Even on vacation, I managed to successfully completed the 5th week of my 16-week Run Less Run Faster (affiliate link) training cycle for my OBX Half Marathon. Managed… who am I kidding? When Bill and I go to the beach we put a capital C on the word chill so I have plenty of time to run, bike, lift, do yoga, read, nap, and basically do whatever I want.

As I mentioned last week, I mixed things up a bit so I could hopefully go on my long run on Sunday with a friend who was also vacationing on the Outer Banks. As a result, I ended up with two long runs and no track repeats this past week. I got all of my workouts in, just in a slightly different order than my training schedule called for.

Sunday’s long run ended up being solo, but was still a solid run. My plan called for me to run my 9 miles at an 11:01 average pace and I came in at 10:42, not bad considering I ran on the sand at low tide, and low tide wasn’t until just after noon when it was pretty hot and extremely humid.

Pelicans were relaxing on the fence posts separating the 4 x 4 section from the road access beaches and I chuckled when it looked like they were roosting on my leg. After turning to run home, I spotted dolphins swimming not too far out in the water, a regular sighting here on the Outer Banks.

 

Monday afternoon I headed out for a 3-mile easy run to celebrate the solar eclipse and timed it so I finished up just prior to the 90% maximum coverage we got here on the Outer Banks. This run wasn’t on my training schedule, but I wanted to remember this historic day with a run. I’ll never forget that eerie glow as I ran under the the moon passing in front of the sun…

 

On Wednesday, my training plan called for an 8-mile run with 6 miles at tempo pace which I tied to the Lighthouse 5K as best I could. Prior to the race, I headed out for a 2-mile easy warm-up, ran the 5K, and shortly after the race headed back out for another 3 tempo-paced miles. My 1-mile warm-up and 1-mile cool-down were to be at an easy pace (no problem there even with combining them) and my tempo miles were to be at an 8:48 pace. My splits during the race were 8:29, 9:01, and 9:08 (8:51 average). 

 

I stuck around after the race for a few minutes to take some pictures before heading back out for my final 3 miles. I had planned to rerun the course, but Bill suggested I run along one of the back streets near the sound where it’s shaded. It was an excellent idea and just happened to be a 1-mile loop from our parked car to where the street dead-ended, so I ran that 3 times. My splits for my final 3 miles were 9:32, 9:20, and 8:12 (obviously at this point I just wanted to be done) (9:01 average). 

 

We got home from the race, had lunch, and just as we decided to stay in and read for the afternoon, storms hit for most of the rest of the day. I made brownies to eat while watching the storm. It was the perfect way to relax after a busy morning!

 

Late Friday afternoon, Bill and I headed out for a 22-mile bike ride. Remember, our house is on the 4 x 4 section of the Outer Banks, so unless we drive 3.5 miles to the road, everything we do is on the sand and low tide dictates our schedule. We rented bikes for the two weeks we’re here and this was the first time I rode mine. It really wasn’t as hard as I expected as long as I stayed on the packed sand. It did take a little getting use to the brakes being on the pedals and there were many times I would have loved to shift into an easier gear, but alas I was riding a single-speed.

While riding north we rode past a group of people staring out into the ocean. One lady turned to tell us that they had spotted a whale. We kept our eyes on the water, but without any luck of seeing a breaching whale. I did see something dark at a distance, but it could just as easily have been the backs of pelicans as they dove for fish rather than an actual whale sighting.

A little farther along we saw three horses standing on a dune perfectly silhouetted against the sun. We didn’t stop for pictures and by the time we rode past there on our way home, they had moved on.

The ride up into Virginia was easy and we stopped to relax for a few minutes while in False Cape State Park. As we headed back to our house, the tide was starting to come back in and the quasi-headwind had picked up – riding got harder and harder. By the time we got home, my quads were screaming and I was whining.

 

Less than 12 hours after getting home from our bike ride, I headed out on Saturday morning at 6:15 AM for my 11-mile run (remember, low tide dictates my schedule). On the short walk to the beach, I saw a horse enjoying breakfast on my neighbor’s dune. 

 

My legs were lead early in my run, but as I warmed up, they started moving more easily. About half way into my run, I saw Bill heading toward me on his fat tire bike, and we paused for a picture. 

 

My goal average pace for my run was 11:32, but I ended up averaging 10:46, with the last half being significantly faster than the first half. I finished just as the tide was started to come back in and if I’d run much later, I would have had a very challenging run.

 

Even though I mixed things up throughout the week, I’d say it was a pretty good week of training. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and adjust accordingly. Once home, I’ll have a few races and football games to schedule my long runs around so some weeks might be just as mixed up as these last two have been.

Looking ahead to this coming week, tomorrow I’ll post my August Race Linkup. Please feel free to join me and let your friends know which races they can find you running this fall. Mid-week I’ll have a guest post from Bill where he’ll talk about volunteering while here at the beach, and I’m hoping to do a final vacation post later in the week in the way of a simple camera dump.

In case you missed it, this past week I posted the following articles:

 

In addition to the runs and rides I mentioned above, here’s a run-down of other workouts I completed this past week…

 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included: 

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • What interesting things have you seen recently while on a run?
  • What’s the worst surface you’ve run on? 
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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I’m also linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC for her Training Recap linkup. Be sure to check out how Courtney the other great bloggers joining the linkup are doing on their fall marathon and half marathon training.