There Is No Spoon

Saturday, two college roommates and I and all of our husbands went out to dinner and then to the symphony to see the Matrix with the symphony performing the score. It was THE COOLEST MOVIE VIEWING EXPERIENCE EVER!

In running news, I had a mediocre week.  I came down with a crazy summer cold after last weekend's long run almost immediately. Chills upon arriving home and it only got worse from there.  It knocked me out for several days. Summer colds are extra miserable -- you can't curl up with a blanket and some tea and soup because it's too hot.

While sick, I just did my best to try to get better and to fit in some walks.  Finally, on Wednesday, I managed a run/walk, with jogging intervals of 4, 5, 6, and 8 minutes and I figured I was in the clear.  Somehow, Thursday and Friday came and went without any running.

But, finally, I managed to do a decent 7.5 miles on Saturday (slow and steady at around 11:00/mile with the last 0.8 walking).  Sunday, after staying the night in SF, the plan was to run/walk the embarcadero with E, E2 and P.  I got up and headed to the hotel treadmill for a warmup and managed a mile at 10:00 and then 1 minute at 0.1 mph faster pace 'til I hit sub 9.  Then, while walking with E2 as the guys ran ahead, I fit in 4 speed intervals: 2:30, 2:30, 0:59, 0:49.  No idea what pace these were at, but the effort was solid in each one, so likely whatever pace they were was the correct one.  Including the walking, I just snuck over 20 miles for the week for a total of 20.75.

I'd hoped to step it up a notch last week on my running, but the cold killed that plan.  So, my fitness is pretty low right now and there's not much I can do to change that before next weekend's 10K. Oh well.  Better slow than nothing.     

Lazy 10K Prep

I had a great lazy running week.

My Garmin is dead.  So, I've been doing my best with it in it's less-than-awesome state as a very expensive stopwatch.

Total mileage for the week?  23.6.  The most since the SF 1st half marathon.

That feels good.  And, I feel less sloth-like.

The week's efforts before Sunday consisted of an easy 2.5 miles in So-Cal out to the beach and back at A&B's, followed by a hard TM effort for 20 minutes at the hotel (increasing effort every 1 minute is *no* joke!), an easy 6.2 mile effort on Thursday, and 3.5 miles easy on Saturday.

Today, I headed over to the east-bay and met Jen for a pseudo-long run, which, frankly, was guaranteed to feel like a long run for me since I'd failed to do anything remotely long for over a month.  We'd planned on 13, but I'd begged off, due to my lame fitness, so we settled on 9 for me (4 before for Jen) and I brought my friend, the super-speedy and talented F.

I had a wonderful time.  It had been so long since I'd done a long trail run with friends where the goal was conversation and bonding and finishing the distance without any focus on time.  This type of long run essentially disappeared when I lost E2 as a running buddy.  She and I always let the slower one pick the pace on long runs.  The goal was just to enjoy ourselves and finish.  I felt today, on the trails, walking intermittently, running up the hills when I felt confident enough to charge, that I used to be a more balanced runner.  And I felt like I returned to that today!  (Also, I can't help but note that I was in better shape when running with E2 than I am now, running on my own, with charts and tables and the occasional friend, but no regular, easy, let's just get the weekend's distance done buddy.)

Anyways, I'm very pleased with the week on my feet.  I look forward to the next one.

Thankful For the Great Luck & Awesome Early Harvest

Full post here.

Garmin-Free Workouts

So, I'm in running limbo.

I've been averaging a paltry 16 miles per week or so (including hiking and walking) since the First Half of the San Francisco Marathon.  You know, just enough to convince myself that I'm still healthy and a runner of some sort or another.  But nothing with goals.  Nothing to work on fitness or distance or any sort of anything other than baseline movement momentum maintenance in celebration of being healthy and alive.

Part of this is because I've got a mild case of runner burn-out.  Part of this is due to lots of travel and work. And, of course, another part is that my Garmin died.  And I am very data-driven.  So, without data, I am less driven.

No matter why it's happening, longer distance runs *are* getting more and more difficult as my month of less-than-ideal fitness commitment progresses.

On the other hand, I've had a couple of *great* shorter work-outs thanks to the lack of Garmin GPS data.

Last Sunday, I challenged myself to run 25 minutes at 10K pace.  All I had was the broken Garmin (aka, expensive stopwatch) and my legs.  After returning home, gmap-pedometer informed me that I did 2.74 miles for an average of 9:07 pace, which was a lackluster result.  I felt like I should have hit 8:30/mile or faster. 

But, even when the data showed I was slower than I thought, I was actually quite satisfied.  I could feel my effort increasing substantially for every minute of the last 10 minutes and based on cadence and how fast landmarks I know well were being passed, I'm fairly certain I was sub 8/mile for the last minute or so.  Given how fast I was running at the end and how slow my overall average pace was, it is obvious that I have trouble accurately identifying a proper race pace effort for at least the first 15 minutes of a run. 

