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Month: January 2014

Oakland Marathon 2014 training: 12 weeks out

Oakland Marathon 2014 training: 12 weeks out

12 weeks out / week 1 – week of December 30, 2013

 

I put feelers out on my last blog post about whether people would be interested in reading my weekly training recaps, now that I’m in Oakland marathon mode. Surprisingly, people want to read this stuff, so here we go! (though you can still always read everything on DM) 🙂

 

We’ve been living in San Jose now for a few weeks, since December 21, so the first week/week and a half I was here, I stuck mostly on the Guadalupe River Trail, since that’s close to home (read: I can run there easily and not get lost… or haven’t yet, anyway). Luckily, I’ve been connecting with folks online—mostly other San Francisco Marathon (#TSFM) ambassadors and some Twitter peeps—so I feel like I’m kinda beginning to have an idea of some trails and paths here. Granted, if you put me on a trail by myself tomorrow, you probably wouldn’t find me for another week, but hey. Day at a time.

 

The week’s training:

 

Monday, 12/30

Target: rest or XT

Actual: 30 mins easy spin + 2 rds Hereford Workout

 

I decided that I’d try to re-establish the lifting habit I did in previous training cycles, though this time around, instead of doing a bodyweight routine, I’d go for something more advanced, specifically the Hereford Workout from RYBQ. The complex where we’re staying temporarily has a gym, so I had access to more weights than I usually do (and especially considering when all our stuff is on a truck or in storage until we move into the new place).

 

Warmed up with a 30 minute spin—first time on a spin bike in probably three years—and holy hell. Apparently I either don’t know how to properly position a spin seat, or I have the world’s most sensitive pubic bone (uhh…). While the ride was easy—fairly low resistance, high cadence—my pubic bone didn’t like me so much after this for a couple days. After the spin, I did two rounds of Hereford, with some modifications, and later did the (modified) pull-ups and chin-ups at the playground. Yeah, I was that crazy mom.

 

Tuesday, 12/31

Target: general aerobic + speed: 8 miles with 10x100m strides

Actual: 6.1 mile ‘easy’ trail run with Paulette in St. Joseph’s Hill Open Land Preserves in Los Gatos (elevation gain: ~1,000 ft; splits: unicorns. No idea, didn’t save them)

 

Paulette, a #TSFM & Oiselle ambassador, also lives in SJ (and is also from O-hi!-o originally), and I had been tweeting about meeting-up for a run, so she orchestrated this one on NYE morning. Los Gatos is a super cute town, about 20 minutes from where we are in SJ, and the downtown area is nestled right up against the foothills, which makes for some awesome trail running. Paulette was a champ and totally put up with my endless questions on the run, such as where we were, which direction we were heading, what we were looking at, and the like 🙂 (hey, inquisitive minds need to know these things). We mostly hiked the ascents and ran the descents, so this was an excellent first ‘real’ trail run. I’m quickly learning that trail and road running are completely different animals, especially when it comes to pace expectations. We had some beautiful views on this one, but I left my phone in the car (boo).

 

Wednesday, 1/1

Target: 11 MLR

Actual: 11.15 MLR (splits: no idea; didn’t save ’em )

 

Took to the Guadalupe River Trail north-bound for this one on new year’s day. Even though I had gotten some sleep after some (sober) NYE festivities in San Francisco the night before, I still woke up feeling ‘meh’ for this run, and my stomach fuckin’ loathed me for most of it. Suffice it to say that I did some investigating and got some firsthand experience regarding the bathroom situation on the GRT at mid-morning. This definitely became a mind over matter type of run because physically, I felt fine; my guts, however, told me to fuck off for about 7 of the 11 miles. Oy.

hard to be irked when the world sure is pretty
hard to be irked when the world sure is pretty

 

Thursday, 1/2

Target: 11 MLR

Actual: Recovery 5.25 with A on the GRT (splits: unicorns)

 

I wasn’t wild about doing two back-to-back MLRs, but I thought it’d work best for my schedule this week… and then my toddler conspired against me. When she sleeps poorly, I sleep poorly… and especially when somehow, my bed becomes the family bed and I get wedged between a rambunctious-when-she’s-sleeping toddler and daddy. I woke up at 3am, just a little before I would have woken up for this run anyway, decided I slept like hell, and made the call to take A with me on a recovery run later, on what would be her first time running with me here. While I was pissed at myself later for this decision, I decided that it was probably in my best interests to not do 11-11 in two days’ time.

 

Anyway. Stroller running feels like you’re constantly running uphill (when I run with her, I’m pushing about 70 pounds: ~40 for her and 30 for the stroller, and running with one hand on the stroller and the other arm driving me forward), so when you’re stroller running and running uphill, it buuuuuuuuuurns. Fortunately, the GRT is pretty flat, except for a few ascents and descents under bridges, but man. Those ascents had my quads throwing SOSes. Kudos to the folks here who routinely run with their kids.

