Sunday, November 3, 2019

Don't Call it a Comeback

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Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years
Rockin' my peers and putting suckas in fear
Making the tears rain down like a monsoon
Listen to the bass go boom...
~LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out

I returned to long-distance running with this week with a run in downtown Chicago at the Hot Chocolate 15k. Happy to pin on a bib for a distance longer than a 5k--my last long race was in January--but I'm not calling it a comeback. Let's just consider it getting back on track.


Summary:
Monday: CrossFit
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 5 miles treadmill workout, Yoga with Adrienne
Thursday: Strength training, bootcamp
Friday: rest
Saturday: ran 3.1 miles
Sunday: Hot Chocolate 15k (recap to come)

Miles for October: 62.5

CrossFit: 
On Monday, I woke up in a world of hurt. RA reminding me that it's still in the house. Should I go to CrossFit or not? You know what I did. I lathered up with CBD cream and headed off to the box for class. We started off with strength work, an alternating EMOM of one hang squat clean and pushups followed by deadlifts. The door was open and I headed out into the cool air to ward off nausea. The MetCon was 4 rounds of 20 plank step-ups, 16 waiters' lunges, and SA DB hang clean and jerks. OMG. I seriously thought I might vomit. I did not and I consider that a win!


On Thursday, Coach Sammy Jo had me do that AMRAP of bench presses. Guys, I did 10 at 65#! We both agreed I could have done at least one more. She told me that again I surpassed her expectations. I was really excited! After that, we worked on snatches to overhead squats. As I've said before, the snatches are like a dance move and it continues to be a work in progress. But I did get that OH squat of 55#! Several times.

Bootcamp was a special Halloween workout. The first AMRAP was 13 minutes of 13 wall balls, 13 push-ups, and 13 box jumps (I did step-ups on a high box). I made it through 6! rounds of this. I had to modify the push-ups because my shoulders weren't having it after all that snatch work. The second AMRAP was 6 minutes of toes to bar (I did knees up),  6 pulls up (I did the blue band), and 6 squat cleans, which I did 55#. I made it through 3 rounds. The final AMRAP was 8 minutes of 100m loaded carry (I ran with my 10# wall ball), 1 lap of bear crawl sandbag drag (50#), and 5 burpees over the bag. I made it through 3 rounds of this.

The cold never bothered me...
For a while, my feet have been trying to tell me that my running shoes are not giving me adequate support when I'm lifting weights. I finally bit the bullet and bought these Reebok Nano 9 CrossFit shoes. It really is important to use sport-specific shoes. After using the new shoes on Thursday, I know I made the right decision. My feet didn't make a peep!

Running:
The weather was not conducive to outdoor running this week. On Wednesday, I was aching so badly and it was rainy and cold that I decided to take it to the treadmill. I found another treadmill class on YouTube and eaked out 5 miles. There were intervals and hills. This was a great class and the time passed quickly.  Saturday's run was outdoors. After receiving 5 inches of snow on Halloween, I was happy to see that most of it melted. My legs continue to feel good and this run went well.


Besides buying the CrossFit shoes, I also bought a new Garmin. When my sister and I were in Hilton Head, my Garmin refused to transfer data to my phone and eventually stopped finding a GPS. I tried resetting the watch multiple times, losing all my data, and still wouldn't work. It was pretty old and I finally gave up. I looked at all my choices and as much as I coveted the gorgeous Garmin Fenix 6S, I couldn't justify the price. I don't need all those features and so went with the basic Forerunner 35. It's small, it's sleek, and it does everything I need, including a heart rate monitor. I really like it!

On Sunday, I ran the longest race I've run since the Mobile Half Marathon in January. My friend Steph talked me into running the Hot Chocolate 15k with her. While this isn't one of my favorite races, I do love the distance and it was a good place to test out my endurance. I predicted I'd finish around 1:30 and yep, I did, finishing in 1:30:53. I'll share more on Tuesday when I recap the race.

How was your week? Did you dress up for Halloween? Did you get snow? Any races to share? Have you tried any treadmill classes--at home or at a studio? Any new equipment or gadgets for you lately? 

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

41 comments :

  1. Omg, those Wonder Woman at boot camp pics are fantastic, especially the snow one! Any other good costumes at boot camp that day from other people...? It's more fun when everybody does it!

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  2. WTG toughing it out this week! I know I will not be anywhere near that finish time in my 15k. It’s a relatively small race so i’ll Be way BOTP too. There is forecast for snow Friday but not 5”!!!!

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    1. This race is huge! Over 30,000 participants in the 15k and the 5k. Kind of a mess at the start. Oh well, I wasn't in it to win it!

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  3. I hear ya on the miserable weather...we didn't get as much snow as you, but we got enough to make me dread what's yet come. It's just too early, in my opinion. My Shuffle finally bit the dust, officially. It worked briefly at MCM, but then refused to function. It totally did not respond to anything for yesterday's 13.1...so, that's two consecutive weekends of long distance races with NO music LOL. And I lived to tell about it. Apparently music isn't everything...but I'm still gonna search for something to replace it. Glad it's the off-season, so there's no hurry. Good job on your race!

