funning – Running Ruminations

Newport Marathon training: the highlights

May 15, 2014 Erin Comments 2 comments

A 10-week turnaround between Oakland and Newport made me think that writing weekly training recaps would be a bit cumbersome, if not also repetitive, so most of my bantering lately has been less about “I did this workout and this workout and I felt great” blah blah blah–though no doubt, you can glean that from my dailymile any ol’ time you want–and more about some bigger picture stuff.

With the marathon just two weeks and change out from today, I still wanted to write through some of my training so I could examine everything from a bird’s eye view. As I’ve written earlier, writing through these things makes me think macro instead of incessantly micro, so this will probably not be the most titillating post I’ve written (sorry, friends). Come back later for some entertainment.

In terms of the weekly mileage breakdown, it’s looked like this, beginning with one week post-Oakland (which was on 3/23):

from the week of 3/24 through the week of 5/5

Of course, dailymile rounds the mileage, so it’s a bit misleading, but that’s the general gist of how the mileage has broken down.

Any seasoned runner will tell you that the mileage is meaningless unless you’re a) having fun and, equally important, b) healthy, and I’m happy to report that all is well in both territories.

The last time I wrote about my training, I talked about the funning I had done, which included running more trails in Alum Rock as part of my recovery, Ragnar SoCal with the other fine folks from TSFM ambassador group, and my first 1:45 pacing stint down at the Santa Cruz half marathon. That post basically captured my first four weeks post-Oakland.

Here’s how the subsequent weeks have shaken out:

week of 4/21: 74.54 miles, including some awesome spectating adventures at Big Sur International Marathon down in Carmel and Monterey. Also, I think this might be a weekly mileage PR.

driving down to BSIM with Meredith just blew. I mean, these views. Ew. — driving down to BSIM with Meredith just blew. I mean, these views. Disgusting. (source: Meredith)

at Hurricane Point with Meredith, my Bootlegger badass who had just run Boston 6 days prior (and nearly PRed) before coming out to run BSIM as part of the B2B challenge. Words can't express how incredibly proud I am of her--or how incredibly SCARED I am of plummeting to my tragic death off this cliff, backwards — at Hurricane Point with Meredith, my Chicago Bootlegger badass who had just run Boston 6 days prior (and nearly PRed) before coming out to run BSIM as part of the B2B challenge. Words can’t express how incredibly proud I am of her–or how incredibly **TERRIFIED** I am of plummeting to my tragic death off this cliff, backwards. My palms are sweating just looking at this picture. (source: a stranger)

Meredith and I stayed in the woods in Big Sur. Seriously. (source: Mere)

Bootlegger love at the BSIM expo. This picture makes me stupidly happy. (source: Lee Ann’s beau)

showcasing Chicago love on a run in Monterey before the spectating fun began (source: a nice stranger who probably secretly judged me)

Anil on his way to a 50+ minute -- read that slowly -- PR. Nothing like smiling at mile 25.5. — Anil on his way to a 50+ minute — read that slowly — PR on a super tough course. Nothing like smiling at mile 25.5.

Mere rockin' it at BSIM just days after a hot Boston. Note the Boston bib on her backside. :) — Mere rockin’ it at BSIM just days after a hot Boston. Note the Boston bib on her backside. 🙂

Bootlegger Lee Ann (space) giving the queen's wave at 25.5. — Bootlegger Lee Ann (space) giving the queen’s wave at 25.5. Inquiring minds want to know how she looks so good at the end of a marathon… and oh yea, her BSIM performance also came just days after a PR at the BAA 5k.

IM-in-training Saurabh (in white). I cannot fathom running 26.2 after swimming and cycling for hours. He probably went on to ride and swim for a cajillion hours post-BSIM and just didn't tell anyone. I wouldn't be surprised. — IM-in-training Saurabh (in white). I cannot fathom running 26.2 after swimming and cycling for hours. He probably went on to ride and swim for a cajillion hours post-BSIM and just didn’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t put it past him.

week of 4/28: 71.09 miles, including another 1:45 RunningAddicts pacing gig at Brazen Racing’s Western Pacific half marathon (1:44:30, still too fast, though this was my first time pacing sola) and getting to see Chris start and finish the WP marathon

with Jennifer, who had run with Johnny (1:35) to a PR and a women's OA/AG finish, and Anil (1:50 for his first pacing gig), who had just run BSIM and massively PRed the week prior. Fun story about Jennifer: we raced against each other a few weeks prior at the non-10k and instantly recognized each other at WP. It's a very cool feeling to begin to recognize some familiar faces at races. — with Jennifer, who had run with Johnny (1:35) to a PR and a women’s OA/AG finish, and Anil (1:50 for his first pacing gig), who had just run BSIM and massively PRed the week prior. Fun story about Jennifer: we raced against each other a few weeks prior at the non-10k and instantly recognized each other at WP. It’s a very cool feeling to begin to recognize some familiar faces at races.

