All the small things

There are so many exciting things happening, I barely even know how to start!

1. Work is still great. Part of what I do involves searching up things that land me at stuff like this

I lol'ed for like five minutes.

2. I just bought tickets to see BFF Evan Dando (and Psychadelic Furs) next week at Downtown Disney. This is, like, sensory overload, these are all of my most favorite things! 

3. AND THEN I was lamenting to The H that it had been awhile since I'd seen Mighty Mighty Bosstones on the west coast, so I googled, and SURPRISE FOR ME, they'll be here in December! So psyched. 

4. XC season is coming to an end - our league finals were last week, and we came in 3rd in the league. Next weekend they head out to Mt. Sac for Southern Section prelims, and I anticipate the following week, they'll be heading to Finals. I don't think states are in the cards for them this year, but.... it could be close!

5. I haven't publicly discussed it too much, but #1 has had a tough season. I think (and her coaches agree) she's just a bit overtrained and her legs aren't recovering very well - her times got slower and slower (lol at 19:30 for 3 miles being slow), and her legs felt tireder and tireder. After a week of intensive massage, stretch, roll, and ice, she finally bounced back a bit for the league finals. Her confidence has taken a bit of a hit the last few weeks, so I'm really glad she had a strong race to close out the season, before heading into post-season competition. 

I believe the haircut is what worked a magic run fast spell on her. 

It takes sole.

6. I cross-trained 4 days last week, and ran twice, so Desi and Shalane should just step aside right now, because I'm the Greatest Athlete Ever.

7. Related to Desi/Shalane, I wish Kara would stop crying. But I have a cold, dead heart.

8. I am DYING DYING DYING for a race-cation. I can't find a spring/fall race that I'm obsessed with, though. Sad times.

9. This time change is not the greatest. I keep waking up toooooo early, and one day last week, I made cookies by 6am. Lame-slash-awesome.

10. THE END.

What's this? What's this? What is THIS! PFTW.

(I've been working hard on convincing Gab we should go to Disneyland for her birthday, and have Nightmare Before Christmas on the brain)

Last night, I did a Fitness Blender video. It for REAL almost made me vomit and/or pass out.

This is very sad, because in the not-too-distant-past, this video was challenging, but not That Hard.

It shouldn't come as a shock, but it was: working out does not become any easier when you take a month+ off.

PFTW:
Monday: I did this video. More accurately, it did me (in).

Tuesday: While I would like to say I will run, HAHAHAHA. I will probably do an arms/cardio video.

Wednesday: Total body OR lower body. Maaaaaaybe a run?

Thursday: #1 is racing, so rest day (besides all the trekking around following her race).

Friday: Arms/Cardio

Saturday: Gabby's birthday!

Sunday: RUN FOR REAL - 4ish.


I am not really feeling like running, so.... I don't know. I will, I just don't want to? Bah.

***************************************************************************

XC Update??

#1 had a KILLER race on Saturday - they ran an event that was new-to-them, so we didn't know much about the course. For any other XC teams considering the Central Park Invite in Huntington Beach... let me tell you, that course is not easy. It is lovely, and great for spectators, and seems like a real XC course - it has everything, wood chips, trail, roots, hills, sand, grass. It was fun... for us to watch.

It was also 90* and sunny, and she raced in the hottest part of the day, so that was not great.

And yet... she ran a really, really strong race.

 

Do you know that she passed EVERY SINGLE GIRL in those pictures?? Including that one on the bottom right in the red jersey waaaaay ahead of her IN THE FINISH CHUTE??? She's been working hard on finishing strong, so.... I guess that's working out okay for her.

 

They finished 2nd overall in the girl's varsity race, finishing ahead of some incredibly strong (and high ranked) schools. Wheee.

 

This week is her first league meet, so that's pretty exciting. 

 

Also exciting, is the introduction of the parent's hospitality tent. Why yes, I WOULD enjoy standing in your shade and thank you for the muffins and coffee.

