Training: Turning Over a New Leaf

me running california

Another week of running down. I’ve struggled with calling it training.

Am I running? Yes.

Am I training for a race? No.

Have I done workouts? Yes.

Have I been inconsistent, often taking multiple days off a week? Yes.

Of course, I want to get back into shape and run fast again but the last few months have just been busy.  With the end of January, I think things will simmer down and I’ll able to regroup and refocus for what I want to train for.

Anyway, vacation last week made it easy to get out and run.  In California, it was warmer, and I didn’t any extra things pulling me in different directions.  Between car rides and site seeing, we hiked a lot.  It was a nice break.

Monday: 30-minute run/Hike Reservoir (2 steep miles)
Tuesday: 9-mile hike in Merin Headlands
Wednesday: 50-minute run/Purisima Creek Redwood Hike
Thursday: OFF
Friday: Easy 45 minutes run
Saturday: Easy 6-mile run
Sunday: 14 mile run, with 7 at 7:15 pace.

Thoughts:

This was a lot of hiking and steep climbing. Hiking on the West Coast is different than the East. Most of the trails are runnable so you can always move faster.  It might be higher elevation, but less rocky. East Coast Trails are much more rocky with more scrambling.

My running last week was fine. I was recovering from a hard effort from the Carlsbad Half. I raved as hard as I could for the day, which was a 1:29.47. It’s not near my PR, and I don’t feel like it took me that long to recover, which was nice, because I wasn’t that sore walking and hiking along the West Coast.

Over the weekend, I slept in until 7:30. Since I work in a run specialty store, I work on weekends. Saturday, especially it meant I didn’t have enough time to do a speed workout.  I almost didn’t run at all but squeezed in a 6-mile run.  I’m proud of myself for doing that and making the best of it. I don’t typically set alarms (waking up at 5 is usually not an issue), and once every few months I sleep in later than I should.  I don’t stress about it, because it just means my body needed more sleep.

Sunday:  14 miles with at 7:15

This entire run felt like a struggle. I started off easy, and as like progressed in pace down to 7:30 I felt like I was sprinting. After a few miles, it felt somewhat easier but it never felt easy.  I have a lot of work to do with long runs and it seems moons ago, that I was able to progress under 7-minute pace.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtJr8yqFnGl/

In all, this week was great. Vacation running and hiking was awesome and I feel like it was nice to be away.

Posts from the Week: 

Carlsbad Half Marathon (1:29.47)

Walking the Manasquan Reservoir

Questions for you:

Do you like hiking? Where is your favorite spot?

Where has been your favorite spot to vacation too?

1 Comment

  1. Ah, sunny California and west coast hiking is good for the soul!! Glad you were able to sleep in. My sleep in time is usually 7:30 which most people find hilarious so I’m glad you and I are at least in the same place – LOL!!!

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