Do You Run With Headphones??? (Victory Week 4 of 8)

Spoiler: I do, most of the time. :)

 

Look closely, they're there! 

These days my headphones of choice are Shokz Aeropex (now listed as Shokz OpenRun), which are bone conduction open-ear headphones specifically designed for running. That means that they don't actually go in your ears, which means you can still actually hear everything going on around you while using them. Yes they're a bit pricey, but I got my current pair on a Labor Day sale in 2021, and given that I use them nearly every single day of my life (not only for running but also a lot of times while working, doing errands on foot, or doing chores around the house), that $141.16 (after tax) amortizes to something like 30 cents a day and dropping, which seems like a pretty good deal. (And also people pay $250+ for freaking AirPods???? 😱 JGDFC.)

More Recovery Talk (Victory Half Week 3 of 8)

Not that I've had any actual *hard* or *intense* weeks yet, but this last week was slightly easier (in terms of how much running I've done) than Week 2 for a couple of reasons:

1) A last-minute ski weekend in Tahoe! Back in December I got new skis and have been looking forward to trying them out. Since there's now ten bazillion feet of snow in Tahoe (and somehow all my free Jan/Feb weekends are starting to fill up with Stuff), it seemed like a good time to go. (Also, this early in my season when I am running fairly low mileage, I don't really mind taking an extra day or two off of running.)

 Top of Lake View Chair at Palisades

2) My lower left leg/ankle has been feeling a bit tight and pound-y, and again, there's no reason to risk overdoing it this early when I'm just trying to build up the miles and re-acclimate my whole body to running. Luckily I was able to get in with my massage therapist on Wednesday who did some SERIOUS work beating up my various fascias and such. It's generally better to give body work a good 12-24 hours to settle in before a run anyway, so rather than thinking of it as a Sad Unplanned Rest Day, I tried to think of it as smart recovery so I could run happy on Thursday.

Speaking of recovery, a quick reminder of the basic equation that governs all of training, for literally anything:

Race Report: Christmas Relays 2022

The deets:

Christmas Relays is a fundraiser for my running team and also on the PA road circuit. It's unique on the PA circuit in that it's a four person relay, with each person running the same 4.5 mile loop around Lake Merced. There are a wide range of divisions teams can compete in, from men, women, nonbinary, mixed gender, open, 30/40/50/60+, couples, corporate, junior girls, junior boys, under 14....The list truly goes on and on! There are super fast competitive teams as well as super chill teams just out there for a good time, and the race is known for attracting a wide variety of Christmas-themed costumes and outfits. Everyone on our team is encouraged to run as well as volunteer with various logistical race tasks (which works out well since it's a relay and only 25% of people are running at any given time).

Why did I sign up for this race?

Mostly because it's a fundraiser for my club and we are really encouraged to run if we can. Last year I was signed up to run on the women's masters team but then strained my calf and by the time the race rolled around I still couldn't jog more than about a block without pain. So this year, even with one injury/illness after another in the fall, I was determined to stay healthy enough to at least complete one 4.5-mile leg.

And then what happened?

Victory Half Week 2 of 8

No stories this week, just a good old fashioned training log (and a few pretty pictures to keep you entertained). So far, so good! My main challenge right now is not getting over-enthusiastic and doing too much too soon just because I feel good. Trying to think ahead to April/May/June & how I want to be running then, which will require a slow-but-steady approach. 🐢🐌 (Also really nailing recovery! Which I'll try to talk more about next week.)

~*~*~ Victory Half Week 2 of 8 ~*~*~

Grand Total: 35 miles, all easy

Monday 1/9: 5.18 urban hiking! I felt good on Monday but didn't want to run because I was worried about increasing my running miles too quickly like I did in December. So instead I vigorously walked 5+ miles of these San Francisco hills, which pretty efficiently gets one's heart rate into the same range as easy running.

Yeah; I live here.

The Year in Books, 2022! (+ my top reccs for the year)

Because I love numbers and making lists and quantifying all the things. :) 

 

(You may be asking, "Did you do all this tracking and calculating yourself????" To which I say, HELL NO, The StoryGraph does it for me! In case you missed it, I left Goodreads because I am sick of their bullshit/screwing over authors and sick of supporting Amazon with my data and clicks. Instead I joined The StoryGraph, an independent book-tracking platform created and run by a woman of color. It is still building up the level of community that Goodreads has had years to develop, but I find it MUCH more user-friendly and I love all the cool stats features and the recommendations based on your reviews of past reads. Come join me!)

By the numbers: 

Run Like A Pro: Balance Intensities Like A Pro (Part 1)

So like I was saying (lo these many months ago 😬), reading running books by your favorite authors can be a little like a religious devotee reading their religious text. They already know pretty much what's in it, they don't expect a lot of surprises, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of what you know you should be doing that you've maybe gotten a bit away from doing. So we are here to talk about where and when in Run Like A Pro I found myself feeling a bit convicted and like I needed a bit of revival.

