IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #5

August 29, 2016 - Mel

Whoooo boy, do I feel tired this week. I knew that traveling would take some energy out of me, but I feel like I’m FOR REAL half marathon training (as opposed to faking half marathon training, I guess. HA!) That said, I feel like I’m oscillating between GOOD RUN DAY! YAY! and Whomp, Bad Day in my consecutive runs. I feel like I still have no grasp on what I’m doing for speed workouts despite doing the work (and usually feeling miserably slow and ineffective), and I’m struggling with any kind of awareness of what my race pace should be. I’ve said that I want to run a 2-hour half — I honestly don’t know if the Des Moines Half Marathon will be the goal race that I want it to be.

Alas, I have a couple races coming up in the next few weeks of my training schedule to practice, which I’m excited about (I’m also excited about having a nice little recovery and mileage cutback this week because TIRED): The Madrid Miler Labor Day Run (there’s a 2-mile, 5-mile and 15-mile series; next year, I definitely want to do the 15!) — I’m excited about running the High Trestle bridge and I guess there are some serious hills on this route; and the Capital Pursuit 10-miler here in Des Moines is on September 18.

WEEK AT A GLANCE:

One strength workout
Two core workouts
Two easy runs – one by time, one by mileage
One tempo interval run
One long progression run

summer running iowa aftershokz

Working on that summer running tan. HA!

MONDAY
The perfect rest day, after flying back in Sunday night and returning to Hell Week at work. Lordy, I was gloriously in bed by 8pm.

TUESDAY
Strength workout and WHEW, did this workout take more out of me than I expected! I’m trying to be more aware that I needed to allow myself a little recovery time from the harried travel over 4 days and the time zone change. I did some foam rolling before bed, and I intend to make it part of my future training weeks to do just 5 minutes with my regular nighttime routine. I mean, if I can wake up at 6am for weekend runs now, I can give myself 5 minutes of additional torture in the evenings, right?

WEDNESDAY
Tempo interval workout that felt really hard and really slow. UGH.

30 something runner treadmill intervals

Testing out my new Pink headphones — review coming soon!

1-mi warm-up: 11:08 pace
10:47 / 11:13
10:54 / 11:24
10:47 / 11:12
1-mi cool down: 11:23 pace

5.19 miles

THURSDAY
I want to bottle up the feeling of my legs from this day and pull from it any time the struggle bus hits me. This run felt great! And I almost considered waiting until Friday to do it since it was late. But I got done around 8pm and I’m happy with how the run felt – like it was super easy mentally and physically, and my legs were light. And, I dunno, like I was running fast for once.

Splits: 9:26 / 9:07 / 9:27 / 9:34

4.02 miles

FRIDAY
REST! (And trying not to drink ALL the wine while I moved around my living room furniture.)

SATURDAY
I was ticked at my Garmin, as I updated this workout before leaving for my run and synced my watch. The updated version didn’t sync. I guess I should’ve just created a new workout. Technology sometimes, man.

So, instead of doing the 35-minute run + strides that I was supposed to, I did a 30-minute run, strides, then another 5-minute run. It was supposed to be my second core workout of the week, too, and I had zero energy left. That’s what I get for waiting to do this run in the evening, after doing errands all afternoon. Still trying to shrug it off, but I felt like total crap afterward — and it’s lingered still, and I think affected me even on Sunday.

35 minutes + strides = 3.6 miles

Urbandale, IA vs. Pittsburgh, PA elevation – I CAN'T EVEN.

A photo posted by Mel! (@melliesmel) on Aug 28, 2016 at 7:57am PDT

SUNDAY
I don’t think I’ve had any success with my progression runs yet — and this week’s was no different. I woke up early to do this run and was SO HAPPY about the 67 degree temps… until I realized the humidity was 95%. Again, I couldn’t finish the whole progression run.

Splits: 11:21 / 11:35 / 11:18 / 11:27 / 11:21 / 10:55 / 11:00

If I felt like I had no energy left on Saturday, my tank ran empty on Sunday. Empty, nearly broken down on the side of the road, flagging down a truck driver. EMPTY. (I didn’t do that, of course, but something instinctively in me told me to change course and run towards home). It also took a long time for me to feel like I was cooled down (even after jolting myself with a cold shower). It seems like all the runners the world over on Instagram had similar weather suffering this weekend, so I guess I’m in good company.

7.4 miles (supposed to do 8 miles; supposed to be progression… EHHHHH I TRIED).

