Weekly Rundown (and a Halloween Miracle!)
Welcome to the Weekly Rundown! If you’re reading my blog because of NaBloPoMo, you might be wondering- why is it called “Runners Fly?” Is this some kind of running thing? Then why isn’t she talking about running? Well… it is a fitness blog. Sometimes. Every Sunday I link up with Kim and Deborah for a rundown of the workouts from the week. Here we go… Monday I started the week with leg day at home- lunges, squats, Runner’s Touch – then got my daughter to school and went out for a 3 mile run. In other news, I’ve declared this month “No Core November.” JUST KIDDING (that would be so dumb!) But I like to fantasize about it. In reality, I got down on the floor for some planks and dead bugs after the run. Sigh. Tuesday Upper body day at home- I got out my pull up bar for negatives and assisted pull ups, and used my 15 pound dumbbells for overhead press. Followed by more dead bugs. Later in the day my daughter had a group of friends over prior to trick-or-treating, and they wanted to try my pull up bar. Two of the kids could do a couple true pull ups, and then we tried it with a close underhand grip- and I could easily pull myself up! I know that’s easier than traditional pull ups, but I was still happy I could do it. Then I showed them how to use the band for assisted pull ups, and two of the kids (including my daughter, ahem) couldn’t even do that. I felt really good- this all made me realize that while I’m not super-strong, I’m semi-strong. I saw how weak I would be if I didn’t work out at all, and it made me encouraged about the progress I’ve made. Wednesday NO SCHOOL FOR THE KIDS. It was a Halloween miracle! OR, maybe it was the end of the trimester for elementary school and therefore a teacher work day. Either way- no school the day after Halloween is probably the best thing that’s ever happened. Now we just have to work on making Super Bowl Monday an official holiday, and we’ll be all set. This meant I could get up early and start my long run! I ran the first six miles in the dark and was treated to a lovely sunrise. Then I swung by my house to pick up my double hydration vest. I had one bottle filled with water and the other with Tailwind, which I was trying for the first time. I liked it! I wouldn’t want to ONLY carry Tailwind though, because after a while I was craving plain water. But it’s a helpful way to get in more calories. I ordered two sample packets- this one was orange flavored, and the other one is raspberry and contains caffeine. I’ll try that one on the next long run! 16 miles total. I tried to run on grass as much as possible, including a cross country trail in a nearby park (my race in February has a lot of grassy running, apparently.) I probably ran about 6-7 miles on grass for this run, and the rest on pavement. Thursday Ouch. I woke up REALLY sore. Alarmingly sore. I definitely didn’t feel like this after my last long run, and that one was 15 miles. But it was entirely on trails, so the only thing I can think of is that my body didn’t appreciate all the pavement this time. Duly noted, body! I’ll try to complete all future long runs on the trails- which only makes sense, since my race is a trail race. I walked for one mile and then ran for three, and by the end I felt much better. It gave me hope that I WILL be able to complete back-to-back long runs later on. Friday Okay, still sore. But it was leg day! I got myself to the gym and started with sled pushes and pulls: Followed by squats and deadlifts. And of course… core. I did regular planks and side planks with leg lifts- ouch. Still hard. Saturday A lovely 5 mile run before work! It was dark for most of this run, and when it did get light it was cloudy and gloomy. Yes, please! The temperature was comfortable at 70 degrees. I threw some strides into this run, because I did no other speed work this week. Sunday OFF! Oh yes- sleeping in BECAUSE WE FINALLY TURN THE FRICKIN CLOCKS BACK! No more driving to school in the pitch dark, WOOHOO!!! And then… Watching the NYC marathon. GO DARLENE!!!!! Her info is here if you want to track her. Weirdly, the Dolphins are playing the Chiefs in Germany and that game is on at 9:30 am. I saw “weirdly” because when was the last time I had TWO sporting events on a Sunday morning??? The marathon takes precedence, but I’ll be switching over to the Dolphins game afterwards. In the afternoon I’ll be taking down Halloween (sigh!) and putting up Thanksgiving decorations (hooray!) I’m so excited- in two weeks, my son will be home. Big shoutout once again to San, our fearless NaBloPoMo leader! Check out her website for a list of participating bloggers. How was your week? Did you have a fun Halloween? How’s your weather? – Let’s just say we’re finally entering the time of year where I’m glad I live in Florida!