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. 

Miler Method; Week 6/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:
All the emotions this week... A friend mentioned this pandemic has been going on for 18 weeks here in the states. 18 weeks. That's a long marathon training plan. I'm having a hard time with the fact that I can't control things. I want to feel safe enough to go into the office five days a week, walk down to my boss' office and chat, be social in the break room, go to chorus and sing with my friends, run 10KTuesday again with my teammates, go to the freaking grocery store, browse the library, go on vacation, laugh with friends around the firepit, meet my husband for a mid-day lunch date in a restaurant, talk to people.... 

And that's spilled over into thinking of other things in life that I can't control. Things that are done and decided. Things I can't just make a training plan or a step-by-step "how to make X happen" plan to execute. Because they're things you can't do that for. 

Running has been an incredible coping method for me for the past ten years (and continues to be), but there comes a point where even running can't help. 

Monday

Did: 30min yoga, 5K treadmill walk

This was a bad day for a rest day. Too much life stress.Yoga didn't help. Treadmill walk didn't really help. 

Tuesday

Did: 6.36mi easy @ 9:56/mi avg

Struggle bus of a day and a ran, but got it done. 

Wednesday

Did: 10min WU, 5min tempo/3min rest, 3x30s @ MP, 15min CD = 4.06mi @ 9:58/mi avg

What a short workout! Kind of felt like a bit of a tease with all the short, fast bits. 

Also, fun interface on my new Polar watch's platform:

Thursday

Did: 30min Autumn Calabrese workout, 5K treadmill walk

Rest days are the WORST for my mood and mental well-being. 

Friday

Did: 2mi run with 4x70m-ish strides, 2mi walk

Got my 1-2mi in on the greenway this morning, and threw in a few strides-- not measured or timed, just to stretch my legs-- then walked back to my car. Abs are a bit sore from yesterday's workout. That feels nice. 

Saturday

Did: 1.74mi WU + strides + 1mi Race + 10ish min CD = 4ish mi @ fast

NEW MILE PR

Sunday

Did:10.02mi @ 10:01/mi avg, 6mi bike

Oooh, we had takeout (ribs+cheesecake) last night "in celebration" of my mile PR, and that was NOT the right call. My body is definitely not used to that type of food, and my digestive system rebelled this morning. :P Fortunately, I was able to clear everything out pre-run and enjoy a little more than an hour and a half outside with my family, running. 

..and then I took the little one for a "first bike ride" :) 

Total Weekly Mileage: 26.4 (whoa, is that right? lowest mileage in... awhile!)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Super content. Super proud. Such a great week of running.
• What's next? Um, the same teammate who did Miler Method with me suggested we do a "10 days of 10 miles" streak. Sounds good. 

Miler Method: Week 1/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Whoops. Today is Thursday. This has been such a chaotic week. I started a new training plan, had my first in-office day of work in three months, had two days of sick baby, did my first pre-work run with a teammate in three months, and... idk, I'm sure there was something else in there? 

Monday

Did: 3.2mi @ 9:21/mi avg
Did a quick solo run on the greenway after dropping kids off. This was nice.

Tuesday

Did: WU, 8x30s hill repeats, CD + core circuit + 3mi treadmill walk
I wasn't super excited about starting this training cycle today, and am grateful to have a teammate doing it "with" me. While I ran alone, it was nice to know she was doing the same thing as me. Today was a good way of easing into running training again, with "only 8 times of pushing hard for 30s up a hill". The rest of 10KTuesday could be whatever pace I wanted. 

Still, it was hard to get it done. When I got up at 3am with my baby and could feel the 100.4 fever before I even got the thermometer out, I could tell it was gonna be a rough day. At least the weather was nice. 

Hills felt good. While I didn't like exerting effort, I liked feeling powerful and strong. Yay, training. Got home, did a core circuit, and then logged another 3mi of walking on the treadmill throughout the afternoon's conference calls. 

