21 Day Fix Extreme: Week 1/3

Week-beginning Thoughts:

I'm looking for something low key for this week, and think I've found it in 21 Day Fix Extreme Real Time. This program gives me a 30min workout every day, which I can choose to add running to or not. I'll also try to get back on the container bandwagon for nutrition. 

Monday

Did: 21DFX Plyo Fix, 1mi @ 8:53/mi avg

I hate plyometrics. Jumping always just feels like a great way to get injured. Especially since my calf feels a little funky today, I took it easy. Proud of myself for making it through a workout I really don't like, though. 

...then I went for a mile run just for funsies. :) It's always amazing to me how much faster I run after a strength workout where I warmed my legs up. 

Nutrition was great today. 

Breakfast: oatmeal, shredded wheat, protein coffee

Snack: graham crackers with strawberries

Lunch: 2 HB eggs, cauliflower/broccoli/zucchini/squash/ground turkey succotash

Snack: apple, lara bar

Snack: triscuits, second coffee 

Dinner: ham, zucchini, squash, celery in lettuce wrap

Tuesday

Did: 21DFX Upper Fix, + 10min HardCORE  10KTuesday @ 9:24/mi avg 

I feel like freaking super mom today. My husband's sick, so that means I've basically been single parenting since 5pm yesterday. I've been to work both days so far this week (in the office, which is its own challenge, especially when it comes to bringing enough food). I couldn't run this morning (partially because I was a little worried about my calf, but mostly because I needed to be on-call as a parent). After getting everything done in the evening, I finally made it out the door around 7:30pm. 

Running in the evening was weird. I kind of enjoyed the solitude, but it was also strange to have other people on the sidewalks, cars at intersections, and, DAYLIGHT. What even IS that? 

I felt physically fine until about 4mi in, and then my legs were a bit tired, and I started to feel my left calf tighten. Of course, I was only two miles from home at that point, so I pushed on... and then stretched out once I got home. 

Pretty proud of this dinner, too! 

Nutrition was a bit of a struggle. I'd only planned ot be in the office until lunch, and then run at lunch and go home afterwards. Instead, I was there the whole day... so I went out at lunch and grabbed some Starbucks for sustenance. Not the best choice, but I tried. 

Breakfast: greek yogurt smoothie and protein coffee

Snack: KIND protein bars

Lunch: Sbucks Tomato Mozarella panini + grande flat white

Dinner: green beams with salmon and veggies

Evening: taco shells, 2 eggs, shredded wheat (post-run)

Wednesday

Did: 21DFX Pilates
Another solo morning with the kids = workout didn't happen until the evening, but that was kind of OK since my older one did it with me :) Love sharing fitness with my family. 

Nutrition was awesome today. I planned, and I executed. 

Breakfast: oatmeal, 2 HB eggs, and green beans (fitting in those veggies/green containers)

Snack: protein coffee, banana, KIND protein bars

Lunch: greek yogurt with strawberries and sunflower seeds

Snack: carrots

DInner: steak lettuce wraps

Evening: banana

Also took a massage stick to my calf and did what I could to destroy the knot. Blergh. 

Thursday

Did: 21DFX Lower Fix, 2mi walk

I don't even remember this day. 

Friday

Did: 21DFX Cardio + 10min HardCORE

Also don't remember this day... I do recall struggling with nutrition though and eating a ton of taco shells in the morning. When I'm sick, my go-to food is always crunchy, salty things, like tortilla chips. Guess we know what this weekend has in store. UGH. 

Also hit my calf hard with massage again. 

Saturday

Did: 21DFX Dirty 30, 6.75mi walk

Got my 21DF workout done first thing with my baby this morning, and then my family opted for a 100min walk instead of our normal 10mi run (since my husband and I are both dealing with calf issues). I feel like I could run, but really want to be as healthy as possible to start Miler Method in another week, so I'm trying to rest, stretch, and roll this thing out.... 

The hardest part for me is modifying my food intake since I'm not burning the same calories I ususally do... I've learned not to eat my normal big breakfast, though, and that helps. If I can make it through the morning without gorging on the kids' animal crackers, I'm generally OK. Today, I was pretty proud of myself for making a salad for lunch (SO MUCH EFFORT when you don't pre-prep!) instead of just making another PB&J. I also did spaghetti squash and tomatoes for a hearty, filling snack later in the day instead of handfuls of animal crackers. Pretty happy with how today turned out. 

