BIG post about Big Bird Camp!

Last weekend, I went to Oiselle's Big Bird Camp! The camp was open to the Oiselle Volee team. Some years they have regional camps, but this year it was one camp for all Volee! Luckily it was only a 6 hour drive from Cleveland.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by foreign "pool boys" who swarmed me and it was very overwhelming experience but hilarious upon reflection. From there I walked in, and was greeted by Sally Bergesen, the founder of Oiselle. I shook her hand because clearly I thought I was at work and then we hugged it out.

Each cabin was named after some kind of bird (Oiselle's main logo and branding are bird-related), and I was in the Cuckoos cabin! I was the first to arrive. Our swag bag awaited us on our twin size bed. 

The wooden "medal" / name tag was super neat. Inside the bag were a new pair of Goodrs (sunglasses) - a style that was actually just released that day, a Oiselle miir (insulated) water bottle, Oiselle journal, a couple of Nuun containers, a Picky bar.. and I can't remember what else. We also had Salomon trail running shoes awaiting us on our bed.

I couldn't get my tempo run in that morning, so I decided to do that workout the next day (always smart to do the day before a long run..) and go for a short run with my fellow campers. We quickly discovered that the first 1.4 miles of our go-to running path was straight up trail and super hilly. Which was good prep for my trail race after camp!

From there, we snacked. The options were glorious. There was also pita, hummus, cheese, many bags of chips, chips, salsa, guac..the usual snack faves.

I have no idea how much La Croix I consumed.

Camp started off with an introductory song by Lauren Fleshman, retired pro runner for Oiselle and co-founder of Picky Bars (With her husband and Stephanie Bruce).

From there we hiked up a huge steep hill to "The Playhouse" for a goal setting session. Becki on my right in the red was one of my cabinmates and actually lives in Columbus. She is a member of the Haute Volee for Oiselle - so she is one of their elite runners. She already qualified for the 2019 Olympic Trials for the Marathon with a 2:41 earlier this year in Eugene. Molly on my left lives in Ohio too and we actually first met during Glass City Marathon in the middle of the race.

The Playhouse. The coolest part of this Goal Setting session was writing down two of our goals on pieces of paper then taping them to the pillars on the sides of the room. We had all of our night sessions here so those were always sticking around.

The next morning I did my 8 mile run..which was glorious because it was below 60 degrees and not humid. My body finally felt good for once and I was talking to one person or another during the run, even at my tempo pace. I enjoyed my Picky Bar after.

Afterwards, I went to a session about running form, and then a writing session with Lauren Fleshman, which was surprisingly intense. It was really good though!

Then I went to an Ultra Running Q&A Session with ultra runner Cat Bradley. She won the Western States 100 miler last year in Colorado and she literally just finished the Ultra race that circumnavigates Mont Blanc in France/Switzerland today and came in 8th place, first American female.  She showed everyone her new warm-up routine after. Additionally she had Trail Running 101 sessions each morning of camp - I always had a conflict but I heard each session was great.

 

From there I went to Kara Goucher's session that focused a little bit on her new book, but was more of a Q&A. I actually caught the end of her session the next day as you will see..I didn't have her new book at this point so I bought it afterwards and got her autograph and picture with her the next day. She was very open and emotional during both of her sessions which was really cool. She talked a bit about her next race, her 2009 Boston Marathon mishap, and the doping scandal that turned her bronze into a silver medal 16 years after the fact.

The Oiselle Pop-Up shop was a very dangerous place. Luckily I only bought a half zip pull over featuring some new logo ;)

Then there was a Q&A session with Lauren, Kara and Allie Kieffer. Allie Kieffer seemingly came from out of nowhere last year and finished 5th female in the NYC Marathon. She was the 2nd American Female... after Shalane. Allie ran a 2:29.

Had some zen time which was nice!

Then we met up with our state team.

Of course, the O-H-I-O :)

The day ended with a powerful session about body image. 

Sunday.. the Long Run! This is one of the camp photographer's photos (she is actually one Oiselle's elite runners), I am wearing the white socks and red shirt in the middle. I failed to mention before that 3.5 miles into this run, there is a killer hill. This is the beginning of that hill. It was 1.5 miles of just climbing - 300 feet. Doesn't sound like much...but I promise. It was rough. Coming down though? Glorious.

At some point during the run, I felt like I was being stared out, and then I look over and a horse is starting me down from 10 feet away. Then when I came back these fellas above decided to race me..

So.. this was documented as well by camp photographers/videographers. I am hoping to stumble upon some kind of official documentation of this! On that note... those photographers/videographers were everywhere. Also there were drones. Also we had aid stations set up every 2 miles or so, so that was awesome.

