runners problems

Product Review: The Runnerbox

- Mel

Disclaimer: I received The Runnerbox to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!

runnerbox-logo The Runnerbox is a bi-monthly box of athletic awesomeness — hand-picked products and accessories geared towards runners to enhance their active lifestyle.

Runnerbox monthly subscription review Iowa blogger

About Runnerbox:
The bi-monthly subscription box costs $20 and is stuffed with products and accessories geared towards runners. Runnerbox contains items hand-picked by athletes and can contain everything from gels to chews to protein shakes/supplements, and nutrition bars, energy boosters, healthy snacks, personal care, and other running gear or accessories. Some of the products are brand new to the market while others are tried and true favorites. I’m a huge fan of being able to be be something of a public “first tester” of new products.

The box I received was winter themed and contained items focused on keeping runners warm and fueled when the temperatures drop (and keeping motivation up!).

Here’s what my box included:

  • HOTSHOT (2 bottles)
  • Louva Shorties (in black)
  • Banza Mac & Cheese (Chickpea pasta)
  • Zest Tea (cinnamon apple)
  • Oatmega Whey Bar
  • biPro (2 packets)
  • Chosen Foods Chia Bites
  • REDD Superfood Energy Bar
  • Runa Energy Drink
  • Hyperice Hypersooth (sample packets)
Runnerbox so much stuff blog review bibrave
So. Much. Stuff!

First impression: As someone who is obsessed with monthly subscription services, there is a LOT of stuff in this box! It looked as though most of the products were gluten-free, too. Gear that has adaptable uses get a gold star by me, so the Louva shorties sound like my kind of product.

Favorite Products: Banza mac & cheese, biPRO protein powder, the chia bites, and Zest tea.

runnerbox fuel products running blog review

30-Something Runner Approved: I love finding out about new stuff, and Runnerbox is a great way to test out new items — particularly for fitness-oriented products and fuel that is already tested by other athletes. I was SUPER pumped about all the gluten-free products! I like subscription boxes (a lot) and I like them even better when I can eat (and enjoy) everything. I also appreciated the mix of items — mostly food or fuel-based, but with some non-edible items.

runnerbox gluten free pasta review

Check out The Runnerbox for the subscription options — and if you’re looking for a great gift idea for that special runner in your life, there’s a limited edition Valentine’s Day Runnerbox.

runnerbox bibrave review product

Weekly Therapy: It will be cold. You will get dirty. And you will get wet.

- Mel

the week:
I had to give a presentation at work this week and if you know me: I HAD TO GIVE A PRESENTATION. This, coming from someone who had to drop public speaking THREE TIMES in college. Every thing about it scared the crap out of me, but I was given the opportunity and wanted to get past The Thing that I typically reject on account of nerves and fear and other silly personality defects and comfort zones. All that aside, I DID IT.

*THUMBS UP EMOJI*

container-store-des-moines-preview-opening-party

weekend:
This weekend is the Living History Farm Race — 7-ish miles of dodging mud and farm animals (yep, farm animals!) and other obstacles. Think of it as a Tough Mudder: Iowa Style. The promise is that it will be cold, dirty, and wet. Everything about that sounds terrible, no?

seven things, seven days:
1. I hit the halfway point of the 100 Striders Miles Challenge for November!
2. Work hosted a thanksgiving potluck – and there was an insane amount of food that I couldn’t eat. ?
3. I finally got out to a group run at Fleet Feet in downtown Des Moines — and it was Saucony demo day!
4. Speaking of Saucony, did you see (or buy?) their RunBox?
5. The Container Store is opening this weekend in West Des Moines, and we went to its fancy preview party. It was so nuts – but completely awesome! Check it out and shop this weekend, as a percentage of proceeds benefit local charity Variety.
6. Why our brains respond differently to Classical music. {via Pacific Standard}
7. What a cool research project — and discovery behind one of Cleveland’s historic landmarks.

Weekly Therapy: Pumpkin all the things!

- Mel

the week:
Well, there went September. BYE!

pumpkin spice everything fall october
YAY, FALL!

I’m so excited that Fall weather has arrived, and I spent my week mapping out what races I wanted to do over the next couple months (including staying up late again last night to register for one that frequently sells out). I also spent a considerable amount of time pinning pumpkin recipes. I’m pretty excited about my schedule — varied distances, trail races, another half marathon, AND a fun “adventure” run.

