The San Francisco Marathon – Our Secret

As some of you know I am a San Francisco Marathon ambassador! One of the huge benefits of being an ambassador is being able to share a discount code with all of YOU!

Code : DSC10TSFM2014A73

So if you are still looking for that perfect summer marathon, come join me and a few thousand of your closet running friends in a jaunt through the best of San Francisco. July weather in SF is perfect for running, and although there are a few uphills, it does mean there are a number of downhills to look forward to! And if a marathon seems a bit to long there are TWO half marathons. That’s right, you can pick to run either the first half (across the golden gate bridge) or the second half starting in golden gate park.

SF Marathon Map

A few highlights from past races:

The Marina Start

Start line in the Marina

The Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Park

Haight-Ashbury

Giants Stadium at AT&T Park

 

Who doesn’t want a medal with the Golden Gate Bridge on it??

San Francisco Marathon

I have an exciting announcement….
I was chosen to be a San Francisco Marathon Ambassador!!

I grew up near San Francisco where throughout my life I’d heard about the marathon and various family friends completing the half or the full. When I started running in college, I loosely set my sights on running the SF Marathon, it is my hometown race after all. In 2009 I ran my first marathon, the Seattle Marathon, and every since then I knew I could do San Francisco. The real problem was with school, study abroads, and summer jobs, the dates always seemed to be a bit off.

Well, I am finally done with graduate school and out in the real world which means no more excuses. I am running the full marathon next year, and I know being on the Ambassador team will make the experience even more amazing then I have imagined. It will be my 4th 26.2, just two weeks after my 26 birthday and I could not be more excited.

The Marathon will take me across this wonderful bridge

Eugene Marathon Part 1: The Training

I kept telling myself throughout the training for the marathon that I would write a blog post about how it is going. But I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to jinx myself because my training was going so well, that even I couldn’t believe it. So here it is, a quick recap of training.

We started training for Eugene in January. Four months of training. Four LONG months of training. My last marathon was in 2009 (Capital City Marathon run in 4:04), and I had forgotten how much time is needed to build up for a marathon. For the past year I had been racing less then half marathon distance, so I could do many races, more often, without serious training towards one goal. It was really fun and I loved dropping into races and testing myself on short distances. But the marathon is a whole other beast. Luckily I had met fellow Oiselle Teammate Laural the fall before our training was to begin, and we quickly realized we were both going for sub 3:50, hoping for 3:45. It was a match made in training heaven. Same goals and she lived here in town! Our training plan was a cross between a runner’s world intermediate plan and one that I made up from doing marathons in the past. It was a pretty basic combo of stepping up two weeks then down one, with speedwork every thursday. I won’t post it here, but if you’re curious, I can email it to you.

Laurel, Rachel and I post a very wet 18miler

The difference for me in this plan then others was that we were spending a lot of time in the 18-22mile range for long runs. I was originally a little nervous about doing so many long runs at this milage, but I had a feeling it would be ok. Since my last marathon, I had run a few 50ks so I knew my body could handle the milage. The speed work was another piece that I had not previously incorporated into a plan. Since we were going for a time goal, I wanted to practice some quick turnover, but also not feel like I was loosing all the speed I had built up in the last year doing short distance races. I honestly looked forward to every Thursday when we would meet at the Amazon bark track and bang out some speed!

The last two pieces that really made my training work was doing Triggerpoint/foam rollering

Laurel experiencing the joy and pain of Triggerpoint by Charlie

and yoga. The last two terms here at UO I’ve taken a twice a week two hour Ashtanga Yoga class. I love yoga, its a very peaceful time for me, and I knew signing up for this class that I would get some core and strength workout, but it would also be good for my soul. Overall I know this class helped me get stronger and forced me to work out the kinks after my long runs, so even though it hurt sometimes, it was definitely a key part of my training. For those who are not familiar with Triggerpoint its basically little massage tools to get in deep in muscles. My boyfriend helped me do triggerpoint every week, and sticked my calves after long runs, so for him I am eternally grateful for keeping my calves loose! The foam roller is the other component that I highly recommend every runner having. Even though it often hurts, my IT, quads, and back always feel better after a good foam rollering session.

