Shamrock Shuffle "to do" list aka my "cat" does cat things.

The Shamrock Shuffle is this Sunday! Yippee another race!! This will be my 4th shuffle- (2011-2013) only missing last year's Shuffle because I ran a marathon in Tennessee.

With great anticipation for my 2nd race back from the great Cankle (peroneal Tendinosis) disaster of 2014, I am excited and anxious and pumped to hit the roads and push my limits again. Also, I must maintain my PR streak in this race.

My "to do" list includes:

•What to wear (prob the most important thing)

•What music to listen to, if any

•Pacing strategy

•Where to get brunch afterwards

For "what to wear" I know I'll wear my Mikkeller Running Club shirt with arm warmers. The forecast is looking to be around 35 deg with 20mph winds. (And I'm hoping the rain/snowy stuff stays away!)

But now comes the most important aspect of race day wear: bottoms.

Do I go with my trusty Nike Pro booty shorts?

*Due to the cold I am leaning against it. BUT I can check a bag and just deal with the freezing temps and have warm legs waiting for me. I don't mind my legs being cold, but if my neck is exposed I freeze.

Or my Track n Field crazy leggings?
*These are pretty thick compared to the Nike legs. I've only worn them once for our MRC 3 miler. I'm leaning against them because they are thicker and a bit more snug.

Or my Nike leggings?
I've worn these for 2 5ks when it was around the same predicted temperature (low 30's) and I felt good. They aren't too thick so I don't get over heated too quickly. Leaning towards these because I'll have more opportunities to wear my booty shorts as the temps increase.

Music:

In my last 5k I didn't run with music and I didn't miss it at all. BUT I'm wondering what would happen if I put "Can't Hold Us" on repeat with some "Lose Yourself" mixed in. Would it give me an extra pep in my step??

Pacing:

If I plug my recent 5k 21:13 into the McMillian calculator it predicts my 8k time to be 34:58. (Avg 7:02) if I plug 20:30 Into the calc (a time I think is conservatively achievable at my current level of fitness because the 5k was not under optimal conditions) I get a predicted finish of 33:47 (avg 6:48).

I feel 34 would be a good number to shoot for, but pacing will be my biggest issue because the garmin won't be accurate in the city & mainly because I haven't been able to practice pacing myself to lock down what a certain pace feels like. The cold will also negatively affect me. I'm still relatively new at this shorter distance stuff and it's hard to know if I'm going out too fast so early in a race like this. I'll just shoot for low 7's and try to negative split the shit out of this race.

My "cat" decided to do cat things and check out what I was doing because that's what he does. He knows no boundaries.

Brunch:

I've thought of a few places but haven't decided on one specific place yet. But I know that first beer post race will taste sweet because of the PR I will run and because I am beyond the injury! And post race brunch with friends is always fun.
2011 Shamrock Shuffle 42:08, 2012 Shamrock Shuffle 39:58, 2013 Shamrock Shuffle  36:59 (PR)

It was fun to go back and see my Shamrock Wear "through the years." Sparkle skirts the last 2 years... My running "style" has come a long way since 2011! I am a firm believer in "if you look good, you feel good, and run faster."

I'm excited for the Frozen Shuffle this weekend, mainly because I'd be kicking myself if I didn't run it. It's one of the "low hanging fruit" races of Chicago for me because I can walk to the start in 10 minutes. Doesn't get any easier than that! Although I do hate the crowds... It will be fun I keep telling myself!

Week 8 of ?? Sub 20 5k training

This week was a bit meh. I was happy to run in Vancouver one last time- with L! But then had to fly home and go to work the next morning for all day meetings!! Always super fun. I just couldn't shake the exhausted no energy feeling Thursday- so figured a rest day was in order. Friday I was even more tired and stuffy so had to take off one more day. It's just not worth it to me to over do it while sick and prolong it.

Monday: 5 miles along the Vancouver Seawall with L.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 5 miles. Some progressive.

Thursday: REST aka no energy

Friday: REST aka stuffy head no energy

Saturday: 10 total: 4 am miles with CB, 6 miles speedwork pm. 2x 1.5 miles at 6:22, 6:10 respectively.

