So last week I exercised for 3.88 hours… a couple 4-6 mile runs, one short swim, and one rather unpleasant first workout back at Masters. The soreness cleared up pretty quickly, but I slept in quite a lot. I didn’t double check this, but I’m pretty sure that is my lowest total since sometime in 2010. The real running highlight of the week, though, was getting to meet  Angry Runner and friend @phairphunk and show them around the ‘hood a bit… including the obligatory blogger stop at Yogurtland. Don’t believe AR when she claims to be ugly on twitter. Short, yes, ugly, no. However, I am obliged to report that in a true “welcome to California” moment, she got made fun of at a bar filled with predominantly white people for acting overly white.

As for what’s next, I am mildly bumping up the physical activity this week, but still all easy running. It’s always tough to accept losing a little fitness, but I think I’ll be very happy with it in the long run. Unfortunately I got lazy and BOTH my bikes needed work done, so I need one to come back from the shop before I can get going with that.Training starts on the 30th, and we are going to be pushing “reset” and working on my form and track speed for the first ~6-8 weeks. I’m hoping to use the Carlsbad 5000 as an attempt to run fast over 5K, and then build up strength towards half ironman revenge at Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens.

Things didn’t get off to a great start. First, the race was delayed 25 min as there was a problem with the light rail getting other runners to the start (and then making sure we wouldn’t get cut off by subsequent trains). That actually meant I was able to make an additional, needed bathroom run, but it’s safe to say that we runners would have voted to start the race without the people on the remaining trains. Then the race started… and my Garmin was going bananas. It jumped from 8 min shuffling across the line to 5:45 pace and I knew I wasn’t getting useful data, as this occasionally happens at the beginning of runs where there wasn’t a great satellite pickup. I assumed that in the absence of data I would be going too fast, so I forced myself to let lots of people pass me. I was able to hit lap to realign my watch at the mile marker and yup, a hair under 7 min, in the danger zone. I was still a little rattled as to whether I was pacing correctly, but ultimately for the first few miles I just waited and let people run on by ahead of me.

The first part of the course is indeed pretty boring so I did appreciate the signs and bands here. I would have liked a little more current music, but the highlight was at mile 4 because they were playing a Dave Edmunds song (“The Promised Land”)… Dave Edmunds is 70s era guitarist whose style is a throwback to 50s rockabilly. My dad always played his stuff, so I might be the only person under 30 who got a thrill out of hearing that. Also, a lot of cheer teams were out, and those kids did a really good job- I definitely remember wild animal and disco themes.

Anyway, I stayed around 7:10 per mile for a long time. I had to pee AGAIN and ducked into a portapotty during mile 9. It ate up about 30 seconds, or most of the cushion I had accumulated, but I figured I could still get it right back if I kept on with 7:10s or so. I got a little worried since mile 11 was a gradual uphill into the wind at 7:22, but 12 was down and away with 6:58, the quickest legit split of the day.

I hit the half in just over 1:34 and this was where I got a little nervous… I mean, my plan was to go 1:34/1:35 and I was still relaxed… but really? was I arrogant to think that I could do that again? The second time I got nervous was around 17 when I had a split second low sugar feeling, but it was OK. Honestly the one thing that kept me engaged was that I was finally starting to pass a couple women.

Sure enough, though, I got to 18 still pretty bored. But with 8 miles to go and about a minute and a half cushion, I wasn’t ready to hammer and wasn’t sure if I would be. At 20 I was holding steady with 2:23 and change but was starting to feel the fatigue creeping up in my legs. The fade hit at 22 and I went from 7:15s to 7:25-7:29. We had to go over an overpass at 23- not even a hill but it felt like crawling- and I briefly thought that 3:10:xx would be OK, if it came to that. And then I got angry at myself. I still don’t know whether it would have been OK.

In the end, I knew that I had the cushion and that 7:2X would get me there. While it definitely became harder, I didn’t try to go harder until with about 1.5 miles to go, when I decided that I really wanted to pass the woman in front of me. I got down to about 7:15 again for the final mile. I was nervous about miscalculating the distance and missing 3:10 until the very last turn to the final straightaway. I saw the numbers creeping up to and over 3:09 and as I crossed the line I felt… relief. Happiness, yes, but mostly relief. It has been 6.5 months since I started running again with this goal in mind and I’m glad that I don’t have to fight with my brain to believe in it now.

My final (chip) time, 3:08:58, 14th woman (highest marathon placing ever! the fasties were in Houston.)

