Hey friends! Long time no see!
I took a brief hiatus from specific training and thus also took a corresponding brief hiatus from weekly recap posts. My running over the last couple of weeks has been super tame (no tempos, no track and not even any pickups). It was definitely a nice break. At the end of my summer training cycle, I was more than ready for the break. I trained pretty consistently for 12 weeks over the summer and decided to take a 2 week break from workouts before jumping into anything else. After two weeks of easy runs (some refer to it as jogging) and several rest days, I am more than ready to add in a little speed. I really missed those extra endorphins!
Here is what went down last week …
Monday: 5 miles w/ the Daniels (8:47 pace)
Tuesday: 5 miles w/ the Daniels (9:00 pace) + 1.5 miles w/ Brooks (11:21 pace)
Wednesday: 8 miles w/ the Daniels (8:38 pace) + 1.5 miles w/ Brooks (10:58 pace)
Thursday AM: 7 miles w/ the Daniels (8:37 pace) + 1.5 miles w/ Brooks (10:35 pace)
Thursday PM: 8 hilly miles w/ Rebecca (8:29 pace)
Friday: Off
Saturday: 15 miles w/ the Grinders (8:34 pace)
Sunday: 7.5 miles w/ Rebecca (8:08 pace) + 1 mile w/ Brooks (10:29 pace)
A few highlights …
I got to see some really pretty sunrises this week!
The days are getting shorter and the mornings are darker (which I don’t love), but the silver lining is that I am done with my morning run in time to catch a glimpse of the colors of the sunrise over the bay.
Brooks and I had so much fun getting some morning runs in this week. We take a water and fetch break during the mid-run to give him a chance to hydrate and well … to just be a dog. Fetching and swimming are his cardio activities of choice, but I’m fairly certain that he enjoys running as well. Oh … and Brooks is now on Instagram (@instabrookser)! He is going to be documenting his training online. Side note: I had some technical difficulties getting his account set up and so he took over my old, inactive account (if you don’t like seeing pictures of adorable puppies, you can just unfollow it :)).
We had a mini-jubilee this weekend! During a jubilee, there is a depletion of oxygen in parts of the bay, which causes the fish to come to the surface seeking oxygenated water. Brooks was super excited to go check it out and we saw tons of crab and a few shrimp, flounder and eels (eek!).
Rebecca and I got in a couple of good runs this week. Our run Thursday evening was a bit of a struggle for both of us. It is just so dang hot in the afternoons. It is also just difficult to summon up the energy necessary to run in the evening sometimes (at least it is for me). Our run Sunday morning was so nice though. I think it was a little bit cooler and less humid that it has been. We both felt great!
We saw tons of people out along the bay watching the jubilee. We also stumbled across a pair of nice men’s flip-flops, an empty backpack (except for a pair of sunglasses) AND a knife on the side of the street (and all of these things were in the same place). Perhaps it’s related to the jubilee somehow … someone was just down on the bay fishing and had the knife to clean the fish … who knows. Still super-duper strange! I’m sure it’s nothing, but I called the police department to tell them what we saw just in case.
I did a podcast episode with Lindsey Hein for her show, I’ll Have Another, and it aired Friday. I talk a little bit more about my story than what I have shared on the blog. It definitely got me out of my comfort zone, but I’m totally convinced that all of the growth and most good things in life are found outside of our comfort zone. I’m also convinced that we are all stronger and can handle infinitely more than what we think we can. If you are interested in that, I think you can listen here.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Talk to you soon!
I’m glad you had a good little mental break from training and racing- your last week still looks really strong though! Love that you got to run some on the beach and it sounds like you had some interesting finds! Can’t say I’ve ever found much on my runs besides roadkill and maybe a dollar or two, lol.
I’m glad you had a good little mental break from training and racing- your last week still looks really strong though! Love that you got to run some on the beach and it sounds like you had some interesting finds! Can’t say I’ve ever found much on my runs besides roadkill and maybe a dollar or two, lol.
A run on the beach, wow…dream come true. But not the snake. I heard your podcast with Lindsey Hein. What a story. I’m so glad you found your husband and strength you get your life back after such a horrific event. I’m a 40-some yr old who stuggle with running, I love it but it’s hard for me and not something that comes easy. Seeing other bloggers stories and love for running is great motivation for me. Your story is also a good reminder for me, that running in the early morning and late night hours by myself, small safe town or not, I need to be much more careful. Thanks for sharing. That can’t be easy.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I love that running appeals to so many people and can be such a positive influence in our lives. It’s definitely good to be aware of your surroundings, no matter when or where you are running. I think running is hard for all of us on some level, but that’s part of the appeal maybe … that sense of accomplishment after you do something hard and something that you might have previously thought you couldn’t accomplish. I love that part of it anyway! Keep it up 🙂
A run on the beach, wow…dream come true. But not the snake. I heard your podcast with Lindsey Hein. What a story. I’m so glad you found your husband and strength you get your life back after such a horrific event. I’m a 40-some yr old who stuggle with running, I love it but it’s hard for me and not something that comes easy. Seeing other bloggers stories and love for running is great motivation for me. Your story is also a good reminder for me, that running in the early morning and late night hours by myself, small safe town or not, I need to be much more careful. Thanks for sharing. That can’t be easy.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I love that running appeals to so many people and can be such a positive influence in our lives. It’s definitely good to be aware of your surroundings, no matter when or where you are running. I think running is hard for all of us on some level, but that’s part of the appeal maybe … that sense of accomplishment after you do something hard and something that you might have previously thought you couldn’t accomplish. I love that part of it anyway! Keep it up 🙂