Home for a rest

Remember how I said I was going to get a bit of rest?

You can probably guess where I'm going with this..

Yeah, nope. Apparently when I'm on holiday at a schmancy beach resort, I wake up before sunrise (and every couple of hours, all night, every night).

It did make for some pleasant, quiet mornings though.

So I'd get up and we'd have room service coffee and a light breakfast on our ground floor room's little patio, which we dubbed the Lido Deck.

I had brought some bagels, oatmeal and almond milk with me in case food that met my allergy restrictions was scarce.
Tank had orange juice and croissants with coffee all week.

Of course getting up early meant I could run before the heat of the day really hit, which I did basically every day. There were some nice pathways around the resort, and I saw some interesting stuff.

Running the path along the seawall was quite nice, though rather short.

Pelicans preening on beach huts were common

The bike path was a frequent choice for morning runs

I spotted a capybara near the path!

My sister-in-law and I got very politely told off from running the golf course cart path (whoops) on Monday morning

The jungle-lined road out to the golf clubhouse was fair game, though, and had about the most shade you could find.

There was a coatimundi who I'd often see at the head of the golf course path, too - cute little raccoon-like dude!

The driveway out to the Cancun-Tulum highway from the resort was almost bereft of shade..

On Tuesday, I managed to start my longest run - about 11.8km - the latest of almost any of them, meaning I was blasted by the heat, sun and humidity even more than usual. That was also the day I ran the driveway, because I make awesome decisions.

THE COOLING SLEEVES ARE NOT ENOUGH

On top of that, I went paddleboarding for the first time since September on a somewhat rough and windy day..

Yes, I know I'm doing it wrong here.

Then - just for giggles - I went and tried the FlowRider. They had it set up so one side was boogie boarding and the other surfing: I tried it on my belly first, and quickly wiped out and got washed up the slope onto the drain at the top. Again, because I make awesome decisions, I decided I'd give surfing it a try..

Getting some instruction from the staff member who was operating it, and was AMAZING at it!

Surprisingly enough, I actually managed to stay upright. My legs were TOAST, though, so as soon as I felt I could maneuver the board I skimmed over to the side (where there's much less water flow) and ungracefully stepped off.

I was super unsteady, but didn't die.

Tanker actually took a video of the whole business from start to finish, if you feel like spending less than 2mins of your life laughing at a dork on a board.

I hit one of the resort's gym a couple of times, too, to get in some strength work - I don't like to skip those sessions if I can avoid it.

Core strength doesn't go on vacation!

I got out once in a kayak, on a day with even more wind and wave action than the one on which I went paddleboarding.

It never looks impressive in photos.

One of the staff actually ended up chasing me and telling me to stay closer to shore, though, as it was so rough out.

We did an excursion on a hot, sunny day to Tulum to explore the ruins.

Which were also quite crowded

We had an amazing guide who grew up in a nearby Mayan village prior to the assimilation of cultures in the 70s, and who taught us about the traditions of his youth and the various facets of Mayan civilization - astronomy, mathematics, religious practices and everyday life. We saw the origins of chewing gum demonstrated before our eyes (the name "chiclets" didn't come about by accident), and learned all sorts of interesting things about the Mayan versus the Gregorian calendar.

While also seeing some amazing ancient architecture!

Hot and sweaty from our walking tour of the parched paths 'round the ruins, we headed down to the beach to play in the surf a bit.

If you're thinking "wind and waves seem to be a bit of a theme", you'd be correct.

SPLOOSH

After a bit more touring of the ruins, we headed back to the touristy shops and found a place with lovely, shady seats - that also happened to be swings - and got Tanker a cold beer and me an ENORMOUS fresh coconut.

Happy girl!

After that we caught a van to Rio Secreto for the coolest - both literally and figuratively - portion of our trip. We toured a partially flooded underground cave system absolutely chock full of stalactites, stalagmites and enigmatic helectites formed by the heavy concentration of calcium chloride in the water.

Shade, cool water and amazing geology? Yes please!

It was past sunset by the time we got back, so I did my one and only evening run of the trip on Thursday.

You can see the lights of the hotel zone in the distance looking north along the seawall

The resort lights were hardly needed with this incredible moon riding high over the sea

Friday was our last full day, and I actually had company for my morning run!

Wheeee!

The resort has a fleet of bikes available to borrow, which we'd both done to go exploring on our first full day (Sunday) to get a better idea of the layout of the enormous grounds. Tanker grabbed one again on Friday morning so he could follow along as I panted and sweated under the hot morning sun.

After the run we headed over to the Sunrise area to hit the pool to cool off before brunch, and as I was about to lay down on a lounger to dry off a bit before going to eat, they were calling people for a fitness class in the pool. I figured I'd give it a whack - I saw floating mats that looked like a hybrid between a SUP board and a yoga mat, so figured some stretching and light strength work wouldn't be too bad a wheeze. It was only 10am, brunch was served until 11:30am, and I figured it would only be about 30mins of easy mobility.

In a pool, under a sunny sky - how bad could it be?

I was, in fact, wrong. It turned out to be a 40min strength and HIIT class, with squats and planks and all sorts of leg-trashing, almost-falling-off-my-board stuff. By the time it was done, I was ready to hit the brunch buffet with extreme prejudice.

