Heart Rate Training Week 9

 I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I took the time to relax and recharge this weekend, which was much needed.  But first, here is the rest of the week.

Monday - Rest day with a 20 minute walk

 

Beautiful sky during my walk

Tuesday - Strength training with the FitStar app

 

This one was tough, lots of frowny faces

Wednesday - Threshold run in the morning...it was a warm up and then 15 minutes in zone 4, 2 minutes recovery, another 15 minutes in zone 4 and then a cool down.  This was a challenging but fun run :)

 

Thursday - Easy recovery workout with 45 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym.

 

Friday - Unplanned rest day... I was just so tired that I figured a rest day was in order.

Saturday - Strength training with FitStar.

 

I also still felt really exhausted, physically and mentally.  So I decided to take a morning for myself.  No electronics, no news, no email.  I made my favorite tea, put on some relaxing music, and caught up on some fun reading on the couch.  I also did some yoga later in the day.  It was exactly what I needed!

 

Sunday - Riley's Rumble 8k.  I had a great time doing this one with friends.  More details on it later in the week.

 

Here are my workout plans for this week.

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - strength training
Wednesday - easy run before going to work in the morning
Thursday - interval run at the gym after work
Friday - strength training
Saturday - Long run
Sunday - threshold run

I hope everyone else had a great week too!  I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin (and guest host Confessions of a Mother Runner) for the Weekly Wrap.

 

Friday Five - last week's workouts

Yikes!  It's Friday and I haven't even posted my weekly review from last week.  This week has been really busy but one of those types of busy where I'm not even sure what I've gotten done or accomplished.  That's the worst.  But since it is Friday, I'm going to combine my weekly review with the Friday Five hosted by Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness.

1.  Tuesday - strength training.  I tried out a new strength training video and while it didn't feel tough at the time, I was sore for a couple days afterwards.  It was a lot of squats and lunges!

 

2.  Wednesday - Threshold run with a 10 minute warm up, 15 minutes in zone 4, and 15 minutes in zone 2.

  

3.  Thursday - 40 minutes on the elliptical at the gym

 

4.  Saturday - Tried out a spin class for the first time with the free introductory class at Zengo.  I really enjoyed it and it was a great combo of cardio and strength!  Though my quads ended up really sore the next couple days.

5.  Sunday - Met up with a friend to do 6 miles.  We were on a shady trail which was nice but it was super humid.  I felt like I was dripping sweat within the first mile.

 

So that was last week.  This week has been going well too and I've been getting in my workouts in spite of work being busy.  I'm hoping to get back on track with the blogging (writing and reading) so you should be hearing more from me :)

Heart Rate Training Week 8

Last week seemed to drag at the beginning since it was the first full week back at work after the 4th of July.  But it ended up being pretty busy and sadly I didn't get much blogging in.  I did however get almost all my workouts in so that's a win in my book!  Here are the details.

Monday - Rest day with a 20 minute walk

 

So many rabbits in my neighborhood!

Tuesday - Strength training.  I only got through half of my fitstar routine because my stomach was not feeling well this evening.  I was in the middle of a set of burpees when I decided to stop since my stomach felt like it was about to rebel.

Wednesday - Easy run in the morning and a 20 minute walk with a friend in the evening.

 

Thursday - Intervals at the gym after work.  It was a 5 minute warm up with 2 minutes in zone 4 and 1 minute recover times 8.

 

Friday - Strength training

 

Saturday - 6 miles with a friend.  The temperatures weren't as hot as they had been earlier in the week but the humidity still seemed pretty high and that made it tough.  We were in shade for most of the run and that really helped.  We also met friends in the evening for dinner and a nerdy dance show so it ended up being a late night for me.

 

Sunday - 3 mile easy run.  This was supposed to be a threshold run but I was struggling with a lack of sleep so I decided to just keep it easy.

 

We also drove down to North Beach after the run for a little day trip to the beach.

 

Here are my workout plans for this week.

Monday - rest day (and a concert in the evening!)
Tuesday - strength training
Wednesday - easy run before going to work in the morning
Thursday - interval run at the gym after work
Friday - threshold run
Saturday - strength training
Sunday - long run

I hope everyone else had a great week too!  I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin (and guest host Run With No Regrets) for the Weekly Wrap.

 

Heart Rate Training Week 7

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July week!  Mine was nice and relaxing with lots of time off from work and off from the internet.  But it's back to the grind now.  Before immersing myself in the new week, here's a summary of last week.