Some more reflection: about a year ago, I told another coach I was considering working with that, you know, maybe I’m maxed out at 5K-10K, but I wanted to get my marathon time down in line with my other PRs. Well… I didn’t do that. I brought everything else down and dragged the marathon PR kicking and screaming along with it. Because of that, I’m fired up and I know I have more in me (darn you, bathroom break!)… but I’m going to resist gunning for 3 h (seriously guys, I’m not exactly close yet- and have we discussed my injury history?), 3:05, or even 3:07 anytime soon. Right now, in my slight post-goal-race letdown mode, I’m doubting how much upside I have given the moderate mileage, but I’ve clearly been wrong before. For now, I have some lingering knee pain to address, I miss swimming and riding my bike, and running that 5:38 in practice has me chomping at the bit for some speedy stuff. The RnR necessitates a little R&R, then… big things.

Anyhow, too long, but thanks for reading and for the support, it’s a constant reminder of just how lucky I am to be able to run and race.

me with cousins Aubs & Mal, plus Mal's husband Ryan (they all ran the half!)

I hope my knee doesn’t bother me for the marathon. I am already afraid of how much it might hurt even if all systems are at 100%. I would like to hurt on my own terms. Does that ever happen in a marathon?

To sum up 2011 in racing: it was the year where, from the very start, I had a vision of what I wanted to accomplish. 2010 was a year of changes and surprises, but this time around I had a better idea of what to expect. Things didn’t always go according to plan, but I had one.

yearly summary:

swimming: 412,800 y (over 234 miles!). A huge bump in distance thanks to UCSD Masters, but I didn’t really get faster. Moreso than worrying about my yards for 2012, I need to keep learning how to swim. We’ll start working on that again in a few weeks.

bicycling: 2133.8 miles. Also a sizeable bump in distance relative to last year, and the work started to pay off. I’m still quite a ways behind the triathlete competition, though, so I’m hoping to come in with a higher total next year.

running: 2073.7 miles. Not what I was hoping for here and a decrease from last year, due to taking April and May off with a stress fracture and coming back very carefully. The second half of the year had about 1300 of those miles.

January

Started fast, then had a major meltdown at the Carlsbad Half, squeaking out a small PR but ultimately missing my goal of 1:30. Learned two lessons: life stresses do not make for good racing, and 7 weeks after a goal marathon is NOT a good time for an goal half marathon (for me)… especially if you do, like, one tempo in between.

February

Scared the crap out of myself by running in the national XC championships at Mission Bay. While I was very obviously outclassed and I don’t need to do it again, I got to stand on the same starting line as Shalane and Kara, and I didn’t pee myself in the process. (And I wasn’t last! Did I mention that?)

March

My first California triathlon, where I fell in love with my Cervelo and the flat roads of Palm Springs. Also had my one inexplicably awful (OK, possibly explicable by overracing) race of the year at the St. Patrick’s Day 10K. Even though I was a little shaken, I trusted what my workouts were telling me, rested, and regrouped with a 3K track PR at SDSU.

April

Had a breakout race at the Carlsbad 5000, a 20+ second PR made even better by being on the winning Prado Racing open women’s team. I learned I could push myself in races beyond even what my workouts suggested. Unfortunately the race effort revealed a stress fracture (R sacral ala), my 7th, and I spent the rest of the month not running and in quite a bit of pain.

May

Still no running and I was forced to change the plan, swapping Vineman 70.3 for Barb’s Race to give myself a shot at being able to race. Keeping that carrot in play helped me stay positive while I recovered, and I swam enough to make some friends at the pool to boot.

June

Along with getting to explore more of SD on my bike, I very cautiously started to run again, and started to work with new coach Mario. It was frustrating at times for the first few months, as I hated doing drills and constantly stressed about how slowly my miles were building. However, with a little more hindsight, I am pretty sure this has been one of the best things that could have happened for my running- regardless of how my goal race turns out. I’m really looking forward to triathlon season 2012, in no small part because coach has never done a triathlon, so one or both of us are going to learn something.

July 

Oh, this is the part that stings. Swim PR, bike PR, and a collapse and DNF at Barb’s Race. In my book, you’re only as good as your PRs and so I still have to be an almost 6 hour half iron person no matter what I know internally. Still have a chip on my shoulder about not being able to take more shots at it.

August, September, October

Racing into shape! Ran the AFC half as a last-minute training run and kicked off XC season with team Prado. At the end of August started off with a 19:41 5K and made it down to 18:46 by October, missing my “Lauren Fleshman challenge” goal but notching a course PR. Also did the SD Triathlon Classic and was reminded that I REALLY need to bike more hills, but turned in the fastest female run split.

