Not only did I tackle back to back 11 mile training runs this weekend, I can walk like a normal person today. That feels like a huge achievement. 🙂

Thanks as always to Holly and Tricia for hosting our Weekly Wrap Up link up!
I confess, my workout week was pretty light other than those two 11 mile runs because I had 7 am meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and missed my Tuesday/Thursday runs. However, I did get walks in every day last week and did the best I could to stay active even if I wasn’t running.
In this training cycle, I’ve definitely learned that A) I have to run in the morning or it isn’t going to happen and B) I need to seriously step up my strength training game before marathon training continues. I’ve done well with the back to back long runs for the last two months, but seriously slacked on the weekday work and that’s not a safe way to train. I’m grateful that I’ve got a supportive husband who is willing to work out in the evening, even though he’d also prefer morning workouts, so I can get the morning workout slots in our family schedule. A healthy lifestyle is definitely a whole family endeavor!
Workouts
There were walks on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday and a half hearted strength session, but nothing to write home about. Not the best week!
Saturday 11 warm miles around the lake, with an early start because we had thunderstorms coming. It was 82 degrees when I finished this run – ugh – but finish it I did! Until the last half mile or so, it didn’t even feel too bad. I just kept up my slow and steady mantra and enjoyed the scenery.

Sunday Second round! I woke up feeling surprisingly okay, but knew these would be slow miles. I headed out through the neighborhood with the goal of taking it one mile at a time, just like we discussed last week in terms of running and racing advice and for the most part it worked. I confess, my mind wandered and I did get lost once. Oops! Thank goodness for Google Maps.
A perk of long slow miles is that you have plenty of texting with friends to cheer you along. 🙂 This particular friend ran 6 miles this weekend, a new distance PR!!! Way to go Mildred! I did a lot more walking than usual during these miles, but I finished all 11 upright and feeling like I could have gone on for longer if I needed to, definitely a win!
These were last long runs before taper time for the I-35 challenge in a couple of weeks. After this weekend, I’m confident I can safely finish back to back half marathons (even if they will intentionally be my slowest half marathons ever!). I have a history of completely slacking off with my runs during taper time and I definitely DON’T want to do that this time, both because I’m a little undertrained in terms of those short weekday runs and because even though I have this race weekend coming, in the big picture, I’ve got a marathon to run. All of these miles count toward getting me safely through 26.2 miles in January.
Finding a careful balance between running enough but not too much during taper time is always tricky! I’m just going to stick to the plan.
My NSV this week has got to be the fact that my brain is finally getting itself out of its unhealthy eating rut. Friday night, I went out with some girls to see Bridget Jones’ Baby (surprisingly fun – totally Team Darcy here). I was celebrating a big work success becoming official last week. At the same time, I was a little stressed on the parenting front because O had gotten in trouble for playing with scissors at school, but worse, had lied about it. He was very worried about whether or not Mama knew what he’d done and when Mama would be home. I’m the heavy in my house, possibly because I have a better stern and disappointed voice thanks to 15 years of terrier ownership.

My Abby, a Welsh Terrier. I’ve known her longer than I’ve known my husband!
In the past, the combination of well deserved celebration and parenting angst would have lead to major over-indulgence when I was out with the girls. Instead, I hopped in the car to head over to the bar for happy hour and literally squealed with delight at finding these in the seat:

Leftover grapes from breakfast! Yay for a healthy snack! The surprise made it feel like a treat and thus, I was better able to resist the fried bar food and focused on edamame (and too much hard cider if we’re being honest) instead. Win!
How do you balance time in your house so that everyone has time to exercise? Darrell and I are still trying to figure that out, now that he’s trying to exercise more. I confess, I’m selfish enough to be a little grateful that he’s willing to defer to my work and my workout schedules so that I can get my training done, but I don’t want him to skip his own workouts! Tell me how you make it work!
Save
Save
Save