02.25.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

After coming off a stomach bug, I honestly had no freaking idea what this week would look like. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get in a decent workout. By all accounts, this week went 100x better than I could have ever guessed. After testing the waters with easy runs on both Monday and Tuesday this week, Jenna and I met up on Wednesday to attempt my first workout in a week. Unsure of how the stomach virus would affect me, we scaled back the paces for the workout and decided to run 6:00 pace for 2KM, with 400m jog rest. Long story short, we absolutely crushed it. We consistently ran 553-557 pace, even with 2-3 reps into some very nasty headwinds.

Then, just three days later, Jenna and I met up again for my first attempt at a long marathon pace tempo since like fall of 2017. We absolutely crushed that. With a light rain the entire time, we averaged 608 pace, with our fastest mile in the very end.

In case we hadn’t had enough, twenty four hours later, we ran 21 miles at Canada Road with Tom, Max, Jeannette and Mara. The pace actually was pretty good considering we had a hard effort the day before. After about 7 miles, all of our splits were sub-700 on a hilly route.

Outside of running, I had two legit lifting sessions and have been really consistent not just about lifting, but also completing my prehab exercises to strengthen my left glute medius. Additionally, I’ve been fortunate enough to get soft tissue work from Jenna and acupuncture from SMI in Palo Alto.

The last two weeks might not have been ideal, but it certainly doesn’t seem like my fitness was affected by the missed miles. Onward and upward!!!

02.18.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 45 miles

  • 1 day off, 2 days basically off due to stomach bug

  • 13.7 miles with 2 x (1000m @ 335-340, 45s jog, 1000m @ 327-330, 1:40 jog)

  • 1 lift day

  • 2 chiro sessions ( Graston / Shockwave)

  • 1 PT session

Right when I finally felt like my leg was getting better and that I’d be able to FINALLY do a long run, I got a stomach bug. So, my mileage was effectively the same as what it was last week. It’s been a rough marathon cycle, full of two back-to-back setbacks.

I kicked off the week finally feeling pretty normal. I woke up earlier each day to get in my glute activation and low back mobility drills before my runs. The runs were going well. I felt improvement in my leg and was confident enough to even try a workout on Wednesday. The workout went great; I hit the time Terry had prescribed before he knew I’d miss a week due to my a tight glute the week before. I came away feeling confident and that there was still hope to do well at Boston, or at least to run alongside my friends on race day.

But then Thursday came around. I tried to eat lunch, and felt nauseous trying to eat the same food I’d devoured the night before. I shrugged it off. The rest of the day, my stomach started churning. I was able to eat a protein bar, but that was it. By the time evening rolled around, I couldn’t sleep and I finally was woken up by the main symptoms of a stomach bug. This continued into Friday. I did not run. I did not eat. Barely moved more than from the bed to the couch and back. Since Peter was in China for work, I asked Jenna to get me some pedialyte and sourdough bread at the store. By Friday night, I’d munched on some saltines and tried a slice of bread. I was running very low on energy.

On Saturday, I tried running with Rachel at 9AM. That was basically a disaster. From the first few steps, I could tell my body just wasn’t quite right. I felt lightheaded and it was difficult to breathe and talk. I stopped at 3.5 miles and walked the rest of the way to my car, downed some Pedialyte and tea, and felt sorry for myself.

I rarely get sick. But when I do, it takes practically everything out of me. After the failed run, I began reaching out to other runner friends who have gotten a stomach bug in the middle of marathon training. Their shared main advice? Don’t try to overdo it. If you try to run through it, it will set you back even further. Oh, and drink as much nuun, gatorade, pedialyte or homemade electrolyte drinks as you possibly can. After hearing all that, I realized that I needed to treat this as though I just ran a marathon in hot conditions. Shoot, I was fueling like I’d just done a hot marathon; I’ve had more sugary and salty drinks in the last 3 days than I have in the last 3 years. I’m doing all of this in an effort to speed up the recovery process so that when I do finally run, my body isn’t as wrecked.

So for today, Sunday, I was supposed to complete a time on feet long run of 2:40-2:50 in duration. I had coordinated for a bunch of friends to start at my house, do a loop through the rolling Los Altos Hills and then hit up the flat Baylands Trail. I knew I couldn’t try to do a long run. So, I didn’t. I ran 2.5 miles and then called it a day. I’m hoping tomorrow I can at least muster 6-8 miles and then build back from there. As I write this, I’m feeling better in that for the first time in 72 hours, my stomach is NOT churning.