November 

Had a lackluster race in the midst of heavy training at the Dirt Dog championships, but finished 5th on a stacked Prado team that won its first season. Things started clicking again with a 10K PR on Thanksgiving in the Bay Area.

December

Ran out of my mind at the Santa to the Sea half, closing out the year over 4 minutes faster at the half marathon distance than I ran in January. Got a pair of shoes in a raffle. Did some running in the Chicago suburbs over Christmas, where I put my running tights and hats to use for the first time since moving to SD.

It was a good year. I remain, as usual, convinced that my best year (running and otherwise) is still ahead.

I don’t usually make sweeping resolutions, in part because I think every day can be the start of something new, if you want it to be. (Also, I’m convinced that my year actually goes through January 15th, but you can remember that wisdom whenever you screw up on your resolution.) Furthermore, the right thing in January may not be the same as the right thing in June. All I can say is that I hope to give 2012 my very best when it counts.

Not going to do daily recaps but I ran 73.1 miles last week. For the last few weeks of marathon training we are cutting back to two workouts, a strength-focused track session and a long run. I have been doing more short/easy doubles than you would think would be recommended for marathon training, but I’m not worried about the details so much. The track session this week was another beast. Was assigned 4 x [2K @ 8:08-8:10, 1 min rest, 1K @ 3:51-3:53, 3 min rest]. For reference, that is a little under half marathon pace for the 2Ks (which were easy) and 10K pace for the 1Ks (which were decidedly not, and I only hit one in range). Ended up with 8:05, 3:55, 8:09, 3:52, 8:05, 3:58, 8:08, 3:56. Long run was a solid 22 miler @ 7:49 pace. I kept it easy but rather spontaneously chose to push the last 2 miles at 7:10ish, which was good mentally as usually I have given up the ghost by that point.

Today I took the day off completely. I had the realization this week that I am NOT pushing myself to the limit this training cycle. Am I pushing myself to the edge in my key workouts? Yes. In races? Yes. But I backed off on cross training and some ancillary things and because of that I don’t feel the same kind of extreme exhaustion that I have occasionally felt in training. It’s hard to put aside the guilt/negative feelings about this, but in a way, I think it’s good for me to experience this feeling. (Or am I just framing my laziness in a positive light? Well, it can’t hurt to learn how to do that…) Because that means that even if I run a race and think, “I don’t know how I can top that,” well, I can feel that there is more in the tank. Last year this would have been the extreme limit. Now it’s doable. So maybe next year this is the foundation to build on.

One complain-y thing, though: for training purposes, this is not a good year for a January marathon. On Christmas Day I am doing a long marathon pace run, definitely by myself since I will be in the Bay Area. On New Year’s Day I will be doing my last 20+ miler. Happy holidays! Enjoy being lonely and in pain! Good thing I actually like running…

In non-running news I saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie and signed up for Pinterest, both of which I recommend

I was actually pretty nervous since the last time I ran a half, in January, I had felt ready to run 1:28-9 and then my mom had surgery and I went out too fast and was mentally a mess and pretty much just totally screwed up everything about that race. So I told Mario I thought I could do 6:42-6:45 pace, but I really just wanted to not be an idiot and break 1:30. He countered with 6:40 pace and threw in a legit cutback week (only 32 miles Mon-Sat, though I would have to do 19-20 on race day). I said I would aim for the first 3 at 6:50 and then get down to business, whatever that meant.

They had it set up so you parked and took a 15 min school bus ride to the start, which was a piece of cake. They said the shuttles started running at 5:30… I parked at 6 and I’m pretty sure I was on the first or second shuttle to leave, but I was still impressed with the organization for a smallish event. I mean, they even had portapotties ready if you had to go during the 2 minute walk between your car and the bus. Possibly overkill there.

After dropping off my charity toy donation at the Santa statue I warmed up with 2.2 mi @ 8 min pace, then as I was in the bathroom they announced that “this year we have 3 women with Olympic Trials qualifiers using this race as their final tune-up.” Well, massage me gently with a chainsaw. (Yes, I know that’s not the exact Heathers quote.) No prizes for me today.

