Weekly Wrap — Page 5

Weekly Wrap – Black Cat Training Week 5

February 4, 2018 by Michelle 26 Comments

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

I am counting down to the start of the game and cheering on the Patriots! But before I get to football, food, and beer I’m joining hosts Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap. If you post a weekly training update definitely check out this link-up – it’s a great place for motivation, encouragement, and inspiration!

Monday – Rest; plank streak D29

Tuesday – 3-mile run; plank streak D30

Wednesday – Woke up with a mysterious ITB/glute pain – had no idea where this flare up came from since Tuesday’s run was uneventful. Unfortunately, I had presentations for work and spent the day on my feet…in heels. Skipped my strength work and spent some time rolling with a lacrosse ball. Still kept the plank streak alive!

Thursday – Another 3-miler was scheduled but the ITB/glute was only mildly better. I’m in no mood to be sidelined so I hightailed it to the massage therapist. Plank streak D32

Friday – With the ITB feeling much better, I hit the treadmill to make up Thursday’s run. I got to test out my new kicks! I also joined Rachel’s Supermans, Squats, Twists Challenge so there were 30 squats in addition to streak day 33.

Mizuno Wave Sky

Saturday – The forecast showed brutally cold temps so I opted to push my run to Sunday and get a strength workout instead. I focused on core and upper body, including the challenge’s 30 Russian Twists. Plank day 34.

Sunday – So Mother Nature has a twisted sense of humor. When I started my run it was 40 degrees, but things quickly changed…temps dropped and then icy rain began. Seriously?! Of course, the ITB/glute decided to start complaining just for added fun. Not much you can do but dig in and finish. 7 miles done!

And with that, week 5 of Black Cat training is a wrap!

Filed Under: Black Cat 10 Miler, Weekly Wrap

Black Cat Weeks 3 and 4

January 28, 2018 by Michelle 42 Comments

In the flurry of last Sunday’s AFC Championship Game and the awesome comeback win of my beloved Patriots, I completely missed last week’s Weekly Wrap. So I’m linking up with hosts Holly and Wendy for a quick wrap up of the past two weeks of Black Cat training.

When I last checked in I was starting to feel off and had that sense that a cold or something was ready to unleash itself. Well, I manage to dodge it for a few days, but the creeping crud finally hit in full force this week – taking out both my boys and finally me.

I’ll spare reliving the details, but I’m happy to say that I did manage some workouts despite feeling less than 100%. Most of my runs have been quick 3-milers. But a break in the frigid temps has helped to nudge me outdoors for a couple of runs, including a great run last Sunday when it actually reached 50 degrees! (Who can turn down 50 in January?!) I hit 6 miles, which is the longest I’ve gone in a while.

I’ve also been doing what I can to keep up some strength training focusing primarily on glutes and hips. Additionally, the plank streak I started at the first of the year continues (hello day 28)!

This week also brought some fun mail as I got my first ambassador shipment from Headsweats!

I also got my discount code to share – use ATTITUDE25 for 25% off full-priced items on the Headsweats website!

Thankfully, I’m starting to feel better so this week I looking forward to returning to something that looks more like a consistent training plan.

And that’s a wrap!

Tell me something about your week – Have you managed to stay healthy? Do you workout when you’re sick?

Filed Under: Black Cat 10 Miler, training, Weekly Wrap

Black Cat Week 2 Wrap Up

January 14, 2018 by Michelle 48 Comments

Week 2 of Black Cat training is done and it was a bit all over the place. I spent the week juggling a hectic schedule while feeling less than stellar. I’ve been definitely fighting off something and it finally caught up with me today.

Monday – Woke up feeling pretty lousy – like a cold was imminent. Thankfully it was a rest day so I worked from my couch under a blanket and hoped it would pass.

Tuesday – A heat wave of 40-degree weather broke out and I just couldn’t pass it up. I felt like crud so it was a slow and easy 3 miles – felt great to be back outside!

Wednesday – Made my first foray back to early morning workouts and hit the gym for 40 minutes on the bike and some strength work.

Thursday – A collision of schedules and still trying to get on top of whatever had me feeling so crappy made this a rest day.

