One more week till the Rock and Roll San Diego Half Mararhon

Yay for four-day work weeks. It's awesome to wake up thinking it's Monday, but guess what? It's already Tuesday! Oh the simple things in life :)

I also can't believe it's already time for the Rock and Roll San Diego Half Marathon! It's in....gulp...5 more days!!!! EEEEEEEE.... the longest run I've done to date since the LA Marathon is a meager 12 miles.... Good thing I didn't sign up for the full marathon! haha.

Though I am woefully unprepared for the HM both mentally and physically, with all the things that have been going on lately, I am quite excited about this race. First of all, there's gonna be live music at every mile. Awesomeness!!! Second, it's in Sandy Eggo, where I haven't been since high school! I always enjoy exploring new places, especially since we are also going to go see the San Diego zoo. Must sees include LEMURS(!!!!), the Komodo Dragon (ewwww) and Pandas (yay). And third, it's the last HM James and I will be able to do together for a while.

I did a brutal, awful, no-fun, way-too-hot, killer 12 miles this weekend. I was really hoping for a 13-14 miler, but the heat would not allow for that. The heat was so unexpected too. We've been having a chilly, windy spring. Out of nowhere, on the one day that we run, it was BLAZING hot. Seriously. WTF. Of course, 24 hours later we were back to the cool, chilly, perfect running weather. C'est la vie my friends.
We somehow managed to hold onto a 9:30 average pace, but it was KILLING me. My goodness! By the end of 12 miles, I was completely out of hydration and miserable. I don't think I could have run a single more step.

However, I'm optimistic, and I don't think this is a bad pre-cursor to the upcoming HM. I'm sure that with the early morning start (6:15am), live music, and the adrenaline, I'll be able to complete all 13.1 miles of it.

Now the only question remains whether or not I want to splurge on a new pair of running shoes.... Currently all of mine are.... very close to slipper status. hmmmmmm........

Now some pics from the weekend:
The i madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival
It's an annual event where artists of all ages and calibers come out and adorn the pavement in front of the Santa Barbara Mission with chalk art.
It's really quite impressive what you can create out of pavement and chalk!

work in progress

Before

After

2010 version

flashback! 2009 version

Twas fun.

promise to be back with more exciting running news soon!

happy short week!

A Valentine's 20 Miler

Phew! What a weekend it's been, and what a week it's been! It's busy busy busy over here, and I know I have been slacking on the posting.

But can I just say! Wow. You guys are truly amazing and helpful! I'm kind of secretly glad I'm not the only one with stinky stink workout clothes... heehee. Thank you so much for your helpful advice! I definitely will try the baking soda and vinegar method first before I spend $$$ on a tiny bottle of sports detergent. Vinegar.... who knew it was good for more than making salad dressing?

And OMG thank you soo sooo much for my Garmin help yesterday. I thought I was going to have to dish out more $$$ for another Garmin :(. You totally saved my sanity! Muchos Gracias!
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I'm going to postpone my Wednesday topic today, cause I have a lot of weekend workouts to catch up on!

Most memorable was the Valentine's Day 20 mile run.
I mean, what better way to celebrate than a grueling 20 miler? I can't think of anything better :)
Look at me, all chipper and cocky and self confident before the run. Yeah. I totally think I'm the shit right here, like, yeah, no biggie. 20 miles? Got it.
Look at the pretty flowers! It was 70+ degrees out, not a cloud in the sky.... a picturesque day.... but also the hottest weather we've ventured out in since.... September???? A sudden jump in temps can be..... brutal. Oh how naive we were.

Sunday morning was an "early" wake up call at 6:30AM. James and I had every intention of starting and finishing the run "early", and we "busted our balls" speeding through the morning process to head out the door..... at 10AM. WTF????? How the HECK did we spend 4 hours getting ready? I didn't even spend 4 hours getting ready for prom!
Let's see... there was breakfast.... putting on running gear.... warming up..... Seriously.... 4 hours??? crap.

So by the time our run actually started, it was hot hot hot outside!
So hot that I looked like this by mile 5. Totally worthy of a Runner's World cover. Or maybe a centerfold. You can hang it up in your room if you like :)

But maybe I'm exaggerating. The weather definitely made the run harder, but it wasn't unmanageable. I was just used to running in 50-60 degree weather. But I had plenty to drink, so no problemo. James and I also ran through a new part of town, which helped make the run more interesting. And easier. How the route managed to be mostly downhill, I may never know, but when you're running 20 miles, it's best not to question those things! :)

We also had some funkalicious vegetation to check out:

It's like a big bush that's sprouting branches. Weirdness.

And it wouldn't be a Valentine's Day run without a little bit of romance. Warning: tackiness and corny ahead!!!!!

Per my genius suggestion, we played this game called "kiss at every mile + 20 things I love about you".

