Week in Review / PFTW

Last week!

Monday: XT
Maybe reverse psychology works on me, because once I said I was just resigned to resting on Monday's, I did arms and abs. Clever trick, me.

Tuesday: Tempo
7 miles total with 4 at tempo. Goal was 9:22-9:07, actual was 9:22, 9:20, 9:13, 9:09. Skipped run club because it was 97* and I enjoy being alive.

Every Tuesday, I do speed on the treadmill, and every Tuesday, there's a guy in the gym that "runs" for 45 minutes. And by "runs", I mean, he turns the belt on, and occasionally runs, but spends most of the time standing on the edges playing on his phone. It's so bizarre. Do people that do this know that those miles don't even count???

Wednesday: Run/XT
Last week was HOT. Like, over 100* for most of the week. In fact, it was so toasty that I decided to go to the gym for almost 2 hours, because at least the gym has AC (and my apartment DOES NOT). 3 mile run, a couple miles walking leisurely, and lower body circuit. It was so cool and lovely, I hated to leave.

Thursday: XT
Arms, Core, and stretch

Friday: Run
Woke up to tons of smoke and firey smelling air from the San Diego fires south of us - was intending to do a long run, but the air was awful. Made it 3 miles with itchy eyes and scratchy throat and called it. After I got home, I saw on the news there was an air quality warning, advising to stay indoors. Ha. Too late, suckers.

Saturday: Long!
This run was so great! 6 miles easy, 6 at "goal" pace. Goal pace felt a teeeeeeny bit challenging, but certainly not too hard, so I'm maybe optimistic about the Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half. Maybe.

(BTW, if you want to run, you can register at that link, and use HEATHERDISCOUNT for an extra 10% off.)

Sunday: Rest?
We spent the day spectating #2's track event, while #1 and her team volunteered with the operations.

This is how Gab feels about track time.

The H took her home between events. She was a joy to bring to the track.

#2 ran her teeny tiny heart out for her 100m, but she watches everything happening around her instead of looking forward. It's so weird!

Rare shot of her looking forward.

She was also supposed to run the 400m later, but DNS'ed due to an ankle injury she acquired while goofing off on the bleachers. More accurately, an "injury". Since I saw her later bounding up the stairs, I am skeptical of this claim. This was not the highlight of my day.

It was WARM, and despite reapplying sunscreen a billion times, I have some fancy sunburn lines everywhere. #blessed.

So now, FOR REAL, track is DONE until next January. GOOD RIDDANCE, TRACK.

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PFTW

It's taper!

Monday: rest
Tuesday: Run club! Arms, core
Wednesday: Speed - not sure what, yet, but likely 400's/800's?
Thursday: XT, legs
Friday: 5 with strides (or maybe trails, weather dependent), arms/core
Saturday/Sunday - rest

I'll talk more about my goals for Laguna later this week..... Honestly, a lot of it just depends on the weather forecast. I am a fair weather runner.

Week in Review / PFTW

Wow, was last week LAME.

Monday: rest 
Nailed it.

Tuesday: speed work
5 miles, with 5x800. Goal was 8:24-8:02 - actual was for sure on the high end of that range, but it wasn't the worst ever, so success!!

Wednesday: XT
17 min abs and a short (SHORT) arms video. This was the beginning of the end...

Thursday: Nothing
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Nothing

Sunday: "long"
Actual was 4 super terrible awful lame miles, and then I quit, because apparently now in addition to being lazy, I AM A QUITTER. (I'm not that bummed about it, I really just hated every second).

9 miles for the week, because I'm a super-star.

Thursday, Gab had her regular check at the cancer clinic. For the first time since we've been going there in 2011, they didn't remember her name. THIS IS SO EXCITING.

I would barely even know it's the same kid, if I hadn't taken both of those pictures.

Friday, #1 raced in League Finals, and took 4th in the 1600 and WINNER in the 3200 - with a new meet record!

so fast, you can't even seeeee her

They did medal ceremonies for each race, and for every race, the kids used the podium right.. until it was #1's turn, and then she turned it into a party.

join me, everyone!

FINALLY, FINALLY track season is over. Thank goodness.

And then Saturday was #2's birthday. I'm not thrilled about having TWO teenagers, because it does not even seem possible that I'm that old. HOW.

