This is my weekly training journal. Including it in the blog gives me a little extra accountability in the mileage department & helps me stick to my schedule. :)
3 weeks to SF Pride Run 5K
9 weeks to Summer Breeze 10K
12 weeks to Santa Rosa Half Marathon
Grand Total: 34 miles
* 14 easy
* 4 HM pace
* 16 hiking
This week was a little bit of an anomaly because it is the first time I have ever counted something other than actual, literal running towards my mileage total. I hadn't planned on doing that all, but some of the hikes we did were really, REALLY hard! Obviously training was not the point of the trip (or something I was at all concerned about, actually), but I feel certain that the aerobic benefit was at least equal to what I would have gotten from running the same number of miles at an easy pace. Probably more in some cases. The actual number of miles we hiked was more than this, but I only counted the ones where I really struggled & had to work hard.
Monday: 2 wu + 4 @ HM pace + 2 easy = 8. Wanted to get a quality run in before heading to Yosemite. Felt okay but not great. 7:48, 7:40, 7:38, 7:23 for the HM splits.
Tuesday: 4 mile hike up to Vernal Falls & back. I always forget how hard hiking is until I'm doing it. I'm like, "Pffftt, 4 miles. 4 miles is NOTHING!" and "Hills? Bitch, please. I eat hills for breakfast." Then I go on a really tough hike. And then I'm like, "Oh, holy Jesus. Just freaking kill me now." If they're strenuous hiking miles, 4 miles can be srsbsns. Also, holy altitude!!! Curse my sea level lifestyle.
Totally worn out by the time we got to the falls. We were also trying to keep up a good clip because it was getting dark, which made it even tougher.
Wednesday: 7 mile hike to Upper Yosemite Falls & back. Holy BALLS, this was a tough climb. And I've hiked the Harding Ice Field in Alaska. While the top half was still covered in snow.
At the top of Exit Glacier; Harding Ice Field, Seward, Alaska. I know a thing or two about challenging hikes.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the first two miles of this hike were harder than running a marathon. The last 1,000 feet up to the top might've been harder than two marathons. (I think the unusually extreme heat & the elevation were probably mostly to blame for this. Otherwise it might have only been as hard as, like, 1.5 marathons. I like the idea of using marathons as a unit of physical difficulty.) Don keeps trying to convince me to hike Half Dome with him (which he did with friends several years back), but frankly I am not convinced that that particular trek is for me.
Top of the Upper Falls. Worth it, but sooooo hard. Also, HOT.
Also, these fools are crazy. Just *crazy*.
Thursday: 5 mile hike around Mariposa Sequoia Grove. We did several smaller hikes on Thursday, but this was the only one I felt was strenuous enough to count as mileage. I had *no idea* it was going to be as steep and hike-y as it was.
Friday: 2 wu + 3 x 10:00 @ 10KP + 2 easy Recover from aforementioned hiking. As of Thursday evening, my calves were officially hamburger meat. Other parts of me weren't doing so great, either. I couldn't have run a step if I'd wanted to.
Saturday: 10 easy. By Saturday afternoon I was really itching for a solid run, and also wanted to take these bad boys for a spin. It felt great, but I think it was probably a little too much, too soon for my hiking-busted feet. I'd planned on another short, 5-6 mile run on Sunday, but my feet were just too sore & achey. I decided it was probably smarter to switch my Sunday run & Monday rest day.
So, you know. Respectable.
Other things I accomplished this week include signing up for the Santa Rosa & Healdsburg Wine Country half marathons, so both of those are officially on the calendar. June is going to be kind of my "base-building" month before I start training for Santa Rosa. I'm still planning on throwing in some faster paced miles here & there just to keep my turnover in good shape, but mostly want to just focus on getting lots & lots of miles in without worrying about formally scheduling track sessions / tempo runs / etc. The goal for June is 200 miles. This will be the most miles I've run in a month in a looooong time, so please nag me & help hold me accountable!!
Sounds like you did a lot of hiking. Hiking is hard, that is why I don't do it, lol. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's totally hard!! This is the first real hiking I've done in ~2 years, though, so I can't complain much (more than I already have...).
DeleteYou don't have to argue with me about justifying the hiking miles. I just did my first trail half marathon today at Lake Chabot and it was KILLER. I hiked at least 2 miles of that sucker. The fact that you were able to do so many hard hikes 3 days in a row and then run 10 miles a couple days later is awesome.
ReplyDeleteLovely! I told you my experience with Upper Yosemite Falls ("Oh hey, we must be almost done, let's pull over on this rock and EAT ALL OUR FOOD AND DRINK ALL OUR WATER"), so it's amazing we ever went back to Yosemite! But we did, a year later, for Half Dome. Honestly, I hiked Half Dome when I was pretty out of shape, and the first 2/3 of the hike is not so bad. The last two miles are freaking hard, because it's basically granite stairs and then the cables, but I don't think it's physically much tougher than Upper Yosemite Falls -- moreso psychologically, for me.
ReplyDeleteHeh - it's encouraging to hear that Half Dome was actually easier! I may actually be willing to try it.
DeleteI'm going to do the Healdsburg Half, I think!! I wanted to do the Wine Country Half a few weeks later but it's SO expensive!!
ReplyDeleteYep - that was pretty much my logic when deciding between the two. I have a bunch of friends running the pricey one so I might go to spectate, but I'm perfectly happy to run the cheap one. :)
DeleteHey, thank you for adding my blog to your Bay Area blog list, I'm really grateful. I'm new to your blog but I really enjoy it - i added it to my favourite blog list this morning as well!! Much appreciated.
ReplyDelete