Grapevine and more!

My "long" run for the week was today's 6 miler, and I enjoyed a lovely route in North Berkeley with a few hills plus solid amounts of sweat. I have to admit that I miss my 10+ mile runss, though I'm certain they'll be back soon enough.

After the run, I did a set of drills which had been prescribed by my coach. They included high skips, butt kicks, strides, and the grapevine, so I was basically dancing the horah up and down the sidewalk in a lovely North Berkeley neighborhood :> Ah, the silly things us runners do! And, my legs feel nicely stretched out after engaging alternative muscles during those drills.

Streak

I'm on a 4-day running streak, and my legs are feeling good. I usually don't run more than 3 days in a row, but I might run till Thursday....It's nice that ALL my runs are easy runs right now, so there's no pressure to hit any speeds or even specific distances.

Today's run was on one of my favorite routes around North Berkeley, and I'm glad I wore my running pants, hat, and gloves!!

New blues

I laced up my new blue Brooks shoes and got out there to do my medium long run. These shoes feel SO much more cushiony than the pair I needed to retire :( I tried relaxing and eased into a nice pace. It felt like a crisp, autumnal day, and I ended up running all the way to North Berkeley. At the turn around point, there was an incredible view of the bay, SF skyline, and Golden Gate bridge--wow!

What doesn't kill you

This morning's long run was a tale of what can go wrong, will go wrong and matches my favorite training philosophy of training in the hardest conditions possible so the race itself feels easy.

-I drank a bit too much Lillet last night
-I didn't sleep very well
-When I woke up, I was dehydrated & had the tummy wummies

I continued my morning routine of coffee, toast with peanut butter, and some extra water.

-I noticed it was h-o-t. Yes, at 6:30 in the morning (so I wore my ultra cool running skirt) :O

I was out the door before 7am and was pleased that the leggies felt good, even after the steady state!

-I had an UBI...in other words, I had to find a bathroom while on-the-run. Thanks, Beanery on College Avenue--you saved me ;>

I got into a decent groove and, before I knew it, I'd run about 6 miles. Alright.

-It got HH-O-TTT....and I was low on water
-Stopped at UC Berkeley gym to refill my water--that also saved me!

The miles went by quite quickly--though I wasn't aiming to hit any specific paces, especially with my dehydration/tummy issues and the day's warmth. I still felt strong and had energy around 14 miles.

All in all, I completed the 15.8 mile training run, which made me stronger AND got me closer to being ready for NY. I'm hopeful that it won't be that hot in NY in November, and I don't plan on drinking any Lillet the night before! Ah, lessons learned.

I heart Tilden

Today's run with Jess on the Inspiration Point path was a lot of fun. The air smelled like eucalyptus, and it was perfect running weather. There were stunning views of the bay, hills, and reservoir:
I really should go up to Tilden Park more often, and I certainly need to take advantage of the awesome parks in the Bay Area to create some new running routes.

What I did on my rest day

It's a little early for taper madness, but I'm already noticing that these extra days are giving me more time for very important things like shopping and wandering and....

• eating a late breakfast
  
• going to Best Buy to get a new pair of earbuds for my iPod & IKEA to get a frying pan and assorted kitchen accessories
  
• wandering around 4th Street and selecting a nice bottle of white wine to enjoy with the hubby
  
• going to Trader Joe's to purchase cheese for dinner!
  
• catching up on life to-do list (ie- writing thank you notes and setting up webcam)
• thinking about going for a swim (but didn't--even thought it's very, very hottt!).

I know that resting is a critical part of training, and I'll pardon myself for today's lazing and shopping incidents ;) Fortunately for my pocketbook, I get to do a tempo run tomorrow!!

East, West, North, South

The past week has involved many changes in direction. I flew east to be with my parents while my dad had surgery to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Thank goodness the surgery went extremely well, and his recovery is going alright--step by step. Although I managed to run a couple times in the brutal humidity, my physical and spiritual energy was focused on caring rather than pounding out miles. I'm trying my best to forgive myself for the breaches in the training plan :)

I flew back to west to California yesterday evening and carbo-loaded on a delish bowl of Mexican chicken and rice at the Dallas airport! I was aware that waking up early and cranking out a 14 miler would be a necessary evil! This morning, I ran northwards on College Avenue and around the Cal campus to North Berkeley. The miles really flew by, and I zoned out and aborbed the wonders around me. After 7 miles, it was time to turn around...So I headed south to Oakland--home sweet home with Jeff and Migs.

Gettin' out there

A confession...today was one of those days when I try to scrounge up an excuse to not do the scheduled workout- a medium long run. I stared at the training schedule and attempted to imagine different ways to shift around workouts. Fortunately, I'm really bad at that kind of planning/logic, so I gave up. Also, big thanks to J and my hubby for telling me to just do it and that getting out there and running would perk me up. And it did :)

I ran 90 minutes up College Avenue and around the edges of UC Berkeley's campus. In fact, I ran into one of my classmates who was driving home from school, and I talked to her while she was stuck in a line of cars! About 50 minutes into the run, I could feel my muscles really loosening up, and they needed the extra blood flow to flush out the stress and knots from the weekend's long pace run!! After the run, I did some intense stretching. It would be a nice treat to wake up tomorrow with fresher legs. We'll see, but, no matter what, I'll get out there and run...