This is a long one! + Big news!

I haven’t blogged in a bit because I’ve been a bit busy. Well, last week, my knees were talking to me, but they’re feeling great now. I’m getting better at taking care of my body! :)

Last Monday, I attended a yoga class with a new teacher. Our old teacher was off for maternity leave, but I was excited to see what the new teacher might bring. Well, unfortunately I don’t think I clicked really well with the new one. I’m not planning on going back to that class…I like to work hard in my yoga class, but this felt more like a drill sergeant class, with less focus on our practice. I’m sure there are people out there who like that, but it’s just not my cup of tea.

After the couple of hill runs the week before, and a few classes filled with lunge sequences, my quads were already pretty pooped from the week before. Bring in the sergeant, and my quads were fried! This lead to some sore knees, and me taking it easy for a couple of days. I held off on yoga for the rest of the week, and took my runs somewhat easy. By Friday, my legs were feeling recuperated, and I haven’t had any problems since!

Here’s the recap:

Monday:
Power Vinyasa, not my fav…

Tuesday:
Track, or not to track
3.2 miles (10:38 avg pace)
I went to the track, but decided to do a couple of easy miles instead. The knees were talking to me on the way to the track, so I think it was a smart move.

Wednesday:
Skipped the yoga, no runs = Rest Day!

Thursday:
Another lunch run.
3.8 miles (9:33 avg pace)
I really wanted to try to squeeze in 4 miles, but didn’t want to put too much pressure on the pace. I took it as easy as I could, and got 3.8 miles! Not quite 4, and I only had a few minutes to stuff my face with some food in order to make it on time to my meeting. But it was a good run, and I saw some more of Vancouver!

Friday:
Rest Day

Saturday:
Long Run
12.45 miles (10:46 avg pace)
Gathering outside before the start of the run:

My friend decided we should join the Lululemon Portland Marathon Training Clinic Group Run on Saturday. This is a free group long run, and you don’t have to complete the whole run, which we didn’t. They were doing 16, but the other friend we were running with is only at 8 miles for her long run, so we decided to run 4 out and 4 back, then head out for another 4 or so miles to complete our long run. I recognized a lot of people there, and there was a 15% discount offered to the runners at the end of the run. (Not a bad deal!) There were Lemons manning aid stations along the route, and pace leaders helping to make sure you don’t speed out of control. It’s definitely a nice set up, and would be a great group run to join if you dread doing long runs on your own. It’s also a great way to meet new friends, or meet up with current ones. Overall, great run! :)

Sunday:
Salmon Creek 6k
I kind of added this “race” at the last minute. I was able to run it since we were volunteering in the bag check, again! Since my knees were taking it easy, I didn’t want to go all out. (I may have thought twice about it if it had been a 5k…awkward). My friend said she wanted to jog too, so we lined up mid pack, and gave encouragement to the runners out there who were definitely giving it their all. I definitely got speedier as the run went on, and felt great at the end. My friend told me to go ahead, so I took off and finished the last 1.7 miles with an 8:00 min/mi pace. (Not bad considering we started at 9:35 :). So, now I have a random 6k PR: 33:04. Woot?

Now, to the real reason I haven’t been blogging. I was reading. Mockingjay was coming out on Tuesday, which is the third and final chapter of The Hunger Games Trilogy. I love this series, but was pretty much engrossed in it from Saturday night through Wednesday Evening. Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot of working out. But it was totally worth it! :)

So, this week wasn’t the most exciting, fitness-wise. In fact I only got 2 runs in this week (and plan on an easy 4 miles tomorrow):

Tuesday:
Run Oregon-Lululemon Group Run
5.55 miles (10:09 avg pace)
I decided to take a break from Track for the week, and join this run (especially since Megan had been bugging us to!) It was hot out (95° is HOT here!) so we took it easy. The run itself is 5 miles, but we ran a little bit before hand. I was initially planning on staying for yoga afterward, but I decided to go get my book, instead… :)

Saturday:
Long Run
11.5 miles (9:46 avg pace)
This run felt easy and fun. My knees talked to me just a bit about 5 miles in (pretty sure I need new shoes at this point), but just a little bit further in, I met up with the Brain Tumor Walk walkers. Wow. It was pretty amazing to see all those survivors, current fighters, and family members. So inspiring. I saw pictures of family members and friends that had passed on, as well as signs on the survivors. Friends walking with friends, and just a lot of love. I had to fight back some tears, and wait/walk a bit, but I didn’t mind. Sometimes it’s fun to run into unexpected events!

