Well, it was quite a week! I ran a race, did some speed work, and lost my home gym for the summer but gained a son. I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown. Let’s just see how it all went…
Sunday
Mother’s Day 5 mile race- race recap is here. The official photos from the race are all terrible. Let’s take a look at this one:
First of all, what in the world am I doing with my ARM? I’ve been working hard to stop my arms from crossing over my midline, so this was an epic fail. I guess I was giving it one last push over the finish line, so I wasn’t focusing on form.
And let’s look at the guy behind me. It was super hot that day… is he wearing JEANS??? I can see by his bib that he was an official runner, but he did the 5K option. So I guess wearing jeans for a hot 5K seemed like a good idea. All six pictures of me were taken as I was approaching and crossing the finish line, so he’s in every one. It was definitely the day of the weird photo bomb.
Monday
My quads were a little sore so I decided to do a nice, easy yoga class. Except that I accidentally chose a power yoga class, arg! I didn’t feel like stopping it and finding another class, so I just did it. All my yoga classes are on Peloton with Denis Morton. Some of his power yoga classes are harder than others, and luckily this was an easier one.
Tuesday
Started the day with a 3 mile run, and then did a core class with Ben Alldis. After the inferno that was our race on Sunday, the temps dropped a little bit, and we had some pleasant mornings!
Wednesday
Ah, a dilemma. I knew I wanted to do speed work this week, but I also wanted to do a harder lower body strength class. If I do strength today and speed work tomorrow, my legs will be sore for the speed work. If I do speed work today and strength tomorrow, it would be hard to fit another strength day into the week without getting too close to my long run on Sunday. Decisions, decisions…
There was no perfect solution here, so I just did the strength class- Matty Maggiacomo’s 30 minute glutes and leg strength, and followed it with one of his core classes. AND, I did pull-ups. Good workout! Later in the morning I got a massage and did my best to relax for the rest of the day.
Thursday
Speed work! Yes, my legs were sore and it wasn’t ideal. But it’s not like I’m training for the Olympics. I haven’t done speed work in a very long time and just wanted to ease into it and see what happens.
Back in the old days, I did my speed work on a track, but now I don’t have one that’s convenient. Instead, I use a stretch of sidewalk that’s almost exactly 1/4 mile between cross streets.
I did a mile warm up, and then did 4 repeats of the 1/4 mile, walking for a minute between each one. And then I did a one mile cool down. As you can see, I kept it short and easy- baby steps! The hard part was running the intervals at my CURRENT 5K pace, as opposed to what I wish my 5K pace was. The first two were too fast, but I calmed down for the second two. Oh, and for the record- I only felt the soreness in my legs (from the strength class the day before) during the warm up and cool down- I didn’t notice it during the faster intervals. Go figure.
After this I did another core class. I’ve been choosing my core classes at random (all on Peloton) and this was the only one I didn’t like- it was with Adrian Williams. I never thought I would say this, but I missed the crunches.
Friday
I did a short, easy 2 mile run to help my legs recover from the last two days.
Since I was disappointed with Adrian’s core class, I chose one that I knew would be a killer- Rebecca Kennedy’s. Ouch. And, I did pull-ups again. As soon as I finished my workout, I moved my yoga mat, blocks, and weights to convert my “home gym” back into my son’s bedroom. In the evening he arrived home from his first year of college! I’m not exactly sure where I’ll be doing my workouts for the next month, but that’s okay. Having my son home makes everything okay!
Saturday
Well, I stayed up way too late on Friday night, so I just decided to sleep as late as possible this morning, which meant 7:30 am (I work at 9 am on Saturdays.) It felt so weird to just get up and start making breakfast- I actually felt all stiff and groggy. I’ll remember this next time I’m tempted to skip a workout!
And guess what… I never did fit in that second lower body strength session this week. Before every run I do banded side steps, squats and lunges- all without weights, just to get my muscles warmed up and activated. Still, I would like to get in two days of heavier strength for lower body- I just have to figure out how to schedule it.
