Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[Herding_Cats]

Quick update :
Last week I did 1 45min run. That's it. And then school started for the older kids and the wheels completely fell off.

This week I started working (just 2 days a week while DD is at school) but couldn't work today because I was the scheduled volunteer for her classroom. Yesterday, a day with no work or school for DD I attempted to take her (on a bike) and the dog for a run where it was about 3/4 of a mile of straight, flat, dirt road. She lasted 15min. The dog lasted 15min. I got frustrated. And that was before DS2's XC meet which really just cranked up my annoyance and frustration with him. Also, I've been massively cranky for 2 days, and decided maybe it was time for me go back on my zoloft for a week. Wheeeeeeeee!

So TODAY, after being the morning parent-volunteer, I came home, ate a big piece of fudge & a slice of toast with peanut butter (because I didn't eat breakfast) and headed out for what was intended to be a 90min run. I set my interval timer for 45/30 and got to it. It. Was. Horrible. It felt like a LOT of work, and I could not get my brain to quit talking to me about all of the stuff that was making me irritated. So I texted DH after 1.5 miles that it might only be an hour (because we had some stuff to set up for hunting this weekend.) And I could gut my way through an hour. But then the sugar kicked in. I changed my intervals to 30/30 and put on a different playlist. And my brain shut up. And I cranked that ish out. Holy moly did I need that.

(Side note: DD ran in the elementary "race" yesterday as well and held 9:40 pace for 0.75mi. I'm not sure *I* could do that right now. And she's freaking 4 years old.)

 

[nancipants]

Four year olds have freakish amounts of energy, though. Mine is home sick today and came running in our room screaming like a banshee. If I had a cold, I'd be in bed still.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Four year olds have freakish amounts of energy, though. Mine is home sick today and came running in our room screaming like a banshee. If I had a cold, I'd be in bed still.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Hahaha. Super fun.
DS1 got a broken nose and concussion at intermural baseball practice last night, and DS2 got diagnosed with walking pneumonia this afternoon.

I may need one of those Courtney Dauwalter hats I saw in an ad today: “Everything is fine. You’re fine. This is fine.”

 

[WillRunForPizza]

 

[Herding_Cats]

View attachment 894181

For real.

 

[Herding_Cats]

remainder of the week wrap-up:

Thursday: off. what is sleep?

Friday: 60min between dropping off and picking up DD from her whopping 2.5hrs of preschool. This felt pretty decent. I was expecting more twinges/tiredness from the 90min out of nowhere on Wednesday, but it was shockingly OK.

Saturday: 45min. I ran ~1mi warmup, and then did 20sec of "actual running" (aka, not a sprint, but definitely not easy) and 2min walking for ~1mi. And then ~1mi cooldown. Tried to push a big solo doe out of the edge of the woods for DS2 to shoot since it's the youth-hunt weekend for whitetail deer in MI, but she didn't go the way I was hoping she would.

Sunday: intended to do another 60min, but instead we are making and canning somewhere between 18 and 20qts of spaghetti sauce. I'm pretty sure we have enough green roma tomatoes in our garden to do this again in a couple of weeks, if the weather holds up.

DS3 has 3 soccer games this week, and then we have a XC meet on Saturday, AND it's supposed to be in the 80s all week, so there's likely a lot of treadmill in my future.

DS1 had some concussion symptoms on Thursday and Friday, but reports feeling completely fine on Saturday and Sunday. We will see what getting back to class on Monday brings. Services at the university are requiring more documentation than the ER gave him for getting any accommodations he may need in place, so we are working on getting a telehealth visit approved with is PCP (they usually only do those for med refills.) We are trying to get these so IF he needs them, he has them.

DS2 and his pneumonia....just when I think he's getting better, he has a disgusting coughing fit that leads to some reverse gastric production, iykwim. So I'll also be calling the ped's office tomorrow to get another med for him, and we are going to have him take another day off XC practice because missing a Monday isn't going to have any major effects on Saturday, and he NEEDS the rest if he's going to get better.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Catching up again. Things have been crazy, as usual, and I "missed" a lot of runs, but I also had some successes.

After my last post I ended up taking the entire week off. Between being sick and how many soccer games/XC meets/DH refereeing, DD's birthday, etc., it just didn't happen. Did this make me nervous? Absolutely. I squeezed in 35min on 9/23 and 45min on 9/25. The irony that I am most successful on squeezing in runs on days that I also make pie is not lost on me. But I have 0 expectations for myself to get anything done around the house on days I work. And since DD is in school those days, when I get out a couple hours "early" I don't feel bad about coming home, shoving a PBJ in my face and running until I have just enough time to grab the car to go pick her up. Work should only last a few more weeks until we close for the season, and then Mondays and Wednesdays can become significantly more dedicated to running.

