Sick Week.

 

Monday
Scheduled: rest
Did: yep
Took it easy today. Might be getting sick... I felt a lot of crap in my throat and wanted to eat more trash than usual. That typically only happens when I'm getting sick... 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KTuesday

Did: nope

Felt sick-ish last night and opted to sleep in this morning. That was a good call. I bounced back and forth a LOT of time between going into work and not... then working from home or not... Ultimately spent the day in bed/at the doctor's. 

I'm negative for strep, RSV, flu, and COVID, but uggghhh this "just a virus" is killing me. Sore throat like UGH, fever, and headache. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: MBF Legs and Core 1

Did: nope
Another sick day. Worked just enough from home to keep things rolling at work... Fever's gone, sore throat lingers. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-5mi

Did: nope

Still sick, but good enough to work from home. Sniffly/runny nose... and fatigue.

Friday

Scheduled: MBF Core 2

Did: nope

Went into the office to wrap stuff up before vacation, but I'm definitely still suffering from a runny nose and have started a nasty cough. 

Drove up to Chattanooga for a fun weekend with the family.

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-10mi easy

Did: nope

Walked a few miles around town, but struggling with my voice a bit, and barking cough like nobody's business. Uggghhh.

Sunday

Scheduled: easy run 3-4mi

Did: 2mi walking

And, here we go, I'm officially voiceless. I can't even hum and don't make any sounds when I laugh. Great.

Total Weekly Mileage: 0

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Well, so much for this 20mpw thing... Heh. 
• At least I'm back to "normal for me" sickness? It's been a few years, but I've had recurrent voice loss after viruses before. 
• Really hoping I can get my voice back for a huge presentation on Wednesday... 

No More Mile Training/COVID

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Starting work this week... let's see how it all goes... 

Monday
Did: 3.11mi on treadmill @ 9:48/mi avg, LIIFT 4 Week 7 arms

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10KTuesday with pushes on hills
Did: as scheduled = 6.32 @ 8:57/mi avg
I remember the last time I did this workout, and how it was basically a 6.3mi tempo run iwth NO reprieves. This time, I opted to be a bit more discretionary about what constituted a "hill". 

Wednesday

Scheduled: rest or 3-5mi easy
Did: 2mii @ 9:48/mi avg
Ran a bit before my kids' race, and enjoyed dinner out with friends afterwards. 

Thursday

Scheduled: idk
Did: LIIFT4 Week 7 Full Body HIT
After a late couple of nights, and storms forecast, I opted to make this is no-run day. Did a workout in the AM instead, but my legs just felt insanely heavy. 

Also heard today that the Atlanta Track Club 1mi race I'd been making a pitiful attempt to train for has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. I could not be happier about this. This training already wasn't going well, and now I have ZERO reason to keep up with it. :) 

Friday

Did: 1.75mi WU, 2x2mi tempo, 5min jog between, 1mi CD = 7.61mi @ 9:06/mi avg
I tagged in on my TP's workout today and was grateful for the "slow" intervals. She was hitting 8 flats easily, but I was opted for more on the 8:30ish side. 

Set 1: 8:36/8:26
Set 2: 8:36/8:18

Felt good about this one, but also glad to be done. 

...unfortunately, by the end of the day, I'd come down with a headache, body aches, and fever. Looks like COVID got spread around at Tuesday's chorus practice, and I was one of many to come down with it. 

Saturday - COVID

Isolated and slept in basement

Sunday - COVID

Isolated and slept in basement

Total Weekly Mileage: 18.9

Week-ending Thoughts:
This "staying healthy" thing is really not working out for me this year... 

3 Weeks to Alpharetta Women's Half

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Meh. Idk. 

Monday

Planned: lift
Did:  20min yoga (AM), MBF Full Body Week 2 (PM)

Didn't feel like intensity this morning, and opted into yoga instead of a cardio/fast-paced workout. 

Tuesday

Planned: Solid 10KTuesday (8:45-9:10 pace), MBF Week 1 Core 2
Did: Solid 10KTuesday = 6.55mi @ 8:55/mi avg

Thank goodness for friends. I'm glad I declared my intent pre-run, because I totally would've backed out if no one knew I was "supposed to" run solid. The first mile of WU went by far too quickly for my liking, and I felt like slowing down the entire "solid" part... but I was also comfortably talking the whole time, and my training mate for today loved reminding me that meant I was totally in my comfort zone regarding pace. 