I saw Kara, Allie and Becki run the other way when I was coming back, and then naturally they passed me right around my 12.5 mile mark (I ran 13.1).  I posted this to my Instagram story and literally 2 minutes after that, Kara walked into my cabin (exchanging numbers with Becki), and then Allie messaged me on Insta to say she loved the photo (and a few days later asked me to send it to her!).

Alissa is one of my Ohio teammates! Her current marathon PR is 3:23. She and another teammate ran with me for the first half of my long run which was great. 

Then after brunch, I casually ran into Allie on the way to her session so we talked a bit while walking up that terrible steep hill. 

She was completely genuine like Kara, during her session. It wasn't until I saw this photo later that I realized she looks exactly like my friend Chelsea. Which may explain why I tried to like reach around her for a half hug for the photo. Completely normal.

At some point in the afternoon, I went to a Restorative Yoga class which was amazing. After some down time, I went back to the Lodge to catch the tail end of Kara's session. I don't talk with my hands at all.

I thanked her for being so open about her emotions and being OK with it. She told me not to cry because then I would make her cry, lol. Little did I know this would not be my only photo alongside Kara.

When I registered for camp, I said Yes to being in the fashion show, just thinking, well I'm registering late I'm sure they have this figured out already. Well...they picked me. I decided to do my extremely embarrassing attempt at the "floss" in front of the 275+ campers.

I walked right behind Kara as well so I figured more attention may be on her anyway.. A lot of the outfits featured un-released Oiselle logos, so I'm hoping more pictures come from this soon. Each piece of my outfit is available for purchase today though..hence why I'm posting it.

I did like the capris a lot! They recommended for those of us with layers to casually un-layer during the show but uhhh... my floss was already enough attention, lol. 

After that, there was a dance party!

Luckily on Monday morning we were able to get a cabin photo which is naturally one of my favorites from camp. We all got along really well which was awesome! I would definitely go to Camp again - it was such an awesome experience!

marine corps marathon training, week 3: ruff!

It was a rough week! Why?

My car got a friendly love tap from Shane's car after my long run Sunday!

First off, I took Monday as a rest day due to Velosano Saturday and my long run Sunday, plus I worked from home thinking I could drop off my car somewhere that day. Nope. My car didn't get to the body shop until Wednesday.

Run 1: Speedwork, 5.11 mi, 9:04 overall pace

This run was not good. It was very humid and I did not give my body enough time to wake up to do its thing. It was something like 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400 with 200 RI intervals. 

Shane happily (seriously, he enjoyed it!) took me to work Tuesday and Wednesday so it was nice to actually enjoy the pretty ride!

Run 2: Trail Race, 3.39 mi (advertised as 4), 9:25 overall pace.

I was not quite in the mood for this race. I, for some reason, told myself that the actual race would be my tempo run for the week...and then the trail thought otherwise. Truly I was mentally out of it prior to the race- there were storms looming and I was being extremely negative about it. I also was very hungry. 

I really feel like I held a faster pace than 9:25...looking at Strava, other folks had between 3.5-3.9 mi for the course..which doesn't mean I ran that much faster but still, it makes me feel a tiny bit better.

New mural in Ohio City!

Happy 6 months to Us! I swear I usually look better than this on dates.

Run 3: Long Run, 17 miles, 9:07 pace overall.

The goal for this was 8:55. I thought it would be a little less humid... it really wasn't that bad. I got my hill back into this long run and I think it didn't leave me enough energy. Also it was sunny. And I need to improve in sunny conditions. My last excuse was that my hat was on too tight. When I turned around to head back around mile 10, my vision got a little blurred..and it was like this for two miles. I took my gel one mile earlier than planned (at mile 11 rather than 12) and walked a bit. Also loosened my hat. 

How I feel after long runs. Please note the red on my shoulder..the chafing is real.

I got a massage after which was pretty nice, definitely worked out my hip and glute pains and I think it eventually helped me recover fast enough for the Indians race.

Who needs medicine balls when you have jackfruit?

Bonus! Run 4: Indians Inside the Park HR, 3.61 miles (advertised as 4), 8:35 overall pace.

We hit HRs!

I was very happy with how this race went. My goal was to beat my time from last year (32:30ish), which I thought I could probably do since I ran 14 miles right before that race. The only thing I was questioning was if my body was recovered from the 17 miler / massage.. but it ended up fine.

I was very intentional to start off slow and not get caught up with the sprinting starters, all to conserve energy.  My first mile was 7:23. Second mile was 7:28. 3rd mile was 7:52 - which the end was right inside the gates of the stadium. Then up the ramps we went to the upper deck, ran around the upper deck, then down the other side's ramps to under the stadium, through some parking, and then out onto the warning track, around to finish in front of the Indians dugout! 30:55 finish time.

Need to work on the top knot.

I ended up first in my age group which duh, of course I'm happy about. The second woman overall finished with a stroller so that was much cooler though.

Other than my runs... I got one session of upper body / lower body / core in. One session of the elliptical which isn't supposed to be a cross-training activity... no yoga :(  I will be getting back into the swing of things this week starting with getting my car back!!!

marine corps marathon training, week 2: velosano

This was a solid week of training. I am excited with where my fitness is at already!

Pre-hike view mid-week.

Run 1: 4x800, 2 min RI. 8:46 overall pace. Goal for the 800s was to be at least 7:14 pace. 

It was terribly humid. Hit 7:23, 7:14, 7:26, 7:55. Not my best! But that's ok.I feel like there's always one workout per week that I just don't hit for some reason..Also speedwork does not sit well with my stomach sometimes...and this was one of those runs.

One day I will make it to the track for speedwork.

Run 2: Tempo. 1 easy, 5 marathon pace (I thought it was medium tempo), 1 easy.  8:17 overall pace. 

I ended up doing medium tempo paces which need to be at least 8:17 pace to start (based on my "current" fitness, end goal (for training to a sub 3:35 marathon) is 7:40. These miles ended up being 8:00, 7:53, 7:57, 8:00, 7:56. Way better than where I was for the same workout during Week 2 of Berlin Marathon training as seen below.

2018 (left) vs. 2017 (right). It was 57 degrees for the workout this year, vs. 73 degrees last year. Humidity was the same. Both in the morning.

The Beaver Marsh was moody.

And a sunrise. I started in the dark which was interesting. (By interesting I mean scary)

Run 3: 15 mile long run, goal to be 45 seconds over goal marathon pace (8:55). 8:52 overall pace. 

At the back of my mind, I was wondering if I should be skipping or at least shortening this long run due to Velosano (details coming up next). Apparently 3 miles on a bike is equivalent to running 1 mile..so it's kind of like I ran ~18 miles the day prior. Also there was a wedding the previous night as well. However, I got out there just to see what would happen and decided if I absolutely must, I could shorten it. Luckily, I was feeling pretty good overall. My calves and quads were definitely sore, but the rest of my body was fine. I am very proud of this run!

The train makes me emotional when it comes by.  Everytime. Very normal.

The previous day...

This was something I was terribly nervous and dreading. Mostly because my bike rides had fallen off the radar, I have never rode a bike on the road (only the Towpath), and I am not comfortable taking my hands off of the bike... and my longest ride was 30 miles a month and a half ago. The morning started off dry and cool, then the rain started. And then us 50 milers were called to the start. I figured I could at least stay with a group for most of the way since there were so many of us and that's pretty much what happened for 90% of the time. 

The first 6 miles had each intersection blocked off by cops and volunteers so that was a nice ease into the ride. Then we hit the first dreaded hill. I had just learned about "downshifting" approximately 3 days prior so this was my first attempt at it...and it saved me. There were at least 3-4 other similar hills of this nature, and then one that was in my opinion, way more difficult, due to the length and grade of it, and also it was at mile 35. Regardless,  I did not walk up any hills or really stop too much besides for stop lights and intersections. 

The "party" the night before was pretty cool. Mostly because my favorite was there.

Usually I was with at least one other person so that made me feel much better.  There were a few times I was by myself was 1. after the first rest stop - everyone I was riding with stopped at the rest stop and I was like... feeling fine. And then 2. at the end we got a bit spread out but at this point I was more than comfortable with the roads and following the signs. 

I promise I was very excited and happy to finish!

I hit the 25 mile mark at 2:00 hours even so then I became determined to finish under 4 hours. So.. didn't stop at the rest stops but they looked awesome with plentiful snacks and beverages.

Overall, it was an awesome experience! It was very well organized and supported. The amenities were excellent and also easy to understand. It did pain me knowing that there are not "official" results posted anywhere...but it was a ride, not a race. Though now I totally want to do a bike race and/or a duathlon. Not researching this or anything.

All of the food was included. So naturally I went back a few hours later for more.
I also went to a free yoga festival in Akron this week, and it was a nice experience.

They had many local yoga studios, restaurants, and other businesses set up around the perimeter of the park. Cleveland does their own event like this at the end of August. Anytime there's free yoga, I'm there.

Your selfie of the week.

Finally, I wrapped up my Project 365 this week. THANK GOODNESS. It was a fun project but it definitely wasn't easy. I went up to the Terminal Tower Observation Deck for the last picture. Naturally the reflections of windows made it very difficult to get a good picture but it was awesome to see the city after riding 50 miles in it earlier in the day. In hindsight, I should have done a panoramic shot of the city...but lesson learned (one of many during this project)!!

