New Caledonia training update

Just got back from a 3 week work trip to New Caledonia (a tropical island in Pacific).   It was just going into summer there and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful.

I couldn't find a flat area on the whole island so I wound up running a ton of hills and although it slowed me down a bit it never really became unmanageable.

My running highlights of the trip included a 7.5K trail race (my first) that went up and down a mountain.  This was my first ever trail race and the downhill was much more brutal than anticipated, resulting in trashed quads that limited my ability to walk for almost a week (much less run)…. race report to follow.

Besides that, there was an awesome bike path that ran near my hotel out into the country side that included rolling hills, spectacular views, and little to no traffic (a couple photos from the path below).

I used this trip to begin my offseason.  Got plenty of base pace miles in but nothing too long or fast.

Ran about 40 miles including the trail race...  The reduced mileage was much needed so I'm glad this trip (and trail race) helped force this reduction.

Besides running I got plenty of exercise, hiking up several mountains.  Wound up with an all time step count record of 160,355 for one week and climbed 760 floors that same week... to top it off I lost 3 lbs during the trip.  Considering my general problem of never being able to lose any weight this was a much appreciated bonus.