Had a work deadline that took my evening up, so I skipped core, but plan on doubling up tomorrow... maybe? 

Wednesday

Planned: MBF Week 3 Lower Body, 4mi easy
Did: 4.05mi @ 10:14/mi/avg

Really tired this morning and just didn't feel like getting up quickly enough to lift pre-run. Then I really liked the idea of having time to calmly get ready for the day pre-kid-wakeup post-run, so I did that instead. 

Thursday

Planned: 1mi WU, 4x1mi @ 7:30-8:00/400m, 1mi easy, MBF Week 2 Core 1
Did: run as scheduled = 7.26mi @ 8:50/mi avg

I think I've learned that I was really too ambitious with this "strength workout every day" plan for this week. I'm not sure when I thought I would actually do this core workout, since track days mean a 3:45am alarm anyways, and there's just no getting up earlier than THAT to work out (funny story: a few years ago it was "no way am I ever setting an alarm earlier than 4:30", so obviously that isn't set in stone). 

Like Tuesday, I struggled again with my workout, mentally. It was so much easier to run fast/hard when I was just running as company for my training partner. Doing it for me is harder. 

The 10:49 pace for the warm-up was faster than I wanted to go, and I was grateful I'd given myself wiggle room on the mile pace. I knew I could hit 8:00, but was hoping for something closer to 7:30, especially since I knew I really should have been hitting 7:15-7:20s if I want to actually be training for the half. 

Mile 1: 7:49

I felt decent through this one, and enjoyed the mental game of breaking the mile into four laps.

Mile 2: 7:49

Really wanted this one to be my last one after the first lap, but kept grinding through. It wasn't a hard pace, but I had to concentrate, and that required mental effort.

Mile 3: 7:40

The lights on the track came on a lap into this one, and I picked up the pace unconsciously. I was pretty pleased with the split, especially since I hadn't really noticed just how even my first two had been. 

Mile 4:  7:40

After #3 being 7:40, I thought, "sure would be nice to have a 7:30 last one", but I wasn't willing to put in enough even effort up front to make that happen.

At no point during the workout was I truly pushing myself. I never felt out of breath, pushed myself to the line, or anything like that... but it was one big mental "blergh", and I definitely took my recovery 400s at snail pace. 

Workouts like this leave me wanting to run the half as a fun stroller event instead of trying for something that seems crazy out of reach, like an 8-flat pace half. Yeah, it's back to 100% humidity, I haven't been on the track for a month, I've been stressed with work/family/health, and my body's reacclimating to strength training... but I've been pretty discouraged by how running has felt since my marathon. 

Friday

Planned: MBF Week 3 Lower Body, 4-6mi easy
Did: 3.26mi @ 10:04/mi avg, MBF Week 2 Core 1

I struggled to get out of bed again today. I set my alarm the night before telling myself I'd get up, do an MBF, and then run an easy 4. Instead, I laid in bed an extra ten minutes, sent a message to my therapist, and forced myself to get out and run some miles. It was so insanely moist this morning. 

I kept mentally bargaining with myself, kind of wanting to do 4mi, but also knowing I didn't have the time to do that and the MBF workout I'd told myself I really ought to do. I ended up turning around early and telling myself I could only run 3 if I did the MBF. I finished the run absolutely disgustingly drenched (we're back to 96% humidity... in October), and really did not want to drip on my floor... but I hadn't run four miles, and had enough time, so.... no excuses.

I put a yoga mat on the floor and pushed through a core workout... and felt good for having done so, even though my right achilles was bugging me during the workout. I'm hoping it's just a result trekking around a construction site in steel-toes yesterday for work. It didn't bother me at all on the run, so guess we'll see? 

