Week in Review (March 20 - March 26)

Tuesday (12,210 steps) - Sloan's Lake Tap & Burger run club! It was windy, AGAIN, so I opted to just do one loop with Dulce. Quick pasta/salad dinner, trip to the grocery store & home.

Ah, I look old and tired, lol

Wednesday (20,783 steps) - Roost Boulder run club!

Another new route, which meant a couple miles on the road to get to the trail. Jumped on the Shanahan Trail (and interestingly, ran into someone we knew - hi Dave S!). This trail isn't super technical, but it was a decent amount of climbing. Onto Mesa, and then down the slushy mess of Bear. Another great 7 miles!

Thursday (19,053 steps) - Barre with Sienna. Meh. Felt tired throughout this whole class, tough to take one after a hard & hilly run. Belmar/Lakewood Roost run club after work. Started my run a little early so I could get more miles in, so I missed the group picture.

But A is there!

There was a presentation at the library after to talk about the trails in Jeffco.
Friday (12,500 steps) - Barre with Karen (who was subbing for Sasha, wah). Grocery shopping and #pizzaFriday.
Saturday (30,727 steps) - Runners Edge! Long run (as usual), but thankfully, I only had 14 on schedule. Compared to last week's, this felt pretty hard, even though it was a much flatter route.

After we picked up our aid station we headed to Red Robin to have lunch with Jackie! Always great to see her! Our lunch was brief, "only" 4 hours. Lots of Lifetime movies.
Sunday (29,951 steps) - Kristin picked me up at 8 for the "fun" of the day, hill repeats on the fire road at Green Mountain. Barf. I haven't been at Green Mountain in ages, and I'd certainly not done the fire road before. About 700' of climbing in a mile, and we (Kristin & Ringo, Alison, Alexis & Penny) did three repeats. Susan and Mark joined us for the first and last repeat, but were smart enough to just run around the peak instead of the second one.

Headed home to get A, then picked up Lisa & Lucky for a hike at North Table. We did the same route we normally run with the New Terrain group - but there were BILLIONS of bikes out and it took a long time.

Then we had beer and a delicious burrito from the food truck. Walking Dead, in bed by 9:30. Blah, shortest weekend ever.
Monday (7,581 steps) - Nothing. Literally nothing.

Stats:

• 132,805 steps
• 37.2 miles run
• 2 barre classes, a hike

Week in Review (June 24 - June 30)

Tuesday - Normally I do my speed work on Tuesdays, but I had the opportunity to run in the morning, so I headed out for a run. Only manged to get 4.8 miles done, but still so much better than being on the treadmill. After dinner, went on a bike ride with A, and then did some stretching. Been SO tight and sore lately. I need to do this more often.

Wednesday - 10 minutes on the stairmill before class. ALMOST DIED. How how HOW can stairs be SO hard. I thought I was having a heart attack. Then, BodyPump. I'm still the weakest ever. More stretching once I got home.

Chickie in the sports bra set up like a FOOT away from me in class. WHY.

Thursday - Decided to do the speed work I did not do on Tuesday. I had 2x1200's on schedule, along with 4x800s. I did not have it in me to do the 1200s, so I decided to give it my best effort with 800s, doing 6 sets. Goal pace on the 800s is 9:05 (so roughly a 4:33 800). My lower right back had a weird "ache" to id and it was actually sort of painful to run, especially through my warm up. Actual - 1 mile at 10:53, 4:36, 4:32, 4:28, 4:25, 4:23, 4:17 and cool down 1.25 in 13:17. Pleased with this workout. (A bit disappointed that my 800's used to be sub 4:00, but I'm working on it). MORE stretching, and lucky for ME, Fitness Blender had recently done a video specifically for loosening the back, just what I needed.
Friday - Company BBQ. I was dreading this initially, but it turned out to be a LOT of fun.
Saturday - Up early (unfortunately a bit hungover), for another run on the Apex Trail. I was not feeling great, so I cut it a bit short, running only a little over 9 miles.

