The training log is wrapping up this week, which means I'm going to be a nervous wreck! I already started to freak out just from last week. Things really started to sink in once I got the official race emails and Facebook posts. Eek.

Running this past week was a bit lackluster. I'm also suffering from some minor food poisoning which made this morning's run noticeably bad. High heart rate, chills, and later in the day a massive headache and nausea. Eugh.

I didn't get any runs under a 10 min mile average, which was kind of a bummer. My longest run Saturday was 10 miles in Marin, so I decided to ignore MAF altogether and run free with my friend and training partner Rini. We did a gorgeous out and back course through the Tennessee Valley. It was only about 4 to 500 feet of elevation gain, but was a harsh reminder of the hill work I've been slacking on.

Can I just mention how awesome that run was though? It was an event at the San Francisco Running Company that was sponsored by the sock company Stance. If you have a thing for socks, running or not, you need to check them out. So many designs!!! Anyway, they seriously went all out! Not only was the run a big hit with over 60 participants, but they gave away free socks, had a food truck, beer, and foot massages! Here's a pic with me and Brett Rivers, the owner of SFRC. I feel so lucky to have known him back in our Zynga days, and find it incredible how fast and how far the store has developed in the past few years! He is also blazing fast on the trails (9th place this year in Western States), and I expect big things from him in the future.

Anton Krupicka was there too, as he's sponsored by them. Jon, Rini and I totally geeked out about it. If you don't know who he is, he is a legend in the ultra running community. I watched him in the documentary Unbreakable, and it's amazing to see him in action. His gait is so smooth, and it's amazing to see him flying at 7 minute miles at the end of a 100 mile race.

Left: Me, Anton (yeah, first name basis) and Rini

Back to the socks - they were awesome! Talk about high quality, and the patterns are really fun. They are lightweight and snug. If they made knee high socks I would totally be hooked on them, but with the mid calf ones I have to show my embarrassing runners tan, and I'm not too keen about that. I was super happy to score a free pair though.

My awesome tan line.

I only have three more runs left until we head up to Folsom on Friday for the race. I don't think I've ever been so nervous for a race before! It is a deep unknown considering that it will be 18 miles more than I've ever done before in one go. Butterflies are going nuts in my stomach. 

So what's one piece of advice that you'll hear from pretty much every running veteran? Never try anything new on race day. Typically in an ideal situation you've worn the exact outfit, ate the exact gels/food, ran in the exact shoes and socks...with nothing new. My friend that wore this cotton shirt for a marathon at a last minutes notice understands how important this advice is, since his repercussion was some seriously bloody nipples. 

That piece of advice is also one that runners repeatedly ignore, despite knowing it. This week I'm trying a handful of new things in my mad attempt to survive these 50 miles. The weather is showing some warmer temps than I've been training in and used to, and considering that I don't do well in heat, I've gone into panic mode.

So here's my new running vest that I've never gone over 10 miles in. It's the Salomon S-Lab Advanced Skin 3. My boyfriend has it and swears by it, and I primarily wanted one because my 1 liter Spry wasn't going to cut it. I also wanted something with two bottles so I could have both water and electrolytes, and I could swap them out at the aid stations quickly. I'm treating this race like I'm not going to be doing any stopping at all, when in reality I'm sure I'll probably crawl into the fetal position for a quick sob session.

First impressions of the vest: it's a good fit. I got the XS/S but think an XXS would fit too. I wish there was one even smaller for petite framed girls like me. The water bottles are 16 oz, and I tend to fondle them and it gets a bit awkward. HOW CAN YOU NOT FONDLE THEM THOUGH. They're...right there. The pockets are numerous but I feel like they're all a little bit difficult to jam stuff in. I also wish the front clips were a little less messy and more clear. It didn't come with a hydration bladder, but came with an insulated pocket for a bladder if you buy one. I got mine at a discount at Sports Basement, but otherwise the normal price of $160 seems a bit outrageous to me. I'll give a better updated review after the race.

