Tunnel to Towers Ferndale

In the 5 years that I've been running, I've rarely run the same race twice. Partly because I like trying new events, but mostly because I haven't lived in the same place long enough. The first race I ran last year after moving back to Ferndale was the Tunnel to Towers 5k. I didn't even know about it until the day before. Despite having run 14 miles on Saturday morning, I still signed up for the 5k on Sunday. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run in my town and support a good cause. I finished in 22:55 and placed second female. Yay for small town races!

Tunnel to Towers Ferndale 2011

As you probably guessed, I ran the Tunnel to Towers 5k again this year. The race was on Saturday so this time I planned ahead and took Friday as a rest day and moved my long run to Sunday. The race was about a mile away from my house so I walked down as a warm-up. I arrived just in time to see them raising the flag...

Along with the race bib, I was super happy to get two coupons for free Baker's Breakfast Cookies. The cookies are really good, but have more calories than a Luna bar and seem less filling, so I haven't bought any in years. Now I have an excuse to indulge.

The race started a little after 9:30am. It was a loop course and the nice thing about the course is that the slight uphill is in the first mile and it's not even that steep. After that there's a downhill and then the rest of the course is flat. Even though I started at the front of the pack, I honestly didn't think I was going that fast. But when I checked my Garmin later, I saw that my first two miles were 7:06 and 7:02.

Going out too fast caught up with me during the third mile and I could feel myself fading, but I had good motivation to keep pushing... when I registered for the race at the Ferndale Street Festival, the guy manning the registration table was the race organizer (although I didn't know that at the time). He told me that this year they were giving out engraved fire axes to the winners. I was planning to race anyway, but that was an extra incentive to really give it my all. I didn't want to presume anything because there are a lot of women in the area faster than me. However one thing I had on my side was that there was another, larger race in Fairhaven (Bellingham) that I figured most of the fast runners would be at.

Usually the last mile of a race feels the longest, but luckily I knew the course well enough to not be wondering where the heck the finish line was. There were two guys in front of me battling it out for first (at least that's what I thought at the time). They were pulling away from me and I just kept telling myself to hang on. No stopping until the race is over. I knew I was the first female so all I had to do was not get passed. I ran mile 3 in 7:41 and then the final .1 in 0:41 (6:26 pace). It was awesome hearing the crowd cheer for me as I reached the finish line... first place female!

Despite the slower mile 3, that was one of my hardest running efforts ever. I actually had to sit down and catch my breath which I can't ever remember having to do. (Usually I keep walking until my heart rate has lowered sufficiently.) I felt bad because I initially walked away from the race organizer when he was trying to get my name, but I think he understood I was spent and we ended up chatting later. It turned out the overall first place finisher, and winner of the firefighter division was the race organizer's son. He's a high school cross country runner and fire cadet. He ran wearing full firefighter gear and still finished in 19-something minutes! He was so far ahead that I don't even remember seeing him off in the distance.

Here's me with the race organizer, his son in the back on the left, and the first place male finisher on the right (with his daughter).

Not going to lie, I was grinning from ear to ear during the awards ceremony when they called my name. Obviously I realize that in a more competitive event, the winners are going to be running sub-20 times and my measly 22:30 couldn't compete. But at that time and place, it felt great to know I was the fastest female there. And what an awesome "trophy". I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with a fire axe (it's sitting in the corner of my bedroom right now), but it's definitely going to be awhile (if ever) before I get something that cool again from a race.

Virtual Games and Marathon Thoughts

I participated in the Virtual Games hosted by Run With Jess. The goal was to do the 8 Olympic running events over the course of 10 days. (The marathon could be split into multiple increments.)

Although I've done some speedwork in the past, I've never recorded my times before so it's great to have this scorecard as a baseline now. I hope it encourages me to get back to the track more often.

Does anyone else think that 1500m is an odd race distance? Why not just bump it up to four full laps? When I did my run, I hit the lap button on my Garmin at 1500m, then kept going because I wanted to check my mile time. The bad news is that even though I knew I had to tack on the extra 10m to make it a full mile, I wasn't thinking straight at that point and stopped at 1600m. The good news is that based on my calculations, I was at a 7:04 pace. That would have been a five second improvement over my last timed mile a little over a year ago.

Someday I want to get to under a seven minute mile. I know it's achievable because when I did the 1600m yesterday, it was with eight miles already under my belt. I really wanted to get in a long 15 miler, but also needed to wrap up the last three events, so I just threw them into the mix. I started with a 5.1 mile warm up. Then I did a couple tries of the 200m and one 800m, followed by an easy 2.2 mile interlude. And then it was time for the 1600m. Running fast is hard! I tacked on another 6.1 miles to finish out the morning and I was so wiped at the end. I haven't been that physically exhausted since RnR Seattle. At least it didn't take my legs long to recover... no issues with stairs yesterday or today.

