Building Blocks

The theme for this week has been two-a-days.  And I have to admit… I’m tired.

After the half marathon, I took a couple of days off.  That race beat me up a bit more than the ones prior.  I’m not sure if it was the four 13+ mile races in 30 days, the heat or the downhills, but my legs were trashed on Sunday and Monday last week.  When I ran on Tuesday, I was still sore.

I started feeling a bit better on Wednesday.  I had a sluggish seven mile early morning run, but felt OK.  A few hours later, I took my daughter to dance class and my friend Heidi wanted to go for a run while our kids were in class.  Who am I to let down a running buddy?  We ran a little less than four miles at a nice, easy pace and I was feeling strong.

The next day, I ran five in the morning with my friends and then later on that evening went out for the Peter’s Canyon Trail Race (mini-race report to come).  It was a five mile race with some steep hills.  That was over twenty miles in two days.  I could feel my legs getting stronger.

That brings me to Saturday.  I actually did a three-a-day, but it wasn’t all running.  I woke up bright and early to meet Kelly and my new running friend, Marci for a 5:30 run.  We ran at the creek, one of our favorite runs.  It was a perfect place to take a new running partner.  We ran 8.6 miles and had a really nice time.  I had to get home pretty early to get ready for my sister-in-law, Kristi, to pick me up and drive up to Santa Monica* for the OK Magazine Body and Soul event.

We wandered around the expo, got some free samples and enjoyed free chair massages. Then we headed out to the beach for a workout.  We were taking a boot camp class from Jackie Warner of Workout.  Her class kicked my butt—literally.  I am feeling it today!  Holy squats!  Kristi and I were sweaty and sandy and very happy that we had signed up for the yoga class afterward.  We would need it!
 
We then enjoyed Yoga from Ursula Vari.  This woman has the best energy around.  She instantly made us all feel comfortable.  Her style is very non-intimidating even to the novice student, yet she is encouraging just enough to help us push ourselves just past our limits.  It was just enough of a workout to make me feel strong while gently stretching my overworked muscles.  I probably wouldn’t be walking today if it weren’t for that yoga session.

Finally, I met Marci again this morning (I am a glutton for punishment, I think).  It was very, very humid and I was working pretty hard to keep up with my speedier running buddy.  I was very glad she called me to run.  I never would have run today without the motivation of meeting my friend.

My schedule called for sixteen miles on Saturday and fifteen today.  Unfortunately, because of prior commitments and family obligations, I didn’t have time to get in my long runs.  I have a 50K coming up in August and I need to start getting in more miles.  Even so, I was able to get in 41 miles this week.  It is all about creative scheduling.

I am trying to make the best of balancing parenthood, marriage etc. by finding blocks of time to do my runs.  They are building blocks to my strength.  I feel like doing the multiple workouts is helping me train my legs to work well while tired.  I am recovering faster (I hope) and will be able to endure the tough trail race.

I hope you all had a good weekend.  Happy running…

*I have lived in Southern California for nine years and have only seen the Santa Monica pier on television.  I felt like a tourist enjoying the sights!

43

Today I am 43.  Yikes… seeing it in writing makes me feel OLD.

I ran my first race at age 40 (the Iron Girl 10K in San Diego).  I ran my first marathon at age 41 (as well as my first and second half marathons).  I ran my second and third marathons when I was 42 years old (along with various other fun races).

So what does this next year hold? 

This year I hope to run my first ultra marathon, a 50k.  I also hope to qualify for Boston.  Those are some pretty big goals.   Wish me luck!

A New Training Cycle

I am excited for my next training cycle.  It doesn’t technically start until the beginning of April, but I think I am already into it.  I am going to run the St. George Marathon in October with the friends I have met here*.  It will be Kelly and Heidi’s first marathon and I am looking forward to having someone to do long runs with again!  There is a run from our neck of the woods down to the beach that I have always wanted to do, but didn’t want to do it alone.  Now that there is a group of us training, we can do that run together. 

Between now and then, I have an even bigger goal in front of me.  I am going to take that leap and train for a 50K!  Gulp.   Did I actually just write that?  Yup… I am going to run my very first ultra this year.  I have fallen in love with trail running and would love to take it to another level.  I love the idea of just focusing on conquering the race and not worrying about PR’s etc.  There is also the “communing with nature” factor that is very appealing. 

I have had trouble trying to find one to fit in my schedule.  I don’t want to do one too soon; I want to be fully prepared.  I also don’t want one too late which might interfere with sharpening for St. George.  I would love to do this race** in September, however it is only a few weeks before St. George and I am not sure if I would be recovered in time.  I am have tentatively chosen Montana de Oro on August 15.  It is my husband’s birthday that day, but we talked about doing a family trip up to Morro Bay to either camp or stay in a motel.  I love that part of the California coast and have never spent any time there.  Even though that is a hot time of the year, the trail goes along the Pacific Ocean, so it should be gorgeous!

My first 25K is tomorrow.  I may change my mind after running that.  I would have to run the 25K loop twice.  We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.  I’m going to play around with pacing and fueling and see how it goes.  I am both nervous and excited.  It is a tough course, but I have run a course that has more elevation gain and survived, so I think I’ll be fine.  

  

I am very excited to finally be meeting Penny!  She and I have run so many of the same races and never met face to face.  She and I have gotten to know each other better through Facebook and Twitter.  I know she is happy about the forecast of rain.  Me…not so much.

My biggest worry is the river crossing.  It comes pretty early in the race (sometime before the 4.3 mile aid station).  I am not afraid of crossing the river so much as running twelve miles with wet shoes and socks.  I have been told that if you go for drier ground, the “real” trail runners will give you a hard time.  Have any of you crossed a creek/river in a race?  Any tips, tricks or advice??

For some reason, I didn’t really taper for this race.  I am approaching these trail races so differently than I approach road races.  I am not sure that is wise.   I ran twelve miles this morning.  Oops.   I went for my regular Saturday morning run with my friends and before I knew it, we had run over an hour before we turned around to run back to the cars.   I did stay back with my friend Heidi, who was hurting a bit.  We ran/walked the last few miles.  I tried to keep the pace slow, but my legs feel a little tired right now.  Hopefully, they recover in time for tomorrow’s adventure.

In researching 50K training plans, I found that most of them advocate back-to-back long runs.  I suppose that I am doing that this weekend.  So tomorrow’s 25K is a training run.   I guess that means I am officially training.   Woo hoo!!

Happy Running…. 

*if, of course, we get a lottery slot.

**my friend Jimmy is one of the race directors and I really want to support their racing efforts!   Plus, it sounds like an incredible race!