2019 Last Week Running (4)

February 25, 2019February 24, 2019 / Amy / Leave a comment

I decided that for the last week of Bingo, I can double up and mark multiple squares per run. This is helping, but it’s still going to be a bit of a stretch to get them all. Run before the kiddos wake up is going to require a 4:30 AM wake up call, so I’m not sure about that one. And, watch an entire movie while running is also going to be tricky because even if I split it up I’m not sure I can finish a movie before the end of the month.

I ran 3 times this week, on Monday I multi-tasked by studying flashcards during the run. It was a bit tough, but I felt doubly accomplished when I was done. Then, on Wednesday, I wore all black. It wasn’t as fun as dressing up in rainbow colors, but it was easy.

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My last run of the week was a virtual 5k! I listened to an episode of the Ali on the run show podcast while running, and knocked out two more squares for that. So efficient!!

I ran the “Stage 5k Clinger” through the Harry Potter running club I’m in. Mostly, I did it to cross a square off my bingo board, but I also pushed myself a (very) little bit so I can have a starting point for my resolution to PR the 5k. I upped my run segments to 8 minutes, and ran longer than I normally would in order to hit the 5k. I also ran slightly faster than normal. All this got me a 40m:20s 5k time. I included my warm-up walk in the time/distance, which was probably a mistake. I’ll need to shave off roughly 15 min. in the next 10 months in order to get my PR (yikes!).

Proof!

my medal

Victory ice-cream!

I still haven’t thought too hard about my “training” for this PR, so I’ll need to give that some thought. My virtual run club just announced their second race for this year, and it’s another 5k, so I might throw my hat in the ring for that one as well, with the intent of trying a bit harder and showing some improvement.

2019 Last Week Running (3)

February 15, 2019February 14, 2019 / Amy / 3 Comments

I am a little bit behind on the running updates, so let’s get caught up! Towards the end of January, I was really pushing to finish a study goal I set for myself, so the blog went by the wayside (as it often does). I kept running during that time, but in the last two weeks I have pretty much lost all momentum I had on ALL fronts. I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s been long enough and I have to get things turned around and start being productive again. So here I am, hoping that a post will give me some accountability or something…

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I haven’t completed my bingo board, but it’s slowly getting filled out.

Since I last wrote, I finished the following squares:

Do a Fartlek run: on the treadmill this consisted of me listening to Harry Potter and speeding up or slowing down to random paces every time someone said “Harry”. It was tough, and good!

Wear every color of the rainbow: This was fun! I looked so bright and colorful. SUPER FUN!

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Run a string of numbers (2.22 miles): I upped my run/walk ratio to 7 min running and lengthened my run by 5 minutes and this worked perfect!

Take a selfie: All the pictures I took looked pretty bad. How do you not take an awful picture while running?

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Run wearing only underwear: Man I hated this. I was dressed in a sports bra, underwear, socks and shoes. So basically what elites wear to race in. It was so uncomfortable (physically and mentally). I quit early, and do not recommend. BUT it got me my first BINGO! so it wasn’t a complete waste.

Run two days in a row: the shortest streak possible! I felt like a bad ass, anyways. LOL

I have quite a few runs left to get a full card in February, and “earn” some running gear. Still more days than runs, though, so anything is possible. And maybe I’ll just extend it a week or two to make up for my poor motivation the last two weeks. I make the rules in this game, so why not? 🙂

Flashback Friday:

Check out this post from 5 years (?!) ago, Feb 15, 2014: Winter Weather + A Long Run

Today, I’m writing about two unrelated topics, the weather and this week’s long run. I don’t know how to tie these things together, so it’s a two part post! (If I put an exclamation point, it makes it sound exciting and not just lame, right?)….

2019 Last Week Running (1) – Treadmilling

January 9, 2019 / Amy / 6 Comments

My second start to treadmill bingo seems to be going well! I printed the board, and this has been immensely helpful in tracking the runs I’ve done. So far, I’ve been knocking out the easy ones, but I’m going to have to start putting more effort into choosing particular runs if I ever want to get a bingo! And I do, because I love and miss my starbucks!

I’m less confident that it’s possible, but I also really want a full card in order to earn me some new running shoes. My current pair are on their way out and are getting a tad uncomfortable. Not to a point that would cause an injury, though so I’m holding firm that I must get a full card bingo in order to get new gear.

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My first run for this round of bingo was on 1/1/2019…starting the year off right! So I took advantage of the fact that it was New Year’s day and marked off “Run on a holiday”. I did a 3:1 run/walk ratio, and it felt good enough that I decided to up it to 3:30/1 ratio for my next run two days later.

