Race Recap: Water to Wine Half Marathon

The half marathon starts at Sonoma Lake and finishes in Healdsburg, CA, a net elevation drop of about 100 feet.  Runner's World says this might be one of the fastest half marathon courses on the west coast.

I was told it'd be 93 on Sunday.  I know how warm Napa is over the peninsula.  I was worried I'd be too hot to run comfortably on Sunday.

We headed up on Saturday to pick up packets and shuttle tickets.  It was hot.  Once we were settled, we hung out in the hotel room in the air conditioning until it was time to load up on some carbs.

We went to a local italian place in downtown Santa Rosa and ordered sweet potato gnocchi and pasta candy (noodles shaped like candy pieces with spinach and some cheese on the inside).  Then we each had a chicken caesar salad.  Dinner was a good portion - not too much and nothing too small.  We headed to the grocery to get breakfast (I already had a bagel with a to go pack of crunchy peanut butter).  Then it was back to the hotel to watch a movie and fall asleep.  We set our alarm for 5am.

The shuttle was at 6:05am and the start was at 7am.  We got to the start with maybe 20 minutes to warm up.  I did some dynamic stretching and just froze while waiting.  Then we were off.  I had my Nike + app running with my music (which I totally forgot to set up my new playlist to play) and my garmin going.  So I had plenty of reminders of my time and pace.  And some good tunes to keep me moving.

I walked through all the water stops-there were 5 of them.  I was a little too sore to keep running after the 5th water stop but I did and managed to keep going.  The course was downhill for the most part though it did have some rolling hills.  I wasn't prepared for those hills.  My knees weren't ready for those hills.

I ran the entire race (with the exception of the water stops).  That's a huge accomplishment for me.  And I ran in shorts.  I'm in much better shape than I have ever been in my life, and I've always wanted to run in shorts and a sports bra.  I've checked one of those off my list.

I finished in 2:06.  I was stoked.  A huge PR for me.  I promptly had them ice my knees and then went back up the course to cheer Aimee in.  The medal had a wine stopper on the bottom of it.  Score!  And we were given a wine glass.  Another Score!!

After the race, we got some food and wine.  They gave us 3 wine tickets to taste with.  We then headed to La Crema and Murphy Goode winery.  We each bought a bottle of wine.  Then it was time to shower, eat a sushi lunch and head home.

Once home, I completed my workout programming for the next morning.  And elevated my knees.  And I took an epsom salt bath.  My knees were sooooooo sore on Sunday night.  After crossfit and endurance practice on Monday, I took Tuesday off.  And am heading to practice tonight. 

Wordless Wednesdays-Half Marathon Finish

*I'm jumping on a wagon.  I'll post one photo each Wednesday.

Back on the crossfit wagon

I was not so excited to head to crossfit on Monday.  I had to go since I'm only signed up for 2 days a week and I'm working on Friday AM and I'm already signed up for Wednesday AM.

I completed a half marathon on Sunday.  (more details later)  I somehow kept a consistent pace the entire race.  To be honest, I didn't train much.  I thank crossfit for helping me get through this race.

Back to Monday, it looked tough.  I knew I'd take a little longer than most WODs. 

Front squat 65%x3, 74%x3, 83%x3+++, (73#, 79#, 83#)

5 RFT

30 sledgehammer swings (10#)

20 overhead lunge, with hammer

10 ring push-ups

The front squats were great for my sore quads.  I took it easy on the weight to ensure I could get the weight back up instead of falling.  Then we were onto the WOD-now it doesn't sound tough but then you realize it is 5 ROUNDS.  That's a lot.  I started with alternating swings (not preferred by most coaches at my box) since it's easier to switch every swing than after counting half way through.  I was first out of 7 onto the lunges.  Huge surprise!  I was able to complete this whole WOD in 14:16.  We started late and I ended 5 minutes after the class ended and the new class was coming in.  I finished first.  Yes, FIRST.  Who knew.  I'm glad we didn't have burpees though I though with the pushups or lunges someone would pass me and get a lead on those swings.  

In the end, I felt great walking away knowing what I had just completed.  Then I went to teach a bootcamp class where I winced each time I had to demonstrate a squat, lunge, or leg stretch.  And of course, last night was endurance Monday at derby.  We did tons of side shuffles, 50 sit ups and 25 push ups each round.  Off skates I probably went through 7x.  On skates, we got with a partner and we went through 5x again.  Needless to say, my abs are feeling great today.  And push ups are always great! 

Compiling a new 13.1 playlist

Tuesday night after dinner I started to think about my half marathon and then realized I need new music.
I posted a status and my friends came through...

Here were their suggestions:
Major Lazer. Start with songs "Original Don" or "Get Free".
Blackout by breathe Carolina 
Eye of the tiger
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Good vibrations is awesome.  
Pump Up the Jam
Let's Go by Trick Daddy
Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen
Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson
Everytime We Touch by Cascada
J.Lo- "Doin it" well and her "get right"
MOSTLY ANYTHING MICHAEL JACKSON
"If" by Janet"
woman by wolfmother
wynter gordon- dirty talk
seek bromance by tim berg
h to the izzo
till the world ends- britney spears
madonna- hung up
take it off- the donnas
you got the love by florence and the machine
BEYONCEEEEE! CRAZY IN LOVE
rock your body by justin timberlake

(I copied and pasted their enthusiasm)  My friends really came through with great recommendations.
I haven't built my entire playlist just yet though I'm sure it'll include some of these.