However, on Friday I had my biggest success in this training block to date. (The background is that we have a massive XC meet on Saturday and volunteered to do smoked pulled pork for the team/family meal at the meet, and DH had a bunch of houses to write up bids on, so he "took the day off" to do those 2 things.) DH took DD to school, and I got ready for my run. I got started a little later than I would have liked because it wasn't a great night for sleep. My initial plan was to do a 4-5mi loop on one of my usual routes, but the run was feeling pretty good, so I decided to try a new loop. This loop included about 1/3 of a mile along the highway and I will probably not repeat it because there's just too much high-speed traffic and any gravel that happens to get on the road could make for a really dangerous situation for me. BUT, on Friday it was fine.

Additionally, this run included what I'm jokingly referring to as "my new best friend" which is the hill on my road. With the elevation of the 50k next summer I'll need to definitely do some hill work, and this is a good starting point. Using a road sign and a mailbox as references, I'm going to start lapping this segment every so often to see if I'm improving my time to get up the hill (my plan is to walk/power-hike up the hills in the 50K, so I need to get those muscles in shape.) It's 100ft of gain in 0.28mi.

(Side note that the view from the top of the hill should be spectacular in a couple of weeks as we are starting to get into fall colors....if our drought doesn't just make most of the leaves turn brown and fall off.)

I texted DH to confirm he was able to pick DD up from school as well, because I was at the point where I would either go home, or keep going to get in more miles. And all of the timing with his work and the smoker worked out that he could get her.

Anyway. 1:45min. 13min avg pace. 4:44 up the hill. Not exhausted after the run. Not sore the next day. Huge win for me mentally and physically.

(In other news, I'm taking DS2 to get his ferritin checked today because we are 2/3 of the way through XC season and he's just getting slower every week for no apparent reason. He says that running, and specifically racing, feels "terrible" and has since the beginning of the month. And while we have been assuming most of his struggles were mental, having low iron/ferratin isn't out of the question and could explain why he feels tired/unmotivated, and other symptoms include decreased performance and increased blood lactate. We should have the results the next day and at that point we will know if it's biology or psychology causing the issue. Of course, since I scheduled that, he went out and ran mile repeats at practice yesterday that were all sub-6, and 2 of them were sub 5:40. Kids. Ugh.)

 

[Herding_Cats]

Well it was a week.

Monday: no run...it's now apple pie season, and those are more labor intensive to make. That means there was not getting out early and fitting in a run before driving 45min to DS3's soccer game (where the opposing coach "didn't realize" the score and they mercied us with 20min remaining in the 2nd half.)

Tuesday: Took DS2 in for a blood draw to get his ferritin checked. Can I just walk in and get it done? No. I have to make him an account attached to mine, order and pay for the service, and THEN take the confirmation number in before this gets done. Is there any cell service in the building? No. Is there cell in the parking lot? Barely. *sigh*

Wednesday: Finished pies early. 45min run. I don't remember this run.

Thursday: Had issues accessing DS2's test results, tried using chat to get it fixed, and 2 hours later they still hadn't shown up. Drove into town to see if we could solve the problem in person and grab a few things to do our last batch of spaghetti sauce canning for the season. And when I checked my email at the store, of course they were in. I could have gone to our local store 8min away instead of to the one 30min away. And then I scorched the sauce when I put it on to simmer. So we got to throw away 10qts worth of sauce. Yaaaaaaay. I wasted 2.5 hours of time and skipped my run because the tomatoes needed processed only to ruin it!

Friday: 60min run. The county road commission added gravel and graded the seasonal road I use for miles 2-4 on my "regular" runs. That means that it was super rocky and uneven, and also not packed down from cars driving on it like it usually is. This wasn't fun. Also had weird knee discomfort, and my foot/ankle on the same side was twinge-y before I even got to the gravel part.

Saturday: Up at 5am to drive 3hrs to DS2's XC meet. Super frustrating day for that. Napped most of the way home, but when we were about 30min from home DH looked and me and said, "You probably have a run to do this evening, right?" And I went from planning to NOT do it (because I was tired and irritated about the day) to YEP. Sure do! 60min run. My original plan was to just do 30 or 45min, but once I was almost back to my turn to finish things, I changed my mind and added some mileage. And then ran all the way down my nearby big hill (good practice for the quads) and power walked back up it (minus a few seconds where my throat and mouth had gotten so dry that I was doubled over cough-choking.) I need to figure out how to make that into a strava segment so that can track my progress instead of having to keep a spreadsheet on it.

Looking ahead at that 50k...
I went down the rabbit hole on 50k training plans, and came across this one which seems reasonable when talking about a 50k, but also ambitious af for someone with my (lack of) speed. The TLDR of this is that it's 5 days a week, back-to-back long runs, on trail, on the weekends, with strides and "hill strides" as the speedwork midweek. I know you shouldn't look at the peak week of any plan and panic, but 20mi on Saturday and then 8mi (with strides) on Sunday is kind of terrifying to think about. 20mi would take me about 5hrs at 15min pace, and while I have absolutely no problem with walking quite a bit of this, that's a LONG run.....which is the point, but is also well over the "3 hour rule." I've also looked at the Higdon plan, and IMO it's harder than this plan by a lot (and also 10 weeks longer) as it has you at 50 miles in week 15. That's not possible for me, as it would be a 12+hr/week training commitment.

