Days 182-259

OK so it has been ages since a post. The NY Marathon was this past Sunday and it was a perfect day for a Marathon. I was there but I was on the sidelines cheering the runners on. So much has happened in the past few months and during that time, I made the decision to postpone my entry to 2012.

In a nutshell - my mom found out that she had a cancerous tumor and had to have a mastectomy followed by a course of radiation. Mom & Dad were going to go to NYC to cheer me along but given the treatment she is going through, she wasn't able to get to NYC for the marathon. So my husband suggested that I run it in 2012 instead and I knew that was the right decision to make. Especially since I feel that I was just not ready for a strong 26.2. I have still been running and going to track workouts and working with Coach Kees but I wasn't hitting my goals in my long training runs. I went out to do 18 miles and could only do 9, I went out for 16 and did 14. So...this is not my year.

But I now have one year to get myself ready and to have no excuses at all. Here's to a good year of training and working very hard. Starting off with a Half Marathon this weekend. Wish me luck!

Photo is from my most recent run at Bear Valley. We've been having amazing weather...

Days 171-181

What a great week and a half it has been for training. Working with the coach has given me focus and a new level of confidence that had been lacking. After the 14 miles, there were 4 slow miles at China Camp followed by a day where there was no running but Bikram yoga instead. Then there was 8 miles to the open space. And the coach helped me figure something else out - I shouldn't be doing my 8 miles up to the Open space because it's such a hill to get there and the NY Marathon really doesn't have many hills. So....the next step is to find a more flat place to run 8 miles. Around here, there are no truly flat places to get that many miles in but surely there must be something less hilly. The Thursday morning track workout was tough but good to do. I also had an easy mile with my 4 legged fur baby. Then came 16 miles back at Bear Valley and I was very happy with that run. First, I didn't do the big climb and instead went along Bear Valley Trail to the beach and then took a turn on Coast and ran to Coast Camp. There was some up and down but nothing like the last time. And most important, at the end of the run - I was super tired - but also felt better than after the 14 miles out there. And even more encouraging, I probably could have gone further. After that, what was supposed to be an easy recovery 5 miles at Phoenix Lake went awry when a wrong turn took me climbing up up up to Bald Mountain. The photo is from that run. After that there was an easy 3 mile run in the neighborhood and a track workout that evening. Today was a big day a 4 mile run then a strength training session where we did pushups, dead lifts, kettle ball stuff, sit ups, jumping to a step, burpees, one arm rows, lunges and we also pulled a tire that had a rope and it was put around your hops. And then at lunchtime, another 4 miles.

Stats:
Sunday Aug 14: 4.01 miles at China Camp in 41:40 10:24 avg pace/+357 feet
Monday Aug 15: Bikram
Tuesday Aug 16: 8.02 miles to Open Space in 1:22 at 10:19/+896 feet
Wednesday Aug 17: Bikram and Strength training exercises from a magazine
Thursday Aug 18: Track workout - 6.79 miles in 1:22 - this includes warm up/cool down and the recovery part of the workouts
Friday Aug 19: Bikram
Saturday Aug 20: 16.01 miles at Bear Valley in 2:48 at 10:31/+1723
Sunday Aug 21: 5.01 miles from Ross to Phoenix Lake to Bald Mountain in 57:13 at 11:25/+779
Monday Aug 22: rest day
Tuesday Aug 23: 3.01 miles in the neighborhood in 28:34 at 9:29/+120
Tuesday Aug 23: also, track workout. 5.14 miles in 44:30 at 8:39 including warm up and cool down
Wednesday Aug 24: 4.0 to Dominican in 40:12 at 10:02/+176 feet
Wednesday Aug 24: Madison Avenue Gym Workout
Wednesday Aug 24: 4.0 miles at lunchtime (hot) to Open Space in 41:11 at 10:15/+418 feet

Days 158-170

What an interesting 2 weeks these have been.

