Monday Motivation

Today's motivation comes from the great John Wooden:

The athlete who says that something cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it.

Never let the doubters stand in your way!

The Cranky IT Band Week

I've been having a tremendous year so far.  Lots of PRs, Runner's HI, along with a slow and steady pace increase.  After Sunday's run up Santa Su, I was feeling invincible!  I headed out Wednesday morning to do my Stryd Critical Power test:

• Warm up - 10 minutes
• Maximum Distance Run  - 3 minutes at a consistent pace throughout the three-minute test, but to be nearly exhausted at the end of the test.
• Recovery - 30 minutes
• Maximum Distance Run - 9 minutes (same protocol as the 3 minute run)
• Cool down - 10 minutes

The purpose of the test is to determine my Critical Power.  I am working on a full post about power that I hope to have up next week.  But back to my test...

I warmed up for 10 minutes, but didn't really feel warmed up.  That's not unusual when I'm doing intervals, so I wasn't too concerned.  At the 10 minute mark, my watch went off, and I started running hard.  My watts shot up to 284.  Less than 30 seconds in, my right IT band started screaming!  Not just a little pain, but sharp pain from my hip to my knee.

I stopped running and tried to walk it out.  I restarted my watch, thinking I just needed more time to warm up.  I walked, ran, and walked some more.  Still pain.  After about 10 minutes I knew the test wasn't going to happen.  I went home really bummed.

El Nino hasn't really lived up to its name this year, but there is a little green on our hills.

This morning I got up and headed to our local trail for a run.  The same thing happened.  I had no pain walking, but after a minute or two of running the pain was back.  I walked and ran for about 1.5 miles and decided to turn around.

I really don't know why I'm having these pains.  The only thing I can tie it to is my run on Sunday.  I ran on the shoulder of the road for 8 miles so I may have caused some irritation then.  I plan to just ride my bike (and do lots of stretching/foam rolling) for a few days and keep my fingers crossed that this will go away.

It dawned on me that this year will mark 20 years since I started running.  There have been times of inconsistency, but I've run more often than not.  In those 20 years I have never had a long term injury.  That's right, zero long term injuries.  So I plan to baby this cranky IT band and keep that trend going!

Santa Susana Pass Road Revisited

We're back in California for a bit so I've been hitting some of my favorite training routes.  Santa Su is one I did while training for the Revel Canyon City Marathon.  It was my final long training run on November first.  It's eight miles that I think of as four segments - 2 miles up, 2 miles down, 2 miles back up, and 2 miles back down.

Saturday night I looked up my previous run to see what my best time was.  I thought it said 1:20:37, so just a little over 10 minutes a mile.  With that in mind I headed out yesterday morning.  It was a cool 42 degrees, clear and no wind.  I hit the halfway point in 40:36, 10:09 pace.  I knew if I was going to beat my previous best that I needed to be even faster!  So I took a GU and a selfie and headed back up...

Somewhere during mile five my legs started cramping.  I always take Hammer Endurolytes in Hawaii, but didn't think I would need them here in the cooler temps.  Wrong!  I took multiple walk breaks and saw my time get slower.  I ran those two miles in 25:59 and my total time at six miles was 1:06:36.  I knew I wasn't going to run my last two miles in 14 minutes, but I decided to see if I could at least PR the segment.  I ran those two miles in 15:47, overall time 1:22:35, 10:16 pace.  I got home and uploaded to Strava and saw this:

Turns out I had NOT run this in 1:20:37!  My previous best was 1:23:04. I was four seconds a mile faster, good enough for top woman on both 2 mile downhill segments and my second best 2 mile effort.

The lesson here - if you think you've been faster, you believe you can be faster!

Reality Check

Cheesy grin at Ka'ena Point

Happy Valentine's Day!  My run this morning included "Heartbreak Hill" in Hawaii Kai for the first time.  I'm lucky to be married to a great guy, so that was my only heartbreak on Valentine's Day.  I don't feature him much on this blog, but he is my partner in adventure and biggest fan.  He has the day off tomorrow so we may try to find a kayak rental, stay tuned...

Post marathon foot massage (you can see me reflected in his glasses!)

I started getting curious this week about my pace.  I felt like I was consistently faster, but really needed to know.  Let the numbers speak for themselves:

January 2015
Week 1:  27.89 miles/12:30 ave pace
Week 2:  19.18 miles/12:43 ave pace
Week 3:  0 miles due to the flu!
Week 4:  15.47 miles/11:59 ave pace

February 2015
Week 1:  14.00 miles/11:57 ave pace
Week 2:  17.65 miles/12:50 ave pace

First six weeks of 2015
94.19 miles
12:26 ave pace

Sometimes I stop in the middle of run, because I'm staring at Diamond Head

January 2016
Week 1:  23.57 miles/11:02 ave pace
Week 2:  22.67 miles/10:39 ave pace
Week 3:  28.38 miles/11:15 ave pace
Week 4:  15.24 miles/10:43 ave pace

February 2016
Week 1:  23.37 miles/10:24 ave pace
Week 2:  13.66 miles/10:04 ave pace

First six weeks of 2016
132.58 miles
10:44 ave pace

Other times I'm staring at Koko Head

I'm actually in shock at this overall improvement!  I haven't done any speed work since my marathon in November, but I am consistently faster every time I run.  Yesterday I was running and kept seeing my pace in the mid 9s.  I know that's not super fast for a lot of people, but this is me.  More than a minute and a half faster than a year ago.

