Hiking and "trail" running in Irvine - PFTW

Last week....
Tuesday: 4 miles easy (actually, 4 miles with stupid fartleks because I was bored on the treadmill)
Wednesday: 4 miles with hills and it was hard and terrible
Saturday: 3 mile hike
Sunday: 8 miles on trails PLUS 40 minutes total body conditioning. {this was EXHAUSTING}

This week...
Monday: easy yoga
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: cross train
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: ehhhhh
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: cross?

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On Saturday, Gabby asked to go hiking! We originally planned on hiking Laurel Canyon in Laguna Coast, but she's the slowest human ever in the morning, and by the time we left the house at 8:30, both the Laurel Canyon and Nix parking areas were packed full.

We ended up at the James Dilley Greenbelt Preserve across the street, and did a moderate, 3 mile loop to Barbara's Lake.

From the parking area ($3 parking fee, payable by card or cash), we took the Canyon Trail, to Edison, to Barbara's Lake, and Lake trail back to our car. It was slow going, because Gabby suddenly is obsessed with collecting every rock she sees, but she loved it.

If you love this, I have 15 more just like it.....

Super easy, moderate hill to the ridgeline, and only one steep-ish part.

There's some poison oak in the canyon, so just be aware.

They had a foot print guide and a poop guide available at the trailhead, so there was a lot of watching out....

The lake was not particularly exciting, but kind of pretty.

Super fun, and pretty easy for the kids. Try it.

On Sunday, I decided to do my "long" run outside (shocking, I know). I haven't been feeling the treadmill love lately, and I really liked being back on the dirt Saturday, so I hit an 8 mile loop from my house. The first 2-2.5 miles are paved trail, not particularly scenic, running alongside the 405 freeway.

At Shady Canyon and Quail Hill, where the dirt trail starts, there's a pretty rough hill, not particularly steep, but almost a mile long. After that, it's some pleasant rollers for about 2 miles, then into a residential neighborhood (Turtle Ridge), and back to my neighborhood.

I hesitate to call it "trail", because really, it's just a route that's partially unpaved. But, there are some good climbs, and I'm really surprised at how good I felt.

The views are not bad, too....

It's so hard living here.

#NotEatingAllTheThings - Week 2

This pretty much sums up my love for #NotEatingAllTheThings Challenge.

This was actually week 2 of the experiment - my week 1 recap is here - but since I forgot to even weigh in WHEN I STARTED (because I'm DUMB), this is the first measurable week.

And since I'm down 2.2lbs, I am calling it a moderate success. In actuality, I'm now at just about where I was MONTHS ago, before I became the laziest runner ever. So... I guess at least I undid that damage?

Some of the things I enjoyed this week include....

I am taking things VERY moderately, and still enjoyed some treats - a light frap, a tiny cupcake, cookie cake, a beer, some creme brulee (okay, a LOT of creme brulee - I bought it when I went out with #2, to share it, and turns out she doesn't like creme brulee. I'm not sure how that's even a thing, it seems like an impossibility, not liking creme brulee....).

So, considering all of the above, I'm pretty pleased. I suppose it's not as terrible as I'm pretending it is, but it has been a really long time since I've had to pay any attention - I maintained this exact weight for almost a year when actually marathon training. The weight gain would probably explain at least some of the general suckiness of the Eugene training. You know, in addition to the NOT RUNNING parts.

I plan on keeping up with the experiment for at least another 10 days, and then I'll re-evaluate after Memorial Day weekend.

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In unrelated news, I managed to find a pair of ORIGINAL PURE FLOWS. On Saturday, when we were at the mall for NINE HOURS to get our van repaired, I wandered into Sport Chalet. And while they did not have my size in stock, they checked inventory, and a store down the street DID show my size.

As soon as we got the car back, we headed straight there - and lo and behold, there is my beautiful original Pure Flow, size 7.5, resting in a display!

It took several employees, a manager, and 20 minutes, but they found the mate, and my feet can run happy again. Phew. My last pair of Flow's are on their last leg (no pun), so I am extra grateful for this.

This is what happy looks like.

Gabby was bummed that they are not purple, so we are no longer matchy matchy shoe twins - and she was NOT hearing it when I showed her the purple soles.

Kid, tell Brooks all about your disappointment, because I'm sad, too.

Plan for the Week - 5 weeks to SFM

Going into Eugene, I clearly had some training exhaustion going on. Not that I was over-trained, just that I was.... over it. All of it.

Truth be told, I wasn't really excited about running, and slacked on my training, which made running harder, which made me unexcited to run.... in a circle.

I get a wicked case of race-envy, and ended up running 5 marathons in the last 11 months. Maybe that was too much for me.

