I am just not that hard on myself. It's true. When I fall short of my goals, rather than beating myself up, I generally look at how far above zero I am while striving for 100% and call it success.
So, this is how we get last week. I managed to clear a *ton* of work from my todo list. The work list at the end of the week (before the weekend) was much smaller than the one at the beginning. This almost never happens, so I was thrilled. Also, E's sister and husband were coming in to town for a weekend of awesome debauchery in Napa and I knew I wouldn't be able to (or at least be motivated to) squeeze in any work, so it was very nice to go into the weekend without work stress looming in the horizon.
Napa was amazing and over the top. We started with a shared adorable house within walking distance of downtown Napa and added in visits to Morimoto, Oenotri, Elyse Winery, Outpost Estate Wines, RoccaWines, Elizabeth Spencer Wines, Oxbow Public Market, the Model Bakery, Ehlers Estate, an amazing tasting menu at Redd (Best meal of the trip!), and... on the way back home, in case we hadn't had enough, we finished it all off with a magnum from the tasting trip at House of Prime Rib.
So, it was a great work and social week. And the running/fitness? Well, I'm super proud of myself because I actually managed to do *most* of what was scheduled.
M: Bikram. Took Cynthia's class, and while I made it through more poses than the week before, I did end up needing to leave for some cool air once we were on the ground. I was not remotely mentally tough enough to stay in that heat for another 45 minutes. Oh well. I still had a great Bikram workout.
T: 51:22 minutes with 10 X (1 min fast/1 min slow) in the middle. 4.81 miles -- slow, but done.
W: Track day with the ladies, which I love and usually can't attend, so I was very happy. Short intervals, so I pushed it and surprised myself with my relative speed (1.5 jog; 3X100 pickup; 100 walk; drills; 200/47; 2:00 RI; 200/47; 2:00
RI; 400/1:51; 2:00 RI; 600/3:01; 2:40 RI; 400/1:54; 2:00 RI; 200/45; 3:00 RI;
200/48; 2:48 RI; 100/20; 0:19 RI; 100/24; 0:30 RI; 100/21; 0:29 RI; 100/20;
400 walk recovery (3.6 miles total)
Th: The schedule said off or 40-60 minutes easy. I settled for 20 minutes easy. 2.05 miles w/ 0.25 walk c/d. Some might call this failure. I call it compromise.
F: The surprisingly great tempo run.
Sa: 82:30 alone and slow along the Napa Valley River. Last 20:00 with E, slightly faster. This run was all about time on my feet. I'm up to 102 minutes. I need to get in a couple of 130+ minute runs before SJRNR. gmap-pedometer informs me I did 8.08 miles for a tortoise-like average pace of 11:28. You might think I'd be disappointed at how slow this is. But, no. I'm just not that hard on myself. I'm impressed that I did 102 minutes on a wine weekend after a big blowout pre-run night of food and sake at Morimoto.
Su: 0.5 mile jog to coffee. 0.4 mile jog to bathroom. 3.81 on the Napa Valley River trail in 41:22 for a blistering 10:50 average pace -- we'll call this the wine weekend post tasting menu PR pace. Rewarded myself with more wine tasting and a big steak dinner with all the sides.
Total mileage: 27.99. Average increase in weight over the week? Approximately 6 pounds. Again, you might think I'd be hard on myself about this. But you'd be wrong. I had a fabulous week.
August 27, 2013
August 23, 2013
I Needed That One
Today's scheduled run was a tempo run from 3-5 miles. Since I'm starting from such a low fitness point, I made a deal with myself -- I'd warm-up, then I'd only have to do 3 miles, but I had to do them at the hardest sustainable pace I could find.
First, I did an easy 3/4 mile jog. Then, I set my broken garmin to zero time, hit start, and ran by effort for 3 miles, pushing as hard as I reasonably thought I could maintain for 3 miles, and definitely pushing harder than I'd done in a long while on any run.
I hit the 3 mile fire hydrant (thanks gmap-pedometer) at 26:00 exactly.
And then, I walked 10 minutes to get home.
Ahhhhh... there we go -- what a perfect workout. I'd almost forgotten what a great sense of accomplishment I can get from a run like today's.
I think it's going to be a great weekend!
First, I did an easy 3/4 mile jog. Then, I set my broken garmin to zero time, hit start, and ran by effort for 3 miles, pushing as hard as I reasonably thought I could maintain for 3 miles, and definitely pushing harder than I'd done in a long while on any run.
I hit the 3 mile fire hydrant (thanks gmap-pedometer) at 26:00 exactly.
And then, I walked 10 minutes to get home.
Ahhhhh... there we go -- what a perfect workout. I'd almost forgotten what a great sense of accomplishment I can get from a run like today's.
I think it's going to be a great weekend!
August 18, 2013
San Jose Rock 'n Roll week -7
A week ago I finally got serious about the fact that I have paid the very expensive registration fee for the Rock 'n Roll San Jose half marathon, so I should probably start training. I pulled together a training program loosely based on Greg McMillan's You (Only Faster) 4-5 day/week plan and this week was my first week of trying to be somewhat more serious.
I missed many of the marks I'd set for myself as work and life were a bit crazier and with more travel than I hoped. But, compared to my previous effort levels, this week was okay.
M: As promised, Bikram. It kicked my ass but started me in the right direction. I'm committed to going back tomorrow and will do my best to complete at least one of every of the 26 poses in the sequence, and, ideally, two of most of them. And, of course, I will do my best to stay in the room for the entire 90 minutes.
T: 4 miles easy in 40 minutes with no stops in the 87F heat. Much higher effort level than it looks like it should have been. Best workout of the week.
W: 40 minutes easy on the Embarcadero. Dodging tourists has to develop some lateral stablizing strength to compensate for the slowing, right?
Th: headed to the track for what looked like a *very* difficult workout. Forces combined to kill it, so I bailed after 1 mile warm-up and an 800 that was slower than target pace for the 2000s I was supposed to do. My track shoes (Brooks T7s) were brand new and, somehow, much too small, cramming my toes and causing numbness, despite being the same size as all of my other Brooks shoes. Also, my right ankle was still grumpy at me from rolling it last week in SF.
F: 4.61 easy miles at home.
Sa: 3.2 mile run along the river in Spokane. Progression effort. The last 5 minutes I was pushing it quite a bit, but I started *very* slow and easy. Avg pace 10:06. Most enjoyable run of the week. The riverfront trails in Spokane are gorgeous.
Su: Super slow and easy 85 minute long run. 7.35 miles for an AVG pace of 11:34. In my defense it was almost 90F when I finished.
Total Mileage: 27.06. Execution: C-. Missed the long track intervals and the 85 minute long run was much slower and shorter in time than I would have liked. This second item I can only blame on the lack of a Garmin and sleeping in (which felt awesome). So, since I rarely sleep in, the real question is whether I should buy a Garmin or complete the training cycle for SJRNR without one. I'm leaning towards doing the training cycle without a GPS pace watch just to see how it treats me. Perhaps I'd benefit more than I realize by doing a cycle running solely by self-assessed effort. Only one way to find out...
I missed many of the marks I'd set for myself as work and life were a bit crazier and with more travel than I hoped. But, compared to my previous effort levels, this week was okay.
M: As promised, Bikram. It kicked my ass but started me in the right direction. I'm committed to going back tomorrow and will do my best to complete at least one of every of the 26 poses in the sequence, and, ideally, two of most of them. And, of course, I will do my best to stay in the room for the entire 90 minutes.
T: 4 miles easy in 40 minutes with no stops in the 87F heat. Much higher effort level than it looks like it should have been. Best workout of the week.
W: 40 minutes easy on the Embarcadero. Dodging tourists has to develop some lateral stablizing strength to compensate for the slowing, right?
Th: headed to the track for what looked like a *very* difficult workout. Forces combined to kill it, so I bailed after 1 mile warm-up and an 800 that was slower than target pace for the 2000s I was supposed to do. My track shoes (Brooks T7s) were brand new and, somehow, much too small, cramming my toes and causing numbness, despite being the same size as all of my other Brooks shoes. Also, my right ankle was still grumpy at me from rolling it last week in SF.
F: 4.61 easy miles at home.
Sa: 3.2 mile run along the river in Spokane. Progression effort. The last 5 minutes I was pushing it quite a bit, but I started *very* slow and easy. Avg pace 10:06. Most enjoyable run of the week. The riverfront trails in Spokane are gorgeous.
Su: Super slow and easy 85 minute long run. 7.35 miles for an AVG pace of 11:34. In my defense it was almost 90F when I finished.
Total Mileage: 27.06. Execution: C-. Missed the long track intervals and the 85 minute long run was much slower and shorter in time than I would have liked. This second item I can only blame on the lack of a Garmin and sleeping in (which felt awesome). So, since I rarely sleep in, the real question is whether I should buy a Garmin or complete the training cycle for SJRNR without one. I'm leaning towards doing the training cycle without a GPS pace watch just to see how it treats me. Perhaps I'd benefit more than I realize by doing a cycle running solely by self-assessed effort. Only one way to find out...
August 13, 2013
Ah-Hah!
I've always felt like I don't have much in common with other women, by default. And, I often find women confusing and hard to understand.
Today, the wonderfully entertaining Penelope sent me here.
As for my Myers-Briggs type -- I am definitely NTJ. Depending on the test, I turn up barely I or barely E. If the test gives percentages, I'll usually be in the 80-90% for NTJ and 51% or 52% for either I or E.
So, I'm strongly NT. And if you look at this chart, visually, it's so obvious -- for those two personality characteristics (intuitive/thinking) vs (sensing/feeling) I *don't* have much in common with most women (most people, actually).
But, more than half of men are T on the T/F scale, so I am more likely to have at least *one* of these two personality characteristics in common with a man. Interestingly, while it's not common in either gender, women are more likely to be N than men, so I'm more likely to have that particular personality trait in common with a woman than a man.
**Red=F, Blue=M, Grey=All.
Today, the wonderfully entertaining Penelope sent me here.
As for my Myers-Briggs type -- I am definitely NTJ. Depending on the test, I turn up barely I or barely E. If the test gives percentages, I'll usually be in the 80-90% for NTJ and 51% or 52% for either I or E.
So, I'm strongly NT. And if you look at this chart, visually, it's so obvious -- for those two personality characteristics (intuitive/thinking) vs (sensing/feeling) I *don't* have much in common with most women (most people, actually).
But, more than half of men are T on the T/F scale, so I am more likely to have at least *one* of these two personality characteristics in common with a man. Interestingly, while it's not common in either gender, women are more likely to be N than men, so I'm more likely to have that particular personality trait in common with a woman than a man.
August 12, 2013
Random
**GARDEN UPDATE**
Part of the explanation for the low mileage and lack of disciplined fitness commitment the last few months is how much work and how enjoyable it is to do gardening (and slow roasting, and sauce-canning, and gift-giving) when this is the weekend harvest:
**BIKRAM/RUNNING UPDATE**
Last week, I managed a lackluster 21.68 miles and it was clear that I needed to buckle down. So, I drafted a training plan for SJ RNR. It required that I commit on a few levels. I started with a difficult one for me, first thing -- Back to Bikram.
As scheduled on the plan, today, I sucked it up and returned to the Bikram hot room for the first time in almost 4 months. On the drive in, I realized I was actually *scared*. This studio is no joke, and they keep the room at a much hotter temperature than anywhere else I've ever practiced Bikram.
It was very interesting to recognize that I was scared but I was still going to do my best to execute on my plan -- I was going to walk in, buy a 10 class (3 month card), and I was going to do my best to stay in that damn hellish room for the full 90 minutes even if it felt like I was going to die. (Let's be clear -- despite seriously considering an exit on multiple occasions during the class, I never actually felt anything like I was going to die, and if I did, I would have stood up and gotten the fuck out of there so quickly they wouldn't have known what happened. Sorry about the "do my best" hyperbole, but I had to engage in it to psych myself up for today's return to the hot room. Forgive me.) Also, I opted out of a ridiculous percentage of the poses, and, as per the Bikram thing -- I got hot enough to take off my shirt and I had to look straight into mirror and contemplate the current reality of my body in a sports bra and boy shorts while sweating and contorting. Yup. Bikram is hard-core on every axis. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. But it's true.
Somehow, while almost leaving at minute 44, I managed to stick it out for the remaining 46 and I left proud. Exhausted. Sweat-covered and ready to attack the rest of my day, which, frankly, seemed super easy after that madness.
Oh. Right. That's why I do this.
Also, in a magical coincidence, the rest of my day was super easy. Thanks, clients! (Or Bikram-God. Whatever.)
**GUITO UPDATE**
He continues to grow and he is super cute. That is all.
**AND FINALLY**
If you know someone who regularly does canning, they probably have plenty of jars (and if they don't, new ones come with bands and lids), and they *definitely* have plenty of bands.
So, Public Service Announcement: LIDS ARE THE ONLY DISPOSABLE COMPONENT OF CANNING SUPPLIES! -- these are the gifts you should give your canning friends. (From me, with a cupboard full of bands and jars. And a dearth of new lids in the midst of the canning madness that this Summer's prolific garden is causing...)
Part of the explanation for the low mileage and lack of disciplined fitness commitment the last few months is how much work and how enjoyable it is to do gardening (and slow roasting, and sauce-canning, and gift-giving) when this is the weekend harvest:
**BIKRAM/RUNNING UPDATE**
Last week, I managed a lackluster 21.68 miles and it was clear that I needed to buckle down. So, I drafted a training plan for SJ RNR. It required that I commit on a few levels. I started with a difficult one for me, first thing -- Back to Bikram.
As scheduled on the plan, today, I sucked it up and returned to the Bikram hot room for the first time in almost 4 months. On the drive in, I realized I was actually *scared*. This studio is no joke, and they keep the room at a much hotter temperature than anywhere else I've ever practiced Bikram.
It was very interesting to recognize that I was scared but I was still going to do my best to execute on my plan -- I was going to walk in, buy a 10 class (3 month card), and I was going to do my best to stay in that damn hellish room for the full 90 minutes even if it felt like I was going to die. (Let's be clear -- despite seriously considering an exit on multiple occasions during the class, I never actually felt anything like I was going to die, and if I did, I would have stood up and gotten the fuck out of there so quickly they wouldn't have known what happened. Sorry about the "do my best" hyperbole, but I had to engage in it to psych myself up for today's return to the hot room. Forgive me.) Also, I opted out of a ridiculous percentage of the poses, and, as per the Bikram thing -- I got hot enough to take off my shirt and I had to look straight into mirror and contemplate the current reality of my body in a sports bra and boy shorts while sweating and contorting. Yup. Bikram is hard-core on every axis. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. But it's true.
Somehow, while almost leaving at minute 44, I managed to stick it out for the remaining 46 and I left proud. Exhausted. Sweat-covered and ready to attack the rest of my day, which, frankly, seemed super easy after that madness.
Oh. Right. That's why I do this.
Also, in a magical coincidence, the rest of my day was super easy. Thanks, clients! (Or Bikram-God. Whatever.)
**GUITO UPDATE**
He continues to grow and he is super cute. That is all.
**AND FINALLY**
If you know someone who regularly does canning, they probably have plenty of jars (and if they don't, new ones come with bands and lids), and they *definitely* have plenty of bands.
So, Public Service Announcement: LIDS ARE THE ONLY DISPOSABLE COMPONENT OF CANNING SUPPLIES! -- these are the gifts you should give your canning friends. (From me, with a cupboard full of bands and jars. And a dearth of new lids in the midst of the canning madness that this Summer's prolific garden is causing...)
