I’m back from Portland. The running was great, the rest of the trip was even better. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I’m going to miss being there in general, and running there in particular.
Weight Check: I’m writing this on Tuesday, July 3. After flying home on Monday, this morning was my first chance to weigh myself. And, uh, 172.3, up 2.4 pounds from last week. Yikes. I use an app called Untappd to keep track of the beers I drink. Over a period of 6 days, I had 23 beers. One was in the airport in Phoenix during a layover, the rest were in Portland. The city has amazing beer, and lots of it. And while I did do some walking (and running) while I was there, it apparently wasn’t enough. I’ll be cutting way back on the beer this week and ramping up my mileage, so hopefully I’ll be able to bring my weight back down.
| Day | Scheduled | Total Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Wednesday | 5 miles easy | 5.01 |
| Thursday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Friday | 3.1 mile group run | 3.10 |
| Sunday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
Total: 20.14 miles
It was a step back week, and I needed it physically. Probably mentally, too, but being in Portland did wonders for my mental state.
Monday was one last run at home before I left. The weather was miserable, my legs were tired from my long run on the previous Saturday, but I was motivated by the fact that I was headed to Portland the next day, where it would be in the mid 50s in the morning and the running would be great. (Spoiler alert: It was.) I kept the effort easy except at the very end, and I’m just glad I got through it, and I felt like I’d earned a break.
On Wednesday…Portland Running! (At least that’s how it shows up in Garmin Connect, except without the exclamation point.) Absolutely beautiful weather. My legs were a little tired, but even with that, I was much faster than any of my recent runs just due to the temperature difference. I do love running in Portland.
Thursday was still beautiful weather. My legs felt better. I forgot to do my warm up stretching, so mile 1 ended up being a warm up, but after that, my pace was steady (and good).
On Friday, I participated in a 5K group run. It was for fun, not a race, although there were definitely some people there who were much, much faster than me. It started a little later (some people’s bodies weren’t still stuck on East Coast time, stupid jet lag), so it was a couple of degrees warmer, but not that humid. I did start out a little too fast because of the other runners, but I found someone to run with at a slightly slower pace after mile 1.
My coach often says that when judging the right effort for an easy run, it should be easy enough so that you can carry on a conversation. For the first time ever, I was able to confirm that I could indeed hold a conversation at that pace. A good run, and it was fun being able to run with others for a change.
Sunday was bittersweet, because I knew it was my last run in Portland. At 62 degrees (but with low humidity), it was the “worst” weather I saw in Portland for a run. It’s still at least 200% better than anything I’ll see at home for the next month or two. I was a little too fast on the 1st mile, and it affected me a little in mile 3, but I rallied at the end. Between the scenery of the river and the good weather, I tried to savor this run as much as I could, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I’ll miss running in Portland.
For the rest of this week, I’ll just try to hang in there and slow down for the heat. Also, maybe I’ll finally catch up on my Teal Diva 5K and March/April/May/June (Yeah, now I have to add June to the list) recaps.