Leaping Out of the Comfort Zone

Even though yesterday was Leap Day, I didn't intend on even mentioning it in a post. But looking back on my week, I realized there were a few instances where I did some leaping, both literally and figuratively. I continued to train for my upcoming Florida trail race, a race I really have no business running. But hey, what fun is life if you don't try new things, right? There was a bootcamp workout where I did 75 box jumps. I pushed through RA pain all week to get my workouts done. And on Saturday, I drove downtown to meet my fellow CARA ambassadors.

No big deal, right? This might sound ridiculous to some of you, but I'm a bit of an introvert when it comes to meeting new people. I never considered not going, because I'm really excited to represent the organization. Plus, there was a plan to go to the Lo Rez craft brewery after our meeting. So I gave myself a pep talk, went for a run, and made my way down to the headquarters in Pilsen, where the plan was to watch the Olympic marathon trials.

Weekly Rundown
Monday: CrossFit
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: Trail run 5.15 miles
Thursday: Strength training and Bootcamp
Friday: rest day
Saturday: run 4 miles
Sunday: run 13.1 miles

Monthly total: 80 miles!

Running:
I don't know if it was my achy joints, the new snow, or the wind, but Wednesday's run was tough. I considered my trail options and figured that the forest preserve trails would be icy. So I ran at the preserve with the wide, limestone trails. There was a decent dusting of snow, which put some padding between my feet and the frozen ruts on the path. I ran into the wind for the first half of the run and it about broke me! Hoping that the challenges of these trail runs are like money in the bank for my Florida trail race, even though I won't be acclimated for the heat. Its the best I can do.

Saturday's run was a short 4 miler in the cold sunshine. I did a leap for leap day, but really I'd like to take a leap to somewhere warmer. Good thing warm weather is coming my way soon. Sunday morning warmed up to the 50s pretty quickly, so I exchanged my long tights for shorts and headed out onto the bike path for my long run. I planned on doing 12, but tacked on an extra half mile somewhere and so I made it 13.1. The wind was really blowing and even though I headed out into the wind, I couldn't escape the gusts no matter what direction I ran. I also had to make 2 pit stops-booo! and the only places with bathrooms were churches. I'll let you ponder the significance of that, lol. Anyways, I was mostly pleased with this run. I did take some walk breaks, but only 30 seconds every 4 minutes. That worked well for me. I'm as ready as I can be for my upcoming 25k in the Everglades!

CrossFit:
Monday's CrossFit had one of my nemeses, overhead squats, in the strength workout. These are HARD and I almost didn't go to class. We alternated those with chin-ups, which I did with the band. I was happy with my progress with the chin-ups, but the OHS got me. The MetCon was an AMRAP of double unders (I did taps) alternating with power snatches--those incorporate the overhead squats. So as you can imagine, I was in a world of frustration. SJ and I made a plan to work on the OHS at our next strength sesh.

Bootcamp was a straightforward 40 minute AMRAP of 400m row, 15 abmat situps, 15 box overs (I did jumps on a 20" box), 15 hanging knee raises, and 15 medball ground to overhead (I did 30#). We rested for 2 minutes every 5 minutes, but did a 45 sec plank hold each time. I completed 5 rounds of this.

Strength:
As promised, Sammy Jo broke down that OHS for me and not only did I get it, I set a new PR of 45# for my 3RM. It may not sound like a lot of weight, but trust me when I tell you that the overhead squat is a humbling lift. I was floating on a cloud after this. It sure feels good to master something, doesn't it? After that she had me do that push-pull thing with the prowler. I feel like there was something else programmed in there, but for the life of me I don't remember it. Does it really matter?

Off the Road:
When I arrrived at the CARA ambassador meeting, the Olympic Marathon trials were on. It was great to see Galen win so strongly. I was disappointed to see Desi come in 4th, but how about Molly Seidel? Who? Did you know she qualified with a half marathon and had never run a marathon before this? What a first marathon!

At the end of the trials, we talked CARA stuff. I love that they are expanding their focus to reach more runners in the Chicago area. They talked about growth. CARA has it's largest membership ever, 11, 300+ members. The program they started, Go Run, which was initiated to expand running in the city to mostly underserved areas, is coming to the suburbs--my suburb! There's going to be a 5k run on April 4th at the retention pond, Lake Arlington, where I do a lot of training. The run is free. I'm pretty excited about this!

I've run the Lakefront 10 miler, CARA's signature race, multiple times. Regular readers know this is my favorite race and you can read my recaps here, here, here, here, and here. The medal for this year's race was on display.

Looking forward to earning my own!

After our meet up, several of us headed over to Lo Rez, a craft brewery which was right around the corner from the CARA headquarters in Pilsen. My husband and I visited Lo Rez last fall and loved it. I was excited to return. The beer was as good as I remembered. My son and his friend joined us and we had some laughs over a couple of beers. Interestingly, a 'Barrel Bus' pulled in with a large group of men, which kind of killed our vibe. I guess the bus takes groups around Chicago to various taprooms. Who knew this was a thing? My son commented that it looked like like the Wienermobile for drinkers.

My son and me; My Daemon golden ale.
Yes, that's a dog in the background. There were quite a few dogs there, including a really cute puppy!

I didn't mention it in the post but this neighboorhood is one of my favorite in Chicago.
The Hispanic heritage is reflected in the vibrant murals that are painted on so many of the buildings.
There are so many and I couldn't make up my mind which ones to share!It's really amazing!

So that's my week--what happened for you this week? What are you doing to leap out of your comfort zone? Did you watch the Olympic Marathon Trials? Who were you rooting for? Chicago runners, will you be joining me in April at the CARA Lakefront 10 miler? At the Lake Arlington Go Run? Have you ever seen a Barrel Bus? Is it another Wienermobile?

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