Nature & What's in My Bag

November 22nd- Nature

Lately, trail running has my heart.

Saturday I went for a solo, beautiful, 8 mile run around Lake Poway. I was tempted to hike up Mount Woodson, but figured a trail run felt more my speed that day. I felt great. My legs, surprisingly, felt fresh, even though I had a pretty tough spin class the night before. The mornings have been a little brisk, which makes early runs divine.

I'm feeling very lost without a training program. I know my body needs a rest but my mind can't seem to grasp it. I should resume training in January, but it seems so far away! Heeellp me!

Saturday morning our couch was finally delivered that we ordered back in August. Slowly but surely our condo is starting to feel like home.

November 23rd- What's in My Bag

In counter clockwise-ish order...

1. My Kate Spade wallet. My bestie, Bae, actually bought me this wallet for my birthday and I absolutely love it. Kate Spade has such adorable touches with the bow and gold embroidering. Plus, it fits all my cards and cash. :)

2. Snacks. Trader Joe's pumpkin & pecan oatmeal and a Tiger Milk bar... you never know when you'll need breakfast!

3. Tissues, because I'm emotional, duhhhh.

4, Eos lip balm. My favorite lip balm ever!

5. Head phones, so I can jam out anywhere.

6. Car keys! vrrroooomm vrooom

7. Lululemon head band and a hair brush. My hair is always ready for a surprise run.

8. The latest issue of Runner's World. I love you, Lauren Fleshman!

9. Tylenol, because sometimes everything hurts.

10. Lastly a USB. I'm a giant nerd. :)

Hope you all had an amazing weekend! See you tomorrow :) xoxo

Talent

November 21st- Talent

Is the faster runner born with natural talent or are they an extremely hard worker?

Are all elite athletes born with the talent of running fast or have they spent their entire life practicing?

There is a great article in Runner's World that compares talent vs. training. To summarize the article, when it comes to sprinting, "talent" will always beat "no talent" with training. However, with longer distances "no talent" has a chance. The runner who trains very hard without natural born talent, can out run a talented runner with little practice. It seems to be most elite runners are born with talent and work extremely hard and that is why they are so amazing.

Speaking of hard work, if you haven't already seen this video of Kayla Montgomery, you have to watch it. Kayla is the one of the best high school runners in North Carolina and started off  her freshman year "slow". However, what really is amazing is the fact that Kayla suffers from multiple sclerosis and is unable to feel her legs while she races. She has overcame so many struggles to compete and truly is an inspiration.

Hope you feel inspired to work hard. 

xoxo

Everyday

November 20th- Everyday

Every race may not be a PR, but there is something to be learned from every time we lace up our shoes. 

Its a great idea to make a run log book for your workouts to learn from achievements and mistakes. Log everything from how you felt, the surfaces you ran on, the weather, the time of day, what you ate before and after, and your paces.

Log books are great for the following reasons...

1. They bring our goals to life. If it's a PR, a distance, or even body weight, write it down! You'll feel much more committed when you see it on paper. 

2. They make training seem manageable. Write down your training plan step by step in your log book. Your goal won't seem so impossible once you know how to get there. 

3. Seeing your progress can give you a confident boost when noticing how far you've come! Tracking your runs will keep you motivated and running interesting.

4. It can help avoid injury. Most running injuries don't just come out of nowhere. They build up gradually with little tweaks and tightness. Writing the pain down will help you understand what hurts, after how long, on what surfaces, and whether or not to take time off and cross train. 

Stay positive, even on the bad runs and know a PR is right around the corner with hard work. :)

See you tomorrow! xoxo

Fresh

November 19th- Fresh

Fresh. What a wonderful word. A clean slate. A chance to start over.

Fresh fall flowers from the local Trader Joe's to add to my autumn decorations. 

Fresh legs after a two day rest post half marathon. 

I'm officially in my "off season". The Avenger's Half Marathon was my last race of the year and I'm not registered for another race until February.  I'm still undecided about a spring race. I'm not sure whether I should run a full marathon or a half marathon and focus on my speed work. Just today I was thinking, "Maybe I should run another 50k this spring"... I'm very indecisive.

 Living in San Diego we won't have a true winter and it's very easy to run all year round. Our weather is amazing and I should not even think about complaining, but it doesn't help with possible over-training and break-less training cycles. 

I'm also undecided what "type" of runner I am. Do I want to constantly work on my speed and run road races? Maybe it is more of my "thing" to just run far and possibly try for a 50 miler within the next year. I'm torn between the roads and trails and hope I'll never have to choose one exclusively. 

I'm going to use my off season as fresh start. I'll work on strength training, get out on bike, have lots of shorter"naked" runs, and try decide where I want to be this time next year with my races. 

