A link to a couple pics

Here is a link to some pictures taken of me running at Nike. I swear I am going to write up a post of how the run was soon. This week has just been crazy!

Photographs!

I did it!! - Exactly 3 hours :)

Half Marathon - 2007 Results
FLEMING, KATHERINE
EMERYVILLE CA 94608

Overall - 7,339 (out of 12,196)

Bib - 14951

Final Time - 3:00:01

Class- F30-34

Age -30

Gender- F

classrank 1,282

sexrank 6,988

pace 0:13:44

5k 0:38:46

10k 1:24:37

15k 2:07:46

Link to Results
enter my bib number - 14951 - to see my results in a prettier format.

Introducing my mom

So last night I introduced my mother to the Daughters Grieving their Mothers grief group I attend weekly. I showed the group some photos (including the ones on this page and my fundraising page, as well as some of her as a child, on her wedding day, and us together the day before my college graduation).

I also showed the group some of her artwork which she had made for me - it is a beautiful collage/drawing/writing piece telling me to Seize the Day while angels watch over me. It was a piece of her work that I haven't looked at in years, and considering that it is now only 3 days until my run, it was perfect timing.

So here I am - seizing the day, running to honor those who are still fighting each day, and those who live on daily in our memories.

Tonight I am going to pick up my race packet at the Nike Expotique with my friend Sabrina & my sister in law Amber. Tomorrow is rest, Saturday is rest and the Team in Training Pasta Party, and then Sunday early (6:15am) is when I show up to run.

Running on a treadmill

So this morning when the alarm went off I was in such a deep sleep that I just couldn't get up. When I tried, I felt very sick to my stomach so I just laid back down. Luckily, I didn't have any plans this evening so Justin & I went to the gym where I ran on a treadmill for pretty much the first time. I have walked on a treadmill before but never ran. It is very different! First of all, I found that I tend to veer towards my left when running. When I was first starting out, I actually had to hold onto the rails so that I wouldn't run into them. I ran for 3 miles (37 minutes) - I was alternating between a 12:14min/mile pace and a 12:30min/mile pace. I felt really good that I was just able to do the 3 miles. Obviously, it is much shorter than my race (in 4 days!) but it was also not much of a problem for me to just go run that.

I was running in my race outfit which is pretty styling (sarcasm). Everyone in Team in Training has to wear the shirt they provide so that you can be identified on the course by staff. So the runner's all get a bright purple tank top which is pretty small. I ended up getting both the medium (which I thought was too small) so then I got the large. The large is just wider though, not longer which is really what I was looking for. So I am sticking with the medium tank top. I don't wear running shorts - instead I actually wear spandex pants which were intended for use in yoga. But they have worked for me so far in training, so they are what I am going to wear for the race.

I also tried these arch support pads which you wear over your sock. I am not sure that I am going to wear them for the race. I haven't been having any more symptoms of the plantar fasciitis, and they weren't very comfortable.

Monday night - taping clinic

So, I went to a taping clinic this evening at La Foot. Basically we learned some exercises to do to prevent common foot/knee injuries, types of shoes to look for, and then how to tape feet, ankles, & knees to prevent pain while running. I had them do a gait analyses on me and the good news is that they said my feet weren't all that messed up. So if I had shoes which had more torsion and vertical control I probably wouldn't have had any injuries (at least, not like I did). So that is really encouraging. My calves are really tight right now though and my left one hurts when I run. It isn't shin splints, just a inflammation of the calf muscle. They showed me a stretch I should be doing pretty much constantly.

Overall it was a pretty helpful clinic. I think we all wished it had been much earlier in the training season, since the race is in 5 days!

Independent Distillers fest

So, Saturday night Justin & I went to the Independent Distillers Festival in San Francisco. Basically it was 4.5 hours of tasting vodka, gin, bourbon, whiskey, tequila, etc. Not too conducive to running on Sunday, let me tell you. It was a lot of fun though. Sunday I didn't really have a hangover, but I did end up getting a migraine later in the day. So no exercise at all. Now, I am drinking nothing but water until the race. Only 6 more days!

Sleepy Katherine

So, all day Friday I was in Portland Oregon for work. I went straight from the airport (landed at 7pm) to a friend's house where we hung out until 1am. That meant I didn't get to sleep until 2am. Which meant that I did not get up in time to go to the mentor-led run at the Berkeley Marina which started at 8am. I haven't made a single mentor-led run, why start now, right? :) What I did do was go for a light run around noon. Course, it was sunny and hot then so it was a very short light run. It was just 2 miles just running in our neighborhood. But it was better than nothing.

Shoes

So, I went to La Foot in Berkeley for the shoe lift. This time the person helping me definitely knew what he was doing. He actually looked at my shoes - it turns out that per their testing system, the type of shoe I have is not very good, which explains a lot of the problems I've been having. Unfortunately, it is way too late in the game to change shoes now. Since I am already signed up to run another half marathon in January, I am going to get a new pair of shoes right after the Nike race. Which is in 2 weeks!!!

