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By kilax, October 23, 2016 5:26 pm

Highlight of the Week: Hitting fast-for-me paces on my swim intervals Friday / my highest mileage week since April!

Monday | October 17, 2016: 5 m run + 2 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 73°/73°, Time: 49:26, Pace: 9:53 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: fine, just too hot
Loc: hood, Temp: 81°/81°, Time: 19:28, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: pissy
Strength: plates and BOSUs, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, happy for the distraction
Tuesday | October 18, 2016: rest
Wednesday | October 19, 2016: 1,512 yd swim + 6 m run + 5 m run
Loc: FitNation, Moving Time: 37:22, Pace: 2:28 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Gurnee, Temp: 50°/47°, Time: 59:54, Pace: 9:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Loc: hood, Temp: 64°/67°, Time: 50:48, Pace: 10:09 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | October 20, 2016: 3 m run 
Loc: Fall Creek Parkway Trail, Temp: 54°/54°, Time: 29:38, Pace: 9:52 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | October 21, 2016: teaching strength class + 840 yd swim + 11 m run (incl. 10×1:00)
Strength: kettlebells, Difficulty: easy (half observing), Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Moving time: 17:21, Pace: 2:04 min/100 yd, Difficulty: medium (doing sprints), Felt: good!
Loc: Outlet Mall route, Temp: 51°/49°, Time: 1:46:40, Pace: 9:42, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Saturday | October 22, 2016: 5 m ride + teaching fitness boxing + 5 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 21:00, Pace: 14.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, rushed for time!
Strength: Body Weight and Boxing, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 49°/49°, Time: 49:44, Pace: 9:56 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | October 23, 2016: 13 m run + 3.8 m walk (w/Steven)
Loc: DPRT, Temp: 43°/56°, Time: 2:13:18, Pace: 10:15 avg, Difficulty: easy, harder as the sun got higher, Felt: good

Notes:

• Ugh, Monday’s double was meant to be more substantial, but my day was a bit of a sh*t show. Blah. At least I got to run at all!!!
• I took my rest day early, on Tuesday, because my legs were still beat up from that 5K, and Monday’s strength class only made them worse. They felt awesome for my Wednesday am run. Although, that could have been the cool weather and dew point.
• I rarely woke up early to run this summer. I got out of the early morning running habit after my training partner moved, and I discovered the higher temps later in the day made me less miserable that the early morning humidity (sometimes). However, I’m finding in the fall it’s totally worth it to wake up earlier, and enjoy that low dew point and temperature before it gets hot midday/in the afternoon!
• I got to do a very short run while on travel for work in Indianapolis this week! It was raining and quite a bit of the trail was flooded, but I still enjoyed it (had to move my legs before the four hour car drive back home!).
• Oh man, my arms were already sore from the class I had just taught when I went swimming on Friday. Must have been an effective workout! I had been working on endurance during my recent swims, but decided to switch it up and do some intervals – those got my heart racing!
• I finally almost regretted wearing a tank for a run this week. Yay! Is cooler weather really on its way?!
• Has anyone noticed an issue with elapsed vs moving time on Garmin Connect? I try to keep my elapsed time from getting too high during my runs. After my run Sunday, my watch showed an elapsed time of four minutes longer (which is good, since it included two stops to fill up water and three road crossing stops), but later in the day, on Garmin Connect, it had the two times as being the same! It’s been doing that on my swims, too! I want to see the difference!

Link to Training Week 365

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By kilax, October 19, 2016 7:19 am

I got to run in a neighborhood this morning, which is a treat for me because:

• Halloween decorations!!!
• Sidewalks!
• A park with a clean bathroom!
• It’s close to Starbucks and I can go there after my run

I forgot how early kids get on the bus. Our old townhome had a school route bus stop right in front of it, and I was surprised how early the kids were out, especially when it was so dark in the mornings. Ah, such is life. Get em used to it now, ha.

Today when I was running I could see a man waiting with his son for the bus on the sidewalk ahead of me. I could also see they had a small dog with them. I had a feeling the man didn’t have very good control over his dog, so I ran into the street to go around them. The dog barked and jumped when I ran by so I was happy I gave him some space.

Then I quickly forgot about it as I kept running down the sidewalk. Except, I could still hear the dog barking. “Geesh!” I thought, “that small dog has a loud bark!”

No, he’s not that loud. He’s chasing me down the sidewalk, with his owner chasing him. Gah! I am happy the dog was loud enough I could hear him, so he didn’t jump on me from behind, or trip me!

I stopped, the dog ran up to me, then slowed down to sniff me. He was harmless. I grabbed his leash and handed it back to his owner, when he caught up. The owner thanked me, I told him “you’re welcome,” and was on my way again.

I’m grateful the dog just wanted to sniff me. And I hope that the owner has a better grip the next time he takes him out – the dog wasn’t even that big!!!

Comments (6)

By kilax, October 16, 2016 3:22 pm

Highlight of the Week: Swimming all freestyle at the pool / winning a 5K.

Monday | October 10, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: plates and BOSUs, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | October 11, 2016: 10 m ride + 7 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 39:15, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: up Kilbourne and back, Temp: 72°/72°, Time: 1:10:04, Pace: 10:00 avg, Difficulty: easy until the last mile, Felt: good, minor stomach ish
Wednesday | October 12, 2016: 4 m run
Loc: Lakefront Trail, Temp: 69°/68°, Time: 38:52, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | October 13, 2016: rest
Friday | October 14, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + Cory’s Full Moon Run 5K
Strength: plates and BOSUs, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, playful
Loc: FitNation, Moving Time: 30:00, Pace: 2:28 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Zion, Temp: 62°/59°, Time: 23:53, Pace: 7:42 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: controllable, racing the right pace
Saturday | October 15, 2016: 5.9 m run + 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 56°/57°, Time: 1:03:52, Pace: 10:49 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good to do a shakeout!
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 66°/66°, Time: 51:53, Pace: 10:22 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good!
Sunday | October 16, 2016: 6 m run + 2,079 yd swim
Loc: hood, Temp: 67°/70°, Time: 1:03:51, Pace: 10:38 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: SUPER PISSY
Loc: FitNation, Moving Time: 53:56, Pace: 2:36 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, calmed

Notes:

• My busy week last week left me really tired for this week! Hopefully I’ll be back at it on Monday!
• I was able to do freestyle for my entire swim on Friday and Sunday, woot woot! I think swimming at least two times a week will allow me to continue improving.
• That 5K left my legs TRASHED! Ouch! I am going to email my massage therapist while I’m thinking of it.
• I was SO mad about how muggy it was during my Sunday run. It’s the freaking middle of October! I’m f*cking over it! And after I was so pissed at that, I saw that during the few minutes I was gone for my run, some a-hole dumped a television on the street by my house. Grr.
• But my swim after the run calmed me. Swimming really forces me to focus and relax on what I am doing, which is why I love to do it (even though I am not that good and have no plans to do a triathlon).

Link to Training Week 364

Comments (14)

By kilax, October 15, 2016 7:47 am

I was dreading this race all week and regretted signing up for it in advance. I’m not in 5K racing shape, and had a stressful work week – all I wanted to do Friday night was be lazy at home. But! This is a “local” race for me now (and the last of the ZB Run Squad series for the year), so that made me still want to participate, AND, Anne and Terry were coming over after for dinner, so I knew that part would at least be fun if the race sucked! Ha!

I’ve only ever run these ZB Run Squad races on Friday nights in November or December. The races are always at 6:00 pm, and I’ve always had to wear a headlamp because it’s completely dark! Sunset was at 6:10 last night, but I was lazy and ran without my headlamp (despite bringing it), hoping I’d be able to see my way to the finish!

And there was indeed a full moon!

This year the race benefited Cory’s Project, a charity with the mission of assisting children and their families residing in the Pediatric Cancer Unit at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Cory lost his fight with blood cancer in July 2012 at the age of 16, and his mom was there last night, MCing the awards ceremony and running the race. She said his seven months of hospital bills were 2.5 million dollars (and she said thank heavens for insurance) and that they started the charity to help families with the financial burden of cancer. It was great to hear her speak and see her passion for the charity. Also, it seemed like A LOT of people were there specifically to support the charity, which was awesome! (Ha, random, but there was also a couple there from Pennsylvania running a 5K in every state – and this is the race they chose for Illinois! Neat!)

