Race Recap: 2015 City of Cypress 5K

On Saturday morning, I raced my first 5K of 2015, the City of Cypress 5K. I had been looking for a 5K to race as a fitness check-in for a couple of weeks. I figured it would be good to know where I stood speed-wise before I start marathon training.

The race was only the second time I've raced in 2015. I was honestly not sure I wanted to run the race, since I had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. on Friday to drive up to Downtown Los Angeles for a pro bono hearing (I'm doing an asylum case; as a corporate lawyer, appearing in court is not something I ever do). The closest 5K I could find was in Cypress, which is a 30 minute drive from my apartment, and I'd need to get there before 7:00 a.m. to register for the race and get in a warm-up.

I was still undecided about running the 5K on Friday night. Sourabh had a Mexican food craving (specifically for queso fundido; apparently studying for the bar exam gives you weirdly specific cravings like being pregnant does), and since he was just four days out from the bar on Friday, I wasn't about to turn him down. Also it's very difficult for me to turn down Mexican food...

When I went to bed Friday night, I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m., but thought I probably wouldn't want to race. Only I naturally woke up at 4:58 a.m. and felt pretty awake, and I knew if I did try to go back to sleep I'd just sit there in the dark feeling annoyed at myself for not racing. So I hauled my ass out of bed and got ready.

I ate half a Picky Bar, picked up an iced coffee from McDonald's for the 30 minute drive (this is totally a Lazy American cliche, but I really love the convenience of drive-thrus, especially early in the morning), and hit the 405 to head north to Cypress.

Once I got there, I registered, which took about 5 minutes since the organization was fantastic, then hit the bathroom. There were three real bathrooms by the registration area, and then about 15-20 porta potties near the start line.

I stretched a bit, jogged around for 15 minutes, did my dynamic warm-up routine, ran a couple strides, then hit the bathroom two more times because, ahem, Mexican food (sorry).

I ate a salted caramel Gu and sipped some water since the water station was before the finish line (it was meant for the 10K runners, but they were offering water to everyone before the race). Then I headed to the start line and listened to my psych-up playlist, which includes such gems as Fort Minor's "Remember the Name" and Eminem's "Lose Yourself". Fun story: I listened to this playlist before the first day of the California bar exam.

No corrals, but it was easy to get to the front.

As soon as the race started, I immediately regretted my decision to run with a shirt on. It had been cloudy up until about five minutes before the race started, but the sun had finally broken through the marine layer, and I was HOT.

Mentally, I just wasn't "right" for the whole race. I never felt like I pushed hard enough, but when I tried to get myself to kick it into another gear, I just couldn't find the mental discipline to do so. I almost always start races thinking, "why am I about to do this?" But this time that mentality didn't go away in the first half mile like it normally does.

The course is basically a large square through residential streets of Cypress, and it's all flat, so it wasn't super interesting, but plenty of families came out to watch so there were distractions. I mainly tried to pick people ahead of me to catch up to and then pick new ones.

Extremely sweaty post-race.

I ended up finishing in 24:06, which is 17 seconds off my PR of 23:49. My splits were: (1) 7:31, (2) 7:50, (3) 7:56, (.11) 0:47 (6:53 pace) <--- positive splitting like a champ.

I started the race well and just could not keep it up. I can't possibly blame the heat or the Mexican food or anything else for my failure to PR on Saturday because it was 100% a mental issue. I know that physically a 5K PR is within my ability, and Saturday's race was all about my inability to stay mentally strong in the latter half of the race.

I plan to run several more short course races in the next few months (with Coach Jess's blessing, of course) so that I can focus on the mental aspect of racing. I've definitely been a lot mentally stronger in races in the past, but I haven't raced much in the past year. I think more races can only be a good thing as long as they're shorter and aren't putting me at risk of injury.

One big, shining positive, however: I was first in my age group! I think most of the "fast" runners were running the 10K, but hey, any time you can end up with an age group win, the race can't be a total bust, right?

I hung around to eat a popsicle and cheer on the lead women for the 10K before jogging for 8 minutes or so as a cool-down, then drove home and took a nap.

First woman in the 10K coming in like a boss. Look at that gorgeous stride.

Now, I'm on the hunt for another 5K to try to redeem myself and PR. 

Race Facts

• Parking: Free. I think as long as you arrived 30 minutes before you'd be able to park relatively close to the start line.  
• Course: Loop of closed roads. This is not a scenic route. You're running on neighborhood streets, but it's kind of fun because a lot of families were sitting outside their homes, watching the runners. The 10K runs two loops of the 5K course. I would not personally be a fan of this because the idea of doing a loop and seeing the finish line so close then veering to the right to do the loop all over again would mentally kill me.
• Bathroom situation: Six real bathrooms (three for men, three for women) near the registration/finish line area, and plenty of porta potties near the start. 
• Swag: No medal unless you're doing the race as part of a series of Orange County races. Cotton t-shirt is included in registration price.
• Price: $25 early registration (until roughly two weeks before), $35 "late" registration.
• Corrals: No corrals, but I had no problem situating myself close to the front, and the race takes up about half a city street so it doesn't get too congested if you're towards the front.
• Post-Race Food: Popsicles, bagels, bananas, and water bottles. The race is also part of the City of Cypress Festival, which has a pancake breakfast.