 

XC is really the best.

XC Recap, Season Ender: Womp.

On Saturday morning, #1 raced the CIF Southern Section finals. The top 7 schools in each division move on to the state competition in Fresno. Going in, her school was ranked #9 in the state, and 7th in our section. The school we were most concerned about beating was really neck-and-neck with us at prelims, and ranked 10th in the state, and 8th in our section. We were psyched that it was shaping up to be an exciting race, and... I'll admit, a little confident that we would pull it out.

Since I have alllllllll the free time on my hands, I did a lot of number crunching last week, building out fake-meets against our schools, and every way I played with the numbers, we were looking solid.

Saturday, #1 woke up and was practically giddy. She was excited to run, and looked confident. The girl is a head-case runner - seeing her confident to go into this course was great.

Spectating XC is an interesting day. The courses are short, usually 3 miles, and run so fast, that to spectate in a few places, you have to MOVE. Generally, there's a flood of spectators that flee from spot to spot throughout the course to catch their runners as they move through.

Exactly like this....

If you've ever spectated a longer race before, it's exactly like that, but ON SPEED.

The Mt Sac course is pretty loopy for the first 1.5mi, so you can kind of catch the athletes in about 4 locations before they head up the second half. We knew the layout from last week, and had a pretty solid spectating strategy, so we stuck with it (if you're interested, this is the course map - we planted ourselves at the end of the airstrip, before the loop, so we saw her at the start, on the first loop go around, then ran over to switchbacks, then to the crossover, and then to the gauntlet for the finish - I swear these are all things on the course that I'm totally not making up).

Anyway. We're at our spot. The field takes off - 16 teams, 7 girls each team, plus individuals - and right away, I note that the field is tight, and FAST. It looks like our team is having some trouble sticking together in a pack, but #1 is looking good in her mid-pack position.

source: Joe Gagnon/PrepCalTrack

As we're waiting for them to come through the first loop, Sarah Baxter breeeeeezes through, well ahead of everyone else.

Oh, look. She's winning!

The lead pack comes through, and I start to get a little nervous - usually there's three girls on our team that start together, but they were not running together this time. Then the chase pack comes through - usually, #1 is solidly mid-pack, in here. And usually by now, the herd has thinned a bit - not so much this time. They're all still running really tight, and FAST.

Then the girl that runs 7th for us ran by, and we thought we must have missed #1 in the herd.

15-20 seconds later, after everyone else has passed, is #1.

My first thought, is she got frustrated with the pack, and was giving herself space? She always starts slow and then kicks in... maybe the fast start was too much. Maybe she wanted to give herself some room.

And then I hear her breathing, and it's clearly distressed. I didn't connect what happened at first, until she was running past, and The H noticed the giant scrape under her right hip.

Somewhere in the first 800, she had fallen. And my heart just sunk for her.

We went over to the switchbacks, where she'd come through after the second loop around the field, and she was at the back, but was caught up to the rest of the pack (so, in the second 800, she made up 20 seconds on the rest of the field), and came through the first mile in 6:12.

When she came by us, before heading up the switchbacks, she was crying, and limping.

on Switchbacks

Waiting for her at crossover was just THE WORST EVER. As her mom, I'm a pretty tough-love kind of parent, and generally defer to the coaching she receives from the XC team, but it was horrible, knowing how HARD running is, how hard running uphill is, and that she was doing it while crying and limping.

She came through crossover, and had passed a few runners. After crossover, we planned to wait for her at the gauntlet (the last 200m at the finish), because the rest of the course is hard to get to and then still get to the finish. It was FOR REAL the longest longest longest 1.5 miles ever for me.

She passed that girl in blue.

When she crossed the finish line, I criiiiiied and cried. She finished two spots behind one of her teammates, and the other girls joined them in the line.

After their bib numbers were collected, her teammates took her over to the med tent to get cleaned up, where #1 found out that they had finished.... 8th overall.

