Well, I’m not gonna lie. September has been a tough month! My sister and I were all excited to start celebrating Pumpkin Palooza, but the month has not felt very festive. There was my car accident which put my car out of commission for weeks, my sister and her husband both got Covid (after avoiding it for the past two and a half years), my daughter had a stressful incident (and believe me, when a thirteen-year-old girl is stressed out, the family suffers), my husband got hit by a car while riding his bike to work, then when my sister recovered from Covid she had a tooth emergency, and then yesterday her elderly cat had to go to the vet (coincidentally also with a tooth emergency.) Everyone has survived these issues, but instead of a festive Pumpkin Palooza, we’ve decided it is more like the CURSE OF THE PUMPKINS.
But all curses have to lift sometime, right? We’re anxious to move forward and put this unfortunate month behind us. And oh yes… there were plenty of workouts this week! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown! Here’s how the week played out.
Sunday
Now that I’ve switched my long(er) runs to Wednesdays, I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing on Sundays. Last week I took the day off but ended up feeling too blah- so this week I did a 30 minute glutes and legs strength class, with my favorite instructor Matty on Peloton.
Monday
Okay, let’s get this week started right! I did a 3 mile run followed by a Peloton core class. (Side note- yes, my hamstring is still bothering me. I’m ignoring it! That always works, right?)
Tuesday
I did two Peloton classes- upper body and core, and then Runner’s Touch exercise. Once again, this helps me so much but I STILL forget to do it. Why??? It felt good to get back to it.
Wednesday
After dropping my daughter off at school, I went to a park where I used to do my long runs, back in the day. It’s a really nice park and I was happy to be back, but man… the heat. I’m not sure this schedule is working. I just can’t get started early enough on a Wednesday morning, and these runs have been hard.
Most of the paths in this park are paved, but there’s a cross country trail as well and I ran a loop of that at the end.
I ran 6 miles total but it felt like 16. I’m going to try to hang onto this running schedule until the weather cools down… we’ll see if I can make it.
Thursday
I stacked three Peloton classes- glutes and legs, upper body, and core. I like Peloton, but I’m toying with the idea of trying something else. GASP! I know… blasphemy. I haven’t been doing yoga (trying to heal up a nagging wrist pain), I don’t do any of the cycling or running classes, and well- there’s a bunch of free classes on Youtube. Just something I’ve been thinking about.
Friday
3 mile run, and this felt about 1000 times easier than Wednesday’s run, because I got out just as the sun was rising.
Saturday
Ah, running is funny. Today’s run was also early in the morning, but felt waaaay harder that yesterday’s. What the…? Oh well, I slowed my pace way down and got it done. Any running is better than no running.
Followed this 3 mile slog with another core class.
In other news… my frickin’ car is FINALLY FIXED. Here is the text exchange my husband and I had while I was at work.
So, after four “short” weeks, my car is done but ironically we couldn’t get it, because by the time I got home from work my husband had to leave for his job. But my husband isn’t working on Monday, so he’s going to get the car. Just in the nick of time, because there really is a hurricane heading our way. The weather this week will not be conducive to bike riding!
Sunday
On tap for today… probably some less intense strength class, like barre, and possibly runners touch again. And football watching, obviously!
How has your September been? Were you affected by the Curse of the Pumpkins?
If you do strength classes other than Peloton, can you recommend any to me?
42 Responses
Good luck in the hurricane! Our weather has turned so that’s good. But September hasn’t been great – the Queen passing somehow knocked my schedule and, most importantly, my reading for six, friends have had bad health news and stress and I have had difficult news from my estranged family, dragging my (non-estranged) cousin into things, which I hate. On the good side, running has picked up and I’m feeling stronger, we went out-out to a comedy show we enjoyed, and our new local bookshop has opened!
Sounds like you had some challenges this month as well. I would imagine the queen’s death made everything kind of unstable this month. Glad your weather has turned though- that will help!
Marcia’s classes are great.
And I hope you get spared the hurricane and that October is a better month.
It’s funny how some runs are good and others suck. The same with races.
Yes, I’m going to check out Marcia’s latest upper body strength class today. And, yes- sometimes there’s just no explanation for good runs and bad runs. Oh well!
Sorry for everything you’ve been dealing with. Maybe if you carve a pumpkin right now you can break the curse!
I am such an early morning runner. I would really struggle with a mid-morning run, especially in Florida.
I really hope you get your car tomorrow!
Ha ha, that’s so funny- yes, carving a pumpkin is the obvious way to break the curse!
Ok your October has to be better!! I sure hope that the hurricane is not too bad. Yikes! Re the runner’s touch exercise-it is also part of my warm up but realy does hurt that spot in my glutes. Does it bother your hamstring? Also ignoring and babying my glutes and hoping they improve. I am sure running a half net weekend will help ha! Hope you get your car back tomorrow!
