Tag Archives: weekly recap

Training

Lincoln Marathon Training, Week 6: Is It Time to Give Up on my 3:10 Dream?

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Am I the only person in the U.S. who doesn’t care about the Super Bowl? I have it on right now, but mostly just so I’ll have an idea of when J will be home. I don’t even care about the commercials anymore, since a bunch were released early and the rest will be on the interwebs, so I can watch them anytime if I want to. Instead, I’ll blog about my training week and the mental gymnastics I’ve been doing regarding this race. Aren’t you excited?

Monday: 

AM: 9 miles with 5 at tempo. I like doing tempo runs on the treadmill, because then I have to hold that pace, and I don’t go out too fast like I do in every outdoor tempo run. And race.

PM: 45 minutes of strength training at the gym. Apparently my strategy of avoiding the gym for the first couple of weeks of January worked; I heard some of the “regulars” talking about how all the resolutioners were gone.

Tuesday: 

14 miles. I left work a smidge earlier than usual and managed to get in 5 outside miles in the beautiful weather before the sun went down and forced me onto the treadmill. I’ve missed running into the sunset, and I’m SO GLAD the days are finally getting longer.

Stopping to wait for a train makes for a good sunset photo op.
Stopping to wait for a train makes for a good sunset photo op.

I hopped off the treadmill and did a 90-second wall sit for the #NoExcuses Sweat Pink challenge. Know what’s painful? Doing a 90-second wall sit after running 14 miles.
photo 1 (20)

Wednesday:

I’ve found myself looking forward to Wednesdays during this training cycle, as they’re recovery days. Five slow, easy miles followed by core work and stretching. I took a picture to prove that I was stretching, since I hardly ever do it. But I’m really trying to make it a priority this cycle.
photo 2 (20)

Thursday: 

AM: 45 minutes strength training. Getting to the gym in the mornings is tough, but it’s so much quieter. Plus, I didn’t think I’d have time to get in my whole run before work.

PM: 12 miles. I had planned a run like Tuesday’s — outside until it got dark, then inside — but some students borrowed my classroom Chromebooks and then weren’t where they said they’d be, so I lost a chunk of time searching for them and it was dark by the time i got home and changed. Darn kids.

Friday: 

Wednesday’s twin: 5 recovery miles, core, stretching

Saturday: 

18 miles. I hated almost every step of this run. If I’m being perfectly honest, I should admit that I went into it with a bad attitude. The weather was cold and gloomy, and I was tired, and my throat was scratchy, and I was overall being a big baby. Things did not improve when I finished the first eight miles and was supposed to run the final 10 at goal pace. I could not hold my goal pace to save my life. Goal pace is 7:15; I was struggling to keep it sub-8. This went on for the entire run. My legs were tired, but that’s the point of these runs after several days of higher mileage: the fast part is supposed to feel like the last 10 miles of a marathon, not the first. But that almost makes it more frustrating that I couldn’t hold the pace.

Recycled picture from the Fall Classic, where I ran yet another 3:13.
Recycled picture from the Fall Classic, where I ran yet another 3:13.

If you’ve followed me for long, you know that goal pace runs are always hard for me. I almost always struggle to hold goal pace.  My goal for my last two marathons has been to run a 3:10 or better. Both times, I’ve run 3:13s, making a total of three 3:13 marathons. I’m wondering if it’s time to give up on the 3:10 dream. I don’t want to be a quitter, but at what point is it not quitting so much as admitting your goal is too lofty? I’m training as hard as I can — I can’t fit in anymore mileage and still, you know, have a job and friends and a happy husband.

So what do I do? Part of me thinks I have a 3:10 in me –I would’ve had it at the Fall Classic had my digestive system not rebelled. But Saturday’s run was hugely discouraging. If I can’t even hold 7:15 pace for 10 miles, how can I expect to hold it for 26.2?

Okay, rant over. But I’d appreciate any advice and your honest opinions on whether or not 3:10 is unrealistic.

Sunday

45 minutes of yoga. I tried a new-to-me video on YouTube, which was a little more challenging than my go-to routines via the Yoga Studio app. It was tough but good for me, I think.

Totals: 63 miles, about 2:45 strength/stretch.

This coming week is a cutback week (all the way back to 55 miles…). I’m looking forward to it.

Do you think I can run a 3:10?

What seemingly impossible goals have you reached? Tell me some inspiring stories, please!

