Banff Marathon Training - Week 3 PFTW

 Last week...

• Mon: lower body 
• Tues: 3 miles (not great), upper body
• Wed: abs & lower body pilates
• Thurs: 3 easy (pretty okay), upper body
• Fri: lower body
• Sat: 6 easy (good)
• Sun: day of nothing

Drove up to Lake Pflugerville to run my "long" lol run with my running group friends, and drop by Target since I was "in town". It took me five minutes to de-ice my windshield before driving there, and by the end I felt overdressed in my long capris and tank. 

We did 80/20 intervals, because one of us read a book and now want to experiment with different intervals. Didn't love it, but wasn't the worst, so... 

I registered for a couple things this spring to fill in my training plan - Wanderlust Half Marathon and (take 2) Wildflower 25k. I live about 10 minutes away from the park that hosts Wildflower, so it'd be crazy not to do it?

This week...

• Mon: lower body
• Tues: 4 miles, upper body
• Wed: core & hiit just kill me
• Thurs: 3 miles, upper body
• Fri: two lower body videos
• Sat: 8 miles
• Sun: rest/hike/nothing?

Banff Marathon Training - Week 2 PFTW

I'm kicking off a new marathon training cycle, and remembering that I find this format really helpful in keeping track of how things are progressing, how I'm feeling, and what I love/hate about it all. I missed it during Columbia Gorge training, and Strava just isn't the same for me. 

I left my running group when I moved far, far away, so I've built my own training plan based mostly on the Run Less, Run Faster plan. I enjoy the lower overall mileage, and intentionality of each run, and hoping I'm not misremembering that. That plan is only 16 weeks, so I'm spending the next six weeks as "base building" and strength, before really kicking things off at the beginning of March. 

Last week... 

• Mon: Travel day, 3.5 easy
• Fri: 2 miles easy
• Sun: 3M Half, which, despite the tagline being "Downhill to Downtown" is actually very hilly. I've run this race a few times now, and actually really enjoy it. I enjoy it much more when there are several booze stops on the way to the finish line. This is when we realized we were about to get our first shot of the day.

For this week... 

• Mon: Strength. I'm still into the Fitness Blender videos, and I did this video this morning. 
• Tues: 3 easy, upper body
• Wed: abs & lower body pilates
• Thurs: 3 easy, upper body
• Fri: knee-friendly butt and thigh, i'm old and have knee issues :( 
• Sat: 6 easy, recovery stretches
• Sun: hike/rest

Wheeee.

Austin Half Marathon - Week 13 PFTW

I've lost track of what I've been doing because I've been crazed the last few weeks, so I guess here's what I can remember?

Strava tells me....
Wed 1/3 - 3 miles
Fri 1/5 - 3 miles
Tues 1/9 - 4 miles
Thurs 1/11 - 5 miles

I quit the challenge somewhere in there, and I'm not a little bit sad. Jumping is the worst.

We drove (I drove) Lora back to school this weekend, and on the way (totally out of the way) detoured to Cane River Creole National Historic Park outside Natchitoches, LA. I knew about this place thanks to Ghost Adventures (don't judge me), but it turned out to be fascinating and very haunting. Not in a spooky way, in a people can be really terrible way.

Then we drove sketchy/snowy backroads to Memphis because I enjoy living dangerously I guess.

Once in Memphis, it was entirely snowy and icy, and the roads were a disaster, and I had to text Becka for tips on driving in ice (protip: don't fucking stop, ever).

Today, in Austin, it's icy and snowy. Winter is great.

Un-weather-related, I got a promotion at work, and am taking on a fairly hefty project with very little ramp up time, and expanding my team by 40%, so I already miss sleeping :(.

This week....
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - strength (no challenge, just back to strength work)
Thursday - 5 miles, with "speed"
Friday - strength
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 8 miles

Austin Half Marathon - Week 11 PFTW

Last week...

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
Squats (10lb) - 3x15
Bicep curls (10lb) - 3x12
OH tricep extensions (10lb) - 3x10
Single-leg deadlifts (10lb) - 3x10
Russian twists - 3x30

Wednesday
4 miles
50 squats

Thursday
Lunges (10lb) - 3x12
Pushups - 3x10
Bent-over rows (15lb) - 3x15
Single-leg bridge - 3x15
Sit-ups (10lb) - 3x15
70 squats

Friday
4 miles, 4x400
90 squats

Saturday 
100 squats

Sunday 
150 squats
9 miles

It was below freezing IN TEXAS from about lunchtime on NYE through yesterday afternoon, and everything is iced and broken. I broke Texas, sorry everyone.

Lora ran outside and sent me all these creepy icicles (right after we watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy where Christina was IMPALED by an icicle!)...

