Post-CA Bar Life Update

Hi there! So, I survived the California bar exam.

Flash cards all day, every day. Actually, more practice essays and multiple choice questions. But flash cards, too.

Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I think once you’ve billed well over 200 hours in a month, 18 hours of testing in three days just isn't as terrible as when you're coming off your laid back third year of law school. It was still stressful because memorization is not my strong suit, but nowhere near as nerve-wracking as when I took the New York bar in 2013. Also, Pasadena is really pretty!

It's nestled right up against the San Gabriel Mountains.

I ate most of my meals over the three days of the exam at Urth Caffe since it was close to my hotel and had delicious food. Highly recommend if you're in the area (it's an LA mini-chain focused on local and organic food).

Also: pretty outdoor seating.

There's not much to report life-wise or running-wise since studying took up the bulk of my time and my runs and workouts were strictly "let's burn off some stress and try not to lose fitness from Surf City training". Sourabh and I did a bit of hiking the weekend after the bar exam but both times were thwarted by nature/weather. 

First, we tried hiking in the Cleveland National Forest, but the area was closed because the area is trying to regrow from a forest fire. We hiked a few miles around the Irvine Regional Park instead but it wasn't quite the mountains I'd had in mind.

Still pretty, though.

We'd originally planned on heading up to Mammoth Lakes to hike but a major snowstorm was forecasted to dump a foot of snow on the mountain. Great for skiers, not so much for hikers with a foot-tall dog. So we did some short hikes in Orange County.

Apparently the powers-that-be were not going to let us escape from cold precipitation, though, because while hiking in the Santa Ana Mountains we were stuck in a freak hail storm. 

Before the hail...

We did catch a gorgeous, stormy sunset one night at Newport Beach.

Thankfully, last weekend was a bit more successful. My NYC office mate (and friend) Hana is visiting and the weather was great, so we got outside a bunch and had some delicious meals. Saturday dinner at Red O in Newport Beach (great Mexican food and even better people watching -- think the real housewives of OC types). One of our servers apparently wasn't used to normal appetites since he said "this is all for just you two?" when dropping off our food. And when he dropped off our dessert, he said "oh, only one?"

I mean, please confirm for me that this isn't that much...

Duck taquitos, beef short ribs sopes, ahi tuna tostaditas, guacamole and a chopped salad. (Unpictured: churros)
This is not SO MUCH food for two people.

Sunday morning we went to a SoulCycle class. It was hilarious after I'd watched the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode with a parody of spin cults the day before. The candle part was just so spot on... (Decent workout, though.)

For class, I tried out this top that I kept from my SWEATSTYLE delivery:

It's an ALALA tank top in the water print. I don't normally pick up prints, but I liked this one a lot. There's also a line of mesh running along the arm holes, which was cool. SWEATSTYLE is a service where you receive an outfit of workout clothes every three months. I'm not normally a fan of the delivery box services since I'm pretty specific about what I wear for work, but I like fun workout clothes, and I think Helena (the founder of SWEATSTYLE, a co-founder of Uplift Studios and a former attorney) is awesome, so I wanted to sign up.

Short review: I really like this top and it held up very well to the amount of sweating I did in the SoulCycle class. I'm going to do a full review after the next shipment I receive, but after one shipment I'm a fan. Receiving and returning the items was easy (and I'm lazy about that kind of thing). I liked that it exposed me to new brands other than the big "default" workout brands. I'll report back next time...

Post-class we had breakfast at W Cafe. I made sure to pick a place that had outdoor seating since Hana was coming from a brutal NYC winter, and then we headed for the hills and hiked at Santiago Oaks Regional Park.

Everything is SO GREEN right now. 

We did a short hike but the route was steep (Hana's fitbit said we went up about 700 feet over a mile and a half or so).

Mason was a brat and refused to walk . I was worried he was overheated and kept carrying him and giving him water. But as soon as we reached the top and I said "we're going back", he started running downhill. He wasn't even subtle about it. He'd just been lazy and hadn't wanted to walk.

Mason's preferred position. Unless he could be eating.

Sunday night we grabbed sushi on Newport Peninsula (it was meh) and dessert at Monster in the UC Irvine area (very tasty) before we headed to Turtle Rock to catch the last of the evening's sunset.

And now you're about caught up. In training news, I *think* I've picked a new half marathon to aim for, and I just put together a training plan. This week is the first week of training, so I'll be back to workout recaps soon!

Is anyone interested in a more detailed description of the bar exam? Happy to write more about it but also don't want to do a long post about the exam only to bore people.

Training Log: Surf City Half - Week 10

I'm still recovering from the multiple heart attacks today's Seahawks game gave me. It was apparently the largest comeback in NFC championship history.

Saw this on Reddit and had to share. If you've seen any of Marshawn Lynch's interviews, you'll get why this is hilarious. (Taciturn is probably the best way to describe them... he's a man of few words.)

Also, if you haven't seen this .gif yet, you need to see Michael Bennett take a police bike and ride it around the stadium after the Seahawks won.

For the non-football-inclined, I also have pretty pictures to share! I took Mason on a mini hike Saturday evening to watch the sun set from Quail Hill. Everything in Orange County is green right now thanks to a few days of rain we've had over the past month, and the surrounding hillsides are stunningly lush, considering OC is basically a desert environment.

Every time I get out onto the trails I feel so grateful to live here. As exciting a city as New York was to live in, it makes me a lot happier to climb up a hill and watch the sun set over mountains than it does to be surrounded by the fast pace of New York. Getting outside makes me feel grounded (yes, despite the dyed blonde hair and fake boobs that are plentiful in Orange County).

So now on to training...

Training Log: Surf City Half - Week 10

Monday: Rest day.

