Training Recap - May Week 4 & An Announcement

This was a cutback week in my marathon training plan. Last weekend was my second to last long run before Seattle, 20 miles. This week was pretty low key and I dialed the mileage back quite a bit. Here we go.

Sunday, May 20
Planned: Rest
Completed: Short recovery hike
I didn't feel like sitting around the house, so Kev and I headed to Arastradero Preserve for an easy hike. We followed the trails up and down the hills, enjoying the views and our time outside. Boy, was it hot though, and a great day to grab ice cream. Which of course, we did.

Top of the hill at Arastradero Preserve

View of the path ahead

Waffle cone with 'Birthday Cake' ice cream!

Monday, May 21
Rest - Depending on how the long run went that weekend, I sometimes like to take two rest days in a cutback week. Sunday wasn't completely a rest day because we did a few miles of hiking, but it was still an easy day.

Tuesday, May 22
Planned: 4 miles
Completed: 4.2 miles
My legs felt terrible on this run, the lower legs are logs feeling. It was hard to pick them up. I kept going and felt much better by the end of the run, although still not a good run day overall.

Wednesday, May 23
Planned: Core Chaos Class
Completed: Core Chaos Class
Again, love this class! Our normal instructor is a pro road bike racer, and she was off in Iowa this week for an event. We had a sub who made the class different, incorporating quite a bit of arm work.

Thursday, May 24
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 5 miles
Another run where my lower legs felt heavy at first. I warmed up more quickly and felt good by the end. In an exciting turn of events, my workplace had an event to test Saucony shoes and to taste Clif bar products! I stopped by the event to test shoes while out on my run, specifically the Guide 5 and Hurricane 14. Both felt great, although the Saucony rep recommended the Hurricane for my gait. I haven't purchased it but might check it out - the 8mm drop was a nice change.

The Saucony Guide 5, pretty colors...

Friday, May 25
Rest

Saturday, May 26
Planned: Rest
Completed: 3.7 miles
This was going to be a rest day before the 10K race, but a friend invited me on a run and I really wanted to go. We ran along the Los Gatos Creek Trail, a beautiful place to run in South Bay. We didn't have a specific distance in mind and just enjoyed ourselves. The perfect start to the weekend.

NEWS!

And now, the announcement you have been waiting for! Kevin and I visited a litter of kittens on Sunday, and we will be brining home a sweet girl kitten at the end of June! Her name is Willow, and she stole our hearts as soon as we walked into the room. I can't wait to bring her home, but she's still very young and not weened from her mama yet. Soon, soon.

Hi Willow!

Earthquakes Challenge 10K Race Report - A PR!

The Earthquakes Challenge, named after the San Jose soccer team, was a fun race for Memorial Day weekend. I don't run 10Ks often and decided it would be good to test myself in a shorter, hopefully speedier, race. The outcome? I have a new 10K PR and broke one hour for the first time at 56:39. I'm so pumped about this one, it went better than I could have imagined!

A before photo. I'm wearing the Oiselle tee that I WON from a contest last week. Yay!

The morning dawned chilly, around high 50s as we headed over to the start line. Kevin and I ran a slow warm up to the start, which was 2.25 miles from our condo. The warm up felt good and I could tell my muscles were happy. We arrived with 20 minutes to spare, enough time to hit the porta potties and to stretch. We lined up in the start corral for the 10K with a pretty small crowd, a few hundred people. I'm terrible at guessing how many people are in a crowd so I'll leave it at that.

The gun sounded at 8 am and off we went. The 5K then lined up behind us, and they started their race at 8:15. Lots of people started off fast and passed me, but I told myself out loud to run my pace, run my race. Don't get swept up in the crowd and regret it later. My target pace was 9:30 per mile, which would put me just under an hour total time.

The course was super flat and easy, and the miles went by pretty quickly. The first three miles were just under 9:30, and I was feeling good. I focused on cadence to keep my speed up, checking my pace on Garmin every so often as a reminder.

Mile 1 - 9:27
Mile 2 - 9:27
Mile 3 - 9:24

Coming into miles 4 and 5 I was feeling awesome and ready to drop the pace. I focused on being a little out of my comfort zone, enough to know I was pushing myself. I'm still thrilled with how good I felt at these paces yesterday, especially considering how slow I've been feeling on 15+ mile runs.

