Another Good Week

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: yep

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KTuesday

Did: 6.3 @ 9:44/mi avg

Wednesday

Scheduled: MBF x 2

Did: MBF W2D5, 3mi run @ 9:44/mi avg

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-5mi

Did: 4.04mi @ 9:38/mi avg

Cut it early for GI issues

Friday

Scheduled: MBF Week 2 Core 2

Did: as scheduled, plus 30min walk

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-10mi easy

Did: 10.08mi @ 9:46/mi avg, 1.5mi hike/walk

SUCH a great morning run today. We had a 9mi route, and then I felt like adding on, so we did. :D 

Sunday

Scheduled: easy run 3-4mi, MBF Week 2 Core 2

Did: 4.15mi @ 9:32/mi avg

Had my first solo greenway run in forever today after dropping the older kiddo at a bday party. While it was nice to enjoy the greenway (and see 31 deer!!!), I couldn't help but realize how much my mind churns when I'm alone and just how "on" I feel like I have to be as a solo female. I was constantly scanning the forest and path for people, thinking of potential escape routes if something went wrong, futzing with the GoGuarded defense ring on my finger... 

Total Weekly Mileage: 27.59

Week-ending Thoughts:

• This feels like the fist time in forever that I've run both Sat and Sunday (since October, I've only done it five times) , and I loved feeling strong enough to do that again. 
• So grateful for another good week

^that's my weekly mileage throughout 2022

• This year, I'm just hoping for a consistent 20-25mpw of maintenance mileage... So far, so good. 

Meh

Week-beginning Thoughts:

-

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: yep

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KTuesday

Did: 6.3 @ 9:34/mi avg

Fastest 10KT in awhile? 

Had chorus guest night and felt really tired.

Wednesday

Scheduled: MBF Days 1 and 2

Did: MBF Days 2 and 3

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-5mi

Did: 5.11mi @ 10:01/mi

Also had a networking thing in the evening, but really just wanted to go home and drink a glass of $3/bottle wine with my husband :P Ate like crap.

Friday

Scheduled: MBF Days 3 and 4

Did: nada

Sneezing, sniffly, and just tired today.... couldn't wait to go to bed when I got home. Period + emotions + whatever my kids gave me = tired. Negative COVID test. Also ate lots of crap today 'cause that's what generally happens this time of the month...  

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-10mi easy

Did: 1.5mi walk

Slept 11 hours and felt a lot better in the morning, but had too much sniffly-ness and post-nasal throat crap to feel up to our all-day chorus coaching session. Took kiddo on a neighborhood walk in the afternoon. 

Sunday

Scheduled: easy run 3-4mi, MBF Day 5 

Did: MBF Day 1, 20min yoga

Woke up feeling mostly good and grateful for good sleep. I eased into a workout with yoga first and, when that felt great, I escalated to leg day. 

 

Total Weekly Mileage: 11.41

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Well, it wasn't the week I thought, but only have one true "off day" for illness = a win for me. 

Good Week

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Not feeling great about my foot, but still really optimistic that this will be another GREAT week for diet and overall health. 2023 is going to be a good year.

Monday

Scheduled: MBF W11

Did: yep

MBF is a Beachbody on Demand program that I've done a handful of times. It's about 30min a day, with a mix of weights and core/HIIT workouts. I'm planning on only doing the M-F workouts, but splitting them over the whole week and blending in runs.... and good sleep... and work... and chorus... and parenting. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KTuesday

Did: 3.25mi @ 9:55/mi avg

I might've been able to do the full 10K, but figured it was smart to take it easy. I used KT tape on my arch, worked a suuuuuuper full day, and did chorus. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: MBF Days 2 and 3 

Did: 4mi walk, MBF Day 3
Today's supposed to be my "off work" day, but I had some things that needed taking care of, so it wasn't as "free" as I'd hoped. I still got in an hour walk with my husband, ONE MBF workout, and am continuing to feel good. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-5mi

Did: 6.01mi @ 10:01/mi avg

While I only planned on running 4-5mi, running loops on the track while my training partner did a workout got me further. I was grateful that my arch felt fine during this, so I kept running. Sidenote: REALLY glad I don't just go run on a track solo much, because running easy in circles was SO boring.

Friday

Scheduled: MBF Day 4

Did:nada

I enjoyed sleeping in today instead :D 

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-10mi easy

Did: MBF Days 4 & 5

14mph winds and a windchill of 22 led me to swap my long run to Sunday. I adored staying in bed with my family until 7am, hearing the wind howl outside, and being cozy with my babies underneath blankets. 

I skipped Day 2 of MBF since I'd done it over holiday break, and opted for Days 4 (core) and 5 (full body) instead. I wasn't as intense as I had wanted to be during the core workout, but did really enjoy tossing a ball back and forth with my youngest (who sat in a laundry basket) while I did the HIIT component. 

Sunday

Scheduled: easy run 3-4mi? 

Did: 9mi run @ 9:31/mi avg, 1.4mi walk

What a great run! TP and I met laaaaaate, at 7am, and ran the river. I don't think I've had such a great feeling long run in nearly a year, and my pace was so happy. I'm really grateful to have not had any issues with my foot and just happy to be happy again. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 18.29

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I kept my food intake great this week and am proud of that. :) I've stopped reaching for crackers and cheese and started filling myself up with veggies again. It's been really fun to cook different things, like minestrone soup, avocado brownies, and egg muffins. 
• I'm in SUCH a better place than I was last year, for so many reasons, and continue to be grateful for the support network I've had going through so much shit in 2022.
• Once I've had 2-3 weeks of consistency, maybe I'll look at resuming some sort of training... but right now I'm just focused on staying healthy and building back mileage. It'd be great to be back around 25-30 soon. 

