race report: walnut creek turkey trot 5k

one afternoon while chris and i were at sports basement we stumbled on a flyer that walnut creek was having a turkey trot. if you signed up that day you got 20% off your purchase... how could we pass that up?

i hadn't done a 5k in over a year. september 2008, the first week of my first round of pfitz training for CIM was my last 5k. i ran it in 23:09 and it's been my PR for a while now. i KNEW i could run faster than that now, but i was also hesitant to really race this all out so close to CIM (10 days but who's counting anyways), especially since i raced last weekend. i decided to just sign up and could get a hard effort in a race setting, and get the 20% off of course.

this was the first time i had done a race so close to home and wow that was nice! chris and i woke up around 6, took our time getting ready and drove over to a park we park at all the time. it was about 2 miles from the start so we jogged over to get some warm up miles in.

i had 8 miles with 3x1600m scheduled for the day, and although a 5k is not the same as 3x1600 (5k being harder on your body since there are no recovery breaks between intervals) it would definitely work as a substitute. i planned on not going "all out" since i didn't want to do anything to jepordize my legs for CIM, but i did want to cross off another 2009 goal and get under 23 minutes, which i thought i could do without being "all out".

we got to the race about 20 minutes before the start and it was announced the start would be delayed at least 15 minutes, boo. our warm up was quickly fading as we stood there shivering waiting for it to start. it was in the upper 30s so i went with capri tights, gloves and long sleeves this week (thinking the long sleeves would also help keep me from going "all out" since i tend to get hot when i race), and i was really glad i had long sleeves on while we waited. eventually they started the 10k race and then the 5k race was 10 minutes after that.

there were no timing chips at this race, but i started my watch right when i crossed the start line just so i could have a more accurate time. we were pretty close to the front, so there wasn't much time in between anyways. i felt really good as soon as i started running but just was cruising along. we had to climb an overpass in the first mile which helped keep the legs holding back a little.

mile 1 - 7:25

we did a really sharp turn just after mile 2 (there were way too many sharp turns in this race, annoying!) and then went down a street and into a school track that i run on sometimes. we had to do a weird loop around it and then another sharp turn and then we were exiting the school at mile 2.

mile 2 - 7:17

my garmin had been right on the mile markers both miles. we had to climb the same overpass, but the harder side during mile 2. uggg what is with races putting the hills in the later miles? i was chugging along and passed a couple people up it, then let my legs go free on the way down while i caught my breath. we had to run past where we would turn into the finish line and run down the iron horse trail and do another really sharp turn to come back. i passed a couple more people here and saw chris and gave him a wave. we were entering the park where the finish line would be and i saw the mile 6 marker for the 10k. i looked down and saw my garmin was only at 2.75 or so miles and thought, "either this is going to be the longest finish line ever or a really short course". the mile 3 marker came soon and then i could see the finish line up ahead. i gave it a little sprint, since i wasn't really expecting it to be there already and stopped my watch... yay finish!

.9 of mile 3 - 6:33 (7:15 avg)

right after i crossed i looked at garmin and we were way short. 2.9 miles is definitely not a 5k!

garmin:
2.9 miles/21:15/7:19 avg pace

official results:
3.1 miles/21:21/6:52 avg
overall: 55/1033
female: 10/634
age group: 4/143

top 10 female!!! and yes 4th again, BUT this age group was from 18-29 which is a huge span. if it would have been the standard 25-29 age group i would have won!! the 3 girls that beat me were all 21 :) definitely happy with the results.

chris and i jogged back to the car for 2 cooldown miles and 7 total for the day.

so i don't really think i can count this time as my PR... it should be more in the 22:40s since my pace was 7:19. BUT that is still breaking 23 minutes so i definitely will count this as knocking off another 2009 goal.

i really am happy with this race, i ran it just how i wanted to and paced myself well. i never felt like i was going all out at all, just putting in a hard effort, but i know i could go faster. it makes me want to do another one sometime in the near future to see what i could really do. i am going to use this to give me some fuel in shorter races for 2010. i think i can start to see some goals forming for next year!

i am realllllly excited now for CIM next week. this was the last speed session so from here on out will be pretty much easy paced except for a couple of goal pace miles next week... i feel ready.

i hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving! i know i have SO much to be thankful for this year.

taper rules

13 days to go! now it's time to get serious about this little thing we call taper and get these legs fresh and ready to race.

i am implementing some taper rules on myself now for the next two weeks:

