Shakin' Up the Wine (Country)

You guys, I'm so far behind on posting. Alright, let's be real. I'm so far behind on the rest of my life too. But I suppose I should start filling you in on everything. First things first -- the Santa Rosa Marathon! (Since I left off with my race week thoughts.)

I heard about this race from an expo for another race, and among other draws were running through Sonoma (an area of CA that I had never been), a bottle of wine for all runners, and a finisher party involving wine, pancakes, and watermelon. I suggested it to Erin when we were planning our 2014 rundezvous calendar. She signed up, and it was like, "Oh crap, guess this means I better sign up now." I eventually did...on New Years Eve after active.com sent me a $10 coupon for registration.

So Race Week kicked off with a massage. I initially scheduled a 60 minute massage, but about 45 minutes in, he asked if I wanted to do the 90 minute massage because he "wouldn't be able to do everything that he wanted to in 60 minutes." Okay, maybe that was his polite way of expressing pity for my legs and feet, but who am I to turn down an extra 30 minutes of massage?

The rest of that week entailed some shakeout runs, a big presentation at work, quite a few coffee stops, and plenty of carb loading (burrito bowl, dairy-free milkshake, shrimp fried rice, and so on). Oh, and packing for the trip. I have a list of race essentials (shorts, shirt, compression socks, and some other gear), and I just go off of that. This time, I just set everything out on the bed, and then packed it all into my gym bag and backpack.

And before we knew it, Race Eve hit. I woke up at 4am to get ready to head to the airport for my 7:30am flight. I'd say that that's an ungodly hour, but compared to my usual wake-up call of 4:30am, it wasn't that bad. But I'm sure it was ridiculous for my work spouse Leah, who kindly agreed to pick me up at 5:30am to drive me to the airport.

Once I was at the airport, I snagged coffee, went to the gate, and got myself "upgraded" to an exit row seat (and by that, I mean that I asked and they moved me - where do they get off making those premium seats anyway).

Erin picked me up at the airport, and we made our way toward Santa Rosa. However, we didn't exactly listen to Google Maps (we were catching up and just tuned it out), and ended up missing a turn. So we decided to get off the next exit and turn around. Except we found Denny's when we got off the freeway, so we decided to seize the opportunity to stop off for a carblicious breakfast. Denny's BYO Grand Slam for the win! (Mine consisted of eggs, hashbrowns, grits, and oatmeal. Photo not taken because I didn't think it was necessary. Yes, I'm aware that oats aren't exactly GF, but I didn't think of merely getting a double order of grits until after our food arrived.)

Upon leaving, we decided to take another detour to Safeway (it was down the street) for race eve/day provisions (bananas, sugary lemonade, and a slew of other salty and sweet snacks).

After all of our detours, we made it to SR around 1:45, and just went straight to the expo at DeLoach Vineyards (the premier sponsor of the race). Mile 10 of the race goes through DeLoach's barrel room.

Made it to the Expo!

Picking up my bottle of wine. Photo courtesy of Erin

We checked in with E's pacer crew (including Ko, who would be camping out with us at The Sandman Inn), and then I proceeded to get my swag. E and I then did a shakeout run in the area. Unfortunately, the country roads did not make for the safest running conditions, so we just stuck to four loops around the same cul-de-sac.

Around 5, we checked into the hotel. I had a near panic attack because I couldn't find my millet porridge in my bag, and so I immediately thought I left it in Oregon. (Spoiler alert: It was in my bag, and I only found it after buying backup instant oatmeal and KIND granola. Story of my life.) Shortly thereafter, we headed to Ko's friends for dinner and more eating. Seriously, I felt like I was eating nonstop. Chips and salsa, sugary treats, fruit, pasta (note: TJs GF rice pasta is a tasty and, at $1.99/lb, a relatively affordable option), potatoes, and some beef and salad. But the food was good, and the company was fantastic. We left around 9, and we were all in bed by 10 (despite our trip to Safeway for the oatmeal and granola that later became unnecessary).

