Weekly Rundown- Happy Chaos
Well, it was quite a week! The craziness of May was ramped up a notch with the arrival of my son and his college roommate. My son always comes home in a swirl of chaos, and this time it was doubled. The boys slept till noon one day; another day got up at 5 am to go to the beach and see the sunrise; went to the gym; had friends over for a jam session; made a trip to the Asian market and cooked dinner one night… it’s been like a big party, except the rest of us still had to go to work/school. But of course, workouts did occur! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown- let’s just see how it all played out. Sunday This was the day of my 5K time trial. It was… pretty much as I expected. My pace felt hard but was slow, compared to the old days. But that’s okay- you have to start somewhere. One thing I was reminded of was that for a race like a 5K you have to train your mind as well as your body. It’s hard to hold that pace for the last mile, and I let myself slow down. When I was done, I felt that OF COURSE I could have held the pace- but I just have to train my mind to accept being uncomfortable like that again. When I got home I did some lower body strength- things that I don’t need to go to the gym for, like Bulgarian split squats and calf raises. My Sunday waffles tasted REALLY good after all that! Monday I did this Caroline Girvan 4×4 abs workout. It’s four different exercises repeated four times. Other than that it was a day off. Tuesday I started the day with a 4 mile run… and then did Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout. This is the one that starts off suspiciously easy, but by the end has you questioning your life choices. Wednesday Gym day! It was mostly a leg day- squats, deadlifts, calf raises- with bench press thrown in as well. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get back to the gym this week, so I wanted to do a little upper body. I figured out a way to do deadlifts with the regular bar (as opposed to the hex bar- I was tired of that) by putting the bar on a low rack to start with (that way I don’t have to bend down so low to get it off the floor.) When I told my son about it he said “Doesn’t your gym have the big ten pound plates?” What? Is there such a thing? I’m sure the gym has all sorts of things I don’t know about, so I’ll have to find out. Thursday Well, my legs were trashed from the gym so it was obviously the perfect day for speed work! Ha ha, actually I just didn’t know how else to fit it in. In the future I won’t do it after leg day, but since this was my first real speed workout in… a year?… I was starting easy anyway. After a warmup, I did 4×400 at, ahem, “5k pace” but in reality I could NOT find that pace. I was doing the repeats on a stretch of road that I know is a quarter mile, but half the time I couldn’t see my watch because of the glaring sunlight, and my body had no idea what the pace was supposed to feel like. That’s okay- it was a start. I’m hoping to get to an actual track over the summer. Friday 3 mile run at a snail’s pace, and boy was this one hard. My legs were sore from the gym AND speed work- but that’s okay. I took it very slow! Afterwards I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout again (will this ever get easier?) Saturday I had planned to at least do some core, but the swirl of chaos engulfed me and it turned into a day off. That’s fine because… Sunday On tap for today- a trail run. I have high hopes for this run! My legs should feel fresh for a change, and I’m going to get out EARLY, before it gets too hot. The plan is 6-8 miles, followed by my “at-home leg day” again. Moving forward… I really want to get to the gym twice a week for leg day. There are FOUR MORE DAYS of school for my daughter, and then ten glorious weeks where I’ll have my early mornings to myself to do WHATEVER I WANT. I could go to the gym every day if I wanted to! (I don’t.) I’m really psyched about this upcoming freedom- I think it’s going to be a great summer. Will your schedule be changing at all for summer? Do you like having houseguests? – Usually I find it stressful, but my son’s roommate is the perfect guest and I’m enjoying it!