Jeff Galloway

On Monday, I went to a talk called 'Run Injury Free' by Jeff Galloway. We were lucky enough to have him come to my place of work during lunch, and tons of runners or potential-runners gathered to listen. Jeff gave us a bit of his history, why he started running, and how his walk/run program works. He then opened the floor to questions - of which there were many.

The funniest part was his description of how he came to run. He said he had to do sports in school, and he went to the cross country team because it was rumored to have the easiest coach. A few of the other kids told him they ran into the woods, hid for a while, and ran out; this is what he did for a couple of days with them. After that, older kids asked him to run with them and he started to enjoy it. This was a surprising story from someone who became an Olympian! 

He was a great and entertaining speaker, and I'm glad I went to the talk. However, I became confused by his answers to a couple of the questions asked by the audience. 

First, his answers regarding stretching suggested that stretching isn't helpful at all and that it can actually cause injury. He felt the same whether it was done before or after the run. I'm personally a fan of stretching and focusing on how to do it well, so this blew my mind. My experience with stretching (and foam rolling, although this wasn't brought up) has been nothing but good. Even Runner's World supports stretching for performance and flexibility in articles like this one. Do other big name runners feel this way? Is anyone else shocked by his answers on this topic?

Also, there were questions on how strength training helps runners. This is another one that I'd expect to be super helpful, and in fact I feel it has been for my knee issues. However, Jeff said he doesn't feel it helps with running, but on the other hand it doesn't hurt. Is this how other runners feel, that strength training isn't helpful? This goes against the thoughts of personal trainers (who work with endurance athletes) that I've worked with, and of course there are many articles out there supporting strength training like this one from Runner's World.

All in all, his take on preventing injury is that a specific ratio of walking to running makes all the difference. I didn't write down the details, but the ratio changes depending on your pace and can then change day to day based on a give workout type. He suggested that running 3 days per week is the ideal.

I tend to follow the Hal Higdon plans, I stretch and strength train, and I run more than 3 days per week. I'm going to stick with what is working for me, although it was interesting to hear his insights and ideas. My main takeaways from the talk are: 1. Even Olympians and professional athletes may have varying views on training, which supports how different each person/athlete really is, and 2. While I may find stretching to be fantastic, others may not. I may love to strength train and believe it makes my old college knee injury feel better, but other people don't do it at all and have no issues. 

Here's to listening to your body, your training needs, and doing what works best to keep YOU healthy and running strong.

Training Week Three and #TwitterRoadRace

This week was more normal, but I still need to get back to regular strength training asap. My knee is still feeling a little unhappy after skiing, and I'm overall exhausted. I'm pushing through it and am happy that this weekend had no plans other than the Saturday long run.

Sunday, January 15
Planned: Rest
Completed: 6 mile run
Technically this was Saturday's run, but I did it on Sunday because we went to SF with a visiting friend for the day on Saturday.

Monday, January 16
Planned: 3 mile run
Completed: 3 mile run
I tried to take this a little up tempo but felt like I was fighting hard for it. There was a chill in the air!

Tuesday, January 17
Planned: Cross training via indoor bike class
Completed: Cross training via indoor bike class
Good class, although not as hard as last Thursday's session. We did extended efforts in zone 2, zone 3 and out of the saddle + short sprints.

Wednesday, January 18
Planned: 6 mile run
Completed: 6 mile run
The run was great, it was beautiful and sunny outside. I stayed just under a 10 min/mile pace, which is where I wanted to be for that run. Happy day!

Thursday, January 19
Planned: 3 mile run
Completed: 20 minute warm up on the elliptical, abs + legs, Yoga
Moving the run to Sunday meant 4 days in a row of run/bike workouts, so I swapped today's short run for an easy elliptical warm up and added strength. Yoga was a nice wind down and stretch for my very inflexible self. I hear it gets easier over time.

Friday, January 20
Rest
This was much needed - I'm feeling exhausted lately. It might be allergies, or just that we've had so much going on. I'm not very good about letting one thing go to do another so I try to do it all. I'm betting many other runners and fitness fanatics out there have the same issue!

Saturday, January 21
Planned: 11 mile long run
Completed: 11 mile long run
This run started at Ocean Beach. We ran along the water for a while until the trail ended, and we attempted to keep going but ended up crossing random streets and in the sand. We turned around, ran back toward the car and did the last bit in Golden Gate park. It was fabulous! We need some good hill training, and the run in the park gave us a decent 2.5 mile uphill grade from miles 5.5 to 8. Also, I used my first 5K split as the #TwitterRoadRace time! It wasn't very good due to street crossings and our off-trail adventure, but it'll do.

