Read the title anyway you wish: I’m thankful we got some sunshine and warm temps, or I’m sad that the sunshine (and warm temps) are gone just in time for my long run. Both are true!
Nothing super exciting about this week. Good runs, challenging runs, a run with Bandit. The snow finally melted, so that was very good. We’ll see how long it lasts, but for the next week or so, anyway, it looks like it’ll be rain, not snow.
I’m joining up with the Weekly Wrap from Holly @ Hohoruns and Tricia @ Misssipppiddlin so we can all get together and inspire one another to be active and fit. Let’s do this thing!
Workouts update
- Monday: Dogwalk, Pahla B ST
- Tuesday: 6 miles (4 @ tempo), Dogwalk, JY Post run hip reset
- Wednesday: Dogwalk, JY Align Your Stride, 5 miles easy
- Thursday: Dogwalk, 4.5 miles (with 6 hill repeats)
- Friday: Dogwalk, Pahla B ST, JY Hip & foot reset
- Saturday: DM Yoga Flow, JY Neck & calf reset
- Sunday: 10 Mile LSD, maybe some yoga before bed
Mileage: 25.5 (+3.5)
JY = Jasyoga
TM = Treadmill
YFR = Yoga for Runners*
WU = warmup
CD = cooldown
SB = Stationary Bike
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 updates
Tuesday
Another gray, windy, chilly run. Thankfully the bike path was clear . . . for about 1.5 miles. Although some black ice almost took me out at the very beginning, but thankfully I stayed upright.
I’ve been doing all my tempos on the treadmill due to weather, and while today wasn’t the greatest weather, it wasn’t terrible. Except now there were 4 miles @ tempo, instead of 3. I almost got up to pace that first mile, nailed it the second, was a bit slower the third, and nailed it the fourth and final mile. Of course my warmup & cooldown miles more than made up for those paces (by being slow, that is).
Unfortunately I really misjudged my turnaround (considering I had to loop about 3 times) and then had a long walk back to the car, into the wind, and of course the car was where my post run snacks were waiting for me and I was so hungry.
Wednesday
Finally! A decent day! It was warm, and by warm, this time I mean low 50s. Still, I got to wear capris and a windbreaker. The sun even came out — for a little bit. This run was so much better than Tuesday’s (the fact that it was an easy run had nothing to do with that, oh no, not at all).
As soon as Bandit saw I was getting ready to run he made it clear he wanted to come to. It’s been weeks (he doesn’t like to run in cold, wet, slushy conditions, I’ve discovered). I took him with me for 2 miles — we even managed to stay at the right pace — then dropped him off and finished up my 3 miles.
I tried to take a selfie of us when I dropped him off but they came out too blurry to share.
Thursday
Finally! Yes! It was 66F when I headed out for my run. Oh no, it was 66F when I headed out for my run . . .
Well, the temps did make it hard, I won’t lie, but I’m not complaining because it was only that warm for 2 days this week. I couldn’t meet up with Darlene later due to some obligations and the fact that I also had hill repeats on the plan.
I pretty sure I didn’t run them as fast as I was supposed to, but I gave it the old college try. I gave serious consideration to just calling it a day at 4 miles while I was running, but I decided to go with 6 repeats (the plan had 8) and that left me just 3/4 of a mile from the prescribed 4.5.
Bandit didn’t seem real interested when I left so I didn’t go back for him — my original plan was to go back and run my cooldown with him.
Sunday
Although I missed my chance to see Darlene before her half, and it was cold and insanely windy — and spitting snow at times — my solo run at the park surprisingly didn’t suck, considering a little extra stress the night before and a tiring week.
In fact, the first half seemed relatively easy, although we know it never feels that easy the whole way. Even the second half wasn’t too bad, although I felt just a tiny bit of knee tightness around mile 8 so I eased up on the pace.
Normally I will tape for a double digit run, but this is the second one that I haven’t taped for. The knee is feeling just fine now. Most likely I will tape for next week’s 11 miler.
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin
I’d could use a little less bracing & exhiliration in my life, thank you, John.