Rachel, Laurel and I after our 22miler. Looking forward to race day finishing on the track at Hayward!

As with every marathon plan, there are always highs and lows, and I know there were a number of runs that encouragement from Laurel and Rachel was much needed for me and runs where I had to encourage them. It was great having these two along for my marathon journey! I found the taper rather difficult also, especially after all the milage we were doing and the excellent 22miler that was our last real long run. After all the training we did, I felt very prepared for the race and was nervous and excited. All of our training long runs had been around an 8:28 pace so I knew that I could possibly go under 3:45, but I barely let myself say that out loud because it would be a HUGE pr, and I was already nervous for the big 26.2. I knew I would be happy with anything between 3:45 and 3:50, considering my last was a 4:04. But in my head, I was hoping I would wake up on race morning feeling great and push myself that little bit extra to go sub 3:45.

Stay tuned for race weekend!

Lucky 2013 Resolutions

Allison and I after our first 50k, the NorthFace Endurance Challenge San Francisco

One of my long time running friends, Allison (A Dose of Running blog) decidedto do her resolutions on a month-by-month basis. I love this idea. I think it is a more manageable way to set goals and remain excited about them throughout the year. So I am going to steal her idea and set some month-by-month goals of my own. Since there is strength in numbers, I am going to team up with her on a few of them, while diving into my own goals on other months. So here is the breakdown of my monthly goals:

January: Plank a Day (with A Dose of Running)
Do at least 1 on front and each side everyday to improve my core. I love doing planks, but don’t do them quite often enough, so hopefully by the end of the month I can do 4 minutes on each!

February: CrossFit!
Go to CrossFit to strength train at least 3x per week.

March: Photo-a-Day (with A Dose of Running)
Take a photo of something cool and post about it every day. Maybe I’ll run with my phone a few times to take pics since I tend to see weird/interesting things while running around Eugene.

April: No Dessert! (with A Dose of Running)
This one will be the toughest, but I think having Allison do it at the same time will really help, as there is strength in numbers. I think I will draw the line though between desserts and sweet food. I don’t think brown sugar oatmeal counts as dessert despite its sweet taste for breakfast. Another goal this month is to PR my Marathon! Eugene Marathon is at the end of this month, and if I PR I am treating myself to Dessert, despite this month’s goal. Everyone deserves a reward sometime!

May: Yoga Every Day
I’m taking an Ashtanga Yoga class this term at the UO Rec Center, so I’d like to continue my practice everyday for at least 20minutes. I love the balance and relaxation yoga brings into my life, and this way I will not fall off the band wagon after winter term ends.

June: #Runstreak! (with A Dose of Running)
Again with Allison, run at least 4mi every day. This I think will get hard for me with finals week and graduating, but all things considered, 4mi is only about a half hour of work and I can save a half hour for running every day!

July: Juggle a Soccer Ball 15 Times in a Row!
I’ve been trying to improve my soccer skills and ball handling, since I played absolutely no soccer until two years ago, so this will be surprisingly tough for me!

August: Hike/Trail Run 50miles
Since August is the most beautiful month in all my favorite places, I want to enjoy them and hike or trail run at least 50miles this month.

September: Gluten-Free Month (with A Dose of Running)
I love bread, but so many of my relatives are gluten free and my mom has a fantastic Gluten Free cookbook (Gluten-Free Baking) and I have had some of the breads and cookies from it and they are actually delicious. So this will be a great month to experiment with the recipes! Allison is also doing this one so hopefully we can share recipes!

October: Race Volunteer Month (with A Dose of Running)
I am always so grateful to course volunteers, yet have only volunteered at one or two races myself. So in return I would like to volunteer for at least two races this month.

November: Eat 3 pieces of Fruit every day
I would think this would not be that hard, but I would be surprised how many days I get sucked into school and eat lots of veggies, but not enough fruit for the day.

