{base training week 6} It's official: I'm IN.

Well, I did it. I bit the bullet. I pulled the trigger. I pressed the button. Choose your own cliche, it all boils down to this: I finally registered for the marathon I've been training for. Yep, I'm starting my 6th week of training and I finally decided to register and race another marathon. Plagued by self-doubt and fear (yes fear), marathons intimidate me. I love training for them. I've trained for more marathons than I have run. My mantra for the year is: I want it more than I fear it. And it was about time, that I put that mantra to the test and act on it. 

I had a great training week. I hit my paces and workouts, two group runs and two runs with Nani. It motivated me to finally make it official (and prices increase tomorrow). 146 days from now I will be towing the line at my 4th marathon. Mind over matter and knowing in my core that mindset makes a difference. It will be a good race. 

Base Training: Week 5 Recap

Monday: Cycle class (AM); 3 mile recovery run (bpm<143) PM
Tuesday: 4.6 miles on treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 6-7 miles 10.3 miles, 10 x 1000m @ marathon pace,track speed work
Thursday: 6.5 miles with 5 6 x 20 second strides at end with Nani+ TRX class
Friday: 5 miles 4.2 miles
Saturday: 3.2 miles with Nani and 2 miles + 90 min yoga with LA Oiselle Flock
Sunday: 8 miles 7.2 miles (progression pace run) + 5.3 miles with Lab Rats

Total Mileage = 43.5 miles

Base Training: Week 6

Goal Mileage = 40 miles

Monday: 1 mile warm-up jog +Tabata
Tuesday: 4.5 miles treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 7.3 miles (200, 400, 800, 1600, 800,400, 200), speed work on track
Thursday: 8 miles with 5 x 20 strides at end 7.0 miles Recovery run (bpm<143) with Nani+ TRX class
Friday: 1 mile warm-up jog + Tabata + 3 miles with Nani +TRX class
Saturday: 4-5 miles
Sunday: 13 miles long run in San Jose

Need for Speed (Part 1): Figuring out Pace

I truly enjoy speed work. I enjoy the challenge and I enjoy the feeling of completing a tough workout. I also feel it's helping me develop a sense of pace. Learning to pace myself is a continuous process and not something I can do by feel {yet--it's a goal}. It is something that will help my racing skills and have a better race experience. 

Although track and speed workouts have been a part of my weekly running rotation for almost a year (newbie!), I've only recently started using my Garmin to provide pace alerts. Prior to the realization that I could do this, I would either run the first few intervals too fast and bonk during the latter intervals or I would not push myself {just running through the motions} to maintain the proper pace. Now that I'm properly pacing myself, I feel like I'm getting a lot more out of my workouts (d'uh). 

What's a proper pace? Good question. This took me awhile to figure out as well. Is it my current pace or my goal pace? What's my lactate threshold pace? I've talked to other runners and have researched googled the topic. I've discovered that the McMillan Running Pace Calculator is a great tool to figure out what pace to use. Using a recent race time/distance and a goal time/distance, it gives me times/paces for specific distances. My workout paces:

• 1 mile: 6:32 min/mile
• 3k: 6:55 min/mile
• 5k: 7:18 min/mile
• 10k: 7:35 min/mile
• 1/2 marathon: 8:00 min/mile
• marathon: 8:35 min/mile
• lactate threshold: 7:43 min/mile
• VO2 max: 6:39 min/mile

These are the paces (+/- 5 secs) I use when a workout description says to run an interval at 5k pace (for example).

Coming up in Part 2: My favorite track workouts. 

Time to Reassess my Goals {base-training: Week 5}

As last week was finishing up, feeling tired and burnt out, I came to the realization that I shouldn't be feeling this way during a base-building phase. It's been tough to meet my mileage goals the last couple of weeks. The marathon training plan I am starting in August has 3 different levels depending on base weekly mileage. 

The first level is for those who run less than 40 miles per week and starts off at 33 miles per week. The second level is for those who run 55 to 70 miles per week and starts off at 54 miles per week. The third level; I'm not even going to go there. It's for super-high weekly mileage runners (not me).

I run an average of 40 miles per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.  I run more during weeks leading up to a marathon or when I'm travelling and don't have go to work. It's not tough to fit 40 miles with my current lifestyle and I can run more without injury on the weeks when my life schedule allows more miles.

Because I was in-between the first and second level plans, my goal for my base-training phase was to slowly build my mileage to 55 miles per week and start at the 2nd level which eventually builds to a peak of 70 miles per week. Yikes. Let's reassess this...

