Peak Week for the Pasadena Marathon

Although the Santa Barbara Half Marathon is two weeks away, my sights are set on the full race in Pasadena. So this weekend's workout as meant to be the final "long run" for preparation before tapering (or in my case, semi-tapering) kicks in.

After the 13.1 + 7 miles from last Sunday, I took it very easy this week. Only 11 miles of running and 11 of biking for the entire 5 work days. It was needed, too, since Monday-Wednesday at work was sort of insanely busy.

So this morning I woke up with the goal of completing my 20 mile peak run. And after 3:24:19, I finished it!! Miles 1 through 17.5 were fine. My legs showed some occassional tiredness. I got thirstier after multiple hours of chugging along the street. But I kept up a decent 9:20/mile pace and 15:00/mile walk breaks.

And then mile 17.5 came around and I unraveled like an old sweater.

My ribs hurt. My feet hurt. My back did not want to change angles. It was all I could do to trudge along, one hurt foot in front of the other. After winding through beautiful neighborhood streets, I found my apartment building at exactly 20.00 miles on my watch.

I left the apartment at around 9:30am. The clock read 1:08pm when I returned. I could not fathom having been running that long (even though I done it before). My math just wasn't adding up.

But nevertheless, I completed the run. Spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Headed to SCOOPS Ice Cream (712 N. Heliotrope Ave, Los Angeles CA) to get a treat and meet up with my teammate, Maia, to plan a fundrasier there. All worked out and we have the first ever TASTE FOR THE TEAM ice cream tasting event on Dec 6th from 3-6pm. If you are in the Los Angeles area I can provide more info.

Then, to the grocery store. Despite the miles, I wasn't hungry. Debated sushi, fish, eggplant, and came up with tofu for dinner. Eh.

Tomorrow I will be joining my boss and coworkers for the annual LA AIDS Walk down in West Hollywood. The 6.2 mile walk will be a good chance to catch up with friends who I haven't seen around the office lately.

More restng until Monday morning, when the taper week begins!

Race Recap: Long Beach Half Marathon

Sore legs and smiling.

Last night I slept on a mattress that had too much in common with a wooden box for my liking. At an Extended Stay America hotel in Long Beach whose named I proved pretty ironic since I spent less than 10 hours there.

After the expo on Saturday, I killed some time by going to the movies to see Quarantine. Worthless. Does little to further or challenge the zombie film genre. Wants to be Cloverfield. Wants to be Blair Witch. I just didn't get it.

But that was the only damper on a good Race Weekend experience. The Long Beach Marathon weekend events took over downtown Long Beach, and I participated in the Half Marathon. It was a scenic, flat course that traversed the the marina, the downtown streets and the long biking path along the sand.

The Queen Mary (Saturday Night)

I finished in an almost-PR time of 1:56:07, just three seconds shy of my Philly Distance Classic run last September. I was running at about 80% effort and very aware of not pushing it to the max since I was down there alone without support in case of emergency.

After an exhilarating race, I came back up to Burbank and finished another workout of 7 miles. A nice, round 20 miler effort for the day. I am really happy to get in a peak distance around this time - Pasadena Full Marathon is only 4 weeks away!

Saturday will see another longer run, maybe 20 miles, maybe only 16 or 18. But after that, I'll be "tapering" for Pasadena with the Santa Barbara Half (Nov 1) and a light weekend in between the races.

Ankle Update

Ankle is feeling much better thanks to rest and recovery this week. Only 11 miles run during the week, but many more biked.

One biking workout today followed by a bit of packing. Then it's down to Long Beach for the half marathon tomorrow!

An Unfortunate Twist

Of my ankle last night, 2.5 miles into a 6 mile run. Negotiating an uneven curb in the semi-darkness. Curse my night runs!

I continued because the pain wasn't all that bad. But after the exercise endorphins wore off, my left ankle got stiff and sore. And this morning was no better. Hobbled to the store for an ace bandage before work. It seems to have loosened up through the day.

More Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation treatment for today and tomorrow. Hope this doesn't ruin Long Beach race for me, but since I am not totally wedded to the idea of running it, I'm not going to push myself.

More to come as the ankle heals...

TNT Race Recap: Taper Week

After two weeks off from Team practice, I made my way back to Santa Monica at 7am this morning. Yawning ensued. Although it was a small group, I really enjoyed being back with some familiar faces. I didn't realize how much I missed my friends until I came back.

It was an easy 90 minute workout going south along the Santa Monica/Venice/Marina Del Rey boardwalk. It's a route I have run many, many times, but since I've been m.i.a. from the Westside of SoCal for a while, it was a welcome run. 9 miles of flat, easy terrain puts Mt. Mugu to shame.

And in other good news, I am closing in on my fundraising goal. If you are feeling generous, hit up my website.

Emily's TNT Site

In other news, tomorrow will be the first day of MRE, as known as the Morning Run Era. I look foward to reporting, two months from now, that I can't believe how easy it is to get up in the morning. Until then. Sleep Tight.

Operation Up Earlier - Phase One Concludes

In order to prepare myself for my new running schedule, I've spent the week getting up earlier than normal, forcing myself to adjust. And as successful as it was, I'll admit this was only the easy part. See, I didn't get up and go running. I just got up. And went to work. I did shorter, more frequent workouts at night.

But today is the last day for that. Come next week (Tuesday, since Monday will be a rest day after a hard weekend), I'll attempt a 6mile/4.5mile/6mile midweek run schedule with hopes of boosting it to three 6 milers after the Pasadena Marathon in 6 weeks.

Speaking of races, I've got the Long Beach Half Marathon coming up on Oct. 13th. I don't have a taper schedule to follow since I'm training for more than one race at a time. I'll run medium/hard during the race and use that as a predictor for Santa Barbara in a month. Pasadena Marathon will be used as a medium/hard 20 miler with a 6.2 mile cool down. And then, home for Thanksgiving, and the Manchester Road Race with my family minus one Dad-who-does-not-run. He balked at my suggestion that I get him a treadmill desk. I happen to think they are pretty cool. But I also have a skewed sense of coolness.

City of Angels Half Marathon and Disney are still a little too far off to gage my workouts, and of course the end goal, the ultra, is still looming in the distance.

But for now, one day at a time. Hopefully, a day with an early start.

And a quick dental snapshot of the tooth they bone sawed: