*SF2HM = San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon
Sorry for the delayed post, but I was busy enjoying my Memorial Day weekend, as I hope you all were too!
Mon: Rest.
Tues: Met up with KH for a run around the Lake. We were both feeling pretty tired, so we took it super easy.
Stats: 5.1 miles @ 10:51/mile + 30 min stretching/rolling
Wed: I had planned to go to the climbing gym with LF, but a long meeting with a client rendered me completely lifeless. We went out for drinks and food instead… which totally has the same benefits as exercising, right? 😉 Oh, actually, I did ride my bike to and from the bar, so there’s that.
Stats: 20 min cycling around town + 15 min stretching/rolling
Thurs: I read about a half marathon benchmark workout on Runner’s World earlier in the week, so I thought I’d try it. The workout: warm-up, followed by 10 x (1000 m @ race pace, 60 seconds jog), cool down. My goal race pace range was 9:00 to 9:10/mile. This totally went against my new “pacing by effort” project, but I thought it might be a fun workout to try. It was definitely more intense than the 6 x 800 m intervals that I had considered! My other goal was to focus on relaxing my form at race pace. I tend to tense up a lot when I run faster than ~9:15, which is obviously a waste of energy.
Actual workout:
– Warm-up 1 mile @ 10:50 (nice and slow)
– 0.6 mile intervals (min/mile; I was too lazy to reset my watch to meters): 9:02, 8:59, 9:07, 9:08, 9:09, 9:06, 8:58, 9:11, 9:09, 9:03 (Average = 9:04)
– Cool down for the rest (~0.7 mi) @ 11:48/mi (yeah, I was very tired)
I would’ve been happy to do 8 of these at race pace, so I’m *very* happy to have done 10! The article actually says you should do 10-12, but 10 was plenty for me, thank you very much. Who knows if this really means I’ll be able to run a 9:04 pace on race day, but this workout definitely had me feeling quite fit!
Stats: 8.5 miles @ 9:48/mile
Fri: Rest.
Sat: Went out for a nice long trail run with Cathryn at Lake Chabot. Having her with me definitely pushed me a little more on the hills than usual, though we took walk breaks when we deemed it necessary. It started out a bit overcast and chilly, which was perfect running weather, and the sun came out just at the end. We chatted away and the miles just flew by. It was so much fun! You can see more photos (and a better recap of the run!) over at Cathryn’s blog.
Enjoying post-run cupcakes – the perfect recovery food! (photo courtesy of Cathryn)
In the afternoon/early evening, we went to one of the most laid back and unique “weddings” ever. (It was technically a post-wedding ceremony party.) There was a food truck and an R2D2 wedding cake. I got to wear a dress, the Gypsy Runner got to wear sneakers, and a good time was had by all.
Stylin’ and profilin’
coolest wedding cake EVER.
Stats: 11.35 miles @ 12:06/mile, 1150′ elevation gain + 30 min stretching/rolling
Sun: It was the Gypsy Runner’s birthday, so we celebrated by doing a few of his favorite things: eating bagels from our favorite place in Berkeley, going to the climbing gym, and watching the San Jose Sharks win game 6 of their playoff series against the L.A. Kings. Woohoo!
Not one, but two bagels for the birthday boy.
Stats: 90 min indoor rock climbing
WEEKLY TOTAL: 25 miles + ~3.3 hours climbing, biking, stretching.
How I felt about it: Another great week running-wise. However, this is the first week in a long time where I’ve slacked on the stretching and rolling. I did do a couple of planks though, so that’s something?? B.
Howdy! My name is Jen and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to eat, run, and blog, but not usually at the same time.
Running Tangents 
I LOVE your dress! 1000 meters seems like such a random distance when you are used to miles! I think I would be confused the entire time, but awesome job with the repeats!
Thank you!
Re: 1000 meters — I totally agree about the randomness. Luckily, my watch keeps track of these things so I don’t have to!
First, where is the photo of the R2D2 cake??? Second, suck it Sharks, go Kings! Seriously though, what a great series, my condolences to Gypsy.
Ask and ye shall receive! I just added a photo of the R2D2 cake.
HAHAHA, that is tremendous! Those little figurines are great too, a red sox fan and a redwings fan…brilliant.
OH MY GOD that cake. I am really dead set on vow renewals every 5 years because I want so many different weddings. One will now have to include an R2D2 cake.
Running intervals always makes me feel like superwoman – cheers to that!
Definitely!! It’s funny that I always dread intervals before I do them, and end up loving them once they’re done.
Look at you looking all sexy in that dress! Super cute. Ooh, I think I’m going to try that benchmark workout – looks fun in the most unfun way possible.
Thanks!!
And let me know how the benchmark workout goes!
[…] – Exploring new trails all around the Bay Area, especially my runs with Cathryn at Lake Chabot, Huddart/Wunderlich, Marin, and Briones. – Pushing my limits at the Skirt n Dirt 25K – […]