Ok, so I promised big news, so I hope it’s not disappointing! 2 big things:

First: We finally joined the Red Lizard Running Club. We’ve been joining their club for track workouts for a long time, and we’ve met quite a few people who are part of the club. The Lizards are a big club team in Portland. There are some super speedy people on the team, but also a lot of people at different levels. We’ve been to a few of their social events, too, and thought it was a fine time to make it official! As well as being a part of a group with our friends, we get a Red Lizard shirt and a discount at a local running store. Not a bad deal.

Second: I’ve got plans!! Well, I’m not exactly sure when I’ll start training, but I do have a goal race on the calendar! Here’s the break down of upcoming “races” (not all of them are for PRs):

September 5: Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon
This one I’m doing just for fun with a friend. I got a free entry from her (it was kinda pricey when we initially looked it up, but can’t pass up free!)

September 12: Pints to Pasta 10k
I’ll be going for a PR here!

September 18: Oktoberfest 10k
Just for fun again!

October 2: Fall Finale 5k
Not sure it’s a PR course, but I’m going to go for it anyway!

October 17: Nike Women’s Half Marathon
Another “just for fun” run! :)

November 6: Silver Falls Trail Half Marathon
I’m planning on using this as a training run/”just for fun” and stop and take lots of pictures. It looks absolutely gorgeous (and I love fall!) and it’s only $25. Not bad!!

November 20: EWEB Run to Stay Warm Half Marathon
GOAL RACE!! This looks flat and pretty fast. (Certainly flatter than our last half marathon!) The proceeds go to helping low income families pay their utility bills so the can “stay warm” during the winter months. So, a good fundraiser, a good price, and what looks to be a good course. I’m excited.

So, I think I’ll start “training” for the Goal Race after Pints to Pasta. I wanna get a good idea of my current fitness level (which I think a new PR at the 10k level would do), and then formulate a plan from there.

I’m pretty excited to see what I can do. I’m pretty sure I can beat my time from Helvetia, which was not ideal weather for me, and was definitely not “flat”. But I’m also excited for all the other “races” I have coming up. Most of them I am doing with friends, and I love feeling the race energy, even if I’m not using it to go fast.

It feels good to have a plan in place, but I’m definitely still having fun with running!

Big Running Week!

This week was FULL of running, although it did not go exactly according to plan…But I’m definitely having fun with running right now, as well as with yoga. I’m feeling really good, overall, and I’m starting to find a nice groove in the schedule. I had 5 total running days this week (more than ever!) and I’m still feeling pretty good (my knees are a bit sore, but I think that’s more due to running on hills/having tight quads versus too much running, but I’ve been stretching them!) Here’s a recap for the week:

Monday:
Vinyasa class (awesome as always)
Recovery Run
I went out for an easy jaunt around the waterfront to shake my legs out from the weekend activities. I don’t usually run with music, as I’m usually running with someone else/J, but this time J was unable to run due to his knee pain, so I let myself jam out on the run. Unfortunately, music really makes me go, and I completed the run way too fast! It still felt good, but I need to try to slow down on these runs!

4.1 miles (9:02 avg pace) OOPS!

Tuesday:
Track
Tonight was a hill workout. It was kind of an interval workout on the hill, involving cones. First, we would sprint up to the first cone, then slowly run back down. Then, we would sprint up past the first cone, until we reached the second cone, then run back down for a recovery. We continued on until reaching the 5th cone, at which time we would start over again with the 1st cone. We continued on this way for 25 minutes or so. I think the recoveries down the hill were kind of hard on the old knees, but the uphills felt really good! I did 2 full sets, and ran for more than 3 miles total, at about 8:30 pace overall. I wasn’t sure what to record with my watch, but you get the idea!

Wednesday:
Power Vinyasa

Thursday:
Lunchtime run

3.2 miles (10:00 avg pace)

Vinyasa (the highlight of my otherwise horrible no good day…traffic + lost shoes + missing the streetcar = very sad Marya :( )

Friday:
Ok, so this was supposed to be the day of our next 5k race, The CATnip Friday 5k…First of all, it was the beginning of the heat wave here in Portland, so I was already kind of dreading another super hot race. But I was still determined to go, and try my hardest. Then I got home, said hello to the kitties, and knew that we wouldn’t be making it to the race… :( Our new addition, Bastian, had a super swollen eye, and just looked miserable, so we had to take him to the vet. The vet said it was probably just conjunctivitis, and we would just need to give him some eye drops for a couple of days. Bastian is much happier now, and he can open his eye all the way!! His stomach has been acting up recently, so we’ll continue to keep an eye on him, but I think he’s going to be ok! :) I am still sad that we weren’t able to at least hang out with some of our friends that were going to be there, but by the time we got home, it was definitely too late to make it all the way down to Sherwood… Oh well, here’s to next year!