And I'm off for a night of fun before a day of rest & packet pick up (Saturday) and then on Sunday it's the day of the half!




 

My fastest 10k and half marathon goals

Last Thursday, I set out on a training run.  I had every intention of going 10 miles.  With the half coming up, I knew I needed some miles.  Though you know what they say, the best laid plans....  I had taken a nice shoulder to my jaw the night before during a scrimmage and was taken down.  Though I was fine, my jaw was super sore when I woke up on Thursday. 

I set out on my run-knowing I needed miles.  As I was getting into my groove, my jaw was super sore still.  I told myself I needed to run at least half of the half.  So I set out for at least 6.5 miles.  I got into a good rhythm and before you know it, it was time to turn around.  I wore a 3/4 sleeve jacket as it was overcast when I set out but by the time I turned around I did not need it anymore.  I was going to take it off once I had to stop at a stop light to cross the street, yet none of them stopped so I stayed in a steady rhythm the entire time.

My total distance was 6.7 miles in 1 hr and 4 mins.  My goal for the half marathon is 2 hours. 

My splits for this run were:

• mile 1 9:27
• mile 2 10:01 
• mile 3 9:34
• mile 4 9:26
• mile 5 9:29 
• mile 6 9:36
• .7 6:36

I started to look up previous times: (THIS MEANS I SET A PR)
-My last actual 10k race was in 2007 for a time of 1:16 (my first year of running)

-I did a 10k as part of a tri relay team and my times were

• 2010 10k with tri relay was 1:25
• 2009 10k with tri relay was 1:15

If I keep my miles under 9:30s, I can accomplish a great pace and a PR on Sunday.  Also, my best half to date was in 2009 Rock n Roll New Orleans for a time of 2:35 with an avg pace of 11:54/miles. 

I got to go to Crossfit!!!

With my new job as a bootcamp coach, my training has been in the AMs.  And by AM I mean 5:30am and 6:30am and the occasional 9am classes.  And I usually go to crossfit at 8am or 7am if something comes up.  So for the last 3 weeks, I didn't get to go to crossfit 2x a week like I enjoy.

So since my normal teaching class will be only 9am on Mondays, I set my alarm for 6am and headed out the door at 6:30am to head to crossfit.  I was excited and nervous.  Nervous because I slipped and cut my right arch of my foot over the weekend and it is swollen and bruised.  And I hoped there was no jumping involved in the WOD.

Here is what was programmed:
Front squat, follow each working set with 5 box jumps - 61%x5, 70%x3, 79%x5 (83#, 93#, 103#) I skipped the box jumps.

5 x 2 minutes rounds with 30 second rest

Run 200m

10 burpees

AMRAP sledgehammer swings

This was tough.  I didn't jump as high as I usually do on my burpees.  

Round 1: 6 sledgehammer swings (first in from run)

Round 2: 6 sledgehammer swings (2nd in from run)

Round 3: 3 sledgehammer swings (1st in from run)

Round 4: 3 sledgehammer swings (2nd in from run)

Round 5: no sledgehammer swings (1st in from run) 

I was impressed I was able to make it in from the run first or second.  I tried to make sure my running form was the best that it could be.  I have a half marathon coming up on Sunday and with this cut on my foot-I want to be able to still run on Sunday.  There were 3 of us running and another guy on the row machine because he wasn't running.  Overall it was a great workout.  And we ended with a 1 minute plank, 2 sets of 1 minute ab wheel and 1 minute plank with shoulder taps.  

My abs are so sore today though it's a great feeling to have!

Color Run 5k

Now I'm sure you have all heard of this fun run.  It's just as amazing as it's advertised.

I first heard about it through Pinterest late last year.  I marked my calendar to ensure I wouldn't miss it.  In this timeframe, the date did change and then the location changed.  That still wasn't going to stop me.

The SF Color Run was at Candlestick park.  With 2 race times.  Luckily I signed up for the first one at 8am.  Yes it meant an early morning.  Yes it meant the sun wasn't quite out yet.  Yes it meant I was already on my 2nd drink by the time the 1pm crew started. And I couldn't wait to get colorful.  The color is powder and you had to remember to keep your mouth shut.  I put my phone in a plastic bag to carry the whole time.  I put my money, id and car key in a plastic bag pinned to the inside of my shorts. 

We didn't have different colors at each kilometer and I only noticed this because there was no green on the course.  Only in the bags that people were throwing after (or before) the race.  Green is my favorite color and I really wanted lots of green on my white shirt.

We were able to jog between the color stations and walk through and back through again for more color.  We even managed to sneak our hands in the color to throw on each other.

It was very easy clean up.  We brought towels and were able to wipe our skin (that hadn't sweated) off easy without water.  We used wipes on the places that had sweated.  And I didn't have any long lasting color in my hair after my shower.  The water was a nice brown/purple though while showering.  I didn't keep my shirt.  And my shorts look as if they hadn't seen the color run at all.

Here's a few photos from the race:

I love the progression of these photos.  The middle one was after 2 or 3 color stations.

If you have the chance to run this race, DO IT. 

Color Me Rad is coming to San Jose on Sept 1st and I'm already signed up with the roller derby team.  Can't wait!!