My goal is to run a marathon in less than 4 hours. I don't need to burn out on high mileage weeks to reach that goal. I need to make my runs count (make each run purposeful) and focus on fun (because this isn't my job. Reminder to self:  I'm doing it because I enjoy running). 

Coming to this realization and giving myself permission to step back my goals for base-building and deciding to follow the first level of my marathon training plan, has taken a significant (and self-imposed) weight off my shoulders. I think sub-conscious stress of not meeting weekly goals or worrying about finding time (lose sleep; quit my job ;) ) to {barely} meet goals was taxing me. As soon as I made this decision, I felt less tired and more excited about this coming week. On to the final 4 weeks of base-building!

Base-Training: Week Four Recap

Monday: 5 miles recovery run (bpm<143) Or not! I took a day off. :)

Tuesday: 4.4 miles + 45 min cycle class

Wednesday: 6.4 miles, 3 x (1000m, 200m) at 1/2marathon pace & 5k pace speedwork on track

Thursday: 7 miles + 4 x 20 second strides 4.5 miles (treadmill) + cycle class + 2.5 miles (treadmill) + TRX class

Friday: 7 miles, 10 x 30-second hill repeats +TRX class

Saturday: 4 miles for the 4th of July, easy

Sunday: 14 miles long run with 4 x 20 second strides  10.5 miles long run

Total Mileage: 39.5 miles

Base-Training: Week 5

Goal Mileage: 40 miles

Monday: Cycle class (AM); 3 mile recovery run (bpm<143) PM
Tuesday: 4.6 miles on treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 6-7 miles 10.3 miles, 10 x 1000m @ marathon pace,track speed work
Thursday: 6.5 miles with 5 6 x 20 second strides at end with Nani+ TRX class
Friday: 5 miles 4.2 miles
Saturday: 3.2 miles with Nani and 2 miles + 90 min yoga with LA Oiselle Flock
Sunday: 8 miles 7.2 miles (progression pace run) + 5.3 miles with Lab Rats

Do It with Your Heart

As I runner, I often criticize my legs for not going fast enough. I blame myself beat myself up for giving in and giving up. I review my times, my average pace, how I felt. I get caught up in the details about how I don't  measure up to some idealized version of me.

Then I read the story of Gunhild Sawnson who completed the Western States 100-mile race with just 6 seconds to spare before the 30 hour cut-off time to earn the finisher's buckle and the title of the oldest finisher in the race's 42 year history.

70-year-old Gunhild Swanson steals the Western States show by finishing just in time: http://t.co/YPPQ71W9Z3 pic.twitter.com/jUfm74fm4J

— runningtimes (@runningtimes) June 30, 2015

Read the story. Watch the finish line video. I dare you not to get teary-eyed and inspired. It reminded me about why I run. It's for the love of sport; it's for passion; I run with my heart. I just needed a reminder. 

Valuing sleep, but OMG the HEAT.{base-training: week 4}

Sleep. I need it. I don't get enough of it. I go to sleep too late and wake up too early. If I get 6 hours that's a good night, but usually it's less than that. When I was writing out my goals for 2015, improving my sleep habits was one of them. 

For most of this year, I haven't done much to improve my sleep. Bed by 11 pm each night has been the extent of it. Usually my alarm goes off and I wake up before 5 am, meaning less than 6 hours of sleep. In the last month or so, I've dusted off my sleep goal and decided I need to rest like a champion. A full-time job with a longish commute and family/home/social obligations don't leave a lot of opportunities for training and sleep (nothing unique). The last month or so on days I don't have work or the weekend when I don't have early plans, I've been sleeping in (for me this means 7 am). This also means I'm starting my morning runs later and OMG the heat. 

The heat of summer to not bother or concern me. I would wake up early and be done with my run before the sun was out. Now that I'm valuing sleep I have to deal with the heat (and this week the humidity) and make adjustments. I may not run as long or as fast as planned. Yesterday's long run was brutal with lots of stops for water or just stopping to catch my breath. I plan to run after work today (I slept in/rested this morning!) when temperatures are hopefully a little cooler. If not, to the treadmill I go. 