Welcome New Runners!

This post is dedicated to a few friends who have recently started running or will be soon - they know who they are. And they ROCK!

Running has done so much for my life, and I want people to know why I love it and to encourage others to stick with running too. The story of how I started is in the 'Why I Run' tab of this blog, but for this post I'm focused why I keep running. Here it is, not necessarily in order of importance.

1. Running relieves stress. When I feel anxious or have had a rough day, running always helps. I often can't wait until it's time to run that day, and sometimes I sneak out at lunch instead of waiting until after work. It makes me feel amazingly focused and happy for the rest of the day. I don't even run with music - I enjoy listening to my footsteps and freeing my mind in the great outdoors.

2. Running makes me happy. The runner's high is real, and I'm addicted. I love nothing more than feeling the exhausted-happiness I get after a weekend long run.

3. I like goals. Training for a race gives me a goal, and I'm a goal-oriented and data-driven person. When I have a training schedule to look at, and run data to gather, I'm much happier. I know when it's a run day and I know when I have to rest and I'll stick to it. I'm currently loving dailymile for keeping tabs on my workouts.

4. It's a good excuse to buy new stuff. New running shoes, clothes, gadgets, headbands...you name it. Running gear is fun and I like to shop.

5. Seeing new places. My husband and I often run races in new cities. Planned race routes make for fantastic city tours! I have yet to run the same half marathon two times, although I'll be repeating the SF 1st half for 2012. We are also heading to Seattle for a marathon in June.

6. I can eat more. Ok, maybe this isn't why I should be running, but it's true. I still try to eat fairly healthy foods, but I'm not going to feel guilty about that glass of wine or that cookie after I've run x miles in a week. And I like food.

7. Crossing the finish line. Running across the finish line of a race never gets old. Even if it's not a PR or I had a crappy day, crossing the finish is an amazing sense of accomplishment.

So friends, as you run your first mile, train for your first race, or run your first half, know that I'm there in spirit cheering you on. Turn to me for support whenever, and I'll follow you on social networks to provide encouragement. Ask me anything you want; I'm definitely not an expert, but I have both good experiences to share and not-so-good ones to learn from.

Most of all, stick with it even when it's tough. And have fun!

2012 Goal - Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

I finally did it, I signed up for my next marathon!

I set running my second marathon as a goal for 2012, and I'm happy to have decided on the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 23. There are a few reasons I decided on this one, the first being that I've always wanted to visit Seattle - living on the West coast now makes it that much easier. It's also in the same time zone (no feeling like I'm getting up at 3 am.) and on a Saturday (less anxiety time.) I've been wanting to do a Rock 'n' Roll race too, so that'll be nice and hopefully the bands will occupy me a bit. The final reason to do this race is timing; I'll be running the Big Sur 21-miler and using it as a training run for Seattle.

Originally, I anticipated doing a fall marathon but doing it earlier in the year will be great. Then I can move onto my second goal, training for a triathlon, for late summer and/or fall.

I had a few concerns with ramping up mileage for Big Sur and then staying in good shape for the marathon, mainly because of the pes anserine bursitis I've been dealing with off and on over the past few months. However, I put together a training plan based on Hal Higdon's Marathon plan that I feel good about. My big hesitation was what to do with the extra weeks in between hitting the 21-mile run and the marathon, but after some reading I decided to shoot for 2 more long runs after Big Sur - every third week. Those runs will likely be 17-18 miles and 20 miles depending on how everything goes.

I did a lot of searching and reading about running longer than 20 miles prior to a marathon, and most articles suggest that it's too hard on the body and not necessary. For my first marathon I did two 20-milers, although it's hard to base anything on that race because I had such a tough day.

Does anyone else out there have experience with going longer than 20 miles pre-marathon? How did it work out? Would you suggest it?

I'd love to have your thoughts in the comments.

Training Week Two

This was a strange two weeks because we traveled to ski, and my actual running mileage/number of days was low. I still burned a lot calories and had great workouts, but it will be good to get back to a more normal schedule now that the trip is over. That said, I had a ton of fun and a break here and there can be good for the body. We'll ski more this winter for sure, but only over weekends as opposed to four days straight.

Here's Week Two:

Sunday, January 8
Planned: Skiing
Completed: Skiing

Monday, January 9
Planned: Skiing
Completed: Skiing
Last day of my ski trip, sad to leave.

Tuesday, January 10
Planned: Cross-training via indoor bike class
Completed: None
I took a rest day after 4 days in a row of skiing + a 9-mile run after skiing on Saturday. It was time to listen to my body.