Last, I decided to try out this hiker's wool that was recommended to me by my friend and AR50 training partner, Rini. She discovered this stuff in New Zealand, and it's popular with long distance hikers there. 

I was a bit skeptical and worried when I put it on, but once I did it was kind of amazing! I think it's a hidden secret. The wool is so soft, and it binds with your sock when you put it on. That was the hardest part for me, putting my compression sock on it, but I found that if I turned the sock almost completely inside out and then put it on, it was better. Once the sock was on, it almost felt like there was gel between my toes because it was so slippery and soft feeling. I didn't feel hot, and I didn't get any blisters. Granted, the farthest I went with this was 10 miles, but I seriously don't think it's going to be a problem. This seems like a great alternative to Injinji toe socks. Pretty thrilled with this.

Well that's all! Sorry for the lengthy update, I'll try to squeeze another post in before the big race. :)

American River 50 AR 50 hikers wool low heart rate training MAF salomon vest SFRC stance socks training ultramarathon training

Last week before the race. Plus check out my new Salomon Vest!

HeatherIhn 2

Read More

I don't have a lot to say since I last posted, but I wanted to show you my latest times for my 10 miler! Even though I felt a bit slow and achy today from the MARATHON yesterday, I was surprised to see that I still managed to improve. It was pretty rough to start and my warm up was showing an already high heart rate. I really didn't think I'd be able to go very fast, but it wasn't too bad. 

You know one of the problems about the Maffetone Method? There's a lot of awkward slow passing. I can't rev up the engine and politely scoot by a person going almost the same pace. Instead, I just verrrryyyy slowly pass them over a long period of time. This happened today, and I'm betting that me and this old man were both pretty fed up with each other. 

As you can tell from my activity title, I learned that you should probably just pop any blisters that form, so that they don't get larger when you run again. Normally I just let them do their thang, but I've never had any that really caused me any pain. This one on my little toe was CRAZY painful, and I ended up limping home and ripping off my sock. I spent a majority of my day limping until the pain subsided.

Amazingly, even though this is my highest mileage week of my entire life by FAR, I have a lot of energy today! I finished my run by 9:30am, and then we went to the farmer's market where I gimped around for a bit. Then I came home and mowed both the front and back lawns. This shouldn't have been a very big task, but it was since A) our lawn mower is on the fritz, and B) our lawns were wayyy overgrown from abandoning them for the past couple of months. I was sweating buckets just trying to start the stupid thing, and then having to stop every 10 feet to unload the grass clippings was a pain. I didn't stop there, instead I decided to pull deeply embedded grass that had overgrown in our garden bed. My hamstrings will be mad at me tomorrow...

OMG 7 weeks left!!! 

Laundry's done, dishes are done, and I even cooked me some paleo "cornbread"! MMM it's SO good. I threw in some flaxseeds just for fun. I'm slowly starting to incorporate more sugar and carbs (sweet potatoes, honey, squashes) now that I have a pretty solid base. Hopefully this will rev things up and allow me to perform even better! 

low heart rate MAF Maffetone paleo slow running training ultramarathon training

Still improving! Lots of energy today, and some Paleo "corn" bread!

HeatherIhn 0

Read More

Seven hours and twenty minutes. Amazingly, that's how long my Thump Blu headphones lasted today. I am really impressed! I had to finish my run and let them drain out, which seemed to take forever. They should be solid for my 50k and I'm going to alternate between these and my waterproof ThumpBlu's for the 50 miler. The waterproof ones apparently last for 8 hours. I really like the price of 80.00 for the originals though, and if you aren't a super sweaty runner (I hear that they are very not-waterproof), I think it's quite ideal! You will not regret going wireless. And no, I'm not sponsored by them or anything, just a very pleasantly surprised customer. Here's a pic of me listening to podcasts trying to drain the battery in my new shirt that Jon got me.

Trying to wear out the battery on the headphones.