Pre-race fiesta. Photo courtesy of Erin

Eating time! Photo courtesy of Erin

Race Morning

Because of the 6am start, we set the alarms for 3am. Popped my iron and vitamin C (along with vitamin D, because otherwise, I won't remember to take it) pills, and then plugged in my headphones to listen to my prerace music. At 3:20, we felt the room start shaking. Yes, that's right, folks - earthquake! (I should also add that because we were on the second floor, its effects were much more pronounced.) Each of us reacted in a different way. Erin, having never experienced one before, applied her tornado training and huddled on the floor in the bathroom doorway (distanced from the windows). Ko crawled underneath the table. And what did I do? Stood there unphased because I figured it'd be over in about 30 seconds. (Signs I may belong in CA - I hate the cold and the gray, and don't mind earthquakes.)

After the rockin’ party, I ate my millet and drank my coffee. One cup did not seem to wake up my GI tract, so I ended up having two. I took a banana to-go and ate that shortly before the race began.

At the starting area, ready to tackle SRM! Photo courtesy of Erin

Race Itself

I'll have you know that I made sure to do a dynamic warmup before the start of this race! I may not have always remembered this while training, but I remembered this time.

I wore the fellrnr pace bracelet (as I did with MCM and Newport). What I did differently was wait until after hitting the mile marker to compare my watch time to the target on the bracelet. I was between the safe and target zones for the first 20-21 miles of the race.

We started out by winding through downtown Santa Rosa, but after mile 2, turned onto a bike path. At this point, I was by myself and able to get into a good zone. The first four miles were in the dark (in case the previous photo wasn't an indication of that), and given the scenery, I expected a brilliant sunrise. Nope, not so much. But what I lacked in beautiful sunrises, I made up for with epiphanies. Such as my theory that the Boston Marathon has a unicorn logo to signify that running it is a dream for many runners.

Since I was by myself, I was able to appreciate the scenery on the course, which was nothing short of beautiful! Tree-lined bike path, vineyards all around. It reminded me of the back half of the Eugene course. Except that the Eugene course did not run along any vineyards. I had to stop around mile 4.5 to tie my shoe. Well, it was either that or risk tripping over it. I figured tying it was worth the 30ish seconds. I also felt like I had to poop, but that urge didn't feel major enough to merit stopping. (Fortunately, I made it through the whole race without that urge returning/getting worse.)

Source: Runner's World

At mile 8, we turned off of the bike path and onto country roads. My plan was to take gels at miles 8, 13, 17, and 22.5 (in line with water stops). Took #1 (salted caramel Gu) at mile 8, except the next water stop was Gatorade only.

The barrel room run was a new addition to this year's race, and surely a unique one at that.

It was a rager in that barrel room. Photo courtesy of SRM

Between miles 12 and 13, I heard, "Water and Gatorade up ahead!" And used that as an opportunity to take gel #2 (Honey Stinger vanilla. The same thing happened around 17 and 21. (Gel #3: Pocket Fuel mocha cold brew. Gel #4: Honey Stinger original.) At those last two, I had the gel in one hand and the water in the other. Double-fisting, runner style.

Once I hit mile 19, I started experiencing some runner's knee pain in my left knee. I reminded myself to just keep pushing, and that you don’t always do what you want to do, but you always do what you have to do. I hit mile 20 in about 2:17, so I needed to run the last 10K in about 42-43 min to hit my goal, and 46-47 min to PR. Considering that I had yet to run any 7+ min miles according to Garmin, the latter seemed super feasible.

With 6 miles left to go, we veered back on the bike path and merged with the half-marathoners. I thought I was going quickly, because I was passing all of them. However, my perception was skewed by the fact that these people were going at a 10-12 min pace. It didn't help that the path was completely clogged. So ultimately, these were my slowest miles of the race. It was around 21-22 that the sub-3 started slipping away from me.