Thursday - buddy run again

So, normally Thursday would be track. But since our marathon is in 10 days (EECK!), we aren't supposed to go to the track workouts anymore. So Lisa & I met up again at Lake Merritt this morning at 6am. It was really dark and chilly, but happily, it was not raining. We did the run at a 11 minute/mile pace, same as we did on Tuesday apparently. At least we are consistent. She is actually running a half marathon this Sunday down in San Jose, which means she is doing two half marathons in two weeks back to back. Talk about over-achieving!

During my lunch hour I did an hour long Pilates class. It was pretty good though now my upper back is all sore again.

This evening I am planning on going to La Foot in Berkeley to get a "shoe lift" for my left shoe, and some arch supports as well.

Tuesday-ditto

Did my usual Lake Merritt buddy run this morning. The sun isn't rising while we run anymore, it is rising on my drive back home. The total darkness when I am waking up is making it very difficult to drag my tired body out of bed. But only 2 more weeks of this (sort of - I am actually planning on continuing to train with the team until December 9 when the last marathoners are done with training).

karate

Did karate this evening for 2 hours. We did a lot of work with the sai (hand-held small swords) so my arms are exhausted. A student led the stretches and beginning exercises and he had just gotten into yoga so we did a lot of yoga sequences to begin which was cool.

I have been doing karate on and off since February of 1999. For some reason, since my mother passed away I am having a very hard time focusing during class and find myself often having to hold back tears. That combined with my current running focus led me to tell my instructor this evening that I am going to take a sabbatical from karate until at least January. Hopefully I will be able to return then with a slightly clearer head (and less injuries).

Sunday=shopping

So, I didn't run today since I did the 10 miles yesterday. But what we did do is find the Sports Basement in Walnut Creek and go shopping. I have some 20% off everything coupons from participating in Team in Training that I wanted to use. Sports Basement is awesome - I had never been before. They are like a Marshalls or TJ Maxx for sports/camping stuff! They had clothing, gear, my Hammer electrolytes, bike stuff, camping stuff, weights, shoes, etc! We must have spent over an hour in there.

I ended up getting a fuel belt - basically a belt to wear around the waist which holds 4 8-ounce bottles. I am planning on using that instead of the water bottle that I was using since that one you carry in your hand and I think its what caused my shoulder to get aggravated. I still need to get a new sports bra & new running pants before the race which is problematic since we aren't supposed to use anything in the race we haven't trained in. So I am running out of time!

Another 10 miles!

So, let me say that I went into today's run planning on running 12 miles. In fact, that is the amount of miles I told my family & co-workers that I would run. That didn't happen. I only did 10. (Lesson here - don't tell people how many miles you are going to run before you run them!)

Today's run was at the San Leandro Marina. We had run here once before. That time before was my really bad run where I was barely able to do 2 miles, had horrible stitches in my side, and was just miserable. So, not the best memories of this place. Also, the last time we were here, it was very very hot and the sun was blazing. Not so today.

Today it was chilly. (I suppose it's all relative, right? So to be fair it was in the 50's). We had staggered starts based on how fast we run - I went with the 11-13 minute/mile crew. I didn't see Lisa or anyone that I really knew that I could run with. Setting out, there was a group of runners who were aiming for a 12 minute/mile pace. They were right in front of me so I just kept up with them. By the first water stop (2 mile mark), they were starting to split up, but there was one runner who was also by herself near me. So I introduced myself and we ran together. She is on the summer training team and is also training for the Nike Half (6 months of training for a half marathon - I would be hospitalized!). So we ran together out to the 5 mile point, then turned around and ran back. By the time we hit 5 mile, it was definitely warming up which was good. It was also very sunny which wasn't so good. I've found that I much prefer to run on grey slightly cooler days (and I tend to do better as well).

By the time we hit the first water stop again (2 miles left!), my left foot was decidedly cranky and I was really getting tired. But somehow I persevered. To add the 2 miles to make it a 12 mile run, you had to go past the starting point and do two 1 mile laps around a large circle area. By the time I hit the starting point, the right hip flexor muscle was cranky (yay to the right side for speaking up finally!), my left foot was very very unhappy with life, and I really didn't want to push myself too far since this was our last long run before Nike. So I stopped at the 10 mile mark. Timewise it took us 2 hours and 10 minutes to finish (13 minute/mile) which is definitely slower than I had ever hoped, but I am not doing this for speed, I am doing this just to finish.

The great thing about it is that I *ran* the whole 10 miles. When I did the Nike Preview run, I walked a lot of it (up the hills, parts of Golden Gate park, etc). Today, I didn't walk at all except to grab water/gatorade at the water stops! So that is pretty exciting. Frankly, I think if I had been walking a bit more, I could have covered the last 2 miles, which means that I feel really good about finishing Nike.

I did manage to speak to Mama Lisa about the pain on the outside of my left foot which has been there since I did the Nike Preview run in September. I showed her where it was red and swollen and she said "Oh, you hurt your ankle!". Figures. I explained my left side issues and she thinks that my left hip is lower than my right hip. She said she could even see a height difference while I was standing there. So I am supposed to get a "shoe lift" for my left shoe.

