Another cutback week, which was well-timed with vacation. I booked a trip to Cancun with coworker friends a few months back and we were originally considering the weekend of September 16-18th, but a small part of me was thinking “Nooooo, that’s the 18 Mile Tune Up!”, so I was very relieved when we ended up booking it for the 22nd-25th. A treadmill run on “only” a 12 miler didn’t sound so bad, especially after doing 10 in Vegas as a non-cutback run.

Monday 9/19: Rest day, which was sorely (haha) needed after the Tune Up. I was hobbling around work quite a bit. I got a pedicure at pH7, my favorite ethical nail salon and opted for the extra 10 minutes of foot massage. She scraped off significant calluses then I fell into a state of relaxation during the massage and hot stones. I still had tight calves after, but at least my feet felt good (and looked moderately cuter for the upcoming beach times).

Tuesday 9/20: Speedwork day with my running club at 6am. Yes, I think the previous week’s motivational interviewing helped me get up in the morning. I did 2 warmup miles, then 4 1-mile repeats at ~10K pace with 5 minutes rest in between. It ended up being quicker than my actual 10K pace, and closer to my dream 10K pace (9ish and sub-9), then did 2 miles cooldown for 8 total.

Wednesday 9/21: Rest day. I had a great dinner at Shanghai Asian Manor, then tried a new spot, Taiyaki for ice cream. I had the green tea swirled with black sesame with custard in the bottom, then topped with mochi and a wafer. It was amazing! Since we missed the Play J Ice Cream Truck this year, this was a new amazing vehicle for ice cream and crunchy vessel.

Thursday 9/22: Travel day with a 4AM wake up call. I was hoping to do a little shakeout run after the flight, but beach time and margaritas took precedence.

Friday 9/23: Tour day. We opted for a few stops mainly in the Tulum area to see the ruins and cenotes, but this also included some lagoon snorkeling, then we chose an add-on to snorkel near sea turtles. Still waiting on the video footage our tour guide took, but it was an amazing day. At least I got some swimming in.

 

We went to the ruins first, then to the Dos Ojos cenote, then to Akumal for the sea turtles. We stopped for lunch then went into the Yal-Ku lagoon.

Saturday 9/24: Long Run Day on the treadmill. I contemplated running outside and had brought my handstrap Nathan water bottle, but did not bring my GPS watch and wasn’t feeling amped about the route. I didn’t want to be stranded far from the resort low on water and without enough pesos for a cab/bus ride back. I hopped on the treadmill and was the only person in the gym for the first hour. Due to not having run on Thursday, this was my first run in my new Brooks Ghost shoes. Not my brightest idea to bring them and break them in like this. But it worked out overall, as I took my run slowly. NYRR Virtual Trainer said to aim for 2:05 overall time and that it was ok to not hit a perfect 12 miles. Well, the gym started getting crowded right when my shoes were feeling a bit tight, so I cut it off at 1:40. Then I had 3 full plates of food at the breakfast buffet as well as melon juice, chocolate milk, and coffee. This was too much of a cutback for my liking overall.

Then we went shopping. I was saving my souvenirs for the duty free shop, but I did meet Cookie Monster and tried Starbucks (no cold brew, so iced americano for this americana). Then back to the beach. We were going to go out out to a club but failed after dinner and a few glasses of wine.

Sunday 9/25: Rest day aka packing and final trip to the beach. I wish I had done a little run to shake out my legs early in the day (6pm flight). I added to my snorkeling butt sunburn with a little side nap thigh burn action (I’m ok, Mom!).

Total: 17.1 out of recommended 24-27 miles. Um..err..haven’t gotten this far from the minimum since Week 3 or so. Shruggie.