First vs. Second Pregnancy: The First Trimester

Since 'announcing' our pregnancy, many people have been asking me how this pregnancy differs from my first one, if at all. While not very running related, I give you my observations on this pregnancy vs. the first one, so far:

Month1

Month 2

Month 3 

Don't miss the Second Trimester and Third Trimester =)

Pregnant Running: Take 2!

Hey there, little guy/gal!

Yay, I have another baby on the way! Unfortunately, this means I'm officially back to being a preggo runner. This is not my favorite running state. The plus side, for me at least, is that this motivates a return to running blogging!

I have just exited the first trimester (13 weeks, 5 days right now) and already my running is suffering from lack of motivation. First trimester nausea, exhaustion (from the pregnancy and my toddler!) and the short winter days all conspired to keep me from doing much running the last few months. I did get a half marathon in there, at 10 weeks, but it was a 'fingers-crossed' run, not one I was well prepared for =)

Now, with first trimester symptoms subsiding and slightly more daylight, I'm hoping I'll be able to get some quality running in, even if it is at my preggo conversation pace. In any case, I'm happy to be back!

Mission Accomplished!

 Baby Girl likes the medal!

I successfully completed my first post-baby marathon, yay! I even scored a PR by over 3 minutes with my finish time of 3:45:47.

Yesterday's San Francisco Marathon was a blast! Yes, the course is very hilly, but it's San Francisco! Here are the highlights:

• Expo: way too crowded. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
• Start: It was early (I was in wave three, so, I started at 5:42 am). However, we stayed at a hotel near Union Square and getting to the start was very easy. There were plenty of porta-potties and an efficient bag drop system.
• Early miles: For once, I didn't start too fast. I had to keep reigning myself in, but averaged my planned 8:30 pace for these miles.
• The bridge: Running on the Golden Gate Bridge was awesome! I allowed my pace to get a little too fast at times, but it was too fun. We were lucky and the bridge wasn't fogged over. So, there were great views!
• The Avenues: The uphill after the bridge is followed by a huge downhill. I definitely took the hill a little to fast and paid for it on the rollers of the Avenues.
• The Park: It was great to feed off the energy from the 1st half finish. I was surprised how much the long, 'easy' hills in the park sapped my energy. Still, it was nice to be running in the green surroundings!
• Haight St: This district is interesting just to walk through, so, it was good for some entertainment in these later miles. At one point, the officials re-routed traffic right behind me (the course alternates on some parallel roads). For about a mile, there was no one behind me. It felt weird... and a little like I was losing the race!
• Final Miles: I do this every time; I lose the motivation to 'push' myself the last three miles or so. I settled into a slower, more comfortable pace and just cruised. Once I knew I was going to PR but not hit my 'A' goal of 3:40, I just kind of shrugged and rolled on in =)
• The Finish: The best part of any race is the finish line. This one was even better because my husband and baby were there waiting for me! Somehow, my husband managed to be at the finish line on time and with a fed, awake, happy baby. That is an accomplishment to rival any marathon!

It's hard to believe that I'm at the end of the journey this blog was intended to get me through. I initially started this blog with the hope that it would help motivate me to continue running through my pregnancy and then get in shape afterwards and complete a marathon. Fortunately, it has done just that!

I'm going to step away from the blog a bit. I may still post a race report now and then. Perhaps I'll even be back to blog through a future pregnancy =)

San Francisco Marathon Goals

Yikes, only three days until the San Francisco Marathon!

I'm really excited about this run for many reasons:
1) I'm finally back in shape post baby
2) It's been over two years since my last marathon
3) I have a shot at a decent run; my training went fairly well
4) It'll be a fun, downtown weekend with the family!

I've gone back and forth about my goals for the marathon. On one hand, I'd like to be aggressive with the race. On the other hand, it's difficult for me to determine a 'safe' aggressive approach, since it has been so long since my last marathon.  Here are the goals I settled on:

Time Goals:
A Goal: 3:40 - I know it's not really a BQ anymore, but I still have this number in the back of my head... it's hard to change that now!
B Goal: 3:48 - This would give me a PR
C Goal:  4:00 - or just finish, if something has gone wrong =)

Other Goals:
Pacing Plan: I want to negative split this thing. I've never done that in a marathon and, more importantly, the course almost demands it.
 Miles 1-6: 8:30 - 8:35 pace (I almost always start too fast)
 Miles 7-13: 8:20 - 8:25 pace
 Miles 14-20: 8:15 to 8:20 pace
 Miles 21-26: whatever I've got left =)

Overall Experience: Have Fun!!! Running marathons is a wonderful, awesome hobby and I'm so glad to be able to do it again. Also, San Francisco is a beautiful city and I'm really looking forward to enjoying the course!

