Week in Review (January 14 - January 20)

Tuesday (12,927 steps) - Peloton and dog walk before going into the office. Went to the gym at lunch. Did another HIIT program on the StairMaster, one level up from last week. It's definitely a good workout, even with the slower climbing. 

Also did some upper body. Took Olive for  walk when I got home before going out and doing a few deliveries. 

Wednesday (22,870 steps) - Walked Olive before going into the office for work. Had another workout/tempo run at lunch, which obviously I was dreading. It was actually relatively nice weather (for January), and I ran most everything outside of the warmup in a tee shirt and thin tights! I didn't quite hit my goal pace of 9:55, but I did get under 10:30 for the 19 minutes (I know it shouldn't be that hard to sustain, and yet...) - even with a few minutes of walking. When I was actually running, I was in 9:40-9:55 pace range, I just struggled to hang on for the whole time. Meh.

Thursday (14,022 steps) - Work from home. Did some time on the Peloton before taking Olive for a long walk since the weather was INCREDIBLE. I wore only a sweatshirt and was fine, almost hot. After lunch I actually pulled out my step and barbell and weights and did a BodyPump video. Holy cow, I haven't done one of these in ages and I was sweating to death while doing this. I did forget how much it hurts to have the bar on the back of my neck though, I might need to invest in some foam (or a pool noodle) to fix this. Did some packing for our weekend trip, but didn't finish. We did our usual Torchy's Thursday, then I took Olive for a walk. We are now watching the Dexter prequel, which is decent. 

Friday (13,521 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang. Another boring day for Olive at work.

Also heard back and I'm back on the Roost team for another year. If I hadn't taken a few years off during Covid I think this would be my 10th year, so this is probably year 8! Go Roost!

Thankfully, I got home from work before any weather came in. Dropped Olive off and did a few deliveries before meeting Ben at 4 Noses for an NA. Ben picked up pizza and I finished packing/cleaning. Dexter.

Saturday (10,876 steps) - I had my alarm set for 7:45, so of course I woke up at 6. Double checked all my gear, poked around, ate breakfast and had coffee. Got Olive all dressed up in her puffy coat and boots for a walk. She doesn't mind the coat but HATES the shoes (still).

She made it about 2 minutes before she started chewing on her front boots. It was incredibly cold and I got tired of it, so I took off the front boots. She doesn't seem to mind the back ones as much. She loves the snow and had a fun time burrowing, like usual. 

After a few minutes I noticed she was chewing on her front paws so we headed back home. We left the house at 9:30 with a quick stop at Dutch Bros. before going to pick up Ariel in Golden - it was snowing pretty decently, so I was glad Ben was driving us.

We were really surprised to be boarding on time, but then we sat on the plane for nearly two hours while they fixed some valve. It was truly bizarre, they actually were letting people off the plane, so when it all got fixed we had to wait for everyone to get back on, which took forever. BUT, we made it out!

We had to wait for Lisa to get out of church, but it wasn't bad and it was warm enough for me to pace outside and get all my steps in for the day. Juju was with her, and we went back to Lisa's house in Elgin for dinner. Lisa and I watched a movie "I See You" that I swear I had already seen, but couldn't remember how it ended. Was midnight before I got to sleep. VERY long day.

Random pic of Lisa's dog, because he is adorable

Sunday (10,226 steps) - I had set an alarm so I could go for a short run before we drove down to San Antonio. It was much colder than I expected it to be, so I wore my joggers and a hoodie (which I never do). Especially for Texas, feels like 10 and windy was COLD. I ran up and down her neighborhood, including a new section that hadn't yet been completed last year.

Juju made breakfast tacos, we had coffee, and got out the door by 9:15. The drive to San Antonio was 1:45, but we stopped at Buccee's along the way to get some drinks and a snack. Our first stop was Ariel's grannie's house - I haven't seen her in many years. We spent a few hours talking and then headed to Ben's parents house. We got there just in time to join them for brunch.

Bill, Ben's stepdad, is President of the Board of their building, and he gave us all a very thorough tour of the building. Lisa and Juju stayed long enough to get the tour of the building and their unit before they had to head back home. 

Ariel me, Ben's mom

Bill showed us a slideshow of their Vermont property (they sold their 80+ acres in 2020, and unfortunately we never got to see it in person) and the grounds of Shelburne Farms where he was a tour guide for years. Very neat to see the photos and hear stories. We continued the tour and watched the sunset from the 22nd floor (the room where they do social hours and get togethers - I swear they are more active socially than me and Ben).

They don't have dinner in the building on Sunday evenings, so we decided to go out. The first two places they wanted to go were closed, so we went to the 410 Diner. It was delicious! I got a BLT with egg and a side of mac and cheese.

It was after 9 before we got back to their building, but that just meant it was time for dessert! We had ice cream and talked until 10!!

Monday (10,221 steps) - I actually slept pretty well and got up just after 7 to do a quick run. It felt even colder! The temperature was supposedly only "feels like 14" - but it felt more humid. Bill had shown me a good neighborhood to run in behind their building. It WAS a very quiet neighborhood, I didn't see a single vehicle on the roads the whole time I was out. It was a little hillier than I expected, but I'm glad I went out - plus, I saw the yard of the month!

