Five Things Over May Coffee

Hello Friday! It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday and I’m starting off the weekend with a little catch-up over the Ultimate Coffee Date with Coco and Deborah. So grab a mug of your favorite beverage and let’s chat for a bit!

Five Things Over May Coffee

Over coffee, I would tell you how much fun I had over the Boston Marathon weekend. Bib distribution is always fun – I especially love it when runners are so excited they ask you to be in their “bib pick-up photos”. I ended up working alongside an older gentleman named Bill who was a trail race director and had run Boston among other marathons. It was a good time chatting with him about running and racing. I also had some fun meet-ups with the Brooks Run Happy Team -. the VIP Party on Saturday night, and then on Sunday a team meet-up.

Over coffee, I would tell you that I also attended Rewriting the Narrative Authors Panel at the Boston expo featuring Alison Mariella Desir, Kara Goucher, Lauren Fleshman, and Christine Yu. It was oh so good! I read Allison’s book, “Running While Black” earlier this year (if you haven’t read it you need to!) and I have Kara’s book sitting on my Kindle. I’ll definitely get to Lauren’s and Christine’s soon.

Over coffee, I would tell you that I’m looking forward to running my first race of 2023! The Mystic 10K is just a little over two weeks away. I love that my hubby will also be running it. It feels like forever since my last race in November.

Over coffee, I would tell you that my college boy just has exam week standing between him and coming home. I can’t wait to have everyone under one roof this summer!

Over coffee, as is typical for the month of May, I would tell you that I am on the hunt for our family’s summer vacation. Currently, we looking at cruises around Alaska.

Glacier gazing anyone?

OK your turn, what would you share over coffee? Have you ever been to Alaska?

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and MoreRunning With AttitudeRun Laugh Eat PieRuns with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!


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April Wrap-up and Setting May Goals

And just like that, another month is coming to a close. I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down to wrap up April and set some May goals. But first, here’s a quick look at this week in fitness.

April Wrap-up and Setting May Goals

Monday  — 1.5-mile walk, Upper Body Strength & Core
Tuesday — 2.25-mile walk, otherwise rest
Wednesday — Lower Body Strength & Hip mobility work
Thursday — 3-mile run
Friday — 1-mile walk & Yoga (hip focused)
Saturday — 6.2-mile run


Sunday — As I sit here with my coffee watching a steady rainfall, I have no interest in a cold rainy run so I’ll be taking my recovery “run” to the bike.

I logged 64 (mostly pain-free) miles this month and did pretty well with these April goals:

  • Opt outside every day – I missed just two days.
  • Daily stretching or mobility work – Check.
  • Increase long runs to 8 miles – Nope – just didn’t happen.
  • Complete the Team Wilpers Spring Run Challenge workouts. – In progress. I just finished week 5 of this 8-week challenge.

So, what’s on deck for May? I’m extending all of April’s goals and adding

  • Mystic 10K — I’m looking forward to running my first race of 2023!
  • Return to early morning runs — I runfessed that thanks to my sometimes hectic schedule, I’ve taken the fit it in where I can when I can. I prefer to get out and get my runs done early. This is especially a must once the weather turns hot so I might as well get back in the habit now, right?
  • Stick to a set workout schedule — See above.
  • Prioritize recovery and sleep

How was your April? What are you looking forward to in May?

 

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April Runfessions

The breakneck pace of 2023 continues and here we are approaching the end of April. Since it’s the last Friday of the month for this week’s Fit Five Friday, I’m linking up with Marcia to share a couple of Runfessions. So let’s dive in!

April Runfessions

I runfess that despite my best efforts to hold to a set workout schedule, many weeks I find myself juggling my workouts to fit things in where I can. I keep hoping for a light at the end of my hectic work schedule tunnel …but MAYhem is just around the corner.

While I’m beyond happy to be running relatively pain-free and overall running has, dare I say felt good, I runfess that I feeling a little meh about running in general. I’m feeling the need to shake things up a bit but haven’t quite landed on the “what” yet.

I runfess that I recently did this…

I’ve applied before to the London lottery with no luck so I’m not at all expecting to get in – but just the thought did spark a little excitement. You never know 🙂

Do you feel like April flew by? Do you ever get bored with your running?

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and MoreRunning With AttitudeRun Laugh Eat PieRuns with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!

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Click here to enter


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Kind of a Cut-back Week

This week the Team Wilpers Challenge hit the pause button on speedwork so it felt like a cut-back week of sorts. The work week was hectic – (I’m starting to feel like a broken record) and sleep has been evasive, so I was happy to scale back a bit and just run without a lot of pacing math. Here’s how the week in workouts played out.

