Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 4 Workout Log

Last week was pretty awesome on the training front,  until it wasn't.

Friday after work, I hit the hills for some trail miles, and apparently I rolled my ankle pretty badly. The problem with me and rolling my ankles is that every single time it's happened, it seems incredibly minor and I don't feel like I've done any damage. I trip on a near-daily basis, and it's difficult for me to tell the difference between rolling my ankle and losing my balance. So every single time I've rolled my ankle, I don't really realize I did any damage until it starts hurting the following day, when I think back to what could have caused the pain and realize, "oh right, I kind of rolled my ankle while running, didn't I?"

Trail miles are so pretty, why can't my legs cooperate...

I guess my "minor trip" on Friday evening's trail run messed up my ankle, because late Saturday it started hurting, so I canceled my planned Sunday morning trail run with a friend.

So, I'll be spending the first part of this week avoiding weight-bearing cardio. I'll see how my planned lower body weights workout goes tonight, and will scratch anything that seems to hurt my ankle. Cardio will be swimming for the next few days because I'm determined to rehab this ankle ASAP so I can get in some mileage while I'm up in WA. It's going to be gorgeous up there this weekend! I AM SO EXCITED. Country July 4th's are the best.

In terms of future preventative care, once my ankle feels better, I'll be adding calf raises and more ankle exercises, because I love trails too much to give them up, but I've rolled my ankle out there too many times. I'm also going to look into purchasing trail running shoes with greater ankle support that are closer to the ground. I've been wearing my beloved Saucony Kinvaras, and apparently the added height can increase your chances of rolling your ankles.


Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 4 Workout Log

Since my sister and brother-in-law were visiting, I didn't want to spend much more than an hour at the gym or running most days, so I changed up my workouts a bit, only doing cardio and weights together on one day.

Monday: Lower body lifting workout.

Tuesday: 5.5 miles at Back Bay.

Wednesday: Upper body lifting workout.

Thursday: 20 minutes intervals (3.65 miles total, incl. 5 min. w/u and c/d) + lower body lifting workout.

Friday: 5 miles on trails at Crystal Cove (I start from Coastal Peak Park for free parking).

Saturday: Off (walking around Santa Monica and Venice Beach).

I had never explored the canals, so it was fun to walk around the beautiful little houses and feel jealous of the people who live there. We briefly chatted with someone as she walked from a neighbor's house to her own, and apparently a lot of the people in the area actually grew up there, so they aren't all millionaires (in terms of salaries, at least; the homes are all worth well over $1 million).

 

Do I have good looking family members or what?


Sunday: Off, RICE-ing my ankle.

BOO. I'm annoyed. Running has been feeling great lately and I was excited to get in a long run with my friend Allie while she was in the area.


Total Mileage = 13.15 miles


Do you have any ankle strengthening exercise recommendations? Trail running shoe recommendations? General tips to not hurt myself?

Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 3 Workout Log

As I've been focusing on building a strong base for marathon training, I've been trying to figure out exactly what caused my previous training cycle to go off the rails. I've never felt like my legs were so completely dead before. As I mentioned in last week's post, my symptoms were somewhat similar to overtraining syndrome, but I clearly hadn't been putting in the mileage to suffer from that.

The only conclusion I can really come to is that a heavy work schedule in April and May coupled with personal stress resulted in body breakdown. I think that in stressful situations, there's always something that has to give, and I think it was my body.

I didn't go into much detail about the personal aspects at the time because I didn't know what the outcome would be. I spent Mother's Day in Urgent Care and then the ER with my mom, who had started having intense pain in her abdomen. Urgent Care thought it was a gall bladder issue and wanted scans, so we were sent to the ER. There, they did an ultrasound, and they found stones and an unidentified mass.

This was where things got scary. I can't hear "mass" without thinking cancer, and given the past five years, during which I watched my best friend battle and eventually die of cancer, any suggestion of my mom having an unidentified mass was terrifying. No subsequent scan in the coming weeks could get a clear enough image to rule out cancer, although we were told it was extremely unlikely (like, a one in 1,000 chance), which helped, but I was still worried. Without a doubt, I think this was part of whatever happened in those last few weeks of training. I was able to remain calm on the outside, because I didn't want my mom to bear the burden of comforting those around her, but I was awfully tense worrying about the outcome.