Faking happiness at mile 24. Photo courtesy of SRM

Just before mile 26, we turned off the bike path and onto the roads. I knew that once I hit the mile 26 marker, I just had one turn and then it was straight to the finish. I reached the 26 mile mark in just over 3 hours, so I knew that a sub-3 wasn't possible, but a sub-3:02 and PR surely were. Once I made that turn and saw that the clock had just hit 3:01, I just gunned it. The way they had the finish line structured, it seemed like marathoners and 5K runners were supposed to finish on the right and half-marathoners were supposed to finish on the left. Unfortunately, there was a group of about 4 women nearly blocking my path. I was able to swerve around them, but the thought of them preventing a sub-3:02 finish caused a few seconds of anxiety. The announcer called out my name, and I crossed the finish line with the clock reading "3:01:47”.

Me and the group of women. Photo courtesy of SRM

Post-race:

I was just floored. My tenth marathon was in the books, and I clocked a two minute PR (and extended my marathon PR streak to 8). I got my medal and some post-race food. I saw someone with a Portland Marathon space blanket, and my thought was, “Aww, my people!” Moments later, I saw volunteers handing out these blankets to runners. Yes, I traveled 500 miles to get paraphernalia from my home marathon.

I talked to a couple other runners who I saw on the course, and they echoed my thoughts on the last 10K messing with our perception of speed.

In addition to the race shirt, Santa Rosa also distributed full-zip hooded sweatshirts to all finishers. The sweatshirt is really nice, but the process of distributing/retrieving them was a nightmare. They tried to group everything by runner’s last name, but all of the lines still ended up merging together and snaking around the finisher area. (My recommendation is to follow the Portland Marathon’s example and hand them out with the medals, and mark everyone’s bib as he/she receives it.). I digress though.

While waiting in that crazy long line, I talked to another runner and his wife. He had just PRed by about 10 minutes and BQed, and she was kind enough to look up my finish time on her phone. Net time: 3:01:41!!

Over the next 20-30 minutes, I got my finisher sweatshirt, made a pitstop, got my and Erin’s stuff from bag check (as we did at Newport, we checked our stuff in the same bag), and video chatted with my mom. By then, Erin and Ko made it to the finisher area, and I learned that they led the 3:35 pace group to a 3:34:38 finish, and as a result, led several runners to new PRs and BQs. How awesome are they???

Erin and Anil

Erin, Ko, and their pacer sign. Check out those fine space blankets! Photo courtesy of Erin

Erin and me, keeping it real with the Porta-potties in the background

We didn't stick around for the post-race party, because it was super crowded and we had to check out of the hotel. So we headed back, showered, and then Erin and I drove back to her place in the Bay Area.

I'm sure I was smiling like crazy for the next few days after that. I've probably said this before, but I'll say it again now. When I started this marathoning business in 2007, I never believed that I'd run a marathon in under 3:10 (the Boston Qualifying standard at that time), let alone under 3:02. At initial glance, the race went off with unnoticeable errors. I ran the race pretty evenly (first half: 1:29:48, second half: 1:31:53), executed my fueling plan the way that I intended (i.e., taking gels with water), and just pushing through. It all made for a nice runner's high. However, I knew there had to have been something I could do differently, because nothing is perfect and I missed that goal by 1:41.

What to do next time:

It was hard to pick apart a race that went very well, but once the runner's high started wearing off, I was able to identify a few things that I could do differently next time around.

1. Run more miles. This seems simple, but mileage is required for any marathon training program. And  I ran more miles during my Newport training than I did during my SR training.
2. Do more speed work. Over the twelve weeks of training, I only did two legit speed sessions (and by "legit speed session", I mean track workout).
3. Work on form. At times, I started hunching and had to tell myself, "Back straight, eyes forward, and fly."  

And what is next, you ask? Currently, I don't have any races on my calendar. After the last 10+ months of having at least one race scheduled, it feels so weird to have NOTHING on my calendar. It's refreshing, but also weird. But more on that later.

Calm Yourself!

Hello!

Recovery Week -- that time in the training cycle when you think about race day goals, scare yourself shitless, and then try to calm yourself back down and then think about how your training cycle fits into them.

