PFTW #6 / #SummerTrailRun, Mt Rainier, and the most beautiful place I've ever seen

June 28-July 4

Monday: Day 1 of some Fitness Blender Challenge I found - HIIT and lower body strength. 

Tuesday: Day 2 - Upper body and cardio

Wednesday: Day 3 - HIIT and abs

Thursday: Day 4 - This was a kickboxing video, but kickboxing confuses me (I spend so much time trying to keep the moves straight, I basically stop moving), so I did an upper body and cardio video instead

Friday: I worked, then PACKED FOR VACATION! (All of the pictures in the universe down below).

Saturday: 2 miles-ish hiking

Sunday: 7-8ish miles, hiking

July 5-11

Monday: nothing 

Tuesday: walked ALL OVER Seattle.

Wednesday: nothing (flight home followed by an all-day communications training class for me, because I'm the luckiest).

Thursday: Hold on to your hats. For the first time in almost 7 months, I pinned on a bib and RAN A RACE. 

The Renegade Summer Trail Run Race #2 was a great time, as always. It's super hard coming out of retirement (ahem not running in 10 days on top of that...), and this race was certainly challenging. 

But I've really really missed racing!! Super psyched that I made it out for this one, even if I was grossly under-hydrated and unprepared. Renegade Races are just so great. 

Friday: Nothing

Saturday: 6.5ish miles on trails while #1 was at XC hill practice - luckily, I ran into another mom who was kind enough to join me and my slow pace.

Sunday: 4 miles with ex-neighbor Will

I am working a wacky schedule for the next several weeks while I have some new hires working at night, so hoping I can fit some runs in after work (even if it's a little late). Before work is tricky, because Gab can't be left home alone, and the other kids are in XC camp until 10am. I keep making excuses in my brain about not having time, but I really just need to make the time.

I know, this is revolutionary. Don't steal my idea. 

This week!

Monday: Lower Body, HIIT 

Tuesday: Upper body, 4 miles

Wednesday: HIIT and abs

Thursday: Upper body, 4 miles

Friday: Lower Body, HIIT

Saturday: rest

Sunday: 6 miles

***VACATION!!!***

Saturday: In an effort to convince #1 that the PNW is obvs where she should spend her college years, we spent a long weekend in Seattle. #2 was dressed the part. 

We got into SEA at 11:30am, and spent the day wandering in the Carbon River area. 

Me, all weekend: Man, that is a Big Mountain. 

We trekked up a giant hill in search of a waterfall that was apparently all dried up. It was kind of pretty. 

Sunday: We headed around the north side of the mountain, stopping a gajillion times for coffee and pretty views, before landing at the Sunrise Visitor Center and doing the Frozen Lake trail. 

Aside from a bathroom incident with Gab and #2 trying to fling herself off the mountain to avoid flies, it was a lovely hike. 

After lunch in Sunrise, we headed to Tipsoo Lake, where the wildflower game was strong...

After my family was sick of hearing me exclaim, "LOOK! So many flowers!", we headed south to the Stevens Canyon entrance, and hiked Silver Falls and Grove of the Patriarchs. 

Monday: Drove up to Bellingham via Chuckanut Dr and Larrabee State Park.

We wandered around the Fairhaven district for awhile and ate delicious, delicious pizza (for real, Fat Pie Pizza in Bellingham, you should go there). We took a walking tour of Western Washington U, which #1 did not LOVE, but I kind of did, and then ate all the food in the universe at Boundary Bay Brewery, which came recommended by internet friend Alma.

The beer was great, the food was great, the desserts were great, the service was great, it was all great. 

Tuesday: So many hours of walking and drinking coffee, and farmers marketing, and monrailing. 

After a super quick coffee with Alma at the craziest library I ever have seen, we took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island, which was fun for a couple hours (and so peaceful, besides the part when #1 lost her mind because she thought we might miss the ferry back, and didn't accept that there were later ferries to be had). 

Wednesday: 3:30 wake up for a 6am flight that was delayed to almost 7am when the co-pilot's chair broke. No, really.

#DoublePRWeekend, Part 1 - Renegade Santa Run 5k

Renegade's Santa Run is one of my favorites - fun crowd, well organized community event. Yeah, there are a lot of kids, but they are really well behaved and play nicely. This event is home to my current 10k PR, and (spoiler!) my new 5k PR.

This year, #1 ran with me, instead of The H. We headed out at 7am for the 8am start, and parked down the street. This ended up being not quite enough time for us - we still had to pick up our bibs, and then hit the restrooms, and it just didn't give me time to warm up like I would have liked. Note to self, next year get there a bit earlier.