We actually talked to the vet, as we were leaving, about running. I had gone to the vet in my running clothes, since I had been planning on just swinging by home to pick up J on the way to the race. Apparently, the vet used to run cross country in college, and ran with Frank Shorter and Prefontaine. He ran with all these super iconic runners, but thinks marathoners are crazy! Go figure!

Saturday:
Long Run
I knew it was going to be a hot weekend, so I tried to get out the door for my long run, before it got too hot. I didn’t quite make it out until 9am, which had me a little worried, but overall it was ok. I decided to run up the west-side of the Willamette, and try to find my way back up to Terwilliger, so that I could finish my run under the shade of` trees, by the time it would really start to heat up. The first 4.5 miles went along smoothly, then I hit the spot I had guessed would get me up onto Terwilliger. I found some signage pointing to the 4T Trail. I see these signs everywhere, but I knew it was pointing me in the right direction. Unfortunately, a half mile into the change of direction, I found the the way up contained a LOT of stairs. I didn’t count them, but I climbed about 350ft in about 1/8 of a mile. You better believe I walked up those stairs! I was pretty tired when I got to the top, and just hoped I could make my way to to Terwilliger somehow, because there was no way I was heading back down that way again…When I finally reached the top, the signage was a bit unclear, but after traipsing about the neighborhood for about 10 minutes, I finally found my way to Terwilliger. I checked Google maps on my iPhone to make sure I was heading in the right direction, and I was on my way! From here it was all smooth sailing back home (mostly downhill! :) I drank about 3 bottles of water on this run (the first with some electrolytes in it), but didn’t really experience that whole “it’s too hot and my head feels faint” kind of feeling, except briefly just before the stairs. I’ve been working on making it through hot runs in one piece, and I think the electrolytes really help. I made it home before it got too hot (although it did reach up to 85°!!) Overall, great long run!

10.1 miles (10:09 avg pace) I tried to take it easy (for long slow distance)

Sunday:
Recovery Run

Another recovery run, another waterfront loop adventure. I also tried to complete this run somewhat early, as the heat wave was continuing on! I had my music again, but tried very hard to mentally slow myself down. It worked, somewhat, but I think I was still a bit too fast…I guess I’ll keep trying!

4.1 miles (9:33 avg pace)

Weekly total: 25.9 miles

Here’s my tentative plan for the upcoming week:

Monday:
Power Vinyasa
Rest day from running/lunchtime run?

Tuesday:
Track!

Wednesday:
Power Vinyasa

Thursday:
Lunchtime Run
Vinyasa

Friday:
Rest Day?

Saturday/Sunday:
Long run/more yoga!

We’ll see what the week holds!

Someday I’d like to be on a structured training plan again, but I’m still enjoying the freedom of my schedule at the moment!

Helping hands

My running mileage this week was a whopping 20.9 miles. Woot! And I was still able to attend 3 yoga sessions AND take a rest day! Go me! Here’s the recap:

Monday:
Lunchtime run
Power Vinyasa class
This was my first EVER lunchtime run. It was 73° out, so the weather wasn’t TOO bad, but I was still nervous about being hot the rest of the day. (I do work pretty closely to people in my job.) But it wasn’t too bad. I work in Vancouver, directly over the Columbia River from where I live. I don’t know much about the Vancouver area, except how to get to work, so it was kind of exciting to venture out to the surrounding area. I found a track (by a High School) and a couple of parks. Overall, it was a fun run, and I made it back in time to scarf down some lunch, and wasn’t too sweaty the rest of the day. Success!

3.2 miles (9:42 avg pace)

Later on, J and I attended the last class our (pregnant) instructor will be teaching on Monday nights. I’m kind of bummed she’s leaving, but I understand the reasons! It’ll be fun experiencing a new teacher; they’re all so different. But I’m definitely looking forward to our former teacher’s return in October/November! :)

Tuesday:
Track
My legs had definitely recovered from the Bowerman 5k, and track ran a lot more smoothly.
The workout:

2 sets 800 - 800 (300) @ L (3:54 [7:48 avg pace])
4 x 400 @ S (400) (1:48 [7:12 avg pace])

The outcome

800 - 3:42.00 (7:24 min/mi)
800 - 3:45.80 (7:29 min/mi)
800 - 3:49.74 (7:38 min/mi)
800 - 3:53.24 (7:45 min/mi) [Hey! It’s still under! ;)]

400 - 1:44.18 (6:55 min/mi)
400 - 1:48.44 (7:12 min/mi)
400 - 1:45.62 (7:05 min/mi)
400 - 1:44.82 (7:00 min/mi) [Last one!]