Wednesday, January 11
Planned: 5 mile run at goal pace
Completed: 5 mile run, easy
I still felt exhausted after all of the vacation fun but made it through the run. I slowed down and took it as an easy run. The weather was beautifully sunny. Short sleeves in January? Yes, please!

Thursday, January 12
Planned: Strength training session
Completed: Strength training session + Cross-training via indoor bike class
The strength session was a buddy session with a personal trainer, although he didn't go hard enough on us. That was ok with me because I wanted to go to my bike class in the evening (I missed Tuesday), and that class is plenty challenging! The bike class included sprints with short recovery, long climbs out of the saddle, and time trial pace efforts. We rotated through these in sets and each effort became harder the next time around. It was a fantastic and killer class, and the highlight was the instructor's awesome music pairing job.

Friday, January 13
Rest

Saturday, January 14
Planned: 6 mile run
Completed: Lots of walking in SF with a visiting friend
This is a dial it back week in my training plan, and I'm doing the longest run of the week on Sunday this week. Today we went to Alcatraz and had lots of fun walking around the city!

Training Week One

I'm back into a training plan for the Big Sur 21-miler, likely to be used as a training run for a marathon. My overall plan might be tweaked a bit for that reason and due to ski trips, but for now I'm starting a Hal Higdon full training plan.

Week one + the Saturday before looked like this:

Saturday, December 31
Planned - 8 mile long run
Completed - 8 mile long run
This went well overall, the weather was sunny and cool. My husband and I ran the Bay Trail from Sunnyvale Baylands Park. My heart rate went high around mile 7 shortly after taking a Gu, so I took a short walk break to normalize. This is pretty unusual as I generally stay in my aerobic heart rate for long runs without an issue. My best guess is that it seems to happen when I use Gu instead of Clif Shot Blocks, although I didn't put this together in my head until after this run. In other news, the Peppermint Stick Gu is REALLY tasty.

Sunday, January 1
Rest - needed after celebrating New Years...

Monday, January 2
Planned - 3 mile easy run
Completed - 3 miles on the Elliptical
I have no excuse for not running outside other than I was doing too many chores. Then it got dark and I used my elliptical instead.

Tuesday, January 3
Planned - Cross-training via bike
Completed - Indoor cycling class on my bike and trainer at IPF
This class is so good for me because they work on pushing limits and interval training. I need this badly because I'm way too good at doing long but comfortable workouts on my own. We did a few spin ups (30 seconds at 110 rpm, then 120, and so on up to push for 150, then recover.) I can't really hit 150 but I can go as fast as possible and that's what I do. Don't tell. After that we did 5 long 'climbs' in harder gear with recovery in between. The workout ended with strength exercises focusing on glutes, legs, and core.

Wednesday, January 4
Planned - 5 mile run at goal pace
Completed - 5 mile run close to goal pace
This was a good run overall but I felt sluggish at the beginning and had sore glutes from Tuesday. I was able to pick it up for the last two miles and finished strong.

Thursday, January 5
Rest

Friday, January 6
Planned: Skiing!
Completed: Lots of skiing at Heavenly with friends. Fantastic.

Saturday, January 7
Planned: Skiing, 9 mile long run
Completed: Skiing (less this day), 9 mile long run
What a day. We skied in the morning and came in about an hour earlier than usual. Then my hubby and I headed out for our 9 mile run along Lake Tahoe Blvd. This is detailed in another blog post, and overall it was great. I expected to have trouble in the higher altitude but didn't.

That's the end of week one, and it was good. I need to make the final decision on a spring marathon - I can't believe I haven't yet - but I've said before that I'm marathon shy. I need to decide on my goal marathon and register already. I'll work on that this week!

A Balancing Act

Today I returned from my first skiing trip this winter. My husband and I went to Heavenly with two friends and stayed slopeside for a few nights. Before leaving on the trip, I didn't feel like it was 'winter' and wasn't as ski-crazy as I usually get this time of year. I'm blaming these feelings on living in California now, instead of in Michigan where it gets cold and snowy. Anyway, the trip was great and I remembered how addicted I am to skiing - I want to go all the time!

This weekend at Heavenly was a little sad due to the lack of snowfall this season. Where is winter!? The snow at Heavenly is manmade now and only about 25 runs are open, but we made the best of it. The trails to ski from California to Nevada are not open yet, so we had to take the ski bus to the gondola in Nevada and then ski back to California at the end of the day. Our lodging would have been much more convenient if we could have skied the reverse, but what can you do. We still had a fantastic time with friends and skied a ton. I'll be doing my snow dance in the coming weeks because I want to go back - with snow and the whole resort open.

