Spring Training Week 9 – Taper Begins & Sugar Detox Ends

Although I wasn’t in full taper mode, at two weeks out from the Rock n’ Roll San Diego half marathon, volume went down this week. This was also the week when I realized that trying to fit in all these P90X3 workouts just isn’t going to be possible in the coming weeks and I’ve decided to put it on hold. It was also the final week of my 3 weeks sugar detox! 

Monday: 

PM: 5 mile easy run with Asia along the coast, followed by P90X3 Decelerator. This was the first time I did Decelerator since I was just starting Phase 3 and this workout is only in this phase. It was tough! Each move was 60 seconds which meant that whichever body part we were focusing on in that period was exhausted by the end. It was a full body workout including variations of push-ups, pull-ups, squats and lunges.

Tuesday: 

AM: I got up early to get in my final speed session before the race, which was a 1 mile warm-up, 4 x 2K (about 1.25 files) at half marathon-10k pace with 3 minute active recovery, and a 1 mile cool-down. In total I ran 8 miles and intervals pace averages were: 7:28, 7:28 , 7:53 (uphill!) and 7:17 (final push!).

PM: After work I met up with my former co-worker Amy and my friend Brooke for a bike ride on the 56 bike path. This was only my second time on the bike outside in the last 10 months and I was surprised at my timidness at first on the bike. This ride was where I realized that I need to be focusing more on triathlon if I want to have a descent performance at the San Diego International Triathlon (June 29). In total, we rode for about 1 hour 15 minutes. I didn’t wear my Garmin so I’m not sure about how far we went but we did not set any land speed records and kept the effort easy. The bike path has plenty of rolling hills and there was a lot of wind so sections were harder than others, but overall it was an easy effort.

Wednesday: 

PM: I slept in and got in 30 minutes of P90X3 Yoga in the evening. I knew I should do a double P90X3 day to get in all the workouts before the weekend away, but I just didn’t care!

Thursday: 

PM: I had to be at work early for a meeting (which was canceled – ARGH!) so I left my workout for the evening. That night I had my final tempo run which was shorter in length than the tempo runs have been lately. 1 mile warm-up, 2 x 15 minutes @ half marathon-10k pace with 1 min active recovery, 1 mile cool-down.  I didn’t feel as great as I had hoped on this run but overall still felt it was a successful run. I ran the first 15 minute segment at an average of 7:19 (net decline) and the second at 7:38 (incline) for an average of 7:28.  This was one of the first workouts I had done when I first started this training cycle so I went back and looked at my average pace from the first time I did it and was happy to see that it was a 7:45 average but with a 5 minute recovery instead of 1 minute. Pretty good improvement in 8 weeks!

Friday: 

AM: In the summer, I love to take my bike out on the coast highway before work. Usually, riding the 101 is absolutely distracting since there are so many runners, walkers, bikes, dogs, strollers, stop lights, cross walks and other distractions to worry about. In general, it’s not the safest or most efficient place to ride. On a weekday at 6 a.m., it is heaven. All the lights are green and I have a perfect stretch of coast to ride down. I usually take it all the way to the edge of Del Mar and turn around and do some loops. This time I looped twice coming up with just about 15 miles of riding . I didn’t push the pace but I definitely worked harder than Tuesday’s ride.

The ride was a wonderful way to start the weekend. Friday at about noon Mike and I left work and drove out to Alpine (about 45 miles East of San Diego) to start the celebrations for Mike’s sister Claire’s wedding.

Saturday: 

All of the other guests thought we were crazy but Mike and I got up Saturday morning with intentions of running about 10 miles. We had no idea where to go and the woman at the front desk told us that the road near the hotel would take us as far as we wanted. We got up at about 6:30 get our run started by 7:30. We ran down a long road which luckily had a shoulder/sidewalk for the entire way, but after about 2.5 miles, it took a sharp turn down into a canyon and the shoulder ended. We decided to head back through the neighborhoods instead to get the rest of the miles we needed. Alpine is HILLY and the main road we were on had plenty of gradual inclines but the neighborhoods were full of steep, short hills. Our pace was ridiculously slow as we tried not to go too hard up the hills. Regardless of hills and lack of a route, Mike and I had a great time chatting and running together. We ended up getting in just about 8.5 miles of running (with 800 feet of climbing we later learned).

The rest of the weekend was full of family and fun as we celebrated Claire and Josh. It was a great wedding!

Sunday: 

When I got home from Alpine I met up with a friend for a 4 mile beach walk. I don’t normally put my walks on my training log (Mike and I take 1.5-2 mile walks quite often) but this one actually felt like a workout by the end! I had also already walked 2 miles earlier that morning in Alpine with Mike so it was a double walk day!

Sugar Detox

I am happy to say that I lasted 3 weeks without dessert and relatively little added sugar. I didn’t have any KIND bars, didn’t add brown sugar to my oatmeal, had NO dessert, and used coconut milk creamer in my coffee for 3 weeks! I was actually really surprised at how much easier it got as we went. My cravings really did subside and I think that even just 3 weeks of reducing sugar intake had a positive effect on my body.

Going into this personal challenge I knew I’d be eating treats at Claire and Josh’s wedding and I did. They had a S’mores pit and that S’more was the best thing I’ve ever eaten!! By the time the cake was served, I only had a few bites because my craving was satisfied by the S’mores. It’s really true that the more sugar you eat the more you crave. Mike and I plan to resume our lower sugar diet tomorrow since we both feel like it not only made us look better but feel better too!

Weekly Totals (without walks) 

• Miles Run: 27.75
• Hours Biked: 2.25
• Hours Strength: 1
• Total Time: ~7.5 hours

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Do you do most of your weekday riding indoors or outdoors?