Reboot: Week 3

Week-beginning Thoughts:
1. I can't wait for summer track meets.
2. I really want a vacation where I just take a week off of work and get everything done around the house. 
3. My right IT band is definitely sore from foam rolling, but I think I've finally gotten the hang of this foam rolling thing because it's a good sore, I can run on it without any soreness/hurt/ache, and the knots I found Saturday night are gone.
4. It boggles my mind that, in order to earn a $200 "wellness initiative reward" from my health insurance company, I have to spend time talking to health counselors about the "next steps" for me to "get healthy", or waste my time doing online activities to learn about why I should shop the perimeter of the grocery store or eat out less. Um, hello. I don't eat out. I track everything I put into my body. I run six days a week. I strength train twice a week. I stretch. I get sufficient sleep. I have healthy metrics. I don't really need to change anything I'm doing. You should really be rewarding me for doing exactly what I'm doing... not having me sit through a 20min online webinar on "how to make goals" or "keeping an accountability journal". *eye roll*



Monday:
Did: 2mi @ 9:10/mi, Big 5, bootcamp with ~mile of running
Another 2am wake-up for the kiddo = I've been up since 2am. It would have been easy to bail on the run in favor of an attempt at more sleep, and I seriously considered it. The only thing that stopped me was that, the last time I missed a Monday workout, I lamented that decision for the rest of the day and half of the week. Better to get up tired and "deal with it". 

Had to run solo, but enjoyed the time to focus on form instead of conversation. Last week, on the treadmill, I had experimented with holding my arms out in front of me to watch how much I twist and found that I can control a bit of it if I consciously try to keep my arms steady, which forces me to engage my obliques. I did that a few times on this run and was definitely feeling it in my obliques by the end, so maybe that'll help? IDK. 

Not very thrilled with today's workout. Felt like a lot of the same exercises we did the one time I came last week, and I don't particularly enjoy any of them. 

The finisher (which I didn't snap a photo of) made up for it, though:
2x through: 30 touchdowns, 30 chest-to-ground push-ups (I did almost ALL of these on my knees-- oooof), 30 sit-ups

Definitely feeling those push-ups today, and it's only 3pm... 


Tuesday:
Did: 6.32mi ONB (30:03 out, 26:41 back), 
After a few weekends where I've been conversational on my teammate's 8:30/mi miles, I decided it was time to admit that I'm faster than I've been running and actually get back into some workouts. Today's goal was simple: run the first half easy, and the second half focused. No pace goals, just that the second half be faster than the first. 

well, that looks like more of a progression run than an ONB... 

Splits:
10:07
9:13
9:09

8:42
8:28
8:16

Good things:

• second half was definitely faster
• I was able to carry on full conversation during the back half, meaning this pace is definitely something I should be doing more regularly than I am

Things to improve:

• I suck at ONBs. They always end up being more like progression runs. I really need to work on keeping a consistent pace for the first half, and then stepping up to a faster, but consistent, pace for the back half. 
• doing Big 5 when it's cold outside and husband needs help with the kiddo...

in other news, this week was the third anniversary of #10KTuesday :D
#itsstillathing

Wednesday:
Did: 2mi @ 9:24/mi avg, Big 5, bootcamp
Right IT band trouble has expanded to my glute... man, I hate that everything is connected. I'll have to bring my foam roller when I travel this weekend, because there aren't any appointments at GSM or MotionStretch during my limited availability this week. I feel nothing when I run (or after) beyond a bit of tightness, but I also know this is the sort of thing that could turn nasty if not resolved. 

This workout was a LOT harder than it looked. Going from hand-release push-ups into side planks exhausted my arms. Going from sprints and burpees into flutter kicks killed my abs. 

...and then came the finisher.

I subbed mason twists for the loop runs, but still found this incredibly challenging. :P 


Finished the day with a LOT of pointed stretching, foam rolling, and sticking. 