Kind of a Cut-back Week

Monday – Lower body strength, Core, and 1.25-mile walk. Since I had the day off for the holiday (Patriot’s Day in MA), I had originally planned to drive out to spectate the Marathon. But, after 4 straight days of driving back and forth into the city (first for work then for Marathon-related fun), and knowing I had multiple days of commuting on deck, my body was begging for a rest. The less-than-ideal weather sealed it for me and I happily watched from the comfort of my couch 🙂
Tuesday – 1.5-mile walk & Yoga. An in-office day, but I did take a lunchtime walk and then hit my yoga mat after I got home.
Wednesday – 3.25-mile run. Another in-office day, but thankfully I was able to leave early enough in the afternoon to log some post-work miles.
Thursday – Peloton bike, 1-mile walk & Core
Friday – 2.8-mile run
Saturday – Peloton bike, Core, & 1.5-mile walk
Sunday – 5.6-mile run

This morning’s run was definitely the highlight of the week. Despite a poor night of sleep and the weather alternating between a light mist to heavy downpours, this was one of my better runs in the past couple of weeks – funny how that works sometimes. Hip mobility work and stretching continue on the daily, keeping my hip region happy and quiet. I’m looking forward to being in my car less this upcoming week – I definitely feel it if I spend too much time in the car.

How was your week?

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

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April Mid-month Check-in

As I find myself so often saying lately, the days are flying by…and here we are already halfway through April. Things continue to be busy in this neck of the woods, though thankfully less manic than in March. Instead of a day-by-day update on the past couple of weeks, I’m checking in to share some quick highlights.

April Mid-month Check-in

Running

I’m very happy to say that my running is feeling good! I’ve just wrapped up Week 3 of the Team Wilpers Spring Run Challenge and am really enjoying getting a taste of speedwork again. My “long” runs are holding steady at 6 miles with yesterday’s run being an especially good one where everything seemed to click – and the beautiful spring weather was just icing on the cake.

I have 5 weeks until the Mystic 10K so I’m feeling good about where I am at this point.

Mobility work and Walking

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve put a lot of extra attention on the pre-hab work including daily stretching and hip-focused mobility and yoga classes on the Peloton app. It’s clearly been helping my running. And, while I’ve sprinkled in some low-impact classes on the bike, my go-to on non-running days has been walking – keeping my #optoutside goal for the month intact. As I’ve been prioritizing focusing on my core and lower body strength, upper body work has taken a backseat – perhaps that will change in the next couple of weeks, but perhaps not. For now, I’m just kinda rolling with what’s working best for me.

New Shoes!

Thanks to being a part of the Brooks Run Happy Team I can say with certainty that I don’t need any more running shoes. But, that didn’t stop me from ordering the new Boston-edition Hyperion Tempos – when it’s a collab between your favorite professional runner and your favorite shoe brand, how can you not 🙂

Can’t wait to try these during my next speed workout!

In case you missed it:

Five More Things About Me

April Coffee Chat

How’s April been treating you so far?

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

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Five More Things About Me

Happy Friday!

Thanks for joining Darlene, Jenn, Renee, Zenaida, and me for another edition of Fit Five Friday! This week we’re inviting you to share five words that describe yourself – you are, of course, welcome to share any fitness/wellness-related post. I’m deviating a little to share five things about myself – I shared five things a couple of years ago which you can read here. It was a fun post to write so why not another one?!

Five More Things About Me

Home Decor — I love home decoration. I can happily spend time pouring over paint chips, fabric samples, etc. Home stores are one of my happy places! This will hopefully serve me well when the remodeling project begins.

Beach — Speaking of happy places, I am truly happy when I am near the ocean regardless of the season.

Swimming — While I love being on or near the ocean…I cannot swim. Oh, the irony!

Sushi — I’m pretty sure that I could eat sushi daily.

Candles — You will often find lit candles in my house or on my deck when the weather cooperates. My boys often tease me for buying more candles – I find them soothing and a subtle scent can be very relaxing.

Tell me something about you!

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and MoreRunning With AttitudeRun Laugh Eat PieRuns with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!

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April Coffee Chat

As we ease into a new month, this is the perfect time to settle in and catch up over coffee. For this week’s Fit Five Friday, I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date, so grab a mug of your fave beverage, and let’s chat.

April Coffee Chat

Over coffee, I would share how excited I am to have my college boy home for an extended Easter weekend! He got home last night and with the way his class schedule lines up with the days off, he doesn’t need to be back on campus until Wednesday!

Over coffee, I would tell you that once again I’ll be volunteering for the Boston Marathon. I’ll be working bib pick-up on Friday afternoon so if you’re running come see me!

After sharing my contractor woes over the past couple of months it seems only fitting that over coffee I would tell you that we have finally received some bids and have settled on a contractor. Now we need to get past the town’s conservation commission – sigh. Please send me some patience…

Your turn…what would you tell me over coffee?