On to the race! We had decent weather – around 62°F and 9 mph winds. I lined up in the front since the course is not chip timed, and all the way to the left since I know the tangents well (I ran a perfect 3.10 distance!).

I planned to run on that left edge for quite a bit until it was time to cross for the first turn. Also, I told Steven I would be on the left side if he wanted to get any pictures.

So this guy in blue comes up behind me and decides he needs to be in the same spot as me – apparently he wanted to run the tangents too, and didn’t want to pass me on my right. I was thinking, “what the heck, dude?” And could tell he was annoyed with me. He ended up going on the grass to get around me.

I was annoyed that he just HAD to be between me and my photographer, ha!

My “WTF?” face

I didn’t know this until I finished, but when he passed Steven and Terry he goes “Seriously?!” and they weren’t sure if he was talking to them – being annoyed they were taking photos – or to me, for being in his way (probably that). It was all very strange – in the progression of photos Steven took you can see him being unnecessarily aggressive to get around me. Chill out, dude.

So because the guys were thrown off by his “seriously?!” comment, they almost missed Anne! But she called out to them!

My watch said I was running 7:45s at the start, and I felt decent, and was hoping for an 8:00 average, so I stuck with it. I had picked out who I thought would win for women (a lady in pink – I thought maybe she was the one who beat me at my last ZB Run Squad race) and was surprised to overcome her in the first mile. “Oh, here you go Kim,” I thought to myself, “passing now, just to be overcome later!” Then I looked ahead and saw a little girl was in the lead for women and WAY ahead of me, and forgot about being first overall.

My first mile clocked in at 7:35, and I felt decent, like the pace was manageable. My second mile was 7:30 and I was surprised it wasn’t slower, ha! I accidentally had my watch in pace per mile mode, rather than overall pace, but it actually worked well (and is super easy to switch out during a run, but I liked focusing on one mile at a time)!

Then mile 3. That’s when the pain started. I encouraged two guys running around me to keep it up, so we could carry each other to the finish. I pumped my arms and told myself “You can do hard things!” And… there was my 8:00 mile, ha!

I ran a 7:27 pace for my last tenth and finished right behind one of the guys I was encouraging! My finish time was 23:53 and I was excited to be second woman overall and first in my age group!

Steven and Terry and I talked with a friend, Garett, and cheered Anne on to her finish, then went in for the awards ceremony. And it turns out, that little girl in front was banditing the race (Garett said her dad was pacing her on a bike and encouraging her to keep up with him… odd that they didn’t register), so, I was actually first overall, and Garett was first male overall! I wasn’t expecting that! I ran a slow-ish time, but it’s all about who shows up to race (and who is registered).

I was surprised when Anne didn’t place in her age group. We checked out her time afterward and realized they had someone else’s time listed as hers (because they had the same last name), and had her in a different age group. So then we compared her actual time to her age group and she was second in her age group! Woo hoo! I’m so happy we checked, and excited for Anne!

So, something I was dreading turned out to be pretty awesome, yay! (But man, running 5Ks is SO hard – my stomach was wrecked for the night!)

Comments (25)

By kilax, October 13, 2016 6:15 am

• In 2013, I was in Salt Lake City with my mom and we decided to visit the Salt Flats. We took a rental car there, and made a video of us driving on the flats to share with family and on the blog. Oh, and the rest of the internet, on YouTube. Buah ha ha, it was humorous to see someone took the time to write this comment on our video, just a few days ago! I apologize that me visiting the Salt Flats was so lame for you, random YouTube commenter! (What’s even funnier to me, is that my caption for the video was “Driving the crappy rental car on the Salt Flats on 4/21/13” – I didn’t imply I was breaking land-speed records, ha ha ha.)

• Callie is such a flirt!

