Happy Jersday (yes I went there) to you all! We’re at about T Minus 19 minutes until the new Jersey Shore and Snooki’s subsequent freakout and I cannot wait for this entertainment gold.

In the meantime, since Week 7 of Marathon Training ended… almost a week ago, a recap is necessary.

I was on vacation for the entirety of that week of training, but since I would have worked out anyway, (I’m one of those freaks that enjoys starting the day with a workout as long as it’s not dark outside) I stuck to the training to a T.

I won’t lie – a lot of it was… well you’ve been training for 6 weeks already… those 5am wake-up calls better not have been for nothing. And it wasn’t.

I fully enjoyed the vacation (training or no training) and still got in 8-hour beach days. And drank plenty of adult beverages. And ate waffles with coconut syrup and macadamia nuts slathered on top. And snorkeled with sea turtles. And hiked a volcano.

Monday: Cross-Train

Still in Maui, boyfriend and I hit up the gym and I did 45 minutes on the Elliptical while I read my Kindle. In case anyone is looking for a beachy read this fall (Summer has just started in SF)… Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close is fabulous. It’s a total girly-read but it’s a “coming of age” book about a group of close friends who navigate post-college life and it’s really, really good.

Source

Tuesday: 4-Mile Run

Boyfriend and I took off for the Big Island to meet up with my family for a week, and once the initial shock and trauma of flying in the little tin can below to get there wore off, we got to the house we were renting for the week and decided it would be a great idea to go running at 3:30pm in 85 degree heat with high, high humidity. Because, why not right?

I thought we were goners. 10-seater. Ohhhh boy.

Hardest run I have ever completed. My right foot went completely numb and I quite literally thought I was going to die. The loop we did had rolling hills and while I’m sure it was good for training, it was not good for this girl.

Jumping in the pool in full workout clothes (can Lululemon withstand chlorine? Guess we’ll find out!) and drinking a Corona to hydrate followed. When in Hawaii right?

Wednesday: 7-mile Run

My family is extremely active and when on vacation, mornings always start out at the hotel gym. The resort we stayed at has a beautiful gym (hello ice-cold lemon infused water!) so we made sure to get in a good workout before we did absolutely nothing for the remaining 23 hours of the day.

Moving from this spot only to run to the ocean every hour or so.

I read my Kindle and ran on the treadmill at a 9:09 pace  (after the disaster the day before I wasn’t even going to dabble in outdoor running again – clearly I’m not cut out for that type of climate.)

Thursday: 4-Mile Run

Nothing major to report – Kindle. Treadmill. Standard.

Friday: Rest

While everyone else went to the gym, I had a steaming mug of Kona Coffee, a big bowl of cereal and enjoyed not having to move whatsoever for the entire day… aside from walking from car to beach and beach chair to water. And back.

Saturday: 7-Mile Pace

Again – Kindle. Treadmill. Lie on beach chair from 10am-5pm.

Sunday: 14-Mile Run

The longest distance I have ever, in my entire life run in one sitting. Previous record included 13.1 miles.

I fired up my Dad’s iPad – MadMen on the Instant Queue (it also became apparent that I need one of these), brought along a pack of Gu Watermelon Chomps, grabbed 3 towels, a cup of ice cold water (that would be refilled 4x) and went to town.

Took me just about 2:30 to finish the run.

Take-Aways?

• While I love MadMen, it is not even a remotely good show to watch while running because it moves at. a. snail’s. pace. 
• Chomps > Gu. They tasted amazing and definitely gave me little bursts of energy. I’d never tried them before (boyfriend eats them on bike rides so I wanted to try them) so I decided to eat 1 every 20 minutes and it worked really well. I never felt fatigued or low on fuel…. just extremely, extremely bored. 
• Anything longer than an hour on a treadmill is in my opinion horrible. I almost died of boredom.
• Best thing to do after running 14 miles? Have reservations at the best brunch in the entire world (clearly, my extremely biased opinion) where they serve the aforementioned Waffles with Coconut Syrup and Macadamia nuts) among many, many other things (helloooo crab legs!)