Recovery Week

Week-beginning Thoughts:

It is REALLY, REALLY nice to sleep in. I have so much time if I don't run in the morning. I can sleep. I can do yoga. I can curl up in my reading nook with a book and a warm cup of coffee. I can sprawl out on my couch, ALONE. I can calmly make breakfast. I can DO WHATEVER I WANT. 

Also, my legs are definitely tired and sore. I should have gotten up and done yoga this morning instead of going back to sleep... but sleep was nice. :) 

I need to figure out what I'm doing this week. Part of me had wanted to take a week "off" from running (and by "off", I mean maaaaybe 20mi/week). But, we're super close to finishing the Great American 5000 relay, and are kind of "racing" another team... so that means mileage. 

My next Miler Method camp starts on September 7, three weeks. I think I'm going to try to get back to 25-30mpw of easy running in combination with a lifting/yoga program to prime myself. Decisions, decisions... 

Monday

Did: 2.11mi walk, yoga
Didn't get up in time for much yoga, but did opt into a lunch walk with my husband. My left calf (not the one from Saturday's incident) is a little sore today, but I'm otherwise feeling alright. 

Got yoga in post-dinner, felt super relaxed... and then had to snap back to reality rather abruptly. Ugh. 

Tuesday

Did: 30min yoga, 10KTuesday in 3.5mi@ 10:04/mi avg + 3.11mi @ 9:16/mi avg

Opted out of meeting up with anyone today in favor of: 1) sleeping in and 2) letting my calf rest a bit more. I got up around 5 and fit in a nice yoga session solo. That was really nice. Plus, I got to enjoy the post-yoga zen for a bit before the fam woke up. Ohhhhhmmmm. 

Wasn't sure I was going to run today, but my calf felt good, and the weather was PERFECT (like, cool enough that I wore a shirt, which was so weird). I did a 5K after kiddo drop-off, and then another one pre-dinner. Feeling good. 

Wednesday

Did: 30min yoga, 2mi walk, 2mi treadmill walk, 5K @ 8:17/mi avg, 1mi treadmill walk/run 

What a day. Another morning of sleeping in until 4:30am (BLISS), followed by yoga, and a post-drop-off walk before starting my work day. 

...and then my husband sounded the alarm. 

Our virtual cross-country relay team was in an intense race to the finish (for 11th place in our division... lol). We'd started the day 40mi ahead, but the other team was rapidly gaining. 

"20 miles to the finish line, we are up by ONE mile. This is gonna end today, on thing that's left is who's first," he posted in our team forum.

For the next hour, I had the most fun I've had this entire quarantine. Our team had a flurry of messages back and forth, with each of us trying to figure out how we could maximize our contributions for the rest of the day. The adrenaline was pumping, and the team spirit was exilierating. We had about half the team drop what they were doing and go run RIGHT THEN, updating each other on how many miles we planned to do, and locking them into the databse as soon as they were complete. I took a late lunch and busted out a faster-than-usual 5K run, feeling SO energized, like I was actually running a real relay race to the finish, with/for my team. It was awesome.

The flurry of messages seemed to indicate that, once my husband finished his 5, we'd be done. I drew a quick finish line on our street for him to cross, and grabbed our trusty cowbell to cheer him in.

...and then I looked at the tracking site. 

We'd been counting down miles to the next waypoint, i.e. the New York state line, NOT the actual finish line, which was about 25mi further.

...well, I feel a bit silly. 

So, we all had a great laugh about how we just exerted a ton of effort for... nothing. Haha.

...but then we re-doubled our efforts as a team later in the evening, with our guys carrying us through to the finish, running and walking until the wee hours of the night (well, 10pm-- that's late for us). 

We proudly finished 115th overall, and solidifed our 11th place division finish (pretty sweet since we were in the 12-person team division, but only had 9 on ours). 

Thursday

Did: 30min yoga, 30min strength training (21 Day Fix Extreme: Upper Fix Extreme), 4mi @ 9:03/mi avg

I am loving this sleep in + yoga week. :D Also treated myself to a weight lifting session over lunch, as a reward for staying so focused at work this morning. Weeee. 

Finished off the day with an easy 4mi (that was surprisingly fast) and celebratory Zoom call with Team Pink Elephants on Parade.

Friday

Did: 30min yoga, 1mi walk

Another morning of yoga, followed by a full day of work... then around the park with the kids.

Saturday

Did: 13.11mi @ 10:07/mi avg with the double stroller

I was solo with the kids today while my husband took some time off. When I asked my kids how far they wanted to run, and the older one said, "A HALF MARATHON", I didn't give it a second thought. I mean, I've been running 10mi every weekend without any issues since, like, March. What's another 5K? 

With a double stroller? A LOT. 

I haven't run more than about a 5K with the double for awhile, since my husband pushes the kids whenever we run as a family as a "pace equalizer". Today was a looooong run without him. We stayed entertained with singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "C is for Cookie", making up stories about a dinosaur and his family vacation across the Pacific Ocean, up to Russia, and up to the North Pole to search for Santa Claus. 

Had some calf issues during the run-- little sore spots that always went away within a tenth of a mile, but were still noticeable. Biggest "issue", though was the soreness I had in my wrists throughout the afternoon and evening post-run. I guess pushing 110+ pounds of stroller+stuff+kid is demanding.

Sunday

Did: 4mi hike

Opted for a family hike today instead of our normal Sunday Runday. This was a nice change of pace. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 26.9 (and I feel like such a slacker... lol)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Starting my days with yoga and sleeping in has been really nice this week. I'm glad I gave myself the week "off" from morning runs. I missed them for sure, but it was a nice temporary change of pace
• I think I'm going to try to do 14 days of "21 Day Fix" from Beachbody over the next two weeks (until Miler Method starts back up). That'll give me something active to do each day, but also be more strength-training than cardio. I'll also try to get back on that container nutrition plan, since it worked out really well for how I felt before.