1- Well, this week sort of felt like a wash.
I guess adjusting to a new school year can be enough of a psychic burden that there is little room for other things. Objectively, things have gone very well! Physically, I feel drained. Josh is off this weekend so that will probably help!
2- Bedtime update #637
On the highly positive side of everyone feeling fatigued, bedtime has been nothing short of miraculous. Last night — yet again — everyone was in bed by 8:30. I have yet to do anything constructive with these newfound 30-60 minutes, but I am thrilled and somewhat shocked that things have worked and the kids have actually (mostly) embraced the new routine.
3- Cutdown run
Today’s prescribed run is 5 miles total, with miles 2-4 at progressively faster paces (9:24, 9:16, 9:06). I do not feel like my training has gone all that well and do not have high hopes for this attempt. Also, it’s already 80F / 88% humidity. I think I just need to be more patient with the weather as well as myself.
4- Podcast that I found helpful this week: The Lazy Genius – How to Pack Lunch for Work. I am also amused by the ice cream graphic that someone chose for the ep. Though I would totally eat that for lunch on occasion.
My work lunches often kind of suck and this episode inspired me to work on it! (We actually have free food on offer for physicians where I work, but I have come to loathe most of what is on offer as well as the act of going to get it.)
5- Current non-fiction read: I thought about rereading Getting Things Done (I like to read it every few years!!) but instead decided to dive into this 2008 sequel:
I do feel like his work has stood the test of time! Though I do giggle at the “PDA” references. (I had one of these briefly during med school. It was literally useless.)
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Just FYI, my coach (and the other coaches that work for her company) adds 20 – 30 secs/mile to goal workout paces this time of year for people who run in hot/humid climates. Those plans are written for people running in “ideal” conditions, so you could seriously run that cutdown at more like 10:00, 9:45, 9:30 and have an equivalent workout.
My last hard workout was 3 mi at MP (went fine), 2 mi at 1/2 MP (off by about 5 secs/mile), 1 mi at 5k pace (off by 20-30 secs and ready to just sit on the curb and wait for an Uber, lol). You are not alone in being on the struggle bus with the summer heat.
So, I managed 9:13, 9:16, 9:13. Too fast first and could not get fast enough for 3rd. But my max HR according to my watch was 204 and I was dead at the end. Next time I will add 30 seconds bc that was like race effort. Too much.
I am so curious…what is the problem with the free food? Is it not healthy stuff? Is it far away…?
I have to walk to get it, maybe 7-8 min each way. And then I have to talk to people 😛 and yes it’s … cafeteria food. Not necessarily unhealthy but not super high quality either. It’s actually not really the food that is the issue …
I work mostly from home now and I do kind of miss lunch at work. But only kind of , food at the main dining hall usually sucks especially since I’m a vegetarian and lunch places are either meat/dairy, but occasionally they have nice specials and there are a couple of dairy caffès with nicer options for me, though since many people work from home they had to cut down the options. But there’s always the option of a salad bar and it’s nice not to have to make lunch yourself.
If I was you, I would not be pushing myself to run fast during your hottest, most humid times of the year! I’d treat this like I treat our winter – even pre-kids it was my “off time” to focus on other forms of exercise because it is just not conducive to running albeit for different reasons! Granted, pushing yourself in hot/humid temps will make you stronger, but probably miserable in the process? Similarly, I would only train for fall marathons because then I’d be training during our best months of the year. I loved the idea of a spring or early summer marathon but I just hated running in subzero temps.
Glad Josh will be home this weekend so you can tag team. You should claim some downtime for yourself since you’ve had a tough week w/ adjusting to meds. I know every family is different, but my husband and I do a lot of trading off on the weekends. He has the kids while I run, then I have the kids while he grocery shops, then whoever got up with the kids gets a solid break during quiet/nap time. We do spend time together, too, typically post-quiet/nap time. But we are both nearly always home on the weekends so have gotten into a rhythm of hand-offs.
I am really into running right now though and want to improve my speed/endurance . . . and honestly it’s super hot about 6/12 months (may to nov) so ‘avoiding the heat’ is quite limiting! I do think i’ll never train for a fall marathon. half yes, but full would HAVE to be spring or later winter . . .
Sarah- what running plan do you use and how do you track your speed? Best of luck on the new year.
Hi! Currently I am doing a 5k speed building plan with Runners Connect ($29/month for a custom plan). I use my apple watch for speed tracking – not as accurate as a Garmin but good enough for my purposes 🙂
Thanks!