#rnrlisbon

Spoiler Alert: Running happened, hills happened, wine drinking and chocolate eating happened

Today is my first real day back at work following an amazing four weeks in Canada with my family and friends.

I am lucky to have European-style holidays in that my office is very supportive of flexible working hours, which meant I took the break as a mix of holiday and working from home... in a different time zone. I spent the first week waking up early and then working until about 2:00pm EST. I took the second two weeks as holidays, most of it attending the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest (runner) friends and then up at my family’s cottage.

My training schedule was um, a bit inconsistent. I had two good weeks with 20+ miles but two pretty off weeks, where I barely managed significantly less. I cannot bare to type the numbers, too painful. Also, no yoga other than from my Yoga For Runners app and absolutely no cross-training. Not great for someone trying to improve time on this training schedule.

The good/highlights:

Running with my bride friend on the wedding morning. It was CRAZY humid, so we barely managed 3 miles but it was FUN having the town to ourselves at 6:30am and watching the sun come up over Lake Superior. WIN.

Two 8.5 mile hilly runs, numerous 5-7 mile hilly runs around the lake at my cottage. London is just so flat that I think some of the mental burnout I was experiencing in July was related to running the same, flat courses over and over again. Running hills is FUN.

Running through the countryside – the roadside was a bit tough on my feet (Gravel = pain and trashed pedicure in lightweight shoes) but the scenery, the changing terrain, wildlife and easy access to emergency toilets (cough, the woods) made it really fun. I can see why people take up trail running.

The weather – this isn’t running related and in fact, the killer humidity in Toronto meant for some pretty bad and uncomfortable runs but damn am I suntanned and topped up on Vitamin D

Opportunity to catch up with some reading, including Matt Fitzgerald’s Racing Weight.

Finding Lara bars at Costco and stocking up for my return trip to London (eating Peanut Butter flavour now, LOVE)

Major love and support from family, friends and lots of newborn cuddles from my best friends little one.

The bad:

I am not proud of my inconsistency and losing the mental battle with the heat and humidity. I had great difficulty adapting to it and gave up far more easily than I should have

No cross-training. I have no excuse for this – my mom lives near some top-rated spinning, yoga and training facilities. I made it into ask about day passes but never followed through with going. Bad. Running alone will not make me a faster runner.

Marginal weight gain from all the previously mentioned wine drinking and chocolate eating. 

Returning to London and dropping my September 30th Half Marathon in Lisbon.

I have to back up a bit on this one – I came back last week and got a call from one of the partners in the business that I work in. Apparently, things are looking a bit rough and he advised me that I might want to start looking for a new job, just in case. Ouch. 

This latest development sucks, frankly but I am trying to stay positive. To save money, we are all going to work from home and I am now a CV-writing ninja, aiming to apply for three to four jobs a day. On the positive side, I do have much more time and flexibility for my training and cross training. 

Withdrawing from Lisbon but focussing on the Nike Run London Half on October 28th now gives me six solid weeks of top-notch training prep. The calendar is out and I am quite seriously considering stepping up the mileage again, peaking closer to 30-35 miles per week, rather than the 25 I aimed for Lisbon. My legs feel pretty good and the piriformis situation is under control. Also, I am going to include hill training because I have discovered the variety that hills can bring.