If you missed my news on twitter, I committed to running the Vermont City Marathon in 2017! Online registration opens up on rOctober 10 — save $5 with discount code BibRaveDsct17.

weekend:
I’m off on a little adventure to Omaha. BYE!

seven things, seven days:
1. Kinda bummed out about the membership fee increase for LifeTime (unsure if it’s a global pricing change). I’m reconsidering the ROI — particularly because I utilize the facility for a lot of special events, which cost me even MORE on top of my monthly charge. Ehhhhh, I hate making these kind of decisions.
2. Small win this week: I wore my hair down for an ENTIRE day of work!
3. Now that I’m officially on the payroll, adjusting to not getting paid every week is HARD.
4. 3 Reasons to own your career in 2017 — love this article, particularly the section on “martyrdom” {via INC}
5. The death of the phone call. Also BYE. {via Slate}
6. I had no idea that The Secret of NIMH was based on a real-life research project — how did I spend the bulk of my childhood and adult life not realizing that the NIMH of the movie was the acronym for National Institute of Mental Health?! {via Atlas Obscura}
7. Practice matters… but it doesn’t make perfect. {via New Yorker}

Product Review: Aftershokz Trekz Titanium goes PINK

- Mel

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Aftershokz Trekz Titanium Pink to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro ambassador, and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!

Trekz_Titanium wirefree headphones

I think a common problem among runners is keeping earbuds in (those of us who enjoy training with music). It took me a while to find a pair that wouldn’t consistently pop out — or wouldn’t outright HURT my tiny ears. So when the opportunity to try an outside-the-ear, wireless headphone product came up with BibRave, I jumped at the chance to try these out.

Product Highlights: Trekz Titanium Pink are wireless, sweat-resistant and perfect for runners. They don’t go inside your ears, so you don’t need to worry about them falling out! Trekz Titanium Pink are flexible and lightweight — made with a titanium frame. Designed with an open ear concept, the limited-edition hot pink headphones keep you aware of your surroundings while you listen to music, all while raising awareness of breast and ovarian cancer. ‘Tis the season to go PINK.

A photo posted by Mel! (@melliesmel) on

First impression: Obviously, I LOVE the color. And I’m completely digging the wireless, bluetooth connection. My first use, they were comfortable, and I was impressed that I could really get them to stay in place, since the band wraps around the back of your head. I’ve read a few other reviewers recommend fitting above a low ponytail, but I’m a high bun lady and I didn’t have any movement. While they didn’t sit quite the same over a hat — I had to adjust them a few times — for the most part, I forgot they were there.

Usability: I didn’t read any of the instructions before use and found them completely user-friendly and easy to figure out. It only took a couple minutes to pair with my iPhone. They came already charged up and all the buttons and controls were fairly intuitive for turning the unit on, changing the volume, and forwarding tracks on my playlist. I really liked the voice prompts, too, for confirming the headphones were on. Charge time is up to 2 hours, and battery life will last 6+ hour with continuous playback, or 10 days on standby. You can also use these for phone calls!

Aftershokz blogger product review bibravepro

How to wear: The transducers rest on the cheekbones, just outside of the ears. The frame loops over, with the band resting behind the head. Because it’s a new “thing,” I had a short adjustment period, feeling some heaviness when resting over my ears on one of my long runs — kind of like the feeling when you wear a pair of sunglasses for too long. But thereafter, I haven’t experienced it again. The Trekz come with fitbands to help with fitting smaller heads, if you’re worried about any flopping or movement.

The concept of the outside-the-ear headphone is excellent, but listening to music this way is definitely unusual — to be honest, it was a little unnerving jamming out and still hearing birds and crickets. After a few wears though, I barely notice them now. I even ran in them for my 5-mile race! The sound is super impressive, with toggles for the EQ to pump up that bass.

30-something Approved: I am completely sold on the cord-free lifestyle, and I will definitely continue using these for my outdoor runs. I also realized how convenient they were for work, so I can listen to my podcasts and not completely drown out my coworkers. For times when you want to jam and drown everything (and everyone) out, earplugs can be paired (though I’ll probably just switch back to my noise canceling earbuds.

Aftershokz Go Pink trekz

#AwareWithPink: Afershokz is donating 25% of each unit sold from September 1st to October 31st to Bright Pink — a non-profit whose mission is to save women’s lives from breast and ovarian cancer, empowering women to be proactive about their health from a young age. Every time the hashtag #AwareWithPink is shared on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, AfterShokz will donate an additional 25 cents to Bright Pink to help fund their continued efforts.

Bonus: Use code PINK at check out when purchasing the limited edition pink headphones, and receive a FREE small portable storage case to go with your Trekz Titanium headphones.

Weekly Therapy: 9-02 Oh, hey. It’s September!

- Mel

the week:
LADIES. I went shopping at Target for new underwear because it was time, and I bought 9 pairs — various prints, but staying with the briefs and boy-leg cuts; Target has a new women’s underwear brand (since I shopped last) and bonus: 5 pairs for $20 (don’t remind me that I bought 9 pairs and not 10). NOT ONE SINGLE PAIR fits around my butt cheeks. I spent most of my week picking underwear fabric out of my ass. How is this even my real life right now. NOT ALL SIZE 2s HAVE FLAT BUTTS. #30somethingproblems

But seriously serious: did my butt grow so much after only 6 weeks of half marathon training?

weekend:
THREE DAY WEEKEND — WOOOOOO! Saturday is the Madrid Miler Race (I’m doing the 5-mile distance), Sunday is a recovery day (brunch, probably), and Monday I’m going trail skating with some derby peeps. Super pumped about this weekend!

