Happy Sunday friends!
If you only check in for the weekly recap, please check out these two posts from earlier this week:
Guest Post: My First Ironman <– inspiring guest post from my friend Paige, who is a full-time working mom who crushed her first Ironman!
Fits on the Road in Norway: Lofthus & Solstrand <– another travel post about my recent trip to Norway!
Now onto my weekly recap of training for my 30th marathon, the Houston Marathon!
Monday: Run commute to work, easy 9 miles, 9:30 min/mile. I also fit in a 50-minute strength class at ALTR after work. YAY! So proud of myself for actually doing strength training. I’m always so glad when I do, but it’s hard to find time.
Tuesday: Run commute from work, 5.5 miles 9:20 min/mile. I wore my new Oiselle Firecracker pants– so bright and a huge side pocket for my phone. Love 🙂
Wednesday: “Quality Run” of the week- 10x 1k at marathon pace, (current estimate of my marathon pace is 8:40, which is far from my PR pace, but is hopefully a reasonable goal for Houston).
2-mile warm-up, 10x 1k with a 1 minute recovery in between, 2 mile cool-down. 11 miles total before for. That was a long one! The marathon pace felt controlled and doable, which was great.
I wore my new Craft pants that I bought in Sweden on this run- also great, though not quite as bright as those Firecracker pants!
That evening was Halloween! I handed out candy to all the trick-or-treaters; we had about 120 kids come, which was a lot for us. The nice weather must have helped.
Tilda only kept her costume on for about 10 minutes 🙂
Thursday: 8.3 mile run commute to work, 9:20 min/mile. Tired from the workout the day before, but warmed up and felt pretty good by the end.
Friday: Easy 4 mile run with a coworker, 10 min/miles.
Saturday: 14.6 mile long with 1 minute surges every five minutes, 9 min/mile average.
We had a good group at the Calhoun Beach Running Club for a brisk fall day.
It was a decent run physically, but memorable for a very disturbing reason. I was with my running club group on Cedar Lake, where there is a bridge above the running path. Just as we were turning away from the bridge, a deer fell off of the bridge above us (it must have been spooked by something) and landed on the concrete path where we were running. The poor thing tried to get up but all of its legs were broken so it wobbled into the woods on the side of the path and laid down. This whole thing was really upsetting to me and I was crying and trying to call the DNR on my phone; of course, they are closed on the weekend, so I was about to call the police, but another witness got ahold of animal control, who was waiting with the deer until they arrived.
Ugh… I did not grow up in a hunting family, so this isn’t something I am used to seeing. It was just so heart-wrenching to see the doe suffering. I couldn’t shake the image for the rest of my run. I hope animal control arrived quickly to put her out of her misery.
Moving on…On a brighter note, that evening, Dustin and I hung out with my sister and her husband sans their kids; dinner at Hasty Tasty followed by some retro arcade games at Up-Down Arcade Bar.
Sunday: Quick 5.5 mile run (8:35 min/mile) with Dustin and Matilda before cozying up to watch the NYC marathon on TV.
Did you know I ran New York last year? It was my 6th World Marathon Major. What a blast it was.
I also had a sports massage midday on Sunday. I hadn’t had a massage in a year! Too long…I went to Juliana at Impact in St. Louis Park.
Summary: 58 miles of running, 1 strength class at ALTR. One is better than none! An improvement from last week, but still need to work to make it a priority.
Overall, this week felt pretty good; there were some runs where I started to feel a bit more like my old self, but there were also runs that were a struggle. I’ll just keep getting out there and doing the work; just happy to be running! I’m dreading the morning that I wake up to slippery conditions and have to take things to the treadmill, but it will be here soon I’m sure.
Thanks so much for reading and be sure to check out all the other great weekly recaps that are a part of HoHo Runs and Taking the Long Way Home ‘s weekly recap link-up!
Oh, that deer story is just heartbreaking! I get upset when I see dead animals on the path, but to see one suffering would kill me! It was wet on the path this morning and I also thought about having to deal with slick conditions soon! I’m not looking forward to that. We haven’t had a lot of snow the past couple of winters but black ice has been a big issue. Ugh. On a positive note, I love your Sweden colored tights! I had a penpal from Sweden when I was a child and do you know that we… Read more »
It sounds like you would have reacted like me..it was just so hard to see 🙁 Poor deer.
Even wet leaves can be slippery but when that black ice arrives, I’m not taking ANY chances this year. Not after what happened last February!
I love that you still are in touch with your Swedish childhood pen pal, that’s so amazing!
That 11 mile run on Wednesday sounds fantastic (something only a runner would say haha). Your dog is adorable as a lion. What a solid week of training – 58 miles woo!
Ha, so true! Only a fellow mileage lover would like 11 miles before work 🙂
OMG that poor deer. I can imagine how distressing it was to witness that.
Great week of training and I love your bright tights! I’m hoping our winter will be mild so I can run outside as much as possible for Tokyo training.