Hello, 2023

Week-beginning Thoughts:
I feel good. This is going to be a better year than last. The bar is low, so I think that's a reasonable aspiration. Goals for this week are: eat right (lots o' veggies), workout consistently, and hopefully find a good groove of priorities in the new year. 

I made a pseudo schedule for the week, and hope to stick with it, and, more than that, stay HEALTHY. 

Monday

Scheduled: LIIFT4 workout

Did: cleaned out basement, LIIFT4 W8D3, 1mi treadmill run @ 9:34/mi 

We revamped our basement today, and that gave me almost 80% of my daily activity right there. I had three more workouts in my LIIFT4 cycle, and chose the low impact one since I knew I'd have a heavy workout tomorrow with 10KTuesday. After reorganizing the basement, I decided to do a mile run to test out the new treadmill location. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KTuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 10:15/mi avg

Oof, 63 degrees and humidity? Where did THAT come from? This run felt much harder than it should have. Tired legs? Crazy weather? Who knows, but we got it done. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: LIIFT4 legs, yoga or walk

Did: 1hr 45min walking
Felt tired for whatever reason and didn't motivate myself to get a leg workout in, but got a ton of walking done. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-5mi

Did: 5.16mi @ 10:07/mi avg

Nice and easy early morning run

Friday

Scheduled: LIIFT4 final workout, yoga or walk

Did: LIIFT4 W8D3

LAST LEG DAY! 

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-10mi easy

Did: 8.11mi @ 10:36/mi avg

I really need to stop doing leg day the day before my long runs. I had a nice 8mi loop with a 2mi add-on planned for today, but had to cut it short. Sometime between miles 2 and 3, I had the littlest stumble/jump on a bump in the sidewalk. It felt fine at the time, but I had a bit of a pain in my right arch around the 5.5mi mark. I stopped and walked until it went away, then ran again for another 1.25mi or so until I realized it hadn't gone away completely. 

Maybe it's fine, but the last time I had something like this, I stupidly continued RUNNING and it ended up being a PF tear. So, I stopped and walked it in, iced and NSAIDed when I got home, and decided to take a few days off running to let whatever it is heal up. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 3-4mi easy stroller run (pending weather); else MBF

Did: LIIFT4 W8D4

R arch is still slightly sensitive. It doesn't hurt to do anything, but I do feel something there, so I had to bail on my much-looked-forward-to stroller run with my littlest and opted into finishing out my last LIIFT4 workout. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 20.59

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I kept my food intake great this week and am proud of that. :) 
• It's been wonderful to have 2.5 weeks off work
• I'm sure I'm going to struggle to keep everything in check when I start back at work next week
• I'm not stressing over my R arch yet. If I have to take a week off from running to make sure it heals up completely, so be it. I can totally handle that since I'm still able to do my Beachbody workouts.

Last Week of 2022

Week-beginning:

Hoping to close the year out with another 10K and finishing up my LIIFT4 workouts.

Monday

Did: MBF Core

Without weights, it seemed kinda silly to do the LIIFT4 workouts, so I opted into a core one instead. 

Tuesday

Did: 6.22mi @ 10:25/mi avg and 3mi stroller walk

Took myself out for a nice 10K. Pace was slowed by climbs, rocks, and an iced over crossing. 

Wed

Did: nada

Had a slightly swollen and sore throat this morning and opted out of a workout before we headed home from DC. 

Thurs

Did: nada

Strep throat. AGAIN. Ugh. 

Friday

Did: nada

Strep throat.

Saturday

Did: nada

Strep throat.

Sunday

Did: Resolution Run

Weekly Mileage: 9.3

Week-end Thoughts:

Well, that didn't go as planned... 

Race Report: Resolution Run 5K 2023

Previous PR: 22:18 (Hearts & Soles '20)

90% Goal: sub-9 pace

50% Goal: 8:30 average
10% Goal: 8:15/pace

Result: 26:32 (8:32/mi avg)

Training: Big fat NOPE. I still haven't had much consistent running, and I'm coming off another bout of strep throat, so, yeah....  

Pre-Race: This was our first race that we've been able to do as a full family (I think?). Resolution Run's always been special for me since I won the mile in 2015, walked it with our first baby in 2016, and it was baby's first "race" in 2017. So many awesome memories. Today, my husband and older kiddo were doing the mile (not together, though), littlest was doing the 50m dash, and I signed up for the 5K. We had a lot of fun seeing friends. This is the first race that's felt the least bit like pre-COVID times for me. 

Plan: Originally, I'd wanted to have a decently consistent December of mileage, and use this race as a "where am I?" kind of indicator. Coming down with strep throat earlier this week and being knocked out for the three days immediately prior , though, made that a baaaaad plan. Instead, my only goal was just to show up and run a fun pace. 

Let's do this.

I'd signed up with a goal pace of 8:15, which put me in Wave A. I did not think that was going to happen today. It probably could have, but I was also really cautious about not pushing my recovering body beyond a certain limit. So, I hopped back into Wave B (9:00/mi or faster) and just let it ride.

Race:

I let myself run whatever felt good. It was a bit weird starting in the second wave, since I was running at the front of the pack almost alone for the first 1/4-1/2 mi. I was almost worried about where to go. I started off at a low 8 pace, and was surprised with how comfortable it felt. Well, surprised, and really pleased. 

The course itself was pretty nice. I felt like the first mile was calm, the second mostly uphill, and the third a good return to the finish line. I kept my pace "solid", but reserved, and really just enjoyed my time out there today. 

Reflections:

Really happy to have had such a great experience (and performance) today, and hopeful that, despite all of the setbacks this year has brought, maybe I'm finally on my way back up.