Just Run

After a day of meetings, work, and teaching; then eating and grocery shopping (the most important errand for runners, amirite?) I faced a fork (ha!) in the road: to run or not to run?

I was super hungry, and decided to call it a rest day and run tomorrow (probably the most overused excuse).

So I sat and read up on running speed, so I could feel like a part of me was still..."running."

But let's go back for a second, to when I started running, nearly 3 years ago, when all I cared about was finishing my mile. Keep your goals reasonable, they say. And with running, nothing could be further from the truth. Once my feet hit the track, I was not stopping, but I sure was turtling along. I was not going for time.  After the final loop, I was amazed I did it, that I almost forgot to stop my watch. Beep! 

09:45.

But even more amazing -- I felt like I could run more.

Soon that task became easier, so I upped it to 2. You can see where this is going.

Eventually, I settled into a routine of running. Two miles in - boom. Done. Three, four miles if I had the time - I was also heavily cross training and dancing then. Unlike the high school PE days, I now enjoyed running. Several months later, I began to wonder...how fast could I run a mile? Another question in the back of my mind was also...how far? 

Essentially, speed boils down to a simple equation: stride length and cadence. But it's hard to increase both at the same time (and also highly risk injury!) Overstriding is a common issue, which happens when you try to reach your foot out but it lands in front of your center of mass, and causes a chain reaction of foot/knee/hip problems, plus it's just poor form. I'm no expert here, but I can say from my own experience that I'm more natural at cadence (metronome musician training side effect!)  I find that my stride falls on the rather short side; that even during sprints and when I'm really pushing, I can make 1.2 or 1.3 metres.  My cadence around 171-174 can feel like a nice jog, but maintaining 180 feels much more difficult.

And what if you're a runner who can make 180 steps per minute, but still are running 8-9-10 minute miles? Food for thought...and the art of training. Seems easy to put one foot in front of the other...or is it?

Declared Rest Day

Ok - I declare today a rest day. Not because it's a Saturday, but I'm surprised at how sore I am.  My quads, hamstrings, and even calves are at it with a whining fest.

Taking notes on the track 

And you know what's surprising? It wasn't caused all by running. No, it was caused by - and I'm going to say the "G" word - because I've been avoiding it like the plague - the Gym. Recently - well more like the last 6 months,  I'd gotten carried away with just running, and neglected things like strength training, drills, and cross training. It's easy to get carried away with just you, your running buddies, and a pair of shoes. (I'll never forget that agonizing 10-mile loop last spring! And many thanks to Rod to pacing with me from mile 3ish onward. I started out too fast trying to keep up with Mike and then lost him about 2 miles in.)

So yesterday, I temporarily parted from my running shoes and reintroduced myself to my longtime gym. A famous athlete and personal trainer (I'm forgetting his name) said choose a gym that's close to you, because you'll go. So true. The gym I committed to is about 25-30 minutes away. My logic is, why sit that long when you can squeeze in a 5K? See? I can hardly sit still, and most of my friends will strongly agree.

So when I realised my mile time (9:30 min/mile) slowed by almost one minute off my PR pacing splits in a half-marathon -- I was, to say the least, disgusted. I also had the guts to finally admit to myself that I hadn't seen a treadmill, or a leg press machine, or heavy free weights, or heck even showed up for a group exercise class -- since August 2016. Eight months ago. In September-October, I completed 4 races in back to back weekends (10K, 5K, 13.1M, and 10M) and felt fine - in fact, I set a PR for the 10 miler.

Then, the holidays settled in and I settled in as well. Big time. Found myself sitting...mostly sitting...in restaurants catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while, because you know runners and our schedules - "Sorry, 8 pm is too late, I have to be up at 3 am for a race" type of excuse. But it felt nice to sit, and next thing you know, one dessert leads to the next, and your excuse for eating macarons is that you're still eating a "variety" of colours:
 

This is still healthy, right? Because it is a rainbow of colours.

But -- during all this, I still ran for fun, despite doing zero races in December, and made sure I saw my 20 minutes of outdoors and kept up enough to run a couple 5Ks in January and still finish sub-30 - barely. Know that your fitness can slip away from you and you not even know it...if you fail to test it! I saw my times gaining by 30...50...even 60 seconds. I chalked it up to lack of sleep, or running less than usual, and the late night burger (I'm sure we've all been there.) After all, I had been running throughout December! Mini milers!

So when I realized I was blasting through 5K races and feeling winded at times close to 30 minutes (and my PR is 27:11 on a true 3.1 mile course), I thought, weird.

