This weekend, I only ran 4 miles.

It felt so very odd. Usually, weekends are ‘long run’ time  – anything from 9 to 12 miles. It takes a chunk out of a weekend. But because I’m getting my long-runs in on a Monday at the moment, all I had on my training plan was four measly, fartlek miles. I felt both liberated (all that spare time) and a little odd (did I miss something?).

This was pretty much my first ever fartlek session. (I still keep smirking about the name). As such, I had no idea about how to do it, so I did some googling, found various options and picked the ones I liked best. So off I headed. Half a mile warm-up and then repeats of 1 minute FAST and 2 minutes recovery! It was hard, especially the day after a tempo run! I needed every second of those recovery minutes! In the end, I did about 7 repeats of those intervals and then half a mile very VERY slow jog home! I was actually really happy with how it went (having nothing to compare it to)!  4 miles in total. 

And then on Sunday, we went hiking! The weather was atrocious. We drove up to Skyline, the ridge that follows the San Andreas Fault, to check out Russian Ridge, a new state park to us. The fog rolled in. It was grey, windy, a little damp and very cold. British weather. We used to hike in bad weather all the time in the UK but we have recently softened up, due to the California sunshine. So we baulked a little at the conditions. Ironically, it was the Dude who insisted we hiked, so we buckled up our big girl pants and set out.

It wasn’t the warmest of hikes, and the ‘inspirational view’ that the guidebook told us about was swathed in rolling grey fog, but it had its own beauty. Wild grassland that reminded us of Yorkshire gave way to an amazing forest filled with gnarled oak trees. Russian Ridge is very different to the lush redwood forests in Woodside that we’re familiar with. This park was wild, desolate and ever-so-slightly creepy in the fog. Both the Husband and I were more wary about mountain lions here than anywhere else we’ve hiked, and when falling leaves rustled in the forests, we were both a little edgy.

We hiked about 5 miles, my Dude’s little legs are getting stronger every week, and then drove home to snuggle under the duvet with hot chocolate!