This is something I've never understood, because if I've got a target pace, with the GPS data, I'll just push to hit it.  Often, I find that the beginning of races are hard for me, effort-wise, but I just force myself to do what the numbers say I should be able to do.  This workout was the first time when I realized that perhaps I need to warm up more than I realize.  Even for half and full marathons (or, perhaps, more realistically, I need to be disciplined enough to start 30-60 seconds slower for the first 1.5 miles of the longer races).

Yesterday, I had a short time window at a hotel, so I did a hard treadmill workout.  I did 5 minutes at 10:00/mile and then increased the speed 0.1 miles/hr every minute until minute 20.  It was a hard effort, and the last 3 minutes were individual commitments of 60 seconds of increasing effort that required quite a bit from me, mentally.  After I hit stop on the treadmill, I started the mill back up for a walk and talked myself through the cool-down.  Out loud. Breathless.  Dripping with sweat in the empty (or so I thought) room of equipment.  "I'm proud of you."  "That was a great effort."  "Way to keep pushing and make the best of a short time window."  Then, I stopped the mill, got off, and turned to realize a middle-aged man had joined me in the gym behind my machine and had heard the entire diatribe.  Embarrassing!  Thankfully, he had headphones and studiously avoided eye-contact.

So, there you go.  Running update complete.  Healthy.  No injuries.  Heavier and slower than normal and not yet registered for any Summer or Fall races.  It's on my todo list, but like I said, I've been suffering from some running burn-out...  I'm looking forward to this weekend's long run with Jen to help move me from the "bare minimum" bucket into something more approximating the effort I should be putting in for the 10K I plan to do on August 3rd.  3 weeks--Yikes!

Garmin -- How I hate thee

Last night, I did laundry and dishes and went on a walk and talked with my childhood best friend for an hour or so.  The garmin recorded the 1.45 mile walk and all was well.

Today, when I tried to head out for my longer mid-week run, the watch just couldn't find the satellites.  AT ALL.

Fast forward.  In between a ridiculous work-day and tending to tortoise and husband and general life needs, I've auto-located.  Rebooted.  Soft-reset.  Hard-reset and removed all user data.  You name it, if it's on a FAQ or forum, I've done it.

And yet, like every Garmin I've ever had, this one seems to have decided that it's time to give up the ghost.  Right around every 1.5 years or so.

Seriously -- when will I learn?

(Also, when will Garmin learn to put a reasonable watch strap on the watch that isn't the size of a cell phone and/or doesn't result in a metal pin that pulls out and explodes with the watch springing off your wrist?)

So, whereas before I had some of the best GPS data of all of my running buddies.  Now, I've basically got a stop watch that shows lots of screens indicating that it's "waiting for satellites".  With gmap-pedometer, this isn't the worst thing in the world.  I can live with a stopwatch and a well-mapped running route.  I may just try to make it work for a while.

But, really?  REALLY?  Garmin, you are making American products look bad.  You need to show a little class and offer a product that doesn't completely fall apart at month 18 (or before).  Come on.

It Begins

It's going to be a bumper crop year.

I present the first big, awesome, delicious, seed-saved, heirloom, gorgeous, compost-fertilized, photography-worthy garden tomato of the year (Ananas Noir).

And, half of it on my plate for tonight's dinner of garden cukes and maters with pepper and fancy black volcano salts. (Thanks to E2 for the harissa olive oil!)

Yeah, it's officially Summer at our house.

Working Remotely

Sometimes, I get frustrated with my job's ability to be done everywhere (and clients' expectations of the same).

Last night, after two flights, 4 hours of time zone change, several hours of work, and some dinner and drinks with good friends and wonderful views I was convinced that I truly was on vacation and shouldn't have to work. All I wanted to do was go to sleep and figure out what time zone I was in when I woke up.  Instead I had to fight with our friends' wi-fi (and rely upon E for tech support when he'd rather be sleeping too) so I could send out the finishing touches on a  client's must-sign SF lease before going to bed.  Side note -- apparently getting SF office space is harder than adopting an infant these days.

Other times, I feel like the freedom to work remotely is one of the coolest things ever.  Like this morning, working from our friends' balcony.  Yeah.  If I had to actually take vacation days I probably wouldn't be able to be here right now.  This isn't too bad.

Connected

Tonight, a world-class gymnast from college updated his Facebook profile such that his profile picture was the Ka logo.

He was a Cirque employee for years, so I didn't think much of it.  But then I saw the news.

And then I thought about the concept of *news*.  And how the social media world has modified it.

I got the Ka news *before* it was well known.  In the same vein, I know more about random fish eggs laid by acquaintances from college's fish than I do about my own mother's day-to-day life.

So, I *heard* or at least was *notified* via my friend's social media actions that *something* newsworthy had happened in connection with Ka long before it made the mainstream media.

So there's that power.

And then, there's how I also know more about the specifics about people I sincerely care about, with whom I absolutely would have lost touch without social media, thanks to all of its pervasive ridiculousness.

The long distance connections are most definitely stronger thanks to social media.  But the question I have is about the short ones.  The sisters, the brothers, the parents, cousins, neighbors, and co-workers.   I think social media lets us ignore or at least pay less attention than we should to them.  And I think that's unfortunate.

