Spring Race Schedule and More!

I have so many random things to share. Rather than trying to put together a cohesive post I'll just separate the randomness into sections.

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Training is back on track after a mini-setback with my sore foot. My arch was quite sore after the long run Sunday, and really sore Monday still. Tuesday it was a bit better but decided to skip the 4 mile recovery run and hope my foot healed up completely. I think that worked because Wednesday it felt fine and I got in my medium-long run. I ran again today (with Emily, yay!) and it feels ok. I've been icing and taking ibuprofen and all that. Hopefully it's gone for good. I am reminded of how painful marathon training can be and also reminded that it always gets better.



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I have officially registered for my spring race lineup. Drumroll please!

March 6 - Champoeg 10k
This is Deana's big goal race- her first 10k. So exciting, can't wait! We're already talking about other races later this spring/summer.

March 21 - Mercer Island Half Marathon
One of my goals for the year was to do a race up in Seattle, and this one fit perfectly. It's a bit hilly so probably not a PR race but a fun challenge.

April 18 - Bridge to Brews 10k
I did this race last year and set my 10k PR. I hope to break it this year!

and of course...

May 2 - Eugene Marathon
This will be my 8th marathon and I'll be going for another BQ. It ain't gonna be easy.


Not sure what is up for me after that but we'll cross that bridge when we get there!

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Here is the recap of my week so far- this is Week 3 of the Pfitz 12/55 schedule:


Monday: rest

Tuesday: yoga at the gym
(unplanned rest day from running to rest my foot)


Wednesday
11.0 miles/1:39:25/9:02 average pace
Medium long run on the springwater trail before the rain came

Wednesday: short weights workout at home

Thursday
8.0 miles/1:11:03/8:53 average pace
Run with Emily up in Vancouver. She's got a really nice route- it's always fun to run somewhere new. Always fun to run with somebody too! My foot was a little sore during the run but not too bad after.

I will update after the weekend with pics from my trip to Seattle!

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I was tagged by my ambitious friend and will do my best to play along. I am just supposed to say 6 things about myself - I love reading these things about other people so I'll try to make mine interesting.

#1 I am a cat person. I have never had a dog. Zach and I have a kitty named Smegol who is 9 years old and very fat and mean; I love him dearly! I think dogs are kind of gross (sorry everyone).

#2 I'm very happy with my life now: living downtown Portland, just me and Zach (and aforementioned mean cat), living it up. But... I am looking forward to buying a house and starting a family someday soon-ish. Will continue to live it up, to be sure.

#3 I turn 30 this year. I'm not freaked out about this at all, but we'll see how I feel in 6 months.

#4 I listen to podcasts all day at work, including several comedy podcasts. My subscriptions include This American Life, Radio Lab, The Moth, The Bugle, Stop Podcasting Youself, Comedy Death Ray, Jordan Jesse Go, You Look Nice Today, I Love Movies, and more (just google or search in iTunes to find those, I highly recommend all of them)

#5 I really like writing and wish I actually put any real effort into this blog. I feel like it takes so long to just spew my thoughts out and post photos that any editing or revision is out of the question. I would like to spend some time writing and actually work at it... if I come up with anything good I promise to share.

#6 I've spent a significant amount of time in the last couple of months playing brickbreaker on my blackberry. My high score is 24,920.

Whew! That was hard.

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I always like to end with some pictures.

Spring has sprung early here in Portland and there are a lot of blooms on the trees. Here are a few that are looking lovely already. We've had some rain and more is on the way but a sunny day here and there goes a long way around here.

Week 2 Wrap-Up

Week two is in the books! After my Montana run I had a couple days off and picked it back up on Thursday. This was the last week in my program with 4 days of running so I enjoyed the break.

My right arch has been pretty sore this week which sucks. I'm icing it and rolling it on a frozen water bottle and taking Advil. It seems to hurt immediately after a run and for the next several hours but then feels fine. Pretty annoying. Other than that I'm feeling good so I'll count my blessings.

Speaking of blessings, it's been VERY nice in Portland! We've had clear skies and 60 degrees for the past several days. It's like an early spring. Some of the trees are blooming and some flowers are pushing through. Yay! I know we'll have plenty of rain coming our way so we're enjoying it while we can. The waterfront and all parks are just packed with people doing the same.

I didn't get much cross training in this week since I was travelling and then we had a guest in town for one night too. I did get to do a yoga session over Skype with my mom which was very neat! I'm going to try to do that a couple of times a week. Inga, who is a certified yoga instructor, is helping me pick poses and flows to "teach" - it's so fun.