And STILL had to wait to dry off first!

I'm not going to say I spent every moment that we were in Mexico active - I usually only ran about 5km each morning, and my 2 gym workouts were only around 20mins each.

I also bought a floatie and made good use of it.

However, the resort was HUGE and despite the availability of golf carts driven by employees on set routes - like a bus service - to take people around the resort, we always seemed to end up walking everywhere. 

Daily step totals from our arrival day to our last full day at the resort.
(I ran 10km to the market Saturday morning before we left for Cancun)

Despite not doing a workout at all on Saturday, when we left the resort to travel back home, I finished the week with over 150,000 steps captured by my activity tracker - more than I'd logged during a week at work in which I'd run more than 70km.

There was definitely still some lounging by the pool, though.

So my "getting some rest" was a bit of a fail, but we did have quite a bit of fun along the way. Now I just have to try to get my legs back under me, as it's almost the start of race season proper!

I do miss those Caribbean Sea sunrises

Even if I'm very glad to be home once more.

Creeping up

I'm finally starting to see signs of  true spring, and to feel like a runner again.

This sort of thing helps immensely.

I still can't seem to kick the habit of double runs, so the weekend kicked off with the usual meander down to the market.

It's just such a lovely way to start a day.

The thermometer read 4c when I left, so I was in knicks, full sleeves and gloves - while it's been milder lately, I know there's still some lingering winter out there.

The trail itself may be clear, but there's still snow and ice about.

The sun warmed things up dramatically - I was only a kilometer in before I was zipping down the collar of my shirt, and by halfway I'd pushed up my sleeves and ditched my gloves in my pack.

Almost impossible to dress "correctly" when there's an 8 degree difference from start to finish.

After some errands, brunch and faffing about, I finally got out for a run I've been meaning to do for awhile..

So many of my friends will know where I mean just from seeing this.

I'd heard that Dundas Valley Conservation Area trail conditions were "Mostly frozen mud, a bit of water puddling in low spots" on Friday afternoon, and hoped that meant I'd have an ice-free lap. I left the spikes at home, but brought a pole along just in case.

Thankfully, I wouldn't need it.

I seldom do the exact Sulphur Springs loop, and this was no exception - why would I bypass beautiful Canterbury Falls when it's just a training run?

This is exactly why I run trails.

I was just taking it easy and enjoying myself - time wasn't an issue here, but footing occasionally was.

I haven't really run anything that would kill me with a misstep lately..

I told myself I wouldn't bother with the Sulphur Creek crossover if it was too muddy. Then I realised I'd done it 5 times in one day while it was all manner of splurpy and slippery, so went for it anyway.

Feels like 2017..

Having added about 10lbs per shoe, I trucked along as the sun dropped from the sky..

I'm not kidding.

Through the grassy bog of the G. Donald Trail, then the rolling hills of the Reforestation Trail. It was heading for dark as I hit the Headwaters lollipop, with nothing but mud and darkness through the loop at the top. I won't tell you I wasn't a little scared; I haven't done any headlamp trailrunning lately, and conditions weren't the easiest, but I know I have a night trail race coming so better to get some time in now.

I eventually made it out safely, and up the Martin Road climb to Tanker and our car.

I was delighted to find that I was still in decent shape when I finished - neither feet nor legs nor ankles were too beat up, possibly from the softer surface provided by the prolific mud. Still, it felt good to be able to put in over 4 hours of running in a day without ending up prostrate, with the second run being just over 3 hours. 

With that 33km in my legs from Saturday and a cable tech appointment around noon on Sunday, I decided it was time to kick the doubles habit and finally do a longer Sunday afternoon run. The Grand River Trail from Kolb Park seemed like a fair bet - groomed trail but some decent hills to mix things up for my tired legs.

It starts around river level, but climbs a wee bit as you head west..

The trails weren't quite as ice-free as I could have hoped.

It just had to be on one of the hills, too, right?

Nonetheless, I got another 13km in for 46-ish for the weekend. It might have felt a bit odd running on ice in a skirt, but the legs were there and that's something I've not really been able to say in quite a long time.

If this is weird, then I'm diggin' weird.

As race season draws closer, I'm delighted that I'm starting to feel some strength and fitness returning that seemed like it was gone for far too long. I kept on rolling through the week, and managed to cobble together some half decent mileage for my Saturday to Thursday training block.

That'll do.
Hell, I even ended up on the Slowtwitch leaderboard for the first time in ages!

I've actually had a pretty solid build over the last few weeks, too, and have even got myself down to a weight I haven't seen since at least fall of 2017...fortunately managing all this without falling ill or doing myself too much harm.

*knocking wood*

Part of the reason I've been able to push through, though, is knowing I'll have a bit of a recovery week built in - it begins with today's day off, and will continue through next Saturday. I'll still be getting some running in, but it's likely to be lower mileage and certainly a little more relaxed.

And hopefully with lots of time spent with this guy right here <3

So you'll be spared my blathering on about training and suchlike next week, while I go try to absorb some of the fitness from the work I've done lately.

I'm outta here!

Be good to yourselves, and kind to each other!