Week 1 of what? Well, I’m testing out the waters I guess to see if I want to run the Marquette marathon in September. My husband will be running it, so of course I’ll be there too. My week of training did go well, (especially thanks to some meds!) although I had to make an adjustment for the long run because I’ve missed the first few weeks of the training plan already. Marquette is 15 weeks away, and I used an 18 week plan. I’ll just adjust where necessary to get in line with the training. I ran 32 miles, biked 19 miles and went for several walks. The weather was great and I am trying to finish an audiobook 🙂
Mon – 4.5 easy miles. I had mentioned that I am in a health study that requires me to take my blood pressure twice a day. That process takes about 8 mins to complete, so I have started setting my alarm 10 mins earlier every day to complete my task before I run. And guess what? I really can take 10 extra mins to do something in the morning. Why don’t I ever do a pre-run warmup then?? I guess the answer is laziness and NOT a time issue. Busted! Has anyone else noticed the sun was really different looking this week? Maybe it’s because of smoke/fires somewhere?
Tues – 6 miles, negative splits. I like when I have negative splits on the plan. It says it doesn’t matter how slow the first part it, as long as I go faster on the second half. Done! This was one of the best runs I’ve had in —-> 8 weeks!! I felt 98% all back to normal. Bonus that I got to eat a muffin and enjoy iced coffee outside in the sun while I caught up on work email! (not sure why my chocolate muffin is so red looking, but trust me, it was delicious!)
Lunch time was a trip to the gym.
Weds – Rest day! I went to the Dr and I am super happy that the meds have fixed up my cough and sinus infection. Winning! I’m sure my coworkers will be so glad I’m not hacking up a lung anymore.
Thurs – 6.5 miles. We went to see the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Although I enjoyed most of it, there were some scenes that were sad, and scenes with animal treatment that I disliked. I think there were only 6 other people in the theater, which is kinda what I expected for a Thursday afternoon!
Fri – 4 easy miles. We had a fun road trip today. We drove to Sugarcreek, which is in Ohio in Amish country. It’s so interesting to share the road with horses and buggies! The big attraction in Sugarcreek is the giant cuckoo clock. The clock had several figures who came out and performed a song as the clock chimed. It was very impressive!
We wandered around Sugarcreek and the town of Berlin, visiting several thrift stores and many other shops. We also went to a really good Christmas store and the original Kewpee burger! My mom has a Kewpie doll, so I thought that was fun to see a restaurant with the doll.
Sat – 11 miles, long run. 13 miles was on my plan, but since I only ran 9 last week I figured a jump to 11 miles was a safer choice. This went well enough and I had a visit from the friendly “trail” cat. This cat is so soft! Definitely not a stray, but more of a wanderer.
After that, we hit the local trails for 7 miles mountain biking. This is my first ride here of the season and I have missed it!
Sun – 2.5 mile walk in the morning, and 12 mile bike ride in the evening. The multiuse trail is full of these beautiful purple flowers (and a whole lot of cottonwood fuzz, yuck!!).
My day ended a bit sad because we went shopping for a bike rack for my car, and I wasn’t expecting the bike rack to be so big! This might be common sense, but I hadn’t really taken a good look at one. I love the idea of transporting bikes on my EV (think of the freedom to travel!) but still not sure it’s the right fit for me. A rack for two bikes looked big, and I want something that could hold 4 bikes! Maybe it just won’t happen. In the meantime, we’ll stick with carrying them in our truck.
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Is anyone else overrun with cottonwood tree “fuzz”??
That stuff really makes a mess of our pool filter. Dislike!!
I am glad to read that you are feeling back to yourself. Yes, you do have 10 extra minutes to warm up! Hope you have a great week
I do have time… I just need to motivate myself to do the extra work! That’s the hard part 😉
Totally feel you about the extra 10 minutes…I know i should do a better pre-run routine and I COULD make the time…
Sugarcreek sounds interesting! What a fun outing.
Yay! I’m glad everything is going well and you’re feeling good. That trip to Sugarcreek looks really fun- I want to go to that Christmas store!!!
Since our plants are different down here we don’t have the cottonwood fuzz. We have other things that make a mess of our pool filter though.
