Week 4 of 2024

You might have wondered what am I training for? I don’t think I actually mentioned it because I wanted to know if I could actually put the time and effort in to meet the goals needed. I think with the last few weeks I am going to be okay with sharing this! I am training for my first marathon. And no, it wasn’t a 16 week training cycle. DONT BE UPSET I KNOW NORMALLY I WOULD NEVERRRRR, but I think there are some things working in my favor! I think I benefitted from the half marathon in November so I am not starting at ground zero. I was focusing on weights and recovery in the first half of December pretty exclusively. Annnd I like really want to crush this! Also, after meeting Vina and our schedules mashing so well, we decided to go for it and train for a full with just 9 weeks til race day. Now, I will preface with saying I was doubtful at first and very reserved because I didn’t want to injure myself. But my “A/B and C” goal is to finish. I don’t have a time I need to finish in- which I think reduces the probability of major injury and definitely limits stress. I think the mileage increase has actually been much easier for me this time around and it hasn’t made me too tired or too overwhelmed. In fact I’ve noticed that I have been feeling extremely well even with some good 30 mile weeks – and still keeping up on house chores and taking the kids out to parks and not laying around recovering. I’ve focused on recovery a lot and intend to keep focus on that as the year goes on! Warm up, cool down, fuel properly, sleep! (I’ve been getting 7.5+ hours of sleep most nights) strength train and mobility – oh and cross training – cycling!!! I hit the 16 and 18 finally the 20 miler and I think I can make it the full distance. I’m excited for this as I have always wanted to complete a marathon and I’ll be able to do it (fingers crossed) before I turn 35 in July!!

I’ve paid special attention to stretching, mobility and strength as well as running easy and not getting too caught up on speed drills even if I miss the mark I wanted to hit. I’m trying to tailor my mindset and I keep repeating to myself “The body achieves what the mind believes” and that has really helped me. Along with Vina as a constant companion on long runs and throughout the week keeping me accountable! Lol

Just finished reading:

Started reading this (mid week):

End of the week I continued on with a thriller genre of:

Monday – (1.22.24) – Plan: Heavy weight Runners: Barbell/KB work + KB class and core work
Actual: I woke up earlier than my alarm this morning and did a great mobility workout that focused on hips and glutes. It felt so good to move. I still wasn’t feeling stiff or sore at all from the run, but I wanted to get this in because I knew lunch time would be primarily focused on weights. Honestly, it feels wild to me to not be incredibly sore or exhausted after long runs – like I know now I was doing something wrong in the beginning – that being said I am purely just running and taking the long runs easy and not doing anything pace specific.

It was weird not going for a cycle,  I had to tell myself to tire myself out on strength and not leave more in the tank for cycling. I left it alllllll out on the mat! And I increased weight, last week the 20lb KB felt way too light. So I upped it to 25 and HOT DANG IT WAS A BURNER but so good!! And I increased my barbell by 2.5 pounds on each side which felt very heavy haha!

The Bulgarian split squat is like my best friend and worst enemy lol and the KB full squat cleans were challenging!! I loved every second. I feel like Jello though so tomorrow will be a good shakeout run!

I really didn’t have it in me to do a more challenging core workout but I know I would’ve benefitted from it more. But something is better than nothing. After working out I scarfed down my sandwich and yogurt haha.

Tuesday – (1.23.24) – Plan: 4 mi shake out
Actual: I slept really hard last night and woke up to my alarm and a little hobbling to get coffee. 6/10 on the soreness level so not terrible! But like I had a good effective workout. The shakeout run was needed and relatively easy going. I watched Grey’s Anatomy and just went nice and slow. Then I stretched afterwards and headed back to work for my sandwich. I’ve recently been adding some salad mix into my sandwich for some crunch and it really makes a difference! I love the extra crunch! PS. I know that HR on watch isn’t perfect but it read average of like 132bpm which I can get behind because I remember I used to run at pace with like 160+BPM and always wonder why after every run I was so exhausted. If only I could get my stinking battery for the HR monitor strap then I would wear that and test it out lol.

Wednesday – (1.24.24) – Plan: 5 mi speed /4 mi ez / 4 mi speed + Core work (I read my plan wrong and thought it was 5mi of speed work, then this morning realized it was only 4.. then thought I was too tired for speed work and would just go EZ then had the energy to kick speedworks butt!
Actual: woke up this morning sooooo tired! But quickly woke up! But still, it was hard to open my eyes today. Training is taking a little out of me. I think I will take a rest day tomorrow! (this was clearly written before I got a burst of energy lol)

Today felt like it was barely moving by, but when it finally hit 11, I felt exhausted. I was tired and nearly skipped the gym. Felt like maybe I should just take a rest day. But then, I had a little bit of my sandwich and I perked up. And so I told myself that I would just try to get in a mile or two. But while on my way to the gym I felt surprisingly well. I had the energy and so I did the dang workout! And I’m so happy I did!! 4.26mi of speed + .24 mi cool down walk (4.5 miles total)

I even added one more 1 minute sprint in part 3!

I didn’t do core work – instead I just did my run and cool down and then headed back to work. So glad I got it done though! This evening I indulged in peanut butter jelly sandwiches and a glass of wine! We went to bed slightly later than normal but we slept like heaven.

Thursday – (1.25.24) – Plan: Strength (core work) + 8-10 miles Cycling
Actual: I woke up feeling like I had a massive reset! I felt great and strong this morning so I went back to the original plan for an active recovery day.

6 miles in 27 minutes (!!!) on the bike! 1910m (which is around 1.16miles) rowing AND 15 minutes of core work!

Friday – (1.26.24) – Plan: 7 mi EZ
Actual: I woke up and my back was SORE! At first I was like oh I must have slept on it wrong, lol then I realized it was from rowing!! I’ve never worked out my back so this is totally new, and I’m not mad at it. I’ve always wanted to strengthen my back! So I think I’ll try to continue to incorporate rowing 1x a week 😊 needless to say though, last night by 9:30pm I decided I was absolutely wrecked and exhausted and wouldn’t be waking up early to do part of the 7 mile today lol. I think 7 is pretty doable at lunch? I did want to try my treadmill again because I put oil on it the other night but I’m really glad I decided to just sleep and get the extra 1.5 hrs of sleep rather than waking up for a run.

It is supposed to be thunder storms all afternoon into the night raining and thundering AGAIN Saturday morning. If it were just rain I would say the run is fine, but if it’s supposed to be thunder and lightning that’s not super safe. So it’s a possibility of just running on Sunday.

Actual workout: Okay, so I did 7 miles, but garmin picked up on 6.62 miles… fiiine whatever. But here are the stats when I changed the mileage to the correct number. Pace increased to 9:39 min/mi and best pace was 8:04 min/mi
This felt so good, I felt really strong and the pinkies (shoes) really gave me some bounce. I was smiling ear to ear after this run. I loved this little push I made myself do

While running watched this action movie: LOOOOVE me a good heist movie lol

Saturday – (1.27.24) – Plan: Rest
Actual: At first, Vina and I were going to try to run the 20 this morning… But decided last minute we would push it to Sunday because she wasn’t feeling 100% and I kept telling her it was supposed to rain…. Well, really glad we slept in because by about 6:30am it was down pouring rain so hard and there was a ton of thunder and lightning. This rain wasn’t just rain it was sheets of rain coming down where I imagine we would have been drenched to the bone and unable to see, so thick cars are pulling over because they can’t see well either!

So, we watched from our covered porch. In fact, it was warm so at least there’s that! Hazel and I sat under the covered porch and she played with a toy and sang a little song while it rained and she just absolutely loved it. It’s those simple pleasures! Then we ran through the lighter rain to the playroom and played with some other toys before heading back inside for food. A lot of the day was actually spent outside despite the rain! It was off and ok so when it was “off” we headed out and played around and it was great fun! She had a glorious nap and then afterwards the rain stopped for good. We have a big tree and as we were standing under it Jesse came and grabbed a branch and soaked us all! Then it became a game and we all went inside later soaking wet haha! After baths and hanging out we went back out for some scooter walks in the sunset and a 1 mile bike ride! Hoping none of this comes to bite me in the butt tomorrow!

Sunday – (1.28.24) – Plan: 20 miles!!
Actual:

Weather: temp – 48° feels like 44° / 83% humidity/

Wearing: moisture wicking tank with long sleeve over and senita zip up top/jacket + shorts! With the feetures socks and new balance 1080s and of course the Nox gear light up vest to be seen

Feelings before run: I have no idea if Vina is coming or not! She went to the Marine Corps ball last night with her hubby and never texted me if she was making it or not lol

*update by 4:30 she texted saying she was ready! So after I found that out I was a bit more relieved. We were planning to run meet up at the YMCA roughly 1.7 miles away. Ran out the door at 5:02am or so.

Feelings during run: I felt really strong during the run, the first 10 were amazing and then on the way back the wind started blowing and it was a bit chillier. The hills were also hillier lol! I had 1 salted caramel and 2 chocolate gu’s, 1 macca gummies with caffeine, 1 pack of honey stinger chews and 1 gluckos shot (electrolytes) and 5- 6oz of the water bottles. On the way back from Fairhope the wind was a gusting! So my legs definitely felt colder but it wasn’t terrible. We never stopped to walk up any of the hills like last week and all in all we were pretty strong! We did have to stop for the bathroom 3 times this run. Vina was the one who planned the route and when we got back to the meeting point we each had closer to 3 miles left lol, so we ran together a little longer then split ways. I ran the last 1.8 miles home on my own and they were very happy and fun. I decided no music and just to continue flowing. I tried to keep my form and not get sloppy. My hips were feeling the aches and so were my feet.