So, in an effort to enjoy running and training again, I decided to actively recover/rebuild my base after Eugene. I don't have a goal for SFM, but it would be nice to not feel like I'm dying. I've pretty much jumped back into training after every race for the last year, so - as an experiment - I took one week totally off, and am building back in very slowly.

Good news, I feel great?

Last week....
Monday: nothing

Tuesday: 4 miles easy, strength
This was actually harder on me than I thought, which is LAME because my "strength" was just a 15 minute circuit. I felt it for days. What.

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 4 miles easy

Friday: rest

Saturday: accidental rest
I intended to do 3 miles easy, but a quick 2 hour car repair turned into a 9 hour death march through the mall while a billion expensive things had to get done to our car. No running, plenty of mall wandering.

Sunday: "long" run
5 miles, easy easy easy pace.

Lessons from the week: ummm I didn't hate it? That's pretty promising. While I do miss all of the eating I could do when running 18 miles in one shot, I am kind of digging the shorter mileage and all the freeeeee time. Also of note, in my current state, 10:45ish seems to be my current "easy" pace. So... there's that? I know no one cares about your pace, but maybe I'll want to know this information some day? Eh.

This week:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 4 easy
Wednesday: strength - arms, yoga?
Thursday: 5 miles, hills
Friday: strength
Saturday: 3 miles and/or yoga
Sunday: 7-8 easy


Happy mother's day?

Photo Friday

Dear #2...

 

 

 

Happy birthday, kid. You're one of my top 3 most favorites.

 

 



Three Things Thursday - PCRF Reaching for the Cure 5k Recap

1. Hyperbole and a Half is BACK!!!!! Man, that's exciting.

2. As Becka posted Tuesday, we are in week 2 of the #NotEatingAllTheThings Challenge.

While I was very busy the last several months NOT training for Eugene Marathon, I was also very busy eating everything I ever wanted.

The good news is, that according to the scale, I didn't gain much. Less than 5 lbs, I'd guess (I'm guessing because I don't really weigh myself frequently, I'm just going by the numbers I remember last, and where I was yesterday).

The bad news is, watching what you eat is NOT FUN, and it's especially NOT FUN when you're doing it in an effort to lose weight, and not just being weird.

I can't think of anything less exciting than posting what I eat daily, so instead of sharing all of that information with the internet machine, twitter, and instagram, B and I have been texting pictures to each other, to keep us in line.

It is as sad and lame as you'd expect. Here, I'll share some of that joy.

Yeah.

3. Reaching for the Cure 5k!

This year, I made the smart call to drop down to the 5k, in the name of "Eugene Recovery". The forecast was for cool temps and cloudy skies, though, and I resisted this change until the very last second - really, I didn't switch my distance until Sunday morning at 6:45am.

I love the back of the bibs!! Look at all that info!

The half starts at 7am, and the 5k a bit after at 7:15.

Heeeeeey, speedy Pam!

Sheila and the kidlets joined us for the 5k, in their Team Gab shirts :D

Two water stations for the 5k! (Thanks, volunteers!)

Reach for a Cure, indeed!

left turn for the 5k.......

There's a quick out and back, then on to the river path towards the finish.

Oh, the river path. My nemesis.

Haaaaa.

Oh, hey, I'm almost done!

Not quite a PR day, but they look like they had fun, right?!

As part of the fundraising, the Doubletree Irvine hosts accomodations for the VIP runners who raise above $1,500. It's a great property, they have always been inredibly nice, and even though the race start is less than 4 miles from my front door, I love staying there the night before.

After I finished the 5k (in a not-speedy-but-surprising-time-for-easy-effort) in 32:14, I walked back to the hotel to pick up the kids, and then back down to the finish line to watch for Pam, Madison, and The H (remember last year, when he said he would never, ever run a half marathon again? Ha).

At our VIP pasta dinner Saturday night, the girls were gifted with matching training shirts. They have been part of my training with PCRF from day one, and I love that PCRF thought of them, too.

Heeeeeey, Pam!

Gabby's teacher ran the half! Hi, Mrs. A!

And I'm the worst human at spectating - Gab's teacher had to get my attention, and so did Madison - I was watching for both, but totally missed them. I'm lame.

The tiny yellow speedy person is M.

The H looks super smiley, but he told me he was bummed he didn't do better than last year.

To give this some perspective, last year, he trained fairly intensively, and finished in 2:02ish. This year, he took basically the last 3-4 weeks pretty much off, and finished in 2:03:41.

Shut up, you.

So, overall, I loved th 5k. It was SO MUCH FUN running easy, enjoying the course, and then getting to spectate for the half??? SO MUCH FUN.

I was a little sad when we got our medals....

