Weighing in on everything from avocados to Zimbabwe

Weighing in on everything from avocados to Zimbabwe

Archive for September 2015

Women of Wonder 10K Race Recap


posted by Leila Z. on ,

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I had a few running-related goals this year, but one of the more results-oriented of them was to PR in at least one distance this year. June brought about a successful 5K race in the Magnuson Series, and I decided to capitalize on that fitness by chasing down a 10K PR to boot. Plus, I was excited to take part in the Women of Wonder race; it's a very "up with women" event and takes place on my (very flat) home course around Green Lake, so I was in! I was hoping to be able to debut my Oiselle singlet, but it didn't arrive until a few days later -- but I visualized myself wearing it during the race! :)

I didn't have my new Oiselle singlet yet for this race, but I had it on in my mind!
Training

I decided to do this race about a month out, so I started tailoring my weekly track workouts to longer intervals and doing slightly longer tempos as well. I've decided my new favorite workout is 2K repeats, and now vying for my least favorite workout (with 800s) was a brutal 3 x 2 miler that I did about 10 days before the race. I was slightly concerned about the race distance -- as a frequent run commuter I get plenty of mileage, but often in several 2-3 mile runs a day, so I don't often run 10K in one go. I made sure to do at least a couple of longer (for me) 7-ish mile runs in the weeks leading up to the race. My race goals were: A) break one hour, B) PR (previous PR: 1:04:42), and C) stay mentally tough when things got hard.  

Pickup

Packet pickup was available at Super Jock 'n' Jill the day before the race, which was super convenient. Even more convenient was the fact that I convinced my husband to go pick up my packet for me, since I was "working", and totally not watching "Entourage" while my Very Important Simulations were running. 

Race Day

Race day dawned rather gloomy and grey -- my preferred conditions to run! It was misting ever so slightly as I forced down an egg and chapati (I was awake but my stomach wasn't). After some more bed lounging to refocus, I got dressed and jogged over to the starting line, arriving about 10 minutes before the start.


You know how some days running is just magical and you feel as if you are springing from cloud to cloud? Well, this was not one of those days, to my disappointment. I didn't feel exceedingly horrible or wonderful; instead it was a race where (happily for me, on the day), you get out of it what you've put into the training bank.
Smiling and happy pre-race
Miles 1-3: 9:36, 9:36, 9:33

At the start there were corrals rather unhelpfully labeled "A", "B", "C", and "D", and the announcer clarified not at all by saying "6:00 and under at the front, joggers behind, strollers behind them". As has happened before, I had no clue where to start, but finally decided to stand near the front of the "B" corral. I think perhaps I should have started further up because when the gun went off even I (who usually start very conservatively) wanted to go around the people in front of me.

I quickly locked into my pace and focused on feeling relaxed, running strong, and looking out for the tangents of the road. My plan was to run 9:35's through the first half, so I was pleased with how easy my consistency felt.

Mile 4-5: 9:26, 9:31

The race course was two laps around Green Lake. As I came around the first lap, I saw Greg and Phil cheering, the ladies from Running Evolution giving high fives, and two guys in wigs belting out "Sweet Caroline" karaoke-style; between that and my 5K split (29:47?), I think I got too excited for mile 4. I tried to reel myself back in, partly unsuccessfully.

I wanted to run the first half controlled and race the second 5K, but dang, I was tired. Mile 5 in particular was me trying to rachet down the pace, though it's not necessarily reflected in the split. I latched on to a group of ladies going a bit faster than me to let them pull me along, but then felt intensely irritated that they were running and chatting while I was doing everything to stay with them. By this time the light refreshing mist had also devolved into a pretty substantial rain.

Mile 6: 9:20
Last 0.2 (Garmin says 0.26): 2:07

I was as tired as ever here, but through the fog still tried to give myself a pep talk about how many times have I run intervals when more tired than this? And that were longer than this? And run them faster than this? I passed the group of ladies I had latched onto in Mile 5, and unfortunately had to do some extra work dodging the straggling 5Kers who were uniformly walking 4-5 abreast. By this time it was raining pretty hard, but to their credit, Greg and the 8yo were still out waiting to cheer for me. I kicked as much as I could the last couple of tenths (couldn't muster much) and crossed the finish line in 59:10.
Serious painface and the world's most unflattering photo must mean I'm doing something right?
This was a huge race for me -- more than a five-and-a-half minute PR! Most importantly, I had a race plan and was able to execute it pretty much perfectly, even on a day when I didn't feel sparkly. And, through training, I have managed to become a bit more comfortable being (sometimes quite) uncomfortable during races -- I'm excited to capitalize on my current fitness and work toward some other distances in the coming months (stay tuned). Finally, many thanks to Greg and Phil for coming to cheer in the rain, and especially to my dear husband for the "coaching" and listening to a slow bird obsess over incremental progress!

