Run Is All You Need

What a tough week--at least off the road, it was. I'm just so disheartened by current events. Mocking and lying seem to pass for acceptable conduct these days. If it weren't for this blog, I'd be inactivating my Facebook account. Instead of seeing running posts and posts about family, my feed this week was filled with contentious political posts and memes--from both sides.

What's a runner to do?

Shut it down. Log off. Get outside. Go for a run. Repeat.

It's all you need.

Running
My goal for the week was to get in 3 runs of 6 miles each. The cooler temperatures have certainly helped with that! Both Monday and Wednesday's 6 milers were nicely paced runs with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees. I'm still doing run/walk intervals and like last week, the run intervals feel like I'm running instead of slogging. To think that just a few weeks ago, I was so frustrated with running I was considering calling it quits!

On Saturday, I didn't run as planned. Instead, we hit the road early to travel to Madison again to watch my Badger play rugby. It was a triple header and he played in the first 2 games. Unfortunately, both those teams lost. The A game, which is the one that counts in the Big 10 standings, was outstanding. The Badgers beat Indiana decisively! On Sunday, I watched the start of the Chicago Marathon and then headed out for my run. I planned on 6-7 miles to the retention pond and back but ended up pushing it to 8. I ran in the same conditions that the marathoners did, 57 drizzly degrees with that cold wind off Lake Michigan. The conditions were good for some nice splits and my legs felt fresh, having not run since Wednesday! When I made the decision to cut back to running 3 days per week, I wasn't sure how it would go, but my legs seem to like it.

CrossFit
Coach Sammy Jo and I discussed my goals for the fall. She wanted to know if I wanted to work on endurance or strength. The strength work I've been doing for the past 5 years has really kept me relatively injury free on the road and I'd like to continue with that. I'm also going to continue with bootcamp, which should help me with endurance. Plus bootcamp is so much fun--in a sick kind of way that only athletes understand.

Most of what I did with Sammy Jo was upper body focused this week. I did 3 sets of static presses, 8 reps at 60#! I fought for those final reps. Then I did a couple of circuits of standing chest flies, plank shoulder taps, hollow holds, and 250m on the SkiErg. I finished with GHD situps. Bootcamp had a lot of running, which was great for me! We started with a 15 minute EMOM of tire strikes using the sledgehammer (my favorite activity), sumo deadlift high pulls, and hercules holds. The hercules holds were supposed to be using a chain but it was too heavy for me so I used dumbbells. That was a shame because I wanted to chant "Hercules, hercules" while I held the chains.

After that, we did an 18 minute AMRAP 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 reps of dumbbell push presses, strict hanging knee raises, and dumbbell box step overs. In between each AMRAP was a 200m run alternating with a 200m row. This was exhausting but as always, I finished feeling accomplished.

Yoga
I did 2 yoga classes this week. On Monday, I did Lululemon's 45 minute Restorative Flow which wasn't exactly restorative but was a very good post run stretch. On Wednesday, I did Five Parks Yoga's Stress Release and Stress Relief Yoga. I hadn't done that class before and it was excellent. Also on Wednesday, I stopped at the newly redone playground at the school by my house to play in handstand. The woodchips have been replaced with a soft, squishy surface and I thought it would make for a soft landing if I fell. While I was practicing, I did fall and skinned my knee. The grass is still the best place to land. The best part of all of this is when I got up after my fall, I noticed a little girl just staring at me. Crazy old lady!

The Chicago Marathon
I had plans to spectate the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. The struggle was real as I debated between heading downtown or going for a run. The yucky weather kind of sealed the deal for me. I was tracking quite a few runners and it doesn't seem that the conditions affected anyone's finish times. I won't deny feeling the FOMO, watching the coverage on TV and seeing all the runners on the course. Congrats to all the runners!!! Chicago is just the best marathon there is. I'd love to run it again...but for now:

How was your week? Did you run the Chicago Marathon? Did you watch the coverage on TV?

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