I am not gonna lie — it was a frustrating week. Including Bandit, who up until Friday I would have said was completely house trained, deciding to have an accident in our kitchen for no known reason, as he’d been out twice and done his business both times.
I worried about a bladder infection, but he was fine overnight and the next day. So now we need to keep a closer eye on him and he might have to lose what little freedom he gets. We’ll see.
Running, however, is still going pretty good.
I’m wrapping it up with the Weekly Wrap from Holly @ Hohoruns and Tricia @ Misssipppiddlin. It’s all about supporting anyone who lives an healthy lifestyle.
Workouts update
- Monday: 3 miles easy on the treadmill, Dogwalk
- Tuesday: 3 miles easy (with hill repeats x 10), Dogwalk, Full Bodylicious Abs
- Wednesday: YFPR Knees & Hips, Dogwalk, Swimming 25 minutes
- Thursday: Dogwalk, 3 easy treadmill miles
- Friday: Dogwalk, Iron Strength Abbreviated, Danette May Flow
- Saturday: Dogwalk, 8 mile LSD, Yoga for Athletes* Hip Openers & Recovery
- Sunday: Dogwalk
Mileage: 17 (+1)
TIU = Tone it Up
TM = Treadmill
YFR = Yoga for Runners*
WU = warmup
YFPR = Yoga for Pain Relief
YTU = Yoga Tune Up Lower Body*
*Disclaimer: Amazon affiliate links; I will make a small amount of money if you buy through these links
Running update
Still very hot and humid, so yup, on the treadmill again this Monday. I decided to explore a little barefoot running — and I mean that literally. Oddly enough it seemed as if I was going really fast when I was barefoot, but when I stopped after a half mile to put my running shoes on, the pace felt easy. After a mile I took it up just a little, and it continued to feel easy. I finished my cooldown by walking for a quarter of a mile barefoot.
Tuesday I went out before walking Bandit. He was not terribly happy about that, since he had to stay in his crate while Mr. Judy was out walking Lola and I was out running. But I got to run with a lot more shade and that made it worthwhile. Doesn’t explain why my overall pace for this run was 10 seconds slower this week — it was actually slightly cooler than last week, more shady, but a lot more humid. Whatever. It got done and now we’re moving on to speedwork.
Back to 90 on Thursday, back on the treadmill for a tempo run. I realized I haven’t been doing tempo runs at all! Which is okay, as really I’m just beginning to train, so I did a sort of tempo run. One mile warmup/cooldown, and then started the middle mile at 5 mph (which is hopeful race pace for me) and picked it up every 2 1/2 minutes until at the end I was running at 5.4 (about 11:30 mm I think). You know what? It actually didn’t suck.
Saturday we finally caught a break in the weather — it was cooler, less humid, and cloudy. Score! We were running in the neighborhood near my chiropractor, as they’re a sponsor of our group and were having an open house afterwards. It also meant it was 2 hilly 4 mile loops. The first mile is a nice down hill, but of course that means that the last mile is a long uphill!
My running buddy is still out with an injury, although she rode her bike (the wrong way so we didn’t see her) and met up with her after the run — it was nice to chat as it’s been 3 weeks since we saw each other.
I as a bit worried about getting lost, so I probably ran that first mile too quickly. But it was downill, after all. I managed to keep people in sight enough to not get lost. I even almost managed negative splits (except for a big slowdown the last mile — not sure why — except that uphill, of course).
I was mostly running on my own, but I must say I was pleased that a couple of people I started out with, who got way ahead of me, I passed on the uphills. Both times!
Favorites of the week
It took a while, but Bandit is finally listed on the rescue site!
I got another quickie massage at the chiropractor’s.
All the baked goods after my long run. Which was only 8 miles and I really can’t afford all the baked goods but oh well, it happens. Not to mention I baked some gluten free s’mores cookies after the run (you can find the recipe on my Pinterest cookies board) — if you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen them going into the oven. Above is what they looked like coming out. I only used a half cup of coconut sugar rather than the 2 cups of sugar the recipe called for.
Then this carbolicious eggplant panini for dinner. I didn’t realize the eggplant would be breaded.
Sunday morning I was busy in the kitchen: baking muffins and making jam.
The title refers to the Iron Strength abbreviated workout, by the way. It includes mountain climbers, burpees, and planks, along with some weight training. And the pain is over in about 20 minutes.
Then probably the best part of the week: we met the person we plan to board Bandit with, and she’s willing to take him. She definitely sounds competent and I am so thankful there are people who are willing to take on dogs with issues. My brother will be in town in a few weeks so we’ll just try it for the day.
It’s 30 minutes away, but sort of on the way to my parents. It will mean he’ll need to be crated in the car, since Lola will be with us and she’s a nervous traveler. Not sure how he’ll feel about that — he actually rides great in the car, but since we don’t know what could set him off, and we definitely don’t want a dogfight in the back of the car, he’ll just have to be crated.
Not a terribly exciting week. I suppose that’s not a bad thing. I could have done without all the little frustrations, but again, that’s life. In the end, everyone is healthy at the moment, everybody still has all their body parts, so I guess we’re doing okay.
And that’s a wrap!
I love to hear from you! Answer me one of the questions below in the comments, or just comment! Let me know what you think or what’s on your mind.
Do you have a favorite strength training exercise routine for running? (always looking to expand my library)
Seriously, can you believe tomorrow is August?
Ever get a bit carried away with the recovery snacks/meal?
Great post! Good job on your athletic pursuits. I haven’t had many visitors today…come visit?
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So you will love this…I took Cocoa for an evaluation because of her extreme shyness around people she doesn’t know. The place I took her has a great reputation, and I thought some classes would be in order. Oh no. They want to keep her for 2 weeks for an intensive socialization program. For only $1599, they will work with her and help her with her skittishness. But “she’ll still be shy”, they told me. I’m sure it would be amazing but I just can’t surrender my pup for 2 weeks like that. There has to be another way. It felt a bit high pressure too. I’ll just keep taking her for walks and have everyone bribe her with treats for now.
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I would Do that either. Ask at the vets maybe? That’s where we found out trainer. We’ve also done petsmart classes in the past – kind of hit or miss, but good for socialization.
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Great post!! I need to do more tempo runs as well!
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They are my least favorite kind of run, but whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
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I guess the Kenyans do it but I don;t ever even walk barefoot. My feet need support.
Are you still trapped in the house? I’d ask you to run 3 miles tomorrow in the am – only showers predicted but thunderstorms later.
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I’d love to get together but I’m not sure about tomorrow. I’ll have to see how I’m feeling, tonight my throat is just a little scratchy but I might feel fine tomorrow.
And the rain can make it really difficult to get both dogs walked/out.
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Ok. LMK. It will be tricky figuring out a time when it is not raining too hard.
If I don’t go to NYC on Thursday, I may run then. I run with Alyssa on Wed at Corning. You are welcome to come.
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Looks like a good exercise and food week. Yay for Bandit being listed and a place to board him!
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The boarding place is really key. We’ll see how he actually does.
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Mmmmm cookies! I swear I gain weight just looking at them. I’ve got a love/hate thing going with August. I don’t want it. Maybe I can just go to Dublin and stay there??
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I’ll bet Dublin in August is lovely. Have a fantastic trip!
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I just got back from my “long run” and I was famished for some reason. I think I usually am. So recovery consisted of a protein smoothie, popcorn, small bean and cheese burrito, and a cookie. I think next time I’m just going to eat a Snickers bar and call it good as they’re wayyy more satisfying than a smoothie with less calories.
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I think what you ate will actually be more helpful to your recovery, but sometimes you just gotta eat what you really want.
Ever tried the honeystinger protein bars? There’s one that’s actually similar to a snickers. No caramel, but still, it’s close.
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I have… and I’ve tried all sorts of protein bars after and they do help somewhat… but I have yet to try a Snickers, lol! 😀
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(Meaning, yes, I totally go overboard on recovery snacks) 😀
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I used to do that Iron Strength workout. It’s rough! But I remember it being like 50 minutes of pain. Maybe I was doing something wrong! It’s a great workout though! Great week of running!
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The full one is an hour, but there is a shorter version & a couple of shorter workouts too.
Right now I just don’t have time for the full hour of pain. 😅
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My stomach just growled looking at those cookies! I didn’t eat enough after my long run today. I say the humidity is the true culprit for slower paces and not the heat. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. You had a great week of training! I’m trying not to skip speed work, which is easy to do in this weather and also during marathon training. When is your next half? Thanks for linking, Judy!
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As I told someone else, the cookies were good, not great. Which is probably a good thing. 😊
It’s funny, I’m often not hungry for a while after a long run, but maybe it was because I did a fasted one this week? My next half is in October. Plenty of time to train.