Quick run to the room to change clothes before meeting Ben's parents for breakfast - I had french toast and strawberries.

His parents are incredibly popular and friendly and seemingly knew everyone! Many people came up to introduce themselves and they had all obviously heard stories about both of us, inquiring about Ariel's school and my running. We were just about to head to the airport when I got a notification our flight was delayed an hour. We opted to grab our bags and have a quick lunch before going to the airport. I had a club wrap and carrot cake!

Bill drove us to the airport and I got a selfie of me and Ben's mom in the back of their fancy electric Mercedes.

We left for the airport with an hour until our flight was supposed to leave, but with a 15 minute drive and only a dozen people ahead of us in line at security, we still made it to the gate just as they were starting pre-boarding. I watched a few more episodes of Squid Games 2 on the flight. We actually didn't even land that late and Ben picked us up. We stopped for dinner at Table Mountain Inn for dinner on the way to take Ariel back to school. 

I had thought about taking Olive for a walk, but it was really too cold for it. Unpacked and watched an episode of Dexter before I called it at 9 to go to bed early. 

Stats:

• 94,663 steps
• 8.52 miles run (and that's only because I voluntarily ran in TX, didn't have anything on schedule)
• 15.39 miles walked
• 60 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength

Week in Review (January 7 - January 13)

Tuesday (10,167 steps) - With Olive's paw still hurting, no walk before walk. I did do a row session (and starting Squid Games 2) before going into the office. Went to the gym at lunch. Did a HIIT on the StairMaster, which was kinda fun. Also strength training. 

Still no walk with Olive after work because she is still limping a bit.

Wednesday (23,925 steps) - Work in the office. Did my run at lunch. Speed work, but not as horrible as what I've done recently. I would 100% rather do sprints vs. long and sustained paces. Like Ben says though, that is my weakness, so I guess I have to work on that. 

I still think something is wonky with the paces though

Olive was feeling better, so I took her for a walk after work.

Thursday (10,737 steps) - A half hour on the Peloton before logging in to work at home. Took Ariel for coffee, took Olive for a walk, rowing and some strength training. Busy day! Olive had a fun time doing "workouts" with me.

Friday (12,919 steps) - The group decided it was too cold to go to Wash Park, so I just took Olive to work again. It was a very busy day, as is evidenced by my messy desk.

Started a new series "The Day of the Jackal."

Saturday (35,463 steps) - Headed to Boulder to meet up with Terri and Larry for a day of adventuring! I had 3.5 hours on schedule, and I had created a somewhat beefy route. It was sunny, but windy out. 

I wasn't feeling spectacular, yet again. I wonder if I will ever feel rested and "in shape" again.

Once we passed the spur for Fern, I made the executive decision to do the Shanahan loop FIRST - it always sucks and leaving it until the end seemed like we would end up bailing. I like this picture of Larry:

This felt hard, hard, hard. We opted to cut out some of the miles we had planned since it was already taking longer than we planned. We headed towards Shadow Canyon, which unknowingly added back in the miles we had taken out earlier AND added more vertical gain. Oops.

We are all VERY happy to have this done. It was a long, tough day. Good company, though. We went to 4 Noses afterwards. I had an Athletic Brewing Hazy IPA and a Topo - plus the BBQ food truck was there again, which we like. Went home to walk Olive. I suggested to Ben that we go sit in the sauna at the rec center because I still couldn't warm up from being so cold all morning. We had a soft goal of a half hour. I am pretty sure I have never sat in a sauna for that long and I thought I was going to die and/or pass out.

Home to shower and Ben made dinner. Yum!

More Jackal.

Sunday (17,752 steps) - Took Olive for her first long walk in ages. She had a great time!

We still had a run to do, and neither of us was looking forward to it. I thought I was overdressed in a fleece-lined long sleeve and vest. By the time we started the run it was breezy and cloudy and I was NOT overdressed. I slogged up the first hill (but ran the whole thing). This actually was not anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be, so that's good. Slow, but ran all the hills.

Stopped at 4 Noses. More NA beer for me and the Ninja Ramen food truck was there and I got a very delicious "power bowl." 

We were basically done for the day. More Jackal. We had a late dinner since we were still full from lunch.

Monday (14,587 steps) - Work from home. I had to go for my run early, but thankfully it was only 45 minutes, and it wasn't terrible. 

Immediately took Olive for a walk after. Worked until I had to go to the dentist. Did some deliveries after work. Ben made dinner while I took Olive for a walk. Jackal.

Stats:

• 125,550 steps
• 26.99 miles run
• 13.69 miles walked
• 75 minutes of cardio
• 47 minutes of strength

Week in Review (June 7 - June 13)

Tuesday - Peloton stack to start the day:

Work in the office. Went for a walk at lunch. After work I headed to my second job. Home in time to eat and go to bed...