• I am getting close to finishing Christina’s baby blanket! I think I’ll finish the knitting part this weekend and start blocking it (I actually started over with this blanket and saved the first one to practice blocking on, so I’ll do that first).

• I’m running a 5K tomorrow. When I signed up for it I was planning to run it for time, but I am not in shape for that, so it will be for fun. I hope to run around a 8:00 min average pace. We shall see!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 111

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By kilax, October 12, 2016 1:38 pm

There were hardly any runners on the Chicago Lakefront Trail today during lunch! It’s like they’re recovering from some big marathon or something, ha. (Or, didn’t want to run in the rain.)

Of the shockingly few runners I saw, I actually knew three of them from when I ran Ragnar in 2011! It’s fun to see people I know while running on the path and say hello – since otherwise, people tend not to acknowledge each other at all. It still feels so odd to me not to!

Comments (23)

By kilax, October 10, 2016 7:44 am

Yesterday was the second time Steven and I’ve spectated the Chicago Marathon. Our first time in 2009 wasn’t successful – we saw none of our runners! We were such spectating n00bs. We didn’t realize how crowded the course is, and expected to be able to find our people. NOPE. They have to find you! We learned so much at that race! Which is good, because I wanted yesterday to go off without a hitch. And it did!

I started planning for spectating very early – over a month ago! I was excited about it, and would think about it a lot during my runs!

First things first – get cool shirts to wear to support Gina and her charity! (Thank you to my coworker for making these for me – they would have looked horrible if I made them, but they were perfect!)

Check out Project Purple – they raise awareness and funds towards a cure for pancreatic cancer, and have a great support system for people who have it. Gina has lost a few family members to pancreatic cancer, and since she’s been running for them (since the NYC Marathon last November) I have unfortunately encountered many more people who have it.

Second thing, plan out the spectating spots where you can realistically get to (4, 11, 17 and 25), and let your runner know what side of the road you’ll be on (left)! Make sure that if you have to cross the course (eek!) it’s later in the race when it’s more spread out (ideally, don’t cross the course AT ALL).

Third thing, which was unplanned, practice your race day morning transportation. Ha, I thought I had a great idea to park at a friend’s house outside of the city and take public transportation in for the race. We did this to get to the expo on Friday and found out that the subway (“L”) takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r and a day. It took so long I didn’t think we’d actually make it to the first spectating spot on time (and be able to cross the route to get to our spot before all the runners were there). So, new plan – get a Spot Hero parking spot just outside of the course and take the L in from there. That worked out much better!

Fourth thing, get a balloon for your runner to find you on the course! I swear by this idea, and always give it as a tip to marathon spectators (at crowded races, anyway). The spectators can be rows deep in Chicago. If you have a balloon above you, it’s so much easier for your runner to find you in that crowd! We got a “G” for Gina.

But make sure you only fly your balloon when you expect your runner to be coming by – you don’t want to block people’s view around you! And that brings me to something I was very impressed by – how hard the marathon worked to make the race experience easy for spectators. We had a lot of help in knowing when Gina was going to come by because the Chicago Marathon app and tracking worked so well. I’ve doubted race apps before because so many people use them it seems to bog down the network and then nothing works – but it worked fantastically yesterday! I had planned to anticipate Gina’s arrival based on pace and time of day but we didn’t even have to do much of that – we just looked at the map on the app! Awesome!

The Chicago Marathon also handed out pocket spectating guides with a course map, train map and lots of info at the expo and around public transportation. It was SUPER handy! I had planned on bringing my own Chicago map, but mine doesn’t have the course on it, ha, so this was much better! There were also volunteers out at public transportation spots, ready to help people figure out where to go. Bravo, Chicago Marathon, for making it easier for us spectators!

And the last thing is… execute your plan!!! Gina and Steve stayed in Chicago the night before the race, and after Steve dropped Gina off at her corral, he met me, Steven and Luca (we drove down that morning) at an L stop so we could get to our first spectating spot together. Everything worked out fantastically (I was a bit worried we’d miss Gina at 17 because one train was taking forever, but it was all good, phew)! We saw Gina at all four spots, were able to give her water bottles with Tailwind twice, get some photos of her, and meet her at the runner reunite area after! And bonus, we got to see xaarlin at our last spectating spot!

