….and My Story Runs On….

Apparently I wrote a blog post about this one last year too.  I like to write race reports so if people want to find out more about an event, they can have someone else’s perspective. This is something I learned in ultra running which was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received.  Before picking an ultra (or after you’ve picked it) start googling “race reports ‘race name'” or “blogs ‘race name'” and you will get reports from runners that have done this race. Great way to get different perspectives and advice! (just have to remember it’s someone else perspective though!)

This is one of my favorites for a few reasons:

• I love White Tank Regional Park!  Always fun to be on trails I don’t get to see often.
• This is a tough course.  There is something about the challenge that I love about this race.  I also get to use a lot of different ChiRunning skill because of the terrain changes.
• Xterra supports Girls On The Run and I love to support them back!

This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:

“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”
I won’t do much detail on the race course as you can read it in my previous race report.

Volunteers rock! The Hansons are always out there supporting Girls On The Run events. Ricci and Joshua are Running for Brews regulars and volunteer a lot too. Thank you!

Pics don’t do the views justice!

Girls On The Run Advisory Board Member, Julie, volunteering too! Missed another photo at registration with more board members. If we are not running we are volunteering!

Still smiling after all the uphills! Was just feeling it!

I decided I wanted to try and PR (set a Personal Record) my time from last year which was 2:57:37.  Last year my goal was to get in under 3 hours.  I also had to remember that this is a training run and that I did 40 miles just last Saturday at Across the Years.  However, I was feeling great and ready to take on the PR challenge.

ChiRunning always plays a huge role in my runs and race.  I’m always looking at ways on how to approach the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible.  Sometimes it almost feels like a fun game I am playing with Mother Earth.

Some specific things I focused on from a technique perspective:

• I focused a lot on uphill and downhill technique.  I love hilly courses for this reason.  Lots of upper body with uphills, some ChiHiking (it was steep and if I can walk it faster to save energy and not tire myself out, I will).  Tried to relax as much as possible on the downhills.  A little hard due to the rockiness but it was the best I felt running downhill.  I also need to give credit to Greg Riverdieu from the High-Altitude Training Institute. Last year, I took a technical trail running class from him and learned quite a bit.  But one of the things that stood out the most, and you probably had to be there, is he would say, you just go down like this…“boom, boom, boom” for 3 consecutive footsteps.  So that was in my head as well as Danny talking about “dancing down the trail” and “be the water”.  Using imagery and visualizations are fun when running!
• Worked quite a bit on ankle lifting.  Rocky courses are great for this.  This course is known for taking some blood as people fall but I was determined to stay upright. Most common reason to fall on a rail is clipping your toe on a rock because you have a pendular stride instead of a circular stride (part of lifting the ankles).  This was my nemesis when I started ChiRunning and love to practice it as much as I can.

Some specific things I focused on from a mental perspective:

• I realize I make this part of my “pre race” ritual. I get mentally psyched up for a race.  I am not going to win and my goal is to get a good training run in, enjoy it and have fun.  I was so excited to get out on the trail today.  Oddly, even with a hard course, “only” 12.4 miles wasn’t going to be too bad after 40 last week!
• I set a goal to PR last year.  I rarely get attached to those goals though.  I think having a goal is part of race mentality but I also see too many people beat themselves up about it or setting unrealistic goals based on their experience and training. As mentioned a PR sounded reasonable but I had to consider other factors in my training like the 40 miles on the previous Saturday and my 50 mile weeks of training.
• I rarely listen to music and XTERRA doesn’t allow headsets (which I really appreciate, especially on a technical, single track trail).  For some reason, I had an old playlist I hadn’t listened to in awhile so put my iPod on speaker and jammed out all the way up the hill. As soon as I started going down though, I really wanted to focus on relaxing and not falling on this technical trail so that’s what I did.

I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling.  Back to the PR story….I forgot to mention that I just got a new Garmin which I love, but I hadn’t really set up my display screens properly.  I new what my average pace had to be to PR but didn’t create that option yet.  So I just decided to body sense and do the absolute best I could.  I was sure I was going to PR until I passed the last aid station and found out I had 1.8 miles….it was going to be really really close!  I really started focusing on my form even more at this point because I was literally going to make it or not by seconds…..I crossed the finish line at 2:57 (same time as last year).  At this point I forgot to check for my results because I had a sushi date with my boyfriend.  As much as I stayed focused during that race to PR, I was still detached from the goal:  I hoped I PRd but if I didn’t, all good.  I even did this Facebook live and talked about goal detachment.

Well, 2 days after the race and after starting this blog, I finally know my results!  I PRd by 8 seconds!!  I finished at a 2:57:29!!  What this means to me is that I am right in line with my training for my 100K in 5.5 weeks.  Bring it on!!!

