Weekly Recap: Working on my speed

It’s a holiday weekend and guess what?? It’s already starting to rain again. It rained 4 days straight last week and finally pushed out of here on Wednesday. Here is how my week went..

Monday: 1 mile and leg workout for my fitness class. My friend from Alaska came down for her nephew’s graduation and we had planned to run together. She is super fast so I decided I needed to pick up the pace on my runs this week. I also signed up for my favorite 5k coming up in July. It’s called the Team Run 4 the Kids St. Jude 5k that raises money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It will be my third year to run it and I’ve placed second in my AG two years in a row! I planned a leg workout for my ladies Monday afternoon which included lunges, step ups with weights, squats, sumo squats, box jumps, and running up and down the step for cardio. I decided to hit the track after my class and see how fast I could run a mile. It was raining and HUMID. I almost didn’t get out of the truck, but I did. I struggled through one mile at 9:07. I was hoping to be a little faster. At least I’m smiling, but wow my legs felt so heavy. I knew I had my work cut out for me if I was going to run a decent 5k and keep up with my super fast best friend next week! I went straight from the track to a soccer meeting and my son’s Tball tournament right after. It was a busy afternoon!

Tuesday: I got up early to run three miles with fartleks and of course it was flooding. I waited… and waited for the rain to stop. It wasn’t going to. My treadmill is currently in my husband’s shed so I headed out into the rain for my three miles. It was another really tough run and rained the whole time. I made the best of it by splashing through this puddle. 9:43 was the best I could do on that day in terrible weather. For class we did an upper body workout and then I headed to the ball field to watch my son play two Tball games. His team won the first game and lost the second so we were out of the tournament. They played their little hearts out.  We were there until after 9 o’clock. Cayne and Coach Daddy. The boys and girls with their medals. Great season Lil Wildcats!

Wednesday: My girls had a friend sleep over so I cooked breakfast for everyone then headed to town to run at the baseball field/park. I wanted to see how fast I could run on flat ground since my neighborhood is so hilly. The weather was beautiful too and humidity was down. I ran two miles with an average pace of 9:16! Finally a great run! This run gave me a little confidence back. It felt good to be able to run fast again and not feel like I was struggling! It was 72 degrees and well after 9 when I ran, but I really think the humidity must have been a little lower. 

Thursday: Four mile run and core workout for class. This was my fourth day in a row to run and I admit, I was tired. When I saw that the temps would be in the 50’s, I just had to get out for one last cool weather run! It felt wonderful to be able to wear compression socks too! I taught my last class that afternoon until after summer break. We worked our core doing bicycle crunches, six inches (where you hold your feet up 6 inches off the ground), planks, pelvic tilts, plank crunches (hold plank then bring your knee to opposite elbow), crunches on the stability ball, windshield wipers with the ball, and ball pass (from feet to hands and back.) I have enjoyed teaching my class this school year, but ready for a break. I will be back in August! My little muscle popped out lol. My class mostly focused on cardio and bodyweight strength training. We used dumbbells only a handful of times. I am a big fan of using your own bodyweight to tone your muscles. I started weight lifting when I was 22 years old and it is not my favorite way to workout. I am thankful for this class because I probably would not have done all of this strength training on my own. I would basically just run every day if I could get away with it! 

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Six mile long run. It was hot, humid, and cloudy but I had a great run and felt awesome afterward. I did not feel good all day Friday with a headache and rested most of the day. I ran 6 miles in the heat and felt great! It was so hot, I ditched my shirt. I’m going to have to buy prettier sports bras if I’m going to do that. It sure did feel good to wear a whole lot of nothing in that humidity! 

How was your week? How is the weather where you live? Ever feel worse on a rest day than on a day you get to run or work out? I am linking up with Tricia and Holly for the Weekly Wrap!