Welcome to my Battlefield

If there was ever a week of battle strife, this would be it.

The warrior: Myself.

The opponents: Wind, Cold, and DOMS (not necessarily in that order).

Seriously. This was a very productive week, but it was hard-fought. It felt like each day brought a different challenge to the fore front. I'm not one to shy away from tough workouts or discomforts, but this week gave me a run for my mental (and physical) mojo.

...and that's not all bad.

Before I give you the down & dirty details, 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 1:00 (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 (DOMS-laden) fitness this week:

NMAM (Never Miss a Monday)

I don't get shin splits very often, but I had a good case of them upon wake-up Monday morning. I blame the intense 4-mile power walk with Barb (12 hours prior). None the less, the forecast was showing progressively cold (and damp) weather conditions as the day wore on, so I opted to attempt an easy-paced 2-miler. Only, within the first couple of blocks, my legs came to life. Let's just say this 2-mile recovery run morphed into a 5K tempo(ish) fiesta rather quickly. I like it when that happens!

 

AT&T (Another Typical Tuesday)

I knew my legs needed an easy day, and my Tuesdays usually are all about walking (or other low/non-impact cardio). So, we walked 1-1/2 miles in the frigid morning air. Later, Max took me for a short walk at lunchtime, and we walked another 1/2-mile or so after work. Approximately three total miles for the day...and nothing else. It happens.

 

DDWW (Double Duty Workout Wednesday)

As most know, I'm stepping WAY out of my comfort zone this month, and doing weekly 1-mile time trials. WTT #1 took place on the college track, Wednesday morning. The temps were chilly (mid-40F's) but there wasn't any obvious wind. I did a 1-mile warm-up run (from my house) before making my way onto the track. I have done a few 1-mile street races (Grand Blue Mile, in 2018 and 2019), but this was my first time (since maybe high school phys ed?) doing so on an actual track. With no pacing strategy, I started my watch and just ran "comfortably hard" and stopped after the 1-mile distance beeped on the Garmin. Amazingly, I cleared my previous 1-mile PR (7:23), but just barely with a 7:21 finish time for this first attempt. Kind of a Catch-22 to start these trials with a PR, but we'll see what happens each week. Afterwards, I walked over to the outdoor stairway (which is really close by) and did 20 flights (360 steps) before walking home.

Later, as if the #ish wasn't real enough in the early hours, I had the bright idea to crank-it-up after work. I rode the bike back over to the stairway for a rather intense lower-body strength/stair interval workout. 

Here's what happened:

**10 stair flights (18 steps)

**20 squats (starting with sumo for the first set, then jump/Bulgarian/split/air for the other four sets)

**10 lunges, each leg (started with walking, then forward/reverse/side/curtsy for the other four sets)

** repeat four more times, with a 30-second recovery between circuits

After five total sets:

--> 26 minutes of activity

--> 900 total steps

--> 100 total squats

--> 50 total lunges (each leg)

--> one very sweaty and tired gal 

DTTD (Dang Those Thursday DOMS)

Since it had only been about 12 hours since the stair/lower-body extravaganza, things weren't feeling too DOMS-like at wake-up. I anticipated that would all change, so meeting Barb for our weekly early-morning 5-miler was perfect timing (spoiler: I was right LOL). Can I just say that I am OVER this erratic spring weather? Temps were 48F, which usually would feel comfortable, but when there's a wickedly cold blast of steady wind out of the north, it felt like winter all over again. But, the daylight is coming earlier and earlier, so that's something to smile about. Another successful #5at5 in the books. 

AFFM (Another Frigid Friday Morning)

No surprise, the DOMS hit me hard by mid-morning on Thursday. My hammies and glutes were in a major world of hurt from all that lower-body love on Wednesday evening. Although things were feeling better Friday morning, I thought a 2-mile walk would serve me far better than a run in the 37F feels-like temps.  Thankfully, there was plenty of sunshine and the temps warmed up by lunchtime, so Max and I did a quick 1-mile walk before I headed back to the office. Also, the DOMS were pretty much history by bedtime. All was well!

SMS (Slow Motion Saturday)

Although the DOMS were long gone, I still was feeling pretty run-down Saturday morning. Barb and I met around 7:00, with the intention of running eight miles. Overall, the run went well, but it felt like I was dragging...not sure if that was due to the hilly route (oops) or the 14mph wind. By the 7-mile mark, we both were feeling more energetic, so we decided to tack on a couple bonus miles and ended the day with 10 total miles run. Surprisingly, my Garmin showed a 10:06 (average) pace....totally wasn't expecting that given the state of my fatigue! I did crash for a good hour, on the couch, after I got home (and again, later in the afternoon).

  

GGGS (Girl Got Guns Sunday)

Cold, damp and icky weather kept me indoors, but that's just as well. With a big Mother's Day gathering on deck, I didn't have any extra time for playing outside anyways (that will happen later, after the rain vacates and the temps warm up, late afternoon). Instead, I snuck in a short upper-body strength session in the early-morning hours. 

So, in summary, I was able to get in a lot of fitness despite my (fitness-related) aches and pains. Running saw 20 miles and walking had 14 miles (these numbers include last Sunday, but not this Sunday). For strength-training, there was that tough lower-body session on the stairs (as well as in between flights), and there was one upper-body workout. Speaking of stairs, 110 flights of stairs were climbed this week as well. The Fight for Air Climb is next weekend! 

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

Rising & Shining, Running & Smiling

Crafting the Perfect Running Outfit

Got Coffee? Let's Talk!

In other news:

Friday Fashion Flair! Although the day started rather chilly, it warmed up nicely by lunchtime. This week's featured outfit was all about green, teal, florals...and windblown hair. Worse things could happen, right? As always, please join the party! Post a pic of your outfit on Instagram, grab the hashtag (#FridayFashionFlair) and be sure to tag me (@runningonthefly).

There's a town, Pella, that's about 40 miles away. Every year, they host Tulip Time, a BIG celebration of all things Dutch. The oldest daughter actually lives near there, so we picked her (and Lola) up and spent a couple hours admiring all the tulips, windmills, and festival attractions in and around the town square on Friday evening. It was fun being (cautiously) out in a crowd again!

Finally, a very blessed an joyous Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

So, tell me....How are things in your (fitness) world? Any exceptionally tough workouts this past week? Any big accomplishments? How's your weather been behaving?

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