And then it SNOWED again.

So I didn't really leave the house except to go to the gym to run 9 miles, because I was terrified of driving on ice.

I completed the December Squat Challenge that a friend posted in FB, and it was great/awful. Because I can't resist challenges, and frankly I'm struggling with not having a personal trainer now because I'm fancy, I'm jumping into this this challenge for January:

It looks great/awful, so I hope I don't die.

For this week....
Monday - Challenge Day 1
Tuesday - Challenge Day 2
Wednesday - Challenge Day 3, 3 miles easy
Thursday - Challenge Day 4, strength
Friday - Challenge Day 5, 4 miles "speed"
Saturday - Challenge Day 6
Sunday - Challenge Day 7, 6 miles

Austin Half Marathon - Week 10 PFTW

Last week....

Monday 
50 squats

Tuesday
50 squats
Lunges (10lb) - 3x10
Pushups - 3x8
Bent over rows (15lb) - 3x12
Single-leg bridge - 3x15
Sit-ups (10lb) - 3x12

Wednesday
100 squats
4 miles easy

Thursday 
50 squats
Chest press (15lb) - 3x15
Reverse fly (10lb) - 3x6
Overhead press (1 set 15lb, 3 sets 10lb) - 3x10
Leg lifts - 3x12
Figure-4 oblique crunches - 3x12

Friday 
100 squats
4 miles speed (lol "speed")

Saturday
150 squats

Sunday 
20 squats
8 lovely miles

According to Strava it's been appx a million weeks since I've run that far, so imagine my surprise when it was a really great run. I'm probably going to win Austin Half Marathon.

It was a beautiful day for a run - a little breezy, but chilly, and I really love this trail through our neighborhood.

This week
Monday - I did nothing but sit, cook, and eat
Tuesday - Strength
Wednesday - 50 squats, 4 miles easy
Thursday - 70 squats, Strength
Friday - 90 squats, 4 miles "speed"
Saturday - 100 squats
Sunday - 150 squats, 9 miles

Austin Half Marathon - Week 9 PFTW

Last week....

Monday
30 squats

Tuesday
50 squats
3 miles easy

Wednesday
70 squats
Bicep curls (10lb) - 3x10
Overhead tricep extensions (5lb) - 3x10
SL Deadlifts (10lb) - 3x10 ea leg
Russian twists - 3x20

Thursday
90 squats
4 miles, progression

Friday 
110 squats

Saturday
130 squats
{holiday party}

Sunday
Recovery

I made some very, very poor footwear choices on Saturday, and spent Sunday hobbling around with numb toes. I was afraid I was permanently damaged, but thankfully, I seem to be okay today. No amputation, what a relief.

Becka and I are also playing the Not Eating All The Things game again, and it's miserable. FML.

This week.....
Monday - 50 squats, strength
Tuesday - 50 squats, 4 miles easy
Wednesday - 100 squats, strength
Thursday - 50 squats, 4 miles
Friday - 100 squats
Saturday - 150 squats, 8 miles
Sunday - 20 squats, rest

Austin Half Marathon - Week 8 PFTW

Last week..

Monday
80 squats

Tuesday
90 squats
4 miles easy (lol because everything is easy-but-so-hard pace right now)

Wednesday
Front squats (20lb) - 5x15
Plain squats - 25
Push ups - 3x8
Bent-over rows (15lb) - 3x10
Single-leg bridge - 3x15
Sit-ups (10lb) - 3x10

Thursday
Nothing because it snowed (IT SNOWED) ((squats rest day))

Friday
40 squats
4 miles

Saturday
Chest press (15lb) - 3x12
Reverse fly (5lb) - 3x10
Squats with OH press (10lb 1st set, 5lb next) - 3x15
Plain squats - 15
Leg lifts - 3x10
Figure-4 oblique crunch - 3x10

Sunday
80 squats
6 miles

This was the first week of working out without the trainer, and I kind of miss that guy. It was nice to have someone talking nonsense while I was dying, to distract me from that dying. It was also nice to just do what I'm told, and not have to piece together some well-rounded workout program. The heaviest weights we have at home are 10lb, so I don't know what I'm going to do when I need to increase weight. Use my gym membership, I guess.

The other big headline of the week was that it fcking snowed. In Austin.

People tell me that this is super rare.

They also told me that about the crazy tornado that came through when I was on my first visit here, and when we had a hurricane, so it can only be so "super rare". I'm starting to feel like they're lying and/or I'm cursed.


Next week....

Monday - 30 squats
Tuesday - 3 miles, strength
Wednesday - squats
Thursday - 4 miles, strength
Friday - squats
Saturday - squats
Sunday - 7 miles, no squats!