Hello Summer!

June 28, 2020 by 31 Comments

Heat and humidity are the names of the game around here this week as we close out the final days of June. It is crazy to think that we are almost to the halfway point of the year. Now seems like a good time to take a step back, reassess, and set some new intentions. And, with the short work week ahead and the holiday weekend, there will be plenty of downtime to just that.

But before I put June in the rearview mirror, here’s how this week’s workouts played out…

Monday — Yoga by Peloton. For the past couple of weeks, yoga has been my Monday thing, and this week was no different.

This was a great combo to release the stress of a Monday!

Tuesday — 3-mile run
Wednesday — 1-mile walk and PT exercises
Thursday — 2.25-mile walk
Friday — 5.4-mile walk catching up with a friend
Saturday — 2.3-mile run followed by a couple of hours of yardwork
Sunday — 3.5-mile run

Despite the heat and humidity, I tried to get outside most days, with an almost even split between running and walking miles. Sleep has been evading me once again, leaving me feeling sluggish many mornings with no desire to run. But, time outdoors is good for the soul, and I really enjoyed my walks.

Always good to opt outside as much as possible!

Today marks day 28 of the Summer Streaker Challenge, and my family team is more than halfway on our out-and-back across the state for the Great Run Across Massachusetts. Challenges like these have been fun and definitely help to keep the motivation up when the dew points get high.

How was your week? Are you embracing the summer weather?

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

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Filed Under: summer mode, Weekly Run Down

Mid-month check-in

June 14, 2020 by 24 Comments

Happy Sunday!

While things have been fairly quiet here on the blog lately, if you follow me on Instagram you know that I’m still plugging along with my workouts. Working out continues to provide a much-needed escape from all that continues to challenge our country at the moment. It provides a quiet space to process thoughts and feelings and is also a very important piece of self-care.

Today is Day 14 of the Summer Streaker Challenge – the goal is 1 mile or 20 minutes of working out each day. I’m happy to say that I’m still on track. Over the past couple of weeks, running has been a fairly low-key affair with most runs hovering around 3 miles. My right hip’s been fairly cooperative until yesterday’s run – a reminder to not neglect my PT exercises or foam rolling! After some extra care yesterday, I had a solid 5 miler today to complete another Un-canceled 8K.

My husband, brother, oldest son and I just signed on for The Great Run Across Massachusetts. We’ll be running out and back across the state for 235 miles, which nets out to 58.75 miles each, but I know we’ll each be vying for bragging rights to see who’s going to carry the team. I’m still looking for my running mojo to kick in so I’m hoping this challenge will be the added boost I need, plus it supports some worthy causes.

Aside from the running, I’ve made good use of the Peloton app for strength training, found my way on to my yoga mat a couple of times, and got out for a few walks with friends. All-in-all it’s been a decent couple of weeks of workouts. The plan for the next couple of weeks is more of the same, except that I’d like to start to stretch my weekend runs a bit longer.

How is June treating you so far? Do you use challenges or virtual races to stay motivated?

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

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Filed Under: #UnCanceledProject, Updates, Weekly Run Down

MAYhem Done – Hello June!

May 31, 2020 by 26 Comments

It’s the last day of May and my first thought is Hallelujah! Somehow I went into this month believing that without all of the traditional school events and both of my sons’ lacrosse schedules to contend with that this would be a low-keyed month…Boy was I wrong! This month felt hella long, and the events of this past week just about pushed me to my limit –  I am ready to say buh bye to this edition of May Madness.

Before I move on to setting some June goals, here’s a brief rundown of the last week of May…

Monday — 30-min Slow Flow Yoga courtesy of Peloton
Tuesday — Lower body strength training on the Bosu

Wednesday — 3 miles, plus 1 hr session with the physical therapist
Thursday — Rest day
Friday — 3.5 miles
Saturday — More yoga – seriously, who am I?!
Sunday — Uncanceled Project 8K. After suffering through ridiculous humidity all week, being outside this morning felt glorious! The peace of the early morning was also a welcome retreat from the heaviness I feel every time I think about all that is consuming our country at the moment.

With a major work project still kicking my arse, this week’s workouts were nothing wildly exciting. But they were done! And, I’m happy to say I hit my May goals of getting back to running at least 50 miles/month (I eeked out 50.6!) and completing the Family Plank Challenge!

So what’s on tap for June?

  • Continue daily planking (hopefully, I can get my family to keep playing along!)
  • Continue PT exercises 3x’s/week (This was also a May goal that fell apart as the month wore on)
  • Increase my monthly mileage to 65
  • Complete Run the Edge’s Summer Streaker Challenge (1-mile run or 20 mins of working out each day)

How did May treat you? Any big goals for June?

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

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Filed Under: #UnCanceledProject, goals, Weekly Run Down

Weekly Run Down Memorial Day Edition

May 24, 2020 by 27 Comments

Happy Sunday!

Wrapping up week 10 here on the Corona trail. While it was another stress-filled work week, knowing that I had the 3-day weekend coming helped to make it more manageable.

I’m happy to say that the Family Plank Challenge is still going strong. Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s workouts…

Monday — Triple Tabata workout courtesy of Marcia’s new YouTube channel. If you haven’t checked out her workouts yet, you really should!

Tuesday — Rest day. This was not planned rest day, but a restless night of sleep put me behind the eight ball and while I kept promising myself I’d find time for the workout later in the day, it just didn’t happen.
Wednesday — 2.5 miles plus PT exercises. I wasn’t able to connect with my PT this week for our usual Wednesday session so I made sure to dedicate a solid 30 minutes to try to keep the hip happy.

Chasing my shadow on an early morning run

Thursday — 3 miles.
Friday — Yoga.
Saturday — Strength training in the form of yard and garden work. J and I planted 19 plants plus started beds of lettuce, trimmed a couple of overgrown decorative trees and shrubs, and took out one monster of shrub with a root system that seemed to go on forever! (Note~ this is what happens when you neglect all gardening in favor of marathon training like I did last year – everything gets unruly!)

Sunday — Virtual 5K for the Un-Canceled Project. Oh my goodness everything hurt when I got out of bed this morning. I like that I had this 5K scheduled or I might have punted on running. There were certainly no land speed records set with this run, but it felt good to complete my third Un-Canceled run.

Some positives for the week…

…this week was a wrap for my high schooler and now he’s officially a senior! My eighth grader will wrap up this upcoming week and his school finally announced plans for the virtual graduation ceremony for the first week of June.

…our new washer arrived on Wednesday. Delivery and installation were easy peasy. At some point, I’ll have to make time to figure out what all 14 cycles do! 😉

…one more week of madness and some major work projects will wrap-up. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

How was your week? Taking on any major house projects?

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

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Filed Under: #UnCanceledProject, gardening, Weekly Run Down

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

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

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