Mapping things out, just so I can play around with what's possible/reasonable (and to kind of wrap my brain around it and decide if I'm interested in doing it) it looks like I could fit in a 15wk block of *something* between Dopey, taking a week off, and when the linked 50k plan would start. There's about a month of basketball officiating once that week off ends, and then we don't have much going on until spring sports start. Maybe a speed block to try to get me to some faster paces and provide some relief from the cutoff time from the 50k? As things stand right now, if I'm 2-3min slower per mile than my current "easy" pace, I'll be finishing right at the end of the time limit.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Had the worst-feeling run I’ve had in a looooong time yesterday. And then the Tigers lost.

But we had clear skies, and hopefully some of the rest of you did as well! This was our view last night!

 

[MissLiss279]

Had the worst-feeling run I’ve had in a looooong time yesterday. And then the Tigers lost.

But we had clear skies, and hopefully some of the rest of you did as well! This was our view last night!
View attachment 902546

I love the bright greens!
From southern Kansas (I drove out of town to see it without all the light pollution):

 

[Herding_Cats]

This solar storm is supposed to last for a few days, and if it’s really intense again tonight, I might be able to convince DH to head to one of the beaches for more pics. I spent a lot of time just laying on the trampoline, staring at the sky last night.

 

[MissLiss279]

This solar storm is supposed to last for a few days, and if it’s really intense again tonight, I might be able to convince DH to head to one of the beaches for more pics. I spent a lot of time just laying on the trampoline, staring at the sky last night.

I really love it. Hope you are able to get some good pictures!! And just enjoy it!

 

[The Expert]

DO IT -- GO TO THE BEACH!!! I was dying with our cloudy skies last night. It is clear right now so fingers crossed.

 

[Naomeri]

Had the worst-feeling run I’ve had in a looooong time yesterday. And then the Tigers lost.

But we had clear skies, and hopefully some of the rest of you did as well! This was our view last night!
View attachment 902546

We were a bit hazy in MN last night, but got some pics. Monday was way better.

 

[Herding_Cats]

So. This past week was a dumpster fire. My goal of getting super consistent this month hasn’t happened. I did 1 “run” this week that was 15min of run/walk and 20min of just walk because of how terrible my legs felt. The weather has turned cold, it has finally rained, and my little community is dealing with a lot of really big things this past week.

What was good:
-DS3 is finished with soccer and gets a couple of weeks “off” before basketball starts. (His team is terrible and the parents are terrible and going to his games is sooooo stressful. I’m glad we are done for the year.)
-DS2 had a big breakthrough and ran 17:59 at his meet on Tuesday, which was somehow still only good enough to be 8th on his team, and there’s only 1 more meet before regionals and unless some teammates there struggle or he has an even better race, he will be an alternate at state finals.
-This is my last week making pies for 2024, but refereeing starts in 3 weeks. That means I will have 3 days dedicated days each week where I have 0 reasons to not get miles in. And possibly (probably?) some strength training. DH and I are alternating days, except for Tuesdays, so I should be able to get plenty of running in and not be doubling up (and getting injured) like I did last year.

 

[The Expert]

Sorry you're dealing with really big things. Do what you can when you can and give yourself grace. There's still plenty of time!

 

[Herding_Cats]

So. Taking suggestions of how to use up 50dvc points before August 1st. SS weekend is pretty much out as an idea since it’s the weekend after our spring break, and DH will absolutely not go for that (plus the challenge is soooo $$$$.) Our biggest issue is he doesn’t want it too close to MW, but also, spring sports start in mid-March and end in June, and since he’s the JV baseball coach getting away is difficult. We were hoping to use these points toward our MW stay, but we are pretty sure they won’t get loaded in time to keep our other points from going into holding. *sigh*

In training news, I’m going to start lifting this weekend or Monday. Planning on trying out Caroline Girvan’s Iron series on YT, and if I don’t like it I’ll find something on Bodi.

 

[jmasgat]

Is this a family trip or just you two? Are there other school constraints? Early March gets you to Flower and Garden Festival. I have also been over 4th of July (with a recalcitrant son who didn't want to be there!) Would you consider not trying to force fit something and rent them out?

It's too bad the Braves left WWoS, cause a spring training baseball trip would be just the ticket. I have actually stayed at Vistana and driven to Lakeland to see the Tigers.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Is this a family trip or just you two? Are there other school constraints? Early March gets you to Flower and Garden Festival. I have also been over 4th of July (with a recalcitrant son who didn't want to be there!) Would you consider not trying to force fit something and rent them out?

It's too bad the Braves left WWoS, cause a spring training baseball trip would be just the ticket. I have actually stayed at Vistana and driven to Lakeland to see the Tigers.

Right now the plan is to rent them out somewhere. But honestly, I’d rather use them. They won’t show up in our account until sometime in December, so I’m just trying to plan ahead. No clue as to family trip vs just adults, but I don’t think DH would go for a 3rd consecutive trip without the kids