I know this post is almost a week late, but it’s been crazy! Running is going great, but I think I need to improve my ability to fit the swimming in. Sadly, going to the pool is the trickiest to fit into my schedule. Majority of workouts was just fine, but Sunday 18 miles were a ‘character building exercise’ – there was no way of avoiding all puddles and mud, so I ran with shoes full of freezing water. The important thing though is: I made it!
I could not find a color that would show the quote from John Collins. So this is what it says:
You can quit if you want, and nobody will care. But you will know for the rest of your life.
I love it! For most of us weekend warriors, there is no real payoff other than doing things we love and the bragging rights. Probably plenty of people would appreciate it if we stopped talking about our running/ biking/ swimming 😉. But the truth is: we know if we gave up or totally phoned it in. And believe me, if you haven’t been putting your hours in honestly in the training, you will feel it, especially in the later miles of your training. So we have to show up every day. If you need somebody to do it for: think of your kids (or future kids). They may want to brag about Mommy/Daddy one day or play with your medals 😉. There is also my favorite benefit: my daughter tires out faster than me, even at a playground.
I think that my rest day on Sunday merits a comment: I took my daughter to the pool. We raced on kick boards 4 lengths of the pool. I would love to say that winning was easy 😜. On short distances, her kick is pretty good! She still needs to work on her form. For now, my little one moves like a snake through the water! It was fun. Her favorite thing is just ‘doing tricks’, so I took advantage and practiced my kicking while holding onto the wall. I guess it wasn’t formal training, so it didn’t make it to the schedule. But I did it for over 10 minutes and I can honestly say that it was a good workout. I spent that time on focusing on the form. I happen to know that kicking is my weakness while swimming. My daughter said she wants to race me on the kick board every other weekend. Challenge accepted! I will get my kicking stronger!
Stay strong and keep going!
I guess I am still working back on getting back to ‘normal’. On the up side, I had time to go do my intervals running on Wednesday courtesy of a snow day. Yes, it was on a treadmill. The attached picture shows the running path by my gym. Or at least where it should be 😉. I am still working on getting back to 20 mile runs. So far, every time a new excuse to finish early happens. But I will get there. I guess I am just not feeling that much urgency, since I won’t be running another marathon for quite a while. For now, biking is the name of the game. I am also trying very hard not to have two of the same workouts in a row. For example: it would be really easy for me to do interval running and strength training Tuesday nights, but I don’t want to do it the next day after just having done exactly the same thing. I actually think I will start doing my 10 mile runs every other Tuesday, obviously on Tuesdays not following the 20-mile-run-Sundays. The weather is starting to get better, so I am able to occasionally bike outside. Another few months and I will be able to bike to work once a week and that would be great! One day of biking to work and one day of running part of my way to work. That will be amazing for the scheduling challenges!!! Keep your fingers crossed that this week will ‘go as planned’! 🤞
Now that was a tough week… But on a positive side: I found out that I can fit in my bike ride at home before I have to wake my daughter up, so she can get ready for school. That’s a huge scheduling win! I am hoping that things will start getting back to normal…
This was a week full of ups and downs… Majority of training felt great after taking a lot of time off to recover from a marathon and being sick. When I did my legs workout on Monday though, I learned that I still have some weak muscle – this time it was in my butt and thighs. I walked funny the next day 😜 Bike rides were actually pretty nice. That long run though… Originally, I was supposed to do 20 miles. But everything went wrong! First of all, I started way too late. I had a reason though – it was cold and I was hoping it would warm up. It didn’t. At least not really. Patches of ice were not awesome! And let’s admit it: I was just not feeling motivated. I tried talking Diana into letting me schedule another marathon before my Ironman 70.3 in August. The answer was a stern NO! I know she is right, but it doesn’t make it great. At least I did talk her into adjusting my schedule to include swimming every week, rather than every other week. I just love my Thursday lunch time swims too much to give them up! Sadly, it’s biking I need to work on more. I am working on it… After all, I listen… Well, at least try 😉 This week is starting much better though, but more on that next week 😊
Clearly, I am still not very well recovered from my last two races and I keep feeling the fatigue in my legs. I have to admit it’s pretty demotivating. I am hoping the situation will improve, since it’s time to work on that ironman 70.3 training. Diana was actually thrilled to hear I have no other races planned until then (well, I might to Star Wars virtual half, but that’s a training run 😉).
For those of you who didn’t realize it: those are the stairs I had to conquer after my Disney World Marathon on my way back to the hotel. I can honestly say it felt like an inhuman effort to get up them, even though they aren’t particularly tall.
Please send words of encouragement – this recovery is starting to feel like it’s dragging on and like I will never be back to my old energetic self.
Recovery week! I have been trying to go for walks and stretch daily, but it’s not always easy. On Monday, I wasn’t doing too badly. Tuesday, on the other hand, was a whole another story. I was getting winded just walking up the stairs! This was marathon #5 and I have to say that it hit me the hardest. Interestingly, my legs haven’t been doing all that badly. I would probably feel guilty for not giving my all if not for the fact that I know that I drained absolutely all of my energy and I am feeling it. I gave myself a full week off. In the beginning, I was too tired to even think about exercising and later, I had my daughter’s birthday party to organize. I still have been meeting my daily steps expectations (set by my Garmin) of 15k, so it’s not like I have been just lounging around. I have been trying to stretch on a regular basis, but that was a hit and miss. Definitely one of the crazy weeks! Come Monday, it will be back to eating well (holiday season was not kind to my weight) and regular exercise routine (note to self: ask Diana for the training schedule for next month).
With only a week left until my next marathon, it’s time to get some serious rest and focus on carb loading. Not that I feel like I should eat anything after the holidays 😉 For the next week, my schedule will consist mostly of stretching and walking – I still have to deal with the excess energy somehow! Wish me luck on Sunday 😊
I can promise unicorns farting rainbows (see below – delivered!) when it comes to workout schedule for next week. And maybe even most weeks I will stick to them, at least mostly. But we all know that reality frequently don’t live up to those promises, especially during travel or holidays. Or if you have kids. You can never tell what will kids decide to do and it may completely derail best laid out plans. So I thought I will post how I actually did on my workouts for the week and add notes explaining what happened when the workouts don’t live up to my plans.
So here is how I did over the past week. I will be the first one to admit that I didn’t quite do everything I planned, but then I was travelling, it was Christmas and then it was my little girl’s birthday. And I don’t get vacation between Christmas and New Year. I am starting to sound to myself like I am looking for excuses 😉. The truth is: I still worked out quite a bit. I will make another attempt at a long run on Tuesday, although I might be less ambitious: only 2 weeks to my next race! I will also make a nicer header for the schedule next week – I thought this week the unicorn merited its own section 😉
Since I wrote a week ago about trying to fit everything into my busy schedule, I thought this would be a good idea: showing my weekly plan. I do them every week to ensure that I can get everything done. In all honestly though: usually they don’t include a picture and an inspirational quote 😉
For those of you enjoying reading about my (mis)adventures, that thread will be on Thursdays 😊
