I'm on vacation this week. We always come down to St. Pete Beach Florida once a year to visit my wife's brother. Coming down here is something we look forward to all year long. We love it down here. Vacation sometimes hinders my workouts but not all the time. If say I'm going to go for a run in the evening, I usually end up not doing it. We have been getting the kids down for a nap in the afternoon because they're usually so tired but I'm pretty wore out at that point too. I try to plan my workout the day before. If I wait to until I wake up, I'll probably end up pushing it off.
Last night I set my alarm for 6:30am. That is early for being on vacation, but my kids wake up by 7 am usually. For some reason, sleeping in is not an option for my kids. I woke up but didn't get out the door right away. I got outside at about 7:20 am. The sun was trying to come out from behind the clouds but it was mostly overcast and it was raining. I started my run unclear of how long I actually wanted to run. At first I thought 3 miles, then 4 but ultimately decided to do 5. I figured that this week, by base runs should be at least 4 to 5 miles. I have the time to run while I'm here, I might as well put in the miles.
As I ran, the skies got darker and darker and the rain came down harder and harder. I had toyed around with the idea of running on the sidewalk on the street but decided to run the beach. Beach running is not as easy as running on asphalt. It seems like it takes more energy to pull your feet up to take the next step. Not only that, you're running on even ground that kids love to dig holes in. So, I knew I wasn't going to be running at a record pace but it's good to train on a different surface.
My run went as expected, not super fast but not extremely slow either. I ran the five miles in under 49 minutes. I had a little trouble turning my GPS off so it had me going a little longer and a little slower, but that's alright. When I first started running, I always tried to run faster than I had the time before. It got to the point where I was pushing my body too hard. There is still part of me that wants to push myself every time I go out there but I'd rather have a good run at a good pace than risking injury. It's something that I have to tell myself all the time. There's a time to run your very hardest and then there's a time to just put in a good run and get the miles in. This can help you get mentally prepared for that long race. I use this with cycling too. I can do all the high intensity intervals in the world but if I don't have long training sessions in the saddle, it wouldn't do me any good for the longer races that I have planned in the future.
I'm hoping to get some good workouts in this week. It's supposed to rain a good bit this week but I'm going to work around it as much as I can. I have my bike down here, so I'm looking to get connected with group that knows some good routes. Look for a few more blog posts this week.