We went our separate ways at 18ish miles and those last 2 miles were magical, I had a smile so big on my face despite my hips hurting a bit and my feet and still having to go up an down hills lol! But I knew I had it and I kept repeating “I can, I will and I AM” meaning I can do this, I will do this and I am doing this!! It was so awesome, I’m not sure how to keep up pace the last 10k for a full marathon but we will see how it goes. Excited for tapering haha

As soon as I got home I was greeted by River and Jesse. Jesse said he and Hazel had JUST woken up about 10 minutes ago! 🤣🤣 Which means they had a glorious sleep in till 8:50am!!! Haha 3.5 hours of running and apparently 30 minutes in total of bathroom breaks (whoa)! After the run we played outside and ate breakfast then I took the kids to the park. Hazel properly tired herself out, had a meltdown – she melts when she is overly tired and then we took an amazing nap!

Jesse and Hendrix prepped the backyard for a bonfire while we slept and once it got dark I made chili tater tot casserole – which was kind of perfect for eating outside in the cold. The kids ran around like maniacs and had so much fun!

Planned running mileage: 35 miles

Total mileage: 35.26 miles!!! Plus 7.15 miles biking! Plus 1.16 miles of rowing

Week 3 of 2024 – from unmotivated to UNSTOPPABLE

Ok, I need to preface the overview of this week with something – I stayed as positive as I could, but it really felt like every day I had a new struggle/obstacle to tackle. I am a little sad I didn’t hit all my miles, but also I see a lot of growth. The beginning of the week I lacked A LOT of positivity and as the week went on I gained more positivity even as things got kind of hard!

The goal of this week is to make it seem like I am not marathon training at all! Which mostly just means I need to start my long run earlier, which will be EXCRUCIATING, look at what the weather is looking like:

School is cancelled on Tuesday due to the freeze and the rain at night which will mean there will most likely be ice on the roads and the Super Intendent doesn’t want anyone out on the roads.. especially the buses! And Wednesday is supposed to be a late start day.

Monday – (1.15.24) Plan: Strength (full body!) + 30 minute Spin Bike
Actual: I warmed up with a 3 mile bike ride and then as I started my strength work I had knee pain doing a front barbell squat – which isn’t new – but I stopped immediately and did this preventative knee pain workout. I will implement strength training tomorrow, but I definitely needed to do this workout and do the proper foam rolling – the adductor and IT band release part was amazing!!

Tuesday – (1.16.24) Plan: 5 miles EZ +
Actual: woke up to some snow and freezing rained. Also tried to stretch, literally just reaching up and something pop and cracked in my back and my right shoulder is very tight and hurts. 🫣

The lack of motivation is REAL today! And even with Tylenol my shoulder is still hurting a lot. I managed 3 miles on the treadmill and that was it.

Garmin and Treadmill were the same today!

My shoulder started really hurting once I got back from the gym! It was soooo stiff, so luckily I got Jesse to rub tiger balm on it at night. It loosened up and felt good but dang something is twisted up in there!

Wednesday – (1.17.24) Plan: 6 miles tempo work?
Actual: I woke up and my shoulder felt a little better but not 100%.

The weather we woke up to!

I went into this workout thinking I could do it! But I chose the wrong one at first! It felt way too easy… The walking in-between was too slow for me and there wasn’t an incline when I hit “play” on the workout. I had to stop .44 miles in and find a new one…. It is cool to know that the “beginner” workouts are WAY too easy but now I see the advanced ones are WAY TOO HARD lol – stick with intermediate ones!

So I chose this one

Total mileage: 30.78 miles run
Bike: 9 miles

Not only did I die on part 2… But so much played against me! (here are the obstacles I spoke of)
1. I forgot my towel in the car so I knew I either had to run out in freezing weather to grab it or suck it up and go back to work sweaty.
2. I had to pee at the beginning of part 2! So I had to stop
3. I couldn’t get back into the swing of things / I switched treadmills which I shouldn’t have done and I swear the new treadmill I hopped on WAS FASTER! I couldn’t hang on at 7.8 lol! I was dying and like WTH!!!
4. Then the doctors office called and I had to take the call, so then I had to stop and there was just no going back after that. Tried to finish off with a slow jog and do some fast for a minute then slow and off and on, but got so over it and I had been at the gym for 1.5 hrs so it was just too much. I left feeling very defeated and all in my head! “How am I supposed to put the mileage in when I can’t get down 6 miles of speed?” And so much more…

Thursday – (1.18.24) Plan: Strength + Sauna
Actual: (morning)motto: I WILL DO THE WORK!

Planned to do 45 minutes of strength but like this week has gone, it didn’t go to plan! My app wouldn’t play the routines I wanted to do, so I only got in 30 minutes. It’s better than nothing! I also have realized I can most definitely increase my KB weight to 25 pounds! (huge win)20 felt way too easy and I’m kicking myself in the butt for not switching out my KB.

I wouldn’t let the strength debacle get me down, I hopped on the spin bike and went for 6 miles in just under 27 minutes! I was a SWEATIN, my legs felt like jelly and it was amazing then I stretched it out and got ready to go back to work. These leggings make me feel like Beetlejuice lol

Friday – (1.19.24) Plan: 9 miles
Actual: I have to leave early from work for a parent teacher conference. Soooo goal is to wake up early and at least knock out 6 miles. Slow and easy. 4:50am wake up to run as much as I can before 6:15am and then get ready for the day!!

Here is what happened: Pretty much like every other day this week… Something happened 😒. I woke up before my alarm (yay, win!), and had set aside my clothes. It was a beautiful 55°!! So shorts were fine…. I hopped on the treadmill and was ready to just zone out and chug along. The treadmill was not ready at all. I need to get lubricant for it…. It’s screeched before but not like this. It was persistent, it was ANNOYING and so loud. And then since I’m in the detached garage I realize this is really close to my neighbors bedroom (most likely – back of their house) and I don’t want to wake them up with this treadmill screeching at 5am. Let me set it straight, it wasn’t screeching the WHOLE time. But probably within the last .5 mile of my first run (oh, there were THREE runs) I had to decide to just step off. It was getting too loud and obnoxious. I stopped at 3.7 miles. I thought maybe I would just run outside the last couple miles. Except there are some major no-nos.
1. Jesse wouldn’t know and I know he would be upset I went out without telling him – safety wise.
2. I had no lights on me.
3. couldn’t see bc no street lights
4. The wind was cold – I ONLY MADE IT .4 MILES OUTSIDE.
So, I got back to the treadmill thinking that maybe it would be better… LOL. It was THE worst and EVEN louder than before. I managed .90 miles for my third and final run. I had to close the garage door to try to keep the sound in and not disturb anyone. It made it so much worse. So, I called it quits and thought at least I tried. SO I RAN A TOTAL OF 5 MILES TODAY.

Which makes me realize Vina and I will need lights to see tomorrow morning. A Jacket will be needed for the gusts of wind and it is supposed to freeze again. Oddly this Friday and last Friday were warm and then it gets to the 20s.

The positives I am finding this week:
~ 5 miles feels REALLY easy and doesn’t take much energy out of me anymore – which is great! I like when 5-8 miles feels just easy peasy and like it is nothing. I remember back in 2019-2020 when this mileage was like an easy whip it out and put it down.
~ Strength training and mobility is making me feel really strong and good
~ I have been focusing on protein intake and I think that is also helping A LOT. Although, currently finding getting over 80g is REALLY TOUGH. According to nutrition it should be like 110g – 120g! Not even sure how to fit that all in lol

Saturday – (1.20.24) Plan: Rest
Actual:
Weather:


What I am wearing: full length Leggings + base layer long sleeve + thicker long sleeve with mock turtle neck + running jacket + special feetures socks + 1080s
Fuel: bagel + pb + honey and an energy pack
2 chocolate gu, (1)mocca shot gummies, salted caramel gu + glukos shot + honey stinger chews
How I feel before run: I got a good sleep this time around and didn’t wake up before my alarm (set at 4am), I actually had to physically turn it off which is rare. I was in a sleep cycle for sure, but I got up and stumbled out of bed (literally) and I feel ready. I’m excited to tackle this run with a friend! It definitely helps or else I wouldn’t want to start this early lol.
How I felt during run: SUPER STRONG!!! We met up at 5am and luckily beforehand I rolled out my legs did my “monster walks” with the resistance band and in general warmed up! I felt ready!! Vina isn’t one to warm up- she isn’t one for doing things conventionally and today really bit her in the butt. So, the first 5.5 miles went so good. It was a beautiful clear sky and the stars were GORGEOUS! The wind was at our back and we worked up quite a sweat on our way. She has a pilates studios 5.5 miles into the run and we stopped by there for a water break and bathroom break. As I was assessing myself I realized I had sweat through my first layer of shirt – like it was drenched sand soooo cold. So I took it off and had my thicker Nike blue mock neck shirt on with the jacket. My head band was also soaking wet and would have done more harm than good if I kept it on. We laid them out so they could dry and swung by after we hit the turnaround. Unfortunately as we were approaching the turn around Vina’s leg started to seize up. And from there, it was messy! (By the way I had gel/fuel at mile 5.5, 8, 12, 14, 16/17) I didn’t feel like I NEEDED it but I didn’t want my body rebelling at all. So, after we got our stuff from the studio and headed back there were a lot of uphills. This is where Vina’s legs really started crampeUnfortunately Vina has major leg cramps and IT BAND issues and it forced us to walk a bit and slow down pace a lot. I walked with her hoping it would help her to move on but unfortunately she really needed to stop. About 1.5-2 miles away from the car I took off and ran for it. She had to walk, I got the car and drove back to pick her up. After I dropped her off at her car I stretched more and then headed home and stretched more after a hot shower and changing into extra warm clothes! Topped with some foam rolling and a protein shake, it was awesome!!
How I felt after run: I feel strong and if I had to do 2 more miles I feel like I would have been able to 😱😱😱 – honestly shocking bc I never thought I could never do these kinds of miles

the sunrise was GORGEOUS!!!
this pic was for Jesse to see if there was an accessible way to get his kayak there lol
this is me after 18 miles feeling spritely!

