July 11, 2014

Detroit Marathon: Week 4 training recap

Greetings from beautiful Virginia!

Even though Hubby and I made a quick pit stop on our way back to the West Coast, we’ve been ramping back up to “real” life — which means returning to work and training this week with a renewed focus and a fresh perspective.

Thankfully, though, week four of the plan is still a mileage-building phase. So here’s a look at how I’m wrapping up the first month of training.

Although we’ve been able to stick to a good schedule while on the road, I am starting to notice some loss of strength and flexibility from my usual cross-training routine.

Frankly, I’m a little antsy to get back at it, but it’s good to take a break every now and then. Especially when it includes another change of running scenery to explore.

Running has not only been a convenient way to work out while traveling, but it’s also been an excellent way to get to know all the towns we’ve visited these past few weeks (photo recap to come!).

And, let’s face it: Having a training plan all mapped out ahead of time can be a saving grace on those days when both your mind and body are in vacation mode and motivation is waning.

Physically, though, I’ve been dragging a bit this week due to jet lag, a migraine and a nagging case of plantar fasciitis, so my goal was mainly just to get the miles logged safely and uneventfully.

Oh, and there was also a little bit of sleep deprivation after visiting a neighbor’s (haunted) house one evening to hear a handful of local ghost stories. But so worth it!

My favorite part of running here? The fact that, more often than not, we can set off down the road and back and not see a single car or human for miles.

My least favorite part? Some of the critters who share the road with us — namely this Virginia Timber Rattlesnake we spotted from the car mid-week. Needless to say, I’ll be watching my step very carefully from here on out!

Stay tuned for week five as I head back to the West Coast and start the second month of training — where the more challenging parts of the Hansons’ training plan start kicking in…

Posted in Detroit Marathon, marathon, Michigan, Portland, Running, Training, Travel
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October 1, 2013

Nike Women’s Marathon SF: Week 13 training recap

I’ve been referring to this week as “lucky number 13” for a few reasons: First, and most obviously, it’s week no. 13 of the training plan; second, it contained the final looong run before the taper; and third, if I made it this far without major injury, I would consider myself fortunate.

Source: Nike

So far, so good. Fingers crossed, but the marathon gods seem to be smiling down this time around, and aside from a few proverbial bumps in the road this week, here’s what the schedule looked like:

Tempo run – 5 mi
Track workout – 6 x 1200s
Long run – 20 mi

If last week’s weather didn’t signal the start of a new season, Tuesday’s packed track certainly did. The kiddos are back in school, and training for fall sports is now in full swing.

It’s also starting to get darker earlier (and lighter later), which is probably part of the reason fall races are so popular. We love to take advantage of the extra-long summer days for training!

Aside from dodging munchkins and steering clear of sprinters, my speed workout went smoothly. The goal was to keep each 1200 in the 5:42-5:45 range, which I did pretty well (5:41, 5:43, 5:47, 5:41, 5:40, 5:35)…and I even had a little left in the tank to kick it up a notch on the last one.

The only real hiccup was that my Nike GPS Sportwatch, which has been sputtering lately, looks like it has finally gone on the fritz. It skipped a few sections of the track, so my recorded distance was off, and now it won’t sync to my computer, so I’m in the process of troubleshooting with Nike support (fingers crossed).

Side note: I may have found a new favorite workout headband in the process, as well. Bic Bands sent me two of their Minnie Sparkle Bands ($12) to test, one in Gunmetal and another in Ocean Ombre.

As you can tell from my hair in the shot, there was some wind on the track that evening, but the Bic Band didn’t budge…

I’m a fan, not only because they’re snazzy (not scratchy) and snug (not strangling), but because there’s also a great story behind the product. The name, Bic, stands for “Because I can,” and the owner, Sandy, originally came up with the idea as a way to raise funds for her first Team in Training half marathon.

After she met her fundraising goal, demand for the bands continued, so she decided to keep making and selling them, donating a portion of each hand-made band to a different charity each month. Visit BicBands.com to learn more and check out the other styles, sizes and colors.

But back to the schedule…because we were headed out of town for the weekend, I moved my long run to Thursday again. This time, thank goodness, I had had a full week of recovery between runs. It was a dark start, though, as I made my way into the Marina.

I hit the water just as the sun started to rise, and the weather was that perfect not-too-hot-not-too-cold temperature for running, so it was shaping up to be a beautiful morning.

As I made my way through Fisherman’s Wharf, I did get momentarily sidetracked by the smell of freshly-baked bread from Boudin Bakery. It took a massive amount of willpower not to tear into one of the arms of this sourdough ‘gator.

