Running Journey

My Diet

I don't really believe in dieting per se but sometimes tracking food helps keep me more accountable which I do on calorieking.com.  I have used the site before and haven't used it for quite a while.  In light of the fact that I gained 5 pounds or so since Thanksgiving I think it's time to keep myself accountable again (and work on flattening my stomach).  Below are results from my day yesterday.  I ended up running twice.  I surprised Nickie by showing up at her house and she was just about to go out on her run.  Being her "coach" I was quite happy to see that and more than happy to run some more miles for the day with her.  She didn't feel that great but did awesome.  I ended up with nearly 7 miles for the day.  My foot feels better too.  I started wearing better shoes  yesterday at work after lunch and am wearing them again today.

As I started tracking my calorie intake and outtake yesterday I was pretty happy with my first day.  I do have a problem keeping my fat level down and eating enough carbs.  I think my fiber was just a little low too but not horrible.

Tuesday, 29th January 2008

Daily Summary

Food Energy In: 1973 cals Exercise Energy Out: 81 mins, -866 cals Net Energy: 1107 cals Net Energy Budget: 1700 cals End Result: 593 Calories Under

Total Fat 91.5g / 70g Over Total Protein 94.3g Total Carbohydrate 175g / 285g Under Total Fiber 15.8g

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Lunch Run

I went on my first run in just over a week.  Wow it felt good to get out there!  I didn't struggle as bad as I thought I might.  My foot is a little irritated though and I'm thinking it's the shoes I've been wearing to work.  Blah...   The 4 miles at lunch was great.  Today is the start of my serious training for Zane Grey.  Assuming my foot cooperates.  It's only 87 days away and as Angie posted on her blog - it's got a killer ascent somewhere between 7000 and 8000 feet over 32 miles.  I got some training to do. 

I like to train myself into shape but there are not many race between now and Zane Grey for me.  I do have a 13 mile tough trail race in early March and plan to push myself hard there for a good training run.

In some misc news... If you have a Garmin and run ultras, Steve has come up with a good solution for charging up the battery while on the run.  I personally don't use one and was shocked to find out recently about the short battery life (short in terms of running Ultras).

OCTRs own Greg Hardesty is tackling the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica.  Today is day 3.  I can't wait to see the results.  He was 12 on day 1 and 14 on day 2 so is #13 overall (out of 45).  This guy has run sub 9 hour 50 mile races and 5:30 50Ks.  Day 2 at the Coastal Challenge saw him running a 10 hour 51K and 1/3 of the runners in his category dropped to a lower category in the race because of the difficultly!  I'm sure Greg will bounce back for day 3 and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the top 10 before it's all over.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Boring Blog??

So, I concur with some recent comments.  It's probably boring to read about running every day in my blog.  Oh another 5 mile run.  Oh I ran 3 miles today.  Okay.  I get it.  I've read blogs like that too and they get old fast.  I plan to include much more personal related stuff in here going forward.  For those of you who read my "other" blog you may want to subscribe to it via email since it will be updated a lot less frequently and will be limited to things like talking about my  job (not for a public blog) or posting my new address when I move, etc....

Speaking of moving.  My packing is in full swing.  I'm putting all my stuff into storage on Thursday in OC.  The LA move "experiment" didn't work out.  Couple that with living with your ex and it's really a bad deal all around.  Nickie spent the weekend in LA with me (our last weekend in LA).  When she left Sunday night Anna said bye to her and something about not seeing her again to which Nickie replied "ahh phooey".  I thought that was hilarious personally.  Nickie was worried it was rude but what was she supposed to do - go run up and give my ex a big hug and say "thanks for how great you treated my girlfriend while she lived with you?"  Anna made some comment to Nickie about "taking good care of Jessica".  Does she really care?  Hmph.  No matter.  Nickie does that.  No one needs to tell her to that's for sure.

