Life after the marathon

Let me just say that I am so happy that the marathon is over. I do not miss the long-ass runs on the weekend and my body is appreciating only running 3 days a week now rather than the 5 during marathon training. I suddenly have more time to do other sweaty activities, like bike and swim!

The week after the marathon was all about active recovery and looking back, it was probably too active. Meh, oh well! I bike commuted everyday, did two longer rides, swam once, and ran twice. That sounds like a lot coming right off a marathon, but in my defense, I paid attention to how my legs felt and took all workouts very easy. I didn't want to get into the trap of laying on my couch for 5 days because I think my leg would have taken longer to recover.

This week I jumped into official Lake Stevens 70.3 training. The week before the marathon I started to freak out that I didn't have a training schedule for the triathlon. My bike and swim fitness was way down compared to running and I started to get anxious about fitting it all in and feeling ready to race with only 10 weeks to go. So, I wrote out a highly digital training plan (see below) based off of this online plan. I feel MUCH better now. I'm being a good little triathlete and actually following it, too.

Call me old fashion, but I love writing stuff down

I joined a masters swim class this week to help motivate me to swim. It's at 6am Monday, Wednesday and Friday and my lane (the slowest lane) swims between 3,000 and 3,500 yards. I was nervous my first day, but everyone was really friendly and my pace was perfect for the group. One thing I have to get used to is swimming with 8 other people in a lane. It gets so rough in the pool when there are 6 lanes each with 6-9 people swimming. Also, the yardage that the group swims is about 1,000 more than I was swimming by myself. I thought it'd be tough to bump up to that distance, but with a group, it goes by SO fast.

I've started to ramp up my cycling as well. The plan is to get in 3-4 rides a week with one being either hill repeats or intervals and one a brick workout. I'm so happy that I can devote more time to my bike now that the marathon is over. I really do love cycling and it's the one sport that I have a lot to learn about want to improve in the most and heck, maybe sign up for a bike race. I said maybe.

I'm also making time for more weight training. Tuesday's and Thursday's are assigned as weight and core day in my high-tech schedule. At Nuun, we are very lucky to have a TRX system in the office. Have you ever used it? It's freaking hard. Don't underestimate the power of some yellow and black straps. Any exercise you do forces multiple muscles to engage, so you get a better workout than just using weight machines or dumbells. And a lot of it is about balancing, so all those little muscle fibers that are hard to strengthen with big moves are worked. I am slowing incorporating more TRX moves into my weight routine. Right now I do a mix of about 5 TRX moves  with some dumbell and core exercises. The goal here is to strengthen to prevent injury. I mean, if I get nicer arms or less jiggly thighs, I'll be fine with that too.

One-legged squats with foot reaching back. I named that one.

Squat. 

Coming up on 8 weeks until Lake Stevens. 

Tacoma City Marathon recap

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Oh marathon, you are a beast. After my 2nd marathon, 26.2 miles still remains a freakishly long way to run.

Going into the marathon, I felt slightly nervous, but was confident that if I started out slow, I could have enough steam left in the final miles to finish strong and maybe even get a sub 4:00.

The weather at the start was impeccable. Warm enough to feel good in a singlet and shorts and a slight breeze out of the North. If only it could have stayed that temperature.

Happy and ready to run!

Miles 1-5: 9:13, 8:57, 8:57, 9:25, 9:22
My plan to run with the 3:55 pace group was foiled at the start because none of the pacers had signs. How was I supposed to know who my pacer was?! I said to hell with it and went to my strategy: start slow, speed up later. Well, I tried to start out slow, but the 2nd and 3rd miles were all downhill, so naturally those were faster. The next 2 miles were up hill and I attempted to keep my effort low and not push it too hard to conserve energy. Running over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was beautiful, but it after we got to the Tacoma side, the course just kept going up and up and up...

Miles 6-10: 8:55, 9:02, 8:52, 8:58, 8:59
Felt great these next 5 miles. These "net downhill" courses are a load of bologna. They (CIM and Tacoma City) should change their description to "really freaking rolling course that happens to end at lower elevation than the start." That said, the course was very up and down. I tried to control my effort between the inclines and declines. One mile would be fast and I'd yell "slow down!" (not out loud), but then I'd be presented with a hill, so I was like "speed up!" I was trying to keep that "I could run this pace forever" pace whatever that happened to be. Was very lucky to see Sarah and Owen twice during these miles and my man friend once to replenish my bottle of Nuun.