After the run, we had the Nike send-off party there at the marina park. Honorees for our team came to speak to us about how great we are all doing - the honorees are people/families of people who have Leukemia/Lymphoma who are being honored by our particular team. Some of the stories were very heart-wrenching. Two of our honorees are "angels" meaning that they passed away - Cole who was 2 years old, and Brenda who was a mother and a member of the Team for the last Nike event. Cole's mother spoke to us about how much it meant to her that we were all doing this to raise money so that other people's children wouldn't die of Leukemia. Also, this year's Nike event is happening on what would have been Cole's fifth birthday. Everyone was in tears, and I couldn't help thinking about my mom as well. I wish she could be at the finish line cheering me on, but I think she will be there in spirit.

Thursday - I ran to catch my flight ...

So, never being one to learn from my lessons, I again tried to run this morning. However, I gave up only about 100 feet from the condo I was staying in since it was even colder than Tuesday. Due to time constraints around check-out and the close-up of the conference I wasn't able to workout at all after that failed attempt. I did have to run through the Denver airport in heels to catch my flight - we hadn't really expected the horrendous traffic through Denver at 2pm on a Thursday afternoon. But I don't think that counts. I had some delusions that I might go running or something when I got back to California. But after getting my luggage, escaping the Oakland airport, & taking a taxi home, it became clear that it just wasn't meant to be.



Saturday is going to be another big run (10-12 miles) so I did some stretching and will just take it easy in preparation.

Cross training

Today is cross training. I did circuits in the hotel gym again, mostly upper body, then did 100 sit-ups on the exercise ball, and then finished up on the stationary bike for 20 minutes. While on the bike I got to watch the Red Sox get 3 home runs in their game against the LA Angels which was awesome. (As a side note, being in Colorado the week the Rockies beat the D'backs, the Padres, and then the Philly's earlier today is awesome!). I am not feeling as winded as I did on Monday here which is cool. I fly home tomorrow afternoon - I am going to miss this awesome gym.

Tuesday in Vail (aka bad ideas)

So, lesson number one when running in vail in October - if you try to run in the morning, and all you have are leggings and a t-shirt, don't do it. When I realized that the plants all had ice on them, I turned around.

Lesson number 2 - inhaling freezing thin air makes your lungs not like you very much and you can't run very much.

So obviously, the run this morning didn't work out quite the way I had hoped. I ran about 1.5 miles (with some walking to allow feeling to return to my hands). Brrrrrr!!

However, I really wanted to get my miles done, so when it warmed up in the afternoon I went running again. This time I covered around 3 miles. It was again a combination of walking and running though (as sad as I am to admit it, probably around half/half). I am just getting winded very early in the runs and not able to sustain even my turtle running pace without walking for a bit. It is a bit disheartening - I know I can run 3.5 miles without stopping no problem (that's my standard Tuesday run) at 30 feet about sea level. But definitely not at 8200 feet above sea level. Hopefully, just getting out there and covering the distance counts for something though!

Monday - gym workout

Yesterday (Sunday) I didn't do any exercise whatsoever. My left foot was hurting again from Saturday's run (though this isn't the plantar fasciitis pain, this is a new pain on the back outside part of my foot), and my college friend that I was visiting is on strict bed rest related to her pregnancy so we weren't exactly hitting the town.

Today I picked up my co-worker at the Denver airport and then we drove to Vail. We had a couple hours to kill before the conference began so after getting settled, I hit the gym. I think this gym was the most amazing "hotel" gym I have ever seen. It is actually a gym in its own right with members etc that the hotel guests can use. It was huge, 3 floors, amazing (and slightly intimidating) machines, and it had its own spa as well. I did some circuit training on the machines, then did the StairMaster for 20 minutes, then 100 sit-ups on an exercise ball. I felt pretty winded after all that and it was a good hour of working out so I called it a day. I could definitely feel the affects of the altitude (8,200 feet above sea level) just from getting winded walking to the gym.

We will see how successful I am at running in the morning...

Saturday - 4.5? miles

So, this morning my arm was feeling better and I wanted to go running. It was going to be a "mentor-led" run (no coaches, no water stops, etc) so I just went running on my own with Justin up at the Berkeley Marina. We did a pretty similar run to the 6 mile run I did there previously. We shortened slightly and overall had a pretty good run. My shoulder was achey by the end but no where near as painful as it was earlier this week. This afternoon I am flying to Colorado - I am spending the rest of the weekend with my old college roommate, and then going to Vail for a housing conference Monday through Thursday. I am sort of looking forward to training in the higher (much higher) altitudes, though we will see how much training I can handle up there!