Source

I set out for a recovery run this morning with the intent of thinking about my goals for Santa Rosa. If you've been following along here for any point of the last 5.5 months, you may remember that my marathon goal is to break 3 hours. Ah, the elusive 2:xx marathon... It scared me shitless before Newport, and it still scares me shitless. I can't help but wonder, "Am I ready to crush that goal?" So before I start to spiral into a web of self-doubt, I'm going to just take the rational route here and think about my training.

Source

I can't say that I had any major catastrophes this training cycle (knock on wood). I still had some aches and pains (e.g., piriformis), but that's nothing new. I didn't end up doing as much core and strength work as I said I would. The first few weeks were good, and then I moved, and suddenly, everything went awry on that front. Simply finding the time and energy to run seemed like a miracle.

You know what else didn't happen? Sleep. Old habits die hard.

I didn't focus as much on speed as I should have. But between the superhero 5K and a workout of 5x600m intervals at 5KRP that I ran 20+ seconds faster than 5K pace, I think the speed work that I did do went quite well.

But what did happen? Well, I made a more conscious effort to eliminate gluten and dairy from my diet, and my GI system has been happier. Maybe not happiest (refined sugar seems to also send my GI system into distress), but happier. And that's progress.

I did at least one of my long runs at 6am. Yes, it required me waking up at 3am, but I did it. And I survived. And it went well.

I ran an ultra relay at altitude (4000+ feet above sea level), and over a span of 29 hours, managed to run 35 miles at an average pace of about 7:30.

So my overall point here is that while some things didn't go right, some things did. And focusing on those is keeping me calm from freaking out.

It's hard to believe that this will be my 10th marathon. If you asked me when I started this marathoning business if I'd do 10 marathons, I would've looked at you like you just took some crazy pills. And now, I feel like the one who's taken some crazy pills. It's hard to believe that the 5.5 months that I spent in continual training for two different marathons are about to come to a close. Part of me is expecting to deal with the post-marathon blues, and to be tempted to sign up for another marathon as a means of coping with them. But we shall see...

Moving, Forward and Up

Before you start harping on me about my hiatus from blogging, know two things:

1. You can always keep track of my workouts on dailymile.

2. I moved. Yes, I'm still living in Portland. No, that doesn't make the process any less stressful.

Unpacking at the new place. Clothes EVERYWHERE.

To sum up, week 4 of SR training was spent packing up my old place, and week 5 was spent getting settled into my new place. As a result, I scaled back on my mileage for those two weeks (ran 34 miles out of the scheduled 51 for week 4, and 41 of the scheduled 60 for week 2). I also scaled back because it was HOT out here. No joke, it hit 99 degrees one day last week. (I think the last time I was anywhere that hot was when I lived in NYC.) And running in it was HORRENDOUS.

With that being said, my runs just didn't feel good over these last two weeks. Paces that typically feel easy suddenly felt sluggish, and I felt as sluggish as I did when I was struggling with iron deficiency a few months ago.

That could be for several reasons. One obvious explanation would be the heat. According to an article in Runner's World, "Every 5°F rise in temperature above 60°F can slow your pace by as much as 20 to 30 seconds per mile." It could be related to sleep, as I haven't done much of that since before I moved. Another potential explanation would be the iron. I just learned the other day that both regular and decaf coffee contain phenols, which inhibit iron absorption, and I have had more of that in recent days (though it hasn't been much). I would also try to blame the 4th of July party where I got glutened, but that would only explain Saturday and Sunday's runs. So who knows. My guess goes toward explanations #1 and 2.

Speaking of hydration/fueling, let me tell you a great lesson I learned Sunday! You ready for this??

Not all sports gels are gluten-free.

I was about to head out for my long run Sunday (18 miles, which ended up being in the 80-something degree heat) when I looked at the label for the chocolate flavored Clif shot, and saw that it contains maltodextrin. Now I remembered from my recent research on soaps and cosmetics that maltodextrin is a gluten-containing ingredient that is sometimes found in soap, shampoos, etc., so I went to Clif's website, and confirmed that both the shots and the shot blocks are not gluten-free. Fortunately, Gu Energy Gels, Hammer Gels, and Honey Stinger Gels are all gluten-free, so I'm not particularly worried about my long-run fueling. But does anyone know of a flavor that's super-caffeinated and gluten-free? I need to find a fix for my beloved Clif chocolate cherry gel that contains two shots worth of espresso!

