Where do I even begin?
Week 14+15 started with a quick run in Bear Creek Lake Park here in Denver. It was a quick extra run that I did while Erik was racing with his cross country team. Why have I waited so long to do any trail running here in Denver?
Oh right. Women getting kidnapped and killed while running all alone while on trails. For now, the mile or so was really nice. I also figured it was a Sunday morning and there were so many people here at the park. I wish that I could find a running buddy who runs my pace (10:30-12:30 min/mile) who would like to run with me. Maybe one of these days.
(I also did some trail running when I lived in LA. I ran into a secluded area and ended up seeing a coyote and it saw me. Ever since then I stopped running trails.)
That evening, I boarded a plane and headed to Seattle to start my job at Amazon for the second first time! It was great being back in Seattle for the week.
Although I didn’t get any outdoor miles in during the week, I ran a few races during the weekend. The bad news was that I had to complete my 5 mile + 15 mile back-to-back weekend runs during the same week. This was the beginning of the alternate long training weeks. The pain is coming. We can see it in our training calendars. From here on out it just gets worse.
Week 14 started with a work trip. It was my first week back at Amazon. I had to pack for quite a few things — an intensive training week, 5 days of work, as many on-the-go meals as I could squeeze in, and a friend’s wedding. All of this had to fit into one carry-on because I was too impatient to check in luggage.
In the mornings I tried to squeeze in some workouts. I would try to make breakfast in my hotel rooms. Sometimes I would be successful, and other times I would run out of time and have to jet. Sometimes those breakfasts became lunches, and sometimes I’d forget to also eat lunch and become ravenous at dinner. By the time Thursday rolled around I began consuming more oatmeal and carby meals so that I could top off my stores.
I accidentally left my bus pass at home and opted to hold off on buying one. My mornings were fairly hectic so I ended up taking a lyft to work anyways, but in the evenings I would walk back to my hotel. It was great being able to get some actual walking in, on top of my training. It’s a luxury that was not afforded to me with my commute to Boulder each morning. The views were great and I was finally able to keep up with the weekday challenges that I initiate.
I was really good at incorporating strength training into my routine during that week using FitStar. (The week I got back, not so much. I think I was way too tired and sore from all of the miles…excuses!) Working out in my hotel room is kind of nice because it eliminates that embarrassing factor of working out in front of people, doing moves that make you a bit clownish and sheepish. The only thing that possibly makes me meek is making enough of a ruckus to annoy or wake up the person on the floor beneath me.
My work week was really nice. I really enjoyed being back in the city again. It reminded me of all of my training fiascos and all of the things I got caught up in when I last lived there. If I had more time, I would’ve done more running outside rather than using the hotel treadmills. Alas, that’s what the weekend was for.
By the time the weekend rolled around, I left the comforts of my lovely downtown hotel to a dumpy motel in Tukwila. In hindsight, I should’ve sprung for a nicer place, especially because of the two races I was running. Friday night consisted of a dinner with a friend, along with shuttling my stuff via lyft to the airport car rental place to pick up a car, to then drive to said dumpy motel. I was checked in quite rudely and walked in to one of the scariest motel rooms I’d ever stayed in. I’d rather not remember it so I won’t bother writing about it.
The next morning I grabbed some breakfast from the lobby and then drove up to Bellingham for my 10K. The run was a fundraiser for a local chapter of Run Like a Girl. I had a friend years ago who was a volunteer coach for this organization in LA, and I had looked into being a coach or running companion at the local chapter here in Denver. Unfortunately it doesn’t work out with my work and teaching schedule. I showed up on race day to a park in Bellingham, an hour and a half north of Seattle. It was a nice overcast Pacific Northwest morning…perfect running weather, as usual. I had chosen my pink running base layer as my pullover of choice. I hadn’t realized that pink would be the race color of choice, so I ended up fitting in quite well. The race was beautiful since half of it ran through trails. I was slightly terrified — okay, very terrified — because of my overall clumsiness. I was extra judicious and watched every single step and looked at how every single person in front of me hop-skipped the roots and rocks ahead of me. The trail reminded me a lot of Rattlesnake Trail. I ended up slowing down quite a bit. I nixed my plan to take pictures, even though it was an absolutely stunning race, just to make sure that I wouldn’t injure myself over any of the unstable wet soil, rocks, or roots. The ones that I did manage though, I snapped in some safe areas:
My time wasn’t great but hey, I finished and I didn’t injure my ankles. A win!
Afterwards I head back to my hotel to get cleaned up for my friend’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony. I then headed over to have dinner with my in-laws. I left a little later than anticipated and took a wrong turn back to the hotel and almost died. Since I don’t really want to recount the whole incident here, I’ll just post the screenshot from my Facebook post that night:
Here were some screenshots of the traffic reports I found that night:
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On Sunday, I had my 15 mile training run. I headed south to University Place to a place called Chambers Bay for a half marathon. It was my second time running the Sporty Diva’s half marathon. The morning was a bit rough given the events from the evening more. I really felt like canceling but I figured that I could always cut my run short. I also knew it was a bad idea to cut my run short since my long training runs were crucial to my Dopey Challenge training…48.6 miles is a long way to go in January. When I’m out there, I’ll be glad that I did all of my training.
As usual, the scenery was beautiful. The 15 miles though, were treacherous. The first 14 were acceptable. Between mile 14 and 15 I was especially mopey and tired. My feet felt like they were on fire. Somehow I was walking on coals. Those arches were on firrrrrrrreeeee. I need to get a handle on it. I tried to focus on my surroundings but no, the fire was too distracting. Nonetheless I finished out my 15 miles exactly — no more, no less.
Yes, look at those hills!
I did take a screenshot of when I finished my 13.1, just so that I could log my race time:
Week 15 wasn’t bad either. The light weeks are 45 minutes + 45 minutes + 3 miles. I took a cue from my tired legs and feet…and I thought to get some more training time. I don’t want to overdo it and go beyond my training too much, but perhaps my light training is too light? So, when I can, I try to bump up my short runs to 5 miles. If I want to add in strength training, then I’ll keep my runs around 3-4 miles. I’m into my second week and so far it’s not so bad.
Another thing I’ve found motivating for training: I got my blood lipid panel back, and my cholesterol has risen 25% in the last 2 years. I don’t even know how that’s possible, but at this point it’s been ebbing and flowing over the last 10 years.
Again…it’s been busy! Well, week 14 and 15 are done and in the books.
Amara in Training 