PFTW #7

Last week:
Monday: lower body/HIIT
Tuesday: upper body, 4 miles "fast" (with The H), and it was awful
Wednesday: HIIT/abs
Thursday: 30 min cardio, 20 min yoga, 3 miles easy
Friday: XC "fundraiser"

Saturday: stretch/yoga, 5 miles at Peters Canyon with ex-neighbor Will. This was Will's first real trail running experience, and I was afraid it would scare him away. Lucky for meeeee, he says he'd do it again :D. 

Sunday:3 miles, lower body

Total: 15 miles. #elite.

It rained, rained, rained, RAINED all weekend, and it was GLORIOUS, if you can overlook the soul-crushing humidity. Turns out, I can't, so while I adore the rain and thunder, I was just the whiniest jerk yesterday while I lounged around complaining about the heat. 

I'm so weak. 

This week!

Monday: Upper body (I just finished this, and I'm pretty sure I cannot move the rest of the day)

Tuesday: 4 miles, lower body

Wednesday: upper body, cardio; 5 miles

Thursday: HIIT/abs

Friday: rest

Saturday: stretch/yoga; 6 miles

Sunday: lower body, 3 miles

PFTW?

So, let's catch up? I kind of assume if you're reading this, we've kept in touch through other social media, but it feels awkward to just start talking about training as if I didn't resurrect this space after a lengthy vacation.

#3 is still happy and healthy, with so much hair. 

#2 is a mini-me. She would be loathe to admit it, but... it's truuuuuuue. She's going to be in high school in the fall, and is joining XC/track. Wheeeee.

#1 had a KILLER track season, setting meet records, PR'ing with a 5:14 1600 and 11:17 3200, taking 3rd place in league, and going to CIF prelims.

We spent the Memorial Day weekend heading north.

And on our first college visit because I am OLD.

So that was exciting.

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PF(What's Left Of The)Week!

Wednesday: 3 easy, arms

Thursday: Lower body

Friday: 3 easy, arms

Saturday: 4 easy ("long")

Sunday: Rest, track banquet

I've been very, very slowly working back into running - it's shocking and humbling when you run zero miles for months, and then try to run 2-3 miles. 

After running Holiday Half (which I didn't blog about, but Becka did!), I had a thutt situation that I decided to rest, which rolled right into "resting" for 3 months. Okay, 5 months. 

I've been wanting to get back, and craving that terrible dead-leg-post 20-miler feeling, but was stuck in this cycle of well, I'm not registered for anything, so it's hard to be motivated to train, but I want to register for something, but what if I don't train. 

So obviously.

Hi.

I registered for CIM (again, remember when?!), so maybe... I'll blog, too? Since apparently I stopped running around the same time I stopped blogging, the two activities are meant to go together?

Plan for the Week

CIM recovery has gone pretty well. I feel good, and nothing feels like it's injured or needs rest. I reverse-tapered last week, and it wasn't terrible.

I spent the entire week eating ridiculous things, and saying, "But I JUST ran a marathon!". Yeah. A week, and a jillion calories ago, lady. STOP IT.

Food is just so delicious.

Tuesday: Super easy pace with my neighbor. Felt good - a little tight, but nothing funky.
Saturday: 5 miles, with 4x800. I did the 800's at my 10k goal pace, and it was HARD. My legs are still sleepy.
Sunday: 11 easy miles on the treadmill, watching Alias.
21 miles total

Sadly, I think CIM wrecked my beloved Glycerin's - my feet were pretty achy about 8 miles in, which has NEVER happened with that shoe. Boo.

This week...
Tuesday: 7 miles, strides
Thursday: 7 miles easy
Saturday: 10k... with a PR attempt?? Maaaaaybe?
Sunday: 16 miles ugggghhhhhh

Next time I think marathons 5 weeks apart is a good plan, I hope someone kicks me.

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Over the weekend, we took Gabby and #2 to a birthday party...

I MADE THAT BOW. Be impressed. I also made that kid, but the bow is bigger than her head.

  ...while #1 and I headed to the mall to see Breaking Dawn.

Except the theater was closed, along with THE ENTIRE FOOD COURT, due to a power outage. What the heck, Irvine.

