Sunday, October 4, 2020

Running in A Bubble

Optimistically, I start these recaps on Thursday afternoons, while I've got my feet up on the couch and time to sum up the week thus far. The funny thing is, for the past couple of months, I've had to change my title or my introductory paragraph prior to publication on Sunday. Things just change so fast that it's almost impossible for me to set a theme even a few days in advance!

This week so far has been so tumultuous and stressful that really, will there be any reason to scratch this post and start over? I sure hope not. Even the weather can't make up it's mind. For the past week, almost every day, we've had sun and rain on the same day, even at the same time. 

As always, I've found solace in my running shoes. Running has been the one thing that remains constant for me. The trails feel like a safety bubble and I just don't want to leave. When I run in the woods, I leave the world behind. September was another 100+ mile month for me and as of today, I am at almost 900 miles for the year. The last time I ran over 1000 miles for the year was 2017. I did not plan to run this much, but my body is letting me do it. 

Running is such a gift, isn't it? I feel so fortunate to be having such a good year on my feet. I am hoping that this continues. 


Weekly Rundown
Monday: CrossFit
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: Trail run 5.82 mi
Thursday: Run 2 miles, Strength train
Friday: Run 5.5 miles
Saturday: Prairie State Half Marathon
Sunday: Yoga with Adriene

September miles: 102.72

Running

With a rest day on Sunday last week, by Wednesday, I was itching for a run. It was a gorgeous morning in the 50s, and I hit the trails, anxious to see what fall has brought to the woods. No sooner did I start to run than a young buck ran out in front of me! As soon as he saw me, he took off into the woods. I didn't see any more of my deer friends after that. I spent most of my time on the single track along the creek, singing "Acorns are falling on my head..." because they were! For the most part, I had the trails to myself. It was just what I needed before heading into work. 

When I sent her this picture, my sister asked if I was running in a bubble. It sure feels like it!

When I got to the gym to work with Sammy Jo, she wasn't ready for me yet. So I went for a 2 mile run around the neighborhood. Amazingly, the route I chose was exactly 2 miles!! They were speedy miles too and I finished them in 17:27 (av 8:42 m/m). Some days you just gotta go, right?

Friday morning brought crisp, cool conditions, a huge harvest moon, and a beautiful sunrise. What could go wrong? Fortunately, nothing! With my half marathon on Saturday, I should have taken the day off. I hated to pass up a perfect morning like this and I promised myself I'd go easy. It was hard to hold back but I was rewarded with a run that felt great and put a huge smile on my face. If every day could start out this well!


I ran a live half marathon on Saturday! While I'll share more on my recap on Tuesday, I have to share how pleased I was by the safety of the event. We masked until we crossed the start line. We waited in line, 6 feet apart, and crossed the start line one by one. Once on the course, we could remove our masks. I finished in 2:06:06 (Garmin time), which was my fastest finish time since my diagnosis with RA 4 years ago. 


CrossFit/Strength

Monday's WOD started with a "Strongman" style EMOM of slam ball clean (30#) and presses, Russian KB swings, and a 30 second Hercules hold. I started the KB swings at 25#, but SJ quickly came to my box and switched me to a 35# KB. 😅 It was fine. The Hercules hold was hard! and I used 8# dumbbells. Try it and get ready for the shoulder burn. After that we did an AMRAP of 100m slam ball carries alternating with 3 back squats (55#). The bar had to be cleaned, pressed, and set on the shoulders and after the squats, had to be pressed overhead and set down to the floor. I was lucky because during my quarantine workouts, I had to do just that since I don't have a barbell rack. I ended up doing 9 reps of this workout!

I think we could all use some slam balls these days!

For Thursday's strength sesh, SJ had me do a push/pull workout. We started out with bench presses (65# x 6) alternating with assisted pull-ups. After 3 rounds of this, I did 12 lat cable pulls alternating with 10 strict pushups. My lats were on fire after this! She had me finish with 100m sled sprints. My last sprint was my fastest!


After I finished, we talked about my goals for the next 3 months. Last fall, I did a heavy strength cycle and I really feel like that was a game changer for me both on and off the road. Mostly, she had me do deadlifts and squats, along with some accessory work to engage some of the smaller muscle groups. Because I wanted it, we also worked on upper body strength, doing mostly bench pressing. Since I really want to do a strict pull-up, we'll continue to incorporate that as well. I'm excited and scared to start again--those lifts get heavy! But the payoff is worth it. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, there won't be a powerlifting meet this year. I'm still going to push for some PRs tho. Stay tuned!

How was your week? Anyone else getting to run a live race? How are you managing your stress?

