Can others see you?

Now that day light savings has passed (in US) and as winter approaches the days and the amount of sun warmed streets are becoming shorter and shorter runners should be thinking about how to make sure others we share roads (and trails) with can see you to help avoid injury. This is even more true for those that like to run in 'ninja' black apparel with zero reflective gear.  Yes, stealth is good if you are a commando and hunter stalking prey.  But, if you are a runner who really doesn't want to get side swiped by a passing car, motorcycle or bicyclists then wear 'high vis' colors with reflective gear.

Apparel/gear to consider for your night runs:

• shorts/top with reflective material built in
• water bottles/shoes/vests/hat with reflective material
• red blinking warning lights for ankles, wrists or as head band
• flash light 

Discount code for Jan 12, 2014 Inaugural Foster City 10-miler/5k race

Sunday / Sunday : Back to back half marathons and recovery.

Didn't plan it but decided to see if I could handle 'back to back' Sunday half marathons.  Since I'm on a perpetual marathon training program and do half marathon distance (or longer) every weekend I thought running two consecutive races shouldn't have any impact at all.  Was a naive thought.

Below are the race splits from Half Moon Bay on 09/29 (left) and San Jose Rock in Roll on 10/06.  Both races are flat, both had cool mornings (~55) that warmed up towards after noon (65 in HMB, 85 San Jose), HMB was an out and back, SJ was a loop, both had you traversnig through residential neighborhoods.  One obvious difference was that HMB had 2000 runners whereas SJ had 16,000.

I was able to control my pace rather well at HMB and could actually see the little lag between when I took a GU and a pop in speed (between mile 7 and 9).   In SJ, I was fine for the first 6 miles then something happened. Just lost pace/energy and basically had to push from 7 all the way till the end. A mini-wall if you will.  Times are close but I was noticeably slower and more tired after SJ.

In between each race I did one practice run and some core workouts.  I didn't do any cross-training and my conclusion was that I just wasn't recovered from the first HM.  If I do Sunday to Sunday HM again, I think I'll attempt to do some spin classes to get my aerobic system and legs back to normal faster.

For this week I plan on doing some short ~4 mile runs after one day off then jump right into stationary bike spin/core workouts to aid in recovery.