We spent the time instead shopping for Christmas presents for everyone....

Gift wrapping benefits a local high school's Make a Wish fundraiser - winning for lazy-yet-charitable people!

...and for meeeee

It was a good weekend to be me.

Three Things Thursday

1. I might be alone in this, but you guys, CIM was, like, MAGIC. First, this is the ONLY chafing I got, despite running hours through the rainiest rain ever.



Second, Jerk Shin is magically healed. No pain when I run, very very VERY minimal pain if I start poking and hitting it. Maybe it was the hours of ice bath WHILE I RAN, but whatever. I'll take it.
CIM = Magic.

2. Good news: I lost a couple pounds during taper (or the Bob Harper two weeks of madness that I did, whatever). Bad news: my two favorite Lulu skirts don't fit me quite right yet. Good news: They've released a new Chase Me, MY FAVORITE, plus a beautiful striped Pace Setter THAT I NEED. Bad news: I have a policy against buying anything for myself during the holidays just in case. {Do you hear that H? This skirt and this skirt}.

3. This Elf business? With the creepy little doll that you move around and put in wacky scenarios every.single.day? That isht is WEIRD. Maybe I'm bah humbugy (but I don't think so, I LOVE HOLIDAYS), but I don't have a brain creative enough to come up with scenarios, nor do I have the patience to make a mess, and then CLEAN IT the next day. No way, no thanks, nope.

This is kind of how I feel about it. Please don't be offended and shun me now, thanks.

CIM part 2 - Sacramento was pretty great, also.

Saturday, Becka and I wandered around Sacramento's weird mall, cute downtown area, the smallest Lulu ever, and dark alleys with strange art....

WHAT.

Mile 26, you're so pretty!

The expo was the EASIEST thing ever. We were in, picked up our packets, picked up our goodie bags (with our SUPER AWESOME head scarf things that I'm pretty sure saved my life on Sunday), and out in record time. The adorable t-shirt table volunteers even wrote something on my bag that I'm assuming means "Hey, awesome person, good luck to you in the typhoon, maybe build an ark!".

But, really, if you know how to translate this, let me know....

We headed for lunch at Firestone Pub. When we saw "Giant Bavarian Pretzel" on the menu, we had to try it.. giant salty carbs?? Perfect!

While we were eating (avocado egg rolls - DELICIOUS), it started monsooning a little bit. It had probably only rained for about 20 minutes, and we walked out to this....



Huh.

We headed over to Pizza Rock a few hours later for some more carbs....


Verdict: Pizza, delicious. Service, meh. But getting to see ReneighRuns? The best ever.
We also saw B's friends Luke and Courtney from Colorado, fellow SFM Ambassador CourtPancakes, the elusive (non-unicorn!) Alyssa, and tons of other twitter-ers/bloggers.

B and I headed back to the hotel (after a non-successful search high and low for donut holes - REALLY, Sacramento, what do you have against delicous breakfasts?!) pretty early, got our stuff together, and I think went to sleep around 10.

Then we ran in a typhoon.

After the typhoon, we found a Starbucks, headed back to the hotel, grabbed lunch, then off to the airport.

Our hotel - which I haven't really mentioned, but should - was GREAT. I waited until kind of the last minute, and everything near the host hotel/finish area was either booked solid or cost billions of dollars. On a wing and a prayer, I hotwired a hotel, and we ended up about 2 miles away from the finish area, AT ONE OF THE CIM HOTELS. It was pure luck. They offered free shuttle rides to/from the airport, and to/from downtown, and the CIM buses picked up at the hotel. It was A STEAL, at $60. I would totally stay there again. The hotel is kind of older and a little run down (but they are currently renovating!), and probably not in the best of areas, but not a huge deal for me, and with the shuttle, it was irrelevant becuase we weren't wandering through the neighborhood in the dark :D. They also had a free hot breakfast in the mornings, which started after we left for the race. They did put out pastries and fruit for the runners, though, which was nice. Hawthorn Suites - A++.