A good college friend recently dropped off Facebook and I applauded her.  I also thought of my own experience, when I took a month off last year and found that if I wanted to be part of the modern tortoise community, I had no choice but to be on Facebook.  You heard -- you want a tortoise?  You'd better be on FB.  Otherwise, you are missing out.

Tonight, my sister and I spoke for the first time in entirely too long.  We caught up, and she mentioned that she may be deleting all pictures of her son from FB because she feels it should be his choice to make his own social networking record.  I told her I understood and would not be offended if she deleted the videos I'd uploaded.

And here I am.  In the middle.  Connected.  For better or worse.

Garden Update

Early prep plus a hot Spring and early Summer == Delicious Bounty.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Can't wait for my first home-grown tomato!

My 36th Half Marathon (SFHM1)

It was a gloriously beautiful day in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  As we turned the corner to view the crashing waves of Baker Beach, a woman with a strong Russian accent asked me, "Vat is dat?"

"Baker Beach," I said.

"Oh.  You know, I run dis course every year for last 7 years.  I've never seen this view.  BEAUTIFUL!"

And, she was right.  I do recall this portion being socked in fog the last and only time I ran it.  And it was BEAUTIFUL today!

So, I did not meet my "A" (aka "dreamer") goal of 2 hours, but I'm not disappointed.  It was one of those amazingly gorgeous SF days where it's completely obvious why it's such a major tourist destination.

I didn't really know what would happen today.  I felt like my running could be magical (like the weather), and originally, it felt like it just might be.  But I also felt like there was a non-trivial chance my hip flexor could freak out and I'd have to drop out.  It wasn't until Mile 11.5 when I finally realized I was in the clear and could just finish without fear.

Thanks to the taper and ramen and Onigiri from the Japan town mall for late night snack and breakfast, I went out feeling strong and had a great first couple miles.  I stuck with F, as planned.  Originally, we started behind 'em, so F and I tried to catch and pass the 4h marathon pace group before the hill in Fort Mason to avoid the crowds.  Once we got close, it turned out, they were going too fast for me, so when we hit the hill at Fort Mason, I let Fio go.  She stayed with them, more or less for the entire race, and crushed it with a 3:57 for her first marathon.  Not too shabby for anyone, but in particular anyone on the hilly SF course, and a newbie who ran her first race ever (a 10K) in February of this year!  I'm so proud and happy for her!

Even with the ease-off for the Fort Mason hill, I still hit mile 5 more or less on pace for the 2 hour goal.

But, as you can see, when we hit the uphill to head up to the base of the bridge, and I slowed to a crawl.  Then I walked.  If you look at the elevation profile, you can see why mile 5 may have been a doozy for me:

Once the 2 Hour goal was gone, I just tried to be smart.  The rest of the race was all about just trying to keep my head in the game enough to do a job I was proud of.  I did my best to save energy early on with walk breaks, to take advantage of the downhills (my strength), and to push myself to run the last 3 miles to the best of my ability without stopping to walk (except I may have grabbed some electrolytes or water).  At around mile 10 or so, I set a sub 10:00/mile pace as my goal (which, conveniently, was 15 seconds per mile faster than my "I think I should be able to do this no matter what" goal of 10:15s/mile).

As appears to be the norm for me lately, some crazy lady tried to race past me in the finishing shoot, so I sped up until I dropped her...  (Dudes don't seem to do this to me?  What is with the mid-pack ladies?)

In short, I was in approximately the shape I thought, but this course is much more difficult than I gave it credit for.  I'd only done it once before, as the first half of the SFM, when I did the full with E2.  Then, we did it in 2:19:55 and finished the full well before E2's 5 hour goal in a clean 4:38:26 (my one and only negative split, actually -- funny, before looking at the data, I didn't know I'd ever run a negative split marathon).  I think the reality of the difficulty of the marathon distance obscured the reality of the difficulty of this course.  Today, I realized that the SF First Half Marathon  course makes the US Half look like a cakewalk.

I'm still evaluating my options, but today makes me think I'm actually in pretty darn good shape, and a return to the Rock 'n Roll SJ this year would be a great place to try to push the 2 hour mark.  I know I've got it in me, but if there's one thing I've learned in 2013, it's that I'm not great at hills while I'm living and training at sea level on the SF bay.  So perhaps the flat (but turning) SJ is the way to go...

Tomorrow Is The Big Day (SFHM1)

Tomorrow is the San Francisco Marathon.

I checked the weather, and it looks almost perfect.  Partly cloudy.  53F at the start and approximately 57F when I finish the first half.  For F, it'll be around 58 or 59 when she finishes the full. A little bit of wind, but nothing in the double digits.

This week was a nice easy taper.  Very short on mileage, but all of the running miles were at average target race pace or faster.

M: 2 short walks of 0.5 miles or so.

T: 1.12 walking in SF to client meetings; 1.57 miles walking in the PM.