I would 100% recommend the City of Cypress 5K/10K if you're looking for a late July short course race. The organization was superb and the course was flat and fast.

July Training

It's been a while since I've posted, mainly because I haven't had much to post about! My three day weekend up in Washington was gorgeous, and Sourabh and I both had a lot of fun up there with my family for July 4 weekend, but it wasn't the most blog-worthy of weekends.

Well, besides the patriotic cake that my sister baked and I decorated.

Suck on that, Pinterest. 

And cuddling with Miss Porker (not her real name; that's Zoe, my parents' dachshund).

And of course, the hike we took up Skyline Divide with my dad, with views over the North Cascades, Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker.

Sadly, it was a bit hazy thanks to smoke from forest fires up in British Columbia drifting down. The Pacific Northwest has been much drier and hotter than normal this year, and forest fires look like they'll be a larger than normal problem up there.

I'm pretty sure no flowers are as pretty as mountain wildflowers.

Mt. Baker, also known as Kulshan. It has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascades (Mt. St. Helens is the most active).

Skyline Divide is a tough hike, climbing roughly 2000 feet in less than two miles before you get to the ridge, which you can hike for several miles more. The views from the ridge are worth it, though, even with the flies you have to contend with before you break above the tree line.

Mt. Shuksan, looking picture-perfect as always.


I have a hard time drumming up much to say about base building, but I'm feeling strong as I head into the last two weeks before marathon training starts. Yesterday, I headed up to LA for a Flywheel class and breakfast with my friend Nicole, from law school, who I hadn't seen in a few months. I have some referral credits to use at Flywheel, but the only location is in LA, which is too far to go for a 45 minute class, even if it's free, so I was glad she was willing to give Flywheel a try with me. We took Lacey Stone's class since I'd heard great things about her teaching style.

The class was great and Nicole really enjoyed her first spin experience. Even better, without even feeling like I was killing myself, I beat my previous record power score by 21 points. That previous PR power score? It was from October 2013, a week before I ran the Chicago Marathon, when I was at peak marathon fitness.

I think I'm in much better shape now than I was then, especially when I look at the times I was running in my 2013 log versus what feels easy now. I'm excited to see how well I can extend that fitness to the marathon distance once I start training.


I believe I've mentioned previously that I'm doing an 18 week training plan for the California International Marathon (CIM). I know it's a long training cycle, but Coach Jess and I agreed that with my unpredictable work schedule, it makes sense to build in extra weeks as a cushion for any craziness that comes up at work.

I'm getting really excited to start marathon training. I have a lot more to talk about when I'm pursuing a plan versus just focusing on getting in quality workouts to build up my base. Plenty of running has been happening (about 20-25 miles a week), and a fair amount on trails, which makes the miles both more challenging and more fun.

In related and extremely exciting news, we're moving to a lovely townhouse that is next to a paved path system that circulates through all of Irvine and covers at least 50 miles total, is close to several trails, and is within a 5 minute drive of Back Bay and a track for speed workouts. We're moving at the end of August, and I'm psyched. It's a place we can see ourselves living for a few years until we can afford to buy a house. After moving every year in all but one of the past eight years (and often moving more than once each year), we are excited to be "settled".

Okay, picture time. Mostly from an incredibly gorgeous evening run I did along the Pacific Ridge of Crystal Cove State Park, but also one from a lovely sunset run I had at Back Bay a few days ago.

It drives me crazy how the San Gabriel mountains never really "pop" in pictures. In reality, they're 9-10,000 ft. tall!

Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 1 Workout Log

Last week was the first week of the strength training schedule I put together. So far, so good!

Monday: 20 minutes intervals (with 5 mins w/u and 5 mins c/d) + lower body lifting routine.

I could definitely tell that I'd lost some strength after not lifting for a month. I was struggling a bit with a 45 pound bar, when I had worked my way up to 55-60 lbs (depending on number of reps) prior to taking some time off. Boooo. Hopefully it'll come back fairly quickly with consistent strength over the next two months.

I did 20 minutes of 1 minute on, 1 minute off intervals on the treadmill. I probably took the intervals a bit slow because I wasn't sure what my legs were capable of. Ended up with 3.41 miles in 30 minutes. The goal is to run a further distance for each kind of intervals (1 minute versus 30 seconds) each time (and I ran 3.50 miles last night, so I'm hitting that goal so far!).


Tuesday: 20 minutes one-on-one basketball with Sourabh + chest/back lifting routine.

I was so sore from Monday's lifting routine, but that's the nice thing about a body split: you can do back to back lifting days even if you're sore. Again, I could really see how my strength had fallen off based on the numbers I was lifting, which wasn't fun. It's a reminder that just running isn't sufficient!