Wednesday

Did: 3.12mi run @ 9:22/mi avg, 3mi treadmill, 20min chest/triceps weights

Did some weight lifting during the morning shuffle (where baby needs to be watched, but not tended to, and older kid is getting self dressed/fed and backpack packed). I miss LIIFT4, so I just used my dumbbells and weight tracking chart to get a few 3x10 lifts in of chest and triceps exercises. So satisfying. I really missed that these last four weeks while I was doing The PREP.

Got a hilly solo run done after drop-off, and then walked around 3mi on the treadmill during conference calls. 

Thursday

Did: 15min WU, 10min tempo @ , 5min rest, 8x200m/2min, 10min CD 
Man did it feel good to be back on the track. Loved this workout. 

Tempo: 1.41mi @ 7:04/mi 

200s: 41, 43, 45, 45, 45, 46, 44, 41

Friday

Did: 5K @ 8:44/mi 

Rough night with baby = sleeping in = STRESSFUL DAY = workout that almost didn't happen = workout that DID happen, but stressed me out and left me with work to do this weekend. Also, kind of cool that I set out to run easy, knowing it was going to be 90 degrees in full sun, and still had a pace that started with an 8. 

Saturday

Did: 10.02mi family run @ 9:22/mi avg
God, I can't wait until my kids BOTH sleep through the night. I stayed up until 9:30pm to have a little kid-free time with my husband, hoping the baby would sleep. 

Nope. At 1am, we (baby+me) were up... and then we began the exhausting dance of attempting to put him back down, listening to hysterical screaming/crying for as long as I felt appropriate, hoping he'd put himself back to sleep, and repeating... for over an hour.

At 2:30am, I decided I'd had enough and succumbed to allowing him to sleep on me. He got two hours of additional sleep. I... didn't. 

Yet, I was still up at 6:30am and ran ten miles with my husband and kiddos, at a pretty respectable pace. 

Sunday

Did: 15min WU, 10min tempo (1.39mi @  7:12/mi), 10min CD = 5.01mi @ 8:56/mi avg + 0.91mi cooldown walk + 2.16mi walk

Ugh. Pretty sure I'm getting sick again, likely just the congestion stuff my kids have had will manifest in a voice-loss for me sometime in the next few days. Blergh. 

Bright side: I'm loving being on a running training plan again, and running fast is FUNNNNNN. My husband and I (plus kids) enjoyed a nice morning run at the river today, and it was super motivating to be going faster than him on my tempo miles (I mean, he was pushing the double stroller and navigating lots of other trail users, so it's not like it was a fair fight, but still). 

Hit 5mi, and decided to finish up walking.... then got a bonus 2mi of walking when I we had to wait too long for a curbside pickup with crying kids... so I ended up waiting on it solo, and just walking home. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 38.4mi run (52.26mi total for the week)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I LOVE being back in the "running training" mindset and pushing my pace again. There's nothing that makes me feel stronger or more powerful than knocking out a tempo+track workout before a full day of work
• Our Great American 5000 relay team has run across California and made it to Nevada! It's been fun to have more interactions with my running friends, and have a reason to do more walking throughout the week to keep us going across the country. 

Track us here: http://trackleaders.com/greatamerican20i.php?name=Pink_Elephants_on_Parade

Follow us on Ista: https://www.instagram.com/pinkelephantsonparade_relay/

The PREP: Week 4/4

Week-beginning Thoughts:
uh... idk, man. There's so much stress in my life right now and I'm just so beyond grateful to have a healthy coping mechanism in exercise. 

I guess this is the last week of The PREP, so I should feel some sort of "finality", but I don't. I dislike how this program has just been "repeat these videos X times" instead of the "real time" progression of LIIFT4. Looking forward to the next thing. 

Monday

Did: The PREP - Total Body Push/Pull, 4.6mi with stroller @ 8:56/mi avg, 4+mi on the treadmill desk, walking

Today's PREP workout was relatively enjoyable. I feel really proud when I can do dumbbell push-up rows, and even better when my baby mimics me doing thrusters by putting his own hands up and down. :) 

Followed this up with a run at the river, assuming our cleaners were coming in the morning and we'd need to be out of the house. Definitely enjoyed stretching my legs a bit. Even with the stroller, I kept a faster-than-usual pace. 