August 7, 2013
Child-Free
The love of my life and I have chosen not to have children (caveat, required by science -- thus far. Someday we may be able to clone ourselves and take an army to another planet in which case, I'm pretty certain E will overrule me and we'll have *TONS* of kids. But today, we've decided it's not in our plans).
We are odd. It is clear. Our fridge is covered with the family holiday photos and birth announcements of all of our friends and family in our general age cohort who've all chosen to have children. We're married. We're happy. We're more or less financially stable. And, typically, people like us have kids. Yet, we've opted out. So, we are weird. (To those who know either of us well, this is not remotely surprising.)
We also maintain close friendships with people who don't have the option of having children, other couples like us, single folks, etc, and the variety of our relationships with these folks is defintely rewarding.
In the last couple of weeks, the US media has taken this (the "non-reproducing, otherwise relatively normal couple") up as a cause of some sort. So we've got our most recent Time magazine as shown at the top, and this article.
And all I can think is, why the fuck is it us versus them?
I have many children in my life -- nieces, a nephew, and all of my friends' kids. I am grateful for all of them making my life richer. I don't feel that my close friends and family feel that our choice somehow hurts them. I am lucky. So maybe we can all get to a place someday where it's okay to choose whatever you choose with respect to reproduction (preferably when you can provide for your offspring...), but we all agree that, no matter what, all kids need support, and we should all support them.
In the meantime, headsup -- If you are youthful and fit enough that you can pose in a bathing suit on the cover of a magazine, then you are too young to have actually made any final decisions about anything. Just saying.
August 6, 2013
GPS-Free
It's been almost a month since my Garmin died.
And, in a way, it's been kind of nice. I'd fallen into a bit of a running funk, and running solely for time without any distance or speed data has been an interesting way to mix things up.
Last week, I'd hoped to do the Summer Breeze 10K, but work had other plans. By 9 PM on Friday night, I still had 2 contracts left to mark-up and *all* of my timesheets to finalize for the month. I owed my bookkeeper timesheets so she could complete my books and invoices (ideally, I'm supposed to get them to her on the last day of the month, so I was already 2 days late). I owed my clients the contract mark-ups, and both of them were supposed to be completed "by the end of the week".
Sigh.
So, Friday night, I accepted the reality, and bailed on the race. Saturday AM, I got up, finished the two last contracts for the week, and headed out for a nice 3 mile loop with E. Not quite the 10K I'd hoped for, but enjoyable in its own way.
And, bonus, I wasn't under water by the time my mom and her husband showed up for a late afternoon brunch.
We enjoyed a typical summer meal on our patio under our umbrella in the perfect weather. Eating outside from the garden is such a pleasure. I didn't take a picture of the food we ate that day, but here are some colorful examples of what we've been enjoying outside on weekends and evenings:
That evening, I finished my timesheets and promised myself that I'd take all of Sunday off from all work. Instead, I started the day with a lazy medium long run. I ran 40:55 out, and 39:45 back. gmap-pedometer says it was 7.2 miles. So, a slow effort, but a steady one, decreasing in pace.
Despite a complete lack of commitment to distance, thanks to the weekend's efforts plus many walks, a run on Monday with T, a medium solo effort on Tuesday, and track day with the ladies on Wednesday (very short intervals 200s and 100s -- I was sore for two days!) I managed to hit 27.97 miles. Not bad for a GPS and discipline free week.
And, in a way, it's been kind of nice. I'd fallen into a bit of a running funk, and running solely for time without any distance or speed data has been an interesting way to mix things up.
Last week, I'd hoped to do the Summer Breeze 10K, but work had other plans. By 9 PM on Friday night, I still had 2 contracts left to mark-up and *all* of my timesheets to finalize for the month. I owed my bookkeeper timesheets so she could complete my books and invoices (ideally, I'm supposed to get them to her on the last day of the month, so I was already 2 days late). I owed my clients the contract mark-ups, and both of them were supposed to be completed "by the end of the week".
Sigh.
So, Friday night, I accepted the reality, and bailed on the race. Saturday AM, I got up, finished the two last contracts for the week, and headed out for a nice 3 mile loop with E. Not quite the 10K I'd hoped for, but enjoyable in its own way.
And, bonus, I wasn't under water by the time my mom and her husband showed up for a late afternoon brunch.
We enjoyed a typical summer meal on our patio under our umbrella in the perfect weather. Eating outside from the garden is such a pleasure. I didn't take a picture of the food we ate that day, but here are some colorful examples of what we've been enjoying outside on weekends and evenings:
That evening, I finished my timesheets and promised myself that I'd take all of Sunday off from all work. Instead, I started the day with a lazy medium long run. I ran 40:55 out, and 39:45 back. gmap-pedometer says it was 7.2 miles. So, a slow effort, but a steady one, decreasing in pace.
Despite a complete lack of commitment to distance, thanks to the weekend's efforts plus many walks, a run on Monday with T, a medium solo effort on Tuesday, and track day with the ladies on Wednesday (very short intervals 200s and 100s -- I was sore for two days!) I managed to hit 27.97 miles. Not bad for a GPS and discipline free week.
July 29, 2013
There Is No Spoon
Saturday, two college roommates and I and all of our husbands went out to dinner and then to the symphony to see the Matrix with the symphony performing the score. It was THE COOLEST MOVIE VIEWING EXPERIENCE EVER!
In running news, I had a mediocre week. I came down with a crazy summer cold after last weekend's long run almost immediately. Chills upon arriving home and it only got worse from there. It knocked me out for several days. Summer colds are extra miserable -- you can't curl up with a blanket and some tea and soup because it's too hot.
While sick, I just did my best to try to get better and to fit in some walks. Finally, on Wednesday, I managed a run/walk, with jogging intervals of 4, 5, 6, and 8 minutes and I figured I was in the clear. Somehow, Thursday and Friday came and went without any running.
But, finally, I managed to do a decent 7.5 miles on Saturday (slow and steady at around 11:00/mile with the last 0.8 walking). Sunday, after staying the night in SF, the plan was to run/walk the embarcadero with E, E2 and P. I got up and headed to the hotel treadmill for a warmup and managed a mile at 10:00 and then 1 minute at 0.1 mph faster pace 'til I hit sub 9. Then, while walking with E2 as the guys ran ahead, I fit in 4 speed intervals: 2:30, 2:30, 0:59, 0:49. No idea what pace these were at, but the effort was solid in each one, so likely whatever pace they were was the correct one. Including the walking, I just snuck over 20 miles for the week for a total of 20.75.
I'd hoped to step it up a notch last week on my running, but the cold killed that plan. So, my fitness is pretty low right now and there's not much I can do to change that before next weekend's 10K. Oh well. Better slow than nothing.
July 21, 2013
Lazy 10K Prep
I had a great lazy running week.
My Garmin is dead. So, I've been doing my best with it in it's less-than-awesome state as a very expensive stopwatch.
Total mileage for the week? 23.6. The most since the SF 1st half marathon.
That feels good. And, I feel less sloth-like.
The week's efforts before Sunday consisted of an easy 2.5 miles in So-Cal out to the beach and back at A&B's, followed by a hard TM effort for 20 minutes at the hotel (increasing effort every 1 minute is *no* joke!), an easy 6.2 mile effort on Thursday, and 3.5 miles easy on Saturday.
Today, I headed over to the east-bay and met Jen for a pseudo-long run, which, frankly, was guaranteed to feel like a long run for me since I'd failed to do anything remotely long for over a month. We'd planned on 13, but I'd begged off, due to my lame fitness, so we settled on 9 for me (4 before for Jen) and I brought my friend, the super-speedy and talented F.
I had a wonderful time. It had been so long since I'd done a long trail run with friends where the goal was conversation and bonding and finishing the distance without any focus on time. This type of long run essentially disappeared when I lost E2 as a running buddy. She and I always let the slower one pick the pace on long runs. The goal was just to enjoy ourselves and finish. I felt today, on the trails, walking intermittently, running up the hills when I felt confident enough to charge, that I used to be a more balanced runner. And I felt like I returned to that today! (Also, I can't help but note that I was in better shape when running with E2 than I am now, running on my own, with charts and tables and the occasional friend, but no regular, easy, let's just get the weekend's distance done buddy.)
Anyways, I'm very pleased with the week on my feet. I look forward to the next one.
My Garmin is dead. So, I've been doing my best with it in it's less-than-awesome state as a very expensive stopwatch.
Total mileage for the week? 23.6. The most since the SF 1st half marathon.
That feels good. And, I feel less sloth-like.
The week's efforts before Sunday consisted of an easy 2.5 miles in So-Cal out to the beach and back at A&B's, followed by a hard TM effort for 20 minutes at the hotel (increasing effort every 1 minute is *no* joke!), an easy 6.2 mile effort on Thursday, and 3.5 miles easy on Saturday.
Today, I headed over to the east-bay and met Jen for a pseudo-long run, which, frankly, was guaranteed to feel like a long run for me since I'd failed to do anything remotely long for over a month. We'd planned on 13, but I'd begged off, due to my lame fitness, so we settled on 9 for me (4 before for Jen) and I brought my friend, the super-speedy and talented F.
I had a wonderful time. It had been so long since I'd done a long trail run with friends where the goal was conversation and bonding and finishing the distance without any focus on time. This type of long run essentially disappeared when I lost E2 as a running buddy. She and I always let the slower one pick the pace on long runs. The goal was just to enjoy ourselves and finish. I felt today, on the trails, walking intermittently, running up the hills when I felt confident enough to charge, that I used to be a more balanced runner. And I felt like I returned to that today! (Also, I can't help but note that I was in better shape when running with E2 than I am now, running on my own, with charts and tables and the occasional friend, but no regular, easy, let's just get the weekend's distance done buddy.)
Anyways, I'm very pleased with the week on my feet. I look forward to the next one.
July 20, 2013
July 17, 2013
Garmin-Free Workouts
So, I'm in running limbo.
I've been averaging a paltry 16 miles per week or so (including hiking and walking) since the First Half of the San Francisco Marathon. You know, just enough to convince myself that I'm still healthy and a runner of some sort or another. But nothing with goals. Nothing to work on fitness or distance or any sort of anything other than baseline movement momentum maintenance in celebration of being healthy and alive.
Part of this is because I've got a mild case of runner burn-out. Part of this is due to lots of travel and work. And, of course, another part is that my Garmin died. And I am very data-driven. So, without data, I am less driven.
No matter why it's happening, longer distance runs *are* getting more and more difficult as my month of less-than-ideal fitness commitment progresses.
On the other hand, I've had a couple of *great* shorter work-outs thanks to the lack of Garmin GPS data.
Last Sunday, I challenged myself to run 25 minutes at 10K pace. All I had was the broken Garmin (aka, expensive stopwatch) and my legs. After returning home, gmap-pedometer informed me that I did 2.74 miles for an average of 9:07 pace, which was a lackluster result. I felt like I should have hit 8:30/mile or faster.
But, even when the data showed I was slower than I thought, I was actually quite satisfied. I could feel my effort increasing substantially for every minute of the last 10 minutes and based on cadence and how fast landmarks I know well were being passed, I'm fairly certain I was sub 8/mile for the last minute or so. Given how fast I was running at the end and how slow my overall average pace was, it is obvious that I have trouble accurately identifying a proper race pace effort for at least the first 15 minutes of a run.
This is something I've never understood, because if I've got a target pace, with the GPS data, I'll just push to hit it. Often, I find that the beginning of races are hard for me, effort-wise, but I just force myself to do what the numbers say I should be able to do. This workout was the first time when I realized that perhaps I need to warm up more than I realize. Even for half and full marathons (or, perhaps, more realistically, I need to be disciplined enough to start 30-60 seconds slower for the first 1.5 miles of the longer races).
Yesterday, I had a short time window at a hotel, so I did a hard treadmill workout. I did 5 minutes at 10:00/mile and then increased the speed 0.1 miles/hr every minute until minute 20. It was a hard effort, and the last 3 minutes were individual commitments of 60 seconds of increasing effort that required quite a bit from me, mentally. After I hit stop on the treadmill, I started the mill back up for a walk and talked myself through the cool-down. Out loud. Breathless. Dripping with sweat in the empty (or so I thought) room of equipment. "I'm proud of you." "That was a great effort." "Way to keep pushing and make the best of a short time window." Then, I stopped the mill, got off, and turned to realize a middle-aged man had joined me in the gym behind my machine and had heard the entire diatribe. Embarrassing! Thankfully, he had headphones and studiously avoided eye-contact.
So, there you go. Running update complete. Healthy. No injuries. Heavier and slower than normal and not yet registered for any Summer or Fall races. It's on my todo list, but like I said, I've been suffering from some running burn-out... I'm looking forward to this weekend's long run with Jen to help move me from the "bare minimum" bucket into something more approximating the effort I should be putting in for the 10K I plan to do on August 3rd. 3 weeks--Yikes!
I've been averaging a paltry 16 miles per week or so (including hiking and walking) since the First Half of the San Francisco Marathon. You know, just enough to convince myself that I'm still healthy and a runner of some sort or another. But nothing with goals. Nothing to work on fitness or distance or any sort of anything other than baseline movement momentum maintenance in celebration of being healthy and alive.
Part of this is because I've got a mild case of runner burn-out. Part of this is due to lots of travel and work. And, of course, another part is that my Garmin died. And I am very data-driven. So, without data, I am less driven.
No matter why it's happening, longer distance runs *are* getting more and more difficult as my month of less-than-ideal fitness commitment progresses.
On the other hand, I've had a couple of *great* shorter work-outs thanks to the lack of Garmin GPS data.
Last Sunday, I challenged myself to run 25 minutes at 10K pace. All I had was the broken Garmin (aka, expensive stopwatch) and my legs. After returning home, gmap-pedometer informed me that I did 2.74 miles for an average of 9:07 pace, which was a lackluster result. I felt like I should have hit 8:30/mile or faster.
But, even when the data showed I was slower than I thought, I was actually quite satisfied. I could feel my effort increasing substantially for every minute of the last 10 minutes and based on cadence and how fast landmarks I know well were being passed, I'm fairly certain I was sub 8/mile for the last minute or so. Given how fast I was running at the end and how slow my overall average pace was, it is obvious that I have trouble accurately identifying a proper race pace effort for at least the first 15 minutes of a run.
This is something I've never understood, because if I've got a target pace, with the GPS data, I'll just push to hit it. Often, I find that the beginning of races are hard for me, effort-wise, but I just force myself to do what the numbers say I should be able to do. This workout was the first time when I realized that perhaps I need to warm up more than I realize. Even for half and full marathons (or, perhaps, more realistically, I need to be disciplined enough to start 30-60 seconds slower for the first 1.5 miles of the longer races).
Yesterday, I had a short time window at a hotel, so I did a hard treadmill workout. I did 5 minutes at 10:00/mile and then increased the speed 0.1 miles/hr every minute until minute 20. It was a hard effort, and the last 3 minutes were individual commitments of 60 seconds of increasing effort that required quite a bit from me, mentally. After I hit stop on the treadmill, I started the mill back up for a walk and talked myself through the cool-down. Out loud. Breathless. Dripping with sweat in the empty (or so I thought) room of equipment. "I'm proud of you." "That was a great effort." "Way to keep pushing and make the best of a short time window." Then, I stopped the mill, got off, and turned to realize a middle-aged man had joined me in the gym behind my machine and had heard the entire diatribe. Embarrassing! Thankfully, he had headphones and studiously avoided eye-contact.
