That’s more like it.

This week was much closer to where I want to be. My mileage is back up where it once was, and about where I want to be at this point in my training. Here’s a recap:

Monday:
4 miles (9:12 avg pace)
Just 4 miles, a little fast, along the normal route.

Tuesday:
Track – Whistle workout
This week’s track workout was another whistle workout. This time we would run at “L”-pace (a little faster than 5k pace) for the first 2/3rds of the workout and finish off the last 1/3rd at “S”-pace (short interval pace/fast). We were told we would be running about 20 minutes at quick speeds. It was a tough workout, but still pretty fun. It was also a long workout, and I definitely felt it through the rest of the week:

7 miles (8:42 avg pace)

Wednesday:
Rest Day

Thursday:
4 miles (8:59 avg pace)
Way too quick; guess I was excited, and in a hurry! (I had to make it to a pacer meeting that evening.) This run definitely added to the heaviness of my legs later on in the week.

Friday:
9.7 miles (10:53 avg pace)
I wanted to complete our long run on Friday after work, since we were going to be busy for most of Saturday due to a wedding, and there was no way I was going to plan a run on the Sunday after the wedding! We made it out a little before 6pm, and barely made it home before it got too dark. The first few miles were definitely tough for my legs, but they eventually warmed up. We still took it pretty slow, but that’s ok, I’ll just pretend it was practice for my upcoming pacing gig! ;)

Saturday:
Wedding Day

Wedding Day started with 2.5 “Matrimony Miles”. The friend that was getting married is “streaking” for 1 year, requiring her to run at least 1 mile every day for a year. She invited a bunch of friends out to join her for her last run as a single lady. It was a nice cool, foggy morning run. And we finished up with mimosas, mmm!

2.5 miles (10:46 avg pace)

 

The wedding itself was a ton of fun. It was fun celebrating our friends along with all their family and friends! Congrats guys!

Tired at the end of the night: 

Sunday:
Real rest day. We needed to recuperate!

I’m hoping to keep on track with my training plan next week. Thursday is “Last” Thursday, and we’re planning to meet up with Alisa on Wednesday for a hill workout, so things are shaping up pretty good so far. Yay for running plans with friends!

Another slow running week + Oktoberfest 5k Race Report

Kind of…

I didn’t log too many miles this week, and I haven’t been sticking to my training plan too harshly. In fact, I haven’t even really looked at it… Oops! What I need to do is type it up into a calendar so it’s easier to look at. I plan on doing that after I’m done with this blog entry! (*Fingers Crossed*)

Last week, I started by recuperating from Sunday’s 10k PR!

Monday:
2.5 miles (9:45 avg pace)
I used this recovery run to “run” some errands. I was on the lookout for a Bachelorette Party gift that included lots of bits and pieces. It was definitely fun to run with a purpose, and this would not be the last time I would “run” errands last week!

Tuesday:
Track
5.8 miles (with warm-up/cool down)

2x1200 (on chips) long interval pace
5:43, 5:43 (7:41 avg pace)

3 sets of 400-400 (400’s at short or medium interval pace with 100 float between each 400)
1:46-1:45 (7:07-7:04)
1:47-1:45 (7:09-7:02)
1:49-1:48 (7:19-7:16) Trying to hold on strong, but definitely tired!

Wednesday:
Rest

Thursday:
4.89 miles (10:15 avg pace)
Another night of “running” errands. This time planning for a bachelorette party. I ran at least 2 miles holding cupcakes! Mmm!

Friday:
Rest

Saturday:
Race Day - Oktoberfest 5k

This is a small race (about 724 total participants) in Mt. Angel, OR; famous for its Oktoberfest (hence the name). It was a pretty foggy morning, so the sights along the course were definitely hidden, but it looked like it would be a beautiful place to run! The weather here had been pretty great running weather, except for the humidity. (Believe it or not, we don’t get a whole lot of humidity here in the NW.) But it was a great morning to be racing! We arrived early to make sure we had no problem picking up our packets. (No problem at all!) And waited around (listening to some occasional German music) until the start of the race. I warmed up a bit about 20 minutes before the planned start time. My legs didn’t feel too terrific for some reason; like they never really warmed up, and were still pretty stiff. I hoped this wouldn’t affect the race. (I wanted a PR!)