Sunday
On tap for today- a 10 mile trail run! I can’t wait- I missed my trail run last Sunday because of the race. I’m ready to get back out there.
How’s your weather? – I hear it got pretty hot up north!
Do you have trouble scheduling strength work with harder runs during the week?
39 Responses
We had Florida style weather all week–and I got to waterski yesterday! I’ve never skied so early in the season up here. Not so good was my race in that heat. Gack! Enjoy your run today!!!!
Yes, ironically I think you guys were hotter than we were. I think (hope) you’re supposed to get more seasonal temperatures this week- too bad the heat had to mess up your race.
Ha ha on the guy in jeans! My race photos are always horrendous. I look like I have never run before 🙂 Rebecca’s core classes are great. I am also not a fan of Adrian’s core. He does the same thing over and over. I do my lower body strength the day before my runs. Sometimes my legs are sore but it’s good training. Matty’s are good! Nice week of workouts for you!
Yes, I really like Matty’s glutes and legs classes! Rebecca is also great- sometimes I’ll just do her 5 minute core class, and it’s intense!
It IS really hard to figure out the ST/running mix. Nice job with the 400s!
I am laughing with you at that finish line photo — hey, at least you’re not strolling across it. 🙂 And jeans? OMG I’d die. That’s too bad that your race was so hot & then it cooled off!
Yes, we did have some outstanding weather this week, thank you very much. I really wanted to hike, but unfortunately right now there’s a lot on my plate.
Yes, I guess it’s good I’m running across the finish line but I don’t exactly look graceful.
Hopefully you’ll get to hike this week in your beautiful weather!
Awesome recovery week!
As much as I love Peloton, some of the classes are just a miss.
Glad the weather cooled off and your son got home safely
Thanks Cari! Even with the Peloton classes that are a miss, I still enjoy taking some classes at random- it’s just a fun way to mix things up.
hahaha, the jeans guy!!! I really do wonder about people’s clothing choices every time I’m out running in just a sports bra and someone has a quarter zip on. I guess we all have different heat tolerance levels! Hooray for your full house! Is your son home for the whole summer? I hope you are adjusting well. It’s a bit odd with my daughter because she really has gotten used to having her own apartment! It is so great to have her home.
My son will be home for a month, then gone for a music festival for a month, then back for a few weeks before going back to school. I think it’s the perfect combination of home/away. If he were home the entire summer I think he would get bored.
That does sound like a good amount of time. My daughter is getting a summer job at the Vans store 🙂
It’s great to see you enjoying running! Congrats on the race, and LOL on those photos. They truly are terrible. 😉
I like Adrian’s OLD classes — I think he started on Peloton in 2020. Recently his classes have only had a few moves on repeat too many times, so I tend to avoid them. RK’s latest core from Friday is a good one.
Yay on having your son home!
I’ll check out RKs class- I’m sure it’s good. And maybe I’ll check out an older class of Adrian’s- I’ll definitely avoid the newer ones.
Jeans – the picture and your description of it all made me laugh! It takes all kinds and kudos to him for running on such a hot day, especially with such…challenging…clothing choices.
I’m so glad your son is home. Delightful 🙂
Yes, I’m enjoying having him home so much!!!
Good point- you have to give that guy credit for finishing the race in such challenging conditions.
In general, I try to do my lower-body work on Thursdays, so my legs have Friday to recover and then I can do my long run on Saturday. Of course, that doesn’t always fall neatly into place…but it’s my goal on paper, LOL. Tuesdays are more upper-body focused, or sometimes full-body (if the weights are light/medium) because I try to keep Tuesdays lower-body “conservative.” That pic! It seems like they always try to get multiple pics at finish lines, and if you’re “stuck” with a questionable fellow runner nearby, they appear in EVERY pic…nice, huh!
Yes, that’s exactly what happened with my photos. Ha ha.
It works great for me to do lower body strength on Wednesdays. I just wish I could fit in another session but I never seem to do it later in the week.
