Dang, I felt like MYSELF!

Yesterday, I did my longest run since the end of June. I'm just going to cut to the chase: I FELT GREAT! More importantly, I felt like myself.

The plan was to do at least four miles, but I secretly knew I would do five. I dropped Paul off at his parent's house to hang out with his dad and then headed to a nearby rail trail for my run.

The Conewago Trail is a flat trail made of packed gravel and is mostly shaded. It was the ideal terrain for me, and considering the weather was much cooler than it has been, it made for extremely pleasant running conditions.

During the first mile, I felt a little sluggish. The thought of doing five miles seemed daunting. But I told myself to chillax, enjoy my podcast, and just get into a groove.

And get into a groove I did! As my run progressed, my legs warmed up and I started to slowly pick up my pace. At first it was a natural progression, but I have to admit that I purposefully pushed the last two miles.

My knee felt strong the entire run. My glutes were sore during the run (due to kettle bell swings the day before!) but it wasn't anything that hindered me from running my normal gait.

When I was done and checked my splits, I was pretty darn happy with myself! I was worried I lost some of my speed over the past couple months. My most recent runs hovered between 8:45-9:30 pace and those runs felt like an effort. But my run on the Conewago Trail really made me feel like I still have some speed in me, even if it doesn't show it's face as often as it used to!

I attribute this great run to 3 things:

1. A flat, soft surface. There were no hills at all.

2. The weather was much cooler than it has been and I was rarely in the direct sunlight.

3. I was able to calm down and just go with the flow!

After my good run yesterday, I am feeling more confident than I have been, but I know that I have a long way to go. It was just nice to feel like myself for about 45 minutes!

Do you ever tell yourself just to CHILLAX on a run?

Are there any rail trails you frequent?

When was the last time you had a GREAT run?

New Workout Plan!

Well, not today. But soon. Very soon. This week. I think.

I am EMBRACING the new diagnosis that gives me knees that are perfectly fine. Part of doing that means gradually easing myself back into my old fitness routine which includes many things I have not done in awhile... like HIIT, jumping, speed work, hills, and lifting lower body. 

It also means I must participate in these activities CONFIDENTLY. This doesn't mean the pain and weakness in my knee is just going to disappear. (The lunges I did yesterday reminded me of that.) What it does mean is that for now I just have to deal with it and do what I can. I am still researching pain and trying to wrap my head around how there can be nothing wrong with my knee yet I still feel pain and weakness. But that is another post for another day!

Today, I want to share with you my new workout plan I want to try to stick to. (Ha, I sound really committed, don't I?) In the summer, I love to fly by the seat of my pants and do whatever I feel like. But I know I need a routine, especially if I am incorporating things I haven't done in awhile. I need a PLAN and a SCHEDULE!

Luckily, I am a teacher and I LOVE PLANS AND SCHEDULES!!!!!

This is what I came up with. Yes, I know "weeks" don't have 8 days but mine does!

Easy Run

Back/Legs

Chest

Speed work or hills

Easy Run

Back/Legs

Chest

"Long Run"

A few things...

• "Long Run" is in quotations because right now my long runs are not going to be long! My first long run I plan to do will be 6 miles. I would like to work up to 10 mile long runs within the next six weeks or so. Babyyyy steps!

• I don't have a complete rest day scheduled. When I need one I will just slip it in when I want to and then continue with whatever comes next. So the rest day won't take the place of a workout, it will just push it off until the next day.

• Even though I do want to stick with this schedule for now, that doesn't mean I won't be flexible with it. I mean, if a friend calls me up and invites me on a trail run on chest day, well I am just going to have to switch something around because I want to enjoy LIFE!

Do you ever make your weeks longer than seven days?

What do you think I should do for my first speed workout?

"Hey Meg, how are ya doing on those summer goals?" (VLOG!)

Back in June, I wrote this post about what goals I wanted to accomplish this summer. They included:

1. Practice my ukulele for 10-15 minutes every day.
2. Pick one room each week and do a deep clean.
3. Earn some continuing education credits through ACE.
4. READ ALL THE BOOKS!
5. Go on day trips with Paul.

I figured I may as well give you a little update on how I am doing with these goals...

Today you get a VLOG, because I feel more like talking than writing!

 

As you can see from the video, I have only accomplished one of my goals. But you know what? I am okay with that. I am thoroughly enjoying my summer, and that's all that matters, right!?

(Oh, I wasn't very clear on the video, but the three books I highlighted were Murder in Spokane by Mark Fuhrman, Bunny Tales by Isabella St. James, and Objection! by Nancy Grace.)

Are you accomplishing your summer goals?

DECK OF CARDS... in the SCORCHING heat!

Let me guess, every blog you have read this week includes A LOT of complaining about how hot it is.  Well, I'm going to do it too! IT'S FREAKING HOT OUTSIDE!!!!!!