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That Time I Accidentally Planned a Fun Run (and Weekly Workouts 12/1-7)

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Yesterday, J and I were having a nice, leisurely morning, making a plan for the day over coffee, and I said that I wanted to drive around and look at Christmas lights. That reminded me that I’ve heard of running clubs doing Christmas light runs, and I wondered if anyone local would be interested in running around and looking at lights sometime. I posted a Facebook status and got a couple of interested replies, so I figured we’d pick a date and a general route, just running around at whatever pace for whatever distance, based on whoever showed up.

A couple of hours later, J ran some errands downtown, where he bumped into some friends of ours from the radio station. He mentioned my run idea, and they said that if we did it the same night as one of their other events, they’d provide hot chocolate when we finished. They even suggested a name (“Beat the Holiday Bulge”) and suggested that we also plan a one-mile loop for kids.

When J told me all of this, I said, “Wow, this is turning into an event!” A little while later, my friend Jaylin texted me and asked if there was anything she could do to help. And this conversation was had:
photo (2)

And thus, the Beat the Holiday Bulge Festive Fun Run was born. J and I did our lights-looking drive last night. I created a Facebook event, Jaylin shared it, and as of right now, we’ve got at least 21 people signed up to run. If they each donate $5, that’s $105 for the local food bank. Not bad for a randomly planned event!

If you’re local (or feel like taking a random Thursday night road trip to the plains), come join us December 18 at 5:30 in Fort Morgan’s City Park. It’ll be a good time!

This is where we start. it's much less blurry in person.
This is where we start. it’s much less blurry in person.

In addition to planning this fun run, I did some exercising this week. Here’s how it went:

Monday:

4 miles easy and 20 minutes of strength training. I went to the gym, since I needed a couple of machines for my strength routine, and they were having their holiday open house. They had a DJ, so that made working out a little more fun than usual. And they were snapping pictures, so I stole this one from their Facebook page.
photo 1 (11)

Tuesday:

5.5 miles of “hill” repeats. They were hard.

Wednesday:

4 miles easy and basement strength training. I took a super artistic photo for Instagram when I was done.
photo 2 (13)

Thursday: 

6.2 miles — 45 minutes with a few short, hard hill sprints at the end.

Friday: 

I cross trained two weeks in a row! Crazy talk. I did some intervals on the spin bike and then lifted for 25ish minutes. And I was inspired by a sticky note on the paper towel dispenser in the gym bathroom.
photo 3 (8)

Saturday:

5.5 easy miles as I planned a tentative route for the newly-planned lights run.

Sunday:

12.5 miles. It was flippin’ gorgeous out today. I wore shorts and was wishing I’d worn short sleeves, too!

Total: 37.7 miles

This coming week should be  little higher mileage, which is good — marathon training starts the week after Christmas, so I need to keep building my base!

And that’s all. Have a great week, friends!

I can’t think of a good reader question. Tell me something interesting. 

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Weekly Workouts 11/24-11/30

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Happy last day of November! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and some time off work and are ready to take on December! I really like December, which I’ll tell you all about later this week, so I don’t mind at all that it’s on its way!

November ended with 165.6 miles for me, which is right about where I wanted to be, since I’m not training for anything just yet. Let’s take a look at how November’s final week of workouts looked like, shall we? Since I’m doing the Holiday Sweat challenge, I’ve got more pictures than usual. I should always have the chance to win prizes, and maybe I’d be better about taking pictures.

Monday: 

5 miles easy and some at-home strength training. And a plank. See?
photo 1 (10)

Tuesday: 

5 miles of “hill” repeats on the treadmill

Wednesday: 

My new training plan had indoor cycling intervals and strength training scheduled for Friday, but I’d be at my in-laws then, so I switched it and did cycling and strength at the gym.
photo 2 (12)

Thursday: 

There’s a 5k Turkey Trot (with a one-mile walk option) in J’s hometown, and his family always participates in it. Because I’m an overachiever, I ran there (3.4 miles), ran the Turkey Trot (which my Garmin said was 3.25 miles), jogged back to find Jordan (1.3 miles), who was walking, and walked the rest of the course with him. So that’s a total of 8 miles running. I didn’t exactly race the Turkey Trot, as the streets were pretty icy and I was more concerned about getting in mileage, but it was still fun.
My sis-in-law took this picture of my backside as I passed them (they were walking the one-mile).
photo 3 (7)

Friday: 

5.4 easy miles and some bodyweight strength work in my in-laws’ basement.