Now to figure out how to balance my hobbies. Running takes a ton of time when training for a long race, and we are working toward the Big Sur 21-miler in April. This essentially means running a marathon training schedule from now until then. I've been toying with the idea of using the 21-miler as a supported long run and running a full marathon a few weeks after. But how do I manage to train for these long distance races AND get in all of the skiing I want? I'm still figuring that out.

My current plan is to do long runs in Tahoe. This past Saturday, we skied in the morning and turned in an hour or so before lift close to run a 9-miler. That distance isn't so time consuming, but when we get to the high teens it will be. Not to mention it'll get harder to ski+run in the same day!

I'd been unsure of running at a higher altitude, but it didn't seem to phase me at all. I loved how quiet and peaceful it was, and after a cold start I warmed up really well. But we made sure to take the neck gaiters just in case.

Ok, this was overkill for the weather but a fun photo nonetheless. The full coverage didn't actually stay on into the run. I like to call these our Ninja runner outfits.

We ran along Lake Tahoe Blvd for a while, starting in California and running through Heavenly Village in Nevada. A little past there we found a nice park and dirt trail leading to the lake with huge pine cones along the way. I'm not sure why, but the pine cones were a source of distraction for me. I kept looking for bigger, better ones. Call me easily amused.

Except for an encounter with two large dogs, the run was perfect. I felt good, it was cold (I prefer colder temperatures for running), and my tendonitis/bursitis wasn't hurting. I didn't feel out of breath as expected in the higher altitude. As for the dog situation, two big dogs started running toward us fast when we were heading up the trial by the beach. They looked big and black and scary - maybe all big dogs look scary to me - and I stopped and stood very still waiting to be attacked. Thank goodness they just sniffed us, but it's so hard to tell what they'll do in that situation. I really wish owners would keep dogs on leashes in public parks, but for now I'll just hope at least the biting ones stay on leashes.

I'll keep posting about training and fitting in skiing too. We'll see how well-balanced I manage to be. If anything, it'll likely be giving up skiing for running because I'm not going into a marathon unprepared. Until next time, happy running!

It's 2012! What are my goals?

Twenty-twelve goals. I've been thinking about my plans and hopes for this year for a while, and I'm finally ready to put it in writing. This is the first new year I've had a blog, and I'm glad I'll be able to look back on this post throughout the year to remember my intentions.

Running & Fitness

1. Complete a sprint triathlon. I came up short on this goal last year after an injury, and I'm 'tri-ing' again.  I signed up for a Duathlon in March to get started, and my goal triathlon is the Tri for Real sprint in September in Pleasanton, CA. The group at Integrate Performance Fitness is starting a tri training program for that race and even setting up a tent for fun and support day-of. I'm excited to be part of the festivities and to have such a wonderful group to train with.

2. Complete my second marathon. My first marathon experience, Chicago in 2010, was rough even though training went great; I ended up walking a lot during the race. I'm rather marathon-shy at the moment for fear of a similar race day, but I want to go for it. I haven't picked the race yet but it'll be October or November.

3. Get back into strength training. When living in Michigan, strength training was a big part of my week thanks to a class and the awesome trainer who taught it. I let this slip when I moved and have only recently started working with a personal trainer for 'buddy training' sessions. (Much more cost effective with more people!) Our trainer is pretty good, but I'm not yet getting the hardcore leg workout that I need. This year I need to add that back either in the sessions or on my own. I'm considering Yoga too, which is way harder that I thought it would be and therefore a great workout.

Food

1. Learn to eat bananas. For some strange reason I've never liked bananas and avoid eating them (although I'll drink bananas in smoothies...it's a texture thing.) Hopefully this year I can break the banana-hating mindset and eat the food that is a runner's friend.

2. Find new healthy recipes. My cooking habits have become boring, and although my hubby is nice about it, I know it's time to expand my repertoire. I'm planning to explore meatless protein options, veggies I don't usually eat, and to avoid the easy-box-seasoned-sides that I've been using too often. It's not hard to cook and season my own sides, and it'll give me the chance to experiment with fresh herbs and spices.

Life

1. Pick up the phone. I love my family and friends but I'm not great about calling people and keeping in touch as much as I'd like to. This is the time to change that, to call people when I think of them instead of putting it off for no real reason.

So those are the big goals, the ones I hope to tackle this year. The food goals will be hardest by far because I'm a little too picky sometimes, but eating right is important and needs to happen.

Here we go 2012, let's do this thang!