 

Friday, 1/3

Target: 11 MLR

Actual: 11.02 MLR (8:21, 23,  8:37, 42, :39, 35, 33, 24, 07, 8:10, 7:53 )

The return of pre-dawn runs, and my first in SJ. The midweek MLRs were the biggest change for me from following Pfitz, and I think they have helped me enormously when it comes to marathon fitness and speed. This early in training, in this mesocycle, the MLRs are on the shorter end (11), but they’ll eventually get up to 15. I was awake around 3:30 and doing all the pre-MLR stuff, including texting Declan and bemoaning his absence here, since we did most of our MLRs together this summer when we were training for Chicago. Shortly after moving here, I bought a headlamp and hydration belt specifically for these MLRs, so this was the first day I got to use both. And, just like many ‘firsts’ I’ve had this week, this was also the first time running with a headlamp since Ragnar (my only other times running with one) and my first time with a belt since… hmm… I paced a friend in a spring marathon in 2012, maybe.

 

The run was actually quite nice. I took a circuitous route to pick up the GRT, just so I could stay on lit city streets for as long as possible, and once I eventually did pick up the trail, around 2.6 miles in, I quickly saw two of the only three animate objects I’d see all run, including a skunk (!!) about a foot away from me. The run was pretty uneventful otherwise, though I think I was freaking myself out a bit about the silence and darkness. My splits definitely reflect how comfortable I felt with the darkness. Once I decided to embrace it and the relative quiet, I had a blast. I mean… low 40s, under the stars? Yes, please. My guts were good until the very end of the run, which, while frustrating, is spot-on for this stage in training. I think with my endurance training comes my intestinal fortitude as well. (you’re welcome)

 

Saturday, 1/4

Target: 15 LR

Actual: 16.17 (elevation gain: 3,461 ft; splits: 9:53, 8:16, 10:37; 9:42, 7:41, 7:49, 12:10, 9:45, 9:24, 12:31, 8:09, 9:25, 8:39, 8:48, 8:02, 7:49, 6:56 for .17 )

 

Second time in a week headed back to San Francisco, but this time, I was picking up my girl Erin (Stone) and her friend Sarah (Foxy) to take them over to a rundezvous + brewery outing with #TSFM ambassadors. Stone, Foxy, and I parked in the Park Presidio and ran over the Golden Gate bridge to meet the 10-person strong gaggle of runners (and a dog!) for a 10-mile run over the Ninja Loop in the Marin County Headlands. Each way on the GG was 2+ miles, so I was confident I’d get the mileage I was after and with a healthy dose of hills for the day. What I had no idea of, however, was the difficulty of the Headlands—especially when you’re coming from flatlands Chicago—but it was a fuckin’ blast. It was simultaneously humbling yet totally invigorating to traverse through the Headlands and take in multiple views of SF, Sausalito, and various parts of Marin County that I don’t yet know 🙂 When the ascents became seemingly impossible, Stone, Foxy, and I switched our runs (that were more like hustles) to a 2:1 run/walk, which seemed to help. If nothing else, a 2:1 R/W was definitely more efficient than any hustle I had been doing previously.

 

Running with Stone for the first time since Boston & Chicago '10 training--clearly, quite excited. Super fun day with Foxy, too! (photo: Foxy)
Top: running with Stone for the first time since Boston & Chicago ’10 training–clearly, quite excited.  Bottom: super fun day with Foxy, too! (photo: Foxy)

 

Serious rundezvous on some serious hills

Serious rundezvous with TSFM + friends on some serious hills (photo: Paulette)

 

The GG Bridge is on the right, while downtown SF is in the center (look closely).

The GG Bridge is on the right, while downtown SF is in the center (look closely).

 

Good afternoon, GG
Good afternoon, GG

 

If you look really closely, about mid-pic, you'll see a road. That's where we started one of the ascents. Mind.blown.
If you look really closely, about mid-pic, you’ll see a road. That’s where we started one of the ascents. Mind. blown.

 

Following the Headlands run, Stone, Foxy, and I ran back over the GG Bridge—total clusterfuck on a sunny, fog-less Saturday afternoon—and got cleaned up to go to a brewery with the gang. Even for someone who doesn’t drink beer (me) and who didn’t drink at all because she was driving for an hour back to SJ (uh, me again), I still had a blast getting to know other ambassadors and really appreciated all the awesome offers from the folks in the south Bay for future rundezvous 🙂 yay, social media bringing people together!

 

At the brewery with a gaggle of local-ish TSFM 2014 ambassadors
At the brewery with a gaggle of local-ish TSFM 2014 ambassadors

 

Sunday, 1/5

Target: general aerobic + speed: 8 miles with 8x100m strides

Actual: 8.09 mi (elevation gain: 1,076 ft; splits: 9:51, 11:18, 12:11, 10:03, 8:51, 8:47, 7:49, 7:13 )

 

Think I lucked out with my training this week and the number of people I’ve been able to meet, and Sunday was another one of those days where I was meeting folks from the internet, this time Twitter, for a run through the trails, this time in Alum Rock, not too far from where we’ll be moving in SJ here in a few weeks. Saurabh, Anil, and I had been tweeting periodically since before the move, and they both had been super helpful to me in the past few weeks I’ve been here, giving me pointers not only on which headlamp to buy but also more “practical” (ha, what’s that?) things, like pediatricians or physicians.

