Training Log: Surf City Half - Week 7

Hope everyone celebrating last week had a great holiday! It was so nice to get back to Washington State for a few days, although I think I've lost my ability to handle temperatures below 50 degrees. I felt pretty shamed running in a long sleeve top, vest and leggings when other runners were in shorts and a tee (in my defense, it was in the high 30s to low 40s, which is hardly shorts weather...).

Traveling home for the holidays makes a solid week of training close to impossible (for me, at least). The week wasn't a total bust on the training front, but I didn't get in the long run I'd planned on. Here's what I did get done:


Training Log: Surf City Half - Week 7


Monday: Strength training with Melanie (Equinox trainer).

• 0.5 mile warm-up on treadmill
• Two sets of fifteen reps of two core exercises
• Three sets of fifteen reps of four total body exercises (squat to row, chest press with raised hips, etc)
• Two sets of fifteen reps of two pilates-style hamstring/glute-targeting exercises
• Stretching

Since the theme of this week was rest before the last month of hard training, strength was more focused on things like a tricep cable pull with a lunge, squat to row, etc. Nothing too fatiguing for my leg muscles.


Tuesday: Rest day / travel.

Normal workday followed by a 2.5 hour flight and a 2.5 hour car ride home. I love that traveling back to WA doesn't entail a full day of travel anymore (although next time we're seriously considering flying into the local airport and cutting out that long car ride).


Wednesday: Easy 6 miles.

Gorgeous day for a run (I might have gotten a bit picture happy). My Garmin was dead so I ran a route where I knew the mileage. Mentally I struggled a bit -- the run felt very long -- but physically I felt good, and the last three miles were fun since I got some beautiful farmland views.


Thursday: Very easy 2 miles / rest.

After a relaxed Christmas morning, we headed out to my favorite run path in Whatcom County, the beachside trail at Semiahmoo. My mom is currently working through the Couch to 5K program so I did her run with her: 5 minutes fast walking to warm up, 10 minutes running, 3 minutes fast walking, 10 minutes running, and 5 minutes fast walking to cool down.


Friday: 10x200m hill repeats + rock climbing.

I had to do some work Friday morning, so hill repeats were pushed to the late afternoon after the day's activities. My mom unfortunately had to work, so it was my dad, sister, brother-in-law and Sourabh. First we went to an indoor bouldering gym.

The rock walls aren't as high at a bouldering gym, but there are no ropes so you aren't supported at all. I love climbing so I had a great time, and it made Sourabh and I even more excited to get back to Joshua Tree and spend a day climbing the rocks there. The gym was awesome, and I plan to go back next time I'm in WA. Next was lunch at Fiamma Burger, probably my favorite burger place anywhere, and then bowling.

Burgers were probably not the best meal before hill repeats. Oh well. We picked my mom up and headed to the above location for the workout (Sourabh and my mom walked our dog, Mason, while my dad hit the hill with me).

• 1 mile warm-up
• 10x200m repeats: 46-52 seconds each
• 1 mile cool-down

I was wheezing hard by the end since it was in the high 30s and I hadn't done any hard cardio in the cold in nine months. Reminder of why I like the mild "winter" here in SoCal!


Saturday: Strength workout.

• 0.5 mile warm-up on treadmill
• Dynamic stretching routine
• Three sets of fifteen reps of four upper body exercises (double arm row, anti-rotation cable pulls, squat to curls and lateral pull-downs)
• Two sets of fifteen reps of three core exercises
• Foam rolling my tight, sore legs

You know you're in WA when you see Seahawks wine. Kind of kicking myself for not buying a bottle...

Sunday: Rest day / travel.

Total Mileage = abysmal 12


And now I'm back in Southern California and starting the last month of hard training before the Surf City Half Marathon!

Weekly Workout Recap: Christmas and Washington Snapshots

Hi all!

Hope you had a lovely holiday, if you celebrate Christmas, and a lovely day off if you don't. I had a fantastic time relaxing at home in the Pacific Northwest with my family. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed a few sunset and beach snapshots. I got really lucky and it only rained once during my time in WA, so my family took full advantage and got out every single day.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so good with the whole "taking pictures of people" thing. We were too busy eating, I guess...

My dad made a delicious paella for Christmas eve dinner, and Christmas day we had a Thanksgiving-style meal. Friday we had a big lunch with my old piano teacher and surrogate grandmother, and Saturday we feasted on tamales and homemade guacamole. Oh, right, and there was some great gift-giving, too! (Clearly we're a food-focused family.) I am now officially 100% stocked on running gear and have no excuse to buy anything in 2014, other than new shoes.

I flew back to NYC yesterday, and I'm back at work today. I have New Years off and am so excited to run the New York Road Runners 4 Mile New Year's Eve Midnight Run Race on Tuesday night! I'm not sure what this week will look like workout-wise, but starting next Monday, I'll be back in training mode. The NYC Half is only 10 weeks away!


Workout Recap


Monday: Rest day (travel).


Tuesday: 3.4 miles along my favorite running path at Semiahmoo Park.

We got out to the park around dusk after picking my mom up from work. It was pretty dark, but it wasn't too cold and I was so happy to be running on my favorite running path again that I kept a really fast pace (for me). The path is only a mile long, but it's one of the prettiest places in the county, so I never mind running back and forth along it.


Wednesday: 5 miles at Semiahmoo Park.

Christmas day miles, again at an extremely speedy (for me) sub-9:00 pace. It must have been the Christmas sugar cheer powering me along.


Thursday: (1) 60 minute yoga class (2) 60 minute boot camp class.

In addition to a 2 mile walk, I took my dad's morning yoga class and accompanied my mom to her boot camp class. It's a program that meets every weekday from 7:30-8:30 PM. The boot camp seemed sort of like CrossFit, from what I've read (I've never actually been to a CrossFit "box").

The class first warmed up for about 5 minutes by running up and down stairs and doing inchworms across the floor, then did a roughly 40 minute workout of the day -- a 12 days of Christmas-style workout starting with one stretch, two flights of stairs, three lunge jumps, etc., all the way up to 12. We finished with 12 minutes of the Thursday workout: three rounds of four exercises, trying to see how many reps of each exercise we could do in a minute. I was sore the next day! I'd never done a "man maker" before, and we did about 50 altogether (slightly adapted from this guide -- no single arm row or second push-up).


Friday: (1) 2 mile run (2) 60 minute boot camp class.

It rained most of Friday, but the sun came out around 2:30 PM, and we decided we had to get out to Semiahmoo one more time. We got lucky and the sunset was stunning. I was sore from Thursday's workout but had promised my mom I'd also attend the Friday night boot camp, so I did two slow recovery miles to try to get my muscles moving.

The second boot camp class wasn't quite as intense, thank goodness, since I was extremely sore, but it still had me dripping sweat. These classes are no joke! (If you happen to live in the Bellingham area and are interested, the program is only $180 for 6 weeks, which averages out to $6/class. Kind of amazing! Here's the website.)


Saturday: (1) 75 minute yoga class (2) 4.4 mile walk.

It's incredible what yoga can do for sore, tired muscles. I have to remember this and make sure I get to yoga classes during half-marathon training!

My parents and I finished the day by taking a long walk along Bellingham Harbor and, once again, we saw a beautiful sunset.


Sunday: Rest day (travel).


How was your Christmas? Do you have a favorite running path near your parents' home?