So we spent a low key weekend mostly avoiding the rain.  We got out for a bit on Saturday during  a rain break and drove around the ridiculously priced mansions in the hills of Beverly.  We thought we spotted Kathy Griffin's house but I later found out that was in a completely different area and in reality we were looking at Byron Allen's house which is for sale for a bargain 7 million.  According to this page, we did likely drive past many celebrity homes.  Not that it would have mattered but it would have been cool if one of them came out of their house while we were there and we gave them a casual "hey what's up neighbor" wave and drove on.  After all, they are people just like us.  And with all the recent news about Heath Ledger and lack of news on issues like the War in Iraq, it's clear they get way too much attention already.

So my apartment is filled with boxes and my days in LA are very limited.  Starting Thursday night I'll be swapping my time between Nickie's place in SB on the weekends and Beiyi's house (from my running group) in Irvine (OC) on weeknights.  Hopefully this won't last much longer than mid March and I'll be able to move into more permanent OC digs by then.

And after all this moving is done maybe my running will get back on track.  In the battle of moving vs. running last week, moving definitely won out.   Last week's mileage = 0.  This week's projected mileage = 24.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Missing Rights

Well I'm sure some of you will disagree with this post but I guess I have to be controversial once in a while.  Maybe that's why my reader average has gone down a little :)

So, that number is interesting - right?  What is it from?  It's the total # of rights granted to married couples in the United States.  Thanks to the the Defense of Marriage Act, that means those rights are only granted to heterosexual couples.  In a few states, such as California, a gay couple can register as Domestic Partners, giving them about a dozen of those 1,138 rights.

I have to ask - just what are we defending marriage against?  Some critics against gay marriage state that it is a slippery slope.  That soon brothers and sisters will want to marry.  Groups of people will want to get married.  Allowing those "gays" to get married is the beginning of the end apparently.  And I'm not talking about re-defining marriage from a religious perspective.  If a particular religion wants to marry you or not based on your orientation they should have that right.  I'm just talking about the civil aspects of a marriage and the rights that are afforded to that under the law.

Is banning same sex marriage even legal in the United States?

The debate rages.  And it will for quite some time.  I come from a biased opinion but really - is it that harmful to let two people who love each other gather all the equal rights of marriage regardless of what gender they are??

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Training Plan

My c0untdown ticker says 95 days to my first 50K this year (and in the past 1.5 years).  I have 13.5 weeks to get myself in shape to run 31 miles.  It's possible if I kick my butt into shape.  I certainly won't be getting in the runs I need the next two weeks.   I have already completed a trail half marathon this year so that makes me feel good.

My long runs/weekly mileage are going to look something like this (starting with last weeks' totals)

10/20 (last week)
6/12 (projected this week)
12/25
14/32
16/34
18/36
20/38
13/31
22/40
15/33
24/42
25/43
17/33
8/21
31/40 (race week)

If I can stick to that plan I should have a good race.  I think :)

This past week I ran 35 miles from Saturday to Saturday.  Not a week but 8 days.  Still, it's a good amount of miles I'm starting to put in.  I only ran about 4.5 on Saturday.  I did 2.5 with  Nickie on the SBCC track (she did awesome and even did a bunch of stadium stair repeats after he run) and then ran another 2 miles before we both were done and enjoyed the views from the top of the bleachers after calling it a day on our workouts.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Back Bay Run

Thursday nights are often Run Club night for Kayla and I at Nike.  I mentioned I was going to run Back Bay in Newport if she didn't want to go to run club and she said Back Bay sounded great!  I was having a stressful day Thursday so I sent her a text asking if she wanted to run 10 mile (all the way around Back Bay).  She  joyfully agreed.  yay!  What had I gotten myself into???  I was tired and still recovering from my half marathon.  10 miles would put me at 29 miles in 5 days which is a fair amount for me as of late.