My body doesn't like running

So, the knot in my shoulder wasn't going away and was getting so painful that I was having trouble breathing. So I went to see my doctor this afternoon. He tested to make sure it was just muscular, and then told me to put my arm in a sling for 3 days (and no running for those three days). He said he could actually see the swollen muscle along the top of my shoulder. Yippee. The good news is that I will only miss track, the bad news is that this means I haven't been to a track workout since August! I should be able to run on Saturday though. If it isn't my foot, its my shoulder. Still all on my left side. Bah.

Tuesday - buddy run

This morning was the Lake Merritt buddy run. It is staying darker longer which means the sun isn't rising until we are almost done with our run. It really doesn't seem that long ago that the sun had already risen by the time we were beginning our run. I ran with Lisa again, though our time was a little slower than it has been in the past. My shoulder is still sore - I need a masseuse to follow me around to fix me. :)

Monday - pilates & karate

So today I went to a pilates class during my lunch hour. I thought it would help to stretch my legs out from the 10 mile run on Saturday. It was at a studio I haven't been to before called "Dharmaspace". It was a really nice low-key class with only 6 students. I enjoyed it a lot, though this afternoon my left shoulder started to bother me.

I also went to karate this evening which went pretty well. I worked with new students for the first hour and then we did exercises and kata at the end of class. My shoulder felt like it had a knot in it which I worked through but it was still sore after class.

The day after the 10 mile run

So, the day after the run I am okay. Not great but not destroyed. My legs are pretty sore. My left foot is cranky - the outside of the foot is swollen and painful though I can walk on it. We went for a hike today which was good - I think it helped loosen my legs up a bit. I did some upper body exercises as well which was good. I think I might buy stock in ibuprofen though. :)

Nike Preview run

So, I did the Nike Preview run and lived! :) Better yet - I ran 10 miles! Ok, I ran/walked 10 miles, but who's counting?

Lisa (my adopted mentor) picked me up at 6:15am and we went over to San Francisco. The weather wasn't so great - it was kind of chilly & raining. We got there right around 7am. Our group wasn't supposed to start running until 7:15 so we had a little time to look around, use the bathroom, and get maps. There were probably about 400 Team in Training folks there, and I saw a bunch o AIDS Foundation people training for a marathon as well - so it was quite a crowd!

Lisa had done this run before the last time she was training for Nike so she knew how the course was going to go. She wasn't feeling great so we started out really slowly. I was planning on just trying to do 7 miles so as not to push it too hard. Lisa said she was planning on doing 10 so I decided to see if I could make it to 10 as well. We did a fast walk up the first really steep hill (the hill the Cliff House and Sutro Baths are on for anyone who knows SF). Then we left the road area and went into trails along the cliffs. It was really beautiful and an area of San Francisco that I've never been in before. By the time we reached the top of the trails, Lisa decided that she was probably going to walk most of the course and encouraged m to leave her behind and go at my own pace. So I headed off on my own.

The next part of the course went through the Seacliff neighborhood - I heard some other runners say that we were passing Robin Williams house (it was a very nice neighborhood). We descended towards the Presidio, then turned around and ran back along surface streets to Golden Gate Park. The hills along in the area were pretty devastating. I mostly did a very fast paced walk up them and then ran down them. By the time we were back to Golden Gate park I was getting pretty tired but I decided to keep going. Once Lisa had mentioned the 10 miles I kind of fixated on it. I made it to the 10 mile turnaround point somehow. I was so oblivious that I couldn't figure out why there was a tour bus and tourists taking pictures of a deserted field. So I slowed down and stared - it turned out that the field wasn't deserted - there were buffalo in it! I was just so tired that I couldn't see them!

I did make it all the way back and was even able to run for the last half mile to the finish line. Lisa was there and ran in with me for the last 100 feet. She had only run 6 miles and then stopped because her achilles was killing her. They had massage therapists at the finish line and lots of potluck foodstuffs. The 10 minute massage was awesome.

Friday - rest & yoga

So Friday is the rest day - not supposed to do anything. However, I was kind of freaking out for two reasons - one is that I didn't really do any training on Wednesday or Thursday, and second is that Saturday was the Nike Preview run. The Nike Preview run means that all the Bay Area teams go to San Francisco to run part of the Nike Marathon course (a segment in the middle & end of the course). It is a really big deal and a terrific opportunity to see the course. I was also kind of worried because I hadn't run for two weeks, and then this week I just did the Buddy run (3.5 miles) but Saturday I was supposed to run 7-9 miles.

So what I did was go to a lunchtime yoga class - it was a mellow flow yoga so not too streneous, but it got me nice and stretched and calmed my nerves some. Overall I think it was a good decision...

Wednesday & Thursday - no training :(

So Wednesday I planned to go to a Pilates class over lunch. But I had forgotten that I had scheduled a business lunch (which was quite wonderful) so I couldn't make Pilates.
That evening I couldn't do karate either because I started a grief group run by a local Hospice. The group is for Daughters Grieving their Mothers and it is every Wednesday from 7-9pm which are the exact same hours as karate. I was very nervous about going - it is a group of about 9 women - I was by far the youngest there as well (I think the next youngest woman is 40). I think this is a good step for me to be taking though and while it is taking time out of my physical training, I am optimistic that it will help me emotionally.