So, there you go. Running update complete. Healthy. No injuries. Heavier and slower than normal and not yet registered for any Summer or Fall races. It's on my todo list, but like I said, I've been suffering from some running burn-out... I'm looking forward to this weekend's long run with Jen to help move me from the "bare minimum" bucket into something more approximating the effort I should be putting in for the 10K I plan to do on August 3rd. 3 weeks--Yikes!
July 10, 2013
Garmin -- How I hate thee
Last night, I did laundry and dishes and went on a walk and talked with my childhood best friend for an hour or so. The garmin recorded the 1.45 mile walk and all was well.
Today, when I tried to head out for my longer mid-week run, the watch just couldn't find the satellites. AT ALL.
Fast forward. In between a ridiculous work-day and tending to tortoise and husband and general life needs, I've auto-located. Rebooted. Soft-reset. Hard-reset and removed all user data. You name it, if it's on a FAQ or forum, I've done it.
And yet, like every Garmin I've ever had, this one seems to have decided that it's time to give up the ghost. Right around every 1.5 years or so.
Seriously -- when will I learn?
(Also, when will Garmin learn to put a reasonable watch strap on the watch that isn't the size of a cell phone and/or doesn't result in a metal pin that pulls out and explodes with the watch springing off your wrist?)
So, whereas before I had some of the best GPS data of all of my running buddies. Now, I've basically got a stop watch that shows lots of screens indicating that it's "waiting for satellites". With gmap-pedometer, this isn't the worst thing in the world. I can live with a stopwatch and a well-mapped running route. I may just try to make it work for a while.
But, really? REALLY? Garmin, you are making American products look bad. You need to show a little class and offer a product that doesn't completely fall apart at month 18 (or before). Come on.
Today, when I tried to head out for my longer mid-week run, the watch just couldn't find the satellites. AT ALL.
Fast forward. In between a ridiculous work-day and tending to tortoise and husband and general life needs, I've auto-located. Rebooted. Soft-reset. Hard-reset and removed all user data. You name it, if it's on a FAQ or forum, I've done it.
And yet, like every Garmin I've ever had, this one seems to have decided that it's time to give up the ghost. Right around every 1.5 years or so.
Seriously -- when will I learn?
(Also, when will Garmin learn to put a reasonable watch strap on the watch that isn't the size of a cell phone and/or doesn't result in a metal pin that pulls out and explodes with the watch springing off your wrist?)
So, whereas before I had some of the best GPS data of all of my running buddies. Now, I've basically got a stop watch that shows lots of screens indicating that it's "waiting for satellites". With gmap-pedometer, this isn't the worst thing in the world. I can live with a stopwatch and a well-mapped running route. I may just try to make it work for a while.
But, really? REALLY? Garmin, you are making American products look bad. You need to show a little class and offer a product that doesn't completely fall apart at month 18 (or before). Come on.
July 9, 2013
It Begins
It's going to be a bumper crop year.
I present the first big, awesome, delicious, seed-saved, heirloom, gorgeous, compost-fertilized, photography-worthy garden tomato of the year (Ananas Noir).
And, half of it on my plate for tonight's dinner of garden cukes and maters with pepper and fancy black volcano salts. (Thanks to E2 for the harissa olive oil!)
Yeah, it's officially Summer at our house.
I present the first big, awesome, delicious, seed-saved, heirloom, gorgeous, compost-fertilized, photography-worthy garden tomato of the year (Ananas Noir).
And, half of it on my plate for tonight's dinner of garden cukes and maters with pepper and fancy black volcano salts. (Thanks to E2 for the harissa olive oil!)
Yeah, it's officially Summer at our house.
July 3, 2013
Working Remotely
Sometimes, I get frustrated with my job's ability to be done everywhere (and clients' expectations of the same).
Last night, after two flights, 4 hours of time zone change, several hours of work, and some dinner and drinks with good friends and wonderful views I was convinced that I truly was on vacation and shouldn't have to work. All I wanted to do was go to sleep and figure out what time zone I was in when I woke up. Instead I had to fight with our friends' wi-fi (and rely upon E for tech support when he'd rather be sleeping too) so I could send out the finishing touches on a client's must-sign SF lease before going to bed. Side note -- apparently getting SF office space is harder than adopting an infant these days.
Other times, I feel like the freedom to work remotely is one of the coolest things ever. Like this morning, working from our friends' balcony. Yeah. If I had to actually take vacation days I probably wouldn't be able to be here right now. This isn't too bad.
June 30, 2013
Connected
Tonight, a world-class gymnast from college updated his Facebook profile such that his profile picture was the Ka logo.
He was a Cirque employee for years, so I didn't think much of it. But then I saw the news.
And then I thought about the concept of *news*. And how the social media world has modified it.
I got the Ka news *before* it was well known. In the same vein, I know more about random fish eggs laid by acquaintances from college's fish than I do about my own mother's day-to-day life.
So, I *heard* or at least was *notified* via my friend's social media actions that *something* newsworthy had happened in connection with Ka long before it made the mainstream media.
So there's that power.
And then, there's how I also know more about the specifics about people I sincerely care about, with whom I absolutely would have lost touch without social media, thanks to all of its pervasive ridiculousness.
The long distance connections are most definitely stronger thanks to social media. But the question I have is about the short ones. The sisters, the brothers, the parents, cousins, neighbors, and co-workers. I think social media lets us ignore or at least pay less attention than we should to them. And I think that's unfortunate.
A good college friend recently dropped off Facebook and I applauded her. I also thought of my own experience, when I took a month off last year and found that if I wanted to be part of the modern tortoise community, I had no choice but to be on Facebook. You heard -- you want a tortoise? You'd better be on FB. Otherwise, you are missing out.
Tonight, my sister and I spoke for the first time in entirely too long. We caught up, and she mentioned that she may be deleting all pictures of her son from FB because she feels it should be his choice to make his own social networking record. I told her I understood and would not be offended if she deleted the videos I'd uploaded.
And here I am. In the middle. Connected. For better or worse.
He was a Cirque employee for years, so I didn't think much of it. But then I saw the news.
And then I thought about the concept of *news*. And how the social media world has modified it.
I got the Ka news *before* it was well known. In the same vein, I know more about random fish eggs laid by acquaintances from college's fish than I do about my own mother's day-to-day life.
So, I *heard* or at least was *notified* via my friend's social media actions that *something* newsworthy had happened in connection with Ka long before it made the mainstream media.
So there's that power.
And then, there's how I also know more about the specifics about people I sincerely care about, with whom I absolutely would have lost touch without social media, thanks to all of its pervasive ridiculousness.
The long distance connections are most definitely stronger thanks to social media. But the question I have is about the short ones. The sisters, the brothers, the parents, cousins, neighbors, and co-workers. I think social media lets us ignore or at least pay less attention than we should to them. And I think that's unfortunate.
A good college friend recently dropped off Facebook and I applauded her. I also thought of my own experience, when I took a month off last year and found that if I wanted to be part of the modern tortoise community, I had no choice but to be on Facebook. You heard -- you want a tortoise? You'd better be on FB. Otherwise, you are missing out.
Tonight, my sister and I spoke for the first time in entirely too long. We caught up, and she mentioned that she may be deleting all pictures of her son from FB because she feels it should be his choice to make his own social networking record. I told her I understood and would not be offended if she deleted the videos I'd uploaded.
And here I am. In the middle. Connected. For better or worse.
June 21, 2013
June 16, 2013
My 36th Half Marathon (SFHM1)
It was a gloriously beautiful day in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. As we turned the corner to view the crashing waves of Baker Beach, a woman with a strong Russian accent asked me, "Vat is dat?"