That guy in jeans is killing me! He must have been absolutely sweltering. And a curvy girl like me can’t even imagine the chafing!! Sheesh. I don’t mean to judge, but there’s got to be something better he could have worn!
I know- just looking at him in that picture makes me uncomfortable!
Oh my – that guy in the jeans! I cannot imagine the amount of chafing that took place :0
I usually like to do my lower body strength before run days – of late, I’m just fitting in what I can. I agree Adrian’s core classes are not my fave.
This week I’m going to try combining a running workout in the morning, with lower body weights later in the day. We’ll see how that works out!
Great photobombs!
That’s great news that your son is home for the summer. Enjoy!
Thank you Nicole! I’m enjoying it so much and it’s only been three days so far. He won’t be home for the whole summer, but I good chunk of it.
Well done for getting your speed work in – I’ve started doing varied efforts in one run a week but I just do a normal route and count steps when I push it and steps when I relax. It’ll do to get me back into it. Working on my sleep this week. Lovely to have your son home and I hope you can find somewhere for your kit!
Liz, that’s kind of what I was doing to get myself ready for more structured speedwork- kind of like a fartlek workout. It definitely helps get you back into it.
Yes it was plenty hot here and I won’t dare complain. Hope your 10k went well and hooray for having your son home! Thing 1 arrives Thursday night and I cannot wait!
Yes, having everyone home is the best, isn’t it?!!
Yay for having your son home for a month! After I went to college, I never lived with my parents again. I did live in their lake home when I got back from studying abroad in Australia during my junior year, but they were only there on the weekend so I didn’t see all that much of them.
Our weather is finally nicer. It was a gorgeous weekend here but we were pretty cooped up since both boys were under the weather, especially our Paul, the 4yo. He’s still home with me today as the GI bug he got really wiped him out. It was not a good weekend but hopefully we have a stretch of health ahead of us. This has been the most brutal winter/spring for illnesses! But they did not get covid from me, or appear to have missed it. We tested both boys 3 times and my husband tested twice and is still feeling good. So at least they avoided that. I’m still not feeling well – today is day 7. I am signed up to run a 10 mile on Saturday. If I race, I’ll run a 10k but I’m wondering if it’s even worth it to race. We’ll see how I feel later this week.
Wait- you had Covid? I have to go back and read your most recent posts. Sounds like a rough weekend! And bad timing for your race. Lucky you had already decided to drop to the 10K distance- it’s definitely not your time to run a ten mile race!
Ok. Not funny when you go to Florida and it’s the sane temp as home.
But there was no work and the beach. All good.
But omg. How do you race with this humidity. I thought I was going to throw up on Sunday. Lol.
Yeah, it’s not just the heat- the humidity is what kills us. It was a weird weather week last week! I’m looking forward to hearing about your trip- I’ll bet it was really fun.
OMG the guy behind you was the first thing I noticed in that photo since it looked like he was wearing jeans!
I also am working on my cross arm swing – it’s such a bad habit of mine that I am having a hard time trying to fix. some days are definitely better than others.
I know Kim- these habits are SO hard to fix. I can’t even feel that I’m doing it- I only started noticing it in videos and photos.
Yay for having your son back home after his freshman year! You must be ecstatic!
Debbie, it’s so so so so great! I’m loving it.
I hope your ten miler went well!
And congratulations on your Mother’s Day race! That sounds so fun! I am always bummed when race photos don’t turn out how I want. I still like yours 🙂
Luckily I didn’t have plans to purchase any race photos- I just like to look at them.
Haha, I appreciate your self-criticism in the race picture because your arm is crossing your mid-line… LOL (I sometimes watch other runners and their arm swings and such and can’t help but wonder how much energy they’re wasting by not working on their form! Judgy, I know.)
I totally get the dilemma of struggling to fit all the different types of workouts in during the week. I try to make a rough plan for the upcoming week on the weekend and I focus on mixing it up, but I need to work on structuring it better, too.
Yes, so much wasted energy- no wonder I was so tired at the end of that race!