Ah, Florida… you can be so cruel. My husband- along with thousands of other runners, no doubt- is lamenting the fact that this weekend’s weather couldn’t have happened last weekend, when the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon and Half took place in the humid 80 degree (plus) temperatures. This morning was dry, breezy, and in the 60s. I took advantage of the beautiful day to do some rare trail running!
But first… I’m joining up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown! Here’s how the week played out.
Monday
Day off, as usual. But I will mention that I did the Somatic Movement exercises for plantar fasciitis every day this week, as I talked about in this post.
Tuesday
Ran 3 miles, followed by Gauntlet Plank workout. It’s come to my attention that the eleven plank variations in this workout don’t include a side plank- so I added that in.
Wednesday
Ran 3 miles, followed by walking lunges and more planks.
Thursday
Ran 3 miles. Did not do any strength work, due to the Incident of the Lost Cat (she showed up innocently at the door two hours later, as if nothing had happened.) That’s okay… I don’t like strength work anyway. There! I said it out loud.
Friday
Oh, darn. Day off of running so I did… strength work. The instructions for the Somatic Movements I’m doing- to reset and loosen the muscles in my low back, calves, and feet- include the advice not to do any intense stretching or strengthening exercises, for the time being. Well… I’m not sure if any of my strength training could be considered “intense,” but just to be on the safe side I stuck to all bodyweight exercises this week. On this day I did the Runners Touch and pushups. My current pushup routine is to do 54 of them (matching my age- next month I’ll have to go to 55!) – not all at once, but in sets of ten, divided between regular pushups, diamond pushups (your hands are making a diamond) and… my arch-nemesis, tricep pushups. I was really sore the next day! Maybe I need to do pushups more than once a week.
Saturday
Ran 3 miles (again) followed by Gauntlet Plank workout (again.)
Sunday
Ran 6 miles! SIX! Hooray! I went to a trail I discovered by accident last spring. I’m still trying to figure it out. I know that if I continued out on part of the trail I would be in the Everglades, but I’m not sure how far it goes.
I also haven’t figured out an official access point to these trails, one that doesn’t require me to park in an empty field next to a “No Trespassing” sign and duck under a barrier. My husband pointed out that I could probably find a map of these trails somewhere… I COULD, but I could also just keeping trying to figure it out on my own. That seems like more fun! The portion of the trail above was disappointingly paved, but most of my run was done on dirt or packed gravel, and my foot really liked that. You would think stepping down on an uneven surface would be bad, but it somehow feels good. Maybe it’s helping to release the tightness in that foot.
That was the week! My foot is holding steady, and I increased the mileage a bit. Anyone else have any fun trail adventures? Or was it all treadmill? I know the weather in Florida seems unfairly beautiful, but the tables will be turned in a few months. We have our challenging season as well!
39 Responses
Glad that your foot is feeling pretty good! I wonder if it just prefers the softer surface of the trail. And I bet the uneven terrain is making it stronger!
Yes, I’m hoping running on the trails will make it stronger! Plus it’s more fun that the same old routes around my neighborhood.
I could see that trail being really brutal in the summer — no shade!
Congrats on 6 miles! Fantastic!
I lived in Austin for a long time, although I’ve most of my life in the frozen tundra up north — still, I get how different the north & south are.
Yes, this is definitely a “winter” trail. We need more shady areas here!
Oh man, the lack of shade on that trail looks brutal! I prefer running in colder weather because the heat and humidity always zaps my energy so quickly.
Awesome job on your 6 miler!
You actually hit the nail on the bead- it was fine for yesterday but I was thinking how awful it would be in the heat of the summer!
Great work there and lovely sunny photos, which is a bonus to those of us in grey places. We did have milder weather here this week at least, even ran in spring gear today (no fuzzy brushed-cotton-inside top and tights for the first time in months!).
You’re in the UK right? For some reason I picture it being gray there most of the time! Running in spring gear must have felt good though.
Yes, and it is indeed grey a lot of the time, although we do often get a nice spring with blue skies. So when it was milder, it was grey but not freezing!!
I’ll bet you really appreciate those sunny spring days! I think it was in Bridget Jones Diary where she talks about how excited everyone gets when the sun comes out.
What a fun trail you found! Glad your foot is feeling good- must be the softer impact of trail vs. pavement!
6 miles! Way to go!
Yep- I’m going to try and get out on that trail more often. Thank you Jessie!