...but then the cleaners ended up coming later, so we were relegated to the basement for the WHOLE DAY. This meant LOTS of treadmill desk walking.

Nutrition: good

Well, being stuck in the basement all day meant I didn't really snack much. In fact, by lunch, all I'd had was liquids. :P 

Breakfast: protein shake

Mid-Morning/Post-run: spinach/kale/berries smoothie

Snack: coffee and coconut milk

Lunch: cauliflower with cheese
Dinner: cauliflower, salmon, watermelon, beer, and a few DIY LARABalls (dates+natural PB+dark chooclate+almond flour)

=

Tuesday

Did: The PREP- Strength and Power, 6.23mi run @ 9:49/mi avg
I actually really enjoyed today's PREP workout-- lots of compound moves in quick succession that had me sweating midway through my first set. Woo! 

10KTuesday was a bear, though. I opted for a new route that was hill-acious. The route itself wasn't too bad, but, man, oh, man, the humidity. It is summertime in Georgia for sure!!!


Nutrition: yep

Pre-run: honey stinger waffle, 'cause I saw it in my running cube while putting my safety vest on

Post-run: spinach/kale/berries/banana/protein powder/greek yogurt smoothis

Snack: coffee and coconut milk, nuts

Lunch: 4oz pork shoulder, broccoli, watermelon
Mid-afternoon Snack: protein shake + dry pasta (soooo hungry today-- battled it off with water, though)
Dinner: 1c steamed green beans, 4oz sockeye salmon, 5oz chardonnay, 1 shot Firefly vodka

= Wednesday

Did: 40min Yoga Flow, 25min HIp-hop Dance, The PREP: Cardio & Core
OMG, I had such a great night of sleep. It's amazing to wake up on my own, instead of to a screaming infant. Enjoyed a nice, easy morning of yoga at 4:30am, followed by a quick cardio dance workout. I may still try to run sometime today, but kind of enjoyed doing something a little different this morning. 

Wanted to run later in the day, but ended up having to stay home with baby during a thunderstorm, so I got my PREP workout from tomorrow done and figure tomorrow can be a PREP "rest day" with a 100% run focus.


Nutrition: meh
Post-workout: 2 scoops protein powder, 1/2c unsweetened coconut milk, iced coffee
Lunch: 1c green beans, 1 slice whole wheat toast, 2 eggs
Snack: nuts
Dinner: 1c green beans, watermelon (lots), 3/4c ground turkey, 1/4c no sugar added marinara, 1/2c whole grain pasta

=

Thursday

Did: 5.5mi run @ 9:54/mi avg
OMG, my baby slept through the night. What bliss! Woke up at 4:30am to a cry, but there was silence again after I'd prepped a bottle, so I waited a bit, and then headed out for a run. My legs felt tired, so I just took it super easy today, choosing to do a hilly route at my relaxed pace instead of anything else. Days like today make me wonder how I'll deal with having an actual running training plan again whenever that starts (which looks like Monday... lol)


...oh, that's why this morning's run was so tough. I'm sick. Definitely felt fatigued by mid-afternoon and was pretty useless tonight. 

Nutrition:
I don't really remember. Checked my tracker and I was one carb over, but good on total calories and other containers. 

Friday

Did: The PREP: Isometrics
Woke up feeling okay-ish, and did The PREP. This was a good workout to do today since it was low impact, just slow and strong. I kind of wanted to go run later in the day, but never felt quite up to it. Ended up napping in the afternoon, feeling super sluggish, and just sleeping/being uesless from about 5pm through 6am. Boo

Nutrition: blergh
Whenever I'm sick, I like eating crunch carby things. Today was no exception. I had some shredded wheat, Cheerios, saltines, and smoothies... then after a failed attempt to sleep in the early evening, got up and finished the day with a sammich. Over on calories and totally off on containers for the day, but, eh, sick. 

=
Saturday

Did: The PREP- Crucible, 3mi run @ 8:51/mi avg, 30min Yoga
I really, really wanted to join my family on the ten mile run this morning. We've done it EVERY WEEKEND for the past few months. 

