End of July Running + Sierra Pelona Hike

Not sure how this started happening, but this now makes for the second consecutive 2-week cycle where I do a lot during Week 1, then have an easier Week 2.

Week of July 22:
Monday: 6 miles, +391’/avg pace 9:02

Tuesday: Easy 7.26 mi bike ride/12.6 mph

Wednesday: AM: 5.46 mi, +213’/avg pace 9:16
Wednesday PM:  6.73 mi bike/12.5 mph. Tooling around on the new bike.

Thursday: XC Summer Series, Week 3.  3 miles in 24:30 (8:10 pace) + 2.1 mi cool down (10:33 pace)
*There were almost 800 runners this week! I it about :40 seconds faster than Week 1, yet moved back about 130 places.

Friday: 2 mi shakeout run/avg pace 8:27

Saturday: 8.63 mi run/avg pace 8:49

Sunday: 11.77 mi hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. I had previously run this section back in October but wanted to bring Dan back.

^Yep, we came up that ‘Z’ on the far mountain. And the trail you can see on the mountain behind that.

It was warm. Dan hoped we were closer to the top than we actually were.

^To the north. Crispy from May’s Powerhouse Fire

^Firebreak from a fire that happened here 6 years ago.

The amazing pastrami pizza that followed our hike.

Week of July 29
Tuesday: 4.94 miles: 2x1200m in 6:26, 5:48, 4x800m in 3:41, 3:39, 3:41, 3:42

Wednesday: 2.3 mi easy, with 4 sprints in the middle (4x.08 mi in :27, :25, :25, :25)

Friday: 3.25 mi, +327’/avg pace of 9:44

Sunday: 14.14 mi, +761’/avg pace of 9:50.

Mt Pinos Hike & Biweekly Running Recap

Week of July 8th: A.K.A. 7 days of moving-- but not much running.
Monday:  12 mile bike ride/14.1 mph

Tuesday: 3.32 mile hilly run. +542’, 10:01 avg pace.

Wednesday: 2 mile easy run w/Dan.

Thursday: 3 mile XC Summer Series, Week 1. I ran this last year. Course is slightly different than last year to accommodate the track re-build, but it is still half road/half dirt and hilly.  Ran it in 25:08 which placed me at approximately 339/~573 runners.  +~181’, 8:22 pace. First place runner finished in 15:52.

Friday: 1.58 mile run down the hill and back up. +321’.

Saturday:  9.8 mile hike in Los Padres National Forest. +2263’. Elevation was noticeable and ranged between 8300’ and 8829’. 

Temperatures were near 100 degrees at home, but was probably about 20 degrees cooler up here with shade from the tall pines and a nice cool breeze.  Fun fact: Mt Pinos is the highest point in the Los Padres National Forest.  We had nice views of the Central Valley and other parts of the National Forest.

Mount Pinos  & Sawmill Mountain:

^Final ascent

Sunday: 9.6 mile easy bike ride/11.9 mph. Needed to shake out the legs.

Week of July 15th:

Monday: I don’t normally count dog walks, but… 30 minute dog walk?

Tuesday AM: 3.6 miles/avg pace 9:29
Tuesday PM: Speed work… on a real track! 6x[600m, 200m rest] in: 2:47, 2:47, 2:47, 2:40, 2:48, 2:48 . Total of 4.7 miles with warm up and cool down.

Wednesday: 50 minute dog walk

Friday: 4 miles. +715’, avg pace 9:52

Saturday night.  This is how I prepared for my Sunday long run:

Sunday: 12 miles. +622’, avg pace 9:40.

One of these was going on over the weekend:

All shoes were $40 on Friday (and got down to $25 on Sunday), but I exercised restraint.  Besides, they didn’t have my beloved Tempo in my size…and I recently got a new pair.  I did, however, pick up a $15 tank (one that I was about to buy on Running Warehouse!) and a $7 hat. Folks from my running group found some Bostons and Adios(es?) in their sizes…good deal.

  

That’s all I’ve got. 
This concludes my last post as a 29 year old. Tuesday I turn 30. Yikes.

