Weekly Recap - March Week 4

After a long hiatus, I'm back to my weekly recaps to track my training more closely. If I want to get to my half marathon goal time this year, I need to think more about my training and actually follow a plan. (See post Getting Serious for more on this.) I'll now be doing these as Monday to Sunday because I want my Sunday recovery mileage included with each long run. This is mainly because, starting tomorrow, I'll be following the Hanson half marathon plan more closely and that uses recovery run mileage.

Monday, March 25
Planned: IPF group workout, easy
Completed: 3.5 miles
This was a recovery run after the previous day's half in Oakland. I did a little over a mile warm up, followed by drills with the group. Each time, we follow the warm up with drills such as grapevine, walking on heel/toe/inverted/etc, high knees, butt kicks, lunges, you get the idea. The actual workout was an easy day with cadence drills, then cool down. I'm glad this was an easy group track day after the half, and I felt great doing some recovery miles.

Tuesday, March 26
Planned: Barre class
Completed: Barre class
I went to my normal Tuesday lunchtime barre class at work, which they call GBarre because they put a G in front of everything at Google. We had a sub teacher, and her class was extra hard on the legs and glutes.

Also on Tuesday, I received my hand-crafted race bib bag from The Running Bag Lady Etsy shop. I read about the bags on Marathon Lar's blog and knew this would be a fun use for all of those bibs I had stashed in a drawer. It turned out GREAT!

Side One, with Disney Princess, Pittsburgh, SF Half, and Clarksburg 20 as highlights. 

Side 2, with Chicago Marathon, Ragnar, Chicago Half, and Nike Women's as highlights.

Wednesday, March 27
Planned: IPF Track workout
Completed: Rest
I took the day off partly because work was crazy and partly because I needed it after the half. You could say I let work be my excuse, albeit a very valid one that day.

Thursday, March 28
Planned: 4 miles
Completed: 7.4 miles over 2 runs (4 + 3.4)
Run #1: This was a terrible, absolutely terrible run. I don't know what was up with my body! Everything hurt, and things that usually bother me (calves) were that much worse. Talk about having stiff muscles. I blamed being on my feet for the crazy Wednesday work day in dress shoes, but who knows. I walked a lot, but at least the sun was shining and I enjoyed the weather.

Run #2: Why did I do this? Well, I was already going to a group run at Fleet Feet Menlo Park to give out some SF Marathon gear and discounts for their monthly pub run. I didn't know for sure if I'd be able to run while doing that, but I was and I did. Luckily the earlier run had stretched me out a little and I was able to have a great run with the group. I enjoy it because I work hard to keep up; if I don't, I might get lost so that's extra motivation.

Friday, March 29
Planned: Rest

Saturday, March 30
Planned: 10 miles
Completed: 12.5 miles trail
What an awesome trail run day! I met up with Kristen and Layla to run in Pleasanton Ridge, a beautiful park in Sunol, CA. I'm impressed with how close it was to San Jose, I had no idea. We enjoyed chatting and running, not to mention climbing up a few steep and long hills. We took some fun photos too. The weather was perfect, cool and a little foggy but not cold at all.

 Looking back down one of the hills we climbed, it looks easier from this angle...

 View from the top.

 Layla, Kristen, and me at the top.

 Running down from a viewpoint.

A pretty trail view with purple flowers.

Sunday, March 31
Planned: 4 miles
Completed: 3.35 miles
Another recovery run from Saturday's long run, felt awesome on the legs. I could get used to this I think, even though it's hard to get out the door when the legs are tired. Cut it a little short due to route miscalculation and decided it would be ok that way for today.

Total for the Week: 26.75 miles
Total for March: 104.41 miles

On to April and the Hanson half marathon plan!

Getting Serious

The PR miss in Oakland this past weekend made me really think about how I've been training lately - and admittedly it's been a bit sporadic. I've been doing track workouts, long runs especially on trail, and running during the week, but it's been a long time since I've followed a true half marathon training plan. Once I felt comfortable with the distance and didn't need to re-start the ramp up to a 12 mile long run each time, I started to play the 'whatever I feel like running today' game and just made sure to hold a good weekly mileage total. I thought adding speed workouts in general to that would help, but I'm realizing it's not the answer.

Side note. I actually had a race photo I like taken in Oakland. Yes, I bought it, crazy I know. Now I have a better Oiselle team profile pic!

