50 plus miles!

Hit 50.2 miles this week! Very exciting stuff since this is the first time I've run this much in a week. We are going to have several weeks of 50+ miles. We ran 20 miles yesterday, our first 20 miler of the training. I forgot how much harder it gets after 18 miles - I think I was starting to feel like it was no big deal. Oh it's a big deal :) Last night I was no fun and went to bed at 8:30. I feel bad for my soon to be husband and am glad that the marathon takes place two months before the wedding.

Next week I have training in San Francisco for work. We are planning a 14 mile, 7 mile, track workout and then a 14 mile run on Saturday that includes 5 miles of marathon pace. Should be a fun but intense week.

PS. If you want to go for a long run on a very flat trail, go to the Iron Horse Trail - part of it is in Walnut Creek. Then go refuel at Hubcabs.

Steady Stated Friday

We are almost at the halfway part in the training. All of the "deep into training" symptoms are starting to kick in but the one I'm feeling the most right this second is sleepy. I think it's because of this morning's steady state. My average for the 35 minute steady state portion of the 80 minute run was in the low part of my pace zone, so that's good. The last 5 minutes I decided to run as fast as I felt like and that felt pretty darn good. My legs liked having off yesterday. Hopefully my pace in speedwork is getting better and that will translate to marathon PR. Heck, I hope all of this training translates into a marathon PR.

Tomorrow is a 20 mile run with Sarah and she is bringing girl scout cookies! That's a good reason to get up early on a Saturday and hit the trail!

Down swings

Monday = great run. Tuesday = ok run. Wednesday = barely completed the miles. Guess that's what all of these miles do to your legs mid week. This morning I think it was because I didn't drink coffee or eat anything before I went running, but I was thinking since it was an easy short run (80 minutes), that I could do it. I don't have a lot of time in the morning before I go running, and I decided to stay in bed until the last possible moment (7am). Note to self: drink coffee or eat something before running!

PS. during the run, I day dreamed about being in the show Survivor and what my strategy would be. Maybe I distracted myself because I ran really slow. I secretly want to go on Survivor.

Bipolar Legs

After I complained during the beginning of our long run on Saturday, Sarah made the comment that she thought I'd either be faster than my goal, or way over it for the pace part. I think she had a good point. My legs either seem to feel really great, hence surpassing my goals, or really bad, hence not coming too close to them. I'm sure my diet, sleep patterns, work life stress etc play a huge part in that. Maybe I over do it for some workouts and then don't feel up for others? I wish I could figure out the winning combination to always hit those pace targets and have my legs always feel great.

This morning was the upswing in my bipolar legs. Sarah and I decided to switch our medium long run to Tuesday but after I headed out, started running and the sun came out, I decided to run it today instead of the recovery run. This will probably result in tired legs for the rest of the week, but they felt great. It was one of those runs that just feels good - the air and scenery are sweet and I am glad I'm a runner. My pace was great even as I climbed up the hill from Baker Beach to the bridge and the the hill back up Presidio on the way home. Overdoing it? Probably. But I'm just going to pretend that ups and downs are just a sign that I'm getting in better shape. Who knew I could run 18 miles on a Saturday, and feel great on a 10  miler two days later?

This week is over 50 miles with a 35 minute steady state and a 20 mile run on Saturday.

40 plus weeks

Heading up to this week I've felt pretty strong during the long runs but I think the miles are catching up with me a bit. This week my legs felt pretty heavy and I was a little concerned going into the 18 miles because I wasn't feeling good. We ran in Alameda and started out slow. At the end we had planned a 2 1/2 mile pace run to end fast and to test out or marathon pace. It was cloudy and really quiet when I started the pace part and I got my second wind and finished faster than my goal. We're doing a lot of long runs this training go around and I know they will be hard, but worth it. But I'll still whine about it sometimes :)

Warm and Foggy days

I've lived in San Francisco for over 10 years, but I've never seen it as foggy as it's been the last two mornings. Yesterday there was a small plane crash (so sad) I think due to fog and this morning I saw a bad accident on 280. This reminds me that I need to slow down and calm down and enjoy life. I know that's cheesy, but it's hard sometimes to remember these things when work, life and hard workouts (poor me!) get in the way.

Due to the plane crash, there was no electricity in Palo Alto, so I got to drive back to San Francisco and work from home. I enjoyed the warm weather and my cat got to sit on the deck and bask in the sun. I did the hill workout just as the sun was setting which was nice. My legs are really feeling it right now. I think I need to drink water, ice them and stretch over the next few weeks.

Happy running and happy Thursday!

Monday 12!

Misty fog welcomed me into Golden Gate Park during my 12 mile run this morning, and not much else. Many people have off today and MLK was closed in the park to cars so it made it a little spooky. Luckily on the way back, people were starting to get up and walk dogs, babies and themselves so that was good. My legs were very tired and didn't seem to wake up until right around 5 1/2 miles as I was heading down the great highway. They took naps on the way back a little bit too so I had to try and keep them awake. I think Saturday's 16 miles, and then two days later another 12 miles = fatigue in the gams. I am glad that we are building our weekly mileage and I know this will help me in the long run (literally) but for now I am a bit sleepy at work and can't wait for lunch.

