Monday, March 18, 2024

A Belated Look at Eugene Half Marathon Week 1 of 8

Eek, getting behind on these! Just about six weeks left until Eugene. If you cast back into your memory, you might recall that this was the week right after NorCal John Frank Memorial 10 Miler. The race was Saturday March 2 and I took the Sunday completely off for some much needed rest. Then on Monday, it was back to work!

(Also, look, sorry, no photos this week, it turns out when you're strapped for time & just living your life, you don't really remember to take a lot of photos. Sorry. 😬)


 ~*~*~ 🦆🦆 Eugene Half Marathon Week 1 of 8 🦆🦆 ~*~*~

Grand Total: 43 miles

🐌 Easy: 37.625 miles
🏃🏻‍♀️ Moderate: 5 miles? (Counting anything 9:00 or faster at altitude as "moderate")
🐎 Fast: 0.375 miles

⚖️ Easy miles vs. fast/moderate miles: 87.5% vs. 12.5%. 

Blue = daily strain, red/yellow/green = daily recovery

Friday, March 8, 2024

A Hectic Race Week! (John Frank Memorial 10 Miler Week 4 of 4)

Well, race week has come and gone! If you want to know the deets, race report here. As for the week itself, it was kind of a stressful one with a short-but-intense work trip and some unfortunate travel woes. That plus a bit of insomnia earlier in the week (no real reason, just run-of-the-mill "HI HELLO THIS IS YOUR BRAIN LET US SPIN WILDLY THROUGH ALL THE THOUGHTS UNTIL THE WEE HOURS" brain stuff) meant that I unfortunately spent a lot of it exhausted and sleep-deprived, and checked off the first unintended zero day of the year (fortunately, just an easy four miles, nothing that tragic).



 ~*~*~ 🌁 🌁 John Frank Memorial 10 Miler Week 4 of 4 🌁 🌁 ~*~*~


Grand Total: 28.5 miles

🐌 Easy: 17.25 miles
🏃🏻‍♀️ Moderate: 10 miles
🐎 Fast: 1.25 miles
(🏅 Race: 10 miles)


Blue = daily strain, red/yellow/green = daily recovery

Race Report: NorCal John Frank Memorial 10 Miler 2024

Why did I sign up to run this race? 

NorCal JFM10 is a PA race and when I'm able I'm trying to run as many of those as I can to support my team. (We get reimbursed for PA races as long as we run 8 per year.) Also, there was nothing else I was super excited to run this time of year instead and we had a pretty good size group going, so it just kind of made sense.

And then what happened?

From a training/staying healthy perspective, things actually went mostly according to plan. (I know, 🤯.) I had kind of accepted that my training might fall off a bit during my December travels, which did in fact happen (and also, I got a nasty respiratory virus which did not help, plus holidays, which, y'know, holidays). 

But after that I was able to pretty much jump back in! I believe the only run I skipped leading up to this race was the four easy miles I was supposed to do the Thursday before the race (due to travel woes). THIS NEVER HAPPENS! It helps that I had minimal work travel and the only weekend I had to be out of town was the weekend I spent in Tahoe (where getting the running done is usually pretty easy). Of course I was supposed to run Kaiser SF Half on Feb 4, which didn't happen due to weather, which meant a down week without a hard effort. Since then, though, I've been able to get right back at it without any interruptions which is always nice.

On the other hand, the week leading up to the race was rather stressful and I found myself constantly crunched for time, and had pretty poor sleep in the three nights leading up to the race. So while my fitness was pretty decent, I think, I did not arrive at the starting line feeling super rested and ready to go.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

This is 43! (John Frank Memorial 10 Miler Week 3 of 4)

Hello! Here we are just a few days from the Johnny 10 and I am feeling particularly wise and sophisticated, having just completed my 43rd circuit around the sun. I spent the first part of the week frantically trying to meet work deadlines & then the last part chilling in Tahoe and blessing folk there with my hard-earned wisdom and life experience. Too busy skiing to take pictures so please enjoy these shots from a year ago:

Different year, same lake



 ~*~*~ 🌁 🌁 John Frank Memorial 10 Miler Week 3 of 4 🌁 🌁 ~*~*~

Grand Total: 38.85 miles

🐌 Easy: 25.51 miles
🏃🏻‍♀️ Moderate: 9 miles
🐎 Fast: 4.34 miles

⚖️ Easy miles vs. fast/moderate miles: 65.7% vs. 34.3%. 