This certainly isn’t the training plan I’d envisioned for my first Boston. I could decide to bag it and do Grandma’s. But I don’t want to. I committed to Boston and I’m still excited to toe the line. Assuming my leg is finally better and I don’t get hit with anymore random sicknesses, I plan on going to Boston and running this damn race. Wish me luck, I need all that I can get right now.

02.11.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 46 Miles

  • 12M MLR

  • 2 days off for glute / TFL

  • 13M “LR”

  • 2 massages, 2 PT sessions, 1 chiro session for graston

  • 2 lift sessions

With less than 9 weeks until the Boston Marathon, this wasn’t exactly the best way to kick off my second week of marathon training. After coming off such a high from last week, it seemed to all come crumbling down this week.

After last Sunday’s easy 20 miler, my glute was really tight. On Monday, I was able to run 8 slower miles with Jenna. On Tuesday, 12 miles. But I tried to do some strides after that Tuesday MLR, and it was ugly. It felt like my hamstring was going to rip off from my glute. It was definitely not right. I decided to take a couple days off, hit it hard with PT and soft tissue work.

The assessment from Jamie at Agile Physical Therapy was that I was much stronger than over a year ago when I last seen year. It was relieving to hear that all the hard work in the weight room has paid off at least in some small way. The only thing she found is that I’m weaker in my left glute med than my right. So we’re focusing on the some single leg marches, single leg squats with the swiss ball to make sure my knee doesn’t cave in, anti-rotation abs, and holding a side lying leg raise for 3 minutes on my left and 2 minutes on my right. There’s really just 4-6 exercises I have to add to already versatile training program, but I’ve been diligently doing them every day.

After two days off, I decided on Friday to do a four mile run…then on Saturday 8 miles, and on Sunday 13 miles. I would put my leg at 90% after these runs, although it’s still not exactly 100% healed. I am confident it will get there. The only thing that’s tough to do with my leg is to run faster. I can do everything else, every move in the weight room, lateral jumps with a hold at the end, everything! It’s so weird.

Really hoping that by next week I can put together a solid week,

02.04.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 78 Miles

Well the first week of marathon training officially kicked off this week! And boy was it fun! I have the privilege to be receiving just a plan from my old coach, Terry, for this cycle. Considering he was the BAA coach for the longest time, I feel like I couldn’t ask for someone else who knows how to train someone for their first ever Boston. When he sent me my plan for the entire cycle last weekend, I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. It was so fun analyzing the workouts and seeing it all plot out over the next 10 weeks. As a quick overview of what’s ahead:

  1. Three total workouts that are a combo of uphill / downhill specific to prepare my quads for the fatigue of the initial downhill portions.

  2. Moderate paced medium long runs on hilly terrain

  3. Several long runs on hilly terrain with marathon pace effort in the middle

I’m really excited to execute this plan! But, first, I must stay healthy.

This week started out perfectly, with a mentally exhausting 8 x mile repeats workout. Fortunately, Jenna and I were able to work out together, even though she’s on single mommy duty this week. And boy did Jenna crush this workout! I’m really excited to see what she ends up doing for a spring marathon because she’s really fit. I was really pumped about how well this workout went, and how fast the paces were, including the rest.

Then, just two days later, I cranked out a moderately hilly medium long run on a route that JOB created through the streets of Los Altos. Liza met us en route and I was able to finish the last two downhill miles in 545 and 550 respectively.

Three days later, I coordinated for a giant group to meet up at Baylands for a variety of workouts (12-20 miles easy or 10 miles easy + 8 miles tempo). I had 20 miles easy and felt pretty good the entire time, except in the last 2 miles, when I began to feel low on energy and was itching for the run to just be over. My left hip, glute, hamstring and achilles started to bother me in the final mile too, which worried me enough that I foam rolled at home. Hoping some treatment like ART and massage will work some magic over the next couple of weeks.

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1.28.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 3 days off (Mon - Wed)

  • rest of days easy

  • 3 lift days

  • 2 abs sessions

I kicked off this week with a mini break. I figured it’d be best to take some days off before I start training specifically for the Boston Marathon. So, I took three days off, slept in a lot, spent more time with the doggo and lifted a bunch! I wanted to use this week to get used to the routine of lifting 2-3 times and doing ancillary exercises on the non-lift days. I achieved that goal for this week and hope that I can find the motivation to sustain through the rest of the marathon cycle.