Base-Training: Week Three Recap

Monday: 5 miles recovery run with Nani
Tuesday: 6 miles run with Nani + sleep late
Wednesday: 7 miles with three miles at tempo + sleep late
Thursday: 4.4 miles + Cycle class
Friday: 1.0 mile warm-up jog, Tabata class, 4.3 treadmill miles 8x30 seconds @ 6% incline, Cycle class. 5 miles, hills
Saturday: 4.0 miles easy run with Nani + Cycle class
Sunday: 13.0 miles long run with 8 x 2 min hard/2 min easy

Total Mileage: 44.9 miles

Base-Training: Week Four

Goal Mileage: 46 miles

Monday: 5 miles recovery run (bpm<143) Or not! I took a day off. :)

Tuesday: 4.4 miles + 45 min cycle class

Wednesday: 6.4 miles, 3 x (1000m, 200m) at 1/2marathon pace & 5k pace speedwork on track

Thursday: 7 miles + 4 x 20 second strides 4.5 miles (treadmill) + cycle class + 2.5 miles (treadmill) + TRX class

Friday: 7 miles, 10 x 30-second hill repeats +TRX class

Saturday: 4 miles easy

Sunday: 14 miles long run with 4 x 20 second strides  10.5 miles long run

META-Review (or am I lazy?)-Ragnar Wasatch Back

We all started off wearing  Oiselle
singlets for our 1st leg. 

A meta-analysis is a type scientific study that batches the results of multiple studies to look for patterns, similarities and/or differences. It's good for combining the results of smaller studies to get more statistical power (Together we're stronger!). A proper meta-analysis has specific methodology and takes into account some assumptions. 

This is not a proper meta-analysis. This is me being lazy. Hey, I'm recovering! 
Ragnar Wasatch Back is the founding race of the Ragnar series. It is also the most challenging course (Hills! Elevation! Heat!) and the most beautiful. I would definitely run it again. I ran as part of the Oiselle Bird Machine team.

Bird Machine Reviews

Runner Leana Race Report: Ragnar Wasatch Back

Running is Democratic Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back Race Recap 2015

Travis and Marilyn Keys (Adventures in Life & Running) Ragnar Wasatch Back


Just Keep Running Ragnar Wasatch Back Recap

Non-Bird Machine Reviews

Blognar 70 Photos from Ragnar Wasatch Back that Capture the True Spirit of Ragnar

Live Free and Run Race Recap: Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back UT (Colleen was part of  Team Nuun. We had a friendly competition with them during the race because a few Oiselle Bird Machine mates are Nuun ambassadors as well & they had their team pre-race dinner at Squatters--the same brewery we went to!)

Scoot-a-DOOT Baby Got Wasatch Back

Bird Machine Blogs to follow

Leana: Runner Leana

Luisa: Running is Democratic

Emily: Life, Fitness, and Me

Paulette: Just Keep Running

Of course, typical of laziness. My meta-review may have been more work than just writing one myself. When will I learn?

I will update this post as I find more reports. 

My only night picture

{base training: week 3}

Two lessons learned during week two

One: I need to run/train at elevation more often.

Two: Hills. Do more hills. Do more hills on trails.

I'm still buzzing from Ragnar Wasatch Back. I'm still in awe of the strong women of the Bird Machine (3rd place in women open division).

I upgraded to Strava Premium (although the free version still rocks). Now my runs receive a suffer score which rates how hard I worked. My Ragnar runs were rated Extreme and Epic. 

Base-Training: Week Two Recap

Monday: 4.3 miles recovery run (using heart rate monitor, bpm <143. This is hard, especially when running uphill.)
Tuesday: 4.3 miles easy run on treadmill
Wednesday: 6.5 miles speedwork, probably fartleks pre-race workout on track 
Thursday: 6 miles + 4 x 20-second strides
Friday: Ragnar Wasatch Back 1st leg-7.2 miles, hill run
Saturday: Ragnar Wasatch Back 2nd & 3rd legs-9.6 miles + 4 x 20-second strides & 3.1 miles
Sunday: Rest or 3 mile easy run HA! What was I thinking? I rested like a champ.

Total Mileage: 41.2 miles

Week 3 is unusual because I am off work Monday-Wednesday  to catch up on sleep and recover from the weekend. Moving from the track to the road for this week's speed work. 

Base-Training: Week Three

Goal Mileage: 44 miles

Monday: 5 miles recovery run with Nani
Tuesday: 6 miles run with Nani + sleep late
Wednesday: 7 miles with three miles at tempo + sleep late
Thursday: 4.4 miles + Cycle class
Friday: 1.0 mile warm-up jog, Tabata class, 4.3 treadmill miles 8x30 seconds @ 6% incline, Cycle class. 5 miles, hills
Saturday: 4.0 miles easy run with Nani + Cycle class
Sunday: 13.0 miles with 8 x 2 min hard/2 min easy