Hi Everyone...I promise I'm still around...just MIA over the long holiday. Not super connected online but that's ok because we were having a great little relaxing family weekend. I figured I'd do one of those Good, Bad & Ugly updates. But maybe add in a Great too. This week really covered every spectrum. Things were a bit off on my schedule just due to it not being a traditional week, having family over for bbq, etc, so I'm looking forward to more of my routine again.
The Great:
So much family stuff this weekend. We went to a mini-water park in a nearby suburb and kiddo had her fist lazy river tube experience (she's still too little to go by herself) and did a "BIG SLIDE" with a two person tube with her daddy TWICE! Somehow they had perfect glide across the water endings and each time I totally flipped over the moment I hit the water. The kid sized sit-down slow slides were more my speed. I still think a disney water park is going to be too big for her for our fall trip; we'll stick with our hotel pools.
We also got perfect weather for the parade on Monday with barely any sun. Ours has a very small town feel to it and it's mostly about kids getting a years supply of tootsie rolls off the ground that we'll end up throwing away in two days.
FYI: pulling her in the wagon is tough work now that she is big-kid-weight. Over the course of the weekend I got 3-4 miles of just wagon pulling in. Oooph! It was so much easier when she switched to riding her bike to the park yesterday.
Pardon the coffee table and couch full of toys in the pic below (actually it can get much messier really fast.)
I had no patriotic wear so I opted for hockey. Hey it was red...albeit the totally wrong season. And check out my tan (just kidding, I slather myself in sunblock constantly.) Our wall of mirrors in our living room is awesome when I'm feeling myself but a curse when I'm not. Makes for lots of fun rainbow reflections in the spring though
The Good: All of my "easy" runs this week were really pretty good. I hit my paces not too fast, felt controlled and aware of myself. Felt easy like they should be and weather really cooperated. Although I was totally off on my days since hubby is really really really working hard this week (he even swam, bike and ran this morning super early...I never even saw him leave the house.) So started the week feeling really solid with running.
Oh and check out these sweet shoes!
Did you think those were mine....because they are not.
Why is my kid 1000% times cooler than me? Her cheap Target shoes keep falling apart, so we went to Shoe Carnival for their BOGO since hubby needed some casual shoes and Nikes are stupid expensive if you're 4. So these were 50% off and I hope they last (her last Nikes a year ago lasted a long time.) I got her .5 size too big on purpose.
I was really hoping they had my size so I could dorkily/awesomely match her but alas they did not.
The Bad:
I was a lazy bum Saturday and Sunday in regards to running. I had no excuse to be a lazy bum other than my time of the month came 4 days early just in time to be annoying on my long weekend off! And we had lots planned during the days and I chose sleeping-in over running early in the mornings. Then we had night time stuff and by then...
So I missed my first true LR paced run. And then I lost track of the what day it was on Monday and did nothing that day too. (to be fair, this was water park/parade day and I certainly was active.) So on Tuesday I told myself I HAD to run a long run no matter what. Oh and I had this before bed because my buddy brought it over and it was as good/bad as I hoped.
The Ugly:
Slept in Tuesday. I couldn't believe how well my kiddo was sleeping and I was taking advantage of it. Sleeping in btw is still waking up before 8am.
But once I dusted off the cobwebs in my eyes and drank some water/ate some toast I went on a run at around 9ish. And decided to try a new route that would get me over to the park where kiddo used to play soccer because it has a few little running paths around it that are few different distances (the longest being .8 miles)
I decided I would just do my 5 miles at LR pace that I'd failed to do over the weekend. A few things went wrong. I wore too thick and too long of capris because when I woke up it was only 71. Well...it became 81 real fast, so that was dumb. Once I got a mile in and turned off onto my new route it became painfully clear that there was no longer any shade. Although it appeared there were lots of trees...over in this area they are all in people's backyards which does me no good. And the few little trees out in the front yards where directing shadows just directly around the base of the tree. So I began to cook. And there was no breeze and it was humid. Dead, humid air, full sun, too thick of pants and my hydration the prior night was Zima which is not water. I did just fine hitting my LR pace of 10:52 and up to about 11:00 without too much stress to the system for a good 2.5 miles. And then it started hitting me. All the sun. the running path was nothing but black asphalt and sun and NO SHADE! I used all 5 of their water fountains and started doing run walk. Run for a while, walk for a lot longer. I did just the one .8 mile loop. Lots of people out walking, only one other person run/walking...I think I'd like it on a cooler day. And then I started to get the eye floaties that are a sign of overheating/dehydration. So I turned back toward home and got a bit dis-oriented trying to find the correct street that gets me over the railroad tracks. And adding a full .25 miles onto my route basically. Still with no shade or relief in sight. I found a sprinkler at the end of mile 4 and soaked my whole right side (keeping phone dry) Once I crossed into my neighborhood it was like a changed ecosystem. There were trees everywhere...and a bit of a breeze onto my wet clothes. But I still walked the whole last mile and hit up a water fountain. I asked hubby to have a water waiting for me and texted him that I wasn't doing well and where I was just in case but that I thought I'd be fine. So that sucked. Definite case of dehydration/not being acclimated to running in the heat (I've been night running.) Probably top 3 worst feelings during a run. If it was a real race I'd have just slow jogged the whole thing but I walked because why kill myself on a training run. I averaged 13:55 somehow over 5.24 miles despite a fair bit of walking. Ugh. So now I need to regroup for this week. I don't think it was my fitness that was the issue, it was me being unprepared for the heat. And I'm never running that side of town again on a summer day.
So now this week...which starts a little messed up but I'll make it up.
Roxy Training Week #4: In which I don't quit running because of one bad run even though I wanted to during the bad run.
Tuesday: Already happened...was supposed to be 5 mi @ EA, I attempted to do 5mi at LR. Somehow came out at easier than EA but for the wrong reasons.
Wed: STIRRUP...I'm totally yoga-ing tonight. Center my zen zones or whatnot.
Thur: 1 mi WU + 4 x 1 mile @ strength w .25 mi RI @WU + 1 mi CD
OK - this is a bit new for me...this terminology. @DopeyBadger can you break this down for me? The 1 mi WU I got and then I understand strength pace is 9:29 and the RI means resting interval...but what's the timing of that? Do I do a full 1 mi at Strength then .25 at WU pace OR do I do 3/4 mi at strength with .25 WU?
I'll be hydrated and ready
Fri: OFF
Sat: 5 mi at EB w strides. I'll be hydrated and ready
Sun: 7 mi @ LR. I'll be hydrated and ready
Roxyhubby has his olympic distance triathlon this weekend so everyone think your happiest thoughts. I'll fill you in on how that went on Sunday. My LR will be in the evening...and on my "happy side of town" aka the place with the trees.