Finished the workout by playing some one-on-one with Sourabh for 20 minutes. He's been playing a lot of basketball, so I tried defending him a bit. I have no basketball skills but I run, so I can defend decently, and it was a fun way to get in my cardio.


Wednesday: 4 easy miles on the treadmill.

I was so into the book Americanah that I chose to run on the treadmill, just so I could keep reading this book. It's so good, you guys. Please do yourselves a favor and go download it to your Kindle/iPad or pick it up from a store.


Thursday: Off.

I was still quite sore from Monday's lower body workout, so opted to give myself a rest day before I did another lower body lifting routine.


Friday: 20 minutes intervals (with 5 mins w/u and 5 mins c/d) + lower body lifting routine.

Friday nights at the gym are awesome, you guys. It's totally empty, which is my favorite. I swear I don't hate people, but let's be honest, does anyone like to have people around while they work out? The worst is when I'm doing weighted hip lifts. I really would prefer not to have sweaty dudes around when I'm doing anything that remotely resembles thrusting.

I did 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, and ended up with 3.57 miles and a gallon of sweat. Banged out three sets of the lower body and core exercises then concluded the evening by eating sushi with Sourabh at our (current) favorite sushi place in Orange County, Angotei.


Saturday: 20 minutes on-on-one basketball with Sourabh + biceps/triceps lifting routine.

I had fun playing basketball as cardio on Tuesday so decided to do that again. This time before lifting weights, since the previous time I'd shoot and the basketball would fall a good foot short since my shoulders were just absolutely shot.

Nothing exciting to note about the biceps/triceps routine -- I've lost strength, like I mentioned, but hopefully I'll see it come back.

Sourabh and I went on a walk with Mason in the afternoon at Shady Canyon, and I discovered a great incline for hill repeats come marathon training.

We also saw Spy Saturday morning (matinee pricing FTW!), which I loved. It had some very sly commentary on how women undermine ourselves in the workplace, while also being hilarious (without resorting to "haha large lady fell down" jokes).


Sunday: 105 minute restorative yoga class + 45 minutes swimming.

I wanted to be cautious not to overdo it, given that my legs had been so "off" for a few weeks prior, so I scrapped the long run for last week. Instead, I went to a yoga class and did 45 minutes of "swimming" on Sunday. If you're wondering why it's in quotes, it's because I'm an awful swimmer, and it was really more splashing around and trying to get from one end of the pool to the other. But it was a lot of fun and I hope to get better, and hopefully use swimming as a cross-training tool during marathon training. I loved the exhausted feeling I had post-swim.

Please note, the yoga class was supposed to be 75 minutes. Yes, the instructor ran a full 30 minutes over. It was a good restorative class, but the instructor didn't announce that he runs over at the beginning, and Sourabh and I had brunch reservations that we nearly missed. (We went to Social in Costa Mesa, which was SO GOOD.)

I'll probably hit up the class again because it was just the right balance of stretching and relaxation, but now I know not to plan on brunch before noon...


Both the swimming and the basketball playing are part of my effort to keep up my cardio without burning out on running prior to marathon training. No matter how much you love running, I think it's impossible to get all the way through a training cycle without a bit of run fatigue. Especially because I'll be doing a longer training cycle to compensate for any work craziness, I want to be sure I enter marathon training psyched to run and in good shape.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm hoping to stay close to 20ish miles per week generally, but given that it was my first week back to strength training, and that I'd put them a bit through the wringer, I wanted to play it safe this past week.

June Strength Schedule

In case it's helpful to anyone, here's the strength routine I put together for myself for this month. It's based off of exercises I did in workouts with Melanie, so it's very much focused on strengthening with the goal of becoming a faster runner. 

Here's a link to a downloadable Google doc version. Each day focuses on a different area of the body, with some core and hips work to finish the workout. 

"3x15" means three sets of 15 repetitions of the exercise. You should progress from exercise 1-4 for one set, then repeat for three total. Then move on to the core work portion.

In terms of amount of weight to use, as a guideline, you should be fatigued by the end of each set and you shouldn't feel like you could bang out another set of these exercises by the end of the workout.

Below, I've broken out each day and linked to YouTube videos that demonstrate the exercises. I apologize in advance for the abundance of scantily clad men in these videos (if you're offended by that). Apparently weight lifters like to take their shirts off. Also, sorry for the poor quality of each image!

