Swim, bike, run... Oh My!: Birthday Week: Rainy Day fun and Pasadena Half

Day	Planned	Actual	Comments
Monday	60 Min AR	37 minutes group XT	3.41 miles 10'53 pace
Tuesday	4x10 AT	3x10ish	lower back leftside bothersome
Wednesday	XT	Trainer Day	lots of core
Thursday	60 Min AR	44 minutes	4.07 miles 10'50" pace
Friday	30 Min	Off	Long work day
Saturday	Off	Off	Expo
Sunday	13.1	13.1	Pasadena Half 2:15:30

Started out this week on Monday celebrating my birthday. It poured Monday-Thursday morning, so lots of liquid sunshine training. Monday I ended up running 3.4 miles in the rain prior to heading to DGF for a group workout class. Prior to going to the class, I had to head home and change clothes and shoes to get dry. The cross training consisted of a variety of arms, core, and legs. I felt I ended up getting a well balanced work out from strength to cardio on my birthday.

Monday Run: Finally Get to wear my Chicago Jacket

Tuesday, the rain kept coming and track night was cancelled. I looked at what I had packed to workout in, and everything was warm weather related. So instead of overheating in the gym on the treadmill, I headed to the track to get it done. (there were about 6 of us crazy people there getting it done on our own). I ended up doing 3x10 minute threshold with 3 minute recovery. However the first threshold was a little shorter, due to trying to get in-sync with the other people. Starting on the 2nd set, I ended up getting a shooting pain up the left side of my back every time my left foot hit the track. Fingers crossed, I just slept wrong.

More Rain Run Fun

Wednesday was a trainer day. Kei had me focus on rolling out my back and stretching prior to starting workout. We did a lot of core and balancing exercises.

Thursday, I got out of work late. Ended up being late to SBRC sketchers run night, so I did 4 miles along the strand, stopping by the store afterward to say hi to everyone. By the time, the run started the rain had subsided, and ended up being perfect weather. No lower back pain on the run.

Ended up taking Friday and Saturday off from working out. Went to the expo on Saturday to pick the race packet and then just enjoyed Huntington Gardens.

Sunday was RACE DAY for the Pasadena Half Marathon. I wasn't expecting much since I have been slacking on my training for the month of December, so I was just going in with a training run mentality (happy if I was under 2:30). The morning started by leaving my house around 4:50am (Way to early). Ended up sitting in traffic to get the car parked, but managed to get there and parked by 6:20am, and get a photo with a few of my SBRC friends. Plenty of honey-buckets at this race which was really nice. Race started at 7am. I couldn't figure out how to get into my correct corral so I just started in the last corral. I set up my watch to notify me if if my pace went above an 11min pace. The first 2 miles is a nice uphill climb. I saw one of our run clubs parents a little after 2 miles, left my long sleeve shirt with them and got a selfie thanking them for being out there and cheering us on. Continued on, overall I was feeling like I was at a good comfortable pace. We ran down Colorado Blvd, Lake Street, and then headed towards Cal Tech. At the Cal Tech turn around, my close friend was there cheering me on and joined me for a little bit of the run. A little past mile 8, I ran into on of my SBRC friends. It was her 30th birthday, and she was on track to PR. I had figured I was off my PR time, so I asked if she wanted me to join her. She said sure, as long as I didn't mind. We ended up running the last 4-5 miles together. At mile 12 we ran into another SBRC member, and we all pushed each other to the finish, with my friend PR-ing on her birthday. (In hindsight, had I stayed on my own, I probably would have PR'ed myself, since the last 4 miles were pretty much downhill or flat, and I still had plenty to give, but who knows what would have happened, and I will have to wait for another day). At the finish line, I had another friend cheering me on (she did the 5k) and we were able to catch up at brunch after. Overall, I finished at 2:15:30 (my PR time is 2:13:47, so definitely had an opportunity). I need to figure out my long run shoes. The current shoes are not working and causing pain in my foot, hoping lowering my drop will help out with that.