Oh, hello! Welcome to the Weekly Rundown, brought to you by our intrepid hosts, Kim and Deborah. Check them out if you want further inspiration!
Nothing earth-shattering about this week- still getting used to our schedule now that school has started. The high school schedule is very different from middle school, so it’s a big adjustment. But we can do it! Things are going well, for the most part. Let’s just see how it all went…
Sunday
7.5 mile “long-ish” run. In the category of longer runs in the heat of summer where I don’t start early enough, this run was pretty okay.
Monday
Leg day at the gym. Squats, deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, Runner’s Touch, calf raises and abs. Good workout!
Tuesday
3 mile run. The struggle continues on school days to get out of the house on time, and thereby avoid the terrible traffic. By the time I’m running, it’s late, hot, and I’m in a bad mood. Oh well- we’ll get it right. And running is an automatic attitude adjustment, so by the time I get to work, all is well.
Wednesday
Double workout at the gym! First, a 4.5 mile treadmill run with hill repeats. I’m loving this workout, and unlike regular speed work, it’s not hurting my shins at all.
Then, upper body strength. Bench press, overhead shoulder press, lat pulldowns, and abs. I do the overhead press with dumbbells, and it’s abundantly clear that my left side is much weaker than the right. What’s up with that???
Thursday
Just to mix things up, I did a leg day at home. I focused on unilateral moves- lunges, Bulgarian split squats, runners touch, calf raises, and side planks. It was nice to do some things I don’t always get to at the gym.
Friday
I decided to make this my day off, partly because I needed time in the morning to take care of some nagging tasks and get my head together.
In the evening we had a pep band preview show at the high school, combined with a dessert potluck. I have to admit I was a little cranky about this- I just didn’t feel like socializing on a Friday night, and who wants to go to a dessert potluck at 6 pm? When are we supposed to eat dinner?
It was like the universe heard me and said, “Oh, so you’re complaining about going to hear your daughter’s band? How about if I ruin your cookies as a punishment?” Yes, I made my tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe for the potluck, and for the first time EVER they came out horribly (I still don’t know what went wrong, but a major ingredient must have been omitted.) I had to stop at the store to BUY cookies, so by the time I got there I was extremely irritated. As always though, it was fun hearing the band. They did a little preview of their halftime show in the courtyard of the school (first game is in a couple weeks!)
If you look way to the left you can see my daughter’s blue hair! One thing I’ll say- she’s easy to pick out in a crowd.
Saturday
A 5 mile run that felt GREAT! Maybe it’s because I stretched for fifteen minutes before bed on Friday night? The heat didn’t even bother me too much. Then I felt good all day at work. I’m sure I could do everything exactly the same next week and feel terrible, ha ha. These things can be so random.
Sunday
On tap: Leg day at the gym! Moving forward, I’m switching my long runs to Wednesday. Wednesdays and Sundays are my days off, and now that school has started I’ll have more freedom on Wednesdays to get out on a trail.
As always, it was a week of mostly ups and a couple downs (I’m still a little mad about those cookies.) I’m excited about the week ahead, and eager to get further into the school year, with football games and concerts. Onward!
How was your week? Have you had any cooler weather? – We don’t even pretend that it will cool down here for a long time. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a break from the heat in late October.
If it’s super hot in your area, do you feel like you’re finally acclimated to the heat?- I guess I am, although next week I could be singing a different tune. We’ll see!
40 Responses
Too bad about the cookies.
But I love to hear when someone has a great run.
My 12 miler was effortless. But it was raining and I ran my friends slow run walk intervals.
This summer was humid and tested my patience but nothing like Florida.
Wow, an “effortless” 12 miler!!! Rain does help, as long as it’s not cold. You’ll probably still have some humid days, but overall you can start looking forward to some cooler runs.
Looks like a much better week for you running wise despite adjusting to the new school schedule. I don’t feel like I ever get acclimated to the heat!
It took me long enough! I mean, it’s always pretty hot here, but for the first part of the summer it was really bothering me- now, not as much.
Bummer about the cookies! I baked yesterday for the first time in many months! I made banana bread for Phil since he loves it. It felt odd to bake on one of our hottest days of summer! It was really hot and humid here yesterday – heat index of 97. That is nothing for you guys but not typical for us and most people don’t have pools. So we were cooped up quite a bit.
I haven’t worked out since Monday since I have been solo parenting all weekend. I will get back on track tomorrow. I’m already worn out from the long days so can’t find the motivation to get up earlier or workout during nap time!
97 is hot! Especially if it’s humid too. The heat and solo parenting must have made for a challenging weekend.
