Last week started off well but then so much unexpected happened. In the middle of the week, my husband and I were supposed to go to NYC, but that didn’t work out. Then I ended up feeling like garbage on Saturday, and I missed a road 5k. Somehow on Sunday my husband convinced me to do my first single track trail 10k on Sunday. It wasn’t a “bad” week, just not what I originally thought would happen.
Anyway, as I said in my April recap, my only plan for the rest of May is just go along with the punches and have fun. So far, so good.
| Monday: | Easy 60 minutes |
| Tuesday: | 12x400s averaging 88 seconds with 400 jog between |
| Wednesday: | Easy 60 minutes |
| Thursday: | Hike Bear Mountain (around 4-5 miles of hard hiking) |
| Friday: | Easy 45 minutes |
| Saturday: | Easy 45 minutes |
| Sunday: | Xterra Wetlands Trail 10k |
My husband and I were supposed to go to NYC for a Broadway last week but plans changed, and we ended up in the Nyack/West Point Area. We made the best of it and still had a great time. We even got an afternoon to go hiking at Bear Mountain. It ended up downpouring about halfway through our hike!
Between that and hilly runs though the Westpoint Campus, my runs were “easy” but harder than the pancake area I typically run through.
Tuesday: 12X400 88 seconds with 400 jog in between
This workout went better than anticipated. The weather was good and the sun was out. Like most of my workouts over the past 6 months, it was on the road through my neighborhood. Once school lets out for the summer, I’m hoping to be able to take advantage of a local track.
I had planned to do a local 5k on Saturday but I woke up exhausted. I can’t put my finger on it, but something told me not to do the race. It was torrential downpour and my gut told me it wasn’t worth it. So I didn’t. I didn’t really have a direct reason “not too”, other than my body was tired and my gut told me not too. I slept in and ran easy in the rain.
Trail 10k:
Which leads me to how I even got to my first single track 10k on Sunday. My husband has gotten more into trail races lately and wanted to drive down and do it. I woke up late that Sunday and did nothing I “typically” do before races but was able to quickly pack clothing and jump in the car with him.
We got to the race around 7:30, had time for about a mile warmup, and all of a sudden it was time to go. I ran cross country in college, so racing in the woods isn’t 100% new to me, however, a legit single trek trail race is. I self seeded myself in the middle. I didn’t want to be overzealous in the front, nor did I want to be in the complete back. I probably was a bit too far back because I found myself passing people the entire race. It has rained the last 3 days in NJ (with it only continuing), so the trails were deep. I ran in a 5-6 year old pair of Nike LT flats which was not my best idea. My only goal was not too hurt myself. I finished in about 50 minutes and was even first women, which I was surprised! I had a lot of fun and I’m glad I got out of my comfort zone.
Even though the week wasn’t what I had planned at all, I had a lot of fun getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things.
Posts from the Week:
Exploring Hartshorne Park in the Highlands
Questions for you:
Have you ever done a trail race?
What was your best workout of the week?
Congratulations on the trail race and making the best of a rough week. It stinks that the NYC trip and the 5K didn’t work out, but I don’t blame you a bit to skip the 5K in those conditions. Glad you ran in some different places this week too- it’s always nice to break up the monotony a little!
You’re awesome! Great job rolling with the punches and winning a trail race! Life really is unpredictable so it’s best to just go with the flow. It’s definitely worth it to step out of our comfort zone.
The highlight of my week was that my mileage total for the week was a grand total of 10 miles lol first double digit week since returning from injury, making great progress, loving running again but being very cautious and easing back into it, this is by far the smartest I’ve ever been about running and wow what a difference it makes, the quality of my runs are better and I feel in a much better place. Of course there is always room for improvement but right this moment I’m happy with the path I’m on and I’m making progress. My goal for the summer is to just be healthy and enjoy whatever miles I’m able to run painfree!!
Only YOU could enter a race totally unprepared (well not really but you know what I mean) and win the whole damn thing!!! That is beyond awesome and I’m so glad you listened to your body and bagged the other race. Lastly, that selfie is hilarious and you look so happy 🙂
Congrats on the trail race! Are you hooked on them now?
Thanks AJ, I enjoyed it but I still prefer the roads 🙂
Congrats on the win! It’s raining here too. It just won’t stop.
I love trail runs–always a fun atmosphere and more laid back than road races. Usually better food and beer, too!