Thursday:
Did: 10.11 @ 9:16/mi avg, Big 5
I'm out of town for work on Saturday, and wanted to get my LSD in with friends. B is the best training partner ever and met me at 4:15am to get miles in before work. We mentally tricked ourselves into thinking we were running less by tackling a 4mi loop and then rolling straight into the 10KTuesday route. We felt tired and sluggish on the 10KT route, but, mentally, it seemed like we were "only doing a 10K". 

Lots of stretching afterwards, and still done before 6am. 

...and those paces. WHAT?
You'd never know the back half of the run was harder than the front for us. 

Friday:
Did: 4.52mi run @ 9:06/mi avg, Big 5, 2.5mi walking
Traveling for work this week(end). Got in a nice solo run pre-dawn around campus, and probably went a bit faster than usual because it was just a liiiiiiiiittle creepy to be solo through some of the isolated, dark patches. 

Walked a ton to/from places and really enjoyed the pedestrian side of campus life. :) 

Bonus: whatever was going on with my IT band and glute has worked itself out. Hooray for effective sticking/foam-rolling!

Saturday:
Did: 1mi treadmill warm-up @ 9:03/mi, weights, 1mi walk
Didn't feel like going straight into weights this morning, so I did an easy mile on the hotel gym treadmill to wake up/warm up, and then went into lifting mode:

Set sets of:
15lb rows, overhead press x 12
10lb bicep curls x 10
15lb triceps extension x10
5lb x 10 kickbacks, 20,jackknives 
10lb Russian twist x 20, side plank with hip drop x 20
5lb arm runs x 1min, 10 donkey kick/fire hydrant
kimura sit-ups x 20, push-up x 10


Sunday:
Did: 4.34mi @ 8:38/mi avg, Big 5
Met up with one of my other running mama friends for some mid-afternoon miles... during some of the hardest rain of the entire day. Woo for friends. We ended up running quite a bit faster than planned thanks to conversation topics and rain adding to our adrenaline outputs... Oops? lol

We couldn't have waited an hour? lol

Total Weekly Mileage: 31.24mi run, probably like 5mi walked? 

Week-ending Thoughts:

• really love keeping solid 30 miles in a week and feeling like it's easy to do... especially when I think back to how, when I first started running, the idea of hitting 30 miles in a month was a lofty goal
• I feel like I'm ready to commit to a training plan. Just need to decide what my goal is going to be: a fast mile at All-Comers in a few weeks or Peachtree

Reboot: Week 2

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Ugh. Sick. Ugh.



Monday
Did: 2.17mi @ 9:31/mi, Big 5, bootcamp (with another 4x)
I felt fine this morning when I got up and left the house. I felt fine on our run. I felt fine during bootcamp... until the last round, then I had some weird cramps that I attributed to "female stuff", but nothing that I couldn't work through.

...and then I got home, and couldn't get off the toilet. 

Enter a long day of alternating between being too hot and too cold, attempting to drink/eat ANYTHING (literally nothing sounded palatable), and drifting in and out of consciousness with Netflix in the background. I finally checked my temperature later in the afternoon, and discovered I was clearly sick: 99.8. 

More sleeping. More thermal regulation troubles. Finally some eating (plain brown rice and some whole grain saltines). Lots of ugh. 

Definitely no 10KT in the morning. 


Tuesday
Did: 10KTuesday, treadmill desk edition
Still feeling crappy, but slugged out 6.22mi between 7am and 4pm on my makeshift treadmill desk. I just want to some having these awful tummy cramps. 

Wednesday
Did: walk, 2mi run @ 8:44/mi avg, walk
Opted for a mid-day errand run  (literally). Dropped some library books off, and then continued for a light jog (at least that's how it felt) around midtown. Forgot to stretch :/ 

and got to run across the infamous "hex tile sidewalks"
ugh

Thursday
Did: 1.13mi WU, 2x400/400, core set, 2x400/400, 1mi CD = 4.27mi total(?) @ 8:48/mi avg... and then another 2mi @ 8:00/mi avg, Big 5
Did speedwork Thursday. Wasn't super feeling it, but wanted to get on the track anyways. Speeds sucked, but it wasn't about pace today- just getting out there. Did a consistent 1:40 for pretty much every repeat, with a short core set halfway through the workout. 

Opted out of stretching :/ This is a dangerous habit. 

Had a crap-tastic day of all sort of emotional/hormonal issues, and went out for a hard, cathartic (read: progression) run the moment I arrived home. It felt good to push. I couldn't think about anything beyond my footfalls and breathing. Just run. 

Friday
Did: 2.6mi walk, 3x800m runs
Still in a funk.  Couldn't get out of bed for my morning workout and opted to let my body sleep it off and try to recover. Half-planned on getting up and doing a strength workout before daycare drop-off. Half-planned on running after daycare dropoff. Neither happened. Walked on the treadmill desk a bit. Ran on the treadmill desk for a few 800s throughout the day. Generally blergh and more blergh.


Saturday
Did: 12.06mi @ 9:21/mi avg, Big 5, 1.87mi walk, foam rolling IT band
And we're back to "normal", or at least normal enough. Got up at 4-something for a 5am 12-miler with the girls, and had a good almost-two-hours of relaxation in the form of miles. Had a little right IT band stuff come up post-run, but am managed that with some foam rolling and diligent stretching. Speaking of "injuries", my left PF is basically gone now-- funny how something like that takes forever to just kind of fade away into nothing. 

only bad part of the run: undoing this rats' nest afterwards :P 

Did a few miles of walking with the fam in the afternoon, and then had a nice grown-up dinner double date with another couple runner friends who also eat "like me'. It was such a relief to not have to explain weird diet preferences, try to eat around things I didn't want, or just eat whatever is there (my usual option) and feel the sluggishness and other weird post-eating feelings that are such a rarity with this nutrition plan.

Sunday
Did: 4.82mi @ 8:33/mi avg, Big 5, ~3mi walk with 35lb backpack, 20min yoga, foam rolling IT band
Did NOT feel like getting up and running this morning, but had promised a teammate I'd pace her through some of her long run, so up and out I went. This morning was a "feels like" of 32, which meant tights, underarmour, gloves, and an earband... pretty odd considering I was in shorts and a singlet for yesterday's rainy LSD. I was glad to have met up with another of my teammate's pacers for a short warm-up before having to hop in at an 8:30. The first mile felt like a 7:10, though it was an 8:18. Who knows how bad it would have been if I hadn't warmed-up. :P 

Splits: 8:18, 8:32, 8:27. 8:10

We talked the whole way, and, while I wasn't comfortable, it certainly wasn't a tempo pace for me. I'm really glad my teammate included me in her "please help me run 16 miles at this pace" message, because I don't think I would have given myself enough credit to volunteer if she'd just made a mass request. Clearly, I'm underestimating myself. If I really want to train better, I need to start tempo runs again... :P

The only bad part of this run was that, as soon as my shift ended, Jerry's began, meaning we literally had a handoff of our kiddo as if he were a relay baton. I'd really wanted to do some sort of cool-down, but since kid wasn't in the running stroller when I stopped (at the playground instead), I had to settle for a couple tiny laps around the playground and a swingset-side Big 5. 

Not immediately after, but soon enough that I didn't get much of a break, we headed out for a 2-3mi walk around the zoo with the running mamas. I wore the kid in a backpack carrier, which meant I basically did 2-3mi of resistance training with a 35lb weight on my shoulders. Oof. 

This called for some serious leg love yoga during kid's naptime. :) 


Total Weekly Mileage: 26.82mi run (+13.22mi walked)

Week-ending Thoughts: Pleased with how the week ended, despite the physical and emotional distresses earlier in the week. Just trying to keep on keeping on. 

Tired, Stressed, and Running Towards That Light at the End of the Tunnel

Monday
Scheduled: bootcamp
Did: bootcamp, Big 5 at night
Man, am I proud of this one. After getting up with baby boy at 2am and only getting back to sleep around 4:30am, my 4:45am alarm came way too quickly. I couldn't bail on Brandi two bootcamps in a row, though, so I hauled myself out of bed, thanked my past self for prepping my lunch and packing my bags last night, and got myself to the gym. 