Pretty soon, it was time to line up. I placed myself about 3 people behind the line, and soon enough, the gun went off! Holy smokes there were a lot of people quick off the starting line, but I resisted the urge to keep up, and immediately found my planned pace. I was hoping to hold 7:30’s, at least at first, and then give it all I had in the last 0.6 miles. There were a few turns soon after the start, and then we were out on open road. This mile held a lot of downhill, but I tried not to burn out my legs right at the start, especially with my legs feeling a bit rough!

Mile 1: 7:32 (Pretty dead on!)

Soon after the Mile 1 marker (which was pretty accurate according to my Garmin) the 5k’ers made their turn-around. It was pretty neat to be able to count the people in front of me. I only counted the females: 13 ahead of me at this point. Since the first mile was mostly downhill, this mile was mostly uphill. I was feeling a lot stronger at this point. Maybe it helps that I’ve gotten pretty strong with hills, and was able to get past quite a few people (2 girls, I believe). As we were nearing the end, I feared I had gone out too fast; I was pretty exhausted, and my breathing was definitely labored. Soon enough, we crested the hill, and made a turn into some neighborhood roads. Soon after landing on a flatter road, I was feeling fresh as a daisy, and ready to finish the last mile strong!

Mile 2: 7:52 (This could be better.)

The last mile wove through the neighborhood surrounding the park/start/finish area. I passed some more people here, including J (he’d been sick and wasn’t feeling very good on this last mile.) Finally we turned onto a familiar road; one I had seen on the way to the start area from where we’d parked our car. At this point, I had about 0.6 miles to go, and I was feeling it. I had pretty much followed my plan. My new mantra was “A 5k is supposed to hurt.” A couple more turns and we were onto the home stretch. I could see another girl in front of me, and really wanted to pass her so I could finish in the top 10. I couldn’t tell if she was in my age group, but I knew I could be in the running for a Top 3 Age Group finish (i.e. a ribbon!)

Mile 3: 7:12 (Almost over!)

The finish shoot is a little awkward, in that it is on a narrow stretch of sidewalk/trail going into the park. Because it was so narrow, and a guy had come and chased me and the girl in front of me down, I wasn’t able to shoot past the girl just in front of me, but I did manage to finish strong!

Mile 3.13: 0:52 (6:43 avg pace)

Official (non-chipped timed) Time:
23:28.40 (7:34 avg pace)

I finished just out of the Top 10 Females (11th) and just out of the Age Group awards (4th). That’s what you call rotten luck. At least I know the girl just ahead of me was out of my age group, and the girl who finished 3rd in my age group finished a full 40 seconds ahead of me, so there wasn’t really anything to do differently. And what else do I know? I totally PR’d!!! Woohoo! I’ll take it.

There was also a pretty neat raffle drawing post-race (which neither J, nor I won…ah well) which included things like tech shirts, tech socks, German flags, mustard (from the nearby Abbey), and Road ID (among other things).

Overall, it was a great and well organized race. I’d be interested in trying out the 10k course, too. It looks pretty similar to the 5k one, except it continues on the road after the 5k turnaround, and loops around the Abbey. Hopefully, if we do it again next year, the weather will be a little more cooperative, and we can actually see the Abbey.

Another reason to potentially do this race again next year: so that we can stick around and actually go to the Oktoberfest celebration that the town is famous for. We didn’t get a chance to this year, because I had a Bachelorette Party to finish up planning for/attend. What are you gonna do? ;)

Sunday:
Recuperate post-Bachelorette party

Not bad for a slow running week, but maybe I can start following my training plan, with a little more planning! Here’s hoping! :)

Pints to Pasta 10k Recap

Well, last week wasn’t what I was anticipating going into the race. I had planned a slight cut back week, since I had been increasing mileage for several weeks leading up to the race. I figured a 6.2 “long run” was a good way to follow through with that plan. But that plan kinda changed when I awoke on Monday (Happy Labor Day) sick with a fever. Yuck!!

This made for a week of super cut back mileage. I only ran 3 times last week (including the race) for a grand total of 14 miles! C’est la vie!