The Bad: I spent about a week in a panic about not being ready for the Marathon - despite the fact that it's not until November. The first (and unwise) move that I made in the panic was to find a training plan that dropped my long runs to 8s for much of August. The second thing I did in was to look into the NY Marathon online training programs which were being offered at a discounted price. I started to fill out the information form but even though they say that you get coaching advice from some of their experts - a sample plan was shown based on a few of my previous race times and I wasn't asked what I wanted my goal to be. It just came up with a plan for me and I didn't like that there was no input from me so I didn't enter my credit card information to buy that service.

The Good: The third thing that I did was that I decided to seek out a human coach - not an automated program like the NY Marathon online program. I emailed the coach of the Thursday morning track workouts and asked if he coached marathon runners and he said yes. We spoke on the phone once and have emailed a few times. He is out of town at the moment but I think that I understand his approach and he told me that I couldn't be running 8 mile long-runs so close to my Marathon date. I need to be 14+ on weekends. Also, he said that since my runs with Uli were so slow, I shouldn't count those miles towards my training miles. That makes sense. So today I ran 14 and next weekend I'll do something like 10 on Saturday and 6 on Sunday followed by 16 miles the following weekend. That kind of thing. And I'm running 8 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Mondays and Fridays as rest days. At least I think that's what I'll be doing. My Thursday 8 miles will start off with track workouts and then I'll add more miles until I get to 8. I'll talk with him when he's back in town but he's really nice and he's introduced me to a few others that he trains. I have had a hard time getting back my confidence back and I can't say that I am 100% confidant but I think that I can get there. I feel that I have a plan and as long as I am rigorous and dedicated to the plan, I'll get there.

So, I'll list out my stats for the past 2 weeks but I'll highlight today's 14 miler. First of all, Coach Kees suggested that I meet up with some of the runners for a run at Bear Valley today but I decided to hit Bear Valley on my own today and then make plans to meet up with the runners next time. The reason for that is because they were meeting at 8am this morning, it's about 45 minutes from my home and I've never met any of them so I wanted to figure out where Bear Valley is and what the trails are like on my own before I meet the group there. So that's what I did and it was absolutely gorgeous. On future runs, I'll do a different route because I did a big loop that brought me up up up to about 1100 feet and then dropped back down to the coast. That climb was tough and steep in places so my time was terrible but I sure saw some beautiful sights. It was forested and then I came across a meadow and worried about running into bears (I was in Bear Valley after all) and then I got to the coast and what a beautiful sight it was. It was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day. Just perfect. Photos from today's adventure.

OK here are the stats for my solo runs:
Tues Aug 2: 2 w/Uli and 2 on my own: 2.03 in 21:36 avg 10:37, +310 feet
Wed Aug3: 2 w/Uli and 4 on my own: 4.0 in 41:18 avg 10:19 +369 feet
Fri Aug 5: 2 w/Uli and 3 on my own: 3.01 in 28:32 avg 9:29 +296 feet
Sat Aug 6: 8.0 in 1:30:26 avg 11:17 +1230 feet - open space to Metallica's gate
And then I spoke with Kees, the coach which impacted the next week
Mon Aug 8: 5.0 in 49:58 avg 9:59 +508 feet and Power Yoga
Tues Aug 9: 8.0 in 1:23:38 avg 10:27 and +874 feet (from home to open space)
Wed Aug 10: 2 miles w/Uli and Power Yoga
Thurs Aug 11: 8.0 in 1:23:04 avg 10:22 and +870 feet (home to open space)
Friday Aug 12: Bikram
Saturday Aug 13: 14.0 in 2:46:29 avg 11:53 and +2182 feet