And then I spent the rest of my afternoon embarrassing myself on the golf course! lol

After Long Run Sundays, we golf. Lessons this summer have helped me immensely and today is my first time out on the course. I won't take all the shots over 18 holes, but I can hang a little better than I used to. #onsundayswegolf #longrunsunday #crosstraining #womangolfer #butfirstbrunch #needmorepractice

A photo posted by Mel! (@melliesmel) on Aug 28, 2016 at 10:05am PDT

WEEKLY RUNS: 4
WEEKLY MILES: 20.21 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 78.56 miles

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #4

August 22, 2016 - Mel

Any of the cumulative fatigue that I felt lingering last week (if that is even possible after three weeks of half marathon training) felt like it lifted this week. I was hitting some faster paces, managing to get outside for a couple runs AND waking my tired ass up for TWO early runs over the weekend. I was traveling Thursday through Sunday, and I didn’t miss a single workout!

Look at me, eating hills (thanks, Pittsburgh!) AND goals for breakfast.

Week at a glance:

Five states, four flights, a two-hour road trip and an 8-mile run! LOL
Four total runs – two easy, one long, one speed workout
One core workout
One strength training day

I didn’t foam roll as much as I do when I’m at home (since I was traveling), but I did pack my RAD roller in my suitcase to get in a little bit of trigger point therapy and continue some work on my calves.

MONDAY
Rest Day is the Best Day!

TUESDAY
Strength workout

WEDNESDAY
I talked to my coach about flipping my Wednesday and Thursday workouts, only because after traveling, I KNEW I would be setting myself up for failure if I had to do speed work. So, Wednesday was another fun pick-ups workout (I seriously love doing these!). I did 4 sets of 2-minute alternating fast pace and my moderate pace, then another 3 sets of 1-minute alternating sprinting pace and a slower pace.

I guess that I was supposed to do my core workout too, but I totally missed it on my spreadsheet. WHOOPS! (I ended up doing it after my Thursday easy run at the hotel).

4.4 miles

THURSDAY
It’s weird that my mid-week easy runs are up to 4 miles now. I never really paid attention to the importance of doing these extra easy runs in my previous training plans (or, I paid attention and thought that I didn’t need them). But I honestly kind of find them mentally refreshing.

We stayed at the new Hilton downtown, which has a really impressive workout space — with a great view of Lake Erie and downtown!

downtown cleveland hilton treadmill view blogger — Treadmill with a view!

4.0 miles

FRIDAY
REST! We were in Cleveland, so we ate gloriously and had a little fun date night out.

SATURDAY
If 9am is wrong… well, yeah, it’s wrong. It was humid AF. Cleveland promised me a cool 70-degree morning, and I got another 85 degree humid run. I had a few total newbie runner fails on this run (despite “being” a runner for almost two years): I didn’t have auto-pause turned on on my new Garmin watch (what?!) and I wanted to take a few touristy pictures, since I WAS in my hometown, I intentionally paused my runs at several points. Welp, sure enough, I forgot to UNpause my watch and this was a timed run. Darn it. It also happened on that big climb from the lakefront into downtown. So, I didn’t get to capture that spectacular awfulness.

Cleveland running blogger free runs — But I captured this awesome selfie!

Because I had my watch set to my workout to do Strides at the end, I ended up running closer to 40 minutes instead of 30. Yeah, and then I had to do those strides. It’s amazing how 20 seconds can seem like an eternity when your legs feel like lead. Definitely didn’t feel the greatness as I did during my mid-week runs, but I was having fun (believe it or not). I didn’t use my headphones on this run either!

2.9 miles (that felt like 5, holy crap). DONE.

SUNDAY
Oh, hey — I woke up in a different city! 😉

Oh. This place looks familiar! ?? #lovepgh #roadtrip #timeformargaritas

A photo posted by Mel! (@melliesmel) on Aug 20, 2016 at 11:05am PDT

Sundays are my long run days, so I pre-planned to have a couple friends meet me in downtown Pittsburgh to do my EARLY 8 miles at a slower pace. We started in kinda humid temperatures, anticipating a storm — which sprinkled on us a few times during the run. But it felt amazing! By the end of the run, the temperature cooled and it was breezy, and I almost felt like myself again (though, really really tired and hungry… oh wait, yeah. That’s me!) I had to be REALLY intentional about slowing down because I kept falling behind and have the tendency to “catch up” to the group. I loved being back in the city where I spent the last six years of my life and running through my old stomping grounds. I cried more during this visit than I expected to.

Pittsburgh blogger runner chocolate milk — No crying over Chocolate Milk though! Fueled by Turner’s, when in Pittsburgh.

