Did I really find a way to complain about January temps in the 70s? And the complaint is that it caused me to run too much. Yep.

I commented on Gracie’s “Obligatory ‘I went running in the cold’ Post” that it’s been so beautiful in San Diego. It is perhaps too cruel to even mention that for the last two weeks we’ve been experiencing June in January while the rest of the country is frozen in.

Or perhaps not.

It’s been gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! January is absolutely the best month to run in San Diego. The sun is out, the skies are clear, but the temperatures are mild. Mid 50s in the mornings and low 70s at noon.

My mom texted me a weather report on Monday:  it was -45F in Illinois.

Conditions in Chicago

Meanwhile in San Diego, it was 75F.

Conditions in San Diego the same day (a view from the reading
room at our new central library).

130 degrees warmer . . . cRAzY!

Never-ending gorgeous days, however, have their own hazards! Having just come back from cold, snowy, icy Illinois for Christmas, I ran every single day the first week of January, resulting in a 49 mile week that included a 15K race – which I ran pretty hard.

Feel sorry for me?

Race week – 49 miles…oops!

12/29 (Sunday) – 13 mile long run on OB bike path and in Mission Bay. 8:30s and 8:00s at the end.

12/30 (Monday) – 6 mile easy run on treadmill. 8:30s mostly. +yoga

12/31 (Tuesday) – 6 mile easy run in Balboa Park + 6 short, steep hill sprints (about 40 steps). These left me sore for days. +yoga

1/1 (Wednesday) – 8.5 mile easy run on OB bike path and Presidio. Never saw another runner the entire time!

1/2 (Thursday) – 4 mile easy run on treadmill. Upper body/core. +yoga

1/3 (Friday) – 2 miles easy on treadmill as warm up to long yoga/stretching session.

1/4 (Saturday) – Resolution Run 15K. 9.4 miles at average pace of 7:08. 

two little runners
Kristen

San Diego Resolution Run 15K

On Saturday, January 04, 2014, I ran the Resolution Run 15K in San Diego.This was my second time running this race. I ran over 3 minutes faster than I did in 2012, which was good enough for a new 15K PR of 1:06:55. I was the 11th female overall and 4th in my division, F30-39.  

My plan for this race was to use it as a fitness test and break through workout for my spring half marathon training.  With the help of a flat course and absolutely perfect weather conditions – no wind, 54 degrees, and overcast courtesy of a coastal eddy – I accomplished both!

Going into the race, I had in mind an average pace of 7:20. I ran the first 6 miles of the race at 7:15-7:20. This felt "comfortably hard," which is how it's supposed to feel, I guess. My breathing was relaxed and my legs felt great at these paces.

Mile 1 – 7:19:

The start was relaxed, and I easily got around some of the crowd and settled into the 7:20 pace.

Where's Kristen?

Zooooooommmmmm!

Mile 2 – 7:15:

I settled into this pace with 2 other runners.

Mile 3 – 7:14:

But I soon lost my running buddies, one to a untied shoe lace (never saw him again). And the other picked up the pace to around 6:50, so I let her go. But I kept her pink shirt in my sights.

Mile 4 – 7:19:

I passed four female runners this mile around Fiesta Island.

Course Map

 Mile 5 – 7:16:

A race of 500 runners, and I was alone on the course this mile. So check out the outfit. I wore arm warmers for the first time. They seem like a silly and completely unnecessary item of clothing. And they probably are. But I was exactly the right temperature in them.

Note sure what this finish line was doing here in mile 5. 

Mile 6 – 7:14:

Miles 5 to the end were on an out and back straight away. I like courses designed like this so I can see the fast runners and be inspired. And, most importantly, count what place female I am. I was 15th. I decided to try to push the pace in the last 5K of the race to 7:00 minute miles.

Mile 7 – 7:01:

Passed 2 female runners in this mile and was slowly closing in on the pink shirt runner that I had let go of in mile 3.

Mile 8 – 6:58:

Passed 1 more female runner. Still closing on pink shirt runner, but she had picked up the pace too. I still had a lot of energy left, and breathing was pretty good. Just a little choppy, so I ran the rest of the race fast.

Mile 9 – 6:50:

Starting to breath heavy at this pace and point in the race. Still behind pink shirt runner.