Favorites of the week
I took this massage seat home from my parents — it’s actually the same brand as my foot spa (which I’m still loving). I was surprised my sister didn’t want it, since she has back problems, but her loss is my gain. I look forward to many sessions with it — not that I’m giving up on actual massages, of course, but it’s nice to get a little massage more frequently!
The weather. Breaking temperature records three days in a row in February? Yes, please! Even if one of those days was yesterday, where I spent three hours in the car and the rest of the day working on my parents’ home. I did get the massage seat out of that, after all, and I managed to get home before the thunderstorms.
I can’t say for sure that my cookie/brownie fuel for my long run this week made the difference to my run — could’ve been the stromboli + garlic bread the night before (garlic cheese bread was involved with my PR back in December) — but it didn’t hurt. I put it in a hard sided container from Amphipod.
I think I need to rearrange my little weekly recap to run starting with Sunday — which is how Rachel @ Runningonhappy’s plan for me runs — right now it looks like I’m having big leaps and dips in mileage, but that’s not really the case. Although I suppose no one but me really reads that anyway!
And that’s a wrap
This week I am also linking up with the Sunday Fitness & Food Linkup brought to you by Ilka @ Ilka’s Blog and Angela @ Marathons & Motivation.
Let’s get the conversation started:
Have you ever tried fueling your runs with real food?
If you could choose a memento of your parents — what would it be?
Would you rather PR even if you get injured or run the slowest race of your life — but injury free (borrowing the idea from Deborah @ Confessionsofamotherrunner’s post — did your read it here?
Chocolaterunsjudy 
Glad you got some sunny runs in up there! The picture of the park you run in looks lovely!
I haven’t taped for run since my hematoma back in october/november. It’s usually my knee/IT band that needs taped but hopefully that injury stays away!
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I have taped so many areas of my body, right now it’s my foot, obviously. My IT likes to get cranky, though, so I almost always tape it once I get to double digit runs. I don’t know why I haven’t so far — and so far, knock on wood, it seems to be behaving (mostly).
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Definitely would rather stay injury-free than PR. Which is why I intentionally keep my mileage low even when I am training. 22 was my peak week last week and if I were healthier, it would only have been 24. So far, I have no aches or pains. I want to stay that way.
But as you have said, everyone is different. You seem to be able to handle the higher mileage.
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I’m only running a couple of miles more than you per week, actually (it’s a little off on my wrap; this week was 24.5).
But my foot problems started when I was only running about 15 — and not running hard, either. So there you go.
I haven’t yet really decided what is the sweet spot for me when it comes to weekly mileage. I usually do like to get up to 25, but last year I never did & I had a good year of running.
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You are three weeks behind me in half marathon training.
I’m not sure what my sweet spot is either. Though I don’t want to find out the hard way. Anyway I like my short easy weekday runs.
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But unlike you, I don’t try to just ad a mile each week (even if I were doing my plan).
And you raced AFTER a long run — I probably wouldn’t do that. Everyone is different!
I just added NOLA to my weather app. A PR is doubtful. I mean I know it’s a month away, and maybe I’ll get lucky, but the humiditiy. But I knew that going in so I’ll roll with whatever it throws at me.
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The weather in Florida changes everyday. I give up. One day it is 80. The next day 70 and rain. It is what it is.
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The weather everywhere changes — sometimes minute to minute!
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I’m glad you finally got some sunshine and pleasant temps! All of Friday’s whirl wind snow has melted….I have a hunch we will see more of it before spring officially begins….
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We’re still having some back & forth weather — which is sort of good, rain mostly in the forecast which would be snow if it were colder. Although there’s a chance of snow, too.
Sometimes the worst storms are in March — and sometimes even in April!
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Yay for some sun! I’ve used Larabars for training. I have my Mon’s pearl necklace, my Dad’s sliderule and their China set.
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I’ve tried the larabar bites for training. I actually prefer something less sweet (it’s weird). I’ve also tried cutting up Picky Bars, which I like after, but again, too sweet.