I always struggle a bit more when running at night (“Run after the kiddos are in bed”) than during the day; that combined with upping my run interval made this run feel hard. In a good way. I kept the same interval when I ran again on Saturday “Run/Walk”, and it felt good. I’m planning to keep the same ratio for at least one more run before upping it to 4:1. Baby steps on my way to PR the 5k.

Shh…babies are sleeping!

Last Week Running – 3rd Edition

July 9, 2017July 8, 2017 / Amy / 2 Comments

This week I’ve been all messed up about which day is which, since the holiday fell on a Tuesday. My office wasn’t closed on Monday, but I took a half day and worked that half from home, so it felt like an extension of the weekend anyways. If there was some way I could work 4 hour days from home and still get paid the same; I’d sign up in a second. But who wouldn’t?

I had another fairly good week with my running, looks like I’ve figured out a schedule that works for me. Finally! Now to figure out a schedule that will get me to study…that’s my next mission.

Saturday – 6 mile long run. I started watching Grey’s anatomy on Netflix and it made the run fly by. I feel slow on these long runs, and it’s bugging me. I fit this run into morning nap time for Mr. Baby, but I ended up going over a bit and waking him up from his nap about 5 min late. I want to be able to fit these runs in while Mr. Baby is sleeping, but they’re getting a tad too long for morning nap.

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Sunday – Family run to the playground. These are supposed to be easy, but guys…ooooffff. Haha…I still loved it, though. Having a Gatorade break at the park, sliding down some slides, and swinging is perfect. We live at the top of a hill, and always run up on the way home even if we take walk breaks throughout the run. Someday it might feel easy?

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Tuesday – Short easy run. I think I only ran a little over a mile. I wasn’t really feeling this one, so I promised myself I could stop once I hit my step goal. I might try and do this more often as a way to get my steps in.

Then, after a promising start, the week petered out with no intervals. ☹ Work was really busy (quarter end) and I got home late Thursday when I was planning to do my intervals. I probably could have made it work, but opted to relax instead. Then I didn’t want to do the run on Friday because I was planning to run 7 miles the next day. So, I just let this one go.

Studying – I did a half hour on Tuesday. Again, bad. I was planning to do Assignment 1 for my Corporate Finance Online Course, but chickened out. Once I start, I only have 24 hours to do it and I’m terrified of not finishing. I can’t figure when would be the best time to start. I need to just bite the bullet and do it.

Steps – Needs Improvement. Didn’t really make an effort this week.

Around the House – I FINALLY was able to start painting the deck! YES! I LOVE LOVE LOVE painting. I estimate that it will probably take the entire month of July to get the painting done, and probably August, too. Between the weather, work, and only painting while Mr. Baby is sleeping, I think it’s a fairly realistic estimate.

What I’m Watching – I picked up “Logan” at Target. I really like the X-Men movies. This one wasn’t my favorite, but it was good. I’d say it was better than the Japan Wolverine one (what was that called?), but the others in the series are better. We’ve also watched “Moana” twice now. The music is so great! And the story is okay, too. I liked it better than Frozen, which has great music but the story line bugs me.

Up Next Week:

Running – 7 mile long run (maybe incorporate those missed intervals?), Family Run to the park, 7 (or 8) x ¼ mile intervals, easy run.
Studying – SERIOUSLY….get this assignment #1 done already.
Around the house – Keep making progress on the deck, Organize my clothes, Clean/Organize the guest bathroom.

Last Week Running: 2nd Edition

July 1, 2017July 1, 2017 / Amy / Leave a comment

I did not sleep well last night, and despite the fact that I drank the biggest coffee I’ve ever had in my entire life, I’m struggling right now to put my thoughts into coherent sentences. So, bear with me, and please enjoy any oddities that might show up in this post. ☺

This picture makes the coffee look smaller than it was.

Saturday – 5 mile long run on the treadmill. I’m working my way up for my virtual 10 mile race! The medal arrived ages ago but I’m waiting to open it until I get the run done. Actually, the medal for my virtual half marathon showed up this week, so now I have TWO medals taunting me. In a good way, though.

Sunday – Family run out to the playground and back. My legs always seem so tired on these runs. I imagine it’s a combo of pushing the jogger (part of the way), running outside (hills), and having run the day before. I also suspect that I run a tad faster outside than I do on the treadmill. Whatever it is, it certainly makes the break at the playground welcome.