We were both zombies today, but made it through the workout together. There wasn't a lot of HIT intervals today, which meant that we were able to have a conversation through most of the exercises (well, 1-2 words grunted between reps is more than usual). 

3x48/10 through:

• 24" box jumps (hellz teaf am I proud of these!)
• stability ball roll-outs (so hard!)
• dumbell bicep curls (15#)
• suspended bridge ups
• resistance band swimmers
• sit-ups
• kettlebell swings (26#)
• banana rolls
• two-box touchdowns/shuffles
• tricep extensions

Our instructor normally works out with the 6:30 class, but joined our 5:30 crew this morning. Having him alongside us doing the workout is a fantastic motivator. One of my favorite parts this morning was "racing" him on our finisher run (he won). 

Tuesday
Scheduled: 10KTuesday, ONB
Did: 6.35 @ 8:54/mi avg (3mi splits: 27:57/25:44=  -2:13)
Started with plans of an ONB, but ended up with a pretty nice progression run too. 

The way out felt comfortable, though it seemed to take forever. The way back, however, was decided  not comfortable. It wasn't a hard push, but it was a concerted effort to keep running with Brad and Court in my sights... and stick with B&B. 

Didn't race up the hill after yesterday's sprints, but also didn't feel anything in my calves at all today. Two more runs like that and maybe I'll be clear to actually do some strides before the mile race next weekend. 



Wednesday
Scheduled: rest day
Did: Big 5 before bed, bedtime yoga 
also had another massage; seems like things are good? idk... 



Thursday
Scheduled: 5mi
Did: 5.22 @ 9:28/mi avg, Big 5 and yoga before bed
I miss running from my house on days beyond 10KTuesday. This morning was great. B, K, and I started early (4:30am), explored a new neighborhood off of the main running road, and finished in time for me to be dressed and showered BEFORE Jer and baby boy got up. I wonder if this could be the answer... lol



Friday
Scheduled: bootcamp
Did: 2mi @ 8:55 with 2 strides, bootcamp
At the end of our easy pre-bootcamp 2mi, I felt the need for some speed, and did a couple sets of strides in the parking lot... just to see how my calf felt. 

It went really well, and I have a little of my confidence back when it comes to speed. Gonna consult with Coach A tomorrow and see what her thoughts are for the mile (and after). 

Bootcamp was incredible. Our instructor thought that B and I would really benefit from his lifting workouts, which, unfortunately, are T/Th (the days we run and won't come to bootcamp). He was so set on this that, on Friday morning, he set up a completely separate room for us "in case we wanted to do the lifting workout". 

Since he didn't know what we'd prefer, he wrote out two separate workouts, talked to us about what the intentions of each were, and then made some recommendations... and even left his phone with us so that we had a timer (since the main clock was being used in the other room by the class). SO incredibly nice. Have I mentioned how awesome this place is? 

Matthew's pretty much the best

We ended up choosing the kettlebell workout, which also had a good bit of core. After three rounds of that, we had a series of jump squats, push-ups, wipers, and assisted pull-ups. It was like starting back at square one for me. I needed a LOT of assistance on the pull-ups, and, even with the assistance, didn't make it through the prescribed 12 before failure. Lots of improve on here.. 

door pull-ups

Saturday
Scheduled: 8-9mi with the stroller
Did: 7.17mi @ 9:08 with the stroller
B & I both had other schedule issues get in the way of our "8 to 9", and cut our run to a little over seven so that we could both get on our way. When you don't have a training schedule at all, but still get out and run long on the weekends, doing that sort of thing is entirely guilt-free. :) 

Run went really well, and, for having a stroller, really fast, which is pretty sweet, considering we weren't even trying until the last mile. 

running buddies

Sunday
Scheduled: 3-5 with stroller
Did: 3.05 @ 10:17/mi avg
Super easy morning with the running mamas. 

