Weekly Wrap up - Where is fall?

Today was another 'scorcher' - high of 82 with 42% humidity. Definitely better than last week. Still, it's officially fall now and while I'm not ready for pants and sweatshirts all of the time, I'm certainly ready for long sleeves!

This Week's Training

Mon: 3.4 miles with Ellie, which meant it was basically a fartlek run
Tue: 1500 pool swim, "Easy Dozen" workout
Wed: Rest
Thur: Volleyball
Fri: 6 miles on the bike
Sat: Rest
Sun: 8 miles @ 12:10 pace

See all of that rest in there? I'm not super happy about it, but at the end of the day it's what my body needed. Wednesday I packed my bag up for a good run downtown. I realized about an hour  before my run that I didn't bring a sports bra. It seemed like a sign from the God's that a run wasn't in the cards for me. I'd had some nagging pain in my left shin and knee that was really freaking me out. That, coupled with a mounting "to do" pile at work allowed me to say, "No, i need the rest". I ended up staying late at work and getting through the mountain of undone motions, notes, and briefs so that I could come home with less stress and anxiety. Sometimes, things really do work out the way their supposed to.

We had to move our long run since we had a football game yesterday. I actually liked running today better than on Saturdays. Felt more restful and relaxing afterward. We slowed down considerably today but I think it actually worked out well. I also fiddled with my nutrition a little bit: I took 2 gatorade chomps and added some electrolyte powder to my handheld. No side stitches! The gatorade chomps actually went down relatively well and didn't cause my stomach any problems. Afterwards I soaked in the ice bath again for about 15 minutes. I'm an ice bath convert now. It really does help take away the initial soreness and I'm confident I'll feel better tomorrow than I would have otherwise.

Totals: 18.39 miles, 3:29:48, 2, 594 calories

This Week's Nutrition
Not really sure where I stand on this anymore. I gained back what I'd lost last week and I'm taking it relatively hard. I'm going to add body measurements into my routine instead of just the scale. If i'm working out as much as I am and continuing to increase that, then I may not actually "lose" weight in the traditional sense. Measurements will help me see actual tangible changes in my body that a number wouldn't show. Otherwise, I was great with my goal of "No Work Candy" and managed to sneak in only a piece or two the whole week. I need to focus on HYDRATION while at work. I find myself getting super dehydrated if I'm not careful, and then it's just a downward spiral to my workout.

I did splurge and get some froyo today after a trip to my parents house. I declined sweets the whole rest of the weekend for this treat, so I think I earned it =D

Next Week:
- BLOG! Should have one on deck…stay tuned :P
- Keep up the chocolate crack down
- More bike time
- Make up that Wednesday Work out
-More pics

To everyone who raced this weekend - Way to go!!

Happy Running!

Did you race this weekend? How did it go?
Have you ever dealt with a weight plateau? How did you overcome it?

Weekly Roundup

Another good week in the books. The first three days of the week were three of my favorite work days of the year. It was the "judicial college", which meant that 10 of the 23 judges I'm in front of were gone and courts were restricted. It was absolutely lovely. I didn't even have court Wednesday. Of course, Thursday & Friday more than made up for all of the work but, oh well.

This Week's Training

Mon: 3.65 miles @ 11:32 min/miles
Tue: 1,500 yard swim - swam the first 1,200 without stopping followed by kick and sight drills
Wed: 5.25 miles @ 11:51, a modified tempo run. Best run of the week by far
Thur: Volleyball night - sorest night of the week. No jumps and no arm strength
Fri: Rest day & a wedding!
Sat: 7 Miles @ 11:50 - TOUGH run, hot and humid
Sun: 2.2 mile walk with my mom through the neighborhood

All in all a great week in training! Worked in a swim - which went REALLY well - and got some really good runs. Also - I took an ice bath after the 7 miler and it felt great. I put on several layers, jumped in the cold tub and dumped ice over my legs. I feel great today and I'm convinced it's because of the ice bath.  Overall, I'm super happy with how things are going at this point. My Saturday runs continue to feel…well…crappy. Not entirely sure why other than I guess they're supposed to feel crappy. Hoping to get back in the pool this week!

Total: 19.18 Miles, 4:17:36, 2,135 calories

Rockin' that flying pig headband in the ice bath

This Week's Nutrition:

I've really hit a wall with my nutrition. I've been super dedicated to packing my lunch and keeping out of the candy bowl at work. Still haven't seen any results in either my activity level or my weight. I'm pretty proud of myself for my choices at the wedding Friday - water to drink, one plate of food and no cake. That's damn near perfect as far as I'm concerned. This week I want to work on limiting sweets and drinking more water. Lets see how this goes….

