Drinking the Minimalist Shoe Kool-Aid

The moon and the stars must have crossed paths just right because I got super lucky and won TWO pairs of running shoes in ONE week.

Thanks to Miss Zippy and Altra for the Delilah zero drop shoes!  

Thanks to Beth and Altra for the Intuition zero drop shoes (they won the best Runner's World Debut in March 2012)!

So far I've received the Delilah shoes in the mail and taken them out for a little one mile jaunt.

Preparing to take my new Altra Delilah Zero Drop shoes out for a test drive...

They felt:

-natural

-fast

-easy

-comfy

They helped me use better running form/posture.

Verdict is in.  I'm a new fan.

Which means a lot coming from me, because I've always been skeptical of natural running shoes.

By the end of the one mile run, I already felt like they had worked my calf muscles more than my regular 12mm drop running shoes.  Maybe these will give me some awesome calf muscles, one can only dream...

I don't necessarily imagine myself running a marathon in these puppies, but I plan on wearing them for a few miles per week to start with and we'll see where I go from there.

I've heard stories of people getting injured when switching to zero drop or minimalist shoes, so I'm going to be extra cautious about adding in miles with them.

Miss Zippy recommended this great website to me to find more info on natural running.  There are tons of resources on transitioning to minimalism.  Lots of great videos too.

Do you drink the Minimalist Shoe Kool-Aid?

I'm taking sips of it!  So far I really like my new zero drop shoes.  Don't worry, regular old lady running shoes, I still love you...

Weekend in Pictures!

I hope you enjoyed your 3 day weekend.

Mine sprawled out into a lazy and long 5 day weekend....and with lots of perfectly good relaxation thrown in there.

I'm getting back into a running groove.  Last week I somehow ran 30 miles, which was a little ambitious, but most of them were at a relaxed pace.

Here's what else I've been up to:

Sunset date night dinner at CCV...
AFTER I gave myself a homemade haircut, hehe.

Tappan and I at my beautiful friend Ashely's wedding on Saturday night.
Yes, this dress is one of my favs, I need to expand my repertoire.

Sunset at Ashley's wedding with a very cool coworker
who looks like a hybrid between Steve Jobs and Sean Connery.

Amazing tent at Ashley's parents home for her reception.
Looks like it's straight from a magazine.

20 minute of fireworks at Ashley's wedding on the river.
Nicest fireworks that I've seen in a while.

An hour before Fireworks #2 for the weekend on Sunday night,
at my favorite spot in Richmond:  Libby Hill Park

Hey Richmond friends, did you know that this is the view that named the city??
The curvature of the James River reminded someone of a town in England, called Richmond.

FROZEN GRAPES at the pool.  Enough said.  Heaven.

Amazingly delicious Memorial Day feast at Naureen's!
Thanks Bty for letting me swipe your photo.

Most importantly, thank you to all of our service folks out there, because we would not be here without the hard work that each of you do!!  Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Do you ever cut your own hair?
This was my first attempt.  I will prob follow this up with a real appointment in a week or two, my split ends were just getting worse than usual and I HAD to do something about it to hold me over.
What was your favorite memory from your Memorial Day Weekend?
Best part of MY weekend was #1 seeing my friends and #2 the fact that I didn't have to be at work at all.  And that I really didn't have any plans (except for the wedding) going into the weekend, but somehow it turned out to be a very fun weekend.

Marathon Training and My LOW Mileage Training Plan

When I was in California, having a sleepover party with one of my fav bloggers (totally normal), Margot from The Faster Bunny (aka the other half of Neon Blast Bunny), we were chatting about what sort of mileage is reasonable for marathon training.

Out to pre-marathon dinner
with the Faster Bunny as I wondered,
"is this pizza going to make me faster tomorrow?
or maybe I should have had a higher mileage training plan?"

A little pre-marathon fueling
at the Newport Brew Co.
(I pre-fueled with water.)

I am here to argue that you can get decent results from a LOW mileage marathon training plan.

Leading up to my 3:26 OC Marathon, I averaged 32 miles per week (including track workouts X2 and a 10K).

I think this is a relatively low mileage plan, considering a lot of the other marathon training plans that I've seen for sub 3:30 marathons.

And I use the term "plan" loosely, because I don't actually follow a plan.  I run my long runs with a local marathon training group and I completely improvise my mid-week runs (based on what I have time for with my work schedule...thank goodness I'm not unemployed because I would probably run myself into the ground and do something unhealthy like 1000 miles per week.)!

Yes, I realize that flying by the cuff is probably NOT the best strategy for marathon success.  I should use a more organized plan...but this keeps it fun for me.  I don't like feeling forced to follow strict plans, I'm a rebel at heart.

I am sharing this with you because I want you to know that you don't necessarily have to do a TON of high mileage weeks in order to reach your goals!

For me, quality helps more than quantity.

Are you a high mileage or low mileage runner?
Being a lower mileage runner with 3-4 rest days per week seems to work decently well with my body.  But I know TONS of people who do really well with high mileage training plans, so perhaps that's the key to being a fast marathoner?  I'd like to try a higher mileage training plan at some point, so if you're a high-mileage runner, tell me if you think it works and I'm curious to hear how you do it without getting injured.

Post-Marathon Running

I went for my second post-marathon run last night!

NIGHTSHIFT:  
I worked 3 nights (7pm-7am) in a row this past weekend so I was PRETTY tuckered out by the time Monday evening rolled around.  I didn't get out of bed until around 6pm.

Miserable.  But I can't complain, I only work three days per week...

THE RUN:  
An hour after waking up last evening, I joined up with my girlfriends for a group run and it ended up being more intense than I had planned on.  We ran about 6 HILLY and HOT miles around an 8:20 pace, and it was rough!

Usually an 8:00 pace is my comfortable auto-pilot mode, so I was surprised at how the 8:20 pace really got my heart rate UP.  Like up in the 160's/170's on the hills, which indicates a high effort for me.

Please take me back in time, three weeks ago,
to Coronado Island...I wish my run today had been even half as dreamy as this one.

THE THINKING:
So this started my little gears turning...what's a good amount of time to wait before running post-marathon??

I snooped around ye ole internets and found these post-marathon running suggestions:

• follow a "reverse-taper"
• keep your running intensity LOW for at least THREE weeks post-marathon
• don't run more frequently than every OTHER or every THIRD day (aka lots of rest days)
• do cross-training!  (well I certainly checked that one off my list with that century bike ride, which my butt did not appreciate, but at least my legs didn't mind)

sources:  (active.com, marathonguide.com, and runnersworld.com)

But the best advice comes from YOU!  So please share with me, what's your post-marathon running recovery strategy??

My strategy is to wait until my body and mind start to CRAVE running because I don't want to burn out.  That took me about 2 weeks after my most recent 3:26 OC Marathon.  I'm not currently signed up for any races, so this is my time for some especially relaxed running.  After my FIRST marathon in November 2011, I waited about a week, then started back up for three weeks and ran my 2nd marathon in December 2011 in 3:30, so that worked just fine too.  Post-race recovery seems to be different, depending on how the race went.

Color Me Rad Richmond Giveaway

Have you heard of Color Me Rad?

It's part of the new color craze that's sweeping the nation.

By the way, did you know that all the love of color and all things bright was started by my blog?  (OK, you got me, that part's not true at all.)

Often times, my bright and mismatched outfits may look like
they've been through a Color Me Rad course.

Color Me Rad is the most colorful 5K you will ever run.

You start out wearing all white and as you go through the course, you get splashed with a rainbow of colors so that you look like a tie-dyed shirt by the end.

The Color Me Rad coloring is actually colored corn starch, so it's safe.