June Magnuson Series 5K Race Recap


posted by Leila Z. on ,

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I never got around to writing a recap of the Magnuson Series 5K that I ran in June, even though I wanted to. I was mostly stumped by my lack of planning, photo-wide: I failed to take a picture pre- or post-race, and the race photos didn't capture me somehow [Note: the Magnuson Series is a great bare-bones but CHEAP series that focuses on being able to track your progress from one month to the next, so I don't blame them at all for this!]. So I'll pad the race recap with some non-running photos of me, and running photos of not-me. :)

I'm a fake fake doctor!
Running the Magnuson 5K was actually a spur-of-the-moment decision; my family was in town for my graduation (the fake one -- I won't defend my dissertation until December) and I was looking for something active for my brother and me to do. A tempo run earlier in the week had me feeling good and I was wondering if I could challenge my PR of 28:55. So we jumped in the race. My goals for the race were: A) break 28:00, B) score a PR, and C) race smart and negative split the race.

We arrived at Magnuson Park in plenty of time for me to do my mile warmup and a few strides to boot. The morning was beautiful: sunny but cool, with temperatures in the low 60's. It's a small race series, so even after the gun went off there wasn't much maneuvering necessary. Gunning for a PR, I went out at a comfortably hard pace, and went through Mile 1 in 9:17. Looking back, it was a bit slower than I really wanted, but I wanted to save some (mental and physical) energy for the hill at about 0.6 miles. It's not a huge hill, but looms large in my head after feeling extremely defeated by it on the second lap of a 10K I ran there last year.

Once over the hill, I started to squeeze down bit by bit. I saw fastie Greg at several points on the course shouting encouragement, but didn't have much breath to waste telling him how I felt. By about the middle of Mile 2, I started feeling a little foggy and couldn't do much except try to maintain contact with the woman in front of me. I knew we had picked up the pace, but didn't know by how much. At certain points I tried to summon the energy to pass her, but I couldn't. I grimly hung on until the last couple of tenths of a mile, when I tried to kick but lost her by a few yards as I didn't have much left. Still, as I clicked off my watch crossing the finish line, I saw that I had run 27:57! The race was only gun timed so my official gun time was 28:03, but I'm counting it by watch time... ;) After catching my breath, I walked over and thanked the woman who I had followed for pulling me through, and she in turn thanked me for pushing her (she said she had heard my footsteps through most of the race).

Happily, my brother Murray also scored a PR (25:27), too: as evidenced by the pain face photo below!
Murph hangs on for a PR; cheers from Mama Z in the background!
Overall, I was quite pleased with the day. I had a race plan and executed it to good effect. I still don't claim to have a lot of mental toughness when things start to hurt, but I was able to hang on and accomplish all three goals that I had for the day. And a PR in at least one race distance was on my list of goals for 2015, so I'm happy to have checked that one off! Next up: I'll be running the Women of Wonder 10K on September 13, where I'll try to put some of these same racing lessons to the test in a longer format.

Mbira camp 2015


posted by Leila Z. on

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If you have perused this blog even slightly, you will know that I spent the month of February 2014 in Zimbabwe, studying mbira with various master teachers in Mhondoro and Harare. It was an incredible experience -- one that I would encourage every serious student of traditional Zimbabwean music to make happen -- and both helped my playing and my understanding of its cultural context. However, for various life, logistical, and financial reasons, realistically it may be a long time before I can travel there again.


So instead, I do the next best thing. I study mbira with American teachers who have studied this music and spent time in Zimbabwe, and I make an effort to study with Zimbabwean teachers who are traveling in the U.S. This year I went to an 8-day mbira camp in beautiful Berkeley, CA. There were two teachers: Berkeley native and host Erica Azim, and Zimbabwean teacher "Samaita" Vitalis Botsa. Samaita has a wonderfully complex and dreamy style that I have admired for years, and I was particularly excited to learn from him.

Spending the day near the John Muir woods playing mbira is seriously transcendent!
Life at mbira camp takes on its own rhythms: virtually your only responsibility (aside from doing some dishes) is to learn mbira. This singular focus is both incredibly freeing and incredibly intense. In addition to learning new pieces, I got to brush up on lots of old things I had forgotten, play with some excellent campmates, and learn singing to the pieces we studied (Tadzungaira, Mahororo, and Marenje). We spent a day in the John Muir Woods and a day at Pescadero Beach south of Half Moon Bay; both are beautiful places in their own right only made better by softly tinkling mbira strains. To clear my head, I explored Berkeley on the run and treated myself several times by ending my run at the Hopkins Street Bakery (vanilla cream donut: YUM!). Oh, and I woke up at the crack of dawn each day to cheer on the American athletes participating in the World Championships of Track and Field in Beijing!

Samaita had a sweet tooth just like me! THAT's why I spent so much time at the bakery, sure... ;)
The last day of camp coincided with my 37th birthday; it seemed fitting somehow to be able to reflect on the past year and the year to come in the context of playing mbira, which is how I do my best thinking. There are lots of exciting and possibly stressful things afoot for the coming year, but I felt calm and energized thinking about them. Here's to another great year (full of mbira)!