Days 171-181

What a great week and a half it has been for training. Working with the coach has given me focus and a new level of confidence that had been lacking. After the 14 miles, there were 4 slow miles at China Camp followed by a day where there was no running but Bikram yoga instead. Then there was 8 miles to the open space. And the coach helped me figure something else out - I shouldn't be doing my 8 miles up to the Open space because it's such a hill to get there and the NY Marathon really doesn't have many hills. So....the next step is to find a more flat place to run 8 miles. Around here, there are no truly flat places to get that many miles in but surely there must be something less hilly. The Thursday morning track workout was tough but good to do. I also had an easy mile with my 4 legged fur baby. Then came 16 miles back at Bear Valley and I was very happy with that run. First, I didn't do the big climb and instead went along Bear Valley Trail to the beach and then took a turn on Coast and ran to Coast Camp. There was some up and down but nothing like the last time. And most important, at the end of the run - I was super tired - but also felt better than after the 14 miles out there. And even more encouraging, I probably could have gone further. After that, what was supposed to be an easy recovery 5 miles at Phoenix Lake went awry when a wrong turn took me climbing up up up to Bald Mountain. The photo is from that run. After that there was an easy 3 mile run in the neighborhood and a track workout that evening. Today was a big day a 4 mile run then a strength training session where we did pushups, dead lifts, kettle ball stuff, sit ups, jumping to a step, burpees, one arm rows, lunges and we also pulled a tire that had a rope and it was put around your hops. And then at lunchtime, another 4 miles.

Stats:
Sunday Aug 14: 4.01 miles at China Camp in 41:40 10:24 avg pace/+357 feet
Monday Aug 15: Bikram
Tuesday Aug 16: 8.02 miles to Open Space in 1:22 at 10:19/+896 feet
Wednesday Aug 17: Bikram and Strength training exercises from a magazine
Thursday Aug 18: Track workout - 6.79 miles in 1:22 - this includes warm up/cool down and the recovery part of the workouts
Friday Aug 19: Bikram
Saturday Aug 20: 16.01 miles at Bear Valley in 2:48 at 10:31/+1723
Sunday Aug 21: 5.01 miles from Ross to Phoenix Lake to Bald Mountain in 57:13 at 11:25/+779
Monday Aug 22: rest day
Tuesday Aug 23: 3.01 miles in the neighborhood in 28:34 at 9:29/+120
Tuesday Aug 23: also, track workout. 5.14 miles in 44:30 at 8:39 including warm up and cool down
Wednesday Aug 24: 4.0 to Dominican in 40:12 at 10:02/+176 feet
Wednesday Aug 24: Madison Avenue Gym Workout
Wednesday Aug 24: 4.0 miles at lunchtime (hot) to Open Space in 41:11 at 10:15/+418 feet