Training Recap: Love the things you love to do

February 16, 2015 Faux Runner Comments 0 Comment

For some reason, maybe because it was the weekend of Valentine’s day, these lines were stuck in my head. It is a sonnet by Shakespeare made more famous by the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet adaption of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

“Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;”

Last week, I was battling sickness and getting my workouts in was a chore. I dreaded the 2-a-day workouts because that meant going to bed late and still having to get up early. Needless to say, I had a lot of reds showing up on my training peaks. So this week’s goal was simple – get the workouts done, and get it done with love and smile through it. I do these things because I love doing them. And if I don’t love them when I’m handed a few stressed out lemons, it is not true love.
“Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds … “

Monday started out with a nice rest day that I took advantage of to do my short strength + core routine. I wanted to do a full 1hr yoga, but time I did not time it properly and ended up with a 20min stretching instead.

Tuesday was my 2/day with swim and trainer ride. Instead of my usual plan (wake up early enough to get the trainer ride in, send the kids off to school and get my swim in), I took advantage of the early wake up to get a few things done around the house and to catch up on work. And sent the kids off to school with a smile instead of scrambling to get themselves and myself out of the house. Only, I ended up without fins so instead of the workout planned, I swam for 30 minutes straight. Even though, I was slow as ever, I was happy to get through the 30minutes (850 yards). Hey – any start is a good start!

Working out in the evening after the kids bedtime is a huge challenge for me. I have always been very bitter when I’ve had to hit the treadmill at 9:00pm. So instead, I changed my outlook. There was no other way around the 9:00pm trainer ride, so why not embrace the idea instead of rebelling against it. Once that compromise was done, it was a much easier time on the trainer.

Not the tuesday trainer ride photo, but just because I love this photo :) — Not from the tuesday trainer ride photo, but just because I love this photo 🙂

Wednesday Hill Repeats were torturous. Not because no one could possibly “like” hill repeats, but because they were done on a treadmill. Again, lemons = lemonade. And I got lucky, because the new office location has a mini-gym and SHOWERS!! Maybe I can scout out a place nearby where I can do hill repeats outside instead of on the treadmill. But I did discover that squats and lunges are much easier after hill repeats. Even when the hill repeats completely exhausted me!

Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday with 2-a-day swim and trainer. But with my newfound wisdom and peace with 9pm trainer, I got through it easily.

Friday was another short 45min run on the treadmill.

Saturday was supposed to be a trainer/bike ride, but I took advantage of the 1.5 hrs kids free time to run outside in the beautiful sunshine. Is it possible that a run can be so exhilarating and so frustrating at the same time? To run outside was so awesome that I couldn’t stop singing and smiling all the time. But I was also frustrated – for some weird reason that I haven’t been able to sufficiently put in words.

Sunday brought with it news of school closure on Monday because of possibly icy conditions! (There goes that looooong run and yoga class I was planning!). But it spurred me on to clean up the garage so I could park my van inside. Talk about strength training!! Whew!! The garage is still not organized as I’d like it to be, but 2 cars parked inside = win!
I brought in my trainer to our new home theater and introduced the minions to the DALEKS! We’ve been watching the new Who series slowly and I’m loving sharing the Doctor with them!