Day 1 (Monday) - Lower Body

Cardio: 20 minutes of intervals

• 5 minutes easy running to warm up
• 20 minutes of intervals, anything from 30 seconds on and off to 2:00 on and off (on Monday I did 1 minute at increasingly fast paces and 1 minute at 10:00 minute miles, repeated for 20 minutes)
• 5 minutes easy running to cool down

3x12:

1. Single leg barbell deadlifts (12 reps each leg)
2. Barbell squats
3. Barbell walking lunges (15 reps total; alternate which side you start on)
4. Barbell hip lifts

3x15:

1. Single leg bicycles on BOSU
2. Plank toe taps on BOSU (Start at 1:15. Tap each leg outwards, both leg taps is one rep.)
3. Single leg bridge hip lifts on BOSU (15 reps perleg)

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Chest/Back

Cardio: 10-20 minutes easy running to warm up (or any cardio alternative; I played basketball with Sourabh on Tuesday)

3x15:

1. Lat pull-downs
2. High row (can be at a seated machine or standing with cables)
3. Arnold presses (go to 1:20)
4. Chest press on stability ball (feel free to use two dumbbells or a barbell)

3x15:

1. Hanging / Roman Chair knee-ups
2. Supermans
3. Donkey kicks (I alternate doing these straight back and out to the side)

Day 3 (Wednesday) - Easy Cardio

For me, an easy run is 4-6 miles on a relatively flat route at a pace at which I could keep up a conversation without any breathing problems. 

Day 4 (Thursday) - Lower Body

Cardio: Same intervals workout as above, but change the duration of the intervals up. If I did 1:00 intervals on Monday, I would be doing 30 second intervals at a faster pace, or 2:00 intervals at a slower pace.

3x15:

1. Dumbbell plie squat
2. Weighted jumping split squats (15 reps per leg)
3. Weighted around-the-world lunges (15 reps per leg)
4. Hamstring curls (you can also use a stability ball: see here)

3x15:

1. Weighted decline sit-ups
2. Weighted reverse sit-ups
3. Clamshells (15 reps per leg)

Day 5 (Friday) - Biceps/Triceps

Cardio: Same as Day 2 / Tuesday. 10-20 minutes easy running or some kind of cardio.

3x15:

1. Tricep press on cables
2. Squat to bicep curl on cables
3. Skull crushers
4. Hammer curls

3x15:

1. Stability ball sit-ups
2. "Dead Bugs" with stability ball
3. Stability ball toes-to-fingers

Days 6/7 (Saturday/Sunday) - Long Run/Rest

In order to keep up my running fitness, I'm doing one longer run a week. Depending on where my mileage is for the week, it'll be 8-10 miles (aiming for roughly 20 miles total each week). Saturday and Sunday are interchangeable. 

Hope this is helpful for someone! Shoot me an email or drop me a comment if you have any questions.

<lawyer> Oh, and also, as always: I'm not a trainer. I'm just sharing my workouts with you. Check with a doctor before beginning a new workout plan, etc. etc. BE CAREFUL. </lawyer>

A Fantastic Race-Free Weekend and June/July Plans

If you follow me on Instagram, you learned I didn't run the RnR San Diego Half Marathon on Sunday. I feel 99% at peace with the decision (there's always that irrational 1%, right?).

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen mountains -- for those not familiar with San Diego, it is not in the mountains.

On Friday evening, after learning my deal was on hold so I wouldn't have to work that weekend, I ran 4 miles. I figured I'd warm up for a mile then see what kind of speed my legs could carry. Turns out, they could barely hold a sub-9:00 pace. It wasn't that it felt hard. It's that it felt impossible.

I have no idea what's going on with my legs (or was going on? I did some intervals on the treadmill last night for 20 minutes before doing some lifting and they actually felt ok...), but I've run a few longer distance races where I felt shitty before, and in retrospect I wish I hadn't run them. It just sucks, and it leaves you feeling defeated.

I thought about heading to San Diego and at least trying to run, but honestly, I had no desire to wake up at 4:30 a.m. (and wake Sourabh up as well) only to realize after a few miles that my legs wouldn't be cooperating. It would make the weekend a lot less fun.

I texted with Jess, who will be coaching me for the California International Marathon, telling her how I was feeling, both physically and mentally. She was, as always, awesome; straight-forward and realistic but positive as well. (Also, she was responding at 10 p.m. her time on a Friday night.) Jess said given how my legs had been the past few weeks, it was pretty unlikely I could PR. She framed the question as: would I be more disappointed not to have tried or to try and fail?

Given that 4:30 a.m. wake-up and how I've felt after other poor races, I knew I'd be more disappointed to head to San Diego, curtail our enjoyment of the city (I wouldn't eat Mexican/Indian/Thai/other delicious foods in anticipation of running, and we'd be going to bed at 9 p.m.), then run a poor race.

Sourabh suggested we head into the mountains, which I was obviously on board with. So Saturday morning we drove up to Big Bear Lake in the San Gabriel Mountains and hiked seven miles on the Pine Knot Trail.

The trail climbs about 1400 ft over 3.25 miles (we parked 1/4 mile away from the trailhead making it 7 miles total for us).

The hike had gorgeous views of the lake and San Gorgonio Peak (over 11,000 ft tall!). 

Still some snow left from the May snowstorm the mountains got a few weeks ago!

San Gorgonio is the tallest peak in Southern California, and just like the other 10K peaks (San Jacinto Peak, Mt. San Antonio -- AKA Mt. Baldy, and San Bernardino Peak), you can hike to the top of it. Yes, hiking all four peaks is definitely on my SoCal Bucket List.

