Snoqualmie Valley 10k Training Update

May was a weird month, somehow it's already mid-June, and given that the Snoqualmie Valley 10k is now a week away, I really wish the last few weeks had gone differently.

May started off pretty strong. I did my first 6-miler the first weekend of the month and felt great. But things quickly went sideways. 

A steep hike the day after my 6-miler left my legs in shambles, and I missed an entire week of runs. Then, when I was finally feeling better, I started experiencing some bad spotting that cut at least one workout short, and I pulled a groin muscle at the gym the week of my 10k. Because of that, my taper became enforced rest.

I have gotten into the habit of missing mid-week runs and it is a PROBLEM.

After my race, I felt good again, but suffered an intense dead-leg at my volleyball game Tuesday night when a teammate's knee drove into my quad when we both dove for a ball...so that meant two more days of rest.

I managed to get a run in the morning before we left for our cruise, but it was rough. Too hot, too steep, and generally just not great.

I did manage a few gym days on the cruise, but only one (terrible) treadmill run. By the time we got back, I was very much behind schedule with my training.

On the cruise, I learned to use the smith machine.

You'd think I'd get back from the cruise and jump right back in, but it's been incredibly difficult to get into the swing of things. I'm not even sure why. It's like I've got a mental block around running. (I suppose I could blame our early summer—I've never been good about making myself run in the heat, the sun is up at 5am these days.) Every run I've done has felt hard, and my recovery time has been taking longer.

I so want this race to go smoothly because it will be Nick's first 10k, but I'm feeling really defeated right now. (I mean, he's up to 8 miles now, so he really doesn't need me dragging him down!)

All that said, I have one more week to get my shit together. I know it's too late for a major turn-around, but I'm going to implement a plan I've done many times before: skip any sort of taper and continue to build up mileage so that race day is essentially a long run I've been building toward.

8:30am and scorching.

Last weekend I ran 4 (very hard) miles and this weekend I have 5 on the schedule. At this rate, I should be as ready as I can be for race day. Hopefully we get a break in the weather and I can focus on the fun instead of how absolutely unprepared I feel.

Ali