The very generous folks over at the Special Olympics Virginia (the charitable partner for the Richmond race) have offered to provide you with the chance to win TWO free race bibs for you and a friend to join in on the Richmond Color Me Rad!!

Go visit their website and just try to tell me that it doesn't inspire you.

Special Olympics uses sports training and competition for people with intellectual disabilities as a catalyst for social change and a way of creating more unified communities around the world where each person, regardless of ability or disability, is accepted and welcomed, and where every individual contributes to the strength and vibrancy of society as a whole.

The run details...
Color Me Rad 5K in Richmond

WHEN:  9am July 21st, 2012

WHERE:  Markel Field at West Creek

Check out the link HERE for more details on the Color Me Rad Richmond run.

To enter the giveaway for a chance to win TWO free Richmond Color Me Rad race bibs for you and a friend (value of up to $90), please LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW telling me who you'd bring and why!  Yes, it's that simple.

For a BONUS entry, do one of the following and leave a comment for EACH extra entry:

-TWEET about the giveaway (copy and paste:  "Enter to win 2 FREE tickets to the @colormerad5k in Richmond with @SOlympicsVA @KatherineHopper http://bit.ly/KE3bGG")
-follow the Special Olympics Virginia on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/solympicsva

-follow Color Me Rad on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/colormerad5k

-follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/katherinehopper

NOTE:  There will be THREE winners (each winner gets TWO bibs each), so your chances of winning are pretty good.

Winner will be chosen via Random.org on June 1st, 2012, winners will be announced on this blog.

Thanks for your interest!

PS In a couple weeks, I'll be doing another giveaway of a Color Me Rad bib that can be used AT ANY Color Me Rad event nationwide, so stay tuned if you're not one of my Richmond buddies.  Click HERE for a list of the nationwide Color Me Rad runs.

Changing Speed on iPod Audiobooks

I went for my first post-marathon run yesterday!

2.5 fun miles over to Tappan's place for lunch.

I've been LOVING being lazy (other than that bike ride this weekend...)

One of my favorite methods to "take it lazy."

Physically, legs have felt great, I just want to give my body as long as possible to heal.  I wanna make sure all the little broken fibers have enough time to build back up.

Mentally, I want to wait to truly run until I start to get a little stir-crazy from resting, I don't want to rush back into running and get burned out.

Today I want to share a cool new discovery on my iPhone with you.

As you may remember, I listen to books on tape while I run.  Some books can take HOURS to listen to, but you can cut this time in half by pressing the "2X" button on your iPhone screen (from the basic music app).

The human brain is amazing and you quickly adjust to the faster speed and after a few minutes, you don't even notice.

NOTE:  this only works for audiobooks, NOT music files.

And by the way, if you enjoy learning about the human mind, please read "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.  Learn how to drastically change your life, by doing very simple stuff.  Discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  The books also taps into a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.

What do you use to listen to music/books while running/exercising?  iPod/iPhone/Old School Walkman or Discman?
I listen to books on my iPhone when I'm alone (need my phone if there's an emergency) and music playlists my iPod during races.

Cap2Cap Century Bike Ride

Six days after my 3:26 marathon, I did a 100 mile bike ride:  the Cap2Cap on Saturday May 12th.

NO JOKE, it was tough!

I'd signed up for it back in December when the early bird price was like $25, way before I knew that I'd be running a marathon on May 5th.

When this week rolled around, I was on the fence about doing it, but I told myself that life could be worse and I decided to take the plunge.

And I sure am glad that I did!

Happy to look back at it, even though I was pretty miserable while doing it.

Cap2Cap Century Ride

Let's talk about how ridiculous this was:
-I've done two mini neighborhood bike rides in 2012, but I haven't covered any measurable distance outside since last year's HALF century ride.  [You can read about that ride here, it's hilarious/embarassing to look back at old posts sometimes.]

-I haven't done a spin class since February.

-Before the century ride, I had NEVER ridden my new aero road bike.  Yeah, I was figuring out the gears/shifters at the start line.

