Running During My Off-Season

I’m in-between half marathons currently, which means I haven’t been doing a whole lot of running. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been active, though. My last half marathon was in New Jersey and was my 40th state. Given that my next half marathon isn’t until November, that leaves a big chunk of the summer with no training plan. I’ll start training for my next race in a couple of weeks.

Now that I’m down to the final 10 states on my quest for a half marathon in all 50 states, I’ve gone from running a race every season to a race in three out of four seasons. After my race in November, I won’t have another race until May, which means my off-season will be during the winter months for the most part. Last year, I was training during the winter for my race in Utah in February. I was cursing my decision when I had to run my long runs in the cold last January and February, but I’m sure next summer when I’m training for a half marathon in August and have to do my long runs in the heat and humidity I’ll be cursing my decision to do a summer race.  Oh well!

Although I haven’t been running a ton, I’ve been having fun biking with my family- here’s my daughter on a recent family ride

OK.  Back to my point, which is it’s kind of different having such a long break off of serious miles. Sure, I’ve still been running here and there, but the longest run I’ve gone on since the race in May is 4 miles. I’ll run 5 miles this weekend, but still, this is what many of you runners are doing for your mid-week runs. I’ve been working on strength training and some other things as well during this time off of race training, so it’s been a good time to do some other things like High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which I’ll ease off of when I’m in the double digits for my long runs.

There’s also a mental aspect of taking a break from half marathon training. Running is such a big part of my life, when I’m not doing so much of it, I have kind of mixed feelings. I’m enjoying having extra time in my day but I also miss my time out on the roads and trails. I’ve been running my long runs on the same trail for the past couple of years and it’s quite scenic and not crowded, so I feel a sense of peace when I’m running. Even though parts of the trail are close to neighborhoods, there are enough trees and wooded areas that you feel miles away from everything at times.

I haven’t missed this hill from my long runs!

Until recently I didn’t really have an “off-season” from training. I’ve always taken a solid two week break from every half marathon I run, sometimes a little more if I feel like I need it, but my next race was never more than 2 or 3 months away usually. I suppose I could have ran shorter distance races this summer, but honestly the idea of running a race in the heat and humidity we have here in North Carolina doesn’t appeal to me. That could be an option for next spring during my long break between races, though. I haven’t ran a 5k by myself (I ran one with my daughter a couple of years ago) since I first started running races so it would be interesting to see how I’d do.

How about you guys? Most of the running blogs I follow make me look like a slacker when it comes to running races! Do you guys ever take an off-season from running and/or racing?

Back in the Saddle Again!

Now that winter is over and spring is most definitely where I live in North Carolina, I decided to take my bicycle out again.  I hadn’t ridden since the fall since I don’t like riding when it’s cold out.  It took a little doing to get out there too.

First, I had to get my bike out of the garage, which usually isn’t a big deal but right now we’re having work done on the house and the man doing the work has been leaving his materials in our garage so I had to maneuver around all of that.  Of course my tires needed air so I had to get out the pump. We have a pump that you have to hook up to a vehicle with the engine running for it to work (yes, I know; I need a new pump), so I had to go in the house and get my car keys then start the car, hook up the pump to my tires, and pump them up, then turn off the car and put away the keys, and put away the pump.

When I went to put on my helmet, it needed tightened and adjusted, but finally after all that, I was off! I decided to keep it fairly short since I hadn’t ridden in months so I went for 30 minutes. It was glorious too! We’ve had some pretty hot days here lately (it was 87 when I went out today) so the breeze felt so refreshing. And then suddenly my chain fell off when I changed gears. Fortunately that was a quick fix and the only problem was what to do with my greasy fingers. I guess I should carry a pack of wet wipes or something in the future.

Last fall I wrote a post about cycling and how it complements running and can make you a better runner.  If you’d like to read about it, check it out here. I also have a link to a Runner’s World article about running and cycling in my post. Anyway, I really feel that cycling has made my legs stronger and has helped me be a stronger runner, especially as I’m getting older. I’m training for my next half marathon next month and want to get back into the routine of including a day of cycling in my training plan.

I won’t lie, either. When I got home and got off my bike after that first ride in months, my legs felt a little wobbly. They’re definitely going to take some getting used to being back on my bike again!

How many of you all incorporate cycling into your schedule when you’re training for a race or just cycle for the fun of it? I know some of you all have trainers so you can cycle indoors during the winter. Do you like that? I don’t have one but have thought about getting one. Any suggestions?