Saturday

Planned: 10-12mi easy run, MBF Week 2 Core 1
Did: 10.09mi @ 9:50/mi avg, 3.24mi stroller walk with little one @ 18:16/mi avg, 2.11mi stroller walk with big one @ 17:37/mi avg

Taped ankle, and it help up alright today. While I had a little soreness, I'm confident it'll go away soon. Had a great run with my training partner, had a little time at the park with my family before heading over to the greenway to support my chorus director in her walk for Spasmodic Dysphonia with one kid, and then back to another part of the greenway with the other kid to cheer for some friends doing virtual Boston. What a day. 

Sunday

Planned: 2mi WU, 2x2mi @ 7:30/5min jog, 2mi CD, MBF Week 3 Upper

Did: 1.5mi WU, 2x2mi/7min, 1mi CD = 6.97mi @ 8:54/mi avg

Felt kind of blerghy this morning, but got up and got it done on our family outing to the riverside trail. I opted for a shorter warm-up to facilitate family time, and then got into the workout. 

I really had no confidence that I'd hit 7:30 for a single mile, much less 2. I thought I'd be lucky to make it around an 8 flat with how I felt, and was already mentally planning on cutting the workout before I started. My first mile was a 7:45, and it was h-a-r-d, but I was able to rally and hit a 7:34 for the second. 

OK, I thought, maybe I'm not as crazy out of shape as I thought. I had to walk the first bit of my 5min recovery, and was grateful I had a full five minutes between intervals instead of only three like we'd had in marathon training. 

The second set was much harder. I locked into a 7:30 for the first quarter mile, but it was awful, and I couldn't hold it. My breathing was tough, and I was just totally spent. It was a mental victory to not stop after a mile and to push through the second one. 

I could tell I was really ready to be done because I got through a one mile cool-down and then decided to just walk it in. I never walk it in, even when I've already hit my cool-down mileage. 

Set 1: 7:45/ 7 :34

Set 2: 7:45 / 7:45

Total Weekly Mileage: 38.2

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I feel out of shape and icky and don't really see anything great happening at the Women's Half at the end of the month.

(not my) Marathon Training: Week 9/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

I JUST WANT TO BE HEALTHY AGAIN...

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: nada

Stuffy nose and balloon-feeling head, but otherwise pretty okay today.

Tuesday

Scheduled: 2mi WU,10x400m/400m hill repeats, 2mi CD

Did: 6.36mi easy @ 9:44/mi avg

Sickness all around = swapping hard workout for easy one today. Just grateful to be able to run with friends again... 

Wednesday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 2.23mi WU @ 10ish, 6x400m up/400m down hill repeats, 2.15mi CD = 7.56mi total @ 9:35/mi avg, Big 5

Hallelujah. I just had my first complete night of sleep in awhile. Woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go. Training partner opted to do her Tuesday workout today. I didn't want to do a full ten miles or go that hard since I'm coming off a rough patch, but wanted to support her and do something. I opted for 6 instead of 10 repeats, and lowered the intensity from 10K pace up/MP down to "comfortable push" up/"easy jog" down. 

400m splits:

1) 2:07/2:29

2) 2:09/2:24

3) 2:05/2:25

4) 2:01/2:26

5) 2:04/2:24

6) 1:57/2:30

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.01mi @ 9:53/mi avg

So. Moist. Ugh. This humidity is just repulsive... 

Friday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 3mi @ HMP, 3min jog, 2mi @ HMP, 2min jog, 1mi @ 10K pace, 2mi CD=  10.5ishmi

Did: as scheduled

Grateful for today's good run, but sooooo disgustingly humid. 

2mi WU = 10:15/mi avg

3mi = 8:04/7:59/8:03

3min @ 12:11/mi

2mi= 8:12/8:23 (felt hard so I let myself give in a little)

2min @ 11:45

1mi @ 7:55

2mi @ 10:05/mi 

Saturday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 4.04mi with double stroller @ 10:36/mi avg

Littlest had a 102 degree fever and complained of ear pain last night, so all plans went out the door this morning. I was still able to fit in a run with the double stroller between a pediatrician appointment and grocery+med pick-up, though. 

It was mad humid, mad hot, and that stroller was mad heavy... but we got it done. Yay, easy miles. 