I anticipated cool weather. HOWEVER, about 20 minutes before the start, it got freakishly HOT, and windy. The wind was hot. I don't know how else to explain it. It was not my most favorite, really. 

Anyway, the 5k course runs in kind of a figure-8 shape down the Peters Canyon trail...

Like I sad last week, I had some goals for this race:
A: 25:45ish, 8:18 pace

B: PR - 27:38, 8:55 pace

C: Don't puke and/or die

Because I'm dumb, I did a long run last Sunday (15 miles), followed by a hard hard HARD speed workout on Tuesday, and nothing else. So that was pretty great and relaxing on the legs. 

The race started right on time, but because I was running late, I snuck in somewhere towards the front-ish, and hoped that it wasn't in the mix of kids running super fast. 

Mile 1 - 8:22. This mile felt good. I tried not to be overly concerned with my garmin numbers, and run on feel, and I felt like I could certainly sustain this pace.

Mile 2 - 8:30. Well. That didn't last very long. This was at the turn around, and suddenly we were running into the hottest wind in the universe. 

Mile 3 - 8:54. This was terrible. Lol. 

Last .1 - 7:50. Out of the wind, THANK GOD. 

26:27, 8:32 pace. Not too shabby, good enough for 5/60 in my age group!

Look, it's me dying!

for real, why do I do that with my head?!

 Anyway. It was hard, and hot, and hard, and windy. And hard. Running fast is hard.

#1 also ran a PR, so it was a good day to be us. (Not so much to be Gabby, who melted down and couldn't wait to bail out of that race.).

The race is really great, and we have really enjoyed the event the last two years. I was hopeful for an AG placing this year, but it was a bit of a faster field than last year - I think because the race is just growing a bit? The course is a little congested right at the start, before the turn onto the trail, but after that it cleared up a bit - this could just be where I ended up in the 5k, but I didn't have any trouble navigating. The course is a nice mix of mostly pavement, with some dirt trail the first half. I love dirt, so that's great for me. 

Registration prices start at just $25 for the 5k, $35 for the 10k, and $15 for the kids run - this includes a great medal and long sleeve cotton tee.

so cute and sparkly!

They have awards 3 deep in each age group, plus a costume contest - the costume was a big source of stress for me. I originally wanted to be a Christmas tree. After I constructed it, it was NOISY and JANGLY and would have made me insane. On my second trip to Target, I found some foam snowflakes, and a new costume was born. I spent Friday night sewing snowflakes onto my tank and Team Sparkle skirt, and was the hottest snowflake EVER. 

It was tons of fun, can't wait to tackle it again next year!

Three Things Thursday

1. I have a crazy plan for this weekend. First, it involves this....

2. Which I'll wear Saturday for.....

Where I hope to PR the 5k FOR REAL THIS TIME. I had a goal kind of picked out, and ran it by the smartest bunny I know, and since she thinks it's reasonable, I'm going to give it a shot. I have been doing a decent amount of speed work, and it's all been going pretty well.

(My current *real* PR is 27:47 from July 2012; the Vet's Day race would have been a PR, but since it was not anywhere close to a real distance, I'm not counting it).

My super lofty, man-I-hope-I-don't-puke goal: 25:45 (8:18 pace)
Goal B is to just PR: 8:55ish pace
I have no goal C. If I fail, I quit.

JK, my C goal, as it always is in a 5k, is don't puke or die.

#1 will be running, as well, and I tried to tell her it would be HILARIOUS to toe the line like it's a cross country race....

So far, she has declined.


3. Anyway, after Saturday's fun, I plan to try my hand at....

Yeah, yeah, I wasn't going to race this, but theeeeen I snagged a free bib from Run, Eat, Repeat, and now I'm going to! Yay, free.

So after I got that bib, I thought..... man, it would be kiiiind of fun to PR TWICE IN ONE WEEKEND.

Wouldn't that be FUN???

So, my goals for Sunday are.....
A: 2:05, 9:32 pace. I honestly don't know that I'm in the right place for a 2:05 right now, because I've been doing shorter, faster runs in prep for the 5k. BUT WHO KNOWS!

B: PR. My current PR is 2:11 (9:59 pace) from PCRF back in May 2012. That seems like BILLIONS OF EONS AGO. This wouldn't take too much effort, I don't think, but I have no idea how I'd feel on a hilly course the day after maybe running a 5k hard. So we'll see.

C: If I get out there and a PR is just not in the cards, I'll run it easy and enjoy a long run with a friend. There are no losers here, so I'm sure it's going to be a swell day.