It's been a happy love weekend for us in our household. Our anniversary happens to be the day before Valentine's day, so we pretty much just celebrate that. We decided to attempt some recipes out of the French Laundry cookbook to celebrate. It's amazing how much work and heart is put into those recipes, and I now understand the hefty cost of the meals. Check out the parmesan crisps with truffle goat cheese mousse that we made. They were deeeelicious!

Jon was in charge of the main course, which was Salmon "chops" with Celery, sans the Black Truffles. Yeah, I kind of burnt the toast. And yeah it's missing that cool little "chops" piece of skin, but it was also delicious. I can never get enough salmon these days. We both really felt all that butter, oil, and cream though. No...more...cream.

Oh, and look what came in the mail for me yesterday! I backed this Indiegogo for the movie a year or two ago, and I'm really excited to see the finished product! Nikki Kimball is such a badass, I'm sure this documentary won't disappoint.

Now back to the whole Running thing. I ran a marathon today. An entire marathon. For a training run. And I will be running ten more tomorrow. What is wrong with ultra runners? This is not normal!!!

This whole week I had been feeling a little off. I had a bad response to some onions early in the week which kept me up all night, and really messed with my sleep and recovery. My runs were not record setting, although somehow I managed to PR on my half marathon time today (by TWO seconds). My legs have been feeling heavy and my heart rate feeling a bit jumpy and high. Kind of a bummer, but to be honest, my constant rolling successes and PR's were even annoying myself.

The 26 miles today was alright. It was on my usual trail, although I'm really trying to incorporate some hills so my body isn't thrown into complete shock race day. I did 500 feet on my 8 mile run Thursday. Today I only did 300 feet, but I'll take it. The best part for me was being able to keep my average heart rate at 150. It definitely crept up towards 160 in the last few miles, but that seems to be expected. I took it nice and slow, and drank TWO liters of water, which is a lot for me. The sun was quite unforgiving, and I'm pretty sure my already awful tan lines just got a lot worse. My ears are hot. I'm pretty sure they are burnt.

Here are my stats in case you care...

Aside from being pooped on...not once, but TWICE by these little butt-holes of birds, I also got attacked by a crow. It never touched me, but it played a mean game of chicken with me and I have never been so scared at the damage a bird can do flying directly at my face. I also got this surprisingly balloon-like blister on my pinkie toe. I had a tiny cut between my toes from earlier so I decided to wrap it in a bandaid. BIG MISTAKE. I'll spare you the graphic photos, but it's gross and really was kind of painful at the last few miles. To pop or not to pop...that is the question. (Yeah I know I should leave it alone)

I bought these VFuel gels because who doesn't want to eat fudge brownie goo on a long run. I was stupidly excited about it actually, and then sorely disappointed. It tasted both a bit sour and salty, and I have to say it reminded me of vomit. I can't say it felt great in my stomach either, but that might have just been the aftertaste in my mouth. Maybe the other flavors are better, but I think I'm going to stick with PocketFuel and Tailwind for my long runs.

I have been on a chocolate kick lately, and I need to kind of chill out with it. In result, I bought this ridiculously expensive piece of chocolate at Whole Foods to try during the long runs. I think it was $2 a piece! 

My beef with the whole thing (other than the ridiculous price tag) is that it's a rather large hunk of chocolate. I wish that it was flatter that I could break into pieces and nibble from, but instead I had to take rather large bites. The chocolate was decent, but very dry, rough, and unpleasant in texture. The taste didn't wow me enough to spend another $2 on it. I'd rather just carry some Ghiradelli 86% squares with me. My overall take: Good, but not THAT good.

On a side note, I actually took a cold bath today after my run. I think it has made a significant difference because other than this nagging blister and some fatigue, I feel fine! Going to play it safe and stay off my feet. The agenda for the rest of the day is some R&R and I'm also going to be developing a new and better logo. :) So keep your eyes open for that!

endurance low carb high fat low heart rate MAF Maffetone thump blu training ultramarathon training wireless headphones

My wireless headphones, and oh yeah, a training MARATHON.

HeatherIhn 0

Read More

Here's a drawing of an American Coot. It goes along with my current series of quickie illustrations of birds that I see and admire on the Bay Trail. 