Sunday

Did: 4.06mi walk + 21DFX yoga + 0.5mi walk

Another family walk since both my husband and I are still bum, but at least I don't feel the knot in my calf anymore. Hopefully, I'll be good to go for 10KTuesday in a couple days. It's been so weird to take almost a week completely off from running. It was kind of cool, though, to have my kid run his first mile (there was a bit of fast walking, but he was definitely at least jogging for the most part-- so proud). 

Yoga was nice, though it's hard to "focus on the stillness and quiet" when you've got munchkins climbing all over you... 

Total Weekly Mileage: 7.3... Kind of hilarious to go from 70 to 7.3 in barely ten days :P 

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Um, I don't even know...  I'm glad to be doing 21DF and have some sort of "plan" to follow right now.
• I'm a bit worried about my ability to execute the mile training plan in a week, and hope I'll be healed up. 
• Nutrition is tough when I don't plan, but I'm starting to get back into a high-veggies mode. The hardest part is how limiting the green container qualifications are-- like, peas don't count as a veggie, but rather as a carb. If I'm going to have a carb, I'd rather eat some shredded wheat or oats. :P 

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. 

10x10: Week 2

 

Week-beginning Thoughts:
This 10x10 Challenge is definitely a Challenge. Last night, as I was getting ready for bed, trying to figure out how to motivate myself to get up and run 10mi solo, my crazy challenge-mate messaged me, "Hey, wanna run together tomorrow?"

We hadn't planned on doing every run together, but, man, I think I'm gonna need that type of motivation. 

Monday

Did: 10.07mi @ 9:32/mi avg, Big 5

Today was a little tougher than past days. My legs were a little tired, and I felt every single one of the small inclines on our route. That said, we both noticed that when one of us was telling a story, or we had some good conversation, the miles went by faster. 

I've started wearing my calf compression sleeves when I'm not running. Not sure I need them, but it's a nice feel good security blanket. 

Tuesday

Did: 10.08mi @ 9:49/mi, Big 5, 10min abs

Today felt GOOD. I was pleasantly surprised by how great I felt on the run. We did our normal 10KTuesday route (with another teammate that I hadn't seen in five months), and then the two of us 10x10 challengers tacked on another 4. 

I'm struggling a little bit with nutrition. I feel a little stressed about not having enough calories, and wanting to eat more, so I backed down on my MyFitnessPal goals and am closer to a net of 1500-1800 a day now, instead of the ~1400 net I was operating on to lose weight.

A typical 10mi day looks like this, food-wise:

Pre-run: salted Larabar (190cal)

Post-run: chocolate milk mixed with 1% (280cal)

Post-shower: shredded wheat + 1 egg + 4 egg whites + 2oz ham (280cal)

Driving kids to school: protein shake with milk and coffee (190cal)

Morning snack: PB oat bar (115cal) and greek yogurt/spinach/banana/fruit smoothie (300cal)

Mid-morning snack: spinach wrap with turkey (100cal)

Lunch: sweet potato + corn + peas + ham + cheese succotash (270cal)

Mid-afternoon: oatmeal or dry pasta (150cal)

Late-afternoon: beer (200cal)

Dinner: 6oz meat + roasted cauliflower/squash/zucchini (350cal)

Post-dinner: graham crackers and whole milk (200cal)

Total ~ 2650cal

I still never feel like I can eat what I want (i.e. a giant plate of nachos with lots and lots of gooey, melt-y cheese), but I'm hitting the right macros with this setup, and getting enough energy/protein/stuff to not feel tired. So, there's that, right? 

Wednesday

Did: 10.04mi @ 9:34/mi avg, Big 5, 10min abs

Today was a hard morning to get up. I've struggled the past few nights with sleep (all my own "fault"-- can't even blame the baby). I just keep waking up every half hour starting around 2am. 

It was kind of hard to get up and be ready to drive to meet my teammate before 4am

...but I was glad to have someone to meet! 

I really liked today's route, though. We did kind of a "T" route. Starting at the bottom, we ran 3mi to the joint, then 1mi ONB each side, then 3mi back to start. Breaking up the run into these short, manageable segments really helped mentally.

Bonus: I got to see my first ever shooting star as I was stretching at my car post-run :) 

Thursday

Did: 10.06mi @ 9:36/mi avg

It was hard to get up today, but only because I couldn't sleep last night (again, not the baby, just me and my mind). I was once again super grateful for the accountability of meeting my teammate for our run at 4:30am. 

These runs have become habit. Ten miles is no longer a "long run"; it's just "a run". I don't fuel specially for them. I don't get anxious about the mileage. It's just part of my routine that I mindlessly, to some extent, execute each morning. I feel like a machine. 

Friday

Did: 10.02mi @ 9:52/mi avg

Yet another night of limited sleep (up at 10:30pm, 12am, 2am, and, finally, 3:30am). Blergh. It wasn't hard to get out of bed, though. Ran a slightly hillier-than-ideal route this morning, but appreciated the variety. This was the first run my legs actually felt a little heavy during the run, but I felt good afterwards. 

It's been fun doing this challenge, and I don't know that I'm ready for it to be over quite so soon. :) 

Saturday

Did: 10.01mi @ 9:48/mi avg, 2.91mi walk

The threat of rain/thunderstorms later in the morning meant I might not get to do my normal Saturday stroller run, so I got up early and met my teammate for mileage instead. Today was the first day that I felt tired during the run- not so tired that I couldn't do it, or it was a struggle-- just tired enough to be about 20m behind my teammate most of the run. Yesterday's hills definitely had an impact. SO glad that we took our other teammate's advice about staying as flat as possible for the duration of this challenge. 

Afterwards, it still wasn't raining, so I went out with my family and logged another 3ish miles of walking (veeeerry slowly- lol) on the greenway. 

...and then it happened:

While struggling to get my baby in/out of the high-chair without stepping on/dropping him, I moved a little too quickly, and felt a twinge in my upper right calf.

F---. 

I spent the rest of the day icing, with calf sleeves, moping and munching animal crackers, hoping I hadn't just injured myself.

Sunday

Did: 10.07mi @ 9:57/mi avg, 3.07mi walk

Yassssssssssssss.

I didn't touch or try my calf at all yesterday after the incident, and woke up hopeful that it would be fine to run on. Within a few steps, I knew I was going to be alright for the distance. <3 <3 <3

My teammate and I enjoyed a slower run today, along the riverside boardwalk, counting up from 90 to 100 as we went. 100 miles in ten days. What a feeling! While I'd been pretty good up until today, I was definitely glad this was our last run. 

Best part: hearing my husband and our kids behind me at one point, and knowing they'd changed their run plans to be at the finish. :D 

dem legs

Total Weekly Mileage: 70.4 (all-time high)

This is SO cool to see :D

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I am incredibly proud of my body's ability to endure so much. When I started this challenge, I truly wasn't sure it was something I could do. Kind of like running Publix pregnant, I knew I'd be able to finish it to some extent, but wasn't sure if that would mean walking some, breaking up the mileage within a day, or cutting the challenge at one week instead of the full ten days. Instead, I was gifted with ten beautiful days of pushing myself to a new limit. This is exactly the sort of challenge I needed. 
• This challenge was so awesome, my teammate and I are considering making it an "annual pilgrimage".
• YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY :D

10x10: Week 1

Week-beginning Thoughts:

• Oh, Monday. Hi. I thought we'd agreed not to see each other anymore? :P 

Monday

Did: Jericho's Half and Half (incl. 10min of abs)

After all last week's mileage (and not having a rest day since my mile PR), I decided to take today as a rest-from-running day. I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a cardio session on Beachbody-on-Demand or yoga, so I found this cool half-and-half workout. It took me 90min to complete it (it was only 45min long) thanks to all the kiddo-related interruptions (even at 5am), but it happened. Also did 10min of abs in the evening. 

Tuesday

Did: 10KTuesday @ 10:10/mi avg, Great Abs with Tony Horton

Slow and easy 10KTuesday in this GORGEOUS weather plus afternoon abs.