Blue = daily strain, red/yellow/green = daily recovery

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Two Weeks Till Johnny (John Frank 10 Miler Week 2 of 4)

Two weeks to go until we drive up to Redding and play in the hilllllzzz! Nothing too bananas to report this week, just chipping away. Some days feel better than others but over all I am feeling good and generally getting the training done more or less in the right vein. There is always the temptation to tack on a couple miles here & there, but sitting right in the low 40s has been working well for me for the last few weeks and I don't see a good reason to get greedy at this point.


 ~*~*~ 🌁 🌁 John Frank Memorial 10 Miler Week 2 of 4 🌁 🌁 ~*~*~


Grand Total: 43.1 miles

🐌 Easy: 34.1 miles
🏃🏻‍♀️ Moderate: 6 miles
🐎 Fast: 3 miles

⚖️ Easy miles vs. fast/moderate miles: 79.1% vs. 20.9%. 


Blue = daily strain, red/yellow/green = daily recovery

Monday, February 12, 2024

Back to Work (John Frank 10 Miler Week 1 of 4)

...And we're back at it. Next up on the schedule is John Frank Memorial 10 Miler in Redding in March 2, with the longer-term goal being the Eugene Half on April 28. (Did I mention I signed up for the Eugene Half? I signed up for the Eugene Half! #peerpressure). 

JFM10 is a PA race so I'm mostly doing that as a club thing. The course is a bit hilly so I think a PR (sub 1:16:45) is unlikely, but even if it's not particularly fast, it'll still be a good workout and a good chance to race double digits before Eugene.

This week was mostly about just getting back in the swing of things, plus a 48-hour work trip to Orlando:


 ~*~*~ 🌁 🌁 John Frank Memorial 10 Miler 1 of 4 🌁 🌁 ~*~*~


Grand Total: 42 miles

🐌 Easy: 33 miles
🏃🏻‍♀️ Moderate: 4 miles
🐎 Fast: 5 miles

⚖️ Easy miles vs. fast/moderate miles: 78.6% vs. 21.4%. 

Guess which day was my first full day of jet lag.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

January 2024 Reads

...And here we are in February. People will talk about how January is such a garbage month, the Monday of the new year, but friends, I freaking loooooove January. The emptiness of it. The blissfully free evenings and weekends that no one is quite up to filling with social events this soon after the bacchanalia of the December holidays. SO. MUCH. FREE TIME. Honestly it just makes my little introvert heart glow.

Of course, this means more quiet winter nights for curling up with an actual paper book, which inevitably gets harder for me as the year goes on. I read four count 'em four full paper books this month! Unbelievable.

Also totally by chance, I had no work travel this month, which meant more time for running, particularly longer runs, which meant the audiobook count was also up there this month.

Check out this month's list and see if anything calls to you! (Also, I've decided to start starring my favorites every month just to make it easier to scan for which ones I particularly liked.)


(1) 📚🎭✨ The Magus by John Fowles (656 pages, 1965). Audiobook. In 1950s Britain, a disaffected and aimless young man takes up with an Australian girl, then breaks up with her when things get too serious. Soon after he pursues a job teaching English at a boys' school on the Greek island of Phraxos, where he meets the enigmatic and eccentric millionaire Maurice Conchis, who may or may not have been a nazi collaborator in the second world war and who is soon engaging our young protagonist in what I can only describe as a kind of dreamy LARP involving a pretty girl who is first introduced (impossibly) as Conchis's young lover from back in 1915 and also a lot of Greek mythology cosplay. It only gets more bizarre from there!