Three Things Thunrsday - Gabby Update Edition

First, work out last night... I did something crazy, and somehow challenged Becka to 20x400. I don't know what I was thinking. But it happened.

Plan was: 1 mi warm up, 20x400, goal pace 2:15, 2 minute RI, 1 mi cool down.

Actual: 1 mi warm up @ 11:04, 2:12, 2:10, 2:10, 2:10, 2:11, 2:09, 2:09, 2:12, 2:06, 2:12, 2:06, 2:07, 2:06, 2:08, 2:05, 2:01, 2:04, 2:03, 2:02, 1:58. Phew.

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1. Gabby is doing GREAT. She's still in her first "cycle" of maintenance, so our clinic visits have been few and far between. We've been going every 2 weeks, to check blood work, but so far, everything is looking perfect.

2. Because of her diagnosis, she is being granted a wish from the Make a Wish foundation! We met with our volunteer wish granter's Tuesday night, and had a ton of fun. Among the things requested...

• A pony


• Drums and cymbals


• Rock climbing


• Ice skating (because she's 5, she knows how. She just needs someone to teach her. The wisdom of 5)

3. Last night, after my 9 mile run after work, I came home, and she was busily working on cloth diapering...

on herself.

I don't know.

PFTW, and Iron Girl Del Mar Race Recap

Last week:
Tuesday - 8x400's, killed it.
Thursday - 3 miles tempo. Goal pace 9:56; actual 9:24. Killed it.
Saturday - was planning on doing a long run; ended up taking a rest day - I had a monster cold last week, I ran a half the weekend prior, and have another the next weekend. Rest day it was.
Sunday - Iron Girl Del Mar. Recap below.

Plan for this week.....
Monday - I dunno. Speed work or hills. One of them. I haven't decided.
Wednesday - easy 3
Thursday - Tempo
Sunday - Mission Inn Half. Maybe. If it rains, I'm out. I'm not that committed. (Sorry, ChaCha)

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Saturday, I trekked down to Del Mar to run the Athleta Iron Girl 5K. I was supposed to run with #1, in the Mother/Daughter division. But Sunday when I woke her up (at 4:40am...) she said she wasn't feeling well. Bummer.

I talked my local BFF into running with me, as well, so she met me at my place and we carpooled down at 5:30am.

Sure was early. And chilly.

We both had to pick up our packets, and it was super fast and painless.

We ran into Sarah, Nicole, and ChaCha almost right away.

I wore throwaway sweats and a fleece, but the bag drop was SUPER easy and fast, so I checked my ugly gear.

Nicole and Sarah (and Ashley!) were running the 10K; Snork, ChaCha, and I were running the 5K, which started a bit later... giving us plenty of time to scope out the set up...

There were REAL bathrooms, as well, all around the complex.

Outside the portopotties...

Plenty of beverages for the finishers (WIN - races that run out of water irk me!)

Also... note all the pink netting?! How cute is that?

Shiny!

It also gave us some time to get schooled by some chick wearing a HAT about showing appropriate respect for the national anthem. Noted. Thank you, obnoxious hypocrite.

Finallllly, our turn to line up. Iron Girl has chip timing, but for AG placement, the timing goes by gun time... so ChaCha scooted her tiny self up to the front. I hung out a bit towards the middle of the pack with Snork. The weather was chilly when we got there, but PERFECT for running.

I had a mini-meltdown last week when I realized iPod's weren't allowed, but apparently ChaCha and I were the only two following these rules. Feh.

Now.... and this is NOT a complaint about the Iron Girl event at all, just an observation about these chick-themed events.

People just don't know how to line up for a race. It's not something that's intuitive, apparently. I'm all for people coming out and moving themselves for 3.1 miles - regardless of pace, it's freaking fantastic that you're doing it. I am certainly no speedster. But if you're planning on walking..... stay. to. the. back.

meh.