Tuesday: 6x800m on San Diego Creek Trail.

• 1 mile warm-up
• Dynamic stretching routine
• 6x800m: (1) 3:42, (2) 3:31, (3) 3:40, (4) 3:35, (5) 3:42, (6) 3:48 with 2 minutes recovery in between
• 1 mile cool-down

I went out for this workout ready to convert it to five easy miles if my hamstring twinged in the slightest, but it actually felt fine the entire workout. My legs felt like lead from the previous week's Friday night tempo, Saturday morning strength and Sunday afternoon long run combination... but the hamstring was fine! 

Wednesday: 5 easy around neighborhood + core.

After a long day at work due to a deal closing, I was able to fit in five very easy miles with Sourabh then two sets of four core exercises (single leg bicycles, spider-man planks, lateral scissors and a one minute plank). Hamstring unfortunately did not feel good starting at mile two, the earliest it hurt all week.

Thursday: Rest day.

I had to be up for a 5 a.m. closing call that lasted till 6:15 a.m. The night before I'd thought I would just blithely run over to the gym for some strength, but I was utterly exhausted and instead opted for an hour of dozing before I headed to work for real. Given my tender hamstring the previous night, I wasn't sure if I should work out anyway, so I opted to rest the hamstring and didn't go to the gym that evening.

Friday: Rest day.

Knowing my weekend schedule, it seemed best not to push my hamstring three days in a row, so I rested again. Also I was able to leave early and since Sourabh was going to be gone for a week, I kind of just wanted to hang out with him. At the time I felt guilty, but in retrospect I'm glad I took the time off. 

Saturday: Progression tempo run along San Diego Creek Trail + strength training with Melanie.

• 1 mile warm-up
• (1) 8:42, (2) 8:32, (3) 9:20, (4) 8:13, (5) 7:58
• 1 mile cool-down

I was feeling guilty about the two rest days but that was (mostly) cured by a fantastic tempo run with Sheila. She helped set the pace and we clocked a nice progression. I mean, look at those splits, right? My right hamstring started to ache a bit around mile 5, but it was fine till then. It was a nice confidence booster because we talked the whole time, and while the paces didn't feel conversational, it also wasn't extremely difficult to talk during them. Really happy with the run and thankful to Sheila for the excellent pacing! 

After breakfast with Sheila, I headed to the gym for strength training with Melanie. I am not happy that I only got in one strength session this past week, but in retrospect it might be for the best, for the hamstring at least.

• Two sets of 15 reps of three core exercises
• Three sets of 20 reps of lightly weighted total body exercises (lower body portions were more PT style exercises for the hamstring)
• Quality stretching time

Just one more from my gorgeous sunset hike up Quail Hill. Don't worry, no hamstrings were harmed in the hiking of this hill.

Sunday: Long run from Cedar Grove Park to Back Bay (13 miles).

It's the middle of January and it's in the 70s!

Last week was one large 12 mile loop and this week was a 13 mile point-to-point course with a friend from New York, Allie, who was in town. Previously I've done a lot of out and backs, oftentimes multiples so it would be 2 miles one direction, 2 miles back, then repeated. I've loved starting my long run with a sense of adventure. 

Today, half the route was brand new to me and it was neat to think we'd be running 13 miles from the base of the foothills in Tustin to the Back Bay in Newport Beach. After leaving my car at our destination, we drove up to Cedar Grove Park in Allie's car. Her car was left there, so at the end of the run, I dropped Allie off at her car. 

We saw a coyote on our run! He was utterly uninterested in the humans pointing at him and taking pictures, and was much more interested in whatever food he could find in the creek bed.

Pacing plan: 4 miles easy, 4 miles up-tempo (whatever that felt like), 3 miles easy, 2 mile fast finish

Splits: (1) 10:02, (2) 9:49, (3) 9:20, (4) 9:51, (5) 9:21, (6) 8:56, (7) 8:40, (8) 8:40, (9) 9:44, (10) 9:56, (11) 9:56, (2) 8:49, (13) 8:25

Some notes: 

• Right hamstring started aching around mile 6. Never escalated to pain, but I avoided underpasses and opted to cross roads to avoid hills, just to try to prevent any potential tweakage. 
• I ran with a handheld water bottle and didn't mind the weight but probably won't run with one on race day
• I fueled with a Picky Bar (that new Cookie Doughpness flavor is tasty) and coffee before the run and a salted caramel Gu and a half (one at 4 miles and half at 8 miles) and never felt fatigued. I'm pleased with how minimal fueling has made me feel fairly comfortable running without much fuel and I'm hoping I'll get a bump in energy from taking 2-3 Gu's on race day. 
•  I am really liking Oiselle's distance shorts for longer runs since I can keep my phone, car keys and fuel in the pockets. My one problem? They're not available in green and I want to wear green and blue on race day since it's on Super Bowl Sunday. 
• I wore my Seahawks cap both Saturday and Sunday and ended up preferring it to sunglasses for keeping the sun out of my eyes. I may wear a cap instead of sunglasses on race day. 

Our final destination: the ocean! Or at least, an estuary

I got home and parked myself on the couch for the Seahawks - Packers game. Well, put my legs up the wall and iced my hamstring then parked myself on the couch. I'm taking the recovery game seriously, guys.

Total Mileage = 30 miles

Speed Mileage = 14 miles

After texting with my trainer, Melanie, she emphasized the importance of resting my hamstring over the next two weeks and making sure not to strain it further. 

Regarding the hamstring situation, I have the feeling I'm going to pull it on race day since it's felt a bit twingey on almost every run longer than five miles. So, the goal is to keep it as healthy as possible in the lead up to race day, then see what I've got on the morning of February 1. Only two weeks of training left!