The Outer Banks: An Experience

There are vacations and then there are experiences. Visiting the Outer Banks is an experience. While my trip last week was for a friend's wedding, and I didn't even really do that many tourism-type things, the visit was an experience.

If you've never had a chance to visit the Outer Banks, it's a must-see. If you live on the East Coast, it's reasonably easy to get to. And if you want to do a family trip that's affordable, the Outer Banks is the place to go. It's been 16 years since I visited that area, so I appreciated this trip this time around. Our group stayed in the northern section in Southern Shores, which is about four or five miles north of the Wright Brothers Museum. My trip consisted of a visit to the museum, a ride-by of the dunes and trip to Currituck Beach Lighthouse. Two days or so of my time was geared toward wedding-related stuff, which included rehearsal dinner in the awesome little town of Duck. My next trip there -- which I hope isn't in another 16 years -- I vow to be more of a tourist.

Workout wise, things didn't really go as planned, although I never really had a definite plan. I did have a couple of things going against me -- the heat was oppressive early in the week and then the North Carolina wildfire smoke settled in for three evenings and the last morning. I did rent a bike, so my friends, my wife and I got some decent rides in. It certainly was much easier to get out and ride in the heat rather than run in it. All told, I biked about 20 miles last week. Also going against me last week was having a blast with my friend and drinking too much, and meeting lots of new people and drinking with them. It's not easy staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. and then trying to get up and run. I was so tired yesterday that I just took the day off to catch up on my sleep. The important thing is I had a ton of fun on this trip and I can't wait to go back.


Workouts since last post
June 9: Walk - 0.4; Run - 3.2 (plus a visit to the Wright Bros. Museum)
June 10: Bike - 6
June 11: Run - 1.1; Bike - 6.4
June 12: Bike - 7
June 13: Walk - 0.2; Run - 3.1 (Intervals: 0.25 - 1:44; 0.5 - 3:53; 0.25 - 2:00; 0.25 - 1:54) (plus a visit to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse)
June 16: Walk - 1.1; Run - 3.5
- Of note is Saturday, June 14. I had planned to get up for a bike ride, but it was smoky from the wildfire.

(Photos: Above is a picture on the beach that my wife took; the inset photo is at Currituck Beach Lighthouse; and below is the gorgeous house we got to stay in.)

I can still run "fast" if I want to

I'm on a brief trip to visit the in-laws in northeast Ohio, but I managed to get in a decent 4 miles yesterday, which included a quarter mile interval in 1:50. While it was only a quarter mile, it felt good to know I can still run at that pace. It felt pretty good, and I'm really looking forward to getting speedwork in once I begin my "official" training for the half.

That's all from me for now! Just wanted to get in a quick update.

Distance + speed = a great run

Running when not at home is always tough, but today I managed a good 11 mile run in the flatness of northeast Ohio. On top of that, I added some speed bursts in between mile 5 and 6 (7:39), between miles 8 and 9 (7:41) and the last quarter mile (1:49/7:15 pace). I've been hearing a lot lately how beneficial it is to add speed into longer runs and it really felt great today. Plus the weather was finally cooperative with temperatures in the low 70s and very cloudy. All my other miles were in the 9-minute mile pace. Adding the faster miles really made this workout a lot less boring than other long runs - it helped get my mind off everything that's being going on in my life.

I'll probably log a few miles in the morning. Since I have a wedding to go to later in the day, it'll make me not feel so bad about having some good food and drink later in the day.

Back to business

So after a 7 mile run in Ohio on the first half of my vacation, the rest of my time off was spent relaxing and not worrying about anything. I managed to run a mile on Tuesday morning while I was in the Poconos (more specially, at Pocono Palace), but my motivation to run just wasn't there. Simply put, it was hot, I was at a higher altitude and I just needed to relax, both physically and mentally. I managed to do that quite well.

Things returned a little bit more to normal this morning with a 3 mile run. By the time the week ends, I will log just about the same amount of miles as last week. I guess that's not too bad considering the odd timing of my days away from home.

The power of 7

Today is 07-07-07 ... so I went out and ran just over 7 miles ... just after 7 a.m. ... all while on vacation.

On the road again

A vacation from work can't come soon enough, but a vacation right as I am feeling great about where my training is isn't quite ideal. I've gotten in my head that 16 weeks of training for the Richmond Marathon is what I want to do, and that doesn't actually come until the week of July 16. Right now is all about mentally preparing while creeping my mileage up. These past two weeks have been a great bonus to unofficially begin the training. I want to feel like "officially" training for the marathon is nothing but a smooth transition from what I'm already doing.

People often think that when they're on vacation, they can't exercise at all. But I'm already trying to figure out when I'll get some good runs in, while still relaxing. Saturday and Sunday mornings will be the best, since I'll simply be visiting in-laws and my wife is off doing things women do when they're in weddings. And I'll be in Ohio where it's a bit cooler and considerably flatter. So I figure that Saturday would be a great day to run an easy 7 miles. It's been a while since I've hit that distance and it would be a great way to end a week that's been full of speed workouts. And I don't get a chance to have a run without any hills because quite simply, I hate the track when I'm by myself. Today I let my body rest after that speed workout Tuesday and yesterday's mile race. Tomorrow I might go for a jog before I hit the road, but I'll really wait and figure that out in the morning. I'll be venturing back to Virginia on Wednesday after a couple of days in the Poconos in Pennsylvania, where I hope to get a few miles in.

The hardest part about vacation is nutrition. In the past two weeks, I've gotten a lot better with eating the right things and voiding certain foods/drinks altogether. I think this mini-transition period will help tremendously when it's all-you-can-eat dessert night. When I return from my trip, I will be keeping tabs on my weight and letting you in on my goals. I've been through the story of losing weight, but it's time to hold me accountable again to get to where I want to be by the time the marathon rolls around.