A belated post on my Thursday run... thought I'd share pics of the gorgeous scenery I get to enjoy while training in San Francisco. Thursday was a 6-mile training run in several different HR zones, so I had to find some flat ground. Hmm... track or Crissy Field? It was a beautiful sunny day and a bit of a no-brainer. Coach also gave the thumbs-up to do some stair repeats after the run.
So my route was to head down the Lyon St Stairs...
An easy warm-up jog down the hill and past the Palace of Fine Arts...
... and out to Crissy Field. Nice flat path of @ 3 miles with a fantastic view of the bridge and Marin Headlands.
This path takes you right to the base of the bridge, where there were some great waves and surfers... alas, I was in the middle of my HR-based run and couldn't stop for photos. Next time.
I had a great run and it was harder than I'd expected. The last mile in the highest HR zone was a real challenge to maintain, and I was pretty happy to have held a much faster pace than I'd ever run for an entire mile! For my cool-down, I retraced my route back to the Palace of Fine Arts and hit Stop on the Garmin at the base of the hill back home. Phew. Time to stop, my legs were shot and I unfortunately hadn't brought a gel with me. I was out of juice.
It kinda sucks to be very ready to end a workout, slog up a hill and then be presented with this as the way back home:
Yeah, I'd asked for it. This is just the bottom set of stairs. I'd set out that morning excited to do 2 - 3 stair repeats after my run. No. Freakin'. Way. It was a good idea at the time...
I trudged up the stairs (once!), up the next hill, and finally up 3 flights of stairs to my apartment. DONE.
Today I had a 8.5 mile run in Golden Gate park; thankfully the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was a gorgeous afternoon to run, except my calves were so tight and sore from Thursday's run that I was definitely slower than normal and even had to walk some of the inclines hills... ugh. I failed to wear my compression sleeves on Thursday and paid the price today. Lesson learned.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Great photos - sounds like a lovely day out there!
Posted by: Molly | 03/20/2011 at 07:31 PM
Um, yeah. YOU asked for it. ;) Beautiful photos! Take care of that calf. massage and eccentric calf dips are the keys.
Posted by: Michelle Simmons | 03/20/2011 at 08:00 PM
Jennifer, do not be afraid of the trail run. You will love it. I promise. There's got to be a ton of great trails in Marin.
Posted by: Chris K | 03/21/2011 at 10:38 PM
Oh, without too much effort you could drive across that pretty bridge and run in Muir Woods! How nice for you. 50 F, I dream of it being that warm.
Posted by: Keith | 03/26/2011 at 01:58 PM