LIIFT4: Week 6/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:

We're on Week 6 of this now, are we? 

Cool.

Monday

Did: LIIFT4, 4ish mi run/walk with stroller @ 10:05/mi avg
Trying hard to maximize the last "build" week of the program with increased weights. Also got in a quick lunch run with the stroller, though I walked a few hills.

Tuesday

Did: LIIFT4, 6.23mi @ 8:32/mi avg as the Stay Home Virtual Half/10K/5K race
Anytime the baby sleeps 10 hours, it's a good day. Got up, worked for a few hours, got in a morning LIIFT session, worked some more, and then headed out for my 10KTuesday lunch run date with my husband.

Awhile ago, I'd signed up for a Virtual 10K race, intending on using it as a reason to do more than just run through one of my early morning 10KTuesdays. About two miles into today's run, I realized this was the week of the race... and I might as well take advantage of the faster than usual pace I was running alongside my husband.

...so I picked it up, without telling my husband what I was doing, and pushed on.

At 3.9mi in, I was feeling good. At 4.0mi, I was ready to be done... and checked my watch probably about 5 times in the next half mile, willing it forward. 

It wasn't my fastest 10K by far, or even a true race, but it definitely felt good to push as a tempo run. I haven't done any sort of pace work for the past few months, and it was kind of nice to have a chance.

Hooray, we're done!

Sweet shirt.
"Run where you play have to, because you can't go anywhere else right now"

Wednesday

Did: ATC Core Workout, 3mi easy @ 8:30/mi?
Atlanta Track Club's providing some free workout classes during the pandemic, so Jerry and I thought we'd do Coach Amy's core class together as a mid-morning break. Nothing too fancy, but a nice way to spend 30min "together".

Went out later that afternoon for an easy run that turned into an unintentional fast one. Once I got going, I just kind of locked in an enjoyed the push. Felt good, though, to do the same pace on today's "easy" 5K that I did during yesterday's "race". 

Thursday

Did: 5K on treadmill @ 10:00/mi, LIIFT4
I really wanted to go run outside today, but not enough to deal with this mess of downpour + wind solo. 

blergh

After a lot of back and forth with myself, I decided watching a TV show while running was enough incentive to get on the treadmill. Starting up, even the 6.0mph felt insanely fast. I stuck with it, but it wasn't until 2.8mi in that I finally felt warmed up and wasn't constantly wanting to stop. Finished out the 5K, and proceeded to LIIFT4.

I think I say this every week, but I'm insanely proud of myself for sticking with a weight lifting/strength training program this long. I've always struggled with motivation to lift, especially solo, but this program seems to be jiving well with my current lifestyle and needs. 

plus, I'm loving the "Weight Tracker" spreadsheet
SO MUCH VISUAL PROGRESS

Friday

Did: LIIFT4, 1mi on 'mill @ 10:00, 2mi on road @ 8:32/mi avg
I really wanted to get up and run before the dawn this morning. I set my alarm for 4:30 and everything.

...but then the baby was up from 11:30pm to 1am, and I couldn't get back to sleep until almost 2:30am myself.

After turning off my alarm at 4:30, I was woken up a little before 6am by more baby cries, shortly followed by my husband dropping baby on my lap/bed because he'd been hit in the face by baby's head and needed to get some ice on his cheekbone ASAP. 

Got LIIFT in (last workout without weights! woooo!), then ran a mile on the 'mill while I was on parent-duty, then hopped outside for a quick 2mi on the roads before my husband's 7:30am meeting and return to parenting. 

Saturday

Did: 10.01mi @ 9:43/mi avg, yoga
Another morning with my family on the greenway. Felt pretty awesome to be singing "Captain Vegetable" from Sesame Street (circa 1990) as a trio while keeping a 9-something pace. 

Sunday

Did: 5.01mi with stroller @ 8:49/mi avg, 30min yoga
"Treated" myself to a run at the river, whose parking lots have been closed for the past month. Parked offsite and ran to/from the main paths.

Total Weekly Mileage: 34.49

Week-ending Thoughts:
I "ran the rainbow" this week. Teehee

LIIFT4: Week 5/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:

In some ways, this whole self-isolation thing has felt like a vacation? 

Monday

Did: LIIFT4, 3.79mi @ 9:00/mi avg
Upped the weight today. :) Feels good to be using the 25lb dumbbells for a couple exercises these days, even if I only make it through two of the three sets before dropping 5lbs. 

Did an afternoon run with my husband-- felt nice to get out there together and catch up on the run. 