Hope you had a great Wednesday! Hummp Dayyy :)

Happiness (again)

 November 18th- Happiness (a day late)

In my opinion, I became my happiest when I stopped trying to rush through the phases of my life and simply began to enjoy the stage I was in.  It sounds cliche, but it really is about "learning to dance in the rain". Love wherever you may be in life and remember that everything happens for a reason.

When I was training for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco, my coach would tell us to embrace running up hills. He would tell us not to wish we were at the top, but to learn to love pushing ourselves when it hurt the most. I now look at hills in a new perspective. They are a challenge that will make you stronger, that will hurt, and will make the flat roads feel so much better.

Yesterday was a very happy day. My boyfriend and I adopted a little Winter White baby hamster. I am so in love with him already.

We named him Mu-Shu after the dragon in Mulan.

Hope you had a great day! xoxo

Reliable

November 17th- Reliable

This post will focus on running by feel and relying on you body to make the pace.

 

Sometimes it feels good to run naked and rely on your body, rather than your Garmin. For me, it can bring back the joy of running, help me focus, and de-stress from the day. I follow my breath to help guide my workouts. I found a great article from Competitor that taught me to run by feel and avoid injury from pushing too hard.

Long Runs (steady state runs)  

Breathe with a 3:3 ratio. Inhale for 3 steps and out for 3 steps.  While breathing in, take one step with your left, one with your right, and one with your left again. Do the same while breathing out. 

This run should feel "comfortably hard"- not a walk in the park but you should be able to have a small conversation. 

Tempo Runs  

Breathe with a 2:2 ratio. Inhale for 2 steps and out for 2 steps.  While breathing in, take one step with your left, one with your right. Do the same while breathing out. 

This run should feel "hard but controlled"and will be shorted than your long runs.

VO2 Max Workouts 

Breathe with a 2:1 ratio. Inhale for 2 steps and out for 1 step.   

This run should feel close to maximum effort. You should not be able to talk more than a word and the runs will be done in internals. I like to do my VO2 Max workouts at track practice with a coach for guidance. 

Hope this will help you rely on yourself more and less on your watch! Go out there and run naked. :)

Avengers Half Marathon and Technology

My recap of The Avengers Half Marathon and November 16th's "Technology" in my November Photo Challenge.

The technology I choose is Instagram. This app really makes my pictures look 10 times better than they do in real life. Blogging would be much less aesthetically pleasing without it. I will show you the pre and post Instragram-glaming of every picture from the half marathon.

I was suppose to run this race with my boyfriend, Huan, but his training was derailed after a pretty serious car accident in August. He's fine but training was sort of out of the questions. I ran for fun, not wanting to injury myself after my recent 50k. What a better place to run for fun than Disneyland!

I ran the race as Captain America. My costume wasn't an exact replica by any means but I think it got the point across.

I scored some awesome Nike deals at the expo and took a picture with my favorite Avenger.

Before and after Instagram...

We stayed at the Hilton Anaheim. I highly recommend it. It was walking distance (less than .5 mile) to the start and included free continental breakfast that was pretty amazing post run.

Here's the flat me (never forget the body glide)...

Before and after Instagram...

All dress and ready to at 4 am. The race started at 5:30 am before the Park opens. Despite being up so early, I was wide awake and excited. My boyfriend, on the other hand, was not. I woke him up to take this picture and then he quickly fell back asleep.

Before and after Instagram...

I met friend Amy outside the hotel and we walked over to the start. Disney puts on a super exciting race. We were greeted with announcers, Avenger super heroes, and fireworks... pretty amazing for the start of the race.

The first three miles were in the Park. Everything was lit up, decorated for Christmas, and some characters were riding the merry-go-rounds. We ran around California Adventure and through Cinderella's Castle. It was pretty magical!

The first few miles in the streets of Anaheim were fun.  The roads were pretty flat and the sun started to come up. I was constantly giggling to myself watching everyone run in costume. If you just happened to stumble upon this marathon in any other place besides Disney, it would look pretty strange.

Around mile 5 the wind really started to pick up. Like serious, run with your eyes closed and head ducked, kind of wind. Approaching the aid stations, you were attacked by rogue cups rolling their way down the street. I even saw a poor guy in a Baymax costume get taken down by the wind. Damn, Santa Anas! We ran into the wind/sandstorm until about mile 9 when we entered the Angel's Stadium. It was pretty neat running around the bases through the baseball field.

The race turned around once we left the ballpark. The wind was at our back and there was only a few miles left. I felt a little more tired than I expected, despite taking it easy. Miles 11.5 to 13.1 were back in the park filled with cheering spectators. I saw my boyfriend around 12.5 and stole a sweaty kiss. Running through the finish line was amazing as always.

Amy and I, looking pretty windblown, with our fancy medals...

Before and after Instagram...

Some of the beautiful Christmas decorating...

Before and after Instagram...

Overall, it was a great day! It's pretty crazy how much better my pictures look with Instagram, huh? Thank goodness for Technology!

Hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed my mini race recap!
See you tomorrow :)