Year of the Ultra

It's 2014 and it's officially been over a month since my m-thon. Time's up on all laziness, excuses, gluttony, etc. But I sure did enjoy the last month with little work, little running, lotta holiday parties, and lotta honeymoon. 

I thought I kept myself in okaaaaay shape over the last month. We certainly didn't go overboard on endurance exercise on our trip, but we did manage to pull off some exercise, including: 1) an 8 mile run in (failed) search of a coffee plantation in Antigua, Guatemala, where my nose started bleeding profusely around mile 7, 2) an intense motha-f$cking hike up Volcan San Pedro that knocked my quads out of commission for 5 days straight, 3) a painful 4-5 mile run up a dirt road near Cerro Chirripo, and 4) a hike-turned-run in Cloudbridge Reserva in Costa with beautiful waterfalls.

Post-nose bleed running photo shoot in Antigua, Guatemala on cobblestone; bad heel strike!

Anyways, turns out, I'm more out of shape (?) than I had thought. Today marked my first long run since the m-thon and it was a sufferfest. Not due to a blistering pace, but rather lots of little aches, pains, and soreness in my hamstrings and nether region (butt). Kind of a bummer for me. I thought a month of little running + a 90-min massage with intense focus on the piriformis would = feeling amazeballs. 

I also found out that I've been "targeting" the wrong race date for the Lake Sonoma 50. It's a whole month earlier than I had thought! I'm not worried yet. Just feeling like a munson for working off the wrong race date.

And in other exciting news, I now officially need to run and finish the Lake Sonoma 50 in order to obtain my 2 qualifying points for the CCC on August 29th, starting in Courmayeur, Italy. 

Photo from the 2012 CCC. Insane!

With all the excitement I'm feeling about the year ahead, I still battle feelings of "am I crazy?" "Will my friends and teammates think I'm crazy?" "Will my Mom think I've been coerced into doing something so nutty?" 

I've also heard rumors that our team coach is not a huge fan of ultra-running. Perhaps as a direct result of this knowledge, I felt embarrassed and almost ashamed when an Impala teammate "called me out" on running the Lake Sonoma 50 and I immediately started trying to rationalize my crazy decision to race 50 miles. "Well yeah, I am running it...I'm giving it a try. It's crazy, I know. I'm sure I'll hate running that far." Turns out she wasn't being critical and actually thought it was really cool that I was going for it.

Maybe I'm so sensitive to this because I once judged ultra runners as ridiculous, nutty, selfish whack jobs and only recently have begun to change my tune. Or, maybe it's because I know my parents don't really approve. Or rather my parents associate it with an outside influence. I certainly didn't learn about the world of ultra-running from the Blandy's; but, I did learn my love of running from them, which matters most, I think. 

So, while internally I'm very satisfied and excited by my race plan for this year, I'd like to work on sharing my excitement with family and friends. No more insecurity and embarrassment about the journey I'm embarking on, which will no doubt take up a significant amount of my personal time. It was my decision to sign up for these races, and I need to own it.

Let the year of the ultra begin!

Ultra-ing

Lake Sonoma 50 - here I come!

It's official! Assuming everything goes as planned, I'll be running my first ultra-marathon on Saturday, April 12th!! I think. Turns out I entered the wrong credit card information while trying to breeze through the sign-up process. But, I did receive a confirmation email, so hopefully I'm OK. 

Approximately 300 people will run this race. It sold out in 37 minutes yesterday. Yowza!

Here's how I'm feeling today.......

What the balls did I get myself into?!!!!!

New Marathon PR! 2:53:28

At approximately 9:53am on Sunday, December 8th, I crossed the finish line at the California International Marathon in Sacramento in an unofficial time of 2:53:28...officially meeting my goal of a sub-3 hour marathon. 



I'm still flying high from achieving my goal and then some. Quite the 180 from how I felt after my marathon in Oregon: defeated, sad, and even a little embarrassed. 

I went into this marathon stating my goal out loud to anyone interested. A sub-3 hour marathon. The last marathon I ran, I had thought sub-3 was a given. This time around I was more cautious. I'd be happy with a 2:59:59. Of course, deep down I wanted a bit more than that. Realistically, I thought it would be sweet if I could run a 2:57 or maybe even a 2:56. It wouldn't be easy, but I thought I was capable of that. I never dreamed that I would see the numbers 2, 5, and 3, in that order, when crossing the line.

