Coast Guard Semper Paratus Challenge Week 2 Training Recap

After surviving that literal freezing long run on the 22nd, I had a feeling that this week would be a piece of cake and I almost ate my words! Let's just dive into it!

REMINDER OF WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO

Training plan found in "Run To The Finish" by Amanda Brooks.

WEEK 2 TRAINING RECAP

TOTAL MILES: 13.34

TOTAL TIME: 4h 42m 59s

Day 1 - RECOVERY/STRETCH Can I blame running in the cold and being chilled to the bone for the craptastic sleep I got? Great! No...it was my kid. I was just starting to sleep really good when my kid woke me up around 12:30am. She just comes in, lays her head on me until I wake up. Generally I hear her door open, run across the hall, and my door opening so I'm already awake and this was no different. Until my brain decided at 4:40am to wake up for no reason what-so-ever! I did move my body with a 10 minute hip focus flow yoga class and then a 10 minute stretch after my daughter went to bed. I still don't think it's enough and really want to make a habit of stretching before bed when I have my daughter doing her bedtime yoga.

Day 2 - 3 MILES NO HILLS It was raining and cold and the weather kept saying that it might snow. The last thing I need is to try to do hill repeats on a a slick wet/possibly icy hill (remember the picture from last week...yeah that beast). I went to PlotARoute.com and made a 3 mile loop from my door, through the neighborhood, and home. This way, even though I was going to get wet, I could easily get home. After I got started, the rain picked up. I wore my Torins and took it nice and slow. I don't know that I've really talked shoes but my go to is Brooks Glycerins and those have a 10mm drop and Torins are a zero drop so I tend to use those on shorter runs especially without the treadmill now. Anyway, my toes got wet within the first 5-10 minutes and I began questioning everything. I actually hated every minute of the run as soon as my feet got wet. My pace went between 15:44 and 16:09 so my feet, ankles, and knees didn't feel any pain but by the time I got home, my feet were wet all the way to my heel. I did remember to add a 5 min warm up and cool down from the Peloton app with Joslyn Thompson Rule.

Day 3 - CHRISTMAS = REST DAY I wanted to and enjoyed every bit of Christmas. I was on my feet so much on Christmas day that the thought of doing anything else was just exhausting! Originally I had planned to do a bodyweight class but after making breakfast and cleaning up breakfast, I had about an hour to read my Bible and relax before it was up and working on dinner. After dinner, I left clean up to the hubs and I read a book! However there was some miscommunication and I found my precious hambone in the trash so no ham and bean soup this year with some of the left overs!

Day 4 - 3 MILES + HILLS 1 I took my Torins on this run. They had been camped out with the opening of the shoes above my vent so I assumed they were dry all the way when I felt them and they felt dry. I got into my run and started to second guess myself. I gave zero effs on this run. I didn't pay attention to my paces and by the end of the 3 miles, I wanted to just walk up the hill and forget about the repeats. It took me 47:27 to knock out the miles and by the time I caught my breath I was at the base of the hills and decided to just do my repeats on the way up like I did last week. My 4th repeat was my fastest pace at a 9:39 pace and I gave myself about 30 seconds rest between each set.

Oh, I also saw a couple of deer with less than a mile left. They were crossing from my left side to my right. While I know that they are pretty skittish, I tend to give them a wide birth because I'm terrified that one day they won't go running off into the woods but running at me and really what is my tiny little pepper spray gonna do to a deer.

Day 5 - FULL BODY STRENGTH After a 5 min Full Body Stretch, my daughter joined me for a 30 min body weight Full Body Strength class on the Peloton app. It was so much fun to do it with her and hear her say, "Look Mommy! I'm doing it! I'm doing it!!!" I was so proud of her. She did so good and then when the class was over, she asked to do her special yoga which is Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube. We found a Christmas one that was about 16 minutes and she loved it!

Day 6 - REST DAY I wanted to do more stretching and yoga but my back was sore from the workout on Friday that I opted to rest instead. My daughter and I ended up doing a spa day for her. She got to relax in a bubble bath, followed by a sheet face mask when she got out, and lastly I gave her a mani/pedi complete with arm/hand and leg/foot massages! I also did a little work on my Hocus Pocus themed blanket for the first time in forever as well.

Day 7 - 6 MILE LONG RUN Someone needs to check on Mother Nature. Last week's long run was in 32­­°F and I was a popsicle and this week's run was 66°F. Double and then some for the temperature! I had to race to beat the rain because I also had zero desire to run in the rain again. I went back to the same trail as last week except I started my run in the opposite direction. Where I park is about 2 miles from the actual starting point of the trail. I ran to the start and back and figured if it started to rain or if the wind suddenly picked up and stayed strong then I would call it at 4 miles. I made it to the 4 mile mark and felt goo enough to keep going. It was from mile 4.5 - 5.5 when I was on the same stretch avoiding horse poop compared to all 5 miles last week. By the time I finished and was back to my car, warm up and cool down included I finished at exactly a 10K. I also did something I've never done before during an entire run which was listened to worship music. I listened to the entire "When Wind Meets Fire" album by Elevation Worship (listen here on Spotify). It was everything I needed in that run.

WHAT'S ON DECK FOR NEXT WEEK: I don't understand why my daughter's school district opted for them to go back to school Thursday and Friday after New Year's Day instead of just giving them 2 full weeks off for break but whatever. She goes back to school and I won't have any reason not to do my runs after dropping her off at the bus. The only thing I anticipate that I might change is the hill repeats. Since I didn't do Hills 2 on Tuesday but did get Hills 1 done on Thursday, I might change Hills 1 to 2 on Tuesday since it's the only day it's scheduled for. Let's see if I do change it up!