Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows

Sometimes I struggle to start these Weekly Wrap posts--when my week is mostly smooth sailing, I don't have a whole lot to say. When you live with 2 grown boys, uneventful is always a good thing in my book. I wouldn't go as far as to say the week was all Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows (Lesley Gore's classic tune is a peppy song and might actually work well on some folks' running playlists if you like happy music). Uneventful is about as Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows as it gets around here!

To tell the truth, I'm not really a Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows kind of gal. I'm more of a It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To...But I'll take an uneventful week and run with it. 

Let's do this.

Running

It was sunny but it was cold this week! Still, there's no complaining when you realize how much we in the Chicago area have dodged the bad weather. I was thinking about this on one of my runs this week. It has been really sunny this winter and that has done wonders for my mood.

I ran 4 times this week, but my favorite run was Saturday morning. I woke up sore AF from my CrossFit and Total Body Challenge work (more on that in a minute) and I didn't want to run. After a couple cups of coffee, I was fired up and ready to roll. The sun was shining, it was really cold (24F when I started) but there was NO WIND. Wind is the devil. No matter what Mother Nature throws at me, I can move it move it unless I'm running into the wind. So for this wind-free run, I felt like I was flying. I finished this run with an average 9:19m/m pace and that was using 4:1 run/walk intervals. Praying for conditions like this when I run my 8k in a couple of weeks.

CrossFit/Cross Training

I've been participating in Rachel's Total Body Challenge, which has been kicking my booty. Tuesday was fun doing burpees with Cocoa! She was all in. This made me laugh and set a great tone for the day.

On Wednesday, I did my supermans/planks/pushups in the middle of my run. On Thursday, with 40 burpees and 4 miles on the plan, I did run/burpee/walk intervals. I broke up the burpees into sets of 5, which I did at every 4 minute walk interval. The rest of the minute was for walking. Kind of like an EMOM, right? This was actually a really great way to do those burpees. It was also really hard. 

Pushups. How low can you go?

Thursday's CrossFit session was tough. I think it's because I'm doing the total body challenge and really working my upper body. Coach Sammy Jo had me work on my static press, but I wasn't able to do more than 50#. I was so disappointed. She also had me do an EMOM of toes to rings x 8 and handstand against the wall x 30 seconds. I carried a 50# ball around alternating with backward 15# ball throws. 

It's no wonder I was sore and exhausted on Friday! While I subscribe to the "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" philosophy, I've also learned I need to listen to my body. My upper body was crying for mercy. I could not complete the 40 pushups on the plan, and on Saturday, I postponed the 50 burpees off to Sunday. On Sunday, I did a 6 mile run, with burpees during 5 of those miles in the EMOM style of Thursday.  Oof!

Yoga

On Monday, I did Five Parks Yoga's Yoga for Stress and Anxiety. It was very necessary. It was mostly pranayama and stretching, but there were a few vinyasas and I threw in Monday's Total Body Challenge workout in one of them. Wednesday I did a FPY short post-workout stretch.

This week's INB ambassador pose was Bridge Pose.

Randoms

Does the change to daylight savings time affect you? While I'm happy to have longer daylight hours, this "spring ahead' time change always gives me jet lag. I'm going to Florida this week, which means I have to "spring ahead" yet another hour. The struggle is real....

I hate to sound like an old timer but this week one of Chicago's iconic radio stations went off the air. "The Loop" aka WLUP has been around for about 40 years. I grew up listening to it--my fondest memories were when I worked at the photo booth and I'd be rocking out to whatever they were playing. The DJs were local celebrities. The playlist didn't change much over the years, except for the addition of some grunge, but when I was in the mood for a trip down memory lane, I knew I could turn the dial to 97.9 and hear the music I grew up with. Now if I want to listen to music from the 1970s and 1980s,  I'll have to listen to the "oldies" station. I am officially old.

Don't ask me why I still have this shirt from high school!
The logo never changed. 

This past Wednesday was International Women's Day and I saw a lot of posts on social media celebrating all the strong women. I had dinner on Saturday with one of my favorite strong women and I'm not just saying that because she used to be a competitive bodybuilder. She's also one of my oldest friends, with a friendship going back over 40 years. When we get together, we always seem to just pick up where we left off. The older I get, the more I value these deep friendships. 

How was your week? Are you dying, I mean doing the Total Body Challenge? Running much? Daylight Savings Time-yay or nay? Did you celebrate International Women's Day? Who's your favorite strong woman?

It's the Weekly Wrap, the fun internet party where a bunch of women fitness bloggers get together to share and commiserate over their workout or race recaps! At this party, we comment on the hosts' blog posts as well as a bunch of other posts. It was International Women's Day this week--and this linkup proves how supportive women can be! Have a wonderful week!

An InLinkz Link-up