I'm writing about it now because I am thankful to report that my mom just had surgery to have her gall bladder removed, and there was nothing inside the gall bladder but stones. In fact, after a couple weeks of antibiotics, the inflammation had died down enough that they could remove it laparoscopically, so she can go home tonight.  I am so incredibly relieved that she will be okay. I'll be going up to WA to visit for July 4th, and I can't wait to see her and give her a huge hug!

Love you, Mom!

Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 3 Workout Log

Last week, I got back up to about the same weights I was using prior to my time off from lifting. I'm excited that my strength came back so quickly! It was also a busy weekend, since my sister and brother-in-law are currently visiting.

Monday: 20 minutes intervals (3.56 miles total, incl. w/u and c/d) + lower body lifting workout.

Tuesday: Chest/back lifting workout + 20 minutes swimming.

Wednesday: Off.

Thursday: 20 minutes intervals (3.58 miles total, incl. w/u and c/d) + lower body lifting workout.

Friday: Off.

Saturday: 10 miles around Back Bay with Kristina.

After dropping Sourabh off at LAX, I headed back to Orange County to meet Kristina for 10 miles around the Back Bay. The marine layer burned off pretty quickly, so it was a gorgeous (and sweaty) run.

It was also awesome to run outside after my runs all week being on the treadmill. I could take those interval runs outside, but it would add a good 20-30 minutes to the workout, so since it's just 30 minutes on the treadmill, I prefer to do them inside. Plus, I can really track my progress with the speed and intensity on a treadmill.

I had a gloriously lazy afternoon post-run then picked up my sister, Priyanka, and her husband, Jason, from the local airport and we headed to one of my favorite local restaurants, Eat Chow, for dinner. Next up: sunset at Inspiration Point in Corona del Mar.

Sunday: 5 mile hike + biceps/triceps lifting workout.

We started Sunday off with a hike at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. I hadn't hiked there before, but will definitely be back! It was gorgeous.

Next, we hit up the Farmer's Market in the Great Park to pick up fruits and veggies for the week. And quickly succumbed to all the delicious specialty items that vendors had, like fresh small-batch salsa (I'm such a sucker for those kinds of things).

We brunched at SOCIAL in Costa Mesa (the bacon... so thick, so crispy, so good), I showed them Fashion Island (an upscale outdoor mall, not actually an island, always good for people watching), we did some grocery shopping for the week and I showed them my fancy work-subsidized gym while I fit in my biceps/triceps workout.


Total Mileage = 17 miles (22 with hiking)

Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 2 Workout Log

Only four days late on this workout log for week two... I find it harder to write recaps about training right now since it's weight lifting focused, and there's not much I can say that's interesting there. Still, I like to keep a record here, so I'm going to keep them up until the end of July when I start marathon training.

Blog Stuff

Quick "housekeeping" note: I added a page to my header titled "Resources". It's basically just links to websites, apps, etc. that I like and use, and I also listed my favorite pieces of running clothing there. (Note: No affiliate links, in case you care. Honestly I don't even know how to set that up...)

The Resources page also has a link to my Pinterest page. A few weeks ago I cleaned it up and have been pinning every good running-related article I've read recently, with boards being categorized into things like "Running Workouts", "Strength for Runners", "Playlists", "Healthy Running", etc. There are also, of course, the normal boards for recipes and cookies and such. Figured I'd point it out to those of you who just can't get enough reading about running! Might be helpful.

Outside Magazine's Article on Overtraining Syndrome

If you recall, I mentioned that part of the reason I didn't want to run RnR San Diego was because my legs were feeling like total lead in the weeks leading up to the race, and I couldn't hold any speed whatsoever. I read this Outside Magazine article on overtraining this week, and while I don't think it's exactly what happened (since I peaked in the mid-30s mileage-wise), I think the stress of personal and work things on top of training led to a similar effect for my body.