Friday – I so wanted to run in the morning to beat the crazy rain and wind heading our way but just couldn’t rally. I settled for treadmill miles later in the day happy to have not missed my run!

Saturday – My body was craving a good stretch so I hit the yoga mat with my furry yogi master 😉

Today was suppose to be a 7-mile long run, but I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck so I gave in and have spent the day on the couch watching football. I’m not working tomorrow since it’s MLK Day so hopefully, I can get that run done then.

In other news…I found out that I was selected as a Headsweats ambassador for 2018! I love their hats and visors and am looking forward to representing them!

And that’s a wrap! I’m linking up with Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap.

Tell me something about your week. Did you get a break from the frigid temps this week?

Filed Under: #TeamHeadsweats2018, Black Cat 10 Miler, training, Weekly Wrap

Wrapping up Black Cat Week 1

January 7, 2018 by Michelle 42 Comments

The first week of the new year is in the books so it’s a good time to get back to weekly updates. I’m linking up with Holly and new host Wendy for the Weekly Wrap – this a great link up to find support and motivation, so be sure to stop by and check out how everyone spent their first week of 2018.

For me, this week marked the start of my training for the Black Cat 10 miler. While I was all fired up to hit the pavement, Mother Nature had something to say about it.

Monday – New Year’s Day & a rest day

Tuesday – Strength training. While I usually run on Tuesdays, a quick glance at the weather and the snowstorm coming on Thursday had me juggling my schedule so I could keep an every-other-day run schedule.

Wednesday – Bitter temps settled in and with hill repeats on my plan I ran my first miles of the year on the mill.

Thursday – Cross training by way of shoveling 12 inches of snow thanks to the “bomb cyclone”.

Friday – Sub-zero temps and ridiculous winds meant I was heading back to the gym for another run. The highlight was having my son join me!

Saturday – I was feeling very beat up after Friday’s run (happens often to me after mill runs) so I was happy to have a rest day.

Sunday – Yeah it was 1 degree so back to the gym I went. 6 more miles on the mill.

So while I would have preferred to have run outdoors, I’m happy with 13 miles to kick off this training cycle. The forecast shows a warm-up into the 30s this week so I’ll look forward to hitting the road.

So how was your first week of the year? Are you training for anything?

Filed Under: Black Cat 10 Miler, training, treadmill run, Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap – Catching my breath

December 11, 2017 by Michelle 31 Comments

Another whirlwind week is done! Thanks to juggling work, home, and volunteer commitments I was once again running around like my hair was ablaze. Workouts were whittled down events but did happen in some fashion.

Monday: A rare Monday run…and at night no less!

Tuesday: Rest.

Wednesday: 3-mile run

Thursday: Strength work

Friday: Yoga was planned but didn’t happen

Saturday: 4 miles and the first snow run of the season!

I’m relieved to say that J’s work-related travel is done for a while and he was back in time for us to attend his office holiday party Friday night, which was great fun. The weekend was spent trying to catch up on an array of household stuff, including getting our tree, decorating, and wrangling with the Shutterfly site trying to pull together a Christmas card and photo calendar.

This week there is nothing looming large on the schedule, so I’m looking forward to things settling down a bit.

In other running related news, I decided last minute to throw my hat in for the Cherry Blossom lottery…and this happened

After being a part of the RnB team for both 2015 and 2016, I stepped away this year as I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do much travel (and in the end, with my injuries it turned out to be a good choice!). So I’m happy to back and now have a little extra motivation to figure out which races I’m running next year! And I’m looking forward to some blogger meet ups!

I’m linking up with Holly & Tricia for the Weekly Wrap, and with Marcia, Erika, and Patty for Tuesdays on the Run.

Anyone else join the CB lottery? Will I see you at a Rock ‘n’ Roll race next year?

Filed Under: #RocknBlog, Tuesdays on the Run, Weekly Wrap

November Rewind and December Goals

December 4, 2017 by Michelle 18 Comments

Before these days start ticking by, I want to quickly wrap-up November and set some goals to close out 2017!