Wednesday

Did: Jericho's Half and Half- Harder (incl. 10min of abs) plus 3.11mi double stroller run @ 9:28/mi avg

Did another Half and Half this morning and enjoyed it. I do miss lifting, so I'll probably try to get back to doing that at least 1-2x a week in the near future. I'd planned on a lunch walk with a friend, but life got in the way of that. Instead of running then, I opted to wait until the afternoon, because my kid's been asking to run after school for the past week. 

...but then thunderstorms were in the forecast, and nothing makes me angrier than not getting my workout in.

Fortunately, I decided to suck it up and try anyways, and, while we got rained on, the thunder never came. 

Thursday

Did: Chalene Extreme Abs, ~5K of walking through the neighborhood

OMG, I'm going CRAZY without running this week, and hormones have been eating crap, and ALL OF IT. I'm trying to let myself rest a bit before we launch into our 10x10 challenge, but, MAN, it is HARD. 

when I say "neighborhood walk", I suppose I really mean "neighborhood hike"

Also, I ate about 1000 calories more than I was supposed to today... It's really hard for me to just shrug that off. For the past fifteen years, I've only had success managing my weight when I count calories. Some people can just do that "oh, I only eat when I'm hungry and my body evens it out". Some people, like my husband, can eat whatever crap they want, whenever they want, and however much they want, and still maintain, without any strength training, less than 5% body fat. I don't have those genes. It's been a challenge today to combat the "you're 1000 calories over-- better go burn those off RIGHT NOW" thoughts, but I'm trying to remind myself that:

1) This is ONE day. If I'd go out and eat a full meal at a restaurant, it'd easily be the same caloric intake, and doing that once in awhile should not sabotage me. 

2) A pound is ~3500 calories. I didn't even over eat enough to gain a single pound.

3) I'm about to run ten miles a day for the next ten days. "Carb loading" probably isn't the worst thing. 

Friday

Did: 10.11mi @ 9:35/mi avg, Big 5, 10min Barre Blend abs

I've been mentally stressing about today for the past few days. This 10x10 thing is a big deal. In just a few days, I'm going to have a three-day peak of 70mi/last 7 days. The highest 7-day volume I've had before was in 2016, during Chicago training, with 69mi/week. I'm a little nervous, TBH. 

This morning kind of felt like a race morning. Nerves. Adrenaline. Excitement. I'm so glad I've got a teammate to do this "with". We're not running every day together, but plan on doing about half of the runs at the same place/time. The rest of the days, we'll probably run around the same time, but at different locations ,and just check in with each other later. 

We started off much faster than I wanted to go, and I had to remind myself not to keep up with my teammate. After all, this is the first day of a ten day endurance event. No point in burning out early. That said, we still finished a bit faster than I'd planned. I felt good enough during the run, but can definitely see this is going to be challenging. 

Day 1! Let's do this!

Saturday

Did: 10.01mi @ 9:45/mi avg with family, Big 5, 10min plank series

Day 2 felt far less intimidating than Day 1, probably because running 10mi is "just a normal Saturday" for me, and I had my family along for the ride (though, real talk: my husband always does all the stroller pushing when we run together, because pushing 100+ lbs is the only way our paces are remotely comparable). 

I had a few pics of soreness on different parts of my legs and ankles throughout the run, but they faded as quickly as they'd crept up. Still, a good sign that I need to be diligent about stretching and rehab throughout the next eight days. 

There were three separate areas of flooding across the greenway, some about 6" deep, so we had fun running through those :) 

Sunday

Did: 10mi @ 9:33/mi avg, 10min plank series

Woo, Day 3! I woke up feeling great and ready to run. Rather than deal with complex logistics, my teammate and I agreed to just meet at the river and knock out all ten miles together, with our youngest kiddos in the single strollers. It felt good to have a new route, especially since it was familiar, flat, and full of company. I had another series of random pains/sorenesses/aches in various parts of my lower appendages, but, again, they all came and went throughout the run. 

This stroller has GOT to have over 3000mi on it by now .and it's still AMAZING.

Total Weekly Mileage: 39.4

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I'm really glad I lightened up my mileage earlier in the week.
• I feel like such a bada--- doing this challenge. It's hard enough that it's definitely a challenge, but not so out reach as to be demoralizing. 
• PEOP is mid-way through Ohio! http://trackleaders.com/greatamerican20i.php?name=Pink_Elephants_on_Parade
• Oh, and I'm officially over 1000mi/year :D