These ones are definitely one of my favorites. They are really bizarre looking if you really pay attention to them. At first glance they look like regular ducks, but when you look closer you'll notice their fat, round, egg-shaped bodies, and tiny wings. Much like a kiwi bird. Their feet are ginormous and strange. They don't have webbed feet, but instead have these wacky flaps that act like webbed feet in the water, but like normal feet on land. 

I see them a lot on the bay trail. Mainly by Coyote point or by the little pond by the Embassy Suites in Burlingame. 

In other news, the weekend was great but I ended up eating something that set my stomach on a fiery fury. So much pain and fire that I even had to take part of the day off Monday, and even when I was working I had a hard time concentrating on anything BUT my burning stomach. I think the culprit was the raw onions I devoured for dinner. Sometimes raw onions and garlic wreak havoc on my system, but it seems to be Russian roulette, and hey...I REALLY love onions and garlic.  I need to ease off that though.

Yesterday's run was pretty rough. I did 6 miles, at an average of 10:27, so even with a rough run that is still way better than I could have dreamed of a month ago!! I just felt really drained, I hadn't eaten enough the past few days, and I feel like all my healing energy went to my stomach instead of my legs. They felt sooo heavy. 

Today's run was a bit of a turn around. I finally felt better this morning, and even though I had to wake up at 5am, my legs felt more energetic. I wasn't feeling AMAZING, so I figured I wouldn't be breaking records. Since I didn't think I would be breaking records, I decided to add a small 80 foot hill into my 10 mile run. By the end I started feeling very slow, but turns out that slow feeling to me now is a 10:30 min mile. :| Two months ago, this feeling was probably a 11:30/12 min mile. 

Today's Run

I guess I regret doing that hill now because my first 5 miles would have been under a 10 min mile, and I THINK I could have broken a 10k pr. I can't believe that I'm hitting actual miles under a 10 minute pace. I can't express how excited I am. 

Tomorrow I have an 8 miler, and it's going to be hills hills hills! I've also been doing some slow weights, maffetone style, to try to get some strength and muscle back that I may have lost. And by weights, I mean doing 5 squats and 5 deadlifts with my 18 and 26lb kettlebells whenever I cross by them. This way, I am never sore from them, but I am still doing a bit of strength work. I have to EASE into this, because I want to play it really safe before the race. Feeling good about my plan though!

My babies!

Anyway, I need to run (not literally) to work now, but I will be doing another post later this week! Stay tuned!

endurance MAF Maffetone slow running training ultramarathon training

The American Coot

HeatherIhn 0

Read More

Sorry for the vertical video.

This morning I woke up at the butt crack of dawn to get my run over with. I didn't want to. I wanted to sleep in, especially since I was so sleep deprived the night before and miraculously didn't take a nap. I was buzzing around all day yesterday, and even went grocery shopping. By the end of the night I was regretting it...my legs were SO achy and sore! Note: Don't run 25 miles, and then go grocery shopping. You should lay down.

Miraculously, my run was pretty pain free. It did rain though...quite a bit. I got out at 7am since I scoured all of the weather reports, and they were saying that by 9am the winds would be 20-30 mph. At 7am they were only 10-20 mph.

The downside was that it was pretty much pouring the entire time. The wind was there, but it was mostly at my side, and luckily I avoided a lot of headwind. My waterproof headphones that I was glowing about ended up shorting out of one ear. I knew I should have knocked on wood. I'm hoping that they will dry out and work like new.

This run is second in line for the rainiest run of my life. The first being 2012's CIM (California International Marathon). That sucker was cold, and raining sideways! This one was also cold, but not intolerable. Lots of puddles were splashed in.

You know what is amazing? I still finished this 10.2 miler at a 10:22 min mile average, and a 149 average hr. Just look at this beautiful graph! Knowing that I did the same run in a RAINSTORM following 24 miles, and managed to still knock 22 seconds off per mile in a run...is kind of awesome. I am truly a MAF believer! The best part is that I want to run every day, and I'm not tired of it at all. I kind of loathe my rest days.