Yes, the age-old remedy for sore glutes is running a half marathon! Ha ha.. either it will be fine, or if you need to take some time off afterwards, at least you’ll have made it through the race. When I do the runners touch I definitely feel it in my hamstring, but it doesn’t make it worse. Interesting that it hurts the spot in your glutes… I wouldn’t think that motion would irritate the obturator- not as much as clam shells. But, sometimes these things are mysterious. That area is complicated.
Hope you’re okay during the hurricane. Fiona hit my friends in the Maritimes very hard. It’s this time of year that I am thankful to be living in landlocked Calgary!
Wow, September was a doozy of a month for you. Hopefully getting the car back will be just the start of the lifting of the curse! Four weeks is a long time but I’m not surprised, everything seems to take forever these days.
Yes, we know a couple other people who had their car take four weeks in the shop. Their insurance paid for a rental car but only for part of the time- I guess there’s a limit. So annoying! Anyway… yes. I’m going to view getting the car back as the start of getting my life back under control.
See, I knew that whole pumpkin spice thing was bad. Bad, I tell you! :p Seriously, I hope the curse is lifted. You need a break! Glad to hear your car is coming home. Stay safe during the hurricane. i hope it misses you!
PS that website with the Age is No Excuse t-shirt is called ‘Old Lady Gains”. of course! They have a lot of fun stuff.
Ha ha… yes, maybe it’s a sign from the universe- lay off the pumpkin spice thing. Okay, I found that website- those shirts are great!
What a September! Mine has been decent except for the Curse of the Glutes (which seems to be making its rounds). Good news on the car! I hope the hurricane isn’t too severe. Stay safe!
Ha ha… yes, the Curse of the Glutes is hitting a bunch of us this month! Maybe it will be lifted at the same time as the Curse of the Pumpkins.
What a month for your family and your sister’s family! Glad your car is finally ready and hope the hurricane misses you (and my son and d-i-l).
Perhaps the difference between your Friday run and your Saturday run was the rest day before Friday?
BTW, we’re planning to ride our bikes east to west across Florida in early February from near Cape Canaveral to Tampa. Are you near either or in between?
Unfortunately we’re quite a bit farther south than that, in Boca Raton (on the east coast.) You son and DIL are more in the track of Ian right now- but maybe it will go up into the panhandle- or preferably, die down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ah, got it. Well, who knows, each year we seem to choose a different part of Florida to go for our bike trip…
Oh Jenny, I am SO sorry September has been so rough. Layer after layer of frustrations. And yet you keep on running, bless your soul. I would have curled up into a ball on the couch and cried into my bag of Doritos.
Hooray, the car is fixed. I really hope the hurricane track changes and you’re spared any damage. You can’t catch a break lately, it seems, so I truly hope the next week goes smoothly for everyone in your family. Less stress for your daughter, safe and easy commutes to work etc.
My September has been a roller coaster. I just feel now (in the last week of the month) that I’m getting into some semblance of a routine! But life is good and I’m heading in to October with a happy heart.
Elisabeth, I’m glad to hear from you! I heard a million people lost power from Fiona and I was worried you were one of them.
Yes- I have high hopes for October. For both of us!
September in many ways was a healing month for me. I didn’t go see my mom — not once (well, I did go right before August turned into September). I’ll be there next weekend, and back the next for a couple of days — while trying to get to the peak of my training, LOL! I mean I even began to tackle some way overdue house cleaning (before the booster, anyway).
You are due for a break & I’m so glad your car is finally fixed — maybe the hurricane will turn? Let’s think no hurricane thoughts for you!
Yes, we’ll hope the hurricane misses us- but then I feel kind of bad because it’ll hit someone else. Maybe it’ll die out in the Gulf.
Glad you weren’t affected by the Curse!
I’m sorry September has been such a tough month – you are definitely due for a break (or 3!). I hope the hurricane misses you!
If the hurricane misses us I’m taking it as a sign that our luck is changing! Fingers crossed.
Oh wow I’m so sorry things have been tough. I hope your husband is ok! Geez. We’ve had our own string of challenging issues here too. Maybe it is the curse of the pumpkins. I hope you are spared from the hurricane weather!
Yes, all we need now is a hurricane. I know everyone has their trials and tribulations- some months are definitely harder than others.
Oh gosh, stay safe Jenny! That’s a lot to handle…on top of running in that heat, yowsa!
Thank you Jessie! It’s been a trying month- but we all have them.
What a great sunrise.
Your October has to be better.
Fingers crossed Ian finds something better to do than harass my Florida peeps
Ha! I fear that Ian is going to harass someone in Florida, even if it’s not us. We’ll see!
