Change in Plans: Ventura Marathon 2013

Unfortunately (now fortunately) I delayed registering for the Santa Rosa Marathon and it sold out.  I know it seems horrible that I would wait until my 11th week of training to register for a fast course, but it turned out to work in my favor because now I am running the Ventura Marathon a few weeks later instead.  I really need the few extra weeks to make up for a few off weeks I had at that time which included one really busy and stressful week that had me feeling down and sluggish and then a short run week when I paced and crewed for AC100.

Today I finished a great, strong week following those two weeks and besides feeling a little tired, I feel revived and ready to put more focus on my upcoming race that’s now on September 8th.  Here’s how this week’s training went:

Total Miles: 79.14

Monday – 8 miles at Woodward Park with D.

Tuesday – AM 4.03 miles at Woodward Park with D; PM 8.77 around Fresno State Vinyards/Orchards (10 Yassos)

Wednesday – 7.7 near the Kaiser Wilderness with D. Had to detail on to other trails as the Aspen Fire at Huntington Lake didn’t allow us to run to Kaiser Peak or any part of the Kaiser Wilderness trails. 3,500 ft elevation gain.

Thursday – 13.1 miles (10M @ MRP) around Fresno State Vineyards/Orchards with Trent. Thank goodness Trent agreed to run this with me because 10 quick miles seemed intimidating alone. 6:50/6:51/6:47/6:46/6:47/6:57/6:56/6:50/6:53/6:45

Friday:  7.86 at Woodward Park with D and our friends Katie and Jason. It was nice catching up and having breakfast afterwards.

Saturday: 10.17 at Wellbarn Road to campsite and back solo.  Took the shortcut back to the car. 1,800 ft elevation gain.

Sunday: 19.51 Wellbarn past bridge with clockwise loop with D. I really only intended to run 10 miles but since I had great company, I kept going. The last 7 miles felt great while the earlier miles had me breathing pretty heavy up all the hills. It was also very smokey out from a nearby fire in Oakhurst.  It seems like there are so many fires at most of our favorite trails around California. Sad. 3,500 ft. elevation gain.