My fueling (I hate saying that, it sounds kind of obnoxious) was pretty weird on race day. I ate a cheese danish on the bus. I did NOT have coffee, which is new - I always have coffee. I carried a water bottle of Nuun, which I chucked around mile 8? I could NOT drink while we were running, and it honestly was just hard for me to look up enough to take a drink out of it - had it been a normal sports bottle, maybe I could have, but not the regular bottle of water. I was kind of concerned I'd become dehydrated, which I did recognize as stupid and ironic, considering I was running in the most water ever. But I just wasn't drinking a lot. I think I took 3 GU's on the course, and took PowerAde or whatever the sports drink was a few times. But that was it. I didn't feel like I needed more, so I just didn't take in more. Considering we were out there for six hours, I'm kind of surprised I didn't die.

I will say, that we spent a ridiculous amount of time scoping out breakfast options (specifically, the very elusive DONUTS) while we were on the course. Had the right Starbucks/donuts options come along some time in the first 2 hours, it's totally possible we might have stopped running right there.

What we wore: I was concerned about the weather. In SoCal, I don't have tons of opportunity to test running in (1) cold or (2) downpours. I ended up wearing capris, knee socks, a tank, fingerless gloves, and a windbreaker. I also had a garbage bag on for around 10 miles, before the wind rendered it ineffective. And the headband wrapped up on my head like a skull cap. I brought an actual hat, but I'm glad I didn't wear it - I saw a couple people lose control of their headwear, so I think it would have some disaster potential in the wind. Around mile 23, I sure wished I'd brought my sunglasses, but come on. Who knew. Anyway, I was pretty comfortable, and didn't feel too cold/hot.

Since CIM, I feel REALLY good. I ran 5 easy miles last night with my neighbor, and nothing feels off or bad, just a little tired and tight.

Maybe long, slow marathons are my thing.

Typhoon Running: Not Highly Recommended

I've got to say. The weather was not great, clearly. It was NOT A JOKE when the forecast said 100% chance of rain. They meant it.

BUT.

I freaking LOVED CIM. I mean, I'm partial to run-nesia, so it's possible I'm mis-remembering, but I am pretty sure I had fun. Once I realized I could not talk Becka into quitting, I think, I decided to just take the pelting rain bullets and run as much as we could.

For us, the rain stopped around mile 20, and it was GLORIOUS after that - cool, slight breeze, and the course is just lovely. (Don't ask me about the first 10 miles, I have NO IDEA what was happening - every time I looked up, I was stabbed in the eyeball by rain).

Even under really, really crappy conditions, CIM was fantastic. The logistics worked out beautifully - I was confused by the bus ticket situation, but it completely made sense once it was actually in practice - the course support was pretty amazing, the volunteers were great, and there were spectators - SPECTATORS - out in that weather. The course seemed really pretty from what I could tell, but I have no idea about the hills, since I kept my head down a LOT. I did NOT go for a PR - it was a PW by a good 20+ minutes. Once I saw the conditions, I let it go.

That's really all of a recap that I have to give - I thought it was an amazing race, and I'll do it again. I feel like it needs a do-over.

not a lie.

A bit breezy...

First river crossing. I guess this picture has been shared a billion times on the internet machine, but it's mine. That really happened.

Chickens are immune to rain?

So pretty!

Really, really pretty!

Yum.

Shiny.

Three Things Thursday

1. I tried lunch running for the first time yesterday, and... it wasn't terrible. It was a decent run, but I'm the sweatiest human ever, so that was kind of weird. I did have baby wipes in my desk, but there's only so much they can do. But, since I'm super close to the Santa Ana River Trail, I should really take advantage of it. I think, if it's cold, or if there's ZERO sun, it might be a decent option for some easy mid-day miles?

The other awkwardness about this lunch situation, is the changing options. I *could* close and lock my office door, but is it weird to be changing in your office? I thought so. The bathrooms are shared for each floor, so there's that, but a billion people. I don't know if there's a good option.

Or I'm overthinking it.


2. I was going to play the "Guess My Marathon Time!" game, but based on the weather forecast, I suppose I'll be lucky not to drown?

3. I did kind of have some goals, but honestly, I'm not goin to kill myself over them. This isn't turning out to be (weather-wise) the right race to chase them down. So, I plan to run, have fun with Becka, and enjoy my Santa Hat Devil Horns. At least we'll be festive. No time goals.