I wasn’t planning on making these bi-weekly posts but the days keep passing too quickly and that’s the way it’s turning out! Again, these last two weeks were full of highs and lows, but overall I am happy with the quality of training I got in, despite a couple set backs.
The best thing that happened for my training was that Asia won a free entry to the Rock n’ Roll San Diego Half by entering an Instagram contest put on by Suja (totally unrelated to my recent affiliation with them). Suja, the title sponsor of the race, put together a 6 week training plan (find it here) which Asia decided to follow. Since I have been struggling to come up with a structured plan for myself and there were 6 weeks exactly until the race when she won the entry, I decided to follow the plan as well. I am modifying it to fit in as many 21 Day Fix workouts as I can, but I’m sticking to the gist of the plan, which includes a tempo workouts on Mondays and hill workout on Thursdays. So far it’s been incredibly motivating to not only have a plan to follow, but a buddy to complete some of those tough workouts with! Given the fact that Asia has been pretty much focused on yoga since the beginning of last year, we are at pretty similar fitness levels despite my time away from running during pregnancy and postpartum.
Week of April 18-24
This week was supposed to be La Jolla Half Marathon race week, so the schedule was intentionally light. Because I ended up with a really bad stomach flu starting Wednesday, it was extra light and sadly ended up with my second half marathon DNS in a row (I missed last year’s RnR SD due to a much more mild stomach bug, but I was also 5 months pregnant at the time and didn’t think it was worth risking). It was the right choice to skip the race, but didn’t make it any easier.
Monday – Upper Fix & 10 Minute Hard Core Abs. Upper Fix is definitely one of my favorite workouts and I chose to do it earlier in the week than scheduled and skip plyo to recover from a tough weekend of running and save my legs for the race.
Tuesday – 4 mile run on my own before work. I planned to do 5 miles but just wasn’t feeling great. My legs were heavy and my breathing was hard. It was just a hard run. 4 miles was as much as I could muster!
Wednesday – 4 mile run with Allison. Again, heavy legs! That afternoon I came down with the stomach flu and spent all afternoon and evening in bed.
Thursday – Rest day. I literally didn’t have the energy to sit up. It took effort to even watch TV so I spent most of the day in bed. I barely ate (thank god for my stock of Suja Juice otherwise I would have barely gotten any calories in) and pretty much was miserable all day.
Friday – 21 Day Fix Yoga. After a very stressful day working from home and still feeling a sick (but a lot better than the day before), I really needed something for me. I chose yoga.
Saturday – Rest. My stomach still felt a little off but my energy was mostly back and I felt pretty normal otherwise. I thought I might get in 2 shakeout miles and see how I felt for the race the next day but didn’t end up doing it.
Sunday – Mike and I drove to the start of the La Jolla Half Marathon and then ended up turning around and going home. Mike started feeling really bad and both of us didn’t even feel like drinking our coffee, which was a bad sign. I probably could have run the race but once Mike said he definitely wasn’t (sadly, he also got my terrible stomach flu and was in bed for a few days), I knew it was a better idea for me to go home and not force him to come out and pick me up later. It would have been a pretty miserable 13.1 miles and it didn’t seem worth it to put my body through it when I was just coming off a pretty terrible illness. That afternoon during Siena’s nap I was able to do 21 Day Fix’s total body strengthening workout, Dirty 30, and a 30 minute slow treadmill run.
Weekly Totals:
- Miles Run: 11
- Strength: 1.75 hours
Week of April 25 – May 1
This week was much better than the prior! I felt great starting Monday and was able to get in all the workouts I had planned. This was also the start of the 6 week Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon training plan from Suja that Asia and I are following.
Monday – Tempo Run: 1 mile w/u, 3 mile tempo and short cool-down. Asia came over in the morning and we did a warm-up and then headed up and did the 3 mile trail loop which has a good amount of climbing as our tempo. We didn’t shoot for at time – just ran comfortably hard.
Tuesday – 5 miles easy with Allison in the morning and Upper Fix at lunch. I knew the only way I’d get in a 21 Day Fix workout this day (Mike works late so definitely no option to do it after work) was to do it at lunch. I brought 2 sets of weights, my band and my mat in my car to work. There is a park about a 3 minute drive away and I headed there and got my workout in (plus a bonus plank!). It was a nice sunny day but not too hot so it was perfect for a lunchtime workout! I definitely plan to do this again – the Upper Fix workout is perfect for lunch because I don’t get too sweaty doing it (we do have showers at work if needed but this time I just changed and put on more deodorant!).
Wednesday – In order to get my 21 Day Fix workouts in while also running, I have to double up some days. Lower Fix and Pilates go well together (and are in meant to be on Wednesday/Thursday) so that’s what I did. I intentionally skipped Plyo (which is Monday’s workout). After work I got in 60 minutes of restorative yoga thanks to the free yoga that is held at my office from 5-6 p.m. I can’t tell you how much better I felt leaving this class. She brings essential oils and does a short shoulder/neck massage during savasana and it’s wonderful!!!
Thursday – Hill repeats with Asia. We did a 1 mile warm-up and then found a hill to do hill repeats. The plan called for 30-45 second repeats but we used two markers on the trail next to my house which took us between 47-51 seconds to run between, depending on our speed. This workout actually went really fast and I really enjoyed it. We ended up doing 13 repeats in about 30 minutes and then did a short cool-down for a total of 5 miles.
Friday – Rest day. I considered doing Dirty 30 but my body was saying rest!
Saturday – 8.3 mile long run with Asia and Allison (who joined for 5 miles) followed by Dirty 30. I felt GREAT on this run. I felt like I could run forever and had a ton of energy when I was done. We got done a little earlier than planned and our plans to leave for the girls trip got pushed back a little later, so I decided to do Dirty 30 this day instead of putting it off til Sunday. I’m so glad I did because I did not have the time or energy to do it on Sunday.
Sunday – Rest day. After a big night out with the girls on Saturday and the drive home from Orange County, I didn’t get home til after noon. I was tired, a bit hungover and a 2 hour nap was way higher priority than a workout. Plus, I already did yoga on Wednesday so I felt ok about skipping 21 Day Fix yoga! Mike and I went for a walk with Siena before dinner and the girls and I walked to breakfast that morning, but that was the extent of my exercise.
Weekly Totals:
- Miles Run: 22.5
- Strength: 3 hours
I really felt like I was back in the swing of things by the end of last week. My runs are really improving and starting to finally feel “easy” at times again, even on the hilly trails near my house! I don’t want to set any particular time goals for Rock n’ Roll San Diego but I was thinking a sub 2 might be a stretch for La Jolla (hard course, missed my last long run, was sick leading up to the race) and now I’m wondering if a sub 1:50 is possible at Rock n’ Roll (I ran 1:40 two years ago when I was in peak shape). Either way I plan to run by feel, not by pace at the race so it’ll be fun to see what that effort turns into time-wise!
Have you ever missed a race due to illness?
I’ve been lucky to not be struck by illness before a race before. But stomach flu is definitely one you can’t run through!
I hope we get a chance to meet at the Rock n Roll San Diego!
I didn’t realize you’d be there!!! I’d love to meet up!