Benchmarks

Yesterday was a benchmark day (sounds of groaning and whining very applicable here). I've done benchmarks on the track and even in the pool, but never on the bike. In case you're wondering a benchmark is picking a distance - 5k run or 1000m swim - and going as fast as you can for that distance. That time becomes your benchmark and is used to guide your training until your next benchmark set. They are hard, and in the case of the track - boring and hard. But the bike ride turned out to be quite fun. We all headed out to Calaveras Rd and did 8 mile time trials. It's fun and a little competitive, which makes it easier to go all out. The time trial format is fun too. Everyone lines up at a start line and one by one they send us out in 1 min intervals. Since it's an out and back you can see where you are in comparison to everyone; and you can try to catch the person in front of you, or - much more likely in my case - try not to get dropped by the people who have passed you.

After a quick cool down, we headed back to the cars to drop off our bikes and get in a quick 30 min run. Not a bad day way to spend a Saturday morning. My time trial was 29:47 and as an extra bonus I got some props from my coach on my bike handling skills - amazing!

It's been a while

Wow. February 19th. Really, that was the last time I posted? I can't believe it's already June! Thankfully, my training hasn't been as slack as my writing. I did my half-marathon in March and Wildflower Olympic triathlon in May (pictures coming) with relative success. The big daddy Half Iron man is looming closer and closer though; so I went and got myself a team and a personal coach and I'm well on my way to finishing my race! I'm so excited to have a team to practice with again. Let's face it, training on your own sucks. It's just so much easier to cut practice short and go have a beer when no one else is watching. Now, I swim bike run 6 days a week! This weekend's adventure was an open water swim at Shadow Cliffs followed by a 38 mile ride on Saturday and a 6 mile tempo run on Sunday. It seems like just yesterday that the thought of back to back days of training made me cower on the couch with a bottle of chardonnay and a list of excuses.

Maps and Outhouses

Trail maps: Get one. Outhouse: Find one. That pretty much sums up every Saturday run for me so far this training season. I seem to always get lost and always need a bathroom (note to self, no pizza the day before a run - even for lunch). Yesterday's run was pretty uninspiring - 5 miles, an out and back at the Hayward Regional Shoreline. I struggled, tired and sore from a hard week of strength training.

Last weekend's run though was epic! I needed to go 8 miles so I thought I'd chose some trails (easier on the knees). I found Lake Chabot Regional park.

There is a bike loop around the lake that runs between 12 and 14 miles. I'd heard about an "inner loop" for runners and reading my map (incorrectly of course) it looked like 8.6 miles. Doable. I dutifully woke up at 6:00am for pre-run breakfast and coffee and headed out around 7:30. The run was beautiful and I have to say, those are my kind of hills; gently rolling soft trails that feel like you're all by yourself in the woods.

I did however, as always, take a wrong turn. I actually missed the turn off for the inner loop trail and ran an extra 1/4 mile straight downhill, needing to turn around at the bottom and come right back up it once I figured out my mistake. And of course the trail that I thought was 8.6 miles was actually 9, so in the end I officially ran 9.5 miles....of hills. I was so proud.

Total time: 2hrs 30 min. Includes trail map download to phone, looking for signal, asking for directions and two pit stops.

Running with dogs

I desperately needed to get in a run this morning. After doing nothing all week I was feeling bad and more than slightly nervous about the upcoming 8 miler this weekend. So I reluctantly put on my running shoes only to find two sad faces looking up at me waiting for their walk. So I decided to take the dogs with me. Four miles quickly became only 3 miles; but 3 miles of tangled leashes and tripping over 8 random legs stopping in front of me for no apparent reason felt like a lot more than 3 miles. I can honestly claim that running with my dogs is more like cross training than running. I feel like an honorary member of the Squirrel Chasing Prevention League; getting a great arms, shoulders and core workout while I wrangled my beastly crew down the streets of San Leandro. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow :)

Exhausted

I had my first really exhausting week. None of my runs were great except for the mere fact that I completed them. I was slow, tired, and had zero energy. But this weekend I pulled from the reserves and ran on Saturday (4 miles) and rode my bike today. My first training run on the bike in months. It felt good to get on the bike again...well kinda good. I need a new seat, or better yet a new bike! Cycling is actually something that Jon enjoys and we can do together so we got up earlyish and went for a 24 mile ride on the Iron Horse Trail in San Ramon. We did 12 miles out and 12 miles back. The out felt great....the back, not so much. I was ready to get off that bike in the end. But, as exhausting as back to back training sessions are, I really feel like I accomplished something today that I haven't done in a really long time :)

Adequate

Sometimes it's perfectly ok to be adequate. I did all my runs this week. 2 1/2 miles on Tuesday and 5 miles on Thursday. They weren't fun and they weren't pretty, but I suffered my way through them nonetheless. And to be honest, I'm more proud of the five miles I struggled with today than the same five miles I ran last week....a whole 7 minutes faster. That's the thing about competitive events. I always want to do better than last time; but sometimes, just getting out there and out-competing the voice inside your head that is screaming at you to stop running is perfectly adequate. In fact, I would say that is what makes you a runner.

One week

Apparently one week is all it takes to forget the misery of a crazy hilly run in the rain and mud. So one week after last Saturday's hills, I landed at Briones Regional Park again for a 6 mile run. I chose a different route this time - an out and back - that I thought would be a bit flatter. It wasn't. But it was doable. There were still lots of hills, but I managed not to take any wrong turns up any goat trails and I stayed on path. A pleasant change. The sun was shining and there were tons of friendly folks out with their dogs too. Bear and Huck chased some cows, scared a few horses and I managed to complete 6 miles (well, 5.6) of hills in 1hr 22 minutes. Much better than last weekend :)