Friday, March 5, 2010

Ready or Napa

Gorgeous day for my Sunday Crissy Field run

Sunday: 7 miles @ 10:17 pace; Boyfriend and I went down to Crissy Field. Boyfriend flew his kite while I went on a run. I affectionately call his kite, "Rainbow Brite." I am a child of the '80s.

Fly high, Rainbow Brite! Fly high! (รก la Chic Runner)

Monday: 0.4 miles in VFF; I hadn't used these in a while and was afraid I'd have really bad calf pain afterwards. But I was pain-free afterwards. I guess my muscle deterioration isn't that fast!

Tuesday: 3 miles @ 9:33 pace

Thursday: 6 miles, including 4 mi @ 8:55 pace; So it probably wasn't the smartest thing stepping up the length of my tempo pick-up today, but I've been doing 3 mile pick-ups the last few weeks and wanted to up it to a 4 mile one today.

Friday: 3 miles @ 9:51 pace; My quads were really sore today (and even the night before after my tempo run). I thought I'd be dragging heavy-as-brick legs around on this 3 miler (and even briefly thought about skipping it altogether). But once I got going I felt really strong and had to keep reminding myself I have a 26.2 mile jaunt coming up this weekend.

Boyfriend snapped this photo while we were reeling the darn thing back in. It was quite windy that day (obviously) so my new Atalanta skirt is riding up my butt, there. Don't worry, it has shorts underneath.

This Sunday I'll be running the Napa Valley Marathon for the second time. My goal is to beat my course PR which is a 4:35. I consider this course to be the fastest marathon course I have ever run -- yes, faster than CIM in my opinion -- so I think it is pretty doable. My confidence level going into recent marathons has been pretty low since I have been doing minimal running in between them. However, the last few races my body has surprised me. I really want to run a conservatively strong race. I have a lot of marathons this month and a hard effort may take me out of another race.

I have had a niggling injury ever since Austin. The night of the Austin Marathon I had the strangest pain in my butt-quad area. I think I tweaked a nerve and that it is now pinched somewhere. It has gotten slowly better, but is still not 100%. Interestingly, it bothers me a little when I walk (and especially when I sit still for long periods of time), but it does not bother me in the least when I am running. I had a pinched nerve type thing in my hip once which I was able to free up by manipulating my leg in strange ways. Haven't had much luck this time. I really hope it clears up soon. I have had some strange pains post-marathons recently and this worries me for my multiple marathon plan.

10 comments:

Hef's Mom said...

Best of luck! Hope everything feels better!

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Schedule a massage for Sunday or Monday, and go enjoy the marathon. Good luck!

Marci said...

Good luck, hope to see you in LA. I would like to run Napa one day!!
PS -your symptoms sounds like perfomis muscle.

Anonymous said...

Well dang - I'm wakling the Napa 5K but will be off to a lunch event before you finish. Have a great time!

Marathon Maritza said...

Good luck in Napa! You have become such a strong, consistent runner so just go out at the pace you want and I know you can keep it up!

Stretch stretch stretch too! To help your pinched booty muscle :-P

RG said...

Stretch - yup - should keep things from getting worse!

That's a great kite!

Hope the run went well!

Kite story: I have a pretty nice stunt kite with two handles and I can make it dive and loop. I was down on the Oregon Coast and needed more good string and went into one of those fancy coastal kite shops. I commented - "Boy, one could spend some serious dollars in here eh?" The guy next to me says - "Come on out here a minute." In the back of his van had to be several thousand dollars worth of kite stuff.

Marlene said...

Beautiful views and how fun with the kite-flying!

I hope your tweaked nerve feels okay SOON!

Alisa said...

Well, I already know that you KILLED the Napa mary! Your running is just soooooo strong. It's inspiring.

Are you suffering from piriformis? Rolling on a tennis ball really helped me when I had that issue.

Beautiful sunshiney day in SF. I had a rainbow bright sleeping bag and a strawberry shortcake pillow case as a kid!

Runner Leana said...

Hope the race went well for you! And congrats on your Austin race. I just read your report...(sorry, I'm a little behind!).

Hope your nerve issue is working itself out. If not, I highly recommend ART as that has helped a lot of my weird niggly pains in the past.

ShirleyPerly said...

Sounds like piriformis syndrome, which I've had before. Google it and you'll find out more about it, some stretches and self-massages that may help. It took a while for mine to go away (6 months?) but never stopped me from running either.

Hope your marathon went well!