 

Sunday

Scheduled: Course Simulation: 8mi easy, 6-8mi @ MP, 2mi CD

Did: as scheduled (6mi @ MP) = 16.31mi total @ 9:33/mi avg

OMG, I finally did a full week of marathon training as scheduled... that hasn't happened since... idk... week 5?

Littlest had another rough night, and I was up/down until about 2am when I finally went back to my bed, put earplugs in, and hoped my husband would recognize I was "tagging out" for a few hours. 

It was another repulsively humid morning, where I was dripping before mile 2. I slugged through the warm-up with only two miles under a 10:00, and wondered how I was supposed to go faster for the next segment. 

Mentally, breaking these long runs into segments has helped me SO much. It's obvious, but thinking of an 8mi run, a 10K, and then 2 easy cool-down miles is so much more palatable than a "sixteen mile run". 

Marathon Pace for my training partner has been an 8:30. I didn't want to hit that this morning, and also didn't know if I could. She's in MUCH better shape than I am, not having had illness and such derail her past four weeks of training. So, I did the smart thing: I didn't try to keep up with her.

I set a reasonable goal for myself (9:00 MP miles), and let myself do 6. 

8:56, 8:56, 8:46, 8:52, 8:38, 8:27

And then two more miles at a high-9. 

I felt so proud to be done with that. After a brief stretch, I went home, showered, and then did a hike with my family, brunch, showered again, and then passed out on the couch while my husband took care of the household. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 49.7

Man. If I'd have known I was that close.... 

Week-ending Thoughts:

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY, marathon training.

...even if my watch thinks I'm overtraining. lol

(not my) Marathon Training: Week 8/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

I've gotten to experience life with an inescapable health condition for the past week or so with this skin rash thing. It's been absolutely awful. I can't wear clothes, much less form-fitting or supportive running clothes without incredible discomfort, and, clothed or not, suffered from uncontrollable itchiness, despite having four different providers look, diagnose, and prescribe treatments... 

It's terrible and has made me really reconsider how I view people who truly have chronic conditions that impact their quality of life... Damn. I put a lot of emphasis on gratitude for my health in general, but that's only going to be more a part of my thoughts and life once I'm through this rough patch. 

I've spent so much time worried about if I'm losing fitness and will be able to come back and re-join the marathon training this cycle, but, beyond just the basic "how do I ramp back up?" question, I'm also stressing on "how will running affect this skin rash". What if it makes it worse? :( 

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: nada... unless scratching counts

Tuesday

Scheduled: 2mi WU,6x1200m @ 10K pace/2:30s rest, 2mi CD

Did: nada

Wednesday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: nada

Thursday

Scheduled: 5-7mi solid

Did: 1.59mi @ 10:09/mi avg, 2.5mi walk

One of my training buddies rolled her ankle, cutting our run short this morning. We walked for the rest of the time. It just felt good to be out and about with people again.

Friday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.01mi @ 9:50/mi avg

So glad to finally be able to wear a sports bra and shorts without irritation for a run. Today felt good, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to keep going. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 3x(3-4mi @ MP/2mi easy) = EEK

Did: 2mi WU, 4mi @ 8:50/mi, 2.26mi @ 9:52/mi, 3.63mi @ 8:44/mi, 2.29mi @ 9:55/mi = 14.19mi @ 9:20/mi avg 

Ooh, this one felt GOOD. I opted to scale the workout down since I haven't run much in the past two weeks, choosing to skip the third repeat (and limit my distance to 15) and reducing the intensity to "sub-9" instead of an 8:30ish MP. That was the right call. I felt good during all of this, and am just so stinking grateful to be out and running again. 

 

Sunday

Scheduled: 10-12mi easy

Did: nada

OMG, I just want my health back already... Woke up this morning with a sore throat and stuffy nose, and knew running was a bad idea. I've already slept an extra four hours since I woke up at 6;30... and it's only 1:30 in the afternoon.

Total Weekly Mileage: 20.8

Week-ending Thoughts:

I hate being sick. I hate having family members who are sick. I just want to be able to live my life again. Saturday was SO wonderful to be able to go places, do things, and wear CLOTHES... Sunday was just an absolute letdown on all fronts. Ugggghhhh. Did I mention that I've used 50.5 hours of PTO for sickness so far this year, and it's only the middle of JULY? 