Tuesday

Did: LIIFT4, 10KTuesday @ 9:00/mi avg, Big 5
This was my first #10KTuesday in daylight in... a really long time. When my husband offered to run with me at lunch, that sealed my decision to not get out of bed at 4am. I got my lifting session in before morning work, and enjoyed a lunch run with my other half. 

Wednesday

Did: 3.0mi @ 9:20/mi avg, Big 5
Stress-relieving run.

Thursday

Did: LIIFT4, 3.35mi @ 8:32/mi avg, Big 5
Now this was a stress-relief run. 

Friday

Did: LIIFT4, 1mi on treadmill @ 9:22/mi + 1mi outside @ 9:18/mi avg
What a patchwork workout day. Got up, sans alarm, at 5:00am, and wanted to run outside, but was on baby-duty, so I decided to just get my LIIFT4 done instead. Had to break it up into a couple sessions to warm a bottle, etc., but it happened. I'm so proud of myself for sticking with this program so long! It's always been hard for me to do any sort of strength training, especially SOLO, but this Beachbody program is really going well. One more week of "building", and two weeks of "shred it"-- whatever that means. 

After LIIFT4, I took the baby down to the basement to treadmill. Made it one mile, and then needed to break for bottle for baby. At this point, my husband was able to take over, so I could finish my run.... wait for it.... OUTSIDE BEFORE DAWN!!!

I haven't run outside in the early morning hours in a really long time (well, besides the weekly 10KTuesday, which, was over 10 days ago now), and it felt SO nice-- especially since temps were in the 40s. 

Saturday

Did: 10mi @ 10:23/mi avg, LIIFT4 Stretch/Recovery video
I did not want to do this run. Dark + alone + rain = ugggghhh. Add in some super sore hammies and glutes from yesterday's LIIFT4 session, and I was totally unmotivated to do the workout... but very motivated to have done the workout. 

So, I whined a bit to some runner friends, knowing they'd check my Garmin later, and got out anyways, telling myself I could just turn around early and do a 5K. 

I didn't. Within half a mile, I'd settled into a beautiful, hypnotic calm that can only be brought about by solo running in the dark. There were no cars, no other people, and no noises, save my footfalls and breathing. Beautiful. It also wasn't raining. 

I enjoyed a nice solo nine miles before the rain came... and then I had a nice ending mile. Slow, steady, and just full of gratitude that I can do this. 

Sunday

Did: 4.0mi @ 10:10/mi avg
Another morning where I really didn't feel like doing this run, but got up, got it done, and felt awesome for having done so. With storms forecast beginning around 9am, I either had to get right out of bed and on the pavement or hope that the kids would facilitate about an hour on the treadmill at some point during the day. Noooope.

My first mile took almost 11min, but my legs warmed up and it turned into a nice easy progression run, with lots of beautiful views of the sunrise along the way.

Total Weekly Mileage: 32.47

Week-ending Thoughts:
Shrug. 

LIIFT4: Week 4/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Uh... I don't really have any? 

Monday

Did: LIIFT4
I'm really enjoying the stability of each lifting day focusing on the same muscle group with the same exercises week-to-week, but the variety in the format and order of the exercises. Today was a pure lifting day, and, man, was I feeling the quad sets. I've enjoyed tracking my weights week to week; it's nice to look back and see progress on paper in addition to feeling stronger. Almost halfway through the program :)

Did a lunch run-- out with the stroller, and back without it. Felt SO freaking strong when I saw my splits: 

9:36, 9:01, 8:39, 8:27

also, I'm gonna have a really hard time ever running with a shirt on again :P 

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 10:13/mi avg, LIIFT 4
Got up with baby at 3:30am, and then figured I might as well just get going with my run at 4:00am instead of attempting to go back to sleep. Finished the run, and then just kind of laid on the carpet for about 20min, trying to talk myself into getting the LIIFT4 workout done.

but I'm tired
and anxious
and on the verge of so many breakdown

...but I made it happen, and felt better for it.

"alright, coach, whatever you say"

...and then promptly fell asleep after I put the baby down for a nap. Woke up to my older kid's voice saying, "Mommy? Where are you?" Oops.

The rest of the day was hard-- physically and psychologically. This COVID-19 stuff is getting to me. I thought was doing alright, but, man, it looks like 22 days is my limit. 

Wednesday

Did: yoga, 2mi walk
I've been using exercise as a coping mechanism through all of this. Generally, I think that's a good idea... but I noticed in my training log that I haven't had a rest day in... 40 days.

And, of the past 40 days, I've only had 5 where I didn't run.

Hrm. That's probably a bad idea. 


Not wanting to press my luck, but needing to do SOMETHING for sanity, I made an intention to get some yoga in today, and go for a walk outside. 

namaste, y'all

Yoga was nice. It wasn't terribly relaxing with an infant crawling all over me or using me as a pull-up bar, but it was nice. My lunch walk, also, was a welcome escape from my dining room/office/schoolroom. 