seven things, seven days:
1. I won a book giveaway on Goodreads! I get so many giveaway notifications from their site that I thought that didn’t happen to real people. FUN!
2. I stayed up until after midnight last night to register for a race. Hashtag, runner problems? But I’m in for the Hitchcock Half in December!
3. We’re booked for the next Rock Boat, and Sixthman announced Dexter Freebish was coming back to the line-up and AHHHHHHHHH I AM SO EXCITE!
4. I’ve been training with my new Aftershokz Trekz Titanium Pink, and I’m really digging the cord-free run lifestyle, you guys.
5. I should find out soon if I got the job that I interviewed for (my current job, nonetheless) – and these are some annoying reasons why runners make good employees. 😉 {via Women’s Running}
6. I don’t put much stock into into the MBTI (it’s all in good fun though, right?), but this article typed me appropriately: How Each Myers-Briggs Type Reacts to Stress {via Psychology Junkie}
7. You have not expired: What we know about aging athletes. {via Pacific Standard}

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #3

- 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]

Weekly Therapy: Brevity is the soul of wit.

- Mel

the week:
I had one of the most inspiring and empowering experiences at work this week — invited by a coworker to a women’s networking event, which was lead by an incredible speaker (a senior executive at my workplace). The event encouraged these feelings of female camaraderie that I’ve never had at ANY of my jobs, and also helped me make the decision to post to an open position. I really, really like my job, and well… I’m feeling pretty pumped this week.

weekend:
This morning is Bootcamp & BBQ at Life Time. One of my coworkers had a part in putting together the obstacle course, and a few others from work will be out for the fun. I’m pretty excited about this event (and also for some much-needed pool time) for something new to do and getting outside for a dirty, sweaty workout.

seven things, seven days:
1. I hired a running coach for my half marathon training! More on that in a later post.
2. Many thanks to several other runners online who helped with recommendations on their favorite running watch. You know that I’ve NEVER, in over two years, connected my current Garmin to the Connect software because wires? I upgraded to the 230, which OMG BLUETOOTH SYNC! is exactly what I needed.
3. I got two separate kudos at our team meeting this week. WHOOP!
4. The power randomly cut off at work on Wednesday, so they sent everyone in our building home an hour or so early.
5. Our weather got up to 115 degrees this week, and it was as awful as you think.
6. I LOVED Hootie & The Blowfish, so I LOVED THIS ARTICLE: My Life in the Bush of Hootie about signing the band to their first record deal. {via Observer}
7. If it doesn’t suck, it’s not worth doing — the science of the anticipation of an event and pushing past your capabilities {via Medium}

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 81

- Mel

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately I really look forward to these posts every Sunday. Not only do I have a weekly ritual on Sunday of setting up my week for success, but blogging regularly helps me decompress from the previous week.

Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy) where everyone is welcome to pop a tent and share some S’mores. Catch up and read all of my Sunday Lately posts and camp out with the Tribe on Facebook

The prompts for July 17 (Week 81) :: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling.

Planning:: My half marathon training! I’ve been working on adding all my runs to my calendar, and searching for races nearby that fit into that training schedule. I’m SO EXCITED to start this training next week!

Also, I’m thinking about what other races I can add into my post-half calendar, since I strongly prefer racing and training in the Fall. I want to enjoy as much of the season as possible (yes, even into the winter months). Have any recommendations for not-to-miss fall/winter races in the Midwest(ish) area?

Loving:: this wildflower bouquet that the boyfriend brought home! It was cut from a local farm (sold at Hy-Vee), and most of these flowers and greens I’ve never seen. It’s really lovely. And yes, you can see my weekend “workspace” at the end of the kitchen island back there. 😉

sunflowers wildflowers iowa blogger
Sunflowers are my favorite!

Reading:: three books at once again. I’m a couple chapters into Liz Pryor’s book: Look at You Now, and The Three Laws of Performance. I started (finally) reading my Blogging for Books request from MONTHS ago: “He Wanted the Moon,” which… is not the book I expected (nor want to really read when I’m trying to relax), so I’m having trouble picking it up consistently.

Next up, I’ve got Peak (the science of expertise!), Fearless Golf (for golf and beyond!), and the Science of Running (which, awesomely, Amazon sent me a digital copy to download once I purchased the actual book!) — as I’m apparently in my performance psychology space again. When this group of prompts comes around again, I hope to have them finished. 🙂

Wishing:: for another weather day like Friday. There was no humidity at lunch, so our department’s informal Lunch Club ate outside. It was only 73 degrees when I left that day, which felt SO COMFORTABLE! We opened all the windows in the house again, and it was just the perfect evening. It only lasted one day because I went outside for a run yesterday and it was MISERABLY HUMID once again.

Feeling:: As I mentioned above, I’m feeling really pumped about my upcoming running season, since I didn’t get much of anything done in the spring (and totally flaked out on marathon training). I’m reading all the articles about time goals and speed work — and even reached out for possibility of working with a coach this year. I feel like I have a constant runner’s high!

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

- 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

- 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