Monday – I snuck in a quick run between Mr. Baby’s bedtime and a phone call with a friend. I anticipated that this would be a hard run given the tiredness of my legs on Sunday, but it turned out feeling easy peesy. I only had about 25 min, so it wasn’t very long, but I think that actually helped. If I was going to have to run for longer, I probably wouldn’t have even started. I think this means I should change my idea of “minimum acceptable run time”. I didn’t even know I had a requirement for that, but turns out I rarely bother running unless I have at least 30 minutes. Who knew?

Wednesday – 6 x 1/4 mile Intervals. There’s just something about intervals that gets me excited. I don’t know what it is, but I’ll take it! I did the running parts at 10 min/mile and walked in between until I caught my breath. The pace is not super challenging, and I’m looking forward to speeding up.

Step Goal Progress – I bumped my goal up to 9000 for the week. I didn’t hit that every day, but I got it most days without having to pace around the house to do it.

Study Goals – well, I studied for one half hour this week. It wasn’t nothing, but it was still pathetic.

Around the House – I managed to finish going through my dresser drawers (but still need to go through the closet and two boxes of clothes, plus try on and reorganize things.) I also finished up spray painting the deck furniture and finished sanding the deck.

Joke- What’s long, brown and sticky?……a stick! (har har har)

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Now this week-

Looks like I excelled at the running goals last week, but could use some work on several other areas, so I’ll try to stick to some of my non-running goals as well for a change.

Running – 6 mile long run, stroller run, easy run, 7 x ¼ mile repeats
Study Goals – Complete Assignment #1 for my Corporate Finance online course
Around the house – Start painting the deck (weather permitting); Work on organizing my clothes
Step Goals – Get 9,000 at least 5 days this week.
Food Related – Drink less coffee, more tea.

Have a great weekend!

Last Week Running: 1st Edition

June 24, 2017June 23, 2017 / Amy / 2 Comments

In an effort to make my “week in review” posts a little more timely, I’m going to try something new by switching up the order! It seems like most running blogs I read have a standard formula of posting a workout review on Monday and some kind of brain dump on Friday. While I know this isn’t mandatory, it is nice to have some kind of schedule/direction, and Monday certainly feels like a good “recap” day.

Unfortunately, I just can’t maintain this schedule. Actually, I can’t really seem to maintain any type of blogging schedule. All I know is that I WANT to blog, the what/when/how isn’t really quite as clear. I also think it would be nice if I wasn’t posting weekly recaps that are more than a month old, but that might be setting the bar too high.

I’m hoping that by freeing myself from the idea of “mandatory Monday”, I’ll have an easier time. Now, with no further ado…The 1st Edition of “Last Week Running”

Saturday – I ran a 5k! (Recap coming soon!) It was my first road race in a while, and it was a pretty good time. After the race, we had my in-laws over for lunch to celebrate Father’s day. That was also a pretty good time with some delicious bagels and Buffalo Wing Doritos. These were the last “events” in a very busy month, and after our guests left I was pretty happy to have the rest of the weekend to relax.

Sunday – We woke up with no plans and no guests, so since the weather was nice, we went for a family run. My legs were pretty sore so we took plenty of walk breaks! We ran to the playground at the local elementary school and took Mr. Baby out of the jogger to play for a bit. The playground is a bit old for him, but he enjoyed a “controlled” ride down the slide and some swinging on my lap. It was a great way to break up the run, but we should have brought water or gatorade…next time!

Monday – I decided to skip my run because my legs were still sore from Saturday. Originally, I was going to push the run to Tuesday, but then I just skipped it.

Thursday – Speed Work, Week 2! I increased to 5x400m (well, .25 mi). My plan (that I made up) is to increase to 8 intervals and then start over at 4, at a faster speed. Right now my speed is 10 min/mile. This is much slower than I’ve ever run intervals before, but my other runs are all at the 11 – 12 min/mile range, so I don’t think it’s an unreasonable place to start.

Step Goal Progress: My goal is currently 8,000 steps and I’m increasing by 1,000 every time I manage to hit my goal every day for a full week. As I write this on Friday night, it’s the last day I need to hit 8,000 before moving up!

Bunny seen on my walk

Study Goals: I’m on a 3 week studying “break” and it NEEDS to end.

Around the House: After living here for 2 years, I’ve finally set up the record player! We organized the basement which included setting up our old video game systems and the record player. I also set up a puzzle at the card table. It’s a fun place to hang out these days.

Fun Fact: A lot of people work from home on Fridays in my office, so each Friday my team tries to guess how many people that work in our area will show up. I have gotten it exactly right two weeks in a row! 🙂

Now this week: