This week’s weather was PERFECT.  It was in the 60s and I even turned the AC off.  We had the windows open at night and it felt so good.  It was nice to have a couple of days like that because the hot weather is back.

I had some really great runs this week.  On Tuesday I ran 3.10 and my pace was so much faster.  I even stayed in HR zones 1-3 like I am supposed to.  Last Friday I did the same distance and finished in 39:02, but on Tuesday my finish time was 36:19.  That is about 1 minute faster for each mile and they were all under 12:00!!  As you know, I am not at all a “fast” runner so seeing these numbers sure made me happy.

Thursday’s run also went well.  I did 2 sets of 3:15/80.  The last time I did this workout was July 16 with an average pace of 12:19.  On Thursday it was 12:05.  What was exciting about it is that I ran without stopping the first two intervals of each set and actually felt really good.  It was a big confidence booster and makes me even more excited for the next couple of months.

Saturday’s run was 8.01 miles along the lakefront.  During the week I had calculated my total mileage and it would have been 26.99 miles.  Now you know why I had to run that extra .01 to get an even 27 miles.

I also did 3 Glutes and Legs Strength workouts.  The first one I did was on Tuesday.  I was very sore for about 2 days.  Let’s just say that it was hard to sit down to use the toilet.  I did another one on Friday but wasn’t sore afterwards.  Today I did the same workout that I did on Tuesday and so far am feeling OK.  Next week I want to add include Arms Toning workouts.

I posted this in Instagram but it makes me laugh so much so I will share it here.  It is from this morning during my workout.  I’ve mentioned that Mateo is a very dramatic cat.

School update:  We got an email from the Superintendent that our first day of school is August 26 (it was supposed to be the 24th) and the students’ first day is the 31st.  We will have 3 days of Teacher Institute to give us time to collaborate and plan with our colleagues.  Some school districts are allowing teachers to go in the classroom to do their remote learning.  I am hoping our District does the same (at least 1 or 2 days per week).  Crossing my fingers!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

How is it already August?  A few more weeks of Summer Break and then back to school.  I found out that we will start the school year with Remote Learning.  While I am pleased with the news, it does make me sad because I honestly am tired of Remote Learning.  Also, it will be weird starting off a new school year without being there with the students.  I did find out this past week that the cameras will be turned on so at least I will see them during class time.

I am still running on the side streets.  No complaints.  Twice I ventured out further north to the area where I am interested in buying a house.  I ran by the house that I really, really liked and wanted to buy last year.  It made me sad.  I did see another house for sale by owner and sent the info to my agent.  Back and forth messages with him and yesterday he told me that the owner has a contract already.  🙁

My heart rate went up when I saw this.  It reminded me of when I fell in January.

I live close to the fire department and they have a small fish pond in the front.  It was the first time seeing this since I rarely go in that direction when I run.

I did all of my runs with the Peloton app.  I like the variety of music and am liking the instructors.  Even all of the talking does not bother me as much anymore.  I guess it depends on my mood too.  

For my long run on Saturday I did not go to the lake.  I ran by my house and took a fun class.  Matty mentioned that he was taking us back to our partying days in high school and college.  It was fun and I recognized many of the songs!  There were songs such has “What is Love? and “Another Night”.  There was one by Whitney Houston that I had never heard and LOVED it -My Love Is Your Love.  Am I the only one that has never heard it before?

I finished July with 103.54 miles.  July has 31 days and I ran 25 of those days.  Overall I have been feeling good.  I felt some discomfort in my left calf and the bottom of my left foot as well.  I remembered that’s what I had experienced before I had plantar fasciitis.  At that time I did not know any better and I ignored it.  Big mistake.  I foam rolled and it felt much better the next day.  I’ve also been using my massage gun which has been helping a lot too.

I am excited about August.  Excited to see what my coach has for me to do this month.  Also, I am working on a few things for school but don’t want to do too much until I know my schedule, list of students, and District’s expectations.  I belong to a Facebook Group and have gotten great ideas for my virtual classroom.  Here is what I have so far.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Another week of running 6 days for a total of 23.11 miles.  But did it really happen since Garmin has been down since Thursday? 😜🤣

Thanks to Facebook Memories, I was reminded of some fun things that happened a few years ago such as my trip to Alaska and running my 100th race (RnR Chicago Half Marathon).  It is fun to see these memories.  I like remembering my fun trips and thinking about when things were “normal”. 

RnR Chicago Half Marathon was supposed to be last weekend.  I saw someone post this announcement and I don’t understand why RnR even is offering these options?  I mean do they seriously think that these races will take place?  Or will they?

I know I am late to the party here but now I am taking full advantage of my Peloton membership.  I was mainly using it for cycling classes (and even that was just a few classes).  Yes, I know a few bloggers have written about all of the different classes they’ve taken and I would tell myself to do it as well.  It wasn’t until I started the Pelothon 2020 Challenge that I had a chance to explore it more.  Better late than never, right?

This past week I took 12 classes.  It might not be much but it is for this girl.  I am enjoying the mediation, stretching, and running classes.  Yes, running!  I do it mostly for the music and sometimes all of the talking still annoys me, but not enough to stop me from taking the classes.  This week as part of the challenge I took 2 live classes which is something that I never did.  

Even Mateo took the stretching class with me.

