RnR DC Half Marathon training week 8

It's been a bit of a crazy week again and my training was again only ok.  At this point, my only goal for Rock and Roll DC is to just have fun and finish.  I've had a lackluster training cycle for various reasons and so I feel like that's the only thing that makes sense at this point.  And I'm ok with that.  Given other crazy things that are going on at work and in my personal life, training has taken a bit of a back seat and that feels like the right move for now.  But here are the details for this week.

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - rest day

 

There was an amazing sunset while we were out running errands

Wednesday - strength training

Thursday - rest day as we had to take Shelby to the vet.  She was having some dental cleaning but then it turns out that she also had to have 2 teeth extracted.  It took a while to get her home afterward and the poor baby has to be given pain medicine twice a day for a week.  She seems to be doing better though, eating well and struggling less when we give her the medicine.

 

She's in no mood to have her photo taken!

Friday - I made it out for a run!  It was a beautiful day and I'm glad I got to enjoy it for a bit.  I forgot my garmin so I used runkeeper but I think the mileage is a bit off.  I've done this circuit before and it's always been between 2.6 and 2.8 in the past.

 

Saturday - Yoga and a 10 minute abs video

Sunday - Met up with friends for an 11 mile run.  This one was tough.  The route was much hillier than I remembered and the wind was strong at times.  Once we hit mile 10, we ended up deciding to walk the rest of the way since I was having sharp pains in my knee on the inclines, my one friend was having back pain and the other one was getting over a cold and the wind was making it hard to breathe.  You can see the splits below that we really struggled at the end.

 

But that was our last long run and now the race is in 2 weeks!  I can't believe it's already so close.  Wish us luck because I think we'll need it.

I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.

 

RnR DC Half Marathon Training Week 7

I'm a day late with my weekly review since yesterday was a holiday!  I spent much of the long weekend trying to unplug, which was a nice getaway.  And I had a decent week of workouts as well, though I didn't get in everything I wanted.  I got in my 2 strength training sessions but only 2 runs instead of the 3 that I had planned on.

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - rest day

 

Valentine's Day dinner at home - beet and apple pizza with a spinach salad

Wednesday - strength training

Thursday - gym time with the West Wing as company

 

Friday - strength training

Saturday - This was the day I had meant to get in a run but didn't quite manage it.  I volunteered at a local community organization during the day that provides free services to assist people with filing their taxes.  I have a couple more volunteer sessions with them coming up but this week was my first time.  It was a steep learning curve but I'm more comfortable with it now :)

Sunday - Met up with a friend for our long run of 10 miles.  It was a beautiful morning and really warm for February.   I meant to take a photo at some point but was completely caught up in catching up with my friend while we ran so no photos of the beautiful morning.

 

Sunday also ended with an afternoon and evening of having friends over at our house to catch up.  We continued to take advantage of the nice weather by having drinks on the porch for a while before moving back indoors once the temperatures started to get cooler.

So that was it for last week.  I hope everyone else had a great long weekend too!

RnR DC Training week 6

This week went a lot better with training.  I did have to kind of move everything toward the end of the week because I was still not feeling that well at the beginning of the week but I got in my 3 cardio sessions and 2 strength training sessions.  Sadly, 2 of the 3 cardio days were indoors but I did manage to get a little bit of time outside when the weather was nice.  I also got in my 10,000 steps on my rest days as well which I hadn't been able to do for a while.

Monday - rest day with an evening walk in the neighborhood.

Tuesday - rest day with another walk

Wednesday- strength training

Thursday- 40 minutes at the gym

 

Friday- strength training at home

Saturday - 3 mile run in the neighborhood.  It ended up being a beautiful afternoon and I was able to run in a long sleeve shirt with no jacket.

 

Sunday- 9 miles - It was raining so my friends and I decided to meet at the gym instead.  I split up the 9 miles between 3 different machines to at least stretch my legs in between.

 

And that was my week!  The forecast looks pretty nice for this week so hopefully I'll get in more time outside later in the week.

Friday Five - Love

This has seemed like a long week but it's Friday!  And I'm happy to be able to link up with the Friday 5 again.  Many thanks to Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!  This week's theme is love so I thought I'd talk about 5 things I'm loving at the moment.

