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!
41 Responses
I am always amazed by the amount of exercise you and other do. It is intimidated to me to be honest since I have a hard time getting anything done. At the same time I am at awe and have the utmost respect.
I have signed up for a zoom yoga class today that last 90 minutes. I know I’ll be dead afterwards and I won’t even manage to get through it but I am leaving my comfort zone and do it.
Aw, thanks Tobia! Honestly I’m just used to it, and I don’t feel good if I don’t work out. I also make time for it by letting certain other things slide (cough cough… housework…) so we all have our thing.
I hope you enjoyed your yoga class!
Um, Jenny – you are not semi-strong. YOU ARE STRONG. OWN IT AND CLAIM IT my friend.
You. Are. Strong. And amazing and so accomplished with all that you do physically. Like those squats are amazing.
The weather has been chilly but sunny this week. We had flurries which – no thanks – but it still feels like fall is hanging on for dear life.
Enjoy your special Sunday of sports viewing. Go Darlene <3 What an iconic marathon!
Ha, you wouldn’t be saying that if you saw some of the women at my gym! But I definitely appreciate the vote of confidence.
Yep, my sister had snow this week, on Halloween. I hope you guys still get some fall before winter starts for real!
Semi-strong?! I disagree! You are super tough, physically and mentally!
Love that your daughter had the day off after Halloween. That’s how it should be! My kid was exhausted the next day and I felt awful for her.
Thank you Suzanne- but I still say come to my gym and see what some of these women are doing!!!
Yes, the kids are exhausted the day after Halloween and I’m sure it’s not fun for the teachers either. I say we make it a national holiday and stop all this nonsense.
Nice week for you! I had the experience of extreme soreness after a long run last month when I ran that segment in Wisconsin–I think it was 16 miles? But I had run 12 the week before, no problems. I’m not sure what was different about that one, but I felt BAD after. Who knows why? Your strength training is impressive–you are making great progress!
I do half Tailwind/half water because the Tailwind is just too salty and sugary for me.
Wendy, I will agree with you- I really have made progress, and that feels good.
The difference after this long run and my last one really was extreme. I’m hoping it was the pavement running but I guess I’ll find out after my next one. And that’s an idea- dilute the Tailwind, it might work.
You are SO STRONG! Seriously look at the size of those weights. You’re amazing!
No school say after super bowl would be great- that week we are all always dragging!
Muahahaha! That’s the big ten pound weights- they definitely look impressive.
I seriously can never enjoy the Superbowl because It’s on so late and the next day is a MONDAY. Everyone works on Monday! We definitely need to change this around.
I’d be sore after 16 miles no matter what terrain I ran on!
Are you going to cut back on your leg workouts as you increase your mileage?
Way to inspire those girls to try pull-ups and show them variations. And I agree with others, you ARE strong!
Thanks Coco! And that’s a great question. I already have cut back on my leg days- only doing one “heavy” one and one “less heavy” one. I’ll cut back further when it gets closer to the race.
Pull ups! It’s what the cool kids do on Halloween. The one time I did a band pull up, I realized that the band was doing ALL of the work. I have tentative plans to start doing bar hangs and negatives after my pushup experiment is complete. In the past I’ve tried to do both pushups and pull up at the same time, and stalled out on both.
I’m happy to get more light in the mornings but dreading the season of after dinner dog walks in the dark. Hey, at least every day brings us closer to the solstice and starting to get more light.
I would definitely much rather have the light in the morning- but I don’t own a dog, so I don’t need to be out walking after dinner.
I’m really bummed out that my wrist won’t let me do pushups- if I could do pushups and pull ups at home, I would have a full upper body workout.
Have you tried pushups with dumbbells yet? It really does help!
Way to show those teens who is boss! Strong mama!i did not know you did not like core work?
Ha ha… well, I don’t mind it that much. I just usually don’t feel like doing it in addition to everything else I’m doing. But I know it’s a must, so I do it.
While you are loving falling back, I am loathing it. It just means extra parenting – either by pushing your kids bedtimes back in the days leading up to it, or you ‘get’ an extra hour of parenting on Sunday. We pushed the boys bedtimes back and it worked but that means I lost some precious kid free time. But so it goes.
Running on grass might have caused some of the pain too? It is very hard to run on an uneven surface!!
I tried to run yesterday as I thought my cough had improved enough. Nope. I had to stop at a mile since I was coughing so much I thought I might throw up. So back to walks for me…
i remember that feeling SO WELL. i promise – you’ll be out of this phase soon lisa!!
Okay, WELL, when my kids were little I HATED turning the clocks back and ahead. I seem to remember that ahead was worse though. Like everything else, it gets easier when your kids are older.
Nice work on those pull-ups! Several months ago, my oldest & I were walking to a concert venue…mostly uphill. She’s taller than me (believe it or not) and has even longer legs and much longer strides. She was telling me to slow down, and I was in sling back shoes (and she was in sneakers), LOL.
