Week five had a slower start than most, with a Monday morning that let me catch up on sleep, and then some light strength training after work. I had time to squeeze in a 10 minute leg class and a 10 minute core class before Den and I headed out to dinner, to celebrate our “date-aversary.” This year marked a decade together, so we decided to go out to dinner.
At dinner I decided to get a wine flight, thinking it would be a small tasting that came out with each course… imagine my surprise when four glasses of generously poured wine made their way to our table. It was a $21 flight, so I was really expecting about half as much wine as I got. By the end of the meal I had decided that my Tuesday morning run would need to be pushed to a Tuesday evening run, because between the food and the drinks I would need that extra hour od sleep Tuesday morning.
Since there is construction going on at my house this week I didn’t have a shower at home, so I decided to go to my parent’s house after work on Tuesday and use their treadmill, so I could shower after. I was in no rush, so I made myself a nice stack of classes on the Peloton tread. A warm up stretch, a warm up run, a 30 minute Lizzo run, a 20 minute fall out by run, a cool down run, and then 10 minutes of core. I started the stack, and didn’t look back, transitioning from one class to the next. When it was time to “warm up” with butt kicks and high knees in the Lizzo class, I put my “pace pride” aside, and turned the tread down to a walk speed to get in those movements, trying to not let the fact that it would lower my average pace bother me. I listened and turned the knob to climb the hills that were called out, and when I moved into the fall out boy run, I was happy to hear that it was meant to be a progressive run, where the pace would be turned up with each new song. I started at a conservative speed of 5.2, and was proud that I gradually turned it up and sustained the pace increases until I got through the last song at a 6.4, even turning up the speed a little extra in the last minute. By the time the cool down run started I was dripping with sweat, and glad I was done. When I got down on the mat to do core I was so sweaty that I was slipping on the mat! But I still got the core work done, and checked the boxes off as done.
Even though I got on the treadmill Tuesday night I still dragged myself out of bed Wednesday morning. I was sleepy, and my cat Binx was particularly cuddly, but I got myself out of bed. I pulled on the outfit I had selected the night before, and met Mom and Dad for our morning miles. It was another 3 mile morning, and I felt good despite running the night before.
As expected, it was rainy Thursday morning, which meant no bike escorts if I ran in the morning. I was feeling a little rundown, so I opted to stay in bed and get an extra hour of sleep. I figured I would hop on the treadmill after work, or head outside if it wasn’t too hot.
Spoiler alert : I did not run Thursday.
By the time I got home from work I felt even more exhausted, and gave my body the rest day it was asking for. I got into bed pretty much as soon as I got home from work, and went to bed right after dinner.
Dennis and I were supposed to be heading to PA for the weekend, so I was planning to do my long run after work on Friday - I only had 7 miles on the calendar, so it made sense to knock it out that evening. But in the late afternoon we found out that the construction crew that was working on our bathroom would need to return Saturday - we had made the mistake of thinking that they wouldn’t work on weekends, and while we were thankful for the company’s commitment to getting our bathroom remodeled quickly, we were a bit bummed to cancel our weekend away.
The one good thing that came of this (other than a beautiful new bathroom), was that Katie and Michal were planning to run 9 and 15 miles respectively on Saturday morning, and being home meant that I could meet up with them! The three of us spent many weekend morning together training for NYC 2021, but haven’t been synched up much this year. I planned to meet them an hour into the run, when our friend Sami (who was starting the run with them) would need to be back at her car to head out.
The timing worked out perfectly (aka I actually got somewhere on time for once in my life) and I was walking to the trail head just as they were running up. We spent a minute chatting with Sami, and then she headed home and the three of us headed back to the trail.
We headed south for a little more than 2 miles, then turned around so that we would be back at the car when Katie had finished 9 miles. The three of us chatted and the miles just slipped away. I had missed mornings like these more than I realized!
Katie left after she hit 9 miles, and I joined Michal for another 3 ish miles so that I would hit 7, leaving her to finish a little more than 3 miles solo. I couldn’t believe how fast the time flew by as I ran with them, only slightly out of breath as I tried to talk and keep up with them at the same time.
I didn’t do much else Saturday, other than start cleaning up after the construction crew left, and take a ride with my mom to home goods to look for bathroom decor (and maybe sneak a few Halloween decorations in my cart).
I had a lazy day planned for Sunday. I slept in later than expected, and then spent the morning listening to music as I cleaned. Dennis hopped on Zwift, and when he finished his ride I asked if he’d want to walk to the pool with me, so I could swim some laps. He agreed to join me, and we headed towards the closest pool, which was under a mile from our house. Along the way we spotted a free little library, and each picked out a book. A fiction novel for me, and a cookbook for him (I later found out that my aunt has the same cookbook, which she got from my grandmother, who used to cook with it in the 1950s!).
As we approached the pool, there were no signs of life. Once we got closer, we saw that the pool was actually drained. Womp Womp. We decided to continue on our walk, as there was another pool about a half mile away. Luckily, that one was up and running.
Even better, it wasn’t crowded and I had my pick of lanes. I hopped into the (very cold) pool, and started swimming. It was so cold that I had to stop mid way through the first lap to let my body adjust to the temperature, as my lungs were angry about the situation.
Once I acclimated to the temperature, I got in 30 minutes of laps, and then we walked home.
The one thing that the construction team didn’t take care of was paining the bathroom, so that was my afternoon project. I picked up supplies and then got to work hanging plastic over the new cabinets and tub, to make sure I didn’t get paint on them. Then I put down the first layer of paint, so that we can hopefully get some color on the walls later this week.
I was still thinking about my missed Thursday morning run, and decided that I was going to make it up my running to my parents house Sunday night. The weather was mild for august, and we were headed there for dinner (and to use their shower) anyway. So once the painting was done for the day I popped on my running shoes and headed out the door.
As I got going it felt a little strange to he running alone - I don’t think I’ve ran outdoors solo since maybe April? But once I found my groove I was reminded that sometimes it’s nice to be out there solo. I focused on the beat of each song that played through my headphones, and before I knew it I was approaching their house - it’s only a 2.5 mile trek, so it’s not a long journey.
When I turned off my garmin I was pleasantly surprised at the average pace it displayed - and that I had unintentionally managed a progressive run. I was proud of myself for deciding to show up and run those last few miles. I took the time to stretch after then run, and then enjoyed a Sunday night dinner with Den and my parents.