Gina ran a five minute personal record and I am so proud of her! To me, it didn’t look like an ideal day for a marathon – full sun and no clouds? No thanks! The temperature was decent, but I was really hoping for an overcast day for her. That she ran so well in that is awesome! She was struggling with some hip pain but stayed strong for the entire race. And she said she liked the course and could see herself running it again! But also said she got bored of being in her head – it was her first marathon running without someone (it was her third marathon, her first was with me and her second was with her friend Bob). So maybe I’ll have to run it with her next time?!

Ha, people were shocked I was NOT running Chicago with Gina. They asked if something was wrong. If I would be upset at the race, that I wasn’t running. If I was burnt out on racing. No, no, no. Nothing was wrong, I wasn’t upset (I LOVED spectating) and I am not burnt out. None of those things! After running Chicago in 2010, I said I don’t want to run it again until I am an experienced marathoner and get better at handling any heat the day may bring (it was in the high 80s and sunny when I ran it). I’ve stood by that statement. It’s a great race, but not one I’ve thought about signing up for (and now, entering the lottery for) since I first ran it. I am not there, as a runner. I am in a spot where I like to train for marathons that won’t sell out, and register more “last minute” when I can gauge (even though you never know) how the weather will be, and what shape I will be in.

Spectating a marathon IS amazingly inspiring though! It doesn’t make me want to run one (come on, the people are in so much pain and you can tell!!!) but it does make me want to get healthier again!

And one random last thing – this guy dressed up as Santa and handed out presents to kids he saw spectating! How kind is that? Luca was excited about it!

Comments Off on Training Week 364

By kilax, October 9, 2016 6:10 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running in a different state! / Running with Steve! / Spectating Gina’s PR at the Chicago Marathon!

Monday | October 3, 2016: 6 m run + 5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 66°/66°, Time: 59:54, Pace: 9:59 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 66°/64°, Time: 50:23, Pace: 10:04 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: decent/tired
Strength: body bars and soft balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, energetic
Tuesday | October 4, 2016: 10 m run
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne Loop, Temp: 69°/67°, Time:1:45:56, Pace: 10:35 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: physically fine, but sick to my stomach
Wednesday | October 5, 2016: rest
Thursday | October 6, 2016: 4 m run (incl. 6×400)
Loc: Holland, MI, Temp: 56°/56°, Time: 39:04, Pace: 9:45 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but couldn’t see
Friday | October 7, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,281 yd swim + 10 m ride
Strength: plates and BOSU, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but tired from travel
Loc: FitNation, Moving Time: 38:27, Pace: 2:43 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, had missed swimming
Indoor Ride time: 38:14, Pace: 15.7 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but weird chlorine-y sweat
Saturday | October 8, 2016: 10 m run (w/Steve)
Loc: Into WI loop, Temp: 40°/44°, Time: 1:39:35, Pace: 9:57 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Sunday | October 9, 2016: rest (spectating the Chicago Marathon!)

Notes:

• I always get stupid excited when I see another runner where I live, because it’s so rare. On Monday I ran through a tiny little neighborhood for the first time, and saw another runner back there! Cool!
• My schedule was a bit nuts this week – I had two days of work travel right before my Chicago Marathon guests arrived! I tried to cram in as many workouts as I could, ha. I am happy I got in what I did!
• My speedwork was challenging this week because I did it in the early am in the pitch dark in a new to me area while on travel… with a very dim headlamp. I couldn’t see for sh*t! Time to change those headlamp batteries!
• It was so nice and cool for my long run with Steve. 40s?! I have not seen those temps since May! Woo hoo!
• We had a blast spectating the Chicago Marathon. It was inspiring to see so many people out there working hard, and SUPER exciting to see Gina run a new PR!!!! It’s time to celebrate!

Link to Training Week 363

Comments (10)

By kilax, October 2, 2016 9:50 pm

Highlight of the Week: Look at most of those run photos! The highlight was a week of overcast, cooler, “I could run in this forever” weather! Another highlight was running with friends after class!