Womp. 

She asked to stick around for the varsity boys' race a bit after hers, so we did. 

It was a pretty rough day. 

I'm not sure how she found it in her to finish the race, and finish it so strong. I tried to ask her why she kept running, and she just said "Because coach said to get up and go."

Maybe it's that simple. 

I spent the rest of the weekend kind of coddling her, but she's been in a fair amount of pain - I don't think it's anything serious, just a lot of road rash, and bruising. Since they're not going to states, next week is an off week, anyway, so hopefully she's all healed up when they head back to school after Thanksgiving.

She's had an amazing first season. It was really exciting to be a freshman, heading to CIF finals, and a great experience for her. Just kind of a sucky way for it to end. 

(PS, my number crunching was DEAD ON, and the team that ended up beating us into the finals was a dark horse that wasn't even ranked - they just had a killer day, and ran the race of their lives. Bad ass.  The team we were eyeing as competition TIED with us, and on a normal day, #1 would have been the tie-breaker, and would have beat their #6 runner. Maybe I missed my calling as a XC coach?)

Half Training, week something - PFTW

Last week....

Monday: 5k/5 miles
Recap of the almost-5k here. Results were posted earlier this week....

LOL at 7:31 pace.

Immediately after, I swore I would be retiring from 5k's forever, because I'd rather run a marathon than sprint for 3.1 miles. But - since this course was shooooooort, I'm kind of thinking I might try a re-do in December at the Renegade Santa Run. Based on last year's results, there's an outside shot at an age group placing....

Tuesday: Rest?

Wednesday: More rest?

Thursday: Long run
On paper, this run went well. 14 miles total, broken into one hour warm-up, 6 miles at race pace (9:33 for me), and cool down to finish. However, I was MESSED UP. I didn't drink enough, and was sweating a ton, and probably started not-well-hydrated, and by mile 7 or 8, I had a giant headache. I ignored it for awhile, but eventually, any time I tried to drink, I just felt gross and sloshy. Somehow, I also forgot to bring any fuel with me, which is RIDICULOUS, since long runs = salted caramel gu time, so how is that even possible??

I was supposed to run 15, but quit at 14. My overall pace was great, and my BODY felt fine, I am just dumb. I didn't go through one bottle of water during the run; after, I drank 3 bottles of Nuun, plus a giant diet coke, and didn't pee for hours and hours and hours. I am not a professional.

Friday: 3 easy
Weather was beautiful - cool, overcast, a little drizzly - so I did a quick 3 easy from the Target parking lot, before picking up a few things.

Saturday: planned off day
#1 raced Saturday, more on this below. Her race was mid-afternoon, which is really just the worst time of them all, and it just kills the entirety of the day.

Sunday: rest
Saturday's spectating beat me down hard.

Total: 22 miles
Zero cross-training. Oops. I just didn't really feel like it - the 5k killed me pretty dead, and so did that long run. Lame. I guess these videos and push-ups are going to be extra terrible this week.


This week....

I originally planned to start taper this week, buuuuuut *spoiler alert* there's a fair shot of #1's team heading to states the same weekend as the race I wanted to do, but.... I'm doing a higher volume than I initially planned, but nothing craaazy, just in case.

Monday: 3-4 easy
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 6 strides
Thursday: 4 easy
Friday: 8-10 easy
Saturday: off
Sunday: off

**********************************************************************
XC updates....

#1 ran CIF Southern Section prelims Saturday at Mt. Sac. Mt. Sac is a notoriously hard course - there's three significant hills starting with a set of switchbacks just after the first mile.

The H and I walked the course during lunch break, and holy crap, it was HARD to walk. I have no idea how these kids (i'm so old, "these kids") run this course, and run it so faaaaaast.

