This weekend was more exhausting than usual, so I’m going to keep this recap brief. I’ll save most of my next post for reliving the Blue Ridge Half Marathon adventures.
So this was a taper week before my first race since Antelope Canyon 50 Miler a little over a month ago. I’m always tempted on low mileage weeks to add other workouts, but have to remind myself that the reason I don’t generally have as much going on during a taper is because my body is supposed to be resting to prepare for the upcoming race day.
Monday: Rest day!
Tuesday: Ran a 5k in the morning, taught PiYo at Ladies Fitness and Wellness in the evening, and then practiced my class for about 30 minutes.
Wednesday: Rest day! Not teaching on a Wednesday for once and had a night in while the hubby was out. I just walked through a little of my class and then had an early night.
Thursday: Finally had a chance to run with the Raleigh Distance Project for the Thursday morning meetup. I ran with a few ladies from the NC Volee and got in 3.1 miles before work. It was a great way to start the day and definitely a routine I’d like to keep up going forward. That evening, I practiced my Mossa Power class for almost an hour. It’s really starting to sink in!
Friday: Rest day! Full day of work and then driving to Roanoke, VA. I was stuck in a silly amount of traffic and got in pretty late. Had a quick dinner, setup flat Christine, and was off to bed.
Saturday: I never sleep well the first night in a new place and this was no exception. It didn’t help that the hotel I stayed in was so noisy. Someone was wandering the hallway around 4am which woke me up. As my alarm was set for a 5am wake-up call before the race, I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that. I was ready when the alarm went off, and rolled right into race morning prep. As mentioned, I’ll save the full recap for a separate post, but I ran the half marathon and was overall pleased with my effort. This was not the course I would PR in; far from it! But I pushed as hard as I could up the mountain until I eventually had to walk, but I took full advantage of any downhills and flat spots. I felt like my overall effort level was really good. Given that I was a month out from my last race and this was a ‘fun run,’ I focused on enjoying myself, listening to my body about when to push and when to recover, and completed with a smile on my face. I enjoyed a little of the finisher festival after, but then it was back in the car for the long drive home. Almost 3 hours later and I was snuggling with the kiddos and rolling into our next set of plans: a concert in downtown Raleigh! We went to see Death Cab for Cutie and had tickets since the day of pre-sale… there was no way we were going to miss it. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time, but it was a late night before another early morning.
Sunday: Volunteered at the Sir Walter Raleigh Inaugural Half Marathon. It was another early start with our check-in scheduled for 6:30am. I went with NOLA running buddy Stephanie and we were assigned a couple of positions before the race, ultimately ending up manning the Gear Drop. We had thought we’d only be there a couple of hours before going out into the course to cheer on friends that were participating, but we ended up staying through to the end of the race, also returning the bags to their rightful owners. It ended up being a great spot though as we could see runners as they were coming in for the last loop around the Buffaloe Road Athletic Park track and into the finish.
It did make for a long, exhausting morning, especially with my legs being super sore from the hilly race the day before. I went home and hung out with the family before we all went over to the Y for our regular Mossa Power (Strength Train Together) class. It was a low-key night as I was totally drained. Made a favorite Instant Pot recipe, put away laundry (a feat in itself!), and now settling in to practice my Mossa routine before Game of Thrones comes on this evening.
My priorities for the next month need to be solidifying the Mossa program in my head for my assessment video, letting my body recover from this half, and then start to build in my speed training for my Fall races. So I’ll keep up with the weekly training recap to share some of the things I’ve been working on, as well as my progress, but my next race likely isn’t until July. Now, on to more important things…
Are you watching the Season Premier of Game of Thrones?
