Week two recap

I'm officially into week two of training. Yeah! So far it's been fairly easy to keep up with my truncated training plan. It's also staying light until around 7PM here, so it has been easy to get in my runs after work. However, soon the daylight will be gone by the time I get home from work, and that means I'll have to run in the early AM or in the dark PM. Mike has graciously volunteered to be my training partner when the days are too dark to run alone. I see a headlamp in my future.

Today was my long run for the week - seven miles! For my weekly long runs, I've been going to a local state park that has a five mile loop. It's very close to our home which makes it an easy drive. The park is a beautiful rainforest-like environment with huge trees and sweeping views of the Puget Sound. It makes for some amazing runs in complete peace and quiet. In the mornings, it is closed off to traffic until 1PM which makes it an ideal place to run without being scared of cars. Although, some cyclists sound like cars picking up speed when they are flying down the hill, so it's always best to be alert. It's a great park for hiking as well. It has well over five miles of trails throughout, however, I've yet to run the trails. I'm keeping to the streets until I'm confident I won't roll my ankle or trip on a tree branch because I'm distracted by a caterpillar. All very real concerns considering this morning I saw a caterpillar while running, and immediately stopped, grabbed a leaf, and helped it to the side of the road, all whilst yelling, "It's so cute!" and having no care who was running/biking past me. So...you can see my dilemma.

Free to run anywhere on these empty roads.

Scenic overlook.

For my weekly runs I've been running around our neighborhood. We live less than a mile from the Sound, so it makes for really great running scenery. Doesn't hurt that the neighborhood in general is super gorgeous, but once you start running in fog and drizzle, the scenery sure makes you forget how annoying the rain can be. The smell of the Sound is also kind of relaxing. It reminds me of when I was living on the bay in Maine. It definitely smells fishy, but in the mornings with the fog in the bay and wind coming off of the water, it just feels like everything in the world is right.

The Puget Sound

Today's run felt great, and I'm hoping I can keep up the positivity with these workouts. I'm really keeping an eye on my IT band, just to make sure I'm not overdoing it. After every run, I'm foam rolling (lifesaver!) and stretching. So far, that has been key. I also started my physical therapy exercises again to keep my glute/quads in check. The last thing I want is to get lazy with it, and hurt myself again. This is a great video outlining a basic IT band rehab routine, and it's very similar to what I do. Gotta keep those glutes strong, and running all of these hills won't hurt either!

Speaking of hills, I'm going to try and remember to get a picture of the hills this city has. It's insane. Remember when I said I run to the Sound, well it's all downhill and wonderful, until you have to turn around and come home. Completely uphill. From small hills to gigantic, steep monsters. Like I said, I'm sure it's great for my glutes, but every time I'm talking myself through these hills because I feel like I'm going to just drop. San Fran ain't got nothin' on Tacoma.

Week three schedule looks like: cross train, 3-mile, 5-mile, 3-mile, rest, 5-mile, cross train. Seems easy enough.

Let's hope it continues to be injury free!