I'm confused. I posted about my chicken butchering experience but suddenly it's not showing my blog anymore and it reverted it to an old draft? Did anyone see that post? Am I going crazy?

Anyway, this post will be more running related, I promise. I got out four times this week, all different types of runs. It was good!

The first run was supposed to be an easy 6 mile MAF run. I've been struggling with MAF lately, and can't seem to slow myself down as slow as I used to be. My heart rate hovers around 151, and getting it down those two extra beats are really difficult for me. I think that's the result of adding in speedwork. My legs just have a difficult time switching gears.

I wasn't planning to run on Wednesday but it was National Running Day, how could I not? I was going to hop on the treadmill for an easy one miler after weightlifting and before climbing. I hate the treadmill with a fiery passion, so I was surprised when I kept going. My one miler turned into 2. Then I decided to do some intervals for old time's sake (that's what I used to do). I would run an easy 6mph for 2 minutes, then 8mph for 1 minute, then back to the 2 minutes easy and so on. I did that for an additional four miles.

So I guess I have a love hate relationship with treadmills. They are soft on the legs, and the new fancy treadmills at the gym are very luxurious and have these tiny little fans that cool the gross amounts of sweat pouring off my face. The best thing is that they have protruding handles that have speed adjustment buttons and elevation adjustment buttons, so I don't have to lean forward and button mash to change them. 

Friday I ran another easy 10k at MAF. It was going great until I kept hitting swarms of gnats. Every runner has probably gone through a swarm of gnats at one point or another, but this was disgusting. They cling to my arms and shirt as I run through (and probably my face and hair), so after frantically brushing one swarm off, I would hit another. And another. At the end of my run I hit about 10 in a row, and started to panic (hr up to 160) wondering if they were just following me or if I really was that unlucky. I guess that's what you get living near waste plants and water.

Yesterday (Saturday) Jon and I ran up Montara Mountain. He really has been aching to get in some vert to prepare for the Double Dipsea. I ran a half marathon up this mountain a couple of years ago. It was...memorable to say the least. With 2900' of gain, I remember hearing this ultra-marathoner tell me how it was an easy entry level trail. Then I cried a little inside. After a couple years and many more trails, I guess I would have to agree. It's a beautiful and mostly gentle trail. They even smoothed out all the rough sections and added in some soft dirt so it's easier than the first time I ran it. 

The clouds pour in!

A view of Pacifica from an overlook on Montara Mountain

I am unbelievably out of trail running shape. I was run/walking/finding-any-excuse-to-take-a-photo. Hills destroy me. I can run straight up for about a mile, but as soon as I start walking it's over. 

We ran to the top of Montara, passing through so many microclimates and different scenery. It started out a bit hot at the bottom, but you wind through some beautiful eucalyptus trees. 

As we climbed closer to the top we could feel the clouds pouring over the mountain tops, and the plants were lush and sprinkled with wildflowers. There was even a moment in the valley where the winds were strong, and the clouds were thick and cold. I loved it. I think it's so interesting how flowers like this just pop out of the ground in unexpected places.

Once we hit the summit, we ran back down to do another smaller loop to get in the extra elevation. Jon was flying, he's become such a great trail runner over the past couple of years, I'm so proud *sniff sniff*. I just watch him float up the mountain as I grunt and groan breaking into walks every .05 miles. Yes that's right, .05.

This part was rough...See Jon at the top?

I think this is the summit? 

Things I need to work on for trails: uphills, and downhills. Ha! While running downhill I was trying to think of leaning forward and moving my feet quick. The trail was mostly smooth, and soft dirt. About a mile away from the car, as I was doing probably an 8 min mile, my foot caught a raised tree root and I smashed into the ground. I remember just seeing a blur of trees and dirt as I face planted.

I screamed. I quickly assessed my body and realized that I probably hadn't broken any bones. I got up, brushed off all the dirt and leaves that I could, and then slowly meandered toward the car. I was able to break back into a slow jog, and then decided to just continue running after meeting back up with Jon. It sucked though. Everyone that I passed gave me concerned looks. I could not hide the amount of dirt that I was covered in.

Jon says I did what they call a "Yard Sail."

Lots of scrapes and bruises, but I'm okay! I didn't hit the elevation or mileage that I was aiming for (I really wanted to hit 3000ft), but the adrenaline was wearing off at the end and the pain was becoming more apparent. I did get in about 2600 ft and 12 miles, so I'll take it. 

