September training recap

September 27, 2013March 30, 2025 / Brienna / 2 Comments

Being injured really sucks. I’ve been unhappy with the progress, and had a follow-up with my orthopedic doctor last week, and he had me get an MRI. Now, I just have to wait for the results.

Honestly, I would love to run 50+ miles a month, but I just can’t right now. One of the few good things right now is that my knee does seem to be getting better. I don’t know if it’s the physical therapy, the exercises and stretching program, or the time off from running last month.

In July, I ran absolutely 0 miles, and in August, only 16. In September, that number will be about 35. I’ve done 32 so far, and I have a 5k training run planned for tomorrow morning. I should probably just be happy that I was able to put in as many miles as I did this month. My average distance has also gone up from 2.3 miles last month to 4 miles this month. Of course, running a 1/2 marathon does sort of skew things.

Despite being injured, I did run two races this month. The Disneyland 1/2 (which I should have skipped because my knee) and the Color Me Rad 5k. The concept of the Color Me Rad runs are interesting, but I don’t know if I would run more than one of these types of runs per year. It’s a fun run where you are bombarded with colored corn starch. It’s loosely based on the Hindu Festival of Colors, which is also known as Holi.

What are your thoughts on fun runs? Like? Dislike?

Here’s a picture of me and Kimmy getting blasted by pink color!

September goal update

September 10, 2013March 30, 2025 / Brienna / 2 Comments

I realized it’s been quite a while since I did a goal progress check.

Run more miles –
- last year at this time, I was at 187 miles.
- so far this year, I’ve done 200. 🙂
Run more races –
- last year 5
- this year 2 so far, but I have three, maybe four more scheduled – Color Me Rad on 9/14, Turkey Trot, and the Santa Run. I might also do the “ugly sweater run.”
Spanish –
- I’m on lesson 9/30 in Spanish 2. Not going as fast as I’d hoped because I’m doing it with my husband.
Romanian –
- hardly any progress 🙁
Reading more “classics”
- I finished Les Mis, and read The Catcher in the Rye, but I haven’t read (or even started) On the Road, Anna Karenina, or Lolita

I guess I better get start reading more classics and start doing more language practice. If anyone wants to come tudor me, that would be awesome.

orthotics and training for the turkey trot

September 8, 2013March 30, 2025 / Brienna / 2 Comments

I went in last week for an orthotics casting. What this means is that they apply cast-like material to your feet to make a mold, and turn this into very custom insoles.

Hopefully these will help with my injures. We’ll see in 3-5 weeks when they’re ready.

Now that the Disneyland 1/2 marathon is over, I’m hoping that I can start (and complete) a training plan for the Turkey Trot. I’m running the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5k, bright and early Thanksgiving morning. This is now a family tradition, and I will be joined by my husband (who hates to run, but has no choice on Thanksgiving), my mom, my step-dad, and one of my besties.

My training plan includes three runs per week. One “race pace” run, that is designed to practice running at the pace I want to run the race. I’m starting with 600m intervals and working up to 1000m. My second run each week is a speed workout. Most of these are sprint intervals with one or two tempo intervals in the mix. The last run for each week is an easy run. Conspicuously absent is a weekly long run.

Given my injuries, I made a decision to focus on speed and take a break from long runs for a while. The 5k mark is right about where I start feeling pain while running, and I think staying under that will be good.