Told you it was sickening :)

By mile 20 though, we had gotten quite skilled in the art of rissing: running+kissing. Go ahead, think what you want to think, but I am a girl, and I loved hearing 20 amazing things about myself at every mile :) Not that any of it was news to me, I know I'm a generally all-out amazing person (obvi... haha jk), but it did put a smile on my face without fail, and gave me something to look forward to, other than the Beep Beep! from Garmin.

We took plenty of breaks along the way; three to refuel, and a couple just to shake off fatigue from our legs. A big negative to this particular route we ran was that a lot of the surface is slanted/banked, kind of like the image to the left. (That's NOT the road we ran on, it's just for reference. Image source) The problem with banked roads it that pain will be magnified. HOLY MOLY. My ITB, my ankles, my hips.... they were all screaming and begging for mercy by the end. I think training on banked roads for the SB Marathon was the reason I developed ITB issues in the first place. I tried running on the flattest part possible, but MAN did it hurt. Three days later and my ITB is still tight tight tight.

But all in all, we maintained a fast (for us) average pace of 9:47. Not bad, not bad. One more long run (22 miles) until LA, baby!

The weekend was otherwise filled with a nice long walk, two long bike rides, and my first swim since October. The weather is just plain gorgeous. I just could not stand to be trapped inside! There is just something about being outside that brings me so much joy in my heart. I can't explain it, but I have this goofy smile plastered on my face and I'm just like a little puppy who saw sunshine for the first time.

As always, I am rambling. But I hope everyone had a fun weekend, filled with running and watching the Olympics! How cool is it that they have a winter version of the biathlon? So cool. And the slalom racers. What are your favorite events?

And before I go, a huge shout out to Eliza from Eliza on the Run! She has a very special announcement on her blog... Go get em tiger!

Have a humpalicious one!

Is this for real? Am I.... getting... no it can't be

Gasp!
Could it be....?
Really....?

Is Mr. Garmin playing games with me? Did the satellite messages get all effed up? Because the numbers can't possibly make sense....

18 miles, 9:40 average pace. That's a whopping 50 Seconds faster than my previous 18 miler, 20 seconds faster than my fastest 16 miler, and 6 seconds faster than my marathon pace.

And I wasn't even trying. And I was on my...um... cycle. WTF

I think the only logical conclusion is that Martians are out playing cruel tricks on people's confidence. I'll bet my life on it. Those darned Martians; screwing with the satellite signals again. I swear. If I ever run into one....!!!
(Image source)

Yes, it's safe to say this week's run was a GINOURMOUS improvement compared to the 16 miles of torture the week prior :)

This training cycle, (event yet to be announced as I am a lazy bum bum who hasn't registered yet. Drrr!) I promised myself to be more careful about on-the-run nutrition. I wanted to make sure I ate according to a schedule, not just randomly and erratically popping Shot Blocks.

Um.... yeah. Major FAIL on that one. I just cannot seem to get hungry enough for anything while running. Schedule, shmedule. Maybe the problem is that I eat too big of a breakfast? For example:

Pre-Run eats consisted of coffee, 2.5 homemade waffles with syrup and PB, 3/4 banana, a couple mouthfuls of scrambled egg, Clif Z-bar, piece of chocolate, and a slice of bread.

On-the-run eats consisted of 6 Shot Blocks, 150 calories of coconut water, and 3/4 slice of bread with jelly and margarine.

I felt no hunger on the run and I felt adequately fueled and energetic. I had packed two Carb Boom! energy gels, and an extra carton of O.N.E coconut water, but were left untouched.

Would it be better to eat less of a breakfast and eat more on the run? Or since breakfast consists of "real food", would it be better to keep eating my Hugh Jass b-fasts and lay low on the energy products? (Cheaper this way too) I would hugely appreciate any feedback! How/when do you fuel up? I guess I'll experiment during this weekend's "short run".
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In terms of non-running news, I took my new bike out for it's second ride this weekend :) Despite some chafing (I'm ordering shorts, lube, and gloves today!), I felt much more confident on the bike: I've stopped having nightmares about clipping in/out :) ahh I can rest easy at night.

On this ride, I focused on learning more about the rear derailleurs. Every little hill, I practiced shifting up and down, and seeing how the bike felt. I also practiced dropping down to a very high gear for the downhills, so I wouldn't have to rely on gripping the brakes to death. Overall, a very fun ride :)

So by the end of the week, I hope to catch up on some product reviews, and finally announce the event I've been training for!

Hope everyone's weekend was absolutely glorious, and hope the week ahead has plenty of joy and laughter.... and of course, who can forget, Running! :)

Boo-f**king-yah!

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I RAN 22 MILES.

22 effing miles!

Every last step of it!

And it hardly hurt!

yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss :)

22.15 miles in 3hrs and 41 min. 20 days till M-Day. Time to taper.

Bring it on, marathon. I'm ready for you!


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I am so relieved/excited/in disbelief/amazed/who knows what else that James and I were able to run 22 miles. I was friggin Scared about how my knee was going to handle it. I took precautionary measures to make sure my knees had adequate rest before the run, and spent the 4 days prior to the run foam rolling the sh!t out of my ITB and thighs. Thank goodness I bought that foam roller. Oh and I switched from plain old ibuprofen to Aleve.