On Sunday, while most of my training partners ran at the Kaiser Half in SF, Jenna, Gene and I ran in pouring rain around the Portola Loop. Ready to kick off the marathon cycle tomorrow!

1.21.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 71 miles with 1 double

  • 10.5M with 3x~2400m via alternating ~220m/200m at 55-57/35-36 with 400m jog

  • 12M MLR with Natalie

  • 10.5M with 2x3M as part of race: 1st 3M @ 17:30, and the 2nd 3.1M @ 1815

  • 13M MLR with Jenna and Victoria

  • 2 Lift days

Hey - it’s my first full week at home in 2019! It was so nice to have a 3-day weekend to kick off the week. I had time to actually get in 2 lift sessions + some additional ab work throughout the week. It’s crazy to see how much more I can get done when staying put.

On Tuesday, Marissa and I crushed another speed work session together, but I added on an extra set to get some more distance in my legs. We had a workout of 3 x 1.5M in lane 4 (so actually a little more than 1.5 miles), where we ran the first half at a moderate pace and the last 200m @ faster. We ran really quick on the 200s - like 35s and 36s! It didn’t feel too hard until the last set and then I regretted doing a third set. It’s hard to believe that at some point a few years ago, I did this same type of workout, but continuously for 8KM!

The weekend was kicked off with a diabetes race that Tom had invited us to in an effort to support his awesome son John. Rachel, Jenna, Natalie, Tom and I all ran the race together and then got some brunch afterwards! Rachel is training for a 30KM race in Japan in mid-February so I added on another 3M segment with her along the bay trail. The workout didn’t feel nearly as easy as I would have liked, but I’ve got 10 weeks to get into shape for Boston.

At the early start of next week, I’m taking 3 days off to just feel a little rejuvenated before hopping in to marathon specific training.

1.14.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 67 miles with one day off and one double

  • 10.5M with 4 x mile via 1200m ~79-82, last 400m @ 75-76, 400m jog… with overall splits of 522, 517, 515, ??

  • 91 min MLR

  • 18M long run with 11M easy, 4M @ 606/637/607/639, 2M easy, 1M @ 558, 1M @ 624

  • 1 Lift Day

  • 3 days in LA

I kicked off this week local, which meant that I could join the Strava team for the workout! Marissa is a perfect fit for me and we are able to both push each other on the track. This week’s workout was really fun - basically mile repeats with the last 400m fast. Marissa and I were really able to unleash some speed that, quite frankly, I had no idea could be there at this point. We ran lots of 76/75s splits for the last 400, which was a ton of fun. I was really glad that I did this workout, even if it was so late in the evening and dark out.

After a really slow Medium long run the following day, I flew to LA in the evening to celebrate my sister’s birthday. It’s the 4th year in a row that I’ve been there for her birthday and I’d like to keep the tradition alive. I landed in orange county and we drove straight up to LA to get ready to go out to see a DJ my sister wanted to hear. Long story short, we were out until 3AM and I didn’t get to sleep until 330AM. Even though my sister is 8 years older than me, she can outlast me at any nightlife event, hands down. Fortunately, we spent all of Thursday recovering at the Korean Spa.

After returning on Saturday, I had already organized a giant crew for a long run on Sunday at Canada Road. We had about 8-9 people, and more women than men, which was a first!

Our long run crew: Teresa, Liza, me, Tom, Emily, Max, Jenna & Teresa’s hubby

Our long run crew: Teresa, Liza, me, Tom, Emily, Max, Jenna & Teresa’s hubby

1.7.19 Week in Review

This week’s stats:

  • 67 Miles

  • 11M with 8x800m repeats via (800m @ 241-241, 45s jog, 800m@ 238, 90s jog)

  • 12M MLR

  • 16.8 with Jenna & Shal via: 2 EZ, 2 @ 627/615, 6 EZ, 6 @ 600-555, .8M EZ

  • 3 days in CLT

  • 1 Lift Session

With about 14 weeks left until Boston, the plan is to hop in long run workouts with friends and to do the Strava Track Club workouts on Tuesdays. I’m keeping the mileage in the 60-70 mile range. Hopefully this will ensure that I peak at the perfect time…during the Boston Marathon!