And, because I love hitting replay on a successful race, here's my recap of the....



The day before:
Travy and I checked in to a Hilton Garden Inn in Sactown around 3pm after breezing through the expo. It was really nice to be in a hotel room with nothing to do except relax. I took a shower and then got into PJs and watched TV and read for the next 5 hours. We had made dinner at home that morning (pasta/marinara sauce/broccoli + salad), so I whipped it out when I felt hungry and gobbled it down, in bed. Note: eating in bed is huge fantasy of mine that is never realized at home because Travy doesn't believe in it. So, I was in heaaaaven.

The night before:
I have a serious issue with sleeping the night before races. Well, actually, just marathon races. It's fairly common from what I understand, but for every single other marathon I've run, I have not gotten an ounce of sleep the night before. I'm not exaggerating when I say that. It's not like I have trouble falling asleep and then sleep soundly once asleep, or that I even just wake up constantly. It's that I literally lay there for hours on end, eyes wide open, and heart pounding as time passes

When this happened at the Boston Marathon, I told my Dad the next morning that I had not slept a wink and wasn't sure how this would affect my performance. His reaction? "So what? It's the night before the night before the race night that matters most. You'll be fine." His lack of reaction was very calming. Knowing that it doesn't matter how poorly I sleep the night before a race has not helped me sleep any better the night before a race, but I definitely don't freak out about it quite as much.

Still, it's a little depressing going into a night of sleep knowing that you won't sleep. Turns out that this time around, I got the best night of pre-marathon sleep ever. Which is to say, I fell asleep relatively quickly and then woke up tons of times throughout the night....but I slept!

The morning of the race:
4:45am alarm to meet the 5:15am bus to the start. Shovel down 2 packets of maple/brown sugar oatmeal. Take 5 or so sips of lobby coffee and a few swigs of water. Two small pre-race poops in the room. Pile on extra clothing because it's 26 degrees outside. Kiss Travy, and onto the bus. Bus arrives at the start at 6:15am. Stay on bus until 6:30am, then exit bus into frigid conditions. Lots of porto-s. Pee 3 times. One more pre-race mini poop. A little jogging. Drop off bag and head to start. Stare longingly at elite tent with heaters.

The start of the race:
Exactly what I hoped would happen, happened. I bumped into my Marin long-run group and then my teammate Emily at the start line. In my head, my plan was to take the first 3 miles out slower than race pace (6:55-7) and then drop down from there. This is a very standard, tried-and-true marathon strategy, as going out too hard in the early miles can have devastating effects later in the race. But when I told Emily this plan, she somewhat hesitantly told me that she was planning to start at race pace. In my head, I began weighing this option. Emily is an experienced marathoner with a PR of 3:01 / goal to break 3, and we have literally run every workout and race together, stride for stride. If she thinks she can handle this pace, can't I?  Before I knew it, the gun sounded and we were off. And just like that, my entire race plan had changed.

Racing with Emily in GGP, stride-for-stride

The race:
Our first mile was a 6:30-something. I thought - OK, this is going to be interesting considering all of my marathon pace runs were done in 6:42-6:48 goal pace. I immediately reminded myself about something Topher had recently proclaimed about being able to run a marathon pace ~5-10 seconds faster than you train, thanks to race day adrenaline.

We cruised through the 10k in what is now my 10K PR. (In all fairness, I haven't run a true 10k race in at least 15 years). Still, I was feeling good and it was time for a Shot Blok and a water stop. It was so cold out that all the excess water people were throwing was freezing on the ground and forming black ice. 

Around mile 10, I could feel my hamstrings tightening and the little voice in the back of my head started yapping. Boy did you just royally screw yourself by going out this fast. You're going to feel like an idiot when you DNF or when you're crawling to the finish line at 3:30. At mile 10, I also saw one of my Marin friends cheering from the sideline. One of my Marin friends who had clearly just dropped out of the race. AHHHHH.