I was a little worried about the decrease in mileage going into the race, even though I’ve been going steady for several weeks previous to that. But I definitely had some goals going in: The biggest goal being to PR.

This course is a point to point course from the Adidas campus to The Spaghetti Factory, and mostly downhill. The race organizers suggest everyone park at The Spaghetti Factory, and take the shuttle to the start line. Since we live somewhat close to the Finish Line, we didn’t really want to park there. We looked up public transportation to the starting line, and found out the light rail would take us about 0.8 miles away. Perfect! We made it there in plenty of time and waited in the huge line to drop off our bag. After a quick warmup we saw that people were lining up. We ended up somewhat in the middle of the pack (not exactly where I wanted to be…) and soon enough, we were off!

Mile 1:
This mile included a lot of dodging, of course, especially with the large downhill section just after the starting line. It was also pretty quick! I tried to hold back a little bit on the downhill, since I didn’t want to burn myself out, but I still wanted to take advantage of it. Overall, I think I did well!

7:50

Mile 2:
Mile 2 was more of the same (except a little less descent), I just tried to keep a tough but manageable pace. I was aiming for 8:00-8:15 min/mi paces. Nailed it!

8:11

Mile 3:
We crossed the Broadway Bridge during this mile, which included a slight uphill, but was followed by a nice downhill section. This was the opposite direction of when we crossed this bridge on the Bridge to Brews course, and it was much nicer in comparison!

8:14

Mile 4-5:
These miles were in familiar territory: The Waterfront path. It was kinda fun to be in a race along a familiar route! Mile 4 was easy, but I think I started to worry about holding my pace on Mile 5, which is why I think I kinda slowed down.

8:00
8:15

Along the good ole Waterfront:

Mile 6:
Again, we were in familiar territory. It was nice to be running in an area that I’m familiar with, running-wise. I was able to feel how much further we had to go.

8:05

Sprinting to the finish:

Mile 6.2:
I could see the finish line from really far away (~0.3 miles). I looked at my watched and notice that I could break 50:00, so I took off at a sprint and gave it all I had! I even caught up with Paula Harkin, of Run with Paula!! (I literally “Ran” with Paula! ;)

6:19 avg pace

Running with Paula (she’s in the front, I’m in the back):

Official Time:
49:47 (8:01 avg pace)
Massive PR by over 6 minutes!! Woohoo!

It was a great course, even though I’ve run through most of it habitually. (The net elevation loss can’t help!) I was hoping to be able to break 50 minutes, and I totally did. Not too bad after a sick week! :)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Next Saturday we’re racing a 5k. I’m hoping for another PR, since it shouldn’t be nearly as hot as my last one…We’re doing the Oktoberfest 5k in Mt. Angel. It’s a bit of a drive, but it looks fun! It’s one of our last short races of the year (at least for what’s on our schedule now…)

This is also my first week of training for my “goal” race: The Run to Stay Warm Half Marathon. This training cycle might not work out exactly as “planned” on paper, since I have a *few* half marathons placed in the mix… You think I might be addicted?

These include:
10/10: First half of the Portland Marathon.
I’m going to be pacing the first half of the Portland Marathon with my friend. We’re running the 4:45 group (about 10:52 pace) so it’ll be a nice easy run, and I’m really looking forward to it!

10/17: Nike Women’s Half Marathon
This is another “fun” run. No PR here, although I’m sure the hills will be a good workout!

11/6: Silver Falls Trail Half Marathon
Sure to be a beautiful course, also another “fun” run! (What’s wrong with that?!) I’ll definitely bring my camera!

11/20: EWEB Run to Stay Warm
*Goal Race!!

Here’s to some great runs!

Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon Recap + Recap of the rest of the week

So this week culminated with the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon, and so shall this blog post! :) But first, a recap of the other fun runs from this week:

Monday:
Rest Day

Tuesday:
Easy Run
6.97 miles (11:03 avg pace)
I joined in for the Tuesday Lululemon Group Run again. I got an extra couple of miles by running on the way to and from the run. It was definitely an easy run, but it’s fun to get together with a group of other runners. I skipped out on track again this week, but I definitely want to go back next week. I have a 10k to prepare for! :)

Wednesday:
Ran to/from yoga
1.7 miles (10:12 avg pace)
I participated in a new class “Yoga for Cyclists”. It was pretty fun, even though I was the only runner. We targeted very similar areas as a “Yoga for Runners” class would. I’m thinking of heading back next week, so we’ll see if it fits into my schedule.

