Hot Chocolate 15k, and the most weekly mileage ever!!!

The daily beautiful sunrise

 It's been a while since I posted. I haven't had too much to report, but today I ran my first race with low heart rate training and I think that's worth noting! I still kept it low, but I'm getting a little more flexible with the heart rates. I allow it to go up to 156 without freaking out, but I generally like to keep it between 149-151.

The race was the 2015 Hot Chocolate 15k in San Francisco. You'd think with Ghiradelli being here and all that they'd hook it up, but it's just random chocolate and sweets. I didn't partake in the saccharine goodness, but the swag was pretty great for this one. The best part was the hoodie that they provided. The girls and boys hoodies are different colors, and the cut was very flattering. It was a nice quality too, and made of a material that was fleecy inside but not too thick. I love it! You also get this giant medal at the end that looks good enough to eat, as well as this plastic mug filled with melted chocolate, hot chocolate, a banana, and other random snacks. There were plenty of bathrooms, plenty of volunteers, and I think three or four aid stations along the course that winds through the Golden Gate Park. You even get a chance to run past the bison!

Bison!!!

I got in pretty early so the price was only $69. I splurged an extra $20 to get a shuttle from Millbrae to the race and back. They had these nice Bauer shuttles hauling people back and forth, and they seemed to fill up rather seamlessly. I happened to be the last person on both of the busses that I chose. I think that the price I got it at was a very good deal considering everything that they provided.

There were SO MANY PEOPLE, almost 8,000 just for the 15k. I couldn't believe what a big race it was, since it was kind of off the radar for me. The crowd seemed to be mostly newbies to racing. You could tell by the bibs on their backs. If you don't know, you should try to keep your bib visible in the front so that volunteers can make sure you're not a bandit, and also that's how they identify you in the race photos. It's a common mistake, and when I ran my first race I'm pretty sure I had it on the back to begin with.

So here's my results. 1:48:05. I used to be able to finish a half marathon in this time! It's only a mini kick to my ego though, I think this time was what I was expecting to do. The course had a couple hundred feet of elevation, which isn't much, but was way more than I've been doing for my training. I managed to run up most of the hills at a VERY slow/nearly walking pace. But you know what? I'm kind of proud of that! I was on tired legs, and running on a tired body (two nights of very little sleep), so I'm going to just pat myself on the back and hope that this week shows some improvement.

I ran with my friend Rini who is also doing the 50 miler in April with me. She is a mountaineer, and I think that kind of training has made her aerobic base amazing! Check out her heart rate before we started. Guess who is who? Not gonna lie, I'm totally jealous, she's going to go far (badum-chhh) in the ultra running world.

I think something is wrong with me. Or Rini. 

The rest of the week's running were great. The sunrises were stunning! The three runs mid week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) went quite well and most of my times averaged at a 10:30 min mile. My 18 mile run Saturday was a serious struggle though. I have been feeling a bit swollen and a bit off the past few days, so my pace was much slower than normal. What's funny is that my first miles were around an 11 minute pace. I had fashioned a iphone armband out of an old sock like this tutorial shows. It's a great concept, and I imagine it would work fine if I picked out a compression sock, but the sock was too elastic and the phone was slowly sliding down my arm the entire time. As soon as I took the phone off, my heart rate eased up and I was going over 30 seconds a mile faster! Lol, it's amazing what little things can really throw you off! I'll be getting my new iphone6 armband soon. I tend to stick with tuneband iphone cases because they are simple, have never failed on me, and come in nice colors at a great price. My pace toward the last 5 miles kept creeping up quite high in direct correlation with the exhaustion and soreness of my legs.

My 18 mile stats. Look at that heart rate soar!

For this week and last week I have reached over 51 miles. It's a big milestone for me, I've never actually done this many miles in one week before. But it also hit me that this is how many miles I'll be running in less than one day. :| YIKES.

Lastly, I'm still toying with food ideas, trying to find replacements for noodles. I took a picture of my zucchini noodles in Pho. I think they shine best in the delicious pho broth. I don't even miss the rice noodles to be honest. The only thing is that they are very low calorie, and when you run as much as I do, you really need all the calories you can get.

Delicious delicious fatty beef pho with zucchini noodles.

I tried these tofu shirataki noodles. You're supposed to thoroughly rinse them, and then microwave them and pat them dry before using them. I even went the extra step and sautéed them in butter before slopping a bunch of spaghetti sauce on top, but man, they were disgusting. It might be fine for people that aren't sensitive to smells, but they smelled nasty to me and the consistency was a little too chewy for my liking. I still think spaghetti squash is the best replacement for noodles with tomato sauce.

rinsed, microwaved, patted dry, and still disgusting. 

Well that's it for now! I'll keep you updated on next week, but I'm crossing my fingers that this rest day will give my body the big boost it needs to get through another week! :) Thanks for reading!