W: nice quick track ladder to work on turnover.  (200/200 RI; 400/400 RI; 600/200 RI; 400/400 RI; 200/200 RI)  Splits: 42; 1:51; 2:53; 2:00; 39.  That last 200 chasing F was quite fun.  5:12 mile pace.  By far the fastest I've ran in a very long time. (some w/u and c/d for a total of 2.25 miles)

Th: Short cut-down of 3 miles (first 1.6 with E, rest by myself).  9:24; 8:54; 8:47.  Avg pace 9:01.  walking c/d & w/u.

F: Rest

Sat: Shake-out run.  0.5 miles jogging w/u.  1 mile at target race pace/effort (8:54, a little fast, but it felt good).  0.3 jogging c/d. 0.1 walk.

I took a look at my training for the Rock 'n Roll AZ half. And, despite feeling like it was much less effort, the work I've done has been fairly comparable this time around.  I owe this to my running friends, for sure.  The weekly track efforts were as difficult or more difficult than what I pushed myself through in the 10 weeks before AZ.  Only all I had to do was show up.  What a great benefit!

The main difference between AZ and this time is that AZ was 7 weeks after CIM and this one is 10 weeks after the SLO Marathon.  I'm hopeful the extra 3 weeks of recovery will help me, but of course, the trade off is that I had the last 3 high-mileage weeks of CIM as my first 3 weeks of training for AZ, whereas this time around, I kept my mileage more in the half marathon range.  Even so, I'm only short 18.5 miles over the whole 10 week cycle from the AZ training.  That's just 1.85 miles less per week.  Color me surprised.

Taper has been going very well.  So, I guess I'll stay positive and see whether I can't surprise myself tomorrow.     

SFMH1 weeks -2 and -1

So, after today, it's nothing but 7 days of taper and the race.

Week -2 was pretty good, in terms of training.

Memorial Day: Cut-down 2 mile run with E in the heat.  9:21; 8:49.  I was proud of this one, as I felt like I could have pushed another mile even faster despite the heat.  Of course feeling like you could do something and actually doing it are different... but I do like that the increasing summer heat is naturally forcing me to get in better shape.

T: 2.55 miles easy @ 10:05; 2.73 walk.  My hip flexor was starting to bother me. Decided not to push it and instead promised myself to stretch in the evening while letting Chompsky out and supervising.

W: Track day.  1.14 jogging w/u @ 10:57.  6 X 800 (Splits: 4:06; 4:18; 4:14; 4:16; 4:14) Slow and Struggling, but still a great workout that I would not have pushed myself to complete without the track group. 0.5 miles walking c/d.  The assignment was 10X800 but I cut it short and stretched at the end.  My hip flexor had been getting worse with each interval and I was slower than normal.  It just didn't feel right.  Even so, it was a good workout, and as always, great to hang out with all the ladies in our track group.

Th: 5.01 @ 10:24 AVG w/last mile @ 9:43.

F: REST/GARDEN/YOGA.  More stretching while watching Chompsky.

Sa: Run the hardest part of the 1st half of the SFM and then some: parts of the presidio climb and the bridge and the drop from the bridge to go under to the other side and back, with F, D, and L.  This is a *DIFFICULT* but beautiful and great run if you're ever looking for a hard 11-12 miles in San Francisco.  Bonus, we had lunch in Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed the views of the harbor as a post run treat.  Final performance: 0.1 walk w/u; 11 @ 10:32 AVG pace; 0.25 walk; 0.86 @ 11:45; 0.14 walk (803 ft ascent, out and back from Fort Mason to GG bridge Marin side).

Su: My hip flexor was *very* annoyed with me after all of the hills on Saturday.  So I treated it (and Chompsky) to an hour of yoga in the sun while I supervised Chompsky enjoying the garden and the lawn outside of his enclosure.  I walked twice to try to loosen things up for a total of 3.91 miles.

Weekly Mileage Total: 34.23 (including walking).  2+ hours stretching to try to get my hip flexor to calm down.

Week -3 was a true taper, and it was easy to do because we were in mourning.  The decrease in mileage felt great, physically, and there was no psychological backlash because we were depressed and I found it hard to motivate, emotionally, except on track day, when the company was a welcome instigator of effort.

M: 5.01 super easy with H.  10:58 AVG pace (including 2 minutes + walking, so perhaps 10:35 AVG for the running?). 0.25 walking c/d.  No noticeable hip flexor pain, which was a welcome change.  I think Chompsky gets the credit for this one.

T: REST.

W: Track day.  0.69 w/u @ 9:47 uphill to the track; 3X100 pickup w/u + 100 jogging c/d (9:25; 7:41; 6:50 paces); 9X300 w/  1-2 min RI (Splits: 1:09; 1:24; 1:22; 1:21; 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:21).  Final effort: Last 100 to pace F on the last 100 of her last 300: 20 seconds, starting from a standstill (!!!); 1 mile walking c/d  [3.45 total @ the track].