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I’m glad you found a place for Bandit. We only boarded TL a few times — mostly my Mom takes care of her when we go away.
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We don’t have any relatives nearby (the closest is my parents & my sister, but that’s 90 minutes away, and neither one can really take care of Lola, much less Bandit.
So we’ve also boarded, but the people we’ve used have the dogs free in their home. Obviously that won’t work with Bandit.
It gets really expensive, which is why I didn’t always go with my husband when he used to travel more for work.
Anyway, we’ll have to see how it actually goes. He’ll be quite different when we’re not there, obviously.
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I did my own kind of Iron Strength workout over the weekend. I did the squats on Saturday after my run, and i do squats away from the workout because I have to focus on form, and I lose that with the speed they go at in the workout. Then yesterday I did a lot of the other weight workouts, but no burpees.
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I generally don’t do as many reps of a lot of the exercises — good to know I’m not the only one that things they do them awfully fast!
Actually, I think that the ones I shorten up on are the ones with weights. I can do the burpees & the mountain climbers, but the ones with weights they do move too fast for me.
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I haven’t really been doing tempo runs either. I’m glad to be back on a training plan so I don’t make it up as I go along, lol! I’m hoping the high temps are going away for a bit, though we’re still in the mid-high 80’s. Those cookies look sooo good!
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In some ways I like making it up myself, in other ways it’s good not to have to think about it.
We are getting cooler temps. 70s, but still really high humidity (and lots of rain). But at least I felt like I could run outside today for a change! In the middle of the day, too.
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Your yummy food pics aren’t helping my growling tummy!!! I absolutely LOVE strength training, and you just reminded me I need to get back in to it. Weights tonight for me!
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I’m not sure I love strength training, but I know it’s necessary and my body looks better when I do it. It’s just hard to fit it in.
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I have weights at home. I’ll do it after my youngest goes to bed while I’m watching tv!
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I tape my shows so I don’t have to watch commercials, so I don’t tend to do my ST during shows — but some programs aren’t DVDs, and then sometimes I do.
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Who needs commercials? Hehe!
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I am not a multi tasker. 🙂
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hehe, fair enough!!!! I have to be a multitasker so it’s a forced habit!
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I can not believe it is August. Crazy. No humidity here but I haven’t run much due to heat.
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You could cut it with a knife here, even though it’s cooled off!
And hey, why are you reading on vacation? 😉
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Oh man!! Those pics are making me hungry! My cat got a bladder infection once and it took me a while to realize it. I thought she was acting out. I felt terrible that it took me as long as it did.
August means 2 months until Chicago… I am not ready…
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I was actually checking out your web page just the other day — I was starting to get worried but I see you’ve been busy, just not blogging.
I’ve got more than 2 months to my half, and that training is about the only thing I’ve been able to keep up with!
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Hilly miles are good miles! I can’t wait till I can start to run the hillier side of my neighborhood again 🙂 I try to avoid it when it is overwhelmingly humid because I want to live lol Nice job on the 8 miler.
I love Bandit’s little blurb on the web page, I hope someone takes him! I can’t even imagine running barefoot now…it is good for you, but my feet are past that point now.
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I don’t run barefoot for very long at all. I actually started it because one day I was walking outside, and my shoes started to cut into my ankle, so I took them off.
I used to run in more minimalist shoes all the time, but then the ankle happened and I though maybe that had something to do with it, so now my shoes are more cushioned.
Still not sure it really makes a difference. It’s all very mysterious!
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That eggplant Panini looks really good! Sometimes I go overboard with eating after a long run… other times I’m not hungry all.
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I’m the same way — usually it takes me a while to be hungry, but other times I’m just ravenous & there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason!
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Isn’t it such a challenge to run before you let the dogs have their time? My dog hears my alarm and while he is good if I say just another minute, when I get up out of bed he gets so excited. I feel bad when I have to leave him to meet my friends to run.
To answer your question, I do get carried away on the recovery meals. I think that is why a lot of us gain during marathon training. You running so much and you think you need to eat 3x the amount you really should. I’m guilty it is what it is!
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It’s not so bad with Lola & Gizmo, although then Gizmo loses some lap time. Sometimes, though, you just gotta do something for yourself or you’ll explode!
I think maintaining my weight training for a marathon would be very, very difficult.
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