The Real Deal

It sure seems that the groundhog was right this year! This false spring we've been experiencing may be the real deal.  We had some really strong storms this week with multiple tornados--a real rarity in February for us--a sure sign that the weather is shifting. I've been enjoying some nice runs and even got to run in shorts this week. We were above 70F this week and we're supposed to hit that again. If this warm weather pattern is wrong, I don't want to be right. 

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: Ice Age Trail run 7 miles 1100ft

Monday: CrossFit

Tuesday: run 6 miles

Wednesday: Fluid Running

Thursday: CrossFit

Friday: Yoga

Saturday: trail run 7 miles

February miles: 85

We were up at the lake last weekend and I was up and out the door early to run the Gibraltar Segment of the Ice Age Trail. The sun was rising as I left the house and by the time I parked my car, it was a bright, bluebird morning. I ran from the parking lot down the connecting road to the trail that would take me up to the top. I was not disappointed. It was a little windy, but it was beautiful! I had the entire segment to myself and as I always do, I took my time up there to soak it all in. The rest of my run was uneventful, save for the frozen footprints on the trail. This made for some uneven footing. I will be so glad when we are done with this freeze/thaw stuff!

My legs have certainly gotten a lot of action over the past week or so! I was happy to see that Monday's WOD was more upper body-centric, which meant my legs were going to get a break. The warm-up was 10 minutes on the bar, warming up for the MetCon, which was 4 rounds for time: 25 toes-to-bar (I did high leg raises/swings), 20 pull-ups (I started with banded but switched to jumping from a box pull-ups with negatives), 15 chest-to-bar (again from the box), and 10 bar muscle-ups (I did 10 GHD situps and 10 dips). After each bar exercise, we did 100m heavy bag carry (I used a 50# wreck bat), 10 burpees over the bag, and 12 calories on the bike. This took me 25:06.

After looking at the weather forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, I flipped my schedule and went for a run at zero dark thirty on Tuesday and went to the pool on Wednesday. It was a balmy 57 degrees Tuesday morning and I headed out in shorts and short sleeves. The air was very moist and I could see my breath. For safety reasons opted to run the first 3 miles on the road that parallels the bike path. When I looped back to the path for the last 3 miles, it was getting lighter out. I was too early to catch the sunrise, but I did enjoy the light of the moon!

The CrossFit Open is taking place the next 3 weeks and many athletes at the gym are participating. So is Catrina! I am not. This is the time of year the the WODs are a little 'lighter' to preserve strength for the Open workouts. The coaches like to throw in different and fun things for us to do. The WOD on Thursday started off with 12 minutes of pullover work. Many of you probably did these as a kid on the playground. It's a whole different thing as an adult! I did mine on the lower bar with some help from a classmate and SJ. You can see my effort on my IG. It's definitely a work in progress. But it was fun! We finished up with a 10 minute Metcon: 5 rounds/2 minutes each with 30 seconds rest of 15 ball slams (30#), 15 weighted situps (using the ball to anchor the feet), and AMRAP shuttle runs. I averaged 7 lengths of shuttle runs for each rep. 

After a rough day in clinic on Friday with some really sick kiddos, I was really looking forward to hitting the trails on Saturday morning. I didn't get out as early as I wanted, but I was early enough to be greeted by some of my deer friends as soon as I stepped onto the trail. It was almost as if they were waiting for me, lol. I felt fatigued on this run, but enjoyed seeing more deer along the trail as well as lots of bright sunshine. There were lots of downed trees from the storms we had earlier this week. I had some fun leaping over them. 

I spent the rest of Saturday getting ready for my trip to Palm Desert to see my sister! I'm heading out there for a week. I'm not sure what she has planned for us, but I know that I'll be hitting those mountain trails! Check my IG for updates!

How was your week? Are you enjoying an early spring? Did you have any storm damage this week? Do you have any vacations planned?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. I may take a little longer than normal to comment on your posts this week.