Well, this was a fun week- in preparation for my race (on April 26th) I did back-to-back long runs. This is tricky, because I don’t have two days off from work in a row. But where there’s a will there’s a way, right? I figured it out. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Here we go…
Sunday
Leg day at the gym! I focused on squats (no deadlifts today). Also did leg extension and leg curl machines, and piriformis exercises.
Monday
This week was my daughter’s spring break, which meant I could sleep a little later! 4 mile run that began in the dark but ended in daylight, followed by some core work.
Tuesday
I started the day with a mile walk, then after work went to the gym. I did a back workout (rows, reverse flys) and then walked another mile on the treadmill. My legs were still a little sore from the squats on Sunday, and I was hoping to flush it out. I had a lot of running coming up!
Wednesday
Long run #1! The plan was to run 34 miles over the course of Wednesday and Thursday, divided up however I wanted. 20+14, 24+10, or any other combination. I started in the dark and was able to see the sunrise…
As soon as it got light, I headed to the trail. Everything felt good until it started to get hot. There was not a cloud in the sky- it would be a perfect day for the beach. NOT perfect for doing a long run on a sunny trail.
This run got REALLY hard. I got back to my car at mile 20 and considered calling it quits. But I knew Thursday’s run would be on the treadmill, and I decided to do Future Jenny a favor and run two more miles. I left the trail and ran on a sidewalk nearby, which had some shade. That made a HUGE difference!
Thursday
I was able to sleep in till 7:00 (woohoo!), then went to work, and after work went straight to the gym for long run #2.
You guys… this run was NOT THAT BAD! I put on the Beatles White Album and listened to the whole thing- that was fun. And guess what- the gym is AIR CONDITIONED. And, I was able to play around with the pace and the incline to keep things fresh- SO much easier than running for miles and miles on nothing but flat. I finished 12 miles feeling pretty good!
Now I know you might be thinking: “Jenny. Your race is not going to be air conditioned.” Yes, I know that and I’m concerned about the heat. It seems like I tolerate the heat less and less these days. I do have some ideas for heat mitigation and acclimation that I’m going to try, but right now I just want to move to Alaska.
Friday
OFF. Obviously. Once again I was able to sleep till 7:00, which felt AMAZING. After work I had an appointment with my chiropractor. He worked on my cranky hamstring (that hamstring is just going to hate me from now until after the race) and also adjusted my low back. I left there feeling really good!
Saturday
Once again I prioritized sleep, and didn’t get up until 7:00. After work I went to the gym, where I again ran on the treadmill. 4 SHORT miles, followed by core.
Sunday
On tap for today- sleeping in! This week has been amazing for sleep, and I’m sad to see it end. After waffles and tea, I’ll be heading to the gym for a good strength session. I’m really happy with how this week played out running-wise, but strength was pretty sketchy. I’m eager to get back to it!
How was your week? Was it spring break where you are?
44 Responses
I’m glad the dreadmill run wasn’t bad! 12 miles on the treadmill would be sooo long but I can see the perks of AC and variety of paces and elevation!!
I got a measly 2 workouts in but both were good. On Wednesday I did a run/walk on the hotel treadmill and then yesterday I did a CG HIIT workout with a lot of modifications since I am basically starting over in terms of rebuilding endurance/fitness. I am so sore today but it’s nice to feel sore!
This week is spring break for Paul but he’ll be in the after school care program. They have lots of fun things planned like a yoga artist performance and going to a theater to see Minecraft (which Paul is so excited about!!). It will be a week of work for us except I am off on Friday for taco’s tonsil/adenoid surgery. I am anticipating a rough stretch of days for him so am bracing myself to be cooped up caring for him. But it will be good to have it behind us!
Oh, good luck with Will! Yes, there will probably be a rough few days. And, you’re right, you’re completely rebuilding your fitness right now. I think it’s easier to get it back, than to really be starting for the first time. How is your finger? I hope it’s a lot better!
The knuckle looks good and I am slowly regaining my range of motion!
Wow, great week Jenny! And good on you for eking out those last two miles during your first long run! Sometimes Present Me has such a hard time taking care of Future Me, but it is always a good plan!
It’s funny that you say you are getting less tolerant of the heat. I think that’s true for me, too – although I have never been a big fan of being warm. It’s like the benchmark for “too warm” keeps moving down! Additionally worrisome is that my husband’s temperature preference is moving in the opposite direction. Perhaps someday soon we will be enjoying a long distance relationship between Hawaii and Antarctica????