Overall, good workout! The dash between the 2 sets of 800’s are “floats” or just easy running (but not too easy) before getting back into the next 800. It’s like running a mile with an easy jog in the middle. I enjoyed myself, and ran with 2 other girls for the most part. I’m looking forward to this week’s track workout; should be more quick fun! :)

Wednesday:
Power Vinyasa
This instructor is also going to be leaving us for a few months. She’s going on sabbatical to India (jealous!), so we’ll have another sub; hope we like her!

Thursday:
First Thursday
I loooove First Thursdays. This month we had a few stops over in the Pearl (from NW Portland). It’s fun when there are new checkpoints/businesses to stop in. We had a few different ones this month that I might be interested in visiting one of these days. It was a warm day, and one of the checkpoints was a slip-n-slide. Sounded like fun, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to get that into it; plus the line was ridiculous, so we skipped it ;). We made it back after our “fartlek”-type run, and enjoyed our delicious Widmer beers, only to strike out on the raffle, again! Oh well, maybe next month!

4.2 miles (10:43 avg pace…probably)

Do we look hot yet?

So cute during our “run” :P

Look how small my beer looks next to my massive head in this pic! (hopefully that’s due to the camera angle… :/

Friday:
REST DAY!!

Saturday:
Skirtchaser 5k Volunteering
I heeded the call for volunteers for this race earlier in the week. How could I say no to the promise of a free running skirt + 2 free beers!? There were a lot of ladies (at least 2/3rds of the race participants were ladies). If you don’t know about this race series, it’s put on by SkirtSports, and involves a “chase” of the women by the men. Women get a 3 minute headstart for the 5k, and the first individual (man or woman) to finish, gets $500. So far, women have won every event this year, and Vancouver was no exception. The winning women clocked in at 16:56!! Not too shabby! (I think she was running for charity, but either way, she was smoking!) The first man came in at 15:55, which, although quite speedy, was not enough to surpass 2 ladies. I think the cutest part of the race was that the first couple to cross the finish line together (ie holding hands) each won a free pair of shoes. Adorable!! The skirts they were giving out at the race were black with pink under shorts (and a slit in the skirt so you can see the shorts!) I like the skirt, and it will definitely be used in the future!

“Enforcing” at the beer garden. Do I look intimidating? The skirt probably helps!

Sunday:
Bridge Pedal Volunteer
9 mile long run
Those of you that are unfamiliar with Portland may not know this, but we have a lot of bridges! The annual Bridge Pedal is a bike ride that allows you to ride over 10 of them, including the freeways. I’m sure it’s a nightmare for cars, but it only happens once a year, and so many people are out there, I think it’s a sacrifice they can make! This year, my friend asked for people to help her hand out balloons at the finish line. I guess last year, her and her fiancé did it alone, and this year she had 4 friends to help her. We gave out so many balloons. We only had 2 helium tanks, and ran out early! Oops! My friend says she only used one tank last year, but this year she had a lot of help. Oh well! Kids of all ages were definitely appreciative of the balloons! We had a great time!

Afterward, my friend, J, and I headed out for a long-ish run of 9 miles around the un-closed bridges! My friend is a big proponent of long slow distance, so she helped me reign in the speed a little bit, and before we knew it, 9 miles were completed and it was (finally) time to eat! :) Unfortunately, J only made it to about 4.5 miles, then reported (at the furthest point from home) that his knee could take no more…Thanks for the heads-up dude! It all worked out in the end, but poor J and his knee. Sometimes injury recovery can take forever!

9 miles (11:20 avg pace, definitely negative split!)

So, a very successful week, in my opinion. First lunch run ever, yoga + run on the same day, great track workout, great long run, and lots of volunteering! Here’s hoping next week is just as great! Here’s the plan, thus far:

Monday:
Recovery Run + yoga

Tuesday:
Track!

Wednesday:
Yoga

Thursday:
Lunch run + yoga

Friday:
CATnip Friday 5k

Saturday/Sunday:
10 mile run, hopefully; to be reassessed after the 5k

**And, just as an aside, my friend is one of the race directors for the CATnip Friday 5k. So, if you’re in the Portland area and like cats, this is a run to benefit the CAT adoption center. This is a great no-kill shelter that takes in cats, and has a great adoption program for kitties. This is where we got our new kitty, and he fits in just great with our family! So, if you want to do an evening race, on a Friday, for a great cause, sign up and join in the fun!

Lazy Runners

We ran only twice this week. Geez! I think we need to start getting some more runs in. We haven’t exactly been “lazy”, but I really feel like we should step up our running game! First the recap:

Monday:
J’s first Power Vinyasa
This class involved a lot of lunges. Our quads felt the burn, for sure!

