It Was A Good Week

Truly, it was a good week. Most importantly, I got all my workouts in. It was a good thing because I needed it! Cocoa had her ear ablation surgery on Friday. If you know me at all, you know that I was really nervous for her. The funny thing is that when we got in the car to go to Madison on Thursday, she acted as if it was no big deal and slept most of the way. But when we got to the UW Veterinary Clinic, she started to shake. I felt bad leaving her there, but fortunately, the surgery went well. As you read this on Sunday, we are bringing her home.

It's amazing how much these little furballs mean to us, isn't it? When my hubs balked at the idea of another surgery, I reminded him that she was part of the family. We couldn't not do this. Thank goodness for the availability of good veterinary care. I am thrilled with the care she received. 

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: trail run 11.25 miles

Monday: CrossFit

Tuesday: Fluid Running

Wednesday: CrossFit with running!

Thursday: trail run 6 miles

Friday: run 6 miles

Saturday: rest

I was up and out on the trails by 7:15 on Sunday morning, hoping to beat the impending rain. I had a 10 mile run planned. I started out looking for deer and saw a couple within my first mile, but I didn't see any after that! The trails were pretty muddy but not as bad as last week. I also encountered a pack of coyotes running toward me--they stopped when they saw me and I stopped too. When they turned around to run back to where they came from, I decided to backtrack too. I'm not afraid of coyotes--they don't have a history of aggression against humans here, but I didn't want to take my chances. The rest of my run was pretty uneventful. It started to rain lightly when I was closing in on 10 miles, but I felt so good I took a little detour to add on another mile or so. No sooner did I get back in my car did the sky open up and pour. This was a great run for me and gave me a much needed boost of confidence for my upcoming trail race.

On Monday at CF, we had a rower time trial and I almost skipped it...but I'm glad I didn't. In fact, I plan to make up the bike time trial that i skipped last week! Yep. We did 10 45 second sprints on the rower, starting off slow and increasing effort 5 seconds each time to our goal time. We were given ample recovery time between each sprint. I hoped for 1:55 average pace on my final sprint. I came close, finishing at 1:57. What surprised me was how in the early intervals, it was hard it to row slow- kind of like when we run slower too. We finished with a 7 minute AMRAP of 20 second planks, 10 pushups, 40 double unders (I did singles), 20 second hollow hold, 10 atomic situps, and 3 laps shuttle runs. I finished 3 full rounds (except for the final shuttle runs).

At CrossFit on Wednesday, we did a fun MetCon (no strength this class) with running in the WOD! Let's just say I held my own! The goal was to finish by 30:00, but I finished in 17:36, only 2d behind one of the men. I only modified the Bar Muscle Ups, since I can't do them, instead doing them from the floor to a bar on the rack.

I used a 20# DB for all those DB moves

On Thursday, I took Cocoa up to the UW Veterinary Clinic in Madison for her ear ablation surgery. After a consultation with the surgeon, the surgery was scheduled for Friday and I took my sad self for a run on the Lakeshore Preserve Trail. This trail runs along the shores of Lake Mendota. The water was calm and the birds were singing, which was a balm for my soul. This run felt hard but it also felt good. 

Normally, I wouldn't run 2 days in a row. But with Cocoa in Madison on Friday having surgery, I had a restless night and I felt that I needed a run to burn off the nervous energy before I headed into work. I promised myself I'd take it easy, but my legs just wanted to go. For the first 3 miles, I let them carry me without stopping. At the turnaround point, I stopped to catch my breath and stopped my watch. I restarted it for the run back, which I told myself I'd do at my normal 'party pace'. Ok, with the wind at my back, it was a little faster than that, but it was a feel good kind of pace. I shook off a lot of that anxiety and that made it a lot easier for me to face the day!

Off the Road...

On Sunday, the hubs and I headed into the city to the Adler Planetarium for an immersive full dome show set to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album. Released in 1974, the album is still one of the best-selling albums of all time. I recently gave my well-worn copy to one of my sons. The music played while we were treated to visuals of space and trippy graphics that made us feel like we were flying. I was surprised that I still knew all the words. I loved every minute of this experience.

After the show, we had dinner in the West Loop at The Girl and The Goat, Chef Stephanie Izard's restaurant. The seasonal menu is served 'family style' and the hubs and I shared an appetizer of chickpea fritters that melted in our mouths,  olive focaccia, and 2 main dishes: BBQ pork belly and goat empnandas. For dessert, we had a hazelnut praline sundae. I'm sharing the details because this was a truly exquisite meal--probably one of the best dining experiences we've had in years. 

We drove up to the lake on Saturday and enjoyed a beautiful day getting the lake house ready for summer!. I did some spring cleaning and the hubs took care of some maintenance. The weather was beautiful, so after lunch we went out in the boat! There's something special about that first boat ride of the season--I felt so content and peaceful while we were out there. Cocoa would have loved it. We went out to a supper club in Wisconsin Dells for dinner later. 

How was your week? Is it starting to feel like spring where you are? Did you crush any workouts this week? 

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