8.01 miles / 11:20 avg pace

WEEKLY RUNS: 4
WEEKLY MILES: 19.3 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 58.35 miles

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #3

August 15, 2016 - Mel

I don’t know if it’s a personal problem or a runners problem, but there have already been two Saturdays in my training plan where I felt like complete SHIT because I decided to drink the night before. This past Saturday was a complete failure, in that I couldn’t function for an entire day. An ENTIRE day. From just a few glasses of wine at a dinner party. I’m seriously considering not drinking at all for the duration of my training.

That said, this week I was feeling pretty sore and REALLY tired. I’m feeling really slow, which… I don’t know, it’s kind of mentally deflating. Even though I’ve had to take a few of my runs indoors, I still feel really uncomfortably warm when I’m running. I haven’t been able to muster the energy to run in the mornings (yet? probably never lol), so all of my workouts are after work during the week and late afternoon on the weekends. I’m starting to play around with gels during my long runs on the weekends, and I’m researching more about being a salty sweater (and at what point I’ll likely need to start working in salt tabs to my runs, too). And I probably, definitely need to start bringing along a bottle of Cytomax with me instead of just water. I just feel really BLAH.

The plan this week:

Two rest days
Two easy runs
Two core workouts
One strength workout
One tempo workout
One long progression run

MONDAY
My 5th golf lesson focused on chipping and pitching. Working on the short game was actually super fun, despite it feeling really weird on the set-up.

Before bed, I foam rolled for 10 minutes (lots of focus on calves again).

TUESDAY
A flip-flop in the training plan from the last couple weeks, moving the strength workout to Tuesday and easy run to Wednesday. Honestly, I really wanted to run, but I stayed focused on the scheduled workout.

Finished up the evening with another 5 minutes of foam rolling.

WEDNESDAY
Treadmill – run for 35 minutes, around 3.1 miles. I totally forgot to turn off my watch after I got off the treadmill, and my Garmin captured me foam rolling and walking all around the house with my chocolate milk LOL. By the way, does anyone know how to edit a workout on Garmin Connect, so I can remove those random post-workout paces and distance that don’t belong?

THURSDAY
Tempo intervals workout – with 100+ heat index again and storms, it was another speed workout on the treadmill (which is so frustrating and annoying because paces don’t match up and GAH, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING).

Mile 1 warm-up at 10:40 pace.
.5 = 5:06.3 / .25 = 2:41.5
.5 = 5:17.3 / .25 = 2:43.3
.5 = 4:55.3 / .25 = 2:41.3

About 3.25 miles.

FRIDAY
Rest Day

SATURDAY
AKA: UGH DAY. I’m definitely re-evaluating how I spend my Rest Days because I can’t keep wasting my weekends this way! In any event, I had to skip today’s easy run (3 miles) + core workout.

SUNDAY
Long Progression Run Day, and OMG it felt good to eat again. I seriously had dreams of eating GU because I was likely so dehydrated. I was feeling a little weak in the morning, so I waited to complete this run in the afternoon. It was still 80 degrees outside, but felt tolerable given the low humidity and a nice breeze. I went back to the Greenbelt Trail since I knew where the 6-mile course took me from last week’s run. But then I was on the trail, it felt 20 degrees warmer than what it was at my house, and… I couldn’t finish my progression run. I was completely tapped out after mile 4, and tried my best to eek out 5. My body was completely cramping up and I felt overheated and like I couldn’t get enough water — I’m being totally serious that I think I was starting to hallucinate (but that deer was definitely real and definitely blocking the trail around mile 3). All around AWFUL.

5.4 miles, average 11:22 pace (5-min warm-up walk / 10:50 / 10:51 / 10:45 / 10:50 / 12:09)

Definitely not a successful-feeling week.

TOTAL RUN DAYS: 3
WEEKLY MILES: 11.75 miles (2.45 fewer miles than last week)
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 39.05 miles

Flashback Fact: Week #3 when I was training for the Pittsburgh Half in 2015, I only had 18.83 total training miles in at this point (and basically running 1-2 times per week) — I’ve already doubled that mileage. BUT my splits were in the 9:00-9:20 range and it was winter and WAHHHHHH, I HATE THIS WEATHER!

[back to my coconut water]

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #2

August 8, 2016 - Mel 1 Comment

Week #2 of half marathon training felt great — it was nice to finally get outdoors for a couple runs (even though we had several days over 100 degrees for heat index this week). My schedule happened to coordinate with some great outdoor temps, particularly over the weekend. Again, I didn’t need to switch around any of my run or workout days this week (and I seriously considered it with Thursday’s weather), and did all my workouts as prescribed.

