Gettin' Back Into The Swing of Things

Weeks before the LA Marathon, I decided that I would take a few weeks off after the race to recover and give my groin time to properly heal, after all, I was training pretty hard for the last 18 weeks. For the month leading up to the marathon, I decided that I would focus solely on running and opted to not do any swim or bike workouts until the marathon was done. I didn't need to get sick from the pool or crash on the bike to ruin my marathon debut. After 4 days, I decided that taking a few weeks off was not for me and decided to get back into the pool. Surprisingly, after taking a month off, I seemed to remember how to swim and knocked out 1000 yards. Later that evening, I ran my first run since the marathon, 6 easy miles.

Last week saw 1700 yards in the pool, an easy 5 mile run on Thursday night and a 14.5 mile long run/adventure on Saturday. I must say that Saturday's 14.5 mile run/adventure was the most fun I have had while training in a long time...good friends, good location, good times!

This week, I will try to get back to a normal routine of 2 swims, 3 runs and 1-2 bike workouts per week. I am also starting a 1/2 marathon training plan in preparation for the San Diego Rock N Roll Relay that I am participating in. It has been decided that Team "Need 4 Speed" will be running a sub 4 hour relay, meaning I am running leg 2 (7 miles) at an 8:30/mi pace. Time for a little speed work.

On a side note, I went out to the Great Race of Agoura, armed with my new Nikon D 5000 camera and shot 300 pictures, mostly of friends running the race, but lots of strangers as well. This was the first race that I can remember not running, it was a bit strange to be a spectator, but truly enjoyable. Here are a few of my favorites...

You can find more of the pictures here and more are being posted as I get time. If you know anyone in the pictures and they would like the original, Hi-Res picture, at no charge, have them contact me and I would be happy to email it to them.