Anyway, race started just fine, and we headed out. I thought the course was well marked, but apparently some people (see above, with the inexperienced chicks) got confused, and ended up running into oncoming runners (like me), and I had to stop and let them cross in front of me. They commented to me, that the race directors should be talked to. Um. No. You sould know the course, and follow the volunteers instructions to stay to the left. Goodness.

The course wound through the area adjacent to the Del Mar racetrack. There were out and backs, and the 10K'ers had a separate course that in parts ran parallel to the 5K course, which was fun, because I got to see Nicole, Sarah, and Ashley all KILLING it. (PS, Ashley, I was not just touching my boobs, I was reaching for my inhaler, sweartogod).

The course felt mostly flat, with the exception of one GIANT HILL. I'm lying, it was not a giant hill. It was a verrrrrry gradual incline, that seemed to last forEVER. Particularly when you've been skipping hill repeats to run 400's. (DUMB). But what goes up, must come down, right? That part didn't suck (well, the sandy parts did - it's really tough to keep your footing running around a corner down hill on sand).

Annnyway. So, my strategy for this originally was to run until I felt like I might puke. This was entirely because I didn't want to be the factor keeping #1 from placing, and we had a chance as a Mother/Daughter team if I ran HARD. But when she wasn't there.... I was far less interested in puking. Instead, I ran like I was running a tempo run - kind of hard, but not to the puke-point.

And my time reflects that. My official times are MIA (since I was on a team, and half of my team didn't run, the results don't get posted), so I'm using the times from my JogLog app on my phone.

Mile 1: 10:13
Mile 2: 9:57
Mile 3: 9:33
Mile .13: 1:14

Final: 30:54, 9:48 avg pace

Oh, look. That's just about dead on tempo pace.

It's a 2+ minute PR, at less than max effort. Pretty sweet.

Lessons learned: stop lining up in the middle/back. Stop. Also, maybe run a warm up before starting....

The finishers area was SUPER easy to navigate, which I freaking LOVE. When you finish a race, all you want is to get your stuff, and move along, right? It was wide open, plenty of water and juice, medals handed out, chips removed, all at a good distance from each other, so no bunching. LOVED it.

Afterwards, we headed out to collect our finishers breakfast...

(those are the Old Navy $15 compression tights. MAGIC.)

Final Verdict:

This was a FANTASTIC race. Everything was well organized, from start to finish. The 10K was $50, and the 5K was a SUPER REASONABLE $25. There were discount codes floating around as well. The swag did NOT suck, especially for the price:

I'll totally do this event again next year. If there's one in your area, DO IT.

Dear Tempo Runs, I apologize for judging you.

Hey! I've got a 5K this weekend.

My previous 5K PR is 33:05, from the Corona del Mar Scenic 5K in June.

I've obviously been running a bit since then, but I haven't done any real speed work since before Long Beach. If we're counting, that was FIVE WEEKS AGO. And, certainly no tempo runs, because I just hate them so very much.

But this week, I was determined to suck as little as possible. So Tuesday, I did my speed work, like a good RLRF follower.

And last night, I did tempo. I almost didn't. I looked at my RLRF pace (9:56) and pretty much laughed at it.

This is the thing. I am NOT a fast runner, obviously. And I'm pretty content with that. Everyone runs for their own reasons, with their own goals. Mine is just to suck less, a little bit. I'm not SUPER concerned with my pace, so long as I'm challenging myself.

And I really don't want to puke. Ever.

I checked out my previous tempo run attempts, and they went from 10:54 (in June), 10:50, 10:44, 10:39, 10:24 (in August). Then I stopped tempo, totally.

Those were ALL done with a minute (or two....) break in between miles to catch my breath. All of them. I never ran a tempo run straight through.

So, yeah, 9:56. Seemed AWFULLY ambitious.

But I figured I'd give it a shot. How bad could it really be, right? I can just lower the speed or take a break if it REALLY sucks.

Mile 1: 9:46.

Huh. This isn't so bad. I don't even feel like I need to slow down....

Mile 2: 9:46

Huh. Two miles. Who knew.

Mile 3: 8:55.

what. the. eff. did. i. just. do.