• vitamins: take them everyday, no getting sick!
• water: drink lots of it, stay hydrated
• alcohol: no more until post race
• junk: no more until post race, lots of vegetables, lots of healthy good carbs
• stretch/foam roll: everyday, no excuses!
• sleep: get lets of it, let those muscles heal, rest, rest, rest!
• running: follow the schedule, less is more right now, keep it easy but keep it crisp, no getting stale
• focus: start visualizing race day, start concentrating on things to do that will make the bad spots better, remember the great workouts this past year, remember the hard ones and how you pushed through them.
• try not to go crazy

the cliff notes version: stay healthy, eat well, get focused and get excited!

to close out last week i did my long run on sunday. i had 17 miles on the schedule and felt kind of indifferent about it. i got up around 6:30 but didn't leave my house until almost 8:30. it was nice to just take my time and not be in a rush. the weather was going to be cool so i didn't have to worry about beating the heat (love this time of year!) and i wasn't meeting anyone either so i wasn't in a hurry.

i decided to just do one of my standard long runs starting in walnut creek and running on the iron horse trail almost to danville. it was a beautiful cool, cloudy day, i was in shorts and a long sleeve the whole time, my favorite! when i first started running my legs were pretty heavy from my 10k race the day before. i wasn't sore at all, i could just tell they were tired and had ran hard the day before. i wasn't worried though, i didn't care about my pace today, i just wanted to get the miles done. i was cruising along keeping a pretty good pace and just zoning out to my music and thinking about all the awesome people who were out there racing yesterday and a lot about my year.

i thought a lot about jen who was out doing her first ironman yesterday. i thought about how my ~3 hour run was just a tiny dent into how long she would be pushing herself. she is amazing, i can't even fathom what she did yesterday. CONGRATS jen!

i had a chance to check out denise's philly results before i started running too and saw she got her BQ!! i was sooo excited for her and i thought about her too and how i hope i get to meet her in boston in 2011. CONGRATS denise!

i thought about CIM a lot, i thought about last year, and i thought about what i have been through this year and how far i have come training and running since this time last year.

i stuck to my standard fueling plan and took gu's at 4, 8, 12ish and drank water throughout. i turned around at 8.5 miles and just cruised my way back to where i started. i knew i was running a little faster cause i saw my average pace falling, but i wasn't paying any attention to my mile splits, i was just going with the flow. turns out i really did pick it up on the way back and had a very nice negative split run.

since i am a total accountant and i started figuring out my weekly mileage during my run, i decided to add .6 on at the end to even out my numbers. gah i annoy myself sometimes.

miles 1-9: 1:21:54/9:06 avg pace
miles 10-17.6: 1:14:27/8:39 avg pace
total: 17.6 miles/2:36:21/8:53 avg pace

total miles for the week: an even 50

i dropped my total miles down 16 from the previous week or about 25%. it was slightly more than i planned, but i skipped my friday morning run and opted for sleep instead. this also dropped me down to 5 days of running last week, which i will stick to for the rest of taper.

this week i am planning on dropping down to 38-40 miles which is about 60% of peak, right where i want to be. most are easy runs, there is one little speed session in the week, which i am using another race for. i will be doing a turkey trot 5k on thanksgiving, but probably won't be racing it all out like i did this weekend. it's getting close to race day and i put a hard effort out there this weekend, and don't want to mess with my #1 goal which is CIM. i just want a strong effort, but not leaving it all out there... we will see how that goes :)

race report: 2009 davis turkey trot 10k

today i raced my first 10k ever! cross another goal off the list for 2009 :)

i had been a little nervous to try out a 10k, because pretty much i knew it was going to be a painful 45-50 minutes. 5ks hurt, but they are over with really fast, and half marathons require more pacing and are slower. 10ks you are pretty much in the uncomfortably hard zone the whole time.

in my pftiz plan, it called for a tune up race of 8-10k for this weekend. i have always had a hard time finding good ones that fit in, especially on a saturday, so it would still work with my long run for the weekend. i lucked out and this one fit in perfectly.

the race didn't start until 9 and was about a 45 minute drive from our house, so it was nice to get to wake up at 6 on a race morning, it felt like sleeping in! i checked the weather and it was pretty cold there, so i decided to go with capri tights, a short sleeve shirt and gloves since i knew it would be a shorter race too. this was also chris's first race back post injury which was fun. it has been a long time since we have ran a race together!