C Mile Plan: Week 1/6... or not

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Got my training plan, my nutrition game, and a decent attitude. Let's do this. 

Monday

Scheduled: 3-5mi easy or rest, LIIFT4 W1D4

Did: LIIFT4 W2 Chest/Triceps and Shoulders

Kind of wanted to run today, but needed to be done and showered by 5:30am due to parenting obligations... and I just didn't feel like running alone that early. Instead, I got up and made today a lifting day. I'm still trying to figure out exactly when/how I'll be fitting weight training into the mile plan my teammate crafted, but today felt like a good day to lift. 

I did back to back workouts with minimal cardio bursts, and definitely pushed my muscles to the right points. The first workout focused on chest/triceps, and I noticed I had to lift less than usual for the second workout (shoulders). 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10K + 4x30s on neighborhood hill/jog back down, LIIFT4 W2D1

Did: 7.05mi total @ 9:18/mi avg

I liked that today felt like a normal 10KT... until we were in the homestretch 800m and I remembered we still had hill repeats to do. Sneaky, sneaky, training plan... 

The hill repeats were 30s each, easily done on the last hill of our 10K route. Man, I haven't run fast since last October... and this was hard. 

These were supposed to be 80% effort, where you couldn't talk at the end, save a word. I tried to get there, but my legs weren't really in "turnover mode" after so much easy mileage as of late. Thursday's 2x4x400/200m @ mile pace, where each interval is going to last 3x as long as a single hill repeat (and there are EIGHT of them), is going to be a challenge... 

Also, I forgot how much I love my Garmin community. I haven't figured out a suitable way to do lap button-driven workouts on my Polar, so I wear both devices when I do a workout. The Polar's been nice, but you can't beat the community and simple summary/connections/news feed screen of Garmin. 

You can tell I got tired... 

Did LIIFT4's Week 2, Day 2 (back and biceps) workout mid-afternoon, too. Again, focusing on form and really pulling load through my muscles resulted in using lighter than previous weights, but I think I did much better making the moves all count. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: rest, LIIFT4 W2D2 & LIIFT4 W2D3

Did: 5K walk

I felt a little blergh last night, but chalked it up to a stressful day. Nope. By lunchtime, I checked out of work and proceeded to sleep away the afternoon with congestion and fatigue. I did a short walk with my husband to celebrate his birthday, but that left me absolutely exhausted (like, we're talking "come-in-the-house-and-collapse-on-the-floor" exhausted). I was useless the rest of the day.

Thursday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 4x400(90s)/200, 5min jog, 4x400(90s)/200, 2mi CD

Did: nope

I don't know that I got out of bed much at all today. Just a lot of ugh, and then a slight fever midday.

Friday

Scheduled: rest or 3-5mi easy 

Did: nope

Negative COVID test, and a slight return towards humanity by the evening... still slept most of the day and night.

Saturday

Scheduled: 10-12mi hilly long run

Did: 4.4mi double stroller walk (with a few 1/4mi ish run breaks)

Today's the first day I've felt human since Tuesday afternoon. I took my kids out for a short walk in the afternoon (because now my husband is down with the sickness), and did two 1/4mi runs for run. Such a tough recovery.

Sunday

Scheduled: 15min WU, 12x1min (~7:10/mi)/1min jog, 15min CD

Did: 4.0mi with double stroller @ 9:46/mi avg

Sick husband = all the double stroller runs and outings for me this weekend. It's been forever since I've run so much with both babies, and it was amazing to be able to share this time with both of them together. So grateful. 

The run wasn't fast, and I'm still not 100%, but it was just a blessing to be out there. I'm hopeful that I'll be back to training health by Thursday for another crack at the tough workout Coach C had my scheduled for this week. 

Love my RunSquad :) 

Total Weekly Mileage: 11.52.... yep, definitely a sick week

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Well, this week didn't go as planned AT ALL. I'm grateful to have recovered from whatever virus is going through my family, grateful that my husband and I had a two day lag between our worst days, and grateful that my kids only had the slightest sniffles for a day... while the adults have been down for the count for multiple ones. 
• Here's to another try next week at this mile training thing

The PREP: Week 3/4

Week-beginning Thoughts:
I'm already looking forward to being done with this program... That's not a good mindset to be in. Definitely need to turn my attitude around and resolve to commit to these next/last two weeks and get everything I can out of this program before saying "meh" to it.

