Head Back In the Game

After a few bad runs last week, culminating in a particularly horrendous hill training session on Wednesday (took about 2 hours to cover ~12.5 miles, and I stopped several times), I've had nothing but good runs ever since.  Didn't manage to get a long run in on the weekend, since I went on a camping trip with some friends from work.  Did get in a 6-mile hike on Saturday and a 6-mile run Sunday morning, which included a few significant hills and spectacular views.  A lot like the Coastal Trail Runs, to be honest.  So even though I wasn't doing the right type of distance, at least I was doing the right type of running.

This week, my running has just been on.  Or at least it feels that way.  It's hard to tell when you don't have a watch.  So I might just be doing "well" because I'm slowing down, but I suppose it's more important that I feel good.  For the long run, sustainability is much more important than power or speed.

Thursday, two days before the Cinderella Trail Run, was Bike to Work Day.  I always bike to work, so I wanted to do something special for it, something out of the ordinary.  So instead of my normal 2.5-mile ride to work, I did a wholly unnecessary 40-mile ride to work, swinging out into some of the foothills near where I live.  Some other Googlers were doing completely ridiculous 60+ mile rides that included 5,000+ feet of climbing, but I decided to save my legs for the marathon.  A long, moderate ride actually seemed like a nice taper activity.  Along the way, I saw at least four "aid stations" randomly set up to hand out snacks for riders.  Most were being run by cycling organizations, but one was actually put on by Tesla.  Weird that a car company would encourage bike commuting.  Wouldn't bike commuting illustrate the degree to which their product's necessity is overblown?

Of course, Google practically had a carnival for everyone that rode to work, complete with pedal-powered amusement park rides.

Naturally, I rode them both.

After a six-week hiatus, glad to be racing again, and especially glad that I got things together just in time.  In related news, I finally threw in the towel, declared my watch officially lost, and bought a new one.  There goes $120...