“Wine”-ding down

The past two weeks have been virtually exercise-free.  Other than a dog walk here and there, I’ve enjoyed a nice, long break.  And I earned it, gosh darnit, after two races in July!

First up was the Peachtree Road Race, on July 4.  There were certainly ups and downs to our race experience – on the plus side, an administrative glitch meant that I was erroneously assigned to the top-seeded womens’ corral, which basically gave me carte blanche to start wherever I darn well pleased (and to use the special no-line porta-potties near the front, haha).  Also, a bunch of our friends were racing, so we had a fun sleepover the night before.  On the other hand, the expo was a NIGHTMARE (just way too crowded), and it was brutally hot and humid, even in the early morning.  It was hubby’s first PRR, and I was really hoping he’d love it, but I think the miserable weather combined with the tough course made him wonder why it’s such a beloved Atlanta tradition.  🙂  Bottom line, it was far from my best race, but I did manage to shave some time off last year’s time and turn in a 10K PR.

Two weeks after Peachtree, we headed out west for the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon – our first half marathon together, since I was unable to run Publix in March.  Let me just say – I would absolutely, positively, no questions asked, recommend this race to ANYONE.  It wasn’t perfect – the expo was teeny tiny, and due to the nature of the course, there wasn’t a whole lot of crowd support – BUT, it was definitely my best half marathon to date.  The weather was perfect (dry, mid-50s to mid-60s), the scenery was ridiculously gorgeous, and the volunteers and staff were awesome.  Oh, and did I mention that we got medals AND commemorative wine glasses, AND that there was a mini-wine tasting at mile 10 (hilarious), AND that there was a free wine festival (with lots more tastings) at the finish line?????  We had an absolute blast.  The PR (2:27:07, a good 15 minutes faster than my fastest half marathon) was a nice bonus, too.

Training resumes again tomorrow, this time for the Savannah Rock & Roll Half Marathon in early November.  For Publix and Napa, we just used the Hal Higdon beginner training plan, mostly because hubby was still in the early running phase where he wasn’t confident that he could complete the distance.  Now that he has two half marathons under his belt (and I have three halfs and a full under mine), we are going to step things up and try to run better and faster.  We got an intermediate plan from a friend, and it includes some speed/track work.  My biggest fear/question at this point is how in the heck we are going to do those workouts when it is so.  Damn.  HOT.  I don’t want to rely on the treadmill (for MANY reasons), but the weather makes it really difficult.

How do YOU get your training in during the dog days of summer?