Right now I’m enjoying my home made stuff. I wish I had more time to experiment!
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I would rather run the slowest run of my life than be injured again. I can’t stand sitting on the sidelines. If only we could actually make those choices!!
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I’ve been pretty lucky — I have had many nagging aches & outright pains, but few have taken me out of running altogether.
Of course I’d really rather not have nagging aches & pains, too!
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I’ve been fueling my long runs with peanut butter crackers. I have to be careful I don’t inhale the crumbs though! That chair looks ahhh-mazing!
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I don’t think I’ve heard of that one. Is that actual crackers made with PB, or PB filled crackers?
I’m happy to say the cookies & brownies held up well in my hard sided pouch. Although next time I need to cut them into pieces because they’d sort of get wedged down in there.
The chair itself is not the massager — in fact, that recliner is at least 20 years old (probably older). No, it’s a massage seat you put on the chair — heated! — I may be spending time on that every day going forward.
It’s just unfortunate I can’t leave it there, because no doubt Gizmo will think it’s a wonderful scratcher.
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Glad the knee is feeling better!
I don’t fuel my runs with real foods since I have digestive issues (I’ve written extensively about them–no need to go into details here). I only take Tailwind.
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I haven’t tried the Tailwind, but looking at it, that’s a lot of sugar — I really don’t like very sweet stuff when I run long. Weird, I know, because otherwise I’m all over it.
The hardest part of using real food (for me) is carrying it!
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Glad you finally got some glimpses of spring warmth! I totally overdressed for my Tuesday trail run and with no leaves on the trees, I baked out there! When I ran longer over the winter (think Boston training) I fueled with raisins, apricots, etc. That was good unless it was super cold you could break a tooth on a frozen apricot.
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I’ve tried raisins — I just need something a bit more substantial usually. And less sweet. Totally opposite of what I normally want!
That’s pretty amazing you could run Boston on that!
Last Tuesday was NOT warm here. Not at all. But at least after that we had a few nice days!
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I got a pedicure on Saturday, and I know the massage chairs they have. It’s fun to play with the settings, and my favorite was one that got low on my back. It’s not tight, but still felt really good.
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This had a lot of settings, too, and I totally played with it. Wish it went all the way down my calves!
And yes, I let it massage my lower back — I don’t have back problems, not yet, anyway (it does run in my family) but man does that feel good!
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OK, I started singing the Beatles song as soon as I saw your title. Thank you! I used to sneak outside and put my running shoes on to hide the fact I was running from Mini. It’s wonderful Bandit likes to run with you…sometimes. My Dad died many years before my Mom. After her death, I chose a painting from her dining room and a hand carved wooden mirror from her living room. I also have silver pieces they received as wedding presents. It’s hard for me to eat (chew) during a run. I stick to GU. Thanks for linking, Judy!
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Yay for a little sunshine and pleasant temps… it sure does make a difference! The memento that I want from my dad is his green plastic coffee mug, with all the coffee stains in it … every time I see it at my mom’s house a flood of memories come back.
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That is an interesting memento.
I find it kind of hard, because my parents are still alive. Granted, there isn’t really a whole lot that I want — there was this one cat print I really liked — and now it hangs in my home & I’m a little ambivalent.
It’s just so sad to see them giving away those things they collected with such love — even sadder that there is so much that none of us really want. 😦
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I’m so jealous of your weather! We can’t catch a break. Once again, it’s snowing here. It’s not sticking much, but it’s cold and wet! Although I did manage to get out yesterday for a bit! And I would definitely prefer to run slow than get injured!
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I don’t blame you at all. You’ve lived in 2 states that are such polar opposites (as did I).
Hold on, spring will get there! June, right? 😉
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You did luck up on that massage seat ! I’d sure jump on it. Along those lines we (the hubs) bought one of those TENS machines at an expo. Yea he paid a small fortune BUT I use it regular so we’re getting out moneys worth!
I have for sure enjoyed this weather but I’m hanging onto my winter clothes for a bit longer cause you just don’t know….
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