Race Recap: Ontario 10k

Saturday I completed my first ever 10k! I ended up taking three rest days before hand because the smoke from the wildfire made running conditions less than ideal. In all, I think that was a good decision.

As you all know by now, I was a little nervous about running the 10k. In training I never actually made it to the six mile mark. I knew I would make it to the end without issue, but a good time was not really a possibility in my mind anymore.

Saturday morning, I was still sort of at a loss for what my strategy was going to be. I was fairly confident that I wasn't going to run the whole way simply because I hadn't done so in training.

Well I'm happy to report that I ran the entire 6.2 miles (well, actually 6.4) in 1:01:02. Which is only one minute slower than my original 10k goal time. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

This track was wonderfully flat and fast if not just a tad bit boring. The first mile and a half was around the concourse of the large outlet mall. It was fairly crowded to start, but we spaced fairly well within the first half mile.

Mile 1: 9:34 min/mile
Mile 2: 9:27 min/mile

There was a gentleman in front of me who was running at my pace, so I decreed him my running buddy and paced him pretty hard. I tried to stay far enough back so as not to bother him, but definitely wanted him near me because it was helping me to stay on track. There ended up being a group of about six of us that stayed near each other the entire time, which made me feel a camaraderie I hadn't felt in prior races. 


My 5k time came in around 28:30, which is near my PR, and I was still feeling awesome. I knew at this point that I would be able to run through at least mile four, which became my new goal. Miles three and four were away from the mall in the industrial area nearby. Running into the rising sun was not my favorite, but I do think it sped me up a bit.

Mile 3: 9:14 min/mile
Mile 4: 9:28 min/mile

We hit mile five right as we came back into the mall concourse. I was feeling a little bit of soreness in my hamstring at this point, but my mood was great. Having my running buddy keeping an awesome 9:30 pace really helped my motivation. At this point I knew I could finish strong. 

Mile 5: 9:28 min/mile
Mile 6: 9:26 min/mile

The last two miles were around the concourse. I wanted so badly to sprint at the end, but my body had had it. I had been tracking the mileage with Map My Run, and the mile markers on the course were consistently about 0.1 miles after the mile my GPS recorded. So that extra quarter mile I wasn't expecting at the end had me suffering.

All in all, I finished with a time I'm really proud of. And I felt so good doing it. The next 10k is less than eight weeks away, so we are back on training this week! 

Foam Rolling

I am notoriously bad at stretching. I never feel terribly sore immediately following a workout, so I tend to forget about stretching. Or, worse, I think that I am above stretching.

And you know what? People who don't stretch, much like people who don't take recovery days, tend to get hurt more.

Brian is starting at a new fire department in February, and as part of his physical training, they have provided him stretching equipment including the beloved foam roller.

I love how fitness-focused this department is. Not only do they focus on strength training in addition to cardio, but they emphasize the importance of stretching.

So I'm trying to learn something from the professionals, and the last few days I've been stretching.

Turns out, my muscles are really freaking tight and sore. I'm 90% sure now that at least part of my struggles with running over the past few weeks have revolved around my calves and hamstrings being tight.

So for the next few days before the 10k I'll be doing a couple of easy runs and stretching A LOT. Because apparently bodies need that (or something).

I'm tasking Brian with making sure I stretch everyday. Get on that, kid.

6.2 Miles

My first 10k is one week from today. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous about it. I know I will finish, but I'm concerned about my strategy. I was planning to follow Hal Higdon's training plan for the 10k prep, but I've only been able to very loosely follow the plan with my ups and downs in training over the holiday break.

Today I tried for the second time to run the 6.2 and flopped pretty miserably. I did not eat the right things for breakfast, and it resulted in a serious side stitch and general fatigue. So rather than push something I wasn't feeling, I resigned to 3.2 miles and walked home.

I am going to do a second chance run tomorrow for 6 miles (I hope) and then take it nice and slow for the rest of the week before race day.

It's also (already) too warm. I ran at 9:15 a.m. this morning and felt severely over-dressed for the run (in a tank and capris nonetheless). It was mid-60s, but it felt so much warmer. So I think it's time to switch to shorts (thanks, California). A trip to New Balance is in store to stock up on cooler weather running gear.

I also think I need new shoes and socks.

Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the summer when it doesn't even get into the 70s as a low. I'm foreseeing early morning runs May through September.

Send me some positive vibes for the run tomorrow.

Happy New Year

Hi! I'm pretty excited about 2014. As I've mentioned before, 2013 was not my favorite year, but there was a lot of setup for 2014. And so I'm hoping to see a lot of good changes in the next 12 months.

For New Years Eve, Brian and I went down to San Diego (the homeland) to hang out with our dearest friends. We stayed at the Hyatt, which is our go to now that we can actually afford to stay in a hotel and not on the living room floor. They have a pretty bitchin' gym at the Hyatt, which is currently closed for renovation.

Usually this would be a major bummer, but they are supplementing by giving free access to the Sports Club next door (major bonus). The Sports Club is one of those super pricey well-to-do gym/spas that charges a couple hundred a month (I'm guessing). And it's amazing.

The bummer is we got there 20 minutes before they closed for NYE (oops). So we powered through a  NROL workout the best we could. And this means that we did a serious, high intensity, upper body workout for 20 minutes. Then we went on a quick mile run followed by some body weight work in the park.

And it kicked my ass.

They say that you push harder when working with an opposite sex partner. So true. Granted we were on a time crunch, but I definitely lifted harder and faster than I normally do.

And I'm so sore. So. Sore.

Triceps, shoulders, back. I seriously got my ass kicked. Not to mention I wore way too tall heels on NYE, and my ankles are killing me. Never again.

So yesterday I took a day off, and today I got back to business with a quick two mile run. Tomorrow is a three miler and the start of NROL Stage Two. I have a lot of race training ahead of me (I signed up for a new race today--tell you about it tomorrow), and I'm stoked. Here's to a happy, healthy new year. We're off to a good start.