Monday - Rest day with a couple 20 minute walks

Tuesday - Easy run in the morning.  It was the 4th of July so we spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house a bit and then having friends over to celebrate the holiday together.

 

Wednesday - Strength training as well as a 20 minute walk in the morning.

 

We also spent a couple hours at Dave and Busters playing games.  We had tokens leftover on our card from the last time we were there so this essentially ended up being a couple hours of free entertainment.

 

Thursday - Interval run at the gym after work. It was a 5 minute warm up plus 2 minutes in zone 4 with a 1 minute recovery x8. 

 

Friday - Unplanned rest day with a 20 minute walk - but this resulted in only 1 strength training session in the week :(

Saturday - Threshold run with 5 minute warm up, 10 minutes in zone 2, 15 minutes in zone 4 and ending with 15 minutes in zone 2.  I was able to keep in the right zones for the most part except at the end.  I have a hard time getting back into zone 2 after running in zone 4, so I just tried to make sure it felt easy at the end even if my heart rate was high.

 

Sunday - 5 mile run with a friend.

 

The break was nice while it lasted but we're back to our normal routine this week.  Here are my workout plans.

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - strength training
Wednesday - easy run before going to work in the morning
Thursday - interval run at the gym after work
Friday - strength training
Saturday - long run
Sunday - threshold run

I hope everyone else had a great week too!  I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin (and guest host Into The Glimmer) for the Weekly Wrap.

 

Friday 5 - 2017 Goals update

This week has flown by but that makes sense since I only had two work days this week.  And now it's almost time for the weekend again!  Which also means it's time for the Friday Five 2.0 link up with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness. Since we're halfway through the year I figured I'd take this time to see how my goals for the year have progressed.


1. Train for a marathon - This one is on track.  I registered for the Disney World marathon and I've chosen a training plan which starts in September.  I've also managed to convince one of my running friends to do this as her first full marathon too!  Yay for company on this journey :)  I've been spending the Summer working on building up my base and increasing to 4 runs per week instead of 3.

2. Two new types of workouts - Well, I still need to get moving on this one.  I have started heart rate training this year, which is something new, but I do really need to get out of my comfort zone and try a completely new type of workout.

 

I've enjoyed new things I've tried in the past, like aerial yoga

3.  Try a challenge race - This one is on track too!  I have registered for the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge at Disneyland in November.  This will be a 10k Saturday morning followed by a half marathon Sunday morning.

4.  Read more non-fiction (6 books):  On track for this too.  I've read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell (an interesting look at Hawaiian history), and Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (was inspired to read the book after seeing the movie).

5.  Be more fiscally responsible:  We're working on this.  We've definitely been better this year than last year and have started up monthly finance meetings where we can review our savings and spending for the past month and things to change moving forward.

So that's how things are moving with the goals for the year.  I'm pretty happy with my mid-year progress but I've definitely got to remember to try some new workouts before marathon training starts in September.

Heart Rate Training week 6

I'm a bit late with this week's weekly review.  I've been trying to treat our staycation as a real vacation so I haven't been on social media much that past several days.  I'm hoping to catch up with reading blogs this week though.  In the meantime, here is my summary for last week.

Monday - rest day with 20 minute walk in the evening

Tuesday - Strength training

 

Wednesday - Easy run before work

 

Thursday - Interval run at the gym after work

 

Friday - 78 minutes of dancing.  I meant to do some strength training today but was sore so decided to take it as a rest day.  But we went to the silent disco in the evening and the music was amazing!  According to Fitbit, I had 78 minutes straight of dancing with an average heart rate of 125.

 

Saturday - Unplanned rest day since I was sore again from the dancing.  We went to a small science fiction convention in Virginia since it was their first year and we wanted to be supportive.  It was small and low cost and we had a great time.

 

Sunday - Threshold run with 20 minutes in zone 2, 20 minutes in zone 4 and 20 minutes in zone 2.  I had a hard time getting my heart rate back to zone 2 at the end so just tried to run that portion at an easy feel even though my heart rate was a bit high.

 

So that was my week!  I only got in 3 runs but did get an additional cardio activity in with the dancing so I'm happy with that.  And I only got in 1 strength training work out and need to try to get back to 2 per week.  So here are my plans for this week.

Monday - Rest day
Tuesday - Easy run
Wednesday - Strength training
Thursday - Interval run at the gym after work
Friday - Strength training
Saturday - Threshold run
Sunday - Long run with friends