Training Doesn’t Take Vacation

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Tori @ In Love and Peanut Butter

I was lucky enough to spend the last few days at the beautiful Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. This National Historic Landmark was built in 1778 and now holds a 5 diamond award. The grounds include almost 7,000 acres with activities ranging from falconry to off-road driving. Needless to say, it was incredible.

I was there for work, but was determined to squeeze a few workouts in between meetings. I’m at that awkward taper time of the training plan where all my workouts are optional/shorter/easy so I wasn’t too pressured to follow any strict plan.

The forecast for Monday looked absolutely beautiful before we left. I was really excited to enjoy a run without the Florida heat and humidity.

As soon as I checked in I met with our Event Manager from the Greenbrier for a quick property tour before our conference started. I asked her if there were any good running trails around. She handed me a map of the miles and miles of trails around the resort. I had a few hours to spare before dinner so I set out for an 8-10 mile run.I guess my absolutely beautiful weather forecast was a little inaccurate because I got out about 5 miles when the rain started. I decided to cut my run short and take the shortest route back to the hotel which was only about a mile away.

After returning soaking wet, I decided it might be a good time to check out the indoor pool. The pool at the Greenbrier was built in 1912 and is absolutely incredible. The pool is filled with mineral water and is super refreshing. I asked the lifeguard if it was a standard 25 meter pool. She informed me that it was actually 30 meters. I swam a mile, but could have swam all day.

It rained for the next 24 hours straight which wasn’t too bad since I was in meetings all day.

Before dinner the second night I made my way back to the pool and got another mile in.

While at dinner a co-worker of mine was showing me pictures she’d taken that day around the resort. She happened to snap a picture of the pool while I was swimming and had no idea it was me. Too funny.

I have to mention the food. I usually have a hard time finding vegan places/meals to eat while traveling. I rarely travel without some emergency granola bars or oatmeal in my bag. However, The Greenbrier just got it. I set up our entire banquet menu and requested a vegan option. Every meal was delicious and unique and I always felt very well taken care of.

For our last afternoon we had boxed lunches before heading to the airport. They marked mine vegan and gave me veggies, an apple and a wrap with balsamic marinated asparagus, mushrooms, squash and zucchini. It was awesome.

This trip really couldn’t have come at a better time. Getting myself out of my normal surroundings and routine for the first few days of this taper made it a lot easier to enjoy to transition to the more relaxed training.

Had I not been training for this event I probably wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the miles of grounds of The Greenbrier and I probably wouldn’t have experienced the pool.

I’d love to go back some day and enjoy all the other activities this resort has to offer. It truly is one of a kind.

Ironman 70.3 Augusta Training Recap: Week 8

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Tori @ In Love and Peanut Butter

I’m a little late posting my recap from last week but, I’m back from vacation and back to reality.

I mentioned in my first post from vacation that we did our research before heading out on our trip of ways to get some training in while on the road. I think we did a pretty decent job considering how jam-packed our vacation was.

I was surprised how much harder everything was at altitude. I’ve run in the mountains before and knew that it wasn’t going to be pretty but I hadn’t even thought about how different swimming felt at high elevation. It definitely makes me appreciate my flat Florida roads a little more.

Monday:

Travel Day

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

AM- 1-hour spin

Thursday:

Travel Day

Friday:

Saturday:

AM: 5-mile run in the mountains

Sunday:

White Water Rafting! I rescued Patrick after he fell out… does that count for open water training?

That wraps up my second month of training. This week was a little more relaxed than it probably could have been but it was nice to have a couple of days of rest during our trip.

Having some time to recharge my batteries probably did me some good anyway since I have a big weekend coming up.

I’m racing Top Gun Sprint Triathlon at Ft. DeSoto with a couple of friends. Top Gun was my very first triathlon three years ago and I’ve done it every year since. I’m so looking forward to it!

Swiming & Running & Bears, oh my

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Tori @ In Love and Peanut Butter

We’ve had a very eventful couple of days here in North Carolina.

My family has a house in the mountains just outside of Highlands. I’ve spent my summers here since I was a kid.

One of my favorite memories was going to watch the sunset at Sunset Rock. The weather is questionable the next few evenings so we decided to go on our first night here.

We took the opportunity of the beautiful view to take some pictures.

The view up there is absolutely breathtaking. The sky fills up with so many different colors and you can see for miles.

After our super-touristy photo session we both got totally lost in the sunset until the moment was ruined… by a grizzly bear.

I absolutely love this picture.

I’ve been coming here for nearly 20 years and this is the first encounter I’ve had with one.

In the end, Smokey didn’t manage to ruin the moment and we were still able to enjoy the sunset.

After last night’s excitement we got up and went back into town to get some training done.

There is a public pool at the nearby civic center that has lap swimming in the morning.

Highlands is just above 4000 feet in elevation. I hadn’t really thought about how different it would be swimming at a higher altitude than back home. I was definitely winded a bit faster than normal.

After our swim we got some more hill training in through town. I was able to show Patrick a lot of my favorite places from when I was a kid. Like “The Toy Store” on Main Street of course.

Its only in the 60s here in the morning so it makes for really nice running weather. Cool morning air is something we haven’t seen for a while back home.

Lots of fun planned for a weekend in the Mountains! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!

Running Richmond

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Tori @ In Love and Peanut Butter

Greetings from Richmond!

The boyfriend and I are spending the week visiting family in Virginia and North Carolina.

We spent the last few days visiting Patrick’s Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles in his hometown, Richmond Virginia. Its been nice to have a chance to unplug, relax and catch up.

We are also doing a decent job of keeping up with our training plan. Before leaving Florida we researched the local running trails, public pools and fitness classes to build a relaxed version of this week’s workouts.

Our first morning we caught the Virginia sunrise with a morning run.

It was a hilly 3 miles compared to our flat Florida roads but certainly a welcome change. We both enjoyed the change of scenery.

After our run we made our way to the YMCA pool near Patrick’s family’s house. One of the best things about being a YMCA member is there is almost always one close by when traveling.