I'm still in the learning stages of running with a power meter.  I want to get a little more data accumulated and there are a couple of tests I need to do, then I'll do a full review.  I also want to do at least one interval workout.  It makes me wonder, am I running faster because I like seeing high power readings or am I feeling confident that I can run faster when my power numbers are a little lower?  Or am I just faster and my power meter has nothing to do with it?!

Yesterday's power reading - that 340 watts HURT!

How have the first six weeks of 2016 treated you?

Runner's HI January and What's Next

I finished a strong January with 150.02 miles total, 92.40 of those running.  I am still feeling really strong every time I run.  I'm still learning what my power numbers mean from my Stryd - I do know that over 200 watts is pushing it and I don't last long at over 300 watts!

I got an email from MapMyRun this morning.  Three years ago, running on Oahu...

We extended our stay on Oahu until February 17th.  Les has a lot of work to do and that means 2016 will be another island year for us.  We were able to rent the downstairs of a house in Hawaii Kai, which is about 10 miles from Waikiki.  We've escaped high rise living and I'm looking forward to learning new routes.

We moved in on Friday.  I received in email on Sunday that the Honolulu Marathon price would increase on February 1st.  So I bit the bullet and registered!  $64 is cheap for a marathon.  I hope to have a much better race than in 2014.  I'll have a year to train in tropical conditions and on the marathon route.

I also plan to register for the entire 2016 BioAstin Marathon Readiness Series.  This is a total of 5 races that will be great instead of solo long runs.  If I register for all five races by March 4th, they are only $23 a race.

So my plans for 2016 are finally starting to solidify.  It's only taken me the first month to get here.  There are lots of local 5k and 10k races that I'd like to add in the first half of this year.  If I can come up with seven from now until August I'll end up with 16 races in 2016 - that would be an incredible year!

Fourth Annual Runs for Cookies Virtual 5k

First, Happy birthday to Katie of Runs for Cookies!  If you are not a reader of her blog, I highly recommend you check her out.  In honor of her birthday, today was the Fourth Annual Runs for Cookies Virtual 5k.

I had some doubts about my pace for this morning.  I wanted a sub 30 minute, but last week after running Tantalus I was pretty sore for a couple of day.  Since I ran the reverse loop on Saturday I thought I would be sore again, but I wasn't sore at all this time.  I got up, turned my music on and headed out:

Mile 1 = 9:00
Mile 2 = 9:09
Mile 3 = 9:09
0.1  = 9:01

Total 3.11 miles in  28:11, 9:04 pace!  I ran this at Ala Moana Park, which is completely flat.  It was also very calm this morning.  A rain storm blew in about an hour later.  I had a max power of 250 watts (during the last 10th of a mile) with an average of 207.5.  That is my highest average yet!  My average heart rate was 155 with a max of 167.  A great start to my week!

Several hours later...

I was at the Ala Moana shopping center after lunch and realized I ran, but no cookie.  The Cookie Corner took care of that!

Round Top ~ Reverse Tantalus Loop

The moon as I was leaving our hotel

I headed back to Tantalus this morning, but opted to run the loop in reverse, going up Round Top road and down Tantalus this time.  It's been a long time since I've run the loop this way.  I forgot how tough going up Round Top is!  Miles 2 and 3 are straight into the wind.  Tantalus is more protected, but Round Top is exposed.

My pace for the first 5 miles was 13:34 - last week it was 13:47.  I paid slightly for that and my pace for the second 5 miles was 8:39 (8:29 last week.)  My overall pace was 11:12 and last week it was 11:07.

My Stryd was working perfectly again and I knocked out some really great power numbers. I also crushed the last three miles.  According to Strava I had my fastest 5k at 24:50 and my fastest 2 miles at 15:46.  I PRd two climbs and the entire loop, taking second overall female!  That brings my total PRs to 17 for the year (I earned one yesterday during a short 3 miler, too!)

I spent the latter part of 2014 and much of 2015 dealing with hormonal issues.  Anxiety, night sweats, anxiety, insomnia and anxiety.  I know I'm not completely done with those issues, but I am so happy with how I'm feeling both physically and emotionally these days.  So if I sound like a broken record, sorry, but I'm just so happy to be feeling good again!

How is 2016 treating you so far?