My Nike Training Plan

Photo credit: Nike

If you follow this blog and/or my Facebook page, you know that I created a group ID in order to enter the lottery to get into the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco this October. Thanks to the power of social media, approximately 200 happy readers/runners utilized the code and our entire group was selected!!!  WOO HOO!!!

This year is the 10th anniversary of the race and will be my 4th Nike run- I did the SF full in 2011, the SF half in 2012, ran Nike DC half earlier this year, and now am getting ramped and amped up for #4!  I’m wrapping my head around training for all those hills and getting my plan together for a successful 13.1 come October 20th. 

Full of Half Excuses

On Sunday I ran the Santa Cruz half marathon and even though this was my 11th half, YET AGAIN things didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I plan to write a recap for that race, of course, but I just wanted to vent a bit before that as it occured to me that I haven’t had a really great half marathon race experience since NWM in October 2012, and before that, Kaiser in February 2012.

Is it me or is it the half marathon??? I’m thinking a lot from column A, and a little bit from Column B. The half itself, I cannot control- 13.1 is what it is, the course and weather I am, unfortunatley, completely powerless over. Strength of mind, on the other hand, is what has earned me at least those 2 successful halfs and with yet another half in 3 weeks, I must find a way to keep running happy despite what Mother Nature and/or the race organizers throw my way.

Guardsmen “Training” Run

The Guardsmen is a non-profit, volunteer based group of Bay Area men that work together to assist and improve the lives of at-risk/inner-city youth through educational and outdoor activities. I found out about The Guardsmen last year when I ran their Presidio 10 fundraising race- it was, and is, one of my most favorite races to date! So when I caught their Free Training Run event on Facebook, I signed right up and anticipated a mellow 10 miler.

Yesterday morning, Andrea and I drove out to the Inn at the Presidio in San Francisco to run with The Guardsmen.  I’m not sure what those Guardsmen are training for but I haven’t run a course this difficult in… hmmmm… NEVER!

Friday Favorites: Places I Run

My favorite running views!

2 blog posts in 2 days?!?!?!  I know, it’s a miracle!  Well, today is the the 3rd day in a row I’ve been stuck at home with my sick daughter- poor little thing! So, I figure, now is a great time to write more about my favorite topic in an effort to get a break from The Fresh Beat Band that my daughter seems to want to watch incessantly.

It’s Friday- YAY- and of course I am already thinking about where I want to log my 10-12 miles this weekend. There are so many awesome places to run here in the San Francisco Bay Area, here are just a few of my favorites…

Today’s Reason: The Long Run

I was out with a friend for dinner last night and she asked me, “How did you figure out you loved running?” And I really had to pause to think about that… I told her it all began for me 6 years ago because of Oakland Adventure Boot Camp, or really, in the absence of it.  After I started going to the gym and stopped going to boot camp, I kept challenging myself to do what my boot camp trainers had challenged us to: run the entirety- all 3 miles- of Lake Merritt.  That seemed SO HARD to me back then!  “Justholdonasecondhere- you want me to run, without stopping, all the way around the whole entire lake? It’s so big! Who does that?! 3 miles?!?!?! No way!!!!”

Despite how daunting those 3 miles seemed to me at the time, I kept trying and trying and trying to propel my body around that lake 3 or 4 times a week, every week. I’ll never forget the moment I finally accomplished my goal of running the whole entire lake- I was elated and so proud of myself that I went ahead and signed up for my first 5K race in April 2009 and for about a year, that 3 miles was my long run.

I Resolve NOTHING

9 days into the new year, pressure of the holidays over, home after a brief vacation to our cabin, kids back in school, and I can settle back into my “normal” routine and FINALLY find some quiet time to myself to write a blog post! Yippee!!!

I read somewhere that 60% of Americans do not make new year’s resolutions whereas 20% do (and the other 20%, who knows, maybe they’re the “it’s just another day” types). In the past, I’ve fallen into the 20% who DO vow/pledge/promise themselves at the start of a new year to change all the things I wanted to but didn’t the year prior. This year, however, I became one of the 60 percenters who did not bother to make even one lousy resolution.

Why? Well, cartoon Calvin there has a good point…

Anya’s Ultramarathoning Awesomeness

Anya at the finish line of her very first ultra!

I already introduced you to my friend Kate and her Ultramarathoning Awesomeness, and now for part two, I would like you to meet Anya!

I met Anya during our first season with Team in Training but it really wasn’t until our second season together as mentors that we got really close, especially on those 6am, very dark, very cold, very wet buddy runs.  She is probably going to kill me for saying this but not only is Anya an amazing runner but is she such a sweetheart!  Don’t let the fact that she wears all black fool you- she is kind, funny as heck, and the type of person that will tell you what you need to hear even if you don’t want to hear it!  I LOVE THAT!

After completing 2 seasons of road running with TNT, Anya informed me that she was going to go Ultra.  And, honestly, I was very surprised! Knowing the struggles she had on the road, I was a little concerned for my friend that jumping from a road half to a trail ultra may just ruin Anya for life; but, knowing this team and these Coaches, she was in the best hands ever.  Within just a few runs on the trail, Anya was hooked!  And here is what she had to say about it…

Non-Running Friends

I have several friends that do not run and happily display their 0.0 with pride.  That’s fine and all, I have nothing against the non-runners in my life, but I’ve found that non-runners are vehement about their opposition to running, so much so that just hearing about my running adventures makes them question my sanity, “You ran HOW MANY MILES and paid HOW MUCH for a race???  You raced last weekend and now you’re racing again and you have another race in TWO WEEKS??? That’s just crazy, Laura!  I don’t get it!!!”

Yeah, well, I don’t get why they DON’T run.  I’ve spent most of my posts here on reasons why you should run and why it’s awesome and why I love it yet, on the other hand, the non-runners have their reasons too…

Kate’s Ultramarathoning Awesomeness

Kate crossing the Finish Line of her very first Ultra Marathon!

I met Kate my very first season with Team in Training and it was very easy to get to know her as she is one of the sweetest, kindest people I know.  Plus, she is an amazing runner- very speedy, very willful.  A few months after that season concluded, Kate (as well as a handful of other TNT buddies) told me that she had decided to join Team in Training’s Ultra Marathon team to raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society while getting ready to run her first 50K race.

Wow, I thought, that’s freaking crazy- 26.2 seems fine enough but you go girl with your 31 miles of hilly trails!

Kate started ultra training in February and completed the Skyline 50K race one week ago today. I am so very amazed and inspired by Kate’s accomplishment that I had to interview her to find out more about this crazy thing called Ultra Marathoning, and here is what she said…

Marathon Mind, Take 2

With just a week to go before my first marathon last October, I wrote of my Marathon Mind because I really, really had to.  It was the first time I wrote a post purely to vent.  The hamster spinning that wheel inside my brain was just too hard to ignore- that sucker couldn’t, wouldn’t and didn’t stop: marathon, marathon, marathon, MARATHON!!!  And now, with just 4 days to go until marathon #2, my hamster seems to also be tapering… nervousness and panic have now been replaced with confidence and excitement.

My kids’ Sensei giving running advice whether he realizes it or not!

I believe I have finally achieved balance, a sort of a peace, about my marathon training and impending 26.2.  Sure, my stomach still leaps into my chest and I feel the urge to pee every time I think about Sunday’s race but those feelings are, this time around, met with a steady mind- I have the right attitude and I am more than focused on my goal.