With Garmin being down I cannot show you my new running routes.  A few weeks ago I mentioned that most of my runs are done by my house.  They’re mostly the same routes which is fine by me.  Last Sunday I decided to run the streets by the house.  I started by going right, then left to the next block and ran there till the major street.  Once there I turned left and then went left again in the following block.  Kind of hard to explain but see image below.  I like that route.  I am never too far from my house since there is another street in the middle and if for any reason I need to get home sooner, then I can go down that street.

Yesterday I ran the Quad-City Times Virtual Bix 7 with a few bloggers.  It was fun deciding on the date to do said race, starting time, and coordinating our outfits.  I did this as part of my long run and had no expectations regarding pace.  All I knew was that I was running along the lake and was planning to start early.  It wasn’t too warm in the beginning but then it did get hot later in the run.

We are entering the last week of July.  My goal was to run at least 100 miles.  Right now I am at 87.41 miles so I need 12.59 between tomorrow and Friday.  I think it is doable and I am excited about it!

I am borrowing an idea from Kim.  She ends her post with some funny memes.  I am doing the same today but they’re all about the Garmin outage.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Another week of running 6 days for a total of 25.69 miles.  During the week it wasn’t too hot (but it was humid) but it did warm up on Friday and Saturday.  We were warned.

I’ve run 125.3 miles for the California Coast 500.  I need an additional 124.7 by September 7.  At this rate I am estimating that I will be done at the end of August.

Tuesday was 3 miles at easy pace.  That means running in zones 1 or 2.

On Thursday my workout was 2 sets of 3:15 with 1:20 recovery.  I did not want to get up but knew I had to because then it would be too hot out there.  I did pretty good and I was proud of myself. 

Friday morning I ran 3 miles again.  I didn’t think I was going that “fast” but it was humid and well you know what happened.  Still I did pretty well.

Saturday morning I ran 8.15 miles.  I woke up at 4am and was undecided on whether I should go to the lake or run by my house.  I decided to go to the lake.  I noticed right away that I wasn’t as tired as I usually am in the morning.  On Friday I told my coach that I was not going to stress out about pace or training zones.  I ran and walked whenever I got the high heart rate alert.  It worked out just fine.  At this point, because it is summer, that is about all I can do.

I was a little annoyed that there were a bunch of teenagers (no masks) hanging out (it was 6am so they must have been out there from the night before).  Oh and I saw a slow moving car with the passenger door open and someone’s head sticking out.  I think you know what she was doing.  I was grossed out.  This was in a different area that I never run by and don’t think I will again.  Oh, and I was disgusted by all of the garbage that people left too.

I finished Week 1 of Pelothon 2020 of team #LegendsofFun.  I took 6 classes.  When I first signed up for this challenge I thought it would be all cycling classes.  Boy was I wrong!  I am glad for this challenge because I am being exposed to other instructors and different classes.  I actually enjoyed the meditation class.  🙂  I know I said I would never take another running class , but I took one today and it was actually fun!  I enjoyed the music and the 20 minutes went by fast.

Overall it was a good week.  I am enjoying my time off, but still need to finish decluttering.  I am reading “The Hummingbird’s Daughter” and need to finish it by next Sunday to discuss it with friends on a Zoom book club meeting.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Ran 5 days for a total of 24 miles.  When my coach told me last week that I was going to run that many miles this week, I almost did not believe him.  I knew it was going to be another hot week.  Luckily it cooled down beginning on Friday but this coming week it is supposed to get hot again.

This week I started training based on my HR zones.  Or is it just based on HR?  I admit that I rarely paid attention to my heart rate and just ran by feel.  I thought my easy pace was easy but based on my heart rate, it isn’t.  Looks like I was running my easy runs too fast.  

These are the numbers I plugged in my watch Tuesday night.  

Oh my!  Talk about patience.  I knew the heat and humidity would be a factor but my heart rate was high.  I set up an alert and it was constantly going off which annoyed me.  I understand the reason why that happened but it is something I am not used to.

I ran 5 miles on Tuesday and it was rough.  Hot and humid too.  My average HR was 142 and the highest was 186.  I must have been dehydrated too because I had a headache halfway through my run and I did not feel well the rest of the day.  When I got home I drank about 6 cups of water (and Nuun) and I did not go to the bathroom till later in the afternoon.

This is from Wednesday’s run (4 miles with 3×30 second surges and 1 minute recovery).  Actually did good.  What a difference from Tuesday once I paid attention to the HR.

I ran 7 miles on Saturday and 5 on Sunday.  I thought I was patient person but these two runs drove me crazy.  Overall pace was much slower because I had to walk a lot to bring down my heart rate.  I know I shouldn’t care about my pace but part of me does.

I like my routine of running by my house during the week and doing my long run on Saturday on the lakefront.  

This kept happening on Sunday.  I finished this run in 1:11:26 which is an average pace of 14:16.  That is about 2 minutes slower than my run on Tuesday (also 5 miles).  I know, patience.  

On Friday I cleaned up the office/cats’ room.  I also cleaned out my metal file cabinet where I still had paystubs, bank statements, and credit card statements from 6 years ago.  Those will be recycled.  Now I need to clean out my bedroom, the living room, kitchen, and the hall closet.  So much stuff in this apartment!

Finished reading this book.  So good.  I am not happy with the ending and I have so many questions.  Have you read this book?  I know Wendy has.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.