My First 10K

Can you believe despite all the races I have run I have never done a 10K? Well, on Saturday I finally did my first one and had a blast trail racing. I forgot how excited I get on trails and how much I love it.

Lauren drove us out to Lake Chabot bright and early and we picked up our bibs. Waited around for the 10K to line up and before we knew it we were off. This was the first time racing with my Garmin and I had no problems and it didn't hinder me like I though it might. Th first 1.5 miles was on a paved trail with small rolling hills. I clocked a 9:40 for the first mile but noticed the course was running long. Ended up being a 6.4 mile run rather than 6.2

After we hit dirt things started to get more difficult. There was a 900 foot climb to the top of mile 3.2 so basically I climbed for over a mile and it was EXTREMELY steep. I managed OK and enjoyed the challenged but clocked a 15 minute mile for mile 3. YIKES.

I managed to get back a little big of that time but forgot how bad I am at racing down steep hills. I struggled and nearly slipped a few times. Once we hit pavement again I picked up the pace a lot and raun the last 1.5 miles with an average of 8:50 min miles and crossed the finish line strong and so happy.

Lauren wasn't far behind and we both agreed the race was super fun. The after race food was awesome, too. They had It's Its!! YUM.

Final time: 1:10:47
8/33 age group
114/313 overall

Listening to my body (part II)

Despite getting a  massage after my poor excuse for a seven miler Saturday I still took Sunday and Monday to rest as I typically do this training schedule. Monday is usually yoga and Sunday is always full rest. Tuesday I laced back up and stretched like a mofo before an easy short run. I ran at my normal pace and felt fine. I stretched and rolled afterwards and did squats and lunges and called it a day. Then yesterday my shins were on fire all morning. I have no idea why as I usually don't have shin issues and I have been pretty much on an extreme cutback the last week.

This morning I laced back up again and headed up for another easy three miles and felt great and pain free and my shins hurt less. But now I am nervous about my long run and if my body will revolt to 13 miles after only having to run 22 miles the last week and a half.

Perhaps I need new shoes? I realized I have about 400 miles on these guys I am running in right now. For now I am a bit frustrated and scared about getting injured but also scared about not sticking to my training plan. I figure listening to my body is more important than junky miles if I want to get to the start line healthy. I am also reassessing my idea of a sub 4:30 and just wanting to finish.

Sigh. I realize writing solely about running (no pun intended) is so very self-indulgent but I really like to externalize all of these thoughts and keep track of progress. So with that, on to the rest of the week and hopefully less pain and more smiling. 

Aloha!

We're back from our mini-vacation. It was beautiful and warm. I wish we had one more day to lay on the beach. 

The good news is I managed two pain-free runs and got a sports massage. Ahh. Much needed.

Back to the grind and time to gear up for my 14 miler.

Terrible, horrible, no good news

I laced up for my little four mile jaunt yesterday and as soon as I hit my third or fourth stride the back ligament on my right leg seemed to catch on something every fifth or so stride. I didn't feel any pain but I know that is NOT normal for me and tried a ton of stretching and did squats and lunges to see if I could loosen it up but nothing seemed to stop it.

I am angry, scared and mostly sad. I hope this is just my body telling me to take a few extra rest days and that I will be fine after resting my legs and perhaps a massage but it is frightening. The odd thing is it doesn't hurt at all and it doesn't "pop" or stretch or whatever it's doing when I am just walking. I know my calf and hammies are super tight so I am assuming that has something to do with it.

For now I am going to rest and cross-train and hope I can run four on Friday. I think four rest days may do the trick? Ugh. Let's hope so.

Too many pastries

After a weekend of 4th of July festivities and eating too much and drinking too many bottles of wine this week before we leave for Hawaii has been about getting things done and not eating a diet that is 100% based on sugar.

I ran a nine miler for my long run Sunday. It was a cut back week. This week I run 4-7-4-14 for a total of 29 miles. A 14 miler in Hawaii isn't sounding too awesome right now. Me and humidity aren't really BFF's. I may break up my 14 miler and four miler into two nine miler runs. One on Friday and one on Saturday. Let's hope I can get my 14 miler crossed off the training plan. Maybe I will tempt myself with a massage if I can get done with all my workouts. I am feeling like even with yoga 2x a week and foam rolling almost daily I still can't get rid of some aches.

Next week I run a 15 mile run and have already planned it out. I am actually super stoked for this one and am running to Sausalito and taking myself out to brunch afterward and hopping on the ferry home to SF. It will be SO fun and a treat for finishing those 15 miles.

After my run tonight we are going to a birthday party at Bix which I have been dying to try. (I know, I just said no wine!) I am excited. Here's two photos from the weekend. We picnicked in Washington Sq. Park on the 4th, had oyster happy hour then went to a BBQ on the 5th, and Saturday I did yoga, tried a new bakery called La Marais, got mani pedis with Lo and we hit up Napa. It was a fun filled day. Sunday after a Tartine trip and my run I was so exhausted I slept the rest of the afternoon. Yikes! I managed to wake up and grocery shop and cook a fabulous farmer's market skillet dinner that night. Recipe to come!

Hawaii bound in two more days, Aloooooha!

Strolling one of the gardens at Cakebread Cellars in St. Helena

Bread pudding with seasonal berries from Tartine!

Case of the Fridays?

It's cold and cloudy in SF today. The only thing I want to do is browse my favorite bookstore on Fillmore, eat mac and cheese with a glass of cab at the Grove and see Before Midnight at the Clay Theater.

I ran a six-miler yesterday before our fourth of July festivities kicked off and today my quads are shot. Not sure how that happened. Hoping the pain goes away later. Back to work and hoping my fowl mood goes away before I get home.

24 miles

Last week I successfully went to two days of yoga and ran all four of my running workouts.  I have nothing bad to say about any of these workouts and even had a blissful time on my 12-miler where I ran over the bridge and back Saturday before the temps soared.

But, today I kinda feel crappy about my training. I think reading all these running blogs with girls who have run marathons before or even ran in college make me feel discouraged. I'll never (probably) BQ nor will I be someone who starts their marathon training with 35 miles a week. Maybe, someday? But, really I doubt that. I was actually feeling proud of my 24 mile week until I read about someone's second week of their training cycle who was running 34 miles.

It's really dumb for me to compare myself and I need to be more proud of my hard work and the time it takes along with all the other stuff I try to do. It's just difficult to work hard for those 24 miles that don't clock in at sub 9:00 miles like their week's seem to.

This week I have a cut back on my long run, just 9 miles, then we start getting really serious until marathon tapering at the end of September. I am excited, nervous, and filled with questions as I continue on the journey.

Fueling has been a big question for me. I know I need to be eating more but I don't know what I can add. I don't feel overly hungry yet and I also have been bad about pre-planning meals. I have been trying to incorporate protien shakes 30 minutes after my run to aid recovery. So far so good? Though they aren't my first choice in refueling as I must rather eat watermelon and a pancake. I also am getting really nervous about being injured. I have had two injuries and know how terrible they are and I want to avoid that at all costs. I've been rolling and stretching like a boss. Let's hope this helps.

As far as other things go? Good. Excited for Hawaii next week and relaxing while traveling, not cramming my schedule and zippinf around like a crazy woman.

Happy Monday, friends.