Really, it's just been soooooo long since I've raced anything, I'm excited to be back out there and am really looking forward to all of it.

Training Tuesday - I'm terrible at making decisions

Originally, when I started this half marathon training cycle at the end of September, I built it out around a December 15th half that I was doing with someone.

The more I considered that race, though, the less I wanted to make that my "A" race. I just wasn't excited about it. It's not super great for PR'ing, and I didn't want to shell out the money for a fun run (for whatever reason, this race is far more expensive than any others in December). I picked a different, earlier, race for my goal race, and adjusted my training plan.

After CIF prelims, when I really believed we would be going to states for #1 to run, I decided that since my next choice in half's was not going to work out..... hey, why not try to PR for real at the Renegade Santa Run??

Look at this fun medal!! You can use "HEATHERDISCOUNT" for a discount!

So, last week, even though I posted a half training plan week, I decided Monday afternoon that Santa Run 5k was my new goal race. If I could PR there, I had top 3 in my AG (based on last year's results) in my sights. That might be fun!

I adjusted my training plan again, and added a lot of interval work - I'd been doing a lot of longer intervals and tempo runs, so I threw in a bunch of 400s and 800s instead.

I know, I know, I retired from 5k's immediately following the Veteran's Day not-quite-5k, but I get confused.

Since suddenly, the 5k was my focus, I did the 400s last week, and nailed it - all at my goal pace

wheeeeeee so faaaast!

.
Anyway. Then we found out we weren't going to states, after-all (pride goeth before the fall, sorry, girls, I blame myself), so the half I thought was out, was suddenly back on the table!

I had one last "long" run that I left on my plan juuuuust in case, so I set out Sunday to do it - 8 miles, middle 4 at goal pace. This should have been easy, breezy.

how I felt after.

I got through a mile warm up, 3 pace miles, and just stopped. I felt fine, I just didn't feel like doing any more.

And now, it's Tuesday, 5 days before my supposed goal race, and... I kind of don't feel like it? I looked back over my training log, and my last long run was 14 miles back on November 14 - so it COULD count, and just pretend I've been on an extended two week taper? I just feel like a loser-pants, to let one lack-luster "long" run decide that I'm not even going to bother.

I'd still really like to get a real 5k PR, so I'll keep working on that in the meantime, but to recap... maaaaybe I'm running a half this weekend, but MAYBE NOT. Oh, the suspense.

Three Things Thursday

1. Sometimes, I do dumb things.

This counts as refueling, right, because I ate it after a run?


2. Earlier this year, I ran the Run4Kids 24 hour relay event with Rose. I loved the event so much, that I believe I'm ready to throw my hat in the ultra ring......

Yeah, it's sort of a cheater course, being very flat, but whatever. 24 hours is a long time, yo.

I've not really picked a mileage goal yet - I'll do that as I get closer to the event - but drew up a training plan last night, and um... I guess that's it. I am pretty excited.


3. After months and MONTHS of not running any races, I've suddenly got #alltheraces lined up.

First, my favorites, are a few Renegade Events...

Troutman Sanders Renegade Santa Run on Dec. 14. I ran the 10k here last year for a huge PR, and had so much fun.

Dun dun DUN. iTRYathlon is back in February!! The event is open to everyone, so I think The H will be joining me in the fun (and destroying me, because he's the fastest and loves the bike, UNLIKE ME).

(PS just realized this means I need to add swimming back to my training plan. BRRRRRR.)

The Coaster Run through Knott's Berry Farm. In addition to supporting a great cause (the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park) AND the adorable medal, they have pie at the finish line. I love pie. I'll be doing this one with the kids.

{{For any of the above, you can register using code HEATHERDISCOUNT for 10% off}}


In addition to those fun events, I have.... these to fill in my calendar:

Nov. 11 - Veteran's Day 5k. I stumbled on this last week, and it's down the street from me. I've been wanting to fit in a shorter race to get an idea of my current fitness level, and this is perfect. I'm hoping to PR - my existing PR is 27:47 from last July - but the pace sure seems faaaaast. We'll see?


December Half Marathon - I'm waffling between a few options.

Option 1: Holiday Classic Half - this one is CHEAP, and looks like a ton of fun. I really prefer smaller, more local races, and this one is my top choice, BUT I may have a scheduling conflict this weekend. Maybe. So I'm on hold. The timing of this one is best, because I am ready to race a half RIGHT NOW.

Option 2: Holiday Half Marathon - this one is a little lot pricier, because I've been super lazy about registering, plus there are parking fees which irritate me. It's an okay time for me, but I'm not in love with it (probably why I haven't registered yet....)