"Baker Beach," I said.
"Oh. You know, I run dis course every year for last 7 years. I've never seen this view. BEAUTIFUL!"
And, she was right. I do recall this portion being socked in fog the last and only time I ran it. And it was BEAUTIFUL today!
So, I did not meet my "A" (aka "dreamer") goal of 2 hours, but I'm not disappointed. It was one of those amazingly gorgeous SF days where it's completely obvious why it's such a major tourist destination.
I didn't really know what would happen today. I felt like my running could be magical (like the weather), and originally, it felt like it just might be. But I also felt like there was a non-trivial chance my hip flexor could freak out and I'd have to drop out. It wasn't until Mile 11.5 when I finally realized I was in the clear and could just finish without fear.
Thanks to the taper and ramen and Onigiri from the Japan town mall for late night snack and breakfast, I went out feeling strong and had a great first couple miles. I stuck with F, as planned. Originally, we started behind 'em, so F and I tried to catch and pass the 4h marathon pace group before the hill in Fort Mason to avoid the crowds. Once we got close, it turned out, they were going too fast for me, so when we hit the hill at Fort Mason, I let Fio go. She stayed with them, more or less for the entire race, and crushed it with a 3:57 for her first marathon. Not too shabby for anyone, but in particular anyone on the hilly SF course, and a newbie who ran her first race ever (a 10K) in February of this year! I'm so proud and happy for her!
Even with the ease-off for the Fort Mason hill, I still hit mile 5 more or less on pace for the 2 hour goal.
But, as you can see, when we hit the uphill to head up to the base of the bridge, and I slowed to a crawl. Then I walked. If you look at the elevation profile, you can see why mile 5 may have been a doozy for me:
Once the 2 Hour goal was gone, I just tried to be smart. The rest of the race was all about just trying to keep my head in the game enough to do a job I was proud of. I did my best to save energy early on with walk breaks, to take advantage of the downhills (my strength), and to push myself to run the last 3 miles to the best of my ability without stopping to walk (except I may have grabbed some electrolytes or water). At around mile 10 or so, I set a sub 10:00/mile pace as my goal (which, conveniently, was 15 seconds per mile faster than my "I think I should be able to do this no matter what" goal of 10:15s/mile).
As appears to be the norm for me lately, some crazy lady tried to race past me in the finishing shoot, so I sped up until I dropped her... (Dudes don't seem to do this to me? What is with the mid-pack ladies?)
In short, I was in approximately the shape I thought, but this course is much more difficult than I gave it credit for. I'd only done it once before, as the first half of the SFM, when I did the full with E2. Then, we did it in 2:19:55 and finished the full well before E2's 5 hour goal in a clean 4:38:26 (my one and only negative split, actually -- funny, before looking at the data, I didn't know I'd ever run a negative split marathon). I think the reality of the difficulty of the marathon distance obscured the reality of the difficulty of this course. Today, I realized that the SF First Half Marathon course makes the US Half look like a cakewalk.
I'm still evaluating my options, but today makes me think I'm actually in pretty darn good shape, and a return to the Rock 'n Roll SJ this year would be a great place to try to push the 2 hour mark. I know I've got it in me, but if there's one thing I've learned in 2013, it's that I'm not great at hills while I'm living and training at sea level on the SF bay. So perhaps the flat (but turning) SJ is the way to go...
"Baker Beach," I said.
"Oh. You know, I run dis course every year for last 7 years. I've never seen this view. BEAUTIFUL!"
And, she was right. I do recall this portion being socked in fog the last and only time I ran it. And it was BEAUTIFUL today!
So, I did not meet my "A" (aka "dreamer") goal of 2 hours, but I'm not disappointed. It was one of those amazingly gorgeous SF days where it's completely obvious why it's such a major tourist destination.
I didn't really know what would happen today. I felt like my running could be magical (like the weather), and originally, it felt like it just might be. But I also felt like there was a non-trivial chance my hip flexor could freak out and I'd have to drop out. It wasn't until Mile 11.5 when I finally realized I was in the clear and could just finish without fear.
Thanks to the taper and ramen and Onigiri from the Japan town mall for late night snack and breakfast, I went out feeling strong and had a great first couple miles. I stuck with F, as planned. Originally, we started behind 'em, so F and I tried to catch and pass the 4h marathon pace group before the hill in Fort Mason to avoid the crowds. Once we got close, it turned out, they were going too fast for me, so when we hit the hill at Fort Mason, I let Fio go. She stayed with them, more or less for the entire race, and crushed it with a 3:57 for her first marathon. Not too shabby for anyone, but in particular anyone on the hilly SF course, and a newbie who ran her first race ever (a 10K) in February of this year! I'm so proud and happy for her!
Even with the ease-off for the Fort Mason hill, I still hit mile 5 more or less on pace for the 2 hour goal.
But, as you can see, when we hit the uphill to head up to the base of the bridge, and I slowed to a crawl. Then I walked. If you look at the elevation profile, you can see why mile 5 may have been a doozy for me:
Once the 2 Hour goal was gone, I just tried to be smart. The rest of the race was all about just trying to keep my head in the game enough to do a job I was proud of. I did my best to save energy early on with walk breaks, to take advantage of the downhills (my strength), and to push myself to run the last 3 miles to the best of my ability without stopping to walk (except I may have grabbed some electrolytes or water). At around mile 10 or so, I set a sub 10:00/mile pace as my goal (which, conveniently, was 15 seconds per mile faster than my "I think I should be able to do this no matter what" goal of 10:15s/mile).
As appears to be the norm for me lately, some crazy lady tried to race past me in the finishing shoot, so I sped up until I dropped her... (Dudes don't seem to do this to me? What is with the mid-pack ladies?)
In short, I was in approximately the shape I thought, but this course is much more difficult than I gave it credit for. I'd only done it once before, as the first half of the SFM, when I did the full with E2. Then, we did it in 2:19:55 and finished the full well before E2's 5 hour goal in a clean 4:38:26 (my one and only negative split, actually -- funny, before looking at the data, I didn't know I'd ever run a negative split marathon). I think the reality of the difficulty of the marathon distance obscured the reality of the difficulty of this course. Today, I realized that the SF First Half Marathon course makes the US Half look like a cakewalk.
I'm still evaluating my options, but today makes me think I'm actually in pretty darn good shape, and a return to the Rock 'n Roll SJ this year would be a great place to try to push the 2 hour mark. I know I've got it in me, but if there's one thing I've learned in 2013, it's that I'm not great at hills while I'm living and training at sea level on the SF bay. So perhaps the flat (but turning) SJ is the way to go...
June 15, 2013
Tomorrow Is The Big Day (SFHM1)
Tomorrow is the San Francisco Marathon.
I checked the weather, and it looks almost perfect. Partly cloudy. 53F at the start and approximately 57F when I finish the first half. For F, it'll be around 58 or 59 when she finishes the full. A little bit of wind, but nothing in the double digits.
This week was a nice easy taper. Very short on mileage, but all of the running miles were at average target race pace or faster.
M: 2 short walks of 0.5 miles or so.
T: 1.12 walking in SF to client meetings; 1.57 miles walking in the PM.
W: nice quick track ladder to work on turnover. (200/200 RI; 400/400 RI; 600/200 RI; 400/400 RI; 200/200 RI) Splits: 42; 1:51; 2:53; 2:00; 39. That last 200 chasing F was quite fun. 5:12 mile pace. By far the fastest I've ran in a very long time. (some w/u and c/d for a total of 2.25 miles)
Th: Short cut-down of 3 miles (first 1.6 with E, rest by myself). 9:24; 8:54; 8:47. Avg pace 9:01. walking c/d & w/u.
F: Rest
Sat: Shake-out run. 0.5 miles jogging w/u. 1 mile at target race pace/effort (8:54, a little fast, but it felt good). 0.3 jogging c/d. 0.1 walk.