Still loving running. That dude was the only guy I talked to the entire race. He also ran the flash-flood/hurricane that was CIM

I was lucky enough to have Aaron and my Dad  shuttle Nuun all over the course for me. I consumed about 5 bottles + 4 GUs

Miles 11-15: 8:49, 8:57, 9:07, 9:29, 9:13
These miles felt quick, but faced a monster of a hill right after the half way point. I remember running down this same hill during Sound to Narrows 12k when I was in high school/college and thinking it was too steep to run down, let alone run up! I was determined not to walk, and I didn't! The monster hill took us into the 5-mile drive in Pt. Defiance park at mile 14 and man was that a treat - shade! By this time it was after 9am, so it was getting into the upper 60s/low 70s. I'm a Seattle girl, I can't handle heat!

Miles 16-20: 9:11, 9:12, 9:03, 9:12, 8:56
Miles 16-18 were still inside Pt. Defiance park and the majority of them were downhill. I was feeling strong and speedy and even working with a small group of runners (I felt so elite), so when a 9:11 and 9:12 pace clicked for 16 and 17 I was shocked. And my elite feelings crushed. I thought/felt I was running much faster than that! But about that time, I could tell my quads were starting to get sore from all the downhill pounding and blamed that for my decreased speed. All that hill training I should have done was coming to haunt me. I got my last bottle of Nuun from my awesome man friend and Dad around mile 19 then headed downhill (yet again) to the waterfront for the final miles. This was the beginning of the end...

About the point where I realized I had 6.2 more miles to run. And that didn't sound fun.

Miles 21-26.2: 9:08, 9:38, 10:03, 9:57, 10:10, 10:13
I started to really hurt around mile 21. The thought of running 5.2 more miles was rather daunting. My quads hurt, my feet hurt, it was hot out, I was loosing motivation quick. All of these thing piling onto me and I started the walk/run. I knew I could run a sub 4 if I kept on pushing through the pain, but I just didn't have the ability to keep pushing. I tried to dig out how much I wanted a 3:xx, but at that point, I didn't care. In retrospect, I'm surprised how quickly my attitude changed. Mile 17, I was fine and dandy, even still having fun and by mile 19 or 20 I wanted to stick a fork in me cause I was done! This was probably all mental. Ah, mile 20! I better shut down!

I wasn't bummed that I wasn't going to get my A goal (3:55) or my B goal (sub 4:00), I was trying to enjoy the journey that is the final miles of the marathon. There came a point where things weren't fun anymore and I run because I think it's fun, so if it's not fun anymore, I might as well try and make the best of it and run/walk. And pour cups and cups of water over my head cause it was stupid hot out.

I ran the final .8 miles with all I had left in me. I saw Sarah, Owen and my Dad before I made the final turns toward the finish line. I was so happy to see familiar faces, but seriously putting all I could into the final steps that I couldn't even muster out a smile or a wave. I just threw my bottle to my Dad and kept on going.

Giving the last steps all I had. 

I crossed the finish in 4:02:54 which is a 9:16 pace average. I immediately saw Becky's smiling face handing out medals and instantly felt better. I got my medal and quickly found Aaron and my Dad and then Sarah and Owen found me too. I got a little woozy standing, so I sat for a bit, drank some water and downed a Clif Bar. Strangely enough, my left shoulder hurt more than anything else. I mean, don't get me wrong, my legs freakin' hurt, but my shoulder really hurt. Weird.

So I got my C goal and PR'd by 4 minutes or so. Am I happy with that? Hell yes. Do I regret walking? No. Like I said, the marathon is a beast and the final miles (all miles after 20) tested everything in me both mentally and physically. I'd say it kind of won, but I won't let it rain on my PR parade. I'm stoked with my PR and I gave it what I had on that day.

After the race, I hobbled to the car (uphill 5 blocks, what?!), drove back to Seattle, ate pizza and drank beers on a stunning day. My quads are sore, but not nearly as sore as they were post CIM. I can actually walk and only have to minimally brace myself when I sit down. I do have large blisters on each of my big toes, which are the most painful things on my body right now. Hoping to recovery quickly to get back at it later this week.

Big thanks to: my man friend, Aaron, for dealing with my sweaty needs. My Dad for spending his morning shuttling Nuun and ringing a cowbell for runners. Sarah and Owen for bouncing all over the course, holding a "FLY MEGAN" sign and being overall fantastic spectators. And to all of my dear internet friends for all the Tweets, blog posts, text, etc. It's like all of you were there for my race!