After my run I did a LOT of stretching and it felt sooooo good, and then I tried to keep moving for the rest of the day. I made sure I had water, protein and rest as well as movement. I think the cold really takes it out of the kids – I tried taking them to the park, per their request, but we only made it about 22 minutes lol! (It was still only like 30° and super windy!) Then we had lunch and played a bit inside. I ended up taking a glorious 1.5 hour nap with Hazel – she’s a champ and got 2+ hours in! After naps we bundled back up and the weather reached around 40s and I walked Hazel on her scooter. Which at first was painful but then it all loosened up and was great! We were out walking for about 25-30 minutes.

Sunday – (1.21.24) Plan: 18 miles!
Actual: RESSSTTTTTT

I felt so good this morning, I slept amazing and really hard! Coffee was amazing – I was a bit hungrier and probably because of yesterday lol. I thought I ate enough to replenish but maybe I just needed a little bit more. Anything to keep my body moving and doing great things! I solved my hunger with some delicious bagels and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! I got the kids on the bikes/trailer and we managed 1.6 miles. Goal was ~4 but then Hazel fell asleep and so we tried to get her to sleep in her bed and then she was awake. FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!! So, as I’m writing this after dinner, she has only had about a 15 minute nap!! Haha she ended up crashing a little after dinner around 8:30pm or so. We had a late dinner of pulled pork Mac and cheese! So delicious 😋

Weekly mileage Plan: 38 miles

Actual mileage hit: 30.8 miles

Biking: 10.6 miles

I must say I’m happy I’ve kept up my strength training up and mobility work. I think that’s been a key ingredient in allowing me to increase miles so much!

Week 2 of 2024

Goals: hit all the runs and miles. Eat my protein. Get my sleep. Enjoy fresh air. Don’t spend money on eating lunch out.

Monday – (1.8.24) – Plan: morning mobility work + strength + biking lunch time
Actual: Core in the morning – woke up around 5am and couldn’t go back to sleep. But didn’t want to get out of bed. Finally did around 5:45am and did this core work.

For lunch I did this strength work

3 rounds – I used a 20 pound kettlebell and I think 30 pounds for the Barbell! 🙂 It was challenging but JUST right. I’m so excited because I know last year I was only doing 10 lb kettlebell and 20 pounds for barbell! 😁
Knee drives/ hang cleans/ barbell Bulgarian squat
High plank KB row/ KB clean to push press/ barbell RDLs
Hip flexor strength / barbell sit down / full KB squat clean 

After strength I got on a spin bike and it was a TON of fun. I am trying to slowly introduce myself into the weight section – I get nervous, but it was emptier than normal and not as scary. It was like being there, but on the sidelines but not fully on the sidelines because treadmills are in a whole different area lol

Tuesday - (1.9.24) Plan – 5 mi ez
Actual: My glutes and hams/quads were sore, no doubt from the Bulgarian squats I did yesterday! I was going to do strength after my run but I gotta keep the easy days easy…  I did incorporate some “speed” into today with a fast finish. Really I just increased the speed a little nothing like sprinting at all. It was all very manageable and not out of breath at all. After the first mile my legs felt much more relaxed but the first mile or so they were very tight.

Wednesday – (1.10.24) Plan – 1 mi wu, 4x800m repeats at 7.0-7.4 with 90 second rest, 1 mi cool down + upper body strength

My legs are still so sore from Monday’s workout!!! It’s like DOMS (except I guess it isn’t delayed since they’ve been hurting the last two days lol) or something, man! It was rough walking this morning just to get out of bed. I found a good speed play workout on my running/strength app that I followed… Sort of. About 25 minutes of it lol, then I thought I needed to run easy and not push too hard since I still have more miles this week and I don’t want to burn out haha! Maybe I need to just focus on ONE speed day and not “two” even though yesterday wasn’t really (??) it was faster than an easy run, but didn’t leave me tired/winded. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m confused idk what to do haha – I think I did just what needed to be done today and didn’t push too hard. Also, I have a super new blister on my big toe from my socks rubbing in my boots (fancy boots at work) which I didn’t realize until after my workout it was raw and nearly bleeding! (It’ll be fine 🫣)

Here’s the workout I was going to follow – but only did part 1 of it and attempted the first 4 minutes of part 2. Then I switched to running easy.

But really it was 5 miles 😒

After the run I did .25 mile cool down of strictly walking and then I did a GREAT mobility / flexibility workout afterwards which felt so good and hurt so good! Lol

SO MUCH SWEAT

Thursday – (1.11.24) Plan – morning mobility + upper and core strength+ sauna
Actual: woke up finally not feeling sore! Feeling normal/walking normal! Ha! However, I didn’t do any mobility in the morning – but I did do some yesterday after my workout so….!?!? Still a win? Lol also, had to incorporate a little bit of spin bike (3 miles) because I needed to work up more of a sweat for the sauna – I can’t sweat in the sauna if I don’t already have a start to it. It’ll take like 30+ minutes to sweat and I didn’t have that kind of time. Strength felt so good! I don’t hit upper body enough and I really need to make sure I do!

Friday – (1.12.24) Plan – 8 mi ez
Actual: I had to split this run into two, because no way was I getting in 8 in the morning or all 8 during lunch. For the first time all year (lol) I woke up at 5am and ran. Also, I was waking up all through the night worried I was going to miss my alarm, so I woke up before 5am… I could have run outside, it was so warm!! But I didn’t prep for that so I just stayed on the treadmill. I did 3 miles while watching Grey’s Anatomy. PS. we are (hopefully) going to be cleaning out the gym area so it can be an actual gym and not a storage with a treadmill 😂 I’m so excited Jesse wants to start working out too! This morning was warm enough for a sports bra and shorts but tomorrow calls for 32°!! How wild a 30° difference will be in just 24 hours! Also this is the warmest morning all year. It’s been consistently in the 30s and 40s early morning for a couple weeks now!

This run felt effortless, it was super easy and just chill. I really enjoyed it! Like a lot. There was no like “oh no, I am running out of time” feeling or anything like that… It was just nice!! I hope that the run later today feels like that and I really hope my Long run feels good too!

Run #2 fueled again by Grey’s Anatomy and oh boy it was a tear jerker and I almost started crying! And then of course my heart rate went up about 10bpm trying to NOT cry in the gym 😂 weirdly my pace is showing differently but I ran both at 5.2mph. but on two different treadmills! Which could only mean that they are calibrated differently?? I finished off my workout with a 10 minute sauna and stretch. Now I just need to recover, stretch more tonight and maybe some mobility and get a good dinner and sleep in for tomorrow’s long run!

Run # 2

Saturday – (1.13.24) Plan- Rest
Actual: I have to do my long run today and switch things up yet again because fishing is supposed to be good on Sunday! Also Vina is out of town again this weekend – so it is a solo run. She is in my hometown, which she actually used to live lol! Small world… But she’s there with one of her kids to visit friends. So, today is the day!
Weather /Temperature: 33 degrees with some 5-10mph wind, but sunny!
Fuel before run: half plain bagel + peanut butter + honey and an energy packet in water
Fuel during run: 2-3 (can’t remember if I had them all) salted caramel gu + new caffeinated mocha chews + glukos (electrolytes).
Wearing: tank top + moisture wicking long from last week + Nike fleeced running top + Outdoor voices leggings + crew pro compression socks to cover ankles + New Balance 1080s – I was really worried I would be overdressed with the layers, but it worked out perfectly and I never got too hot! My hands were cold and I had to tuck them into the Nike top for most of my run.
Feelings before run: ready to tackle and very excited! But I didn’t warm up my glutes properly in my excitement. Definitely trying to make sure I don’t overdress but also planning to do the neighborhood 2 mile loop first so that if I need to add or ditch a layer I can do it after a proper 2 mile warm up.
Feelings during run: it is so cold!!! My hip flexors kind of hurt, I’m not going to pay attention to the pace even though I wanted to originally… This is taking a long time. I like that the sun is out, these leggings seem thin and not superb for this coldness. I wonder if the blister on my toe is going to get worse. (the blister did get worse)
Feelings after run: I was pleasantly surprised when I finished! It was a big accomplished feeling, but since it was only 1 mile more than my longest ever run, it didn’t bring tears of joy. But I am glad I got it done!!

After breakfast and putting away the mountains of laundry I neglected all week (lol), I took the kids to the park and had to bundle up soooo much! I was almost shocked I ran out there in this haha!! But moving around definitely makes it more tolerable. After the park was lunch and Hazel happily slipped into dream world for 2+ hours. I tried to rest but couldn’t get to sleep. Possibly because of the caffeine gummies I had?!? So, I played with River and then Hendrix and I battled it out on Mario Kart! In the late afternoon Hazel hopped on her scooter and I had to push her probably close to 1.5 more miles (haha!) I guess that is good for the legs to get out the lactic acid. But really the only thing sensitive was my heels. They stopped hurting after 5 minutes.

