Looking for calm in the chaos

May 17, 2020 by 45 Comments

This week was a roller coaster for sure! Work has been super hectic and really will be for the rest of this month. Add in our washing machine checking out on us and sleep being super evasive, and yeah…this week was about finding calm in the chaos.

In addition to the Family Plank Challenge, here’s a quick rundown on this week’s workouts…

Monday — Rest Day
Tuesday — Strength training
Wednesday — 1-hour physical therapy session. I swear these sessions get more and more challenging!
Thursday — Virtual 5K for the Un-canceled Project plus a 5-mile walk with a friend. This was definitely the highlight workout day of the week. I had gone out not expecting too much from this run, but my legs felt really good, so I decided to push the pace and see what happened. I was rewarded with negative splits! Best of all my legs & hip felt good the rest of the day so I met a friend for a social distance walk after work and we logged another 5 miles. It was so good to see her and catch up!

Friday — PT exercises and core work
Saturday — 3-mile run followed by a couple of hours of hauling mulch around our yard.
Sunday — PT exercises, a 2-mile walk, and 20 minutes restorative yoga via Peloton.

The lack of quality sleep really did a number on my run motivation, but overall I’m glad I stuck with my workouts despite the chaotic week.

More new kicks!

My Mother’s Day gift arrived on Friday! My boys had spied me drooling over these limited edition Adrenalines and ordered them for me! I took my first run in them on Saturday and love the way they feel…to me these GTS 20s are an improvement over the 19s, and I think they will complement the new Ghosts I picked up a couple of weeks ago nicely!

How was your week? Do you rotate your running shoes between models or wear just one style?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: #UnCanceledProject, Brooks Adrenaline, Weekly Run Down

Weekly Run Down – Mother’s Day Edition

May 10, 2020 by 32 Comments

Wishing all my fellow running moms a big Happy Mother’s Day!

Another week of the “Corona life” is a wrap. A couple more races on my schedule for this year were postponed or canceled, leaving me with just a few fall holdouts. At this point, I’m taking it all in stride and keeping my expectations very low.  On the positive side, I’ve got more time to strengthen my hip and rebuild my mileage base with zero pressure of a goal race on the horizon.#glasshalffull

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s workouts…

Monday — Bosu & Bands workout and Family Plank Challenge Day 4
Tuesday — 3 miles, plank day 5
Wednesday — 1-hour physical therapy session, plank day 6

My son is taking this family challenge seriously!

Thursday — PT exercises, plank day 7 and 20 minutes of yoga via Peloton
Friday — 5 miles with the first 2.23 dedicated to Ahmaud Arbery. My heart was so heavy during this run. Thankfully I got to walk and FaceTime with Kim in the afternoon which definitely put a smile on my face. Day 8 – plank challenge.

Saturday — Strength training, including two workouts from Marcia’s new YouTube channel (Lower Body Burn followed by Iron Core Tabata). It was great to have Marcia as a virtual workout buddy!

Sunday — Virtual 5K for the Un-canceled Project. When I received an email from Run the Edge at the beginning of the week announcing that they were extending the Project for a second round through the week of June 21st, I knew this was something I wanted to do for a little extra running incentive.

I also signed up for the Zooma Run Club, which seems like a great group of women – I’m sure this will also be a source of fun motivation.

How was your week? Are things starting to open up where you are?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: #UnCanceledProject, planks, Weekly Run Down

Week 7 & May Goals

May 3, 2020 by 29 Comments

Hello May!

I’m sure many of you will agree that April felt like an eternity! There was something energizing to me about getting to Friday and the first of the new month. I am so ready to flip the page and dive into this new month with some new goals. But first, here’s a quick rundown on the week that was…

Monday — 1+ hour physical therapy session
Tuesday — Peloton 15 min Core Strength and 10 min Arm Toning
Wednesday — 3 miles plus an hour at physical therapy
Thursday — Rest Day
Friday — 3 miles
Saturday — Hot Chocolate Virtual 5K

Sunday — Yardwork & yoga

The highlight of the week was definitely social distance running with my brother for the Hot Chocolate Virtual 5K. Ironically, we had actually signed up for this race long before everything started going virtual. We liked that they were offering some fun swag and the money goes to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

So much fun swag!

