Tuesday, March 21, 2017

2017 Los Angeles Marathon in pictures

Goal: Get Dani to the Finish Line. I've never paced anyone,
let alone for a full marathon. Yikes.

Oiselle Volee GTG at Expo. Jess, to the right of Cardboard Kara helped me sneak
Dani into Corral C so we would have a bit more room to move at the start.

Pre-race Dinner: Veggie Burger, Fries and Beer
have never let me down. I didn't do anything differently. ;)

My name! On a sign! Dani had a lot of superfans
on the course! (I'm importing my own superfans for Chicago--who wants to come?)


We had a ton of fun! High-fiving kids and attempting to hit
every Power-Up sign (I love those things)


Beer me! I pre-arranged with Carolyn, SoCal Volee leader to have
cold beer at the Oiselle Cheer location (btw miles 23-24).
Best idea ever.


Powering to the finish

She finished! With a smile on her face!


How long until BRUNCH?


They found us! Finish line chaos.



Brunch at WeHo Bistro

Monday, March 6, 2017

No Regrets: LA Marathon Training Week 10 Recap

This past Sunday, I PR'd my 10k race and that's only part and a very minor part of the story. I accomplished much more with the race than going faster. I raced strong, followed my race strategy and I was able to keep my mind in the game until I crossed the finish line. It was the first race I didn't mentally give up before it finished.

The annual Run through Redlands has 3 race distances: 5k, 10k and 1/2 marathon. I've raced the 1/2 marathon several times and for the last few years, I raced the 5k. It's fun, it hurts, it's over quick. I avoided the 10k because it scared me. As Dodie, one of my Oiselle Volee teammates stated when asked which distance is preferable: 5k--twice as hard, but half the time

Prior to Sunday, I have only raced two 10ks. I asked Coach Becki about which race distance and her advice was to choose the distance that most excites me. One of the reasons 10k's frighten me is because 10k race pace is hard and hurts like a 5k, but lasts longer. This particular 10k scared me a bit because there is a big hill in the middle. Also, all 3 RTR distances start with a slight incline and finish with a loooong slight incline on Olive Street. 
RTR 10k with big hill in middle


Becki told me to make the effort progressive. To run strong and don't give up. That she has no doubt that I can run a great time even with the hill in there. During the hill portion she told me to remind myself over and over, No Regrets and be willing to work hard and think about having good form and decent turnover even though it hurts. No Regrets became my mantra during the race. I braced myself for the hurt, laced up my shoes and had a great race. 
Using GAP on Strava, great steady effort
slightly faster towards end
Instead of thinking, this sucks/hurts/is hard and I want to quit or why the hell am I doing this? I acknowledged the hurt and didn't worry about pace during the hill portion. I had this weird tunnel vision during the race where I only focused on the present. I broke the race down in chunks: the first 2.5 miles, the long hill (2.5 to 3.7 miles), the steep downhill (3.7 to 5 miles), the last mile. It helped knowing the course (I ran the course twice in training) and it helped that my husband met me at mile 5 and paced me to the end. 

Week 10

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 30 minute easy run
Wednesday: 45 minute easy run (drills, 4xstrides) + weight-lifting (upper body and core)
Thursday: 5 miles with 6 x 1min@ 8:00/mi
Friday: 30 minutes Tabata (burpees, yay!)
Saturday: 10 minute shake out with 4 light strides
Sunday: 3.5 mile warm-up jog to start, 6.2 miles race, 1.3 miles cool-down jog to car

Week 10 miles: 26.9 miles
2017 miles: 268 miles

See the training link up on Eat Pray Run DC HERE.