Sunday: 5 miles


Saturday I went for a "test" run with CB and felt much better so I figured a nice speed sesh was in order. It felt more difficult than it should have, but I got both sets of 1.5 miles done. I finished out the week with an easy 5/recovery run to help rid my quads of the soreness from the 2x1.5's. The first half mile my legs were like lead and super sore- but by the 2nd mile I was feeling better. My legs are still a bit sore, which was to be expected.


The sunrise on Wednesday was amazing!


I missed my little puppy bear.


One of the "outtakes" from our run on Saturday. I like taking photos with CB on our runs, because he's so stinking happy and cute, but also because I know the days for us to run are getting more limited as he ages and I want to document these memories.


I also opened another bottle of the black berry stout I had made. The first tasting was lackluster a few weeks ago- but I left more bottles to condition for additional time. The difference between 1.5 and 3+ weeks was huge! The beer today had more carbonation and flavor (more caramel/tartness) and was definitely more drinkable than the one I opened after 1.5 weeks of conditioning. I definitely respect beer a lot more now that I'm beginning to realize everything that goes into producing beer.

I also made more beer. I basically made the same stout as the blackberry stout, But will put coffee in it instead. Then I'm done with stouts, and will move onto a different style which is more spring appropriate. Maybe Gose or pale ale?

This week I'm looking forward to the Shamrock Shuffle... My 4th! Yay.

Vancouver days 4-5 {more sea wall running, Public Market, breweries and oysters!}

On Monday L didn't have any training so we decided to start the day with a run along the sea wall. We were also lucky that the sun came out!


I took L to the totems.


And we 'Grammed them.


And took selfies with them.


Vancouver looked amazing in the rain and overcast conditions. Vancouver also was stunning with the sun out!


The sea wall wasn't busy at all.


I was so happy to go for a nice run with L and spend some time with him!


The cherry trees were also in full bloom.


After our run, we took the cute water taxi to Granville Island to go to the Public Market and Granville Island Brewery.


The tour at GIB was informative and fun. The gal leading our tour definitely knew her way around beer.


We ended up sampling 8 of their beers, including the potato stout I had post race. My favorite was either their winter ale or their Scottish ale. Yum!


Once we were good and buzzed, we walked over to the Public Market for lunch.


The market is super clean and full of the usual market type stalls- containing fruits & veggies, meats and other goods. They also had many food vendors with all different ethnicities of food. We ended up with Indian food and it was so delicious!


We couldn't pass up dessert. Duh. I had chocolate mousse.


After lunch we took the 4 minute water taxi ride back to the other side.


The sunset was especially amazing on Monday night- my last night in Vancouver. That was the view from our hotel.


For dinner I wanted oysters (because Vancouver seafood = so good) So we ended up at "Chewies." The oysters were out of this world fresh and delicious. My favorite were the Kusshi from BC.


Post Chewies, we closed out our night at Steamworks brewing with a couple of good beers.


On Tuesday morning we went to Medina cafe. I can't remember where I had found this place, but the menu looked incredible.

I started with a lavender latte. Divine.


For breakfast I had "Fricassee Champignon" basically a delicious skillet with mushrooms, potatoes, arugula and fried eggs.


We went back to the hotel and I re packed my suitcase and took one more photo from our room.


Then I said goodbye to L and took a cab to the airport.

I love the airport- it's super clean and has cool statues in it.



I wore compression socks on the 4+ hour flight to Vancouver and my legs were throbbing by the end of it. (The soreness lasted for a few days) On the way home, I didn't wear compression socks and my legs felt great. A day later they still feel fresh. Same thing happened on my flight to Brasil. Needless to say I'll never wear them on a flight again.


I got wifi on the plane and killed time by writing blog posts. It was still a long ass flight at 4 hours.


Final thoughts:

I loved Vancouver. It surpassed all my expectations for scenery, food and ambiance. While the diversity of the folks in Vancouver was surprising to me, the concentration of super cars or exotic super cars was even more surprising. The amount of Ferrari's and Lamborghini's and Maserati's was crazy! I had no idea there was so much money in Vancouver!

I was so happy L and I got to take a short trip to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It was so wonderful to visit Vancouver together.