*SF2HM = San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon
Less than 2 weeks left to go until race day!! Look for a race goals post/thought ramble later this week.
Mon: Mondays are usually my rest days, but when it’s Memorial Day and my friend RF organizes his annual low-tide hike at Point Reyes National Seashore, who am I to say no? We got up at 4am to make it up there for the 6:30 low tide, which allowed us to hike through areas that are normally inaccessible. We saw lots of sea creatures (crabs, sea anemones, starfish, fish) and beautiful landscapes. The hike itself was a mix of treacherous seaweed- and algae-topped rocks and flat sand. It was a great workout for my ankle, quads, and hamstrings!
Stats: ~4 miles hiking
Tues: Probably my worst run in a long time. I was already tired before the run and thought about taking a rest day, but since this was a short week running-wise, I knew I should get out and log some miles, regardless of pace. So I left my Garmin at home and didn’t care about pace at all. I felt like I was running half asleep, and I had some GI issues too. Yuck.
Stats: 4 miles + 30 min stretching/rolling
Wed: 30 min stretching/rolling
Random photo of my cat…just because.
Thurs: Since I was going backpacking over the weekend, I had to combine my long run with my speed/tempo workout. I decided to do a long progression tempo run to mirror half marathon effort: 1 mile warm-up, 5 miles @ moderate-hard, 2 miles @ hard, 1 mile @ hardest, and 1 mile cool-down. The key for this workout was to have a fast finish — something I struggle with a lot in half marathons.
Actual workout:
– warm-up @ 10:35
– 5 miles moderate/hard: 9:53, 9:40, 9:16, 9:25, 9:29
– 2 miles hard: 9:02, 9:05
– 1 mile hardest: 8:43
– cool down @ 10:45
It took me a while to warm-up into the “moderate hard” effort, but all in all, I think it was a good workout. I didn’t take any gels or bloks so I could have a no-carb run (water only). The one unfortunate thing was I came home and realized I had really weird sweat marks from my sports bra/tank top combo — I looked like I was lactating! I said to the Gypsy Runner, “And I thought people were looking at me because I looked cool…” Haha.
Stats: 10 miles @ 9:35/mile + 15 min stretching/rolling
Fri-Sun: I went on my first ever backpacking trip with the Gypsy Runner and 4 friends. It was a lot of fun, and definitely challenging! We drove to the Ventana Wilderness on Friday night and night-hiked to our campsite, another thing that I’ve never done. The way in was cool temperature-wise (since it was dark) and mostly downhill. The main challenge was hiking in the dark with only our headlamps and having to walk through brush-covered trails about 1/5 of the way. Even though it didn’t feel like we were walking particularly slow, I was shocked to find out that we averaged less than 2 miles per hour. I guess carrying 20 lbs. of weight does slow you down!
On Saturday, we did some light, short hikes to a nearby cave (mission accomplished) and in search of a waterfall (mission aborted). Even though they were short hikes, I found that any hike in the Ventana Wilderness could be challenging because the trails were not well maintained. I kept thinking about how “wilderness” was a very apt description indeed. Of course, the upside was that we had the whole place virtually to ourselves.
On Sunday morning, it was time to hike back out of the park. We knew we had a significant elevation gain ahead of us, as well as sweltering heat. There were a few shaded areas along the way, thankfully, as well as plenty of beautiful views to keep my mind distracted. It was kinda cool to hike in the dark on the way in and go back out during daylight hours — it made an out-and-back hike into 2 distinct experiences.
It was funny/ironic that I had just told the Gypsy Runner on Thursday or Friday how I was feeling fairly confident going into SF2HM except for the hills. Well, I got plenty of hill training this weekend, and with weight too… hopefully the hike had enough hills to pay the bills!
I’m really into collages lately…
Stats: 12 miles, ~3200′ elevation gain
WEEKLY TOTAL: 14 miles running, 16 miles hiking + 75 min stretching + 2 days of planks.
How I felt about it: Great run on Thursday with some nice strength work in the form of technical hikes. I’m really falling off the stretching and rolling wagon though. 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 
It’s nice to read about your adventures, since I don’t do much of it myself. 🙂
Haha, glad to be of use!
Oh wow. that seashore hike looks so awesome! Oh to live on the coast…
I’d say you’re training is looking pretty good but really what to do know? Oh also, what kind of “roller” do you use? I’m in the market…
I use the GRID roller. It hurts like hell but the quality is much better than foam. The review is here: https://jensrunningblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/rollin-with-my-foamies/
Since I wrote that review, I got The Stick, which has been good for areas that I find hard to roll (hip, achilles/ankle, shin).
[…] living in a Northern California Tourism Bureau commercial for the past couple of months, with the low-tide hike in Point Reyes, backpacking in the Ventana Wilderness, and running through the streets of San Francisco. This past […]