I still have no idea how I'm going to manage the Double Dispea. Just thinking about it gives me anxiety. 4,500 feet with charmingly descriptive trail names such as "Cardiac" and "Insult". It's not going to be pretty. The fall certainly didn't boost my self esteem either.

And nowww I have whiplash. I guess I'm grateful that the knees are ok but bending my head down is awful. Whiplash was the last thing on my mind yesterday. Getting old, Folks.

My battle wounds

Today I am taking the day 100% off. All this weightlifting, running, and climbing makes for a very tiring week. It doesn't help that the weightlifting plan is now bumped up to 6 days a week. Hm. I'll probably have to adjust something...

BTW I do realize that when you click on the photos you can't see the enlarged version. I'm not very tech savvy, so if anyone has any ideas on how I can fix it I'd love to know! :D Otherwise I will just try to enlarge them in the blog.

That's all for now!

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Montara Mountain, MAF, and my first real fall on the trails.

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The past week and a half I've been sticking with a rather rigorous plan of running most mornings (4x's a week), and then at night heading to the gym 4-5x's a week for weights followed by a brief climbing session. I know, it's kind of psychotic, but I'm seeing some pretty significant gains and I have a lot of energy. Another bonus...sleeping like a total rock lately. I used to get up to go pee every night, but now...I just pee in the bed. Just kidding. But seriously, I sleep through the entire night - SOLIDDD. I feel like I just sink into bed. Ah...bed.

My climbing has improved as well! I just finished my second V4 (since coming back into training), and each night I seem to make progress on problems that I've been working on. I feel confident on most 3's, which is kind of where I was before I stopped climbing. What surprises me most is that after a grueling 45 min weightlifting workout, it strangely gives me more power in my climbing. You would think I would be spent, but I think it gives me an adrenaline boost or something.

The weights have been tough. I am sore almost every night, and this is my 3rd week in. Things are amping up each week. Now the workouts are a bit longer, there's 5 of them a week, and the breaks are shorter. Most recently, the leg workout nearly killed me. It's been three days and they are STILL pretty achy. The worst part is that I just checked the schedule and realized tomorrow is ANOTHER leg day. *groan*

These One-Legged Deadlifts are kind of the worst. They look easy, and the first few definitely are, but they are deadly! I find that with deadlifts, the first ones you do are always the worst as far as soreness after. Hopefully tomorrow won't be so painful.

I think the weakest part of my body is by far my chest and triceps. My back is in decent shape from the climbing, and the legs are good from running (for the most part), but I certainly abandoned my chest and tris. Come back to me, precious muscles!

Somehow I managed to head out to Mt. Diablo on Sunday with Jon to try to run up it. I keep making the mistake of sleeping in, even though I know better. We didn't get started until 10:00am, and the sun was scorching. So much regret...

I hadn't had such an awful "run" in a long time. We were pretty much hiking up the entire thing. Jon had picked this new alternative route, thinking it would get us up there faster than our previous 16 mile summit. Well, the shorter version was technically less mileage, but wow was it steep. 

We only managed to get to Eagle's Peak, a neighbor summit to Diablo. Jon and I had not prepared for that kind of heat, and each only brought about a liter of water. I was rationing mine out to make sure I didn't drink it all, so we were becoming dehydrated fast. We both were feeling not so hot, so we decided to turn back early to be on the safe side. In the last couple of miles, I found some energy and was able to do a decent jog, but most of it was a slow trudge.

Data stolen from Jon's Strava (his was most accurate)

Oh! And I got myself some Hoka One One Challenger ATR's. I love my Cliftons so much, that I figured I needed to try these out since they are basically identical but with a trail tread. I can't say it was love at first run. I am used to my cloud-like Cliftons, and the Challenger's seem a bit heavier, and stiffer. I probably just need to break them in. They look great though! 

New out of the box!

one trail run later...

Lastly, my garden has been on my mind a lot. Oh, and chickens! My four baby chicks arrive June 22nd, and we are going to build a coop this weekend. Pretty excited! On a more dark note, we are also taking a class for home butchering: fowl edition. I have to admit, I'm a little terrified, but I also feel like I want to know where my food comes from, and to fully appreciate every bit that I get. That's a whole different blog though there...

My monster turnip

My beautiful tomatoes!

More to come for next week! I don't know which trails we'll hop on this weekend. As always, stay tuned for more!

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Still trying to get buff, and our attempt to summit Diablo (again)

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Ah, the end to probably one of the most active weeks of my life! I will sleep well tonight.