I mean. Did you see that?

8:55.

3 miles, 28:24. Average pace 9:28.

That is the FASTEST I've ever run, ever. Ever. I didn't feel like I might die. I could have run FASTER, even - I started playing with the speed with about .75 left to go, and increased from 6.3 to 7.4.

And I could have kept going. I could have gone faster.

Imagine where I'd be if I hadn't chickened out of all those other tempo runs, eh?

Three Things Thursday

1. Dates were published yesterday for Wine and Dine 2013!! Who else is in?!

2. Tonight is tempo night.... dun dun DUN. I will run tonight. Fast. WILL. Hopefully.

3. PSA: This is TOO MUCH STUFF to go through the self checkout! And if you require 4 people to figure out how to do it? You're not SMART enough to use self checkout. Please go to a regular line.

Thanks.

Sometimes, running IS the cure. Sometimes, not.

I haven't done speed work in probably a month.

Actually, according to Daily Mile, it's been since Sept. 20th. Oops.

Last night, I set out to do 6x400 at 2:15 goal pace. 4 miles total.

I am obviously broken, because I felt SO GOOD at number 6, I decided to make it 8x400.

I sort of regretted that decision half way through interval 7, but by then it was too late. I was committed.

This is why I love 400's. They're over SO FAST (hopefully), it's easy to talk yourself into just a few more.

Anyway. Planned 10 min warm up, 6x400 @ 2:15, then cool down to total 4 miles
Actual 10 min warm up (.78), 8x400 @ 2:14, 2:11, 2:10, 2:05, 2:06, 2:00, 2:06, 1:57. 200 RI. .25 cool down.

Everything about this run reminded me of WHY I love running. It wasn't easy. It was fast. I did it on the treadmill, so I got to listen to really, really loud music. I've been pretty much bleh about running lately, so I needed this. It rocked.

I'm not really a fan of the "listen to my body" excuses for myself - I know me, and I know how easily I can covince myself that I'm falling to pieces. So I try to not use "listening to my body" as a reason to skip a run or take it too easy. I almost did it on Sunday, when I almost skipped the 6 Hour Challenge (really, it was that close). I almost did it again last night, because I was just tired. So I'm glad I sucked it up and just did it.

But... I've felt like I've been on the edge of a giant cold for days, and it decided to make itself known last night around 2am. Coughing, sneezing, general achiness. I haz it. I don't know. Maybe sometimes I err too much on the side of ignoring myself.

Whatever. That run was totally worth the Cold of Death that has taken residence in my head.

Sometimes, my body is kind of a little bitch.

If I could talk I'd tell you...

• I ran 67 miles in October. That's my highest mileage month ever. Two half marthons in there helped, I guess.




• For someone who hates the cold, I was dismayed to find this in my weekly forecast...
  
  
  
  Perfect running weather, though, I guess.




• I'm really hoping to PR at Iron Girl Del Mar this weekend. My current 5K PR is 33:05.




• Who am I kidding. I bet I kill that.




• I am itchy to take a vacation




• I have no plans to any time soon. Bummer




• Halloween at the Giraffy house was very mellow. #1 decided she was too old to trick or treat. #2 went with some friends. The H was working. That left Gabby and me on our own.




• We had a grand time. I tried to take a picture, and these were my options from her...
  
  


• She was rpetty much a rock star, and walked two miles! This is kind of a huge deal for her - normally she tires out well before then.




• People and their insistance on finding an easy way to being healthy fascinate me. I'm not sure why hard work and committment are such a tough thing to grasp.




• Someone told me I was judgy about people who constantly complain about being overweight or unhealthy, but aren't interested in putting in the effort. It's true. I probably am. I don't care.




• If you're going to choose to be lazy, at least embrace it, and stop pretending. I could respect that.




• I just talked The H into approving a trip for me to visit my CO BFF. He said yes because, I quote, "Better for you to get it out of the way now and quit bugging me about it.". He knows me so well.




• Oh. Becka. I hear Feb. 3-5 are free for you?.....
  
