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Chugging Along Until Serious Training Needs to Begin

It’s that time of year when the weather isn’t always inviting to be outside. Currently it’s 13° (feels like 7°) and yesterday’s high didn’t get above a blustery 26°, even though we only got about an inch of snow from the Nor’easter bearing down on the east coast. These days it’s hard to motivate myself to get outside under such conditions even though a younger Deb would have said, “Challenge accepted!” 

The first organized event on my athletic calendar is a metric century bike ride in mid-May (although we might throw in a century earlier in May). So without anything to train for on the horizon, I’ve given myself a little grace. If we do the century ride, my somewhat more serious training will need to start a week from tomorrow. Stay tuned…

 

Overview of the Week

Before discussing each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…

 

Sunday

Running: 5K
• Average pace: 8:51
• Start time: 12:03 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 34° (feels like 28°)
• What I wore: capris, l/s shirt, gloves, mittens, and ear warmer headband

I’ve run around our circle hundreds of times, always being careful not to trip on the many sections of broken asphalt that really should have been fixed years ago when VDOT repaved all of the neighboring streets except for ours. Funny thing is, I ran on our circle to play it safe instead of taking it to the trails where sections were still covered with snow and ice.

 

A half mile into my run when my toe caught in the hole created by the chipped out asphalt, I had one of those slow motion falls where I kept thinking I was going to recover and not hit the ground. After several stumbled steps, I went down hard, landing on my right knee, left elbow, and left hand before rolling onto my back. Despite banging up those body parts, I didn’t tear my shirt or capris; however, I tore a hole in my mitten (mittens that are no longer sold by Road Runner Sports).

After brushing myself off, I finished my run, thrilled that I hadn’t broken anything.

 

Monday

Strength training : 1 hour of total body

Foam rolling: 10 minutes

Stretching: 10 minutes

I awoke quite stiff from my previous day’s fall, so I decided to stretch and foam roll – I’d skipped both the day before after my run.

 

Tuesday

Running: 5K
• Average pace: 9:15
• Start time: 7:26 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 30° and cloudy
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, nylon shell, gloves, mittens, and ear warmer headband

Foam rolling: 10 minutes

Stretching: 10 minutes

I woke up with every intention of riding my spin bike (affiliate link); however, when I heard snow in the forecast for Friday evening into Saturday morning, I opted to run outside while I had the chance.

 

Wednesday

Strength training : 1 hour of total body

Walking: 2 miles
• Average pace: 14:29
• Start time: 3:03 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64°
• What I wore: capris and jog bra

During my marathoning days I didn’t focus on hip stability and I wish I had. These days, even though I’m running much shorter distances, gaining hip and glute strength is a huge part of my training. Some of my preferred exercises are side leg raises with ankle weights (shown below), side step ups onto a bench or step, lateral band walks, clamshells, and squats (regular and pistol – well, I don’t really like pistol squats).

I took advantage of an afternoon break to hop on my treadmill (affiliate link) for a walk.

 

Thursday

Cycling: 20 miles
• Average speed: 16.8 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 8:14 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66°
• What I wore: bike shorts and jog bra

 

Friday

Strength training : 1 hour of total body

Stretching: 15 minutes

 

Saturday

I had every intention of getting at least 20 miles in on my spin bike; however, my kitchen cabinets had other plans for me. I fell into bed exhausted after spending about 12 hours cleaning drawers, while washing, purging, and sorting the items in the drawers. I’ll share more during our coffee date on Friday.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

 

 Questions:
  • • What clumsy adventures have you had while running? 😉
  • • How’s the weather been in your neck of the woods? Is this weekend’s Nor’easter affecting you? ~ We ended up with only an inch of snow.
  • • Did you run in a race this weekend?

 

And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!

 

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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.