I also think it's just a valuable article to read since so often in the running world we see people being glorified for more, more, more. More mileage, more marathons, more of everything. One thing that my trainer in Orange County really hammered into me when I trained with her (before she moved to NYC, sniff sniff...) was the importance of rest and recovery. She was a former professional runner, so she was someone who had worked at the highest level of the sport, and she constantly stressed the importance of real rest in order to truly recover. In fact, she said it was even more important for those of us who aren't professionals, and don't have the benefits of very little stress other than training and competing.


Week 2 Workout Log

Ok, on to a recap of last week's strength workouts. I did three out of four of them, and moved the workouts around a bit due to some firm events.

Monday: Intervals on treadmill + lower body lifting workout

Can't complain about the treadmill view!

Cardio: 5 minute w/u; 1 minute sprinting, 1 minute easy for 20 minutes; 5 minute c/d. 3.50 miles total.

Weights: Upped the barbell by 5 lbs (from 45 lbs to 50 lbs) and felt good.


Tuesday: Mini progression run on treadmill + chest and back lifting workout

Cardio: 2 mile progression run on treadmill, increasing speed every 1/2-1/4 mile as I progressed for a fast finish.

Weights: Upped all the weights slightly. Chest press still giving me major problems I didn't used to have -- apparently I lost a lot of muscle in my pecs while taking time off from lifting?


Wednesday: Off.

I was planning to run, but when the second most senior partner in the firm asks you to hit some balls on a driving range because you're on his golf team at that Friday's event, you go. It was supposed to be for the summer associates, but since I was on his team, he ended up spending most of his time giving me pointers. I'd never played golf before, but was able to hit a few decent shots by the end of the hour.

Unfortunately, though, the partner wanted to take us all to dinner afterwards, so I wasn't able to fit in the run I'd intended on doing. I mean, I wasn't that bummed, because we went to Taco Asylum, which has really fun and inventive tacos. But it didn't help my running or leaning out goals for the month. Why are tacos so delicious and impossible to say no to?


Thursday: Intervals on treadmill + lower body lifting workout

Cardio: 5 minute w/u; 30 seconds sprinting, 30 seconds easy for 20 minutes; 5 minute c/d. 3.54 miles total.

Weights: Again, upped the weights from the previous week a bit. I hate around the world lunges. I think because they take so long.


Friday: 1 mile "run" + 3 hours of "golf"

Set out to run but it was overcast and humid, my body felt tired, and I'd gotten a late start so running more than a mile meant that I was choosing between washing my hair or not. Since we had a firm event that evening, I decided to opt for cleanliness and only got in a mile.

I think I mentioned last week that while I want to maintain a strong base, I also don't want to force myself to run a bunch of runs that are miserable right now. I want to enter marathon training feeling excited to train. Since I knew I was on track for decent mileage for the week, I felt fine cutting it short and just doing a mile-long loop of the area.

Spent three hours "golfing" (quotes because I don't golf, so I can't really describe me hitting a golf ball with a club as anything other than a rough approximation of golf) with my firm as part of a summer associate event before eating delicious, delicious tacos at a partner's house. Yes, more tacos. Goddamnit, California, why do you have so much fantastic Mexican food.

Although let's be honest, if by some cruel twist of fate I had to choose between having access to amazing Mexican food and losing those pounds for marathon training, I'd choose the Mexican food every time.


Saturday: 8 miles on trails + 7 mile hike (~2500 ft elevation gain in total)

Saturday was SUCH A GREAT DAY. It was basically nonstop friends, food and being outside for almost the entire day. I met up with Kristina for 8 miles on trails in the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, which was really fun, and then Sourabh and I drove up to Santa Monica and met up with our friends Leah and Björn for a 7 mile hike up Los Liones Trail in the Pacific Palisades.

We'd planned an afternoon hike so we would be able to enjoy what are supposedly stunning vistas of Santa Monica and the Malibu coastline, but that damn June Gloom didn't go away until we'd almost gotten back to the trailhead.

