Zenaida Arroyo

Another great week of running. Still keeping up with the run streak. Today is day #51.

I had some great workouts again this week. There were a few days of easy runs and a few days of faster workouts. Fun!

Tuesday’s workout was 1 mile easy warmup with 6 sets of short intervals (1 minute @ 9:45 pace and 1 minute easy), then 1 mile easy cool down.

Friday morning I was so tired in the morning. I woke up at 5am to use the bathroom and to feed my cats and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 7 but got out of bed at 7:20. There was no time to do my workout (1/2 mile easy @ ~ 12:45 pace, 1 mile mid-effort @ ~ 11:00 pace, 1/2 mile easy @ ~ 12:45 pace, 1 mile mid-effort @ ~ 11:00 pace, and 1 mile cool down @ ~ 12:45 pace) so I decided to do it after work or in the evening. I almost skipped it. Glad I didn’t. I was actually shocked at how I did.

Based on Friday’s late workout I wasn’t sure how I was going to do on Saturday’s run. The workout was first 4 miles @ 12:30-12:45/mile and last mile @ HMP 11:15-11:30/mile. I decided to run by feel the last mile. I guess I still had energy.

I did a few fun Peloton runs. I did my first run with Robin. I had no idea she was Cuban! My favorite running instructor is Matty but now am going to add more of Robin’s runs to my list. 30 minutes is not enough for Hamilton nor Celia Cruz but I did enjoy them. J Balvin was OK.

In non running news, there was a School Board Meeting on Wednesday and a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday. The latter was very intense and I actually felt kind of bad for the Superintendent. Parents were angry and not happy with the responses. The meeting was shown live on the District’s website. It was also recorded so others could watch it/listen to it later. However, it was then taken down from the Website. Teachers are now expected to return to the classroom on November 9th instead of October 19. I don’t remember what was said about the students. Honestly, I will be very surprised if we (teachers and students) end up returning this year at all.

I finished unpacking all of my boxes. I still have to add some final touches like borders, posters, etc., but everything is put away. It definitely looks much better. The video is from the first day I went to set it up. I was overwhelmed and did not know where to start. I did play on repeat one of my favorite songs.

I started reading this book. It is good but I skipped parts of it because I got bored. Now I am at the part where she is speaking at the Senate Confirmation Hearing.

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

How is it that it is Sunday again?  The days go by fast for me.  This is week #2 of training for a 5k.  I ran a total of 22.55 miles.  My runs were similar to last week and they went very well.

Monday and Tuesday were again easy runs.  Honestly I do not remember too much about them.   What I do remember are my runs on Thursday and Saturday. 

Thursday’s run was 5 miles.  There were also 3 1/2 mile tempo repeats.  Targeted  pace was 11:10.  I ran each repeat without stopping.  I am not “fast” at all so seeing those numbers made my day.

Saturday’s run was 5 miles with the last mile being the fastest. Last week was 4 miles with the last one being the fastest one. The last mile was 3 seconds slower than last week but I ran 1 mile longer and the 4 miles were at a faster pace too (and negative splits). I am very pleased with this workout as well.

The weather has been great for running. I wore tights for my runs but on Saturday and Sunday wore shorts. I love the colors of the leaves. Very beautiful!

In non running related news, I bought a new car.  I’ve had my car since 2006 and I love it.  I never wanted to get rid of it.  A few months ago it began to fail.  It began to turn off and then quickly turn back on again.  I didn’t think anything of it because I was rarely using it anyway.  Then about 2 weeks ago it began to happen again.  Also, this time it would take a few times turning the key before it would turn on.  Again, I didn’t think anything of it.  Last Saturday I used it to go to the laundromat and then left it in front of the house.  Then Sunday evening it would not turn on.  I tried a few times before calling my cousin’s husband (he is a mechanic) to check it.  Long story short, still did not turn on and I had to decide whether to fix it or get a new one.  All last week I thought about about it and decided to get a new one.  Why not?  I work hard and deserve it.  

Here is my new car.  It is a Honda CRV.  I love the new car smell.  There are so many features and it is intimidating.  Ha, just turning it on is very new to me.  I will miss my cassette and CD player. Oh and I am having a little bit of trouble with parallel parking. I don’t understand why since I am very good at parallel parking.

With no car I did not go to school at all. It was actually nice to stay home. I do know that teachers are still required to show up at school on the 19th. No kids yet; there is a Board Meeting on the 14th where a decision will be made. I am planning to go this week and hopefully be done with it. What I really want to finish is to put everything away in the lockers. I don’t care too much about the other things but it drives me crazy to have an unorganized room.

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

With no races for the rest of the year, my coach approached me with the idea of preparing to run a fast 10k.  Yes, but I suggested that instead we go with a 5k.  I like my runs and I’ve been working with my coach for 4 months and I need something fun and exciting to train for.  I doubt there will be real races when I finish my training so I plan to race this on my own.

Last week I mentioned how I made time for myself.  I stopped working after 3pm and went to the balcony to ready a book while drinking some wine.  It was great.  This week was a bit different because I went to my classroom to unpack and set it up.  It was exhausting.  I arrived Monday morning and was so overwhelmed with so many boxes and I had no idea where to start. 

At the time the information I knew was that the District would revisit the current remote learning plan at the end of Quarter 1 (October 30).  There would be a possibility that teachers and students would return to the classroom after October 30th.  However, that week I found out that teachers would return to the classroom on October 13th.  Then they added that students would return to the classroom on November 4th.  Nothing is official yet since we have not received an email from the District.  I have 27 students.  My classroom has 20 desks but only 10 of them would be used.  I am not sure whether I want to go back to teach or take time off.

Before I talk about my training let me show you some pictures of my room.

The first thing I did was set up my desk and then unpacked the boxes. I threw away a lot of stuff and also organized it in the lockers, bookcases, and cabinet. I am planning to go again this week and hopefully will be done.

Monday and Tuesday were an easy 3 miles. There was an incident at school on Monday and I was still upset and angry on Tuesday morning. My heart rate was high that not even walking brought it down. Then I started thinking about quitting or taking FMLA and it went down. So weird and understandable. Let me tell you what happened. One of the administrators told me that a parent had called to complain about me. Apparently I yell all day to the students. This parent also said that her daughter is afraid to log in and ask me questions because she is afraid of me. I was FUMING. I was so angry that I cried. And then I was angry for letting it get to me. We just finished week #5 of remote learning and not one thank you from parents.

I finished September with 86.06 miles. So close to 100 miles.

Thursday morning I was so tired and did not want to get up. I had a workout that I was excited to do but no energy. I finally got up to run because I did not want to break my run streak (day 34) and also because it was a new month and I had new shoes to wear. I bought them last year and am finally wearing them now.

I felt so much better on Friday and did Thursday’s workout. I ran 5 miles with a few 1/4 mile tempo repeats. The required pace for each repeat was 11:10/mile. I was actually surprised when I saw my splits.

On Saturday I had to run 4 miles with the last mile being at HMP (11:30-11:45). I guess I had more energy than I thought.

Overall I am pleased with this week. I ran again 7 days and have been feeling good. Well, except for Thursday when I was very tired. I have not given it more thought to Monday’s incident but have spoken to a few parents whose child has been a bit “difficult”. I have a few students that have done zero work and others that like to goof off and distract and think it is fun to do so. Umm, absolutely NOT.

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