{week 5} will run for beer

Post-race, finish line beer!

On a long-ish run with my Saturday running group, most of the discussion centered around beer. The run was long-ish for me because I had a 5k race--more on that later--on Sunday and ended my run early. It centered on beer because a good portion of runners that day are training for the Santa Rosa Marathon. According to Jim, the beer festival after the race is the best part of the marathon. This excites me. I love trying and tasting different beers. 

So of course, I jumped at the chance to sign-up for the inaugural San Diego Craft Classic 5k and 1/2 Marathon hosted by Green Flash Brewery. I chose the 5k because it fit perfectly with my 1/2 marathon training plan, I was scheduled to run 8 miles with 3 miles at tempo. Tempo runs are hard and so are 5ks, but I love racing 5ks and I wanted to see if my racing legs were back after my injuries. I had a feeling I would race well because my speed training days were going so well and I was feeling strong and fit. 

Long story short--I came in second in my age group and 13th overall. It was my second best 5K time. It was a hard course with lots of hills. I'm stoked about the 13th place because that means I was faster than a lot of younger women.

I set up my Garmin to lap at a 1000m so I could break up the race into smaller than a mile chunks. My goal was to run each of the 1000m in 4:33-4:55. 

Dialing in my pre-race nutrition

My splits-->4:12, 5:11 {insane hill}, 4:39, 4:26, 4:40.

I feel more than ready to start marathon training in August! 

Week 5 Training

Monday, July 18: Rest or cross-train

Tuesday, July 19: 4 miles, easy

Wednesday, July 20: 5 miles, easy

Thursday, July 21: 9 miles with intervals (mile build-up: 1x400, 1x800, 1x1200, 1x1600, 1x800, 1x400)

Friday, July 22: Rest or cross-train

Saturday, July 23: 14 mile long-run

Sunday, July 24: 6 miles, easy

{week 6} Five for Friday

In the spirit of posting at least SOMETHING, I bring you the Friday Five. 

ONE. I will be racing my first true 1/2 marathon (running 1/2 the LA Marathon does not count) of 2016 toeing the line for the OC 1/2 Marathon in exactly ONE month from today. It's also been a year since I raced 13.1 miles. Not nervous yet. 

TWO. I just registered to enter the lottery for the St. George Marathon (October 1, 2016). I will find out if I am lucky enough to race on May 18. The race is capped at 7800 runners. Crossing my fingers! If I do make the cut, I will have to start my training plan on May 30 (Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger).

THREE. I am racing the Carlsbad 5000 this Sunday with some of my fellow Oiselle Volée teammates. I <3 racing 5ks. This is my third since coming back from injury. I plan to beat my most recent time of 24:39 and hope to PR (or come close to my previous fitness) with a time less than 22:44. I'm racing for BEER! Pizza Port is the sponsor and they have crafted two custom beers just for the race. AND each race entry gets TWO FREE beers. 

 FOUR. I missed a step walking down the stairs at home a couple days ago and I bruised or sprained or something to right inner heel. I skipped my planned easy run today and may skip my long run tomorrow. It bums me to miss runs but at least I know I've been working my training plan and getting fitter. I am able to do things (run tempo!) I wasn't able to do so well before last year's injury and I've regained most of my running endurance (although I have not yet run more than 15 miles). 

FIVE. NUUN has finally updated their athletes page. There are a lot of badass nuun athletes out there. I'm on there too. You can see my profile HERE. I use nuun everyday to #stayhydrated. I also use plus for nuun for hard workouts (speed, tempo or long). It has a bit of carbs to give some much need energy. Use it in combination with either nuun active or nuun energy. I find it gives me a needed boost. 

That's all for this week. Looking forward to some fast racing on Sunday! (By the way, I just realized I missed my blogoversary on March 19! I've been blogging (as Perpetually Rungry) for a year! Happy Miles!)

Surprises are AmazingCakes

This past weekend I participated in a local 5k in conjunction with the LLUMC PossAbilities sprint triathlon. And guess what? I WON. Came in 1st, female overall and 1st in my age/sex group. My only goal for the race was to PR, but if I  felt like it wasn't happening not to go all out because my goal 1/2 marathon race is this week. 

I finished the race in 22m:44s with an average pace of 7:20/mile, almost a full minute faster than my previous 5k record of 23:36. It is an amazing feeling heading towards the finish line knowing you are going to finish that distance faster than you have ever run it. It was a triple-layer amazingcake finding out that I won. The icing on the amazingcake was the group and community that participated with me. 

It wasn't a race I had been planning to run and if it was up to me never would have registered. If I wasn't part of  The Energy Lab community, Sunday's race would never have happened for me. Cindy, posted on our group's training page that she registered for the triathlon and invited others to join her. Others soon joined in and when I found out that you could register for the 5k run--I joined the pack. 

Jill Rooks (pictured above, bottom right), founder and owner of The Energy Lab, is the inspiration and success behind our group. She helps us find the motivation within ourselves and breakthough mental barriers. As you may know, I broke my kneecap in 2012 and used that setback to motivate myself to become the fittest I've ever been. No excuses. 

I've become stronger and faster-my race performances have demonstrated this. The proof is in the amazingcake. Key ingredients include the addition of speed/tempo workouts (training with a purpose) and my focus on cross-training and building core strength through the many classes and training options at The Energy Lab. It's the Lab itself that's the cake pan.  It's more than a place to workout. It's a community of supporters and inspiration. The sense of belonging that makes it special. It's a place where magic happens. Every day. And I'm no where close to being fully baked. I'm still rising. 

This week, I'm focused on Sunday's race with the momentum of this past weekend's victory. I'm ready. I've got this. And I'm tapering for REALS {meaning your won't see me at classes this week}.

(Note: Most everybody else in the first picture above is way more hardcore than me. All I did was run. Though they did semi-convince to try the triathlon next year.)