We met at a local college that is actually the home to one of our favorite races so we knew there was a nice 5K loop there. And, since the campus is a popular place for runners and walkers we made it point to meet extra early so we had the place largely to ourselves. We agreed we weren’t out to set any PRs (I’m personally far from 5K racing shape!), so we kept it relaxed, kept our social distance, and had a great time catching up!

Wrapping up week 7 of Corona life and setting some May goals! #goals Share on X

May Goals

So to be honest my success with my April goals was a bit of a mixed bag. While I did a good job of getting back to my meditation practice and mixing up my cross-training, my eating was still all over the place, and at the physical therapist’s suggestion, I cut my mileage way back.

I’ve now been given the green light to build my base so that will be a big goal for the month:

  • Get back to running at least 50 miles/month
  • PT exercises 3x’s/week
  • Family Plank Challenge – yes, we’ve got a plank challenge going on in the RWA household!
  • Mindful eating — going to revisit this goal since I was so hit or miss in April

How was your April? Any virtual races coming up?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: goals, Weekly Run Down

May 2020 Ultimate Coffee Date

May 1, 2020 by 14 Comments

Happy Friday!

While I’ll admit with the stay-at-home orders in place it can feel a bit like the days are blurring together, I still like to celebrate Fridays. It’s the end of the workweek, it’s “pizza night,” and, in general, I welcome the change in the rhythm of the days that the weekend brings.

I’m kicking off this weekend by joining Deborah and Coco for the Ultimate Coffee Date, so grab a mug of your favorite hot beverage, and let’s chat.

May Ultimate Coffee Date

Over coffee, I’d tell you that Running with Attitude turned 10 this week! If you had told me when I sat down to write this post that 10 years later I would still be at it, I seriously would have thought you were crazy. Back then it was just a place for me to record my thoughts and progress as I attempted to become a runner. Along the way, blogging has afforded me some fun opportunities, and, best of all, it has introduced me to some great people.

Over coffee, I would also tell you that ironically, I have been having so much trouble with WordPress lately that blogging has really become a challenge. Honestly, I cannot watch another YouTube video trying to DIY my way through the various roadblocks I’ve encountered. I’m going to have to find affordable tech support to clean up this mess or this blog may not see 11!

Over coffee, I would tell you that I recently discovered the video messaging app Marco Polo. For those of you, like me who had never heard of the app, it allows you to send video messages to friends and family and they can view and respond when they want to – it’s kind of like video text messages. In this age of social distancing, it’s been a nice addition, especially when you just want to send a quick message vs. coordinating a Zoom call or FaceTime.

Over coffee, I would tell you that I am starting to wonder how much longer I can go without a haircut. With salons here still closed for at least a few more weeks, the question is do you live in a permanent ponytail or attempt a self-trim?

What would you tell me over coffee? Have you ever tried cutting your own hair? What technology are you using to stay connected?

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Filed Under: Ultimate coffee date

Week 6 on the Corona Trail

April 26, 2020 by 31 Comments

Happy Sunday!

I just got back a little while ago from a really nice 3-mile walk with J and our pup. I had originally planned to run this morning, but my right hip had different ideas, and the one thing my PT made me promise was to not run if I had any pain. The truth is I only had one run this week and I’m oddly ok with that. Here’s how my week went down…

Monday — 1-hour physical therapy session
Tuesday — Peloton 20 min Chest & Back Strength and 10 min Bodyweight Strength
Wednesday — Peloton Yoga for Hips, plus PT exercises
Thursday — 4 miles logged plus PT exercises
Friday — Another marathon PT session
Saturday — Strength training via yard and garden clean up and prep. Never underestimate the number of squats, lunges, upright rows and bicep curls you’ll do over the course of a few hours of yard work!
Sunday — In addition to this morning’s walk I’m planning on some yoga this afternoon

For some reason, I had no real desire to run this week so I focused on other things. My PT sessions were challenging and humbling (it’s amazing how some of the smallest moves can be so hard!) but I like the plan my therapist has laid out and I’m willing to put in the work so it’s all good.