To celebrate, we took her to the track to practice long jump for her meet next weekend. She's so lucky to have me as a mom.

I don't know anything about long jump, but this looks fancy and impressive to me.

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PFTW, and maybe this time I mean it?

Monday: XT - arms/core
Tuesday: 5 miles tempo; run club, unless it's too hot for my delicate nature
Wednesday: 3-4 easy, XT
Thursday: Long (12-14)
Friday: rest, yoga
Saturday: 6-7 easy; XT
Sunday: #2 is racing!!

I don't even know what happened to me last week, I got really caught up in sudden job-hunting mania, and just couldn't tear myself away? I don't know.

The forecast this week is unpleasant ("sizzling sunshine" ???? WHAT??!?!), so while I'd love to go to run club Tuesday evening, I will even more love to not burst into flames.

Week in Review / PFTW

First, thanks for the comments last week regarding #1's racing aversion. A few people mentioned taking the watch away from her. Ironically, she doesn't run with a watch. Pretty much the only time she knows her training paces is when either the coach is riding his bike while they run, or she's doing track work (once a week).

I feel like there's a combination of reasons that she races at the times she does:

• She's 15 and stubborn.
• She's my child, and stubborn.
• Running faster than is comfortable is HARD, and so far, she's skated by without needing to get uncomfortable.
• She doesn't want it bad enough - she's just not super competitive, she didn't grow up participating in sports, and the need to win is not something that comes naturally to her.
• Trusting your training is a difficult concept to grasp for her. {related to above, an idea I had was to have her do a tempo run with a Garmin, so she could see what she is actually running, and apply that to her races - she says she sees the clock time, and thinks she cannot run that fast, even though her training clearly says otherwise.}
• Her first year in HS sports was incredibly successful - being on varsity for XC meant she ran more races than the non-varsity runners as they moved on to state prelims and stuff; the jump into track was pretty quick, and being faster meant running more races than a lot of her teammates. Burnout, I'm sure, has played a part.
• She was OVER hearing her obnoxious parents yap about it and wanted to teach us a lesson in shutting up.

Luckily, she's almost done for the season, and outside of a couple of 5k's and a 10k this summer, she's done racing until XC starts in September.

Last week was her last dual meet, and terrible weather aside, they had a lot of fun - they won by about a billion points or whatever, and the team they raced was SO NICE about it. Temps were 97*+ the whole time, with 30mph winds (and I heard on the news 70-80mph gusts, the heck), so no one had a good race, but also no one puked or passed out, so I would say it was successful.

Two league meets this week, and WE ARE FREE. Finally. I can't wait for XC season. Track was not my most favorite.

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Last week!

Monday - rest. I don't know why I keep pretending I'm going to do stuff on Monday, because inevitably, I take a rest day.

Tuesday: XT, tempo
5 miles with 3 at tempo -  a little tough, but not the worst! Followed with a new Fitness Blender video, 17 minute Six Pack Burn Out - Intense Abs Workout. I REALLY liked this video.

Spent the late afternoon sitting on the bleachers in 99* sun watching track practice - the girls were sad that it was "only" 99, because apparently, the rules say 100*+ and they call off practice. SO CLOSE. Lucky for me, I've been hoarding my free drink reward, and enjoyed this while they ran 4x400 and 6x200 haha suckers.

Wednesday: XT
50 minute upper body video (this one), the 17 minute abs again, and a quick stretch/yoga video.

Thursday: Long 
12 miles easy, with middle 4 at "race pace". Easy easy easy, caught up on some old Real Housewives from last season on the treadmill (in fact, all of my runs this week were on the mill - IT WAS SO HOT ALL WEEK).

Friday: XT
Core (same 17 minute abs video) and arms.

Saturday: rest
This was the Worst Day Ever - uckfed up Gab's race (it was actually Saturday, NOT Sunday, and I realized it too late - I was sad, she was NOT. "It's okay, mom, I hate running!"), and then - THEN! - our car broke dead while I was on the way to a party. Sigh. Then I came home and ate ice cream for dinner.

Sunday: easy run
5 easy miles catching up on more Real Housewives of OC. This was easy, but apparently less easy than the woman on the treadmill next to me, sipping on a frappuccino (dude, not even during happy hour window!).

Total of 22 miles, which is the most I've run in a week in ages - actually, the most since early December. Huh.