Yes Saturday was the worst/hardest day. At one point Will started to hit Paul with his little toy broom… But overall the weekend was not as bad as I had feared and Phil got home at 10:30 am on Sunday!
Even though my run yesterday was super slow, the shorter runs had a bit more pep to them.
I am down for dessert at any time, LOL!
I tend to get out later than I want because Bandit needs his morning meds, and doesn’t really want to go outside unless I’m watching him (unless he does, in the way of dogs). It doesn’t take that long, but it’s just one more thing and I can’t do it too early or he won’t eat. However this too shall definitely pass, so I just do the best I can.
Ha, Bandit is like my daughter- they both delay us from getting our runs done earlier. As you said- this too shall pass.
I can make my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe in my sleep, but every once in a while something is just “off” in the universe and they turn out flat and ugly. That’s exactly why God created grocery store bakeries for a backup plan.
We’re just coming off a two day cool spell. I never really acclimatized to heat when I was running, so my summers were constant cycles of stalking the forecast, getting down on myself up because my body wouldn’t adapt, and feeling awful after pushing myself to run in the heat. I’d say that the number one thing that I love about not being a runner is that I can sit back and enjoy the summer.
Yes, luckily our grocery store bakery actually makes vegan cookies- I was able to buy some, put them on a plate, and they looked homemade, heh heh.
I can see how it would be a relief to NOT worry about how hot it’s going to be every day. I’m envious of your cool spell.
A dessert potluck sounds very fun; 6pm might be early but it’s like one of those signs, “life is short, eat dessert first.”
It’s cooler here because we are absolutely blanketed in smoke. We are in a state of emergency so that’s how my weekend was. We are safe but it’s very scary.
Ack! That does sound very scary. There has been a lot of smoke this summer- what is going on?
My daughter ate so much dessert “first” at the potluck that she never had any dinner. Oh well- one night of that won’t kill her.
I haven’t checked out Runner’s Touch, but you have had other great recs for strength 🙂 Still doing Caroline Girvan workouts over here, particularly that dead bug about every other day!
6pm for dessert does sound tricky…but we eat dinner quite late over here. I’m still at work at 6!
Since I’ve been doing abs at the gym I haven’t been doing the deadbug workout, but I want to get back to it. I’ve been loving runner’s touch though.
I CANNOT make a good chocolate chip cookie. I have tried at least a dozen recipes (many of which I have had made by others and they were amazing). It’s the one baked good I try to avoid making at all costs. So I’m just impressed they usually work for you, because I’m hopeless. Ironically, my daughter had a friend over this week and they asked to make chocolate chip cookies. They made them and they must have added too much butter because they all melted together into one giant cookie on the baking sheet…which was DELICIOUS. My 12-year-old can make them better than I can.
Sounds like some great workouts for you this week. I did two short runs (one solo, one with my husband), and two long walks (one with my family and one with my best friend who just got back from a month in California)! I really should go for a run on the treadmill this afternoon. We’ll see if that happens or not as I’m feeling quite comfortable splayed out on the couch…haha.
Oh, and I still agree with you about 6 pm being and ODD time for a dessert potluck. 7:30 pm maybe?
In my life I’ve had many cookie fails, so I’ve gotten much better at being able to tell if the batter looks right or not. I can’t remember- didn’t you make those fall-spiced cookies Suzanne posted last year? I know a bunch of us made them.
Sounds like you had some good workouts this week as well! And… once I’m all comfortable on the couch on a Sunday afternoon, I would have a hard time getting on the treadmill too.
We had a pretty hot week, but it finally cooled down a bit since Friday… now we’re expecting the remnants of Hurricane Hilary here in CA. The weather is officially crazy.
I’ve got out a little later than planned for a couple of runs this week, so I can relate… but you’re so right “running is an automatic attitude adjustment”. For me too!
I am sorry your cookies didn’t turn out. I hate when that happens esp. if it’s your tried-and-true recipe!!
Yes, your weather sounds crazy! We’re coming up to the most active part of our hurricane season… fingers crossed.
Aww I’m so sorry about the cookies – what a bummer! I love to bake but don’t have nearly enough time to do it as much as I would like anymore and i feel your pain. I tried a new recipe last week and they tasted good but spread out so much even after i refrigerated them overnight! I hated sharing them because they looked so awful. But a dessert potluck sounds AMAZING!!! And of course, Great workouts this week!
Yes, I’ve had that issue with cookies as well, overspreading. At least they still taste good, although I agree, I don’t want to serve them to guests if they look weird. It turned out there were so many cookies at this potluck, they didn’t need mine at all.
