A cold, foggy bike ride along 17 Mile Drive.

I was cruising through my training last week and even early this week, overachieving and really enjoying all of my running and cycling and general high-energy activity. And then, on Thursday, I started to slow down. By Saturday, I hit the wall. Judging by all of the junk I ate this weekend, it was big, giant, tasty, carbohydrate and sugar-laden wall.

The Plan: Recovery Week

• Monday, August 30: Mandatory rest (replaced with 5 miles of walking in Pacific Grove and Monterey)
• Tuesday, August 31: Biking 17 Mile Drive
• Wednesday, September 1: Tempo run
• Thursday, September 2: Kickboxing (replaced with high-intensity yard work)
• Friday, September 3: Mandatory rest
• Saturday, September 4: 6-mile run (replaced with eating and playing in the sand with a 3-year-old)
• Sunday, September 5: The 6-mile run I didn’t do on Saturday (replaced by chasing toy airplanes and climbing rocks with a 3-year-old)

I was really cruising on the final days of my vacation. I had just come off of the Angel Island 12k and I was feeling really pumped up. I packed my bike into my car and drove down to Pacific Grove to bike 17 Mile Drive in a thick, misty fog. The next morning I did my tempo run intervals along the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail.

On Thursday, it all started to fall apart. Preschool dropoff was a fiasco, so I missed kickboxing. I tried to compensate by hacking apart the fallen tree in my backyard — a pretty solid workout unto itself — but it just wasn’t the same as 60 minutes of kickboxing. No problem, I thought. I’ll just pick things up again on Saturday with my weekly run.

I spent more than my share of time chasing after slingshot airplanes.

I am eternally grateful for the fact that this was a recovery week with low mileage, only six miles scheduled on Saturday. Had I missed a long endurance run, I would have felt even guiltier than I do now. Instead, I did my best to listen to my mind and body — both of which were screaming “No! Not today! Not a chance.”

That’s not to say that I sat on my butt all weekend. I spent three days chasing toy airplanes around a beach, climbing on coastal rocks with my aspiring thrill-seeker, and walking everywhere I could. But I didn’t run. I just couldn’t pull myself together and head out the door. I’m going to blame it on the holiday weekend and start fresh on Tuesday.

Tags: 17 Mile Drive, cycling, kickboxing, play, running, team in training, vacation, walking, yard work

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