MTT On My Own: Week 3

Week 2 of camp #1 was more exhausting than the first week; hence, my running this week was minimal.

Monday

Today was a "rest day".  As I mentioned in my previous post, rest days at camp weren't true rest days since our form of transportation at camp was walking.

Tuesday

I had every intention of running today, but when I woke up at 5am and heard the leaves rustling in the strong wind, I decided that I'd better check the radar to see if there was a storm approaching; there was one on the way, which would reach us soon, so I went back to sleep.  While I know that I could have run in the rain (as I've done a few times before), I decided that I needed the extra sleep, and so did my running partners at camp.

Wednesday

Since the camp was going on a fieldtrip today to Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY to take a look at the waterfalls and swim at the pool, I decided that I would only run 1 loop around the camp, which was about 2 miles instead of the 4 miles planned for today.  We lucked out with the weather today for the fieldtrip; it had been raining most of the days at camp so far, but today it didn't.  It was still cold, around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, so I didn't swim in the pool; after living in Virginia for the past 8 years and being used to the humidity there, I was freezing in the 65-75 degree weather we had during camp.

upper falls

middle falls

Thursday

By this point in the camp, I was super exhausted, since our days consisted of waking up at 7:15am, activities all day long, a nightly campfire that usually lasted until after 10pm, then a nightly meeting with the patrol leaders and adults to discuss how things had gone during the day and what would happen the next day; this meant that most nights I wouldn't get to bed until almost midnight [I always went right to bed after our nightly planning meetings, while some of the other adults stayed up much later].  I decided that sleeping 6-7 hours each night from now until the end of camp would be much better for me than sleeping 4-5 hours each night if I got up in the mornings to run.

Friday

Today was a "rest day."

Saturday

Today was the last day of camp for the kids, so the morning was spent packing and practicing for the end of camp program in the afternoon.  After the program, the parents packed up their kids and left.  While I would have loved to pack up my things and head back to Cleveland, I didn't want to leave the camp director to have to pack and clean all the camp stuff by herself.  So the adults that stayed helped pack up the things in the office, which took most of the evening.

Sunday

Sunday morning, we finished packing away the camp stuff into the storage trailers, then I packed my car with my things and drove the 4.5 hours back to my parents' house in Cleveland.  Even though I had intentionally stayed at camp the night before to help pack and rest a little before driving home, I was still exhausted on the drive back.  The last 1.5 hours of the drive were the hardest; I had to fight to stay awake, even after stopping to buy some coffee at a gas station.

Monday

After taking a regular shower (not a rushed one, like we had been doing at camp) the night before and getting a full night's sleep, I felt almost 100% back to normal today.  I spent the day resting, doing my camp laundry and catching up on my summer shows.

On Tuesday, I had signed up to run the Patrick Henry Half Marathon in Ashland, VA on August 23rd.  I debated with myself whether to sign up for it or not, because it's the weekend right after I get back to Richmond.  My fear is that because I can't be totally consistent with my running at the 2 camps that I'm helping out at during this summer, that I won't be as prepared for the race as I'll need to be.  What made me finally decide to sign up was that (1) I really wanted to run another half marathon, to see how I would do compared to the one I ran in December, (2) that the marathon training plan includes a half marathon distance run for that same weekend, (3) as a Richmond Road Runners Club member, the price for the race was reasonable/affordable, and (4) I wouldn't have to travel out of town for the race.

My goal for the next 2.5 weeks until camp #2 starts is to stick to the marathon training plan.

MTT On My Own: Week 2

This was the first week of summer camp #1 that I'm helping out in.  I tried to stick to the marathon training plan as much as time allowed at camp, which usually meant waking up early for my runs.  Here are the specifics:

Monday

This was supposed to be a rest day, but it's impossible to not do any form of exercise at camp, since our main mode of transportation here is walking.  

Tuesday

I woke up at 5am, got ready, then at 6am I woke up the 2 ladies who said they'd join me on my runs (Eszti and Tünde).  I ran 3 miles today, while the ladies only ran the first loop with me (about 2 miles).

Wednesday

I woke up at 5am again and ran 4 miles today.  Only Eszti ran with me this morning because Tünde said she needed to rest.

Thursday

I decided that it would be best if I didn't run this morning, since I would be one of the chauffeurs that would be driving the group of young adults who are here from Hungary to help out at the camp to Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls is about 2 hours northwest of camp).  I hadn't been to Niagara Falls in probably over 15 years, so it was nice to refresh my memory of it.  The cool thing about this quick fieldtrip was that Eszti, Jutka (the other chauffeur), and I did the Cave in the Winds, where you can walk right in front of the falls.

Friday

As I mentioned before, there is no true rest day at camp.

Saturday

Even though the marathon training plan called of a 5 mile run today, I only ran 1.57 miles because I knew we would be walking down to the Genesee River in the afternoon, which would be several miles.  The hike turned out to be 3.1 miles one way, all down hill on the way to the river.  We spent several hours at the river swimming and playing around.  The hike back was much more difficult for 2 reasons: it was all uphill and everyone was tired from the hike to the river and playing in the river.  The teachers made several loops with their cars to pick up the young campers and anyone else who was having a hard time making the hike back.  I made it about halfway back, before I decided to hop in one of the cars for a ride back to camp (uphills always aggravate my asthma).

Sunday

Today was supposed to be a cross training day, but since I'm at camp, my cross training was walking throughout the camp.

The first week of camp has been very exhausting, for everyone; I'm hoping that now that everyone is used to being at camp the second week won't be as exhausting.

MTT On My Own: Week 1

It's been a week since I started the busy part of my summer break.  Here is how marathon training has gone:

Monday

I spent my rest day by packing 7 weeks' worth of clothes and things in my car and driving 8 hours from Richmond, Virginia to Cleveland, Ohio to my parents' house.  

Tuesday

I woke up early and ran the 3 miles planned for today in the Cleveland Metroparks with my parents' dog.  Though she LOVED the run, she was exhausted the rest of the morning since my mom doesn't run with her regularly.

laying on the floor with the exhausted pooch after our run

Wednesday

I again woke up early and ran the planned 4 miles, this time in one of the neighborhoods near my parents' house.  I decided to not take the pooch with me, since yesterday's run had exhausted her and today's run was longer.

Thursday

The past 3 days caught up with me (up early, things to do all day, then bed after 10pm), so I slept in instead of getting up early to do today's hill workout.

Friday

I repacked my car and drove 4.5 hours up to Fillmore, New York to the first summer camp I'll be helping out at this summer.  This is a 2 week long summer school camp for kids who are of Hungarian descent.

Saturday

I woke up early and went for an 8 mile run along the camp roads.  Two of the ladies who are here at camp to help out came to run with me, but they only ran the first 2 miles with me because they were helping out in the kitchen and with final preparations before the campers arrived at 11am.  [When I had mentioned on Friday evening that I would be getting up early to go for my run, these two ladies asked if they could join my on my run since they were also trying to run regularly.]  Later in afternoon, one of the other young ladies who's here to help out at the camp asked me if I ran in the morning.  When I told her that I did, she said that she and her boyfriend (who's also here at camp helping out) also want to join me in my morning runs because they had promised each other that they would run regularly at camp.  [Sounds like I'm starting my own running group here at camp.]

even though I've been coming to this Hungarian Scout park since I was 4 years old
for various camps and events, this was the first time that I had done a run
workout here.....I ran 4 loops on the camp roads, each loop was about 2 miles

Sunday

Today was to be a cross training day according to the marathon training plan.  Since I'm at camp for the next 2 weeks, my cross training is walking everywhere at camp, which probably adds up to several miles each day.