I had 4 goals for November:

30 Days of Movement
Complete the #RunNovemberChallenge
Strength Train 3x’s/week
150 Minutes of Planking (5 minutes/day)

Thanks to the #RunNovemberChallenge, I hit 27 days of my 30 days of movement goal. As I run-fessed, long days in the car for Thanksgiving travel derailed my “streak”, but I’m still pretty pleased with how this challenge went – it was perfect for this non-run-streaker since I could complete my minimum daily mile with either a run or a walk.

Please don’t ask me how many miles I racked up – I did a terrible job of tracking. Same holds true for my total planking minutes. While there was daily planking and I know I hit my 5-minute goal the majority of the days, there were definitely a couple of days towards the end of the month where I was short.

Strength training 3 days a week proved to be ambitious given some of the crazy busy weeks I had this month between work and the solo parenting duties. In the end, I hit the gym twice a week – which is probably a more realistic commitment, especially once I return to a race training plan.

So while there were a few misses, I’d say overall this was a pretty solid month.

And the plan for December?

Given how busy things can get around the holidays, I’m going to keep these goals pretty simple.

Ease back into training – With a couple of races figured out for February, it’s time to hit the register button and then get back to something that resembles a training plan.
Continue the focus on strength work – I’m running pain-free and I want to keep it that way. I will continue to meet up with my friend E for weekly gym sessions on Wednesdays and see if I can get her to join me for my Friday sessions.
Make sleep a priority – I was running a sleep deficit most of November, which is just no bueno, so time to turn that around.

So how was your November? What are you focusing on this month?

I’m joining Holly & Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.

I’m also joining Marcia, Erika, and Patty for Tuesdays on the Run.

Filed Under: goals, month in review, Tuesdays on the Run, Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap – Just Go Go Go

November 19, 2017 by Michelle 43 Comments

This was a week of go-go-go. There was much to juggle between work and home and once again I was doing the single parent drill as J was traveling again. I’ll admit there were many times this week where my patience was seriously tested. While carving out time for my workouts is always a priority, it was key to my sanity this week!

I’m linking up with Holly & Tricia for the Weekly Wrap so here’s a quick look at how I kept my sanity this week.

Monday: Mondays are usually rest days, but thanks to the #RunNovemberChallenge, I got out for a quick powerwalk around the block.

Tuesday: The frigid temps continued as I had to learn to re-acquaint myself with my layering skills 🙂

Wednesday: A leg burning workout was on the decks as I met E for time on the ‘mill and then hit the weights.

Thursday: DOMS kicked in from Wednesday workout which made this run a real challenge. But I knew I had a crazy day ahead and squeezing in this time for myself was worth running on tired legs.

Friday: By the time Friday rolled around I was t-i-r-e-d! I met a friend for lunch, got a brisk mile walk in and called it a day.

Saturday: I had planned to run, but just couldn’t get motivated to get out in the cold. I knew Sunday was supposed to be warmed and my legs were aching for a good stretch so I swapped in some yoga and another mile and gave my body the rest it craved.

Sunday: It was definitely warmer when my alarm when off, but also pouring rain. Yeah no…so I waited out the rain and finally headed out in the early afternoon. The wind was swirling and non-stop, but it was 50 degrees!

So despite the crazy week, I still managed 4.25 miles walking, 9 miles running, 5 minutes of planking/day, plus some time with both weights and my yoga mat – sanity saved!

How was your week?

Filed Under: crazy week, Weekly Wrap

Runner Rebuild Week 2

November 12, 2017 by Michelle 32 Comments

So I’m now two weeks into the “rebuilding” phase, and things are cranking along nicely. I’m joining Holly & Tricia for the Weekly Wrap – this is a great link up for support and motivation so if you post a weekly training recap, be sure to stop by and join in!

The week was a mix of runs and walks to keep my #RunNovemberChallenge streak going. The runs continue to be short with my longest run today of just 4 miles. While there was just a touch of soreness today, I think that was more due to being on my feet at a party last night than the run itself. Overall, the runs have been pretty much pain-free and that puts a big smile on my face. Even the quick drop to frigid temps can’t dampen my mood – I’m too happy to be running again to complain.

I also hit the gym twice with my friend E for a mix of kettlebells and weights. And, yes there was 5 mins of planks a day!

I also got some time in with my massage therapist for some active release work- always helps!