Alpine flowers

Initially we'd wanted to hike the Skyline Trail, which is a new addition to Big Bear, but there was a mountain bike race using the trail. After jumping out of the way of speeding mountain bikes three times, we decided we'd find a different route, especially given that we had Mason with us. I've heard Skyline is an absolutely stunning trail, though, so we'll be back to hike it at some point.

Big Bear Lake!

I know I made the right decision legs-wise, since the hike wasn't difficult by my normal standards and my legs felt incredibly fatigued the whole time. There is just no way I was PRing on them.

Summit snapshot

After we got back to Orange County on Saturday night, we feasted at our favorite local Mexican place, Taqueria Zamora, then watched a movie without regard for what time we were in bed because hey, no race in the morning!

Sunday we grabbed breakfast at my current favorite diner-type breakfast spot, Alta Coffee Warehouse & Restaurant, on Newport Peninsula. Then we headed to the Irvine Farmer's Market at the Irvine Great Park (it's a work in progress, but in a few years this park will be larger than Central Park!). I spent the rest of the afternoon reading Americanah, which is fantastic so far, and doing some food prep for the week ahead.

I am completely comfortable with my decision not to run RnR San Diego. Yes, it always sucks when you work hard at something and it doesn't pan out, especially when you were working hard for twelve weeks. But I was training to PR, and I didn't feel like running a race and not doing that. Instead, after several busy weekends filled with work or taking my parents places, we had a completely relaxing weekend filled with some of my favorite things: exploring, reading and eating.

Sometimes, not running a race really is the best decision.

June/July Training Plans

If hearing about someone else's running-free weekend bores you, then you're in luck! That part of this blog post is now done. Let's talk about my plans for June and July.

After discussing training with Jess over lunch in NYC, we agreed I'll be starting CIM training at the beginning of August. That will give me an 18 week training cycle, allowing me some leeway in case work gets extra intense for a few weeks.

The plan for the next two months is to focus on strength and short bursts of speed, capping my mileage at about 20 miles per week, with the goal being to get stronger and lean out a bit. I put together a lifting plan for myself that has me doing four strength workouts a week (two upper body and two lower body).

For running, I'll be doing two 20 minute rounds of intervals (with a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool-down) each week, one shorter easy run of 4-6 miles and one longer easy run of 8-10 miles. I'm also going to try to fit in a yoga class each week.

Monday's lifting routine.

I've put together lifting workouts for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (lower body, upper body, lower body, upper body) that I'll repeat through the month of June, keeping track of the weight I'm lifting to track improvements. I'll probably switch the workouts up for July.

Now, obviously this is the goal and I can never predict when work will make a workout impossible, but I'm hoping to get as many of the planned workouts in as possible. I think I should see some real improvements and (hopefully) drop a few pounds over the next two months.


Here's a question for you -- would you be interested in seeing the full plan? I'd be happy to make the schedule and weight lifting tracker a Google doc available for download if people are interested. 

Why I Might Not Run RnR San Diego

So, my spring goal race is this Sunday. And I'm not sure I'll be running it.

Let's back up. For the past four weeks, my legs have felt like lead. At some point I'll post my training logs, I suppose, but they won't show anything crazy. Training was fine, if not ideal. However, every run has been a slog and my paces have slowed substantially. Unfortunately with work being so busy, strength and stretching fell by the wayside a bit, which was stupid on my part, and I'm sure didn't help.

I think the stress of both work and personal stuff have contributed to whatever is going on, in addition to traveling to New Jersey for Sourabh's law school graduation in NYC. Plus, it took two hours each way to get from his parents' house into the city, and we made that trip three times.

GRADUATED!!

I would have written it all off as the end of a training cycle, since who feels good at the end of a training cycle? I went into Finish Line Physical Therapy on Friday while we were in NYC, and I got a 90 minute deep tissue massage Monday night that I hope helped.

I got to wear these incredible compression sleeves, so that was a highlight of my day. (I'd say the highlight, but I also got to grab lunch with Coach Jess, which was clearly the other highlight!)

However, I haven't run since Monday morning because I've also been feeling nauseous and ill all week (no, not pregnant, let's not go there). Additionally, I might have to work a lot this weekend (I won't know until Friday evening, which is how corporate life goes unfortunately).

The reason I am strongly questioning running the race is that these are the scenarios I envision:

Scenario A: I have to work a lot this weekend. A massive deal I'm working on was supposed to sign on May 28, meaning the weekend would have been free. However, that didn't happen. (Pro tip: you never sign on the day you think you'll sign.) In this scenario, Sourabh and I drive down to San Diego at the latest time that we possibly can so that I can still pick up my bib before the expo closes at 5:00 p.m. (thanks so much, RNR, for making it impossible to have someone else pick up your bib. Really appreciate that.). I work from the car and the hotel, and we order room service for dinner. I run the race Sunday morning then we immediately head back to Orange County so I can head into the office. [This assumes that it is not essential for me to be in the office all weekend, in which case I have no choice about running the race.]