And to the finish (~0.4 miles) – 2:28 (6:24 av pace):

I caught up to pink shirt runner after mile 9.  She was listening to head phones, so she couldn't hear my heavy breathing.  I stayed behind her, and then I surged by in the last quarter mile or so, beating her by 5 seconds.  I felt sort of petty for doing this. Thinking back, 24 hours later, with the competitive instinct worn off, I wish I would have said to her, “Come on, let’s sprint to the finish!”

Oh well… 

But I was proud of myself for keeping the idea of staying with her in my mind the entire race and being tough enough to catch her in the last 3 miles. She was about 100 meters ahead of me most of the way.

It was also great to negative split and be able to pass a lot of people in the final miles and feel strong (recommended) instead of going out faster, trying to hang on, and feeling like death (not recommended). In this race, the two approaches might have resulted in the same time, but I strongly prefer being the passer not the passed!

two little runners
Kristen

Two Little Runners 2013 Roundup

In typical TLR fashion, after all the other blogs have started writing out their goals for 2014, we're only just getting around to rounding up last year. Cummon you guyzzzzaaah, we're busy busy lawyers 'n' all that. An excuse that would work if we'd actually been, you know, at work.

Aaaaanyway, here's how our 2013 played out:

January and February  

Triaaaaaal omggghhhhaaaadddd its sooooo haaaaarrrrrribleeeeeee!

March

Whipping ourselves back into shape because triaaaaaal omggghhhhaaaadddd its sooooo haaaaarrrrrribleeeeeee.

Also, Penny, placing in a chilly half marathon in Rhode Island, wins enough cash to cover less than half the race entry! Score!

She decides not to give up her day job.

April

Back in shape, Kristen places first in Mission Trails 10K and sets a new 5K PR at Carlsbad 5000! 

Carlsbad 5000 (Kristen not pictured)

May

Kristen begins 5 month injury-induced silence after a training run unexpectedly results in a freak ankle sprain.

Penny runs her marathon debut and learns about climbing and descending stairs as a geriatric.

June

Kristen's silence continues...

Penny recovers from marathon and the key-lime-pie-induced coma that was a holiday to the Florida Keys, to discover the joys of running in New York City in the spring...

...before descending into the pits of more work-hell, resulting in another long stay in San Diego, and less sleep, less running and even more cortizol than trial. But happily ending in some good times with Kristen. 

What do two little runners do when they're not really running? 

Yep.

July

Kristen: Crickets continue...

Penny could use a cricket or two, after bailing on her first and only vaguely-set goal of running a 5K race. Big moment. Not really worth a hyperlink.

August

Kristen, the silent...

Penny sets her sights on the Philadelphia Rock n Roll half marathon and Philadelphia full marathon as her Fall race goals. And tries to remember how to run in stinking sweaty east coast summer heat. 

NYC, your beauty belies your stinkiness. 

And spends some much needed time in Australia with family and carb-loading on wine and cake. 

For Gracie who loved the cake pics more than the people pics :)

September

Kristen: The silent period.

Penny: Finds Kristen! Forces her to eat oysters and disgusting sea urchin ice cream.

Trust us, you dont want to see that ice-cream again.

Penny also runs the Rock N Roll half in Philly resulting in a lovely PR....

....and even lovelier stress reaction of her femoral neck!

October

Kristen breaks silence!!! Vows to run (and blog) again!!

Penny takes her injured-running-blogger's vow of silence, broken only briefly for a lovely hike. 

November

Kristen's back! Racing a 3 mile turkey trot with Dad!

It was cold

Penny tried pool-running a few times but didn't write about it cos it sucked. The end.

December

Two Little Runners goes international. 

Penny moves home to Australia.

Doing some of this: 

More of this:

And plenty of this:

 And as great as it is to be home again.... can't wait til 2014 brings more of this:

Happy New Year!

~  Penny and Kristen  - TLRs

Wanted: Half Mary Training Plan

I want to find a training plan for my next goal race (March 9, San Diego Half). So far, I've been generally base building and increasing mileage slowly, preparing for harder workouts in late December, January, and February.

Last half I trained for, I followed Jeff Galloway's half marathon plan. But I can't really evaluate the results because of bad weather conditions at that race (epic winds). The cornerstone of the Galloway plan was lots of speed work (weekly). Also weekly long runs, and less emphasis on tempos. I think the plan got me into great shape. But given my recent injury, doing all that speed work would put me at too high of risk for re-injury.