Clearly my 10 miler after my long run is the best run ever for me...like, every week. Haha...anyway, that was just quick update. The rest of my day has involved my heating blanket, naps, and my bacon cookies that I've almost eaten all of. GO MAKE SOME.

endurance low carb low heart rate MAF Maffetone slow running training ultramarathon training

Rainy Day

HeatherIhn 1

Read More

I might post again tomorrow, but I figured I'd write a little blurp on today's run. Oh, and here's a drawing I did of a bufflehead. I have a lot of time to look at the birds along the bay with all of this running back and forth, but I never get tired of seeing them. They vary so much from the standard seagull and raven, to crazy weird ones that I've never seen before. I'm going to start drawing all of my favorites until I get tired of it. I needed some inspiration to draw, so this will do nicely!

Today I did a 24 mile run. I took 2 days off between this and my last run because the weather yesterday was a bit all over the place. This morning I managed to only get rained on twice, but the temperatures were mild. It was a bit muggy for my taste, and I'm glad I got out the door at 7am because it started to get warm. 

I got these waterproof/wireless headphones for the purpose of running in the rain, and this was the first time I actually got to use them. Thump headphones always struck me as a little weird, because they seem unusually cheap, and I've also seen similar headphones under different names. I was always a little weary, but since they were so cheap I thought I'd try them out. I have both the original ThumpBlu headphones, and the Thumpblu XTREMES. The ThumpBlu ones have been a pleasant surprise! The charge has not died out on me yet, even on my 5+ hour runs. They are also quite comfortable and easy to use. The waterproof ones have a bit of a strange design, and it takes some getting used to, but they were also very comfortable on my long rainy run today. Two thumbs up! You have to go wireless...you just have to...

Back to the run. The first bit was pretty rough. I had a really hard time sleeping the night before, I think because of some new tea that I had tried that ended up being crazy caffeinated. All night I could actually feel my heart beating hard, so I had a feeling the run was going to be less than stellar. It started out rocky, and I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach.

Once things got going, I got into my groove and was able to hold a slow and steady pace for a while. I kept my heart lower at the start, because I knew I had many miles ahead of me and was bracing myself for my body to really lash out. I managed to keep my hr under 150 for most of the run, and only after maybe the 20 mile mark did it start to creep up. 

My previous 22 miler from 2 weeks ago

So some important improvements to take note of, compared to the 22 miler (shown above) I had two weeks ago. Not only did I go about 30 seconds per mile faster, but I also included a hill (that I had to hike up most of). I also had a heart beat average 3 beats slower on this 24 mile run, and my max was 11 beats lower (from 171 to 169).

Additionally, when I finished my run I was pleasantly surprised to see that I set a new half marathon PR of 2:18:47. Not too shabby considering it was on a 24 mile run! There's definitely a lot of progress between the two weeks, and I really couldn't be happier.

My New and Improved 24 miler from today

Nutrition wise, I drank a cup of decaffeinated coffee with a tablespoon of coconut oil. That seemed to fuel me through almost the entire run, but I did stop at mile 20 to try out this Chocolate #9 gu made simply of Agave and cocoa. Excuse my language, but DAMN is that stuff good!!! I don't think I'll be using it for my future races since I'm not too crazy about Agave Syrup (all fructose), but it tasted like fudge syrup! I also have been horribly deprived of sugary tasty goodness, so it's highly possible that I'm delusional. If anyone knows of a super simple ingredient one with maybe honey and chocolate, let me know. Please.

Oh yeah, and my friends are making fun of my gross cookies that I made, but I think they're delicious! I think the problem is actually calling them cookies, since they aren't sweet but are instead savory. I had a feeling that they would be questionable, but they turned out really delicious and I've already eaten around....five. Bacon Onion Cookies! I'm going to eat more right now :|

birds bufflehead LCHF low carb high fat low heart rate MAF Maffetone slow running training ultramarathon training

The bufflehead! And my 24 miler recap

HeatherIhn 0

Read More