Week 8 Sunday Run: I missed last Sunday’s run due to Easter in San Diego with the family, so the last time I did a long run was two weeks ago. Boy, time surely flies. I can’t believe it’s week 8 already. Today’s scheduled run was 8 miles. It was our usual course, from Shutters, to the end of Venice, back north to San Vicente, then back to the parking lot where we meet.
This week was the perfect example of using Negative Splits. Negative splits is a running term where you run faster on the second half of your runs instead of the first half. So for the first half, you keep a slow pace, conserving energy, and warming up your muscles getting ready for a faster second half. This is truly my running style because usually, my aches and pains get introduced in the beginning, then towards the end I am good (or maybe it’s the fact that my muscles and joints get numbs that I can’t feel it anymore? I don’t know, I’m not an expert).
Towards the end, Ilana and Philippa, my running partners of the week, kinda strayed away from our usual pace group 4 and picked up the pace a little bit. Philippa even got us to RUN up the incline where the pier starts (great use of hill training there). We felt we had a very energy efficient pace, and I admit, we were conquering that last half of the run very well! It felt awesome. When we finished the 12 miles, it’s really hard for me to say that it wasn’t a problem. I was a little scared at the finish line because I actually felt a small pinch in my right leg muscle, so I ended the run slowly, walked, then stretched it out. Tomorrow I recover.
Negative Splits: Use Them to Perform Better in Your Next Marathon
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No, not the TV show, the Hills. I’m talking about the hills in Santa Monica. Before TNT, I never really knew that hills even existed in Santa Monica. When I hear Santa Monica, I think of sunny skies, the beach, and the promenade. Well, on the east part of Santa Monica, near the airport (they have an airport too?!?), our team trains in a residential street named Dewey. Today was my first session, but it was the team’s second practice here. It replaced the strength training (although we’re supposed to do that on our own time now) on Wednesday nights. This time it was 7pm.
I know what you’re thinking. It’s not what you think. One of our teammates, Javier, and Marie from TNT Tri Team planned a really fun event in Santa Monica, along Main Street. The Pub Crawl. It was at 2pm – 6pm (yeah, I know, a little too early to go drinking, but hey, it’s for a good cause). The plan was to hit up 4 bars, 1)Waterfront cafe, 2) O’Briens, 3) World Cafe, and 4) Finn McCool’s. Since I had a pretty crazy Friday (not going to get into that), I didn’t make it out to the event until the end of bar #3. People referred to each bar stop a base, so I started at third base. What people told me from the bar #2 and #3, people didn’t get crazy until bar #4. People had negative splits (marathon jargon, where people do better in the second half of the run) in their drinking. Great turnout though at about 70 people. At $20 donation each, this seemed to be a great fundraiser to have. Mental note to self: Throw an event like this next time.
Mondays will be my crosstraining nights where I plan to experiment with different types of workouts and classes. I’ve had an indoor rockclimbing gym membership for half a year now, and I realized that I haven’t maximized its use to offset the monthly cost. I go to 