Mile 4 - 9:11
Mile 5 - 9:11

Around the beginning of mile 4, the Police were controlling traffic and letting cars through when there was a break in runners. I saw them start to let cars go as I was rounding the turnaround, and I yelled to the cops that I wasn't stopping because I was going to break an hour for the first time. Lucky for me they stopped the traffic again. Not my best moment, but I so didn't want traffic to alter my time. Thanks to those cops for helping me out!

At mile 4 I also started passing people who had gone out too fast and were now walking. I started targeting one person at a time and passing them, then moving onto another person. As I caught up with a guy right before mile 5, he asked if he could run with me because he needed motivation and I had a good pace. I said of course, and we egged each other on until the end. It was a nice mile-long partnership! It turns out it was his first 10K and longest distance so far.

Mile 6 - 9:06

We hit the finish chute and picked it up and he came in a few seconds behind me. We gave each other a big high five and congrats and went on our merry ways. I enjoyed it, and I feel like I helped to motivate someone in a time of need!

Final time - 56:39

I jumped for joy for that PR!

Now for the race details.

The course. The course is super flat. The only grade you even feel is a little downhill where De La Cruz veers left to Coleman. I suppose you go up somewhere to get to that point, but you can't really feel it. The 10K course repeated most of the course, making a left turn and another loop, and then continued straight to the finish. Loop courses often bother me because they can be boring, but I was so focused on time for this one that I really didn't think about it. I also think it was marked a little short, because both Kevin and I came out with 6.13 on the Garmin. It would have been a PR either way, but I still hate when that happens. Overall it was a good course to test your time and to shoot for a PR.

The support. Volunteer and finish line support was good. This was the first year for the event, so you never know how it'll turn out. They had plenty of people at the water stations, plenty of water stations along the course, and lots of food at the finish line area. I can't say if they had sports drink at the water stations because I didn't take anything. The course marshalls did a great job except for one spot where the 5K went straight to the finish and the 10K turned left. There was no sign for the 10K turn and they were doing it vocally. I don't run with music so it was clear to me, but some people with headphones had a hard time here and my husband saw one go the wrong way and turn around to come back.

The finish line area had bagels with cream cheese, fruit, granola bars, Pop Chips, energy drink, water, Pirates Booty, and coffee. I enjoyed a bagel and coffee for my second breakfast, yum. I never eat bagels and especially cream cheese, so it was a real treat! I took the Pop Chips, granola bars, and Pirates Booty home to enjoy later. At the finish there was also a medical tent and massage tent, as well as a place to check your results.

General organization. There was no expo for this race, so we picked up our packets and t-shirts at Sports Basement in Sunnyvale on Friday. They offered packet pick up there on Saturday too, or at the race start on Sunday. The Sports Basement pick up had pizza, cookies, and drinks, which is always a nice bonus. We received a cotton t-shirt AND a ticket to a San Jose Earthquakes soccer game to use this season. I don't mind that the shirts are cotton because I'll use it to sleep in or to wear around the house; so often the tech shirts don't fit that well and I end up not wearing them to run anyway.

The race was small, so there were no snafus at the start or crowds throughout the race. It was easy to get to the start, parking was free and right at the start if you used it, and porta potty lines were short. Race information was provided in an email to participants the week before and it went off smoothly from my perspective. It can be really refreshing to run a small race.

That's it for this race report, happy running!

Setting a Race Time Goal

Recently, I came across a post from Mile-Posts.com (also, Dorothy the face of the Saucony Find Your Strong project). She's a blogger and running coach, and she wrote about using the McMillan Running Calculator to help determine goal times for races. I've never used this before, so this got me thinking. What are my equivalent times? What really is a reasonable goal time for my June marathon? 

Of course, I've had a time in mind for June for a while now, and that time is 5 hours. I secretly hope this time is high, but knowing how rough things were in Chicago I wanted to give myself some slack. I also know that my 21-miler time in Big Sur would extrapolate to a 5 hour marathon, but that course was super hard and I ran slower than normal long runs there.

So, what is this MacMillan Running Calculator you ask? It's a website that allows you to enter your current time or goal time, and it outlines equivalent paces for different race distances. It also outlines suggested training paces for your race goal. In a second post, Mile-Posts mentions why she uses her goal time and not current time. For my purposes, I'm basing my marathon goal off of my current half marathon time. I have a whole separate printout for my half marathon goal time!

My half marathon PR is 2:10:07, a pace of 9:56 per mile. I feel good about using this time because I ran pretty darn close to it 2 other times recently. Based on this, my other paces should be:

5K 28:09, 9:04 per mile

10K 58:28, 9:24 per mile

Marathon 4:34:25, 10:29 per mile

This is within 10 seconds of my 5K PR. I haven't run a 10K in the last 2 years other than the Turkey Trot that bottlenecked at the end and prevented running to the finish, so I can't say I have an accurate view of my 10K time right now. My PR is 1:04:07 from 2009, at which time my half PR was 2:26. (But I'll be running one this weekend, we shall see...) 