Wednesday - Out the door early for what was supposed to be an easy 4 mile run. It FELT easy, but my heart rate was pretty high. Ugh - I don't know why that is. Either way, I was able to do the ENTIRE run without a walk break, and only a brief stop at a light. Woo!!

30 minute Peloton ride before heading to work. Another walk at lunch, and then back to job number two... 

Thursday - Short(ish) tempo run before work. The only reason I got up as early as I did was because I had to take A to practice. After how well running has been going for me lately, I told Greg I was ready to incorporate some speed work back in. The last time I tried to do this tempo run I majorly blew up and I swore of speed work again. Anyway, it was HARD, but manageable, especially since I did end up walking part of the recovery.

W/U, 5 easy, 10 tempo, 5 easy, 10 tempo, C/D

I'm fully aware that this isn't fast, by any stretch of the imagination, but just being able to run 10 minutes straight at a faster clip is a huge win for me. With the way I have the rest of the year laid out, I hope to get those tempo paces into the 9's! 

Work from home, took Pika for a walk at lunch. After work, on to the second job. It was a pretty busy night, and time flew by!

Friday - Wash Park and coffee with the gang. Work in the office. After work I headed home for a quick dinner of Qdoba - then it was back downtown for the NKOTB concert!!! Hard to believe it's been three years since we last saw them. Once again, parked at my office (just about a mile away) because I'm too cheap to spend $30 on parking. I was really pleased with the seats I picked, and we had a GREAT time.

Left - 2009 and now - same shirt!

I've said it before - I absolutely LOVE how they format the mixtape shows. It was three hours of nonstop music. NKOTB still puts on an awesome show. Salt n' Pepa and En Vogue were good, and Rick Astley was a treat! We didn't get out of there until 11 pm, and then still had to walk back to the car. A still needed some night driving, so I had her drive home - she wasn't overly impressed with downtown on a Friday night.

Saturday - I didn't have a ton of miles on schedule, and since it was a free day with Runner's Edge, I decided to get up (on just a few hours of sleep) and head downtown (again) to REI for the run. Now that Alex has taken over, he was able to secure REI as a sponsor!!

It had seemed like the route was mostly going to be flat, but there was definitely a climb heading out to Sloan's Lake. I ended up doing most of the run by myself, as I was seemingly between other people's paces. I did run with Kristin and Lisa for a bit towards the time I was getting ready to turn around. We would find out later that someone stole the entire aid station we were all expecting around 4 miles in. I ended up having to go over an hour without water, which isn't my favorite thing, especially when it's hot outside. At least the last mile or so was a nice downhill. Got my 8 miles in and felt great! 

At 9 REI opened up one of the upstairs event rooms for us. They provided Nuun, coffee and Santiago's breakfast burritos! I didn't win the raffle (sniff sniff), but spent some time chatting with Alison, Sheila, Kevin and Susan - people I don't get to see much anymore. Headed home for a quick shower before A and I headed out to see the new Jurassic World movie. It had a bit of a slow start, but we enjoyed it. Turned our phones on to an alert that our AC wasn't cooling the house and it was 86 in there! Rushed h home to find out we had left windows open (oops). Took A to work and I took Pika with me to the Roost team party in Golden.

Had some food and chatted (mostly with Jandy, Christine and Maureen). There wasn't a big turnout, but it was a lot of fun. Once everything started to wind down, Maureen, Jandy and I walked Colfax and Pika to the creek to cool down. We hit 100 degrees today - and Pika really appreciated getting her belly wet.

It was after 8 before I got home. Ugh.

Sunday - Even though I really only had a 4 mile easy run on schedule, I agreed to get up early and go meet friends at Waterton Canyon. I haven't been running with people much at all, so I was pretty apprehensive about this - even though things have been going better for me lately. About a half mile in we saw a hot air balloon - REALLY close to us!!

I was running with Jandy, Lisa and Maureen, and we had decided on 6 easy (and slow) miles. It wasn't as slow as I probably would have gone. For the most part, I held my own, but it was not as "easy" as I would have hoped. Didn't see any sheep, but we did see a half dozen deer, which was fun.

Me,  Nikki, Maureen, Jandy, Lisa & Christine

Mo's emergency jell-o shots "just in case"

We stayed in the parking lot for a bit chatting - I've missed seeing people!! Got home in time to take A to work. Did some laundry and had lunch. Met up with Ben at Westminster Brewing before going to pick up A from work.

We got pizza for dinner and watched some of the older Jurassic World movies. Where did the weekend go?

Monday - FINALLY, after more than a week, I didn't have to get out of bed crazy early, although I of course was still up before 7. Work from home. Took Pika for her walk earlier than normal since it was supposed to be close to 100 degrees again.

Right after the walk I got on the Peloton for a 30 minute ride. Finished job one and headed to job two. This ended up being a busy and fun shift and I got off work about 45 minutes earlier than I usually do, so that was nice. I actually had time to relax a bit after dinner. As much as I thought I would hate having this job, it's actually not bad, and I'm enjoying the extra money.

Stats:

• 21.82 miles run
• 80 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength training