Running and travel

By | June 2, 2019

So I think I’m back. But I runfess that there is almost no chance that I’m going to catch up. I’m trying though and if there’s a post you think I should see, please drop a link. In case you missed it, here’s where I was the last week.

Since I booked this conference and add-on road trip, I was wondering about how to accommodate training. This was more or less the same issue as last year when I had the Brooklyn Half on the heels of this conference. On the plus side, I thought it would mean the chance to run in three more states (hotels in Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee). Prior to the trip I’d raced in three (NY, NJ, FL) and run in seven  (CA, FL, NY, NJ, SD, VT, WY). After all said and done, I ran in Louisiana and Mississippi as the Tennessee hotel had no gym. So new total is nine states run in.

no flat me, but all the things because this post has too many words and not enough photos

Before I get into a massive Run Down, a little on today’s #ItalyRunNYC. I was nervous going in. My first race since my minor scare and my first remotely long run into two weeks. I knew last year’s time wasn’t remotely in the cards, but I didn’t have a proper plan. Or any plan really.

I also was bummed not to have my red shirt here. My Skirt Sports Redemption shorties in Holiday print under the race belt skirt was festive – and clean. Three weeks of laundry still in a bag meant my options were limited.

I’d arranged to meet a New York Skirt Sister and as we chatted in the corrals she mentioned she was going to run walk as she does Galloway and I was welcome to join her, but to not feel bad if it was too slow. I found I really enjoyed her company and conversation and planned to stick with her.

It was the perfect decision. Although it was in the mid 60s, it was 85% humidity so this wasn’t going to be a fast race. I was erring on the side of caution anyway and the walk intervals made it all work out. I’m not sure it’s something I want to do long term as I think paying attention to my watch would be one more thing to stress me out, but it was easy to follow at someone else’s direction. And fun to run with someone in a race. My achilles chirped briefly toward the end but went mute after a good stretch. A week of less than stellar compliance with PT caught up with me, but I’ve spent this week trying to be 110%.

I was also pleased that they had the sprinklers on as it was very warm in the sun. Plus, who doesn’t like to run through them? If you ever find yourself asking who doesn’t like Nutella? That would be me. I caught up with another friend at the end and then walked home. All in all, a good day

Massive Run Down catch up with Deborah and Kim:

Week of 5.13: Rain Rain. Go Away. Oh and this Gothamist post on MetroCard math made me laugh given the number of times I’ve weighed the literal cost of laziness

  • Monday: I was a literal drowned rat walking between four meetings. For those of you who know Manhattan: Whitney Museum, East Village, Bowling Green, southeast side of Union Square (Webster Hall). Quick cross train after work.
  • Tuesday: office run group moved to Tuesday due to schedules and subsequently rained out due to icy rain. My gym treadmill run went as well as could be expected, and I bailed after 1.3 miles, which already included two walk breaks.
  • Wednesday: what a glorious weather shift. Almost 20 degrees warmer and full sun. We hit the Harlem Hills again and although it was slow, it felt good. I officially hate Cat Hill more than the Harlem Hills. Go figure. Up side, no racing heart so glad that incident is over.
  • Thursday: trying to get a lot in at work meant a short run. Three miles on a gorgeous day. I got a new VO Max. Yay?
  • Friday: off day. A million errands before my early flight
  • Saturday: I tried to run in the hotel gym but I was coming off three hours’ sleep and hadn’t had coffee so it was a fail. Instead I had a nice long walk around the French Quarter and found the convention center so I’d know where to go before sessions began.
  • Sunday: two treadmill miles before a site visit/learning excursion to New Orleans’ Plantation Country

Week of 5.20: meetings and driving. New Orleans actually featured a lot of walking. Alas it and the subsequent road trip was all treadmill and elliptical as the weather & road trip hotel locations were not conducive to outdoor running.

  • Monday: I actually went to the barre class I mentioned. EEK. It was a mixed bag of beginners like me wanting the chance for a free trial and veterans. I actually kind of enjoyed it, but won’t be doing it again any time soon. It’s my usual complete lack of coordination and they’re expensive! One day I will find The Class for me. One day.

all the data

  • Tuesday: could not get a treadmill so did three miles on a very fancy & data heavy elliptical before sessions began.
  • Wednesday: knew second half of the day would be heavy driving for the start of the road trip, so was happy to run/walk two miles in over heated gym.
  • Thursday: two miles before I got on the road. Small, but well air-conditioned gym in Jackson, MS.
  • Friday: oops, in a last-minute change of hotels I booked one without a gym. I found out on check out that they actually had a relationship with a commercial gym over the road, but a day off was probably needed at this point.
  • Saturday: I had never stayed at a Tru by Hilton before. What a fun chain and great, well equipped gym for two miles.
  • Sunday: Holiday Inn Express Ocean Springs, on the other hand, had the crappiest gym. Manual treadmill and ancient elliptical, but I did the best I could with the elliptical before getting on the road back to NOLA.

Week of 5.27: re-entry is hard. This was a really interesting read as I was getting up early, but the workouts still weren’t happening.

  • Monday: I was so glad to get to run outside. I really missed it with all the treadmill time.
  • Tuesday: I was up early and in the office by 7 to try & dig out from a week away. Somehow I was still there at 7 PM and there was a tornado watch. I was starting to feel niggles in the achilles from insufficient PT while away (lots of rushed exercise), so did a focused strength session with weights and the full slate of PT.
  • Wednesday: full day monsoon, two after work events.  This was a weird day because I was up early and got dressed in my run clothes and still could not get out the door. Ugh. Need to fix my mornings.
  • Thursday: I was up early, and in the office determined to find some gym time. That came at nearly 9 after another packed day. It was a really good, strong  speed session: .5 mile warmup, .5 at 5.7, .5 at 6.0, ,5 at 5.7 and then 6.0 to close with a 6.2 flying sprint.
  • Friday: no formal exercise, but a wonderful walk home through Central Park from an after work event.
  • Saturday: utter and total off day. Needed it mentally and physically. Not even sure I got in 4K steps.
  • Sunday: Italy Run.

Plan for the Week: this is going to be a tough one.

  • Monday: cross or strength train
  • Tuesday: run in the morning
  • Wednesday: Global Running Day 5K
  • Thursday: office run group
  • Friday: off
  • Saturday: Women’s Mini 10K
  • Sunday: off/walk

GoTheDist May 2019

  • 481,389 steps
  • 211.57 miles run/walked
  • 53.14 miles run

It was shaping up to be a better running month, but then life happened. Slowly getting back on track.

GoTheDist YTD:

  • 2,235,609 steps
  • 987.55 miles run/walked
  • 267.25 miles run

27 thoughts on “Running and travel

  1. Liz Dexter

    Yay jeffing! I find the noise of the notification is good enough to keep me swapping over but you have to learn that which I wouldn’t fancy doing in a race. Also I usually only jeff with Ruth and she is good at shouting which one we’re doing! And I could NOT do a barre class, I wouldn’t even try, so well done you.

    I think you’ve seen my ham-fest Liverpool Rock’n’Roll race report, that’s the only thing you might have missed. I’m playing catch up and have had to skip all the Runfessions in order to keep up with people’s weeks. Argh!

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      I got some of the Runfessions but otherwise declared amnesty. I get yours via email and save them in a folder. Old posts may get comments one day soon — because I “need” those even more than the running ones because you know Mt. TBR is so small and all that. LOL Did see the liverpool recap mainly because you posted the link to FB.
      We deliberately skipped a couple walks early: downhill, shade and getting out of the shoot but then accidentally missed a couple, Me needing water at the stations didn’t exactly help, but it was a fun experiment. I might give the Galloway group a go at some point in the future. The people Elizabeth introduced me to on the course all seemed nice & welcoming. And I can see the appeal.

      Reply
      1. Liz Dexter

        Yes, Ruth and I skip walks and then save them up to use on the big uphills, sometimes we even work it all out! There is a Ladies Who Jeff or something group on FB but it’s very busy! Ha – no TBR!

        Reply
        1. cari Post author

          I thought I would need to walk Harlem Hills yesterday but other than a water break, I was good. Bodies are weird.
          I Can’t do busy FB groups. They kill me. BUt I’ll save * browse it

          Reply
  2. Kim at Running on the Fly

    Wow, you’ve been busy! I have not tried Barre, but fear I’d be the klutzy uncoordinated one doing every thing backwards. Hey, it’s a gift LOL One time, there was a Zumba warm-up before a race, and that was fun…but ugh. I probably totally looked like I was “free-styling” it (if there is such a thing in Zumba).

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Hahaha. YES. I went to Zumba class once. There was definitely some free styling happening and a ton of awkward moving left when everyone else was moving right. I have the coordination of a flea. I have a feeling I’ll contemplate a return to barre in about the same time window. 8 years. The DOMS from barre were crazy though

      Reply
  3. Coco

    You did great to keep up with your activity while traveling. I find it easy to run in big cities, but hard in small towns where both the sidewalks and hotel gyms may be lacking. On sleep vs. exercise, I usually choose exercise because I don’t sleep that well anyway, but once in a while sleep is the right choice — and I take it. I missed your posts while you were away — and then missed your Tuesday post until now because I thought I had you in Bloglovin but didn’t until just now!

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Yep. And I had an element of your Miami issue with the neighborhood in NOLA. Jackson, Meridian were essentially interstate service roads and Ocean Springs was a busy four lane road. Counce might have been doable but it was too dark and I was on the road too early in the morning.
      A couple folks added me on insta – I think checking in because I was abnormally quiet. Glad I was missed. I missed everyone, but phone blogging never happens

      Reply
  4. Chocolaterunsjudy

    I say just let the older blog posts go & jump back in where you are. We’ve all been there, we’ll all understand.

    I used to be the one calling out the walk intervals, LOL! This year I’m experimenting with not doing intervals, but when I do, my watch vibrates so I’m not always staring at it. It’s not as hard as you think (especially if your watch chimes or something). I did miss one now & again.

    I personally tend to put sleep over exercise. It’s just so important (and I struggle enough with sleep as it is — especially right now, coming off of a couple of weeks of really poor sleep).

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Yeah that’s kind of where I landed. This week’s run downs and some of the runfessions/coffee, but the rest of it is gone. If I’d been able to catch up more during the week, maybe, but the evening events killed my laptop time.
      I go back and forth on sleep v. exercise. This past week I was wide awake, although it was more prudent especially Tuesday and Friday to use that time in the office. Hope it evens out some this week — especially as it will be cooler in the mornings.
      I think vibrating watch would make it easier — and I think that’s what ELizabeth was doing. We’re nearly into that “glasses fogged, can’t read the watch” territory anyway.

      Reply
  5. Laurie

    Way to keep running while traveling. I have never counted up the states I have run in. I might just do that. That is way more appealing to me than running a marathon (or half) in each state. I know I am missing some mid-west states, but I think I have both coasts covered. Glad to hear your Italy run went well. I actually love run-walking. I qualified for Boston that way, using the Galloway method. I look forward to those mini-breaks!

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Same re: race in each. I just want to enjoy the chance to run in a state, not worry about race logistics It would make things too complicated, I think. I think it’s part of why I always return to Florida though. That area is like a second home, so logistics mainly not an issue

      Reply
  6. kookyrunner

    Wow you’ve been busy girl! Great job staying active even though you were traveling so much. It’s always so hard to keep up with workouts when you’re out of your normal routine.

    I tend to out sleep over exercise. Although I like when I can get my run done early in the morning, I tend to work out after work during the week because I don’t want to give up an hour of sleep.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      I think that’s my natural tendency as well. Issue lately has been that if I don’t get it in early, it won’t happen. Somehow i’ve turned into a bit of an early riser. I was wide awake at 5:30 today and went oh hell no, and went back to sleep until 8

      Reply
  7. deborahbrooks14

    Wow you sure have been traveling a lot! You had a super busy month as well! Hear ya on the Pure Barre. Thanks for linking up!

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      I was glad this conference bumped against Memorial Day, as it meant just one (long) trip to go with the Albany overnight. Multiple trips like yours I find harder

      Reply
  8. Marcia

    Wow you’ve been busy! I went to one Barre class in my lifetime. That was enough. Haha! I’m not a Nutella fan either. Glad the achilles is behaving.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      LOL yes, I think I’m covered for life now too
      Yay team anti nutella!

      Reply
  9. Debbie @ Deb Runs

    You’ve been a busy girl! I’m glad that you were able to pack some workouts and some fun into your travels.

    Thanks for the reminder about Global Running Day. I’m so busy this coming week that I might have missed it!

    Reply
  10. Darlene

    You’ve been a busy beaver. But I get it and that’s the way I like it.

    You travel experience was so amazing. I loved following your journey on IG. A perfect trip in my book.

    I’m so happy you hooked up Elizabeth. She usually runs with her Galloway group so most of the time our meetups are over dinner.

    Maybe the three of us can run the 26.2 miles together.

    I don’t normally do intervals unless I run with someone who does. I am not opposed to them. I can’t imagine 26.2 without them And I just want to finish without too much pain….don’t care the least about time. I may try my longer runs at 3:1.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Definitely giving thought to them on the longer runs. Didn’t need them for 5, but it was fun to chat with her and made the 5 miles feel like 5 minutes. The Galloway groups may be the only ones that actually have support for over 11mm as that sems to be cut off for the others. I want to finish smiling/strong.
      The trip was so much fun – literally different word

      Reply
      1. Darlene

        Same. They say you have to start them at mile 1 in order to finish smiling at mile 16.

        Reply
  11. Renée

    work travel I always find challenging. to be honest I don’t do it at all anymore but my last few years at Starbucks weren’t that long ago and I had to travel a bit. Hotel gyms I usually find suck… but maybe it’s just me. I just don’t like the treadmill so maybe I’m looking for suck? I think you did your best. What you can, when you can.

    I struggle with mornings as well, but I am seriously determined to get into the AM groove this month in case i need to also run in the mornings! I think it’s really mind over matter but it’s almost like there is a block on that part of my brain! I managed this morning so… 1 day down a whole month to go! ha!

    I was “jeffing” at Liverpool and all my friends were like “are you ok??? is everything all right???” Of course they knew I’d had the surgery and that I was going to run, but I guess I failed to tell them I’d be doing intervals!

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Totally hear you on looking for suck. when I know I’m treadmill bound I can usually push through but when I planned to play outside? No can do.
      I’m getting into a morning routine and I think it’s going to pay off. June is just so crazy with after work events and am finally in a place where running in the morning is making me feel better than not running.
      I think I should have Jeffed my way back from injury

      Reply
  12. Zenaida Arroyo

    Sprinklers on a hot day is the best!! Way to go in staying active while traveling. I like Nutella but it isn’t something I eat all of the time.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Surprisingly I haven’t found a taker in the office for my nutella. Always seems like it’s something everyone eats

      Reply

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