I’ve heard of people having trouble sleeping after like Ultras and how they get terrible sleep, I wonder if tonight was like that because I couldn’t sleep for the life of me! Like I was exhausted! I did fall asleep on the couch from 9pm-10pm and then when I woke up it was very very hard to go to sleep. I ended up getting out of bed around 1am to stretch, drink water and then decided I would take Tylenol (even though my body felt fine??) I was just wondering if maybe it would’ve helped some to relax. And it did! Eventually…. probably from like 4am-6:45am I got decent sleep. 🫣 I think Sunday I’ll have a Good nap!

Sunday – (1.14.24) Plan – 16mi LR work out
Actual: I woke up feeling so amazing (despite not sleeping well)! My legs didn’t hurt at all, which I find wild – I am really perplexed at how strong I feel after these big runs and I am not extremely tired and sore… maybe it’s because I’ve been doing actually easy miles rather than super hard workout and not recovering properly?? The weather was absolutely beautiful this morning and we couldn’t pass up a bike ride to the park! It was so sunny, and even though low-mid 50s it was gorgeous with minimal wind! 2.36 mile ride with the kids – I also miraculously found a pair of thicker almost fleece-like leggings that I tried out and they might just work for a run to keep my lower half warm if the temps continue to freeze! After our morning park rendezvous we had lunch and took a nap. I think I got in a solid 45min nap but Hazel slept for nearly 3 hours!!!!! After her nap, Jesse got home from fishing and since the day was still so beautiful and we knew that REALLY cold weather was coming, we packed up the kids and took them to another park! I think I’ll remember these days when I’m old… Packing the kids up to go to different parks and just watching them run around and be nuts. its so fun! Although the second park was overrun by little kids and Hendrix wasn’t having as much fun we decided an adventure was in order! We went up to a different area where there are trails but then I chickened out taking them because Vina had seen an alligator there Christmas week and I didn’t want anyone to become appetizers lol. So, we stayed near the baseball diamonds and ran around on the pitches and grass. To me, that was fun enough 😅

Then we made it back to the playground and some kids Hendrix knew were there and we played for another 45 minutes! Hendrix ran around with them while Hazel created her own little obstacle course and ran her little heart out. If you’re keeping track, the kids got to play at the playground for 2+ hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon lol

After the park we hit up the store for dinner and the kids roamed the toy aisle for WAY too long lol – Hazel is obsessed with Pikachu and was so sad when I made her put these away. She has so many stuffed animals – she steals them from Hendrix and brings a new one to bed each night.

Running mileage: 34 miles (biggest volume week in a few years!!)

Biking mileage: 10.36 miles

So happy I hit my mileage and I feel strong and capable doing it! 😁

Week 1 of 2024!

Happy New Year’s!!!!! I really feel like last year my training was all over the place and not super consistent, but these pictures helped to remind me of what I did do!

Here are a couple loose goals I want to work towards this year!

  1. I want to continue to incorporate running, strength and mobility this year!
    2. I want to try for 2,024 miles (which includes biking, running, hiking, walking, swimming (maybe?)
    3. I WILL save X amount of money for savings (personal lol, so I’ll keep it at X for y’all)
    4. I WILL incorporate LESS cell phone time/usage at home so I can be present more and not scroll endlessly.
    5.I WILL read/listen to 50 books this year.

As for book reading- I’m finishing up reading A Court of Mist and Fury and I am enjoying it a lot! (Beginning of week)

Monday (1.1.24) – Plan: Bike ride + stretch
Actual: Today was the first warm(ish) day we’ve had in a week and I had it off!! (it seems like months lol but it isn’t) it was in the 60s and the sun was shining. I could have run, but I wanted to be mindful. All you needed was a light jacket out there and that was soon peeled off. I told Hendrix he owed me a bike ride and so off we went at a nice easy conversation pace. We had so much fun and talked about so much! We just did circles in the neighborhood so we didn’t have to fight any hills. He did one less loop than me, but at like the 4th loop (2nd mile) he decided his goal for the day was to complete 6 miles since I needed to do at least 6 for my 2024 challenge. I ended up completing 6.72 miles riding the bike! 6 miles were with Hendrix tagging along, 3 of those miles I had the trailer on the back with Hazel and 3 were without the trailer and that felt so great and light lol! I didn’t have my phone on me at all but I really wish I had snapped a picture of us out there enjoying our time!

Tuesday (1.2.24) – Plan: 4 mi + strength
Actual: woke this morning with some much needed stretching to be done and plenty of time this morning. While I could have just done my own stretching, it felt nice following a routine. It made me actually stick it out for the full 10 minutes rather than race through poses in 2 minutes, haha!

For lunch I did a solid 4, Garmin chose to grant me .18miles more than it should have been lol. This felt a little harder than it should have – my body just felt sooooo heavy! I had to take a minute walk break at 2.5miles and then I continued on and finished strong at 6.0mph. But still, it was tough and I can tell I am still not 100%.

I stretched (for like 1 minute lol) and then did some core work which felt really good!

Wednesday (1.3.24) – Plan: 5 mi
Actual: 5 mi run with .26mi cool down

Garmin shows just under 5, treadmill showed 5… It’s never gonna be perfect lol. Too bad Strava doesn’t let you EDIT the mileage!!!

At first I was hoping to hit the trails at South and get fresh air, but then it was raining like all day and then also it was FREEZING. And since I’m still coughing and not 100% I figure it would probably be best to stay dry and warm rather than wet and cold! Even so… I DID not want to run. I didn’t at all, I actually poured as I left work to go to the gym! 😂 But, I have goals and I want to stick to them. I want to increase mileage and it’s the beginning of the year! Can’t fall off track on DAY 3! LOL

Even though I wholeheartedly didn’t want to run…. I did. Aaaannnnnd what do you know? It was actually a pretty good run lol. Even though I walked into the gym just saying try for 1 mile, if it’ totally sucks, you can stop. BUUUUUUUT the end of ACOTAR was amazing and fueled me on the run … I felt MUCH better and not like I was slogging through mud and molasses. So good in fact that The last 1.5 miles I increased speed ever so slightly. About every .10-.15mi I increased by .2 on speed (ie. 5.7, 5.9, 6.0, 6.2… etc) Ended at around 7.0 for the last pinch but mostly stuck around 5.5 for the majority of the first 3.5 miles. I’m really glad I stuck it out and made it to the gym. 😁

To be honest, I don’t know if I like these Topos Cyclones…. They are finicky! But I guess I don’t mind them for shorter runs 🤷🏻‍♀️. I wore regular no show socks (not runner sockers) and it rubbed on my arch and made a small blister 😒 – UGH!!!!

These shoes + regular socks = ALWAYS a dang blister somewhere

I finished A Court of Mist and Fire, and the long awaited IRON FLAME BY REBECCA YARROS was available finally and I started listening! Will go back to ACOTAR after because the 2nd book ended so CRAZILY! These books are such good long run books lol… Love them and the action! I like zoning out to listening to them and then the screen just shows random trails and such so it’s nice views 😂

Thursday (1.4.24) – Plan: Strength/mobility + 6-10 mile bike ride
The view this morning – notice the FROST on the roof!! Lol River is in his element playing Frisbee. My hands were frozen 😂

Wearing some Outdoor Voice leggings I forgot I had! Love how they fit and the length BUT the only drawback is there are no pockets – which is why they were probably put in a bag of “not wearing these” lol. To be fair, they were given to me by a friend who outgrew them. But, I think these will go back in the rotation, at least while cycling!

Actual: The strength on the plan for the day. Plus added some more KB swings

The proof of being on the bike lol. I set it up to level 3 or 4 and just jammed and aimed for 1 mile every 5 minutes – total of 5 miles, was going to do 6 miles (which lets face it was only 5 more minutes, but in my head felt like TOO long when I had a stop to make at the store)

These pictures were shared with me, they were taken when Hazel was just a couple months old 😍 It is hard to believe she was ever this small!

With increased activity you better believe I have been prioritizing SLEEP! I have been getting minimum 7.5 hours of sleep a night, but usually its 8+. I love how more activity will just wipe me out and make me sleep so hard haha!

Friday (1.5.24) – Plan: 9 mi
Actual: So, long story short, I am supposed to do my long run tomorrow – had to switch things around so that Jesse could also go fishing. I know my legs couldn’t handle 9 today and another 14 the following day. Not yet! So, I had to change it up a little. Also, Vina will be in Houston so we are doing solo long runs this week. Which sucks but I am listening to Iron Flame and it has been nonstop action from the first minute of the book – so I am kind of totally OKAY with being on a long run with the book and myself!

Today I did 3 miles at a little slower than threshold- so what is that? Lol just a run? 😂 Like I was working, but it wasn’t all out and I could have held it for another mile or two but I didn’t have the time and I really need to make sure I get my miles in for the long run. So effort based today. 6.75/10 RPE?

This whole week I have just been grabbing and stuffing workout clothes in my bag and just hoping I have a sports bra, shorts/pants a shirt and a change of under garments! Today, I found out I had this monochromatic outfit waiting for me. Surprisingly very unplanned! These are Senita leggings which I hated wearing because I kept needing to pull them up while running and then they rolled down while I was cycling – soooo annoying. But love the color! lol

Oh, yeah, after the quick run I did a 3 mi cycle in 15 minutes flat. SWEAT WAS A DRIPPIN today!

My actually unplanned monochromatic outfit

Saturday (1.6.24) – Plan: REST
Actual: LONG RUN TODAY + PICKING UP THE BEST EVER PLAYGROUND for the kiddos!
Back story – our neighbor’s parents build custom playgrounds and they have had one for grandkids at their house but want to get rid of it. So, they offered it to us and we are paying a small(er) amount to them than what it should be! I am so excited to have this in the yard for the kids! It is going to be so AWESOME!!!