Thursday:
First Thursday
3.8 miles (9:53 avg pace)
Another fun afternoon/evening of running, and maybe the last of the year! :( They aren’t sure if they’ll be having an October run since the Portland Marathon is so near to it, but I hope they do. These runs are so fun, and its great to see so many people out there hitting the streets. This months was kind of a short run; most of the stops were on 23rd, but we still logged a few fun miles.

Friday/Saturday:
Rest/Lazy days
Thought about running one of these days, but then I decided to be lazy instead!

Sunday:
Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon “Race” Recap
2:18:44 (10:36 avg pace)
This was a “fun/training” run rather than a race, which I did with my friend. We took lots of pictures, chatted with lots of other runners, and just had a fun time. This was the inaugural race, and the first race put on by Destination Races to take place outside of California. There were a lot of out-of-towners (runners from 46 states, Canada, and Singapore) which brought a lot of tourism to our local economy. The race itself was pretty well organized, especially for an inaugural race. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to go to the Race Expo/Packet Pickup, which took place near the race, or about 45-60 minutes away from where I live on Saturday, which definitely took some travel time out of my weekend. The race includes a pretty nice shirt and free wine tasting at the finish line. But onto the race itself:

We arrived about an hour before the start time (6am for the 7am start time) and had absolutely no problem finding parking. This was a point-to-point course, but J and my friend’s soon-to-be-husband drove us to the start line, and found us again at the finish. We lingered around the staging area, greeted other runner friends, and porto-d. Soon enough it was time to hit up the starting line. We lined up just in front of the 11-12 min pace line, since we were aiming for 10:50’s, in preparation for my friend (and maybe me) pacing the 4:45 Portland Marathon Pace Group. While we were lined up, we met a girl who had used this race as an excuse to come up from Santa Barbara and visit her friends in Portland. At about 7:10, the gun finally went off, and off we went.

I’m in the blue shirt and black skirt: And we’re off:

We started off in the large crowd, got passed by some grapes, hit a mile marker way late (12:00 for the first mile…?) and the second one too early (notice a theme here) then things quieted down. Part of the reason this run was so fun was probably because we were running at an easy pace, so it was fun to just chat along the way. The course didn’t seem too difficult (at least for the first 8 miles). There were some nice gentle rollers, nothing too over the top. About mile 6 we passed the relay exchange for the 2-person relay. It was nice to have so many spectators greet us at the mid-way point, especially since this race took place out in the country. In fact, there seemed to be a good amount of supporters along the course, mostly as we were travelling through neighborhoods, or past houses. A lot of people came out to spectate!

Grapes:
Pretty views:

After passing the 8 mile marker, we met the toughest part of the course: gravel. I hate gravel, and was just hoping it would be over soon. It wasn’t quite soon, in fact, it lingered far longer than I ever would have wanted… I don’t think it quite ended until after mile 11. That’s a lot of gravel. It wasn’t so bad for us, since we weren’t truly racing, but for some friends that were aiming for a PR, it was pretty rough.

So much gravel:

Other than the gravel, though, the race was pretty flat and scenic, and would probably be good for a PR course, but I’m not sure what 3.5+ miles of gravel does for other people legs…Soon enough, we were closing in on the finish. We got passed by a few people that were finishing strong, but no worries. We just glided into the finish, and collected our medals. Next up? Wine time. Yum!

Finish line:
Finishing at pace, no kick here:
Wine:

Next week is PR time. 10k PR that is. I’ll be racing the Pints to Pasta 10K next Sunday, and I’m pretty excited. I don’t think I’ll have a problem PR’ing. (It’s been awhile, and I feel much more in shape/speedier than I was when I raced this distance back in April.) This course is also known to be speedy and mostly downhill, so it should be fun!

After next weekends race, I’m going to finalize a training plan for my “goal race” in November: the EWEB Run to Stay Warm Half Marathon. Very exciting!