I made it about 0.7 miles with the 1:30 pacer before deciding I could run faster. Given the effort required to run a 4 mile tempo at 6:45-6:50 last week, it seemed stupid easy. The first part of the course was boring but I felt good so I couldn’t have cared less. 6:45, 6:48, 6:44. At this point I was still a little unsure whether I wanted to pick it up but it turned out that there were 2 women in sight in front of me and 2 men that seemed to be doing a solid job of catching up so that kind of made the decision for me. I was really glad I had my Garmin because some of the mile markers were WAY off (4 was at 4.3, no 5, and then 6 was spot on). It was surprising because everything else about the race was so smooth, but once I saw that 4 was so ridiculously far I assumed they would all be “guidelines” instead of markers. 6:35, 6:41, 6:37.

My favorite part of the course was probably between 5 and 6 when they had a mariachi band including some really young kids all playing and singing La Bamba. I smiled a lot about that one. I may have wanted to take home a guitar-playing child but instead I just waved. At mile 6 I at my first shot bloks and apparently I need to figure this out because both times I took them I got a side stitch 10-15 min later. During mile 8 I was really feeling it. I kept telling myself over and over “It doesn’t need to feel easy. You don’t need to feel good. All that matters is that you can hold the pace.” And somehow I did. I tried not to look at my watch much because it seemed crazy, it was starting to hurt, but I knew I was still hauling. And the cramp went away. 6:32, 6:26, 6:27, 6:29.

I always tell myself “only a 5K left” at mile 10 but this is stupid. A 5K is a really long way. One of these days I’ll remember not to use that until 2 miles to go. I got crampy again between 11 and 12, but not as bad. I did start to incrementally slow down again, but not that much. We went through a little park by the beach and it reminded me of Mission Bay at home. By this point there was no more movement in terms of placing. With a little under a mile to go I briefly had thoughts of trying to push past the guy that was just ahead of me but then it was weird, I had a split second where I flashed back to getting wobbly and passing out that one time and I thought I would just stay steady. So I’m kind of embarrassed to say I didn’t really kick. I may have also been in a little bit of happy shock at the finish line clock time as it was… 6:28, 6:33, 6:33, 0:44 (0.12)…

final time 1:26:18.4 chip, 6:36/mi (1:26:22.6 gun time). 6th woman. cooled down with 4 mi at 8:30ish. Big thumbs up to the local strawberries in the postrace spread and the cafe that sold hot chocolate.

…and I don’t even know how I got here. It’s true, I have been consistent. I have cut a couple things short, but I don’t think I have missed a run workout this entire training cycle. I have worked hard. I have an amazing support network when it comes to running. But I still weigh the same (um, thank you In-N-Out and Outback Steakhouse for helping me fight footstrike hemolysis, one iron-laden meal at a time). I still don’t do high mileage. Apart from the marathon coming up, I don’t have a clue what my future goals and associated times ought to be, because for most of my running life the possibility of running this fast did not occur to me. I guess I feel like the world is saying to me that it’s OK to dream a little bigger. Maybe. As long as it’s still fun.

On my way home from the race I got a phone call saying that I won a pair of Saucony shoes in a vendor raffle. In summary, I think Santa might be real…

Mon 11/21: 0:45 easy trainer ride (“11.2 mi”)

Tues 11/22: AM: 8.0 mi track workout incl. 2 x 800 @ 2:51, 2:55 (400 jog recovery), 2 x 400 @ 86, 86 (200 jog), 2 x 200 @ 40, 40 (200 jog); PM: 4.0 mi very easy and 1600 yds very easy swim

Wed 11/23: 6.1 mi easy, no watch

Thu 11/24: 12.1 mi as ~ 3 mi w/up, 10K race in 38:29, ~ 3 mi c/d

Fri 11/25: AM: 4.0 mi easy, PM: 4.0 mi easy (some hills on both, however)

Sat 11/26: 20.0 mi on the Iron Horse Trail avg. 7:41, 15 easy, then 2 @ 7-7:15, 1 @ 8, 2 @ 7-7:15. was supposed to be 15 and then 5 at MP, but I just didn’t have it… probably a combo of nutrition and too close to the race. would have waited until Sunday, but I had to take a 6:50 AM flight.

Sun 11/27: 6.0 mi immediately following said flight. all my log says is “OOF.”

total for week 47: 64.2 mi running, 11.2 mi biking, 1600 yds swimming

Mon 11/28: 4000 yds Masters swim (I am not in shape to swim 4K well these days…)

Tues 11/29: AM: 8.0 mi easy, PM: 5.2 mi easy but including 6 x 100 m strides on track

Wed 11/30: 10.0 mi incl. 9 x 600 m w/200 m jog leaving every 4 min. Was supposed to do 10 of these, but overslept and had to do the workout after lunch, which is pretty much the worst time for me from a digestive and energy standpoint. Got through 7 @ 2:13-2:14 (exactly goal pace) then did 8 and 9 in 2:23 and 2:21 before calling it.

