Vacation, Training, Oiselle Sale!

The best thing to do after a goal-race training cycle & race is to jet off to Hawaii the same week.

I normally wake up hours earlier than I would when not on vacation in Hawaii in order to get my runs in before it gets too hot.  With hardly any running on the schedule I got to catch a few extra hours of sleep and also racked up a couple extra days off due to vacation laziness smart ankle recovery.

After over a week off, my first run back was rather wind-sucking.  But I find after the first two runs or so after that amount of time off, things start clicking again. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things now.

I never ruminated on the Modesto training cycle.  I meant to, but my ankle put me in such a funk race week I couldn't muster up the motivation to do any reflection.  As I mentioned here, I decided to change things up for Modesto.  As my running evolved I actually got up to 6 days a week of running (versus the 4 days a week I was doing for years).  For a good portion of the end of the plan, I averaged a weekly mileage that was higher than the peak week of my former plan.  There were lots of miles in pace zones previously thought to be out of my comfort zone and many of those miles were done during long runs.  Progression runs, tempo runs, ladders, fartleks, hill sprints, phew!  In January I ran 217 miles and in February I ran 228.  My previous monthly mileage PR was 187.  Seeing as how my last cycle on my old plan yielded a 4 minute PR and this most recent one a 9 minute PR, I think it is safe to say that changing it up was a good idea.  I really believe that the training in my legs was what got me the time I did at Modesto -- they were almost on auto-pilot and just kept plugging away.

The last couple of weeks of training, my body was definitely getting tired.  My easy pace slowed down from where it had been at the beginning of the training cycle. But since my pushed paces were faster than what I could do at the beginning of the plan, I figured it was just the plan working.  I'm debating whether I want to repeat the same plan without changes for my next goal race to give my body some time to settle into the higher mileage and demand a little longer.  We'll see how I feel.

Believe it or not, I have another marathon in less than a month.  My next two races are of the "just for fun" variety where I mozy along, take photos, and walk through any water station which catches my fancy.  While I was running Modesto all I could think was that I was so looking forward to Big Sur.  The race has recently started sending out emails and I am getting pumped for my favorite West Coast marathon.

Now for your weekend shopping pleasure, my favorite running apparel company is having a sale on a sale this weekend!

Quick Sale Details:
When? Friday 3/30 - Sunday 4/1
What? Customers receive an extra 20% off sale items with code: SPRINGTIME this weekend only.
Where? http://www.oiselle.com/shop/sale

My favorite item from the sale rack is the Base Layer Run top.  I have two of these and they are perfect for the cooler SF runs in the occasional 40's and ever present low 50's (I do like to stay cooler than most people when running so I imagine it could take most people through the 60's).  It has sleeves with thumb holes!!  The longer length is perfect since I often pair these with capris and the top doesn't ride up at all.  There is a zippered pocket on the back, too.  This is my go-to pre-work early morning run top.