It's been a while
It's 2018, and I haven't posted on here since 2013. In that time, I qualified for and ran Boston, finished a couple ultramarathons, and sort of broke my femur. Fun times. Here are some highlights:
2014: The year of the BQ
2015: Boston, and first 50k
2016: Getting a little serious about ultrarunning, plus some road success
Encouraged by the 50k finish, I registered for Miwok 100k. I got some good training in, including a 50k training run, which I did at Inside Trail's Woodside 50k. It was pretty sweet that two women (Amelia Boone and I) went 1,2 overall there. I ended up DNF'ing at Miwok because of a weird foot issue, that I think was just a bruise from running ~40 miles in new shoes (which were tied too tight) a few weeks prior. I then took some time off, and came back to finish (and win) my first 50-miler at the Siskiyou Out Back run near Ashland, OR. Here I am deliriously high-fiving one of the RDs there:
At SOB I shared some miles and post-race food with Ron, who wrote a nice recap of his race.
The 50-miler training gave me a great base for some quicker road running in the fall. I roughly followed Jack Daniels' Marathon Plan A to prepare for December's California International Marathon. Along the way I PR'ed at the Berkeley Half Marathon (1:28:14). Then, I PR'd by 12 minutes at CIM (3:10:33). The last 10 minutes of CIM was the hardest thing I've ever done, which might be why I was making this face at the finish:
2017: Taking myself too seriously and paying for it
Again, I signed up for the Miwok 100k. I took a break after CIM, then perhaps starting building up my mileage a little too quickly. I was running a lot more volume than ever, and was even adding a little speed work. I had some minor success -- again, at ITR's Woodside 50k, I did well. The Rubber Chicken Lady herself called me a "joyful pink blur," and moving efficiently through a beautiful forest did indeed give me great joy:
I felt like I was in the shape of my life, but I realize now that I was probably not taking the time to paint my bridges. Looking back, I think I was tricking myself into thinking that I felt good on a lot of those runs. Long story short, I ended up with a stress injury in my femur, and couldn't run Miwok. I took 11 weeks off from running, and started running a little bit in the fall. It never felt quite right. I had some (probably "phantom") pains in the femur and weird pains/stings throughout my thigh and hip. I took more time off starting around Thanksgiving 2017, and now here I am, late March 2018, and I'm running again. This time around I will try to be more diligent in noticing signs of overtraining.
2014: The year of the BQ
- Carlsbad Marathon: Snagged a BQ. Strava here.
- Wild West Relay: Ran with Girls Heart Rockets in the Ultra division, so ran 6 legs totaling 30ish miles. Here's one of my legs.
- Pike's Peak Ascent: Mostly I just walked this. It was a bucket list run that I was sadly out of shape for. Maybe I'll go back when I'm in hill-climbing shape!
- Columbia Gorge Marathon: Paced Perrin to a big PR. We matched:
2015: Boston, and first 50k
- Livermore Half Marathon: This was a training run for Boston. It was a fun race, with 13 different wine samples and 2 beer samples at the end! A little much for 9am!
- Boston Marathon: I was undertrained but still managed a PR. Boston is truly a magical race.
- 26 miles for my 26th birthday!
- Redwood Anvil 10-miler: I was happy to be back racing on the trails for this one. I think it was a last minute decision, and I had been running a little bit but also hiking a lot to get ready for Kilimanjaro in the weeks leading up to it. I got to stand on a podium and have a fancy black-and-white photo taken:
- Summited Mt Kilimanjaro!
- Berkeley Trail Adventure 50k: My first completed ultramarathon! I did not train much for this and signed up on a whim the week before or so. I was surprised to finish first female at this race. As Mark Tanaka said at the finish, 'It's all about who shows up.'
2016: Getting a little serious about ultrarunning, plus some road success
Encouraged by the 50k finish, I registered for Miwok 100k. I got some good training in, including a 50k training run, which I did at Inside Trail's Woodside 50k. It was pretty sweet that two women (Amelia Boone and I) went 1,2 overall there. I ended up DNF'ing at Miwok because of a weird foot issue, that I think was just a bruise from running ~40 miles in new shoes (which were tied too tight) a few weeks prior. I then took some time off, and came back to finish (and win) my first 50-miler at the Siskiyou Out Back run near Ashland, OR. Here I am deliriously high-fiving one of the RDs there:
The 50-miler training gave me a great base for some quicker road running in the fall. I roughly followed Jack Daniels' Marathon Plan A to prepare for December's California International Marathon. Along the way I PR'ed at the Berkeley Half Marathon (1:28:14). Then, I PR'd by 12 minutes at CIM (3:10:33). The last 10 minutes of CIM was the hardest thing I've ever done, which might be why I was making this face at the finish:
2017: Taking myself too seriously and paying for it
Again, I signed up for the Miwok 100k. I took a break after CIM, then perhaps starting building up my mileage a little too quickly. I was running a lot more volume than ever, and was even adding a little speed work. I had some minor success -- again, at ITR's Woodside 50k, I did well. The Rubber Chicken Lady herself called me a "joyful pink blur," and moving efficiently through a beautiful forest did indeed give me great joy:
I felt like I was in the shape of my life, but I realize now that I was probably not taking the time to paint my bridges. Looking back, I think I was tricking myself into thinking that I felt good on a lot of those runs. Long story short, I ended up with a stress injury in my femur, and couldn't run Miwok. I took 11 weeks off from running, and started running a little bit in the fall. It never felt quite right. I had some (probably "phantom") pains in the femur and weird pains/stings throughout my thigh and hip. I took more time off starting around Thanksgiving 2017, and now here I am, late March 2018, and I'm running again. This time around I will try to be more diligent in noticing signs of overtraining.
Comments
Post a Comment