Less than 3 weeks until the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Last week, I had a great running week - about 8K with some trails with the group on Monday, 30 minutes of yoga on Tuesday, a tough 11K tempo with the group on Wednesday, and my best long run ever with 32 K on Saturday. Sunday, the BF and I headed out for about an hour long hike in the snow. It was slow going, and hard work on tired legs as the route we took still had about 4 feet of snow on it! But wait. Aren't I supposed to be doing 4 runs plus cross training each week?!
Woopsies.
Thursday, I felt like maybe I was coming down with something and opted to rest. Friday, a run just never happened. I told myself I would go on Sunday, but that just didn't happen either.
If I miss a run, I normally just let it go, but this one really bothered me because I had missed so many runs earlier in training and really didn't feel like I had a good excuse for missing one last week. I decided to "make it up" today.
I was supposed to meet the group at 6, 3K from home, so I left at 5:30 at a nice, easy pace. When I set out, the sun was shining and I made a last minute change from tights to shorts. When I got to our meeting spot, a big, threatening cloud was hanging low in the sky, right in the direction of our planned route. The wind, which could not be felt on my street, was howling! We were huddling between cars to keep warm while we waited for everyone to show up.
At 6:03, we were off, just as rain drops were starting to fall. Luckily, it didn't really rain on us. But it SNOWED! For a few minutes, it was really coming down, but the sky soon cleared, I warmed up, and my clothing choice seemed appropriate once more. A few kms down the road, we headed off into trails. There were a few areas that were still really snowy and a few areas that were really muddy, and a couple of pauses while the frontrunners tossed aside downed trees, but it was mostly dry and a nice break from the pavement. The pace was slow and comfortable and time just ticked by in the trails. When we came out, I couldn't believe we'd be running for an hour!
We weren't done yet, we still had a big hill to climb to get back to our starting point. I started the hill at a slow, comfortable pace, but as I got past half way, I knew I could push it and picked it up a bit. I wasn't wearing my Garmin (battery was dead), but once at the top, the group I was running with set our sights on the group at the front and kept powering until we caught up. It was a bit of an impromptu tempo run!
We were back at our starting point at 7:18, and after a quick break to hear where we were meeting Wednesday and next week, I had 2.5K left of my extra loop to get home.
It's really tough to say how far we ran on those trails, but my best estimate is tonight's run was at least 16K/10 miles, in about 1 hour 45 minutes.
NOW I feel ready to taper.
Do you "make up" for a missed run?
Nice run, this group sounds really good. I try to make up for some long runs, but if it doesn't happen within 2 days, I let it go. Weekday runs are not that bad, but if I miss one of my long runs I really feel guilty.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes do but more if it is an easy run where I would do a double run. We had to cut our 29km run short on Sunday due to lightning so we were 8km short but there is no point trying to make those kms up.
ReplyDeleteNice job...happy taper!
somtimes i make up my missed runs. im much better at missing the runs than making them up, tho! hah
ReplyDeletebut thats ok!
my half is in 4 weeks and i still have 2 long runs to do. 17k this weekend and 19k the week after. i hope those are not 'missed run's. i cannot afford more missed runs!
That's a big run for a Monday night! Nice job! I generally won't attempt to make up for a missed run, but I'm running 6 days already so I don't really have an option there! Sometimes I'll add a couple of miles to other runs to get some of the mileage back, but other times I know I just have to let it go.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job!
ReplyDeleteI love tapering - finally - I have learned to love it. :)
I don't typically "make up" missed runs - just try to make the next one double awesome! :)
I don't usually make up a missed run unless it's a long run and I haven't run long in a while. Even then, I will likely try to balance it with my next long run.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your taper! Your marathon will be here before you know it.
I usually feel guilty..but not guilty enough most days to do much about it lol. If it is a long run I usually try to make it up but I am not always successful.
ReplyDeleteIf I miss a run, I try to go to the pool, if I miss both I fell really guilty.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the tapering time.