Building Blocks

The theme for this week has been two-a-days.  And I have to admit… I’m tired.

After the half marathon, I took a couple of days off.  That race beat me up a bit more than the ones prior.  I’m not sure if it was the four 13+ mile races in 30 days, the heat or the downhills, but my legs were trashed on Sunday and Monday last week.  When I ran on Tuesday, I was still sore.

I started feeling a bit better on Wednesday.  I had a sluggish seven mile early morning run, but felt OK.  A few hours later, I took my daughter to dance class and my friend Heidi wanted to go for a run while our kids were in class.  Who am I to let down a running buddy?  We ran a little less than four miles at a nice, easy pace and I was feeling strong.

The next day, I ran five in the morning with my friends and then later on that evening went out for the Peter’s Canyon Trail Race (mini-race report to come).  It was a five mile race with some steep hills.  That was over twenty miles in two days.  I could feel my legs getting stronger.

That brings me to Saturday.  I actually did a three-a-day, but it wasn’t all running.  I woke up bright and early to meet Kelly and my new running friend, Marci for a 5:30 run.  We ran at the creek, one of our favorite runs.  It was a perfect place to take a new running partner.  We ran 8.6 miles and had a really nice time.  I had to get home pretty early to get ready for my sister-in-law, Kristi, to pick me up and drive up to Santa Monica* for the OK Magazine Body and Soul event.

We wandered around the expo, got some free samples and enjoyed free chair massages. Then we headed out to the beach for a workout.  We were taking a boot camp class from Jackie Warner of Workout.  Her class kicked my butt—literally.  I am feeling it today!  Holy squats!  Kristi and I were sweaty and sandy and very happy that we had signed up for the yoga class afterward.  We would need it!
 
We then enjoyed Yoga from Ursula Vari.  This woman has the best energy around.  She instantly made us all feel comfortable.  Her style is very non-intimidating even to the novice student, yet she is encouraging just enough to help us push ourselves just past our limits.  It was just enough of a workout to make me feel strong while gently stretching my overworked muscles.  I probably wouldn’t be walking today if it weren’t for that yoga session.

Finally, I met Marci again this morning (I am a glutton for punishment, I think).  It was very, very humid and I was working pretty hard to keep up with my speedier running buddy.  I was very glad she called me to run.  I never would have run today without the motivation of meeting my friend.

My schedule called for sixteen miles on Saturday and fifteen today.  Unfortunately, because of prior commitments and family obligations, I didn’t have time to get in my long runs.  I have a 50K coming up in August and I need to start getting in more miles.  Even so, I was able to get in 41 miles this week.  It is all about creative scheduling.

I am trying to make the best of balancing parenthood, marriage etc. by finding blocks of time to do my runs.  They are building blocks to my strength.  I feel like doing the multiple workouts is helping me train my legs to work well while tired.  I am recovering faster (I hope) and will be able to endure the tough trail race.

I hope you all had a good weekend.  Happy running…

*I have lived in Southern California for nine years and have only seen the Santa Monica pier on television.  I felt like a tourist enjoying the sights!