I think it's pretty funny how Californians seem to love June Gloom. "It's so cloudy! I love it!" people in my office have said to me. After 18 years of the Pacific Northwest and then 8 years of the Northeast, I am a total glutton for sun. I'm sure I'll eventually succumb and start loving the two months of cloudy mornings, too, but for now, I am resolute in my love of all things sunny and cannot wait for June Gloom to end.

Gloom over Santa Monica

Anyway, enough of my ridiculous bitching about a couple months of not-quite-perfect weather. (SORRY.)

We had a fantastic dinner at Art's Table in Santa Monica (get the Sloppy Fries, which are fries with a fantastic sloppy joe mix and smoked cheddar sauce). We were slightly food shamed by the waitress for ordering so much. She doubted our ability to finish everything we ordered, but we proved her wrong. Then we dealt with 405 traffic to get back to Orange County. It's the worst, guys. Always. For no reason. Every time we go to LA, we spend half the drive talking about how grateful we are not to deal with LA traffic on a regular basis.


Sunday: ~45 minutes yoga

We spent most of Sunday doing errands, which included buying Sourabh some sandals. Which turned into me buying a pair of Birkenstocks (these) because I need to get serious about foot health and not wear awful shoes with zero support anymore. Now if I could only find a good, work-appropriate flat with support that isn't heinously ugly... Any suggestions?

I had planned to do the skipped biceps/triceps lifting workout from Friday on Sunday, but I was having a lot of muscle pain in my neck/shoulders, so I decided an upper body lifting workout wasn't the best idea. Instead, I signed up for Jasyoga to try out their athlete-focused recovery yoga routines. I did about 45 minutes worth, and also used my yoga therapy balls to try to knead out the knots.

I highly recommend those balls, especially if you have hamstring issues. When I went to Finish Line Physical Therapy while in NYC in May, the physical therapist said they're one of the most effective ways to get at hamstrings. This video has a good overview of how to use them.


Total Mileage = 18 miles (25 if you count the hike)

Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 1 Workout Log

Last week was the first week of the strength training schedule I put together. So far, so good!

Monday: 20 minutes intervals (with 5 mins w/u and 5 mins c/d) + lower body lifting routine.

I could definitely tell that I'd lost some strength after not lifting for a month. I was struggling a bit with a 45 pound bar, when I had worked my way up to 55-60 lbs (depending on number of reps) prior to taking some time off. Boooo. Hopefully it'll come back fairly quickly with consistent strength over the next two months.

I did 20 minutes of 1 minute on, 1 minute off intervals on the treadmill. I probably took the intervals a bit slow because I wasn't sure what my legs were capable of. Ended up with 3.41 miles in 30 minutes. The goal is to run a further distance for each kind of intervals (1 minute versus 30 seconds) each time (and I ran 3.50 miles last night, so I'm hitting that goal so far!).


Tuesday: 20 minutes one-on-one basketball with Sourabh + chest/back lifting routine.

I was so sore from Monday's lifting routine, but that's the nice thing about a body split: you can do back to back lifting days even if you're sore. Again, I could really see how my strength had fallen off based on the numbers I was lifting, which wasn't fun. It's a reminder that just running isn't sufficient!

Finished the workout by playing some one-on-one with Sourabh for 20 minutes. He's been playing a lot of basketball, so I tried defending him a bit. I have no basketball skills but I run, so I can defend decently, and it was a fun way to get in my cardio.


Wednesday: 4 easy miles on the treadmill.

I was so into the book Americanah that I chose to run on the treadmill, just so I could keep reading this book. It's so good, you guys. Please do yourselves a favor and go download it to your Kindle/iPad or pick it up from a store.


Thursday: Off.

I was still quite sore from Monday's lower body workout, so opted to give myself a rest day before I did another lower body lifting routine.


Friday: 20 minutes intervals (with 5 mins w/u and 5 mins c/d) + lower body lifting routine.

