The Zen of Ultra Running

This past week was kinda blurry. I started my week with a 4-hour research meeting on Monday, which made my head hurt. I was still tired from sweeping the course at Mohican on Sunday. Luckily, the meeting was quite productive so I did not feel like it was a total waste of my time. I was going to bike on Monday night after the meeting. It turned out that I was too mentally and physically exhausted to do any active exercise so I went to a slow yoga class instead. A long meeting Monday was followed by an all-day training on Tuesday. Again, I was too tired to get any run or bike in on Tuesday night and decided to go for a nice dinner with hubby instead. It seemed like my training plan fell apart last week due to heat, rain, and exhaustion. Ran and swam on Wednesday and did another short run in a hot and humid weather on Friday. Turned out that the track at the school near my house was open so I threw in some intervals (yippee!) On Saturday, I paced a friend (L.) at Eagle Up Ultra in C

So many things going on last week and weekend. Luckily, my work is slow in the summer (no teaching, only research). Since I was on vacation for 2 weeks, I spent Mon-Wed catching up with work but was able to throw in a short run and a group ride on Tuesday (2 workouts/day! woo!). I was too tired on Wednesday morning so I skipped a swim but tried out Orange Theory Fitness (OTF) in the evening instead. The idea of OTF is similar to high intensity interval workout. The instructor told you to switch between weights, treadmill run, and rowing machine. The goal is to get your heart rate up in the "orange zone" (Z4) and sustain at that level for 20-30 minutes during an hour workout. Heart rate monitor is required but you have to purchase it from the company so it connects with the monitor and system. I like the idea and the workout kicked my butt. However, I got bored on a treadmill and rowing machine. The music was also loud and I am not familiar with loud music during exercise. I

When I signed up for this race, I forgot that my family would come to visit us in Ohio and I would be traveling for two weeks prior to the race. At that time, I thought it was ONLY a half marathon (no big deal) but did not take into account the stress and the chance that I might get sick. I was on vacation in CA with my family for 2 weeks. During the trip, I did not have time to exercise and finally caught a terrible cold before we flew back to Ohio. Family vacation was fun but it's also exhausting as I needed to plan, organize, and basically do everything to make sure everyone was happy. 2 days after my family went back I ran the Candy Mountain Half Marathon. Luckily, I knew the course and the race director really well. The race was also only 10 minutes from my house so I felt like another "Saturday long run". I started the race with no expectation on time. The only goal was to finish the race and maybe have fun. I was still coughing but the fever and ache were