I spent the first 3 days of the week traveling to and working from Charlotte, NC. With the help of Billy and Paula, I did 800m repeats on the track. Even though the times weren’t as fast as other times I’ve done this workout, I felt really encouraged by the results. I’m fitter and faster than I expected to be at this point in my training, which is exactly one week in. :-)

After a long flight back to SFO on Wednesday night, I jumped right back into the swing of things by doing a 90 minute medium long run (MLR) with Jenna. By Saturday, Jenna and I were back at it again with Shal, helping her with a workout that she had tap, which aligned nicely with what Jenna and I wanted to do as well.

12.31.18 Week in Review

This week's stats:

Can’t believe that it’s 2019.  Also can’t believe that I stopped blogging halfway through 2018.  I pay for this url; there’s no excuse not to update the blog. Honestly, I got lazy. I got a puppy.  I traveled to South Africa. I got low iron. I took time off. It was a whirlwind, but I had time I could have set aside to write about my running.  Whenever I don’t do make time for something, I think to myself: Get it together; you studied for your masters while working full-time so you can ALWAYS make time for anything you’re passionate about.  

And now I’m making time to write and I want to be consistent about it.  This year is exciting because I’m going to run my second ever marathon major - the Boston Marathon!  After consulting several runners and coaches I deeply respect, I decided to do Boston over Grandmas. If I don’t do it this year, who knows how long it will take me to get to the start line in Hopkinton.  

Most people start training for Boston on January 1.  I think that’s a recipe for disaster - specifically: peaking in March and burning out by the time April rolls around.  To prevent that from happening, in January I’m reducing my mileage a tad, hopping into some speedier stuff with the Strava Track Club while still doing hard long runs of 14-16 miles with my training partners.   I’ll take a mini down week with about 3 days off before kicking off my short 10-week marathon cycle on February 4th. This approach will help me mentally distance myself from thinking about Boston by hopping in workouts with the sole purpose to pace my teammates and to have fun.  

I started the pacing duties this week, first with Shal on Wednesday in a wave tempo, on Saturday with Marissa for 2 mile repeats and again on Sunday with Shal and Rachel for a long run.  Not having a real plan makes it less formal, more fun and seemingly effortless. I’m really looking forward to the next 3 weeks of January!


Week in Review: 8/20/18

This week's stats:

On Monday, I headed into a windowless LapCorp office to get my blood drawn.  After four vials were taken, I had to wait six more days to get the results back from Athlete Blood Test.  I've been tracking my ferritin levels since 2001, with my lowest ferritin level of 4.  In those 17 years, I've never received such a comprehensive blood report like the one from ABT.  Not only did ABT provide a summary of the critical steps to be taken immediately, they also provided tables with recommended/ideal ranges for both normal people as well as athletes.    The two main takeaways were:

  1. I do have low ferritin - value of 10, ideal is about 30-35 for me.  Once I dip below 20, I usually feel like crap.  
  2. I likely have over-training syndrome based on the training tolerance panel, including low total testosterone, low DHEA-S, and low free testosterone 

I do have a couple of explanations for why this happened.  For complete transparency, it's entirely my fault because of two main reasons. First, I stopped taking iron supplements over a year ago because I was doing a great job of getting my iron through plant-based sources such as spinach, kale, hemp, quinoa, apricots and other dried fruits.  But, in the last 8 weeks, I've been busy at work from 9AM-2PM leading calls, which means that I wasn't eating until 2:30PM...leading us to the second reason:  I was under-eating.  Therefore, I wasn't getting the nutrients that aid in recovery and the calories that could help me get my energy levels back up.   I'm sure that's why my ferritin levels dropped.  To combat this, I've ordered meals through Thistle so that I have healthy, plant-based meals ready to go for those days when I'm too busy to make my own food.  I plan to do this for at least the next 3-6 weeks.  Additionally, I'm reducing the quality that I'm doing for the next two weeks to see how I do.

One thing that's really tough about having low ferritin / OTS is managing the mental aspect.  It's easier to cave in on a workout now that I know I have a reason.  I usually don't like to get my blood tested until after a race because it generally messes with my head.  

Regardless, I feel like I have a solid plan of action and am confident that I can still race strong at the Rock n Roll San Jose Half.  