The next major milestone was the halfway mark - 13.1. Another PR for me. 1:26:13. Instead of panicing, I thought to myself: why the FFFFF have I never been able to run this fast in any of my previous half marathons???? Like, I seriously struggled to run a low 1:28 on a flat course in Oakland earlier this year. Travy was at the halfway point, so that was also uplifting.

Mile 15 - I'm starting to get reaaaaaal tired. 11 miles to go seems like an f-ing eternity with how I'm feeling. I have to fight the urge to look at my watch constantly and try to block out the miles.

Mile 17 - Just get yourself to mile 20 at this pace and then worry about it from there. 

Running with Emily on the homestretch

Mile 20 finally arrives, and surprisingly, I'm feeling OK. As in, I'm not in the declining state that I imagined I'd be in at this point and that's something positive! In fact, I can almost feel Emily falling a minuscule step off my pace and that makes me a feel tiny bit better because at least I know she's hurting a lot too. Everyone's hurting. It's not just you, Lydia!!!!

Miles 21-25 were miserable, but I tried to take it one mile at a time and focus on maintaining my pace for that mile alone. Four things stand out from these miles: 1) we were starting to pass people (mostly men), 2) I was starting to calculate what would happen if my pace fell off; the results were promising, 3) I could not feel my gloved hands, and 4) there was a really nice crowd along this part of the race and they were definitely cheering for us. On top of random cheers, several of our Impala teammates were there as well! In fact, one of the men we passed commented that we had quite the fan club with us.

The finish:
By the last mile of the race, I was about a half step behind Emily. But at this point, I knew I was fine and I forced myself to stay with her. When my watch said 25.9 miles, I made my move and "sprinted" around the final two turns and headed for the finish. Emily and I crossed the line 3 seconds apart. I don't think either of us really comprehended that we had just run a 2:53. We embraced and then stumbled over to other teammates that had finished a minute or two ahead of us. Our coach was there and he snapped a photograph (see below). Travy was all smiles. I was exhausted, beyond happy, but also freezing cold, thirsty, and a little nauseous.

At the finish with teammates Susan and Jen

Post-Race:
We darted out of the finish area and back to the car approximately 20 minutes after the race and headed for home. I was too cold to stick around. Plus, the Eagles were playing and something exciting was clearly happening as people were texting me "you watching this shit?!?"


At home in the shower, I was alone with my thoughts. I had survived, and not just survived, I had thrived. I overcame a huge mental battle with myself over the last 11 miles. I fought off literally hundreds of voices in my head that told me to slow down, or worse, to stop. In Oregon, I had given in to those voices, but not this time. I am most proud of this race because I did not give in.

What's next, I'm not sure. Maybe the Miwok 100k, but I likely won't get in. A different ultra? Another faster marathon? Some 5k training? Whatevs. For now, I'm hitting the beer and wine and celebrating my 2:53.

Mantras

I'm a big fan of mantras and like to repeat them over and over again in my head for clarity and motivation. Mantras help me stay on track throughout the day and also as it relates to the bigger picture.

The latest mantra in my head is short and sweet and quite unoriginal, but very easy to remember.

Don't. Be. Lazy.

I've been repeating this to myself over and over again this past week. It's silly, really. But it stuck in my head after spending at least an hour pouring through Mr. Money Mustache's blog the other day. (Shoutout to CB-F for introducing this to me!)

Mr. Money Mustache ("MMM") notes how addicted we have become to modern convenience. Real-life examples for me: hopping in my car to drive less than 0.5 miles to pick up coffee in the morning, or driving to Whole Foods (1-mile away) every single night to purchase pre-made dinner foods. MMM urges us to focus on happiness itself over convenience and luxury. To learn to mock convenience. To stop being lazy.

Over the last week, I've started making tweaks to my daily life per MMM's suggestions, all while repeating my new mantra. Don't be lazy, girlfraand! (Yes, that's actually how I talk to myself in my head sometimes).

Last night I incorporated a stop at Safeway into my evening run to pick up rice and avocados. Last week I biked to the grocery store and purchased $75 worth of groceries, less $13 thanks to my coupons. Granted, I had to walk my bike home because the backpack was too heavy for me. I have not driven our car in over a week and we have eaten homemade meals the last 8 nights in a row. All of the above is a huge accomplishment considering the fact that we ate out every single night the week before last.

