It’s funny; it seems like 50% of my training logs are “building fitness.” I’ve rambled about this a few times, but after falling in November, I can’t seem to get into the fitness I once was. I wasn’t in “great or PR fitness” then, but I was several minutes faster. Shortly before my fall, I ran a 1:29 half marathon, my fastest in some time.
This month, I ran the challenging La Jolla Half Marathon with about 900 feet of elevation gain. I enjoyed it a lot!
Miles run: 278
Range of paces: 6:27-30:12-untimed
Races:
Workouts: 4
Swimming: 41 miles
Thoughts:
This was an interesting month. Not in a bad way, but it just was. I started the month with a 3-day long swim meet. This led to less running and more swimming during the month. Typically I swim between 3-4 days a week, whereas, in the second week of April, I swam five days a week with higher volume.
Then the next week had my only two running races of the month: the base 10k and the La Jolla Half Marathon. The base 10k was in the windiest conditions I’ve ever done. We ran 2 miles directly into a 30-mile-per-hour headwind, and I could barely run an 8:40 mile. Time was irrelevant because it was so windy. On May 1st, I ran a five-miler nearly 30 seconds per mile faster solely because it wasn’t as windy (and lol, it was windy there too).
The La Jolla Half Marathon is known as one of the most challenging half marathons on the West Coast because of all the climbing. The 400-foot climb going into Torrey Pines was brutal, but I enjoyed the course, and it was scenic. The race in total has 900 feet of climbing.
Both my road races were hard, and neither of them is a true representation of the kind of fitness I believe I am in. (lol, we probably all say that). As mentioned, I’ve already run a 5-mile race in May averaging a 6:59 pace which is more accurate to my fitness at the moment.
Towards the end of the month, it finally felt like I was building fitness. My fall in November set me back a lot more than I imagined. It was like having a serious injury (I mean, I couldn’t walk for over two weeks), but I don’t know if I mentally treated it like that because nothing was broken. That’s been a hard realization to come to, knowing that I did lose a significant amount of fitness during my time off in November and December. The “comeback” has not been easy. But I do finally feel like I’m turning a corner there. (I say this as I’m typing the post from having the flu).
Next month I am planning on a few races, including running over the Coronado Bridge and the Carlsbad 5000. I was planning Mountains 2 Beach, but that was postponed until June. Finally, I’ll have a post about this eventually, but I accepted a full-time job on the base. What does that mean? A lot. It will be a significant life change for me, and I honestly have no idea what to expect and what my bandwidth will be for blogging. It typically takes 6-8 weeks to process contractor and DOD jobs, so I do have some time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to run still (I’m usually done this time of year before 7:30 anyway), but I don’t know where that will leave swimming and blogging. That will, of course, be a road to cross when I get there and who reads blogs anymore anyway?
Posts from the Month:
Altra Vanish Carbon Shoe Review
Nike Vomero 16 Shoe Review
Saucony Peregrine 12 Shoe Review
Reebok Floatride Energy X Shoe Review
Saucony Endorphin Pro + Shoe Review
Lululemon Blissfeel Shoe Review
Gear Review:
Camelbak Flash Belt 17oz Review
Form Nutrition Review
SaltStick FastChews Review
Project Repat Quilt Review
Ultimate Direction Apparel Review
Protein2o Review
Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz Review
FITS Socks Review
Yvette Apparel Review
Blogs:
What is the difference between the Saucony Endorphin Pro 2 and Saucony Endorphin Pro +?
What are the Best Headphones for Running?
A Non Responder in a Responders World
Questions for you:
How was your month of training?
What are your goals for the late Spring?
I read the blog when it’s about you 🙂
Thanks Dani!
I read, too! Hope you can keep it up in some way. 🙂
Thank you Anne! I hope so too!