Lunch Time Running and Taper Madness

Lunch Time Running: This week I rediscovered something I used to love, lunch time running!

I used to do this a lot, but fell out of the routine in LA because I worked in a pretty industrial area and my building didn't have showers. At my new job, in the Berkeley Hills, I have both beautiful wilderness trails and showers at my disposal, yay!

I'm especially grateful for this right now because DH is out of town for two weeks. Thankfully, I can still get my short taper runs in while single-parenting baby girl. That brings me to...

Tapering: I don't think I've ever done this right. All my GOOGLE searching has left me more confused on what should be done for the marathon taper. My past tapers have been disastrous, since one of two scenarios always played out:

1) Injured myself during training and spent the taper doing almost no running to recover.
2) Didn't do enough running during training and used taper as an excuse to do even less.

Looking forward to the San Francisco Marathon in 10 days (yikes!) I realize I'm in pretty good shape (literally and figuratively). While I didn't accomplish as much as I planned in training, this is the strongest injury-free mileage base I've ever had before a marathon. So, I'm optimistic about having a good race.

I'm aiming to reduce mileage to 70%, 50% and then 30% of peak-week. I did a few tempo miles and some GMP miles last week and plan to do 5-6 GMP miles this weekend. Fingers crossed that this will get me to the starting line feeling rested and ready to go!

Week 15 - San Francisco Marathon Training

It's hard to believe the the bulk of training is now behind me and it's taper time. Like it or not, there isn't much more I can do to improve my fitness for the marathon. All I can do now is ruin it with too much or too little taper (I have yet to get this right!).

This was a lucky week for me. I made a very poor choice in my Wednesday run, but didn't hurt myself and was able to recover for a great weekend of running.

Looking back, I think I took on too much in the way of hills on Wednesday in search of some added stress relief. Moving two weeks before and then starting a new job the week of peak training probably wasn't ideal. I made it through, though, with some still-decent training. Now I just need to play it smart until I hit the starting line.

Week 15 Summary:

Total Mileage: 49.5
Average Pace: 9:19
Goals Achieved: 5 of 6 (No strength training - yeah, gave up on that a while ago)

Week 15 Details:

Monday: Happy 4th of July! We took a family BOB run to celebrate - 4 miles (probably 10 min pace), no Garmin and a Starbucks stop in the middle. It was awesome.

Tuesday: Rest Day and my first day at a new job!

Wednesday: 8:00 pm - 8.5 miles of nothing but hill (10:32 pace). I'm lucky I came out of this un-injured.

Thursday: 8:00 pm - 5 miles of damage control (8:54 pace).

Friday: Rest day - soreness from Wednesday's fiasco hit full-force.

Saturday: 1:45 pm - 10 GMP EASY miles easy (8:58 pace). Damage control continued today with an easier and shorter-than-planned run. My legs still felt like too-tight rubber bands.

Sunday: 7:45 am – 22 miles (9:00 pace). This was, perhaps, my best long-run ever. It was effortless and controlled. I ran easy miles when I needed and GMP miles when I wanted. They all felt good. Now, fingers are crossed hoping I'll be able to repeat the feeling in 3 weeks!

Fantastic Long Run

Thank you, running gods. After Wednesday's fiasco I was certain that I had either a) guaranteed injury or b) ruined my chance at a decent long run this weekend. Fortunately, I got very lucky and, with a little extra rest and shorter runs Thursday & Saturday, I was able to have a stellar long run today.

Ah, now that's pretty!

22 miles done with nice clean average of 9:00 pace. For the easy miles I targeted 9:15 to 9:30 pace and I threw in 4x2 miles at GMP (8:15 to 8:30 pace). I wanted my legs to get a taste at GMP LOE (level of effort, apologizes for the engineer-speak). So, I did the GMP stretches at miles 5-6, 11-12, 16-17 and finally 21-22. My legs felt great the whole time, thank goodness!

Now, if I can avoid messing up the taper (something I usually do), I should be able to have an enjoyable San Francisco Marathon in three weeks =)