Thursday I was planning to make my return to the 6am track practice. However those plans were foiled when I was up all night with stomach problems. I wasn't even able to go into work on Thursday and instead worked from home.

Mmmmm, massage

Just got home from my 70 minute massage. I have to say that Kirsten at Apotheca is just awesome (if you are in SF, I recommend a visit - www.apothecasf.com). And the other good news is that so far I have no deleterious effects from this mornings run. Yippee! Now I am just partially dreading this Saturday's run - it will be part of the marathon course in San Francisco and I am supposed to run 7-9 miles. Obviously, I will play it by ear and I know that Lisa will be there so I will try to run with her. Her pacing really saves me from myself I think (otherwise I would go too fast).

Good run this morning

So I did the Lake Merritt buddy run this morning - pairing up with Lisa again. We did the full 3.5 mile run - our pace seemed pretty slow, but Lisa always times us and she said that we took 3 minutes off our time from the last time we did the run. I didn't have any pain in my foot or knee (despite the fact that I forgot to tape my knee - bad me!) The only soreness at all is in the back of my left leg along the hamstring. I think that is because I went to the gym last night instead of karate and I did a bunch of hamstring exercises that I've never done before. Luckily, I have a 70 minute massage scheduled for this afternoon which I am looking forward to - I think I will have the therapist focus solely on my legs.

Running again

So, Justin & I ran this morning. This was the first run since August 31. We covered 3 miles here in Emeryville (just running on the sidewalk). I ran for about 2.5 miles of it, then my foot was pretty sore so I walked the rest of the way back. Overall I felt pretty good about the run. After not running for two weeks, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it (as silly as that may sound) but it was fine. In fact, I felt better (aside from the foot) than the last time Justin & I did that run.

My next run will be Tuesday morning at the Lake Merritt buddy run. I am also planning on going to karate tomorrow night though I will be taking it easy.

I'm ok!

Heyas all. Hope I didn't worry everyone. So Tuesday September
4th I went to see the podiatrist. They took x-rays, and poked my foot quite a bit. From the poking she decided that I probably had the beginnings of a stress fracture on my 3 metatarsal in addition to the plantar fasciitis. She put me in a "boot" (something that my friend's 2 yr old daughter called an "Owie Boot" when she had to wear one for her broken foot). I had to wear it for a week. Within an hour of putting it on, the pain had completely disappeared. Justin & I spent the past weekend in Seattle (I had to be there on Monday & Tuesday of this week for work so we went up two days early). Wearing the boot meant I got special treatment at the airport (it didn't set off metal detector alarms but they needed to wipe it and my fingers down to make sure there weren't traces of anything nasty on them). We did quite the hiking around Seattle though so I got lots of good exercise.

I had my follow-up appt. with the podiatrist yesterday. The foot wasn't very painful at all when she poked it, so now I am wearing a compression band around the front of my foot. I can start running again on Sunday. I can walk until then though which is good - I just need to be more careful and take it easy.

So the bottom line is that I've lost two weeks of training, but I am still going to do this thing. After all, I am part of team "Just do the damn thing".

Meh

So, this morning when I woke up I couldn't walk. Which means that putting pressure on my left foot was intensely painful. I took a lot of Advil (3) and iced it until I could hobble around enough to get ready for work. Made it around work for a bit. I scheduled a doctor's appointment though the first one they have is Tuesday morning. The doctor is a very highly rated podiatrist on yelp.com which is a ratings/review website that I love.

When I showed the bottom's of my feet to Justin he was able to see something very wrong with my left foot (the tendons are taut and swollen) - I am somewhat convinced that I have Plantar Fasciitis which would really really suck. Needless to say I am not going to run tomorrow - every step I take feels like someone is shoving an ice pick into my heel/arch area. I am icing, taking large amount of ibuprofen because it doesn't seem to affect my stomach badly, and whining. Though really I am just cranky that this has happened. I was working very hard to not push myself so that I wouldn't get injured. I was trying to do everything right. Oh well, we will wait to see what the podiatrist says on Tuesday.

Cross your fingers for me that this won't mess up my training too much.

Wednesday & Thursday

So, yesterday, Wednesday was a cross training day. I didn't end up going to karate so I just worked out at home. I have one of those exercise balls and a pair of weights so I did about 40 minutes with those. Then I watched too much tv. (Random aside: I just discovered Design Star - its rather entertaining though not something I'd watch every episode of).

