Total distance: 45.8km of running + 25km of cycling
If you missed the first article in this series, click here for details on my race.
Monday - Spin bike 15km
Monday is supposed to be a rest day but I was feeling pretty good so I tossed in a low key 15km spin bike work out while watching tv.
I also tried out the calf muscle exercises from Eric Orton’s book which were kind of fun. I don’t have his slant board but I do have an inflatable wobble ball that does the trick!
Tuesday - 7.1km
The heat this week was outrageous. I was out the door at 6am and just dripping by the time I got home from a 7.1km (8’37/km). Doggo wasn’t terribly impressed with the heat either but we did a pretty nice run walk down the waterfront. The run walk felt really good, but I started worrying that I wasn’t going to make it home in time to shower before my first work meeting and I ended up picked up the pace to pretty much a straight run in the second half. Still felt good so no complaints.
Wednesday - Peloton Hard Rock Spin 10km
Same distance but harder work. Honestly, a 20 min spin was about as much as I could handle with this heat.
Thursday - 10km
The heat finally broke, my legs were good, and we even found a little wooded trail to run in the city! A fantastic good feeling 10km (7’44/km).
Friday - Rest day!!
Saturday - 14.04km
With the plan to walk/run this week I decided to aim my long runs for time rather than distance. Saturday I did 2.5 hours (14.04km, 10’50/km) on some pretty treacherous trail. Wisely, I went to bed late, and started the run feeling overtired and under hydrated. So it was a pretty slow slog with more hiking than planned. Even at a walk I was having trouble keeping my heart rate down to along run level, and I was feeling a bit too stumble-y to run on some of the technical sections. Strava tagged this run as average effort but damn, it felt pretty hard to me.
Sunday - 14.6km
Learned my lesson. Went to bed early and was both awake and hydrated enough to run! Headed out to a trail system with a mix of technical trails and gravel bike paths where I was able to do 14.6km (8’14/km) in a smidge over 2 hours.
A recommendation:
I really enjoyed this Beginner Trail Tips Episode of the Trail Running Women podcast
A lesson from the week:
I’ve only just discovered that STRAVA and my Apple Watch disagree on pace. Apple uses a simple timer while Strava has done some wizardry to cut out the amount of time waiting at stop lights and for the dog to pee. Turns out checking the map and waiting on the dog takes longer than I thought!