Now to fulfill my *creative* outlet, I am going to focus on blogging, reading, and possibly..possibly brainstorming ideas for a nice photo series to either post on here or Instagram! 

Until next / this week...!

marine corps marathon training, week 1: hello there!

Helllooo structured workouts! It is finally time to start marathon training again, and this time, the Marine Corps Marathon is my goal race! 

(ICYMI: I used a different training plan this past winter to train for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo. The training plan focused on a lot of easy running and hardly had me run at race pace...so confidence wasn't there as it usually is. Additionally, I spent the last month leading up to the race traveling for work, then personal life events happened in the last week up to the race, including hitting/killing deer in Oklahoma on the way to my last long run...so...my mental game was weak.)

The Marine Corps Marathon is on Sunday, October 28th in DC. We start and finish at the Arlington Cemetery and run through Georgetown, the National Mall, by the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial. 

Bigger version: http://www.marinemarathon.com/events/marathon/mcm-info/course-maps

There is a significant hill in the first few miles that will be a challenge, but hey...maybe I will actually run smart, conserve energy in the beginning and have some negative splits! #positivity

Would it be weird if I ran with a flag of Ollie's face? Probably.

I entered the lottery for the marathon on a whim. I think it is like a 50% chance that you would get in but I may be making that up. Regardless, I tend to run well in places I don't know, and with a ton of other people and support along the course. I've been to DC once for like a day and a half so basically I don't know it at all/it will be nice to not know where I'm going. 

On that note, I also low-key will be running a marathon the weekend after Marine Corps. I signed up for a virtual marathon put on by the New York Road Runners...the organization that coordinates the New York City Marathon. 

The deets.

As long as I run 26.2 miles in one go under 6.5 hours, sometime between Nov 1-Nov 4, I will be running the New York City Marathon in 2019. A marathon to run a marathon. Logical, right? 

Anybody want to join me for a part of my "virtual" marathon in November? Taking volunteers to distract me from the pain!

Additionally, the odds of getting into the NYC Marathon is 18% through their lottery. And it's one of the World Marathon Majors I want to run..and hello, it's New York City. I'm done rationalizing.

Anyway, how did my first week of training go? I have been pretty good about not taking selfies, but now that blogging is back...prepare for a lot of sweaty faces.

Very attractive.

Run 1: Speed - 3x1600m (1mile), total 5.76 mi, overall 8:32 pace

Well, I was fully expecting to be around 8:10s for these mile repeats but hey, I was able to get 7:52, 7:51, and 7:45. Goal is to eventually have these around 7:00 (chuckles). Good starting point though! 

BTW, I got a new Garmin thanks to my April in Oklahoma.

Run 2: Tempo - 2 easy, 2 tempo, 2 easy ; total 6.12 mi, overall 8:46 pace. 

I actually stretched right after my run. This is groundbreaking.

Once again, I was surprised to hit sub-8s for this. 7:43 and 7:45 for the tempo miles. These would ideally be at 7:22 pace for these "short tempos". 

Run 3: Long - 12 miles ; overall 9:12 pace.

I caught the tail-end of an epic sunrise. I have missed seeing sunrises!

 I knew I should have started earlier than 6:45a to avoid the heat...but oh well. It was 77 degrees and a 69* dew point. The goal pace was 30 seconds over my goal marathon pace. Which... taking the weather into consideration, this was actually a better overall pace for where I estimate my current fitness at - though a lot of room for growth to get to that BQ. 

There was not a dry spot on my body. My hat was still dripping on the drive home. 

I am including a long hill in most of the beginning of my long runs in order to prepare myself for the same circumstance at the marathon. Even though I wasn't feeling it with the heat at all, I made sure to include it for this first long run.

The hill is harder than it appears. I am slightly biased.

+ Rowing, Biking, Spinning, Hot Yoga, 4 lifting sessions (2 upper, 2 lower inc. 2 core).

(My once per week yoga sessions for Glass City Marathon training were not happening so I have promised myself that I will stick to it this time like I did for Berlin and Milan)

 I was still getting in around 20 miles running per week during my non-marathon training time after Glass City. And bike rides!

I have been better about not eating out as much. (STL was my peak besides college). Though this bowl was delicious.

I am estimating that I am currently at a 3:50ish marathon capability and I would love to work it down to sub 3:35 (Boston Qualifying). 3:39 is my PR from this past September in Berlin. This training plan is my favorite that I have used and I am excited to see what progress I can make towards my goal!