This is the one and only marathon I will run in 2013. You can take my word for it. I've got other things to focus on like Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens in 10 weeks (ah! so soon!) and cyclocross in the Fall.

Goals for Tacoma City Marathon

It's finally here. I'm running my 2nd marathon tomorrow, the Tacoma City Marathon. I'm excited and not nearly as nervous as I was to run CIM. The fact that the weather is going to be sunny and clear and maybe even a bit warm is probably putting my mind at ease. And I know what 26.2 miles feels like, so I know what to expect more or less.

As with any race though, there is a mixed bag of emotions that have made themselves present the past week or so. I'm doubting whether I'm ready for the distance and my time goals, questioning my training, wondering how the "net downhill" course is going to feel, afraid my foot pain will come back mid-race, what pace should I run?!, etc.

I should be taking all of these emotions and comparing them to my training log. Look at all those long runs, track days, core work, butt strengthening I did! I didn't do any that stuff besides long runs for CIM, so I've gotta have something going for me this time around, right?

I consulted with a couple much more educated runners about how I should pace the marathon. My goal is to go 3:55 or under and we decided that I would start with the 3:55 pace group and then adjust from there. The course is set up to negative split since you climb the first 6ish miles and the rest is rolling/gradual downhill, so as long as the pace group starts off slow enough, I'll be golden.

Running through Tacoma's scenic North End.

A goal: 3:55
B goal: sub 4:00
C goal: PR (sub 4:07)

Thanks to everyone for your good luck wishes and support. Will be thinking of you all if I need a boost tomorrow.

Ragnar Trail Relay: Zion

The second chapter of my Relay-Relay-Marathon journey takes me to Zion, Utah. First off, who gets to go to Zion for work?! I feel quite lucky that this trip was part of my job.

Before the event started on Friday, I flew in a bit early to setup and to hike within the National Park. I flew into Las Vegas (closest major airport to Zion) and drove 3ish hours North to southern Utah. The whole drive was beautiful and it made me appreciate what an amazing country we live in. There really is so much to see in the United States and I have only seen a sliver of it.

As I got closer to the park itself, the scenery was getting bigger, more elaborate, more breathtaking. I literally would say "WOW" out loud as the road took me through valleys of massive red-rock sandstone. Simply jaw-dropping.

After I entered the park (fee-free week - yay!) things got even more crazy. The landscape was insane. There are not words to describe what I saw, so here are photos, but even those don't do it justice.

I did go for a hike to Angels Landing, but I'll save that for a post of its own.

The Ragnar event was not in the National Park, rather it was just East of the park at Zion Ponderosa Ranch. The whole idea of Ragnar Trail is that there is a central camp that acts as the start line, exchange and finish line. A regular team has 8 runners and all runners run 3 trail loops (green loop, yellow loop, red loop) one time each that start and end at the camp. Once runner 8 has completed their last loop, the team is finished.

Tent city! No vans, but lots of tents!

Ragnar Arch. This is where you start, exchange and finish

Course markers. At night they were lit up. I never got lost, so I guess they did their job.

 Team Nuun, which consisted of a few Nuun Ambassadors, friends, and myself started at 4pm on Friday. Ragnar staggers start times similar to their road relays with the very first teams starting at 12pm. I suppose it's becoming "my thing" I was runner 8 (last runner), so by the time my first run came around, it was well past 10pm and dark out.

My first loop was the yellow loop which was 4 miles that climbed for the first half and came back down for the rest. My teammates said the view from the top of the climb was amazing, but since I ran it at night, I saw nothing but dark skies and the moon. Bummer. Anyway, this first trail run taught me a few things. One, I do not like running downhill on trails at night. Footing is sketch! Two, any kind of goal pace should be thrown out the window when running trails (hello, 15 min mile...). Three, running switchbacks when not crazy steep is really fun. This 4 mile loop took me 51 minutes. Like I said, pace doesn't matter when trail running, you have to accept that you'll be runner a helluva lot slower than you do on pavement.

Tatted up! Sean, Megan, Me, Dana, Caitlin

The biggest difference between road and trail relays besides the running surface is what you do between your legs. You don't have to drive to the next exchange. All you have to do is be at the arch when it's your time to run next. People on my team took advantage of the few hours they had and got some rest in their tents. Ragnar sets up two camp fires that many people, including myself, huddled around while sipping ghetto mochas, eating s'mores, and watching the Western State movie on a big screen. I have a strong belief that there is no sleeping in Ragnar, so I stayed awake the entire night, making sure our runners were up for their next leg.