Next week I'll try and get to a couple of yoga classes. I know I'll need it because the marathon training schedule is more intense with 5 days of running and 43 miles planned. We are going up to Seattle for the weekend so I'll get to do another new route for my long run again! We're going up to watch a roller derby tournament- my brother is flying up from the bay area to help run it. He's an official/ref, isn't that cool? I can't wait to see him- I haven't since we moved.

Here is the breakdown of the rest of my training this week, and then there are a few pictures:

Thursday
10.0 miles/1:27:20/8:44 average pace

Tempo run after work on the Springwater. I was really worried about this run because my stomach was hurting all afternoon at work (gassy/crampy) and I didn't know if it would hold up for the run, especially the tempo portion. Thankfully, once I was running I felt fine and nailed the run. I was going for 7:45-7:55 for my tempo miles. Here is the breakdown:

4 miles warm up @ 9:21 average pace
4 miles Tempo @ 7:47 average pace
2 miles cool down @ 9:25 average pace

Friday- rest

Saturday
6.0 miles/1:01:27/10:15 average pace

Nice run with Deana - it was her longest run ever and she's definitely going to rock the 10k that we're doing in two weeks. I'm so impressed! She's been running a hilly route up in Washington Park during the week and it has really helped her endurance. Awesome!

Sunday
15.0 miles/2:12:22/8:50 average pace

Long run in Salem's Minto Brown Park. Another beautiful sunny day and we decided to drive down and check out a new route. It was very pretty and there were tons of people out. It's a multiple loop situation which was good because I was able to refill my water at the car. Zach ran ahead of me but for the most part stayed within sight so I could follow (he has a much better sense of direction than me). We regrouped a couple times to figure out which way to go next. We ended up seeing most, but not all, of the park. Even though it was a very pretty run, it was tough. I was tired and really wanted to stop when Zach did at 11 miles. But I toughed it out and it was fine. My right arch was hurting a little at the end and really tightened up after but hopefully the ice and advil will help. It's always something with me!

total miles for Week 2: 39



Pictures!

6 miler with Deana on Saturday out on the Springwater trail in Gresham

Sunday long run at Minto-Brown Island Park in Salem




Thanks for reading!

Montana Visit

I had a wonderful time in Montana. It was sooooooo good to see my mom and everyone. She's doing great, thanks so much for all the well-wishes. We mostly just hung out and talked and played the Wii, but I also played in the snow, shoveled snow, went running, and visited with friends in town. It was short but super sweet.

My run was really decent- there was some snow but the path was clear and I was able to get in 8 miles.

Monday
8.0 miles/1:12:56/9:07 average pace

I'm back home now and came back to some beautiful weather- sunny and nearly 60 degrees!

Have a great week.

Photo Time!

Week One Done!

I'm sitting in the seattle airport eating Valentine's chocolate and waiting for my flight to Helena. Today's travel plans meant I had to get up early to get my long run in. That task was made slightly more difficult by last night's activities- we went out for a celebratory drink with Deana and a bunch of people to toast her awesome new job! We got home pretty early but were woken up by a fire alarm at 11:30. It took a while to get let back in because there actually was a small fire- spooky! Anyway, finally got to sleep and got up at 7:00 this morning to run.

First, last night's run

Friday
5.3 miles/55:05/10:24 average pace
Easy run along the waterfront with Deana hearing all about her sweet new job


Ok now I'm on the plane- I'll have to finish this later.

Hi, I'm back! I'm now sitting in my parents living room watching the Olympics with my mom and grandma. Yay! I'm going to make this really quick so I can make the most of my family time. :)

So this morning Zach and I got out early for this run. He was only doing like 10 miles and I had 13, but with 8 of those miles at Goal Marathon Pace. This is a new change in the Pfitz plan so I've never done a goal pace run this early in training. I think it's great though because I'll get to compare how that pace feels as my training goes on.

Today, the pace felt great. My goal was to run 8:20-8:25 and I nailed it. It felt great- really comfortable. Not easy, but comfortable. Here's the summary:

Saturday
13.0 miles/1:52:16/8:38 average pace

1.5 mile warm up in 13:57 (9:18 average pace)

8 miles MP in 1:07:17 (8:25 average pace!!)