we were on the road just after 7 and made it to davis by 8. it was really foggy and realllly cold. we went and got our packets and went back to the car and sat with the heater blasting for a bit. 20 minutes before race time we took off the layers and jogged over to the start line. the 5k had started earlier, so it was just the 10k racers lining up now. there were 560 total running the 10k, it wasn't a huge race, but not the smallest ever either. we went towards the front and i found amy who was racing too easily. they counted down, the horn went off, and we were off!

since this was my first 10k i wasn't too sure what my goal time was, in the least i hoped for a good lactate threshold effort, but i did want to have a good race also. i used a couple of calculators and came up with some goals of anywhere between 46 and 48 minutes (low 7:30-7:45ish paces) and tried to plan for that. i wanted to pace like i did my LT runs, and start off at the slower end and get faster as i progressed. well as you will see in my splits, that plan didn't quite go as planned, it was more of a bell shaped effort, but whatever.

i took off fast and felt really good as soon as i started. i looked down a bit into the first mile and was running a 6:50 pace. oops. yah that is not going to be held for 6.2 miles aron. so i started backing off a bit trying to find my pace. we were on streets through residential areas for the first mile or so.

mile 1 - 7:24

ok that was a little too fast, so i tried to back off some so i had something left in the tank for the end of this race. we got on a paved bike bath somewhere in here, and would pretty much stay on it for the rest of the race. it wasn't too crowded at all and really flat. we ran through some pretty parks, but really i wasn't paying much attention to anything around me. i was in the zone, listening to my music and pushing hard.

mile 2 - 7:40
mile 3 - 7:39

during the 4th mile i got tired. i was working hard and i knew i was only just over half way done. i was trying to just focus on this mile and then after it, it would be only 2 miles to go. i could handle that. somewhere in here i got a grab on my arm and i turned and it was chris. i have him a little smile and he started talking to me, but i was not interested in conversation at that point. he ended up passing me and i could see him ahead of me for most of the race.

mile 4 - 7:46

ok only 2 to go! i can do this. i started getting a second wind and picking up the pace more. i was focusing on my stride and keeping my posture together. i had a great playlist going and just tried to keep zoning out to it.

mile 5 - 7:38

there was one small hill going up a little overpass on the course and of course they put it at mile 6. i pushed up hard and then used the downhill to my advantage trying to pick it up some more. i knew i was getting close! at this point i had had my garmin on the current lap screen just focusing on each mile, but i turned it to the overall screen and started doing some weird math to see where i would come in. of course it didn't make much sense at the time. i started counting down to myself with .5 to go.

mile 6 - 7:29

i could see the finish line straight ahead. i looked at my watch and saw i was just over 46 minutes at this point, i knew i could come in under 47 if i pushed hard. i felt like i was giving it everything i had already, but as i was approaching the last .1 i was surrounded by 3 other females who looked like they could be in my age group. somehow i picked it up and passed them and crossed the finish line.

.2 - 1:24 (6:53 avg)

i felt sick immediately (hello almost puke threshold) but i took a second to catch my breath and walk around and felt better. ouch these races hurt. chris was right there waiting and we waited a minute for amy to cross the finish line. it was a great day for everyone!

i looked at my garmin and it said 47:00 flat. i was kind of irritated, but i knew i took a second before i pushed stop so i was reallllly hoping that it would be under 47 minutes in the official results. well....

6.2 miles/46:58.6/7:34 avg pace
overall: 207/560
age group: 4/114

yayyyyyy! i was stoked when i saw i was under 47 minutes and even more stoked when i saw i was 4th in my age group out of 114!!! that definitely made me happy. although i missed being top 3 again... one of these days i will get it!

i am really happy with this race. i felt like i really gave it a good effort out there, and despite some pacing issues, i was able to pick it up and finish really strong right in line with my goals. this was definitely a confidence booster and right where i want to be. i feel great today too, besides being a little sleepy (still catching up from thursday night), but my legs don't feel bad at all. i have a long run tomorrow which will conclude week 1 on taper... only 2 more weeks to go!

friday favorites - the f's

food

i am not a big fan of cooking and really struggle coming up with new ideas for things for dinner. i am one of those people that can eat the same thing every. single. day. chris and i stumbled on this book at barnes and noble one day and we LOVE it. we pretty much only shop at trader joe's already, so this book gives us some fun new recipes to try out. we are trying to pick a couple out of it every week before we go shopping so we have the ingredients and have ideas for dinner. it makes dinner time around our house much less painful :)

feet

i took my marathon shoes for their first run yesterday... aren't they beauties? kristin and i were at nordstroms one day and randomly found them. i was in shock because i did not know the kayano 15's came in green!!! it is a nordstrom special edition or something on that order, because they are the only ones i have seen to carry this color. hopefully they will make me speedy in *ahem* 16 days!

friends

yesterday morning we had a larger group run meet up than normal. 4am wake up call to meet up with tara, maritza and kristin, plus i brought kylie and emma! we had a very nice, very chilly (33 degrees!) run chatting away.