Saturday: 

Back home for a 6.2-miler in the gorgeous, almost-60-degree weather. This was the view for part of my run:
photo 4 (5)

Sunday: 

As usual, Colorado couldn’t keep its seasons straight, so this morning’s run was in 18-feels-like-2-degree temps. It was not warm. Here’s the view from today, just up the road from yesterday’s:
photo 5
After 11 miles, I was a popsicle.

Total: 40.6 miles

Have a great week and a great December, friends!

What was the best part of your Thanksgiving?

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Weekly Workouts and a Challenge

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The end of Daylight Savings Time makes me sad. I hate getting out of work when it’s dark, and worse, the end of Daylight Savings means the start of Treadmill Season. Whomp whomp. At least I had some beautiful running weather for the last week of daily outdoor runs.

Monday: 
Farleks — 2 minutes at 5k pace, 2 minutes easy. 7.1 miles counting warm-up and cool down. Made some new friends:
photo 1 (7)

Tuesday:

5.2 miles easy and 40 minutes of strength training at the gym. I hadn’t done in-the-gym stuff for nearly two weeks. It left me s-o-r-e.

Wednesday:

6 slow and easy miles — slow thanks to some very sore legs. But my favorite loop at the park was pretty and sunny.
photo 2 (8)

Thursday:

7 miles with 15 30-second hill repeats in the middle. I actually enjoy hill repeats, and I was a little sad that I’ll be restricted to treadmill hills for the most part. But at least on the treadmill I can do longer repeats.

I thought about lifting again Thursday, but… I didn’t.

Friday: 

4 quick and easy miles before the trick-or-treaters started knocking.

Saturday:

11 miles easy for my “long” run. The weather was glorious — I ran in a T-shirt and skirt on November 1! It felt unusually hard for some reason, but I think I was just tired and run down from a couple of long and stressful weeks. I took an hour-long nap in the afternoon, and I rarely nap, so I think I was just tired all around. I hope so, because if 11 was hard, I’ll struggle with the unofficial half-marathon that Amy’s putting together for next weekend!

I haven't posted one of these pictures lately. Better get one up in case you've forgotten what my feet and watch look like.
I haven’t posted one of these pictures lately. Better get one up in case you’ve forgotten what my feet and watch look like.

We went bowling with friends Saturday night, which was not a workout but was embarrassing. I’m the worst at bowling.

Sunday; 

I’d run 14 days in a row, so I took today off running. I didn’t want to take the day off completely, though (more on that in a minute), so I rode my bike to the gym and lifted for 40 minutes or so.

Totals: 40.3 miles, not much strength training

As you can see, my strength and core training took a digger this week (and last). I need to get back on that wagon. I also am making a challenge for myself: work out for at least 30 minutes a day, every day from November 1 to January 1. It’s not a run streak, just an exercise streak (brisk walks and yoga count) because I don’t want to flirt with injury, but I figure that committing to some sort of workout out daily will help balance the holiday indulgences, as well as keep the holiday/end-of-semester stress under control.

Who wants to streak with me?
streak

If I were a good blogger, I’d have thought this out months ago, and made it some big bloggy challenge thing with sweet prizes and stuff. But that would mean that A. I were a good blogger and B. I’d thought about this before I was mid-run on November 1. But if you want to join in with me, do it! I could use the accountability, and it’s always fun to have friends.

The only prize you’ll get is being neither plumper nor grumpier this holiday season. That’s a pretty good prize, though, right?

Whether you streak with me or not, I hope November is treating you well thus far, and I hope you have a great week!

Wanna streak?

Are you a Daylight Savings fan or hater?

Can you bowl well, or do your scores stay in the (low) double-digits like mine?

Training, Uncategorized

Weekly Recap: Marathon Training Week 1 (Sorta)

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I usually post my training recaps on Sundays, but last Sunday was graduation, and between getting ready for it, sitting through it, and racing around from party to party, I was exhausted by the time we got home Sunday night. So you get a delayed recap.

In case you hadn’t gathered from my Twitter, Instagram, and recent blog posts, last week was the students’ last this year. Along with the usual last week of school craziness, our server crashed, adding an extra amount of stress. The good news is, though, that I got in a solid week of training.

