Week 27 – Detroit FreePress International Marathon prep (July 05 – July 11)

After running more than 25 miles in last week, let’s see what’s in store for week number 27.

Day 1 – Sunday, July 05, 2020 – Quarantine Day 111
LONGEST BIKE RIDE TILL DATE!

What a Sunday! I could finish 51 miles of biking, longest bike ride for me so far and I think I am not going to stop here. Let’s see how far I can go.
This is all because of the new bike that I got a week ago. I have been waiting to try it out on a long ride and glad that I could finish such a long distance without a hitch.

I learnt many things and understood how to better attack it the next time. Nothing more to say, just enjoy the picture of my bike!

Day 2 – Monday July 06, 2020 – Quarantine Day 112
It was a rest day for me. I was still recovering from the long bike ride and decided to skip the run for the day.
We went out for an hour of soccer with the kids in the evening. It was tiresome to run for an hour in 93F temperature and glad that the kids could handle it.

Day 3 – Tuesday July 07, 2020 – Quarantine Day 113
One more rest day and this was taken due to too many emails and calls at work. The work has been a little bit tight for the last couple of days and after spending nearly 10 hours before the screen, I thought it would be good to relax in the evening and head to bed early.

Glad that I headed to bed early but the bed was actually a tent. To prepare ourselves for the camping season, we thought it would be fun to spend a night in the tent in the basement, so we put a small tent together and enjoyed a good night’s sleep!

Day 4 – Wednesday July 08, 2020– Quarantine Day 114
The morning wasn’t ideal for me as I had planned to wake up around 4.30 AM to catch up with my morning routine, starting at 5AM. Unfortunately, the first night spent in the tent didn’t work out well for me and I ended up waking at around 5.20 AM. I cursed myself for sleeping so late and decided to get my affairs together to go out for a quick run.

Initially, I had planned for a 10K, but, since I woke up late, I had to shorten it to just a 5K and also, I didn’t want to stress myself so I was hoping to go for a slower pace. Turned out, the cool weather and the new shoes had some other plans and I ended up completing the 5K at almost 10’ per mile pace. I was happy with the performance and hopefully, I will be able to finish at least 20 miles of running for the week. Let’ see.

After the run, I treated myself with this beautiful breakfast. It is called Sabudana Khichdi in my mother tongue. You can click here to know more about it.

The rest of the day was spent before my laptop screen and got to enjoy an hour of soccer with the kids before calling it a day!

Day 5 – Thursday July 09, 2020– Quarantine Day 115
One more rest day for the week. Not sure what’s going on in this week as I have taken 3 rest days so far. Let’s see how far I will be able to run for the next two days. Hopefully, at least a couple miles! 🤪

Day 6 – Friday July 10, 2020– Quarantine Day 116
The last day of the work week and it couldn’t be busier.
Though I got up around 5AM, most of the time was spent in reading and opening my work laptop at around 6AM. I spent almost entirety of it before my laptop screen and was working well past 5PM. I just wanted to relax at the end of the day and avoided going out for a run. I wish I could have, but didn’t.

With only one day to go until the end of this week, I need to get some serious distance in if I want to inch closer to the 1,000 mile for year mark. Let’s see.

Day 7 – Saturday July 11, 2020– Quarantine Day 117
Saturday arose with a bang. Last night, we slept in the tents with our new sleeping bags – getting ready for camping, I guess. It was a new experience for me to be sleeping in a sleeping bag, given that I mostly sleep in a starfish position. It was difficult for sure, but loved the feeling of the material and how comfortable it was. I think, apart from the gas oven, we are all set for camping gears and equipments. I will keep you posted on this.

Talking about the run, my friend, Anupam, has been running consistently for the better part of the week, which was motivating enough for me to finish at least 20 miles of weekly running quota. I have run only a 5K this week, so I needed to run at least 17 miles to finish that. With that goal in mind, I set off running early Saturday morning around 5.30AM and was taking my usual route. As soon as I reached Northville High School, I couldn’t resist myself to go their Track and Field ground to try running on them. Before doing that, as a good citizen, I checked whether I was permitted to do so, and upon receiving the confirmation, started my run.

The moment I stepped for the first time on that running floor, it was so soft and much better than the concrete floor that I was immediately hooked. When I started the run, I thought I would run a couple rounds, before continuing my usual way through Hines Drive, but I was so wrong. The material of the track felt so nice against my foot, that I just kept going. Also, properly marked tracks help you avoid disturbing other runners, and maintain social distancing at the same time. I was glad that I could finish almost 10 miles on the track, finishing my half Marathon distance there before taking a break to refuel myself.

After devouring an Apple and a Protein Bar and drinking some water, all while walking, I continued my run and it was more difficult to resume my run that I thought. I shouldn’t have stopped running and should have continued was all that I could think. Anyway, I took it as a good learning for me and vowed to never repeat it again.
In the end, I could finish only 2.2 miles before walking home. It was a little difficult to walk, but I managed to finish that.

Thanks to my friends, Monika and Anupam, who were kind enough to prepare some wonderful breakfast for me, so that I would get to enjoy some delicious food after this long run. It was our usual Saturday brunch – Puri Sabji. I loved every single bite of it and ate it like a pig. Here’s the quick picture of what I am talking about. It was both awesome and delicious filled with lots of love.

After the brunch and some hanging out, we set ourself for the Saturday hiking trail and this time, we wanted to finish the shorter loop at the Island Lake State Recreational Area. They called it a Yellow loop which is roughly 5 miles long and definitely shorter than the blue loop which is around 9 miles in distance. We had already done the blue loop twice, so wanted to check out the yellow loop this time.

The kids were running almost throughout the hike and didn’t seem tired at the end of it. The highlight of the trail was some of the most breathtaking views and watching people Kayaking. I haven’t tried it yet and would love to do so. Let’s see when that time comes.

We ended up hiking around 5.6 miles and it took good 2 hours.

This hike finished the week for me and even though I couldn’t capture the distance that I initially wanted to, I would like to shrug off that feeling and push myself more in the coming weeks. It would be interesting to see what the next week has in store for me.

Before you leave, have a look at my Running Journal. Take care!