The upcoming week will be more of the same but hopefully with more miles. I’ve got my sights set on a couple of February races so if all continues to go well over these next couple of weeks, I may go ahead and hit the register button!

How was your week? Have you registered for any 2018 races yet?

Filed Under: #RunNovemberChallenge, rebuilding, Weekly Wrap

Runner Rebuild – Week 1

November 5, 2017 by Michelle 42 Comments

After almost 2 weeks off from running, I started the slow road back to re-building this runner.

Monday – My usual rest day

Tuesday – 3-mile run. I left the watch at home and took this one at an easy-peasy pace. No pain!

Wednesday – A brisk 3-mile walk with my friend E and 5 minutes of planking to kick off my November goals.

Thursday – PT exercises, more planking, and a 1-mile walk with my pup for the #RunNovemberChallenge (so nice to have the option to run or walk for this challenge).

Friday – 3-mile run. While I was not happy to see the temps back into the upper 70s, I was thrilled that all the body parts played nice. (And, yes the planking continued).

Saturday – Apple-picking with the family. We don’t usually go this late in the season, but schedules just didn’t cooperate until now. Happily, there was no shortage of apples! (And I did get a mile in covering the orchard to keep my streak going)

Sunday – Another 3-miler to round out the week. I paid no attention to my Garmin while running so it was a nice surprise to finish and see progressive splits.

All-in-all a pretty good first week! The plan this week is for more short and easy running and some time in the gym with the kettlebells. I’m joining I’m joining Holly & Tricia for the Weekly Wrap – this is a great link up for support and motivation!

Huge congrats to everyone who ran the NYC Marathon today! And, what can you say about Shalane Flannagan?! Pure awesomeness!

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

How was your week? Did you watch the marathon?

Filed Under: #RunNovemberChallenge, Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap – Here we go again

October 22, 2017 by Michelle 46 Comments

It’s Sunday and just like that another week has flown by! After being able to step back a bit last week I’ll admit it was a little tough to find a rhythm this week.

Monday – Rest day

Tuesday – The plan called for hill repeats and I decided to hit the mill to bang these out. I had the gym to myself, which was a good thing given the amount of cursing that may or may not have taken place 😉

Wednesday – Scheduling and homework drama with my youngest (school projects are the bain of my existence!) got in the way of my weekly meet-up with my friend E so there was no strength workout.

Thursday – The plan called for a 4-mile cutdown run but nagging hip pain (yeah it’s back) had me pushing this run until the afternoon. When it came time to head out the door I got a text from E to see if I was up for meeting for a walk. I opted for the walk over my run. We got a brisk 3 miles done, and time spent with a friend did both mind and body some good!

Friday – I booked some time with my massage therapist to see if I could curb the hip issue. After some trigger point work, my hip was feeling much better, but the therapist warned me not to overdo it. (Cue the foreboding music!)

Saturday – It finally felt like a fall morning…cool and crisp enough that, while I wasn’t ready for long sleeves, I did break out the gloves! My hip started to protest around 5 miles and so I hit 6 miles and called it a day.

After a quick change, I headed to my boys’ school homecoming, where I spent a lot of time on my feet covering the cross country course to cheer my oldest and his teammates on. After his race, I left J and the boys to race home, change again and head to a work event. A lot more time on my feet, and I finally made it home by 1:30 a.m.

Sunday – Rest day. So yeah I didn’t do the best job heeding the therapist’s advice, and needless to say, my body’s not super happy with me today. Beyond stretching and rolling, not much else will be happening.

It’s frustrating to be back to dealing with the hip issue again. My therapist did raise the point that she didn’t think I had given myself enough recovery time once it started to feel better again before I dove back into training again..and as I was thinking things through during Saturday’s run, I’m thinking she may be right. Once again, I’m at the same point in a training cycle where it’s time to up the speedwork and mileage, and my body starts rebelling.

The return of the cranky hip is certainly not doing much for my lack of running mojo so hopefully, things will get back on track this upcoming week.

Have you ever pushed returning to running too quickly after an injury?

I’m joining I’m joining Holly & Tricia for the Weekly Wrap. Be sure to stop by and show these great ladies some love.