Weekly Recap – January 15th -21st

This week overall was AMAZING! I had some struggles but I am see a lot of progress and proof that following a training plan and basic consistency really do pay off!

Last Weeks Training Plan HERE

Monday January 15th

My holiday weekend road trip to visit family was a major success. Sticking with my training plan was an epic fail. I knew this was probably going to be the case when I decided to go on this weekend trip. I am currently only base training so I went in with the mindset that I will do what I can when I can and the goal of just keeping things active. That is exactly what I did.

When I couldn’t do my long run on Saturday morning before we left because of thunderstorms, my plan was to do it when I returned home on Monday. We ended up leaving later than originally anticipated because we were having too much fun! Then we made extra stops along the way to let the kids stretch and have some fun. This all concluded in us being home a lot later than normal. 

I still got home and changed to head out for my run. About a half mile in I knew it wasn’t a good idea. No water, crappy food, basically no sleep all weekend and sitting all day. I decided that I would turn around and just start the training plan fresh on Tuesday. 

Total workout. Run one mile! I decided that come Sunday I will decide if I want to do the prescribe long run for last week 6 miles or if my body can handle the full 8 miles prescribed for this week. It will probably be a mid-run decision! 

Proud of myself for not losing the drive to keep my goals, but also not let them run my life. If I was training for a specific race I would have probably made more of an effort to make arrangements to get the run in, but since I was only base training I didn’t want anyone to have to change any plans for my running.

Tuesday January 16

More times that I would like to admit in this training cycle (which this is the start of week 3), I have had to talk myself into getting a workout in. I have learned multiple times the importance of a training plan. I truly believe it turns motivation into discipline. I feel like people always wonder how someone stays motivated all the time, and the answer is usually I’m not, I use discipline and a schedule to keep myself on track!

Creating a training plan when you are motivated, or using a coach to create one for you. I think gives you the discipline to get out the door. I did not want to run today. I wanted to binge Netflix and eat ice cream. But if I didn’t get my run in today it would mess up my whole training plan. That was enough to get me out the door. 

Without the plan. I wouldn’t have run today. Today’s workout was a 10min Warm-Up, followed by 30min Run with 3x5min Tempo. The workout ended up being a pretty good workout. And the views were pretty, so that helped! The warm-ups are something that I REALLY have to talk myself into doing. But they are working, my body feels better during and after my run when I do them. It helps that I am following a Peloton plan and they are built in. 

As I am not using stats, I’m using the RPE scale and for Tempo I’m using a 6-7. That is perfect for the stage of training I am in! 

Wednesday January 17th 

Started with school drop off for my oldest, then my youngest and I did some house cleaning, and work. He colored while I checked emails! 

While he was coloring his Mickey Mouse coloring book I randomly checked to see what the crowds were like as Disney. With the colder weather in central Florida the crowds were low, so stopped everything and packed up! After picking up my oldest from school we headed to Disney! It was a blast!

We walked around Epcot for a few hours and then headed home with full hearts! But we were all a little exhausted. On the drive home I knew that I needed to get my workout in right away before I used every excuse not to do it. I didn’t even change out of my Minnie Mouse shirt. I just went straight into my 30min Strength for Runners! 

Awesome Day!

Thursday January 18th 

WOW. Today was a LONG day! I don’t know what it was but today felt like an entire year in one. But we made it! I got both kids to school. Worked at the coffee shop while they were at school and then we made some fresh bread and banana bread.

I was able to get my run in after my husband was done working! My luck it started raining right before and it was super humid. Turns out I thrive in that weather I guess, because this run was AMAZING! 

Running partly HR training (easy runs) and part RPE scaled runs (tempo and steady state) has been amazing during this base training phase. Taking the stats out of things has been the best thing I’ve done in a long time. 

The complete workout was a 10min Warm-Up followed by 30min Run with 15mins at RPE 5. It is so hard not to try and analyze what my pace might be and if I am getting faster, but I keep reminding myself to just trust the process. During this stage of training the pace doesn’t matter, that will come later!

Friday January 19th 

We have a toddler boycotting sleep in our house. I am beyond tired, and he thinks its a joke. Toddlers man!

I set my alarm to workout this morning. Alarm was set to 4:45. My wonderful toddler woke up at 4:40. Awesome. Opted for an evening lift instead. 

I did a 30min Strength for Runners while the kids were eating dinner. I’m on week 3 of 4 with these same lifts. I’m feeling so much stronger already. Doing the same exercises for weeks at a time may seem boring, but it really is the only way to make progress! Also, having something to compare each workout too helps so much with confidence in your training!

Proud of myself for sticking with the program and training plan! It’s making such a difference! 

Saturday January 20th.

WHAT A DAY! It was so cold here today. (Cold for FL!). The coldest it has been all winter, and it landed on a day when we had two birthday parties outside. To say I was frozen would be an understatement! 

Plan was to run outside this morning, but I couldn’t get myself outside in the cold. When I got home from the endless birthday party adventure, running was the last thing I wanted to do outside in the cold. 

I opted to do my recovery day on the bike instead. Only goal was to raise my body temperature a little bit. Wore a huge sweatshirt and rode! Just what I needed, a little movement and some sweat! Took me 20mins to break a sweat! 

Sunday January 21st

It was another cold morning in Central Florida. Since we had no plans of the day I decided that I would wait until the sun came up and it warmed up a little. I crafted out a loop to run instead of an out and back. I run a lot of out and backs because it is what works best from my house, but I would much rather run a loop.

Since I didn’t do a long run last week, I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out. I told my husband what I was running a loop but if I needed to bail he would have to come pick me up. The loop was a little under 7 miles with the option to make it 8. My training plan for this week prescribed 8miles. 

Once I got started I knew it was going to be good. The first half was in the wind, so it was hard but nothing crazy. I kept the pace consistent and it was one of the Best Runs in a LONG time! Training and Consistency Are Working!

I kept a consistent pace for the first 5 miles then did a little progression run for the last 3 miles. No walk breaks, and I never had any urge to stop. I was shocked!

Full Workout with Mile Splits (per apple watch so don’t know how accurate these are)

10min Warm-Up

8 Mile Run (10:33, 10:33, 10:34, 10:19, 10:40, 10:01, 9:55, 9:48) 

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