Fueling to Perform

[Konstantin]

Great to read all this progress, 20 mins off a PB is great progress. If you continue to improve at this rate, after five races you will have a world record and another three will see you finishing just before you start!

Any speed training right now, or is it just going out and running?

[dextera]

Great to read all this progress, 20 mins off a PB is great progress. If you continue to improve at this rate, after five races you will have a world record and another three will see you finishing just before you start! Any speed training right now, or is it just going out and running?

Thanks! Haha, I highly doubt I'm ever going to come near a world record, but it was nice to imagine for a minute! I would like to fit in two more speed sessions before next Sunday's half marathon. This week has been recovery and just getting back into running, and next week is going to be another taper, so I'll take it slow.

hey lovely to see you not hiding
trust me for 13miles you are looking fantastic

Thanks Fruitbat!

Thursday's Fuel:
-1 glass vegetable juice (tomato, celery, beet)
-smoothie: 1 banana, 1 nectarine, 1/2 cup mixed berries, 2 cups kale
-2 apples
-peanut butter on whole grain toast (2 slices)
-smoothie: 2 bananas, 1 nectarine, 2 cups kale, 1 tsp maca, 1 tbsp flax seed
-1 cup barley, 1/2 cup green peas
-1 glass carrot juice
-1 cup mixed berries
-1 whole grain pancake with maple syrup

Thursday's Exercise:
-30 min on the elliptical trainer
-10 min rowing: I haven't used the rowing machine in years, it was fun to try something new!
-35 min run: 70% flat/30% steep hills, some trail running

Goals for the weekend:
-6-8 mile run
-1 hour of yoga

[dextera]

This weekend I almost felt as if I was coming down with something, so I rested. I'm feeling better, but still taking a vitamin C and drinking extra water.

Monday's Fuel:
-2 cups watermelon
-1 cup granola
-1 apple
-1 cup blueberries
-smoothie: 3 cups kale, 2 bananas, 2 peaches
-2 slices whole wheat bread
-1/2 cucumber
-1/2 cup barley, 1/2 cup peas and corn
-1 cup mixed greens
-1 slice pizza (homemade): cornmeal crust, tomato sauce, garlic, olives, onion
-ginger tea

Monday's Exercise:
-35 min on the elliptical trainer
-25 min on the stationary bike

*I decided to save up my motivation for running for when I'll really need it on Sunday. I'm almost burnt out and tired of running, so I need to save my energy. I still got a great workout on the bike though! I'm looking forward to starting a new routine after I run Sunday's half marathon and recover. I love running, but I really need to change things up...more yoga, hiking, biking, stairs, rowing...etc.

[dextera]

07/24/07

Tuesday's Fuel:
-1/2 canteloupe
-1/2 cup cherries
-soy protein drink
-1 cup blueberries
-1/4 cup walnuts
-1 apple
-smoothie: 3 cups parsley, 2 peaches, 1 banana
-1 cup garbanzo beans
-1/2 cup broccoli
-1 cup green pepper/cucumber
-1 glass vegetable juice (tomato, beet, celery)
-1 cup white rice and curry

*Today's eating was great, except for the white rice at dinner. I have brown rice at home, but my boyfriend doesn't like it, he'll only eat white rice. So I was lazy and I didn't want to cook 2 different pots of rice.

Tuesday's Exercise:
-35 minutes on the elliptical trainer
-core exercises (abs, lower back)
-30 minute run, fast pace

*On this run another runner passed me toward the beginning, but then I caught up to him about 10 minutes later and smoked him on a steep hill! Yeah!

[soniczip]

On this run another runner passed me toward the beginning, but then I caught up to him about 10 minutes later and smoked him on a steep hill! Yeah!

surely thanks to the white rice

[dextera]

Wednesday's Fuel:

-smoothie: 1/2 canteloupe, 3 cups mixed greens
-1/2 cup cherries
-1/2 cup granola
-soy protein drink
-1/2 cup blueberries
-1 apple
-4 dates
-guacamole: 1/2 avocado, 2 cups bok choy
-1 cup garbanzo beans
-1 glass vegetable juice (tomato, beet, celery)
-1/2 cup corn
-1 slice homemade pizza: cornmeal crust, onion, olives, garlic, tomato sauce


Wednesday's Exercise:

-35 minutes on the elliptical trainer
-20 minutes on the stationary bike

[dextera]

Thursday's Fuel:
-2 cups watermelon
-1/2 cup cherries
-smoothie: 1/2 canteloupe, 3 cups parsley
-1 cup granola with rice milk
-1 apple
-1 cup blueberries
-roasted vegetable sandwich (red peppers, eggplant, mushroom) on focacca bread
-1/2 cup mashed potatoes
-1 cup vegetable soup *Inspired by reading soniczip's log!

Thursday's Exercise:
-35 min on the elliptical machine
-10 minutes yoga/stretching

-----

I AM SO NERVOUS/EXCITED/ANXIOUS!

Sunday is the San Francisco Half Marathon!


I ran this same race last year as my first ever half marathon, and now I'm doing it again. It's a beautiful course, around the bay and over the Golden Gate Bridge. This is what all of my training has been building up for! I had originally wanted to beat 2 hours, but from the results of my last half marathon in Napa, I only finished that one in 2:12. This course has more hills, and I think it will be more difficult than Napa was. I still would love to push for 2 hours, but I will be thrilled if I can beat 2:12!

Race time: 5:45 am
Need to leave the house: 4:30am
Get up at: 3:30am

Saturday I'm going to focus on eating well, especially plenty of carbs and low on the fiber intake. Maybe do some yoga/stretching, and get plenty of fluids in me.

Three of my coworkers are running this race also, so I feel the pressure to beat them. One of them I know will run faster than me, but the other two I'm challenging myself to beat. And they're all guys, so I really would love to beat any of them! (Because don't guys run faster than girls, on average, because they have a lower percantage of body fat to muscle?) I'm going to push for it.

The weather at the start time will probably be 56 degrees, and by the time I'm finished, it will be about 65, according to weather.com. This should be perfect running weather...I'll start out a little bit cool wearing my shorts and tank, but then be comfortable once I get going. At least the wind is not too bad early in the morning, because running in the wind on the Golden Gate Bridge can be a big bummer!

I am going to give it my all.

[Fancymushroom]

GOOD LUCK DEXTERA! Hope it goes well -you deserve a good time as you have put in all the hard work!

[ultra_whippet]

Yeah, good luck Dextera!

[buzz]

Good luck with the race dextera - hope you manage to nail the sub 2.12 time you're after!

[soniczip]

good luck dextera, and smash your target

[Flare]

All the best for you!!!

[Konstantin]

Don't keep us waiting! How did you get on?

[dextera]

Thank you everyone for your comments wishing me good luck!

I did it My official time was 2:04:44! A personal best by far! I am very proud of this accomplishment!



The first 6 miles I was keeping a great pace, but then around mile 7 my legs and feet started to cramp up, which was a bit frustrating. Luckily, that didn't last too long, and I was able to get back into my groove.

The weather was wet! It was really foggy and overcast. My clothes were soaked through, and I wasn't sure if it was from the mist/fog or sweat!

It was a huge event, there were so many people there! 5,000 ran the 1st half marathon, about another 5,000 ran the 2nd half marathon, and the full marathon had another 5,000 people! It was great because for an event this big, the city was able to close off the Golden Gate Bridge, and all of the streets that we were running on, so there was no traffic interfering with the runners.

I'm going to take at least the next 2 days off from any exercise, probably 3 days of rest would be better.

[Konstantin]

Great result, congratulations! Great progress again, another chunk off your time.