I paid for it, so it needs to be shared on the blog.

Now back to training schedules. In the last few days, I've been thinking about how I can improve my training and follow a real schedule without losing the fun aspects of running that I love so much. I want something that lets me do the runs I want to do while also guiding me on quality workouts like speed and tempo runs. I don't feel the need to drop back down to 6 or 7 mile long runs as I used to do for the Hal Higdon plans. After a few Twitter friend suggestions and my subsequent research, I've decided to use the Hansons half marathon training plan as my guide. In addition to the website info, I picked up the Hansons Marathon Method book and it arrived from Amazon today. If all goes well, I hope to use the Hansons marathon training plan when it comes time for CIM training this fall.

The half marathon plan looks like this:

Credit: Hansons Website

Even at first glance I know this plan suggests running one more day per week than I usually do; I'm more a 4-5 day runner than 6. I think recovery days are important and I know I can't jump right into a big mileage increase, so at first I'll be dropping the Friday run each week. I'm also a Saturday long runner and will make appropriate changes to fit my schedule. Even so, I believe following this guide for long run mileage, recovery mileage, and tempo mileage will be really helpful. Plus I get to keep my favorite weekend long run distance of 10 miles going.

My schedule uses this plan with the target race being the SF 2nd Half Marathon on June 16. I also have the Eugene Half on April 28 as a mid-schedule race tune-up. I love half marathons, so I won't necessarily be dropping any for one big goal race. I prefer to have a few to look forward to, especially when some go well and some just...don't. 

In addition to a new training plan, I'll be checking in again with my weekly training recaps and how everything is going. I know it might be boring, but of course you don't need to read them if so! I find I enjoy reading about training plans, so hopefully I'm not the only one. 

What training plans are your favorite? Do you change it up often?

Oakland Half Marathon 2013 Race Report

Today wasn't my PR day, but that's ok. I went in feeling confident, thinking it should be a no problem PR after all of the track work I've been doing. I started out faster than I normally would around a 9:25 pace, thinking I could hold close or drop off only slightly because I'm usually a negative-split half marathoner. Oops, wrong.

I'm not sure if I went out too fast (target average pace was 9:40) or if it was 70 degree temps, but my old friend the side cramp came out around mile 2.5 and hasn't let me go yet. And yes, I mean I still have it as I write this post at 9 pm. I'm getting much better at running with the cramp, which is good I think, but at some point it just gets to me and really hurts. It hurts more when going downhill, so even the little downhill inclines near the end of the half were torture. I held my target PR pace until about mile 8, but after that I began to slip quickly. By mile 11 I wasn't sure I could manage to run to 13, and I ended up with some walk/run for the last couple of miles. I crossed the finish at 2:14:24, about 7 minutes slower than my current PR.

I really wish I could get to the bottom of the cramping issue. My pattern in the last year is no cramp = PR or close, cramp = 7+ minutes slower than PR. Talk about frustrating. Even though the side cramp played a role in the slow down, I also learned today that longer tempo runs are a must. I've been doing the track interval work, but that isn't yet getting me to the distances I need. I likely also need more mental stamina to hold onto faster paces, although at least I'm good at pushing (albeit very slowly) through pain.

On the bright side, I was able to see quite a few friends at the race and the weather was gorgeous. I really enjoy the course, especially the Crucible fire arch and this iron horse that breathes fire. There are many cheer stations with music, a highlight being the Oakland Raiders group who dress up and get super excited. Aside from the not so ideal race performance, it was a fun day.

Post-race with Natalie, so much fun to see her this weekend! 

Post-race photo with Kev

The race overall is a great event. I especially like the later 9:15 am start time, which enables everyone to take BART to a block away from the start line. Having no parking or driving hassle is amazing. The staging area is in Snow Park, which has plenty of space for the race festivities and for people to lounge on the grass after it's over. The course runs through downtown Oakland and people are pretty into it; there are lots of people out cheering along the way. At the end, they give you not one but TWO two beer tickets, which are redeemed for cans of Coors Light. Not my fave beer, but hey it's a nice gesture and beer in general tastes good after running.

Double-fisting the Coors Light.

A Toast.

And now the race details. 