Even though I won’t “officially” start training until after vacation, I followed Pete Pfitzinger’s Advanced Marathoning 18/70 plan for the week, since it was 18 weeks out from the race. My “real” training plan is a hybrid of this one and one from Greg McMillan’s You, Only Faster, but I wanted a more focused plan for last week.

The best part about the week was that it contained zero treadmill runs. I love my treadmill and all, but not as much as outdoor runs! I’m excited to take a little break from the ‘mill for the next few months.

I also finished the four-week Nike program I’d been doing. I liked it, and it was really convenient to do strength work in my basement during these super-busy last few weeks. … But I’m actually ready to get back into the gym to lift.  I know. I can’t believe it either. Rachel would be so proud.

Anyway, now that I’ve rambled on and on, here’s the recap:

Monday: Rest from running; 30-minute Nike Training Club full body workout plus some extra core work

Tuesday: AM: 45-minute NTC yoga workout
PM: 9.1 miles with 4 at tempo. I hadn’t done a tempo run since October. Holy cow am I out of tempo shape. This run hurt.

Wednesday: AM: 1-hour NTC full-body strength workout
PM: 5-mile recovery run. Nice and slow after Tuesday’s tempo.

Thursday: AM: 45-minute NTC full-body strength
PM: 11 miles easy

Friday: 7-mile fartlek run. It was finally light enough to get in my whole run outside before school. It was also the last day of school.Hello, sunrise runs. I've missed you.

Hello, sunrise runs. I’ve missed you.

Saturday: AM: 5-mile recovery run
PM: 45-minute NTC workout

Sunday: 17-mile pre-graduation long run. When I told J that I was exhausted at 8:30 that night, he pointed out that I had been going nonstop since 5:30 a.m. Oh. Good point, husband.

Totals: 54.1 miles run, 3ish hours strength/yoga

In other news, teachers had to go back to school yesterday and today, but now my desk looks like this:
photo 2 (6)which means I am done until August 8. Let’s ignore the fact that I brought home two boxes and two totes full of stuff to do over the summer. And the fact that I’m teaching a summer class at the community college. The important thing is that I’m done with school and leaving for vacation in TWO DAYS!

I’ll try to get a post up on Thursday, but if that doesn’t happen, rest assured that I have awesome guest posts scheduled for while I’m away. I’m super excited about them, so make sure you check back next week!

What was your week/weekend like? I’ve missed a lot of blog posts lately!

Training, Uncategorized

Another Week in the Books: 5/5- 5/11

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I swear every week goes faster than the last. Seriously, this school year flew. My seniors were done on Friday, and everyone else finishes this Friday. People keep asking me if I’m super glad the year is almost over, and honestly, I’m not. It doesn’t seem like it should be over yet.

But alas, it is, and last week was another busy one, but not a bad one training-wise.

Monday: No running, since I ran long Sunday. I did a 30-minute Nike workout and tacked on some quality time with my 8-minute abs friend and the gang. I also did a lot of walking, as I took the National Honor Society to the Food Bank of the Rockies and the Denver Zoo. Fitbit said I got all 10,000 steps by 2:00.

Does this happy elephant not make you happy, too?
Does this happy elephant not make you happy, too?

It was such a fun day — that’s the easiest group of kids to take on a field trip, and we had gorgeous weather. I was also amused at the food bank when the guy giving us instructions told my kids that boxed mashed potatoes went in the “Grains/Cereals” bin. Convincing a bunch of farm kids that potatoes are grains was harder than he anticipated.

Tuesday: 7 miles fartleks. Maybe I will introduce more formal speedwork this week, but right now, I really like fartleks…especially on early morning treadmill runs, because they keep me entertained.
Nike Training Club told me to do a yoga workout, too, but between history teacher interviews and academic awards night, there was no time. By the time I got home at 8:00, dinner trumped yoga on my priorities list.

Wednesday: AM: 45-minute NTC full-body workout
PM: 7 miles easy.

Thursday: AM: 10 miles easy. I intended to do the last half outside, as it’s finally get light earlier, but it was raining (weird), and I didn’t want to get off the treadmill and change clothes since I was already pressed for time. So 10 treadmill miles it was.
PM: Because I hate the environment, I drove home, did a 30-minute NTC shoulder and leg workout plus an extra 15 minutes of core, then drove back to work for an evening meeting. Sorry, ozone.

Friday: 8 miles of fartleks plus a 10-minute core workout.

Saturday: 5 easy miles followed by a 45-minute NTC full body workout. Yesterday was beautiful, and I should have done my long run then. But instead, I went vacation shopping. Swimsuit shopping is traumatic.