The game plan was to meet up with @PavementRunner a few miles into my 20 and run 90 minutes of the midsection together before I finished up on my own. We both had number goals for the morning (me for training, him toward a 200-mile challenge for the month), so we were aiming for an out-and-back nine.

That was before the dreaded GI issues hit about 12 miles in, however. Don’t let the smile above fool you – although the company, the scenery and the weather were all truly awesome that day, my stomach wasn’t cooperating at ALL for the second half of the run.

Like any great running buddy, @PavementRunner reminded me of the bright side, which was that I could use the experience as a learning opportunity for race day in case a similar situation occurs. Well, three pit stops later, there was finally a light at the end of the long-run tunnel.

The final result? Not terrible in terms of timing, considering, but definitely not on pace for the four(ish)-hour goal with which I’ve been toying. And, needless to say, I’ll be re-evaluating my pre-run nutrition routine. I thought I had it figured out, but the last thing I want is to get thrown for a loop like this on race day.

And since we were traveling later that day, hubby was on ice duty and tripled the amount from last time for the post-run soak.

A 20-minute phone call to Mom helped pass the time (and take my mind off the searing pain!).

And although all I wanted to do was crash on the couch and take a nap, this was our view just a few hours later as we headed to the Great Northwest…Portland!

Powered by Stumptown coffee and VooDoo Doughnuts, I squeezed in a rainy five-mile tempo run on Saturday. Of course, it helped that we stopped by Nike Portland the night before to pick up some new gear, including these super-techy Luxe Running Tights.

I’m a tad obsessed with them – they look cool, fit like a glove and wicked well in the wet weather – but as you can see, the back zipper has a tendency to rub on the Achilles, so next time I’ll try keeping them slightly unzipped. Just another good reminder of why it’s smart to do a trial run with new gear before race day!

Stay tuned for next week – the taper has started, but the excitement continues: Hubby and I will be running the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon on Oct. 6.

I’ll be at @PavementRunner’s Tweet Up at the expo; hope to see some of you there!

Posted in marathon, Nike Women's Marathon, Portland, Recovery, Running, San Francisco, Training
4 Comments

July 17, 2013

Nike Women’s Marathon SF: Week 2 training recap

Let’s call this one the “PDX edition.” 🙂

Remember how I talked about experimenting with mid-run fuel? Well, I’m pretty sure VooDoo Doughnuts and Stumptown Coffee don’t count, but ‘when in Rome,’ right?! Besides, I got up super early to get my workout in and beat the pre-work lines at these two hot spots, so I figured I deserved a treat (or, um, two).

Now THIS is what I call carb-loading!

Here’s what the schedule looked like for Week 2:

Tempo run – 5 mi
Track workout – 4 x 1200s
Long run – 12 mi

Tuesday’s tempo run was a 5-miler around the Portland waterfront, which was nice and close to our hotel. I got off to a speedy start (no doubt due to the caffeine/sugar rush) before my pace slowed significantly about three miles in. Lesson learned!

Why, good morning, Portland – well worth the 6am wake-up call

Thursday’s track workout was, well, track-less…so I improvised by mapping out a 1200m stretch along the river and running it back and forth four times. The morning was gorgeous, and whatever the route lacked in accuracy it more than made up for in terms of scenery, so I couldn’t complain.

A stretch of my makeshift “track” along the river.

And, of course, I made sure to get in some more good “carb-loading” at dinner that night (sensing a theme here?). Hey, one of the first rules of training is to reward yourself for all that hard work, right?!

Good weather, good friends, good beer…what more can you ask for?

By the time Saturday’s 12-miler rolled around, we were back home. And rather than mapping out a whole new route, I decided to just tack on an extra two miles to last week’s 10-mile route, which took us over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Not only was the weather more cooperative this week, but I had some great company in the form of my hubby, Ben, and a friend of ours, Kevin. They kept me on my toes pace-wise, and our conversation made the miles fly by.

Never underestimate the power of good running buddies!

Plus, we got to take in some more fun sights that way – especially since the America’s Cup races are now taking place in the San Francisco Bay. These guys were really flying out there (the picture just doesn’t do it justice); the new AC45 catamaran, for example, hit speeds in excess of 20 knots, right out of the box, when it debuted earlier this year.

America’s Cup boats racing with Alcratraz in the background.

The one mid-run hiccup was when my GPS watch decided to stop working around mile 8.4. I didn’t notice for about 10-15 minutes, though, so by the time I was able to stop and re-set it, we had to guesstimate the remaining distance. It’s a bummer because we weren’t able to find out our average pace for the whole run, but if that’s was the biggest challenge of the day, I’ll take it.