Desperately Seeking The Sunrise

You know how it is...you wake up early and head outside, eager to greet the new day amidst another sunrise.

Or is that just me?

Truth be told, we did have some sunshine this week...but the sunrises kept eluding me (until Friday). Definitely not a deal breaker on my fitness endeavors, but still.

Before I share all the details (and some of the weather), welcome to the Weekly Run Down!

I love hosting this link-up with Deborah (from Confessions of a Mother Runner)! If you write a fitness-based blog, you're invited to join the party. The link-up opens at 8:00AM (EST) on Sundays and remains open through noon on Monday. We love reading about everyone's weekly fitness endeavors, training highlights (or low lights) and race recaps. We ask that you link back to both hosts, and we encourage you to read/comment on the other linked blogs as well...please don't link-drop & dash ;-)

Anyways, here's what went down in my little world of fitness this week:

Where's-the-sun Sunday

Fresh off my evening race (about nine hours prior), I headed out for a couple of easy recovery miles. All day long, the rain kept threatening to douse us (we'd gotten some rain the day prior and quite a bit overnight), but it never materialized. Late in the afternoon, I finally got out for 18 miles of biking with a couple of friends.

Never Miss a Monday

Do you see the sunrise, behind all the corn stalks? Me neither LOL. My legs were still feeling a bit fatigued from the Saturday evening's shenanigans, so I kept the Monday 3-miler pretty easy-paced. The hubby and Max were waiting to go for a walk (1-mile) when I returned back home. There also was a 1-mile walk at work (morning break), and that was it for Monday.  

Tuesday morning sunrise ride...sans sunrise

It's been a hot minute since I've done a sunrise ride...but Momma N had other plans. Alas, the hubby wanted to come along for my early-morning 10-miler. It was a nice ride, albeit a bit chilly. A big day for walking...four total miles, two different 1-milers at work, and a 2-miler before dinner.

 

Double Workout Wednesday

Another crap shoot with the forecast rain, but it was MIA for the weekly #5at5 with Barb. It was super humid and hazy, so there was a slight hint of a visible sunrise, but not much.

Then, after work, we met up with Mike and Amy to tackle the hilly bike path. This ride was downright brutal. The temps were hot and felt much more humid than indicated on the weather app. And the wind was relentless. Utterly relentless. Did I mention it was windy? Fifteen total biking miles; about 12 of which were on the hilly portion of the trail.

Thursday's switcheroo...

I was just not feeling the scheduled speedwork, so I opted for a brick workout (of sorts):

**1-mile bike ride to the stairway

**40 flights climbed (720 total steps climbed, plus back down)

**1-mile ride back home

Also, a 2-mile walk after work, and upper-body strength in the evening.

Finally a sunrise for Friday!

At long last, Friday morning greeted me with a legit, show-stopping sunrise for my 2-mile run. Gotta say, it was totally worth the wait! Also, two walking miles...one at work, and one at home (in the evening).

Long Run Saturday (with a bonus 10K race)

Late Thursday evening, Barb asked if I wanted to do a 10K (out of town) on Saturday morning. Well, it took me all of 15 seconds to find the race site and hit REGISTER. I had a 14-mile run on the training  schedule, so I made the command decision to run the 10K, then add a few extra miles (3) afterwards. This was a tough one, involving a couple of out-and-backs, on a trail. Although we had a lot of shade cover, there was very limited air flow along the trail (one such disadvantage of the plentiful trees). None the less, the race went better than it felt...first place AG honors to the both of us. 

Then, after getting back to town, I debated on whether I really wanted to do the remaining five miles or not. I was totally wiped out after finishing the three extra miles (after the morning's 10K); running five more (at noon) did not sound too enticing. I had some lunch, refueled, changed clothes, took a 45ish-minute nap, redid the lipstick and decided to head out and give those five miles a go. By then, it was after 2:00, and the temps were in the low 80's (but the humidity was only at 65%). I had water with me (with electrolytes added). My only goal was to run easy, and take short walk breaks at each mile mark...and hopefully finish in less than an hour. Mission accomplished, even with a short "pause" for a train. So, that left me with 14 miles for the day...not an ideal method to get in a long run, but it is what it is, and I'm alright with it. After all, it won't happen like this every week.

 

As for Sunday...

The odds are very good I'll take a pass on a recovery run. Nothing hurt after my run(s) on Saturday, but my gut is telling me to not poke the bear LOL. I'll probably do a sunrise walk, though, and the hubs and I are meeting our friends for a long bike ride mid-morning.

In summary, the week played out alright. Running saw 26 miles; walking had 11. Biking had 45 miles (kind of light, due to the sporadic rain early in the week). Stairs saw 90 flights (most of which were warm-ups for runs). Thursday's stair workout served as my main lower-body strength for the week; one upper-body strength workout that evening as well. All was good.

In case you missed out, here's what else went down on the blog this week:

Rain Dance...Anyone?

Midnight Madness 2021 Recap

Summer Fitness Options Aplenty

In other news:

Friday Fashion Flair! The temps were warm and humid (I know, big surprise), the grass was still damp (at noon) from the morning dew, and my hair was big-time drooping (did I mention it was humid?), but the tiger lilies were on fire. I didn't plan to dress like them, but oh well. I love a vibrant floral print, and this top has a fun mix of color with the orange, white, black and grey.

Finally, check this out! I was late getting the sunflower seeds in the ground, so I've been nurturing them in some discarded egg shells. These started sprouting on July 5th, and 11 days later, they've grown a lot! I'll be putting them in the ground this week, hopefully.

So that's the latest and (somewhat) greatest. Summer has been going great, but YIKES, it's going much too fast...how are we already halfway through July?

How was your week? Has the sunrise been playing Hide & Seek with you, too? Any races? Ever broken up a long training run into multiple shorter runs, or incorporated a race in the mix?

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