Simi Valley, home of Sarah Baxter, is in our division, so I got to see her race just before #1 did. To the surprise of no one, she destroyed the field.

from Instagram: "Sarah Freakin' Baxter"

She is really impressive to watch. There's no one, anywhere near her, and she barely looks like she's making an effort. Totally unrelated to this post or race, but here is a GREAT article on Sarah's course record run from last year.

#1's team raced a bit later, and came in 3rd in their heat, which advances them on to finals next weekend. True to the course, #1 breezed through the first mile well under 6 minutes, because she has super-teleportation-powers.

Somewhere on the switchbacks, she lost her teammate - it's a tricky course, and one she was new on.

Somewhere in here, she started struggling with something in her eyeball. After the race, we saw her coach meet her at the finish line with her bag, frantically digging through it, and I had no idea what was happening. Apparently, she tried to tell her coach she got some funk in her eyeball, and was having trouble seeing/not dying, but the coach thought she was saying she needed her inhaler (she doesn't use an inhaler, lol). I am always a little nervous about the portions of the race where we can't see her, so I am greatly comforted knowing that her coaches are watching out for her too. Awwwww.

Anyway. She said she really enjoyed the course (WHAT), so I'm psyched to see them advance and see what happens next weekend. Several of the girls on the team this year are new to Mt Sac, so hopefully this was a good training run for them, in prep for next week, and with some experience on the course, they can really make some strides in their performance.

Get it? Strides?

adorable. I love this picture.

So, as much as it kind of feels like XC is the season that just keeps on going.... I'm really excited, and we're having a lot of fun with it. It's pretty great seeing the girls' enthusiasm and camaraderie.

Yaaaaaaay, maybe-Fresno?

Veterans Day Run 5k / PFTW

This morning, I ran the National Veterans Day Run in Irvine.

The race was pretty small and low-key. Since it was close by, I used the run over to the race as my warm-up, and tossed in some strides on the way.

The race started a few minutes late, with a pre-race Veterans Day ceremony just before....

The course starts with a loop through Woodbridge Community Park, then out and back on the bike path (my nemesis from the PCRF training days....), and another loop through the park back to the finish line.

So, here's the real details on the race: The course is not marked. There are volunteers telling people where to go, but there was one missing, for example, at the first loop through the park, so we went the wrong direction for about 50 feet - there were left-over arrows on the ground from TNT training over the weekend, so it was confusing. The volunteer at the 5k turn-around, I think, had us turn too early - there's a section on the path (if you're familiar, I'm talking about the bike path between East Yale Loop, and Jeffrey) with two bridges - the volunteer had us turn at the first bridge, but I'm pretty sure it should have been the second bridge. Also, at the finish, I did not see any water, etc. Not a big deal for me, because it was cool this morning and there are water fountains at the park, just a note.

BUT, it was really inexpensive (I paid $30 for a last minute registration), and included a pin, medal, and shirt. Plus, a portion of proceeds go to Folds of Honor Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships and other assistance to spouses and children of soldiers killed or disabled in service.

You can donate to Folds of Honor HERE

I'd rather run a low-key race with a good heart like this than fret about details and complain about stuff.

Mostly, I wanted to get an idea of where I am with training, and if I have a reasonable goal for winter and spring races. With that in mind, my goal pace was around 8:50-8:40 (my 5k PR pace was 8:56, 27:47).

The course measured at 2.74mi for me, and I finished with a 8:31 pace. WHAT. Mile splits:  8:34, 8:31, 8:31.

If it were an actual 5k distance, and I managed to hold that pace (and I think I could?), it would be a 26:25ish finish.

I was third female at the turn-around (there was a kid that was running the 5k that turned around before I did and cut the course a few times through the park loop, and finished just in front of me, so I'm not counting her, CHEATER). Small races are the greatest.

Overall, I enjoyed the event - I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to freak out on the details, but for $30, it served it's purpose for me.

Related, I've decided the 5k is not something I'm really interested in repeating. That isht is hard, yo. Give me a marathon, any day.