6.0 miles/1:00:55/10:09 avg pace

fangs

later last night we met up for a late dinner and then headed to the midnight showing of new moon.

maritza, kristin, tara and me

even though we got stuck in the second row of the theatre, it was amazinggggg. i want to go see it again! that's all i will say for those waiting to go see it :)

four

although this is definitely not a "favorite", four is the amount of hours of sleep i got last night since i didn't get home from the movie until almost 3. i had been up for 23 hours!! it was definitely worth it though. let's just say today is going to be a long day and i will definitely be in bed early tonight. also that recovery run on my schedule did not happen this morning. no matter how hard i tried, there was no getting out of bed a second earlier than necessary this morning.

tomorrow i have my very first 10k race and then sunday is my long run to finish off taper week #1. have a great weekend everyone and good luck to all the philly racers out there and anyone else racing too :)

secret spots

during the winter, most of my running is done on sidewalks, around pretty busy streets or through my neighborhoods. the paved trails i love to run on are too dark both in the morning and after work, so although i love the cool temperatures, my scenery lacks a little bit.

i do have one spot on one of my standard routes though that makes me smile every time. it's only about .6 miles in one direction, so not very long, but it makes you feel like you are away from the traffic and noise that is going on around you.

its a little dirt path that zig zags along with trees on both sides. when the full moon is out, its open enough that the moon will light the path for you. it's definitely one of the highlights of my running routes.

although this picture doesn't do it justice, it's a glimpse into one of my favorite secret running spots.

do you have secret running spots that you love along your routes?

**********************
ugggg thank goodness it's taper time. my legs, my body and my mind are ready for it, at least for the time being, i am sure that will change any day when the taper craziness starts. my legs have felt like cement blocks on all my runs so far this week, but the big stuff is out of the way now so hopefully they will get a little life back into them by my 10k race on saturday!

tuesday i had 9 miles with intervals on the schedule. i got up and headed out the door and just could not get my legs moving at all. i was so tired and just didn't want to be out running. i ended up being back near my house around 5 miles and i didn't want to venture out any further so i cut it short and decided to finish it up later that evening.

5.2 miles/48:11/9:16 avg pace

chris was running 4 miles after work tuesday so i decided to join him rather than do my intervals from the morning on the treadmill. i was hoping another short easy run would pep them up. no such luck. it's ok though, i had a very nice run chatting with chris and was happy i got it done.

4.0 miles/36:09/9:02 avg pace

this morning i met up with tara for my last medium long run! she was going around 8 miles so we did the first 8.5 together then i tacked on a couple extra for 11. i was very tired and my legs still felt very heavy, but i was able to pick up the pace the last couple miles so i was happy with that. it was nice to just be on auto pilot and cruise around chatting with her.

11.0 miles/1:45:31/9:35 avg pace

the rest of the week is short recovery runs - yay! and i don't have any runs over 8 miles during the week from here until the marathon. it feels like i will be officially tapering now.

hope you are having a great week so far!

21 on 21

21 days to go!

i had another great week, and a great long run today. i love love love this time of year!! i am getting really excited for CIM, although i can't believe it's only 3 weeks away and it has already been a whole year since last year!

saturday morning i finally slept in and was really lazy about getting out the door. i eventually made it out and did my recovery run, split up between the pups. my legs felt good and i just got the miles done.