 

Week in Review: 8/13/18

This week's stats:

  • 54 miles DOWN WEEK
  • 5 x 2KM at 84-80 per lap with 400m jog
  • 14M with 4M @ 604, 1M jog, 4.75M @ 545-540
  • 0 doubles
  • 1 lift day
  • 1 day off

Without any answers about my seemingly precipitous decline of performance last week, I continued soldiering on this week with workouts, but all other runs only 6-7 miles.  After communicating with Brad, we decided to keep this a down week, reduce the long run, and let myself recover.  For the first workout of the week, I headed to the track again with my trusty partners of Jay, Yu and JOB to run 2KM repeats.  After feeling like crap on the first interval, I decided to modify the splits a little bit and went out at 84 and gradually increased the pace on each one. I was grateful to have a full rest of 3 minutes because, if my suspicions about low ferritin were true, a longer rest would ensure I could complete the workout at least.  The whole time, my breathing felt completely out of whack, so I told the guys that I would sit back and let them do all the work.  While I completed the entire workout and felt happy about that, the execution of the workout wasn't necessarily what I wanted.  I still was left scratching my head as to why the effort for a slower pace than what I've done in previous weeks suddenly felt soooo much harder. I just felt like I was not recovering and that I was weak.   

For the second workout, it was a daunting 8M simulation tempo at goal half marathon pace.  Brad called though and said to just get an effort in at a hard pace.  The bad news is that the first 4 miles of our course are slightly uphill, so I felt like complete doo doo, with labored breathing on the first part.  I slowed down and jogged for a mile until Leon, Yu and Jay turned around and then picked the pace back up with them on the downhill portion.  The good news is that I felt like a million bucks on the downhill. After Yu dropped the pace, I continued pushing until Leon and Jay both dropped off.  With Yu out of sight, I was left to my own devices as I pressed forward to get as close to 540 as possible.  

At the time, I was a little upset about my performance for the simulation, but now looking back, I'm actually pretty damn happy about how this went.  There's a very high chance that I'm low on iron, and, by giving myself a break, I was able to still complete practically a 2 x4M workout.  I'm fit; my breathing just doesn't make me feel fit.

The good news is that I ordered a blood test for Monday and will hopefully have answers soon to explain my lethargy and overall doo-dooness.

 

Week in Review: 8/6/18

This week's stats:

This week the BURN guys were recovering from an ultra, so JOB and I were left to do some 800m repeats solo at the track.  Fortunately, school still hasn't started which means that we're able to still use the Whisman Sports Complex track, which is nicer than both my high school and college facilities.  

After warmup, we met up with Rachel, who recently relocated from Boston and was also coached by Terry, and started our workouts.  Since Rachel was doing 400m repeats, we were able to run together on every 3rd repeat for one lap.  It was great!  However, I felt like complete doo doo. While the goal was to go from 2:40 --> 2:30, we hovered around 2:37/2:38 and squeaked out a 2:35 on the 10th interval.  Considering how killer my workouts had been going up to this point, surely something had to be off.  Since the sky looked a little hazy, we wondered if the air quality was bad from the fires. When I got home, I immediately checked the AQI, and was disappointed to read a number so low as 35.  So, that didn't explain it.

After slogging through some more runs the rest of the week, my legs still hadn't recovered by Friday's long run with Yu and Jay.  We kept it easy for about 10 miles, and then eventually dropped down to 600's for a little 5KM tempo.  I felt like absolutely death, which was odd because the 800m repeats weren't anything out of the ordinary for me.  After this, I began to wonder if my ferritin was low or if I was about the cross the line into overtraining syndrome territory.  Those two issues would definitely explain why there was a sudden drop-off in my performance, not just on workouts, but also on easy runs.  In response to my body's reaction, I decided to take Saturday off since we left early to check out a venue in Big Sur.  Instead of going for a run in the evening, Peter and I drove to Paso Robles for dinner and a date at the brewery.  The next day, I did an easy six miles along the California coastline.  My body didn't feel like it had just enjoyed a day off; rather, it felt like I had done another 18 miler.  Something definitely wasn't right....

Week in Review: 7/30/18

This week's stats:

  • 85 miles
  • 12M MLR
  • 12M with 2KM @ 82,81,79,81,79, 3:20 rest, 2x (600m-500m-400m-300m-200m w/ 2:00 rest) via 1:53, 1:30, 72.6, 50.5, 32.1, 4:55 jog, 1:52, 1:29, 70.9, 51.2, 32.7, 5:00 jog, 2km splits 83/79/81/79/79
  • 17M with with 10M progression from 615 - 555
  • 2 doubles
  • 2 lift days