What a week! It was hectic, and while I thoroughly enjoyed parts of it, it wasn’t exactly a stellar week for training.
Mayacamas Ranch
Good:
I hit the gym 3 days: legs on Monday, chest on Tuesday, back and biceps on Sunday.
I spent several days at Mayacamas Ranch, a retreat center in California. It was pretty and relaxing, and I got a LOT of sleep!
I also spent some good time with friends
The food at Mayacamas was tasty and quite healthy!
I did get a couple short hikes in (i.e. a mile each)
The Less-Good
I ate a LOT – as in, I gained 4 pounds this week, Not that I really care, but come on, that’s a bit ridiculous
I only ran 3 days – I’d planned to run at the retreat center but the paths weren’t runnable
I drank…um….Tues, Wed, Thurs and Sat. Not a ton – Tuesday was one margarita – but it’s more alcohol than I’ve consumed in a long time
I honestly think I ate more chocolate at a party on Saturday than I have all year
I missed my long run for the week
I only logged 20 miles this week!
Do you see a trail here?
I could have done the long run today – I also could have run on the road at Mayacamas – but I chose not to. I sorta sabotaged myself, not eating well and then not feeling prepared to do the miles I should be. Houston is in just over a month!
I’m going to be careful not to let this bug me too much. I had an off week – but it’s only a week, and it’s just nicely far enough away from race day that I will have a few more solid weeks of training to feel confident come race day.
I’d like to believe that maybe my body really needed this off time and I’ll be stronger for it, but I can’t quite go that far. I wanted to run today, but I didn’t fuel properly yesterday and I didnt feel emotionally prepared for the run. I tried to listen to the Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast but honestly, I just don’t do well listening to something while I run. It prevents me from getting “in the zone”. I can talk with people, sure, but having something going in my ear seems to just make me anxious.
This upcoming week will already be better: I have running plans for tomorrow morning, Tuesday night, and likely Wednesday night. I did a huge shopping trip to Whole Foods and can fuel myself appropriately (the challenge with being on the road is that I eat a lot because I don’t know when the next meal will come or what it will be). I did lift tonight which makes me feel more focused and calm, and ready to get back on track.
4 pounds in a week? I feel like I gain 4 pounds on an off day. UFF, but then we are probably the crazies that weigh ourselves like 5 times a day. AFTER SWEATY RUNS IT’S THE BEST!
Anyways, sounds like it was a very relaxing week… those are always needed!
5 times a day? Noooo… in fact, I didn’t have a scale for several years, but then got a body fat tanita scale off one of those deal-a-day sites. I just weigh myself first thing every morning (if I remember) – so the time of day etc doesn’t come into play. I fluctuate a bit, but not too much.
I did lose 12 pounds my first marathon weekend. YIKES! Now I try to be better about fueling and hydrating, because I know that that much loss can compromise performance.