I haven't run at paces like this in a very, very long time.  My first 300, when I went out *much* too hard, I came in at a 6:07 min/mile pace, huffing and puffing.  I'd never really ran intervals of this distance and had been too busy to look up paces on a calculator before the workout.  The first one quickly showed me I should target something around 1:20 if I wanted to be able to finish the workout.  So that's what I did.  I also increased my recovery interval of 100m jogging + rest over the assigned 1 minute to whatever felt appropriate, including, in one case, 2m20s.

When all was said and done, I finished 9 intervals (plus the 100m sprint) and felt awesomely exhausted and athletic.  Even better, unlike last week's speed session, my hip flexor didn't hurt (Hurray for rest and stretching!).

Technically, I'd only run hard for 11 minutes and 59 seconds, but I felt exhausted and sore by the end, and I could tell that this was one of the more physically demanding efforts I'd pushed myself through this year.  I felt muscle-bone tired in a familiar but not recently experienced way.  That last sprint against F had been my gift to her, but also to myself.  I never really push myself to the edge while running.  This time, I'd dropped my last 300, jogged to the mark for her last straight away on her last 300 and waited, recovering.  I'd started a few second before she hit the line and then just kept increasing my speed as she got closer and closer, never quite letting her pass me 'til the end, where, frankly, I have no idea what actually happened, but we were both in as close to a dead-on sprint as we could be at the end of an hour long workout.  It was fun.  And, more importantly, neither of us got hurt.

TH: REST

F: 3 @ 9:39 AVG pace in 85F+ heat.

Sa: 1.48 walk w/ E2

Su: Last long run of 8, broken up quite a bit.  1.46 @ 10:05 by myself, slowly decreasing pace down to sub 9 at the end.  Swing by the house and pick up E.  Do a 2 mile step down in the heat w/ E: 9:50 & 8:44.  Walk 0.36 with E back to the house.  Grab my mp3 player, start the audiobook and head out for an easy 4.2 miles at an AVG pace of 10:58/mile.  Pick it up for the last 0.63 @ 9:24/mile.  0.28 walking c/d.  Later 0.75 walking to & from our neighborhood block party.

Weekly total: 22.7 miles.  Not much stretching.

How do I feel about the race?  Conflicted.  Part of me looks at the training and sees many hilly and 10 mile plus runs plus a solid taper and a healthy recovery from a hip flexor strain.  The other part of me looks at last weekend's performance and says, "That is a difficult course" and "I am not in as good of shape as I like to be before I try to break 2 hours, much less on a hilly course."  The weather looks like it will be perfect, and I've been training in the heat for the last few weeks, so that's a definite plus.  But, on the other hand, I don't really have any good recent hard efforts to point to that I can use to estimate my true fitness, so I fear I'm deluding myself.  I think my current plan is to go out with F for the first mile, just for the experience (and also to keep her speedy instincts in check), and once I'm nice and warm, I think I'll probably let her go and will try to settle in to a pace that feels comfortable.  Ideally that'll be 9:09/mile, but if it's slower, it's slower.  Given how difficult last weekend's run was with the hills, in all honesty, I'd be impressed if I managed to finish with anything under a 10:15/mile AVG pace.  Everything beyond that will be gravy.

Excited to race and happy and thankful to be healthy enough to do so.

Friday Chompsky

Friday, May 31st, was the first day Chompsky tasted nopal (aka prickly pear cactus pad, Opuntia paddle, etc.).

He loved it:

I started this post on Saturday June 1st to start a habit of posting weekly updates on the little guy.   I can't tell you how fun it was for E and I to interact with the little dude each day.

Google video wouldn't work, so I saved it as a draft.

Unfortunately, Monday AM,  after my run, while he was outside in his outdoor enclosure enjoying some sunshine and dandelions *something* broke in and removed him and his food dish.  Most likely a racoon.

We were devastated.

I didn't post a recap of last week's training because we were in mourning.  E and I have never had a pet together in all of our 12+ years together.  Yet, we bonded to Chompsky and he quickly became a part of our family -- in some ways, it felt like he'd been with us forever.  We each checked on him multiple times a day and reported to the other on on how he was doing.  For people who've never been around tortoises, it's hard to understand, but he had a *great* personality.  He was very friendly, curious, and enjoyed hanging out with us on the couch at the end of the day before he'd start to scratch to let us know he was ready to burrow down for the night.  We've been missing him, and that's my excuse for not posting.

After almost a week of searching, making posters, etc, it's time to accept that he's probably not coming back to us.  So, this post is a memorial to the little guy.

May you be eating all the fruit and nopales your heart desires!

SFHM1 week -3

Definitely a good running week.  With every run, I feel my fitness increasing.  Still not totally sure of my goal pace for the race, but it's starting to look more and more likely that I'll be able to head out with F, at least for the first few miles.   
M:  3.01 easy @ 10:46 AVG pace.

T: 5 easy with H (yay!  H is back in the running world) @ 10:29 AVG pace.

W: Run the Dish instead of track intervals.  Power up the hills and jog on the downhills.  This is a *great* workout and I could feel how much it was pushing me.  I may try to fit this one in one more time before the race if I can find a good time to do it.  4.25 miles with all the uphills at sub 10:00 pace.

Th: Same as T.  5 easy with H.  No watch.  2.65 mile walk in the afternoon.

