This week felt like the first week I got settled in California. We don’t have a house just yet, but I felt like I was finding my groove with running.
Right now, running feels as though it’s the only consistent part of my life. As I continue house hunting and start job searching, running is just running. When I’m running, I’m not worrying about other things. As cliché as that sounds, it’s my current mentality.
I’ve tried to add workouts, but I realize I’m not excited nor motivated about them. I’m excited about random trail runs, or random Strava course records. So instead of doing traditional workouts lately, I’ve gravitated towards what makes me happy.
I mentioned the other day on Instagram, but one thing I appreciate about where I’m staying now is the ability to access several different types of runs. If I want a trail run I can, if I want an easy flat route, I can…or if I want 20-30 mph headwinds, I can do that too.
The different runs have kept me interested because nothing is the same. If you want to follow me on Strava, you can do so here.
| Monday: | Easy watchless run (11.5 miles) |
| Tuesday: | Lagoon Valley Park Run (12 miles) |
| Wednesday: | 1.3 fast cross country run 6:42 pace |
| Thursday: | Easy 11 mile flat run |
| Friday: | Lagoon Valley Park Run (12 miles) |
| Saturday: | Easy 11 miles Flat Run |
| Sunday: | Easy 12 miles Flat Run |
| Total: | Total Miles: 82 |
Thoughts:
As most people know, I am doing the Grit 300 Challenge. I signed up to run 300 miles in 30 days. Some years this has been easily doable, but other years it seems to be much more challenging. This year, it’s been more challenging.
Since I haven’t been running that much over the last couple of years, this seemed like an achievable, yet challenging goal. You can still sign up and you can run anything from 25-300 miles depending on what your goal is. Plus, each week, Asics is giving away a free pair of shoes. I’ve already known three people to win!
Back to the Runs:
Monday, Thursday, and Saturday were both uneventful but easy days. Nothing too exciting happened.
Tuesday and Friday were trail runs. Lagoon Valley Park has a giant hill and a lot of singletrack trails. It’s new terrain for me, but each of those runs had over 1000 feet of elevation. They are much slower and average around 10:50-11 minute pace, but they are much harder.
Wednesday, I challenged myself to a small park loop on the base called Duck Pond. On Strava, it’s a 1.3-mile segment, and I thought it would be a good workout. Even though it was 15 mph winds, I averaged 6:42 pace, and I got the female course record. Not what I was expecting (and truthfully, I had no clue what I was expecting), but I’m happy with it.
On Sunday, I woke up at 3:30 am. Granted, I went to bed at 7:30 pm, but I was hoping to sleep later. Getting on West Coast time has proved to be a challenge for me. Back om the East Coast, I was typically waking up just before 5, which is 2 am here. I didn’t think the run would go well, but once I found my groove, it felt a lot better than anticipated. That doesn’t always happen, but I’m glad it did yesterday.
In all, I’m happy with my week of training. I do look forward to getting settled into a house and starting my “actual life” here.
Posts from the Week:
Saucony Endorphin Shift Review
Hiking Cinnamon Mountain (Big Sky, Mt)
July Training Recap: A Month in Many States
Questions for you:
How was your week of training?
Are you doing any fun challenges?