I am hoping the same for a mild winter! Please no black ice. Snow over ice any day.
Awesome job on your workouts this week and I love those bright Oiselle pants! Love that they also have pockets too!
I can’t believe it’s been a year since you ran the NYCM! I had so much fun tracking you that day and seeing that you were running so close to Kevin Hart, lol
Oh boy, the deer story has me all in my feelings. I love animals and cannot imagine having to witness one suffer like that 🙁 Poor thing and I imagine it was traumatic for you as well – so sorry you had to see that!
Yes, of course, my moment of ‘fame’ running next to Kevin Hart, ha! It was great to meet you in person, hopefully we meet again at another race!
The deer incident was so, so disturbing. 🙁
I really wish I had the option to run to work!
Matilda looks so good in her costume. I got my parents a lion mane for their lab (except it doesn’t have that cool tail part), and she actually leaves it on for a while. But labs are so docile they will let us dress them in anything.
Yes, labs are a bit more accommodating with the costumes! Tilda tried to chew hers off 🙂 But it looked cute while it lasted!
I would be an emotional mess if your deer episode happened to me as well. I get really annoyed at people posting pics of their hunting conquests on social media….I respect it’s their sport and they are proud , but those images are rather upsetting to others. Anyways, on a lighter note…congrats on a strong week!
Totally agree Kim- and to see an animal suffer..ugh. It makes my stomach hurt when I think of it. That incident haunts me.
I started to tear up about the deer story. How awful! Tilda was adorable in her costume. I love the poof on her tail too!
Tilda made a ferocious lion, right? haha!
Oh, that poor deer! I’m cringing just reading about it. At least someone was able to get a hold of animal control, but it’s so sad when there’s nothing else you can do for a suffering animal.
Love those firecracker tights – all running pants should have pockets!
I cannot stand to see an animal suffer like that 🙁
The Firecracker pants are great!
That’s an amazing running week and you got strength training in – wow! It looks like the week I looked at in our ultra schedule, cringed in horror and said oh no some of those will be cross-training thank you very much. So sorry about the poor deer. I would have been in absolute bits seeing that, devastated. I’m glad you and other witnesses did the right thing. Well done, you strong person, and how lovely to have that memory of New York Marathon. I doubt I’d do 30 maras but NYC is one I do want to do one… Read more »
I do like high mileage when I’m healthy enough for it, but have not trained for an ultra!
Thanks for reading and commenting Liz!
That’s great that the speedwork felt good. And I’m impressed that Tilda stayed in her costume (so cute!) that long.
That poor, poor deer. OMG, I’m not sure I could even finish a run after seeing such a thing. 🙁
It was tough. I couldn’t shake the image of the poor deer.
Oh my goodness, Tilta’s Halloween costume is so funny! She looks ferocious! 😉
Ha, thanks Debbie! She’s the opposite of ferocious 🙂
Oh that is so sad about the deer 🙁 Great job with your mileage and strength training class this week – I always struggle with fitting in strength training.
I wish I fit in more than one day of non-running activity, but I’m happy with at LEAST one!
It would have been hard to see the deer fall in that way for me, too! I will say that while I don’t hunt, I’ve accompanied my husband when he’s been hunting before. I think many hunters would agree that what you saw was very disturbing and would feel bad for the deer. I think hunting is very different, and when done well and in the right way, the animal dies nearly in an instant and with minimal/no pain. Of course, there is a wide variety of hunting philosophies. Anyway, this is a running blog and not a place to… Read more »
I appreciate your perspective Katie! I discussed it here, so its definitely fair game to comment and you make valid points. I am sure most hunters don’t want to see animals suffer, but I have never even exposed to anything like that in general. I’m sure if I lived on a farm or did have a family that hunts, I would have a little more exposure to accidents in general, as this was an accident that could happen anywhere I suppose. People hit deer all the time in their cars too and I’m sure some say deer hunting helps with… Read more »
I completely see why that would’ve been troubling to see! It definitely would’ve been for me, too. And, you’re right that there are crazies out there who would like to see animals suffer, which is horrifying, in my opinion. I am sorry that you had that experience, and I hope that it doesn’t happen again! Hopefully something really uplifting will happen on a run soon and help replace bad memories with good ones!!! Great info on the firecracker pants, too! I thought about getting them, but there’s no traffic at. all. where I live, so no need for reflectivity, and… Read more »
OMG – love the green sweater!!!
Why, thank you Eric!
THat poor deer.
Thanks for linking to the Firecracker tights, those might need to happen
Congrats on great week
Thanks Cari! The tights are very bright!
OMG… that poor doe 🙁 I cannot stop thinking about it. How awful that it happened right in front of you 🙁
Luma is jealous of Matilda’s lion tail (her lion mane didn’t come with the tail!)! 🙂
Love those Oiselle tights! And love seeing how much you’re running! So happy for you!
Aw Tilda looks adorable in her costume.
That deer story is awful though. I would definitely have been in tears if I had seen something like that happen.