The chapter in question is called "Balance Intensities Like A Pro," intensities being whether you're running easy, hard, or somewhere in the middle. 

If you have read 80/20 Running or any other book that discusses how runners should allocate their fast training miles vs. their easy training miles, the advice in this chapter will not come as a shock. In case you haven't, though, a quick overview.

When scientists look at the most successful endurance runners, from 3-10K track specialists to half marathon and marathon road racers, all of them seem to stick quite close to an 80/20 split--that is, 80% of their miles done at an easy, comfortable pace and 20% done at moderate and high intensities (speed work, tempo/threshold runs, etc.). 

The conclusion: "Relatively high training volume at low intensity ... was beneficial for the development of running performance at the top level" (Run Like A Pro (Even If You're Slow), pp. 66-67). The same has been found to be true for elite athletes in other endurance sports such as cross-country skiing, cycling, rowing, swimming, and triathlon.

All-In On Recovery (Victory Half Week 1 of 8)

Technology is amazing, think of all the years I spent without a watch to let me know how tired I am. 🤣😭

So, starting in mid-2021, I decided to go all-in on injury prevention. Of course injury prevention is key for anyone making an effort to challenge themselves with their running and racing, but the older I get, the more clear it is that keeping all my parts strong and happy and bouncing back from what I ask them to do is going to take regular, systematic attention (vs. the whack-a-mole / catch-as-catch-can approach of my 20s and 30s).

Of course part of the reason I was never able to attack injury prevention with as much gusto as I would have liked in my younger years (especially 20s) has (like so many other things in life) to do with time and money. Not that I'm rolling in the dollah dollah bills now or anything, but one of the perks of getting older and further along in my career has meant that I do have more flexibility and control over my time than I used to, and a bit more expendable income. Even so, just a few years ago, I still did a lot of skimping around stuff like strength and body work and was constantly asking myself, "Geez, this stuff isn't cheap, is it really worth it?" 

And the conclusion I came to at age 40 (knowing that I have enough expendable income now to do it without being irresponsible) is "HELL YES, it's worth it." Because it's not just about being able to run the way I want to; it's also about just generally taking care of my various bones and muscles and joints so that I can be that old lady toodling happily around the track and living happily and independently well into my golden years.

This year's theme, I think, is shaping up to be recovery.

2023 Race Plans!

Hello friends! I hope you were able to have some rest over the holiday season and your year is off to a promising start. 

Over the past few weeks I've been doing some brainstorming about what I want to run this spring. We have some National Masters Grand Prix road races to consider, plus I still haven't ruled out trying to get a marathon under my belt this spring. Here's what's on my calendar currently:

February 25 -- Victory Half Marathon (Richmond, CA). This is the rare flat Brazen road race and it's only about a half hour from me to boot! I've run the 10K here twice before (2017 and 2020) and, like every other Brazen race I've ever participated in, it was well organized and well supported both times. 

2017 10K

December Reads (We made it, friends!)

Happy new year, friends! Regardless of anything else that happened in the last year, you can say you made it into 2023.

Today we are wrapping up this year's reads with December's list. I had more time for reading last month, and had several books that I really enjoyed! Take a look and see what you think.

In case you missed it:

January 2022 Reads
February 2022 Reads
March 2022 Reads

April 2022 Reads

May 2022 Reads

June 2022 Reads

July 2022 Reads

August 2022 Reads

September 2022 Reads

October 2022 Reads

November Reads

The Year in Cities: 2022

It's been a minute since we've had a proper Year in Cities, amirite? But boy 2022 has been a DOOZY on the Road Warrioring front! Please enjoy this small subset of travel photos from the year:

Top Row: Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands Lookout | Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain | Robert's Western World, Nashville, TN | Big Ben, Westminster, London, UK | Feast of St. Anthony, Lisbon, Portugal. Second Row: Quinta do Noval, Duoro Superiore, Portugal | McWay Falls Overlook, Big Sur, CA | Feast of St. Anthony, Lisbon, Portugal | Ayuntamiento de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain | El Templo de Debod, Madrid, Spain. Third Row: Cooking lesson at Quinta da Pacheca, Lamego, Portugal | Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste, Madrid, Spain | L'Aventure Winery, Paso Robles, CA | USATF Masters 10 Mile National Championships, Sacramento, CA | Spokane, WA. Fourth Row: Paseo de la Explanada, Alicante, Spain | War Memorial Gardens, Oxford, UK | Partington Cove, Big Sur, CA | The Yeatman Hotel, Porto, Portugal | Downtown Los Angeles, CA. Fifth Row: Graham's Port Lodge, Porto, Portugal | Olympic Valley, Lake Tahoe, CA | Baiona, Galicia, Spain | Monastery San Vicento do Lemos, Monforte de Lemos, Spain | United Polaris, somewhere over the Atlantic