-Saturday was the first time that I wore my new bike shoes/clip-less pedals (slightly different from my old SPD types.  Not a big deal, but took some getting used to.

-My quads juuust stopped being sore on Thursday evening from my OC Marathon.

-My bike shorts had very minimal padding in them, they're really worn out and are from the 1990's.  Needless to say, my butt is VERY angry with me.

-I felt like turning around about 1000 times because my butt was so angry at me.  The butt pain was almost paralyzing.  Tappan and I actually ended up switching shorts halfway through because I was in so much pain and his had extra padding in them-- fortunately, this really did help me.  Sorry, TMI?

Despite all that, I still managed to have an amazing experience!

Two Angels Saved The Day:

I actually did cry once during the ride, around mile 40, but it was out of just pure joy, thankfulness and surprise:
One of Tappan's tires exploded-- Yes, the innertube + tire both had a new giant hole.  And when we inspected our spare innertube, it also had a hole in it (yes, I'm smart, I know.)  The SAG was nowhere near us, so I road 30 minutes ahead to the next rest stop to try to get help, but they weren't able to help.  Fortunately, a really nice random stranger biker person passed by him on the side of the road and gave him a ride to the next SAG.
When we got to the SAG, another INCREDIBLY NICE random stranger and his 8 year old son had a spare tire/tube and helped us get all squared away.  They were there, watching the boy's 4th grade teacher and grandma do the half century.  They were so generous and helpful that I did cry a little at that point.  They wouldn't accept money and the dad just told us to remember this in the future if someone else needed help.  And then we were back on the road again.

After the ride

The ride took us allll day long and when we got back I was SO exhausted and hungry that I ate an ENTIRE plate of pork BBQ, a wrap, coleslaw, and brownie.  And then I was still hungry even after all of that.  I had even stuffed my face pretty well at all the rest stops (every 10-15 miles), but it just wasn't enough.

Holding just a fraction of what I stuffed in my face after the century ride.

Half-dozing in the car on the way home.

This was a fun ride, not competitive or timed.  It was pretty relaxed and everyone was very friendly.  Beautiful course.

If you live in Virginia, you need to check this event out next year!  There are quarter-, half-, and full- century options from both Richmond and Williamsburg.

Have you ever done an organized bike ride?
I biked across Spain with a few high school friends plus my chemistry teacher in 2001 and biked across Germany with my dad in 2005, but these Cap2Cap rides are the only organized bike events that I've done since then.  I'd love to get more organized, ride more and try a triathlon at some point.

OC Marathon Race Photos

Official race photos from the OC Marathon are here and they left me super teary eyed AGAIN for the 10th time this week.

Still can't believe that I ran a 3:26.

But I earned it, so I need to start believing it ASAP.

Thank you SO MUCH for the sweet comments on my race recap, I loved reading each and every one of them.

So here they are, my friends!  I've included the good, the bad and the VERY BAD :)

OK, let's start with a couple tame ones before we get to the really intense crazy ones.

Somewhere in the first half,
you can see my BFFs behind me at this point.

WORLD PEACE at the halfway mark

Feeling great at the half, hangin' near the 3:30 pacer group

And then.....the final homestretch, where this insane neon green bunny and I are running in the low 6's.

I thought my legs were going to explode!

As we cruised into the finish line, the announcer said the funniest
string of phrases I've ever heard (which I actually LOVE):

"Look at these smiles right here (they are smiling, unfortunately NOT me)
Three tall ladies running together, (ok random?!)
friends forever Alyssa, Adrianna and Katherine (I had never met them before)"

Ok, now wait for it....

Floating, exhausted, NOT able to hold my
hips in,
legs straight,
or shoulders up

Alllllmost there....

And we made it!!

RELIEF.
I actually had no idea what the clock said at this point,
I actually thought I'd finished in 3:28,
I had been too tired to look at numbers for the last mile or two.

"Ok orange weirdo, why are you grabbing onto me?"