Monday | September 26, 2016: 5 m run + 1,365 yd swim + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 62°/64°, Time: 48:50, Pace: 9:46 avg, Difficulty:easy, Felt: great!
Loc: FitNation, Moving time: 31:54, Pace: 2:20 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: Body Bars and Soft Balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | September 27, 2016: rest
Wednesday | September 28, 2016: 4 m run (incl. 10×1:00)
Loc: Lakefront Trail, Temp: 56°/57°, Time: 37:55, Pace: 9:29 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent-ish
Thursday | September 29, 2016: 6 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 62°/62°, Time: 1:00:35, Pace: 10:06 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but so tired (not sleeping well)
Friday | September 30, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,071 yd swim + 5 m run + 4 m run
Strength: Body Bars and Soft Balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Moving Time: 26:40, Pace: 2:29 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 61°/62°, Time: 49:02, Pace: 9:48, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 63°/62°, Time: 37:31, Pace: 9:22 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good
Saturday | October 1, 2016: 7 m ride + teaching fitness boxing + 3 m run (w/Anne & Emily)
Indoor Ride Time: 29:39, Pace: 14.2 mpg avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: boxing and core, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 61°/61°, Time: 40:09, Pace: 13:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Sunday | October 2, 2016: 13 m run
Loc: Outlet Mall loop, Temp: 58°/62°, Time: 2:18:03, Pace: 10:37 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good, better than I thought I would!

Notes:

• On Monday I braved it and went out for a five mile ruu sans water bottle and… wasn’t miserable! Yay! I can’t wait to get back to not carrying it on every run!
• Swimming at 5:00 pm this Monday was quite different from swimming at 5:00 am last Monday! There were so many more people at the gym! And half of the pool was being used for children’s swim lessons, so there was an audience of parents. But I somehow still had a lane to myself, and didn’t mind all the commotion – it made it a more lively!
• Swimming then doing another activity (running, or as it was this Monday – teaching class) feels so weird. Even after a shower, my sweat is all weird and chlorine-y.
• We’ve had a new-to-boxing student at my last three classes, which is awesome! But, I am also struggling to teach someone how to box while also teaching the entire class. I came up with something new to try this week to help with that, and it didn’t work very well. Back to the drawing board (or, really, back to the basics, for everyone!).
• We’ve had rain all week, so I did my long run on the roads to avoid squishy trails. I didn’t wear gaiters, but still somehow got tons of rocks in my shoes (from running in the shoulder) and had to stop so many times to empty them! I learned my lesson – wear gaiters on the roads after it rains!
• September recap! September was a great month! I ran 174 miles (67 more than August), cycled 57.5 miles (4 indoor rides, 1 outdoor ride) and swam laps 7 times. For cross training, I think I may enjoy swimming more than cycling! My coldest outdoor run was 54°F and my warmest was 88°F. I taught 9 strength classes, and did zero (eek!) strength sessions at home. I taught 2 fitness boxing classes and had a blast at them.

Link to Training Week 362

Comments (15)

By kilax, September 30, 2016 4:21 am

Sadly, there is a lot of trash on the shoulder on the main road I run on. It makes for an interesting run, sometimes. Like the time I saw:

A Goliath roller coaster hat!

(I saw this a few days after riding that roller coaster with Anne, funny enough!)

A paddle!

(This did not help me with my run)

A Mexican flag!

A TV remote!

And a little yellow toy cowboy hat!

(I used to see this over and over, and never took a photo. Then the shoulder got fresh rock and now it’s buried! So this is a fake photo.)

Can you guess which item I actually took home? I still don’t think Steven has found it. Heh.

It really pisses me off to see SO MUCH TRASH on the shoulder. I see this stuff, then the regular things like soda bottles, lighters, papers, food wrappers, etc. PEOPLE! KEEP YOUR TRASH IN YOUR CAR AND THROW IT AWAY AT HOME OR ANY OTHER PLACE YOU GO THAT HAS A GARAGE CAN OUTSIDE!

I plan to run up and down this road with a garbage bag and collect all this rubbish before it snows.