8 Weeks Until JAX Marathon
This was the first week in quite some time where most of my runs were enjoyable — the weather finally improved (SOME; we’re talking lower/mid-70s temps, not crisp cool weather – I included the temps below). The mild improvement was still notable and felt comparatively great! Also, it’s nice being in a stretch where generally the weather is only going to improve for the next couple of months.
(Our best weather months here are generally January and February!)
M: Run with 2 friends, 8.14 mi @ 9:28/mi. Lovely start to the week. 74F / 94% humidity
T: Fun speed workout! 2 mi warmup, 10 x (1 min 10K pace, 30 seconds hard, 1 min recovery). 10K portions were ~6:59-7:22/mi, and the 30s portions were 6:17-6:42/mi — though grain of salt bc 30s of strava may not be the most accurate thing ever). Short and fast = fun. I wore AlphaFly 3s for this. Total 6.88 mi. 73F / 91% humidity
W: 6 mi @ 9:42/mi, nice and easy, 75F / 93% humidity
R: 9 mi @ 9:26/mi. 71F / 74% humidity. Actually felt pretty COOL to me!
F: Group run with our friend who now lives in Brazil!! (She was back visiting). So great to have everyone back together. 7 mi @ 9:27/mi ave. 72F / 79% humidity
S: 18 mi long run, relatively easy pace (since I wear supershoes and take gels on my long runs, my “easy” is generally a bit faster than my weekday easy, but my effort level felt sustainable and pleasant until perhaps the last 2 miles when it stated to creep into “moderate” territory — still not bad, though). 8:58/mi average with the last 9 miles a bit faster than the first 9 because that is when I switched from podcasts to the Eras Tour playlist 🙂 76F / 81% humidity / very breezy – felt REALLY nice out there! Wore (aging but still great) Asics Metaspeed Edge Paris for this.
55 mi / 0 strength = about right for a very hectic week.
A Lot Going On at the Moment
IT HAS BEEN A WEEK.
On the plus side, nothing is objectively bad. (None of the August/Sept stuff! And I am thankful for that!). But we are having to seek various forms of support for one of the kids and results of an evaluation basically dropped like 10 “need to do” bombs on us at once and it’s just . . . A Lot.
I did manage to read fiction for a bit yesterday after a long hiatus (back to Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Eveyrthing, which I do really like!). I am also about 70% done with The Plan by Kendra Adachi. I finally cleared my email inbox which had been in a STATE for quite a while and feel good about being caught up to current with my task management.
I am hoping that this week I will be able to feel like I am squarely out of hanging-by-a-thread mode, where I have been living for quite some time lately. That mode has its place. But it’s not somewhere I want to stay forever.
TODAY
Plan next week (put on board / grocery list / etc)
Work on bike riding with G
Piano with G
Leave at 4 pm for TAYLOR!!!!!!!! Excited to just immerse into the experience of tonight. A got a dress and press on nails at Target last night and I found a sparkly top to go with my skirt (in the Target kids section, haha) so we will be READY!!!!!
10 Comments
Don’t try to do everything from the evaluation at once. Identify just a couple things that you think are big impact or high needs. The rest can wait. It’s better not to stress you or your kids by trying to do it all. Been there and on the other side. Trust yourself and that you know your child.
Excellent advice. Also have been there, done that.
The irony is I have sort of been there/done that too, lol. But I needed to hear this!!!
Great work on your week of training! Yay for cooler temps! That makes such a difference in a person’s overall mood. It’s oddly going to be 80 here today which is NOT NORMAL for Minnesota in October! But it is cool in the morning and not humid so I will take it!
Sorry to hear about the unexpected list of things to do for one of the kids. That is tough!
Have the best time at TS tonight. I am very envious but will hopefully see her someday. It’s definitely on my list of things I absolutely need to do at some point!
Wow, Dana’s advice (above) is really good!
I’m looking at your runs earlier in the week with 94% humidity- that is rough! The humidity is always worse really early- once the sun comes up the humidity comes down a bit. But then you have the blazing sun, I’m not sure which is worse. But- as we both mentioned in our posts today- the weather has shifted, and our nicest months are ahead of us! What a great feeling.
HAVE FUN TONIGHT!!!!! I’m hoping A will approve a photo of the two of you for the blog.
few degrees make a huge difference! Enjoy the cooler weather and please share TS concert and your final look. We have Dua Lipa coming and i want to be dressed for the ocassion.
It’s good to hear the stress of the first half of fall has receded. I really appreciate your sharing general remarks about your kids’ needs – it’s so refreshing, because the mommyverse, both online and in person, often feels like a competition for how perfect one’s kids (and by extension, one’s parenting) can be.
Sarah, just want to thank you for your helpful posts and also thank your commenters. I have always skimmed over your running posts because I hate to run with the fire of a thousand suns. But I have a sedentary job with long, stressful hours, and I work from home. I really (really) need to be outside regularly no matter how bad the weather. I saw a mention of the NRC app somewhere in a comment and decided to try it for a while. I really like it, and I am very happy with my progress over the last few months. I’ve gotten more mileage, literally, out of that comment (which I can’t even find now) than I could ever have imagined. I hope you have a great week.
that is amazing Maggi!!! So glad to hear it.
that is amazing Maggi!!! So glad to hear it.