Bonfire + Western State video kept me awake in the wee hours of the night

My second run was just as the sun was rising, thank goodness! The green loop, which was said to be the easiest of the three was on tap. It was 3.5 miles and descended half and climbed back to camp the final 2 miles. I tried to push myself to go faster on this run since it wasn't as steep as the yellow loop and I could actually see the ground. At times, the footing was a bit awkward which I'm not used to, but managed. My pace for this run was 10:41 and I felt like I was cruising...

OMG! It's light out again! So happy, but still cold...

When I finished, it was time to open the Nuun booth for a 2nd day of sampling. We had it open on Friday from 10am - 9pm, closed it for the night, then re-opened at 7am to get the runners hydrated again. Having the sun up was like a double shot of espresso right to the brain. My mood lifted with the warmth of the sun and the camp was slowly waking up for the final day of running.

The day got hot as we rallied through our last runs. Since there are only 8 people running, the relay goes by much quicker than having 12 runners. My last run was the red loop, which was the longest of the three: 7.5 miles. I started at 12:45 and the sun was beating down on me. Being at 6,500 ft and getting scorched by the sun makes for a tough run. I had a double-dose of Nuun with me in my bottle and set off at a slow pace, walking when I was presented with a hill. It wasn't worth it to waste my energy running up a hill, when it was already hard to walk up it.

This was the most scenic of the 3 loops, but I was feeling the effects of the heat and elevation. I kept experiencing what I think was slight heat exhaustion. All of a sudden my brain would wander and then it felt like my body was running itself. Very weird and a little scary. I drank 3 water bottles and ate 4 shot bloks on this run in hope to stop this feeling from happening. Toward the end of the run, my feet started to burn from the heat and from not wearing proper shoes for trail running. I was ready to be done. I was welcomed at the finish line with my team forming an arch that I ran under and we all ran to the finish together. My pace for this leg was 11:31/mile.

All done! Melissa, Caitlin, Dana, Megan, Me, Mickey, Sean, & Mike (not pictured)

Cool wooden medal for trail relays. I still prefer the bottle openers

Those were the most exhausting 15 miles I have ever ran, seriously. Trail running is very tough, but this event only made me want to do more. I like that it's kind of like fast hiking. Walking is not looked down at, or at least I don't think people do...

I'm glad I got to be a part of Ragnar's first trail event. To me, the event went off successfully and I think it has the potential to grow as big as the road relays. Their next trail event is in the Appalachians in West Virginia June 7-8.

My advice after experiencing a Ragnar Trail relay:

• It gets cold at night in most places. Pack accordingly. Beanie, multiple pairs of sweatpants, gloves. Zion was MUCH colder than anticipated at night.
• Bring lots of snacks. You never know what you're going to want to eat and you may be in a place that isn't close to a town for a quick food run.
• Ear plugs. If you plan on sleeping during the event, bring ear plugs. The campgrounds never really got quiet at night.
• Get trail shoes. Or better yet, demo them from Salomon. Although I love my Mizuno's they were not the right shoes for this event. By the third leg, my feet had hot spots and ached. Being the main sponsor of Ragnar Trail, Salomon allows you to demo trail shoes the entire event and give them back at the end. Do it.
• Since you'll be camping, you'll need a lot more stuff for these events. I ended up checking 2 bags: one with clothes the other just with camping stuff (sleeping bag, tent, sleeping pad). Coordinate with you team so you don't end up bringing more crap than necessary.

Ragnar SoCal

Two weekends ago I had a hot, sweaty, fun-filled weekend in SoCal running a relay from Huntington Beach to San Diego, also known as Ragnar SoCal. Since my employer, Nuun, is the hydration sponsor of Ragnar, I coordinate our participation at each event for both sampling Nuun and teams running.

We landed a great group of runners/Nuun lovers to run with us which seriously made the weekend and even I got to run instead of sample. You never know how a group of complete strangers are going to get along when you spend 30+ hours in a sweaty van together, but everyone was awesome and I seriously wish I could hang out with those girls more often. Preferably outside of a van drinking a cold pint of IPA.