Note to self: it's okay to take time to breathe.

Thursday

Did: LIIFT4, Treadmill 5K @ 9:43/mi avg
Got my lift session in, but my run was thwarted by thunderstorms. Thank goodness for my treadmill and Outlander. 

Friday

Did: 10.09mi @ 9:22/mi avg, Big 5
Today was a stressful day. I've been looking forward to Good Friday since January. It was supposed to be an "Angelina day", since I'd be off work, but my husband would be working and my kids would be in their normal care location. 

But, nope. COVID-19 messed that up for me, and I was not really handling it well. Fortunately, I still got a chance to have a few hours to myself during the afternoon. I used it for a ten mile run, down and up some of the biggest hills around, and could not have made a better choice. With each mile, a little more stress melted away. 

I ran surprisingly fast for an easy run, just enjoying everything. I even let myself stop a bit by the river's shore to appreciate nature, ducking off the path into a little cove to sit on the stones and just breathe. Beautiful. 

 

Saturday

Did: 6.06mi @ 9:49/mi
Great family run on the greenway.

Sunday

Did: 4mi stroller run @ 9:47/mi avg, Big 5
Nice, cool Easter run with my littlest. 

toes :) 

Total Weekly Mileage: 33.54mi

Week-ending Thoughts:

• pretty stoked to be down 5lb at halfway through my LIIFT4 program
• my body is LOVING these higher mileage weeks
• grateful for my health and ability to run right now :)

LIIFT4: Week 3/8

Week-beginning Thoughts:
This lifting thing feels good. I like it. 

Monday

Did: LIIFT4, 4mi tempo @ 8:24/mi avg, Big 5

Had nightmares from 8pm until 1am that had me up about every hour.

Got up with baby at 1:30am.

Then was overcome with anxiety about the state of the world and spent the next two hours in a state of dread/anxiety/panic/worry/fear, compulsively online shopping for powdered milk and other random things that I felt like we had to have to survive. 

I just want to keep my babies safe for ever and for always

Finally got back to sleep around 4, and then my alarm went off at 5. I laid in bed half awake/half asleep for another 50min, got my butt up at 6am, and struggled through my LIIFT4 workout. Man, I was really glad for my trainer's smiling face and encouragement to "go heavier" on the weights. Super proud to be doing 25lb dumbbell chest presses now. :)

Had a somewhat stressful day of work, and felt the urge to run it out in the afternoon. Focused on my arm swing, and wound up with a pretty nice progression run: 

9:00
8:36
8:19
8:00

It felt good to go fast again. I need more of that in my life.

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday suuuper easy @ 10:02/mi avg, LIIFT4
After a nice night of sleep, it was great to get up and just run easy for an hour by myself. I definitely struggled with the idea of jumping right into a lifting workout when I got home, but logic ("if you don't do it now, you won't do it... just push on, it's only 30min") won out. 

alright, here we go-- another solo run

got our lifting done

celebrating with coffee from my Top 100 mug :)
better days... sigh

Wednesday

Did: 6mi with my family @ 9:16/mi avg
Felt stressed and needed a run. Took kids and husband out for a nice one on the greenway.

hee hee
matching track suits :) 

Thursday

Did: LIIFT4 + 4.08mi PRO @ 8:42/mi avg
Pushed through a shoulders/back workout in the morning, had a webcam conf call during the day, and enjoyed a fast run in the sun to close the day out.

9:07, 8:45, 8:37, 8:16

Friday

Did: LIIFT4 plus 5mi @ 9:22/mi avg
Woo-hoo! Finished out a third week of LIIFT- definitely feeling stronger, and I was able to increase most of my weights this week. :) 

Enjoyed a solo 5-miler in the afternoon to escape from the world. I'm starting to get back to appreciating solo runs. 

Saturday

Did: 10.02mi @ 9:41/mi avg, Big 5
Enjoyed a nice ten mile run around the greenway with baby and husband. This ten mile route is becoming really comfortable, and doesn't even feel like a long distance anymore :)

Sunday

Did: 4.71mi double stroller run @ 10:15/mi avg, Big 5
Oh, man. This was a tough run. Hills + double stroller = HARD. Definitely took a few walk breaks (30s or less), but loved getting out with these munchkins. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 40.17

Week-ending Thoughts:
This STFH thing is really working for my mileage. Damn, 40mi in a week? I haven't hit that since marathon training, and it didn't even really feel hard... even though I also had four strength sessions on top of it. 

I guess everyone has their own way of coping, and mine happens to be pretty running-heavy. lol.

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