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

….and My Story Runs On….

Apparently I wrote a blog post about this one last year too.  I like to write race reports so if people want to find out more about an event, they can have someone else’s perspective. This is something I learned in ultra running which was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received.  Before picking an ultra (or after you’ve picked it) start googling “race reports ‘race name'” or “blogs ‘race name'” and you will get reports from runners that have done this race. Great way to get different perspectives and advice! (just have to remember it’s someone else perspective though!)

This is one of my favorites for a few reasons:

• I love White Tank Regional Park!  Always fun to be on trails I don’t get to see often.
• This is a tough course.  There is something about the challenge that I love about this race.  I also get to use a lot of different ChiRunning skill because of the terrain changes.
• Xterra supports Girls On The Run and I love to support them back!

This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:

“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”
I won’t do much detail on the race course as you can read it in my previous race report.

Volunteers rock! The Hansons are always out there supporting Girls On The Run events. Ricci and Joshua are Running for Brews regulars and volunteer a lot too. Thank you!

Pics don’t do the views justice!

Girls On The Run Advisory Board Member, Julie, volunteering too! Missed another photo at registration with more board members. If we are not running we are volunteering!

Still smiling after all the uphills! Was just feeling it!

I decided I wanted to try and PR (set a Personal Record) my time from last year which was 2:57:37.  Last year my goal was to get in under 3 hours.  I also had to remember that this is a training run and that I did 40 miles just last Saturday at Across the Years.  However, I was feeling great and ready to take on the PR challenge.

ChiRunning always plays a huge role in my runs and race.  I’m always looking at ways on how to approach the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible.  Sometimes it almost feels like a fun game I am playing with Mother Earth.

Some specific things I focused on from a technique perspective:

• I focused a lot on uphill and downhill technique.  I love hilly courses for this reason.  Lots of upper body with uphills, some ChiHiking (it was steep and if I can walk it faster to save energy and not tire myself out, I will).  Tried to relax as much as possible on the downhills.  A little hard due to the rockiness but it was the best I felt running downhill.  I also need to give credit to Greg Riverdieu from the High-Altitude Training Institute. Last year, I took a technical trail running class from him and learned quite a bit.  But one of the things that stood out the most, and you probably had to be there, is he would say, you just go down like this…“boom, boom, boom” for 3 consecutive footsteps.  So that was in my head as well as Danny talking about “dancing down the trail” and “be the water”.  Using imagery and visualizations are fun when running!
• Worked quite a bit on ankle lifting.  Rocky courses are great for this.  This course is known for taking some blood as people fall but I was determined to stay upright. Most common reason to fall on a rail is clipping your toe on a rock because you have a pendular stride instead of a circular stride (part of lifting the ankles).  This was my nemesis when I started ChiRunning and love to practice it as much as I can.

Some specific things I focused on from a mental perspective:

• I realize I make this part of my “pre race” ritual. I get mentally psyched up for a race.  I am not going to win and my goal is to get a good training run in, enjoy it and have fun.  I was so excited to get out on the trail today.  Oddly, even with a hard course, “only” 12.4 miles wasn’t going to be too bad after 40 last week!
• I set a goal to PR last year.  I rarely get attached to those goals though.  I think having a goal is part of race mentality but I also see too many people beat themselves up about it or setting unrealistic goals based on their experience and training. As mentioned a PR sounded reasonable but I had to consider other factors in my training like the 40 miles on the previous Saturday and my 50 mile weeks of training.
• I rarely listen to music and XTERRA doesn’t allow headsets (which I really appreciate, especially on a technical, single track trail).  For some reason, I had an old playlist I hadn’t listened to in awhile so put my iPod on speaker and jammed out all the way up the hill. As soon as I started going down though, I really wanted to focus on relaxing and not falling on this technical trail so that’s what I did.

I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling.  Back to the PR story….I forgot to mention that I just got a new Garmin which I love, but I hadn’t really set up my display screens properly.  I new what my average pace had to be to PR but didn’t create that option yet.  So I just decided to body sense and do the absolute best I could.  I was sure I was going to PR until I passed the last aid station and found out I had 1.8 miles….it was going to be really really close!  I really started focusing on my form even more at this point because I was literally going to make it or not by seconds…..I crossed the finish line at 2:57 (same time as last year).  At this point I forgot to check for my results because I had a sushi date with my boyfriend.  As much as I stayed focused during that race to PR, I was still detached from the goal:  I hoped I PRd but if I didn’t, all good.  I even did this Facebook live and talked about goal detachment.

Well, 2 days after the race and after starting this blog, I finally know my results!  I PRd by 8 seconds!!  I finished at a 2:57:29!!  What this means to me is that I am right in line with my training for my 100K in 5.5 weeks.  Bring it on!!!

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)