Hey guys – big news! I exercised this week. Okay, not exactly big exciting news for you most likely. But, after almost 2 solid weeks of nothing at all, I’m back to a fitness routine and here to bring you a Weekly Workout Recap, which is “breaking news”, because “breaking news” = well, you know, nothing out of the ordinary.
Really, I’m only sort of back. By “back” I mean I was genuinely sore the day after running 8 miles which hasn’t happened since probably the first time I ever ran 8 miles. One step at a time to return, right? Let’s see what happened fitness-wise this week, and then I’ll share a few scenes from the weekend.
*Spoiler: one of those scenes involved wine, and yes, I do have to show you every single glass of wine I consume because it makes me feel better about my life – #balance #breakingnews 🙂
Weekly Workout Recap
Let me preface this recap by saying that I ran the same 4 mile route 4 times this week. Mainly because it’s so dark outside now when I run and this route is my go-to comfy route. It has the added bonus of being able to magically turn into a 5, 6, or 7 mile route if I want it to. Clearly this week I did not make that happen!
Monday – 4 miles, comfortable pace. The first mile of this route is uphill and the last is all down (it’s there and back) which means most of my runs followed this pace pattern.
Later, I did 31 minutes Yoga Total Body Detox with Lesley Fightmaster (it was all Lesley this week!) which meant lots of twisting.
Tuesday – 4 miles once again. This was my “tempo run” of the week, even though I didn’t mean for it to be. Basically, after the first mile the app called out 9:43/mile, which made me angry, and I decided to run the rest of it significantly faster. Funny how random things can change a run! I am definitely an emotional runner.
Yoga – 33 minutes Vinyasa flow with Pranayama – I find Pranayama so challenging and need lots of practice with this! I always feel great after I try it though, so it’s something I’d like to stick with.
Wednesday – 4 miles, same route. This run was slower at 9:04/mile although I felt about the same during the run. No yoga today.
Thursday – No running, in the early morning I did 34 minutes Yoga for Strength with Lesley Fightmaster. I’ve been trying to choose yoga this week to focus on strength and core, since I’m feeling really weak coming back after being sick. I also really slacked on strength while marathon training and I generally feel out of shape when it comes to strength right now.
Friday – Back to my go-to 4 miles. I had originally planned to make this 5 miles, but I’ve been having just a tad bit of a problem getting my butt out of bed and out of the house to run. My schedule is just off, and 4 miles is all I had time for by the time I actually got out. No yoga today.
Saturday – This was my “long” 8 mile run for the week. I felt good, the weather was perfect and I’m definitely feeling back to myself while I’m actually running. But, I could tell afterwards that I’d be sore the next day, and I was totally right.
After my run, I did 2 quick yoga videos: Quickie Stretch and Quickie Core. Diana decided to do her own at-home yoga after I was done!
Proof you don’t need any space to get in a workout, and that it’s always a good idea to match your yoga pants to your mat.
Sunday – After a late night out Saturday (the wine, remember?) I did early morning yoga to strengthen the core – 30 minutes. No running today.
Summary – 5 days running, 24 miles total, long run 8 miles, 5 days of 30 minutes yoga. Consistency was my goal last week. For this week, I’m planning to run 10 miles Saturday and increase my weekday runs to 5 miles, plus stay consistent with yoga.
As for the weekend scenes, we had pretty typical daytime activities, including playing dollhouse in jammies (the pink shirt on Drew’s head is his princess hair) and buying sweet potatoes.
The girls’ gymnastics is down the road from a great Asian market where I stock up on my beloved Japanese/Korean sweet potatoes and lots of fresh greens that are NOT spinach, (I eat far too much spinach!) like chinese broccoli. I totally meant to buy avocados but somehow got way too distracted by the sweet potatoes and missed them.
Saturday night we met friends out for dinner and drinks, and I drank not one, but two glasses of wine.
My friend Nicole and I always seem to order the same exact thing whenever we go out – tonight it was a beet salad with goat cheese, pears, and lots of steak on top.
Her husband does not skimp on his side orders – this picture does those fries no justice.
Decaf cappuccino to end the night, with whole milk. No ill effects = yay.
There we are – yup, that’s us.