Unrelated - my cat of 16 years has been sick for the last year with hyperthyroid issues and he has gotten much worse. After not eating for days, I had to have him put down. The treatments weren't working. It was the WORST. He was still "fine" personality-wise, still mobile, yet he wasn't. SUPER depressing.

Literally, the last picture of Chilly, taken just a few minutes before they took him back :(

A and I spent the afternoon at the pool with a friend, then we had to do last minute packing for her visit to Texas. Womp.

Sunday - A had a very early flight, and after I dropped her off at the airport, I decided to go hiking. Initially, I wanted to climb Mt. Bierstadt, but I had some pretty terrible directions, and by the time I got to Guarnella Pass Summit, it was already about 11:00. I found a spot on the road to park and when I saw there was "a trail," I decided that whatever was there would be fine. I planned on running (lolololololol) and hiking the steep inclines. Now, the lower part of the trail was pretty muddy and wet. Apparently, there is still a substantial amount of snow at this elevation.

Yes, this "creek" is the "trail"

I had to do some "snow crossings" - which got my feet a bit wet. VERY little, if any, running was taking place. I finally got to a sign that gave me two choices of where to go. I picked what looked "flatter," but ended up turning around as there was a TON of snow and I didn't feel comfortable navigating the side of a mountain, it "easy" trail shoes and slipping and sliding on the rocks. Did I mention that I saw NO ONE out there? So, I headed back to the fork in the road. I looked at my other option. I saw NO actual trail. I did, however, see a guy in no shirt waaaaay up at the top. Well, I will go that way. HOLY CRAP I ALMOST DIED. (I'm just being dramatic. Sort of.). I have not "climbed or hiked" in a very long time, probably since I did Inca Trail and the Leadville marathon. Did you know that there is NO air when you are in the 13k range? I was taking like 15 steps, stopping, hyperventilating, repeat. I actually had a mild panic attack when I realized I could not see a single person, and I was on no idea WHAT mountain with no clue if/where there might be a summit. I took about 20 steps back down the mountain before I convinced myself I would be very upset if I didn't TRY to get to the summit.

This is the "trail" / "hill" that almost killed me. SO STEEP.

Once I got my breathing under control I headed back up. And up. And up. I saw one cairn on the trail. Tons of rocks, wildflowers and MORE SNOW. I thought I got to the top... NOPE, false summit. This happened twice. And then... I WAS THERE. I saw a huge cairn at the top. I MADE IT! (Didn't know WHERE I had made it (at the time), but it was somewhere, and it was high up and it was gorgeous).

Thanks to Garmin data, I know this is the summit of Square Top Mountain - the 111th tallest peak in Colorado

I had to be extra careful on the way back down because of the loose rocks and the steepness, so again, NO RUNNING. The snow on the way back was slippery (I know, I know) and I pretty much skied down. HUGE sigh of relief when I saw people again. So. That was fun.

According to Garmin data, my moving time and elapsed time were different by over an hour. Did you know, at one point I was moving so slow the Garmin couldn't recognize my pace? hahahaha! On the drive home I got stuck in mountain traffic, so I stopped in Idaho Springs at the Tommyknocker Brewery and had a chili beer. Yum.
Monday - I had gotten the Worst Sunburn Ever during my hike. Yes, I had put on sunscreen, but apparently, when you are ON THE SUN, you need to apply more than once. I debated on not going to Chaos, but since L was going, I also went. It was hard, as usual, but I'm glad I went.

Weekly Miles Run - 19.27 miles
Minutes of Cross Training - 5+ hours (long hike, bike ride, stair mill, CHAOS)
Minutes of Strength/Stretching - 3 stretching videos, 44 minutes

Weekly Gain - 0.4 pounds (121.0)

• I watched calories pretty well. Not sure why the gain this week, although I did have a little more beer than usual. Not too worried or concerned about this, just going to continue to be conscious of my choices and hope things don't get too out of control.

