Less than a week till race day! This post could have been a list of things that went wrong (a weird pressure on the top of my foot, my husband thinks he’s getting sick, my sore achilles flared up again…) but then, it all suddenly felt incredibly self-indulgent. Everyone feels like they’re getting sick and/or injured during the taper- no need to dwell on it. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown! Let’s just see how this penultimate week went…
Sunday
No more heavy leg days at the gym until after my race! Instead I’ve been doing some Caroline Girvan workouts from her Advent Series. The workouts are a little shorter (15-20 minutes) but still hard. Birchwood Pie said she sometimes doubles up and does two of them, and that’s what I did on this day- a 20 minute leg workout and 15 minutes of abs.
Monday
The week started normally with a 4 mile run. As you can see, this was the start of a gloomy, overcast week for us.
Tuesday
Upper body day at the gym! The usual- bench press, rows, shoulders, triceps.
Wednesday
I had planned to do one last run on my sandy trail, but hesitated because it was raining. I decided to go for it and miraculously caught a break in the rain for my ENTIRE RUN. It was in the 70s, but felt cooler because it was overcast and windy. I didn’t need my ice hat or even my sunglasses.
Mentally, this 10 mile run felt easy. I felt good physically too, until the last mile where my left achilles started to ache. Well, I guess it doesn’t like the sand- but my race has sand so I’m just going to have to deal with it.
As soon as I finished running and got in the car to drive home, it started raining again and rained for the rest of the day. This was the day where we got so much rain, they closed the airport due to flooding. The worst of the weather was to the south of us though- we don’t live in a flood zone. I still can’t believe I got this run in before the deluge!
Thursday
I had planned to do a short run today, but my achilles was still a little sore so I opted for a walk instead, followed by another abs workout from Caroline Girvan.
Friday
4 mile run! The achilles was fine, and we finally had our sunshine back.
Saturday
Caroline Girvan once again! a 15 minute glutes workout and 15 minute abs.
Sunday
On tap for today… a 4 mile run and then going to work, UGH! Because I’m taking off next Saturday for my race, I put myself on the schedule today to make up the hours, which I’m now regretting. I don’t like working on Sundays (obviously- does anyone???)
Moving forward, I’ll be prioritizing sleep this week, with a few short runs and some upper body strength thrown in. And then the race is Saturday. FINALLY! I feel like I’ve been waiting forever- this month has been crawling by. Let’s get to race day already!
How was your weather this week? -It seems like the rest of the country had unusually hot temperatures, while we had this weird monsoon.
Do you have a race coming up?
39 Responses
That you were able to get your run done before it rained is pretty amazing. Meant to be, am I right? It sounds like you are ready for your race. I am also racing on Saturday–it’s a hilly trail race. It was warm here this week, and my runs felt harder than normal. This might sound weird because we love the warm weather, but I’m hoping to have cooler weather for the race!
Good luck next Saturday!
That doesn’t sound weird at all- Cooler weather for race day is always preferred. A lot of people have races this coming weekend. Good luck to you as well!
So the next WRD will be on race day. Very exciting.
We just experienced your weather but I only volunteered for the half yesterday. I tried to run in the heat on Thursday. It didn’t go well but it was after work and I do prefer the mornings (except when it’s cold.)
You are more than ready so now RELAX!!
Thank you Darlene! The race is actually Saturday so I’ll have the results in the next WRD!
I’m really looking forward to your race day too!! I’m so excited for you – you are ready!! My race day will suck, there’s no way to sugar coat it. haha! They closed your airport because of the rain? wow! A Caroline workout showed up in my week – and I felt it for days. It was good though. I have missed the hard effort of those workouts. Bubble wrap and stay healthy this week!! See you on the other side!
Thank you Lisa! I truly hope your race day doesn’t suck. You never know- you may be pleasantly surprised.
Yay on making it race week! I hope your Achilles has gotten its whining out of its system and you have a great race. 🙂
Glad you were spared the flooding.
You’ve got this!
Yes, maybe it’s like a cranky toddler- it whined, I ignored it, and now it will stop. That’s how it works, right?
Hang in there my friend! You’ve got this!!!!!
Thank you!!!!!
Woot!!! The finish line is in sight, literally:-) My 13.1 is next Sunday, so you’ll be in recovery mode before I cross my start line, LOL. I’ll be thinking of you this week, and sending as much happy healing mojo to your Achilles as possible.
Good luck, Kim! A lot of people have races this coming weekend. I can’t wait to read all the recaps!
Sounds like you are perfectly ready. I hope everything goes smoothly for you this coming week — you really deserve a great race week for a change & I’m rooting for you.
Running in sand is the worst. I prepared for my first trail half in a sandy place because it was the only trails close to me that I knew of at the time. Luckily I found the preserve years later (because none of my trail races have been sandy).
Yes, sand is hard. I wonder if there’s some trick to it… if so, I haven’t discovered it yet!
Go Jenny go! Yay!
Thank you Nicole!!!
I’m not a runner nor an athlete in any way, so it is really interesting, all of the planning on getting your body to be ready to perform on one day. Tapers, workouts, sleep, all of it. Such discipline! I hope your Achilles doesn’t bother you AT ALL on race day!
Thank you! Yes, I’m a little concerned about that achilles… but I’m running this race no matter what. We’ll see what happens!
How has the weather been? Well, foggy, windy and drizzly, what else? LOL.
Anyway, you seem to be in a good place for the race. I hope all those niggles you mentioned stay quiet! I’m sorry to hear about the rain and floods. If they closed the airport because of rain it must have been quite serious!
I look forward to hearing all about the race!
Thank you Susanne! Yes, the flooding was serious just to the south of us. I’m sure closing the airport caused all sorts of chaos.
I was wondering if you were affected by that record setting rain! My colleague was stuck in Fort Lauderdale after the airport was shut down. Sounds wild.
You are so ready for your race!
I’m definitely looking into the Advent series post-marathon.
Yes, I’ve been thinking about you- you’ll like the Advent series. Very easy to fit those workouts in.
I’m so glad you fit in a great run in between rain – you’ve had some crazy weather lately! Fingers crossed the weather on Saturday is perfection but, if not, you’ve got this!
Can’t wait to hear all about the race and I love your goal to fit in lots of sleep; probably the best “training” you can do ahead of the race at this point.
Saturday is probably going to be hot- but that’s okay, that’s what I trained for. And yes, lots of sleep this week!
I am really excited for you! You have worked hard and you are ready. Take it easy this week
Thanks Deborah- I will definitely be taking it easy.
Happy taper week! I always felt random aches and pains during tapers. I think it’s psychosomatic or something! I hope you feel healthy and strong this week. It’s always a good feeling when race week comes around and you can just get out there and do it instead of anticipating it!
We have had crazy weather this week. We had snow on the ground last weekend, then it was in the 70-upper 80s while I was in Az with Paul. Then temps dropped rapidly on Friday and it was back to the 40s by sat am and then it snowed sat night and we are supposed to get 1-5” tonight. Le sigh.
No races for us. I am kind of taking it easy right now and might look to do some 10ks in the fall. I need work to calm the heck down so I can get back to doing some runs on Mondays and Fridays like I used to before things got so busy!
That’s so crazy- upper 80s, to more snow. Well… summer will be here soon. Or spring? I think everyone’s confused these days.
Taking it easy till work calms down sounds good! Races will be there when you’re ready again.
Cheers to race week! Sounds like everything is coming together for you and you are so ready for race day! The flooding you guy had was nuts! Just remember when the going gets hard, that you love to run and you’ve totally got this!
Thank you Marcia! Yes, that’s a good thing to remember- I’m doing this because I love to run!
So excited for you that you’ve made it to race week! It’s amazing that you got that run done before the deluge – the images of the flooding were just jaw-dropping. I hope you have an easy week ahead. You’re ready for this race!!
Thank you Michelle! This will be an easy week for sure (until Saturday!)
I was so glad to see that sunny pic at the end – I’m not used to seeing so many clouds in your posts, haha! We had a really weird, super hot week up here in the northeast; 80+ degrees in April led to playground sunburns for me and my girl, sigh, but it’s back in the 50s/60s this week. All the best thoughts for your week before the race!
Thank you Lindsay! I know- you guys were hotter than us last week. Crazy!
Look at you dodging the rain! That’s such great luck. Obviously, it means that things are going to go perfectly for you leading up to the race!
Are you enjoying the shorter CG workouts? I feel like 15-min of abs all in a row would be tough, but maybe better than her 35-40 min workouts with abs sprinkled in?
15 minutes of abs ARE tough. In one of the workouts, there’s zero breaks- that one was hideous. But, it’s only 15 minutes so there’s that. Overall I’m enjoying the shorter workouts.
You’re so close, Jenny!!! Woo!
Ft. Lauderdale is a mess! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing from the airport and Broward Blvd! A lot of that is old stomping grounds so it’s just crazy to see!
I hope your race went well and wasn’t too wet or sloppy!
Ha, well the race is coming up! I don’t think it will be extremely wet… we’ll see.