As for Sunday – I blogged, baked cookies, and took Emily to a friend’s birthday party where she had not only a tie dyed cupcake but also cotton candy. While she happily played and inhaled sugar, I snuck off to Home Goods to look for a cutting board.
There it is. And I’m not sure why there’s also a bowl , napkin and old neglected acorn squash on top of it, but I think me needing more sleep might partially answer that question.
How were your workouts last week? Goals for this week?
Do you vary your running routes less over the winter?
Are you an emotional runner?
I run basically the same route every day, sometimes I feel like I do it while half asleep because I know it so well! I turn without even realizing. I like running the same route, especially when it’s early, because it’s comfortable. Glad you are feeling better!
Glad you were able to get in some workouts this week, and it sounds like you are pretty much back! I have been sticking to the same running routes lately. During training I felt like I had to find other places to go or I would go crazy running so many miles in the same places. Not sure what this winter will bring out in the suburbs, but I have a feeling I may be finding myself running laps around my development more than I would like:)
So true with marathon training, when I’m not training it’s much easier to stick to the same route, plus when I’m not training I don’t like to plan in advance, so less to think about 🙂
you had this mama at the playing doll house in the JAMMMMMIES photo.
<3 <3 <3
Every weekend 🙂
Workouts were good last week but I started having a little ankle pain which was familiar of the stress fracture I had in it at the beginning of the year so I backed off and stuck to swimming and biking the rest of the week. It seems to be feeling better. I would rather back off than have another injury.
Eek, hope it’s okay! That would be a major bummer, but sounds like it’ll be okay.
Glad you’re back to running! I tend to run the same route over and over again, except when I’m in marathon training and need variety to handle all of those miles. I know I should run different routes, but I love how mine doesn’t have any cars!
Very true, variety is necessary to avoid going nuts with that much mileage!
I run long on varied routes in Central Park or in Connecticut, but on short weekday morning runs it is the same every time – from my apartment to Engineer’s Gate, a lap and change around the reservoir, and back home to change for work.
Especially early in the morning it’s nice not to have to put much thought into the route!
So I really miss running! 8 miles was the longest I ever got too…reminiscing over here! And this is the exact time of year I started! :'(
Maybe there will be some in your future! I didn’t even start until I was 23.
So happy that you are feeling better!!! 🙂 that’s great news, and awesome job getting back into it and listening to your body. I am not running at this moment, doctor’s orders, but should be able to get back into short distances in a couple of weeks. i’m not injured.. but i’ll tell you why soon enough 🙂
your dinner out looks fun!
and i love asian markets – chinese broccoli sounds so good right now!
Hope you are okay Danielle! But good for you for taking it easy. Asian markets seriously have the best stuff – my favorites 🙂
Yay for feeling better and a great workout week- loving all the yoga!! I’m working on base building and then kicking up my strength training come January. I tweaked my ankle running last week so I’m hoping it will be good to run on this week!
Hope the ankle is okay! I need more strength training, truthfully I just don’t prioritize it, but then get annoyed that I’m weak!
The acorn squash picture is totally artsy! ha! Callum has a train table too. “Choo choo” was his first word(s). To say he’s obsessed with choo-choos is the biggest understatement ever. Great job on your workouts last week! Glad you’re feeling better.
Ha, the acorn squash 😉 Drew used to play with the train table a whole lot more, now it’s basically a resting place for way too many random toys 🙂
I’m such an emotional runner and I think thats what’s holding me back right now from the marathon times I want, but I haven’t figured out how to be emotionally disconnected from anything in my life and in some ways thats not a bad thing! I didn’t do much of anything last week since I was coming off my marathon, but I did a tiny run Saturday and yoga last night so it was nice to be back too!
When I get back to yoga I remember how awesome it is and want to fit it in every day. Glad you are recovering and feeling well 🙂 and my running tends to reflect how I’m feeling but not necessarily in obvious ways.
Hooray for feeling normal again! Or at least getting back there. Is it bad that I’m counting down to Friday when I have a girls night out and can drink wine?
I say it’s always nice to have these things to look forward to!
I like seeing all the wine. It makes me thirsty. 🙂
Love the new cutting board. They’re one of my favorite kitchen accessories. Functional and pretty.
Haha, thanks!