Team Nuun:
1. Sarah
2. Emily
3. Sarah
4. Kristina
5. Monica
6. Fara
7. Heather
8. Patty
9. Heather
10. KJ
11. Jen
12. Me

I was runner 12 in van 2 which had us starting our first legs in the afternoon on Friday and it was HOT. Heat index of 101. Those girls powered through the heat like champs and by the time I ran it was 7:30PM, so I had much cooler temps. My first leg was 8.5 miles where the first 5.5 were uphill and the last 3 were downhill. My legs were feeling heavy after sitting in the van all day, but I managed to pull a 9 min pace for that leg. It was light out when I started, but very dark when I finished.

Team plank at Exchange 6

Totally Hydrated Babe

My second run was at 4:30AM. What an odd time to run, right? By this time, I was riding an adrenaline high from driving/coordinating the team so I wasn't tired at all. My legs however, were. This run was only 4.5 miles but it climbed for the majority of it then shot down a steep hill to the exchange. Slapped off the bracelet to Emily and it was time for van 2 to rest.


While van 1 ran their last legs, we grabbed breakfast in Pacific Beach and then headed for the last major exchange. On our way there though, my worst relay fear happened. The van broke down.  I could NOT believe this was happening to me during a relay. I was trying not to panic so my team wouldn't see me freak out, but I was freaking out inside! After hours of waiting for a new van and van 1 shuttling runners to their exchanges, we were able to make it to the 2nd to last exchange so Jen could run. There were never any hiccups in running which I'm pretty impressed with, but man that was no fun. It does make for a good story though.

My last leg was at 3PM and it was toasty outside. I ran along the water in San Diego and it was beautiful! If my legs weren't so tired and I wasn't sweating like a pig, I may have enjoyed it more. We ran to the finish line as a team and finished with a time of 29:19 which was fast enough to win Women's corporate and be the fastest all women team overall.

Last hand-off from Jen. To the finish!

Stoked to be almost done

Running to the arch as a team

Team Nuun

I had a great time in SoCal getting to know these ladies. Even if the van broke down, we still kicked ass. Until the next relay...

Relay, Relay, Marathon

Less than 3 weeks until marathon day and it's going to go fast with some travel I have coming up. Luckily, it's taper time, so I can theoretically relax, but my schedule over the next couple weeks doesn't lend well to that...

Relay #1: Ragnar SoCal. Nuun has a team running and I'm captaining it. I fly down on Thursday, run, run, run, fly back Sunday. If you're running SoCal, make sure to stop by the Nuun booth at Exchange 6 and the finish line!

Relay #2: Ragnar Trail Zion. 2 days after getting home from California, I fly down to Vegas and drive to Zion National Park for Ragnar's first trail series. Being that this is the first trail event, I don't know what to expect at all. I do know that it's going to be crazy beautiful, super hot and really high (it's at 6500 feet!). I'm working/running this event as well as camping for 4 nights with what seems like a really fun group of people. This is going to be my dream weekend. Can. Not. Wait.

Marathon. After I get back from Zion, I have a full week of recovery before I toe the line at Tacoma City. I had a successful 20 miler this weekend at 9:02 pace which was a serious deposit in the confidence bank, so I'm feeling ready. I feel guilty being excited for my race when so many people's races were destroyed by the bombing in Boston, but as runners, we keep on running, so that's what I'm doing.

Sweat update

My weekly updates got away from me, but I thought I'd give an update. I am 4.5 weeks out from the Tacoma City Marathon. The past couple weeks of training have been about fitting everything in. I was traveling a bit then real life happened, so I did some rearranging of my schedule to make sure I still got in my key workouts.

Most notable was a solo 20 miler I did a 2 weeks ago. That run was a big win for me in training. I did everything I was supposed to: start out slow, eat every 6 miles, drank 2 bottles of Nuun and finished the last 10 miles faster than the first. Since I'm only able to fit in two 20 milers this training cycle instead of the three I did for CIM, I'm pumped that this one was so great.

While my main focus in training right now is Tacoma City Marathon, I'm starting to get more regimented with my biking and swimming in preparation for Lake Stevens 70.3 in July. I'm adding 3 swims and bikes a week on top of my 5 days of running. Once I'm done with the marathon, I'll scale back running and balance the three sports out.

What am I enjoying about all this training? Getting on my bike more. The weather has been quite bikeable the past couple of weeks, so I've been riding my bike to work and adding on mileage here and there. I even did a longish ride with the fisherman last weekend. I'm determined to put in work on the bike so I can keep with the fast kids and not get dropped.

Lunch rides with co-workers are the best!

What am I not a fan of? Dumb people at the pool. Some things will NEVER change.

Onward and upward!