Monday

Did: The PREP - Push, 4.10mi @ 8:58/mi avg
Running with my husband always yields a faster pace :) Also had a bit of excitement at the end of the run when my husband yelled "SNAKE-", causing me to jump cheerleader-style and panic, before he finished the word, "-SKIN"... and I landed just on the other side of a run-over, dead copperhead. 


Nutrition: disaster
Welcome to hormonal hell week. Weeee, being a woman! Today was rough for a variety of reasons, and I may have said "f--- it" to nutrition and binge-eaten an entire sleeve of my kid's graham crackers before lunch. 

Felt guilty the rest of the day. :( 



=

Tuesday

Did: The PREP- Legs, 6.23mi run @ 9:29/mi avg
Was NOT excited to do either of these workouts today, but made them happen.

Nutrition: noooooope
Another day of time-of-month (and general national chaos) induced stress resulted in giving into random food cravings, trying to find some comfort in them. Today's poor choices included:  a LARABAR, triscuits, double old-fashioned, and more graham crackers (I need to get those things OUT of reach...)



= Wednesday

Did: 6.36mi run @ 9:08/mi avg, 0.5mi walk, yoga
After a rough night/early morning (thanks, double old-fashioned), I was NOT feeling like getting my run done on Global Running Day... but I'd committed... and the sooner I got it done, the less ungodly hot it would be. So I made it happen, and smiled every time I saw another runner on my atypical route. Yay. 


Nutrition: Finally back to normal-ish
Oh, good, I'm finally past the couple days of insane hormonal cravings. Today was good. I had an apple for breakfast, smoothie for post-run, cauliflower rice+ground turkey+roasted peppers for lunch, only 1/4c of milk with my coffee, turkey+pepper tacos, asparagus, and a glass of merlot to finish it off. 

I ended the day at +1 (too many) yellow, and -1 (too few) fruit, but huge improvement over the past two days.

=

Thursday

Did: The PREP- Endurance & Agility, 2mi run @ 9:32/mi avg, 15min yoga
When baby woke up at 3:30am, I knew I wasn't getting back to sleep... Muddled through The PREP, thinking, the entire time, "I really do NOT like this workout." 

Jumping split squats and lunges of any kind = things I don't like. They feel weird in my legs. I tried to just "lean into it" and "embrace the suck", but I just kept thinking, "nope, this isn't something I dislike because it's hard... I just don't like it". :P The second half of the workout felt SO boring-- a few bouts of 6x30s "agility drills". This must be how people who don't run view trackwork--- "why would you just run around in circles?" 

Made it through, decided I'm definitely not doing The WORK next, and then got myself out the door for a short 2mi run, before enjoying a bit of yoga.

I even finished early enough to enjoy some time reading in my nook before the family woke up... but really just wanted to curl up and sleep at that point. 


Nutrition: Generally good

Breakfast: 2 eggs, protein shake with 1% milk
Snack 1/2 banana, 1/4c whole milk + 1/4c lowfat chocolate milk coffee
Lunch 1c spaghetti squash, 1 c broccoli, 1/6c shredded cheese, 1 apple, 3/4c chicken, 4 asparagus
Snack greek yogurt with carrots
Dinner 4oz chicken, 1c broccoli, 1/2c strawberries, 1/6c cheese, 1c watermelon + tequila (margartia)
Evening triscuits, LARA bar (had extra carbs to use)

Friday

Did: The PREP- Pull, Cize - Crazy 8s, 15min Post-Cardio Yoga with Faith
Another 3:30am wakeup for the baby. Really not a fan of this "no afternoon nap" --> "fall asleep at 6:30pm" business and hope we can get back on track soon :P Total sleep duration is fine, but, man, I really want to shift the start time an hour or two... 