And guess what?

It worked!

I had pretty minimal knee pain for the entire 22 miles. Obviously, there was some pain (I mean, it is 22 effing miles), but none of that sharp, debilitating, insane pain that I had last week. Success!

Instead of doing a play by play, I think I will sum up this run in "successes" and "fails".

Successes:

• Taking the two days before the run to rest and foam roll/stretch like my life depended on it.
  
• Foam roll
• Switching from Ibuprofen to Aleve
  
• Taking said Aleve night before, and morning of run
• Not drinking too much liquid on the run and feeling like a bloated whale
• Eating/drinking enough calories for breakfast. Here's what I ate:
• 1.5 Clif Z-bars
• 1 banana
• 2 slices toast with jelly and honey
• 1 waffle topped with 1 carton pumpkin yogurt and honey
• some scrambled eggs
• a handful of gummy bears
• coconut water
• a couple of bites of Power Bar
• a couple of Clif Shot Blocks
  and yup, I ate all this BEFORE the run, and still managed to get hungry during the run

• Careful application of Body Glide ;)
• remembering to put sun block on my face
• Running early enough in the morning
• Choosing a very flat route: I recorded the fasted 16 mile split yet!
  
• Carrying enough shot blocks to share with James who was close to bonking again
• Post-run pizza with all the fixins!
  

Fails:

• Some a$$hole stole our "Runner's Goodie Bag" we stashed at mile 18.5 with waters/gummies/sandwiches. This ROYALLY sucked as we were both very low on water by this point and extremely hungry. I ran sooooo fast the last half mile till the "runner's bag," looking forward to the sammie. When I realized it had been stolen..... tears. 'Twas a very sad day. But it did give me an adrenaline rush being angry.... I kept chanting "ba$tards, ba$tards" (excuse the language, but it's hard to be nice at mile 18.5 when thirsty and hungry) which kept me going for at least a mile.
  
• Not drinking enough water at the previous resting spot (I was NOT expecting to have our stuff stolen!)
• Not carrying a credit card to make quick stop at gas station to buy more water/fuel. Reminder to self: Always run with spare cash/credit card on the long runs!
• My running singlet. For some reason, it kept bothering me.
• Not wearing sunblock around my ankles. There's a two inch segment of flesh that neither my running tights nor my socks cover. Now I have a Really Awkward tan line right there. Oops.

But all in all, the run was as good as a first 22 miler can get. I felt SO incredibly relieved/happy that I was able to run it. I honestly thought my knee would give out by mile 16 again. I fully expected NOT to be able to finish the run.

But I ran every last step godamit! haha! :) Can you tell I'm super stoked?
Like I told James, had this run NOT gone well, I would have been SUPER DUPER depressed/anxious/cranky/nervous/scared the entire three weeks till the marathon. I seriously would have been the biggest Betty Downer the world has ever seen, for the entire tapering period. So it's good for both my sanity, and James', that I was able to run this successfuly.

And now all I have to do is sit back and enjoy tapering weeks. I'll probably run a Turkey Trot, but mostly will stick to yoga and foam rolling for now. Gotta get that knee all fixed up!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Marathon time is here!!!!!!

How to fart and run at the same time... or not

First of all, thank you soooo much for your encouraging words about my knee. I can't tell you how much it lifts my spirits to read all your comments! It helps me remember not to be too hard on myself; which is something I am trying not to do. So thank you so much for your support and for putting a smile on my face! :)

I was able to run a successful, pain free, albeit super slow, 6.3 miles yesterday. I finished in barely under an hour. In my mind I was flying through the air like a gazelle on crack, but in reality, it felt like I was trekking through a massive pool of honey. It's amazing to me how one week I can bust out sub-9 minute miles, and then the next, I can barely run 10 min miles. The body is such a fascinating thing.

Well.... I guess not everything the body is capable of doing is a pleasant thing. Case in point, I was plagued by a case of Gassius Fartitis on yesterday's run. And yes, that is totally a medical term, look it up! (haha, ok, ok, I kid) But hey, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I had HORRID gas. I don't know where it came from, but it was seriously uncomfortable! My tummy felt as blown up as a balloon at Disney Land, and I literally had to stop numerous times to um.... how do I put this elegantly.... "let 'er rip"...... I am not talented enough (yet) to multitask. I mean, I can talk and run simultaneously... but I am going to need more practice with this issue. The stopping thing kinda makes it obvious... like that scene from I Love You, Man Thank the heavens that I was NOT running on a treadmill in the gym! Since I was outside with no one around me, I could toot my horn to my heart's contempt. (Althought I did always look behind me to see if anyone was there to make sure to avoid an embarassing situation!) hmmmm... now that I think about it, I'm suprised I didn't think twice about eating beans for dinner after that ordeal! haha.

Yeah, I know. This is total TMI territory. Have you ever had to deal with uncomfortable/embarassing body issues while running? At least I didn't crap my pants......that would have been special.