Thu 12/1: AM: 4.8 mi on Torrey Pines trails, PM: 3.8 mi and 0:15 strength at UCSD

Fri 12/2: 8.5 mi Gilman loop easy, no watch

Sat 12/3: 10.4 mi incl. 4 mi steady state (6:44, 6:40, 6:50, 6:52) on rolling La Jolla Farms loop, followed by 8 x 30 s hill sprints. It’s funny because I did this same workout earlier this fall with a faster assigned pace. So I expected this to be pretty easy, but it didn’t really feel that easy. The big difference, though, was that last time I got a short easy day right after, whereas this time I went straight into a long run the next day.

Sun 12/4: 15.0 mi avg. 8:24/mi. Rancho Santa Fe loop and the Lagoon with Christine. Loved this loop! We chatted the whole time so despite there being some good rolling hills throughout it felt easy and went by fast.

totals for week 48: 65.7 mi running, 5500 yds swimming, 0:15 strength

So in more interesting news, remember about a year ago when I said I wanted a running-related tattoo? Well… I finally got it. Sort of. I got the outline and black/grey shading done, and I’m going back in a couple weeks to have the color filled in. You can see “in progress” photos on my FB page. I’m still kind of in disbelief, mainly because it’s bigger than I originally intended… but once I saw the stencil held up to my leg I was like, “this is amazing artwork! let’s do it!”

However, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I was sick to my stomach last night freaking out about things like what if I met an otherwise great guy that hated tattoos, crashing and road rashing it up, and what to say to future children. Today I feel much better.

But first, the “bucket list” items I have already been lucky enough to check off, in no particular order:

-qualify and run the Boston marathon

-win a race

-finish a triathlon… and then a bunch more

-pass as 21 again in a college track meet

-criterium and TTT cycling races (I’d do the TTT again… not so much the crit)

-run xc nationals and not come in last

-Bay to Breakers

-Carlsbad 5000

-go for a run at altitude

-bike up Mt. Diablo

Now, the stuff I still want to do:

-finish a trail 50k

- steeplechase (just once, because it will probably break something)

-run 100 miles in a week (just once, because it will probably break something)

-break tape at a finish line

-run in Iten and/or Eldoret, Kenya

-Napa Valley marathon

-Chicago marathon

-run Wharf to Wharf and get a top 100 jacket (random, but when I first heard about this from my HS coach at ~14 it seemed like the pinnacle of road racing)

- Falmouth Road Race

-run a mile faster than I did in high school, down a steep hill if necessary

-beer mile (safe to say this will NOT be faster than I ran a mile in high school)

-run a marathon “for fun” and/or on short notice

-pace someone else to a PR

-century ride (doesn’t need to be supported, but I don’t want to go by myself!)

-one of the Wildflower triathlons

-finish an ironman (my folks do NOT support this one- luckily for them, neither does my bank account or my habit of going into the lab on Saturdays. I’d like for it to happen sooner, but it’s going to be a while.)

-earn a USA Triathlon honorable mention

-swim to shore from Alcatraz

-race in a foreign country

As you can tell, I have a slight problem with wanting to do things that are all over the map. SOOOO… if you were me, what bucket list items would you try to cross off in 2012? What should I try to do fast and what can I fit in just for kicks?

Without trying to sound cocky, I had two pretty ambitious goals for the race: PR and contend for the win if possible. As it turned out, the latter was not on the table at all… the winning time was MUCH faster than last year.

Anyway, it started out drizzling, which I wasn’t thrilled about, but the temperature was pretty good and the rain wound up tapering off as the race got underway. I lined up pretty close to the front, and BAM! People got out FAST. On some level I expected this since there was both a 5K and a 10K (I ran the 10K), but within the first half mile I could see quite a few women in front of me and I knew I had some work to do. Fortunately, things settled down and by the 2 mile point I had picked off a few- I just didn’t know how many more there were!

I BARELY looked at my watch during the race, but I clicked off pretty consistent splits ranging from 6:07-6:13. Just before the 3 mile mark, I caught up to a girl in a Nevada shirt, passed her, and she passed me back pretty quick- but then she split off to kick in for the 5K finish! Phew! Then in the fourth mile I had one guy pass me, but that was it for the whole race… I was able to move up, picking off men one by one pretty steadily. Unfortunately at this point we did a little loop around a school field and I saw the woman who was ahead of me, and she was a LOT ahead. Oh well… but I had a pretty good feeling about a PR as I wasn’t totally uncomfortable yet.