My week at a glance:

Two easy run days
Long run (6 miles)
Pick-ups speed workout
One strength workout
Two core workouts
MUCH foam rolling and trigger point on my calves

MONDAY
Rest Day — and my bi-weekly phone call with my Coach. Everything feels pretty good right now regarding my training program. My legs definitely feel tired though from running 4 times per week, and I’m trying to focus on doing a lot more foam rolling (a massage soon is definitely in order, too). I also need some practice with pacing my speed workouts, which feels very much a practice in Runner 101: Don’t start too fast!

TUESDAY
Easy three-mile run on the treadmill and first of two core workouts for the week.

WEDNESDAY
Strength workout felt tough, despite it being the same workout that I did last week.

THURSDAY
Pick-ups! Something new for my weekly speed workout… which I had to do indoor on the treadmill because it was 105 outdoors.

It was also very sweaty indoors.

iowa running blogger 30something hot in here

I *LOVED* this workout, and I actually wanted to do more! But, I’m sticking to my training plan and trying not to overtrain. Overall, the workout was about 3.10 miles — warming up with 10 minutes at an easy pace with 6 repeats of 1:00 fast and 1:00 not-that-fast (my splits were all over the place — I’m still learning!); finished up with a cool-down, easy pace for another 10 minutes.

I also spent a good 10 minutes of foam rolling my calves after this workout, since they felt so knotted and sore for most of the week. It definitely helped!

FRIDAY
Much-enjoyed rest day — we made a ridiculous amount of food and a giant cheese plate and watched the Olympics opening ceremony until we both passed out on the couch.

SATURDAY
Easy 2 miles — OUTSIDE! It was awesome! Followed up with my 2nd Core workout of the week.

iowa running blog half marathon training

SUNDAY
We drove to the Greenbelt Trailhead in Clive, and I did my 6 miles out on the trails while the boyfriend rode his bike. It was too beautiful of a day to waste inside on the treadmill, and I saw so many fun things on my run. It’s also nice to see how the different trails connect for when I need to venture further. I’m still getting my bearings out here, but absolutely love running out in the woods.

iowa run blogger greenbelt trail
(I’m really interested to know what that little gingerbread house was all about… and look at that tiny library on the TRAILS!!! Made me *squee* when I ran past it.)

This run was a battle of efforts between my legs and the rest of my body. The legs wanted to go fast, and the rest of me felt the makings of maybe working a bit too hard. But any time that I tried to slow up, my legs felt heavy and almost like I was tripping over my own feet getting them to move at all. So, I opted for a kinda-higher effort level because my legs said so, and I did OK on keeping mostly even splits.

6 miles, 1:01:22 / 10:13 overall pace
9:56 (1) / 10:02 (2) / 10:01 (3) / 10:13 (4) / 11:01 (5) / 10:07 (6)

(I have no idea what happened in Mile 5 because at four miles in was when I was eating a GU and slowing up to intentionally digest it). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

TOTAL RUN DAYS: 4
WEEKLY MILES: 14.2
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 27.3 miles

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon:: Training Week #1

August 1, 2016 - Mel

Doing something a little different this training cycle — besides upgrading my running watch and running in Iowa — I hired a coach! My big, hopeful goal for the IMT Des Moines Half Marathon in October is based on time, but I’m focused on seeing through this 12-week training plan and its required weekly workouts to see what happens when I really put my feet where my mouth is. Or something.

And I feel more motivated than ever.

My week at a glance:

Two easy run days
Tempo Interval run
Long run
One strength workout
Two core workouts

The training plan for Week #1 worked well with my schedule, and I didn’t need to flip around any workouts. On the weekend, I *still* could not wake up early enough for the local run groups (though I was out of bed by 7am both days), even with one of my running friends texting me.

MONDAY
Scheduled rest day, and I had my 4th golf lesson. I’m getting so much better that I’m almost in shock over it. I’m making more consistent contact with the ball — and some of them even go 80 yards and straight! 😉

TUESDAY
30-minute easy run. Tuesday’s workout was also a good test recording my treadmill run on my new Garmin. I still have to read up about the accuracy of the distance and pace — but it’s a pretty sweet feature (among others) of the Forerunner 230.

WEDNESDAY
Strength workout — with the realization that I need to get some heavier weights at home for squats and deadlifts because I don’t intend to go to the gym only for those two things. But I am sincerely considering putting my gym membership on hold for a few months.