This weekend was packed full of activity. Saturday, Rini took me out for some outdoor rock climbing in Cragmont Park in Berkeley. This park kind of popped up out of nowhere in the middle of a very residential area. There was one porta potty there, which was nice, and the park was full of climbers. We got there around 2:30, and after a half hour everyone cleared out and we had the place to ourselves!

I need to give another special thanks to Rini, because she taught me a lot, and was brave enough to have me belay her (first time outdoors). Honestly, it was terrifying. I'm not used to climbing on a wall without noticeable holds. It didn't help that I started out with a 510.b for my first climb. I was hoping for like...a 5.4 ladder. Did I mention that I have a slight fear of heights? What you can't see from the static photo is that my legs were visibly trembling. I was also pretty scared to hold someone's dear life in my own two hands, using a device that was new to me. :| Luckily, the simplicity of the device, combined with my sheer terror resulted in the safety of my friend. 

After a handful of climbs to get myself a bit more used to it, a couple of Rini's very experienced and buff rock climbing friends joined us, and we decided to try out some bouldering at Indian Rock which was four blocks away. 

If you don't know all the climbing terms, what we did with the rope was top roping. Bouldering is without a rope, and you have these portable pads that you bring to land on. I prefer bouldering in the gyms for speed, technique, and independence, but outdoor it scares the daylights out of me because the pads aren't as thick, and you have to land more precisely on them. If you land wrong, you can hurt yourself pretty quick.

The thing about Indian Rock was that the climbs were pretttttty long. I definitely start to get nervous after about 13-15 feet. Some of these climbs reached a point beyond no return, so I decided to stick with either the super easy stuff or playing around with traverses (just sideways climbing). Once I build up some confidence, I'll come back to give it another shot.

Prior to all this climbing madness, Jon and I drove to the nearby Wunderlich County Park for a "quick" trail run. I wasn't feeling the run, and almost chose to sleep in and not go at all. I seem to have a lot of inner conflict when it comes to choosing whether I want to wake up early to run or not.

Following Jon through the eucalyptus and redwood trees

I have to say that I think Wunderlich might be bumped up to my new favorite trail to run on. I still love Huddart's shaded and soft paths, but Wunderlich varied a bit more, and I feel like the ascent was more gradual but regular. 

After two miles in, I really started to get into the groove, and my original plan of doing 5 miles turned into a 9 mile run. 

The best part of it was getting to the 4.5 mile mark, and hitting the cloud line. I thought it was raining! The forest looked so eerie and mystical. Not to mention that's when I turned around and coasted the 4.5 downhill miles. 

Entering the eerie forest

This awesome burnt stump was probably over 5' across.

Jon and I ended our Saturday with some food at Mission Heirloom. It was a bad time for a paleo dinner, because all I had eaten before this were three eggs and a protein bar. PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN. I wanted to gag. I also wanted carbs. BAD. We had an extremely active day and a burger salad wasn't going to cut it.

After crashing from all that activity, I woke up bright and early to head out to a Superhero 10k Fun Run for a Cure (benefiting blood cancer research). Rini and I had won spots in the race through our premium active.com membership. I will definitely be donating to the cause though, because it was well worth it and a very cute and fun race!

We jogged two miles to the start from my house, and then went all out for the 10k. I tried keeping up with Rini but apparently her cape gave her superhero powers and she was uncatchable. She moved even faster on the 2nd loop around!

My heart was PUMPING. I have a hard time pushing the pace now a days, so this was a real effort for me. My hr average was 173! It seems about right for race pace.

The funny thing is that Rini and I actually finished 1st and 2nd overall in the 10k race! Granted, I doubt many people even signed up for the 10k race. And it's the same day as the super duper popular Bay to Breakers race, that attracts tens of thousands of participants. I'll still take it though.

I loved seeing all the little kids dressed as super heroes. They had their own kids race around a small circle, it was so cute! Amazingly almost everyone that ran had dressed up! It was really fun, and I'll be back for more next year!

Alright, that's enough out of me. Time to hit the hay to start another crazy week! I'm going to try my best to focus on slowing down and giving my heart a break. :)

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Rock Climbing, Trail Running, and a Superhero Fun Run 10k

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Cover photo credit goes to Rini Sugianto. Thanks! 

It's been a while! I haven't had much time to update the blog, but I'm sneaking a post in at my lunch hour. 

I've been doing a lot of different things lately, mainly because I can't seem to focus or make up my mind. That seems to be the trending topic lately, but I think I am starting to narrow things down. 