Option 3: San Diego Holiday Half Marathon - this one is reasonably priced (there are discount codes floating around), and Shannon will be there, which is a big selling point! But, it's inaugural, and that makes me nervous. This is the furthest out, so I'd have more time to train, BUT it's the furthest out, so there's more time to train.....

Anyway. I'm waffling.

Of course, there's also Tinker Bell Half in January (!!!!), and a potential March marathon - 2 weeks before the ultra, so it would be a good last training run. I feel like I could pull out a giant marathon PR, so I'm considering Diamond Valley Lake Marathon in early March. Looks like a potentially boring course, but my options seem to be pretty limited (unless I go with Surf City, which I'm not excited about AT ALL).


PLUS..... I'm also on the hunt, KIND OF, for a racecation.... maybe?

Phew. That was a lot of race talk.

What's on your calendar?

Three Things Thursday

1. Renegade Racing is looking for local Renegade Reps! Renegade is the mastermind behind some of my favorite events - including the Troutman Sanders Santa Run in December, where I PR'ed the 10k by 3 minutes last year WHAT. (Right? Remember when I was "fast"?).

If you're a local athlete interested in applying, check out the application HERE - deadline to apply is Sept. 15th, so hustle!

2. Blog friend Elizabeth from Running for Bling is running RnR Nola in February with Team in Training. She has raised around $10,000 for LLS over the years, and this time she will be running in honor of her super cute cousin Cooper, and Gab.

I love this picture.

If you have a second, go check out her TNT story, Cooper's story, and help find a cure for blood cancers.


3. So.... the kids are at school. And I'm just.. hanging out. Running, some, cross training, watching an excessive amount of tv, baking.... I don't really know what to do with this nonsense called "free time". I woke up and kind of wanted to run today, but it was a rest day.

I don't even have anything on my race calendar right now, besides Tink in JANUARY.

What?! I don't even recognize myself any more.

If ever I were going to train for another marathon, I suppose now would be a good time, since I seem to have ALL THE FREE HOURS EVER. I previously intended to add Paso Robles Marathon to my calendar, but with me being unemployed, it feels like kind of a jackass thing to do right now - spending a weekend away chasing a race. I've kind of checked out local races, but I'm just not really feeling them. Well, the exception to that is Carlsbad, which I'd LOVE to do, but it interferes with Tink. Womp.

Anyway. That was a lot of words to say I'm kind of bored?

But I have perfected a banana muffin recipe, so at least there's that.

If you want to drop by.... I'm available. Pretty much always.

iTRYathlon - Race Recap

iTRYathlon is a local women's and youth event put on by Renegade Racing. This was the second year running the race.

This was an EXCELLENT pick for my first triathlon - it's a reverse tri, so instead of the typical swim/bike/run, it was a 3.1 mile run, 9 mile bike, and 200m pool swim.

The swim has always been the piece of the tri that I was most afraid of - mostly because the idea of 1. open water and 2. mass starts terrifies me. Putting the swim last means a steady stream of swimmers, not a crazy group all at once. This was fantastic for me!

Race prep....
With a 7:30am Saturday start time, I planned on being at the race site around 5:30 for transition set up, body marking, etc. To help me make sure I wasn't forgetting anything I set out everything I'd need in a fuax-transition the night before.

We arrived at Northwood High School pretty early - so early, transition wasn't even open yet.

The H helped me make sure my tires were pumped appropriately, and we headed over to set up my space. When Coach Martha advised us to arrive that early, I was pretty skeptical. It was REALLY early, I don't think I even show up for runDisney races that early.

But it was 100% worth it to snag a prime transition spot for my bike.

Here's a funny thing about triathlon. Some kids will, at some point, write your age right on your calf in PERMANENT MARKER. So that's cute.

After spending some time horrifying The H with the number of times I can cycle through the bathroom lines in 2 hours (answer, only 3 times, which IS NOT EVEN THAT MUCH, rude), and some time chatting with my favorite volunteers....

According to Kelly and Angry Julie (pic courtesy of Julie)

...we started lining up. The morning was PERFECTION - misty and foggy and cool. Thank heavens.

SO lucky.

The Run

Elevation map....

My goal for the run was 28:xx. I haven't really felt great about my speed, since I was my fastest (so, really just "fastest") back during marathon training last year, and I'm not running nearly the same mileage now. When I started iTRY training, I was hoping for a 30 minute 5k. In the last few weeks, I thought if I REALLY pushed it, I could maybe pull out 28:xx. I was really nervous about the hill - I'm not great on hills. They're hard.