Scenario B: I miraculously don't have to work this weekend. Sourabh and I can spend the weekend exploring San Diego (I haven't been there since I was 6). I run the race and it takes roughly 3 hours out of our day, and otherwise we're having fun in San Diego, so the outcome doesn't matter. It's just an extra excuse to eat ALL the food.

In Scenario B, regardless of how the race went, we would have a fun weekend and the cost of a hotel and meals out would (probably) be worth it.

However, Scenario A is a lot more likely, and in that scenario, if I run a shit race and feel awful the entire time, then we've just spent probably $300+ (not counting the race fee, which is a sunk cost at this point) for me to zoom down to San Diego and work out of a hotel room and then feel like shit for 13 miles before sitting in the car again and then at a desk, possibly causing some injury with all the sitting post-race.

Mason is ready to hit the road, so we know which way he's leaning.

All of that is why I'm not sure if I will be running the RnR San Diego Half this Sunday. If by some miracle the deal dies for a while (again, pro tip: deals almost never really die! They are like zombies and come back to life again and again), then I think it would be a fun weekend.

If whatever bug I'm fighting miraculously disappears and I run some amazing miles tonight or tomorrow, then I will want to run the race. But I've trained for a PR and to just run a race where I feel awful and come up short seems like a huge waste of both time and money.

[Sidebar: one of my favorite running bloggers, Angela of SF Road Warrior, recently wrote a fantastic post about how there are a lot of good reasons to DNS (Did Not Start) a race. You should go read it, and her blog in general, because she has an incredible wealth of good running info there.]


So here's hoping I can either have a fun weekend or a great race. But if not, hey, I live in SoCal. There are half marathons here all year round! I can find another one in a few weeks, or just wait until marathon training kicks in and run one in the fall.

Or I'll just console myself with beach views and Mexican food in Laguna. One or the other. 

Running is Selfish

How about some talk about running that isn't a training log?

Lately I've been mulling over something while running: Running is selfish. (In my opinion, etc. etc.)

Here's the thing -- there are some running events and people who are legitimately running for others. Team Hoyt, for instance, where a father pushes his son who is a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair. (Note: at his son's request initially, he wasn't pushing around his son who didn't want to be pushed around.)

Can I just say that if I ever saw these two I might immediately start crying?
(source)

Clearly, that is someone running for someone else. Or my friend Kara, who pledged to complete an Ironman and raise $10,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A huge part of why she wanted to do the Ironman was as a vessel for raising $10,000.

But for the vast, vast majority of us, even if we are raising money for a charity as part of our training, at the end of the day, a large part of running is selfish. We run because it makes us feel good in some way. It might be mentally, it might be physically, it might be because hitting a goal gives us a feeling of pride. 

There is nothing wrong with any of those feelings. However, I think it's important to acknowledge that ultimately running is, for most of us, a hobby that brings us personal pleasure. So often I read things that seem to treat running as being something we do for others, and I just think that's a bit off base. (I'm sure I've been equally guilty of this.) 

So, this is something I've struggled with lately. Jess recently wrote a fantastic post about how much we have to do and give up to commit to running goals. It's so true -- there are a lot of sacrifices to be made in order to make yourself the best possible runner you can be.

The thing is, a lot of what we have to give up affects those around us, especially those who live with us. Certainly many hobbies have this effect. If you're in a competitive bowling league, you're probably gone a few nights a week. (Wait, do people still have bowling leagues?) But I'm guessing competitive bowlers aren't waking up at 5:30 a.m. for a run or going to bed at 9 p.m. on a Friday night or being picky with what they eat the night before a long run, or a host of things that runners need to do to seriously tackle big goals, all of which have some kind of an impact on those around us. 

I'm not writing this post to say that we should all give up running because how dare we do anything selfish. Not at all. Running is incredibly important to me for a host of reasons, and I think running makes me a better person. It certainly makes me a less stressed out person, which makes me nicer to those around me.

However, I've been thinking lately about the fact that when I choose to run a race and train for it, especially with my job which can frequently entail long hours, I'm giving up time with loved ones and I'm impacting what we can do if I say I need to be in bed by a certain time or can only eat certain things. And while I can say "it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for my goal," I have to remember that I'm not the only one affected by my choices. 

Look at that gorgeous sunrise! I snapped this at 5:50 a.m. after waking Sourabh up (because the dog was barking as I left) at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning...

The fact that running and training for a goal are inherently selfish pursuits (again: in. my. opinion.) doesn't make them bad in the slightest. Selfishness is too often treated as a negative. Sometimes it's good to be selfish! Having our own interests and pursuits makes us better people.

I just think it's important for us, or at least for me, to remember that, and maybe to be more grateful to the people in our lives who are also sacrificing so that we can pursue our own goals. It's something I need to focus on personally, and I thought maybe others might relate.