Last week I did my first Adventure Run of the year!!! These are runs that happen the first Thursday of every month at the San Carlos Road Runner Sports. I am a big fan of them. Basically, you get to the store where they have a little festival/event set up with fun booths. You can try new products, I often wear the shoes that they lend out. Then you are given a map, and you run to each spot to collect raffle tickets. After an hour, you race back, and sit with a cold beerski and win prizes. 

This time, my friend Brian who regularly goes with me, won two gift certificates. I won a fleece blanket, which I'll throw onto the growing pile of random blankets. I really just enjoy the sprinting from point to point (averaging about an 8 min mile). Oh, and this dog totally made himself at home on my lap while we waited for the raffle to start.

Friday through Sunday I spent either in the car riding to/from Mammoth Lakes, or spending time in the actual mountains! It was my first time visiting there, and I absolutely loved it. My very gracious and badass friends, Rini and her husband Brandon (SERIOUSLY, check out his photography RIGHT NOW), gave me a taste of hiking/backpacking/mountaineering by making our way up to Crystal Crag. We weren't expecting snow, especially the amount that was there. I welcomed it with open arms, and for most of the trail we were the first footsteps, but it did make the potential climb up Crystal Crag to be icy, so we didn't make it to the summit. I guess they figured they didn't want to scare me to death, and wanted to leave this as a pleasant inviting experience. Good call, Guys.

Rini scrambling up to Crystal Crag

A view from the top. Gorgeous!

A little snowman we made. Asian snowman.

Not to toot my own horn, but I love this shot I took of Rini!

The badass couple that you will be seeing more of

A classic Brandon Riza shot, my first time being over 10k (that I remember)

We made it! I'm still alive!

Amazing views, eh? I had a blast, and surprisingly wasn't sore after. I think the best part was playing in the snow, I haven't seen the stuff in years! I only half-wish we could have climbed to the top, I still am a baby and the idea of it kind of freaks me out. I'm grateful to have such experienced mountaineers as friends that don't mind having a newbie slow them down. ;)  We will be back for more, for sure.

And of course, we needed to go for a run. I really just wanted to see what running at 8k-9k feet elevation felt like, the views were just the icing on the cake. We did an 8 mile run up to the top of Panorama Dome, with just a bit over 1k feet of total elevation. Running up there definitely was harder than normal, but surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be.

View from the top of Panorama Dome

Weeee just finished 4 miles, now back down!

Rini makes her own trails!

Running partner 4 Lyfe!

Of course a Bloody Mary had to happen. Delicious!

The trip back was long...7 or 8 hours due to closed passes, but the trip there was even longer! It was worth every minute though.

Sadly, one of my old climbing shoes rolled under the bed at the Air B&B that we were staying at. I am going to get it mailed back to me, but decided to buy a new pair in the mean time. These are the Scarpa Vapor's. I love them! I especially love how the upper has the rubber there, which keeps it from indenting into my toes like the Muiras do. They don't look too bad either...

My new climbing shoes. Love them!

Lastly, I've also been getting into weight lifting. It's been a while, and my muscles have deteriorated since my days of bootcamp/crossfit. My old trainer would shake his head at me, while I tremble and shake to press an empty bar. I'm looking forward to tracking the progress. I have a great friend, Susan, that's helping me with the process. I'm not familiar with machines, and actually kind of hate them, but I feel like I need to give them a fair chance.

So far, I have been sore every day. A good kind of sore though. I also have been climbing several times a week now too, which has significantly improved my abilities. I'm participating in the Jamie Eason's Livefit Trainer program, which is 12 weeks long and was suggested to me by Susan. I won't be doing the diet as much, but I'll keep eating clean. It's just nice to have structure again. Feel free to find me if you're on bodybuilding.com, my username is HeatherIhn.

Ah so relaxing at the gym. Latte and all.

I actually got Jon to lift weights with me!

Oh, and I'm still running of course. Not as much, and the efforts are a bit scattered. This was today's run, where I gave it a hard effort at the last three miles. I clearly lost some of my speed with the MAF training. My very hard effort is probably an 8 min mile now. I want to work on getting faster, but still doing most of my runs at MAF. I'm not sure if this is going to be a problem, and actually make me go backwards both aerobically and anaerobically, but we'll see.

This weekend I have a big 10k race that is giving me butterflies. I haven't gone all out in a 10k in a long time, so it makes me scared! I'll post all about it next time!

Last 3 miles - med/hard effort

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My trip up to Mammoth Lakes, and WEIGHTLIFTING BRAH.

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