Monday, November 9, 2009

World Run Day

Yesterday was World Run Day and I ran.  I actually didn't find out about World Run Day until after I finished my run.  It is still nice to know that there were a lot of people throughout the world running at the same time as me, many of whom raised money for charity.

I have incorporated two running days on weekends into my newest training schedule.  My new friends aren't training for a marathon, so won't be running the longer runs with me, but I still want to run with them.  We usually do trail runs together, which is great for my Catalina training.  Our runs are not super hard, but definitely not easy.  We are also starting to do middle distances (9-12 miles).  The coach in me says not to do two hard workouts in a row, but I think it is going to work out nicely as long as I don't push it too much on either day.

My Saturday runs are my most fun runs of the week.  This week Kelly, Heidi and I went to the Santiago Creek Trail a couple of miles from my house.  Penny, they definitely allow dogs and the hills aren't too bad, you should try that area next (it actually connects to Weir Canyon).  We ran the trails to another nearby regional park* and then around that park.  We were going to explore the trails leading to Irvine Lake, but Kelly is fighting some tendonitis in her foot and we didn't want it to get worse by adding too much mileage on uneven ground.   I'm looking forward to next Saturday already!

I don't look forward to my long runs as much as I do the Saturday runs, but I am meeting more and more runners around here and I think I'll be able to set up "running dates" by the time my runs get super long.  The woman I met while looking for a place to live is now my facebook friend.  After she is recovered from Ironman Arizona, we are going to try to do some long runs together.  She is running Surf City also.

Yesterday was my long run.  I ran the opposite direction of the loop I did a few weeks ago, which ended with a hellacious hill.  I began with the hill, which is much more gradual from this new direction.  It went down steeply and turned toward the river.  I felt ok, but stopped a couple of times.  I usually drink and eat Gu on the run, but yesterday I stopped to do it.  I used stoplights to rest (instead of running in place).  I was pretty tired.  I'm sure that it had something to do with the nine mile trail run the day before.  Hopefully, I am teaching my body to perform on tired legs.  I still finished 11.25 miles with a decent training pace.  I was definitely ready for my rest day today, but I felt fine.  I am looking forward to a nice, easy run tomorrow to start a new week.

Happy Running!

*The regional park system in Orange County is great.  There is a ton of preserved wilderness.

2 comments:

MCM Mama said...

Sounds like you are really settling in! Yay for finding some running buddies.

I'm about to start upping my back to back mileage soon, in an attempt to prepare for back to back half marathons. I'm still trying to figure out whether I should do same distance each day or long then short or short then long....

Irish Cream said...

Hooray for running buddies! I just ran with a running buddy (besides Wilson) for the first time ever today, and it was the best thing ever! I don't know why I didn't try it sooner!

Also, now that I am training for the Goofy Challenge, I'm incorporating back-to-back long runs . . . I have to say, I kind of love it! It's hard--don't get me wrong--but I really feel like it will help to teach me to run through tired legs; which in my book is definitely a good thing!

Glad things seem to be going well for you!!

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