Running + Strength
I’m not sure when 47 miles started to feel like a lower mileage week, but it kind of did. This level of running felt very manageable — I guess because most of the weekday runs were closer to an hour rather than longer.
And, I am happy to report that strength training is back in my life! The Stronger You program with Ben Alldis (on Peloton) is about what I was looking for right now – simple / short / sweet workouts that are still leaving me sore.
Assume that every run was in pretty gross conditions. That will be the default for the next few months.
M: 8 mi @ 9:30/mi with strides at end.
T: 7.4 mi @ 9:18/mi average with some mild speedwork – 2 mi warmup, 30 min of 1 min fast / 2 min recovery, 2 mi cooldown. I did the “fast” portions anywhere from 6:49/mi to 7:41/mi (kind of inconsistent). This was a fun workout. 20 min “benchmark test” as part of Stronger You. I tracked my weights/reps in an Apple Note. 5 min warmup / 10 min full body stretch.
W: 7 mi @ 9:42/mi, felt kind of dehydrated and tired
R: Treadmill because I just craved a day of NOT getting up super early and not running in the heat/humidity. 7.2 mi total, 6 – 6.5 mph and then 4 x 30 second strides at end using 3% incline + 8 mph. Upper body strength (20 min) + stretch (5 min)
F: 6 mi @ 9:03/mi in light rain, loved that! Felt better than usual out there.
S: 12 mi @ 9:21/mi average (kept it pretty relaxed), 15 min lower body (deadlifts, squats, split squats), 5 min core, 5 min stretch
S: Will be another 20 min strength block + 10 min stretch; I’m not sure why they programmed two consecutive days but we will see how this goes. Hopefully not too much lower body in this one!
TOTALS: 47.6 mi / 4 20+ minute strength sessions (!)
Reading
I finished Playing Big which is good because our Patreon book club is coming up on Tuesday!! I thought it contained some great ideas + inspiration and am excited to discuss.
I am ~70% through Still Life because apparently I decided to scroll Reddit instead. (See below). I anticipate my reading totals will go up with my new declaration.
Books of 2024 so far:
Screen Life
A new section? Well, for now anyway.
1 Day Reddit-free — check 🙂 Woohoo! However, I am going to share last week’s abysmal screen times because hopefully this will be a “before” picture:
I mean could it be worse? Probably. But it could also be way way better. Here’s the breakdown of what my phone says these minutes were spent on:
(I think the “Safari” also includes a lot of Reddit because I don’t always use the app.)
Even reclaiming ONE HOUR daily to do something other than scroll would be a major victory. Here we go!
(I regret none of the time on messages, YouTube, or Duolingo! I am not aiming for zero screen time just more intentionally allocated screen time!)
5 Comments
I definitely feel better about my WhatsApp and Discord (mom’s group) than I do about any other type of screen time. Except the week where there was loads of school WhatsApp drama and I just kept checking/reading, but definitely not participating. There’s a mum forum that is my Reddit equivalent – made worse because it’s populated by truly awful people. I finally classed it as an adult site on my phone and it won’t let me access it, which is such a relief.
What do you read on Reddit? The only thing I use it for is to read about other people’s struggles with Plantar Fasciitis and vacation tips. I am apparently missing out on another way to waste time! I do love me some TikTok, though.
oh the DUMBEST STUFF. a combination of the /advancedrunning and /running forums, and the relatively toxic content of /blogsnark, and then random scrolling of whatever the algorithm feeds to me. Sometimes planner and hobonichi stuff (less toxic but not all that earth shattering either). Honestly – stay away if you can!!! I actually find ‘message board’ type content one of the most addicting to me for whatever reason and should have known it was not going to be a great habit to fall into for me.
A nice solid work of runs (although I am not envying your running conditions). I’ve been looking at Ben’s strength program, but am currently doing the Pump Up The Volume collection.
I was also going to ask, like Sesb, what are you doing on Reddit? I have used it for finding specific information, but I don’t usually scroll there. I don’t even find the design intuitive to spend a lot of time. Curious minds want to know.
see my reply! Nothing worth the time I spent doing it and some of it honestly kind of negative/not helpful.