Some other positives for this week…

…there was lots of extra virtual bonding with friends. I was especially happy to get to connect with Kim for a FaceTime walk.

…my new kicks arrived! While I’ve been running in Brooks Glycerin – the newer model seemed a little too mushy for my liking so I’m going to give these Ghosts a try.

Brooks Ghosts

Aren’t they pretty?!

And that’s my rundown for the week. How was your week?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Weekly Run Down

Runfessions – Stay at Home Edition

April 24, 2020 by 15 Comments

While social distancing is disrupting some of our routines, runfessions on the last Friday of the month remains. Marcia has opened the Runfessional so let’s get started…

While I’m trying to not get sucked into “too much” television watching, I runfess that my latest guilty pleasure is “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu. I’ve only got 3 episodes left and I just don’t want it to end.

With the Berlin Marathon recently announcing its cancellation, I’m really starting to wonder if there will be any in-person races this year.  Surprisingly, I still have a 10M on the schedule for early June but I fully expect it to be canceled – and I runfess, I’m not really sure I’d be comfortable attending if by some miracle it were to take place.

That being said, I runfess that I need to train for something! While yes running is helping to keep me sane, my runs for the past couple of weeks have just been meh at best. I really need a target so I think it’s time to embrace virtual races or create some other motivating goal.

Do you think you’ll return to racing this year? What are you runfessing?

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Filed Under: Runfessions

Adjusting

April 19, 2020 by 32 Comments

As the days roll on, I feel like I got my feet back underneath me this week. I did my best to focus on what I could control, turned down the volume on all the pandemic news, and just tried to take each day in stride.

Week 5 of social distancing/shut-down et. al. is in the books, here’s how the week’s workouts went…

Monday — With a Nor’easter raging outside, I opted for Slow Flow Yoga via Peloton and PT exercises

My son decided to join me!

Tuesday — 3-mile run. It was still a little windy but you couldn’t beat the sunshine!
Wednesday — 1-hour physical therapy session – boy was I sore after this one!
Thursday — Upper body strength training plus PT exercises
Friday — 3 miles.

The chalk work continues to make me smile

Saturday — Peloton 20-minute core strength plus PT
Sunday — 4-miles

While it’s no great surprise, I received the notice that Boston’s Run to Remember pulled the plug on the Memorial Day weekend race date. Given the logistical challenges, race organizers decided that postponing to a later date was just not an option, so this will be a virtual race, along with a generous discount on next year’s registration. So now I’m awaiting word on the Newport 10 Miler scheduled for the first weekend in June…I can’t imagine this one will go off either. #firstworldproblems

This week’s positives…

…another good PT session

…Zooming again with fellow run bloggers

…all in my “world” continue to be healthy and safe

I hope this last point is true for all of you as well!

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Weekly Run Down

Week four and counting

April 12, 2020 by 29 Comments

We’re wrapping up week #4 of COVID madness and social distancing. While I’ve been touting the importance of my workouts in helping me to navigate our current situation, I’m not gonna lie, this was an especially tough week. My motivation was way down, but I did my best to keep moving.

Here’s how the week’s workouts went…

Monday — Rest day
Tuesday — 3-mile run, plus a physical therapy session

a rare early morning run

Wednesday — 30-min Yoga Flow: Hips via Peloton
Thursday — Rest day plus PT exercises
Friday — Peloton workout: 20-minutes full-body strength plus PT exercises
Saturday — 2.5 hrs of yard work – the winds were just crazy and I had no desire to layer up so I pushed off my run and spent time clearing up the yard and prepping my garden.
Sunday — 3-mile run

Loved seeing these on my run!

Just two runs this week, but I stuck to my plan of weekly yoga and count Saturday’s yard work as a decent strength workout. This week was all about giving myself some grace and not getting caught up in “shoulds”.

