Training for Grandma's Week 8

This was probably one of my best training weeks! Still not perfect, but pretty good overall. I also started the Amazing Arms 'n Abs April challenge, which helped motivate me to actually do some weight and core work. Yay!

On the schedule...

Mon, 4/2 - Rest from running. I skipped the core work (no surprise there) and missed the first actual day of the arms 'n abs challenge. It was my first day back to school after Spring Break, and I think I was just exhausted and adjusting back to lesson planning after two weeks off.

Tues, 4/3 - Treadmill Hills. I chose an average level of 7, and I could have possibly done a slightly higher level. I played around a little with different speeds, too. It was a great workout, but I really need to find a good local hill to do repeats. Treadmill hills are good for working on the incline, but not so much the decline. I also did some arm work - bicep curls, triceps extensions, hammer curls, triceps kickbacks.

Wed, 4/4 - I was able to get some core work done - planks! Unfortunately, I skipped out on the cross training. :-(

Thu, 4/5 - I did nigh on to 5 miles. I think it's probably closer than DM says because I ran on the ped path, and they aren't actually on the map. I went a bit later than I'd have liked, and it was getting to be dusk. There weren't too many people out on the paths, so I let Sallie have a little more leeway on her lease. She was having such a great time. :)

Fri, 4/6 - I had a friend join me for today's 4-miler. As part of the run, I completed the 5K for the Jelly Bean Virtual Race. We really kicked this run in the you-know-what! Our time for the 5K was 27:38 and overall we did the 4 miles in 36. AWESOME! I really had to push it to keep up with my friend, but it was totally worth it. After our run, I came home and did some banana rolls. They were tough! And awkward.

Sat, 4/7 - I almost missed out on the 21K bike ride for the Jelly Bean, but I finally made it out the door around 6:30pm. I rode to Lake Nokomis, around the lake, and back home. It ended up being about 14.5 miles because of a wrong turn. At one point, I ended up on a pedestrian path. How embarrassing! Thank goodness the swarms of people on the path weren't nasty at all to me for being on the wrong path. Before and after the bike ride, I worked on some push-ups. Every hour, I would drop and do 10. I did manage to do them all on my hands and feet (as opposed to knees), but I wasn't really able to lower myself very far. Still, I figure the effort was there and eventually the strength will be there as well!

Sun, 4/8 - The final event for the Jelly Bean was a half marathon. Since I had 14miles on the schedule, I knew I'd be able to do this no problem. Since it was Easter, I wore some cute bunny ears. It was such a fun run! I did the half in 2:14:15 and finished the 14 miles in 2:22:43. My phone lost GPS signal around 5 miles, so it thinks it took me 2+ hours to go 5 miles for a pace of 29min/mi. LOL.

It was a beautiful day for a run. The sun was shining! It was a bit windy at times, though. Also, there were a couple of really killer hills. One of which I only ran up about halfway before I realized I would probably be going faster if I were walking. So walk I did. :)

Total Mileage
Running: 28 miles
Cycling: 14 miles

And now as a reward for making it through all that: Monday Listicles.

Things I learned from running in bunny ears:

1) After the 1st mile, I didn't even notice them. If I wasn't able to see my shadow, I had to randomly touch my head to make sure they hadn't blown off.

2) Bunny ears make people smile. I got a lot of comments such as: Love the ears! Nice bunny ears! Happy Easter! Great outfit! More than the comments, I got a lot of thumbs up and even more smiles.

3) Bunny ears make ME smile. Getting so much attention really made me smile. And they kind of made me push myself a little more. When crossing the Mendota Bridge, I even forced myself to smile, so all the people driving by would see the bunny ears worn by a smiling runner. Yay!

4) Of all the comments and reactions I got, almost none were from other runners. Were they just too focused on their own running? Did they see me as not as hardcore of a runner because I was wearing bunny ears?

5) I love attention! When I'm out running, I love it when other people acknowledge me with a hello, smile, wave, or nod. I try not to take it personally when people don't do something in acknowledgement. Wearing bunny ears seemed to facilitate this even more.