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




41 comments :

  1. What An Inspiring Post - So Proud Of You - Well Done

    Cheers

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  2. I can't wait to hear all about your half!!! Very excited for you. If all goes according to plan, I'll be doing a real half myself next weekend. I never thought for a million years that this race would happen.

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    1. Same! I really thought the race would go virtual. Illinois currently has a 3-4% positivity rate, which made this doable.

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  3. Your photos are always so amazingly good. You could probably start a second career. Congrats on the half. Well done!

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  4. BTW, why aren't you showing in the results for the Prairie State?

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    1. I don't know. I've reached out to the race to see what happened.

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  5. Huge congrats, Wendy! I'm really happy for you. While there is the odd live race here & there, I'm going to wait until we can somewhat safely return to more normal racing. This year has just been about moving my body in whatever way feels good at the time!

    May your running continue to feel rewarding.

    Oh, and those acorns can really hurt! I had one hit me on the arm last year & I still remember that!

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    1. There are also giant hickory nuts--they look like tennis balls, no lie! I'd hate to get hit with one of those.

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  6. GREAT job on the half! And seriously, the strength work you do continues to inspire me. I'm not a Cross Fit person by money or schedule, but I've incorporated so much more lifting because of your example.

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    1. I'm so glad to hear this! And when I started working out there, it was just strength training. I didn't start Cross Fit until about 2 years ago.

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  7. Fantastic that you were able to run a real race! Things we always took for granted. I can't wait to hear all about it. Don't think we will have any in person races around here for a long time. Thanks for linking and way to finish the week on a high note

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    1. Our positivity rate in Illinois is pretty low, so I think that's why they let it happen. We'll see if there will be more.

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  8. What a brilliant week! No live races here but I am hopefully attempting a half-marathon on Thursday, just for fun ... And I am on 850 for the year so far so trailing you a little.

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  9. Great job on your race! I cannot wait to hear about it. That is awesome about your mileage for the year. I have no idea how many I have but I know I won't make it to 1,000 for the year. That is OK. I am pleased that I am still running and no injury.

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    1. I didn't plan on running this many miles. Last year I barely made 700. It just kind of happened!

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  10. Awesome week of workouts and congrats on such a strong half marathon! I can't wait to read your review and learn about all the safety procedures implemented by the race organization. We're not back to live racing in my neck of the woods but it will be great to hear what other race organizations are doing.

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    1. There are a few more live events coming up--but they are trail races. I'm glad to see this happening, tho!

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  11. Running is such a wonderful and necessary escape. I need to get back out to Roosevelt Island which is as close as I can get to "woods" via foot.I was so glad to see on FB/Strava that you had such a good race. Didn't realize it was an RA/PR.
    *HUGS* my friend

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    1. Thank you so much Cari for pointing out that RA PR! I hadn't even considered that!

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  12. I swear those squirrels drop those acorns strategically. Congrats again on your race! Leave it to my home town to allow an IRL race. Haha! You know mw, I am disappearing into the woods as well.

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    1. Your hometown did good! I forgot how much I love a live race. I hope there are more.

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  13. I'm so glad you got to run that live race! How much fun that must have been!

    We are starting to have some races up here, but I'm still nervous (from being away for a year, not necessarily because of COVID). I need to chill out and register.

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    1. We've got fairly low disease burden here but I know that could change. I'm pleased with how the race went.

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  14. Yay on a live race done safely and congrats on such a great finish time! Running has been a huge part of my staying-safer-at-home life. I can’t believe I’m digging out my headlamp again.

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    1. I'm really trying to avoid running in the dark. I just don't like it. I don't know how much longer I can avoid it, tho!

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  15. A live half marathon! SO jealous. And huge congrats on your best time post-diagnosis. That is such an incredible marker of how hard you've been working! Nice job.

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    1. I'm still chipping away at it. I don't know if I can go much faster at this point, but it's fun to try!

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  16. Congrats on your half! I'm so glad it went well and that it was done safely. I am also on track to run over 1,000 miles this year for the first time in about 5 years. I'm so grateful to be having a good year of running despite all the craziness in the world!

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  17. This post makes me smile! You had a great week of workouts! I'm so glad your half marathon went so well - looking forward to reading your recap.

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    1. Working out and runnnng is definitely a bright spot these days!

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  18. Sounds like you had a great week, running-wise! First your zen-like trail run in a beautiful place, then your very speedy 2 miles, topped off by an awesome half marathon. Congrats!

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    1. I'm so grateful for what my legs are letting me do. My knees are protesting but those muscles SJ is helping me build are supporting them!

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  19. I'm tired just reading about your CrossFit/strength workout. Great job Wendy!

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  20. Pushing that sled looks really hard! I'm always impressed with your strength workouts. Glad the race went so well for you. I think we are doing the same protocol here at our live races with the staggered starts and masks. And hooray for wonderful trail running!!

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