Week 2 of 21

My mantra for this week was fight for it!

Week 1 Re-Cap

Motion:
I had a pretty successful week 1 of running and training. I had to make one slight adjustment on the schedule due to muscle soreness. On Monday I did the scheduled 4 mile run plus strength training. Based on some research my plan was to lift heavy. I did only upper body using heavy dumbbells for 8-10 reps per set. I did 2 exercises per muscle group and by the end of the workout my muscles were fatigued. I woke up Tues. morning pretty sore so I knew I had pushed the strength work. I was scheduled to have a second strength w/o on Wens. but by Thurs. night I needed 3 ibuprofen just so I could sleep without waking up in pain. I think pumping my arms during hill training made it worse also. So one small adjustment on the schedule there. Tuesdays hill work felt somewhat out of control. First issue is it's really hard to find any hills around here, and especially long ones. I decided to try a new hill, not the same one I used in February. It was short but steep. So steep that I had to go down it in a sideways fashion. Going up the hill is where I'm not sure I benefited as I should. The hill was so steep I was on my toes the whole way up struggling not to lean forward (like a hand and foot climb up). Even though I tried driving with my legs, I was lugging up that hill. The whole time I was thinking to myself; this hill is too steep! I'm going to injure myself! Even with these thoughts going through my head I still did all 6 repeats, yep, cause I'm crazy fighting like that. What do y'all think? Too steep? From what I understand my hill strides should be quick paced, right? My second hill workout which was Thur. I went back to the less steep hill and worked on a faster pace up it. I used my Garmin to measure the hill and it is .10 of a mile. The grade is gradual not compromising my form at all. Is this too short of a hill?

Here's what I fought for week 1:
Mon. 4+strength
Tue. 4+6 x hill
Wens. 7.5 mi (on the schedule was the same as Mon. but changed this b/c of sore muscles)
Thur. 4+6 x hills
Fri. Rest
Sat. 9 LR (building back up)

Mouth:
I lost 2lbs this week! I wasn't perfect on my diet in the sense that I probably ate too little. I could tell a couple of my runs suffered from too low of calories...ugh! trying to balance this is so hard! I need to stop fretting...( oh great! the word fretting made me think of fritter as in corn fritter...mmmm) For now I'm sticking with the plan and will try to figure out ways to fuel my runs better.

Helping to get the last of the lemon squares plated

Mind:
My favorite part of this whole plan! It has been good to get my mind back to the discipline of memorizing. During the week I was presented with an opportunity to help a family who is in need. The girls and I baked Lemon squares and Rice Krispy bars to sell at a fund raiser for this precious family that has had such tragedy in their lives recently. Before we started baking the kids and I read the story of this precious family. Sometimes trials are like rocks that we carry and other times they are like boulders, this family is definitely carrying a boulder right now. My heart just goes out to them.

The road ahead; Week 2 of 21

Week 2 will be a little different as we are going out of town for the Easter weekend. I will have to move some things around since I don't know what my schedule will be like while we are there. I might try to get my long run in the day before we leave...we'll see.
I would really appreciate any advice, or thoughts toward my training that you are willing to take the time to share. I know the next 6 weeks will be hard as I push myself past limits that I have not pushed before. I'm excited to see what is possible. I leave you with this quote from Winston Churchill.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It's the courage to go on that counts"

(and I would add not only the courage to go on, but the courage to fight for it!)