So... thoughts? 

RnR San Diego Half Marathon Training Log: Week 9

Last week (and this week) are my peak weeks of RnR San Diego training. They also coincided with being super busy at work and my mom visiting, so it was all about fitting in the miles where I could. It also meant that I only fit in one strength session. But, I hit 34 miles and got in two high quality runs, so I'm content.


RnR San Diego Half Marathon Training Log: Week 9

Monday: Off.

Tuesday: 4x1600m repeats on treadmill.

Hit the gym after work for repeats on the treadmill. Including my (new) fastest mile ever at a sub-7 pace. So that was exciting.

• Dynamic warm up routine.
• 1 mile warm up
• (1) 7:29, (2) 7:19, (3) 7:13, (4) 6:59
• 1 mile cool down

Really impressed with the new satin Sparkly Soul headband I got. It's a lot simpler than the sparkly ones but it stayed on just the same during the repeats.

Post-mile repeats = all the sweat.

(Note: I'm a Sparkly Soul ambassador but bought this at full price from an Athleta, which now carries Sparkly Soul headbands.)

Wednesday: (1) AM 6 miles easy with Monica on Yale Loop and (2) PM strength. 

Six easy, chatty miles around the Yale Loop then a post-work lower body strength workout:

• 3x12 with 50# bar: (1) single leg deadlifts, (2) hip bridge lifts, (3) squats, (4) walking lunges
• 2x15: (1) decline sit-ups, (2) reverse sit-ups with 35# weight

Thursday: Off.

Friday: 5 miles easy at Back Bay.

My easy miles have been feeling awful, but I'm hitting the paces on runs I care about, so I guess that's the important thing? Fit in 5 miles between work and picking my mom up from the airport.

Saturday: 12 mile long run at Huntington Beach.

Headed to Huntington  Beach on Saturday afternoon with my mom since she loves the beach. I figured if I was going to fit in my long run I should do it in a place she'd enjoy being!

• Dynamic warm up routine.
• 2 miles warm up
• 2 x 3 miles hard with 2 miles easy in between: (1) 8:26, 8:24, 812, (2) 8:15, 8:07, 7:52
• 2 miles cool down

I never felt great and I hadn't fueled properly (I'm just bad about doing things properly if I don't run first thing, honestly), but I was really happy with the second of the three miles hard. 

Sunday: 5 miles easy at Huntington Beach.

Happy Mother's Day! We had to spend the day taking care of some medical stuff, but thankfully we got to have a great late lunch at Le Pain Quotidien and enjoyed an evening back at the beach. I fit in 5 miles quickly(ish... easy miles = legs like lead) then we walked along the beach and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

Total Mileage = 34 miles

RnR San Diego Half Marathon Training Log: Weeks 7 and 8

Oy, another crazy couple of weeks at work has meant that when I do have free time, I'm not spending it blogging. Sorry...?

BUT I have 30 free minutes right now so let's see if I can't bang out a training log for the past two weeks... Just kidding, I'm now finishing this on Wednesday, 36 hours later. Nope, kidding again. It's Thursday. This is my life right now.


RnR San Diego Half Marathon Training Log: Week 7

Monday: Off. Stretched and foam rolled.

Tuesday: Upper body strength workout.

After the previous weekend's one-two combination of 10 fast paced miles on trails and a 12 miler with 6 progression miles, my legs were shot. I started an easy run and they felt like lead.

Now, I realize there are gains to be made from these kinds of runs. I also realize that running on lead legs for 5 miles would have been akin to mental torture, and given how busy and stressful work has been lately with a huge deal happening, in addition to other projects, I just did not feel like slogging through five miles.

So I hit the gym instead for an upper body workout:

• Dynamic stretching
• 3x15: (1) plan to row, (2) skuill crushers, (3) high row, (4) chest press on exercise ball
• 2x15: (1) single leg bicycles on BOSU, (2) BOSU ball toe taps

Wednesday: Off. Fail. Tried to go to track, spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get in, and when I finally figured it out, realized it was closed for a private event. And it was dark out. ARGH.

Thursday: (1) Ladder workout on the track + (2) lower body strength workout

200m - 0:42, 400m - 1:29, 800m - 3:16, 1600m - 7:09, 1600m - 7:00, 800m - 3:31, 400m - 1:30, 200m - 0:44

Didn't love the positive splits on the shorter distances, but in more important news, I ran my fastest mile ever! And then... I ran a faster one! Boom.

Also, I ran this on a high school track, and I forgot how young high schoolers look. I would have guessed most of the students who passed me were in middle school.

After work, hit up the gym for a quick lower body strength workout:

• 3x12: (1) single leg deadlifts, (2) goblet squat, (3) weighted single leg jumping lunges
• 2x15: (1) one legged BOSU bridge, (2) BODU bridge with foot tilts back and forth, (3) hanging knee-ups, (4) 1 minute plank

Side note: I'm really excited about my progress with single leg deadlifts. These used to be close to impossible for me and now I can bust them out using a 55 lb. bar.