 

1.  Cats!  I've really loved cuddling with my cats in the evening.  Even Shelby has been affectionate and I think they sense that I've been stressed and need the extra comfort :)

One of my favorites photos of Shelby

2.  The latest news on the Executive Order for Refugees - Yesterday, a 3 judge panel for the 9th Circuit ordered that the stay on the Executive Order will remain in place.  The case still continues and the decision can still be appealed but I was really happy with this news.

3. Mike!  I always love him but he's been extra sweet recently!  We don't do Valentines Day but I figured I should at least give him a shout out since he does read the blog :) 

I love that he continues to be so supportive at my races!

4. The West Wing - I've been re-watching the West Wing on Netflix as my treadmill show.  I had forgotten how much I loved this show and it definitely make the time at the gym go by more quickly.

5.  The weather - I both love and don't love this one.  I loved the warm weather we had earlier this week but then it dropped like 30 degrees in a day and my sinuses are going crazy.  This up and down weather is making me feel like I'm constantly sick.

2017 Races

I can't believe it's already February!  This year has gotten off to a hectic start and I haven't had a single race yet.  I probably will be racing less this year but I still want to go ahead and get down my race plans for the year.  I'm sure a lot will change in the coming months but here's my list as of now.

January - None

February - None

Before last year's RnR DC

March - RnR DC Half Marathon and the MCRRC Piece of Cake 5k

April - Georgetown 10 miler and Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon at Disney World

May - Semper Fi 5k (since it's been a PR race the last 3 years!)

June -  Zooma Annapolis 10k MCRRC Suds and Soles 5k 


July - MCRRC Riley's Rumble 8k 

 

A hot and humid Riley's Rumble 8k in 2016

August -MCRRC Eastern County 8k

September -

October - Columbus Half Marathon (this will be my brother's first half!)

November - Infinity Gauntlet Challenge (10k and half marathon at Disney Land) and also a Turkey Trot in Ohio

December - MCRRC Jingle Bell Jog 8k and I might do Race 13.1 Baltimore if they have it again.

 

Baltimore in December

So that's my current list for the year.  I've got 2 Disney races on my year because I kind of felt like I wanted to get the coast to coast medal one year.  I turn 40 this year and Mike said, if there's a time to do it, this is it!  So this is my year of Disney, and that's also 3 races I'll be traveling for if you add in Columbus.  So more racecations than usual.  But at least for Columbus, I can stay with family so I won't have to worry about a hotel :)  And most of the MCRRC races are free for members which is definitely nice.

What races do you have on tap for the year that you're excited about?

RnR DC Training Weeks 4 and 5

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted in my blog or even since I've had a chance to read other blogs!  It's just been a really busy time at work.  And of course, I'm exhausted when I get home.  My career also happens to deal with immigration so there's been quite a bit of added stress around that the past couple weeks.

But moving on!  It is what it is.  I am happy to say the training is continuing.  I don't remember well enough to do a play by play but week 4 went well.  I got in my 3 runs and 2 strength training sessions that week.  2 of the 3 runs were even outside.  I got home early from work one day and was able to run outside (in a t-shirt and capris!) and then met up with friends over the weekend for a run on the C&O Canal towpath.

 

Running in a t-shirt in January!

Week 5 didn't go as smoothly.  It ended up just being 2 runs and 1 strength training session.  I ended up skipping my long run this past weekend because I was having serious sinus issues and felt like I could barely breathe on Sunday.

 

BWI airport protest in response to the Executive Order on immigration

But there was some fun stuff in there too!  Friday, a friend from out of town was visiting so we met up with her in the evening.  And Saturday came with another opportunity to dress up since Mike's company had their holiday party.  They always do it at the beginning of the year instead of December, which I appreciate.  It's nice to have it at a less busy time.  It was at the Portrait Gallery which is a beautiful building and some of the exhibits were even open so we got to have a look around.

So that's been my last 2 weeks.  I'm hoping I can get back to updating my blog and also catching up with other blogs so I can see how you're all doing!