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As far as springs go, this one hasn't brought its best conditions. In fact, I'd rate it a 5/10, and that's generous. A lifelong Midwesterner, I long for spring after our cold winters. But this year it's been slow to warm up. The sun has been MIA most days. And let's not even talk about the incessant wind.
Despite the poor conditions, I have been getting all my runs done outside. Thank goodness for good gear! While spring is slowly arriving, I am seeing color on my runs. Green grass, leaves budding on the trees, mushrooms popping up, and flowers blooming. Now if it could warm up...
Weekly Rundown:
Sunday: Ice Age Trail run 7.4 miles
Monday: Strength Training
Tuesday: Fluid Running
Wednesday: Trail run 7.5 miles
Thursday: Strength Training
Friday: run 6 miles
Saturday: rest/yoga
We were up at the lake, and the hubs had plans to do some plumbing, so I headed to the Gibraltar Segment of the IAT for some dirt and vert. It was cloudy and chilly--about 45F when I started, but I knew I'd warm up in a hurry, so I wore shorts and a long-sleeved top. Choosing the right running gear in spring can be a challenge, but it was the perfect wardrobe choice. I started off at the spot where I wanted to finish on this out-and-back, running the one mile connecting road between the two portions of the trail. Once I started the climb up to the bluff, I slowed to a walk. I was the only one there, and it was peaceful and beautiful.
After taking some photos at the top of the bluff, I ran on the trail behind the rock-but stopped to look at all the rocks tumbled upon each other. There were a couple of interesting rocks with portions that were cracked and rust colored. The rocks themselves had 'bubbly' indentations. It made me wonder what actually happened during the Ice Age to cause this? When I came out of the woods, I picked up my pace, but caught my shoe on a small rock. I could not catch myself, and I flew down the trail on my left side, coming to a stop in the adjacent brush. Ouch. I sat up and took inventory of my body. Nothing hurt, save for my left wrist, which was a little unhappy, and some scrapes on my legs. Whew.
I ran back on the connecting road to the other portion of the trail and had an uneventful run except for some turkey vultures who were stalking me. So creepy, especially when they were right above me and flapping their wings. {{shudder}} I felt like I was in a scene of The Birds. Maybe they were waiting for me to fall again so they could enjoy my carcass.
After four months of auxiliary strength training at CrossFit, we are restarting the cycle for another 4 months. We were reminded that we are stronger now and need to adjust our weights accordingly! I'm sharing those increases to remind myself of how far I've come in the past 60 months.
For today's workout, we had 4 sets of 2 activities and 4 rounds of each set. Each activity was done for 40 seconds. There was a 2 minute transition between sets.
Monday's focus was lower body:
Round 1: goblet squats (25#->40!#) alternating with frog pumps--hip bridges done in a frog leg position (20#->40#!).
Round 2: step up to a box (holding 20#DB this time!) with knee drive alternating with RDLs (10#->20#!)
Round 3: calf raises on a plate alternating with deadbugs (12#)
Round 4: reverse lunges with knee drive alternating with bear crawl hold (knees hovering above the ground)
I was up and out the door early Wednesday morning for my trail run. I needed to be home by 9 to drive out to my parents and meet them at my dad's hematologist appointment. It was a beautiful morning, and my plan was to run the main trail 5.5 mile loop. Oh, but I'm not known as 'Wendy is taking the shortcut home', am I? I ran my first 2 miles on the main trail, stopped to say hi to a few deer, and then decided to duck into the woods on a single track trail that leads back out again to the main trail. Sure, why not?
And you know where this is going...yep, my 5.5 mile run turned into a 7.5 mile run with lots of detours. It would have been more miles had I not needed to wrap it up and go home. What a gorgeous morning for a trail run. I'll be back. You know I will.
On Thursday at CrossFit, we did the auxiliary strength workout we did in January. Each lift was 40 seconds with a 10-second transition between lifts. We did 4 sets of each round, with 30 seconds between sets and 2 minutes between rounds.
Round 1: marching front plank alternating with supermans (prone back extensions)
Round 2: alternating one armed seated overhead dumbbell press (15#->25#!) alternating with banded pull-aparts
Round 3: alternating one arm dumbbell bench press (15#-->25#!) alternating with barbell upright rows (35#)
Round 4: alternating arm bicep curls (15#-->20#!) alternating with overhead tricep extension (20#->25#!)
I increased my weight on every exercise. Wow.
Friday was foggy, gloomy, misty, and cool, but it wasn't bad enough to keep me inside. How low can I go? I laced up my Brooks Hyperion Max 2 and prepared myself for some speed. The shoes didn't let me down. I felt strong and was able to keep up with the shoes, lol. This was a great start to my day and put me in a good frame of mind for my day at work.
Off the road...
On Wednesday, I had to accompany my dad to see the hematologist. This appointment was to go over the results of his bone marrow biopsy, done after several abnormal blood counts. The hematologist told us that my dad had myelodysplastic syndrome, which can be a precursor to leukemia. Fortunately, my dad's biopsy results show that he is low risk, meaning he doesn't need any treatment right now. We have to go downtown to Northwestern to see a hematologist who specializes in MDS to review the results and the plan; if all is well, then my dad will continue to see the hematologist close to his home. Once again, I am reminded of how fortunate we are to live so close to Chicago and have access to such wonderful medical care!
On Thursday, my youngest was in town for a doctor's appointment, and he and I went to lunch. We had some time to kill before he needed to catch his train back to Chicago, so we walked through our charming downtown. We passed the local running store and stopped in. I was shocked to see how empty the store was. I was wearing my Brooks team sweatshirt and the owner commented on it. We had an interesting conversation about that. He told me that ambassadorships are killing his business. He cited sponsored runs and ambassadors who promote products and direct customers to the company website instead of their local running store. He said people come in to try on shoes but don't purchase them, which makes him think that they leave and order the shoes online. Trump's tariffs have impacted his inventory--he shared that he had been waiting for an order from Lululemon, which is based in Canada. The order is subject to a 30% tariff, and he canceled the order, not wanting to absorb the additional cost and/or pass it on to his customers.
Finally, on Saturday night, I went to a surprise party to celebrate my friend Ilisa, who collected her 6th star/world marathon major at Boston 2 weeks ago. Ilisa is the leader of the local Trail Sisters chapter and a force!
How was your week? Do you think spring is taking a long time to come? Curious to hear your thoughts on the conversation I had with the running store owner. Fleet Feet seems to be pretty successful locally, inserting itself into the community by sponsoring events. Do you think running shoe stores are a thing of the past?
I'll be a little late commenting on blogs today. I'll be joining a couple of my Trail Sisters as we navigate the 21 mile loop around Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. This is something I've always wanted to do! Check out my IG later to see how it went!
Oh that is sad about the running store! I buy my shoes at the store in our neighborhood which is a Fleet Feet store. My old running club had a relationship with them so I have stuck with them even though I possibly could buy my shoes for cheaper. I hope your store survives!
ReplyDeleteIt is so wonderful to be close to a major medical center. I have definitely benefited from that and my kids have as well as their tubes and tonsil procedures were all done at a children’s hospital. I know those procedures can be done anywhere but the children’s surgery center is especially good at working with children.
We had an awful spring, too. The weather is finally improving, though!!
Your trail runs result in you seeing some beautiful scenery! Those turkey vultures, though- eeks! I like your mist run picture- I don't mind running in the rain (so long as it's fairly light) and I did just that one morning this past week. Fit looking group of women! Back when I used to run marathons, I would often think to myself at the starting line that I was among the fittest group of people around :). Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you didn't get too hurt on your fall on the trail! And those turkey vultures would have scared me too. Looks like a beautiful week despite the not-so-springlike weather. Although spring here often is 40 and rainy! Better than snow?
ReplyDeleteYes- I wouldn't be surprised if smaller running stores go out of business, which is sad. I buy all my shoes these days at REI- they have a whole program where you get rewards at the end of the year based on how much you spent.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great week- despite the lack of sunlight. Oh, how I remember those gloomy days in the midwest!!! Honestly, I think that's what put me over the edge. We survived the gray winter, and now it's STILL gray. You are obviously more sturdy than I am though, so you will make it through!
I CAN'T WAIT to hear details about your trail run today! It sounds epic.
I used to always shop at Road Runner Sports bc they had member discounts on shoes that the company websites did not offer. My future in laws were in town from Chicago this weekend and were much happier about our 80 degree weather than I was. We seem to have had a very abbreviated spring
ReplyDeleteWe're in full on "May Grey" here. Dense ocean fog and cool temps. I've been buying my running shoes online for decades. I would gladly buy locally, but they never carry my 5.5 shoe size! And listening to someone try to convince me that just tying a size 6 more tightly will do the trick is beyond annoying.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think the same when I’m out running in the mountains around Cape Town - all those dramatic rock formations, and not a geologist in sight to explain them!
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, look at those weight increases - nicely done, Wendy! That’s the beauty of tracking your sessions: the progress becomes visible.
As for the smaller running stores, I wonder too. Maybe they’ll have to evolve into more of a community hub for local runners: coffee, advice, group runs, coaching....but turning that vibe into actual revenue? That’s the million-dollar question.
Interesting comments from the running store. I have no doubt that people order on line more. I’m not sure how much ambassadors have to do with it because I’d think people would order from discount sites. I almost always buy my shoes at my local running store because I want to try them on first, and then I want to wear them right away — plus I want to support them. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI hope the 21 milers went well!