Got through The PREP workout for the day. I've reaffirmed these workouts aren't for me. I get so bored with the inch worm--> mountain climbers, feel like they rush the tempo (for me) on the curls, and ended up subbing my own modifications for the pull-ups (since I don't have a bar) because I didn't get much out of their own. Of course, my mods were the moves I miss from LIIFT4, so I think that tells me what I'm going to be doing again in the near future for strength training... 



I wanted a cardio component today, but didn't feel like going outside, again, alone, pre-dawn, for a run... plus doing that would mean I'd have to change my sports bra (the one I wore for the lifting workout isn't quite what I'd want for a high-impact run). I'd seen a cardio dance program on Beachbody on Demand the other day and decided to give that a try. I danced as a kid, some into adulthood, and have kind of missed it the past few years (especially since my show chorus isn't rehearsing in-person right now).

It was good :) After 30min of dance, I tried to make it through their 8-min ab add-on... and struggled. lol. Guess I used my core more than I thought during the workout. Pushed through, and then followed-up with a nice cool-down yoga practice. 



Nutrition: Stellar
Breakfast: smoothie
Mid-Morning: coffee+milk, watermelon
Lunch: cauliflower with cheese and turkey, 2 graham crackers
Mid-Afternoon: banana
Dinner: spinach, ground turkey, asparagus, kahlua+irish cream drink

=
Saturday

Did: 13.36mi @ 9:27/mi avg, The PREP: Range and Repair
The past few weeks, I've always kind of wanted to tack on an extra 5K to our family 10mi run, but never feel good enough to actually do it. Today, I was feeling awesome at the 5mi mark and brought it up to my husband, who immediately encouraged it by telling our kids, "Mommy's not going to ride home with us after the run, she's going to keep running and run all the way home". Sweeeeeet. 

I got a little irritated with my watch again for crapping out near the 9mi mark. I had about a quarter mile less cumulative distance than my husband, who also has a Garmin, and had been running stride for stride with me the entire time. This is the third or fourth time it's happened, and I'm pretty irked since my watch is two years NEWER than his and only about a year old itself. Grrrr. 

Fortunately, my pace seemed reasonable for my last few splits, so I wasn't too worried about having to run 14mi to see 13.11 on my watch. :P I did have some issues with some ankle instability at one point and general "ugh, hot" feeling, but it's summer in Atlanta... and I also didn't really fuel well  at all during the run. I had my standard water bottle in the stroller, but, once I parted from my family, I had nothing... and I'd eaten next to nothing. Oops. 


Nutrition: heh
Knowing that we were going to be doing Chinese takeout for dinner tonight with my parents, I refueled after the run, but also held off, reserving a portion of my daily intake for that meal. Throughout the day, I had eggs and bacon, some peanut butter oat bars, recovery smoothie, and an apple. I was light on calories going into dinner, but really enjoyed the won ton soup and chicken and broccoli (I normally get Mongolian Beef, but decided to try a healthier option tonight) with white rice.

TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE PLAN.

About an hour after eating, I was NOT feeling good... and wound up with some of the worst food poisoning I can ever remember having. What a night. :( 

=

Sunday

Did: 30min yoga, 1.2mi walk, The PREP
I wanted to have run this morning, but knew better than to go run on about a 1000 calorie deficit, especially when the thought of food was totally unappealing. Instead, my amazing husband played super dad and let me sleep in until 9am (recall I'd been down since about 5:30pm the previous night). 

I thought about doing my workout/lifting video multiple times during the day, but the idea of lifting a weight was just exhausting most of the day. My body finally got itself together and recovered by mid-afternoon, so we went for a family walk through the neighborhood, and then did The PREP workout before dinner. Felt good. 

Nutrition: 
I threw my container plan to the wind today and just let myself eat whatever sounded palatable, which, obviously, was BRAT-style/carb-tastic. By noon, I'd managed to do two slices of plain toast, some graham crackers, and a 1/2c of quick oats. 

Dinner was a bit better. I made a pretty substantial smoothie, and had some peas. Grateful to be feeling better, though. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 32.1

Week-ending Thoughts:

• So over The PREP
• Food poisoning sucks
• Stress is stressful
• Grateful to have my health and ability to use exercise as a coping mechanism