Ha ha, my husband and I are the same way. I’m roasting at night and he’s cold. Tough luck! He can get another blanket. I WISH I were cold at night! Unfortunately I think it might be an age/hormonal thing for us… sigh.
Woohoo on that 22 mile (mostly) trail run and 12 mile tread run! I know it is important to get acclimated to the heat and train for race conditions, but maybe doing most (but not all) of the miles in misery is enough?
It is spring break for the school in my neighborhood, but not for the public schools, so i’ve still had to get out the door by 7:09 so I’m not stuck behind the school bus on my way to work. 😉
Ha, I have a similar situation. If I try to leave the house between 7:20-7:40, I can’t even get out of my neighborhood, the traffic is so bad. Well- summer will be here soon!
Lots of Running is exactly what I want to see for blog post titles from you! It’s true that your race will not be air conditioned, and neither was part one of your long run, so I think you are fine. I used to really enjoy watching movies on my treadmill long runs.
This week was our last ever high school spring break!
Aw, that kind of makes me sad! I’m counting down all sorts of things now- we have two more high school spring breaks to go.
I am holding out some hopes that my race will at least be partly shady, since it’s in central Florida. That would help a lot!
Running on the tread but getting the gift of AC is a good trade off sometimes. Way to execute your plan and get it done! Nice work
Thank you Deborah! It was a tradeoff that was totally worth it.
Good job on getting that long run completed! Hey, you suffered through the heat for 22 miles, you deserved 12 cooler miles.
Our public schools will be on spring break the week before Easter… I think.
Oh, they’re on a much later schedule! I remember growing up, our spring break always coincided with Easter. And yes- I definitely felt like I deserved 12 cooler miles. We’ll see how that plays out on race day, ha.
I’m stuck on your choice of music for twelve miles. The White Album! If I had a hundred guesses I would never come up with that. “Number nine, number nine, aieeeee” – but whatever motivates you!
I hope your race day isn’t too hot.
Well, okay. I enjoyed it because I haven’t listened to the White Album in ages. However, NOT EVERY SONG was really conducive to running. I’m going to make a Beatles playlist with some of them_ Helter Skelter, Obla Di Obla Da, Birthday… certain other songs will NOT be on it though (Julia, Mother Nature’s Son… okay and number 9, lol.)
Oh, snap! I also did two back-to-back long runs this week—split it up into 22 km and 28 km to hit 50 km over two days.
Like you, I needed to avoid the heat—so I was out the door at 5:30 am to finish before 9 am. I swear I’m also tolerating the heat less and less… but honestly, I think a lot of it is psychological. You’ll be just fine on race day—and hey, if it’s hot, it’s hot for everyone! 😅
Thank you Catrina! And congrats on those back to backs! It’s fun, right?
Way to go on those back to back long runs, especially 12 miles on the treadmill! It’s funny because I had the same mileage as you this week but broken up very differently — just one long run of 15.5 miles and five other days of running between 4-5.5 miles. I’ve only done B2B long runs a couple of times, but never as many miles as you did! Just goes to show that different things work for different people!
Sorry that your week of sleeping in later is coming to an end! The school district where I work had our spring break two weeks ago, and I still had to work since I’m not a teacher, but it was a very easy week since the schools were closed so not much work was coming in. My next long weekend is coming up in three weeks and I’m already counting down to that!
Yes, I keep my regular runs pretty short- shorter than most people. Sometimes I think about switching that up though! I’m just trying to avoid injury, while still getting in my long runs. I’m also looking forward to the next day off of school (Good Friday). I’ll still be working, but I love a long weekend with no super early wakeups!
It was Spring Break here and it vacillated between really nice weather and really crappy weather, so that seems about right. I keep telling myself that I need to start running two or three times a week, but I haven’t gotten out there for a run yet. Maybe next week? (Ha ha. Just kidding. There’s snow forecast for next week.) I think it’s crazy that it’s already super hot by you and I’m still deciding which winter coat I should wear each day! It’s a crazy world.
I know, sometimes it’s hard to believe we live in the same country. Snow in April sounds about right for the midwest! I remember having snow on Easter when I lived up there.
Trust me that you do NOT want to live in Alaska. I know how you feel about cold and I live in quasi-temperate Canada and it is wayyyy too cold for my liking. Jenny, we’re getting 3 inches of snow tonight. Hopefully it will be a beautiful, white, heavy, wet snow that makes everything look like a snow globe, though.
Hooray for those long runs and for getting it done. I love how “Now” Jenny did “Future” Jenny a favour. That is such a helpful reframe when we don’t want to do something.