....and DONE!
(and looking to be on the verge of a pale death)

My neon green rabbit girl was so nice, I thanked her big time afterward for allowing me to emotionally embrace her with my gross sweaty body.  She's only 19, it was her first marathon and she placed first in her age group!

Quick post-race update:
It's been four full days since the race and my quads are FINALLY starting to not be quite so angry when I go up stairs.

...Going down the stairs is another story.

And I'm signed up for a CENTURY (yes, 100 mile) bike ride on Saturday.  We'll see if that happens!

More post-race stuff to come after I have some more time to let all these thoughts marinate.

Thanks again for being so supportive of me!!

OC Marathon Race Review (a new PR!)

Call me dramatic, but the OC Marathon on Sunday May 6th blew my mind.  In a good way.

I ran faster than I thought my body was capable of running.  I proved to myself that if you set your mind and heart on something (and put in some training of course), big things can came your way.

So let me set the scene:

'Twas the Night Before the Race...

The dearest Margot from The Faster Bunny was my host on Saturday night, and I couldn't imagine a better arrangement.  It was such a treat getting to meet her in person, she's just as smart, genuine, and down to earth as you would have guessed.  She helped distract me from any pre-race jitters, which was crucial.

Appetizer for the evening was a potassium-rich frozen banana
with rainbow sprinkles!  DELICIOUS.

Pre-race dinner of pasta and such from
Newport Brewing Company

HOLLER MARGOT!

After some race strategizing and last minute details, I had a cozy night, nestled in a fluffy down blanket.

I hopped out of bed at 4:15am for the 5:30am start.

The Weather

The temp ranged from 58 to the mid 60's.

This was WAY warmer than MY ideal racing temperature (40's), but there was nothing I could do about it, so I just went with it.  Fortunately, the sky was overcast for the majority of the race.

The pacer near me said there was a bit of a headwind, but I didn't notice anything too significant.  However, I was running slightly behind a couple of really tall, older guys for probably half the course, so that may have shielded some of it?

The Course

For the most part, the course was GORGEOUS.

The course meandered through some gorgeous upscale neighborhoods and had some breathtaking views of the ocean.  Multiple beautiful, expansive cliff views.

That being said, there were some somewhat non-flashy, desolate miles in the last part of the course where we funneled down near a concrete water thing.  But now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the course actually became all that desolate, or if it just felt that way because of the mental battle going on in my head?  I'll have to think about this some more and get back to you.


In my opinion, the course was hilly-- a few big ones, plus a number of roly-poly hills.  BUT, hilly is a relative term, so don't take my word for it.  I'm sure a Cali native would disagree with me.

My Nutrition
I ate a total of 5 gels.  One around miles 6, 10 (w/25mg caffeine), 15, 20 (w/25mg caffeine), and 23 (w/100mg caffeine).
I drank water or gatorade at EVERY water stop.


The Race

Where on earth to begin?


My strategy going into the race was to stick to around 8 minute miles (which would equal a 3:30), see how my legs liked it and then pick up the pace later in the course if it felt right.  I started out conservatively and felt just fine.

I was mostly running by feel (since an 8 minute mile is sort of like my auto-pilot speed in my life), but I checked my Garmin every so often to make sure I wasn't getting carried away with myself.

So of corse, tons of people were passing me on the downhill in the beginning, but that didn't matter to me because I didn't want to burn out my quads.

And I ended up passing many of those people later on anyway.

Everyone has their own unique race strategy that works for them, so I just focused on myself and let the people around me do their thing.

I'm not going to bore you with a mile by mile recap (because honestly, it is all a HUGE BLUR in my head when I think back on it) so I'll just give you a general gist of what was going on.

First half of the Marathon
I ran the first half of the marathon in 1:44:49, which is exactly a pace of 8:00.

I felt in control and relatively comfortable, taking in all the crazy beautiful California scenery and trying not to freak out about the fact that I was actually running a marathon.

