My week three of marathon training hit a bit of a snafu. Originally on this week’s plan, I had a long run of 12 miles. Next week (Week 4) I was only supposed to do 10 miles for my long run. I forgot, didn’t plan out, that I actually am doing a half marathon race next weekend. I wasn’t sure if I should alter week 3’s plan of 12 miles and ended up compromising during the actual run. Week 2’s 10 miler felt really good and easy. This last week’s 11.45 miler was extremely tough. I wonder if it was related to the fact that the night before the run I had a few cocktails. I am still learning about my own body and what alcohol does for it. In the past I used to have a beer the night before a race and then I did a few races without having beer the night before and noticed that it was a little easier. I’m by no means going to abstain from all alcohol during training, but maybe see how my body does by not having alcohol the night before a long run.
Here’s a summary of last week’s running.
( ) = # of miles on my plan
Tuesday – 0 (3)
Thursday – 4.13 (4)
Friday – 11.45 (12)
Saturday – 5.3 (6)
Sunday – 3.0 (3)
Weekly Total – 23.89 miles (28)
This week’s long run took me along the American River Trail. I used to live by the river the area that I ran this week. It was nice to be back in my old running haunts. The day was nice and warm (high 50s). I saw some good wildlife on this run. I didn’t get a picture but there was a very white bunny with a few brown spots. It did not look like the normal wild jackrabbits that are along the river. I wondered if maybe someone had freed their bunny or it had actually escaped its home and was exploring. Later on I saw a legit jack rabbit along the trail. I also came upon this heron that was standing regally by the bike trail. As I approached, it would spook and fly away – but only about 20 feet ahead and then we repeated the process over and over since I was heading in that same direction.
The rain has stopped for a while now and so the river levels are definitely lower than they were previously.
There is still evidence of the previous rains/winds as there were quite a few trees that had toppled over. You can see that some of these trees actually obstructed the bike path along the river.
It’d been awhile since I ran on the bike trail. There’s one section that is covered by trees on both sides and it is very peaceful.
Overall my body felt good at the end of the week. I had some pretty serious soreness the morning after my long run. However I don’t know if that was also due to some heavy lifting I did the day before the long run. I still managed to do my medium length run (5.3 miles) the day after the long run. So overall I’m happy with how things are going. I have been using my foam roller more to try to stave off any injuries. So far so good…*knock on wood*.
-StewsCat
StewsCat 