Last week was super busy, filled with half marathon training, a Cinco de Mayo celebration, and even a little golf! I haven’t kept you up to date on my life recently, so I thought today was a good time to share what’s been going on.
It’s easy to keep up if you follow me on Instagram!
Half Marathon Training
Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego is about four weeks away. I originally signed up for the full marathon (as a Rock ‘n’ Blogger I received free entry), but I decided, based on my training, or lack of it, that I should stick with the half marathon.
Until a couple weeks ago my “training” consisted of adding on to my long run and overall mileage. I finally decided that if I didn’t want to embarrass myself wanted to finish strong I needed to add some speed work. Here’s how it all went down.
Monday is usually a rest day for me, though I did get in some stretching (mostly because I teach a stretch class!) and some foam rolling. Much needed after the weekend, I might add.
Tuesday is the day I usually run with my husband, which, since he’s faster than me, makes a perfect time to get in a tempo run. Unfortunately, Alan has been dealing with some inflammation in his foot and it was just too painful. He turned around, I changed my route but stuck with the planned tempo run. Ended up with 7.4 miles: One mile warm up followed by five miles at half marathon pace, then finishing with a cooldown. I was pleased with my pace.
I did have to stop at one point because I saw a stray dog on my path, and if you know me at all, you know I will not pass that by. Fortunately, he had a tag and I was able to call the number and his owner retrieved him within a few minutes. And I was off to finish my run!
By the way, the bright side of Alan’s pain is that he finally got into the doctor to have it checked out. It seems to be an inflamed tendon along the front of his calf that runs down to the arch of his foot. The doctor traced the line ending up exactly where Alan’s pain is. He got a cortisone shot, which relieved the pain. We just need to get him a little rehab to keep it from coming back!
Wednesday was supposed to be a recovery day. I ran four miles, but I realized when I was about a mile from home that I’d left the trash out where Molly the trash hound could get at it. That made me turn around and hightail it home just knowing I’d find trash all over the floor. Fortunately, I somehow beat her to it, so I secured the trash can, and took off for two more miles. My pace for the run ended up being just a little slower than my tempo the day before, so not exactly easy, but not too bad.
On Thursday I wanted to get in another higher intensity workout, so I decided to hit the hills. You may not believe this, but I love hill workout. I mean, not while I’m doing them, I’m not that crazy, but I don’t dread them like I do some of the faster speed workouts, and I feel great when they’re done. Read about it in the IG post below:
Friday was another rest day. It was also the last day of our temporary weather cool off. Earlier in the week it had been in the 70s, a total rarity this time of year. Friday it was heading back up there. Cool in the morning, but in the mid-90s by the afternoon. With a weekend forecast into the triple digits. Yes, I live in the desert so I know it’s going to happen, but I am never ready. Especially since we really didn’t have any winter to speak of this year.
My long run was scheduled for Saturday. I had 12 miles on the plan, but the hot weather really snuck up on me. After a week of lows in the 50s, Saturday dawned at about 75! And yes, I should have been out before dawn, but, well, I wasn’t. I headed out at 6:30. I knew right away that I wasn’t going to make 12 miles. I allowed myself to change my goal to 10 miles, but even with that I played the mental game of, “should I do this tomorrow?” And “maybe this can be a cutback week!” And “well you have no clients next Thursday, you can do it then.” And around and around.
It took a little self-convincing, but I not only stuck to my 10-mile plan, when I was getting close to home I decided to add on an extra mile to make an even better compromise. It wasn’t fast and it wasn’t pretty, but I got it done. It was close to 90 when I was done (and yes, I was done).
Sunday is usually my trail run day with Alan, but he has to take a couple days off, so I headed to the trails on my own. This time it was a great recovery run, easy and slow. It was hot though, even hotter than the day before, making me extra happy that I’d pushed myself through that long run.
All in all, I ran 33.8 miles this week, which is exactly where I want to be at this point in my training. This coming week will be a bit of a cutback, both for training purposes and because Alan and I are traveling this weekend to San Dimas where he announces the TriEventsTriathlon (though I could probably convince myself to get in a longer run in the relatively cooler weather while he works). Next Sunday is both Mother’s Day and Alan’s birthday, so we will probably just take a short “celebration run.”
A Little Golf
It seems a little weird for me to sneak a little golf into my half marathon training, but this week was our annual Employee/Member Golf Tournament at work. With the season winding down, it is our time to get together with the members of the country club where I work in a more relaxed manner, play a little golf (or in my case, putt), and have a nice luncheon afterward. It was fun as usual. I had a couple members I knew, a couple that I didn’t on my team, and one other employee, and we had a great time. We didn’t win, but we did okay and I didn’t embarrass myself. I even made a couple putts!
Cinco de Mayo
I’m usually not one to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but this year a friend of ours was celebrating her 40th birthday party and decided to roll it into a Mexican theme. She is the daughter of an old friend of Alan’s, so we had a chance to see a lot of folks that he has known for years. It was a lot of fun! Even I have known many of the other guests long enough to have seen their children grow up.
Here’s a little tie-in to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon: Alan and I ran the very first Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, which was in San Diego in 1998 (20 years ago! Yikes!). After the race, we cleaned up, checked out of our hotel, then headed north to Cardiff by the Sea for the wedding of the couple with us in the picture above. They have long since divorced (and remained good friends) but I’m still running Rock ‘n’ Roll!
How was your training week? Any Cinco de Mayo celebrating going on?
I’m excited to be joining Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap for the first time!
Weekly Linkups
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie and Dixya
Tuesdays on the Run with Marcia, Erika, and Patty
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Jen, and Nicole
The Plant-Based Potluck Party with Deborah
The Running Coaches’ Corner with Rachel, Lora Marie, and Me!
Friday 5 2.0 with Rachel and Lacey and Meranda
Weekly Wrap with Wendy and Holly
I hear RnR San Diego is a blast! I don’t know how you do those long runs in the heat like that. I have a hard time in the summer w long runs
It is hard, though you adapt as the summer goes on. I’m just not ready yet!
My sister lived in San Diego for several years, and as much as I had wanted to do the RnR there, it’s ALWAYS the same weekend as my favorite race, Dam to Dam. Sadly, my sister no longer lives there, and this is the final year of Dam to Dam. How’s that for irony???
So, sister or not, will we see you next year? 🙂
So glad that the stray dog had a tag so you could call the owners!
I wish that I was running RnRSD this year 🙁 I had an absolute blast when I ran it a few years back. The races were so much fun and the city is amazing!
Seriously, it is so rare to find a dog with a tag. I was so happy!
Sounds like a solid training week! I like speedwork personally. We don’t have hills here in Florida (bridges are the closest thing we will get) but I love pounding out some laps around a track. Makes me feel accomplished when its over!
Hi, Debbie! Welcome to the Weekly Wrap.
You had a great week of training! You have such beautiful places to run. I’ve been playing those same bargaining games on my long hot runs lately. I’m just not ready for our heat and humidity. My husband is a huge golfer. But, he probably wouldn’t allow me to play with him — I’d be a huge embarrassment. 😉
Hope to see you next week!
Do not abuse workout supplements though, it must always be paired with proper diet and exercise.