 

Anil is in the throes of training for his first 50k in a week, and Saurabh is training for his first Ironman in Coeur d’Alene in the summer, and they both ran Chicago this past year. Rockin’! It was really cool to get to know these guys more and get some more good climbing in through a trail that’ll be super close to me post-move. Sidenote: so far every person I’ve met from Twitter has been a runner, and they’ve all been cool as hell. Anyway, in the last couple miles of the run, once we were done climbing and out of the hills, I started to throw in the 100m strides, and I was surprised by how good these felt. My legs have felt pretty fresh this week, even with the increased mileage and with the trail running, but I was still surprised by how good it felt just to get some good turnover going, even if only for a couple miles and for only 100m at a time. This is encouraging.

 

downtown SJ (look closely)
downtown SJ (look closely)

 

Anil and Saurabh doing the work while I take the pics
Anil and Saurabh doing the work while I take the pics

 

Weekly Mileage

Target: 55

Actual: 57.78

 

Week one… in the books.

 

How were your runs this week?

 

From the other side

From the other side

True to form, it has been a while.

I’ve written, and re-written, a 2013 “how did I fare?” recap blog post, many times now, only to promptly trash it and start anew, usually several hundred words into writing it. I’m happy to report that I surprised myself repeatedly throughout the year–most notably, staying healthy, dropping my marathon PR three out of my four races (and chopping off 11+ minutes in the process), hitting a yearly PDR, and most importantly, meeting a shit ton of amazing runners who have since become my close friends–but I didn’t think that really warranted its own post. I’ve written a lot about basically all of those things already, either here or on dailymile, and I don’t want to belabor anything anymore.

Instead, thanks to our big cross-country move that basically took over my life from early November, right after NYC, until December 21, when A and I boarded a one-way flight to SFO, it’s actually somewhat hard for me to sit down to write about anything but that when I think about 2013 and what I was, or wasn’t, able to accomplish.  And fortunately, while we are here now with C, as a family living under one roof, in the same state, in the same part of the country (imagine that), I still feel like I’m holding my breath a bit until we close on our new place in a couple weeks.

family selfie attempt
family selfie attempt from NYE

 

At this rate, I feel like I’ve been slowly relocating for months now…and in a way, I guess we kinda have been.

Naturally, what has kept me grounded and, to be quite honest, probably tolerable to be around, has been running. For the first week, week-and-a-half that we were all here, I ran just for the purity of the sport. Pace expectations were nonexistent, mileage didn’t really matter (though I had set an arbitrary goal of hitting 2,200 miles before the end of 2013 because I was so close already), and I didn’t really care about anything but simply moving my body in a forward motion each day. In the process, I’ve begun to get some semblance of an idea of the Guadalupe River Trail, one of San Jose’s many trail systems, that I’ve been running on on an almost daily basis. It’s really quite pretty–the pictures can speak for themselves–and a bonus is that I can get to it in just under .8 mile from our current residence 🙂

on Zanker Rd, looking at the eastern foothills (I think)
on Zanker Rd, looking at the eastern foothills (I think)

 

On the Guadalupe River Trail
On the Guadalupe River Trail

 

on N First St, checking out the foothills
on N First St, checking out the foothills

 

holla!
holla!

 

A paved path, a dry riverbed, and a crushed limestone path comprise this section of the GRT
A paved path, a dry riverbed, and a crushed limestone path comprise this section of the GRT

 

Love the curviness of this path; it makes for some cool pictures
Love the curviness of this path; it makes for some cool pictures

 

the GRT also conveniently dumps you at the San Jose airport
the GRT also conveniently dumps you at the San Jose airport

 

While I don’t think I can quite call SJ “home” just yet, I feel like I’m making progress. Thank god for social media on this one, since I’ve been able to connect with some local runners and groups and have been planning to meet up with them for long runs, trail runs (yup, you read that correctly), and the like. Here, too, randomly applying for, and then being selected to represent, the San Francisco Marathon as a social media ambassador has been huge because it’s giving me an easy outlet to meet some Bay-area runners… all of whom just happen to be planning to run an awesome event in July 😉  (discount code DSC10TSFM2014A26 for the 5k, first or second half, or the full! Come run with me in July!).  I just keep reminding myself that I’ve been here for all of two weeks now, and it takes time to meet people and get my bearings and feel as comfortable as I did when left Chicago, after living there for 11 years  (though I’ve already run with TSFM run bud Paulette! you rock, lady!)

In addition, this week marked the beginning of my Pfitzinger 70/12 training for Oakland,  and I’m toying with the idea of writing weekly training recaps this time around for my own edification, though I think it might be a bit overkill with doing that and dailymile. Thoughts? I always enjoy reading my friends’ weekly training logs, even though I tend to also read their DM stuff as well, yet the idea of doing both, myself, sounds like a waste of time because I doubt anyone would want to read it… funny how that works.

Anyway, no real point to this post, besides checking in and sending some love and some sun from SJ to wherever you are.

“If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not demanding more from yourself – expanding and learning as you go – you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”  – Dean Karnazes