Friday nights at the gym are awesome, you guys. It's totally empty, which is my favorite. I swear I don't hate people, but let's be honest, does anyone like to have people around while they work out? The worst is when I'm doing weighted hip lifts. I really would prefer not to have sweaty dudes around when I'm doing anything that remotely resembles thrusting.

I did 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, and ended up with 3.57 miles and a gallon of sweat. Banged out three sets of the lower body and core exercises then concluded the evening by eating sushi with Sourabh at our (current) favorite sushi place in Orange County, Angotei.


Saturday: 20 minutes on-on-one basketball with Sourabh + biceps/triceps lifting routine.

I had fun playing basketball as cardio on Tuesday so decided to do that again. This time before lifting weights, since the previous time I'd shoot and the basketball would fall a good foot short since my shoulders were just absolutely shot.

Nothing exciting to note about the biceps/triceps routine -- I've lost strength, like I mentioned, but hopefully I'll see it come back.

Sourabh and I went on a walk with Mason in the afternoon at Shady Canyon, and I discovered a great incline for hill repeats come marathon training.

We also saw Spy Saturday morning (matinee pricing FTW!), which I loved. It had some very sly commentary on how women undermine ourselves in the workplace, while also being hilarious (without resorting to "haha large lady fell down" jokes).


Sunday: 105 minute restorative yoga class + 45 minutes swimming.

I wanted to be cautious not to overdo it, given that my legs had been so "off" for a few weeks prior, so I scrapped the long run for last week. Instead, I went to a yoga class and did 45 minutes of "swimming" on Sunday. If you're wondering why it's in quotes, it's because I'm an awful swimmer, and it was really more splashing around and trying to get from one end of the pool to the other. But it was a lot of fun and I hope to get better, and hopefully use swimming as a cross-training tool during marathon training. I loved the exhausted feeling I had post-swim.

Please note, the yoga class was supposed to be 75 minutes. Yes, the instructor ran a full 30 minutes over. It was a good restorative class, but the instructor didn't announce that he runs over at the beginning, and Sourabh and I had brunch reservations that we nearly missed. (We went to Social in Costa Mesa, which was SO GOOD.)

I'll probably hit up the class again because it was just the right balance of stretching and relaxation, but now I know not to plan on brunch before noon...


Both the swimming and the basketball playing are part of my effort to keep up my cardio without burning out on running prior to marathon training. No matter how much you love running, I think it's impossible to get all the way through a training cycle without a bit of run fatigue. Especially because I'll be doing a longer training cycle to compensate for any work craziness, I want to be sure I enter marathon training psyched to run and in good shape.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm hoping to stay close to 20ish miles per week generally, but given that it was my first week back to strength training, and that I'd put them a bit through the wringer, I wanted to play it safe this past week.

June Strength Schedule

In case it's helpful to anyone, here's the strength routine I put together for myself for this month. It's based off of exercises I did in workouts with Melanie, so it's very much focused on strengthening with the goal of becoming a faster runner. 

Here's a link to a downloadable Google doc version. Each day focuses on a different area of the body, with some core and hips work to finish the workout. 

"3x15" means three sets of 15 repetitions of the exercise. You should progress from exercise 1-4 for one set, then repeat for three total. Then move on to the core work portion.

In terms of amount of weight to use, as a guideline, you should be fatigued by the end of each set and you shouldn't feel like you could bang out another set of these exercises by the end of the workout.

Below, I've broken out each day and linked to YouTube videos that demonstrate the exercises. I apologize in advance for the abundance of scantily clad men in these videos (if you're offended by that). Apparently weight lifters like to take their shirts off. Also, sorry for the poor quality of each image!