I tried on about 5 billion suits. Jordan tried on three, then bought one because “it’s red.” Men suck. 🙂 BUT I found one, too, so now vacation can commence… in almost two weeks. Also, I think I am not a girl at all. We finished clothes shopping, and I turned to J and said, “Now we can go to Barnes and Noble and shop for fun stuff!” I am a nerd.

Sunday: 14 miserable, cold miles. True to its usual form, Colorado went from warm and sunny yesterday morning to cold, windy, and rainy/snowy this morning. Some runners love to run in the rain. I am not one of them — especially since I don’t own rain gear (it almost never rains for long periods of time here. This week was unique). This was definitely a “suck it up and get it done” run… and actually I had planned to run 16, but I promised myself that if I hit 13 and was miserable, I could stop. So I was okay with 14.

Totals: 51 miles running, 2.5ish hours cross training

I don’t know yet what this week will look like mileage-wise, but I want to get in a solid long run next weekend, at least. I should also probably get a training plan made up, since I’ll start a 15-week plan the week after vacation.

Have a great week, friends! Summer is coming!

How was your week/weekend?

Favorite/least favorite things to shop for?

Do you like running in the rain? Any advice for me for those times that I have to do it?

 

Training, Uncategorized

Recap of Another Busy Week: 4/28-5/4

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Oh, hey blog. Guess I haven’t been around here since this time last week, have I? Whoops. And it’s looking like this might be par for the course for the next couple of weeks, but I’ll try really hard to make it back more often so that I still have readers to read the guest posts I’ve got scheduled for while we’re on vacation.

I’m sure run-on sentences like that one will really help the reader situation, too.

Anyway, this was another busy week, as most are during the last month of school. And the word of the week was “windy” — we had four straight days of 50 mph winds. It was not my favorite. But I finally hit 50 miles and got in all my scheduled Nike Training Club workouts, so the week wasn’t a total bust.

Here’s how it went:

Monday: AM: 30 minute NTC total-body workout
PM: I had grand plans to run outside… but then this happened:
photo 3
Yeah, no. Treadmill it was for 7 miles of intervals/fartleks/whatever you want to call it (isn’t it fartleks if you go by minutes instead of miles for the fast part?)

Tuesday: AM: 8 miles easy
PM: 45 minutes NTC yoga after another round of unsuccessful interviews.

Wednesday: AM: 5 miles of intervals/fartleks/whatevers plus 45 minute NTC full body workout. We had an evening event, so I had to get up extra-early and squish the workouts together.

Thursday: AM: 30 minutes NTC leg and core workout
PM: The weather gods had finally spent their wrath, apparently, and we were back to our normal-for-springtime 20-30 mph winds AND we had no evening commitments, so I ran 8.2 lovely outdoor miles.

Friday: 7.1 easy miles outside, then some core work. I took my sweet time about it, since J was supervising a middle school dance (poor soul) and I didn’t have any reason to rush.

Saturday: Normally, I run long on Saturdays and take Sundays off, but for the next few weeks, I think Sunday’s going to have to be the LR day. I just did a 45-minute NTC total-body workout, and then spent the rest of the day doing this:
photo 2 (2)I love flowers. I spend way too much money on them every year, and buy way too many and end up buying more pots and/or cramming them too full, but I love it.

Sunday: 15-mile long run. It feels good to run first thing in the morning in a skirt and t-shirt. It also feels good to be getting my long runs built back up. And I saw some baby geese, but I had my phone in a ziplock (to protect it from my nasty sweat) in my pocket and didn’t want to dig it out. They basically looked like this:
(source)

Totals: 50 miles, 3.25ish hours strength/XT, 7ish hours flower planting

And that’s a wrap. I’m hoping to hold mileage between 50-55 for the next couple of weeks, then officially start marathon training after vacation. I mean, I’ll run on vacation (because who goes on a beach vacation and doesn’t run on the beach?) but I don’t want to be tethered to a training schedule there.

And in case you were wondering, here’s why I need a vacation:

photo 1 (1)

Ok, good night, friends.

What’s going on in your world? My blog reading and commenting has been just slightly more frequent than my posting, so let me know if I’ve missed something!

Do you follow  a training schedule on vacation, or just go with the flow?