THURSDAY
I took Thursday’s run outside, for a tempo intervals workout, which… SUCKED. I know much of the suckiness was due to the heat, but I sincerely wanted to quit everything after my second repeat. But it’s new, so I’ll suck it up and continue to do the work (and hope that it gets easier, which… HAAAAAA!). I followed up with a core-focused workout and foam rolling.

FRIDAY
Rest day!

SATURDAY
Afternoon on the treadmill again (outside is back up to, like, 80% humidity again) – an easy 2 miles. Afterward, I repeated my core workout and did some upper body reps on my TRX.

SUNDAY
Prescribed was an hour-long hilly workout that I did on my treadmill again. I didn’t feel well for most of the morning (and early afternoon), and I wasn’t sure it was best to run outside — in case I REALLY didn’t feel well, and I was a couple miles away from home feeling dreadful. But I maintained a pretty easy pace and managed the inclines OK (I inadvertently picked a map that went to 12% incline OMG).

iowa running blogger treadmill training — Tales from the Treadmill

All said, I’m happy with my first week of training AND my commitment to following my training program. Despite my speed work needing some work, I feel good and I like the variety in my weekly workouts.

TOTAL RUN DAYS: 4
WEEKLY/TOTAL TRAINING MILEAGE: 13.1 — hey, that’s kind of an awesomely-ironic number!

Race Recap: Boot Camp & BBQ at Life Time

July 30, 2016 - Mel 1 Comment

No packets to pick up. No swag. No Expo. No time clock. But there was some mud.

Get ready to sweat and experience the most rewarding workout you’ll do all summer. Our Boot Camp class combines cardio, body weight and resistance training to deliver an unrivaled workout. We won’t go easy on you, but we promise you won’t regret it.

Yeah. It’s a Boot Camp & BBQ.

Titan mob course iowa lifetime bootcamp — Of course I wore my MEAT socks to a BBQ!

Registration and Cost: FREE! Hosted by Life Time (I’m a member), this nationwide club event was promoting their Boot Camp class — locally, at the Des Moines gym, they worked alongside Iowa obstacle race creator Titan Mob. This event was open to non-members as well (so long as they were attending with a LT member). Registration was online, and there was a check-in tent in front of the gym about an hour before start time.

Start line: There were several heats, which were staggered by the numbers on our wristbands. Since I was doing this alone (encouraged by my coworker who takes the Boot Camp classes and helped out with the course obstacles), I found a few women at the start line to chat and commiserate with.

Weather: Similar to my emotions when running Dam to Dam, the heat was awful (especially as this event started at 10am OMFG) and everything was horrible (drama queen).

Course: The course was on the grounds of Life Time (all outdoors) and was approximately 2 miles in length (I didn’t wear my watch). There were… I-don’t-know-how-many obstacles, which included: a sandbag carry, cement block pull WITH A CHAIN (the hardest), an uphill tube climb (I have no idea what to call this obstacle lol), tire run, about 20 hill repeats (some with weights), mud pit jump (UGH!), weight pull (from the top of the hill; you then had to walk your plate back down to the bottom, and repeat), walls, monkey bars, army crawls, another wall (a very tall one that I needed some assistance on), hay bale hurdles, wall balls, water bucket carries (while being sprayed with water, which was actually pretty nice), tire flips (I couldn’t do this one on my own, BOO!) and some overhead press/weighted squats before taking off on a sprint to the finish.

For any obstacles that you skipped (or, if you fell off the monkey bars, in my case), you did 15 burpees.

I was impressed that there were several water stations with ice and cold towels at various points on the course.

Experience: It’s been YEARS since I did a Tough Mudder, and this course thankfully didn’t have a lot of mud. The obstacles were placed well, varied in difficulty, and overall felt like it kicked my ass.

Finish Line: There was a hose to rinse off the dirt, which was nice!

After Party: BBQ! Beer from Firetrucker Brewery! Obviously, I’m not a beer drinker, but they had some alcoholic ginger beer that is gluten-free (and they gave me a free drink coupon to use when I visit their brewery in Ankeny). I was super interested in having some watermelon after finishing (as promised on the event info menu), but there wasn’t any. To be honest, I wasn’t really hungry, but I made sure to buy a protein milk in the LifeCafe so that I didn’t feel miserable later (haaaaaa!).

Famous last words, they say: I ended up breaking out in a rash all over the front, exposed part of my skin a few hours after the race because I am nothing if not totally allergic to the outdoors. I also had a bunch of these tiny scratches all over my knees and elbows, likely from the army crawls through the dry grass. FUN!