Everything Else 

• For real, nothing is happening. My goal while A is gone is to stay busy and to get out and do the things I say I always WANT to. So far, so good.

Normal (Week 14)

Tuesday - 2.25 miles in the basement inferno, video trifecta (legs, arms, core), 50 push-ups. Hope and Terry came over to give me.......... for FREE!! They are The Best!

Wednesday - I got off work a whopping 30 minutes early, then went to the gym and did an 8.3 mile "tempo" run.
Thursday - Redline Turkey Day 10k! Afterwards, I took the kids to see Frozen and was pleasantly surprised. It was a pretty cute movie!! Dropped H off at my parents, then headed down to the "misfit" Thanksgiving that was being hosted at a co-worker's. A was playing on my phone and took about a hundred pictures (literally) of us. I like this one, I'm shoving a piece of cheese in my mouth.

Headed over to my parents house after THAT for actual Thanksgiving. Loud and chaotic, but at least this time we had the sense to put all the kids at a separate table in the living room and it made for things being a TAD better. In bed EARLY.
Friday - L had the great idea for my parents to watch the kids for an hour so we could...... RUN OUTSIDE!!! The weather has been really mild and we enjoyed a nice 7.2 miles on Little Dry Creek, which I have only run one time. I struggled a bit the first few miles but the last 4 were great!

Around noon, A and I braved Black Friday. I'm being over dramatic, because it was not bad AT ALL. A got a new pair of Saucony's, I got a few pairs of running socks. I picked up a few work items at Loft, and we didn't overspend. Not a bad day!

Saturday - Ran a GREAT 8.25 miles at the gym. In the afternoon, A and I went to the Nutcracker with my mom. Such a fun time getting all dressed up and NOT be going to work:

Sunday - I had the brilliant idea to run 12.1 on 12-1. I also had the brilliant idea to get up early and get it out of the way, running in the basement inferno. I was on the treadmill a few minutes after 5. This was a hard, hot run. Later in the day I did the video trifecta (legs, arms, core), 66 push-ups and 66 jumping jacks AND 1:47 plank. Huzzah!! I also watched The Walking Dead fall finale. WTF. WTF. WTF. I was pretty traumatized by this episode but don't want to throw out any spoilers for those that may not have watched it yet. WHAT.
Monday - Maybe all those high mileage days caught up with me, I struggled through 4+ on the treadmill at the gym and called it a night. I've decided to start doing daily planks again (like I was doing in 2010 and 2011), this one was 2:51.

Weekly Miles Run - 48.46 (6.2 racing, 7.2 outside, 35.06 treadmill)
Minutes of Strength Training -  113

Gain - 1.0 pounds

• Oh.
• I was telling Heather that this was my second highest mileage week in six months. And yet...
• Of course it WAS Thanksgiving week, and I ate ALL THE THINGS. Co-worker/friend had a birthday on Tuesday and picked Mexican food. Wednesday we had our Thanksgiving lunch, and then of course the for REAL Thanksgiving on Thursday.

•  Clearly, the weight gain is A MYSTERY.

Everything Else

• Once again, ZERO dating gossip. Although, I got a strange series of text messages from the ex-husband on Thanksgiving suggesting a "hook up." Is this what it has come down to??? Womp.
• Work has been very slow lately, so other than the day dragging by nothing to complain about. There were a few people in yesterday interviewing. The temp had originally only agreed to stay through the end of October. She is still here. 
• Update on A's vision test... the school clearly didn't know WTF they were doing. She went to the eye doctor and has 20/20. So, false alarm on the glasses. But still, school REQUIRES follow-up, which cost me $50. Grrr.
• And of course, the best news of all!!!

I have OF COURSE accepted. I know a billion other people that have gotten in this year, and am looking forward to (hopefully) a big blogger meet up! I'm assuming hotels will sell out ASAP, so if anyone needs/wants a roommate (the more the merrier), or can recommend somewhere to stay, I would really appreciate it!!