And one more question… I’m thinking about writing a “what not to do in the teaching job interview” post, because I’ve learned a lot from being on this side of things. I know I’ve got several readers who are teachers… would you be interested in such a post, even though it doesn’t really fit the “genre” of this blog?

Training, Uncategorized

Weekly Recap: 4/14-4/20

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Happy Easter, everyone!

We spent the weekend in Keystone with my parents and brother to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It was a really nice weekend. Naturally, I took one photo on my phone. Winning.

On the original training plan I made, this was a cutback week. Since I took an extra rest day last week, though, I decided that it was a cutback week, so I could keep building this week. I have no idea if that is smart. I’m just a chick with a running blog, not an expert.

Anyway, this is how it looked:

Monday: AM: Six miles of hill intervals
PM: Nike Training Club workout

Tuesday: 7 miles easy plus core

Wednesday: 40 minute steady hill climb (on the treadmill, of course). I kind of hate how slowly hills make me run… I only managed to get in five miles, including the 10-minute warm-up. Followed by another Nike workout.

Thursday:  Twins with Tuesday

Friday: We had the day off for Good Friday, so I decided to do my long run before we left for the weekend. 13 miles.

Saturday: Rest. Usually Sundays are rest days, but I didn’t know what the roads/trails would be like in Keystone, so I decided to make Saturday rest and didn’t pack my running stuff. Turns out, there was a beautiful little path right outside our condo that was mostly clear. Oh well. Got in several walks with the family, anyway.
photo (4)

Sunday: 5 miles of fartleks plus core work.

Totals: 43 miles, 2ish hours of strength work. Next week, I should be close to 50 again. Yay!

Confession: After all my talk about the Run to the Shrine race and the poop medal I want to win (and all the hill work I’ve been doing for it), I’m really starting to waver on whether or not I want to do it. By that time, we will have had nine straight weekends of going out of town at least one day. And that’s the day before graduation, and the week before our vacation. The race is sounding less and less appealing all the time. I just don’t know. I haven’t registered yet, so I guess I can change my mind at any time.

Anyway, sorry for the blah post, but I’ve gotta go do things. Like that specificity? Have a great week!

How was your Easter?

 

Training, Uncategorized

Weekly Recap 3/31-4/6 And I’m The Worst at Blogging

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Hey friends! Another Sunday night has rolled around, but it doesn’t really feel like it to me because next week is my spring break! I’m looking forward to not setting any early alarms this week… especially since I just remembered I forgot to put the sheets in the dryer. Shoot. We also have super fun things to do on spring break, like pay taxes. Sarcastic woot.

Anyway, let’s talk about this training week, because it was fun.

Monday: 4.6 easy miles. I intended to do five, butmy intestines had other ideas (sorry if that’s TMI). Let’s just say that I was quite grateful to get home at 4.6. I also did some core work. (This was not the fun day, FYI).

Tuesday: AM: 6 miles of short treadmill hills… I did 1 minute at 8% at marathon pace, 1 minute recovery, 1 minute at 9%, 1 minute recovery, 1 minute at 10%, recovery, repeat repeat repeat.
I also starting watching the show About a Boy. I like it.
PM: About an hour of strength training. I also easily ran to and from the gym for a grand total of 2.4 miles. I’m never sure if I should count those toward my weekly mileage.

Wednesday: 7 miles easy. This more than made up for Monday’s run… even though it was chilly and windy, it was one of those “I love running and never want to stop!” types of runs. And then I did some core work, including planks, which were super boring and inspired this ridiculous picture:
photo 4Can’t un-see that, can you?

Thursday: AM: 6 miles of treadmill hills: warm-up, 2 x 20 minutes between 5% and 11% with 5 minutes in between, tiny cool-down
PM: More strength training. No awkward pictures. You’re welcome.

Friday: 5 recovery miles plus core. Recovery runs on the treadmill are the worst, but I had to do it in the morning. J was leading a conference in Denver Friday night/Saturday (he’s kind of a big deal), which meant free hotel room, which meant I was going to Denver. Obviously.

Saturday: One of my favorite running days so far this year. Since I was in Denver, I decided to cross running the bleachers at Red Rocks off my 30 before 30 list. That gave me a little over 5 miles, and then I met up with Amy for 4.something on the trails near the amphitheater.  The trails and weather were beautiful. Meeting Amy was terrific; she’s really nice and easy to talk to. We learned that although neither of us is a great map reader, we’re also not serial killers, so we feel pretty good now about doing this crazy race with Logan.