I took a look at my training for the Rock 'n Roll AZ half. And, despite feeling like it was much less effort, the work I've done has been fairly comparable this time around. I owe this to my running friends, for sure. The weekly track efforts were as difficult or more difficult than what I pushed myself through in the 10 weeks before AZ. Only all I had to do was show up. What a great benefit!
The main difference between AZ and this time is that AZ was 7 weeks after CIM and this one is 10 weeks after the SLO Marathon. I'm hopeful the extra 3 weeks of recovery will help me, but of course, the trade off is that I had the last 3 high-mileage weeks of CIM as my first 3 weeks of training for AZ, whereas this time around, I kept my mileage more in the half marathon range. Even so, I'm only short 18.5 miles over the whole 10 week cycle from the AZ training. That's just 1.85 miles less per week. Color me surprised.
Taper has been going very well. So, I guess I'll stay positive and see whether I can't surprise myself tomorrow.
I checked the weather, and it looks almost perfect. Partly cloudy. 53F at the start and approximately 57F when I finish the first half. For F, it'll be around 58 or 59 when she finishes the full. A little bit of wind, but nothing in the double digits.
This week was a nice easy taper. Very short on mileage, but all of the running miles were at average target race pace or faster.
M: 2 short walks of 0.5 miles or so.
T: 1.12 walking in SF to client meetings; 1.57 miles walking in the PM.
W: nice quick track ladder to work on turnover. (200/200 RI; 400/400 RI; 600/200 RI; 400/400 RI; 200/200 RI) Splits: 42; 1:51; 2:53; 2:00; 39. That last 200 chasing F was quite fun. 5:12 mile pace. By far the fastest I've ran in a very long time. (some w/u and c/d for a total of 2.25 miles)
Th: Short cut-down of 3 miles (first 1.6 with E, rest by myself). 9:24; 8:54; 8:47. Avg pace 9:01. walking c/d & w/u.
F: Rest
Sat: Shake-out run. 0.5 miles jogging w/u. 1 mile at target race pace/effort (8:54, a little fast, but it felt good). 0.3 jogging c/d. 0.1 walk.
I took a look at my training for the Rock 'n Roll AZ half. And, despite feeling like it was much less effort, the work I've done has been fairly comparable this time around. I owe this to my running friends, for sure. The weekly track efforts were as difficult or more difficult than what I pushed myself through in the 10 weeks before AZ. Only all I had to do was show up. What a great benefit!
The main difference between AZ and this time is that AZ was 7 weeks after CIM and this one is 10 weeks after the SLO Marathon. I'm hopeful the extra 3 weeks of recovery will help me, but of course, the trade off is that I had the last 3 high-mileage weeks of CIM as my first 3 weeks of training for AZ, whereas this time around, I kept my mileage more in the half marathon range. Even so, I'm only short 18.5 miles over the whole 10 week cycle from the AZ training. That's just 1.85 miles less per week. Color me surprised.
Taper has been going very well. So, I guess I'll stay positive and see whether I can't surprise myself tomorrow.
June 9, 2013
SFMH1 weeks -2 and -1
So, after today, it's nothing but 7 days of taper and the race.
Week -2 was pretty good, in terms of training.
Memorial Day: Cut-down 2 mile run with E in the heat. 9:21; 8:49. I was proud of this one, as I felt like I could have pushed another mile even faster despite the heat. Of course feeling like you could do something and actually doing it are different... but I do like that the increasing summer heat is naturally forcing me to get in better shape.
T: 2.55 miles easy @ 10:05; 2.73 walk. My hip flexor was starting to bother me. Decided not to push it and instead promised myself to stretch in the evening while letting Chompsky out and supervising.
W: Track day. 1.14 jogging w/u @ 10:57. 6 X 800 (Splits: 4:06; 4:18; 4:14; 4:16; 4:14) Slow and Struggling, but still a great workout that I would not have pushed myself to complete without the track group. 0.5 miles walking c/d. The assignment was 10X800 but I cut it short and stretched at the end. My hip flexor had been getting worse with each interval and I was slower than normal. It just didn't feel right. Even so, it was a good workout, and as always, great to hang out with all the ladies in our track group.
Th: 5.01 @ 10:24 AVG w/last mile @ 9:43.
F: REST/GARDEN/YOGA. More stretching while watching Chompsky.
Sa: Run the hardest part of the 1st half of the SFM and then some: parts of the presidio climb and the bridge and the drop from the bridge to go under to the other side and back, with F, D, and L. This is a *DIFFICULT* but beautiful and great run if you're ever looking for a hard 11-12 miles in San Francisco. Bonus, we had lunch in Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed the views of the harbor as a post run treat. Final performance: 0.1 walk w/u; 11 @ 10:32 AVG pace; 0.25 walk; 0.86 @ 11:45; 0.14 walk (803 ft ascent, out and back from Fort Mason to GG bridge Marin side).
Su: My hip flexor was *very* annoyed with me after all of the hills on Saturday. So I treated it (and Chompsky) to an hour of yoga in the sun while I supervised Chompsky enjoying the garden and the lawn outside of his enclosure. I walked twice to try to loosen things up for a total of 3.91 miles.
Weekly Mileage Total: 34.23 (including walking). 2+ hours stretching to try to get my hip flexor to calm down.
Week -3 was a true taper, and it was easy to do because we were in mourning. The decrease in mileage felt great, physically, and there was no psychological backlash because we were depressed and I found it hard to motivate, emotionally, except on track day, when the company was a welcome instigator of effort.
M: 5.01 super easy with H. 10:58 AVG pace (including 2 minutes + walking, so perhaps 10:35 AVG for the running?). 0.25 walking c/d. No noticeable hip flexor pain, which was a welcome change. I think Chompsky gets the credit for this one.
T: REST.
W: Track day. 0.69 w/u @ 9:47 uphill to the track; 3X100 pickup w/u + 100 jogging c/d (9:25; 7:41; 6:50 paces); 9X300 w/ 1-2 min RI (Splits: 1:09; 1:24; 1:22; 1:21; 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:21). Final effort: Last 100 to pace F on the last 100 of her last 300: 20 seconds, starting from a standstill (!!!); 1 mile walking c/d [3.45 total @ the track].
I haven't run at paces like this in a very, very long time. My first 300, when I went out *much* too hard, I came in at a 6:07 min/mile pace, huffing and puffing. I'd never really ran intervals of this distance and had been too busy to look up paces on a calculator before the workout. The first one quickly showed me I should target something around 1:20 if I wanted to be able to finish the workout. So that's what I did. I also increased my recovery interval of 100m jogging + rest over the assigned 1 minute to whatever felt appropriate, including, in one case, 2m20s.
When all was said and done, I finished 9 intervals (plus the 100m sprint) and felt awesomely exhausted and athletic. Even better, unlike last week's speed session, my hip flexor didn't hurt (Hurray for rest and stretching!).
Technically, I'd only run hard for 11 minutes and 59 seconds, but I felt exhausted and sore by the end, and I could tell that this was one of the more physically demanding efforts I'd pushed myself through this year. I felt muscle-bone tired in a familiar but not recently experienced way. That last sprint against F had been my gift to her, but also to myself. I never really push myself to the edge while running. This time, I'd dropped my last 300, jogged to the mark for her last straight away on her last 300 and waited, recovering. I'd started a few second before she hit the line and then just kept increasing my speed as she got closer and closer, never quite letting her pass me 'til the end, where, frankly, I have no idea what actually happened, but we were both in as close to a dead-on sprint as we could be at the end of an hour long workout. It was fun. And, more importantly, neither of us got hurt.
TH: REST
F: 3 @ 9:39 AVG pace in 85F+ heat.