Obstacle course run lifetime bootcamp — YAY! I finished! (And I’m kinda muddy!)

No Official Results, but it was officially a great time. My experience overall at Life Time has been mostly lukewarm, but they do a great job of hosting fun social events (I’ve already got my eye on a Bikes & Brunch next month), and I love that a lot of the coaching staff and instructors were out on the obstacle course chatting with members about classes and such.

Watch the local news clip about the event!

Accountability Week: 7/11 – 7/17

July 18, 2016 - Mel

What does self care look like to you? Bubble baths and face masks and lots of relaxation? More rest days and social time and focus on loved ones? Decompressing with a book or writing? Well, I did all of the above this week. And that was my goal for the week.

I’m proud of the consistency that I’ve added to my workout routines, and I wanted to think of this period as something like a cut-back week in regular training. To be honest, I work hard to combat the negative self-talk when I start thinking about how to plan out my training again. I’ve not really had success in sticking to a plan. So, I’m exploring options — like social running groups and coaching — to help me see my goals through. I think having accountability is SMART to combat those times when you don’t feel like following through. And since I know my tendencies better than anyone, I want to be set up for the greatest success without being my own worst enemy. This week, I found my first accountability buddy, and those kind of things really add value to my life. I’ve certainly missed having a Running Tribe like I had in Pittsburgh, and I really hope to find my “people” this running season.

But I still find it weird that there are NO organized group runs here on Sundays! Every other day of the week, though, there’s a group somewhere, and several run on Saturdays. WEIRD.

MONDAY Rest

TUESDAY Mostly a Rest Day, though I did a couple sets of my hips and glutes exercises and some air squats in the evening.

WEDNESDAY Ran on the trails, approx. 3.4 miles. My foot felt pretty uncomfortable after this run (maybe because of first time running outside in a while?), but still no noticeable swelling or bruising. I iced it for a bit anyways when I got home.

running iowa trails blogger

THURSDAY Rest Day, aka: Wine Day – after-work wine tasting

FRIDAY Rest – with wine waiting for me when I got home (had to work late to cover time missed by my dentist appointment). I certainly tapped out on rest days this week. My legs felt like they needed a lot of stretching (yeah, I don’t think I did anything after my run on Wednesday… #dumb), so I focused on that a bit before I went to bed.

SATURDAY Run. I went outside again… and had an AWFUL TIME. UGH. This was legit a struggle to get through 3 miles, and my mind just kept quitting on me.

Needless to say, I couldn’t shake off my mental struggle enough to run on Sunday, and just gave up for the week, shrugging off my Sunday run.

So, yes. It’s time to work with a coach.

Accountability Monday: Vacation Week 7/04-7/10

July 12, 2016 - Mel 1 Comment

Fun times. I wanted to finish up this post last night, but our internet was out (and was still out when I went to bed). ANYWAYS, here’s how last week’s vacation accountability and goal-setting worked out…

My goals refresher from last week: do ONE new thing (does working out in a hotel basement count?), TWO workouts while traveling (got ONE in, but shortened the vacation by a day), run THREE times (CHECK!), FOUR workouts total (nope, only the three runs; can I count all the vacation walking?), and a FIVE-mile run (CHECK!). One thing I definitely learned this week: Vacation and insomnia combined completely drain me.

I hate to give myself a pass, because VACATION, but considering I couldn’t move my arms for most of the trip, AND had to go to a running store and buy a pair of shoes, I’m taking a hard pass. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MONDAY: Many CrossFit boxes do hero WODs on holidays, so in the patriotic spirit, I completed an adapted Half Murph workout (usually completed on Memorial Day)… which resulted in me having some serious DOMS in my arms for the better part of the week. OOOF.

The full Murph consists of one mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and another mile run to end the madness (which… no way for me). My treadmill had a featured run in Arlington Cemetery on the 4th, so I did my mile to start there (9:06 minutes), followed by 50 “pull-ups” (adapted: front rows with my TRX), 100 push-ups (probably only 20 strict, followed by sets of 5-10 from my knees, and a bunch of crying and flailing around for the last 60 — it was awful, awful form), 150 air squats, and another mile in Arlington to finish (12:26 mile). All told, it took me 41 minutes and 23 seconds, and WHOOPED my butt.

30something CrossFit Murph WOD blogger — How do people do this WHOLE THING?!

TUESDAY: REST DAY and drive to Kansas City. We did LOTS of walking in Kansas City and it was HOT… with a stop to a local running store in the Westport neighborhood (between drinks) because I forgot to pack my running shoes.