Learning to ride my bike again

Naturally, I've also been trying to apply "don't be lazy" to my running. On Saturday, I ran to and from the SFRC group run. This added 4 miles to my run and helped me reach my goal of running 70 miles last week. Normally, I drive. I also convinced myself to run 5 miles at marathon pace, solo, last Friday after work. Pretty tough to get myself to run on Friday afternoons, let alone do a workout! But in the spirit of not being lazy and staying committed to my sub-3 hour marathon goal, I got it done.

They key is to stay consistent with all of the above and not let myself fall prey to laziness. I consider myself to be inherently more lazy than I let on, so this is a true challenge. Of course I won't be perfect in the coming days, weeks, and months, and I'll certainly find good reasons to be "lazy" in the name of fun! But I think that's A-OK. So long as I run a sub-3 hour marathon :)

1.5 months 'til GO-TIME!

A lot has happened since my last post. Mainly, as of September 21st, 2013, my tax filing status changed to "married."

Shout-out to my handsome Groom

While I've been absorbed in all things related to the aforementioned tax status change, I've managed to stay consistent in my running. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Atop Mt. Tam on our wedding morning (in the pouring rain)

And while I haven't exactly stuck to a strict marathon training schedule, per se, I've kept my mileage relatively high, and somehow managed to take myself to a new level in XC. 

I write this at the conclusion of a 70 mile week. A combination of hills and trails are my secret ingredient. So far this season I've run 3 XC races and demolished my old PRs. And, I'm consistently running at a pace much faster than my usual jog. 

The only thing that's changed about my training is my newfound love for trail running, which of course equates to running lots of hills. And I'm fairly certain this is what's helped me take my running to a new level.

I've spent the last few years lollygagging along the flat pavement - Chrissy Field to the GG bridge, the Berkeley marina loop, and the Mill Valley bike path. I avoided the unknown.

My transition to the trails was slow at first and started with a few Mt. Tam summits, which Travis essentially made me do with him. I was further spurred on to seek out trails by some promising results on Strava, a few new "hardcore" trailrunning friends, and Travis' 50-mile training schedule.

Mile 8 of 50; on his way to 5th place overall!

A few months back, I would have never considered doing back-to-back trail runs with over 1,000 ft of elevation change per run. Now, I seek out the elevation and recognize how strong the hills have made me. Furthermore, I believe my body has been able to handle the "stress" of the hills because of the soft-footing on the trails. Strava has made trailrunning extra, extra fun with the promise of shiny crowns at the end of every run.

So, 1.5 months out from CIM, I have not done a ton of marathon-focused workouts, but I'm feeling stronger and more confident than ever and I'm simply having fun with my running. I continue to keep my eyes on the prize (a sub-3 hour marathon) and I will continue pounding the hills and trails because it's working for me.

With the changing light of daylight savings looming in the not-to-far distance, I'll have to make some adjustments in my hill training, but I've got my headlamp and a few new running friends by my side.

Thursday AM Ninja Run

XC Musings

Fall is my most favorite time of the year...always has been, always will be. Back-to school. Football. Pumpkin-spiced lattes. Crisp air. Sweaters. Colorful leaves. Apples. 

Everything about this picture makes me happy

Ok, so a portion of the above no longer really applies to me (e.g., school, crisp air), but I still get all giddy every year when fall approaches. It's also the reason I decided, without question, that I wanted to get married in the fall. (Less than 1 month to go!)

Nerdy engagement "running" shot

Fall is also XC season. I have a love/hate relationship with XC. I'll get the hate part over with first - XC is painful. There is no way around it. Running 3-4 miles at basically 6 min mile pace or under does not feel good on any part of my body; but my mind is really my worst enemy. During races I know that everyone else is suffering too, but I'm still usually able to convince myself that the girl next to me is definitely not about to drop dead from exhaustion, like I am.

Despite all of the hurt, I still look forward to XC season. XC is a team sport and it's the time of year when I feel the most camaraderie with my teammates. The races might hurt, but we all have fun together before, and especially after. In fact, my favorite part of XC is probably the 5-15 minutes after the race when everyone is standing around the finish chutes cheering on friends and teammates. And then once the race is officially over, we dive into the race treats - baked goods, bagels, apple cider, coffee...YUM! And there is lots of happy conversation because we're all high on running. 