Obviously I kind of settled on a RLRF type program for now, because I still really enjoy the strength training. Since I plan on doing iTRY in August, I doubt that will change until then, because I'll need to add the cycling and swimming back in (ugghhhhh).



PFTW

Monday: rest (I give in)
Tuesday: SPEED! 5 miles with some 800s, XT lower body/abs
Wednesday: easy 3-4, XT upper body
Thursday: XT total body
Friday: Long - 10 miles with strides, yoga
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 4-5 easy

Get out of yo head

#1's track season started out really promising. She ran a 5:25 1600 at a pre-season all comer's meet, and her coach was psyched ("That's just seconds off of {insert fast girl}!!"). We were psyched. It was all very exciting.

Fast forward 3 months and (what feels like) a billion races, and her 5:25 PR holds strong. She hit 5:27 once, and 5:28-5:30 are pretty much par for the course for her. She knocked a chunk of time off her 3200 last month - from a 12:01 to 11:46, but that one has also stood since then.

Obviously 5:30/11:46 is a great time. It's so fast, and I know it's hard work. But months of training and conditioning haven't budged that time.

Last week, I sat in the bleachers during her speedwork day, and watched her knock out 2x800, 2x600, 2x400, and 2x200...

Once I was over how consistent she was (seriously, robot??), I played around with McMillan trying to figure out what race pace she's actually training for - she mentioned that her coach told her it was sub-5, so I wanted to check for myself, because I'm a helicopter. If McMillan is not lying to me, it looks like she should be racing closer to a 5:00 1600.

That's a little faster than 5:30, eh? She says she sees her time on the clock while she's racing, and freaks out, because in her brain, she's a 5:30 runner, THE END. Despite what her training shows, and despite how easy it looks. Seriously, not one race has she finished and looked like she needs to sit down right now. It's a comfortably hard pace for her, and so far, she's not willing to push through that.

She's been so frustrated with her racing lately, and it's - frankly - frustrating for us, too, to see her performing consistently under what she's capable of. Obviously we're not disappointed in her - not at all - but if you're gonna complain about your time, suck it up and run harder, yo.

It's a hard thing to tell someone else - it's going to hurt, and you just have to do it. I don't know how to make someone else run uncomfortable, you know?

Shockingly, this didn't work.

On Saturday, she was PISSED that the head coach yelled at her during her 3200 that she wasn't working hard enough.

Well, guess what kid? After a full season of you not PR'ing, and consistently running slower than you do in training... it's a valid thing to say while you're running an 11:58. I bet he's pretty frustrated, too.

Anyway. I guess I'm really just venting about this track season. I'm trying to impart on her the importance of at least taking a lesson away from each race - maybe today you don't PR, but you kick it the last 200 and pass someone, or you keep someone else from passing you, or you stick to the person in front of you, or you work your way up slowly and patiently. And someday, these pieces will all come together, and you'll run a great race. I feel like she's putting the cart (a big PR) before the horse (the basics of running a track race), and sabotaging herself. She's chasing a PR while not taking the coaching advice. The faster times will come, when you learn to trust your training and run smart.

It's a tough thing for runners to learn - trusting your training and shutting up your brain while you run.

Anyway. Here's a cute shot of her teammates cheering for her.

Go Lora.

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Recap of last week....

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: XT, 4 miles
It was cool and cloudy, so I ran 4 miles easy in the AM, followed by an arms/core video (my favorite one!, and total body with HIIT intervals - 55 min total.

Wednesday: XT, 5 miles
5 easy treadmill miles catching up on RHOC. After this, I got stupid and did a killer lower body video, which almost killed me dead - Brutal Butt and Thigh Lower Body Sculpting. I actually really enjoy this video, but it's hard, and perhaps was not a wise choice immediately following a run? Eh.

Thursday: XT
Combined 3 FB videos for a 50 minute strength day - warm up, Strength Training for Strong Toned Arms and Shoulders, 10 Minute Abs.

Thursday afternoon, #1's team was hosting a dual meet, so I spent some time on the field volunteering. The view was OKAY, I GUESS.

Hey, Varsity Girls.

Friday: lame
Intended to do a long trail run this day, but that was thwarted by a mystery sick day that made me vaguely pukey and lethargic.

