A Mile Here, A Mile There

I missed last week’s training total by 4.99 miles.  I’m not going to stress over it.  I told myself when I got on my first training plan ever, that I’m going to have adjustments.  My Uncle Bo dying and my brother and his family visiting California before they moved to England, seemed like good enough reasons for adjustment.  There will probably be some weeks that I go over the target total mileage I’m sure.  A mile here, a mile there – I don’t think it’s really going to matter. 

The general weekly plan is Hard, Hard, Easy – that is 2 hard weeks, then 1 easy week.  This week is easy week.  Yes, I know I’m only in my second week.  But before I even began my Twin Peaks training plan, I made an adjustment.  I cut out Week One because I was in recovery mode from Nanny Goat.  Easy weeks ideally will go like this:  rest, short, short, short, rest, semi-long, short. 

Today was short!  How short is short?  Well, short is relative that’s for sure.  For me, short is six miles.  (Short will gradually increase over the months leading to the big race.)

“Easy” of course, does not really mean easy.  I ran to The Top of the World in Laguna Beach this morning – my favorite sixish miles out-and-back run.  There’s plenty of climbing, but nothing like local mountain running out here.  I did however get in around (less actually) 1,500 feet of elevation gain. 

The weather was hot at the bottom (in Aliso Viejo).  By the time I reached the top, the weather was cloudy and cool.  I couldn’t even see the ocean which is usually a 180 degree view from Top of the World.  Overall, today’s run was fun, a bit crowded with hikers (crowded meaning, I saw a dozen or so) and anxiety-free as far as running went.  I did however go through a worry stage, completely unrelated to running.  You could say I was wrought with worry and wasn’t taking advantage of the beauty around me one bit.  I prayed for release of the worry, and for hope, and suddenly began focusing in on my surroundings.  At that point, I truly enjoyed The Run.  And at another point shortly after that, I actually had no idea where I was on the trail.  Now, I’ve run Westridge on average twice a week for over 4 years.  Considering an even four years at 52 weeks per year, minus 6 weeks for out of town travelling, leaves 202 weeks x 2.  I’ve run Westridge around 400 hundred times.  And for a blissful moment, I didn’t recognize where I was!  Amazing. I just was where I was, which was nowhere in particular.  That really is a lovely thing. 

Greetings once again from Top of the World:

Running back along the rolling hills of Westridge:

6.15 hilly miles (nearly 10k) run this morning.  Glory to the short run!