The Expo. The Oakland Running Festival expo is medium-size, and it's a fun one to walk around to see vendors and other local races. This year they had a booth for Hoka One One shoes, and I couldn't resist trying them on. More on that in a later post! We didn't have any lines for picking up race goods, and it wasn't too crowded when we went around 1 pm. I really like the shirt design this year, although I wasn't a fan of last year's design. Shirts were long sleeve and men/women specific.

Dark blue with fun blue and white design.

The Course. This one is basically flat, with perhaps a few easy inclines or declines for an underpass and around Lake Merritt. Really though, I don't think these are considered real 'hills.' I found it to be a pretty easy course in the world of half marathons last year, and I was thankful for that this year when I was hurting. As mentioned above, I like the people out cheering and the little groups with entertainment.

The Support. The volunteers did a great job! Gear check was a little confusing because the bib number signs were off, but otherwise nothing to be critical about. I never had to wait for water at aid stations, and they had plenty of water and gatorade. There was one Gu station on the half course too. There were porta-potties with each aid station, and I'd say the aid stations were about 2-3 miles apart. The Police were out to control traffic and were doing a great job at dealing with annoyed car drivers stopped at the intersections. I wouldn't want that job!

The Finish Line. After crossing the finish line, there were volunteers handing out heat sheets (not needed today!) and medals. I love that she put the medal around my neck instead of just handing it to me. Next they were handing out bottled water and gave me two, yay. I grabbed a cup of Gatorade and headed through the chute. I saw them handing out fruit cups and my husband said there were Cheetos, bananas, apples, pretzels, and granola bars, but somehow I didn't see any of those. There was also a Zico coconut water station of course, they were the sponsor. The start and finish are both in Snow Park, so we were back to the nice grassy area at that point. The park had the beer tent, merchandise, and food trucks (food trucks needed money.) 

Medal close up.

The race ended, we grabbed some pizza at Zachary's with Natalie, and then headed back for our BART ride home. Again, I love the ability to take public transportation to the race. 

Love it so much I had to take a photo. Not really, I just got bored.

Until next time...just keep running!

Goodbye, Google Reader

Last week, Google officially announced the sunset of Google Reader, a product I use almost daily. My head flooded with thoughts of 'What?! How can this be? What will I use now?' and I started reading articles on alternatives. I'm still pretty surprised by this decision, but I guess the signs were all there: bugs not being fixed, no new development, no user interface changes to match the new style of other products. But alas, I still had hope until last week.

My research on other RSS reader platforms resulted in two potential selections: Feedly and Bloglovin'. Specifically, this Mashable article led me to check out Feedly. I downloaded the Chrome App for Feedly, which you open from the apps listed on a new tab in Chrome, and it automatically imported my Google Reader subscriptions. It was super easy to set up and the UI is pretty good. 

Feedly default view, upon opening the Chrome App

I like that Feedly shows which blogs you were following via Blogger. The colors are easy on the eyes, and there are options to filter by content posted 'Today' and to change the 'theme' (i.e. colors) of your Feedly dashboard. There are a few aspects I'm not a fan of, such as a Finance section and a few Ads. It also shows blogs that 'You might also like' - a feature which I could take or leave.  

The Blogger-Following filter, note the suggestion section on the bottom right.

The second reader, Bloglovin', is noticeably (and not shockingly based on the name) more targeted to blogs and makes it super easy to find blogs to follow. Importing my Google Reader subscriptions took a bit more effort because I had to download the subscription file and then upload to Bloglovin', but it really wasn't hard to do. I have to say it was worth it - I'm liking the Bloglovin' UI. I'd found this a while back when I first started blogging, but I completely forgot about it until it came up on Twitter last week.

Default landing page upon opening Bloglovin'.

This site makes it easier to set up categories for blogs and you don't need the RSS feed link to add a blog; you just search for the blog name or URL. From my experience, Bloglovin' tends to find what I'm looking for. The 'all unread posts' view shows posts in the order they were added as opposed to what they think should be featured, which I prefer. Another bonus is that users can 'follow' your blog on Bloglovin', and that feels similar to using Google Friend Connect (which I removed from the blog too, sad.) 

Bloglovin' allows users to set email preferences and will send a daily update of all blog posts, which I have discovered I like a lot. This way I see the blogs I want to follow easily and can click through the email instead of going to a separate site. I never though I'd be a follow by email person, but in the daily digest form it works for me.

These two tools are my current preferences, with Bloglovin' leading Feedly by a bit. If you want to join me on Bloglovin', use my follow link on the right-hand side of the blog to follow me there!