This morning was the track run. When the alarm went off at 5am, I really didn't want to get up. But somehow I did. Since we haven't had a chance to go grocery shopping this week, I didn't have anything to eat in the house before the run. So instead, I decided to try one of the Hammer Gels. What is a Gel you might ask? (At least, that's what I was asking when people kept talking about them at the Marathon University!) A gel is concentrated carbs, amino-acids, and such that is easily digested so that endurance athletes can sustain their activity. I am not sure I would go so far as to call myself an endurance athlete, but we are supposed to find what we want to use during our race and test it all out. I have decided to try the Hammer brand because they don't use high fructose cord syrups, sugars, etc. They are all-natural, organic type things. They have a whole line - gels, bars, and electrolyte powders. Apparently, you are supposed to drink the electrolyte during the race, and do a gel about halfway through with water (never mixing the gel & electrolyte stuff - not sure why but everyone says not too. Kind of like not crossing the streams). So far, I like the Hammer bars - they are like Larabars - date paste, almonds, fruits, etc. The gel was kind of ... well gel-like. Which was ok for the first mouthful but there were about 3 mouthfuls. Yuck. I guess one method is to squeeze the gel into a small container and add water so that it becomes more liquid. I think I will have to try that because the consistency just didn't work for me.

Anyway, back to the training this morning. For the past two weeks, we've been doing circuit drills - run one lap, then do core strengthening exercises. This morning we did hills. Which meant we ran up and down streets near the track - the Fall team (my team) did 3 laps which was approximately 1.5 miles of up and down. For my own notes this is how we are supposed to do hills - going up you watch the ground (don't look up the hill!) and you run with the balls of your feet; going down let the heels take the brunt so it is the big muscles along the backs of your legs that are working the hardest.

Running on the balls of you feet up a half mile steep hill is hard. And your calves burn. A lot. But I felt good after it and I did all three laps without stopping. Which I am pretty proud of. Coach Al was timing us - it took me 16 minutes, 3 seconds to do the 1.5 miles of hills. That is slower than a 10.5 minute mile but the course won't be all hills either.

Looking forward to resting tomorrow. My left knee isn't hurting much anymore (taping is working very well) but now my left foot hurts along the arch. I think its a conspiracy. A leftist conspiracy even! (Which is totally something my mom would have said/written).

Monday & Tuesday

So Monday was a karate/cross training night. It was mostly fine. I wasn't having a such a great night and ended up leaving a bit early from class. My knee was also bothering me a bit with the kicks and some of the stances.

Monday I also had to "recommit" to Team in Training. This basically means that you sign a form stating that you are going to complete the fundraising goal, and run in the marathon. On one of the forms required we had to put our expected pace per mile in the marathon. I put 10 minutes 30 seconds. I hope that I can do better than that, but my overall run might average out to around there. I am not worried about the fundraising goal - I think I have basically met it at this point which is just awesome. Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed. Your encouragement helps when the alarm goes off at 5am and its still dark out. :)

Tuesday morning I got up at 5am to go to the Lake Merritt buddy run. Lisa helps lead that run and I ran around the lake with her. It felt pretty good, though not as good as Saturday's run. But it was a nice solid 3.5 miles in about 40 minutes. I ate an energy bar (Hammer brand) an hour before the run, and a banana right after. My knee was feeling a lot better. I taped it before the run on Sunday, but didn't do it quite right and could definitely feel it. Tuesday morning, I taped it and it was a lot better. Virtually no pain at all. What i need to do is find time to get orthotic inserts for my shoes which will help stabilize the knee and how my foot is striking the ground.

Sunday - a trail run

So I wanted to take it easy on Sunday after doing the 6 miles on Saturday. So, my husband and I got up early and went up to the East Bay Hills for a run. We ended up at Redwood Park which has a nice dirt trail that's part of the Skyline Bay Trail. We did two miles (one out and one back). It was pretty cool and grey - in fact, there were points where is was sort of raining from the wet fog which was passing through the trees. I hadn't run on a trail before and it is a very different experience from the mostly track/paved trails I've been training on. The trail was also much more hilly than I had remembered - it is fascinating how much things change when you are running vs. just walking them.

On our way back, we heard a loud noise, almost like someone was doing construction work at 8am on a Sunday. Then as we came around a corner we saw what had made the noise - a size able tree had fallen across the trail. Justin just jumped on top of it and over, I did a not so graceful clambering over it.

6 miles this morning!

So, this was our Saturday coached run. It was at the Berkeley Marina which is where Justin & I ran 4 miles last Sunday. I got there a little early so I could meet with Mama Lisa, our asst. coach who is the primary person for injuries. I had emailed her about my knee and I was hoping she might be able to help me figure out what to do to keep it from hurting. I had to wait for her to finish taping up a woman's foot - from the taping job I guess she has plantar fascilitis - the entire bottoms of her feet were being taped. Once Mama Lisa was done with her, she took a look at my knee. She said that I have patella bursitis, which is exactly the same thing I had back in March when I tried to start running back then. She put some Biofreeze gel on it (topical analgesic) and then wrapped tape around the base of my knee so that my patella wasn't moving around. It felt better almost immediately which was pretty encouraging.

Due to getting taped up, I missed most of the prep for the run but was able to join the group for the final shout-outs (names of people we are running in honor of) and the moment of silence. Then we headed out. I was hoping to be able to run 4 miles - it was a very cool grey morning and not too windy so I thought it might not be as hard a run as last Saturday was.

