This was a tough week. The final one.
And I made it through.
It started off with a race – the By Hook or By Crook 12k. Then, I was out of town for a conference in San Francisco.
I knew the conference schedule was going to be busy, and I wasn’t going to be getting a ton of sleep. So I cut out the midweek workout, and I just hoped to get in as many miles as I could.
I wasn’t sure it would work out … but I managed to log 85 miles. The last peak week of this training cycle.
Here’s how things went.
The Plan for the Week
Since I had a race Sunday and I had an early flight on Monday, I didn’t schedule a long run for the beginning of the week. But I did get one in on Friday.
Here’s the daily breakdown:
- Sunday: 12k race, 12 miles total with warm up and cool down
- Monday: 5 miles easy treadmill AM, 10 miles easy PM
- Tuesday: 11 miles easy
- Wednesday: 11 miles easy
- Thursday: 10 miles easy
- Friday: 16 miles easy
- Saturday: 10 miles easy
And here’s how things went.
Sunday: The By Hook or By Crook 12k Race
Since this was a relatively important race, I wrote up an actual race report here. But here’s the short version.
I warmed up for 2.5 miles before the race. I was feeling good, although the weather was warm and the sun was threatening to come out.
The first three miles of the race went great. I abandoned my conservative plan, and started out with a mile at 6:05. The next two were slightly more controlled, but still under 6:20.
During the fourth mile, things started to fall apart. It was probably a combination of things. The sun came out, and it beat down on us for the final few miles. My legs are full of fatigue, coming off a couple weeks at 85 miles. I ran too fast for the first three miles and paid the price.
Mile 4 was slow. Mile 5 was a little better. Mile 6 was terrible.
I managed to pick it back up slightly in mile 7. I gritted out that last mile and a half for a halfway decent finish.
The time wasn’t what I had hoped for (48:37), but it wasn’t a total disaster. Looking through other people’s results on Strava, a lot of people suffered in those last few miles.
But I’ll be back on this course for the Jersey Shore Half Marathon in two weeks – hopefully with milder weather.
After the race, I jogged two miles to cooldown and to stack a few extra miles for the week.
Monday: Running on a Travel Day
Monday, I had an early flight to San Francisco for a conference.
I woke up super early (~5:00) and hopped on the treadmill for 5 easy miles. Took a quick shower, hopped in a Lyft, and tried to nap on the flight out west.
My legs felt surprisingly good for having run a race the day before. But they definitely didn’t like being cramped up in the window seat for 5-6 hours.
When we got to San Francisco, it was still early in the day. We weren’t meeting up with the rest of the team for dinner until 8:30, so there was plenty of time. Grabbed some In and Out Burger and then hit the hotel room for a quick nap.
The BAA dropped the announcement of the number of applicants for this year’s Boston Marathon, so I hurried up and wrote a quick article about that. Then, I hit the road for what was supposed to be an easy ten miles.
I was staying at the Aloft near the airport, and I had scouted out a few possible routes. One was west of the hotel along the San Andreas Segment of the Crystal Springs Regional Trail.
On paper, it looked easy to get to. I ran west a couple miles, then I hit the trail. But I hadn’t paid attention to the elevation gain …
About a mile in, I hit a neighborhood with steep hills. I pushed on for a mile or so of intense incline. Stopped to walk once or twice. But I finally made it to the top.
Once I got there, the view was worth it. I ran north a couple of miles before I hit the five mile turn around. The San Andreas Lake offered some nice scenery to the west of the trail.
I turned around and slowly retraced my steps back to the hotel. Between the race, the travel, and the hills, my legs were toast. But as long as I kept the pace slow, it was ok.
Logged ten miles in the afternoon, five miles in the morning. Fifteen miles altogether. Not bad.
In the evening, we grabbed our conference badges, met for dinner at 8:30, and I knocked out as soon as we got back to the hotel.
Tuesday: Eleven Miles on Flat(ter) Terrain
After that first foray into the hills, I vowed to stay on level ground for the rest of the trip. Luckily, there were a couple of routes right along the bay that kept me (mostly) out of the hills.
Tuesday morning, I woke up early – 5:30. The one good thing about traveling west is that it’s easy to get up super early. Drank my coffee and hit the road.
Today, I left the hotel, went down the street to the bay, and headed south. It was still dark out when I left, and it was a little gloomy.
There’s a decent trail that follows the bay most of the way, although there was a short segment where I had to cut out to the road. About four miles in, I passed by a beach and there was a little bit of wilderness – a park called Coyote Point.
Here, there were a couple short, steep hills. I made it up and over, enjoyed the view, and went on a little further on the other side. I initially planned on hitting 10 miles this morning and calling it quits. But after I turned around, I took a little detour that dead ended.
By the time I got back on the main route, passed back through Coyote Point, and got to the hotel, I was at nearly 11 miles.
Today was super slow. I didn’t feel beat down, per se. My legs felt fine-ish. I just didn’t feel like I had any speed in them. I didn’t have a reason to push the pace.
Towards the end, I was running in the high 8:00’s and low 9:00’s. I finished up the 11 miles in just about 1:40. Showered, grabbed some breakfast, and out for the conference.
Wednesday: Heading North Past the Airport
The plan for Wednesday was the same – ten to eleven easy miles. But instead of heading south, I planned to head north.
The San Francisco Airport was just north of my hotel. But I mapped out a route through the neighborhood that came out at the north end of the airport.
The first couple of miles were quiet and dark. I jogged through a residential neighborhood full of small, one story houses. The route crisscrossed the railroad tracks a few times. I had to stop and look at my phone a few times to make sure I had the route right. I probably should have programmed this into my Garmin.
A few miles in, I connected with a ‘trail’ that ran by the airport. It was more or less a paved road the ran parallel to the highway.
At the north end of the airport, this connected back with a real trail that ran along a waterway out to the bay. The trail went on for miles from there, but I had reached my turnaround point – 5.5 miles.
I retraced my steps. This time, it was easier to follow the route home.
On the trail by the airport, I noticed a cool plant and stopped to take a picture.
Other than that, it was an uneventful run. I made it back to the hotel around 8, got ready for the day, and left for the conference.
Another 11 miles in the bag.
Thursday: A Little Easier This Time
Thursday morning, I returned to the southern route that I’d run on Tuesday. Of all the routes I explored, it was the nicest – a good view and easy to run.
Although I was definitely tired, my legs felt ok. In fact, they were a little less heavy than they had been earlier int he week.
I ran five miles, passed through Coyote Point, and turned around. On the way back, I sped up just a little bit. But I was still only running 8:30 to 8:45 at the fastest.
My main goal this week was to get in the miles. Pace wasn’t the point. Given the amount of walking I was doing each day, and the minimal amount of sleep I was able to get, I was content to run a nice, easy recovery pace.
I finished up ten miles in just under 90 minutes. About 1:28 or 1:29.
Friday: A Long Run Along the Bay
When I got here, I wasn’t sure if I’d hit my mileage goals, to be honest. I was ready to cut my weekday runs short a bit if necessary. I was hoping to hit 85 miles, but I would have been content with 70 to 75.
But with the conference behind me, the last real test was to knock out a mid-week long run of 16 miles.
I started along the same southern route that I’d run a few times. Past Coyote Point and further south.
There was another park – Seal Point – a little further on. It was pretty desolate, but it was a giant hill along the bay. It offered a nice view from the top.
On the way out, I felt pretty good. Stopped around 5 miles to use the bathroom and drink a swig of water. The hill up to Seal Point was tough, but once I got to the top I caught my breath and continued on. By the turnaround point, I felt about as good as I had all week.
And then I turned around and headed for home. The next couple of miles were still ok. But somewhere around miles ten or eleven, it all seemed to catch up with me.
Suddenly, my legs were heavy and my pace was slower. I’d been speeding up a bit – down near 8:30. Towards the end, I was back up near 9:00.
The good thing about a long out and back route is you can’t quit. So I kept soldiering on, one foot in front of the other. The last couple of miles were tough, but I finished up.
My flight wasn’t until the early afternoon, so I grabbed some breakfast and relaxed in bed for a bit. And just like that, the trip was over, and I was flying back to Jersey.
Saturday: My Regular Ten Mile Route
Back home on Saturday, I finally had a chance to sleep in. I didn’t set the alarm, and I finally rolled out of bed around 8:30. After I drank my coffee and took the dog for a quick walk, it was 9:45 or 10 by the time I started my run.
Luckily, the weather was decent. It was sunny and a bit warm, but the humidity wasn’t terrible. There was a light breeze. Fall is almost here. I got spoiled this week a bit by the amazing weather in San Francisco – 50’s every morning, light clouds, occasional sun.
I ran my usual ten mile route – up to Verona Park and back over some rolling hills. I kept the pace easy, around recovery pace. Finished in 1:29.
I felt pretty good throughout. I had to speed up a couple times to catch a traffic light or dodge a turning car, and my legs didn’t complain.
Reflections and Looking Ahead
Running while traveling can be tough. Especially when you’re traveling for work, and you don’t have the luxury of starting your day late.
On paper, my plan had been to run 10-11 miles every morning before the conference. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out. I also wasn’t sure how well I’d hold up, given the late nights and short sleeps.
But things worked out pretty well. Due to the time difference, I was able to wake up around 5:30 every day and get an early start. I knocked out my run, got ready, and left for the conference by 8:15 to 8:30 every morning.
This was truly the last tough week of this training cycle, and I’m happy to have survived it. The race on Sunday didn’t go quite as well as I’d hoped, but the first few miles were a glimpse of what I could do given better weather and some patience during the race.
Over the next three weeks, I’ll taper down in preparation for Chicago. This week will be 70 miles with an easy workout on Wednesday. Next week, I’ll run a half marathon as a tune up race, and then I’ll finish out that week with 60 miles. Then the final week is truly easy.
The hay is in the barn, as they say. And in a few weeks, we’ll see if all this hard work pays off.