3 Week Recap

Begin Boring Running Stats. I’m including elevation gain because my runs are not flat unless I’m at the track so I think that deserves some extra credit.  I’ve decided there is NO SUCH THING as an easy run here. I threw in some hiking pictures to make it pretty.

Let’s Rewind to the week of 5/20.

Monday: 3.34 easy (slow) miles on hills.  I attempted to keep my HR low and that required walking. Avg pace 11:33, +537’.
Tuesday: 5 miles at the track incl: 300m in 1:16, 600m in 2:49, 2x800m in 3:39. 2x100m in 4:52, 4:45.
Wednesday: 7.15 mi bike ride @14mph.
Thursday: Easy 5.09 mi on trails. Avg pace 10:56, + 615’.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10.43 mi. Avg pace 9:13, flattish.
Sunday: Hike in Placerita Canyon with my husband’s brother & his wife visiting from the Ohio! 7.5 mi, +1901’. 

Week of 5/27

Monday: Rest (a.k.a. Memorial Day Grilling and Sangria)
Tuesday: Went to track but there was a HS graduation!  Went to the bike path instead and braved 45 mph winds and a face full of dust to run 4.2 miles with 4 mi @ avg pace of 8:18.
Wednesday: 9.25 mi bike ride @13.5 mph
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 7.5 mi hike, +1686.’ Ventured into the desert to hike to Devil’s Chair with the Ohioans.  We’ve done this one before.

  

     

  
^Little cloud-looking thing peeking from behind the rocky ridge in the left half of the photo is the smoke plume from the “Powerhouse fire” 40 mi NW of here.

Saturday + Sunday: No running. The nearby fire grew quickly since it started Thursday afternoon and resulted in visible smoke in the air and ash on…everything outside.   Saturday we headed further south to be able to spend time outside in cleaner air.  Here are pictures of the smoke plume visible from around town on Saturday morning.

  

I decided to heed the air quality warnings and did not exert myself outdoors.  Followed by whining and complaining to my husband that it had been too long and I was forgetting how to run. Instead of running, I spent the time following the fire online, and worrying about how much damage it was doing.  Constructive, I know. Interesting pictures here and  here and here.

Week of 6/3

Monday: Only had time for 2.4 easy miles on hills before work. 10:57 avg pace, +533’.
Tuesday: 5.3 mi trail run in the morning. 11:23 avg pace, +1125’.
Night: 4.27 mi of speed work involving some 5ish 800s.
Wednesday: 3.09 mi in my hilly neighborhood. 10:12 avg pace; +502’.  I swear it felt easier at night than it does in the morning.
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 9.26 mi bike ride @14mph
Saturday: 10.73 mi at 9:21 pace, flattish (+232’).
Sunday: Rest

And to end with pictures…Molly made up a new game that involves bringing all her stuffed animals outside, one by one, to lie in the grass with her.

  

Data Whore

My post-half marathon recovery:

Sunday: rest
Monday: 25 minutes of “gentle” yoga; ran 1.95 miles, easy.
Tuesday AM: ran 4.35 miles, easy
Tuesday PM: 5 mile fun run in a test pair of Kinvara 3s.   Minutes from the run, I realize I rushed out the door wearing my heart rate monitor, but without my watch.

Wednesday: 8.2 mile leisurely bike ride
Thursday: ran 6.14 miles, easy
Friday: 5 mile leisurely bike ride at the beach
Saturday: rest.
Sunday: ~5 mile crazy hike at Tar Creek in Los Padres National Forest. We thought it would be relatively easy given the distance, but were not aware of the rock climbing involved to get down to the water (which, by the way, is a rarity around here.  For example, the “river” that runs through my town only had water in it during a torrential downpour).  While the rock part was tough, it was still fun though.

 

    

  

  
^Those teens were diving into the water.  We wore our suits, prepared to go for a swim, but I’m pretty sure their discovery of a water snake changed my mind. It didn’t stop them from continuing to swim though.