Hahahaha! It feels good, doesn’t it?
I’m so impressed by you being able to do pull ups, and the weights and the running and all of it. I’m chiming in with the others saying NOT semi-strong, STRONG STRONG.
Just to clarify, I CANNOT do a pull up unassisted. I’m working towards ib, but may never get there. I do pull ups with the band and other things that are supposed to strengthen those muscles.
Looks like you had a good week! And of course you are strong! Keep going with your squats. I’ve been doing daily squats for a month and some week ago I started noticing I was going a lot deeper, to me it seemed to be mostly about improved ankle mobility. But that was also bodyweight only, I don’t think I could go as deep with the barbell.
I’ve been wondering the same about those Altras – why do they even think of making running shoes white?
Here we’re stuck with around 10C (50F) which I don’t mind at all for November. Yesterday was windy and awful, today has been sunny and nice but I’ve been too busy inside to go our for a walk.
50F is lovely if it’s sunny! Maybe not so lovely if it’s windy.
When I do bodyweight squats and squats with less weight (like at home I use dumbbells) I practice getting down really low. And I can get down low with the bar, but once I put those plates on, it is hard!
My chin dropped at 16 miles. What? SIXTEEN? I run 4.5 miles every other day, weather permitting. I’m in Chicago suburbs so soon there will be no running outdoors. You are a dedicated workout woman, but I get the sense that you don’t like core? I do strength and core and more cardio on the days between my runs. The best part of the pandemic for me was my fav workout teacher did videos on FB. I still use those even though the health club is open. This makes like easier with the daycare. No more racing to the gym and racing home. I ran last week in the dark and was also treated to a beautiful sunrise. We are heading to a state park today to hike for a few miles. The weather promises to be upper 50’s and sunny. Hooray. I dread the upcoming winter.
I grew up in a Suburb of Chicago so I know exactly what your winters are like! I don’t miss it.
I do all strength training grudgingly! My attitude about it has gotten better because I know I need it to stay healthy, but I really wish I could just run.
Great workouts this week! I was really sore after my long run this week, and was I bit concerned that I over did it, but luckily feeling good the next day. Phew! Why do they make any running shoes in white?? My bright pink shoes got a little dirty on my long run and I washed them off when I got home. LOL!
I should probably wash my shoes off but I’m probably fighting a losing battle. They’ll just be dirty again after the next run.
Ouch on all the pavement running! But the race won’t be on pavement, so you should be good. That’s great that you were able to get that run in earlier!
There was no speed work here, either. Just happy to be feeling much better than last week. Trying to get stuff done!
Anyone that can do a pull up, no matter how it’s done, is strong. End of story.
I forgot to mention the brief few moments of wintry mix this week . . .
Thank you Judy!
A wintry mix sounds ominous. Good luck with your weather this week!
You are strong!! Yay you! Isn’t it lovely to see progress like that?!
I almost always do trail runs when I run because pavement and concrete really hurt my reconstructed leg. Sometimes I think I should tough it out and then I wonder why I would do that to myself!
If you have a trail that’s convenient, then I agree you should take advantage of it. If the trail were closer to my house I would just run on it all the time. Well. I guess not in the dark.
How fun that your daughter and her friends wanted to try doing pull-ups and how cool that you could show them how it’s done! You’re one strong momma and even if your daughter didn’t say it, I bet she was secretly very proud.
Nice job on your long run and I bet you’re right, your body complained because the run was on so much pavement. Or if you haven’t run on grass very much it could have been the adjustment to a new surface. It hard to know exactly, but making adjustments on future long runs should help.
The day off after Halloween? That must be every schook kids’ dream 🙂
And yes, you’re strong! Look at all the strength work you get in on the weekly (the Core tracker I am following this month is fittingly called “Planskgiving” LOL)
I have not tried Tailwind. I usually go for NUUN, but I’d like to branch out. Can you recommend it? The orange flavor would probably be my favorite.
Semi strong, my foot. You are STRONG, Jenny. Own it! I love that you showed the high schoolers what was what. 🙂
You are SO strong! I don’t think I could do any type of pull-up, and most of my strength workouts only use a 15 lb kettlebell so you are way stronger than me!!!
Ugh, the extreme soreness! I got my Covid booster on Friday at work and Saturday my legs were as sore as they were after my 50K. I did a 3 mile hike with a bit of running and my legs felt awful. But then yesterday I was able to do a 10 mile trail run with absolutely no soreness! I’ve never had the muscle aches from the other Covid shots so that was new to me.
I’m so glad your weather is nice! Can you believe it was 90 degrees here yesterday?! I am not amused. But we should be back to the 70s here by Wednesday and then hopefully no more 90s until April!
Wow that is so much exercise – reading posts like this makes me want to get back into a fitness routine.
Your daughter must have been so proud of you!
we had great weather this weekend… but now it’s cold!!
Be in Fla in one month.
You are definitely strong and only getting stronger! I’m very impressed with your pull-up skills…I cannot do that!