Have I mentioned before that I've been using a great iPhone app called Runner's Log? It's super simple and I love being able to look back at my stats. Last week I ran a total of 33.7 miles. This week I ran 32.4. I'm trying to build my mileage back up because I want to run a fall marathon. I just haven't decided which one yet. I've got it basically narrowed down to two:

Seattle Marathon - 11/25/2012
Pros - Closer to home (about two hour drive), no need to spend money on a hotel, an extra month to train
Cons - Higher registration fee ($110), parts of the course are the same as RnR Seattle, hilly
Other - Larger event (17,000 people expected between full and half marathon)

Tri-Cities Marathon - 10/28/2012
Pros - Lower registration fee ($70), mainly flat course except for bridge crossings, convenient race start right outside hotel (no need to wake up super early, drive downtown, deal with crowds, etc.)
Cons - Farther away (about five hour drive), gas/hotel/food expenses, less time to train, no fuel on course
Other - Smaller event (222 finishers last year)

I'm not entirely sure that being a hilly course is a con, because I like having variety on the course to work different muscles. At least that's what I tell myself...

Variety is also why I'm leaning away from the Seattle Marathon. I have this mental image that it's going to be really similar to RnR Seattle and I don't want to do two similar events in the same year. The main thing that's preventing me from picking the Tri-Cities Marathon is that I'm concerned about having enough time to train. Luckily I have some time with both events before making a final decision so I'm going to wait and see how my long runs go. Either way, I'm excited to have another race to look forward to!

Which marathon do you think you'd choose? What factors influence your marathon decisions?

Single-leg running?

I was just reading an article on Competitor.com about anaerobic training and came across this gem:

Few runners care to make time to add plyometrics workouts to their training regimen. But you don’t have to. As an alternative, incorporate some single-leg running into one or two of the runs you’re already doing every week. Start by running on just your right leg for 10 strides and then on just your left leg for 10 strides. Gradually increase the number of strides you do on each leg until you reach 30 strides per leg. You will notice that it gets easier to go longer on one leg, which is a sign that your legs are adapting to the stress and your stride is becoming more efficient. Source

What the heck is single-leg running? Am I the only one puzzled by this? I'm picturing someone running on the track then throwing all their momentum to one side and sort of hopping on one leg until they fall over.

Switching gears - Lake Padden Duathlon race recap

A few housekeeping notes before I get started with the race recap... thanks to those who are still reading and commenting! I apologize for not responding to questions. To be honest, I'm not sure whether I'm cut out to be a blogger. I have a lot of thoughts that I want to share, but as you can tell by my lack of posts in recent months, I have a difficult time actually putting "pen to paper". I think part of it stems from the fact that I spend my entire workday at a computer so usually I'm not in the mood to sit down and do more "work". I've thought about shutting the blog down, but I'm not ready to completely give up on it just yet. However, posts will probably continue to be infrequent.

Anyway, after Rock 'n' Roll Seattle I switched gears for a bit. Going into the marathon I had a strained shin, so afterward I took some time off from running to heal and spent a lot of time on the stationary bike at the gym instead. Part of the motivation behind all the cycling was that I was hoping to do a duathlon on July 21.

I did my first duathlon back in 2009. It was a super short sprint event at Disneyland. (Not organized by Disney though.) I had a lot of fun and always planned to do another one but various life events got in the way. The duathlon on June 21 - the Lake Padden Duathlon - was only a half hour away from my house so I didn't want to pass up the chance to participate. It was a low key event which was perfect considering my lack of preparation.

Two weeks before the duathlon, I finally went around to the local bike shops to buy a bike. I hadn't done any research and was basically just looking for a road bike that was small enough for my 4'10" height. I ended up liking the frame on the Specialized Dolce the best, but they had to special order the "cheap" version for me. (The bike that I test rode was about $1,300.)

My new Specialized Dolce Triple

I picked up my bike nine days before the duathlon and managed to fit in five training rides. Enough to get comfortable with the bike and feel confident that I could cover the distance. The Lake Padden Duathlon is a 2.6 mile run, 14.5 mile bike, and 2.6 mile run. I also turned three of the training rides into brick sessions by tacking on a short run afterward.

