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

November Reads (Friends we are so close!! We're gonna make it!!)

Happy holidays friends! Hope you are doing well!

So help me, I am going to finish out these 2022 book posts if it kills me. Which given that we're now down to one to go with a solid week-plus left in the year, I think we'll probably manage to avoid.

Not a ton of reading in November but there were at least a couple of winners! As always, feel free to share any favorites you've read this year (or before this year) in the comments. :)

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

 

(73) The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (1934, 170 pages) (crime drama, classic). Paper book. Another classic by a master of the genre. Set in the early 20th century in rural California, a drifter and the disenchanted wife of a Greek diner owner begin an affair and conspire to murder “the Greek.” Alas they may have both bitten off more than they bargained for. A dramatic tragedy in the most Greek (no pun intended) sense of the word. No mystery here, just hard-boiled crime drama.

Stacking Solid Weeks (& avoiding overtraining...)

Christmas Relays Team 246 (minus one)!

Happy holiday season, friends! I hope you are doing well and getting some time for rest and relaxation.

I'd still count this most recent week as "solid," but will *also* admit that I probably got a bit overexciting when my calf stopped seizing up and overdid the miles. (Jumping from a month+ at ~10 miles/week or so to 28.5 is something my 31-year-old self could get away with; my 41-year-old self, on the other hand, maybe not so much.) Plus there was "racing" two events in two weeks when my body is very, very, VERY much not in racing shape. I'm still feeling healthy and injury-free (🙌), but my body and mind have been absolutely ***exhausted*** this week, I've slept over nine hours on several consecutive nights, and my numbers in the gym (even upper body stuff) have completely fallen off a cliff.

My strength coach has informed me that this proooooobably indicates a mild case of overtraining (or what the fitness pros refer to as "nonfunctional overreaching") these past two weeks, to the extent that it's causing central nervous system fatigue (hence why all my lifting has been poopy and not just leg stuff). This is not a huge deal but apparently it does indicate that I haven't been fully recovering from what I've been putting my body through, even though I've been getting plenty of sleep and food.

But hey, it's the holidays, so great timing I guess??? We are heading out to Spokane this week so I'll definitely have time to get plenty of sleep and a break from work & the grind of daily life.

 ~*~*~ Week of 12/12-12/18 ~*~*~

Grand Total: 22.5 miles

* 15.2 easy
* 2.8 speed
* 4.5 race

October Reads

A few solid reads from October for ya!

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

 

(68) All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers (2022, 320 pages) (crime mystery thriller). Audiobook. This one brought to you by the host of the popular true crime podcast Crime Junkie. Margot Davis has always been haunted by the sensational and unsolved murder of her childhood friend and neighbor, January Jacobs. Twenty years later, grown-up journalist Margot has returned to the small town where it happened to care for her deteriorating uncle. When another little girl from a nearby town goes missing under eerily similar circumstances, Margot can’t help but investigate, and in doing so may uncover more than she’s bargained for about her hometown and old neighbors. A reasonably clever & entertaining read, though the ending felt unfulfilling and sort of off.