Run:
Weather: 58°, 84% humidity, partly cloudy, no rain, light wind (yeah right, there was some good gusts)
Fuel: peanut butter + honey drizzle on plain bagel plus one pack of energy fuel in water + one pack of honey stinger chews, two Gu’s (salted caramel) for the run
Shoes: Black New Balance 1080s
Feelings before run: ready, but also not ready to run 14 alone. Lots of doubts about being able to run further. Worried about not being able to finish when I go for longer runs. Trying to concentrate on the right now and not the future.
Feelings during run: I listened to Iron Flame the whole time which kept me going and much faster than I thought I was doing. To be honest I thought I was moving way slower. It was such a good distraction, and I didn’t think I hit the 10:30’s and even some in the high 9s! There were times when mentally I got too into my head and was full of doubt, I did walk for about 30 seconds 2x which really isn’t that bad. But, overall I just kept going knowing I needed to get the miles done no matter how long it took. By about 9:20 am Jesse called worried about me because I thought I would be home by then, I wasn’t because I left after 6:30 – because 1. it was still dark and 2. I didn’t have my NOX gear light up vest to be seen. lol But I was literally like .5 mi away so it worked out well anyway.
Feelings after run: I was sooooo excited when I finished and saw my average pace! I wasn’t expecting it at all. I also wore my new plantar fasciitis feetures socks which were AMAZING and I really enjoyed them. My heels didn’t hurt at all during the run. Afterwards though… My feet/heels are sore. But I guess it’s just a matter of getting more time on my feet, stretching and rolling out my feel and rest. I am so excited I finished this run and got in a pretty good stretch session and super HOT shower and clean dry clothes afterwards. I ended up only using one Gu and 1 packet of honey stinger chews. I was able to stop at some of the water fountains and fill up a bottle while out on the loops too. Luckily it wasn’t hot so my pack was needed – not that I could even use it right now as I lost the mouth piece!!

After my run I wanted to rest, but we had plans! We were supposed to get a playground but sadly the wood was pretty rotted. So we took it apart and Hendrix helped a lot and we salvaged what we could. Hopefully we can build something out of what we got. Kinda stinks as we really wanted this huge playground for the kids, but it wasn’t quite what we thought. The slides (so far) are in good condition and the little rock climbing wall. A lot do the hardware holding the wood together was NOT good, so that should be interesting.

With no nap today, I slept SO HARD when it came to nighttime haha! I think I ended up passing out at 9:30pm -only because Jesse wouldn’t let me fall asleep at 7 😂 He was so “nice” to not let me go to sleep early, but really I was then able to sleep in the next day and not wake up cranky at like 2am and not be able to sleep. So, thank you Jesse!

Sunday (1.7.24) – Plan: 14 mi long run
Actual: REST! I woke up this morning with a little bit of aches in the feet and left hip.. but nothing major. It was pretty cold (much colder than yesterday morning) but we got out for some playtime on the swings and the park and ran around before a midday nap. The wind gusts were BONE CUTTING! We put to use part of the playground we got, the tire swing! The kids looooove it! Worth it! Hazel had soooo much fun sitting on Hendrix and being pushed around.

After that we went in for a snack and out to the actual park where they ran around and went down the slides and swung.

Decided to do a quick hip mobility workout while the dumpling slept. And boy! Did it feel good! I keep repeating to myself that the body can achieve what the mind believes and I need to keep believing in myself to get this mileage. I’m so excited for this experience and to push myself to keep going. I feel really good with the mileage I did this week! I don’t feel beat up or over done so I’m excited to see nex

Total running mileage: 26.2 miles (!)

Total biking: 14.7 miles (!!)

2 strength training workouts

Week 52 of 2023!

Merry Christmas!!
I am going to try to following an aerobic base building plan along with a strength and mobility plan.

Monday – (12.25.23) Plan: walk with River+ mobility
Actual: hazel took a turn for the worse! She opened presents and then slept. Went outside for some fresh air and played with Play-Doh, then slept. Then we headed to Urgent Care to make sure she just had the flu and it wasn’t more!

Unfortunately I am not feeling great and managed a nap this afternoon while Hazel was sleeping and played with River but we didn’t go on a walk.

We were at urgent care for almost 3 hours to just be told she had the flu – which we figured because Hendrix has it. 😒 She behaved so well and once home she played on her guitar a little and then passed out.

Tuesday – (12.26.23) Plan: 7 mi easy
Actual: coming to the sad and horrible realization that I also have the flu. Even though I woke up feeling great and we cleaned the house, still not even close to 80% healthy. My chest hurts when I cough and I have a lot of mucus! Hazel took close to a 3 hour nap!! We went on the 2 mile walk which was rough on me and I realized that even attempting to run today would be a BAD idea.

The temps started to drop quickly today! So glad I got my new slippers that keep my feet warm, cozy and comfortable!

Wednesday – (12.27.23) Plan: Easy 6- 1200m repeats
Actual: annnnnd now I feel like a Mac Truck has run me over. I spent the day at home with Hazel and my aunt while the boys went fishing. It was really nice and relaxing! But I feel absolutely terrible. We did manage a 20 minute walk outside today!

Thursday – (12.28.23) Plan: strength
Actual: by the end of today I was feeling 70% … But then things took a turn at night and Hazel has trouble breathing and we found ourselves back in the ER. We were there from 3am-6am!

Friday – (12.29.23) Plan: Easy 8 mi easy
Actual: after getting some needed rest I did feel like I could definitely go for a run! But dang it was cold!! I decided I wouldn’t push it because if I want to come back strong for running I have to make sure to REST and recover. So we went for a walk in the afternoon and it was great! But really cold!! Lol

Saturday – (12.30.23) Plan: Rest
Actual: we walked around the neighborhood again for about 25 minutes and it wasn’t labored or difficult at all. I’ll be ready for a run tomorrow! I have a TON more energy 😊

2.5 mi bike ride with Hazel in the trailer! This was her face when I told her it was time go inside and get water and warm her hands up 🤣

Sunday – (12.31.23) Plan: 12mi long run
Actual: woke up READY! slightly worried because I really wasn’t hungry at all for dinner so just had some toast with half an avocado. Maybe it’s enough? Lol , also I thought I had honey stinger waffles and I don’t 🫣 soooo I’ll just bring an applesauce squeezie haha

Weather this morning:

As much as I wanted to go for the full 12, I was dying by mile 3. My chest was tight so we decided to not push it too much. Out pace was all over the place but we were on the trails for the most part. Which I do enjoy because it is working more muscles! Her apple watch clocked in 6.67 miles while Garmin clocked in less. We started in jackets and then after 2 miles we dropped back off at the car! Sweating but so cold it made us shiver!

Phoebe!
Mobile Bay

After a fun run and grocery shopping I took a downward turn. A HUGE one. I got SUPER sick. From 1pm on I was shivering cold, feverish and had diarrhea (sorry! TMI) needless to say the last day of 2023 was ROUGH!!!! I took an almost three hour nap after grocery shopping and then I went to bed at 7pm!

*Monday morning update – I got the fever out and I’m feeling 90x better than yesterday!*

Mileage: 6.32mi for the week 🤣

Week 51 (of 2023!!!!)

A new goal: I want to build up to 25-30 mile weeks.

Monday (12.18.23) – Plan: KB + Rotational work and Core and Strength mobility + 3 mile EZ run
Actual: Lets start off by saying that I mistakenly picked up a TWENTY FIVE pound kettlebell instead of 15 and didn’t realize it till I was in the second round of my first circuit. I kept going “wow this feels so heavy compared to just ten pounds!” Then I looked at it and was shocked! I was able to do most of the exercises with the 25lb one, which is awesome! And some I did substitute for a 10lb dumbbell instead. I felt wrecked and low on time so I only completed 1/3 of the core workout. I disliked a lot of the moves haha!

I thought I was supposed to do 4 miles, and then when I rechecked as I was taking a small walk break I realized it was only 3 miles and so I amped back up to run after 1 minute rest. I was around 5.8-6.0mph the whole way. In reality I finished 3 miles in 33:07

After the run, I did ~12min cool down walk. total of 45 minutes on the mill and 3.56miles.

Tuesday (12.19.23) – Plan: Mobility + ~4 mi run (1 mi warm up, 4x800m at 7.2 with 1-2 min walk in between, 1 mi cool down)
Actual: the mobility work was great! And to be honest, I almost just went back to work after not wanting to do any running. But then, a great text came in- confirmation no bosses were going to be there this afternoon. So with that tidbit of information I knew it was OK to take a long ass lunch! haha

Garmin and treadmill were the SAME today - weird!!
The workout:
2 min walk 3.2mph
8 min warm up 5.3mph
.5mi @ 6.7
4min30sec at 5.2
repeat hold part x 4
and then ~8 min cool down at 5.2mph, then walked to finish off a full 60 minutes.


As much as I want to increase speed and I want to increase mileage – but I don’t want to get injured! So, I didn’t want to push too hard on the 800s, I know I had a lot more in the tank. I was at a very comfortable fast(er) pace, and would have still been able to talk through it if necessary, hell I was able to text a friend still! I know I could have sped up, but today it was just about getting a little uncomfortable. I know that my run with Vina later this week will really push me so I want to be weary of that and not overdo it too much this week!

Afterwards I walked till I hit 60 minutes for a total of 5.15 miles (.58mi walked as cool down)

Wednesday (12.20.23) – Plan: KB/Barbell Circuits + bodyweight core AND walk or 2-3 mi EZ recovery
Actual: I needed to rest today. My body needed it. I’ve pushed hard the last couple days – not running easy and pushing it. And it’s catching up to me. So today, I did the strength portion and didn’t have the time to do the core work. I ended up with 15 minutes of walking. And you know what? It’s going to be okay!

