Ahh, vacation!

Last week my better half (also known as the Sporty member of the Dynamic Duo) and I went to Lake Tahoe for a very, very much needed vacation.  Tahoe is stunningly beautiful, serene and fun regardless of the season… If you’ve never been, you should go there as soon as is possible and if you’ve been but aren’t currently there, you should immediately stop what you’re doing and go back. 

Poolside after Granite Bay run

We left the city on Sunday and stopped for a slumber party with our extended family in Granite Bay which, as always, was a fantastic time!  Spending the night in Granite Bay also gave me the opportunity to get in some miles on Monday before we went to Tahoe and my motivation for running was stolen by the high elevation, drinks with umbrellas in them and warm sandy lakeside beaches. 

Lakeside lounging

According to my training schedule, I should have run 10 miles on Monday, 9 on Wednesday and 14 on Friday… according to real life, I ran 7 on Monday, none on Wednesday and attempted 14 today. I would typically get really frustrated with myself for straying from my schedule and would subsequently spend way too much energy worrying that I’ve made some sort of fatal error which will most certainly result in my not reaching my goal.  Instead, I thought this time I would try to focus on the amazing trip and the physical relief a few days off from running gave my pieces and parts (my toe was extremely grateful for the rest as were my knees…. all of which seem to be getting angrier and angrier at me with each new mile I run…. I wonder if they will every forgive me and return to their former happy parts). It really was such a fun and relaxing time and regardless of the missed miles, I wouldn't trade the time at the lake for anything.

So, with what I strongly suspect was a touch of dehydration and lingering aftereffects of vacation overindulgences of both the adult beverage and nutritionally unsound type, I set out this morning to log my requisite 14 miles. It was hard… I went really slowly, tried to keep my energy up with those gel things, attempted to hydrate with Gatorade, took short walk breaks (which I really hate to do and avoid as much as I can) and repeatedly told myself every positive don’t-give-up mantra I could think of.  The good part was that I didn’t give up despite feeling like I was going to keel over… the somewhat disappointing part was that I had to walk the last .75 of the 14 miles.  I am fairly certain that the run was as difficult as it was because of what I did and didn’t do in the week leading up to it which is actually encouraging as perhaps there really is a method to the madness… eating right, drinking right (and moderating umbrella drinks!), cross training, sleeping, stretching… it all seems to add up and have a huge impact on how my body responds to the demands of running.  Looks like that whole trusting in the process thing really is legit! I plan on getting right back on track with all of the above mentioned items and get myself positioned as best as possible for my longest training run which is this coming Friday... 20 miles... that's far.

Monday, June 25: 7miles, 1hr 13min 7sec, avg 10:27

Wednesday, June 27: 0miles, hours of lounging lakeside, avg time from towel to lake 00:05

Saturday, June 30: 14miles, 2hrs 36min 10sec, avg 11:09 (not horrible considering the walking)

Cheers,

SF runner in training