Do I think I can run a 4:34 marathon? I should say yes, I am going for it, I am confident! In reality I don't feel quite that confident, but it's nice to know how my times project to the marathon distance. 

The McMillan site also suggests training paces for types of runs, and I fall very well within the training paces to reach this 4:34 goal, at the faster end in most cases.

Long Runs 10:59-11:59 per mile

Easy Runs 10:59-11:29 per mile

Steady-state Runs 9:56-10:14 per mile

Tempo Runs 9:32-9:56 per mile

If not this time, I will eventually shoot for this time goal and try to push myself harder. I'm very much a cautious, make-sure-to-finish-and-save-energy person even in races so time goals take some mental work. Especially because of my Chicago experience, Seattle may need to be more of a finish goal than a time goal, a redo of my first marathon if you will. After I feel even a bit comfortable with the distance, I can work on time goals.

Last, I have to share an awesome photo that was posted to Facebook by Nathan Performance Gear today. I find it incredibly accurate.

Who doesn't want pancakes? Or at least some food that you particularly crave during a long run. Mine is

beer. There is something refreshing about beer and its carbonation, with a little bitterness in the hops. I have trouble eating solid foods for a while after a long run, so I guess beer is my body's replacement. Interestingly enough, I don't even drink beer that often if it's not following a hard run!

How do you set your goal times? What is your hard workout food craving? Leave it in the comments, I'd love to know!

Training Recap - May Week 3 & Best 20 Miler Ever

I had a great week! I spent Sunday running and walking around Boston, you may have seen my trip in the last post. My Saturday long run was 20 miles, and it was by far the best I've ever felt at a distance longer than a half marathon. I'm so, so happy and hope it stays that way. More on the 20 miler below. Now, the recap.

Sunday, May 13
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 5 miles
We ran the Freedom Trail running tour for about 3.4 miles, then continued on along the Charles River to Cambridge. It was great weather and so much fun to tour Boston this way. We walked so much after the run (and really, the whole weekend) that my feet hurt a ton! Also, I forgot one of my fave photos from the end of the run in the last post - our matching Freedom Trail Run shirts.

Monday, May 14
Rest and travel

Tuesday, May 15
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 3.5 miles
My jet-lagged and sore feet self did not want to do anything but skip running and head to the mall, but I got out there for a short run with a friend after work. So glad she was there to encourage me. As always, I felt great post run and would have regretted skipping. I was 1.5 miles short, but in the grand scheme of training not a big deal.

Wednesday, May 16
Planned: Core Chaos class
Completed: Core Chaos class
Another fun class with lots of leg work at the beginning, such as black band squats and lunges walking forward & backward. She added in some cardo activities outside too, always a good change. For the first time since starting the class, I was not super sore after.

Thursday, May 17
Planned: 5 miles
Completed: 5 miles
I considered upping this one to make up for Tuesday but thought better of it with the 20 miler coming up over the weekend. I ran with a friend again, keeping the pace nice and relaxed. We hit some strong wind - reminiscent of Big Sur - for the last couple of miles and had a good challenge there.

Friday, May 18
Rest

Saturday, May 19
Planned: 20 mile long run
Completed: 20 mile long run!
I've said it a lot this weekend, but I had a great 20 miler and feel good about the marathon right now. Honestly, I was dreading it this weekend and wanted to put it off until Sunday, which of course would not have helped the situation. It took me about 5 miles to feel good and warmed up, and after that I settled in. The hubby and I took an annoying route and had to stop at traffic lights a LOT, but at least it was interesting and a change of scenery. Even with waiting on crosswalk lights, my muscles didn't feel all stiff and rebellious like they have in the past. When I started to feel the mental strength slip, I thought about two of my fave Tweets and pins (as I remember them, I'm sure it's not exact, and I'm not sure who wrote them):

Strong is what's left when all the weak is used up. #findyourstrong
Don't let your mind give out before your legs do.

It's funny how little sayings can help, but it really works for me. I'm aware that my mind is my first problem when I want to stop pushing and I'm working hard to get past that.