I bet you find interesting critters in your pool filter! Lizards? We have had snakes, squirrels, frogs and chipmunks in ours. Ewww. We do have a “frog log” which has saved the lives of many critters trying to get out of our pool.
I was just noticing the cottonwood fuzz this weekend! I was trying to take a few sips from my water bottle (while running) and the fuzz kept getting in the way. Another marathon in the works, that’s exciting! As much as I want to do a 10th marathon, I just haven’t gotten the bug yet. I know it’ll come (maybe?), so I’m just gonna keep on doing my 13.1’s until the inspiration and mojo hit me. Good to hear the meds are helping!
The meds were so helpful!! Feeling all better now. Those cottonwood trees are the worst. Hopefully they will all be gone within a week 🤷🏼♀️
Yay on feeling better!
4 bikes is a lot to put on a car — I’ve seen two max.
I like the idea of a negative split training run — I’ll have to try it.
I wonder if you are getting smoke from the Canadian forest fires?
The bike rack model I was looking at seemed massive with just 2 bikes. I think a different style would work. I appreciate that the bike rack was solid, but I’m not looking for that kind of commitment to having it there! 😆
Yes, 10 min of warm up are SO WORTH it 🙂 You should schedule those in 😉 and good luck with your training plan… let’s just see where it takes you, but it sounds like you had a pretty solid week. Glad you’re feeling better!
Warm ups are more important as I get older too, so you’d think I’d take the time to do it! 😆 I will try to do a better job.
yes yes on the fuzz… it loos like it snowed.
I have a bike rack but it’s a pain to put on and off my car so I rarely ride my bike…
I bet you do that race…
I was expecting to have it all – a rack that fit a bunch of bikes and was easy to put on and take off! I guess that’s too much to ask for 🤷🏼♀️ I’m going to keep searching though!
Eeek! Look at that Kewpie! I never heard of a Kewpie burger. Is it good?
We don’t have cottonwood trees. Instead, we have pollen from multiple unnamed sources: it’s neon yellow and settles on EVERYTHING. It’s gross.
Glad you’re feeling better. Mr PugRunner has to take his BP at least twice a day – it can definitely be a time-consuming process.
The burgers were really good!! And very affordable. I think it was only $23 for the four of us, with a dessert!
We haven’t hit the pollen phase quite yet, but I know what mean. You have to wipe the stuff off with your window wipers. What a mess!
The BP cuff we got for the study is pretty cool. I like having one at home now!
Great week for you and your day trip sounds fun!
Oh yes, I just took a photo of the cottonwood this morning. Some lawns look like they have snow on them, LOL! It just goes drifting EVERYWHERE (including whatever my husband grills).
Hopefully training will go smoothly and you’ll race together!
If the wind isn’t blowing it is pretty cool to see the fuzz floating slowly around, which is quite eerie looking. I do wonder where the heck those cottonwood trees are. I never see the trees but the fuzz is all over!
so glad you are feeling better and what a great trip to Sugarcreek. I had to read twice because you wrote Berlin and I thought “huh? she’s in Germany??” hahaha. Ohio. Got it haha!
We have a Thule for two bikes and while I was real nervous in the beginning, it was a perfect solution to bring the bikes with us. What I see here in Europe for 4 bikes is either a bigger Thule or on the top of the car… honestly when I’m flying down the highway I get so nervous when I see something like that! Good luck finding the right one for you guys!
I think a Thule Apex for 4 bikes is going to be the winner. Looks like it takes longer to load than the T2 XTR but much easier to remove when I don’t need it. We did hear a funny story at the bike shop of the owners bike flying off the car, and it was an $18,000 bike! I wouldn’t be completely sad if mine flew off. I could alway upgrade 😂😂
It’s nice to see you getting back at it! Glad to see you are feeling better. I always love reading about your family outings.
I have a bike rack for my Jeep that fits in the trailer hitch. It’s really nice–easy to use and doesn’t look big at all.
What kind of bike rack do you have? I think I have found one that seems easy to install and is removable. A Thule Apex.
Mine is so old that I’m not even sure what brand it is, but it is similar to what you have!