Do you have any theories on my sluggish training? And/or any recommendations of caffeinated sports gels?

Summertime!

Summer's finally here (almost)! How can I tell? At 9 pm, it's still bright outside. I live for these long days!

You know what else screams "summer" to me? Ice cream. The other half recently introduced me to Coconut Bliss ice cream. Coconut milk-based, minimal ingredients, maximal flavor. Despite the fact that I seem to be unable to put have trouble putting the pint back in the freezer once I take it out, I highly recommend it! To be honest though, soft serve is more my thing. Back to Eden (the absolutely wonderful vegan, gluten-free bakery I finally tried about two weeks ago) apparently has soft-serve, dairy-free ice cream, and so I may have to go back there and get some to celebrate the official start of summer.

Another summer delight: mojitos. Fortunately, rum is distilled from sugarcane (and not grain), so I can still enjoy those. Unlike my former friend, the vodka-soda with lemon.

In all seriousness though, after two weeks of minimal gluten and dairy, my stomach seems to have dropped the swords of revenge. Maybe not 100% (my GI system seemed to retaliate a bit after drinking gin, and I later learned that gin is also distilled from grain), but compared to how it felt the week before Newport, I'll take that.

I'm still being mindful of my caffeine intake, and my energy levels have still been pretty consistent. I kid you not, I wake up after about 5 hours of sleep, only have 1 (sometimes 2) cup of coffee, and can still last about 18 hours. It's crazy! Maybe there is something to that extra iron dose (and pairing it with vitamin C, while limiting my coffee and wine consumption).

So now let's switch from food to training. I can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm already 2+ weeks into my multi-marathon training plan. All of the workouts have been either recovery runs or general aerobic (GA) runs, so it feels more like funning at times. But the "fun" is what keeps us coming back for more. Am I right or am I right?

To force myself to do ancillary work, I wrote it into my multi-marathon plan. After 1 week of testing that trick (because week 1 of this plan was simply recovering from Newport), I think it's working. A brief recap of weeks 1 and 2 of workouts.

Week 1 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / 4.43 mi of cycling in 20 min
Tues - Rest or 5 mi / rest
Wed - Recovery 5 mi / 5.16 mi at 7:41/mi
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Recovery 5 mi / 5.06 mi at 7:36/mi
Sat - Recovery 5 mi / 7.19 mi at 7:40/mi
Sun - Recovery 7 mi / 5.13 mi at 7:40/mi + foam rolling
Total - 22-27 mi / 22.54 mi running + 4.43 mi cycling

Week 2 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / rest
Tues - Standard warm-up, recovery 6 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / Standard warm-up, 6.24 mi at 7:45/mi, 2 x 1' standard core
Wed - DS routine, recovery 5 mi, IT Band rehab routine / DS routine, 5.01 mi at 7:40/mi, IT Band rehab routine
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Standard warm-up, GA 7 mi + 8 x 100m strides, strength workout / Standard warm-up, 7.07 mi at 7:34/mi, 2 rounds of 10x10 RYBQ strength routine
Sat - Standard warm-up, recovery 5 mi, DS routine / Standard warm-up, 5.06 mi at 7:40/mi, DS routine
Sun - Standard warm-up, GA 10 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / rest (unless walking around all day in honor of PDX Pride counts)
Total - 33 mi / 23.38 mi

How's your training going? What do you think of the briefer recaps?

Highs, Lows, and Plateaus: Newport Training, Week 2

I recently read a blog post with a weekend recap in "High-Low-High" format, and think it pretty accurately describes my week. So here goes:

High - Finally trying the Vans gluten-free waffles. These had been recommended last week, and I happened to find them on sale, but I didn't open the box until earlier this week. And they're pretty awesome. They're light and fluffy, but have just the right amount of crunch when toasted. They reminded me of the Eggo waffles I haven't had in years. So far, I've tried them with peanut butter, as well as with peanut butter and honey, and both combinations are delicious (though in my mind, you can't go wrong with peanut butter on most things).