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and MoreRunning With AttitudeRun Laugh Eat PieRuns with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


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Welcoming April

After the cray cray that was March, I am giddy to be turning the page to a new month and setting some new goals! But first, here’s a quick look back at how this week’s workouts played out.

Welcoming April

Monday — Core and Hip Mobility work. I woke up feeling very creaky so I decided to focus on some hip mobility work
Tuesday — Peloton Bike and 1.7-mile walk. I was determined to not let an uber-early commute to the office and crappy weather get in the way of getting a workout in so I hit the bike at o’dark thirty. I slipped in a walk later in the day when the weather improved.


Wednesday — 3 miles. The weather was spring-like and my legs were feeling good – perfect timing since I had Team Wilpers 20-min distance test to kick off the Spring Run Challenge on tap. Wanting to get at least 3 miles, I ran this as a tempo run with the 20 min. block in the middle.
Thursday — Rest day.
Friday — 2.6 miles and Core. The Challenge called for a VO2 max run – it’s been more than a minute since I’ve attempted a programmed speed workout. It was fun to do something different.
Saturday — Upper Body Strength & 2-mile walk
Sunday — 5 miles. I woke up listening to the wind whipping around the house so there was no sense of urgency to head out – coffee first!

April Fitness Goals

If you’ve been around here for a while then you know I like to set monthly goals to help keep me accountable and on track. I missed setting any March goals, so here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in April:

  • Opt outside every day – I’ve been missing my walks and with the increased daylight and hopefully Spring weather, it feels like a good time to get back to walking on my non-run days.
  • Daily stretching or mobility work
  • Increase long runs to 8 miles
  • Complete the Team Wilpers Spring Run Challenge workouts. The challenge is an 8-week challenge from March 27 – through the week of May 15. The Challenge will be a mix of easy running, incline training, and interval work which should align nicely with my May race.

Have you set any goals for April?

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

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March Runfessions

Happy Friday!

For this week’s Fit Five Friday I’m heading over to Marcia‘s Runfessional – I’ve got a couple of runfessions to share before stepping into the new month.

I runfess that March was just a hard month – I don’t mind being busy but this has been 31 days of a frenetic pace! The work-life balance was way out of whack and I feel like everything took a hit!

While I tried to hang on to running 3x’s a week, I runfess that I let go of trying to finish the Team Wilpers Half Marathon Challenge. With no half marathon on my race calendar any time soon, I didn’t see the harm in stepping back. But, ever hopeful that April will be better, I’ve signed up for the Wilpers Spring Run Challenge which should line up well with my upcoming 10K.

Last month I runfessed that my eating habits had gotten a little lax. I started the new month with the best of intentions to improve but then…yeah March happened. Again, there’s always April, right?

How was your March? Any Runfessions to share? 

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and MoreRunning With AttitudeRun Laugh Eat PieRuns with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please remember to link back to your hosts and share the link love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


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A Mixed Bag

A mixed bag – that seems to be the best way to sum things up since I last checked in for the Weekly Run Down. There has been some solid running, but a bit of crankiness has returned in my right hip area as my streak of consistent PT/hip mobility work hit some bumps. Overall, my workouts have been on the minimal side…but April is coming and with it, my version of “march madness” will wind down considerably.

Yes – just a few more days…in the meantime, here’s how this week in workouts played out.

A Mixed Bag

Monday — Rest Day. Despite trying to do all the right things following Sunday’s 6+ miles, my right hip was oh so unhappy, so I skipped the recovery run and opted for extra stretching.
Tuesday — 2.25 mile walk, Core, and Hip mobility work. Despite a long day in the office, I did manage a couple of miles at lunch with a colleague and some core and hip work after the late commute home.
Wednesday — 3 miles. The hip area felt less cranky and this run felt pretty good! And the bonus – shorts weather (see the header photo)
Thursday — 1-mile walk, Core & Lower body strength.
Friday — 5.5 miles & Yoga for Runners. I took advantage of having the day off and the weather to get my “long run” done. There was a little squawking from my hip over the last half mile so I followed up with one of the Yoga for Runners classes on the Peloton app.

All smiles and ready for the weekend!

Saturday — Upper Body Strength & Core
Sunday — 3.25 miles. I’ll probably queue up another Yoga for Runners class once I finish my coffee.

Such a beautiful morning!

Looking back over the past few weeks I think jamming workouts in where I could had me short-changing myself on proper recovery and I’ve paid for it a bit. Now with 8 weeks to go until the Mystic 10K, it’s important that I’m consistent in both my workouts and my recovery efforts.

In case you missed it:

5 Sources of Mental Clutter When Training

How’s your March been? Training for any races?

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

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