Saturday: "rest"
Track meet for A MILLION HOURS. I think we left the house at 8, and got home around 6. I have a pretty gnarly sunburn to show for it. (Always use sunscreen!) It was really long and do you know it's exhausting to sit in the sun and cheer for that long?? #1's events are the 1600 and the 3200, which were events 9 and 32 on this day (they're generally one of the first and then one of the last events, respectively), so we generally take off shortly after her last race, because by then it's already been a long day. Saturday, we stuck around until the end, and man, so glad we did because the very last event - boyx 4x400 relay - was SO GREAT, and we won by just a teeeeeeeny tiny bit, and it was very exciting.

Sunday: More rest
Yeah, it's true. We also took #2 to the track to practice for her event next month.

"I'm a starfish. Starfish don't run." 

PFTW
I was slightly thwarted by the mystery illness last week, and then just didn't have any pep in me to make up the miles, because default=lazy. At least it was a scheduled "cut back" week? Ha.

Monday: XT (arms/core), 3-4 easy maybe.
Tuesday: 5 tempo, yoga
Wednesday: XT (arms/core)
Thursday: Long run (10-12, with middle miles at goal pace OR hills?)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 5 easy, XT (legs/lower body)
Sunday: Gab is racing!

Three Things Thursday

1. I cannot believe it's been A WHOLE YEAR since I ran a marathon. Eugene was so lovely, and I'm still working diligently to convince the family we need to move there.

Magic!

We are so funny.

See? It looks like it was the funnest EVER.


2. I've picked a fall marathon, and the goal is to start training (for real) in mid-July/August, but I'm waffling between using the Hanson's method (run all the miles, but not the super long ones), or the Run Less, Run Faster program (run a fraction of the miles, but also cross train). I don't even know why I'm debating this, because TO ME, RLRF sounds better - I like the cross training, so why not? But mostly, I'm just very curious about Hanson's.

I am so indecisive! Thankfully I've got some time to work out my brain thoughts.


3. #2 was on the Orange County Academic Pentathlon team for her school last month - she was really bummed about her essay - they had to read a book, and at competition, they gave them a writing prompt. However, she forgot a main character's name, and basically felt like she faaaaailed. So when the awards ceremony was announced (the day BEFORE, with no advance notice....), and it was going to be a haul of a drive, to get there at 6 in rush hour traffic.... we declined to go. They don't announce award winners in advance, and #2 said she only wanted to go to hang out with her friends, so I certainly wasn't interested in spending an hour sitting in traffic.

My bad, she won 3rd place for 7th grade.

Mom fail.

Fitness Blender 5 Day Fat Loss Challenge - Recap/PFTW

Like I may have mentioned once or a billion times, I fell in love with Fitness Blender after Kim suggested their Tank Top Arms video (in all honesty, I cursed her for several weeks before I decided it was true love).

When they announced recently that they were launching a 5 Day Challenge, I was IN. I love a challenge, I love structure, and I love following a plan. I didn't really pay attention to it being for fat loss, so that's my mistake.

#1 is my favorite child {#1 thinks she's clever and that she snuck this in while I was cooking.}

The challenge was officially titled the 5 Day Fat Loss Program Jumpstart - every day, they would provide a video to be completed. It is geared towards someone with at least some fitness, but I feel like it could be pretty easily modified to suit a range of fitness levels. Don't quote me, I'm not an expert.

Day 1 (Monday)
40 minute butt/thigh workout. According to Daily Mile, I liked this video, and it was new-to-me, so I'm glad they introduced it. A lot of their videos are done in an AB AB format, which I enjoy - it makes my brain think we're getting things done faster.

Later in the evening, Gab and I did the FB kid video. She LOVES this video, because she's a crazy person.

Day 2 (Tuesday)
37 minute upper body with cardio intervals. Liked the upper body superset. Always hate jumping jacks. There were 2 strength exercises and one cardio interval per set; 10 reps for the strength, 1 min cardio, twice through. Three total sets.

Plus 4 easy miles with run club.

Day 3 (Wednesday)
This was the day I was dreading. 35 minute Insane HIIT Challenge. For A Person who Frequently Runs, I am so awful at HIIT/Cardio exercises. Suffice it to say, this video KILLED ME DEAD. 7 groups of 2 exercises, 3 sets per exercise, 20 sec on/10 sec active rest, in an AB AB format. 20 seconds is so sneaky - sounds so short, IS ACTUALLY SO SO SO LONG.

