catching up

We're back from vacation. That means unpacking, drying off the tent, screen tent, air mattress, rain fly, and tablecloth (all wet from rain the night before we left). It means putting away all the food, camping supplies, and clean clothes. It means washing lots of dirty clothes, sleeping bags, etc. Whew.

So I'm just now getting around to blogging about my 15K from Saturday. It went well. It was 60F (15C) and very humid - in fact, it poured rain from about 7.5km to 10km. Fortunately, I didn't get too cold, though I was rather wet after that, and glad it stopped.

My route was hilly - there's no choice where we were camping. However, I decided to go on Going to the Sun Road (very popular with cars) because I went very early and figured there wouldn't be a lot of traffic yet. There wasn't; there were some cars, but it was OK. At least I was on good pavement and not gravel with the hills, and the hills were smaller than the other route near our campground. Total elevation gain (and loss, since I did an out-and-back route) was 94m (308ft). Definitely more than my usual long day.

Regardless, I felt pretty good until about 12-13km, when my legs got tired and my GI system started acting up a bit (I ate pasta the night before, which is usually not too smart). I still finished faster than my 15k race in May, so I think it was a good job. I did 1:35:58 for 6:24/km with ave HR 146. Best of all, my legs did not hurt at all on the 7+ hour drive to our stopping place for Saturday night :).

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Sunday: rest day.

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Monday: 8K + 5x200m @ 85% effort. I was *really* tired after unpacking on Sunday night and had a terrible time getting up on Monday. I was too late to manage to do more than just the 8k :( so I skipped the 200s. Plus, my legs felt tired and a bit heavy and it might have been unwise to push it anyway. I did the 8K in 51:33 for 6:27/km with ave HR 148. Kind of slow, but well, with traveling and all I suppose it's to be expected. My legs felt OK other than being heavy. No weird soreness, and no pain later in the day. I rode my bike to work and back home, which might have been risky, but I felt fine later. I even rode my bike to meet friends for coffee in the evening (only about 1 mile - 1.6 km).

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Today: x-training - rode bike to work. Slept late, so that's all I did. I am feeling fine, but just trying not to push things at all until I'm a bit more rested from the driving and unpacking, etc.