Day 1 (Monday) - Lower Body

Cardio: 20 minutes of intervals

• 5 minutes easy running to warm up
• 20 minutes of intervals, anything from 30 seconds on and off to 2:00 on and off (on Monday I did 1 minute at increasingly fast paces and 1 minute at 10:00 minute miles, repeated for 20 minutes)
• 5 minutes easy running to cool down

3x12:

1. Single leg barbell deadlifts (12 reps each leg)
2. Barbell squats
3. Barbell walking lunges (15 reps total; alternate which side you start on)
4. Barbell hip lifts

3x15:

1. Single leg bicycles on BOSU
2. Plank toe taps on BOSU (Start at 1:15. Tap each leg outwards, both leg taps is one rep.)
3. Single leg bridge hip lifts on BOSU (15 reps perleg)

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Chest/Back

Cardio: 10-20 minutes easy running to warm up (or any cardio alternative; I played basketball with Sourabh on Tuesday)

3x15:

1. Lat pull-downs
2. High row (can be at a seated machine or standing with cables)
3. Arnold presses (go to 1:20)
4. Chest press on stability ball (feel free to use two dumbbells or a barbell)

3x15:

1. Hanging / Roman Chair knee-ups
2. Supermans
3. Donkey kicks (I alternate doing these straight back and out to the side)

Day 3 (Wednesday) - Easy Cardio

For me, an easy run is 4-6 miles on a relatively flat route at a pace at which I could keep up a conversation without any breathing problems. 

Day 4 (Thursday) - Lower Body

Cardio: Same intervals workout as above, but change the duration of the intervals up. If I did 1:00 intervals on Monday, I would be doing 30 second intervals at a faster pace, or 2:00 intervals at a slower pace.

3x15:

1. Dumbbell plie squat
2. Weighted jumping split squats (15 reps per leg)
3. Weighted around-the-world lunges (15 reps per leg)
4. Hamstring curls (you can also use a stability ball: see here)

3x15:

1. Weighted decline sit-ups
2. Weighted reverse sit-ups
3. Clamshells (15 reps per leg)

Day 5 (Friday) - Biceps/Triceps

Cardio: Same as Day 2 / Tuesday. 10-20 minutes easy running or some kind of cardio.

3x15:

1. Tricep press on cables
2. Squat to bicep curl on cables
3. Skull crushers
4. Hammer curls

3x15:

1. Stability ball sit-ups
2. "Dead Bugs" with stability ball
3. Stability ball toes-to-fingers

Days 6/7 (Saturday/Sunday) - Long Run/Rest

In order to keep up my running fitness, I'm doing one longer run a week. Depending on where my mileage is for the week, it'll be 8-10 miles (aiming for roughly 20 miles total each week). Saturday and Sunday are interchangeable. 

Hope this is helpful for someone! Shoot me an email or drop me a comment if you have any questions.

<lawyer> Oh, and also, as always: I'm not a trainer. I'm just sharing my workouts with you. Check with a doctor before beginning a new workout plan, etc. etc. BE CAREFUL. </lawyer>

A Fantastic Race-Free Weekend and June/July Plans

If you follow me on Instagram, you learned I didn't run the RnR San Diego Half Marathon on Sunday. I feel 99% at peace with the decision (there's always that irrational 1%, right?).

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen mountains -- for those not familiar with San Diego, it is not in the mountains.

On Friday evening, after learning my deal was on hold so I wouldn't have to work that weekend, I ran 4 miles. I figured I'd warm up for a mile then see what kind of speed my legs could carry. Turns out, they could barely hold a sub-9:00 pace. It wasn't that it felt hard. It's that it felt impossible.

I have no idea what's going on with my legs (or was going on? I did some intervals on the treadmill last night for 20 minutes before doing some lifting and they actually felt ok...), but I've run a few longer distance races where I felt shitty before, and in retrospect I wish I hadn't run them. It just sucks, and it leaves you feeling defeated.

I thought about heading to San Diego and at least trying to run, but honestly, I had no desire to wake up at 4:30 a.m. (and wake Sourabh up as well) only to realize after a few miles that my legs wouldn't be cooperating. It would make the weekend a lot less fun.

I texted with Jess, who will be coaching me for the California International Marathon, telling her how I was feeling, both physically and mentally. She was, as always, awesome; straight-forward and realistic but positive as well. (Also, she was responding at 10 p.m. her time on a Friday night.) Jess said given how my legs had been the past few weeks, it was pretty unlikely I could PR. She framed the question as: would I be more disappointed not to have tried or to try and fail?

