Jessi Stensland - Adventures in Endurance Performance

NYC Marathon

NYC Marathon lived up to its hype.

I ran 3:36 -- thanks to that benchmark Boston Qualifying time of 3:40 -- otherwise I bet I would've cruised along, jammed with the the bands and high-fived people a bit more - definitely at the end.

Dad ran 4:33.  I'm flippin' impressed.  Especially since -- and i hate to even say it since it goes against all my performance training advice -- he only committed to 'training' for it 5 weeks ago. 

The day went as perfectly as it could've.  50 degrees and sunny.  No blisters, no chafing, no bathroom stops.

GEAR:  I wore my favorite go-to Under Armour outfit:

• Compression Shorts
• Core 2 Sports Bra
• Tech Tank
• DCE Speed Socks
• Ventilator Mesh Visor

NUTRITION:  Pre-race -- I used SportQuest's Carbo Pro (mixed with Gatorade G2), along with their Vantage, Motivator and Thermolyte, as well as a little extra caffeine, a banana and a CLIF Bar.  During the race:  Razz + Mango CLIF Shots and sips of both Gatorade Endurance and water at almost every aide station.  Brought along some Luna Moon's to eat, but they were too hard to chew since it was so cold out.  **Note - take note of race temp when thinking about nutrition to use.

THE RACE:  I started out at 8 min/mi as planned, but only for the first mile.  It felt so easy to run 7:15s over and over that I was confident I could keep going with that.  That lasted through mile 15 - the longest run of my life up to that point.  It was then that I made a note to self that no matter what happened from that point on - it was all a bonus.  I can't say the rest was easy.  I ended up averaging 8:15min/mi.  It was definitely one of the hardest things I've done in my life.  There was a good chunk of time where I would say that I wasn't really running, but more like moving my arms and legs whichever way would keep me moving in a forward direction.  A few times i did stop to take :30 to 1min to walk and enjoy the sights and sounds - one time in particular - in the Bronx - when RESPECT was blasting and I danced around (with my arms moreso haha) and THAT was awesome.  Central Park was definitely my favorite part of the race - and I was glad I had my name on my shirt at that point.  It was like I had thousands of friends cheering me on!   They really seemed to KNOW me out there - cheering from the heart you could tell.  Thanks to everyone out there.  It was super special. 

THE FINISH:

  As I approached the finish and had about 4 min before 3:40 I was able to take a look around, behind and up to the sky, and enjoy it for a moment, thanking God for the opportunity, the drive, the desire, the ability to be a part of something like that, knowing full well that it could, and very well may be a once in a lifetime experience for me.  It was awesome.

POST-RACE:  The walk from the finish to the exit to meet my family seemed more like a death march I'll admit!  After grabbing my race gear bag, changing into dry, warm clothes, I found a spot in the sun to lay out my towel and do some regen(eration) with my TRX and TP Quadballer which I had packed conveniently in my bag.  I used the TRX both as a stretch rope for some AIS stretching - since I was too stiff at first to stand and stretch, but then I found a tree to harness it to and went through a few key stretches, then rolled out my legs with the Quadballer.  I'm blown away that more people don't have a stretch rope at the very least for themselves post-race...more on that later. 

After that it was photo ops and NY pizza with the fam.  Delish.

I have a week here on the East Coast for some downtime with family including a trip down to Under Armour in Baltimore to put some more final touches on my 2009 race kit and down to visit GW/DC for the day, before heading back to SD to make a pre-2009 season plan...

Thanks to everyone who's signed on to Twitter.  It's fun isn't it??

Happy Election Day :)

Happy Halloween! Pre-race + Pumpkin Carving.

Pre-marathon race week recap: 

Did my last hard(-ish) workout on Tuesday to keep the bod fresh which included a few short bursts of speed on the treadmill (11.0 - 12.0mph for :15sec to 1min to be exact) along with a just a few reps of strength + stability.  Took Wednesday completely off (mentally and physically) and Thursday was an easy swim, 90 minute massage and some active stretching and movement.  I feel great!  Have lots of friends doing the marathon which is super cool AND most awesome is that:

MY DAD IS DOING THE MARATHON TOO!

