This week brought a big change to my workouts – continuous running! That was the highs of the week. The lows of the week will be covered later on, but before I get into the details: I ran 28 miles this week and biked 34 miles. I’ve been doing my physical therapy exercises most days (ok, I missed one day!) and a core workout too. That’s 30 mins of my time, but I’m trying to stay motivated to do it. It is paying off! We have 5 more weeks until the Chicago Marathon, it’s coming up quick!
Mon – 3 miles RUNNING! Yep, I ran! This was kind of by accident because my new watch suggested a “33 min base run at 10:20” workout for today. That sounded like it would line up perfectly with the 3 mile (or maybe 4 mile) run/walk I was going to do, so I accepted the workout on my watch. Apparently that workout doesn’t use my run/walk intervals so it never beeped for a walk break! But luckily the weather was cool and felt amazing. There was no need to take a walk break. Woohoo! Since my running pace is a little faster than 10:20 it only gave me a 95% rating on the workout, but overall I consider today’s workout a big fat WIN!
Tues – 8 easy miles. Guess what? I ran the whole 8 miles too! I’m on a winning streak. My watch has been very complimentary and giving me all sorts of good information about my health and training status.
14 miles cycling – Ladies Ride night. The last ride night of the season. It’s the official end of the summer season for this event! Much to my dismay, it started raining half way through the ride!! Riding in the rain isn’t great – and riding in a peloton in the rain is even worse. All of that cold water splashing up from the tires in front of you. Ick. Despite my wet clothes I stayed for the post-ride beer and wings I mean, I’ve made it this far, right?
Weds – Rest day! I need to start waking up early to do the elliptical or something. Rest days are boring! Here are two things to brighten up the day… foster kittens and the monarch butterfly that emerged today (one we raised from an egg). 4 butterflies have emerged so far.
Thurs – 13 miles, long run. Ok, if a run needed it’s own theme song, this one would be the one from Rocky! To mix things up I ran along a trail by the river. The weather was chilly and I just ran by feel. Imagine my happiness when I saw I had negative splits and my last mile was the fastest. And best of all, NO glute pain. Yippie! Along the way I cleared many spider webs [with my face] since I was the first one out there. Also got a great picture of a big spider web [not near my face]!
Fri – Rest day! Fun day – I took my foster kittens to visit my office! I had no idea they would be such a big hit. My coworkers all declared it the best day ever and that kittens should come to the office every Friday. The kittens slept the rest of the afternoon. So much excitement for them!!
More Friday fun – we went to a Toledo Mud Hens game with my Run Toledo Ambassador gang! The Mud Hens beat the Iowa Cubs (sorry Kim!) My husband’s shirt got a lot of reactions. It’s the shirt he wears after a race or when he’s injured. You’ll see why he wore it later on…
Sat – 4 miles, pace run. My plan said “pace miles”, and since I don’t really have a race goal I figured I’d try to get a 9:30 pace. I was super pleased when I ended up with an 8:57 avg pace on this run, with my last mile at 8:44! I did wear my Saucony Endorphin Speeds on this run, so I know they are responsible for part of the success of this run, but even so, YAY!!
Sun – 20 miles, biking. It was a beautiful morning for a ride. I went along the river and was surprised how low the water level was. Rocks showing everywhere!
Just because things can’t always be sunny and great, there was a big incident this week. My husband crashed on his mountain bike on Monday and was hurt. He rolled and the bike landed on top of him. Luckily he didn’t puncture his lungs or organs, but he has been in pain most of the week. This puts a speed bump in his training for Chicago for sure!! Hopefully the setback will only be for a week or two. And I’m glad his injuries weren’t worse! But seriously, is our journey to the Chicago start line cursed? It’s always something. [we can laugh about this now, but after he finally got up off the ground, in pain, he did check to see if his new Garmin was damaged!!]
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!
Let’s end with happy kittens! They will be leaving us on Thursday, so we need to enjoy all of our cuddle time left together.
Q: Are you having a Labor Day cookout?
We will be hanging around our pool for sure. It’s going to be 90 degrees!!
Ugh, I’m so sorry to hear about your husband’s accident. My husband has hinted a few time about getting a mountain bike and I keep trying to talk him out of it. I hope your hubby feels better quickly and is able to get back to training for Chicago. And speaking of Chicago, how great that your runs have been going so well and pain free! That’s such good news!