...but even waking up and feeling okay-ish, I knew going out for a ten mile run after feeling so blergh for the past few days was a dumb idea. So I stayed home and rested some more. I hate resting. 

I decided I felt good enough to try my workout video and, if that went well, I'd let myself go out for a walk/run. Workout video felt great, so I headed out the door afterwards for some miles. 

I really did try to keep myself at an easy pace... but was already running a low-8 when I got to the end of the neighborhood. 

Slow. Down. I told myself. Keep it easy. 

First mile split: 8:51. Oops

I focused on just leaning forward, engaging my arms, and breathing calmly, running at a comfortable pace.

Second split: 8:55.

Okay, at this point I decided I was running easy, and that, hopefully, this meant my body had recovered from whatever crap I'd been down with yesterday. That said, I wasn't going to let myself go more than 3mi. If I felt good the rest of the day, after this run and the workout, then maaaaaaaaybe I'd let myself do a long run tomorrow. 

Final split: 8:47. 

Nutrition:
Breakfast: one HB egg, iced coffee with milk and protein powder
Mid-morning: asparagus
Lunch: pork shoulder in a spinach wrap, apple
Mid-afternoon: greek yogurt with berries, Sweet Tea Vodka

Dinner: pork chop with from-scratch hummus topping, broccoli, Summer Shandy

=

Sunday

Did: 10.2mi run @ 9:26/mi avg, 45min Yoga Sculpt, 1.5mi double stroller walk, ~1mi walk/run while my oldest balance biked along the greenway
Today was the first day I ran with anyone outside of my family in three months. For someone who was used to running pretty much every run with a teammate before this pandemic, that's significant. I've been having a hard time lately with the lack of forward progress and consistent isolation brought about by the pandemic, so my husband and I agreed that my resuming running with a training partner was within our "acceptable risk". My teammate and I agreed to stay distanced from one another, which meant one of us was often running in the travel lane while the other was on the sidewalk, but, since we run at 5am, it wasn't a safety risk. 

It was really, really nice to run with a teammate again. Plus, we got started on our next team challenge together, a virtual cross-country relay race: The Great American 5000. We've got a team of eight taking on a 5000km (~3000mi) course over the next three months. It's not quite the overnight Ragnar relays we've done in the past together, but it's some sort of social/camaraderie thing to sustain everyone throughout this social distancing/no-in-person-races season. 

 

follow us on Insta @pinkelephantsonparade_relay

Hey, we're winning!

(this only lasted until the other teams woke up... lol)

I didn't really feel like doing The PREP's "Range and Repair" workout, which is basically just stretching muscles I don't really get much out of stretching. Instead, I took the kids for a double stroller walk through the neighborhood, older one for a bike ride along the greenway, and then did some more intense yoga on my back deck-- got the stretching in plus some nice upper body work on crow and firefly poses. 

bonus: I had a little yogi doing everything with me :) 

Nutrition: 
Pre-run: banana, Larabar
Post-run: coffee with milk, smoothie (greek yogurt, 1/2 banana, spinach, berries)
Brunch: 2 pieces of bacon, 2 eggs, shredded wheat, broccoli

Lunch: spinach wrap, gala apple with homemade hummus

Mid-afternoon: 1/2c ice cream with my little one

Dinner: chardonnay, pork chop, spaghetti squash, quinoa, celery, feta cheese, and an old fashioned

Total Weekly Mileage: 29.4mi

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I'll do a standalone The PREP write-up with more detail, but the short of it is I'm glad to be done with that program. I don't think I got much out of the workouts, but the nutrition focus was key this round.
• It's really nice to have a "team" again for running. Even though our race just started today, I'm already so happy to have our Instagram posts, Facebook group banter, and Strava shares
• I had a couple days affected by illness, and not being able to work out the way I wanted to really took a huge toll on my mental health/overall well-being and mindset. As always, I'm grateful for my health and the ability to keep doing what I do. Hooray for healthy coping mechanisms