Given that 4:30 a.m. wake-up and how I've felt after other poor races, I knew I'd be more disappointed to head to San Diego, curtail our enjoyment of the city (I wouldn't eat Mexican/Indian/Thai/other delicious foods in anticipation of running, and we'd be going to bed at 9 p.m.), then run a poor race.

Sourabh suggested we head into the mountains, which I was obviously on board with. So Saturday morning we drove up to Big Bear Lake in the San Gabriel Mountains and hiked seven miles on the Pine Knot Trail.

The trail climbs about 1400 ft over 3.25 miles (we parked 1/4 mile away from the trailhead making it 7 miles total for us).

The hike had gorgeous views of the lake and San Gorgonio Peak (over 11,000 ft tall!). 

Still some snow left from the May snowstorm the mountains got a few weeks ago!

San Gorgonio is the tallest peak in Southern California, and just like the other 10K peaks (San Jacinto Peak, Mt. San Antonio -- AKA Mt. Baldy, and San Bernardino Peak), you can hike to the top of it. Yes, hiking all four peaks is definitely on my SoCal Bucket List.

Alpine flowers

Initially we'd wanted to hike the Skyline Trail, which is a new addition to Big Bear, but there was a mountain bike race using the trail. After jumping out of the way of speeding mountain bikes three times, we decided we'd find a different route, especially given that we had Mason with us. I've heard Skyline is an absolutely stunning trail, though, so we'll be back to hike it at some point.

Big Bear Lake!

I know I made the right decision legs-wise, since the hike wasn't difficult by my normal standards and my legs felt incredibly fatigued the whole time. There is just no way I was PRing on them.

Summit snapshot

After we got back to Orange County on Saturday night, we feasted at our favorite local Mexican place, Taqueria Zamora, then watched a movie without regard for what time we were in bed because hey, no race in the morning!

Sunday we grabbed breakfast at my current favorite diner-type breakfast spot, Alta Coffee Warehouse & Restaurant, on Newport Peninsula. Then we headed to the Irvine Farmer's Market at the Irvine Great Park (it's a work in progress, but in a few years this park will be larger than Central Park!). I spent the rest of the afternoon reading Americanah, which is fantastic so far, and doing some food prep for the week ahead.

I am completely comfortable with my decision not to run RnR San Diego. Yes, it always sucks when you work hard at something and it doesn't pan out, especially when you were working hard for twelve weeks. But I was training to PR, and I didn't feel like running a race and not doing that. Instead, after several busy weekends filled with work or taking my parents places, we had a completely relaxing weekend filled with some of my favorite things: exploring, reading and eating.

Sometimes, not running a race really is the best decision.

June/July Training Plans

If hearing about someone else's running-free weekend bores you, then you're in luck! That part of this blog post is now done. Let's talk about my plans for June and July.

After discussing training with Jess over lunch in NYC, we agreed I'll be starting CIM training at the beginning of August. That will give me an 18 week training cycle, allowing me some leeway in case work gets extra intense for a few weeks.

The plan for the next two months is to focus on strength and short bursts of speed, capping my mileage at about 20 miles per week, with the goal being to get stronger and lean out a bit. I put together a lifting plan for myself that has me doing four strength workouts a week (two upper body and two lower body).

For running, I'll be doing two 20 minute rounds of intervals (with a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool-down) each week, one shorter easy run of 4-6 miles and one longer easy run of 8-10 miles. I'm also going to try to fit in a yoga class each week.

Monday's lifting routine.

I've put together lifting workouts for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (lower body, upper body, lower body, upper body) that I'll repeat through the month of June, keeping track of the weight I'm lifting to track improvements. I'll probably switch the workouts up for July.

Now, obviously this is the goal and I can never predict when work will make a workout impossible, but I'm hoping to get as many of the planned workouts in as possible. I think I should see some real improvements and (hopefully) drop a few pounds over the next two months.


Here's a question for you -- would you be interested in seeing the full plan? I'd be happy to make the schedule and weight lifting tracker a Google doc available for download if people are interested.