I'm back! And mostly alive :) I missed a week of updating due to a lovely cruise with my besties.
I knew when I registered for the Surf City Half Marathon that I would be doing some REALLY fun training on my Caribbean vacation. I weighed it and decided that it probably wouldn't kill me. It did, however, seriously alter my normal vacation behavior :)
I had 2 long runs that I was going to have to complete in the time I was away, so I tweaked my days so that I could do both of them in Fort Lauderdale and neither of them onboard the ship. This was a good decision.
We arrived Fort lauderdale and met up with our friends in the hotel lobby. We normally cruise this time of year. Mostly to get out of the crappy weather and it's a great way to meet up with our besties that live out of state. We met up with some other cruisers we knew that lived in Florida but were not going on the cruise with us. It was a really nice evening. I knew I needed to carb up and go to bed early for my long run in the morning. Since I didn't want to run alone in a strange place, I had Dan ride along side of me on a bike. I made sure we arrived the bike rental place in time to secure a rental for my morning run. I knew I needed to finish up my run before 9am so that I had time to shower and get ready to go over to the ship for boarding... this meant a 6:30 wake up call. FUN! I had pre planned my route on Google maps so I kind of had an idea of how far I had to go. Sooo, before sunrise I headed out for a nice 8 mile run! Woohoo! Dan was SUCH a good sport to ride along side of me. He gave me my water... fed me my little chewies (by the way... Power Bar chewies are the best I have tried so far! YUM) and tried to make witty conversation with me :) I could not have done these 2 long runs without him. I think he actually enjoyed himself as well.
SO... here is the lowdown on running at sea level... IT SO ROCKS!!! I really didn't think there was going to be much to this tidbit I kept hearing about. I wasn't counting on... let's just say that. BUT... it really really was MUCH better than running where I am used to. That's for sure! I ran the 8 miles and yes, it was still tough! BUT, I wasn't running out of breath and I ended up running 99% of my 8 miles. YAY! The scenery was amazing!
So... finished up my 8 and it was time to get ready to go cruising. Oh, I had sooo many plans for my week on the ship. Oh, did soooo many of them not get done. Boo! Training onboard a ship is ALMOST impossible. Getting a workout in, yes... training for a half marathon at the end of the training program... no! First there is the onboard track. It's 8 laps to the mile (someone told me this... hard to really know for sure) and then there are indoor treadmills in the gym. Both of these proved to be almost impossible to assist me in my training. SO... in order to run the track (which is what I set out to do) you have to get out before all the idiots that get up and save deck chairs for pool space. That hour is around 6am. Ok ok... I can do that... whatever. SO, first morning I am raring to go... I am up at 6am and dressed in my cruise workout wear.... only to find that the wind up on deck is hurricane force and the boat is rocking back and forth. Oh, and the track is wet. I went around once and decided it was not going to happen. Off I went to the gym... with the boat rocking like it was, I could not stay on the treadmill. It's now 6:15 a.m. and I'm totally awake and I'm the only one awake... NICE! NOT! I decided my only attempts at training were going to have to take place on port days. Not a great way to spend port time, but it was my only chance. The first port day came and I got up early and went to the track... it was soaking wet again. I think they spray everything down in the morning and I'd love to chat with someone about this. How dumb! Anyway... I was too afraid of slipping and falling with the wet track so I went into the gym. I was able to eeek out 5 miles and only because I couldn't lift the treadmill to throw it overboard. The treadmills turn off every 20 minutes! Not only that, but they start a cool down session at 15 minutes. This proved to be a very frustrating training day. It turned out to be my last! SO... in one week I got in 5 miles. And I think they were the most difficult 5 miles I've done. From now on, I'll definitely think about upcoming vacations when I plan races. This was not an ideal vacation. I lived through it... but the entire vacation suffered for it. It's one thing to be active and exercise. I do that most of the time. But to feel guilty that training isn't happening isn't my idea of a great vacation. Especially when I've worked so hard. I was really afraid of losing ground. I knew I had a 9 mile run as soon as the cruise was over and we returned to Fort Lauderdale.
We got off the ship and headed to the W. I was so excited to stay at the W. It's a super cool place on the beach and we've always wandered by and thought it was cool. This year we decided to splurge and stay the one night. It was a blast! Dan and I both rented bikes this time and off we went... I think we were in the hotel all of 20 minutes :) I had a route all planned out that I wanted to ride and off we went. We ended our day with just over 23 miles! Probably not the best idea with the run I had to do in the morning. Oh well... I'm not really known for my conservative activities on vacation. After biking 23 miles we decided to walk to dinner. This ended up being an even 7 miles round trip. Woof! I was getting up at sunrise again to run NINE miles so why not put in 30 miles the day before??? Without a car...
Once again Dan followed me on his bike. This 9 miles seemed about 5 miles further than my 8 the previous week. I think a week of cruise food... not much training... and my 30 mile day before didn't help me much. BUT, I did it! Woohooo!
That's about it for the last two weeks. I have one long run left before my half. Uggg! And I really need to do 11 miles at the very least this weekend... and from what I have read it would be better if I did 12. I'm totally excited that I have been working my ass off at 5,000 feet... and my half is going to be at sea level! I totally deserve a break after all this work! I'm still looking for that runner's high though. I still haven't found it.
Here's hoping I have a great running week and a long run that I survive! 12 days to the half! YIKES!
~Almost sunrise in Fort Lauderdale~
What an ugly place to run eh? This is me after I finished... my face still looks like it may explode.
See that city wayyyyy off in the distance? That is where I ran to... and back! 9 miles is so much further than you think it should be. CRAP!
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