Some positives for this week…

A trip to the physical therapist – Thanks to Massachusetts designating physical therapists as “essential,” I was able to finally get in to see the sports therapist my doc had referred me to about 6 weeks ago. The office only allowed for one patient at a time so I had a rather large space to myself..and yes, we wore masks and gloves. The therapist and I clicked right away and it was a really informative appointment. The final diagnosis is a tight Tensor fasciae latae (TFL) – so we’ll work to stretch the TFL while strengthening my glutes. Thankfully, I can keep running as long as the mileage stays low and there’s no pain while running.

Getting back into my garden – If you’ve been around here for a while then you know how much I love spending time in my garden.  This past Saturday was the first of many to come and that thought makes me smile.

FaceTime & cocktails – Continuing to connect with friends virtually has been good for my soul and this week was no exception.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Passover and Happy Easter, and a peaceful and healthy week ahead!

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Weekly Run Down

Running from March into April

April 5, 2020 by 22 Comments

To say March was a rollercoaster of a month would be an understatement for sure. And while we roll into a new month with even more mounting concerns about the impact of COVID-19, I’m making it a goal to stay focused on the positives and those things that help to keep my mindset right.

Here’s how this week played out.

Monday — Rest day
Tuesday — 3.1-mile run
Wednesday — Yoga
Thursday — Strength workout
Friday — 3-mile run
Saturday — Peloton workouts: 20-minutes full-body strength and 10-minute arms & shoulders
Sunday — 3.25-mile run

Some positives for this week…

One of my 2020 fitness goals is to run at least 50 miles a month to help keep a decent base. Thanks to my stressed quad, I missed that goal in January and February, but hit the mark in March – keeping my mileage low paid off!

And, speaking of that quad, I’m looking forward to starting physical therapy this week which will hopefully keep things moving in the right direction.

Spending some Zoom time with these fellow run bloggers was just what I needed!

April Goals

As most of you know by now I like to set a few monthly goals to keep me accountable. With all that’s happening right now, I welcome anything that will help to keep me focused and on track.

  • Hit the 50-mile mark again
  • Daily meditation — my practice was disrupted in March but I recommitted starting on April 1st
  • Continue to mix-up the cross-training
  • Mindful eating — there’s been a lot of stress eating during the past couple of weeks, so it’s time to reel it in

What are you focusing on for April?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: goals, Weekly Run Down

Virtually Connecting through April Coffee

April 3, 2020 by 20 Comments

What a difference a month makes! It feels like so much has happened since Deborah and Coco hosted last month’s  Ultimate Coffee Date. I’m glad they continue to host this little virtual escape as staying connected feels more important than ever. I’ve got a mug of Starbucks Pike Place in hand (homebrewed of course!), so let’s chat.

Ultimate Coffee Date – April Edition

Over coffee, I’d tell you that distance learning has begun in earnest in the RWA household. My middle schooler started a full schedule of classes this week and my high schooler dives in on Monday. I’m grateful that both boys’ schools are so well-equipped to meet the challenges of bringing the classroom online – I could not imagine taking on homeschooling right now.

Over coffee, I would also tell you that I’m not sure my dog is going to survive my younger son’s trumpet lessons via Zoom. Let’s just say he wanders the house whimpering and making other assorted sounds as he looks for a place to escape the melodious sounds emanating from my son’s trumpet. I have to bite my lip and not laugh…my son is not amused!

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I have really been enjoying the resurgence of family board games over the past couple of weeks. I am currently relishing my status as “ruler of the world” thanks to a victory in our last Risk game! On the other hand, I went down in an ugly defeat in Monopoly.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I cannot believe that I am still on a search for toilet paper! Luckily we had a decent supply before the madness started and a couple of weeks ago came across a rare supply at Target. But I have to ask, now that we’re almost a full month into this virus crisis how is there still no toilet paper?

What would you tell me over coffee? What products are you not able to find in stores?

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Filed Under: Ultimate coffee date