Tomorrow is 7 miles, hill workout on Wed, and then a tempo on Friday leading up to 18 on Saturday!

Sun, oh sweet sun

Sorry east coasters (and skin), but I have some sunburn and it feels good!

Running to Saulsalito was beautiful and sunny today. We parked at Sports Basement and ran over the Golden Gate Bridge past Saulsalito - it's downhill or flat most of the way there and the back is a climb, but the views are worth it. We kept a pretty good pace even up hill as bikers were whizzing by.

Steady Stating

This is me and Sarah's marathon training process:

1. One of us gets the "bright idea" that we should run our next marathon. It's important to remember who thought of it because you can blame her during long runs and times of tired "crisis."

2. The other person thinks it over for a few seconds and agrees.

3. As it's been going, Sarah studies every marathon training plan under the sun and devises her own well thought out plan. It's around Kara Goucher's mileage per week when she's not in training, but that doesn't really say anything. It's a killer.

4. We take one week at a time and figure out cool places to do our long runs. Her husband and my soon to be husband have to put up with our tears, complaints, gloating (it's fun to show off how much you are running, at least for me), and strange eating habits.

5. I ponder if Sarah is really running what we are supposed to, or running twice as much as she puts down to secretly out train herself. She tells me "Only run 80  minutes if it says 80" and that it's a recovery run. But I know she doesn't follow that herself. She is that hardcore/crazy.

6. I wonder if the marathon goal I set out for myself is achievable or crazy. Then I think about how I've been running for 6 years now and I can do this. I wonder if I will fall over if I run too fast. I wonder how you ever know what your goal pace should be because you never really know until mile 20 if you've started too fast.

7. We plan our "outfits" for the race and sometimes even for long runs like we are 7th graders planning our outfits for the first day of school.

8. We freak out during taper week, "Did we train hard enough," "Are we lazy," etc etc

9. We get up way too early and do our best on the day of the marathon.

10. Even before that happens, we are planning the next one.

I am thinking of this as I sit here resting after a really good steady state workout where I was 2 seconds faster than my zone. Was that a good idea? Did I overdo it? Am I not doing enough? I had planned on running an extra mile or so so I could hit 40 miles this week but I was pretty tuckered out after the speedy part. I guess that's ok. I should stop freaking myself out about it and just be glad that I got out there :)

Pushing forty (miles)

I've gone back to my running log from the San Francisco Marathon training and I think the most I did per week is 39 miles. We've already had one week where we ran 42 miles, which was a few weeks ago. I think that's what helped me feel great during the Kaiser 1/2: more miles = being in better shape.

This week I ran the first two days after the 1/2. On Monday I ran with Dan for a 50 minute recovery run that was a little faster than I should have done but it felt pretty good. Tuesday I did 6 miles at my target medium pace and felt like I am hitting a stride. Wednesday I was hoping to run but when I was driving home I realized that I am zonked and my legs need a break. So I took yesterday off and headed out early today for an 80 minute easy run. I think all the miles caught up with me because my legs felt fatigued, kind of how I imagined they should have felt Monday. Tomorrow is our steady state run (70 mins with 30 at that faster pace). I am looking forward to it but hope my legs are up for the challenge. Miles wise, I'll probably be at around 39.3 miles after this weekend's run so tomorrow I may sneak in an extra .7. Now that I've discovered that the miles are rounded down to the tenth when I upload my garmin, I'm making sure I can get every bit counted. This is heading into crazy.

It's really nice to be getting into better shape, and I feel like my pace is improving. I still HAVE TO start strength training but I still can't figure out how to fit that into my week.

Half Marathon PR!

This morning Sarah and I got up early for our favorite yearly pre superbowl event, the Kaiser Half Marathon. She told me a few weeks ago that she'd "consider pacing me" for it. This means scrapping her own chances for a PR and slowing down her pace quite a bit. I thought it was a great idea, a challenge for me and a "fun run" for her! It was fantastic running weather, 50's and 60's with party cloudy skies opening up to sun at the finish. Thank you San Francisco! We truly are spoiled running brats. Sarah kept the pace at just below 10 minute miles the whole way and we had a negative split with an average of 9:50 for me - my new 1/2 PR is 2:10 (13 minutes faster than my last :)

It was a great confidence boast and a kick in the pants that I can and should up my pace more often. Sarah is quite convinced that I've been lying to her this whole time about what I can do, and she's not going to let me be lazy anymore. Fun times.

Mixing it up!

This is a little bit of a taper week leading up to the Kaiser 1/2 marathon on Sunday. I am celebrating a Saturday with no long run planned by going shopping with my running buddy. She left me a message saying let's meet up at 10 and for a second I thought, "Isn't that late for a run?" Habits!

I'm celebrating a night that I don't have to go to bed early by working late, having fun with the Comic Life App (notice the new header on this blog) and drinking Limonata!

Fartlek Fun

This week is a sort of taper week leading up to the Kaiser Half Marathon. Yesterday we ran 10 miles but the rest of the week is mellow. Today I did my first fartlek workout. I can't really get over that word, but it was pretty fun. I ran at 400 pace for a minute, jogged for two and repeated 6 times during a 50 minute run. I loved the sprints and felt fun flying by everyone for once (by everyone, I only mean people walking dogs or going to school).