3.5 miles cool down in 31:02 (8:52 average pace)


TOTAL miles for week one of marathon training: 35.3 miles

Well I better wrap it up! It is pretty cold here but the sidewalks are pretty clear so I might actually get to run!

Oooh there's a mogul skier on right now from Bozeman, MT! Heather McPhie. Sweet!

Um, I can't figure out how to spell check on my blackberry so excuse my errors!

Have a great weekend gang! Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Do This

O hai! I forgot I had a blog. Where were we? I think rather than take you through the details of the last two and a half weeks I'll try to quickly wrap it up. Then we can get to the good stuff, which is that I'm officially in marathon training!

I'm feeling a lot better these days despite having a rocky couple of weeks. I think that even though life has been pretty tough, my attitude is better and I'm finding strength I didn't know I had. Without going into details, my mom has been sick and had to have surgery and all kinds of other stuff. She's doing good now and is healing up. I'm going up to visit this weekend and I'm really looking forward to seeing her. It's been hard on the whole family, but there is a silver lining which is that it's brought us all closer together. We're talking and planning trips together and just generally appreciating each other a lot more. My mom, dad, and brother (and sister-in-law, and grandma, and aunts and uncles...) are really incredible people and I'm so blessed to have them in my life. I know I have a lot to bring to the party too- a positive attitude, a healthy lifestyle, and a super kind husband. I know we are all going to get through this and come out stronger than ever. :)

I also have to give a quick shout out to my amazing friends who have provided so much love and support to me lately. My great friends here and my bestest friends in other states were all right there by my side and I love them so much for it. Emily, Alisa, Deana, Dana and our other friends have been keeping me company here in Portland and Maritza and Inga have been just as close from a distance. And of course thank you to my Zach, husband extraordinaire.

Well that is the condensed version of my situation, but there is a lot of running to be discussed so let's move it along!

I won't post every workout for the last few weeks, but I've been increasing my running mileage, doing yoga 2x a week, weight training several times a week, and stretching very consistently. I even got out for a short bike ride! I ran 31 miles two weeks ago and then 26 miles last week. I did a long run of 12 miles, mid-week runs of 8 miles, and a mix of easy and faster runs. All good stuff. I also managed to lose a couple of pounds, mostly due to stress, but I'll take it. I'm feeling strong and ready to tackle the big miles of marathon training.

So my training started this week. I'm doing the Pfitzinger 12 weeks/55 miles per week (max) plan again for the Eugene Marathon on May 2. I've done this plan three times and two times I PR'd/BQ'd. I'm going for the BQ again this time which is 3:40. I'm not going to bother trying to run a PR (3:36:something) because I think BQ is going to be a big enough challenge! This is my first stand-alone marathon since December 2008 so I'm thinking of it as my "come back" race. I'm just excited to be training and running and completing my 8th marathon (9th if you count the Ironman). It's going to be tough, but it's going to be fun.

I've already done two runs this week and they both went great. Here's the stats:

Monday
8.0 miles/1:09:00/8:38 average pace
GA run out on the river path with 10 x 100 m strides in the middle. In the past I've blown off the strides so this time I'm really going to try to do them. The run felt very comfortable. The sun was out which is happening more often these days- love it! Also loving the longer days so I can actually get the miles in during the daylight hours!

(Monday- weights, at home)

(Tuesday- yoga at gym)

Wednesday
9.0 miles/1:16:28/8:30 average pace
Forest Park run. The sun didn't stick around for long this week and so this run took place in the cold rain. Alisa went up with me and did her own cold, muddy run. She at least had tights on -I was underdressed and uncomfortable but otherwise the run was good. I haven't run up in Forest Park for a while so it was fun. Nice and muddy! I always love running that last downhill mile and can't help but run it all out. Today I think it was 7:07 or something. Yay!

(Wednesday- yoga at gym, after a hot shower to get the feeling back in my extremities)

I have an easy run on Friday (planning on running with Deana for that one) and my long run on Saturday (running that one with Zach because some of the miles are supposed to be at Goal Pace and he's my dream pacer). Then I leave for Montana and will be coming back Tuesday. I'm not sure I'll be able to run at all while I'm there due to snow/cold but we'll see. I'll bring my running things just in case.


I'm going to update my blog more, it's a new goal of mine. I know it helps keep me committed to and motivated for my training. Plus it helps to put it all out there, good or bad. It might not always be super sunny in Portland or in my life but I can't stay inside and hide from it. Thanks for sticking with me! :)

Here are a few pictures from a couple weeks ago. I took them on my bike ride along the river.