Sunday, July 18, 2021

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:


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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33 comments:

  1. Nice job getting all those miles done yesterday! I think I'd either want to do all my miles at once or I would probably have a really hard time getting back out there

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    1. Agreed! I'd much prefer getting all the miles done in one shot as well. This race just looked too good to pass up, though (#RunnerProbs). I figure, much of marathon training involves running on tired legs, and yesterday's "long run" certainly accomplished that LOL

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  2. Yes, it's been a soupy week for sure, with on and off rain because as you know when the humidity is right at 100% it rains. Blech. Way to get that 14 in. No easy task to break it up like that. Mental toughness for the win!

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    1. I had not thought of the 'mental toughness training" aspect of those extra miles yesterday...but, it definitely was tough!

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  3. LOL, I have NOT been chasing the sunrise lately -- more often letting it wake me up. I've been enjoying sleep too much. Glad you finally found it. Hurray on your 10K!

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    1. Well, I love my sunrises ;-) I love starting the day outside, preferably WITH a sunrise...but that's not always the case.

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  4. Congrats again on your AG! And, huge kudos to you for getting that 14 done!

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    1. Thank you ;-) Yeah, those 14 miles were tough...all 14 of them, for various reasons.

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  5. It's been so humid lately and rain at some point everyday. Still better than snow and ice.

    No sunrise chasing...I'm drinking my coffee...

    A lot on sunsets though. Post run.

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    1. Yes, the rain is annoying, but better than show and ice. I haven't been very good at catching the sunsets...I should try to get outside for more evening walks.

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  6. I don't think I've ever broken up a long run like that, but I think it was a good idea. It must have been SO hard to get out there for those final five miles (good thing you redid your lipstick, ha ha) so it built mental strength. It was probably a lot harder than just running 14 miles in a row. And congratulations on your AG win in the middle of it all!
    I agree, the summer is going by alarmingly fast! My daughter starts school on August 10th, which is insane.

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    1. Those last five miles were tough...I do think I wasn't properly fueled for them (though I had eaten some and taken electrolytes, but It was probably a little-too-late thing). I think I burned up my "good" miles in the 10K, too. But, yes, the lipstick definitely helped make those final five happen ;-)

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  7. Good idea to take a recovery day to day. Sounds like you really gave it your all at that 10K. Summer heat and humidity are so draining Way to go on your AG placing. Still no race options around here besides 5k's and those don't appeal to me. 7 weeks until Cherry Blossom!

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    1. I keep getting emails for the Cherry Blossom...so tempted, but I have too much already going down this fall.

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  8. dang, Kim. Your ride Wednesday and your long run race split Saturday ... I'm exhausted thinking about it1! well done on your AG place though!!

    our weather has been psychotic. Tis the theme of the year. Lots of flooding going on. We are ok as we are on a different part of the Rhine that somehow doesn't have issues (though we cannot walk on the quay right now, the river is definitely higher than normal). I haven't seen a sunrise in a bit, but I may try to get back to that as well...

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    1. No doubt, rain and damp weather are not fun for fitness anything. Even walking can be a struggle if it's too wet. Our 45-mile ride today was a piece of (delicious) cake in comparison to those 12 hilly miles last week LOL

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  9. That Sunday outfit is just the best.
    You know I love my sunrises-I was saying to someone that I'll take a run over sleep, but still trying to get there on strength training > sleep
    Congratulations on the age group recognition and 100% team not Poke the Bear. Enjoy your day

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    1. It's no secret how much I love my sunrises ;-) Now that you mention strength training, I need to take that outside, and do some of that one of these mornings (hopefully with a sunrise). And, keeping the "bear" quiet, with no poking, was a wise decision ;-)

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  10. I have been sleeping in and waking up after the sunrise. Funny how before I would be outside to see said sunrise. I am tired from reading your busy week. I think I am going to nap now. :-)

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    1. Ha! We got back from our ride, a couple hours ago, and I had every intention of napping...but got busy with some household stuff (and blog reading), so the nap didn't happen.

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  11. I seriously have no memory of sun last week, since much of the week was spent in the hospital (then recovering).

    Wat to go with your race & getting in those extra miles! That’s not easy.

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    1. Thankfully, we did have plenty of sun, but those darn sunrises just didn't want to be seen for several days. The extra miles, on Saturday, were tough. I'm glad I was able to get them all done, since I'd entertained the idea of calling it after I'd done those three extra miles after the race.

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  12. That takes grit to get back out there to get in the miles in the heat of the day! You still got the benefit of time on feet, it's okay if there was a break in there. You're doing amazingly! Sounds like a tough 10k too.

    Summer is going WAY too fast and it makes me sad. I wish it were a few months longer...

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    1. I'm not a huge fan of breaking up long runs like that, but I don't think it's a big deal once in awhile. Like you said, it's still time on feet and running while fatigued will probably happen on race day (in the later miles), so why not just suck it up in training LOL

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  13. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do and you did just that! Congrats on running the race, winning your age group, adding on some post-race miles and then wrapping up later in the afternoon.

    We got your Thursday wind today. Oh my, it seemed like my whole ride was into a headwind. Sigh...

    Have a great week and thanks for the linkup!

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    1. That wind is so brutal on the bike! Our wind was out of the SW (via the app), but it felt like west headwind (when we were heading due west) and a nasty south crosswind when we were headed back east.

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  14. It was a good week to be sidelined--I felt a little less regret since it was rainy and cloudy most of last week! Congrats on the AG win!

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    1. The rain and clouds are both a buzzkill, end of story. I'm just thankful we didn't have as much as was forecast.

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  15. I'm tired just reading about all of your activity this week, especially on Saturday! Awesome job on your AG win and kudos on the mental strength of splitting up your long run. Never the ideal option but I think it helps with the mental toughness involved in marathon training.

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    1. Thanks, Kim!! I had not even thought of the mental toughness aspect, but that definitely was utilized yesterday. I was so glad to have those miles all finished, and so grateful to have the grit to get it done.

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  16. You are super! All those activities in summer!
    Congrats on your 1st place in the AG.
    Here I can see the sunrise from the hills and, more beautiful, the sunset on the sea.
    I also mixed the races and the extra miles while preparing the marathon but it was not a good experience.

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    1. I bet the sunset on the sea is breathtaking. I'm a little jealous of that! I'm not a huge advocate for mixing in races with additional miles (especially with several hours of gap in between),but once in awhile it's a good way to get in the miles (on tired legs), and a chance to sneak in a little speedwork in the process.

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  17. Oooh! Look at your seeds! So cool!

    Here, we have blazing sun or torrential downpour. There is no happy medium. Boo.

    I want to go see a sunrise. I will have to shoehorn that in somewhere.

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