*******************************************************************************

Plan for the week!

To sum it up quickly, last week SUCKED. I just wasn't feeling the run love, not at all. So I didn't hit all of my miles. Oh wells. Taper for a 5k? HAHAHAHA.

Monday: XT
arms, core, pushups

Tuesday: nothing
Zippo.

Wednesday: speeeeeeed, XT
2 mile repeats!! These sounded so scary, but then they weren't too bad. 1 mile warm up, 2x2mi, with 400RI, cool down. Goal pace was 9:11-8:59, actual was 9:09, 9:01. Felt good. Also did arms, and core.

Thursday: XT
Just pushups

Friday: easy, XT
4 miles easy pace with strides; arms/core

Saturday: FAILED long run
Scheduled for 13 easy. Got through 5, felt crappy and achy and blah, and people wandered into the gym, so I called it a day and surrendered my treadmill.

Sunday: rest
I did absolutely negative zero things.

Total: 15 miles.

Oh well.

This week:

Monday: see above; 5 miles total for the day, with warm up/cool down
Tuesday: easy or rest
Wednesday: 7 miles strides
Thursday: rest
Friday: 15 easy
Saturday: rest (we'll be at XC for the day)
Sunday: 3-4 easy

*************************************************************************
Cross-country update.....
#1's team came in second in league finals Friday (#1 finished in 19:05, for 21st place!), so they're heading to state prelims next weekend!!!

she fliiiiiies

The girl's varsity team....

One of these things, is not like the other....

I'm really excited to check out the Mt Sac course, and all the fast fasties. I did some googling of the teams in her heat (is that creepy and/or weird?) for Saturday, and they should pull through to state finals for the following week. Just when we thought the season might be over.........

There's a fair chance that they'll make it through to states, which is EXCITING. I can barely contain it; but race talk makes #1 nervous, so I'm trying to keep it all inside.

Excited!!!

We saw this shirt at the race Friday. It's funny, because IT'S TRUE.

Friday Five

1. My XBox live isn't working. This is totally a lame first world problem, but it does mean that I can't watch Party of Five on Amazon today. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH MY DAY.

2. JK, Gab is randomly out of school today, so we have some exciting Barnes and Noble + hiking plans to fill the time.

3. Speaking of Gab, she self-patrolled herself last night while Trick or Treating. When her bucket got full, she said, "Well, I guess we're done now!". And was ready to head home. Huh. That's new..... At first, I was a little bummed because FREE CANDY. Then I remembered we bought two bags of candy to hand out, and had three ToT'ers. So.... Anyone want some candy? Please?

#1 and #2 went to parties. I guess they're too big for ToT'ing with their parents. (WHEEEEE)

4. I stumbled onto this blog a few days ago, which makes me feel significantly better about my Evan Dando adoration (because I swear this isn't my tumblr, I barely even know what tumblr is).

HE'S CAPTIVATED. (#2 just saw this, and asked if this was Jesus....)

5. #1 raced in their second league meet yesterday (who holds a XC race on Halloween!??!). She ran with varsity again, and at first, seemed kind of on edge.

She looks so tense!

At first, The H started getting spazzy at her overall placement. Then I realized that she came through the mile we were at WAY earlier than we anticipated, and I got psyched.

When she came through the finish at 45 seconds UNDER HER PR, I wasn't really ready for it.

Blurryfast

She destroyed her PR, and finished at 18:54ish (unofficial). She came across the finish line with a HUGE smile on her face, and later said she was so happy when she saw her time that she almost cried.

The support from her teammates was adorable, and her middle school PE teacher was there, and it was just so, so great. She's struggled a little moving up to varsity, and no longer being the "big fish" in the smaller Freshman pond, so I think this will do good things for her confidence.

Half Training, Week 5 - PFTW

This is going to be short and sweet, because I'm a little pressed for time.


HAHAHA JK. Actually, I just don't have a ton of interesting things going on right now (still), so there's not much to share?