It was actually a good opportunity to try out something new, considering I’m still so stuck on my Ride 7s (he even checked their back room to see if he still had any remaining in stock in my size). The new Ride 9 running shoes were one the dozen or so that I tried on, and I really liked them; ultimately, I purchased a pair of Brooks Ghost 9, which fit pretty similar but felt a little bit lighter in the heel. There’s something about them that almost forces me to run on my forefoot (I have an unfortunate heel-striking habit), and I’m interested to see how they work for me on longer runs.

WEDNESDAY: More walking in Kansas City; more heat and humidity, OMG and a hangover.

THURSDAY: A 20-minute(ish) treadmill run (2 miles with walking warm-up and cool down) in the morning in the hotel’s basement-level fitness center before driving to Omaha. This room was so small and crammed with equipment, I couldn’t even do a burpee in there.

30something hotel workout running blog — Dungeon workout, selfies from the treadmill (and an entire wall of mirrors!), and my new Brooks!

FRIDAY: We woke up early to walk around downtown Omaha a bit (along with some gluten-free cinnamon rolls that I found at a local bakery!!!), followed by a three-hour (lots-more-walking) adventure to the Omaha Zoo.

SATURDAY: We came home from vacation one day early, so I skipped one of my workouts while traveling. I still hadn’t recovered much from our trip, and spent most of the day doing nothing but reading books. A much-needed day of catching up on sleep and relaxing. Didn’t I just get back from vacation?

SUNDAY: Another treadmill run at home — it’s obvious that it’s no longer the dreadmill, right? Five miles (this time in Budapest!). I mindlessly set the treadmill to run and kinda zoned out… and didn’t realize how slow I was running. Ah, well, work is done!

Goals for the week:

I’m practicing some self-care this week. I haven’t been able to regulate my sleep schedule for weeks. I’m also becoming very aware that the “minor nagging discomfort” in my left foot for the last couple months might be the beginning of an injury (I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday). Half marathon training starts in two weeks, so now is the time to prepare my mind and body (and schedule) for the upcoming challenge. For now though, I’m going to relax a little bit (and think a little bit about my goals).

Accountability Monday: IT’S JULY! — and June wrap-up

July 4, 2016 - Mel 1 Comment

Wrapping up June first, I finally got back into a routine with my workouts — planning most sessions out from start-to-finish, being open to doing “quickie” ones instead of nothing at all, and maintaining the consistency that I lost months ago. I still have a few weeks left in the “off-season” before my half marathon training starts up again, and I’m feeling really excited with this momentum.

By the way, this image that I downloaded from my Gasparilla race photos (thanks to that 50% discount code) is EVERYTHING:

love running gasparilla race photos

Quick wrap-up for June: Set up my Achievement Wall in my home gym, started setting weekly goals (even if not a 100% success), had my first race in Iowa (a pretty terrible half for me, but happy to get that out of the way!), and didn’t have to worry at all about tracking my mileage for the month. 😉

This week’s goals were mostly a flop again, but I feel good about the work that was done.

MONDAY: REST DAY

TUESDAY: I was in an INSANE mood after work, and hearing the song “Roxanne” on my drive home got me pumped to do some more burpees. At my former CrossFit gym in Pittsburgh, we were introduced to this burpee routine – dropping down every time you hear the name “Roxanne.” It’s a great addition to warm up, and dang if it doesn’t actually make me smile when I finish.

That was only *part* of my workout:
I warmed up with 3×5 reps of inch worms, mountain climbers and alternating single leg bounds (thanks again to Runner’s World for a great idea to add to my routine).
Jump rope for 2 minutes
Ran 2 miles at a 9:30 pace (followed by a cool down walk for 2 minutes)
Roxanne burpees (one day I’ll count them!)
Ladder plank holds to Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” (ha, the RAGE!)
Workout 1 from the Strong & Fast movements from Runner’s World to “cool down”
And then some long stretches with my TheraBand

WEDNESDAY: My third golf lesson! Still working on corrections to my swing, but I’m definitely making more contact than I did when I first started.

THURSDAY: REST

FRIDAY: REST (dinner and drinks and fun at the golf club overruled my evening workout)

SATURDAY: BOO, RAIN! I was all set up to join the social run club at LifeTime in the morning before my massage, then it started raining at 6:30am, and… well, I’m not officially training for anything, so NO THANKS. This, unfortunately, blew up my goal this week to both run outside AND go out with a running group. Also, can you believe that there were NO afternoon classes to take after my massage? A 10:45 yoga class was it, and my 90-minute massage ended at 11:30. :-/ Alas, I went for my massage, and then sat around for most of the afternoon reading books, reading blogs, and planning out my vacation workouts.

