LA Girl On The Run

I am still sick but now feel like I am on the tail end of it.  Hopefully by Sunday I will be back to 100%.  The good news is that mentally I am 100% back on track.  A couple of weeks ago, I was miserable.  I did not want to train and was feeling really down in the dumps.  A post race delayed melt down?  I wrote a post about turning the corner and eventually I did.  It took about a week to get over the malaise.  Now I feel back to normal and am ready to go full throttle again even though I have a head cold.  Go figure. 

This morning, I met a friend for an 8 miler up Sullivan Canyon.  It is a 1500-2000 elevation climb (need to pull the Garmin results to know for sure) over 4 miles.  At the 2.5 mile marker you feel like you are going straight up the trail and that lasts for a mile.  This morning, my ears clogged right around the 2.5 mile marker and I felt woozy.  I told my friend to keep running.  I kept at it by hiking another mile.  I could not hold it together to run straight up.  I made it 3.5 miles up the mountain before turning around to head back down.  Running downhill was a bit funky because my ears were still clogged.  Overall 7 tough miles. Head cold be damned!

Workouts so far this week: Sun 1 mile swim, Mon rest, Tues 7 mi, Wed double spin, Thurs 7 mi trails.  

This morning I was not only on time for our 5:15 run, I got there 6 minutes early.  I have been fighting a cold since the swim on Sunday (my husband and coworkers blame swimming at Venice Beach for my illness).  I thought that running this morning would help flush out the toxins.  I enjoyed talking to the group for the first 5 miles then it hit me.  I bonked and I bonked bad.  I had to slow my pace just to finish the run.  Maybe I am dehydrated from the Sudafed?  I am not sure.  It is definitely time for me to start running with a hand held bottle.  I plan to pick one up today or tomorrow.  

I have enjoyed reading all of the Ironman race recaps over the last couple of days.  I am inspired by your stories and feel propelled forward on my own journey.  Congrats to everyone who finished a marathon or Ironman over the weekend.

Next weekend, I will be live blogging from the Ironman Championships in Kona.  I look forward to being a spectator.  There is definitely magic in the lava fields of Kona.  

The LA Triathlon starts at Venice Beach.  Venice Beach is not the best beach.  People who live in LA do not go to Venice.  We leave that to the tourists.  My husband did his best to convince me not to swim today.  He was afraid of me swimming in “gross” Venice.  He lost the battle and drove me to the swim start this morning.  Have I mentioned how much I love my husband????

I may not have mentioned that I had never met the person doing the bike portion for our triathlon relay team.  I knew his first name and we had agreed to meet at 7AM (our wave started at 8:15ish).  I arrived at T1 and looked around for our number.  I searched for him for over 30 minutes.  I could not find him anywhere!  I ran into a few friends of mine, none of whom knew who I was searching for either.  I was about to give up and call it a day when I finally found my teammate.  It ends up that he had gone down to the swim start to watch the pro start.  Once I found him, I settled down and began to think about the task at hand, swimming .9 mile in the Pacific Ocean.

While I had hoped to jump in a pool and swim a few laps in the last few days, it did not happen.  The last time I swam was nine months ago.  I was not worried about finishing today but I was worried about the current going out to the first buoy.  Once I made it around the first buoy, I settled in for the swim to the Venice pier and back.  I swam next to the same man and woman for most of the race.  I was frustrated that no matter what I did I could not pass them for good.  Maybe if I had actually trained I would have passed them???  

Me, post swim.

Overall swim, offical results: 40 minutes.  I will take it.  I was aiming for 30ish minutes (what I swam last summer, ha!). Given that I did not swim at all this summer, I am thrilled!

Now it is time to get back to the pool.  Imagine what I could do if I actually trained!  

It has been a while since I woke up before 6AM a Saturday morning long run.   For four and a half years, it was a habit but in the last six months, I have fallen out of the habit of waking up early for long runs.  It is time to make it a habit again.  I met my old training partner J by the beach at 6AM for 11 miles.  We ran 11 miles through the hills of Pacific Palisades and back to the beach.  I took the time to notice that the hills that I used to struggle with no longer phase me.  That is a wonderful feeling!  Many times I still feel like a baby runner, even after five years of running.  This morning I took the time to recognize how far I have come.  

There are eleven weeks to CIM.  I modified my training schedule a bit.  I plan to jump to a 16 mile long run next week.  It is hard to believe that I ran the marathon of my life four weeks ago and now I am right back in the thick of training.  Fun!

Tomorrow, I swim .09 mile in the Pacific Ocean for the LA Triathlon.  I talked to my mom last night and told her about the expo.  She was confused. “Why aren’t you doing the whole triathlon??” Good question mom.  I am glad to be a last minute addition to a relay team but I am sure that tomorrow when I run to the bike transition that I will be sad not to be hopping on my own bike.  The good news is I will make it home in time for football.  GO PATRIOTS! Yep, that one is for you Mollie. 

We may want to file this one under crazytown.  This morning I agreed to swim the swim leg (.09 mile) for an LA Triathlon relay team.  I had wanted to do the full version of this race but decided a month ago that it was not economically feasible given all of my other commitments.  If I am going to do another full tri, I would like to do a 70.3 and do it the right way (ie train, prepare, etc like @robindoesrunning and @runwithrach).  Maybe 70.3 in 2012?  We shall see what happens.

