Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon: Week 3 Training Log

Woof, it's been a very busy couple of days of work, but I carved out a few minutes today to update the blog with last week's training. Overall, I think it went well, although I was dealing with some obnoxious high calf tightness (probably caused by tight IT bands). 

Nothing too exciting to report life-wise, since work has been pretty busy, but we did get in a pretty fun day trip to the Wind Wolves Preserve last Sunday. And training has been going well, which I'm happy about! Onward to the training log...

Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon: Week 3 Training Log

Monday: Physical therapy.

Full PT session, which includes various strengthening exercises and drills, like jumping over hurdles, ladder agility work, and isolation exercises. I also did some stretches at home, but I had to get work done so I didn't have time to do a full yoga sequence, which is what Coach Jess had scheduled.


Tuesday: Easy 45 minute run at Back Bay.

That's his "I have no interest in being walked, go to work, I want to sleep" look. Don't worry, I forced him to walk. 

I had quite a few late-ish nights of work last week, so I opted for more sleep in the morning and taking a break to run in the evenings. I ran around 6pm on the flat, paved portion of Back Bay, the weather was in the low to mid 60s and it was sunny, AKA my favorite running weather.

Stats - 4.40 miles in 45:00 for 10:14 avg pace, 131 avg HR

Overall, while my legs felt super heavy and blah, I felt good cardio-wise. My high left calf in particular was tight.


Wednesday: Pyramid speed workout (55 mins total) at Back Bay.

Ran after work on the flat, paved portion of Back Bay, low to mid 60s and sunny, bit of a headwind on the first half of run.

Stats - 55 minutes total || 5.68 miles || 143 avg HR || 171 max HR (surprised, thought it would be higher)

Splits - 

• 15 min w/u
• Pyramid with 2:00 recovery b/t each interval: 
• 1:00 - 0.14 mi (~7:13 pace) 
• 2:00 - 0.27 mi (~7:28 pace) 
• 3:00 - 0.39 mi (~7:40 pace) 
• 4:00 - 0.54 mi (~7:20 pace) 
• 3:00 - 0.40 mi (~7:26 pace) 
• 2:00 - 0.28 mi (~7.19 pace) 
• 1:00 - 0.14 mi (~7:04 pace) 
• 12 min c/d

Can someone explain how I can run the same distance in the same amount of time and my Garmin reads a totally different pace? (0.28 miles in 2 minutes is 7:19 pace versus 0.14 miles in 1 minute being 7:04 pace, for example.) 

Still had some nasty tightness in my top left calf. At times I felt a twinge in my right high hamstring, but I felt fine the next morning after a lot of stretching last night.


Thursday: Off.


Friday: 30 minutes elliptical + lower body strength workout.

I'm hooked on The People vs O.J. Simpson, so I've been watching it during all of my gym workouts. I was extremely skeptical of it when I first heard about the show, but it's fantastic. So often TV shows just completely get the legal process wrong, and this show has (so far) gotten it right. It's also fascinating to me because I remember the trial in 1995 being a huge deal, but I wasn't really conscious of the ins and outs of it. Oh, and if you do watch the show, I highly recommend the Fug Girls' recaps of the show. 

30 minutes on the elliptical (123 HR) watching The People v. O.J. Simpson, and then strength work.

3x15: (1) Deadlift - 40#, (2) Squat - 40#, (3) Lunge - 20#, (4) Clamshell, (5) Bridge || 2x: (1) Plank - 1 min, (2) Single leg bicycle - 15x each side


Saturday: 5 miles easy on treadmill + upper body strength workout

I planned a sunset run, since those are my favorite, only urgent work kept coming in starting around 4pm till 7pm. I was determined to get Coach Jess' workout in, though, so I hit up the treadmill at 9pm after I'd finished everything that needed to get done. Thankfully TPvOJ kept me entertained on the 'mill.

Stats - 5 miles in 50:16 for 10:03 average pace and a 131 average heart rate followed  by strength work.

3x15: (1) Chest press 40#, (2) Bicep curl 30#, (3) Tricep rows 30#, (4) Lat pulldowns 50#, (5) Rows 50#

2x: (1) 1:00 plank, (2) 15 V-ups


Sunday: 7 mile "long" run (3 at tempo pace) at Wind Wolves Preserve 

Quotes will stay on long until runs are over double digits (which will happen after this weekend!). The Wind Wolves Preserve is west of Bakersfield, and it is absolutely stunning. Sourabh and I planned to head up there, he'd walk Mason while I ran 7 miles, then we'd hike around. Sourabh was working as we were driving up there, and unfortunately he got even more work as we drove up to the preserve. 

After I'd finished running, Sourabh said he'd rather head back since he had hours of work left to do. Such is the life of a lawyer. It was still fun to have a mini road trip, and the Preserve was gorgeous, so we both agreed that the trip was worth it and that we wanted to head back sometime soon.

Seriously, though, how incredible is this place?

Looking out over the farm fields of the Central Valley

I ran an out and back, and it was basically all uphill for the first 3.5 miles and all downhill for the second 3.5 miles, which worked out perfectly since miles 4-7 were the tempo miles.

Seriously,  that elevation though...

It was sunny and dry, mid to high 70's, not much shade, so I definitely felt kind of parched despite having drank over a liter of water that morning. 

Stats - 7 miles in 1:09:28 || 9:55 avg pace || 150 avg HR || ~800 ft elev gain 

Splits - (1) 11:41, (2) 11:34, (3) 11:37, (4) 10:29, (5) 8:18, (6) 8:11, (7) 7:36. 

My heart rate was in the 150s for most of the run, going uphill the first half then tempo the second half. I actually felt like I could have pushed harder on the tempo portion, but I didn't want to risk hurting my hamstring on the downhill (~225 ft descent each mile). 


Total Mileage = ~22 miles


This Sunday, I'm racing the Carlsbad 5000. Coach Jess is keeping the runs easy, but we're still slowly building up the mileage. It starts at 9:30am, which means it'll probably be a bit hotter, but it also means I can hopefully get a decent amount of sleep the night before (which I will need after the start of this week -- work has been crazy!).