Yikes! I’m sending good thoughts your way that the storm won’t be severe and that you can pick up your car already!!!
What I’d say about the experiment to put your long runs on Wednesday and doing something else besides Peloton is that it’s not an either/or, it’s a “what works best for you at this moment”. Right now the weather makes it tough to do long runs on Wednesday, so you could go back to Sundays until it cools down and then try Wednesday again…or decide that Wednesday just isn’t long run day. You can experiment with other strength workouts to see if you like them and if something else catches your attention you only have a few dollars of a Peloton subscription at stake. If you find something else and decide to cancel Peloton you can always rejoin them later on…even the next day. My biggest problem with Peloton was that I felt that all of the workouts were either too easy or too hard and everything felt random so I checked out after a few weeks because I was bored. There’s something about the format of Caroline Girvan’s workouts that makes it easy for me to modify all of the moves up or down to my fitness level. Good luck!
Well, you’re the second person (or actually I think you were first and someone seconded you) to recommend Caroline Girvan, so I’m going to try her out!
You’re going to get your car back! Yay! I can’t wait to hear how it feels when you get it back.
I do a lot of YouTube videos because I’m cheap and there’s so much out there. I like Fitness Blender and Sydney Cummings, but they might be a bit too easy for you you. Sydney had a bunch of videos when she was pregnant and I was always like “if she can do it while pregnant, I can do it while not” and this has not always been true. LOL. Serious motivation for me.
Ha ha… that is good motivation. And, the car is back! Sooooo exciting!!!
Wow. 4 weeks in the shop. That is insane!! I am glad you are getting it back finally! Fingers crossed your stretch of horrible luck is coming to an end. We have had a decent month of Sept but there have been months where I feel nervous even saying it’s been a bad month in case I am shown that it can get even worse. But really it seems like there isn’t much else that could go wrong – fingers crossed!
I thought of you today when I stopped at Target to pick something up/return something. I bought some Halloween lights. I got some indoor ones because I am not confident I could figure out how to hang some outdoors and I know my husband will not be excited about Halloween decorations. But I got some spider lights to put on our windows inside. My goal is to buy one new thing each year.
I use Beach body but am going to try out Peloton this winter. I like the program I am doing right now, though, although it will take forever for me to get through it since I only strength train twice/week at most. But the program only has 4 workouts/week. I like that they are a combo of strength and HIIT type of stuff. But I don’t combine strength training with running because I don’t have the time for that in this stage of life. So I like that as a stand alone workout, they still get my heart rate up. I also loved a program called “morning meltdown.” It is 100 workouts long, though, so it took me 6 months to get through it. I liked that the workouts were 20-30 minutes long so very easy to fit into my day.
I think the new wednesday long run schedule will be great when the weather cools off. For now I bet it’s going to be kind of a slog… I ran 3 times last week so it was a good week. My Saturday run was the fastest I’ve ran in so long. I ran 6 miles at 9:33 pace. I’m usually a 10-10:30 pace. I guess I felt extra good or something! It’s the fastest I’ve ran in ages. Still slower compared to my 8;30 pace pre-kids but I feel like I’ll never get back to that kind of pace.
Well, I can’t run 6 miles at 9:33 pace right now, so I think you’re doing great! I’m VERY excited that you got Halloween lights!!! Your boys will love them. My suggestion is to go out after Halloween and see if you can find some decorations on clearance. That’s how I got most of mine.
For workouts- I don’t want HIIT because when I’m not running, I just want strength. But there’s so much out there- I’m going to try some different ones this week.
Caroline Girvan videos on YouTube are my favorites! She is seriously ripped, but is very relatable and easy to modify based on your needs or abilities. I hope all of you Floridians are staying safe!! Did you get your car back?? That’s crazy it’s taken so long!
Okay, I’m going to check her out. And, we did get the car back today!!! Just in time for the torrential rains.
Ugh 🙁 It has not been a good September for you, I’m so sorry! Fingers crossed that your October is waaaayyyy better!
On the positive side, I am glad that you hopefully got your car back today!
We got the car!!! The curse is lifted!
I’m sorry it’s been so difficult. It always seems to happen like that, doesn’t it?
Are you all evacuating? I just started paying real attention to the storm, and i don’t like it one bit. We are all stocked up and prepped, but I’m worried for my west coast people.
LUCKILY we’re not on the west coast! We’re east. Yes, it looks like it’s going to be bad for Tampa. We’re supposed to get a lot of rain, but that’s about it.
I hear you about the heat (although I think you get humidity on top of it )… I have to carefully plan my (longer) runs before it gets too hot during the day. It’s just so much harder to get the miles in.