Hopefully tomorrow goes well because I have to take a class for invoicing the city and learning a new program and this will interfere with my gym time greatly!

Thursday (12.21.23) – Plan: KB + barbell workout + 2 mi walk
Actual: core work from yesterday completed

Unfortunately the billing class I had to take took up so much time I wasn’t able to go to the gym for any movement. Which left me with such a small step count! And since Friday we are supposed to have our Christmas party I wasn’t really planning on doing a gym session, or at least not a long one! So I hatched a plan… After watching SUCH a good car movie! Gran Turismo on Netflix. I am a sucker for a good racing movie… It literally just brings me so much joy! Although I’m scared to heck of going over 100mph lol 😂 my dad is a HUGE gear head and so growing up I was surrounded by cars, shows about cars and movies about cars and driving. He taught me how to love just going for drives and the freedom it brings. Lately I’ve forgotten that love and this movie really brought it back to the forefront of my mind. As a teenager I used to just go on long drives on the coast of California and enjoy everything from the wind in my hair to the sound of the car to music blasting. So, back to my plan… I needed to wake up early and walk to get some movement in.

Friy (12.22.23) – Plan: REST
Actual: I woke up before my alarm at 5am and dressed as quietly as possible and went to the treadmill for a 1 hour walk. This was about getting steps in not sweating or pushing myself. 3.25 miles completed and I felt invigorated! Then I let river out to use the bathroom and have food and I went in to quickly get ready and make coffee. Then I got to play Frisbee with River and tire him out to complete exhaustion! I love these kinds of mornings, it also was awesome that it wasn’t FREEZING!

Saturday (12.23.23) – Plan: Run with Vina 8-10 miles
Actual: what an amazing day! I really went into this run thinking we were squeaking out 6-7! I was not super excited to wake up and had to eat so quickly. But I’m glad I did. We checked out a new very short trail system but it was fun and then managed 10 miles! And weirdly enough, I didn’t have any fuel. I didn’t feel like I needed it at all, although I had some honey stinger chews just in case. I did drink two of my small 6oz waters though! We found a little Christmas decoration and took pictures!

I can’t express how happy I am to have met this new running friend and have such happy talks through long runs! Surprisingly this run felt so easy and the pace was manageable and great company! It made me question how 10 miles could fly by so quickly!!! I was like if we can do 10 so easily, why not push our distance more and more each week?!? I’m saddened to say though since they are in military they don’t stay long in one place. She said usually it’s ~3 years and they already been here 1.5 years… so guess I gotta squeeze it all outta her now lol! I

I don’t feel drained (yet) as I write this right after the run haha! But I’ll for sure be taking a nap later! We played outside and did a lot of walking and playing before and after nap time

After dinner and a bath we headed out to see Christmas lights! Unfortunately the youngest has a fever now and she slept through most of the light seeing. I’m hoping it’s as mild as Hendrix’s sickness and it was just fever with nothing else!

Sunday (12.24.23) – Plan: REST
Actual: I was READY to run run run and do so much, but I know my body needs a rest! It was cold, drizzly and overcast all day. We watched a Christmas movie marathon + wrapped presents and listened to music and made SO many cookies and spiraled ham! The little dumpling is sick now and she is a huge cuddle bug and just resting most of the day. Poor thing. Hope

Are you asking for anything running related for Christmas? I AM!
I found 1080v12 (last years) for less than $100 (winner winner chicken dinner!), feetures socks and a running hat. I am VERY excited for those gifts. Non-running related I asked for a necklace and slippers also. 🙂

Week 50 (of 2023)

Wowowowowow 2 more weeks of 2023…. That’s crazy!! How fast this year went by! It seems like just yesterday it was like omg it’s nearly 2023! And now it’s OMG It’s basically 2024! 😭

Let’s see… This year I was able to do two half marathon races – one where I actually raced and one was pure fun, I ran from home to Fairhope to home (13miles) for fun which I always wanted to do! We went to the beach a few times, we got lice 🤣, we went to the ER for panic attacks, we got hurt numbers of times and ran after River way too many times to count as he went through our neighbors trash and ate cat poop (seriously… Why cat poop!!?) I read/ listened to A LOT of books – over 50! We went to numerous parks and had many adventures! Took tons of amazing naps and played in a bunch of sprinklers and slipped on slip n slides. I’d say it was a good year!

But my plans for next year?? I’m not sure, I didn’t get my sub-2 hour half I really wanted, and to be honest I don’t know if that’s something I plan on training or aiming for next year or not. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know if I want to work on shorter distances and get faster or just get better at longer distances. I know one thing is I want to continue on this strength training kick I’ve got going on. That’s about all I know so far. I also want to find some new races, possibly trail ?

One thing I’m super looking forward to is my girls trip with my mom and aunt! We are headed to the Smoky Mountains in the spring time for a weekend of hiking and fun. I’m so excited! When is it happening? TBD lol what are we doing? HIKING and TBD 🤣

Now… on to the nitty gritty – I am more than Halfway through this strength training plan (it’s a 28 day program) and I am loving it and also itching to run!!! I am going to continue putting strength first till this month is completed but incorporate more running rather than walking this week. This is a tough decision lol, and in order to get strength in I will have to do that first before running, which in reality should be opposite for my normal goals.

I am trying with all my might to find a race in the spring. There’s not much NEARBY, there are quite a few in December, January and February but I am looking for more April/May. Ultimately I would LOVE to do a longer trail race but I don’t have super close terrain to practice that – one place but it’s a good drive distance. Plus, mentally… I am so stumped because trail runs take way more out of you! To me, 1 mile on the trail feels like 5 lol. But I found one a couple hours away called Phoenix Trail Fest in mid April. And it’s so cheap, it’s insane! ($55 for the 100k race) no cut off time – granted I don’t think I would do the 100k race, but maybe I would attempt the 25 mi or the 37.5 mi one… 🫣

We have officially officially finished with the Xmas presents. Now, it’s wait til they all arrive and HOPEFULLY wrap them before Christmas Eve – however if we do wrap before Christmas Eve, we will most likely forget who’s are who’s. Even when we put initials on them 🤣

This week, I am re-listening to:

Monday – (12.11.23) -Plan: Mobility Pre Workout & Advanced Barbell/KB workout + 2-3 mile run??
Actual: my strength and the pre-workout mobility took a little longer than expected but it was a lot of fun and each time I do the KB exercises I am reminded how much I enjoy it. It was also challenging!! I love the one legged and balancing work we have to do as this plan is specifically tailored to runners. I’ve also noticed that my feet don’t hurt nearly as much anymore!

I really wanted to run, even though to be honest I was pretty wiped from the strength swssion. I contemplated just walking or stairs but thought… let’s just try and see how I feel!? I felt so good…. it was challenging though! As I’ve become far too used to just easy runs (which might be too easy some times) at 5.2mph because I am just not pushing myself. I know there are benefits to easy runs but there is also probably some hindrance to them as well? Like when you are regressing instead of progressing!

I did a time goal of 30 minutes. 2.99 miles completed lol I tried hanging at 10 min/mi the whole time and had to lower it. So that will be my goal is to hang at 6.0mph or higher till it feels normal speed. That’s where I used to be and I would like to get back to that and get faster.

I didn’t realize that was so blurry! Lol
Garmin always shorting me when it’s treadmill activity lol 2.99milez!!

I felt so good and accomplished after this workout. It was just a GOOD day. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the challenges! 🫡

Part one of Christmas decorating done, we just got the lights on haha! Still have to put ornaments on. My only job tonight was to keep Hazel from grabbing all the lights and running around the tree. mostly though I just sat and also danced (like a ballerina – a ballerina that I don’t know how to even be haha) to the classic Christmas music! I had fun!! Then it was time to settle down for bed and Hazel finally passed!

Hazel is obsessed with the lights, she loved every moment of decorating

Tuesday (12.12.23) – Plan: Mobility – range of motion workout + 4 mi run with strides
Actual: I woke up this morning QUITE stiff! And well before my alarm – I think I was in pain laying down and just HAD to get up, I had originally set it 10 minutes earlier than my “new” normal 6am so I can get back to waking up and going on walks or do some kind of movement. But I was so stiff, I decided to get up start doing the mobility work.

It helped so much getting me moving and feeling less stiff! Loved this little session and now I can go to the gym and run at lunch and it not be 2+ hours lol. Also, this morning River got to play frisbee and get some zoomies out! Not before I got the frisbee stuck in a tree and had to run to get it free before he found a cat wandering and chase it!

As the morning went on I felt more and MORE sore! Glutes and hams are crazy tight. I ended up doing 3 miles with 2 – 1/4 mile length strides at 8.0mph. I stayed between 5.8-6.0 for regular run time. But after the 2nd stride I had to walk a bit, my legs hurt and my sock started rubbing my arch wrong… Maybe it’s time to retire them?!

3 miles 😂 in reality – but Garmin clocked in only 2.93

After a good stretch session (definitely in need of a longer one and a hot shower) and a tiny bit of core work. Just enough to go OMG THATS ENOUGH lol

I can feel muscles in my legs, butt and back SORE haha. Tomorrow is definitely a recovery day. Might have to change the strength.

Happy report I fell asleep SO hard on the couch next to Hazel 😂 that Jesse had to wake me up and tell me to go to bed. Then I proceeded to flop on the bed and passed out again! I woke up around 4am again but quickly fell back to sleep and was woken up by my alarm.

Wednesday (12.13.23) – Plan: Barbell and KB strength workout + walk or stairmaster
Actual: I felt a little stiff this morning, and did some stretching moves to help get moving. I purposely packed leggings so I wouldn’t run today. Because I knew after some movement I would have felt fine to run, but I need to be smart and not put in junk miles. So I plan to walk or get on the stairs if they are open.