Tuesday:
Track (workout at “L” pace)
1 x 1 mile on chips (400)
1 x 1200 (400)
1 x 1000 (400)
6 x 200 @S (200) (Low mileage runners might want to do fewer)

Well, I only completed the first 1 mile, and it was not even near target pace. My legs were talking to me, and they were saying, “Track tonight, not your best idea ever.” Guess my legs were still fatigued from the 5k on Sunday, go figure! I decided that nice easy running was the safer option for my legs. (No injuries for me, please!) I figure I ran about 4.18 miles total, including the .75 mi warmup run to the track. Meh.

Wednesday:
Power Vinyasa
This class involved a lot of Chair Pose/Squat motions. Our quads felt the burn, again!

Thursday:
Vinyasa
My day was pretty awful, from the moment I finally left work at 5:15, until our yoga class began. When I left work, traffic was pretty easy going, no problem! Then I hit the 405, and traffic was at a standstill (flashback to my worst commute ever: December 29, 2009, freak snowstorm hits right at rush hour, it takes me 4+ hours to drive 12 miles home, at least 1+ hour of that drive was spent on the 405…*shivers*). I decided to exit as early as I could, because I hate being stuck on that stupid bridge (there was an accident on my normal exit, which accounts for the standstill), then got stuck on NW 23rd. (I hate driving on 23rd…Walking on 23rd sure, but that is no place to drive!) Finally, I made it home, just in time to miss our streetcar ride… I quickly changed into my yoga gear and walked quickly toward the studio. We were kind of late (later than I like, anyhow) so I quickly made my way into the locker room to lock away our stuff. As I was gliding across the floor, I soon found that I was gliding toward the floor. Yes, I bit it (thank you shower takers for taking the time to wash the floor!) I picked up my bruised ego and made my way back out to meet J. We took our places onto the mat, and I pledged to myself to let everything go, and just enjoy the yoga; and I DID! Great class! I love yoga! Especially after a stupid day! (BTW, this class included a lot of lunges plus chair poses. Our poor, poor quads!!!)

Friday:
~4 mile run
J wanted to try another hilly run, so we went for it. (Gluttons for punishment!) We ran over to Sam Jackson Rd. Found the trailhead for Council Crest, ran up it for at least .5 mi, then decided to go back down. (I guess this section was half running/half climbing/walking/wheezing! ;) We made our way back to the trailhead and found another path toward Broadway (another uphill, wheezy, climby trail) then ran down Broadway and headed home. Garmin was only somewhat accurate, but trail markers and such lead me to believe we did about 4 miles.

Saturday:
Fun Day
We travelled down to Newport to visit my Grandfather for his 80th Birthday. We went to lunch at the Golf Course (his favorite place) then headed back to his place to enjoy the cake J spent all day Friday baking. (It was delicious.) After cake, we bade farewell to my Grandfather, and headed out to Rogue Brewery for a Brewery tour, and then the Rogue Distillery for the Distillery “tour” (ie. The Distillery “room”.) Later we went back to the Brewery to sample some beers, then over to the other side of the Bay for some delicious clam chowder at Mo’s. Mmm…(I lived in Newport for 5 years, ages 10-15, so I’m pretty familiar with the area.) We headed home pretty late, and quickly nodded off to sleep.

Rogue Brewery: Yummy Beers (Sig’s NW IRA: eh; Free Range Red: it’s ok; Hazelnut Brown Nectar: freaking delicious, I love Hazelnut!; St. Rogue’s Red: most favorite of the 4, really good!):Rogue Distillery: Mo’s Clam Chowder:

Sunday:
Lazy Day
We capped off our “Lazy Week” with a “Lazy Day”. And it was good. It’s been awhile since I haven’t done anything active for a full day, so it seems pretty worth it.

So I prefaced this post but saying how I wanted to increase the running. This week, I’m going to try experimenting with lunchtime runs. This way, I can increase the mileage, without sacrificing the yoga! I hope it works, because I love both running and yoga, and I don’t want to skimp on either one, if I don’t have to. Might as well give it a try, right?! So here’s the “plan”:

Monday:
Lunchtime Run
Evening Power Vinyasa

Tuesday:
Track

Wednesday:
Power Vinyasa

Thursday:
First Thursday (come join if you’re in the area, it’s super fun!)

Friday:
Run, probably

Saturday/Sunday
10 mile run (I hope!) one day
Yoga the other day

Ok, so only one day is an experimental “lunch run”, but you gotta start somewhere! ;) Here’s hoping it goes well! :)