I guess I’m still “recovering” if you go by that rule where you’re supposed to rest one day for every mile that you race, but I don’t and my legs feel fine anyway.  So far this week I ran:

Monday: 6.05 mi easy
Tuesday: 6x400m with 1 minute rest. Running it on a bike path after I’ve gotten used to running on a track made it a little tricky to gauge if I was on target. Ran them in 1:55, 1:48, 1:45, 1:49, 1:47, 1:52.
Wednesday: 3.09 easy

I’m planning to get in a few more runs: at short tempo pace (8:23), long tempo pace (8:53), and a couple easy runs before the 10k I’m signed up for next Wednesday on July 4th.  I just borrowed the last week of the Run Less Run Faster 10k plan because I didn’t really know what to do with myself, but knew I wanted to get in a few faster runs so my legs know what to do. But, hey, even if I don’t run it well, it’s my first 10k and will therefore be a PR.

And just for fun, the day after my half marathon, unbeknownst to my husband and prior to him calling me a data whore, I pulled up little reports in Garmin to compare my running so far this year to the same date last year (up through June 17th).

  

Change from 2011:
Distance: +36%
Time: +~21%
Elevation Gain: +207%
Avg Speed: +11%

Taper Week

Saturday is my fast (hopefully) and flat half marathon along the ocean!

I don’t really know if I did an awesome job of tapering this week, but I did cut back on my mileage a little, ran more miles at an easier pace, I’ve been getting a solid 8 hours of sleep every night, and I’m working on the hydrating, so that’s all good.

First, let’s go back to last week. Mostly so I can mention our hike and share some pictures.

On Monday the 4th I had a sweet tempo run.  Goal pace was 8:38 for 5 miles; I ran 5.34 miles at an average pace of 8:33 and didn’t feel like death at the end.

Tuesday was a 6 mile fun run from the running store, avg pace of 9:33.

Wednesday I squeezed in 2 easy miles in honor of National Running Day.

Thursday I got in some quick speed work, 3x1k in 4:45, 4:48, 4:48 (goal was 4:46) with a .15mi walk/jog recovery in between. Then 3 easy miles at the end with a friend.

Friday Dan and I did a 7.5 mile hike at our nearby favorite Placerita Canyon.  We started our usual way and took a new route down.  The views looked a little like this:

  

  

We followed the ridgeline all the way down. Unlike the trail we took up the mountain, our way down was pretty exposed and it got pretty hot later in the morning.

  

Super awesome self portrait and one of the many steep parts we came down:

  

We saw some wildlife:

  

I recovered from my shock after being the one to discover the rattlesnake just in time to snap a picture while it was slithering off the path.  And a horny toad: a pretty cute little lizard with a stumpy tail.

The elevation looked a little something like this:

Despite some good stretching, the downhill left my legs a little sore later that day and I thought it would be good to take Saturday off from running.  Also, the 2+ miles of rocky/sandy uphill/downhill made me realize I should get some shoes that are actually meant for hiking.  I’m thinking a good pair of trail running shoes will work for both hiking and the increased trail running I’ll be doing to prepare for November’s Griffith Park trail half.

10th/Sunday was my last “long” run. I ran the first 5-ish easy, then picked up the pace for the last 2 miles, running somewhere between tempo and race pace.

11th/Monday: easy 3 miles

12th/Tuesday:  easy 4ish miles in the morning; 6x400 at night (goal pace was 1:51, I ran them in 1:43-1:48).

13th/Wednesday: 25 minutes of yoga, hip opener.  Then some crunches, pushups, and a plank.

14th/Thursday: 3 miles at race pace: 8:51, 8:57, 9:04.

Friday I will rest.

Saturday morning is game time!

My primary goal is to break 2:00, and I would be thrilled with anything closer to a 1:57, for no real reason than that it would be more solidly sub-2.  My most recent 5k suggests a 1:56:39 HM, but I’ve only been running the corresponding training paces for 5 weeks, so I’m not sure how attainable that is.

HM Time	Pace
1:59:57	9:09
1:59:05	9:05
1:57:59	9:00
1:56:54	8:55
1:55:48	8:50

While it has been hitting the 80s and 90s where I live this week, thanks to the race course being along the ocean and the marine layer, it should be cool and overcast Saturday morning in Ventura: