500th Post! (MedCity2016: Week 2)

With my on-again, off-again blogging habits over the last few (five?!?) years, it took forever to get here. Still, it's a milestone worth mentioning. My 500th post!!

I don't know if I am nearly exciting, enlightening, or helpful as many of the bloggers I read, but I thank those of you that take the time to check-in!

***
Now for a wrap-up of Med City Training: Week 2.

Monday 2/1: planned and actual - rest day.

Tuesday 2/2: planned - kettle bells. actual - nothing. This was the snow day we had last week. I think I shared that with not having to go into work, I almost went to cycling at noon, but when I went out to clear the driveway saw the conditions of the road and decided I didn't really want to go out driving. I had hoped that the snow would quit by evening, but it didn't matter. The wind had picked up and many businesses, including the Y, closed early for the day. So I hunkered down at home and was disappointed that I missed the workout.

Wednesday 2/3: planned cardio - either elliptical or running. Instead I worked until almost 6, and went to a new member class at church from 7-8.

Thursday 2/4: planned and actual - kettle bells. And it was a good one. We did a ladder, where you do exercise 1, repeat 1 and add 2, repeat 1 and 2 and add 3, repeat 1, 2, 3, and add 4, etc. You keep going back and re-doing the ladder each time adding another exercise. She has now done this two different ways. A few weeks ago, she wrote the workout down on a piece of paper and we worked through on our own. We did each move for a certain number of reps. This time, we did each move for a set time. There are positives and negatives to both. What made this one really interesting was that she didn't have the workout preplanned. She had a bunch of exercises thrown in a bag, and we took turns picking what we were adding next! The worse part about that was having no control when the first four moves targeted the same muscle group ... :)

Friday 2/5: Especially with the rough start to the week, I had hoped to get to cycle box after work. I got busy making copies and finishing a few things up and suddenly it was 4:20 with no time to change and get there on time. Blah.

Saturday 2/6: I was hoping to get my long run done so that I could run short or cross train on Sunday. Right away in the morning, however, Ava and I headed out with her Girl Scout troop to do some door-door sales to kick off cookie season! (She now asks me every day if I have $4 so we can take a new box out of her stash to sell!) Afterwards, I could not get warm. I was chilled! I covered up, and ended up falling asleep on the couch about a half hour after I intended to hit the pavement. I decided to just make it an afternoon of cleaning house and doing some paperwork.

Sunday 2/7: After church I headed out for a planned 9 mile run. It ended up being 8.78 miles. There was one stretch of path that wasn't plowed, so I am not sure if it was short because I had to loop around on the sidewalk instead or if it would have been short anyway. It was the almost the same route as last weekend, which was also short. I continued to do .1 walk/.9 run each mile. Much like last week, I had a couple of miles that were faster than the others, a couple of slower miles, but was mostly consistent. I am still not loving my paces, but I think I just need to find my groove and do a better job of picking up the pace sooner after starting each run portion. I will also build up to not walking every mile. I'd like to only walk every 2-3 miles when there would be a water stop on race day. I also have to take into consideration that the patches of snow and ice are going to slow me down. Overall, the run felt good for being my longest run since October. Sore hips and glutes afterwards, but feeling good during the run. Decent start to long runs.

This hill doesn't look huge, but it didn't feel great. Especially going right into the wind! I made it up and then took an extra walk break. At least I made it up! Win.

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time	Distance	Elev Gain	Elev Loss	Avg Pace	Avg Moving Pace	Best Pace	Calories
1	12:51	12:51	12:45	1.00	7	--	12:51	12:45	8:44	137
2	12:30	25:21	12:23	1.00	19	36	12:29	12:23	9:58	140
3	13:02	38:23	13:00	1.00	--	7	13:02	13:00	10:17	134
4	12:55	51:18	12:54	1.00	5	--	12:55	12:54	9:38	137
5	12:33	1:03:51	12:29	1.00	--	7	12:33	12:29	9:17	144
6	13:42	1:17:33	13:42	1.00	43	20	13:43	13:42	10:58	122
7	12:43	1:30:16	12:40	1.00	--	10	12:43	12:40	10:34	139
8	12:47	1:43:03	12:45	1.00	16	20	12:47	12:45	9:35	138
9	11:05	1:54:08	11:04	0.78	13	--	14:08	14:06	11:02	93
Summary	1:54:08	1:54:08	1:53:42	8.78	102	99	13:00	12:57	8:44	1,184

-----
So,
1 cross training class for 40 minutes
8.78 miles running in 1:54:08

Total Time Training: 2:34:08

I didn't exactly build on week one, but it was one of those weeks. There were things in my control (should've been able to leave work on time at least one of those two nights) and there were things not in my control (hello, old man winter).

Moving on to week 3.