The sunset over the Shenandoah Valley. My few days in the wilderness were fantastic.
It has been a while since I last wrote an update, nearly a month, but who is counting? Having so long between posts was not part of my original plan. I planned on taking those two weeks off of posting as well as running, and if I was particularly motivated give a quick update at the end of the second week. After my last race at the Peachtree Road Race, I had two weeks of active rest, which is basically running every other or every third day. This helps keep the body moving and tends to help with the transition back into full time training.
A waterfall in Shenandoah National Park. There were so many cool trails and waterfalls all throughout the park!
Those two weeks went by way too quickly, as I ran little (7 and 55 miles respectively) and probably drank more beer than I should have, but I was reenergized and ready to start training for my fall races. With that enthusiasm carrying me into my first long run, I over did it and tweaked my Achilles. For a few days I was in a bit of denial and hope that it would clear up while still training. But near the end of the week I brought myself back to reality and forced myself to take a few days off and then build up much slower and methodically. Having dealt with an Achilles problem in the winter, I was not about to a repeat of a month where I hardly run at all. Over the course of writing about my training, I have repeatedly stated I am much better at listening to my body than even a couple of years ago. In all reality my Achilles never hurt nearly as much as it did in the winter, but by looking at the long term, it is much better to take a few days off now than run for another couple of weeks and be out for a month.
Besides dealing with my Achilles, I spent the last four busy. I spent the first weekend in Washington DC representing both ZAP and the Road Runners Club of American (RRCA) at the RunPro Camp. I had a blast hanging out with the newly graduated runners and picked up some useful knowledge. It was a good change to get out of our little world in the mountains and head to the big city. While we do get to travel numerous times in the year, we often do not get to explore much of the cities we visit. We are too preoccupied getting prepared for our races.
My New Home!
I have also been kept busy working our running camps, but I was able to get a few days between two camps where I could head up to Virginia and camp for a few days. Originally I planned to go to Williamsburg, Virginia and explore the historicity of the town, but in a game time decision, I took an early turn up north and headed to Shenandoah Valley National Park. I spent the next three days going on hikes and just driving around. I totally get why people used to go on Sunday afternoon drives. Shenandoah Valley NP encompasses the mountains to the east of the Shenandoah Valley and has a great road that runs along the ridgeline so there are some awesome views. This jaunt up north coincided with my days off due to my Achilles, so my aerobic activity for the days as hiking. Also being out in the woods, mostly alone, I got some time to reflect on what I need to do over the next couple of weeks to get myself healthy and ready to run fast in the fall.
The last big news around ZAP is that the house being built for some of us athletes is finally done! So Joe and I will get to move in over the next few days, and Sinéad (our newest athlete) will be making her trek up to the high country soon.
Check out more from Tyler on his website: www.tylerpennelrunning.com