with Albert (left) and Chris post-Chris' marathon. Very fun to finally meet Albert, another TSFM ambassador and RA member, who had just crushed the AR50 miler in early April, and to celebrate Chris' marathon completion and OA/AG placement post-race. Clearly, we are all business. — with Albert (left) and Chris post-Chris’ marathon. Very fun to finally meet Albert, another TSFM ambassador and RA member, who had just crushed the AR50 miler in early April, and to celebrate Chris’ marathon completion and OA/AG placement post-race. Clearly, we are all business.

week of 5/5: 71.92 miles, including my longest LR (23) to date… and on a Wednesday because, #life.

a rare morning where I started, not finished, my run with the sunrise

oh ya know, just a couple hundred sheep in Sunnyvale. Carry on.

...aaaaaaaaand the sheep exodus. This amused me to the extent that I recorded it and didn't realize that I was commenting (to myself) about "how cool this is!" (#craycray) — …aaaaaaaaand the sheep exodus. This amused me to the extent that I recorded it and didn’t realize that I was commenting (to myself) about “how cool this is!” (#craycray)

That’s about it. Training has been punctuated with the standard fare mix of recoveries, MLRs, LRs, and speed and tempo stuff, and things have been good, fortunately. It is pretty cool (and gratifying) to me to look at all these pics throughout my training cycle thus far and relive some of the crazy-ass stuff I’ve seen or done while on the run because, if nothing else, it’s assuring me (or reminding me, anyway) that, for as much as I want to perform on 5/31, I’ve already had a fuckin’ blast with this truncated training cycle. That, in and of itself, is a victory.

Your turn. Interesting encounters on your runs or rides of late? Any spectating or volunteering fun to report?

Funning to Newport

April 25, 2014 Erin Comments 6 comments

The turn-around time between Oakland and Newport, my first and second marathons of 2014, is about 10 weeks, and while I’ve done quick (and significantly quicker than this) turn-arounds between marathons before, this one has been a bit, well, different, I guess.

Typically, in the weeks post-marathon, especially if it’s a marathon wherein I really laid it all out there, I don’t even so much look at any type of official “marathon recovery” plan; more than anything, I just listen to my body. If I wake up and want to run 8 miles, I do; if I sleep in until A awakens me, I won’t run (or will run very ‘easy’ with her later, air quotes necessary here only because stroller running isn’t exactly effortless). This time around, for a reason kiiiiiiiinda unbeknownst to me, I’ve been more or less following a 10-week-between-marathon plan, again from my buddy Pete Pfitzinger, and really, so far, it’s been a blast.

Don’t get me wrong here; running typically is a very fun pursuit for me, though admittedly, I do sometimes have momentary freak-outs–don’t we all–if I don’t nail a workout or a run as much as I’d like to. What has stood out to me so far about this little recover-then build and enhance-then recover cycle is that, while I didn’t catch my unicorn in Oakland in late March, I’m going through these training motions pretty much free of pressure.

Isn’t that weird? I mean, looking from the outside in, I surely would have thought that I’d be going through this cycle with a vengeance, and with this sense of incredible pressure to rectify any and everything that I could have done wrong, done poorly, that resulted in me not performing exactly as I wanted to in Oakland… but that’s not really the case.

I guess it’s this kinda weird thing because I’m portraying myself, and my training for Newport, as being ambivalent at best… but that’s really not true. I am still very much committed to my training and to a strong race day performance in Newport, but I feel like this training, so far, has been all ‘funning’ and less ‘running.’ (Ed. note: ‘Funning’ surely is the worst made-up word in the English language, but it absolutely encapsulates what my training has been like so far: namely, just a lot of stuff I usually don’t do.)

So far, aside from the usual mix of recovery, long, lactate thresholds, general aerobic, and VO2 max goodness runs, I’ve also run the Ragnar SoCal relay with a gaggle of TSFM ambassadors, hit some trails here in Alum Rock (and be momentarily terrified and then strangely liberated seconds later), pace for my first time at a half marathon, and run an unofficial-and-mismarked-10k (and post an unofficial PR and a 2nd OA), and, soon enough, do another 1:45 pacing gig and have some fun at Bay to Breakers (my first 12k).

I’ll start posting some weekly running recaps here shortly, but in the interim, here’s what the first part of the Newport mini-cycle has looked like, mostly in pictures (and some of which, if you follow me on IG, you’ve probably already seen).

Week of 3/24 — one week post-Oakland — 26.76 miles