I know. If I lived somewhere cold I would probably shrivel up and die. Maybe I could just spend my SUMMERS in Alaska. That would work, right?
Wow, great job on those back to back runs! That’s impressive. Glad you were feeling good enough to knock out that 2nd run. I’m pretty sure I could not run more than a mile right now following my long run yesterday. It was Spring Break for the local school system in my neighborhood. I only knew that because I didn’t see the buses running! I’m out of the loop on local school these days with our college kids.
Congrats to your son and his ensemble. That’s so cool!!
Thank you Lisa! And, I’ll bet you could run again the next day after a long run- it’s hard to get started, but then not so bad. But, a rest day also feels pretty good!
WOW! Two long runs…and one of them on the ‘mill! You’re amazing, that’s great physical perseverance & mental strength (and vice-versa). AS far as he heat thing…you’re already running in it most of the time. I’d bet it won’t be a huge factor, though certainly not ideal.
Thank you Kim! I’m hoping just my regular life is providing enough heat acclimation (although also wondering if I could be doing more???)
Nice work on those runs! You know, you could always move back to Chicago for those cool, refreshing temperatures lol. I love the warm weather for everything except running. I don’t know if you remember, but I ran a trail half-ish marathon last May, and it just about killed me. And it was only in the 70s. Thank you menopause.
That sunrise photo is beautiful! I’m always thankful for a beautiful sunrise!
Yep- thanks a lot, menopause. I used to be able to run in the heat with no problem! Anyway, you definitely gave me a chuckle- no, i will NOT be moving back to Chicago for those “cool”, “refreshing” temps, haha.
Wow, you’ve done some good and hard running this week! I wouldn’t dream of doing a long run (or perhaps 12 miles isn’t considered long) on a treadmill! That’s dedication. But yes, I understand doing long runs on sunny Florida trails is perhaps harder. Alaska might have better temps for running but you’d slip on the ice instead!
We finally got real spring weather this week and I’m all here for it!
Oh yes, I forgot about the ice! Okay, forget it ; )
Tread mill running has its place! Good job esp. on the long run!
Yes, treadmill running definitely has its place. i also like it for speed work!
I am also bad with sun hitting my face. The heat is less of a problem but really feel exhausting when the sun is on my face. You did great this work, that’s a lot of miles. i never asked, how do you plan for your training? especially for ultra races? i have no idea how to train that.
I don’t follow anyone else’s plan, mainly because I’m kind of a “low mileage” ultra runner, if that makes any sense. Other than my long runs I keep my runs pretty short- that’s because I’m so afraid of injury. I just look ahead to the race, count back the weeks, and plan when my long runs are going to be.
I agree- the sun on my face and on my head. Maybe I need my ice hat again?
Lots of running indeed! We haven’t had much sun for me to deal with, and even when we do, I typically have to get my runs in before the kids get ready for their day so it’s usually before the sun comes up. I do have some Goodrs that I’ve run with a few times and a hat that I run with mostly when it’s raining (so I wore it Sunday actually). We only had ONE day with snow last week so it was great to be outside again!
Yes, early morning runs are so much easier. But when I do long runs, I can’t get them in before it gets light out. Sigh!
It was Spring Break for my kid too, so I didn’t have to be up at the crack of dawn to see them off 🙂
I had the worst workout week ever, though. I was so busy at work and felt so unmotivated… or maybe just lazy?
Ah well, this is a new week, and I hope I do better!
I loved your sunrise picture before and loved it again… There’s just something so uplifting about sunrises!
Maya, your job (and extra commitments) keep you SO BUSY. I’m not surprised you feel unmotivated for workouts. It’s very hard to do it all, all at the same time.
Except for the wind you’d enjoy the weather here… still chilly.
Congrats o the long long run… I do like your choice in music.
Now I can’t even get out of bed barely so looking forward to any run outdoors.
Darlene, I hope you’re feeling better by now!!! And I’m sure if I were up there I would be complaining about the wind- it’s always something.
Spring Break is over (this is our second week back at school).
I”m glad you had time to run and sleep in and give yourself a little break. You need that.
And the heat is really too much. My Sunday race was soooo humid and awful. It came out of nowhere and I wasn’t ready.
Yes, the humidity is a KILLER. This is a very hard time of year, because we’ve had some beautiful weather to train in. Suddenly it’s hot and humid all over again, ugh.
Well done on all those miles! Very impressive. Best to do the shorter of the two on the tread- 22 would have been quite long!