What is everyone out there using now? Have you switched yet or are you holding on until the last minute? Have you tried either of the ones I mention in this post? Let me know!

March SF Marathon Blog Post: Recovery

Today is my second guest post on the San Francisco Marathon Blog and it's all about recovery. I've found that I let stretching and recovery slip sometimes, and I'm sure we all do when life gets busy. It's so much easier to focus on the workout itself.

Check out the post for my favorite recovery methods and some suggested by other Ambassadors.

I leave you with a sneak peek photo of how much kitten Willow loves legs up the wall.

Happy running...and recovery!

Run, Ski, Meet Friends, Repeat

I've been slow on the blog for the last couple of weeks, but with good reason. Kevin and I have been enjoying March so far with lots of ski time, run time, and friend time. It's been awesome!

Two weekends ago, we headed to Placerville for Alisyn's birthday and had a wine tasting plus trail running excursion. There is definitely some good wine to be had in the El Dorado area, which we had never been to until that day. The winery highlight was Holly's Hill; check it out if you are in the area. Great wine, equally great views from atop the foothills. We stayed in Placerville that night and headed out for running then brunch in the morning. We ran near Pollock Pines at Jenkinson Lake; this was a beautiful 8.5 mile loop of the lake, complete with a big waterfall and snow. I loved it!

 A little blurry, but representative of the view.

Shannon, Matt, Kevin, Me, Melissa, Layla

Last Saturday we took advantage of the fresh snowfall and headed to Kirkwood Mountain to ski. What a great decision that was! We had the best powder we've found this year and a bluebird day. Kirkwood was pretty crowded, but everywhere was due to the first decent snow in weeks. We went up on a day trip with the Bay Area Ski Bus, and I was impressed with the organization and the extras - like a party complete with wine, cocktails, snacks, and s'mores before we got back on the bus. I'd definitely take the ski bus again. 

On Sunday, Kevin and I went running in San Francisco. I met up with Oiselle Teammate Ayesha for a fun 10 miles along Embarcadero, then we had lunch with another Oiselle Teammate Sandra. I love meeting other birds and catching up with the ones I've met, it's one of the amazing parts of being on the team. 

Photo op during the run. Golden Gate never gets old. 

Ayesha, Sandra, and I at 21st Amendment for lunch.

And that brings us to this week, the highlight of which was the corporate ski trip to Squaw Valley. But first, let me just say that I had my best set of 800m intervals to date on the track, and I'm pumped about it. It feels so good to conquer something that feels so daunting. Back to the ski trip. 

Usually I'd take the bus from the office, but a few friends decided to stay the weekend so we drove up from the Bay Area on Thursday morning. Thursday was super warm and I don't have a pass at Squaw, so I didn't pay to ski in those conditions. I enjoyed the lodge and took off on a run to take in the mountain views instead. I'm definitely a mountain person if I have to choose mountain vs. beach. 

Mountains along my run trail. 

View from the Resort at Squaw Creek. Note: people laying out by the pool, it was that warm.

I skied at Squaw Valley on Friday with friends from work, although the conditions were icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon, so not great. I'd still rather ski than not ski though! In the afternoon we headed down to our cabin in South Lake Tahoe, met up with the significant others, and went out to dinner. Our cabin had a pool table and we spent most of the evening playing pool. Fun! We skied Saturday and Sunday with our friends, and luckily the weather cooled down just a bit. Today's conditions were rather good higher on the mountain - it was hard to leave. I'm sad to think today might have been our last ski day of this season, but it's getting close to that time. Hopefully we'll make it up to Tahoe one more time, but it's hard to tell. 

Another blue sky day.

On to the week ahead, which is race week! I'm running the Oakland Half marathon next Sunday and will be tapering a bit to rest the legs. I'm hoping for a PR goal if I feel good that morning, although not the sub-2 hour goal quite yet. It's still early in the year. Have a great week all!

Small (Blog) Changes

I made a few blog updates today and I'm pumped! You might have noticed the new header, which I was happy to work on now that I have Photoshop. But the bigger news - I actually bought a domain name and no longer have the long 'blogspot' name. Whoo hoo! I wasn't able to get the exact domain I hoped for, but I'm quite happy with www.justkeeprunningblog.com.

