Training Log Archive: RLShadow

Still in Laguna Niguel, Calif (last full day). I was starting to get worn out from all the hills around here, and it's very tough to find anywhere to run that is NOT hilly. So when Cheryl said this morning that she wanted to go for a walk on the beach, and would I like to come along to run, it seemed like a nice way to get in a flat run. Thus, that's what we did.

We were on a section of the shore where there is a beach that stretches for a bit less than 2 miles. Running on sand is definitely more tiring than on other surfaces, which is no surprise. For about 2/3 of the run, I had my running shoes on, and I stuck to the part of the beach near the ocean, where it was reasonably hard. There were a number of other runners there, and that seemed to be the general approach most took.

Then after a little less than 3 miles, I decided to take my shoes off and run barefoot, for the last mile. That was fun in a way, but wore out my feet a lot faster than having shoes on. A nice thing about being barefoot is that I didn't mind when the waves lapped up and I found myself in ankle deep surf.

I ran from Cheryl's sister Kay's, to the Salt Creek canyon trail, all the way down to the ocean. Lovely waterfront, where it comes out. Lots of surfers out today. It was 5 miles to the waterfront. I rested / hung around, just taking in the scene, for about 15 minutes, then started running again, but instead of heading straight back, I ran right down to the waterfront and ran along the beach (on the harder packed sand) for maybe a total of a half mile, then headed back. Kay's place is almost exactly 500 feet elevation, and the path from her house to the ocean isn't a continuous downhill (one section with some significant ups and downs), so I'm estimating that my total climb was around 800 feet or so.

I wound up doing 10.3 miles mostly running (walked on some of the steeper uphills on the way back, but I guess not too much because my average pace going back was 10 minutes per mile), then when I was around 0.7 miles from Kay's, I decided that my running energy was depleted and I walked that last distance.

The weather was nice; sunny, 60 degrees when I left, 64 degrees when I got back. Tons of people on the path, mostly walkers, a few bikers and other runners. I felt reasonably good although I sense that I'm not recovered from the marathon, in terms of general energy. No muscle soreness though.

Walking that last portion back to Cheryl's sister's, after using up my running energy alotment for the day.

Event: Sprint Series Final & US Relay Champs
 

Crystal Cove State Park, California (just north of Laguna Beach). Ran on trails in the El Moro canyon wilderness area. Great views of the ocean and the mountains. Area was very hilly, with many sustained uphills equivalent to what we encountered on Pike's Peak.

This area is popular with mountain bikers, hikers, and runners. I was told that there are group runs here Saturday mornings, which I might try to tag along with tomorrow.

First run since the marathon. From Cheryl's sister's house in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Took the trail from near her house, heading uphill rather than down towards ocean. Very hilly, some quite steep. Great views from some of the high points on the trail.

No muscle soreness or blister issues at all. However, I felt a little less energetic than normal, so I'm sure I haven't fully recovered from the marathon yet, which is to be expected. It felt good to be running again, and to have nothing hurt when I did.

There's a group from Fleet Feet running tonight from the harbor at 6 pm; I'm debating whether to join them or not. I was told that the paces range from 7 minutes per mile to walking pace, so I should be able to fall in with a group where I could do a relaxed pace.

C • Recovery 6

Interesting coincidence --

When reading the write-up about the Rochester Marathon, I noticed that the men's half-marathon winner, in a nice time of 1:12, was from Laguna Niguel, California, which was of interest because that's where Cheryl's sister lives, and where I was headed the day after the marathon. The paper noted that he was a 1998 graduate of one of the Greece high schools (Athena?), and that he coached cross country at the Laguna Hills high school.

When I arrived here in California, I started looking around for something interesting to do this coming weekend, either orienteering or running. I found that neither the San Diego orienteering club nor the Los Angeles club had a meet scheduled for this weekend, so I was out of luck on that count. My next try was to see if I could find a running group, kind of like the Oven Door Runners, to join on a run. A quick search turned up a Fleet Feet store about a mile or two from where I'm staying, so I decided to stop in at the store to ask about running groups.

The young man at the store who was working when I stopped in this morning was very helpful, telling me that Fleet Feet had a group than ran Thursday evenings, and another one that ran on Sundays for longer runs. I asked a few questions about the groups, and he gave me some information but then apologized that he wasn't more on top of some of the things I was asking about, and said that he hadn't been paying as much attention to these informal groups for a few weeks because he was coaching cross country at the Laguna Hills high school, and it was a real busy time of the season ...

I then, of course, asked if he was originally from Rochester, and if he was the one who won the Rochester Half Marathon the previous Sunday. He indeed was the one!!

What are the chances that I would have run into him while I was out here?

Estimated total time and distance of three fairly easy walks, while in Joshua Tree National Park or on our way there.

Cheryl and I climbed a relatively small mountatin in Joshua Tree National Park (Mt. Ryan). The peak was around 5400 feet, with a 1.5 miles one-way distance and a bit more than 1000 feet vertical gain. Nice climb, great views, and strenuous enough to actually call it a bit of a workout.

Cheryl was kind of funny -- after a couple of tenths of a mile and about 150 feet of vertical, she was complaining about how hard it was and how there was no way she could make it all the way to the top. So I said, that's fine, let's go as far as she feels like, maybe we could have a goal of going half way, 0.75 miles. She was OK with that. The more we climbed, the more energy she seemed to get, and when we hit the .75 mile mark, I suggested we turn around, but she wanted to go further. Anyway, we wound up getting to the top, and she really had no big problem doing so. It just took a bit of a warmup for her to convince herself that she could do it.

Laguna Niguel, California. Easy walk with Cheryl on a path the runs from near her sister's house, down through an undeveloped valley and eventually to the ocean. Walked about a quarter of the way to the ocean, then returned. Quads felt much better than yesterday, but still a bit uncomfortable going downhill. Blister, which was very noticeable yesterday, was barely bothering me today. So recovery from the marathon seems to be going well. Will probably do a longer walk tomorrow and then try running on Thursday.