I switched box jumps to jump squats and…. OUCH. this was a tough one. Also, stairmaster is HARD. I only lasted 2 minutes. I’m not sure how to pace it. Felt like I should go faster but then it was too fast. I quit immediately. I didn’t want to get too sore, I’ve been sore for two days now so I needed to cool it and not go hard. Then I did 1mile walk on the treadmill, had to get back to work for payroll.

Has anyone tried a timed race challenge before? Like every hour you have to complete X amount of hours? And you go for 12, 24 or 36 or more hours? I want to try… I know it gets extra tough especially the longer it is because you lack sleep. But also the lactic acid builds so much. But I kinda want to try!!

Thursday (12.14.23) – Plan: REST
Actual: I really thought I was going to be sore today? I had been sore the last couple days… but oddly without any kind of ibuprofen I was FINE.
I was supposed to go to lunch with a friend and something came up on her end, so what else could I do but head to the gym!? I am glad I am making this a habit- it was super easy to just be like, ok cool gym then! I did the Friday strength workout instead and added in a random run/walk workout. I didn’t properly pack for the gym so I couldn’t do a real run. I can’t run in leggings inside also I didn’t have a sports bra! Lol I did a 5 minute incline walk at 5, then 5 min at 5.2 (no incline) then 4 minutes at 5.8 then back to walk with incline and then a run again. I repeated and finished watching Suicide Squad. I ended with 2.5 miles.

2.5mi really lol

After my cardio I went to the strength portion, oddly it was supposed to take 20 minutes and I finished in 15 even though I did all the workouts. I feel like maybe I didn’t do some of them correctly since I sped through so quickly?

Last night after dinner, hazel, me and river snuck out and went on a 20 minute walk in the dark. It always makes me realize how I need brighter clothes for the dark! I used to have a great lightweight lime green jacket, but it got lost in the move! I haven’t been able to locate it in over 3 years. Anyway, that walk was awesome and we got to see some Christmas lights. As the week went on it got a bit warmer but I think the weather is taking another dip.

Friday (12.15.23) – Plan: Planks, Jumps & Glutes strength + 3 mi EZ
Actual: oh how I enjoyed lunch with a friend but I dearly missed my workout! Lol 😂 I brought gym clothes in the event that something came up and I would be able to run and lift.

I finished Fourth Wing – can’t wait to read the next one! Hopefully only have another week or two to wait, so glad I reread it because there were some parts I forgot about! I just started this book and I’ve heard good things about it! It’s taking some time to get into it though, but I’m being patient

Saturday (12.16.23) – Plan: KB Challenge
Actual: 6.82 miles completed with a new friend, Vina and her puppy Phoebe! We chatted the whole time and it was absolutely fantastic and we had both been really missing this aspect of chat runs. So Im really hoping that we can schedule more runs together! She wants to train for another full marathon and I just might be joining her. This run totally wiped me out, I haven’t pushed this hard in a lonnnng time and it was fantastic, but I was basically falling asleep at about 4:30pm! Haha and for sure totally passed out at 8pm. 🤣

Sunday (12.17.23) – Plan: 60 min run
Actual: I did half of the KB challenge after I walked River and Hazel. I think I’ll redo it tomorrow! All weekend has been overcast and Hendrix has had a high fever since Friday. Trying to get it down has been a TASK! The air has been so fresh and crisp, hazel and I spent a lot of time outside exploring and climbing things (my attempt to get her to fall asleep early) however she got a second wind and was up til after 9pm! Lol

After the walk, we played and explored… Napped and then lunch and out to the park!

I ran 15.31 miles this week! That was an awesome week, and I made it to the gym 4 out of 7 days!

Week 49 (of 2023)

I am currently listening to:

Monday – (12.4.23) – Plan: Barbell/Kb Strength Work
Actual: I didn’t want to wake up and walk or anything early, so I decided not to. Yesterday I was extremely overwhelmed and full of anxiety. My dreams didn’t help either.

We completed most of our Christmas shopping this morning, which is a weight off our backs but we had to be super careful on what we got

welp! I accidentally did Friday’s workout which turned out to be the same workout as last week, which was still KILLER but I only realized I did the wrong one once I finished. I upped the weights on my deadlift complex so that’s awesome! I sweated more and had a decent higher heart rate too!! I didn’t have it in me to do the right workout lol but it’s ok I’ll will switch around the days and do today’s workout on Friday! I still got a great sweat in. Then finished off with a 30 minute walk!

Strength
Walk! But really it was 1.6 miles 😂

Tuesday – (12.5.23) – Plan: Run for 45 minutes
Actual: I did it! A great return back to running with a strong finish! I did NOT warm up properly, and I think I lost my resistance band that helps me warm up my muscles…. So I walked for a minute, got SO antsy to start… Went to 5.2 and my left foot went WHAM BAM! and a sharp pain went through it!!! I immediately freaked, rolled out my ankles, warmed up more and walked some… then gingerly I started again. I mostly stayed around 5.2mph – it wasn’t about pushing it till the last couple minutes and then a final 10 second “sprint” at 7.4mph. Also… I forgot water so about 23 minutes in I had to run and grab water from the fountain and then run back haha! But other than that .. no walking except the warm up/cool down portions. Felt great to be back. Also, of course the watch says less than 45 minutes running and about 3 minutes walk cool down, but the treadmill mileage says otherwise!

It felt so great getting back to it! I listened to my book and the only thing that was uncomfortable was that I didn’t have my water. My legs feel like I did a leg day lol, but I feel strong and good! Almost 4 miles in today 😊 I should have just kept going for a few more seconds to get 4 lol, do you keep going til you get an even number or just stop when you’re done?

Wednesday – (12.6.23) – Plan: KB, Barbell + Core Strength Work
Actual: I am really enjoying pushing myself in these strengthening sessions and it has been great with my main focus being these lifts rather than trying to squeeze it in after a run! Only issue was my barbell front squat when one of my knees started to hurt. So I’ll probably do some prehab work on it tonight or tomorrow. I made it through two out of the three cycles of moves with the front squat and then I decided to skip over so I didn’t hurt it further. After strength (30 minutes of low intensity by quite a bit of sweat) I walked for 30 minutes (1.6miles) on the treadmill.

Today is Hazels second birthday and I would be lying if I said we did something special – I feel like we were so focused on everything else we forgot. This year went by sooooo fast and we focused on Thanksgiving and my family coming and her bday kinda got swept under the rug. I feel terrible about it! But, luckily.. she’s only 2, so she hopefully won’t remember it lol. We made peanut butter cookies (that turned out soooo good) had taquitos for dinner (a favorite of hers), she got fuzzy Crocs to keep her feet warm 🤣 and balloons! Then she got to watch puppies on TV at night… I’m hoping this weekend I can take her to the indoor play gym since it is supposed to be rainy and cold or to a trail to have fun.

I did some knee prehab work since my knee was hurting doing the front squats and I liked the movements. PS since my race I have misplaced my resistance band – which stinks! I keep losing that sucker! PPS I slept like a baby 😍

Thursday – (12.7.23) – Plan: Mobility Work + 5K run
Actual: I wish I wrote down my workout but it was on the fly, I knew I wanted to sprinkle in some 400s in there. First mile was a warm up, then I did 400m repeats with 200m recovery (4x) then the last .65 ish miles was recovery and then I did a strong sprint finish at around 9.0mph. sweaty to say the least. Then I did like a 2min walk at 2.0 to cool the heck down

Mobility was on the schedule today and it felt amazing! Aaaaammmaaaazing. Loved it – I always feel like just mobility is not a workout, but it isssss haha!

Tonight, we got our Christmas tree! I like to think we are maturing some and getting things early lol. We typically are the ones getting the tree just days before Christmas – which then you get a discount lol – but you don’t get much time with it. And we are the parents that wait till the last week to find presents. This year though we got them all done on the 2nd of December… So hey hey that’s pretty dang good! They are all arriving in the next few days. One of them is a gaming system which we are all Very excited about 🤣 I can’t wait. We aren’t huge gamers, but we got Mario kart so that is just going to be a lot of fun!

Friday – (12.8.23) – Plan: Barbell + KB Strength + 40 min run
Actual: This morning, despite me trying to lull her back to sleep she got up with me. I cherish my mornings alone where I can sit and just drink coffee in peace. But, she was actually a delight this morning. We “chatted” at the kitchen table while I drank coffee and she ate her plain (no butter or cream cheese, because she refused it!) bagel. It was mostly gibberish talk and a lot of hand movement on her end. I had THE best time with her. It felt like a glimpse of what could be in the future.

I only had leggings and a long sleeve shirt so there was no way running was happening haha! So I did a 30 minute fast walk after my strength workout!

Forecast shows rain 😔 so we will see what gets done. I’m hoping for a small celebratory birthday celebration for Hazel as she turned TWO on Wednesday

I lost my resistance band and the garage door opener!!!

Saturday (12.9.23) – morning mini hike with the kids before the rain came and then the sun came out and I gave River the best bath of his life! I am setting a new goal for myself, I am going to TRAIN this dog. I am making a commitment to 10 minutes a day minimum in training, not just walking and Frisbee. Also, I found the garage door opener and the resistance band in Hendrixs seat!! Do you think he stole them? 😉😉

it was even too muggy for sweatpants but he was too lazy to change! lol

Jesse got to go fishing in the morning and caught some yummy trout and while he was napping me and the kids went back out to play at the park. But by evening time, Hendrix complained of not feeling well and had a fever!

Warm for shorts and short sleeve shirts on Saturday!!

