So my posts are still trickling in slowly—I just haven’t gotten 100% back into real-life mode yet. Denial? Probably.
Should I really be surprised though when I indulged in goodies like this?
Despite my best intentions to keep up my mileage during our vacations in May, I only ran 94.35 miles (lowest this year by 30+ miles) and gained 7+ pounds. Oops?
As a runner, I can’t deny that a huge chunk of my trip excitement came from being able to run and explore a new location. It’s boring to run the same route every week. I packed both my road and trail shoes, and planned on busting out 30-40 miles. I even wrote about ways to stay active on vacation earlier in May.
But when I got to California, vacation-brain kicked in. I was active every day, but I didn’t bring my Garmin or skip out on family time to log some long runs. I walked, I hiked, I ran, I carried my nephews around, but I didn’t even come close to my mileage goal. I’m not training for anything at the moment, so there wasn’t a real point in being strict with my schedule.
I’m not kidding when I say that I relaxed – this was in a room full of people too
At first I was frustrated—especially when my new shorts didn’t fit anymore. But then I embraced taking things down a notch and enjoying myself.
I’m now a big fan of taking a training—but not necessarily running—break while on vacation. Here are my top benefits:
The view from a run in my family’s neighborhood
- You can wake up, lace up your shoes, and go until you feel like stopping
Stopped to sit on this rock and enjoy the view
- You don’t feel guilty stopping for photo ops
Zack and I probably did more photo-taking than running on this run
- Your pace is dictated by the scenery
We sat on this beach for almost an hour before continuing our hike
- You can sit on the beach mid-run until you get your fill of the waves
This happened
- You can intentionally run past Starbucks, grab a drink, and walk back to home base
Ran my fastest timed mile – 6:44!
- You can nail a timed mile because your legs are fresh
Speed it up, boys!
- You can heckle road runners on their first trail run
Off-roading in the double BOB!
- You can practice being a future running mommy
Pace doesn’t matter with views like these
- You can use the vacation as a reset button—remember that you run because you love it, not because your schedule says so
Do you schedule breaks in your training? When?
All In Stride | Blogging and running my way through life. 
More like I took an “accidental” training break. But that’s ok, coming back makes me realize and appreciate running that much more. Looks like you got to enjoy a few damn good views too!
True, but now you’ll be back stronger than ever Ricardo! Looking forward to hearing about your half training.
The views were awesome – now I need to come run down in SoCal!
If you guys ever do come to SoCal let me know, I’ll show you some fun trails!
Try not to be too hard on yourself, at least you were still active on your vacation (something that I don’t stick to very well, unfortunately…) Do you have any tips to stay active while on vacation?
Very true! I wrote out some tips to staying active on vacation in this post: http://tanyasylvan.com/2013/05/03/running-on-the-run/
When I got to Monterey, it was easy to find little ways to exercise. We walked EVERYWHERE, ran a family 5K plus a Fallen Soldier 5 miler, and did a lot of hiking to check out the views. I also took advantage of being with my nephews and played with them a lot, swung them around, took them to the park… It’s also always good to stay somewhere centrally located so that you don’t need to use your car.