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    1. Why don't you use your phone? I run with my phone for safety and use Spotify to make playlists. There's a free version. I don't always run with music but it's nice to have it.

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  4. I'm glad you got CrossFit shoes cuz yeah, running shoes don't cut it. Great job on the bench and with everything else. You lucked out with a decent day for the race!

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  5. Awesome job on your 15K today, and I love the HC15K swag - that zip up hoodie is really cute!

    I love that you channeled Wonder Woman for your Halloween workout :)

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    1. I loved that hoodie so much that I wore it for the race! Total rookie move but hey, who cares, right?

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  6. I also like to wear sport specific shoes as well. Great job today you look so happy. Looking forward to reading about the race. Thanks for linking up

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    1. I was happy to run long distance again! It was hard but not too hard. Happy with how it went.

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  7. Sorry RA was flaring but it sounds like you once again show it who's boss! Great job on those CF workouts! Looking forward to your race recap.

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    1. As long as it's a pain flare and not a full out flare with fatigue, I can deal with it. Thankfully.

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  8. It looks like despite the flare, you had a solid week. I LOVE that you have your WW costume on in the pics. So badass because you are a badass!! Congrats on getting back on track!

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    1. I really thought I was done with running. Grateful that I"m not!

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  9. So great to hear you're coming back to distance! What a great week :) Makes me smile.

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  10. I love your Wonder Woman shirt! The Garmin F35 is a great watch. The only reason I moved on to the 235 is so that I could set up more complex workouts which I couldn't do on the F35, but it really did 99% of what I needed and you cannot beat the price. Congrats on the 15k and I can't wait to hear more about it.

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  11. I've never tried a class for treadmill running. I wonder if I'd like that. Most days my TV keeps me very entertained, but switching it up would be interesting too. I always tease my husband about his Fenix. We never get the same distance or pace and his takes forever to lock in the GPS sometimes. It's a few years old now though, so maybe the new one would be different. I've been loving my Forerunner 235 for a long time now, but it's starting to be a bit irritable when I charge it. Hopefully it's not an early sign of failure!

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    1. My 230 was getting cranky and then it just decided enough was enough. I was sad to lose my workouts from Hilton Head--it's kind of fun to collect those vacation workouts on Garmin Connect and Strava!

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  12. Strong woman! You're amazing! No dressing up for Halloween here. I have a Forerunner 35 and it's so reliable. I hope you enjoy yours.

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  13. Congrats on your race! I can't believe you got all that snow. It was in the 70s here on Halloween! But that night we got storms and it cooled off alot after that. I had some dino ears to match Grayson's costume but other than that I didn't dress up. Maybe next year when we actually walk around trick or treating.

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    1. I couldn't believe we got all that snow either. And not a one trick or treater.

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  14. I am always amazed at your Crossfit workouts. Well done on your bench presses!! You really make me want to join a Crossfit class.

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    1. I resisted for so long but my strength coach teaches them and it has worked out really well!

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  15. I swear, your Crossfit workouts make me tired just reading them! Plus, not being a crossfitter, many of the terms leave me scratching my head. :-) Nice job on the race!

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    1. It is definitely a new language! I'm still learning it too. But I'm enjoying the challenge and I like the mix of strength and cardio.

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  16. Congrats on the race!!!! That is so exciting!
    We got some rain but not snow yet. I still need to get some baby snowsuits!!!

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  17. really happy to hear about your running being so much better!

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  18. I've been running with a Forerunner 35 for the past two years and for the most part have felt like it does a good job at doing what I need it to do. The GPS is miserable downtown, but I haven't worn a watch yet that isn't. The only thing that particularly annoys me about the watch is that (at least as far as I've been able to tell) you can only have it do manual laps OR automatic laps - it won't measure both at the same time. It can notify you of automatic laps while you're manually lapping it, but it won't actually record them. The watch I had prior to the 35 allowed for both at the same time, so that's always been the biggest nuisance to me (especially because you have to pick what you want to do before your activity starts, so if you forget to turn manual lapping on/off before your run, it's too late to change it once you get going). But other than that, it's got all the features I need at an attractive price point, and it's served me well for the past two years.

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    1. I'm glad to hear you like the 35. I think I'll be fine with it--I don't do much else besides run/walk intervals and record my time!

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  19. Congrats on the Hot Chocolate race! Well, you know how the weather was this week for me. :-) I ended up wearing my small witch hat on Thursday which my students liked.

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  20. incredible work at crossfit and bootcamp. seriously, I am not strong at all and I'm just in awe of what you can and continue to progress to do!! BAM!!!

    glad you were able to do a long distance race too! kind of cool! I wouldn't call it a comeback, 'cos you HAVE been here for years ;)

    no halloween dressing up for us... whomp whomp.

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