Savoring the Last Days of Fall

We have had an amazing fall--warm weather and beautiful colors! The leaves are starting to fall, but we've still got good color. I'm sure that's going to change in a hurry with the impending arrival of more winter-like weather. As much as I don't love winter, I will admit that I am looking forward to days of curling up on the couch by the fire and reading a good book. And winter foods! Soups, stews, and baked pastas--hearty fare that just don't work in the warmer weather. I came home from my aunt's house last week with a bag of wild rice that their neighbor harvested, and I made chicken and wild rice soup with it. I also baked an apple crisp. 

I know by March, though, I'll be ready for warm weather again!

Weekly Rundown:

Sunday: trail run 7.6 miles

Monday: Strength training

Tuesday: Fluid Running

Wednesday: trail run 7.7 miles

Thursday: Strength training

Friday: run 3.2 miles

Saturday: rest

On Sunday, I skipped my Trail Sisters run to do a solo tour of my local forest preserve. We're at peak color right now, and I wanted to check it out. I was also still feeling a little blue after last weekend's trip to the north woods, and I hoped that a run in my pretty little preserve would help turn it around. I was right. I got there fairly early, but was surprised to see quite a few cars in the parking lot. Not long after I started my run, I was surprised to see a deer standing in the woods. I ended up seeing a few more, including 2 bucks. It's mating season, and one of the bucks was chasing a doe! 

The colors were spectacular, even when the sun was behind the clouds. This ended up being a strong run for me. I'm going to take advantage of this beautiful weather as much as I can. You know what comes next...

Monday is deadlift day--my favorite day! This week we built to 3 sets of 2 at 2.5-10# heavier than our 3RM. For my partner and me, that was 185#, so our deadlifts were 190#. I got the first set of 2 off the ground, but was only able to do 1 rep with each of the other sets. Pretty sure I got in my head--it was freaking heavy--so next week, I'll try it again. I finished up with shoulder presses, 3 sets of 2 at 62.5#, and 3 sets of 8 ring rows. A push/pull for the upper body, I guess!

I went to the pool on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, I hit the trails again. It was relatively warm (54F) when I started out, and with strong winds predicted, I wanted to catch the colors before the leaves blew off the trees. There's also the risk of falling branches and yes, trees, and I didn't want to deal with that! The sun was behind the clouds initially, but the sun peeked out, and the leaf colors really popped. 

I didn't see any deer on my run today, but I did see some odd characters out there, including a guy throwing a ninja star at a tree repeatedly. He was wearing what looked like a backpack, but as I ran by, he turned to look at me, and I saw that he was wearing a black flak vest. A sign of the times? As I ran on, I considered the possibilities. ICE is recruiting pretty heavily here. Anyhoo, I put him behind me and continued to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The wind picked up quite a bit, and the leaves were falling!

On Thursday, we once again worked on heavy bench presses and back squats, 6 sets of 3 lifts for each. We were supposed to increase our weight 2.5-10#, but I stuck with the weight I did 2 weeks ago. The bench presses at 80# felt HARD, and I worked on keeping my shoulders down. For the back squats, I again worked on depth, using 115#, and by the end, I felt pretty good about this sesh. Sammy Jo gave me lots of good feedback, too. As much as I loathe squatting, I am determined not to let this lift break me! Next week, I'll increase the weight to 120# and continue to squat low. I got this, right?

The hubs and I woke up Friday morning to a dead refrigerator. Lucky for us, we have a second refrigerator in the basement, so we were able to move most everything down there. We were also able to purge all the expired foods. After all that, I realized I had a small window of time for a short run before work. THANK GOODNESS! I laced up and headed out into my neighborhood, wearing my Brooks Hyperion Max 3, my legs on fire. I was flying and my legs wouldn't let me slow down. In fact, my second mile clocked in at 8:52. I was excited about that, and I finished with a 3.2 mile run, 9:06 m/m, and a beautiful sunrise. Sometimes you get just what you need! 

How was your week? Do you like fall foods? Are you still enjoying fall weather?

We're up at the lake this weekend--I'm hoping to get out on the trails this morning before we head back home. I woke up to snow and wind, so we'll see how that turns out. I'm also looking forward to a few quieter days ahead until the holiday activities ramp up in December.  I'm also excited to pick out a new refrigerator! Yay! Don't you just love getting new appliances? 

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