Anyone have a reco for a half marathon training plan???

As I already reported, I had a pretty good showing in the 3 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving! Last time I ran a race, back in April at the Carlsbad 5000, I remember my joints aching beforehand and my body generally complaining afterwards. And then I ran another 5 miles.

{{{shuddering}}} at the foolishness.

A few weeks later, to my great surprise (at the time), I sprained my ankle. Likely because my joints were not recovering from my 55 mile weeks, but I pressed on with 10 mile tempos, epic speed workouts, etc.

I learned from my mistake, the hard way (as usual): I cut back in mileage for the race. I ran only three days, but they were all outdoor runs. No treadmill! This is my highest outdoor mileage so far this training cycle.

Still base building - race week/cut back week: 18.5 miles

Monday – 11/25

     Legs/core weights

Tuesday – 11/26

     Stuck at work all day/night.

Wednesday – 11/27

     Travel to Illinois.

Thursday – 11/28 THANKSGIVING!

     Ran a 3 mile race in 19:19.  + warm up and cool down for 5 miles total

Friday – 11/29

     Bowling with my fam, does that count as exercise?

Saturday – 11/30

     5.5 miles easy with 10 strides of about 100 m. Strides made me sore!! 

Sunday – 12/1

     8.0 miles easy.

two little runners
~Kristen

City of Bloomington 3 Mile Turkey Trot at Miller Park

I went back to my hometown (Bloomington-Normal, IL) to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, nephew, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. And their seven dogs. My family has been taken over by members of the canine variety.

Otis and Roy

Post-turkey naps with Emma and Pa

(Not pictured - Jo, Hannah, Daphne, and Daisy.)

I was very thankful to spend the day with my family. I haven’t seen them enough in the last few years. Especially this crazy guy!

Nephew Nilo
The only time he holds still for a picture is in his car seat!

In keeping with my Thanksgiving racing tradition, I ran a turkey trot for the third year in a row on Thursday. I was very excited about this race because my dad ran too! And because it was my first race in costume! And because it was my first race since spraining my ankle (however, I still can’t go an entire post without mentioning that)!

It was cold!!!

This was my dad’s first race since his days as a track and cross country star in college. He trained for the race by completing the Runkeeper beginner 5K training plan.

Our race was a 3 miler. There were a lot of turns, but none of them very sharp, so they didn’t slow us down at all. The course was, for the most part flat, and on wide streets in and around the park. It was a great course, although it measured a little bit short, which I ended up being grateful for in the end…

We experienced a little bit of wind, and it was pretty cold.  The lake in the park was partially frozen.

The race was untimed – but free – so no places were given out. A lot of very fast runners showed anyway (the first person crossed in 14:10, I heard). My impression was that a lot of cross country runners were home for the holidays. I saw a lot of cross country team sweatshirts from nearby colleges and high schools.

I went out very, very fast (having lined up near the front with all the cross country runners). But then settled into a rhythm by about the half mile mark.

By about end of the first mile, I had formed a nice little group with about a half a dozen other runners – a few high school cross country runners and a few thirtysomething old farts. I stayed in the back of the pack, using them to block the wind. The pack was going a little bit faster than I had planned, but I decided to stay with them.

The group broke up in the last half mile of the race when a few runners started to kick. I kicked with them and crossed the finish line – dying – in 19:19. The course was a little bit short, so it was an average pace of 6:51.

I was very happy with an average pace that began with a ‘6.’ I was projecting a little bit slower pace, since it was colder than I’m used to, and I didn’t do a proper warm up. I also think I’m in a little better shape than I thought I was. What a nice surprise! The ankle held up very well. No pain during the race, or after.

two little runners

~Kristen

Life Update: Two Little Runners Go Multinational

So I promised some news.  Well, after 5 years of living as an immigrant in, and finally becoming a citizen of, the United States, my husband and I have decided to return back to my native land, Australia. We both fortuitously found jobs there at the same time, and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We will be leaving in less than two weeks time, and will be home with my family in Melbourne for Christmas. In the New Year, we will be setting up shop in Sydney, where we'll be living (when Im not sneaking down to Melbourne to cuddle my new nephew and drink good coffee with my dad)...