F: Rest Day. 1.35 mile walk.

Sa:  11 with F.  AVG pace of 10:17.  Last 1.5 miles @ 9:05 pace.  This run felt so great.  I'm very appreciative to have F to run with as I know if I headed out on my own I would have been significantly slower, particularly on the last 1.5 miles.

Su: 2 hours stretching/yoga in the garden while watching Chompsky graze.  2 miles with E including a strong cutdown in the last mile: 10:23; 8:47.  (Today, my hip flexors are finally nice and loose after about 2 weeks of increasing tightness.  Chompsky is clearly good for me!)

Total mileage for the week (including walks and w/u and c/d): 37.58.
 

Introducing Morla(n) Chompsy

After Key West, E and I agreed that we should get a turtle.

I am allergic to pretty much all animals with fur.  And, I love reptiles.  Also, turtles are *SO DARN CUTE*.  Plus, almost all of our friends seem to have children.  And while we don't really want one of those, for conversational continuity, it's useful to have something you care for...

Anyways, after much research, we determined that a Californian Desert Tortoise Rescue would be best for us.   Our climate would fit, and they need good homes.  (For more info on the Turtle/Tortoise/Chelonian/Terrapin moniker issues, I recommend the SD Zoo).

Little did I know, this would result in a four month email campaign to convince the rescue folks that we would be a good home and we were committed to taking care of our tortoise.  I don't chase people.  I am fairly adamant about this.  Either you want me in your life, or you don't.  But with the tortoise rescue people, I made an exception.  It was very educational, and frustrating to realize how different my understanding of time commitments and responsiveness and just everything fell apart within the tortoise rescue community.  About a week ago, I gave up.

And, then, I got the call (which, of course, I'd started to believe would never come, and I'd started to consider buying a turtle from a pet store).  I'd made enough of a good impression that if I bought the right enclosure, they would let me take a juvenile home!

Easily, this was the best thing that happened on my sabbatical (and we spent a weekend at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay).

In fact, this event may be the reason I am finally happy not to have been in China on my sabbatical. If I'd missed making the chelonian/tortoise/turtle rescue filter due to international travel after all of the up-front work, I'd have been seriously sad and grumpy.

Instead, I spent last Friday waiting to get the *actual* time and location for the drop off.  It felt like (in my imagination) the machinations involved in a drug deal.  I was told "call me at 11 AM".  So I did.  Then I was told, "call me in an hour."  Then, "let's meet at Petsmart in Millbrae in an hour."  If I had been working full time in my normal life, I wouldn't have even had time for these calls, much less the flexible drive.  But I *WAS* on sabbatical.  And, eventually, it all worked out.  We are tortoise parents.  YAY!

Please meet Morla(n) Chompsky!  A small slice of welcome to your new adopted home strawberry from our garden just seemed appropriate.

Yes, strawberries are like candy.  I got the lecture upon adoption about not feeding too much candy to the desert tortoise.  Terrible.  But I'd grown this strawberry in our garden and I wanted him to associate my smell with good happy food.  Also, I've already ordered tons of native desert seeds and we'll grow native grasses and he'll have to forage and already has had to in the garden and lawn to find his way to the marigolds, nasturtiums and dandelions.  In fact, after the first night recorded here, he's had nothing but grasses and marigold, nasturtium and dandelion plants.

Oh, as an aside, sex (gender) is hard to tell with juvenile tortoises, apparently, so, while we're open, I've taken to calling Chompsky (for short) "he" or "our son."   But, we've left the first name open, and if we're wrong, we'll just switch to Morla and she'll be, "she," "her," and "our daughter."

SFHM1 week -4

I'm still on sabbatical, so I had time to fit in runs without any chance to blame work for getting in the way.  Slowly, but surely, despite gluttonous activities like homemade whole milk mozzarella and whey pizza dough, I'm reclaiming some of the lost fitness.  Before I get to the running data, here's some food porn:

Claravale Farms Raw Whole Milk

The New Gas Grill Gift from E gets all the way up to 750F if we're patient enough.  Perfect Pizza Temps!

There is an inordinate amount of whey left after a batch of mozzarella.

And not that much mozzarella to show for an hour of work and 1/2 gallon of milk to start with.

Thankfully, some of the whey can be reused in the pizza dough

One of the dozen or so BBQ pizzas that we made while I was on sabbatical.  Success!

M: 7 easy, just get the volume in.  11:07 avg pace, no walking, audiobook.  0.38 walking c/d.

T: I was visiting my aunt and uncle in beautiful San Luis Obispo county, so I took the opportunity to walk the dogs with my aunt as a warm up:  0.79 miles.  Then I headed out for 2.55 at a medium hard effort and averaged 9:15 min/mile.  0.38 walking c/d.

W: Track Day.  Awesome.  The assignment was Yasso 800s with a very long rest (3:50 for F, which typically translated into something closer to 3:40 for me).  I knew I wasn't in fabulous shape, but I also knew I was getting more fit, so I was curious to see how this workout played out.  I decided to target 4:00 as the goal pace and hold on until I couldn't anymore.  I made it through the first 5 okay, but then started to really slow, so after the 7th, I decided to do the last two as 400s targeting 1:55.  Splits: (4:02; 4:02; 3:59; 4:03; 4:03; 4:09; 4:12; 1:56; 1:51).  With jogging to the track, recovery walk/jogs, and walking back to the car, it was an awesome 7.49 mile workout, with friends.

Th: True rest day.  Impressive that I managed to pull this one off without work commitments, as I told myself I'd go to Bikram.  But, the reality is, the momentum hump to get me into that hot room is huge.  And I had meetings in SF, and errands and chores, and the next thing I knew it was dinner.  Oh well...

F: Alpine Ridge/Portola Valley Loop with F.  This loop is a killer.  But it's also a great training run to increase your fitness.  F and I headed out together for the first few miles, but eventually she started dropping me and coming back to make sure she didn't get too far ahead.  This was a big help, because I didn't want to slow her down more than I had to, so I kept up my pace as best I could.  After telling her to push it on the final downhill miles, I did the same.  Overall:  11.56 miles @ 10:58 avg pace with 1183 total elevation gain, 50% horse trails, 50% pavement.  Only one walk break on a very steep hill, where I took a Gu.  This is probably the hardest I've pushed myself on a run in a long time.  I was nauseated and weak at the Deli after we finished and had to excuse myself to go outside and sit down while I finished my lemonade.  I recovered quickly, but I confirmed for myself that I very much left it all on the loop, which felt good.  Bonus -- this loop is more elevation change than I will hit on the first half marathon of SF, and 2/3 of what F will hit on the full.

Sa:  E and I were in Half Moon Bay for a weekend getaway.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset through the windows of aptly named  Miramar Restaurant on Friday night, and Saturday AM we headed out for a nice easy 3 miles on the Coastal Trail.  It was much more rugged than expected with many short, steep ups and downs, roots, paths that disappeared, etc.  But it was a great way to start the day.  3.01 in 32:18.  Then we clamored down the bluffs to the beach and walked the beach for a while until we could climb back up the bluffs and take a shower.  We also went for another walk along the beach to watch the golfers before dinner.  Total mileage for the day:  6.91 miles (plus some impromptu rock climbing).

Sun:  Taking advantage of the hotel, we slept in.  I finally fit in my core and stretching for the week at the hotel gym.  30 minutes of yoga and abs.  My hip flexors thanked me.

Overall, it was a solid week totaling 37.31 miles.  I need to get my paces to be a bit faster in the next few weeks, but I'm happy with the volume.

SFHM1 week -5

So, as I mentioned, I finally managed to start to pull it together last week on the running front.

M: 10 miles super easy with the audiobook (to make up for the missed long run on the weekend) 2 hours, avg pace of 11:02. Last mile 10:19. 0.35 walking c/d.  The goal was simply to get it done without walking, and I did.

T: 1.35 mile walk before lunch. 4.30 mile walk and talk with my childhood best friend on the phone. (Approx 2 hours walking)

W (Track day with F & D) --  Warm-up: 0.7 jogging w/u to track;  3X 100 pickup w/u @ 9:28; 7:28; 7:17 per mile pace per 100 followed by 100 walk to the start line. Workout: 2 X (2 X 400; 1 X 800; with 2:00 RI) --  Splits: (1:49; 1:52; 4:31) (2:03; 2:01; 3:00 (600)); -- I took the initial 400s much too fast for how I was feeling and it pretty much killed the rest of my workout.  Hindsight. Cooldown: 1 mile walk

Afternoon 3.15 mi walking (Wednesday total of more than 2 hours on feet)

Th: 3 miles @ 30:13 (10:08; 10:13; 9:47); 0.2 walk; 0.8 miles @ 8:52/mi pace; 1.02 walk  (Total of 1 hour on feet)

F: 3 miles @ 29:54 (10:23; 9:51; 9:40); 0.36 walk (Little more than 30 minutes on my feet)

Sa: Goal? 10 easy miles with F.  Actual: 8 easy with F, last 2+ struggle on my own. (First 8 avg ~10:25: 10:17; 10:26; 10:20; 10:31; 10:34; 10:33; 10:42; 10:16); 0.23 walk; 0.29 @ 11:47; 0.2 walk; pull it together for last 1 mile @ 10:43 and final 0.2 @ 9:22); 0.52 walk c/d.  (2 hours of exercise).

Sun: 2 fast in the heat with E: 9:49; 8:42.  0.19 walking c/d. 30 minutes heavy gardening in the sun. (1 hour of exercise).

Total Weekly Mileage Goal: 40+.  Actual Mileage: 40.46.

Total Weekly Exercise Time Goal?  14 hours.  Actual Total Workout Time: 10.5 hours.  (I bailed on Bikram and a trip or two to the gym).

Even though I missed the workout time goal, I felt great finishing up this week and hitting the volume goal.  It's definitely already paying dividends.  Today's track workout was *much* better than last week's and I'm really looking forward to Friday's 12-mile long run with F, which is a good sign.  I only look forward to long runs when I think they are going to be fun and not ridiculously difficult. 

