Training Log: Two Weeks to SACTOWN 10 Miles

 Hey, I survived Oakland Half Marathon! Better than survived it!

Running last week was pretty boring as I was mostly just trying to recover from the race, so maybe it's a good time to mention how *weird* that race/recovery process was compared to my memory of past half marathons. Like I said in my race report, I didn't feel like I ran the race all that hard -- for the first seven miles I was running in total comfort, and I didn't really try to run hard until the last 5K. That said, I ran hard enough at the end that I was VERY happy to be done, but I also felt pretty normal pretty quickly after (ie, no wandering around in a daze/looking for a place to throw up) and drove home feeling peppy and spry.

That evening and the next couple days, though? Oh ho ho! A different story!

Race Report: Oakland Half Marathon 2022

Alright, generally, I like to make you wait and read all the way to the end for the punch line, but I'm just gonna get it out of the way now:

Official: 13.1 miles / 1:40:57 / 7:42 pace
Garmin: 13.14 miles / 1:40:58 / 7:41 pace

In case you forgot, I ran a 1:56:05 half marathon on Feb. 6, just six weeks ago. And while I didn't run that race all-out, I didn't run *this* one all-out either (and that 1:56 felt a LOT harder in the last miles than this 1:40 did). When I tell you I wasn't expecting to run this kind of time, I am not bullshitting you. Yes, I've had some very encouraging workouts lately, and I definitely expected to better my Kaiser Permanente time. But when I say 'better,' I mean by like five to eight minutes, maybe ten minutes faster at most. I thought if I had a really, really great day, maybe I could run 1:45. 

Why did I sign up to run this race?

Originally, I signed up to run this race in March 2020. I'd had a couple of okay-but-not great 10Ks and with so much work travel and other personal travel going on, running had kind of fallen apart in terms of real, structured training and become more catch-as-catch-can via hotel treadmills, squeezing in 3-5 miles in foreign cities and countries between meetings and flights, and very occasionally getting to the gym at ridiculous hours. A couple weeks before the race, I was already waffling about whether I should just show up and give it whatever I had or defer and hope for better circumstances next year.

And then what happened?

Training Log: Oakland Running Festival Race Week!

My last week of training before the Oakland Running Festival Half Marathon (which is what I ended up running!).
~*~*~Oakland Running Festival Race Week~*~*~

Training Log: 2 Weeks to ORF uhhhhh something or rather

Less than one week until Oakland Running Festival! I am either running the half marathon or 10K, but I'm not 100% sure! But probably the half marathon I think! (When this training week started, though, we were two weeks away--hence the post title.) Think you can guess my finishing time? Stay tuned!

I have to say, I've been really enjoying this little mini training cycle. I am very far from "peak fitness," though if we're honest, I don't even really know what that means anymore, and I kind of don't care. That said, let's look at some facts:

Fact: I've ramped my mileage back up to a few 40+ mile weeks and it's feeling good. There are days when I'm tired, but it's a very reasonable, understandable level of tired that I'm able to recovery from, not bone-deep, existential, mental and psychological exhaustion that leaves me incapable of doing anything.

Fact: Even if I'm tired before a run, I generally start to feel much better once I get started (vs in 2021 when I would often feel worse).

Fact: I'm running workouts now as fast or faster than I was in 2016 when I Boston Qualified.

Fact: I look forward to workouts instead of dreading them or having panic attacks about them. When they are physically hard, it feels totally manageable and like something I am in control of, vs. something that is happening to me.

I don't know how next Sunday is going to go performance-wise (or even which distance I will be running!) but I'm feeling very optimistic. Not PR optimistic, but like I'll be able to put up a strong effort I'll be proud of after, and that's what is important to me right now.

Let's take a look at how the week shaped up despite some unusual scheduling issues:

Training Log: 3 Weeks to ORF 10K (or half marathon??? )

Hello friends! I'm super excited to be connected back with the coach I was working with last year, now that I seem to have the injury-and-utter-exhaustion gremlins back under control. I actually renewed my subscription earlier in February but apparently it didn't process until the 26th, so I went old school for a few weeks & cobbled together a few weeks of training on my own.

My approach was basically to look back at the last time I ran a decent 10K on mostly easy mileage & just a few workouts (it was Race to the End of Summer, Fall 2016, WOW) & see what I did then. I had a bit more mileage under the belt at that point but not WAY less, so I figured using that workout schedule was probably at least a good starting point while I waited for Coach A to build me a proper training plan.

(In other news: For dumb reasons, it's not actually clear whether I'll be running the 10K or half marathon on 3/20, and I'm kind of fine with that?? Like the training isn't meaningfully different, especially when you've only got 4 weeks?? Oh well! 🤷🏻‍♀️)

This week was a little unorthodox since we spent the weekend skiing in Tahoe, but I still managed to get some quality training in.

Race Report: Oakland Marathon 2018

So I wanted to wait until the race pics were available to publish this, but it sounds like they won't come out until maybe next Sunday and I didn't want to wait that long. (You can get them free & instantly if you give CSE all your Facebook information, which, sorry, no thanks.) So, please enjoy this photo-lacking account of my Oakland Marathon experience, and I'll go back & add pictures when I get them. Unless they suck. (But, if they suck REALLY bad, then I might still.)

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Well, I'm super behind with weeklies, but that's partly because of more dumb injury stuff. :-/ Honestly, at this point I just want to finish Boston under my own power and depending on the day there have been a number of times when I was not sure that was realistic.

Which, hey! Brings us to the Oakland Marathon!

The Backstory

Sometime last fall, Jen shared a discount code for the Oakland Running Festival, which fell on the day of my last 23 mile long run before Boston. I really hate doing my 20+ runs on the same old loops in GG Park, so I decided it might be nice to run a nice easy marathon on that day instead. I could have done the half but didn't want to squeeze in *another* 10 miles before or after, and besides, I'd never run the full, which had a reputation for being both pretty and hilly, which I thought might be fun and also good training for Boston and Big Sur.

I am hella disappointed in the Oakland Marathon

Wow, this training cycle is just flying by (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse)! Given that I just did my first 20+ miler last weekend, it seems kind of crazy that I'm just two weeks away from my longest training run--the Oakland Marathon on March 25.

I have run the Oakland Half Marathon three times (again, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse!), but I've never run the full. I mainly signed up for it because kind Jen shared her discount code, it fell on the same day as my last fast finish 23 miler, and doing three miles more seemed infinitely more appealing than running the half and shoehorning in ten more miles before and/or after. But it's also well known as a somewhat hilly course, and given that both Boston & Big Sur have their share of solid hills, I thought it would be a nice addition to my training.

So, I was disappointed to hear that with less than a month until race day, Corrigan Sports changed the course in a way that made it not only flatter but also less interesting and scenic. Instead of winding through all the different neighborhoods of Oakland, the course now mainly just meanders repetitively around downtown and an industrial port area.