Low - Learning that not all vodka is derived from potatoes, and some is derived from wheat. (Article)

Seriously, Grey Goose? You cost enough. The least you can do is not rely on the distilling process to remove the gluten. But I did get a couple good recommendations - Monopolowa and Tito's.

High - Receiving my birthday present from my mom...five weeks in advance.

Yes, I'm aware that she's type A. But I won't complain, because all I wanted was to be surprised by my gift (I was), and the Nutribullet's pretty awesome. No joke, I've probably used it about five times in as many days. (Mainly for smoothie/green juice concoctions, but I did use it to make a peanut satay earlier today.)

Low - After feeling so energetic last week, I just felt rather blah this week. I avoided gluten altogether, and only ate dairy once. Maybe it's because I ate less meat and more lentils and beans?

High - Finding GF frozen breakfast burritos at Whole Foods! No, I have not tried them yet, but I was simply stoked to find them.

Low - Getting my lab results back from my doctor, and finding out that I'm borderline anemic, and that he wants to do further testing. Yup, that'd explain why I was feeling so tired. (I finally ordered my iron supplements, but they won't arrive until Wed. Until then, time to ramp up my meat intake.)

High - My upcoming vacation! I'm heading to San Juan on Wednesday for a friend's wedding, and since I've never been, I'm making an extended vacation out of it. Also, it takes a hella long time to fly there from Oregon, so I'd rather go for more than 2-3 days. Either way, so excited! The forecasted highs are in the 80s and the forecasted lows are in the 70s, which makes this Raynaud's sufferer happy. We'll see how the heat forces me to adjust my training plan for the week.

And with that, I lead into my training recap:

Monday
Planned - rest or xt
Actual - Work Challenge

Nothing particularly noteworthy, aside from that it felt good.

Tuesday
Planned - LT 8 mi with 4 mi at 15K-HMRP (6:45-6:48/mi)
Actual - LT 8.01 with 4 mi at 15K pace

My legs definitely were not feeling 100% at the start of this workout, but I forced myself to do this workout as prescribed. (Because while I *could* do this run at a GA pace, how am I supposed to grow as a runner if most of my workouts are at that pace?)

I used the first two miles as my warm-up, so it worked out (nearly) perfectly that from my place over the Broadway Bridge and around to the Greenway is about 1.9 miles (in that I only had to deal with street traffic on the warm-up and cooldown, and I could do the LT portion of this workout relatively uninterrupted).

During the first mile of the LT portion, I had one side of my brain saying, "Just do what you can", and the other side saying, "That's not the point of this workout." I don't really recall my thoughts during mile 2 of the LT interval, aside from being focused on hearing my Garmin beep so that I could turn around. Miles 3 and 4 were a blur of, "Push yourself! You're supposed to push yourself to exhaustion. That's the point." And once my Garmin beeped to signify the end of the LT interval, I was so relieved. I felt like I gave it my all, and somehow, I managed to run each mile a bit faster than the one before it. (Though mile 2 of my cooldown led me to wonder a bit about that one.)

Splits:
Warm-up: 7:54, 7:41
LT: 6:57, 6:49, 6:44, 6:43 (avg = 6:48; within the target range)
Cooldown: 8:11, 7:08

After doing a few of these lactate threshold workouts now, I'm finally seeing the point of them: to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Also, I read my training schedule this morning, and realized that my birthday is during the peak week of this cycle (i.e., the 55 mile week), and that I have one of the hardest workouts of the plan scheduled for that day (LT 12 mi with 7 mi @ 15K to HMRP). Fun stuff.

Wed
Planned - rest or xt
Actual - rest

My piriformis was feeling a bit tight throughout the day (I think as a result of Tuesday's speed work), and though I had every intention of going to the Work Challenge, I decided to go home and do some pigeon poses instead.

