Go Slow Down

I'm not going to lie--as much as I loved all the activity of the past month, I am ready to slow down for a while. September was an incredibly busy and really fun month. It was also exhausting. With October around the corner, I'm looking forward to slowing down a bit and soaking up the last warm weather of the year. 

Speaking of slowing down,  I officially transferred my bib for the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon to a BRC teammate. I didn't feel one bit of regret! Well, ok, I will miss out on the camaraderie, but definitely not the running. I felt a sense of relief, which told me I did the right thing. 

With that half marathon off the calendar, I can focus on the Mammoth Trail Challenge, which kicks off October 1! This year's distance is 44 miles. As you all know, the challenge for me is accessing the trails since I live in Illinois and the trail is in Wisconsin. I'm excited about running some new segments as well as my usual ones. Stay tuned for the recaps!

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: rest

Monday: CrossFit with run 1.25 miles, run 4.5 miles

Tuesday: Fluid Running

Wednesday: trail run 7 miles

Thursday: CrossFit

Friday: run 6 miles

Saturday: rest/work

I woke up to pouring rain on Sunday. We were still up at the lake and I had planned a trail run before heading home. With no end in sight to the rain, we packed up and headed home. Whomp, whomp. It was raining there too, so I called it a day and settled in for some football.

My dilemma on Monday--I wanted to go to CrossFit, but I also wanted to run! There was running in the WOD, but not enough, so I ran at the retention pond after CrossFit. It's close to the gym and has a 2 mile-ish loop around the pond. My legs felt heavy, but I ran evenly paced miles, about 10min/mi, only stopping once for water about halfway through. 

The WOD was the baseline workout that we did in May: 400m run, 10 box jumps (20"), 20 pushups, 30 situps, 40 air squats, 800m run, 40 air squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups, 10 box jumps, 400m run. I finished in 20:27, slower than last May's finish of 19:15. I didn't push myself as hard as I could have, that near-fainting episode from a few weeks ago still fresh in my mind. I was ok with this--the runs saved me! I made up time on the run, passing most of the runners, something that would never happen anywhere else, lol.

After a cold, rainy Tuesday, I woke up Wednesday morning to bright sunshine. It was seasonally cool--mid-50s--and I was excited to hit the trails. The foliage were still wet from the rain but the trails were in good shape. Right away, I saw one of the deer families crossing the path. They weren't excited to see me, but I caught a photo of mom and one of the twins in the weeds! I saw a few other deer as well as a hawk that flew out of a tree next to the trail! The birds went into a frenzy when that happened. Nerd alert: I thought it was pretty cool. I also saw a lot of squirrels and chipmunks gather nuts, although I could swear they were throwing the shells at me from above, lol! What a great morning on the trails!

I hemmed and hawed about going to CrossFit on Thursday, but finally made up my mind to go. I'm so ready to get back to some heavy strength, and I reminded myself that it is coming. The strength portion was a 12 minute EMOM: 45 second plank, 30 second superman scissor kicks, and 45 seconds of shuttle runs. The MetCon was 5 x 3 minute on, with 1 second rest between sets: 20 kettlebell swings (25#), 2 laps Farmer's carries (25# KB per hand), and 10 burpees. I finished with 6 full rounds and 10 KB swings when time was called. Let me share that I was really sore the next day after this workout. 

It was dark when I headed out Friday morning for my bike path run. I wore my new Brooks Run Visible Gear and Glycerin Max. I wanted to give those shoes a good road test and yep, they showed me they were worthy. I won't deny being skeptical of the extra cushion on these shoes, but my test run last week had me wanting more. This run proved to me that Brooks got it right. Everything felt good and I pushed my pace to my fastest 6 miler in a long time. I finished with 6 miles at 57:15. 

Off the Road

The birthday celebrations continued into the week with flowers at work on Tuesday, lunch with my parents on Wednesday and with my sister Lisa and my future daughter-in-law on Thursday. The beautiful weather allowed us to dine alfresco. I wish it was like this all the time!

How was your week? Are you settling into a more laid back fall routine? What races do you have coming up?

I'm finishing up my final book for September and will have my Mini Book Reviews on Tuesday. 

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