Friday: Off. I was sore. It was rainy and cold. I felt "off". But at least I foam rolled and stretched?

Saturday: (1) 10 mile tempo run on San Diego Creek Trail with Kristina + (2) training with Melanie.

Met up with Kristina for a 10 mile loop. Yes, I am taking full advantage of having made friends with speedy people!

• You know the drill -- dynamic stretching
• 2 mile warm-up
• (1) 8:51, (2) 8:39, (3) 8:34, (4) 8:14, (5) 8:04, (6) 8:03
• 2 mile cool-down

Partway through mile 3, Kristina asked if I wanted to speed up since I'd mentioned I wanted to keep the pace fast. I said that would be great but she'd have to do most of the talking... Thanks for keeping up the conversation, Kristina!

I actually felt a bit nauseous on this run because I had more of a substantial breakfast than I normally do before a run (piece of toast with almond butter and a banana). I thought fueling a bit more might help hit the faster paces in the latter half of the tempo portion, but I think I need to stick with lighter fueling pre-run and then just fuel more on the run.

Saturday afternoon walk at the beach. It actually rained while we were there!

After the run, I headed to the gym for my last training session with my trainer here, Melanie. She and her boyfriend are moving to NYC! I'll miss her but I feel like I'm in a great place in terms of understanding weight lifting for running.

Sunday: 4 miles easy on trails.

I had already decided I was feeling rough and it'd be a cutback week, but then  I rolled my ankle around mile 3 and messed it up for almost a week. No bueno. Especially a bummer because it was a gorgeous day after a week of clouds.

In retrospect, running on single track after it had rained might not have been the best idea since it was completely rutted...

It didn't hurt at all at the time, but I was still a bit concerned, so I jogged back. It didn't hurt the rest of the day either, so I thought it was fine. Little did I know...

Total Mileage = 20 miles


RnR San Diego Half Marathon Training Log: Week 8

Monday-Wednesday: Off.

I woke up Monday morning and my ankle hurt. It wasn't exactly throbbing, but if I moved it much at all I felt a bruised-like pain. I iced it on and off both Monday and Tuesday.

Also, remember when I wrote that I felt "off" on Friday? That sensation of "off" developed into a nasty headache that lasted most of the week, along with some weird gums-swelling-up thing. The headache and mouth malady both mysteriously went away by Friday, but I just wasn't up for any form of exercise that wasn't running, and with my ankle, that was decisively out until Thursday.


Thursday: 5 miles easy at Back Bay.

Funny story. Turns out that I go kind of crazy without exercise. By the end of the day on Thursday, I knew I had to fit in a run for my mental health, regardless of what time I left the office. Thankfully I made it to Back Bay just in time for a gorgeous sunset.

Seriously, look at how gorgeous it was. The run was actually pretty shit, with my legs feeling tighter than they have in a long time, but the view more than made up for it.


Friday: Off.

Had to work late Thursday after my run so couldn't get up early and had Avengers: Age of Ultron tickets for after work. Which I was not missing for a run and/or workout, sorry. (In case you're curious, I thought it was great! But I demand a Black Widow movie...)


Saturday: (1) Tempo run on the Santa Monica Bike Path + (2) upper body strength workout.

Due to some travel craziness, I was hanging around the LAX general vicinity as the designated chauffeur. I got my tempo run in on the Santa Monica Bike Path before a delicious brunch at Urrth Cafe with my cousin. It was so great to see her, and she didn't even mind that I was a disgustingly sweaty mess. True familial love.

• 1 mile warm-up
• (1) 8:35, (2) 8:28, (3) 8:21, (4) 8:14, (5) 8:06
• 1 mile cool-down

I hadn't slept enough (waking up at 5am to drive to LAX will do that to you) and because of the travel mishaps, I started this run an hour later than intended so was underfueled. It never felt great, so I focused on effort and making each mile faster than the last.

That evening, I fit in a quick upper body workout:

• 3x10 at heavier weights: (1) squat to curl, (2) tricep cable press, (3) lat pull-down, (4) shoulder press, (5) chest press
• 2x15: (1) decline sit-ups, (2) weighted reverse sit-ups

Sunday: 10 mile long run at Back Bay.

My phone was dying and work emails were coming in at a steady pace so I couldn't waste any battery on photos. But it was beautiful!

I forgot my Garmin, and as I mentioned, my phone was dying so a running app wasn't an option. Instead, I focused on feel. Thankfully I was running the Back Bay loop, so I knew the approximate mileage. Ran 2 miles easy, 6 miles medium hard effort, 2 miles easy.

Recovery post-long run. Mason kept demanding I pet him, so I decided to show him the wonders of legs up the wall.


Total Mileage = 22 miles


Not the best two weeks in the history of training. I feel like I have no idea where I'm at fitness-wise, so I'm hoping to do a longer tempo effort this week or next that will give me some indication of what I can aim for at RnR San Diego at the end of this month.