In the meantime, I will be hitting the pool tomorrow or Friday to put in a few laps so that my body does not go into complete shock when I enter the Pacific Ocean on Sunday morning. Thankfully, I will be wearing a full wetsuit. 

Workouts so far this week: Monday rest, Tues 3 mi easy, Wed am spin, 3-5 run tonight.

 ”The mind has seasons just like nature, you must know that the pain of the winter will pass and you will once again see summer” - via @thegodlight

I went for a short run tonight and afterward something shifted.  I think I have finally turned the corner.  I am headed back to morning spin tomorrow and I cannot wait. :)

Fun stuff on the horizon:

- Going to Kona in 2 weeks to watch the Ironman World Championships.  Looking forward to the inspiration that is sure to follow.  Also: swimming with the sea turtles, night diving with the manta rays, and drinking beer at Kona Brew Co! 

- After a week in Hawaii, I go straight to SF to run Nike Women’s Half.  This is one of my favorites!  GIRL POWER!!!!

- First week of November traveling to DC which means RUNNING ON THE MALL!  I CANNOT WAIT!!!  When I lived in DC years ago, I was not a runner and was not able to take advantage.  Look forward to running from Lincoln to the Capital Steps. Whoo hooo!

After vacillating between triathlon training/ultra training/marathon training, I chose continued marathon training.  I pulled the trigger on the California International Marathon in Sacramento on December 4.  I ran this race 2 years ago and it was FREEZING.  Am I a glutton for punishment???

In other news, I took a one week respite from spin and am now ready to hit the bike hard next week.  

Marathon training starts today. The goal for CIM is to just go out there and have fun. The pancake breakfast at the finish line isn’t bad either!

One of these days I will make it to Austin.  Foster the People is killing it right now!!!!  Watch it now, live on You Tube .  Coldplay is coming up later. YAY!

The alarm went off this morning and I really did not want to get out of bed.  My stomach was in knots and I was not sure I could keep up with my group.  I decided to head out the door anyway.  It turned out that no one in the group was feeling good this morning. We ran seven miles at a fairly reasonable pace.  The important thing is that I did not want to do it and I did it anyway.  

I have been in a bit of a running funk since the marathon.  Last week was tough. Yesterday, five miles felt like ten.  Today seven was easier.  Hopefully on Thursday eight on the trails will be better.  I am still trying to get back to a happy place with running.  I know that it must be just around the corner.

Workouts so far this week: Mon 5 easy, Tues 7 planned: Wed double spin, 3 mi, Thurs 8, Fri double spin, Sat 10 mi

I want to be back to 100% but my body tells me differently.  I front loaded this week with spin classes in an effort to flush out my legs.  I felt sluggish on my Tuesday run and Thursday morning on the trails was not much different (maybe the heat played a role?). Thursday night was an “easy” 3 that did not feel so easy.  I had hoped to be back to 10 miles today but I chose sleep.  I am vacillating between taking today as another rest day and running 3-5 easy.  Regardless, I plan to hit the trails with the ultra gang tomorrow for 8-10 miles. 

Workouts this week: Sun double spin, Mon spin, Tues 7 mi am, spin pm, Wed spin, Thurs 7 mi trail am, 3 mi pm, Fri rest. Sat ??? yet to be determined miles: 17

Countdown to Kona - 4 weeks! 

This morning I met my group at 5:15AM for 7 miles in the late summer heat.  It has been cool summer in LA but today it was already warm at 5AM.  It is supposed to be in the high 90’s later this afternoon.  The run was tough. My calf had some issues/tightness starting at mile 4.  I was reminded that I just gave it my all at a marathon a week ago.  Recovery takes time. 

Workouts so far this week: Sun double spin, Mon spin, Tues 7 mi am, spin pm. 

This morning I had planned on running 10 recovery miles at 6AM.  6AM came and went. I was not sure what my body was going to want to do today.  I decided to go with the flow.  I met up with my good friend, Dr. K, who wanted to hear the race recap in person over breakfast.  She is a medical doctor/scientist who approaches running as a scientific experiment.  I love talking to her because my outlook on running is the polar opposite.  I would characterize my approach as throw things at the wall and see if they stick.  She and I deduced that that if I am to make my goal I need to run faster. Yes, so so simple yet so so hard.  She asked me to email her my new plan sometime soon.  

After breakfast, I ran an easy 6 miles.  My body was not feeling a 10 miler.  Instead, after the run, I took my new road bike and helmet for an inaugural ride, 7 or so miles in the West LA VA.

Ready to embark on the inaugural ride.  

Now I need to take the bike to get the pedals changed to SPD.  I hope to get that done this weekend so I can go for an extended ride.  

Recovery workouts done this week: Mon walk easy, Tues/Thurs rest, Wed double spin, Fri 3 mi easy, Sat 6 mi easy, inaugural bike ride, tomorrow double spin

Thank you for all of the tumblr love!  Team lagirlontherun is the best!!!  Your words of encouragement definitely eased the pain of not making my Boston dream a reality this year.  Special thanks to cryingisforsissies for this - “Because it is when we don’t get what we want that we discover our true character”.

It is about the journey not the destination. In my heart, I have already won.  The next adventure awaits and the journey continues….