Even more interesting, our normal route along the Guadalupe River Trail had a mishap around 10:30 Saturday morning. Volunteers cleaning in the area found a body! If we had gone that route, the route we randomly decided not to take after we'd already started running, we'd have been through before that volunteer crew. It could have been us that saw the body...and that thought scares the heck out of me. Thank goodness for our decision to head to the Alameda.

Anyway, I finished the 20 strong and it didn't even hurt to walk up the stairs to our condo. I'm calling that progress.

Touring Boston

My long weekend in Boston was fantastic! I visited a friend and we had a super active, fun time. Here are a few highlights from the weekend.

Friday, I did my long run in a park near Brookline. I enjoyed a view of a Jamaica Pond, lots of runners to motivate me, and gorgeous green scenery the entire time. This was one of the best runs I've had in a while! After my run, we went on our own walking tour of Boston including lunch at a cute cafe in Brookline, shopping on Newbury Street, a Boston Pops concert at Symphony Hall, and many other fun sights. Oh, and of course we enjoyed cannoli from Mike's Pastry shop, which might be the most amazing cannoli ever. I was so tired by the the end of the night!

Boston Public Garden

Chocolate Ricotta cannoli from Mike's

Symphony Hall for the Boston Pops

Saturday we headed out to the coast of Maine in Ogunquit. What a beautiful, rocky coastline! We sat at a cute little coffee shop in beach chairs while enjoying coffee, then went for a walk along the coastal trail. On the way back to Boston, we stopped in Plymouth, NH, for dinner at the Portsmouth Brewery. It was a relaxing day with perfect weather.

View from our coffee shop seats

Sunday was definitely a highlight of the trip if I had to pick one - although I loved every day there - we went on the Freedom Trail running tour first thing in the morning. What a great way to see the Freedom Trail! We signed up for the tour online, then met a great group of runners in Boston Common at 8:15 am. The run was about 5K overall, and along the way we stopped for the tour guide to give details on the sights. We visited places such as cemeteries with notable graves, Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, the first water source in Boston, and the U.S.S. Constitution. There were 17 stops overall (yes, it took us a long time to run that 5K!) and it was so much fun. We even got a Freedom Trail Run t-shirt at the end. A super soft, awesome t-shirt that I'll actually wear. I loved doing the run tour with Ann; it's only fitting as she's the friend who introduced me to running in the first place!

Paul Revere's House and me

Freedom Trail marker

Ann and I along the way

Following the run tour, we continued on to run along the Charles River to Cambridge for lunch at Flour near MIT. We strolled around the shops, visited the campus of Harvard, and walked quite a few miles back to her apartment. I can't believe how tired I was by the end of the day, but this was definitely the way to see parts of the city.

On the way to Harvard, Harvard bridge behind me

Had to go for a run on the Harvard football field

I left first thing Monday morning (got up at 4 am Eastern...) and headed back to San Jose. I returned exhausted and needed a nap, but I can't wait to go back!

If you ever head to the Boston area, I highly recommend the Freedom Trail running tour, getting cannoli at Mike's, and eating at Flour in Cambridge. Boston is an awesome city!

Training Recap - May Week Two

I had a great week! I did almost all of the mileage I wanted to, one 4 mile run short because of traveling to Boston on Thursday. My Core Chaos class on Wednesday was fantastic and we did a lot of it outdoors in beautiful weather. My long run for the week was in Boston with new scenery, and it was one of my best recent runs for sure. I'm riding the runner's high this week.

Sunday, May 6
Planned: Rest
Completed: 30 minutes Elliptical
After having a cold last week and a congested & coughing Saturday run cut short at 3 miles, I felt the need to move. I threw in an easy elliptical workout and felt much, much better.

Monday, May 7
Planned: 4 miles
Completed: 4 miles
I ran with a friend. It was super hot outside, almost 90 degrees, and my cold is still giving me some trouble. Overall I felt better than expected and did pretty well in the heat.

Tuesday, May 8
Planned: 6 miles
Completed: 6 miles
This run was better than Monday; it was slightly cooler outside and I had less coughing and congestion. I kept the first 3 miles under a 10 minute/mile pace, and slowed down the last 3. Except for one coughing situation near the end it went great!

Wednesday, May 9
Planned: Core Chaos class
Completed: Core Chaos class
This is the new class I started attending last week at Integrate Performance Fitness (IPF) in Mountain View. This is also the studio behind the biking sessions I did last summer, and I love the group. I'm so glad I finally committed to the strength class. It's called Core Chaos, but we did a lot work for legs and arms too. This class involved lots of lunges and black band squats outside, plus some jumping and running. Super fun!