  

Plan for the Week, and a quick race recap

Last week...
Monday - 5 mile walk/jog down Balboa Peninsula. Holy CRAP my legs were tired after a crappy 10 miles the day before. But, I felt fantastic after the shake-out.
Wednesday - Intended to do 6x400; hit 2x400, had an asthma attack, and couldn't get my breathing under control. Called it a day after 1.75 miles. The only good thing about this was it was the first time trying speed work outside (aside from the Random 10K), and both times I hit my goal time dead on, while struggling. So that was good to know, I guess.
Friday - Best concert I've ever been to (recap here, if you're into that type of thing)
Sunday - Richard Leary 6 Hour Challenge. 13.11 run, 1.09 walk.

This week...
Monday - Recovery walk posing as Trick or Treating
Tuesday - I'd like to say hills. But I am leaning towards re-doing my 400's. I like 400's more than hills.
Thursday - Mother effing tempo run. 5 miles. Hate tempo so much.
Saturday - a billion miles....
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Richard Leary 6 Hour Challenge - Recap

Full disclosure: I woke up and almost didn't go. I was crampy (yep, that crampy), just tired, I think I'm getting a cold, it was freezing outside, etc etc etc. Then I saw ChaCha's tweet that she was on her way up from a billion miles away, and I decided I would have like a giant loser if I didn't get over to the race that was 3 minutes away from my house. Loooooser. So I did.

But I wasn't pleasant about it. Sorry, ChaCha and Sarah. It was cold.

The race was a 1.09 mile loop through Mason Regional Park, and you just run until you quit. Or time runs out, if you're way more hardcore than me. Even though this park is only a few miles from my house, and it's GIANT, and beautiful, I've only ever been here once before - this was the scene of the giant PCRF meltdown back in May.

But it is pretty.

There were a LOT of birds.

A LOT. And I am not a fan of water fowl.

I think I posted previously that I was planning on 15-ish. I told The H Saturday night I wanted to get in at least 12-13. I knew I was tired, crampy, and just wanted to take it slow and easy.

In other words, this was not a race. And I wasn't going to race it.

4 minutes run, 1 minute walk, repeat times a million. 2:35 later, 13.11 miles complete.

Of note: I had to stop for a restroom break a few times (annoying). I stopped and chatted with Sam's wife in mile 12 (If you don't know about Operation Jack, click HERE and read their story). I had some weird, new-to-me dead leg feeling in my left quad around mile 10 and walked an extra walk break. It cramped up briefly, but cleared up. My stomach was all wonky, the whole time, so I didn't end up taking as many GU as I normally would.

All of that, and only 5 minutes slower than Long Beach.

Something is seriously wrong with my brain when I put on a timing chip. I don't know what happens to me, but I suddenly develop amnesia and forget that I know how to run just fine. Someday, it will sink in, and I'll race like a human being and not a zombie.

I really liked the 1 mile looped course. It sounds like it would get easy to get bored, but I didn't feel like I got bored at all - in fact, I almost quit sometime in the mile 9.5-10 range, but talked myself into "just one more" lap... and by then I was so close to a half, I had to finish it. It's just short enough that it's pretty much nothing - I can do anything for a mile, right? For me, it was a rad distance.

The weather and the course ended up being perfect - it was lovely and cool in the shade. The sun was definitely warm, but there was plenty of shade to balance that.

After I checked in, and collected my rad medal...

I walked another lap to cool down (not counted in my official mileage), and ran into ChaCha, who was finishing her laps. We hung out, watched the rest of the runners come in, and had a grand time stretching and being lazy in the sun. Also, I was told I had the best outfit of the day. So there's that.

If my brain had been working, I would have realized how close I was to 15, and just lapped a few more times. But it's like my brain shuts off, and I cannot process coherant thoughts while I'm running. Oh well. Maybe next weekend. No hurry, right?

Team So Much Cooler Online had a good showing... (stolen from Sarah)

(Normal People Kat and ChaCha, The Flamingo, The Giant

....and then.... this happened.

Bam.