Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon: Week 1 Training Log

This weekend, something miraculous happened. Neither Sourabh nor I had to work! (Well, that ended up not being the case since something popped up, but I only had to take a 45 minute call Saturday and draft something that took an hour on Sunday, so nothing crazy.)

We debated where to go all Friday, and we settled on Santa Barbara since it wasn't too far, had great hiking, and also has a stellar food and wine scene. We booked a room at the Canary Hotel, which is a Kimpton hotel, a brand we love because they're super dog-friendly, which makes traveling with Mason a breeze. California is also an easy place to travel around with a dog since the weather allows for lots of outdoor seating (and Mason is very well behaved in public, I promise we're not ruining the experiences of other diners or hotel guests).

I did my Saturday run and showered before we headed up to Santa Barbara, stopping along the way for the call I had to participate in, then checked in to our hotel around 2:30pm. Upon check-in, we were given a glass of wine, which is an excellent way to start a weekend away. Kimpton also typically has a wine hour, so they were really making sure we were well taken care of.

Mason was clearly a huge fan of the hotel.

We headed to C'est Cheese for a late lunch, which had some delicious twists on grilled cheese sandwiches, and enjoyed some Cava there. I decided the food to wine ratio was skewed, so we got some nachos at another place up the street, which wasn't fantastic (and thus shall remain unnamed), but it's hard to make nachos bad.

Sourabh tried to make Mason feel better about not getting any wine, but he remained upset.

Santa Barbara is so pretty!

We had a late dinner at Milk & Honey, a tapas restaurant, which was awesome. Standouts were the lamb pops and chocolate chip cookie pie. It was fun to be in a hotel downtown so that we could walk everywhere, which is the only thing I occasionally miss about NYC (and when I can drive to Costco and not wait in line to get into Trader Joe's, I'm reminded that I don't really miss it).

Sunday morning, I walked Mason and grabbed some of the complimentary coffee then enjoyed the little balcony for a bit before we ate breakfast at Finch & Fork, the hotel's restaurant that was on a ton of "best-of" lists. The breakfast was pretty good, but based on reviews it sounds like the dinner menu is where the real action is.

I loved the tile used throughout the hotel.

We drove up into the foothills of the Santa Ynez mountains and hiked for two hours then headed back into town so I could get coffee and wifi to do a little bit of work before we drove back home. I headed out for a run with Kristina, which I'll recap below, but I'll let you know in advance... it was a GREAT long run, especially considering the slightly less-than-stellar nutrition that happened this weekend.

Yes, Mason gave up about 3/4 of a mile in and had to be carried until we got back to the flat portions of the path...

You can just see the Channel Islands out there in the distance.

Actual water in the creek! Yay El Nino!

Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon: Week 1 Training Log


Monday: AM upper body strength + PM physical therapy

3x15:
(1) chest press (20# ea arm)
(2) candlestick tilts (5kg med ball)
(3) Arnolds (15# ea arm, dropping to 10# in 2nd set)
(4) renegade rows (20#)
(5) plank (1 min)
(6) lat pull-downs (40#)
(7) v-ups


Tuesday: Easy run (40 minutes) at Back Bay

It was 60ish degrees around 6pm. I felt a bit under the weather that morning and worked till 11pm (from home after physical therapy, thankfully, not in the office) the previous evening, so I opted for more sleep and ran after work. I ran at Back Bay on the hilly portion (2 miles out, 2 back).

Stats - 41:06 total for 4 miles || 135 avg HR || 10:16 avg pace || 135 ft elev gain

Did some core work at home while cooking dinner after the run.


Wednesday: AM Fartlek run at Back Bay

55ish degrees at 7am. Ran on the flat paved portion of Back Bay (25 mins out, 25 mins back).

Stats - 50:00 total time, 5.15 miles || 145 avg HR, 187 max HR

Splits - 15 min w/u || 3 x 2:00 with 2:00 rest in between - (1) 0.27 miles / 7:27 pace; (2) 0.28 miles / 7:16 pace; (3) 0.27 miles; 7:20 pace || 2 x 3:00 with 3:00 rest in between - (1) 0.40 miles / 7:30 pace; 0.40 miles; 7:30 pace || 14ish minute c/d 


Thursday: Off. 


Friday: Physical therapy + 30 minutes elliptical + full-body strength

30 min elliptical (132 avg HR)

I had to take a picture because SWEAT HEART!!!

Glute prep (5 different glute-activating exercises using resistance bands)

2x:
(1) plank (1 min)
(2) Push-ups (15x)
(3) 5-5-5 squats (5 slow squats, 5 fast squats, 5 jump squats)
(4) Side planks (1 min each side)
(5) Single leg dead lifts (10x each side w/ 15#s)
(6) Lunge w/ external rotation (10x w/ 20#)
(7) Single leg bicycle (15x each side)


Saturday: Easy run (4 miles) around neighborhood

50-60 degrees and sunny at 8am. 

Stats - 4 miles, 40:33 total || 10:08 avg pace || 136 avg HR (had to stop for lights 5 times so I bet it was more like 140) || 160 ft elev gain


Sunday: AM hike + PM "long" run (6 miles) with tempo finish at Back Bay

6pm (I LOVE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS, no, but really, I love sunset runs and that I can safely fit them in more often), low 60s to high 50s. Ran on the paved, flat part of Back Bay with Kristina.

Stats - 6 miles, 57:42 total || 9:36 avg pace || 144 avg HR.

Splits - (1) 9:54, (2) 9:55, (3) 9:54, (4) 9:50, (5) 9:45, (6) 8:23

This run went so well. I was super happy with how it turned out. I thought I was running much slower, just because Kristina and I were chatting a lot and I wasn't breathing that hard, so it was awesome to see a sub-10:00 pace at what felt like over 10 paces. 


Total Mileage = ~19 miles

This week is about raising mileage a bit and adding a bit more speed (a similar fartlek workout but with an extra interval and less rest, and two tempo miles at the end of six miles on Sunday).