This week was a bit routine, no major wins, no major bumps in the road. It was actually kind of nice to have a "normal" week of training!
Monday I did Yoga Flow, a class offered at work. It's supposed to be gentle, flowing yoga postures with focus on breathing. Now, don't get me wrong, I like yoga, and I think it's an important part of my overall health and well-being, but man, I have a lot of trouble getting into it. First of all, it's hard! Even though it is a "gentle" practice, some of those positions take a crazy amount of strength to pull off! I felt a little wimpy a few times when my arms or legs started shaking a few seconds into a pose. Secondly, I get bored kind of easily. I'm used to fast moving classes, or constantly moving while running, so slowing down and focusing on breathing does not come easy to me. I did feel refreshed afterwards, so I will stick with it for a few more weeks and see what happens!
Tuesday I had an easy three on the schedule and decided to run my regular route on campus. My weather app said 59, so I ran in capris and a short sleeve tee...I was ROASTING! The weather needs to make up it's mind already! At least with winter running I knew what I was in for. My hamstring and knee felt really strong the whole time. Listening to my body is getting easier day by day!
Wednesday I had four miles on tap. My BRF and I had coffee that morning and she told me I needed to "get lost" on my runs every once and awhile. So I took her advice and tried a new route through downtown Minneapolis. While this wasn't a huge navigational departure for me, it was fun to see some new scenery. What was not fun about this run was the wind. It was seriously brutal! There was a point where I was stopped at a stoplight and I had to actually brace myself against a pole so I didn't blow backwards! I felt really good though and ended up with close to 5 miles when all was said and done.
Thursday was crazy at work, plus my in laws were headed into town, so I squeezed in a quick three on the TM. Not much to write home about!
Friday I needed to get my swim in early since we had a full day of activities planned with the Grandparents. I went to the Shoreview Y which only has five lanes...and they were packed! I am not a big fan of sharing, but I hopped in an outside lane that only had two people in it. I got a dirty look from one of them when I asked if we could circle, she said "I'm almost done" and kept swimming. So I waited. She got out pretty quickly and I then asked the other woman if I could split with her (she was swimming against the wall). She said, "sure, I'll swim here" and moved to the lane line side, leaving me to swim against the wall. It was pretty wavy in there and I kept gulping mouthfuls of water every time I breathed. But I told myself it was good practice for open water swimming and plugged on. I managed to get 2000 yards in. I did a 500 warm up, 5 X 100 on 1:45, 200 kick, 5 X 100 on 1:35 (ouch), 200 pull, 100 cool down, and I only bumped my head on the bottom of the three foot section on one flip turn, so...winning!
Saturday I was up early again, my husband said I had to be ready for the day's activities by 8:45 am sharp! I had 10 on the plan, but knew that timing-wise that wasn't going to work out, so I planned for 8. I started out really strong and was surprised to hear I did my first mile in 10:40. Now, the "old me" would have been mad at how "slow" that was, but I embraced it and kept going at that pace for the next 3 miles. I was feeling so good after mile 4 that I picked up the pace a little (10:25 per mile) and ran 5 more. Negative splits...I haven't done that for weeks and it felt great! I wasn't sure how running so early was going to go, as starting when the moon is still out and finishing in full sun is a bit of a wardrobe conundrum, but I managed and was energized and ready for my day! After the run we took Grampa and Oma roller skating...surprisingly, my legs felt great, and I tore up the rink like it was 1985 all over again :)
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| Me, Logan and Grampa rock down to Electric Avenue! |
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