I'm really grateful to be able to live closer to my family and friends for the first time in a long time. But I am also very sad to be leaving my American friends and family, and even my work. And of course, it is especially tough to leave Kristen, my co-worker, fellow little runner, and my dearest friend here! [I have spent my recovery time concocting a devious plan to trick her into moving to Sydney with me... all for the continuity and cohesiveness of the blog, of course...]

KRISTEN AUSTRALIA IZ SO MUCH COOLERZ THAN HERE

Does that count as a subliminal message? I may need to work on the subtleties and finer nuances of this scheme...
 
As for this here blog? Well, you may get blog postings at all hours of the night (US time), but Im not going anywhere from the etherwebs! Two Little Runners will now just be a multinational venture! And you all get to see pictures of the marvelous runs, trails and races you will get to do if you come visit the greatest country in the world [that means you kristen]!

I'll leave you with some pictures of some of my favorite parts of NYC that we have been visiting recently through the Fall and Thanksgiving:

Jazz Festival and Fall leaves in Central Park...

The NYC skyline from the top of the Statue of Liberty...

Climbing Lady Lib, herself...

 (Not as good a workout as you'd think)

 The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree (being lit tonight!)

 My favorite building (and workplace) in New York...Mr. Chrysler:

 

And its lobby...

 

My train station, Grand Central...

 My favorite person, and my favorite NYC Bridge, the Brooklyn...

 

NYC lights from the top of Rockefeller Center ....this is the Empire State Building (obvs)...

 Central Park and Uptown...

 Empire State, Chrysler Building and the Lower East Side

Injury Update: Femoral Neck Stress Reaction

Hey ho... so as it seems to be customary on this blog, I went underground while healing from my femoral neck stress reaction.

Im now back to running, but wanted to fill in the gaps of what I've done in the last 10 weeks by way of cross-training and rehab.

Bullet points work best when you have tons of thoughts and are a shitty blogger. So here is the run (HAR HAR) down of my injury.

• SYMPTOMS: very very minor groin pain, prior to racing a half marathon. During race, I experienced no pain, but could not warm down afterwards. Pain was in the front of the hip and was at about an 8-9 on the pain scale (with weight bearing). I could not hop or climb stairs and hip had a "giving out" feeling. No aches at night, like a traditional stress fracture, however.
• DIAGNOSIS: stress reaction, precursor to a stress fracture in the femoral neck. Via MRI.
• CAUSE: Diet, mostly. Low to moderate bone density due to too low calorie intake and not enough calcium/Vitamin D, coupled with high mileage (55+ pw).
• TREATMENT PLAN: 8 weeks no running. 3 weeks completely off, with only 2 short elliptical and 3 swim sessions, when I was still undiagnosed.
• CROSS-TRAINING: 5 weeks of cross training and LIGHT leg strength. I cross-trained mostly on the ProCore ellipticals; the ones where you can crank up the incline so you're only using your gluts. It took all the impact off my hip and I experienced no pain using them. 
•  STRENGTH: I managed about one leg strength (pain/discomfort dependent) session per week, with either light weights or body weight. I also did about one core session (plus random planks) and one upper body session per week.
• REHAB: Stretching, lots of hip flexor, glut and ITB stretches. Foam rolling, especially ITB and quads.
• DIET CHANGES: in addition to more overall calories, I added, daily, a cup of greek yogurt, a chocolate milk, a cup of plain almond milk and a Vitamin D/Calcium supplement at night.
• RETURN TO RUNNING:I am using this plan, by Pfizinger, for returning to running after a stress fracture. I am presently on week 3, and am running every second or third day, depending entirely on how my hip feels. If Im feeling any discomfort (which only ever is about a 1 on the pain scale) or weakness in the injured area, Im NOT running. 

That last bullet point identifies the hardest part of recovery for me, and probably most runners. When you're aaaaaalmost 100% but not quite. But as I told a friend recently, recovery is not a race with a finish line. Its a process that takes time; and is frequently two steps forward, one step back. Its important to be in touch with your OWN body, and adapt to ITS healing schedule; rather than the advertised "healing time" for your injury... or even what your doctor has projected. I think we're all guilty of just deciding "Ok, its been 8 weeks! Should be recovered now, so off to run!", regardless of how the injury actually feels. Frequently our bodies just dont adhere to anyone else's schedule but their own.

Anyway, enough of that preachyness. I'll be back in a day or two to give you a much more important life update! 

~ Penny