Back to the gym. Time to get some strength back, I admitted. Time to show up again to see if they have any new equipment since I was last there. Or if they moved anything. Since it was quite a drive, I committed to staying 1 hour. That is a huge commitment for me. One hour exercising that's not purely running? Anyway, I decided to do a circuit type of training, alternating drills, weights, and jogging/running (couldn't resist the last part). Suffice to say about 20 minutes in, I wanted to be done. I was breathing louder than the music that was blaring. But I stuck it out for the entire time, also wondering how I used to do this every week in a group class setting.

And now, today. Definitely feeling it. The foam roller is my friend. So it turmeric and avocados and other anti-inflammatory foods. And what a good time to sit and blog, too.

Carlsbad 5000: All Day 20K

An "all day 20K" sounds long. All day? It is a test of endurance, though packed into short bursts of four 5K races. The Carlsbad 5000 attracts many runners, because of it's relatively flat and fast course in downtown, you guessed it, Carlsbad, CA. Each 5K was divided into the following groups:

Masters and Men over 40

Masters and Women over 40

Ages 20-29

Ages 30-39

So guess what the all day 20Kers did? 

We committed to all four races.

As soon as I heard about the 20K, my hand gravitated towards the "REGISTER" button. This would be a cool challenge, and if I was going to make the trek to San Diego, I might as well run four races instead of one, right? 

Plus, another question I had for myself was, would this be more difficult or easier than a half marathon? I had to find out. My hunch was this would be easier, because I had at least 30 minutes break between each race. But, 5Ks tend to be fast, so perhaps I would burn through more sugary carbs, and use more fast twitch muscles, yet need to rely on the endurance muscles to...endure this four times? 

The first race started at 6:55 am, which meant wake up was 4 am. It was chilly out, dark, and my first thought was, "Well...at least some people wake up at this hour." My mom kindly agreed to come along and be my cheerleader, photographer, and elite runner sidekick oogler. I opted for VIP parking, which cut down on the stress and time weaving through the road-closed downtown area. Totally worth it. 

The infamous row of Port-o-Potties

Because the course crossed the railroad tracks, the start times had to be adjusted with the train schedule. So a tad after 7 am, we were off! The majority of the runners were men over 40, and I definitely got passed up by guys twice my age. Like I said, this race attracts the speedsters!

The front of the pack looking very...speedy

I knew I had 3 more races to run, so I tried to pace ultra conservatively and not get too carried away with the speed of the others. Closed out the first mile in 8:49. A bit on the fast side for my strategy. 

I ended up hanging in there and pushing it and finishing in 28:20.

Pretty stoked, a little red, and already onto water bottle #2

I was feeling pretty good, and ready to take on the race #2, which was supposed to start around 8:12 but got pushed back to 8:26. Again, train schedule. I had grabbed some fruit and snacks at the finish line but wasn't hungry. Instead, I popped an energy gummy that tasted like a watered-down, jello'ed version of the Starburst candy. Hopefully it'd deliver some sugars to my muscles fast.

Race #2 with the Women's division felt better! Either because I had "warmed up" or was just enjoying running in mostly feminine energy. I finished in 29:45. Now, I was starting to feel hungry.

Eating anything I could get my hands on

The ladies taking off - I am not pictured because I was not in the  5 minute per mile corral :)

For race #3, I was starting to feel a bit fatigued. Wasn't sure if it was more mental than physical. I had been in "race mode" since 7 am, and it was now 9 am. If I were running a half marathon, I'd be nearing the finish line at this time.

But - the all day 20K was only half over. Race #3 slated to start at 9:26 am. I spend the time waiting and digesting several crackers and a blood orange. 

Originally, my goal was to run all four races under 30 minutes. Seemed reasonable at first, but going after how I felt, I changed it to just run all of them nonstop. No walking. That's one thing endurance running has taught me. Be adaptable. 

I ran it in 31:37. 

Ok, more like ran-jogged. My legs were starting to feel like steel. Not in the power way, but the weight way. 

Yug.

So my finishing picture after race #3 is more of a starting energy for race #4. I got this!!!!!

By 10:30, the final race was off. Three and a half hours after the initial race. 

We ran the same course, so this time around it was like running in auto pilot. Oddly enough, it didn't seem long, as repetition can make things, at least mentally, seem much longer. In fact, it felt faster than the first race, even though I know I "snailed" out on this one. 

Non-stop running got me a finish time of 32:29 for the fourth and final leg.

I was glad to be done. Didn't have much more energy to do another 5K. 

However, it did make for some pretty data: 

I was ready to now be a spectator and watch some of the elite races that followed us. It was awe inspiring to see these runners clocking in 13, 14, 15 minute 5Ks. 

Stride length goals, among many others

Awesome!

I left the race physically tired, but mentally refreshed and inspired...hey that rhymed!

Was it easier than a half marathon? No way. I thought the waiting times between the races would be an advantage, but it feels like getting the miles done in one go is easier, provided you pace yourself well in the beginning.