Sa: 1.48 walk w/ E2
Su: Last long run of 8, broken up quite a bit. 1.46 @ 10:05 by myself, slowly decreasing pace down to sub 9 at the end. Swing by the house and pick up E. Do a 2 mile step down in the heat w/ E: 9:50 & 8:44. Walk 0.36 with E back to the house. Grab my mp3 player, start the audiobook and head out for an easy 4.2 miles at an AVG pace of 10:58/mile. Pick it up for the last 0.63 @ 9:24/mile. 0.28 walking c/d. Later 0.75 walking to & from our neighborhood block party.
Weekly total: 22.7 miles. Not much stretching.
How do I feel about the race? Conflicted. Part of me looks at the training and sees many hilly and 10 mile plus runs plus a solid taper and a healthy recovery from a hip flexor strain. The other part of me looks at last weekend's performance and says, "That is a difficult course" and "I am not in as good of shape as I like to be before I try to break 2 hours, much less on a hilly course." The weather looks like it will be perfect, and I've been training in the heat for the last few weeks, so that's a definite plus. But, on the other hand, I don't really have any good recent hard efforts to point to that I can use to estimate my true fitness, so I fear I'm deluding myself. I think my current plan is to go out with F for the first mile, just for the experience (and also to keep her speedy instincts in check), and once I'm nice and warm, I think I'll probably let her go and will try to settle in to a pace that feels comfortable. Ideally that'll be 9:09/mile, but if it's slower, it's slower. Given how difficult last weekend's run was with the hills, in all honesty, I'd be impressed if I managed to finish with anything under a 10:15/mile AVG pace. Everything beyond that will be gravy.
Excited to race and happy and thankful to be healthy enough to do so.
Week -2 was pretty good, in terms of training.
Memorial Day: Cut-down 2 mile run with E in the heat. 9:21; 8:49. I was proud of this one, as I felt like I could have pushed another mile even faster despite the heat. Of course feeling like you could do something and actually doing it are different... but I do like that the increasing summer heat is naturally forcing me to get in better shape.
T: 2.55 miles easy @ 10:05; 2.73 walk. My hip flexor was starting to bother me. Decided not to push it and instead promised myself to stretch in the evening while letting Chompsky out and supervising.
W: Track day. 1.14 jogging w/u @ 10:57. 6 X 800 (Splits: 4:06; 4:18; 4:14; 4:16; 4:14) Slow and Struggling, but still a great workout that I would not have pushed myself to complete without the track group. 0.5 miles walking c/d. The assignment was 10X800 but I cut it short and stretched at the end. My hip flexor had been getting worse with each interval and I was slower than normal. It just didn't feel right. Even so, it was a good workout, and as always, great to hang out with all the ladies in our track group.
Th: 5.01 @ 10:24 AVG w/last mile @ 9:43.
F: REST/GARDEN/YOGA. More stretching while watching Chompsky.
Sa: Run the hardest part of the 1st half of the SFM and then some: parts of the presidio climb and the bridge and the drop from the bridge to go under to the other side and back, with F, D, and L. This is a *DIFFICULT* but beautiful and great run if you're ever looking for a hard 11-12 miles in San Francisco. Bonus, we had lunch in Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed the views of the harbor as a post run treat. Final performance: 0.1 walk w/u; 11 @ 10:32 AVG pace; 0.25 walk; 0.86 @ 11:45; 0.14 walk (803 ft ascent, out and back from Fort Mason to GG bridge Marin side).
Su: My hip flexor was *very* annoyed with me after all of the hills on Saturday. So I treated it (and Chompsky) to an hour of yoga in the sun while I supervised Chompsky enjoying the garden and the lawn outside of his enclosure. I walked twice to try to loosen things up for a total of 3.91 miles.
Weekly Mileage Total: 34.23 (including walking). 2+ hours stretching to try to get my hip flexor to calm down.
Week -3 was a true taper, and it was easy to do because we were in mourning. The decrease in mileage felt great, physically, and there was no psychological backlash because we were depressed and I found it hard to motivate, emotionally, except on track day, when the company was a welcome instigator of effort.
M: 5.01 super easy with H. 10:58 AVG pace (including 2 minutes + walking, so perhaps 10:35 AVG for the running?). 0.25 walking c/d. No noticeable hip flexor pain, which was a welcome change. I think Chompsky gets the credit for this one.
T: REST.
W: Track day. 0.69 w/u @ 9:47 uphill to the track; 3X100 pickup w/u + 100 jogging c/d (9:25; 7:41; 6:50 paces); 9X300 w/ 1-2 min RI (Splits: 1:09; 1:24; 1:22; 1:21; 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:21). Final effort: Last 100 to pace F on the last 100 of her last 300: 20 seconds, starting from a standstill (!!!); 1 mile walking c/d [3.45 total @ the track].
I haven't run at paces like this in a very, very long time. My first 300, when I went out *much* too hard, I came in at a 6:07 min/mile pace, huffing and puffing. I'd never really ran intervals of this distance and had been too busy to look up paces on a calculator before the workout. The first one quickly showed me I should target something around 1:20 if I wanted to be able to finish the workout. So that's what I did. I also increased my recovery interval of 100m jogging + rest over the assigned 1 minute to whatever felt appropriate, including, in one case, 2m20s.
When all was said and done, I finished 9 intervals (plus the 100m sprint) and felt awesomely exhausted and athletic. Even better, unlike last week's speed session, my hip flexor didn't hurt (Hurray for rest and stretching!).
Technically, I'd only run hard for 11 minutes and 59 seconds, but I felt exhausted and sore by the end, and I could tell that this was one of the more physically demanding efforts I'd pushed myself through this year. I felt muscle-bone tired in a familiar but not recently experienced way. That last sprint against F had been my gift to her, but also to myself. I never really push myself to the edge while running. This time, I'd dropped my last 300, jogged to the mark for her last straight away on her last 300 and waited, recovering. I'd started a few second before she hit the line and then just kept increasing my speed as she got closer and closer, never quite letting her pass me 'til the end, where, frankly, I have no idea what actually happened, but we were both in as close to a dead-on sprint as we could be at the end of an hour long workout. It was fun. And, more importantly, neither of us got hurt.
TH: REST
F: 3 @ 9:39 AVG pace in 85F+ heat.
Sa: 1.48 walk w/ E2
Su: Last long run of 8, broken up quite a bit. 1.46 @ 10:05 by myself, slowly decreasing pace down to sub 9 at the end. Swing by the house and pick up E. Do a 2 mile step down in the heat w/ E: 9:50 & 8:44. Walk 0.36 with E back to the house. Grab my mp3 player, start the audiobook and head out for an easy 4.2 miles at an AVG pace of 10:58/mile. Pick it up for the last 0.63 @ 9:24/mile. 0.28 walking c/d. Later 0.75 walking to & from our neighborhood block party.
Weekly total: 22.7 miles. Not much stretching.
How do I feel about the race? Conflicted. Part of me looks at the training and sees many hilly and 10 mile plus runs plus a solid taper and a healthy recovery from a hip flexor strain. The other part of me looks at last weekend's performance and says, "That is a difficult course" and "I am not in as good of shape as I like to be before I try to break 2 hours, much less on a hilly course." The weather looks like it will be perfect, and I've been training in the heat for the last few weeks, so that's a definite plus. But, on the other hand, I don't really have any good recent hard efforts to point to that I can use to estimate my true fitness, so I fear I'm deluding myself. I think my current plan is to go out with F for the first mile, just for the experience (and also to keep her speedy instincts in check), and once I'm nice and warm, I think I'll probably let her go and will try to settle in to a pace that feels comfortable. Ideally that'll be 9:09/mile, but if it's slower, it's slower. Given how difficult last weekend's run was with the hills, in all honesty, I'd be impressed if I managed to finish with anything under a 10:15/mile AVG pace. Everything beyond that will be gravy.
Excited to race and happy and thankful to be healthy enough to do so.
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