Fitness Friday 08.17

Woah! It’s the last Friday of August <wide-eyed emoji>

With it being the last week of August, that means we are quickly approaching half-marathon month, EEK! We are three-weeks away from breaking our 3-year break from halfs.  I must admit, I am a bit excited to conquer this feat again! Not to mention, a completely new race and course, so it’ll be a fun experience in a different city… and state.

Training has been going pretty well, I was in a good groove of running and bootcamp every other day, even in the summer heat.  I’ve had a few weeks where I haven’t run at all, except for my long run – and those have surprisingly gone well! I’m not stressing out, but I am also not letting myself slack off.

My favorite run so far was seven miles the weekend of my bridal shower – I was up super early, and my stomach grumbly, I wasn’t really feeling so hot, but it was going to be a long morning on top of a long day.  So I decided to go and give seven a try.  Since it was so early, on a Saturday it was quite and peaceful, and the stomach pains and weakness I was feeling eventually went away – I conquered those 7-miles, only stopping to pet a puppy.  It felt so good.  And since I still had time to kill after, I went to yoga for an hour.

Bootcamp has remained a constant these past 7-months, I’m stronger and I’m pushing myself to pick up the heavier weights – plus my trainer got me to write by fitness goal up on the board with the rest of the members, so now I can see it every day I go! And remember what the end goal is, beyond a healthy me.

Happy Training!

 

Race Cancelled.

Today I received an email from the Rock n’ Roll Marathon series informing me that they are cancelling the upcoming race that is nearly a month away!  I am so disappointed. Also, I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of a race, especially of this stature being cancelled so late in the game! They said it was cancelled due to “low levels of participation and local support.”

http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/cleveland

I had originally planned for this to be my last half marathon, but now I feel like I still need to run one more. I really enjoyed the Rock n’ Roll Marathon series, when it was in Cleveland last year, plus it was the Inaugural race in Cleveland, so it’s really a shame they they couldn’t keep it going for a second year.  The energy of the race and atmosphere was amazing! So I would like to try and find another RnR series… just now in a different city.  I am going to try and continue on with training (not that I have been doing a very good job) but also work to get more cross training into the mix.

Before I received the news of the race being cancelled, I had drafted this…

I made double digits this past week in training!!  But that is just an excuse I still missed out on 6 miles… I need to keep working up to more miles each week.

Week 6 Training – Recap

Monday – 4 miles

Tuesday – 2 miles or cross

Wednesday – 4 miles + strength
Complete – 36:28

Thursday – Easy Run

Friday – Rest

Saturday – 6 miles
Complete – 54:55

Sunday – Strength

Week Total Miles: 10 miles

Also, I got new running sneakers (thanks mom!), because I get black toe nails/loss my toe nails (sorry – TMI!) every half-marathon and training.  My aunt who is an avid, long-distance runner wears a size larger to help avoid that… which surprisingly for as long as I have run and as many races as I have completed, I haven’t heard that!  How many of you runners out there run with a size bigger to avoid black toe nails? Any other tips or tricks?

Happy Running!

 

Week 6 Training – Halfway Point

The end of this training week will mark the halfway point, exactly 6 more weeks until the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon! The last few weeks have unfortunately been very sparse with the training aspect, so time for a harsh reality check.

Week 3 – I literally did nothing

Week 4 – I got a short 2.65 mile run and my long 5 miles in – for a grand total of 7.65 miles

Week 5 – One 4-mile run

Week 6 – Still in progress

I have 4 days left in week 6 to get some additional miles in. I really hate writing and publishing this for the world to see, but I have been severely lacking motivation…. major runners block.

 

How do you push through your long days to get those miles in?

Week 2 Training: Lions, Houses and Bands

Now that half marathon training is in full swing, I came out strong in week two, and boy… did it feel GOOD!  I haven’t had a solid workout week like that in a LONG time… sadly I’ve come to realize that these types of weeks will be few and far between due to work, life, and everything else. I just need to stay motivated and remind myself of how good it feels.

Monday – 3 miles
Completed: 27:09

Tuesday – 2 miles or cross
Completed: Walk 1.5 miles

Wednesday – 3 miles + strength
Completed: 28:24

Thursday – 30 minute cross

Friday – 30 min. run
Completed: 29:51 (3 miles)

Saturday – 4 miles
Completed: 37:38

Sunday – Strength
Completed: 1-hour Spin Class

Week Total Miles: 14.5 miles

On top of training we had a jammed packed weekend.  Friday night, Bentley and I went to Twilight at the Zoo which we have had the pleasure of attending for 3 years now!  A little rain tried to ruin our evening, but it quickly stopped and turned out to to be a beautiful night!  Food was sparse, but beers were flowing.  My favorite animal spotting of the evening was a Malayan Sun Bear, he was a cutie! Bands were scattered throughout the zoo each with a different genre!  We wish our friends would’ve been able to join us but we still had a fun date night together!

Saturday, my parents came into town from NY!  In between the downpours and crazy boomers, we were able to go to Lakewood’s Art Fest to visit our favorite vendor, Foundry Woodprints we have a small collection started of illustrated  vintage prints of downtown Cleveland.  We also have a bunch of wooden coasters, because they are just so fun!  In two weekends, Foundry will be at a festival at Edgewater Park!  Saturday evening we went to my cousins marching band competition, yes you read that correctly!  He is a senior in high school and has been traveling all summer with a marching band-camp, grueling through 12-hour practices and sleeping on gym floors,  the whole thing is quit impressive.  Plus we got to see more family, which is always fun.

Sunday, I started my day with a 1-hour spin class at Harness Cycle, it was an awesome and challenging work out. I was glad I got back for another class.  Followed by Brunch at Market with my parents, aunts and B.  Followed by house hunting!! Followed by me being absolutely exhausted by the time we got home that evening. This week has continued with the trend of busy, lots of work duties with little working out. I am finally at the part of my week were fun is ahead of me and hopefully a workout or two squeezed-in before the start of Week 4 training! I just hope I can let the good training weeks, outweigh the bad!

Happy August 7th Everyone!