December: Donation December (with A Dose of Running)
Clean out my closet and donate clothes, running clothes included, that I do not use on a regular basis.

This will keep me pretty busy all year, but I have a few other running goals that I’d like to share that I will be working towards in my training all year.
1) PR in the marathon, aiming for under 3:50
2) 5k under 21:00
3) Run another 50k, ideally under 7hrs
4) Run my first half marathon

I realize I have high expectations for this year, but its Luck 2013 and I am graduating from graduate school so I think it will be an awesome year!

Upping the Ante

With all this talk of fall marathons and my never ending Oiselle Team twitter feed of PR’s and race reports, the excitement to jump into my own marathon training has been building. For the past year or so, since starting grad school, I’ve been on somewhat of a long-distance hiatus, mainly focusing on races less then 10k. However, with all this newfound speed I’ve been wondering how this could translate back into long distances.
When I first started running in college, I ran because I had just quit crew at UW, so moving from the intensity of a Division I workout regime to one of my own was a bit difficult. Luckily, I stumbled upon Husky Running Club and met some of my best friends.

Phyllis, Allison and Myself before a race at Mt. Diablo

Within a few months of running, one of my new friends announced she was training for the Seattle Marathon in the fall of 2008, less then six months away. Despite my never having done a running race before, I jumped on board and before I knew it I was running not only my first race, but my first marathon. Shortly after that my friends and I did another marathon (my current PR at 4:04) and then over the next year I did 3 50k trail races, the last of which was in March 2011. I started grad school at the University of Oregon in Fall 2011, and put my racing on the back burner. It didn’t stay there for long though, as in Winter I did my usual pilgrimage for the Rainshadow RunningOrcas Island 25k, and in Spring 2012 I did quite a few short distance races and even won a $50 gift certificate to Eugene Running Company for 2nd Female at the CASA 4mi.

After my first short distance race, the CASA Champions for Children 4mi where I was second female overall, first in my age group

Ever since that fateful CASA morning when I discovered I have in fact gotten faster since I started running only 4 years ago, I have been itching to do anther marathon. I am so close to being under 4 hours I can smell it.
So my plan is to run the 2013 Eugene Marathon, and break the 4 hour mark, and dare I say, aim for a Boston qualifying time. Boston would be almost a 30minute PR, but what’s the fun in life without a challenge right? This fall, I’m ramping up the cross training in an attempt to build non-running muscles in my body to take on marathon training again. I prefer trail running to road running, so I hope that logging many miles on roads wont be too bad, its been a long time since I have done more then 15 miles at once just on road!
This fall, I am going to post more of my workouts and race reports and hopefully get some feedback on what to do better to get even stronger. I might aim to do the ZombieRunner Bay Trail Half Marathon, since I have never done a half-marathon (seems silly considering how many longer races I have done) and I think it would be a good goal for this fall. Right now my typical workout week looks something like this:
*Note this is rough, as grad school schedules are sometimes unpredictable, but I try to stick with a schedule so I make sure I have time to work out!

Monday: 4-6mi run + Core
Tuesday: Swimming and/or Spinning
Wednesday: 5mi tempo run + core
Thursday: Swimming and/or Kickboxing
Friday: Rock Climbing, 5+mi Hill Run + Core
Sat: Rest while helping build at the CASL house (or sometimes a nice run with my boyfriend on local trails)
Sunday: Soccer and kickboxing

My friend and I have developed a pretty good core routine, but I would love to hear what other people are doing – we are always looking for good new exercises! We usually do sets with 45sec on / 15sec break for each exercise
Crunches
Bicycle
Leg Lifts
Side sit-ups (45 on each side)
Side-Crunches (aka sexy crunch, 45 on each side)
Plank x2
Wall Sit
Rower/Crunchy Frog
Cherry Pickers
Pulse-ups
Scissors w/ arms
Donkey Kicks w/ Knee tuck
Dog at the Hydrant