Running for Sanity

Monday
Did: 2mi @ 9:21/mi avg, bootcamp
Felt a little sore spot in my calf for the first time since the initial tightness onset. :/ It showed up on my way to the train and came in and out for the rest of the day. Blergh. 

Bootcamp was good. Lots of arm work, which resulted in some sore triceps on Tuesday morning. Yay! 


Tuesday
Did: 6.34 @ 8:55/mi avg
It was just B, C, and me for #10KTuesday this morning. Right off the bat, I felt like I was being pulled along by C, and going a lot faster than I wanted to. A little before the turnaround, she asked B and me if this was a progression run for us. I laughed and said, "No way. I'm just trying to run easy for my calf."

"Oh, well, y'all are going pretty fast for me. I'm not going to go below a 9 on the way back."

Evidently, we'd ramped up REALLY quickly:

No wonder I felt like I was going faster than I wanted to.
I was. 

I really can't believe I just knocked out a 10K at a sub-9 pace that felt SO easy. Maybe one of the things that helped was that I spent the entire run focusing on not leaning back. I have a really bad habit of leaning back when I run. I first became aware of it a couple years ago at a track meet, where there's this sweet picture of me in the final leg of the 4x100... leaning back. Since then, I've had a few other pieces of photographic documentation of this flaw in my running form, as well as Coach Courtney noting it during our SpeedworkThursday track sessions.

After seeing this picture from Saturday's "race", I've vowed to spend the next few weeks focusing on my form. It'll serve me well when I get healthy and can resume speedwork, and give me something to focus on while I can't think about going fast. Plus, if today's run is any indication, it seems like it'll help me get a lot faster too! 

Would you believe this is in the final 400m of the race?
Yeah, me neither.

Wednesday
Did: sweet rest day, Big 5
...though I could have used more actual sleep. 


Thursday
Did: 4.6 easy @ 9:14/mi
Way more of a therapy session than a run :P Totally worth getting up at 4am for. Also, didn't feel my calf at all today. One more run without awareness, and Coach will let me resume speedwork!!! 


Friday
Did: bootcamp nothing
Got home from quartet gig at 10pm last night, still hadn't done everything I needed for work today. Got up at 4:30, but then realized bootcamp would only stress me out more. SInce it doesn't start until 5:30, I wouldn't be done until 6:15, which would mean I'd either need to:

1) use dry shampoo and shower pills there to get ready for work, and still not get into the office until 8
2) rush back home to shower, and risk not getting to MARTA early enough to find parking... not get into the office until 8 or 8:30, pending how far I had to go for parking... and then have to deal with extra driving on the way home

Plus, I had a presentation to give that I hadn't even started on. All signs pointed to "skip bootcamp and go into the office early".  

I did do my 7 minutes of Bedtime Yoga... does that count? :P


Saturday
Did: 10.5mi with the stroller @ 9:40/mi
SUPER proud of this run. I was only planning on eight, but Shelly (one of the Running Mamas) was hoping for ten since she's doing the Flying Pig half in a couple weeks, so that's what we set out for. I love that I have the confidence to embark on a double-digit run with the stroller without a second thought about whether or not I could get through it. My only concern was whether or not baby boy would be able to stay comfortable for 1:40ish. 

We stopped for a quick stretch at the halfway point, and a water/snack break on the way back. Otherwise, things went pretty well. I was a little disappointed that I noticed my calf (nothing major, but still "awareness", which means no speedwork for another bit), but attribute that to not warming up quite enough. I also had a little hip weirdness, but nothing that ever made me consider stopping or slowing. 

great weather for a run
(especially on the shaded greenway!)

my little running buddy <3 

Sunday
Did: 4mi with stroller thunderstormed out 
With 90% chance of thunderstorms, the Running Mamas opted against taking the kiddos out and settled for an indoor playdate instead. At 11am, we still hadn't gotten any storms or even heavy rain come through. Sooooo, that was annoying. Oh well. 




Reflections
...so, three rest days this week. I can't even remember the last time that happened (and I wasn't sick). It feels weird, and I'm so ready to have work calm down a little bit and get back in the swing of things.