Last week..... I had a really great training week!

Monday: Cross training
Tank Top Arms, Core, and pushups. I'm SHOCKED at the improvement in pushups. Fascinating! Did you know, consistency helps?!

Tuesday: 4 miles
Easy run on the beach path at Crystal Cove. It was super ugly, with the sunset and sweeping ocean views.

Via the Instagram

Wednesday: Long run
I had time, and there was a bunch of Bravo stuff I wanted to watch on, so I long run'ned on the treadmill. I was a little concerned, because I ran long on Sunday... but 14 miles, with 5 mid-miles at goal pace. NAILED IT. Goal pace was dead on, and I finished with an overall 10:03 pace - which is my current half PR pace, and it almost killed me dead. It was a great, great run.

Thursday: XT
Arms and pushups

Friday: Easy/XT
Core in the morning, then a 6 mile, easy pace, negative split run.

Saturday: Rest
Actually, I did pushups, but it was only 10 minutes and barely counts.

Sunday: Tempo
5 miles total, mid 3 at 9:25-9:11. Actual was 9:24, 9:17, 9:14. It was a little tough, but not unbearable.

Total: 29 miles. Solid.


I finally replaced my poor shoes.... And all my panicky trepidation was for naught. The Flow2's seem to be juuuuuust fine.

Saddest transition ever.

This week.....
Monday: 3 easy, XT
Tuesday: 7, speeeeeed
Wednesday: XT
Thursday: 5 easy with strides
Friday: XT
Saturday: 10 easy
Sunday: rest

Yaaaay cut back week!

************************************************************************
No pictures from #1's race this week (I cannot even believe that they for real race EVERY SINGLE WEEK that's crazy), because we didn't go. It was far away, they were being bused, and we would never have made it on time after getting Gab and #2 from school.

BUT, she raced with varsity, and did GREAT.

15th place!!!! What. 18:24 on a 2.7 mile (random) hilly course.

I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday keeping up on the Mt Sac Invitational - #1's school only participated in the boy's varsity sweepstakes race, but I tried watching the parts I could keep track of. Sarah Baxter - a senior at Simi Valley - is a robot fast running machine. She has won every high school race she's run.

Photo cred Juan Carlo

Oh wait, turns out she's human. Here's a great article on her race Saturday. “I went out way too fast and I shouldn’t have done that,” Baxter said. “I kind of let it get away from me and didn’t realize how fast I was going until it was too late.” 

Says the girl who ran a 4:58 first mile...... Zoinks. 


After that, I spent hours and hours searching for a winter/spring marathon, and as a result, updated my "Wish List" with a ridiculous number of options.... Someone stop me. 

Half Training, week 4 - PFTW

Last week....
Monday: Cross training
Core and arms. I let myself stop doing the glutes/thigh video, and THAT WAS DUMB. It's going to be the worst ever when I start doing it again.

Tuesday: 4 easy
Nothing interesting. Ran 4 outside, easy pace, with negative splits (not on purpose, it just happened that way). 10:13 avg.

Wednesday: XT
Core, arms, yoga. I also (re)started the 100 pushups program - day one completed.

Thursday: 6 miles, speedyish
1 mile warm up, 4 at race pace, 1 cool. Hit goal pace just fine. Thought I had an achy hip, but since it didn't bother me when I started running, and didn't bother me after, maybe my brain was faking?

Friday: XT
Arms, and day 2 of 100 pushups.

Saturday: Rest
XC spectating, which consisted of an easy hike and some sprinting around the course to watch #1 race.

Sunday: Long!
13 easy miles - 12 easy pace, last mile at race pace. No problems, avg pace 10:26. Caught up on Master Chef and some of Million Dollar Listing. I love Bravo - it's the only thing I miss about not having cable!

Total: 23 miles

I think I've finally worn out my last pair of originally PureFlows. I'm so, so, so sad.