Next Week:

• Work is ramping back up so I want to keep the momentum I've built going forward
• BLOG - I have some new updates to share so I want to get them out there
• Limit sweets - i.e. no dipping into the co-worker's reese's bowl (damn him!)

Do your co-workers keep candy in their offices? How do you stay away from work temptations?

How do you deal with balancing work and running?

Come and find me

For those of you that use Blog Lovin', find me there! 

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7341299/?claim=jjjktdnbsun">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Long Hot Run

Woke up this morning just not feeling it.

Spent a lot of Friday hydrating. We went to a wedding in the evening and I made sure to drink lots of water and some (Delicious) pink lemonade in anticipation of this morning's run. By the time we were ready to get out the door - about 11:00 a.m. - we had a very rude surprise: the cool temps and overcast we enjoyed last week were nowhere to be found. Instead, we got 75 degrees, sunny, and 73% humidity. In perspective this doesn't sound so bad since we've run in much worse this summer, but after last week we'd really gotten it in our minds that it was going to be cool. That's Kentucky for you.

The first few miles felt pretty gross, but I expected that they would. I usually hate the first mile of any run. It reminds me of how I used to hate warming up in swimming. It hurts, i'm sore, I'm bored, and I pretty much think about how much I hate what I'm doing. But then, almost in sync with my garmin beeping "one mile", I feel a lot better. I knew we were starting out too fast but I've never really figured out how to pace with Josh. I can't get a good feel for the pace. Regardless, I tried to slow us down, which seemed to work. I kept dumping water on myself and drinking a lot. While I'd planned on taking my Gu Chomp around mile 5, I felt pretty crappy when we got closer to four. We hit a stoplight so I took that as a sign that I needed some nutrition. I let myself walk while I chewed and drank enough to make sure I got the chomp down. Then we pressed on.

I hate to say that I had to walk a little bit more the last few miles. Anytime my virtual partner would get 0.xx miles ahead of my goal, I'd let myself walk until it went back down to .yy ahead of my goal. While I'm happy with our overall pace, I'm disappointed that it's not more consistent. Oh well, the biggest thing is that We did it!!

Not sure how we went faster?

Happy Saturday!

How's the weather where you live?
Did you run today?

End of Summer Excitement (with pictures!)

A lot has been happening around here that has kept me off the blog. Rest assured, it's (almost) all good stuff.

Firstly, we went on vacation! First vacation since last September and it was long overdue. While training was going really well the stress of work was really getting to me. I could tell a difference in my body - and my brain - and the vacation was mandatory.

We spent a whole week in San Francisco. Neither Josh nor I had ever been and it was a BLAST. After the 90 degree temps and high humidity here in Louisville 70's with low humidity was a welcomed change.

Can I go back now, please?

It was a ridiculous mix between exhausting and relaxing. The second day we were there we walked 14 miles. And that's according to my fitbit, so I know it's a little bit off. Labor Day we rented bikes and trekked across the Golden Gate Bridge into Salsalito. It was phenomenal. First time I had been on a bike in ages so It was a little perilous. However, we managed to get up - and down - all of the hills and across the bridge no problem. It was a lot of fun!

8.1 miles to Salsalito

All in all it was an amazing trip - and the best thing is, we didn't lose any fitness! We went for a 3 mile run along the shore Thursday before a whole day of travel.

Not too bad for vacation!

Things have settled down since we got back. Back to work and back to the routine. First thing on my list was to get up and go for a RUN Sunday. We were a little off the training calendar but I owed myself a 5k at race pace which I nailed. Then back into the rhythm of the training!

This Week's Training

Seems a little sparse when you look at it this way

Monday: 3.50 miles, including warm up walk, at average pace 11:26 min/mile. Ellie walk in the    afternoon
Tuesday: Rest day
Wednesday: 7.16 miles with the girls
Thursday: Volleyball - 3 matches, high intensity
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7 mile run @ 12:27 min/miles
Sunday: Rest

As I was getting dressed in my office on Wednesday I heard the girls in my office getting ready to leave for theirs. They're training for the full Marathon in Chicago in early October. They said they were doing 8 so I figured I'd tag along for the four I had planned. Garmin crapped out almost immediately and, to be honest, it felt GREAT. I loved running with them and talking and being part of the 'team', so I just kept going. And going….and going. 7 miles later we rolled back into the office on very tired legs. I"m super proud of myself for doing it, but I think I definitely set myself back for our long run Saturday. Come saturday my legs were super stiff and my feet hurt. I've been religious about the compression socks, hydration and stretching so hopefully this week is a restart for my body.

Totals: 19.06 miles, 2:13:25 hours, 1,381 calories

What's up for next week?
BIG THINGS! Probably even necessitating another blog post…

Stay Tuned!