Thursday, May 10
Rest and a long day of flying to Boston to visit a friend. Yay for a long weekend!

Friday, May 11
Planned: 8 miles
Completed: 9 miles
My friend showed me a fun running path near their apartment and I set off for an 8 mile run. My long run this week is shorter, and next week I'll do the 18 mile run. I mentioned that I'd be running long this week in a post, but I forgot about travel. It's fine, I have plenty of time to get my two long runs in before the Seattle RnR Marathon and another easier weekend after Big Sur and being sick isn't a bad thing. I had a blast running in the park in Boston, going around Jamaica Pond a few times. I tried to make each mile around the pond a little faster and I did, then I took a 2 mile cool down (should have been 1 mile cool down, hence the extra mile. Miscalculation in a new place.) I felt fantastic after this run!

Saturday, May 12
Rest and fun times along the coast of Maine. We headed up to Ogunquit, ME, to enjoy the coastal views. We hung out at a coffee shop with ocean views, walked the beautiful trail for a while, and then stopped in Portsmouth, NH, for dinner. This means I went to TWO new states in one day, pretty awesome! It's amazing to me how close the states in New England are and how beautiful everything is. Tomorrow, we are heading out for the Freedom Train running tour first thing in the morning - should be awesome!

Ann and I along the coastal path in Ogunquit, ME

Portsmouth, NH, Brewery Oatmeal Stout

Dilemma: Two Marathons in 2012

I've been on a runners high all week thanks to training well and feeling good in Big Sur. Yes, it was 21 miles and not the full marathon, but it was the hardest course I've done. I even consider it harder than the full marathon in Chicago. And you know what? I felt good. Finishing Big Sur was a huge accomplishment for me and I'm feeling ready for the marathon in Seattle.

I have 7 weeks until Seattle RnR, and my training plan is to run long two more times. I read a few articles about hitting 20 miles and then doing a run near that length every third week to keep mileage up, and that's the plan I'm using. The long runs will be May 12 and June 2, likely about 20 miles each time. In between those weeks I'll run shorter, 10-12 mile runs, and I'm running a 10K race on May 27. I'm happy to have this time in between hitting 21 miles and the marathon to focus on quality runs and to rest as needed.

Now for my dilemma. I've had my eye on the Columbus Marathon for a couple of years now, and it was going to be my goal marathon for 2013. Today, I found out that the 2012 course runs through the Ohio State Football Stadium. What! This news made me want to do it this October; who knows if the course will stay through the stadium next year? Plus, one of my college roommates will be running it as her first marathon and so many of my friends run one of the events every year. It would be a big reunion of running college friends and a route taking me through campus and down memory lane. I'd get to see my parents, who hardly ever get to come to races. Even thinking about it makes me crazy excited.

Course map from the Columbus Marathon website.

My only hold up is that I only anticipated running one marathon this year, not two. My husband usually runs two and is happy to make Columbus his second for 2012. I haven't even run number two in Seattle yet. Can my body handle marathons number two and three in one year? I'm still not sure, I've never tried it, but at the moment I'm feeling strong and ready to take on the challenge.

I can always play it safe and sign up for the half, but then I miss the run through OSU Stadium part of the course. I'm always the play it safe person, so maybe it's time to push myself a little. If something goes wrong, I could always drop back to the half at a later date. These statements even apply to the half - stop playing it safe and starting slow, try to push from the beginning of the race. I need to remember to push my limits, to let myself feel out of breath and uncomfortable sometimes.

The final decision isn't made yet, but I'm leaning toward making this full marathon number three. The hotel is already booked for the weekend. Kevin is ready to sign up. The friends, family, OSU spirit and return to my home state are all calling to me. All I have to do is register.

Photo Fun at Big Sur

My Big Sur race report was getting long and I didn't get to include a few fun photos from the weekend.

Kevin and I enjoyed the winner's tape photo area at the expo. We each had to pretend we were breaking the tape. For me, that meant leaning way over the tape in a very (un)natural running position, as seen below. That's how they do it right? I actually did break the tape and almost fell on my face taking these photos.

Leaning too far.

Kev looks more convincing.

I liked the banners outside of the expo too. Saturday was beautifully sunny.

And one of my favorite things to do post race, add my new medal to the collection. I have to say, the Oakland half medal wins as my biggest medal ever and draws the eye.

Quite a few of our official photos turned out great, but I don't believe we'll buy them so I can't share them on the blog. I'm not sure how they turn out good when I feel crazy tired; perhaps it's because I perk up when I see a photographer and make sure to smile and/or pose!