The 3:30 pacers were hovering somewhere in the vicinity, at times right next to me, but I wasn't focused on them.

There were some downhills, tunnels, headwind, and some moments of doubt sprinkled in there.

I did spend some mental effort getting used to the heat and telling myself that it didn't matter, even though I was drenched in sweat.

Second half of the Marathon:
I was still feeling good, just working on relaxing mentally and keeping the pace around an 8:00.

I did start to work a little harder from mile 17 onward, you can see my HR started creeping up a little bit.

Everyone has different HR zones that they're used to, and for me anything above 170 usually means that I'm cooking.

And yes, it felt like I was working hard, especially after mile 23 or so.  And I could really feel the heat.

I do remember feeling SO relieved to see the 20 miler marker.  That's when I made the decision that I was going to break 3:30, it was not up for negotiation in my mind.  How many times in my life had I run 6 miles?  I convinced myself that I was just taking my legs out for one of my typical 6 mile jaunts and I pushed on.

I was too dumb at that point to do the calculations in my head, I just knew that when I looked behind me, the 3:30 pacer group was nowhere to be seen and I felt like I had a pretty good amount of gas left in the tank.

I did feel a little alone at times during the last few miles, most of my earlier running fake-buddies had dropped away (you know, you spend a lot of time hovering near certain people, even if you don't talk with them, but it somehow still gives you some sort of mental support.)


I was so tired and confused that when I saw the mile 25 marker, I asked the lady next to me how much longer we had to go.  In my foggy marathon brain, I couldn't figure out if we had 2.2 miles or 1.2 miles left, I couldn't remember that the mile markers showed you the end of a mile, NOT the beginning.

Clearly, I was exhausted at that point.

But I still had some energy, apparently!

(and PS we went through a few tunnels, so a few of the numbers are wonky)

So as soon as I realized that I only had a mile left, I really picked it up.


My last mile was a 7:12 pace.

For the last half mile, I was chasing a super fast bunny (in the neon green), who was ONLY 19 years old and won her age group (congrats by the way, if you ever find this, you were awesome.)

I sprinted my ass off for the last 0.2 (pace around 6:05 based on my Garmin graph).  I forgot to turn off my Garmin when I finished running, that's why the pace on the photo above is obviously not correct.

Sprinting my butt off at the end of the OC Marathon

Sprinting on the home stretch, 0.2 to go.
LOOK VERY CLOSELY at my arms/hands-- that's my failed and feeble attempt at trying to get my double thumbs up to Tappan.  My body was done.

The neon green bunny and I finished together and I was so worn out, pale, and tired that I draped myself on her at the end in an awkward giant hug/thing.  I hope they got official photos of that at the end, I bet it was quite the sight.

Pale and tired at the finish
...but SO ECSTATIC about the race!!

I finished in 3:26:53, a huge PR for me!
Average pace of 7:54
6th in age group

"I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement.  

It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible."-John Hanc

A few reflections on this marathon:

• My body FAR exceeded my expectations.  You never know what your limits are until you try to push them!!
• I'm still in shock that I ran a marathon 3:26:53, it still sounds plain crazy to me.
• I am so glad that I (temporarily) conquered my fear of hills and relative warmth for this race, maybe I won't get so hung up about such things in future races.
• I don't have any other marathon time goals, does this mean it's time to retire?  Just kidding.  Maybe.
• I do really want to run Boston 2013 and hopefully I'll get in with this time.  My first BQ was within 5 minutes of the cutoff time, and based on my (poor) understanding of the registration process, I wasn't sure if I would have gotten in with that previous time.
• I know I tried REALLY hard in this marathon because my quads are SO sore today and usually I'm not this sore after races.

Thanks for sticking around to read this novel of a race report ;)

But most of all, THANK YOU so much for being so supportive of me!  During some fleeting moments of self-doubt during the marathon, thoughts of everyone believing in me popped into my head and helped me get back into focus.