Bravo!! You are really being consistent on strength work, Jenny! You probably know I much prefer upper-body work (over lower-body workouts), so I was really surprised to not have any DOMS after Thursday’s workout. It was so challenging, I was certain I’d be in distress the next day, LOL.. That’s crazy about your tried and true cookies…that would drive me crazy trying to figure out happened.
Yes, it really did drive me crazy. My husband kept saying things like “Are you sure you put in the sugar?” YES I’M SURE. Grr.
When I read your blog post I was surprised you didn’t have DOMS- the sure way to get those is to do an intense lower body workout when you haven’t done one in a while. But these things can be mysterious!
Sorry the cookies did not turn out! That’s such a bummer. I hope your daughter has so much fun in HS band. I’m sad my daughter opted out of marching band this year, but what can you do? At least she’s still doing Honor Band. Great week of workouts! The heat is back on here and we have a triple digit heat index today. I am over it!
Well, marching band does take a lot of time so I get it. Our kids can’t opt out- they have to do marching band all four years if they want to be in regular band.
Good luck with your heat advisory- I heard all about it from my sister. That is HOT. Hotter than Florida!
Last week was super wonderful – a bit cool and breezy and at night it was getting into the 60s, so it was cooling off the house at night. But then. There was a turn. Last night it never got below 75 and it’s super hot (highs in the mid-90s) and when I went to take Hannah for her afternoon walk, she just stared at me as if I were to blame! I’m certainly not used to this hot weather and I’m a tiny bit grumpy about it.
However, because we did have a little getaway in the middle of the week, I’m trying not be TOO grumpy because there are much worse things than hot weather, especially when you have AC.
I’m glad you have AC because I hear it’s going to be VERY hot in your area this week!
Cooler weather? Oh yes, lol! (You’ll know when you read my rundown post) But I think we’re back to 18-20C for a while.
How annoying about the cookies! I used to be in a group that baked for the post-Sunday service coffee in my church in Sweden. I truly sucked at baking. Ironically, it was only after I was diagnosed coeliac that my baking took off. On our Sunday, the gluten free selection was always super premium! To make up for the generally poor options for coeliacs when you eat out.
I think it’s common being weaker on one side. Also before my injury my left leg was always weaker than the right! My arms seem ok but the left shoulder is always more sensitive and prone to injury. Overhead shoulder presses are quite hard, I’ve only recently been able to make progress with them. Just keep at it, and perhaps do some rotator cuff work like Cuban press (they are horrible but effective), and wall slides for mobility if you don’t already, that has made a big difference for me at least.
Ooh, that’s good advice. I don’t know what Cuban presses are, but I’m going to look it up.
Yes, it is easy to see your daughter! Cookie baking is not my thing, but since I did make the cookies for the graduation party and they turned out so good, I will be sending some as a care package to my son.
I do see 98 degrees in our forecast next week – that’s practically Florida weather! How will I survive?!
Yes, I remember those graduation cookies- they looked amazing, so I think cookie baking is not your thing.
Good luck with the 90s- I saw it’s getting super hot in the midwest.
What a shame about the cookies! I suppose they know, like printers know, when you really do need them to work! Not too hot here though at least warmer and less rainy than it has been. And I got up to a 14.1 mile week this week – seeing the physio today so hopefully she’s still happy with me …
Ha ha- cookies and printers, they know!
Glad your running is going well. 14.1 is a nice amount- hope your physio appointment went well.
It did, thank you – cleared to continue upping the miles a bit!
Oh bummer about the cookies not turning out when you really needed them to, but isn’t that just so typical?
I really can’t complain about this summer’s weather because it seems to be a little milder than usual. Hope you get some cooler weather soon!
Yes, the cookies come out GREAT when I’m just making them for our family!
I can tell from your blog posts that your summer has been pleasant. We won’t be getting cooler weather till late October… hopefully.
I love a pep band preview! How fun! Sorry about your cookies, though. I’ve stopped cooking for events, unless I REALLY want to. Your girl is tired.
Last week was a traffic nightmare. This week is so much improved.
Our school traffic is still terrible!!! I thought it would get better, but it really hasn’t. Ugh!
What is it with baked goods misbehaving when we need them to work? Glad you found a workaround, but grrr… And sorry about the persistent heat and traffic issues. 🙁 I hope everything starts to resolve soon…? (My parents were also band parents and they toughed out so many of these previews and rallies and mini-shows… I feel like I owe them BIG TIME for all of that! :>)
My mom NEVER missed one of my concerts- she was there for every single one. She deserves a medal!