Monthly Summary – April 2013
April was a strange month. And I didn’t accomplish my training goals. I underestimated the toll that the Backbone run took on my body. I knew that I would need time to recover and I think I gave myself some time for that. After just a couple days of gimping around, the acute soreness was gone, but I still had to recover from the deeper “damage” that resulted from running 68 miles through the Santa Monicas. And it has taken is taking much longer to bounce back from that.
For most of April, I was deeply tired. Like tired down to my core. I was unusually sleepy during the day and felt sapped of energy during a bunch of my runs. This was partly related to the fact that I wasn’t sleeping enough, or sleeping very well when I was sleeping, but I think that it was also part of my recovery from the race. I’m trying hard to get back on track with my sleep. And I’m hopeful that dealing with the sleep will also help with my training.
I tried to push through, including one long training day back on the Backbone Trail. My friend Britt and I started at Trippet Ranch. We ran together to Tapia (13 miles) where his son was waiting to drive him home and I turned around and headed back to Trippet. The way out went pretty well, but the way back sucked. I suffered, the heat got to me, I felt dehydrated even though I was drinking a fair amount, I bonked from not taking in enough calories and was out there much longer than planned. Here’s a picture near Stunt Road, during happy times during the first part of the run.
The month was fun outside of training though. The highlight was the hot air balloon ride we did last weekend to celebrate both of my parents’ recent birthdays. This is our balloon being inflated:
Here’s a picture from right as we were about to lift off:
And here’s one of me looking down at the ground from between 1,500 and 1,800 feet. I think that at that moment, I was actually watching to see how long I could follow my spit to the ground. Very mature, I know. But it was pretty neat because you could follow it almost all the way!
Here’s April:
Analysis: The fewest meters swam, least run elevation gain and least training time of the year. Total miles run was more than January or February, but a huge step down from March. Also no strength training or yoga, which is unacceptable. With just three real training weeks left before I start tapering for San Diego 100, I need to make sure that those weeks are good ones!