Around mile 1, I caught up with Lisa, one of the mentors. She does the Tuesday morning run around Lake Merritt, and I've also been talking to her at the Thursday morning trainings as well. She was running at a nice slow pace, so I asked her if it would be ok if I shadowed her for the day. I would have been running with Blair but she is back in PA visiting her family and friends.

So Lisa and I ran - she was going to go for 6 miles. We got to the 2 mile mark where there was the water/gatorade station and we stretched. This was the first time I have made it to the water station on a coached run! I felt pretty good, so I decided to keep going with Lisa. We hit the 3 mile mark and turned around. Stopped again at the 2 mile water station and ran the rest of the way in. I felt great the whole time - no pain in the knee, we only walked 3 times (each for 1 minute timed by Lisa) and it took us about 1 hour & 10 minutes so get back to the finish line. When we got back, I still felt like I could have run a lot more which was very encouraging. I am simply thrilled that I ran 6 miles today and it almost felt easy! Yippee!

Thursday's run/circuit training

So Thursday morning was the track run with circuit drills. We didn't actually run at the track, we ran in the parking lot which has somewhat significant hills, doing circuit drills between each lap. To put it lightly, the hills absolutely killed my knee. After doing 3 laps, I spoke to Coach Al who told me to stop running and just finish up the circuit drills. My knee wasn't hurting from any of the circuit drills, just the running so I did that and headed home. Hopefully it won't continue and hinder my future runs ...

Wednesday cross training

This evening I went to karate even though my knee was still hurting. The pain seems to be coming along the hamstring - down the back of my leg and hurting in the back and inside of my knee. The pain seems to go away when I am actually exercising it - it hurts the worst when I am walking down stairs.

At karate we did sparring for an hour straight. Somehow I came out fairly unscathed. I also did lots of stretches which seemed to help the knee somewhat.

Tomorrow morning is circuit drills at the track at 5:45am. Which means I should head to bed.

G'night!

Monday and Tuesday not so great

So Monday was supposed to be the cross-training day - when I do karate for two hours. However, my left knee was hurting quite a bit (probably from the long run Sunday) so I stayed home and iced and elevated my knee.

Tuesday I should have gotten up and done the buddy run at 5:45am but I didn't. I told myself I would run in the evening, but then ended up going out for drinks with some former co-workers instead. Ah well. I will be good the rest of the week.

Saturday & Sunday runs

So Saturday is the coached long run of the week. It starts at 8am and this time was at the San Leandro marina. I ate breakfast before I went but it was already 7:30am. We were supposed to run 3-5 miles (up from 2-4 the first run). I started out ok running with Blair, the lady I ran with at the buddy run on Tuesday. But by mile 1.25 I was hurting. I had a really bad stitch in my side the likes of which I hadn't felt since the very first run. I started walking and a mentor helped me get rid of the stitch, though it started back up everytime I started running again. So I turned around at the 1.5 mile mark and only did 3 miles. I was able to run a little bit on the way back in, but overall it wasn't a good run for me. I felt pretty disappointed since I'd been running well all week, but as my friend Gina says, every run can't be a good one.

Sunday Justin agreed to go running with me. I wanted to try to do 4 miles to make up for Saturday's awful run. So we drove out to the Berkeley Marina. We first ran out into the Bay on the concrete pier. That was quite the workout cuz we were running directly into the wind. Then we ran all around the yacht club, and around Ceasar Chavez park. We made it all around and back to the car. So I got my four miles in! The last mile was pretty rough, but with Justin's cajoling I made it. Now I have to do that 3 times in a row. Yikes.

Wednesday cross training day & Thursday

So Wednesday was cross training day. Coincidentally, I do karate for two hours on Mondays & Wednesdays so that worked out well. I led the class on Wednesday - I had us do kata, basics, and then drills with partners.

Thursday I got up at 5am and went out to Clark Kerr track up above Cal Berkeley to meet up with all the Team in Training folks. We did circuit training - run one lap, then do sit-ups, push-ups, & squats. Then repeat 4 times. It was tiring but overall felt good.

Thank goodness that Friday is a rest day.

Buddy runs - I ran a 5k! :)

So I was supposed to do strength training yesterday but didn't due to dinner with the in-laws.

Basically my training schedule is supposed to be
Sunday - long run (2-4 miles)
Monday - Strength training
Tuesday - 35 minute run
Wednesday - Cross training
Thursday- 35 minute run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - long run (2-4 miles)

So, to make up for missing last night, I got up at 5:15 this morning and went to the 5:55am Buddy Run at Lake Merritt. Basically a buddy run is a scheduled run with other TNT folks but there aren't any coaches. You are just supposed to run for a certain amount of time and then go home. I ended up running with Blair. She has been jogging for 10 years but is slow so my pace was not too bad for her. We chatted (I huffed & puffed as well) and we made it all the way around the Lake. For those of us counting at home, that would be 3.1 miles (which is 5k)! And I did it without walking at all. It took just about 35 minutes and I was back home by 7am. I still feel great so far.