We started our run around 6:15PM.  It wasn't too cold but I did wear gloves and a jacket with my running skirt.  Things were going well.  I was optimistic we'd make it around.  Kayla had only run more than 8 miles one other time and that was 10 miles with OCTR back in October!  But she is a strong runner and it worked out.  It was a beautiful run, though somewhat stinky at times.  We ran around water nearly the entire time and beautiful view of the bay, multi million dollar mansions and the lights from all the homes dotting the hillside above Newport.  I recommend this run and definitely recommend if for safe night run.  You can run on dirt about 70% of the way as there is a dirt path along most of the Backbay trail.  The Backbay trail is also marked along the way so it's rather hard to get lost.

We both walk a large portion of the last mile.  I was pretty sore and my left foot was hurting a little.  We finished with an 11:40 pace - not too impressive for a fairly flat run but for two people who haven't been running much and definitely not much of this distance, we were both very satisfied with that time.  it's great when you have the ability to just say at a moment's notice "hey, let's go run 10 miles tonight".  It feels good indeed.

Saturday I'm running with Nickie at a track in SB.  I've bascially become her running coach and we are both pretty excited about it.  I'll run her 2.5 miles with her on the track (with walk breaks) then run another 4ish or so more.  Good times! :)

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

P.S.  I've had several request for my private blog lately.  It's mostly for people I know fairly well since there's some personal stuff shared in there about me and the people in my life.  If  you want access, email me at jessica_at_dirtyfeet_dot_us and I may or may not approve the request :)

My SB Training Runs

Seems like there is always something right?  The next two weeks will be a challenge to keep my mileage up as I am moving at the end of the month.  I need to start packing.  Moving day is set for Jan 31 and pretty  much all my stuff is going into storage for now.

I'm also going to be spending my weekends in Santa Barbara and will hopefully be getting in some good training runs up there.  If you are in the SB area or plan to be - let me know if you want to join me for a long run!  I think training in SB will be good for the upcoming Zane Grey 50K with narrow, steep and sometimes very rocky trails.   

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Second Attempt

On September 30th, 2006 I took on the Boney Mountain Half Marathon just outside of Thousand Oaks, CA.  I was sick and not feeling good.  I had thrown up a short mile in to the race.  I almost dropped a couple time and had a generally miserable experience.

The 2007 race was postponed to January 12, 2008 due to wildfires.  I was there at the starting line again hoping not to have a repeat performance of 2006's miserable 3:38 finish time..

The problem I was worried about was that I had not run at all the first week of January.  My longest run in the past 5-6 weeks had been 8 miles and it was pretty flat (Boney Mountain has nearly 3000' of climbing).  Aside from a slow 14 miler Holy Jim run in November, the Boney Half would be my next longest run of the past year.  Was I ready for it?  My goal was to beat my previous time and do it smiling.  My second goal was to beat 3:15 and my dream goal was sub 3 hours.  I knew with my lack of training that sub 3 hours was unlikely but there is nothing wrong with setting goals high.

I started out on a leisurely 10 minute pace.  The first few miles are flat to mostly downhill.  I didn't want to start out faster than 10 minute miles even on the downhill.  We soon settling into the singletrack and I was feeling okay.  It wasn't long before we hit our first climb and I started walked.  An older woman (in her 60s or 70s) trotted past me uphill.  She said I'd probably catch up with her later.  Geeseh.  I felt out of shape.  What is it with me and hills?

Finally reaching the top I cruised down the hill passing several runners, including the older woman.  What is it about me that feels good passing a 70 year old woman in a race?  I need some help.  At mile 6 I was started to struggle a little.  It was flat and I walked a bit.  I took my time going to the bathroom at the mile 6 aide station and was passed by the runners I had passed while going downhill.  I never saw that older woman again and by Nickie's account she finished 20 minutes ahead of me!  I hope I can run like that when I'm her age.  Geesh.

I was hoping to run all the way to mile 7 before the big nasty climb and my walking would begin.  However, I walked a large portion of miles 6 to 7.  I was crashed and needed some energy.  I was hoping to get to the top of the climb (mile 10) by 2:30.  With that goal I'd surely reach my 3:15 plan.  At mile 8 I was hurting and Mark Ryne came up behind me, asking how I was doing.  When asked if I needed anything I said "more energy".  He gave me an extra vanilla gu with caffeine and it was a life saver.  Thanks Mark! I kept plugging away and finally reached mile 10 at about 2:34.  I could really blow the last 3 miles at this point and still beat my previous time on this course.  I had some energy to run downhill and passed several runners.  I was feeling good and only got a little water at the mile 11.5 aide station.  The lat mile seemed long and I had to walk a few short sections. 

I rolled into the finish line at 3:10. 

A time I was very proud of.  Sub 3 would have been tough without going a bit faster up some of those hills.  There wasn't much time wasted at aide stations and I ran the downhills at a pretty decent speed.  I was happy with my time and even happier to first see supportive OCTR members greet me at the finish line - then my Nickie waiting for me ready to help me with whatever I needed.  Skip and Wendy finished shortly after me and the Boney Mountain OCTR group was all done with the race - all of us wearing big smiles on our faces as we made our way home.

It was a good day on the trails for sure!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Park for some more money

The Governator of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has proposed a round of budget cuts that involves closing 48 State Parks. 

Affected parks in the LA area include Will Rogers State Park and Topanga Canyon State Park.  Topanga plays host to at least one trail race (The Topanga Turkey Trot).  I have run on trails in both these parks but access them through Temescal Gateway Park so I'm not sure if the trails themselves would be closed or just the main parking areas/access, etc. 

There are no proposed park closures in the Orange County or San Diego areas.

Tomorrow is race day!  I'm running the Boney Mountain Half Marathon.  Just exactly how unprepared I am will become evident at about 9:30AM tomorrow morning (the race starts at 8AM).  I'm hoping for the best though.  I did a slow and easy run at  Nike Run Club last night.  I ran a very effortless 4.5 miles and could have easily run more miles (hopefully almost 9 more).

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

 

My Lion Tracks

Last night at 6PM I met up with Kayla and Bobbie for a nice run on the Bellview Trail near Coto De Caza.  This trail also leads directly into Caspers Wilderness Park and connects directly to the Cleveland National Forest, allowing direct access for wildlife without them having to traverse populated areas.  Truly on the edge of the wilderness.  Kayla had never done a night trail run before so I borrowed her one of my headlamps and the three of us set out.  I was feeling a little rough the first 1.5 miles but then started really getting warmed up and by mile 2 I was feeling great.  We were considering running out for 5 before turning around and netting a total of 10 miles.

However.. just before the 2.5 mile mark (and shortly after running straight through a mud puddle I didn't notice until too late)  I saw tracks on the muddy trail.  I didn't say anything at first but then I thought I spotted something off the side of the trail.  I stopped and Kayla looked as well.  It "looked" like an animal.  That along with the tracks and I wasn't taking any chances so we walked hoping that Bobbie would realize we stopped and turn around.  He did and we caught up with him a short while later.  We turned around to run back because we were a bit spooked by this point.  Plus it was way too similar to my December 2006 incident in Whiting Ranch and there was a mountain lion sighting last week in nearby San Juan Capistrano (the lion probably got down there though this corridor).

Eventually we realized that the animal we saw was a rock.  Relief!  However, we took a closer look at the tracks then and there were definitely FRESH mountain lion tracks.  Bobbie's response was "now that is just cool!"  Silly boys... Given the time when lions are most active they were probably made within the last hour or so of us being there.  The rest of the run back was tough.  I was fried after that stop.  My heart was racing.  I lost my running mojo.  We only ran 5 for the night and definitely have a story to tell.  Be alert and stay safe out there!  Mountain lion attacks are still very rare but no need to temp fate and keep running through an area where fresh tracks have been spotted!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica