ADAPT OR DIE - its all about the recovery!

So the last two weeks of marathon training have seen me trying to gradually build back up to where I was in early December, and I am happy to report despite some aches and pains and the heel bursitis I am now back at 40 mile weeks, with the long run at 14 miles.  Last week I was lucky enough to get to to do my long run in La Jolla in San Diego, which whilst it was hilly, meant that some perfect views of the ocean, complete with seals and surf, and my new dream home below kept me motivated; even though I knew the hamstring and heel were going to be unhappy afterwards. The key to running over the age of 50 seems to be as much about recovery as it is about the work, so being someplace where I could spend an hour stretching and rolling, then put my feet up by the pool definitely helped!  That and the fun of meeting up with my old running buddy Cheri, who is also a high school distance coach made for a great end to the week and it feels great to get in a hot tub when you are sore and stiff.

I have finally realized that I can only manage two hard workouts a week, instead of the three I used to do, so that leaves me with the long run and a medium long tempo, as one attempt at speed work and I am hobbling for days.  Obliging as ever Shawna agreed to move our 9 mile tempo to Tuesdays, now giving me two days before my long Friday run.  The day after the tempo, I go to Hot 90 which is stretching and strength in a studio nearby that they heat to 104 degrees with humidity.  If you can get over the rather confronting visual of standing there in a small room in front of a mirror, just in your shorts and bra with rivulets of sweat running down into a puddle on the floor, the effect is really beneficial.  The lack of flexibility and range of motion brought on my too many miles is helped enormously by higher temperatures, plus it gives you the sense of having worked hard without the soreness afterwards.  For my second recovery day I have a really fun and social recovery run with my bunch of friends who meet at Peet's Coffee shop but double up with a 5:30 am spin class to try and mimic the tiredness you get from running harder, even if you can't run as much as you want to.

Friday saw a 14 miler with Shawna.  The brilliant thing about being slower than her is that for the last four miles she pretty much kept me entertained with a great monologue about her plans for the next few weeks.  I used to run with her husband before he got too fast and he used to try and talk to me at the end of a run until he discovered I was too irritable to be conversational for the last 25% of any longer effort so he would keep quiet and leave me to be what I thought was focused, but was probably just grumpy, solitude.  Shawna on the other hand keeps up the convo but is perfectly happy for me to make vague grunts or 'uh huhs' once in a while.  We ran on the Iron Horse as I am happy to exploit the the fake negative split effect it provides by the mild downhill on the return. Coming back into Heather Farm Park I was feeling pretty happy, and was a bit low on fuel so feeling a little euphoric, however it was a bit soul destroying to realize that at this point in the race I would be just over Tower Bridge, and really only a little over half way through the race.  Onwards and upwards.

Seeing so many snowy or rainy, icey pictures on social media I know Californian's have it super easy, last week saw 78f in Walnut Creek, however to try and give some element of hardship I am now really going to be roughing it as we are venturing to Hawaii for a Valentine's Day treat! On a serious note, the humidity will make it more of a challenge, and I will definitely be using my heart rate as a guide rather than pace. 9 weeks to go, 16 miles on Friday and I will be loading up my hand held water bottle and trotting past the sights of Waikiki Beach and the University of Hawaii!