Currently, I still don't have a way to transport my bike with my own car, I don't have a bike pump, and I don't know how to change a flat tire. Luckily for the duathlon, my awesome boyfriend came along and helped me with getting my bike to Lake Padden Park and making sure it was in good working order. And thankfully I still haven't gotten any flat tires (knock on wood).

Like I mentioned above, the race was pretty low key, which I enjoyed since I was just there for the experience and not to be competitive. I registered the day of for only $25. The only negative was that there was no split timing, but I think I did a decent job tracking my splits with my Garmin.

The first run was a clockwise loop around Lake Padden. I wasn't sure how much to push it. 2.6 miles isn't far, but I still had the bike and another run to do. I tried for a comfortable but slightly challenging pace and did the loop in 22:06.

Fueling for the race was a slight concern. I don't know how to eat or drink on the bike yet. Actually, I don't even have a water bottle holder on my bike. Even though I'd only been racing for 22 minutes, I took a Clif Shot gel and drank some water at the first transition. It seemed like the best plan since I figured I'd need some fuel for the bike. Aside from that, transition went pretty quickly since I wasn't switching shoes.

The bike portion of the race started with a long uphill for about two miles. I shifted to my easiest gear and just kept pedaling and pedaling until I reached the top. Then there was a nice downhill for something like another two miles. The road was a little curvy so I didn't let the bike really fly, but it felt great to be zipping along without any effort. The middle portion of the bike course had a bunch of rolling hills. It was a lollipop course so we had to go back up what was the long downhill on the way out. But at least it was a fun downhill back to transition. I think I did well based on what I was expecting from myself. I was probably passed by about 10-15 people on the bike portion. My time was 59:31.

For the second transition, I can't remember if I took a couple GU Chomps or not. But I did remember to take off my helmet!

Instead of getting the weird wobbly feeling from switching from bike to run, my legs felt really tired. Like I was putting in a lot of effort but moving in slow motion. I was happy to pass four people on the run, and not get passed by anyone, but overall that last run just felt hard and I couldn't wait for it to be over. When I checked my Garmin after the finish, I was surprised that the second run was faster than the first - 20:50! (It was the same loop around Lake Padden but in a counter-clockwise direction.)

There haven't been any results posted yet so I have no idea how I ranked compared to everyone else. But that really doesn't matter because I had such a great time challenging myself to do something different and slightly out of my comfort zone. I'm really looking forward to returning next year, hopefully with a lot more experience under my belt.

Rock 'n' Roll Seattle - quick recap

Before I let too much time get away, here's a quick recap of Rock 'n' Roll Seattle last weekend. I did the half marathon during the inaugural event in 2009. Now that I'm a better runner and with the course change, I decided to do the full marathon this time around. It was my second time running a marathon.

My main goal was to finish in under 4 hours, which I would have been happy with. My secret goal was to set a new PR.

Just like at RnR Portland, I thought the event was extremely well organized. I liked the new start and finish at Seattle Center. There was so much room that even though it was a huge event, it didn't feel crowded at all. The bands, cheerleaders, and volunteers were great and there was plenty of water and GU. I liked the course and overall it wasn't too hilly. The run by the lake and in the park was the best part. Aside from the novelty of running on an Interstate, I didn't really like the out and back on I-90. The Rock 'n' Roll team did a great job setting up cones and maintaining separate lanes for the marathoners and half marathoners after the course split and met up again. I would have been extremely frustrated if I had to dodge and weave through all walkers for the last 6 miles of the race.

I ran a strong race and was very pleased with my overall performance. I fueled with GU Chomps/gel about every hour, and I took water at every station. I did my best to take it easy during the first half so that I would have energy left at the end. I could probably have held back a little more and tried for more even splits, but I'm not confident enough yet for that. I feel better having a little time banked.

I was so focused on the sub-4 finish goal that I didn't even know what I had to aim for to get a new PR. Once I started looking at the stats afterwards, it turns out that I have a new official PR, although it's not a distance PR. The thing is that during my first marathon, I ran 26.2 miles in 3:54:22. But the Route 66 Marathon has this unique .3 mile optional detour to earn an extra medallion, so since I took the detour my official time for that race was 3:57:07.

My official finish time for Rock 'n' Roll Seattle is 3:54:27, and I'm very happy with my results! 

608 out of 3089 overall

156 out of 1434 females

30 out of 270 in F25-29 age group

Right now I don't have any firm plans to do RnR Seattle again in the near future. I think I also said this in my review of RnR Portland... even though it's a terrific race, there are so many other events around this time of year that I'd like to try that I probably won't do any repeats for awhile. But I give the race a 9 out of 10 and would definitely recommend it to others.