A Change of Focus

Ever since I decided not to go to China to run the Half Wall Half Marathon, I've been lame in my commitment to running.

Sure, Maui is partly to blame - that place will put you into a languid state no matter where you start.

But, even so, after my return, last week definitely didn't look anything like what you'd see on any training plan 6 weeks before a half marathon race.  Particularly one where I'm contemplating trying to run at speedy F's target marathon pace to help her reign it in for the first half of her first marathon.  Unfortunately, despite my training, the truth is that even though I'm not going to China, I'm still running the 1st half marathon of the SF Marathon.

Thankfully, this week, I got my act together.  And, I'm proud to say, I knew myself well enough to just do it the way I know works for me -- Nothing you'd read about in any running book (that I know about).

When I am in a running funk, I have learned, I have to give myself permission to just walk or jog at an egregiously slow pace -- I just need the space to get it done.  So, I buckle down and set an aggressive mileage goal for the week and promise myself that I will hit it, no matter what, no matter how.  (Pro note - this requires an abundance of time that I often do not have at my disposal).

The freedom to do the miles slow almost always causes some sort of fundamental shift in my attitude.  I finish the miles, the long period of time on my feet pushes my fitness, and voila, I'm out of my funk (of course, finding the motivation to make this commitment and the time to pull it off in any given week is another trick entirely...).

So, here I am, I'm post Saturday long run of 8 great miles with F plus 2.6 mediocre run-walking finishing ones solo and headed into tomorrow's recovery run, where, so long as I manage to finish 2 miles or more, I'm guaranteed to hit my first week over 40 miles since Mid-February (peak mileage for the last marathon).

Now that feels better.

Nenana Ice Classic

So, I come by my gambling enjoyment honestly.  I mean, Gran had Parkinsons.  Enough said.

My childhood memories are full of family holiday meals followed by pinochle -- if you were quiet, you could sit on a relative's lap and help sort cards, make the meld, and suggest plays.  I am the eldest of the grandchildren in my family, and for me, the "seen and not heard" thing was still in seriously strong effect when I was a child.  I did my best.

As an adult, my memories tell me that one of the few things my parents' parents had in common with each other (to my child's eyes) was card games.  They respected each others' card prowess and they would spend hours at the card table with idle chit-chat around serious time enjoying, in order of popularity, pinochle, hearts, dominoes, poker (typically 5 card stud, I didn't learn Texas Hold'em 'til much later), rummikub, backgammon, and sometimes, depending on the guests, Euchre.

When the kids played, rummikub usually was the game of choice, although occasionally dominoes won.  We knew the adults were feeling lazy when it devolved to "Uno" for our sakes. (Or worse yet, in my mind, as the oldest, to the dreaded "Go Fish").

So, it turns out, I didn't find ratios or statistics that hard. And, I don't think this is due to any specific STEM initiative.  I think it's due to a large contingent of gamblers, and I say, "Thanks, family." (Also, perhaps we should support *free* gambling to get our youth into math?  Oh, is that my gambling-centric personality speaking? Okay.  Never mind.)

In my 20's, I developed a little bit of a craps problem.  Okay, Not really.  I couldn't afford to do so, Nevada was too far away.  But still.  It's probably for the best that my husband does not enjoy gambling. At. All. 

These days I must content myself with the occasional lottery ticket, or evening at the craps table in Reno on our way back from Yellowstone.  (Pro Tip: my old rule of playing craps sober was *much* better than the new rule of *maximize* the free drinks for both E and me (you can imagine who made out better on this one)).

The lottery tickets I buy these days are usually either for friends' kids' schools or charities.  But, every once in a while I also buy one when I am convinced that Dad would have bought one (unfortunately, most often, this is when the multi-state lotteries get super high and, then, our local liquor store informs me (or E, if I send him) that we can't buy tickets because the laws regarding lotteries between states are *much* too complicated for me).

Actually, on this point, I have a guy.  Seriously.  I don't touch the stuff, professionally.  I know people. They are good and I give them all of my gambling/gaming legal referrals.  Dad was big into trusting your network, so I'm sure he's cool with this.

Anyways, moving on...personally, as I mentioned, I come by it honestly, and I *love* gambling.

Which is why I entered the Nenana Ice Classic for 7:23 PM tonight, based on ice measurements at the time of my submission.  I did a reasonable assessment of prior years' ice thickness, dates, and times (but ignored many other important variables).  Even so, it felt like the type of gamble Dad could get behind (and Gran and Papa and Grandpa and Grandma).

Despite all of my ancestral support, you will note by the photo above that a) breakup has not yet occurred; and b) it is still light in Fairbanks despite it being dark in Silicon Valley when I took this screenshot around 9 PM or so.

Even so, it may be the most rewarding $2.50 I spent this year.  Hi Dad, Papa, Grandpa, Grandma and Gran.  Next year, you should pay more attention and look out for me more (since it seems you can pull weather)!  In the meantime...thanks Arvay!