Maybe this running thing ain't so bad...

Wow, big run!

Well, the big news is that Sunday I ran the entire way for 3 miles!! My husband Justin wanted to go to the gym and workout and I knew that I needed to run. So I used Google Maps to map a route to the gym that was 1.5 miles so that I could run to the gym with him and then turn around and come back home. He decided to run along with me so we headed out. He kept me from walking when I think I would have normally given in to the temptation. As an added bonus, when we got to the gym it was closed so he ran with me the entire way back home. So, this is officially my longest run so far!

After that we decided that maybe he shouldn't be running in sneakers that were 5 years old so we used a coupon I got at the Marathon University to get him new shoes. I picked up a snazzy running hat (blue) and a water bottle with holder (violet). I actually meant to get the blue water bottle holder but got distracted at the checkout and grabbed the wrong one. Oh well - coordination is for wimps anyway. :)

Marathon University

So Saturday was the Marathon University. I carpooled with two other TNT (Team in Training) folks down to the middle school that it was being held in.

Basically it was a series of 4 45 minute classes on various topics. First was a class on feet & running. I like my feet. During this class I became worried about my feet. Luckily one thing which was repeated over and over was that if you are participating in the half marathon, you don't have to worry as much. Thank God. Because I certainly don't want my feet to look like some of the photos the teacher was showing. In fact, about halfway through the class I thought I might have to leave. I wasn't sure I could hear another horror story about blisters or skin peeling or anything having to do with foot badness.

Then the second class was with the personal trainer. She hadn't gotten the memo that we weren't working out that day but instead were taking a bunch of classes. So we spent 45 minutes doing an aerobics routine. I spent the first half thinking it was not that bad and the second half plotting the aerobics teacher's death. Mind you, I was wearing jeans & flip-flops (along with a bunch of other people).

The third class was nutrition, supplements, and gear associated therewith. It was the most interesting class by far. And it seemed that it was the shortest of course. They did an overview of all the different GU's, gel's, electrolytes, etc out there; how and when to take them while running; symptoms of dehydration and hyponotremia; and lastly, what water bottle system works best. :)

The last class was the chiropractor speaking on how to avoid injuries (go visit him), and the store owner discussing shoes, apparel, and other accesories.

Finally, I go thome at almost 2pm, about 3 hours later than I had thought I'd be getting home. I counted the 45 minute death aerobics as my workout for Saturday.

Friday's Run in Seattle

So, I ran this morning while in Seattle. I went down to the waterfront and per the jogging map provided by the hotel, I think I ran for about 2.5 miles (I walked another half mile as well). Overall it went pretty well. I haven't really gotten a stitch in my side since the first run. I think I need to work on my breathing more though. I have gotten good at carrying water bottles in my hand, though I think I should probably just invest in a holder that I can carry.

Thursday night I worked out in the hotel's gym - just some weight training and lots of sit-ups.

Tomorrow is the "Marathon University" being held by Team in Training. They are going to have people speak to us about nutrition, personal training, clothing, etc.

Travels

So Sunday I flew to Billings, Montana. Monday was a 'non-running' day so I went to the gym in the hotel I was in first thing Monday morning. It was a very small fitness room without much equipment but I made do.

Yesterday evening I flew into Portland, Oregon. I had dinner with a friend of mine who is an avid runner. She told me about a great place to run near my hotel which I did this morning. It was a 3 mile run along the waterfront park, and across two bridges. Again, I think I ran at least half the time if not more, and I felt great. In total, I was out on the path for an hour before I headed back to the hotel. After my site visit, I ended up walking around Portland a lot (it is an easy city to do that in). Only now that I am sitting in the Portland airport (about to fly to Spokane, WA) is the soreness kicking in.

So far, I am enjoying the training (you know, all 3 days of it!). There are only 2 months and 2 weeks left until the marathon!

Only mostly sore :)

Well, Justin got me out this morning to run since I will be spending 6 hours on a plane later today (flying from SFO to Billings, Montana for work). I was out there for 30 minutes, alternating running and walking.

I was fairly sore this morning when I woke up and running morning didn't really help that. I read this great book: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training by Dawn Dias. She says that the soreness never stops. So this will be a fun couple of months. But I think it will be worth it when I cross the finish line.

First run was today

So, today was our first run. I didn't actually run in circles either. We all met up at the Alameda Ferry landing at the early time of 7:45am (I had to get up earlier than I do for work!). We decided on a Team Name suggested by our Coach - "Team Do the Damn thing". Then we stretched out, and hit the trail. We had a choice to run 2, 3, or 4 miles. I am trying very hard to start slow and not overachieve so that I don't injure myself so I only did the 2 miles. Though when I hit the 1 mile mark I ran right past it and only turned around when a Team in Training Mentor ponted out that I had passed it.

So overall today was a great first day. I am traveling all this week for work, but I will try to run while traveling as best as I can. My Mentor suggested that I do 30 minute runs that consist of alternating 3 minutes running, 1 minute walking. We'll see how that goes.