Thursday
Planned - GA 11 mi
Actual - GA 4.38 mi, Work Challenge, GA 7.12 mi

Part 1:
I had a morning doctor's appt., and meetings scattered throughout the afternoon, so the only way to squeeze in these miles was to split them up. This was around 3:30 or so. Got to run by the cherry blossoms in bloom. (Actually, they've been in bloom the last few times I've run down there, but this is the first time I'm remembering to mention it in my recap).

Splits: 7:20, 7:51, 7:52, 7:11, 7:10 (for 0.38)

Work Challenge:
Last one! So stoked that it's done, so that I can focus more on running now, but I'll have to carve out more time for core and strength work now.

Part 2:

I decided to head home and do part 2 of the MLR in my neighborhood (mainly so I could run, and not have to deal with waiting for the bus to get home and eat). I was tired, and certainly didn't feel like getting out there, but I was already dressed, so I just sucked it up. I definitely did not feel springy (though neither did the weather, despite it being the first day of spring), and I was just annoyed with everyone. Around mile 2, I got a random side-5 from some guy drinking outside at one of the restaurants on Alberta. First time ever!

By about mile 4 or 5, I started to get my second wind, and just let that push me through to the end. It was also around mile 5 that I stopped being annoyed with everyone. Funny enough, this run was the same pace as part 1. That was not planned.

Splits: 7:53, 8:08, 7:42, 7:17, 7:20, 7:29, 7:09, 6:35 (for 0.12)

Foam rolled later, and also massaged my plantar fascia (both feet). 

After I finished this run, my doctor called to tell me about the borderline anemia. If anything would explain my general lethargy, this would be fit.

Friday
Planned - rest or xt
Actual - rest

There was also happy hour, shrimp fajitas from a food cart, and game night with friends. Great rest day.

Saturday
Planned - Recovery 5
Actual - Recovery 5.28

My day got consumed by a haircut, PSU Farmers Market outing, and an impromptu coffee/tea outing with another friend. But I was able to squeeze this in between the Farmers Market and coffee by locking my stuff at 24 in the Pearl and starting/ending there. Compared to Thursday, this felt MUCH better. Plus, the benefit to starting/ending at 24 is that the extra floor space motivated me to do some dynamic stretching, IT band rehab work, and foam rolling after my run.

Splits: 7:15, 7:43, 7:28, 7:32, 6:59, 7:16 (for 0.28)

Sunday
Planned - LR 15 mi
Actual - LR 15.3 mi

I ventured down the Springwater Corridor for this run, which was a nice change of scenery (I hadn't been down that path in about 6 months). The weather was beautiful, and everyone and their mother seemed to be out (whether on bike, foot, or in the case of one guy, roller skates). By mile 4 (soon after I got on the Springwater), I felt like I was in a good groove. I just ended up losing myself in the run. During mile 7, some random woman passed me on her bike and said "Nice pace." I hit the Sellwood Bridge just before my watch beeped for mile 7, so I just ran an extra 0.5 miles along the railroad tracks, and then turned around. That portion of the path was unpaved and rocky, but it was still fun to explore!

The back half was fairly uneventful. Was still in the zone. I love running back up the Springwater because it just feels good to head back toward civilization. I added a little extra on so that I could crack 40 miles for the week.

Thought of Erin and Lynton on this one, after their amazing races today. (Erin got 3rd overall female in the Oakland full, and Lynton PRed in the Oakland half.)

Splits: 7:51, 7:43, 7:45, 7:35, 7:28, 7:30, 7:30, 7:41 (the rocky path), 7:16, 7:26, 7:21, 7:16, 7:39, 7:48, 7:14, 6:53 (for 0.3)

I had this issue on Thursday, and I had it again today. If I finish exercising, get home, and then opt to eat before changing and showering, I get chills, which are immediately followed up by a Raynaud's attack. After 15 miles, food sounds much better. But if it means having to deal with white fingers, I may have to switch up my routine.

Planned total: 39 mi
Actual total: 40.09 mi

First 40+ mile week in nearly 6 months!

Any tips for running in the heat? Or for training while on vacation? And do you suffer from the post-workout chill?