Sunday (12.10.23) Run 7miles – I was going to meet up with a new friend this morning to run some miles, but with Hendrix’s fever spiking I thought better of it and it was a very chill day. Quite cold! I played outside with River and we went on a lovely walk in the afternoon. It was a stark difference in temperature from the day before! 70s and sunny on Saturday to 50s and SUPER windy on Sunday!

These are her new fuzzy Crocs she got for her birthday – she LOVES them

I am getting the running bug, so it might be time to start runningggg again! 🙂

Week 48 (of 2023)- and a new phase of training

I can’t believe we only have FOUR weeks left til 2024… What happened to the year???

Something kinda silly, mostly gross – I think you runner friends will get a kick out of – is I perfected my snot rocket on the run move! I’m pretty proud of that, definitely used to think ewwww that’s so gross, but it’s helpful as heck!

I am still on the “race high” even though I didn’t race – so maybe it is something else? For the last few weeks I have been really itching to get stronger and work on lifting heavy. I don’t know how long this will last but I hope for a while! haha I am excited to begin strength training and maaaybe even some speed work?

Monday (11.27.23) – In the morning I woke up at 3:30am (not on purpose) and had very light restless sleep till 4:15am where I laid awake till 4:45 hahah! I went and did my two mile walk on the treadmill to get moving and then finished off my morning “get ready” routine. As for lunch time, I am following (just starting) a runner’s strength training plan to help me with POWER and speed and just all in all be a better runner. I was sweatin’!! This workout got me good. And it was extremely nice to focus solely on strength and not have to skip a circuit because of time constraints like I had to do before. I want to finish strength and then if I have time and energy I will run. Then I completed .25mi walk, 1 mi jog (5.5mph) and then .25mi walk cool down. This was simply because I FELT like it, and not because I had to. It just felt good flushing out my legs.

We watched such a cute little Christmas movie! And I’m glad Hendrix didn’t see it, even though it was age appropriate, one child was trying to disprove Santas existence and he fully believes still. They were “proven” wrong and that Santa was real… But still, I like the magic of him believing!

Tuesday (11.28.23) – Plan: Total body mobility
Actual: the temps dropped today! Woke up to low 40s…. yesterday I woke up at 3:30 and so by the time it was 9pm I was wrecked! I decided I needed to prioritize sleep and so I skipped my morning walk (plus it was extremely cold and I didn’t get a beanie ready lol) but I’m really glad I prioritized rest. Must remember I did have a “race” only a couple days ago anyway. It would be good to not be too much on my feet as my heels hurt afterwards.

I had to keep reminding myself that this is my recovery/off season time and I don’t have to “go hard” every day that in fact sometimes doing the things that SUCK and are BORING are the best things to do. Now, I thought this was another lifting day . .. but it was actually mobility and I didn’t realize just how much I needed it! Then I did 25 minute walk on the treadmill and headed back to work. (Seems like this week we aren’t doing pictures 🤣but I did start listening to:

Wednesday (11.29.23) – Plan: Another killer KB + barbell workout
Actual: strength, done!! I’m loving this. Not quite ready to run yet though. And that’s okay, I’m just going to keep moving and when I feel like I need to run, I will! I am loving this focus on strength training! This is me absolutely DEAD after my circuits – I tried really hard to get the moves right, it incorporates a lot of balance and stability and one legged movements!

I had to attempt to do pushups and then slide into an l-sit and WHOA, definitely didn’t have the strength for that (not yet anyway)! I finished off my workout with a 1.25 mile walk on the treadmill.

My parents and aunt left this morning! Everyone was sad but a little relieved as having company is stressful! It was too cold outside to take a quick picture! So we huddled by the door haha

Thursday (11.30.23) – Plan: Rest
Actual: I’ve been allowing myself to sleep in, or more like not walk in the early morning. Not that I even had a hard training cycle but just to let myself catch up. Hopefully also make my runny nose doesn’t turn into the full blown flu or cold my mom had!! 😐 Today I needed movement, so I walked for 45 minutes at gym. It was so nice not having to change and I was just able to hop on the treadmill and go 🤣. I did 2.36 miles then I tried to go to TJ Maxx to find some ideas for presents or stocking stuffed type things and I walked out empty handed! We are trying to be very intentional with our gifts this year and not just buy crappy toys to make it look like a lot of things. (It’s hard on a tight budget !!)

We watched another cute movie And then went to bed by 10.

Friday (12.1.23) – Plan: Barbell, KB & Core
Actual: I shouldn’t have … But I did, I skipped the workout and tried to find some birthday presents for Hazel. She turns TWO on December 6th! So, I skipped that and then at night we watched The Meg, lol – it was actually kinda good 😂

Saturday (12.2.23) – Plan:
Actual: it rained alllllll day, so we just had a slow day, played in the playroom and watched movies. At night we watched this movie from 2015 – It was a hoot!!

Sunday (12.3.23) Plan:
Actual: we went to Bass Pro Shops and the kids took a picture with Santa. I die over crying Santa pictures lol, we never got one with Hendrix crying, so even though the photographer was trying to apologize that she cried the whole time I reassured her that this was priceless lol and loved it. Hazel got to take home the giant python stuffed animal as a prize. She stopped crying as soon as she got off the bench. She takes a little time to warm up to others and that’s ok! She likes to assess their character.

After the store, we had lunch and Hazel slept for a good 1.5-2 hours, then we packed up and went to a couple parks to wear them back out haha! I was getting so sick of feeling like I’ve been sitting in front of the TV and my phone, I needed to get outside. Has anyone thought of resolutions for next year? I haven’t…. But maybe I should start…

I think I’m ready to start running, but I want to focus on nutrition and if I start running nutrition goes out the window (I’m a bottomless pit!). But, if I had it perfect I would want to lift in the morning and run during lunch, and that’s how I feel like I can get both run and lifting in.

Sanity wise .. the week was great for sleeping in and lifting. But ultimately I love running and moving my legs. So, I will probably have to sprinkle in running again.

Week 47 (of 2023) – RACE WEEK

Started listening to: Born to Run

Feeling: excited and ready for race day! Trying to watch the weather to see what I will be wearing for race day – seems like it is supposed to be chillier than I thought and probably represent same temps as last Sunday’s long run. Which will be fine! Also trying to come up with my fueling strategy because I don’t want to overdo it again like last race when I had such a heavy gut the whole time.

Monday – (11.20.23) – Plan: 3 mi EZ
Actual: since I did my long run yesterday, I decided I needed to rest. Lol

Tuesday (11.21.23) – Plan: 45 min Strength
Actual: 3 mi EZ and some strength. I actually really didn’t want to even finish this run, at 1.5 mi was mentally done but said get to 2 mi and then you can walk. Then I got to 2 and said ehh you’ve only got 1more mile! And so I completed it and then walked for about 10 minutes to cool down. I decided this week I would focus on resting and so I haven’t and don’t plan to wake up at 5 to walk, but I do worry it will be hard to wake up early starting next week!! Haha

Wednesday (11.22.23) – Plan: mini speed sesh – 1 mi warm up, 1 mi faster, 1 mi cool down
Actual: I did it! And I stuck with the plan (and took no pictures ha!!) But it was completed! 😁

But!! Of course treadmill is different so really I did 1 mile in 8:26! 😊😊😊😊 Then I did about 25-30 minutes walk cool down afterwards.

Thursday (11.23.23) – Plan: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Rest day
Actual: (sentence per picture!)

She let me do her hair! And it stayed up for most of the day!

We went to the alligator trail and hiked through some much smaller narrow trails, she stayedin the carrier and loved every second – my legs at the end were dead though!

A downed tree means you MUST climb it for a photo

He got a buck for walking across a downed tree without falling from my dad! Lol

A trail marker – for me – so that I knew this was the way we went down in case we got lost! Lol

My dad and baby girl… She was running along the wooden trail plats and we were so nervous she would go over the side because she is reckless (as all toddlers are) so we ran beside her and had our arms out just in case!

It was a little chilly today, but I loved seeing the kids sitting on the bench swing together and look out

Hendrix was wiggling the bench swing so hazel was screaming with delight and it resulted in a GREAT picture

The feast! It was sooooo good! My first time trying turkey with cranberry lol (loved it!) And it wasn’t out of a can, it was real cranberries

Friday (11.24.23) Plan: REST
Actual: more hiking!!

Saturday (11.25.23) Plan: RACE DAY!
Actual: for the first 4 miles I listened to born to run, then tried to listen to choose strong but. Couldn’t get into it. Listened to my sub 2 playlist afterwards. My number one goal was to have fun, Get under 2:15, go by effort only, and to not look at my watch at all. This race was small – they had NO pacers so I did get stuck behind some walkers at first. I thought I found the group I needed to be under 2 hours to be honest, but I finished in 2:11:xx

I went by feel and it was moderate to hard effort but I left a lot in the tank. It felt like a long run harder effort haha.

They had face painting and balloon animals for the kids

Sunday (11.26.23) Plan: REST
Actual: I felt surprisingly amazing this morning waking up. I felt like I could run 6 more miles!! Lol but settled for a couple miles walking in-between rain showers and then 2 hours of roller blading with Hendrix and my mom! I haven’t been on roller blades in over 15 years!! It was so much fun, but the skates I rented rubbed on my legs funny and left a super bruise and a few blisters from rubbing so much!! Should have worn long socks!

The picture doesn’t do the pain justice!! I swear it’s a whole stripe of purple bruise lol. Looks so miniscule though .

Total mileage: 19.9 miles

And I feel ready to jump right into strength training focus as I didn’t really race this run! I had such a pleasant time enjoying the surroundings that even the lack of crowd support didn’t bother me at all!

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