I decided to fly out just the Friday before so I could keep control of my body and mind for as long as possible before diving into NYC + family time.  Will hit the expo first thing Saturday morning.  Josh Cox mentioned getting an interview for Runners World so I'll try to connect with him there too.  Then a quiet homemade dinner @ home in NJ Saturday before the race.  No sweat. :)

Had to share a few pics from my first pumpkin carving effort in a long time...a great way to spend an evening!!  Happy Halloween!!

PRE                                                POST

Weekend Workout Pre-NYC

Last weekend before the marathon – what to do…

I wanted to get my heart rate up, but not kill my body.  I also wanted to get my body feeling loose, light, spring-y, and ready to run. 

Knowing that, this morning I decided to go to the track.  It’s a great open space to do some movement prep, running drills, and elasticity.

When I say elasticity, i mean something similar to plyometrics, but the way I do them is with stability and elasticity in mind, so, only 4-5 reps of perfect executions, both single and double leg and only a few movements.  So I’m not killing the muscles / joints, just enlivening them!

I spent about 1 hour doing my movement prep which is an active warm up that includes things like glute bridges and mini-band monster walks, knee hugs, leg cradles, lunges w/ a stretch, etc.  I intermix those with running drills including, marching, skipping, straight leg skipping, and one leg runs. I finish up with elasticity. Many of these movements you can see on the Sportskool videos under my VIDEOS, fyi!

By then I was definitely loose, light, spring-y and ready to run! 

I chose to do one of my favorite run workouts.  It’s a 5km on the track but run as follows:

8 x (400m run + 200m ez) and finished with an additional 200m ez to make 5km total.

My goal today was simply to start at an easy pace and either hold it or go faster if I felt like it.

My first 400 was 1:45 (7min/mi)  I was excited it felt so easy!

My first 200 was :52 (also 7min/mi)

From there I was able to decrease my 400s by about 2 seconds every time, and maintain my 200s @ about :52.  My last 400 was strong @ 1:29 (5:56/mi) and I finished the whole 5km in 20:45.  Or 6:45/mi pace.  Nice.

I’ve decided I’ll start my marathon @ 8min/mi.  I’m not sure I’ll even be able to go that slow (remember I'm a 5/10k-er) but I have a feeling that will be my best bet for finishing the marathon strong – and hopefully even negative splitting it, which I hear is the way to go, if you can…

This coming week I plan to keep it easy, but get in a few things early in the week like a solid swim workout Monday.  Tuesday: a movement/strength session and another short interval workout on the Woodway Force focusing on my running form.  Wednesday, an easy swim and easy movement, similar to what I warmed up with today…then…chill.   ☺

10 Miler - My Marathon Microcosm

Raced a 10 Miler this morning. Love that distance!  Goal was to get in a groove, like i want to feel when i run NYC in 2 weeks. Finished in 1:08:33 = 6:51/mile.  3rd place!  Beautiful course (see the view, left) in Huntington Beach, CA.  I made the first 5 feel easy and came through @ 6:35/mi.  But apparently not easy enough.  Second 5 felt harder, sometimes really hard and I did that 5 @ about 7:05/mi. 

The NYC Marathon is in 2 weeks.  woohoo - i'm really excited.  For the most part.  For all the reasons that everyone has told me i should be excited about doing NYC - I'm excited.  It's THE ONE to do.  Cool.  Only, its still a marathon, right?  Training has been quality, but not quantity.  The training plan was to get stronger, efficient, and faster (with much more emphasis on my functional training) before going longer in training, but never quite got to the longer part.  So the good news is I'm strong, efficient and injury resistant.  And I'm fast - for about 90sec - 3 min and arguably through about 6 miles, but after that, not so much fast.

Super happy with today's race.  Now, looking toward the marathon, I'm simply hoping/planning:

#1:  That I'm capable of running a pace, any pace, that allows me to feel A-OK @ 20 miles in the marathon or at least up over the Queensboro Bridge.

#2:  That I hold myself back enough and do that pace, whatever that's supposed to be.  8:00?  even slower?  My hope is that i can run under 3:30 and I'd say the fastest it could be is 3:15 but that's a long shot.

Keep you posted this week.  Should i mention I still need to book a flight to the race...!?