But somehow two bloggers went running together in a gorgeous locale and didn’t take a single photo. Fail. But here’s an elevation chart via my Garmin.
elevation
After the run, as I was driving back, I realized I was starving and wanting a cup of not-crappy-hotel coffee. So I pulled into a Whole Foods, got an almond milk latte and some sushi (because that’s totally normal food for 10:30 a.m.) and ate it from my lap on the way home. I am so classy.
photo 2 (1)Yup. Took a picture of lap sushi but not beautiful trails. If there were a blogging Pulitzer, I’d probably win it.

Sunday: 60 minutes of yoga, which felt good but also kind of awful since I hadn’t done yoga in months and months.

Totals: 41 miles, 2ish hours strength (plus core time), one hour yoga, almost two hours of failing as a blogger.

This should be a pretty solid week of training and fun… next weekend, two of my best girlfriends and I are taking the train over to Palisade (in Western Colorado) for wine tasting and some much-needed girl time. I can’t wait!

How was your week? 

Would you count the to-the-gym miles as part of your weekly mileage?

 

Training, Uncategorized

Weekly Recap: 3/24-3/30

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Hey friends! Welcome to another Sunday night. I hope you had a good weekend!

Can I just point out the tomorrow is already the end of MARCH?! Holy cow. I’m thrilled that it’s spring and warmer weather is coming, but man, that month went fast. We have less than two months of school left. That’s insane.

Anyway, on Thursday, I posted my general plan for the next few weeks of training. I want to start building mileage, but since the last two weeks were kind of mini-tapers, I decided that this week’s mileage should be the same as three weeks ago. I don’t think that sentence made any sense. Sorry. Pretend you don’t know that I’m a writing teacher.

Poor writing aside, the week went pretty well. And if soreness is an indication that my muscles are getting stronger, I will have some powerful glutes by the end of this thing. Holy DOMS,

Here’s how the week went:

Monday: 5.2 miles easy, 15 minutes core
Tuesday: AM: Eight sets of Greg McMillan’s 6/7s workout (one of my favorites, in a hurts-so-good kind of way) for a total of 7 miles
PM: 45ish minutes strength training
Wednesday: 6.1 miles easy, 10 minutes core
Thursday: AM: 2 x 15 minutes at an incline (I bumped the treadmill up or down every minute, staying between 5 and 11%) with 5 minutes of flat running between sets. WIth warm-up and cool-down, it was 6 miles. I decided for the first few weeks to do the long hill climbs in minutes rather than miles, because my ego gets sad seeing how slowly I have to run on inclines.
PM: 45ish minutes strength training
Friday: I knew we’d be busy Saturday, so I moved my “long run” to Friday. 9 chilly, windy miles. Next week, I’ll be back in double-digits and I’m so excited.
Saturday: 5 recovery miles, then 8-Minute Abs with my blue-tights friend and the gang.
Sunday: Rest. There was no yoga. But I took a walk, so that’s…something.

Total: 38.3 miles. Next week should be back in the 40s, and I’ll start feeling more like myself again.

Other news from the week:

  • Standardized testing is horribly boring, at least for the proctors. But the good news is that on Friday, kids didn’t have to come to school except for make-up tests. I had to administer one of those, but the rest of my day was free, which meant I got a ton done and could leave at 3:30. That was pretty stellar.
  • Yesterday, we went to the 9 News Health Fair. J got the blood tests, but I didn’t, as I generally try to avoid being stabbed with needles. While we were there, we both signed up to be on the national bone marrow donor registry. Did you know that they don’t have to actually get marrow from donors anymore? They can do it all from blood. So for minimal pain and a few hours of time, you can save someone’s life. That’s awesome.
  • Also yesterday, I spent the Runner’s Roost gift certificate that I won in the Loveland Sweetheart Classic. I was really tempted to buy a Brooks jacket that I fell in love with, but even on sale, it was $50 and my gift certificate was only $25. So I did the responsible thing and put the gift certificate toward shoes, since I actually needed shoes. Being a grown-up is lame. But I like the new colors Mizuno has this year.
    photo
  • After this week, we’ll have spring break…. which is kind of crazy, because we get out for the summer in the middle of May. But hey, it’s spring break.

That’s about enough rambling for tonight, methinks. Have a great week!

Have you ever donated an organ/fluid besides blood?

Other teachers/students: When is/was your spring break? Any fun plans?