Next week.....
Monday: XT
Tuesday: 3-4 easy
Wednesday: Long - 14 with 5@race pace
Thursday: rest
Friday: 6 mi, XT
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 5 Tempo

********************************************************************
On Saturday, #1 ran the OC Champs Invitational. For her first varsity experience, her team ran the sweepstakes race. Did you know sweepstakes mean "super duper fast"? Surprise!

She finished in 20:03 - her second fastest time yet. Her PR is from a month ago, on a flat course, in cool weather. This was a hilly course on a warm day.

It was an interesting experience - moving from the freshman/sophomore races up to a varsity sweepstakes race means that her previously impressive placing was no longer... well, it was just not great in the field she raced against. It was - for her - a great race individually. It's a much more strategic race when those kids are involved - so it'll be fun to see how she picks up on this, if she takes the coaching from her teammates, and what she does with it.

We had to be at the park so, so early (6:15, what!).... the moon was up, but the sun wasn't..

We spent a few hours hiking around...

this is the hill in mile 1 that they had to run up. NO THANKS.

then playing on the playground by the start line. Personal request to OC XC planners - all start lines should be playground adjacent.

Half Training Week 2 - PFTW

Last week...

Monday - easy 2
Run/Walk with #2. We did an easy 2:1 run/walk ratio, trying to teach her to paaace herself. She's a great sprinter, but then blows up early. She had a lot of smack to talk during the early intervals. By the last one, she was begging to walk. HAHAHAHA.

Tuesday - easy 5
Nothing exciting. Easy 5 miles with random strides.

Wednesday - cross training
Tank Top Arms, core, vinyasa flow yoga.

Thursday - long run
Weather was cool and overcast - easy 8 miles outside, steady pace with slight negative splits.

Friday - cross training
Repeat of Wednesday.

Saturday - rest
Spent the day out with the family.

Sunday - speeeeed
3x1600. Gross. Goal pace was 8:45-9, actual was 9:02, 8:56, 8:49. Challenging, but not the worst ever.

Total: 21 miles.

21 miles seems to be my happy spot - I feel fine, nothing feels like it needs extra recovery, all of the runs were manageable, I'm not dying of runger. So far, the Jerk Shin has behaved nicely, but I'm assuming it will resume its jerkiness as I add miles.

Someone asked last week about what training plan I'm using - I built my own based partially on the Train Like a Mother book, and Run Less, Run Faster. I don't like running 5 times a week, like TLAM suggests, but I'm willing to give it a shot to see how it works as the weeks progress. If they're easy miles, it could be fine - especially since I have plenty of free time. BUT, I have supplemented my fall/winter schedule with a few shorter distance races, so I've pulled some of the speed workouts from RLRF to keep building speed - I just can't do the All Speed, All The Time RLRF program, it doesn't work for my janky legs. Eh. We'll see how it goes. The nice thing about making your own isht up, is you can change whatever you feel like changing.


This week, #1 races on Thursday instead of Saturday, so I may move things around. Or not. I don't know. OH, and also, Tuesday is OC Run Club night, so that may be shifting things around, too. I'll figure it out as I go, I guess....

Monday: easy 2-3 miles, XT
Tuesday: tempo (ick), 5 miles
Wednesday: XT
Thursday: 6 miles, easy
Friday: XT
Saturday: Long - 10 miles
Sunday: rest

***********************************************************************

On Saturday, we headed up to Yucaipa for the Yucaipa Cross Country Invitational.

The course has one "nice hill" at the end of the first mile....

which #1 used to pass everyone. She started up the hill in 6th or 7th, from what we could see. She crested in 2nd.

Making her move (can you find her?)

I guess this is what it looks like to be FAST? I don't know, it hardly looks like she's working hard.

She was able to maintain that lead, and finished in 2nd place in the freshman/sophomore Gold division race.

It's so ugly where we live. Dumb hills and mountains.