Week One - Phil Maffetone 180 method - Patience.

Welcome to my running blog! Sit down and prepare yourself for a lengthy first post.

My whole life until I was in my mid 20's I was pretty unfit. I was not athletic by any means, but I slowly got into a fitness routine starting with yoga, then kickboxing, then a bootcamp class which inspired a group of us to do our first half marathon.

Me in 2007 before my workout frenzy started

That ignited my running addiction, and I'm sure all of my friends would both roll their eyes and agree with me. Since my first half marathon in November 2009, I have done over 50 races.

All the medals I currently have

The start of my running "career" was a success. For my first marathon July 2010 I managed 3:54:03. And a couple of months later in a tough and rainy Nike Women's Marathon course, I managed to qualify for Boston at 3:39:37 (the qualifying times were a little friendlier back then). My best half marathon was 1:42:06 just a couple of weeks prior. I credit this to the fact that I was constantly trying to chase my friend/trainer and all of my runs were practically tempo runs.

Our First Half Marathon Ever!

Of course I ran Boston, even though at the time I had gained a lot of weight (stress?) and had flu symptoms and a fever. I was determined to cross that finish line no matter what.

Skip to the present, several races later, and I can tell you that my progress has been on a slow and steady decline. I feel like no matter how hard I try, I either injure myself or just can't get near to the paces I was running before. Constant overtraining as well. I always had a tendency to run all out, and never paid attention to my heart rate (partly because I was scared to see how high it was). I can't seem to get my marathon time under 4 again either.

What better way to deal with that, then to sign up for a 50 mile race?

I had met my newfound running doppleganger Rini after a tough trail half marathon. I came in first in my age group and she was close behind in 2nd. There are some people that you make an instant bond with, and she is certainly one of them. I convinced her to run the Santa Rosa marathon with me in August 2014 and after she dominated that with little effort (she is a hardcore mountaineer), we decided to move to the next level and try an ultra.

My Doppleganger

We will be running the American River 50 in April 2015. Since then I have dived head first into learning everything I can about ultra running. It's a totally different beast, and I like to be (overly) prepared. I've been reading a lot about nutrition and have decided to try to convert my carb loving body into a fat burning one.

I've also been trying the Phil Maffetone 180 method of training. A crudely short summary is that you find your "magic" heart rate that is at the peak of your aerobic capacity without entering you anaerobic stage (180-age+random variables). You then continue doing all of your runs at this pace and slowly your paces should get faster at the same low heart rate. You will want to check out the guidelines here to find your number, but for me, my heart rate that I would maintain was 149.

Armed with a new (used) hr monitor, I have been watching it like a hawk and trying my best to be patient with the progress. My average pace previously was around 8:30-9:00 and with the low heart rate, it was around 10:30-11 mins. Talk about a mental challenge.

I did 5 runs this week. A 4, 5, 4, 9, and 8 miler. The long runs were a REAL struggle, I don't know if it was the weather or just fatigue, but I was closer to a 10:50 min mile. I found myself so frustrated by the pace that I almost came home in tears. I'm sure that didn't help. The positive things I've discovered are that I am learning to be more mindful about my surroundings, learning to breath slower and better (breathe in 3 steps, and out 2 which I never could manage before), and I am never too tired by the mileage. I also have been trying to meditate a bit and calm my heart rate on the very tiny uphills.

In addition, my diet has changed drastically. I have gotten my carbs to about 100 grams or less, and have been omitting breakfast before runs and any calories during runs as well. Taking out the sugars has been the most difficult part since my diet prior to this was mostly orange juice, potatoes, rice, and candy. I was going through some serious withdrawals and my temper has shortened (apologies to my poor boyfriend!).

I have noticed significant changes. Most importantly, there were some moments in my early high carb/high heart rate training where I would feel very lightheaded and faint, and start to panic, and now there has been absolutely none of that. I also come back from my runs feeling totally fine and not needing a quick sugar fix. I do feel a bit leaner, and while I'm not looking to lose any weight, I think I see visible changes after just a week. (BTW I think Hell has just frozen over, because I never thought I'd be posting body progression photos in my lifetime)

This post is a bit long winded but there's so much more that I want to tell you. I plan on keeping a very detailed diary of my progress and invite you to check it out if you're interested in running an ultra or the methods that I'm following. Thanks for reading to the finish!