In the evening, I did a 15-minute run on the treadmill with a 5-minute walk to warm up and a 3-minute walk to bring my heart rate back down – I’m loving the Parks courses that were recently added to iFit maps. Shout out to my girl (Pittsburgh City Girl, that is) Chelsea, I ran in Central Park!

Also, randomly, this was the first time that I tripped the breaker while on the treadmill. I, err, hope that doesn’t happen again because this is a new house. WTF?! While the boyfriend was resetting the breaker, I cranked out 20 burpees.

SUNDAY:
I have fallen trap to this “all or nothing” fallacy, where if, say, I have a mimosa in the morning, then I can’t do anything for the rest of the day (like, do my workout). It’s been a REALLY hard habit to break, to remind myself that I really only need 30 minutes and that having a drink at brunch does not negate the entire day. So sometimes that means doing your run at 9pm because you feel good and you’re awake — and dang it, you’re just sitting there watching the stupidest game shows on TV (now, sober). DO YOUR DANG THING.

Again, because I was in some kind of mood, I decided to do a speed test of my 5k PR pace (which is standing strong at 28:08 from last year). And I KILLED those three miles at a 8:56 pace. No joke, it was hard — but I need to be committed to do some of my runs at a harder pace or I will NEVER get faster. Like my cross country coach used to say about rewards: if you puke, you get a hamburger! Which I realize is really terrible advice for a 12-year-old.

Goals for this week:

Do ONE new thing
TWO workouts while traveling
Run THREE times
FOUR workouts total
One FIVE-mile run

Accountability Monday: 06/20-06/26

June 27, 2016 - Mel

Well, my burpees streak came to an end on Tuesday. I laid in bed that night thinking that I could quickly get in 20… but I was mentally and physically exhausted. My new job role has kind of sapped my energy as of late. And then over the weekend, I was playing with the cat on the floor, pushed myself up (think: regular ol’ pushup position) and felt my entire chest pop and tear (I know that I’m being hyperbolic, but definitely something got tweaked something awful). It was on fire for a couple hours afterward, too.

This is some 30-something realness for you: Getting injuries doing something completely unrelated to working out.

In any event, I continued with my overall consistency goal of running three times per week (hooray!). And here are the other weekly goals that I completely failed on (boo!): 108 Sun Salutations for Summer Solstice (I never had time to commit to a 4-hour marathon session yoga mala), take a new class (this was my rain plan for Saturday… and we ended up not getting any rain that day!), ride my bike over the weekend (uh… we opted for Sunday Lazy; except I did run before bed) and keep the burpees streak going (nope).

I’m really disappointed that I didn’t do my sun salutations because I really enjoyed the purpose and ritual that I got from doing them last year (also, OMG last year at this time I was in my marathon training!).

Anyway, I had to laugh at this: Why Summer Makes Us Lazy because HAAAAAAAAAA.

MONDAY: REST (dinner plans after work with boyfriend’s colleagues)

TUESDAY: I took my second golf lesson, which started off almost as terribly as the first. My instructor had to correct a few things with my swing and follow-through, and I was hitting a little better. But then she put a driver in my hand, and I just lost my focus to frustration.

WEDNESDAY: My weekly 15-minute run and hour of hot yoga combo at LifeTime. I didn’t really connect with the flow this week. Meh.

THURSDAY: REST

FRIDAY: The truth is, I wanted to work out in the morning because we had plans to go down to the Arts Festival after work, but… I just haven’t got to a point where I can function that early yet. REST (And some vodka lemonades. And a reminder to not schedule workouts yet for the morning because I won’t wake up.)

SATURDAY: I ran for 20 minutes, did 20 burpees, and then my Strong & Fast workout from Runner’s World that I typically do on Sundays. For this run, I did a little jaunt through Prague via my treadmill. I know that it’s been 10 years since I’ve been there IRL, but holy moly I don’t remember it being so hilly!

Later in the afternoon, we went to the driving range so I could practice what I learned in my lesson this week. Again, I am just overly frustrated and letting it get to me (but I did end with three really good shots with my driver, to end my practice!).

SUNDAY: I wasn’t going to let myself fail on ALL FIVE of my goals, so I ran 2 miles before bed to get my third run in for the week. I thought it would be best to take a day off from suspension training due to my chest tweak.