Yay for 6 miles! Glad to hear your foot is feeling better. Last year, right before everything locked down, I was supposed to run a trail race in the Everglades. My son had a snowboarding accident, so I had to DNS and fly home. I will admit to being a little nervous about the pythons, lol. It was also 88 degrees on race day. I’ve run a lot of races in Florida and I think only one was run at a decent temperature!
I remember that DNS for you! You know, we really do have a lot of cool, beautiful days in the winter but it always seems to be 88 whenever there’s a race scheduled!
Oh, I would totally embrace your weather, probably year-round (but I respect not many others would LOL). My birthday is also next month (the 14th). Last year, I did a Week of Pi challenge, where I ran 3.14 miles every day for the week (easy-paced, no time-trialing allowed). I’m planning on doing that again this year, but I may add the push-ups like you’d mentioned. I usually do 10 push-up every evening, before bed (if I have not done any, via workouts, during the day) and I”M ready to shake up that routine. Glad to hear your foot is feeling fine!
Ha ha, love the Pi challenge! That sounds so fun.
Glad your foot is feeling better! Your warmer temps sound good to me right about now. You know what they say, the grass is always greener 🙂
Yes, I have to admit I’m not missing those northern winters! I’ll be envying you in the spring though.
Whenever I see you Florida ladies running, especially out on trails all I can think of are alligators. Of course, I know zero about alligators and they may not have been anywhere near by, but that’s what I’d be worrying about. LOL
Unhappy body parts almost always feel better running on dirt/gravel trails than asphalt and I’m glad your foot liked the change.
Theoretically there could be alligators in any body of water around here, but I’ve never seen one on a run!
Great news that your foot continues to feel good! Congrats on your 6 miler!
Thank you! It felt good to do a “long” run again!
Ooooh yes! This weekend would’ve been SO much nicer for a half than last weekend. Oh well. Sadly I don’t have any good trails near where we are. I’m staying on the pavement in the neighborhood. I’m only going a few miles so it’s really fine. I’m glad your feet like the softer surface and yay for 6 miles!
Crazy isn’t it- I think it was 20 degrees cooler yesterday than the week before. But I guess the weather is crazy everywhere these days!
I’m right there with you hating the strength training…I do it because I “have to” not because I want to…the “have to” part is that I know it keeps running injuries at bay. I need to get my weekly pushups up to my age (45). Congrats on your great weather! I finally got outside today after being treadmill bound for 5 weeks. It’s a start!
I know there are some people who actually enjoy strength training (who are they? what is their secret?) but I’m not one of them. I like what it does for my running though!
I remember cycling in the Everglades once. It was terrifying with the snakes and alligators. Not that we don’t have those things up here, but down there they seem so much closer.
We had gorgeous weather this past weekend, too. I needed the sunshine badly.
I’m glad your cat came home! How scary!
I think that paved path I found is used mostly by cyclists. I didn’t go down it too far before I turned back (I didn’t want to run on pavement) so I didn’t see any wildlife. I think if you were on a bike, snakes and alligators would be afraid of you!
Nice mileage! and I agree with you – I’d rather “figure it out” then look into the entire detail of the trail 😉
and omg you ADDED a plank to your already filled with planks workout!!!
All of my favorite running memories are of times where I explored a road or trail when I really didn’t know where it would end!
Ouch! Plantar fasciitis is awful. Glad the foot is feeling better. That is awesome on the 6 miles!
Thanks Zenaida! Yep, PF is not fun. But I’m able to run so all is well!
If you use Garmin Connect they have some really great mapping features (called Courses). I bet you’d see lots of trails in that area and be able to figure out where everyone goes. It’s a cool feature. Oh man, my workout today included push ups. I HATE PUSH UPS! Especially diamond tricep ones! ugh. I’m going to be sore tomorrow! My son (my workout buddy) still continues to crush them though. Makes me look weak! 😉
Ha ha, that’s funny because my son does pushups too. He’s the one who got me to do the different variations (that are so much more painful than normal pushups.). We don’t do them together though- that would be too demoralizing.
I can’t imagine 80 degree weather in February. That sounds amazing right now, but not for running. Great job oh your 6 miles!
I know, the temperature difference is so weird. All sorts of things have to happen for your cold air to get down to us- high and low pressure systems, and the air has to blow straight down the Florida peninsula- if it goes over the Gulf of Mexico of the ocean, it warms up before it gets to us. So it could be 80, or 40! 40 is very rare though.
Ok my luck. Perfect weather when I wasn’t there for a race!!
Still glad I went. I enjoyed the heat and the beach (just not during the race).
Glad to hear your foot is improving.
There are so many trails in Florida. I need to explore more of them next winter.
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