Crushing the Backup Plan

This year, I've become all about the backup plan. It's hard to let go of what you were, at least for me. I always pictured myself as a goal crusher. This year, I've become a backup plan crusher. I'm not saying this is a bad thing--it means I'm listening to my body and doing what feels good. Crushing the backup plan has become a lot of fun. I'm not training for anything, so along with running, now I'm getting to do all this cool stuff.

Maybe the backup plan is becoming the plan?

This Week in Review:
Sunday: 6 miles
Monday: CrossFit
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 6 mile run and Yoga with Adriene
Thursday: strength train and bootcamp
Friday: rest
Saturday: Run 4 miles, Willy Street Fair in Madison

On Sunday, instead of running my half marathon which I was not at all trained for, my husband suggested a really good backup plan. He had to go to work that morning at Northwestern University, which is located along Lake Michigan in Evanston. His idea was that I go with him and run there while he took care of some things he needed to do. Suddenly, the backup plan was looking pretty good. I got up at 5 and we drove to the campus. He directed me to the lakefront, and I ran north to Gilson Beach in Wilmette. Along the way, I spotted the skyline of downtown Chicago, the painted rocks along the campus shoreline, the mansions along Sheridan Road, the Grosse Point Lighthouse, the Wilmette Marina, and the Bahai Temple.

Clockwise from center: Bahai Temple, Wilmette Harbor, downtown Chicago skyline from Evanston, painted rocks by students along the Lake Michigan shoreline, Lake Michigan sunrise, Grosse Point Lighthouse, this painted shark is my favorite rock!, and running along the beach at Northwestern University. 

Being a local running tourist is a pretty sweet backup plan. This was a really great run except for an episode of profuse sweating and feeling week at mile 3. I stopped to walk and felt as if I might faint. Was this an epic hot flash? Who knows, but while I waited for it to pass, I walked around the Bahai Temple, taking it all in. When the symptoms passed, I finished my run, heading back south along the lakefront. There was a race set up and I crossed the finish line, lol! After I finished, I met up with my husband and we went to breakfast. Who knew that I'd enjoy this way more than I would have the race? I'm definitely going to do more of these types of runs.

My other 2 runs of the week were as different as could be. Wednesday's run was 6 miles of hot, humid ridiculousness. I set out to finish this run and finish it, I did. After reading Debbie's post that morning on stopping negative self-talk, I felt pretty motivated to finish. Run/walk intervals got me there. I don't remember the last time I sweated that much. This run surprised and empowered me! Thank you, Debbie!

Wednesday's scorcher of a run

Saturday's run was supposed to be an 8 miler and conditions were perfect for that and maybe even more! Blue skies and low humidity? It was a runner's dream come true. But...we had a trip to Madison planned to watch our Badger play rugby. As has been the case for me this year, I slept in and only had time for a quick 4. This run turned out to be a progression run, with my splits of 10:22, 10:10, 9:58, and a blazing 9:05. I did 4:1 run/walk intervals during this run, so yeah, that last mile was fast!

CrossFit was 20 minutes of strength work plus a short 8 minute AMRAP of alternating handstand pushups and cleans. The strength work was either toes to bar or hanging knee raises plus v-ups, pistol squats or progression, and bottom of kettlebell press. I had to scale everything. I worked on handstand wall walks alternating with 65# barbell cleans. At the end of the workout, we had to tally our scores and as usual, mine was one of the lowest. When I pointed it out, Coach Sammy Jo told me that this isn't a competition and that I should be proud of what I'm doing there.

Pistol prep because pistol squats are HARD!

True story but then why is the workout for time? Why are we posting scores on the board? I am a competitive person and while I really like the work I do at CF, I don't like rushing through the workout just to get it done. Even those handstand wall walks, which I am very proficient at, felt hurried and my back was starting to bother me.

I continued to ruminate on this and when I went to strength train with Coach Sammy Jo on Thursday, I brought it up. We kind of went back and forth on it; her POV was that I should only compete with myself. True. But my POV was then why post our times? As a runner, my mentality is to compete. We didn't resolve it, but instead moved on to the workout, which was a continuation of last week's 10 rep EMOM. This week I alternated 10 rep back squats with 5-6 pull-ups using the blue band. It was tough and it was empowering. I think about not too long ago when doing pull-ups using the green band (less resistance) felt difficult! I'm pretty excited about my progress! I also carried the damn 85# wreck bag for a couple laps--the one that nearly wrecked my back. Sammy Jo promised that the bag would never hurt me again and it didn't on Thursday.

Bootcamp was killer, but I not only conquered the workout, but I also conquered the clock. This was a 33 minute workout with a variety of activities. I was excited to see rope climbs on the first set of activities--but 6 rope climbs? I did one full and scaled the rest to 5 halfs. I wanted to finish the workout and knew I wouldn't have enough time to do all 6. As I continue to master that skill, those full repeated rope climbs are within my reach! We also did box overs, dumbbell clusters, an 800m run, 400 rope jumps (100DU), 75 atomic situps, 50 sumo deadlift high pulls, and 25 dips. Whew!

By the way, my son's rugby game was a blowout and not in a good way.  He was understandably upset about the outcome, but fortunately, we had a great backup plan already in place. The annual Willy Street Fair was taking place this weekend in Madison and the 5 of us--yes, we brought crazy Cocoa--made our way to the fest. This is a street fair dating back to the 1970s and as I've mentioned in the past, there are a lot of people in Madison who are still living in that era. It was a lot of fun with 3 music stages, lots of people watching, and the smell of weed in the air. There were a lot of dogs there and Cocoa was pretty nervous at first. We bought her some CBD dog biscuits, but it wasn't until she found some cheese curds on the ground that she began to enjoy herself! We all had fun and any time I get to spend with my boys and Diana is time well spent!

Cocoa does not like to have her picture taken!

Man, that was a long post! If you're still with me, thanks for reading. How was your week? Tell me about a time you had to rely on a backup plan to meet your fitness goals. How do you feel about a timed workout that also involves skill work? Any fun street fairs for you this summer?

Running is fun when you're not training for anything! How do you feel about loving your backup plan? /via @oldrunningmom #runchat #running

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown!