Luna Chix Summit 2012

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Hey hey! Did you miss me? I have been go, go, going on fast forward since last Friday, and I can't wait to share my amazing weekend with you!  It will take a couple of posts, so just bare with me :)

Friday morning I flew out to San Francisco bright and early, en route to Berkeley for the 2012 Team Luna Chix Summit.  I had never really been to Berkeley, so I was excited to see a new area, and even more ecstatic to see some faces I hadn't seen in a year, and to meet so many new ones!! Luna Chix Summit is a great way to jump-start our season (all run, mountain bike, cycling and triathlon teams are invited) - trying newer products, getting our team uniforms (first run skirt ever!), and learning about what Clifbar & Co. is doing today and has planned for the coming year, as well as what the company we support has been doing, the Breast Cancer Fund.

I met Julia at Logan airport and arrived at SFO without a hitch. We jumped in a rental and were in Berkeley by 3 PM, just in time to check in, meet up with J and Ashley, and pop down to my first session - Nutrition Ambassador Training.  That is correct, I will be the nutrition ambassador for the Luna Chix Boston Run Team this season (that was the big news I had to share - and if have been around me much, you know I live for this stuff!)  It was a great session - not too much new information (I had received a lot of bar nutrition info at last year's summit) but still some good refreshers and great info! I will write a nutrition specific post later on and share what I learned.

That evening, Clif & Co. hosted us all for dinner and tours at their Emeryville headquarters.  Our shuttle bus was a little late getting there, so we were some of the last to get dinner and I didn't get a chance to take a tour - but the food was worth every second and I had already seen the tour last year, so I don't think I missed much.  They really go all out on the food at Cliff HQ, making it that much more desirable to work there (it is no secret that I would love to work for this company - their values, benefits and attitude sell it all).  Gary, the co-owner of Clif & Co. led the Cliff & Co. band as our entertainment, and we were introduced to this year's Luna Pro Team (mainly cyclo-cross and tri members - but there is one running pro, Jane Kibii, who I ran the 2011 Tufts 10k with last fall).  One of the cool things about summit, is that we get to intermingle with the Pros and ask lots of good questions.

We didn't stay long after dinner and the entertainment, as we were tired and had an early morning of workouts and good info to look forward to - the only problem was that we woke up to monsoonish rain/winds on Saturday morning.  This caused our pre-run clinic (all about running coaches and different types of workouts, along with some dynamic stretches) to be inside in a conference room, which I wasn't complaining about as I watched the sideways rain.  We eventually packed on our rain gear and headed out around the marina we were staying at, for a 1.5 mile warm-up, and then about 3.5 miles of tempo runs - one of my favorite out of all of the different kinds of speed workouts.  The workout was pretty cool, and definitely one I will be repeating on my own to get in some speed work!!

It looked like this:

• warm-up - 15 minutes
• temp runs for time, not distance (using a slightly faster than 5k pace, but quicker than half marathon pace - I went with my 10k pace, low 7's)
• 2 minutes out, 1 minute rest
• 4 minutes out, 1 minute rest
• 6 minutes out, 2 minutes rest
• 5 minutes out, 2 minutes rest
• 3 minutes out, 1 minute rest
• 1 minute out, done!
• cool-down - 10 - 15 minutes

We quickly got ourselves back inside, showered and warmed up - newspapers in shoes so they would be a bit dryer for the later clinics and off to lunch.  Post lunch we headed to another nutrition clinic (where more of the info from the day before was covered, but for everyone, not just the nutrition ambassadors), a clinic on strength training w/ just body weight (a lot of body weight moves to prevent injury and warm up the muscles pre-run/workout) and then we had some free time before dinner.

Ashley, me and Jessie at the nutrition and marketing talk

Dinner was a yummy buffet, some Clif & Co, wine, and a performance by a local improv comedy group.  Each skit they invited someone from the audience to come up on stage and act a part - in return whoever acted received some Luna sportsgear arm warmers.  I was called up for a skit where you line up, the host asks a question and starting with the end person, each person in line adds one word to the answer, and so on...I scored some sweet arm warmers, that I might have to try out soon - not used to the feel of them just yet!

4 of the 10 Luna Chix Boston Run Team - Ashley, me, Jessie and Julia

Sunday was our last day of summit, and the only big thing on everyone's schedule was either a ride (for the cyclists and mountain bikers) or a run (for the run teams) and an option to do yoga early in the AM (I partook in the 7 AM class, pre-run).  Between the three choices for the run (short & easy, long & flat and hard & hilly), I chose the hard & hilly.  Last year we were brought out to the Marin Headlands and it was an absolutely incredible run - hard, but rewarding.  This run on Sunday was just as rewarding, if not more! We ran about 7.5 miles through the Strawberry Canyon (located on UC Berkeley's campus), and it was hilly and a bit muddy - but worth every second.  I had to walk up two of the three steep parts (the first half was all uphill, but there were 3 "shelves" of steep inclines to tackle in that uphill trek).  I made it through with one of the front groups, so I had time to make it all the way to the top and then descend back to where we started, with about a 9:27 pace - not too shabby for walking up some portions and trying not to slip in the muddy areas! A little upset I didn't get any photos, but I am keeping an eye out for any that might have been taken to share!!

My poor white kinvaras are now a fantastic shade of light brown, even post bath...guess I need some trail shoes!

 After spending far too long in the shower trying to scrub the caked on mud off my calves and kinvaras, I met up with the other ladies of my team, enjoyed our final lunch of summit, claimed some more Luna and Clif bars to add to our stash, and packed up to head to Santa Rosa for some wine time!

Next up...wine country with the girls...