It started to get uncomfortable with about 1.5 to go; just past mile 5 we had to go through about a quarter mile of dirt trail that was muddy and slick. That slowed things down and I knew it was a “false flat” section, but I looked at my watch and for the first time saw 6:3X and freaked out. I tried to push but was starting to feel it and only got a very slight boost in pace, since we had to go over a pedestrian bridge. After that, it was a quick blast down to the finish. Dodging merging 5K finishers added a second or two, but I didn’t stress about it as I knew I had a solid cushion on breaking 39. Dad was able to snap a very blurry pic as I kicked it in to finish in 38:29, a 40 second PR!

I should point out, though, that the course isn’t USATF certified… it’s a big, popular race and I’m confident it’s quite close, but both online and with Garmin it maps to 6.17/6.19. If you want to add 10 seconds to my PR you can. For once in my life… I’m not going to. Call it even with the mud, I executed this beautifully and earned this one

The only disappointment was that they had some issues with the results, so I couldn’t stick around for awards (went to serve turkey/hang out at the shelter where my mom volunteers). I ended up in the results as 3rd woman overall (I have to admit I’m a little skeptical that a gal ran 34 flat, but I suppose I don’t have a reason to think otherwise). Not a win, but good enough as a win for me today! Especially since there was no prize money, just plaques and medals. The one surprise was when they called Anna Pierce… yes Beijing Olympian Anna Pierce… as the 5K winner. Her husband Jon won the 10K. I didn’t talk to her, but I’m pretty sure most people didn’t recognize the track superstar in their midst. She seemed a little embarrassed by the fact that they also called her up for an age group medal.

Great start to a nice day with the family… thankful to be home for the first Thanksgiving in a long time. Hope you all have enjoyed the day as well… we’re very lucky.

I know it probably doesn’t seem like a lot to some of you, but since I spent the spring focusing on nailing a 5K PR, it turns out that my 67.4 mile week is (just barely) the highest of 2011 so far. Overall, I’m holding together OK (knock on wood). I spent pretty much all week feeling bad but still running decently, then recovered and had a good long run today. My back hurt and my knees hurt, but both are still within the realm of tolerable.

Noteworthy is that even though I am spending a little less time training and not doing any more aerobic volume than when I was prepping for the half ironman, I feel more beat up. Like, going for a three or four hour bike ride will make you really tired. But you’ll be fine the next day. But run 12 miles one day, then 10 the next, and so on and my brain starts going into self-preservation mode and not wanting to do anything extra, just to be sure that the body can make it through whatever the next day is.

Mon 11/14: 0:25 weights/core plus 1500 yds easy swimming

Tues 11/15: AM: 12.3 mi at UCSD incl. 12 x 1000 m in 4:01-4:07; PM: 3100 yds masters swim

Wed 11/16: 6.1 mi at Mission Bay w/Sarah, avg. 7:38/mi (I don’t know how I ran that fast)

Thurs 11/17: AM: 8.6 mi Gilman loop easy, no watch; PM: 4.2 mi including 6 x 20 s strides

Fri 11/18: 9.8 mi progression run, avg. 7:48/mi, first 4 @ 8-8:15, 7:22, 7:25, 7:19, 7:06, 7:05 (0.6), 7:25 (0.4- starting uphill), 9ish (0.8- uphill/cooldown). very fatigued by this point.

Sat 11/19: 6.1 mi easy, no watch

Sun 11/20: 20.3 mi at Mission Bay, avg. 7:36/mi. first 12 easyish, then 10 x 1:30 on/1:30 off (“on” in the neighborhood of 6:3X pace), then about 4 more easyish to finish it out. Only the first mile after the pickups was really bad. Well, the pickups themselves were bad because I was trying to run 10K pace into the wind and failing miserably, but those miles went by really fast.

For anyone wondering, we call these “Squires long runs” after the legendary GBTC coach… here’s an article. Obviously we’re not doing the progression indicated and definitely not every other week (um, I was kind of racing too much for that)- but it’s the same idea. I did do the same set of 10 pickups on a 14 mile long run about 6 weeks ago. We might not ever get rid of my love for jumping the gun and running the first miles of my runs a little too fast, but I think this will help me be able to negative split or adjust pace when I need to. I hope. Because it sure isn’t a picnic to start fartleking after a 12 mile warmup.