But then I got to go to the beer tent, so I guess it evens out.

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And, like the last two years, Gab loooooved this bouncing thing.

Obviously, this race means a lot to us, and I will likely run it going forward.

In my unbiased opinion, it's a really well organized event, and the family expo afterwards cannot be beat. It is FREE to enter, the bouncy things are FREE, there were samples of Weinerschnitzel, Jamba Juice, Juice it Up, Pop Chips, and other stuff. Face painting. Petting zoos. Balloon animals. Tons of stuff.

There is a 5k run, 5k walk, 10k run, and the half marathon - all are really reasonably priced.

And, most most most importantly, the VIP Fundraising team this year raised almost $60,000 for pediatric cancer research - that's $200,000 over the last three years, since we started.

The event overall this year came in at almost $650,000 for pediatric cancer research.

Reaching for a cure, indeed.

So... That's over. What's coming up?

First thing on my schedule, is Gabby's port removal. FINALLY. Her surgery went fine, and she's still knocked out in recovery right now. I hope she's prepared for some boredom, because no school for the week, and no activity AT ALL for 2 weeks. Zoinks.

Oh well. LATER, Port.

Switching gears... I took all of last week off as a recovery week. It was kind of nice. The most I did was some stretching and foam rolling, and I'm feeling pretty good - as in, the IT band/quad are quiet.

I dropped down to the 5k at PCRF yesterday (I'll recap that separately), and had a TON of fun. I went out without my garmin, just intending to run on feel, and... luckily, I felt pretty great. I had one tiny twinge running up a hill, but I walked for a few seconds and then it was fine. I'm super excited that there happened to be a photographer RIGHT THERE to capture that, too. Awesome timing.

I ended up coming in faster than I thought I would, which was kind of nice. Certainly wasn't FAST, but it was better than I anticipated for an easy effort.

I'll get back to running this week, I think, but everything at easy pace. I am not really interested in aggrivating the right leg, so I'll see how it goes, and maybe add in some hills/intervals something interesting next week.

So, what's next?

Corona del Mar Scenic 5k, the land of the creme brulee, is June 1st. I PR'ed there last year, and that was fun, but I think this year, I'm just going to go in for a speedy tempo run, and try to kill the hills. I'm certainly not in shape to PR a 5k (ouch), and I don't anticipate being ready in 4 weeks, either.

Speaking of hills.... after CDM5k, I have San Francisco Marathon!!! I'm running the first half this year, which... it's hilly.

I haven't run a half marathon for realsies since PCRF last year (so my 2:11:20 PR stands...). I don't think I'll be trying to PR here, but I'd like to at least run a good, hard effort.

So hills hills hills are in my future.

And after that, I'm empty until Dumbo Double Dare!

I spent last night furiously searching the internet machine for any half marathons in close proximity in the next 4 months, but was unsuccessful. What is that about, SoCal???

So now I'm on a fall/winter race hunt. I'd like to pull out a half and full PR by year's end, so.... CIM is a contender, but we'll see.

Any race suggestions? Only demand is that it has plenty of oxygen. And preferably close by.


PFTW:
Monday: Strength (WHAT?)
Tuesday: Run - 4 miles
Wednesday: Strength again (for real!)
Thursday: Run - 4-5
Friday: Rest
Saturday: hike?
Sunday: 6-8

Thank you.

First, I am still fundraising for PCRF, and any donations - large or small or enormous or tiny - are appreciated! You can donate HERE!

This weekend was supposed to be my third running of the PCRF Reaching for the Cure Half Marathon. Last year, thanks to Margot, I scored an 18 minute PR. That was fun.

I'm pretty sure I'm NOT running the half this weekend. I guess my hopes of being invincible did not come true, and I don't really want to risk actually injuring my right leg (as opposed to the annoying middling pain I'm currently experiencing).

I've toyed with running the 5K, and I might, just to do something, but in the end, I'm really excited to cheer on some friends, and have a fun day.

Because, this isn't a race I do for myself.

That puts the Team Gab total over the last 3 years at $12,680.

A friend of mine contacted me today, asking what would be a good thing to do for a friend that just had their kid diagnosed with cancer.

Those $12,680 will help STOP those kinds of emails.

It will help change a protocol that had my 5 year old taking 13 pills a night.

It will help to keep another kitchen cabinet from looking like this.

It will make another kids medical records stay under 4" high.

It will change the numbers that we are looking at, even in remission.

So many of you, in real life and the internet machine, have already donated, and I appreciate every penny that you have dedicated to this cause.

So that's it.

I want to say thank you, to each of you, for your support in my fundraising for the last 3 years.

Here's a cute picture to make your Friday happy.

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