6.0 miles/56:08/9:21 avg pace

this morning i got up at 6 (yay not 4am!) with plans to meet up with amy for our last long run before CIM. we both wanted to go around 21 miles. with me having a shorter training cycle for this marathon (although i am pretty much counting every 20 mile run i have done this year as contributing to this race) i wanted to do something over 20 since i hadn't had many long runs. 22 seemed too far, but 21 i like. it's 5 miles less than a marathon and for whatever reason 5 miles sounds a lot less than 6.

i wanted to work a little bit with hills this run, both up and downhills, since CIM has it's fair share of both. the lafayette moraga trail is perfect for that, plus its just gorgeous this time of year. the first 5ish miles are at an incline, then you get a decline, then flat, then a steep hill. the only problem is this trail is only around 15 miles round trip, but i have a couple spots where i add on miles here and there.

i checked my phone when getting dressed and it said it was 33 degrees out - brrrrr. i had planned to wear shorts but was questioning if i should wear capri tights. i tweeted something about it and amy tweeted me back that she was wearing shorts to get ready for CIM so i did the same.

we met at the trail at 7:30 and got going. my legs were numb pretty much immediately but the cold weather felt awesome. i had long sleeves and gloves on so the rest of me wasn't too cold. i decided to wear my fuel belt for this run, and was glad i did, i think i am probably going to go with it for the race. i had 4 gu's in my pouch, including a chocolate mint gu thanks to amy! i gu'ed at 4, 8, 13, 17 and drank water throughout the run.

we had a great time and pretty much chatted away the whole time we were out there, except when we were working hard on a couple hills. the run pretty much flew by and we were back at our cars around 17 miles and because we like to torture ourselves, went back up the trail for 2 miles in order to get 21. i figured it was good practice, both physically and mentally, to have to turn around and go back up the trail. i wanted to run a couple goal pace miles at the end so i went on my own the last 2 miles which came in at 8:09 and 8:12.

miles 1-10: 1:31:46/9:11 avg pace
miles 11-21: 1:37:34/8:52 avg pace
total: 21.0 miles/3:09:20/9:01 avg pace

total miles for the week: 66.2 - new weekly mileage PR!!!

i felt really good the whole time, i was getting a little tired in those later middle miles and could tell it was my highest mileage week ever, but i was still able to pull out the fast later miles which i was very happy with. it was SO fun to run with amy too!! we went and had a yummy breakfast to refuel and walked around the farmer's market a bit to get the legs moving.

so now it's taper time for CIM (wasn't i just tapering?? hehe)!! this week i will still be running quite a few miles, but definitely not 66. i will be bringing the total volume down about 20% which is what i typically do and is what my plan says to do. i am feeling really good, now i just have to keep it up for the next 21 days!

sidenote... yes i know boston is now closed, but that doesn't change my goals for this race, it would still count for 2011. i was a little bummed, but everything happens for a reason and there is nothing i can do to change anything. i am not going to let it change my focus or outlook on this race... gotta keep fighting for what i have been working for! then i can have some fun in 2010 :)

hope everyone had a great weekend :)

friday favorites - non nike

so we all know i am a tad bit obsessed with nike running clothes. however, i have a couple pieces of my winter attire that are *gasp* not nike!

i love love love running in ear warmer headbands. i am actually thinking about wearing them during CIM. the only thing is my hair becomes a mess out the top (as you can kind of see below), but whatever.

i have an under armor one that i got last year that is my FAVORITE. its whicking and soft, but not *too* warm, because you know, its not that cold here in cali. we are seeing high 30s/low 40s right now though! i tried to find the link for this particular headband online, but sadly it's nowhere to be found now. but i recommend everyone gets an ear cover for the cold months to keep those ears warm!

my other FAVORITE part of my winter running clothes are my tights - both long and capri (the capri ones are my tempo tights). i wear the road runner brand tights and love them. i have a couple pairs of nike ones, and don't like them as much. the RR brand stay put, have venting behind the knees, have a pocket in the back, the long ones come in 3 different lengths, and best of all - they are cheap! well cheap compared to the big name brand ones. i definitely recommend getting road runners tights if you are in need of them. sorry i am a bad self portrait taker, especially post run.

road runner velocity capris

road runner velocity tights

finally my favorite animal pic of the week i just had to share.

jasmine and kylie
bffs

this morning i was up again at 4am to meet my buddies tara and maritza. i had my medium long run on the schedule, so i ran 6 miles with them, and then added on 5. i had was supposed to do 12 as my ML and 11 with speedwork, but since i did 13 with speedwork yesterday, i took my ML down to 11 :) it was the coldest morning of the week and we had a very nice run. they are headed down to malibu this weekend with danica to run the malibu marathon - have soooo much fun girls!!

11.1 miles/1:43:50/9:21 avg pace

tomorrow is a short recovery run which both me and my legs are looking forward to (and more importantly i can sleep in!), then sunday is the big 20 miler!! this is looking to be my highest mileage week ever :) next weekend the miles start coming down for taper - gah.

happy friday and good luck to all the racers!!!