Awww, I bet you’ll miss your kittens. None of your coworkers wanted to adopt them?
The orange kitten did almost get a home with my coworker, but nope, no solid commitments. They have been really good kittens. I know they will find homes quickly!
In all honestly, my husband said he was probably going too fast. When he rides with me I slow him down so he’s more in control. He wiped out in the sand just like I did last year!
Woohoo, I am so excited about your runs. Look at that comeback! I hope you won’t have any more issues.
I am very sorry about your husband’s accident. That’s a huge bummer but I am glad he’s not seriously hurt. Man. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I hope he’ll recover quickly.
Have a great Labor Day weekend!! And the kitties are so cute! I wish I could adopt one!
My husband has been improving day by day, but wow, he was not in good shape when it first happened!! It could have been so much worse, he was lucky.
Yes, fingers crossed it will be smooth sailing until Chicago!
You had a great week of running, Lisa! Total bummer on the hubby’s bike crash…I know, first hand, how nasty those can be. I hope he’s able to rally back without any long term effects. Those kittens! They are so cute!!!
I did look back at your blog to see how long it took you to feel better. I figured it would be a few weeks. The Dr did say he should be fine for Chicago, so hopefully he gets enough training in.
I’m so happy to hear about the improvement with your glute!! What a good week of running!
That monarch butterfly is stunning. And your kittens!
What a bummer with your husband’s bike accident. I hope he heals up asap. I do love the t-shirt though!
He showed up with “Running Sucks” and his friend’s shirt said “I Love Running” 😂 They were quite the pair.
What a great week for you, but oof, your hubs’ bike crash sounds rough! I crashed my bike about 5 years ago, badly, but lucky for me, nothing worse than road rash. I was pretty banged up after that and couldn’t run or do much for a couple of weeks. It scared me and I’ve never fully gotten over it. I hope he heals quickly. It seems like both of you will have good races at Chicago!
My husband wiped out in the sand, just like I did last October. I am SUPER overly cautious in sandy areas now. Each day he is getting a bit better, so hopefully he’ll be 100% soon!
Yay on your progress back to running – it sounds like you are well on your way.
Yikes on your husband’s crash. I hope he’s feeling better soon — it’s no fun to run when you’re feeling banged up!
I am making great strides in running this week 😉 Sorry, I couldn’t resist!
OMG, if I worked in your office that orange tabby would be MINE!
I’m so glad to hear about your running success- that’s amazing you had no glute pain. PT is working! But that sucks so much about your husband’s accident. I’m glad he wasn’t more seriously hurt- but I hope he can get back to running soon. Chicago will definitely be a race to remember!
The orange kitty was a big hit and almost got adopted by a coworker! He’s so cuddly. 😊 Alan has been feeling a bit better each day so that’s good.
Great news about your running and those kittens are the cutest.
Hope your hubby heals quickly Mountain biking does scare me.
My husband just needs to make sure he bikes with me. I slow him down a lot and he’ll be safer 😉
Oh no! I’m so sorry about the crash. Well, sometimes bad training means a good race — we’re going to go with that, right?
I once hit walk instead of run so ended up running without walk breaks, LOL!
The butterfly is beautiful! Is it like tame or anything, or were you releasing it? I know nothing about raising butterflies. But I do know about kittens, and I’d declare it best day ever if you brought them here, too. 🙂
We have a patch of milkweed plants in our yard, which is where the monarch butterflies lay their eggs. We bring the eggs inside the house and feed the caterpillars. When the butterflies emerge, we set them free! This is supposed to give them a better chance at survival from the egg stage. The eggs are super tiny and hard to see, but they are on the undersides of the leaves. It’s a pretty cool process! Two more butterflies emerged today.
So many fabulous things!
You can bring kittens* (*any animal) to my office* (*house or car) any time.
Congratulations on all your running and all your Garmin compliments! That’s huge!
Love the pics of the kitties in your office – too cute! Sorry about your husband’s bike accident which sounds scary. I have to say my friend and I were talking about that time I fell over when running off-road with her and tore the rubbery toe bit off my brand new trainer (I’d not started my new trainers today as I knew she’d be paranoid!), so I can understand checking the Garmin was OK. And well done you on some running that felt so much better – hooray!
Yay! So glad running is feeling good!! That’s so great to read.
I’m glad your husband is okay, that sounds scary!