This past weekend was the first XC race of the season for me - the Phil Widener Empire Open in Spring Lake Regional Park, located in Santa Rosa. 3.43 miles, on rocky trails. I was nerrrrrrrvous and my mind was filled with its usual doubts. "How am I supposed to know what pace to run today? What if I'm hurting really badly and can't keep up with people I should be running with, like Angela and Nancy? What if I just totally suck and bomb this race?"

Nervous energy at the start line

I thought back to an article I just read on Dartmouth all-star runner Abbey D'Agostino. Abbey prepares for the pain: "It's a competition with myself for staying positive. The ultimate fear is allowing any negative thoughts to subvert my confidence. When the hurt starts, there's no change in strategy. You press on." It was nice to think about this article, but it didn't really make me less nervous. 

Abbey D...running XC

I always tell myself how silly it is that I get so nervous. I'm doing this for myself only. No one else gives a rats a$$ if I don't run well in these races. But, on the otherhand, I expect a lot out of myself and I like to succeed. I don't like coming home from a race and having to tell people that I'm not happy with how I did. I want to race hard and fast and keep getting PRs. All of this is good stuff (better than simply not caring, right?), and nervous energy, when controlled properly, can be a performance enhancer.

Anyway, mental aspect aside, the race actually went pretty well for me. It was over in a flash. 21 minutes and 45 seconds to be exact. I finished in 9th place and was greeted with a t-shirt for top-10 finishers only. I scored for the team as the second open category runner through the finish (the top 5 finishers per team score points). This good XC finish line fortune does not usually happen to me, so I'm enjoying it. It was a feel-good start to the season.

Post-race Impala love

And the best part, as always, was hanging out with my teammates after the race - chatting about how the race went and eating Nancy-bars. Doesn't get much better than that! (Oh, and we won the team title for all age groups!!!!)

Feeling oh-so-un-inspired

When I finished my marathon in June having just missed sub-3 hours, I was sad/pissed at myself and beyond motivated for a re-do. The week immediately after that marathon, I was chomping at the bit to keep running despite needing rest. I emailed my coach and asked if I should find another marathon to run within the month. I was in good shape and didn't want to waste it. Plus I wanted to undo all the negativity in my head and just f-ing run sub-3. But, my coach emailed back and said it was not recommended and that I should give myself at least a few months to recover. Ugh.

So that is how I ended up registering for the California International Marathon ("CIM") on December 8, 2013. The race takes place in Sacramento and is renowned as a super speedy course. I signed up right away without giving myself an out. Because, good lord, if I can't run a sub-3 on this course, I'm really in trouble!!!!!

The problem is that I've lost a lot of that initial motivation. The pain of coming close, but missing my goal is more distant and my competitive desire to run sub-3 is waning. I mean, who really cares if I run sub-3? My parents certainly don't. My friends don't. Travis does for my sake. But do I still care?

I knew this would happen and it's the whole reason I signed up for the race right away. Had I been more passive and waited around, the race surely would have filled up and closed, and oops, I wouldn't be signed up. But I was proactive.

So, what now? I'm about 3.5 months out from this race, need to start getting my butt into gear, and it's kind of the last thing I want to think about right now. On top of that, I've fallen off my #sexycore routine. My desire to reach my marathon goal by focusing on the little things is fading fast.

Quite simply, in the spirit of "I-paid-130-dollars-to-run-this-race," I will get my butt into gear. And luckily, my other half just signed up as well, so we're in it together. That helps. I know I will get it done.

From a pure running motivation perspective, I've been focused on changing up my routine. On not running the dreaded, flat bike path route that I normally do. On finding new paths and trails. My running goal for last week was to not run the same route twice. And surprisingly (or not?) it was really freaking fun to find new trails, all by myself. I got a few CRs (always good for the ego) and some encouraging kudos from Travy (also good for my ego).

This week, I will attend practice (after missing the last 2 weeks). I will continue to explore the trails in our backyard and go for more CRs. I will create a new #sexycore routine to mix things up. And I will freaking just have fun!!!!! 

Trail running in Park City, UT