I completed the video, but it was UGLY. I took an extra 30 second water break after the jump squat/mountain climber set, and did mountain climbers instead of the weird lizard things, because there was NO WAY my arms were able to move.

This video was HARD.

Day 4 (Thursday)
37 minute Fat Burning Cardio - this was not toooooo bad, except for all of the jumping. Turns out, I really suck at jumping. This video consisted of 16 different exercises, 40 sec on, 15 sec active rest. It was fairly low impact, but I was sweating like a beast.

They also offered a yoga video option for the day instead of the cardio, but I opted to do the cardio. Go big or go home?

I originally had a tempo run on tap for the day, but scratched it for a trail run with hill repeats. I don't know why I thought that would be easier.

At least it was pretty. 4 miles.


Day 5 (FRIDAY)
35 minute Total Body Toning Strength and HIIT. Apparently this is how I felt about that video.

YEP. DEAD.

The FB description for this one is, "We have three different groups of two exercises; we'll be doing 10-14 reps for each set. Repeat each group twice, in an AB, AB format (with a short active rest in between) before moving on to a round of HIIT; 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 4 times through. All you're going to need is a set of dumbbells."

I for real hate jump squats. 

I vaguely think that I maybe liked this video, and might do it again, but I was kind of just relieved to end the challenge.

Saturday: NOTHING
We went to the beach, and I mocked #1's runner problems.

Sunday: long run
10 miles, .9 easy, .1 strides, from half marathon pace down to 5k pace. Legs were kind of lame the first few miles, but once I warmed up, all was well.


Overall, I enjoyed the challenge - I don't really weigh myself, so I don't really know how effective it was for jumpstarting fat loss, and I certainly didn't modify my diet too much, but.... Fat loss is not my goal. If that's what you're looking for, the emphasis on cardio and HIIT will help. 

For me, if I had paid attention when it started that it was a fat loss program, I don't know if I would have done it. (HA, who am I kidding, I'm a sucker for a challenge). I'm more focused on strength, and on half training. While this series was EXHAUSTING, it just didn't have as much strength work as I have come to enjoy. Not FB's fault, because that wasn't the point of the challenge.

I am disappointed/annoyed at how weak I am at cardio - I imagine adding some of that into my weekly routine will only help; honestly, I avoid the HIIT videos like the plague because I hate it so hard. I GUESS I'll try to work a little bit more in. sigh.

But like I said, I enjoyed the format. Five days is such a short commitment, that it was easy to dive in. It introduced a few new videos to me, which I appreciate. 

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PFTW

Monday: upper body/core (I really missed this video!!), yoga
Tuesday: 4 easy, probably during #1's track practice; hiit????
Wednesday: 5 easy, lower body
Thursday: yoga/upper body
Friday: long run - 8 miles with 4 at race pace (cut back week!)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: speed - 5 with 4x1600

Four Things Thursday

1. One of the most frustrating things about job hunting is finding a job that sounds great, going through multiple rounds of interviews, and then getting turned down with a "You're tooooooo qualified". On one hand, yes, in fact, I AM too qualified for the job - which I knew, and pursued anyway, because I (this will shock you) wanted that job. On the other hand... I mean. Presumably you read my resume before I spent time talking to you. Why are my qualifications surprising? 

2. This summarizes exactly why I can't take Runner's World seriously.  

‘Just because you’re married and have young children and a job doesn’t mean you don’t have time to run…You need this time. Taking it for yourself (by letting your husband baby-sit while you run, for instance) will benefit the whole family.’Question: can you babysit your own child?

Seriously. 

3. I'm incapable of refraining from a challenge, so when Fitness Blender announced their five-day challenge for this week, of course I accepted. Day 1 was a 40 minute butt/thigh video, Day 2 upper body with cardio, and day 3... Insane HIIT. 

It's befuddling to me that I can run, but 30 minutes of some cardio kills me dead. 

4. SPRING BREAK. We went to the beach for the first time in... gosh. Four years?! That sounds ridiculous since we live so close, but cancer and ports and chemo and whatever. 

Seriously, 15 minutes down the road from this, and yet... 

The girls had absolutely no fun.