Days 146-157/the SF Half Marathon

I am humbled. I ran the San Francisco Half Marathon this morning (the first Half) and ran my slowest Half Marathon in years. I did it in 2h14m49s - and to think that I was hoping to do it under 2 hours like I did last year. Wow what a difference a year makes. The good thing about it is that I finished. And I started out feeling pretty good. But around mile 7.5 I started to feel nauseous and dizzy and started to listen to the stuff that was going through my head. I couldn't get out of my head. I also made the mistake of taking a GU while I haven't used GUs in my training. I guess I didn't think it would be a big deal because I've trained using GUs in the past but just not this year. It just didn't taste good and I had to force it down. And that's when my stomach started to bother me. Then I stopped to throw out the GU packet and that's when I started to feel dizzy. So I walked for a little while. Then I started to run again and my stomach just didn't feel great. Then after we got off of the Golden Gate bridge and ran up the hill, I decided that I needed to walk. And so it went. As soon as I realized that I wasn't going to make my goal, I let myself walk the hills. I kind of gave up trying very hard which was disappointing.

But rather than beat myself up, I have taken this as a good learning experience - I am going to change training programs to one that is published by someone associated with the NY Marathon. The program that I'm on now has me running 16 miles this coming weekend, 18 the next, 6 the next and then 20. At this stage, I'm not ready psychologically for those distances and the new plan ramps up to those miles better. It has me running 6 days a week instead of 5 so the weekly miles are similar but the plan is probably a better one for me. We shall see.

I have a huge job ahead of me and I have to take all of this much more seriously. I have been serious but I have allowed travel plans to interfere with my running. No longer.

I was in Louisiana last week and didn't run at all. I did run on Tuesday then had a migraine on Wedensday then the half today. Time to get serious!

Days 137-145

I can't believe I've been tracking my activity for 145 days. That's pretty great. It was a big week with lots of miles and a very tough 12 miles over the weekend.

Highlights of the week include a new track group. The Tuesday PM group that I have gone to the track workouts had a track meet last week so I went to the Thursday morning track group instead and I'm really glad that I did. The group was very welcoming and nice and while serious, they were also pretty laid back. I was instructed to run with a woman who was doing the B group workout (I'm definitely in the Tuesday PM's C group). And the coach is a really nice guy who said "we've got to get you in under 4 hours" when I told him I was doing the New York Marathon. I liked hearing that.

Last week, I was able to average under 10 minute miles on my 4 and 6 mile runs that include a good climb to the open space near my house. It wasn't much under 10 but it was under. But this morning, I was over 10 so...I am seeing improvement in my pace but I have to continue to work hard to make it stick.

I also picked out a great route for my 12 miler but it was hard. Lots of climbing (over 2,000 feet) and even though the last 2 miles were flat to downhill, I was tired. I usually finish strong but not on this one. I started in the Headlands and went over to Muir Beach and then back into the Headlands. The next day was a tough 19 mile mountain bike ride starting by going up Mount Tam and then going down to Muir Beach and then heading up to the Headlands then back to Mill Valley. It was fun but my legs were flat. They were super tired and appreciated it when the ride was over. Photo is from the Saturday 12 miler. It was a super foggy day so there weren't many views that I could capture in a photo.

Summary:
Monday: 2 miles w/Uli and 4 on my own
1.86 in 31:07 at avg of 16:47 +95 in elevation
4.34 in 43:11 at avg of 9:56 + 414 in elevation

Tuesday: 2 miles with Uli and 6 on my own
2.11 in 32:52 at avg of 15:34 +81
6.12 in 1:00:42 at avg of 9:54 +628

Wednesday: 2 with Uli and 4 on my own
1.98 in 29:38 at avg of 14:56 +90
4.01 in 39:11 at avg of 9:47 +416

Thursday: Track workout. I forgot my GPS watch but I think I ran around 5 miles

Saturday: 12.01 in 2:31:20 at an avg of 12:35 with +2,257 elevation gain

Sunday: 19.05 mountain bike ride in 3:23 with a +3,330 elevation gain

Monday: Bikram

Tuesday: 2 with Uli and 4 on my own
2.05 in 33:19 at avg of 16:14 and +78
4.01 in 43:13 at avg of 10:47 and +387