Although I am pretty good with technology and the internet, I can't say I've ever purchased and worked with domain names. I fixed the Feedburner URL and I'm pretty sure everything is set up properly for subscribers, but if you see anything amiss please let me know. My biggest worry is losing readers or subscribers by changing the URL.

And last, in an attempt to liven up this post a bit, my Oiselle #lookbook entry from this week. Check out the contest and enter, you could win a gift card and/or be featured on the website!

Title: Reflection (mostly because I had to take it myself...)

It's SF Marathon Sign-Up Time

Have you signed up for your favorite San Francisco Marathon event yet? If not, it's your lucky day! My Ambassador discount code for $10 off registration is active until March 15, and prices also go up March 15. Use the code today to get the benefit of both lower prices and the extra discount.

Here's the magic code: DSC10AMBPF2013

The SF Marathon events include the 1st Half Marathon, the 2nd Half Marathon - yes, you can pick which half - the full Marathon, and a 5K. Check out the fun multi-year options like the Half it All Challenge and the 52 Club for extra bling.

Why should you sign up for this event? Picture yourself running in perfect, cool weather over the Golden Gate Bridge, in one of the most awesome cities there is. That's why you should sign up. If you haven't experienced running in SF yet, I highly recommend giving it a shot. I'd be surprised if you didn't love it as much as I do! Browse my 2012 race report for more details on the event.

Happy running everyone!

Book Review: The Ultimate Beginners Running Guide

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Ryan Robert, the author of 'The Ultimate Beginners Running Guide: The Key to Running Inspired.' He sent me a complimentary copy of the Kindle edition to read and review. It admittedly took me longer than I'd like with everything going on lately, but I've now read the book and want to share my thoughts.

The book is targeted to readers who have just started running or who want to start running and aren't sure how to do so. The book begins by outlining how running can benefit our minds as well as our physical bodies. Ryan follows this with a chapter on getting ready to run; mechanics of form, keeping a running log, and common questions are highlighted in this section. I enjoyed reading through the form section because it's a helpful reminder of how important form can be as well as how to do specific movements. At the end of the chapter, he reiterates the main tips and tricks to help readers focus on the most important points to remember.

Next, the book goes through footwear and pronation. The book is written from a non-barefoot running perspective, talking about orthotics and shoes to correct for foot issues. This is fine with me as I haven't gotten into minimalist or barefoot running thus far, but it's a good point to note for anyone reading the book and considering this. My favorite points here are that going to a running store to get fitted is important, and I like the suggestion to alternate two pairs of shoes to allow them time to dry and decompress. I'm not positive this is anything but helpful for me mentally, but I do generally stick to this idea.

Chapter three goes into detail on warm up, cool down, and target heart rates. I like that Ryan says runners need to 'decide for themselves what types of stretches they do, and when stretching will work best for them.' I think this is super important and that people get to know what their body needs and when, and I agree that static stretching of cold muscles might not be as helpful. He outlines a few ways to warm up muscles without just static stretching and follows it with methods of stretching post-run. Again, I like the section of tips and summaries at the end of each chapter to highlight the most important parts.

The next sections of the book discuss being confident, improving performance, staying motivated, and nutrition. Ryan gives a number of tips for each of these that may be helpful to beginners. The section on improving performance via speed work and hill repeats was good, but I had more difficulty relating to some of the motivational suggestions. I'm pretty sure this is because I've been running for a few years and have my own motivations now; I know how good I feel and what it can really do for me!

After this, the book talks about running in adverse weather conditions and common injuries. I really liked both of these topics; there is interesting information about what to wear and how to handle conditions like extreme hot or cold which could be helpful to anyone and especially to new runners. The injury section went through common issues including 'runner's knee,' Plantar Fasciitis,  muscle strains, and shin splints. I'm pretty sure I've attempted to self-diagnose each of these via the internet at some point, so having them listed in one place for comparison was useful to read.

The final parts of the book provide training schedules to help beginner runners get going and ideas on how to run inspired. The schedules are basic but would likely be helpful to people starting out. The inspiration part was again harder for me to relate to as a long time runner, but I'm confident that beginners would find it useful as they get going and become more focuses on running or fitness.

Overall, my impression of the book is that it would be helpful to new runners. Those of us who have been running for a long time might not relate to the book as well, although we could still be interested in sections related to form and common injury descriptions. It's a pretty quick read, and going back through the section summaries or tips makes it easy to find the topics.

Thanks to Ryan Robert for sending me the book!