The run starts on a nice downhill, and then climbs climbs climbs climbs. I ran into Striding Mom's oldest, Strawberry, close to the top of the hill, and we ran for a few minutes together - my training on this route really helped out here, because I knew how far the hill went, and when I felt like it was getting rough, I knew how close I was to the end of the hill.

Thanks, H!

I only look happy because I know we're running downhill from here. Just kidding, I was psyched to see my hsuband.

As soon as I told him the course was all down hill from here!.... he took off.

Later, Stawberry.

Garmin time, appx.... 27:50ish. {I KNOW WHAT!!!!!}. 8:45, 9:11, 9:07 for the first three miles.

{Update - official time, 27:51!!!!!}


Transition 1: This is where I really jacked things up with my Garmin - instead of hitting lap, I hit start/stop and paused it. Womp. I have no idea what my transition time was. I took a second to take a drink, because drinking on the bike makes me nervous. But otherwise, I took Coach Martha's advice and had a very streamlined transition, only needing to snap on my helmet. Bring only what you need, and use everything you bring....

More pictures from my personal transition photographer, Angry Julie

T1: 1:14

The Bike

Sigh. Oh, the bike.

My goal was to come in under 40 minutes. I was NOT confident in this number - 40 minutes would have been a 13.5mph pace. In training on this loop, the fastest I could pull out was 12.8mph. I don't know WHY I picked 40 minutes, it was totally random.

The course is 2 loops of the run course (so twice up that hill), plus an out and back on some flat roads.

I saw a lot of people passing me who had REAL bikes - like real road bikes, not my clunky hybrid. I felt pretty good with how I went up the hills - I cycled through the gears efficiently, I thought. I didn't see a lot of people on hybrids passing me, which was how I was gauging my speed.

Unofficial bike pace: 14.3mph. WHAT.

{Official time, 38:32 - 14.1mph}

Transition 2:

So, one of my biggest concerns was whether or not I should even wear my Garmin - I thought it would really help me on the run, so I could stay on pace up the hill, but I was really concerned that I would totally forget I had it on, and head straight to the pool with it. Which I did. Plus my sunglasses - and as it turns out, you cannot swim in sunglasses. Awesome. Heading into transition, I racked my bike, took another drink of water, and ran over to the pool - I kept my shoes on, because it's about a 200m run.

Once you get to the pool, Renegade has volunteers set up to collect shoes (and sunglasses and Garmins) for you when you jump in.

T2: 3:06 {ouch}


The swim

The swim was 4 lengths (2 laps) of a 50m pool - jump in one side, swim a length, duck under the lane line, back the next lane, etc. I had never practiced in a 50m pool before, so the distance was a little intimidating. The pool in my neighborhood that I use is maybe 15m? And the pool I did a time trial in a few weeks ago is 25. Also, the pool is DEEP. So I was nervous, particularly in the middle two lanes, where there's not a wall right next to me JUST IN CASE (I know how to swim enough not to drown, but I panicked a little).

So I took the swim S L O W and steady. I never felt crowded, even though plenty of people passed me, but the lanes are super wide, and there was just a steady stream of racers coming in. There was plenty of room to navigate.

dead center sticking my head waaaaaaaay out for a breath. This is why I'm slow.

I'm being so dainty with the lane lines.

{Swim - 6:38 laaaaame}

The finish timing mats are right there at the edge of the stairs - pro tip, I stopped swimming when I got to that long area going towards the stairs. Do you know what is MUCH slower than swimming? Walking through 4'6" of water.

Since I obviously didn't wear my Garmin through the swim (despite my best efforts...), I have no idea how long the swim took - I know I was passed by PLENTY of people. I am assuming it is well over my 5 minute goal.


Total time: 1:17:25 


Post Race
The volunteers are handing out medals right as you exit the pool, and then just outside the pool building, there are volunteers with water, bananas, oranges, and cookies (cookies!!).

Results were posted really quickly out at the expo area (for most people.... Hurry up, Gemini!).

This event was REALLY well organized. There are a number of events happening at the same time - sprint tri, junior tri, 5k, etc, but things moved totally smoothly.

For a new triathlete, this is a great choice - it's really non-intimidating, and very beginner friendly. Volunteers were set up everywhere, and all very helpful.


Disclosure: I was provided with free entry to the race by Renegade Racing, but all opinions are my own. There is really NOTHING that I would have changed or thought needed improvement - it's amazing it's only in its second year, because you would never have guessed that they'd only pulled this off once before.