I love summer weather, and I like to be hot and sweaty. If it's super hot, I will go outside if I am mentally up for it. (Sometimes I am not up for it and stay in the a/c!) If I do go out, I make sure I drink a lot of water. If I'm running, I always stick close to home so I can bail if I don't think it's safe to keep going. Or if I simply need to cool down in the a/c before pressing on.

Yesterday (Monday) I got up early and did a 4 mile walk with my friend Bree. It wasn't horribly hot, but as morning turned to afternoon, it was scorching. That was right about the time I decided I was going to do a DECK OF CARDS WORKOUT!

I haven't done a deck of cards workout in months because the exercises I like to incorporate into them are things that I didn't think were good for my knee. Well, ever since I found out my knees are absolutely fine, I have been slowly trying to test things out as I feel ready.

Oh, this is a good time to mention that if you don't know what a deck of cards workout is, I wrote a great post about it here. (I wrote that post back before anyone ever read my blog so you probably missed it!)

Armed with water, sunglasses, and my very special nerdy Big Brother podcasts, I went out front and got started. Here was my plan:

For example, if I draw a 4 of spades, I do 4 squats. Face cards = 10, Aces are 15.

Most of the time I mess around to try to get more reps and that's what I did today. Here is how I mixed it up:

Jump rope was in multiples of ten. So a 3 of hearts was 30 rotations.

Plank with knee tuck I doubled for numbers five and under. Above five I kept it the same. So a 2 of diamonds was 4 knee tucks but a 10 of diamonds was simply 10.

Squats were just the number on the card.

Jumping jacks were multiples of 5. So the 8 of clubs was 40 jumping jacks.

Jokers were 15 stability ball pull ins.

I know that sounds complicated but I had my own system. ;)

• I felt weak on my squats but all in all they gave me a reprieve from the jump rope.

• The knee tucks were fine, I do those often.

• The jumping jacks were killer! They are not that hard in the air conditioning at Planet Fitness!

• The hardest part was the jump rope. I could blame it on the heat, and that surely was part of it, but I haven't jumped rope in months so I know that had a lot to do with it as well. Sometimes I would have to take breaks when I would pick a face card and had to do 100 rotations. 

Then, at the very end of my workout... look at the last four cards that were left...

Augh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

250 freaking rotations!!!!????

Guys, I did it and I didn't take a break. I got in a good rhythm and I just made myself do it!!!!! I kept saying to myself, "Pretend it is a race and you are almost at the end. You wouldn't give up in a race so you can't give up now." Shaming myself like that worked!

I did the math (with a calculator) and this is the grand total:

30 stability ball tucks

113 plank w/ knee tucks

495 jumping jacks

99 squats

990 jump rope rotations

It took me 20 minutes and was pretty intense, but that is the whole point! I miss HIIT, even though it sucks and makes me want to vomit!

Oh, and my knee felt a little weak the rest of the day but nothing too bad. I powered through and didn't ice or take meds.

Do you do deck of cards workouts? What exercises do you like to use?

If you have never done one, what exercises would you like to incorporate? Check out this post for ideas!

Weekend Wrap Up!

I love weekends- even in the summer! There is just something magical about waking up and exclaiming, "It's Friiiiiiday!" I hope your weekend was wonderful. Here is what I was up to...

Friday was my first lifting workout in MONTHS that included lower body. I was very conservative. I only did 3 exercises with 3 sets to each exercise. I chose leg extension, hamstring curl, and kettle bell swings. I wanted to do exercises I felt confident with and I still don't feel confident with squats and lunges. I stretched a lot throughout the workout. Here's how I spent my time at Planet Fitness:

SPOILER ALERT: MY GLUTES HURT FOR THE NEXT 2 DAYS!

LIKE, MARATHON HURT!

When I left the gym and went to unlock my car, MY CAR KEY WAS GONE FROM MY KEY RING! I was freaked out. Did someone take it? (I hang my keys on a key holder in the lobby of PF... everyone does.) I went back to the front desk and lo and behold, someone had handed in my key. Thank goodness! I guess it fell off my key ring.

Look what was on my front stoop when I got home!

When my shoes are on super sale, I buy several!

That afternoon, we headed to my parent's house in Millersburg for a picnic and some fireworks that were postponed from the 4th of July weekend. I had a wonderful time with my family!

Some fun facts about my family:

1. My dad can juggle REALLY well.

2. My niece knows about 5 verses to Mary Had A Little Lamb- 3 legit verses and two she just made up using nonsense words.

3. Uncle Jack just learned what a selfie is.

Since my arse was super sore from those kettle bell swings, it looked like I was going to get to try out my new dumbbells and lift upper body!

That night we went to Bob and Rachel's house for what was supposed to be dinner and games. Well, they threw us a surprise birthday Luau party!!! Rachel did a ton of decorating, they served pork, Hawaiian potato salad, and pina coladas!

Rachel being silly with her new favorite centerpiece- Mongo.

We played Sequence and loved it! Thanks for the rec, Kristen!

We have the greatest friends!

Sunday was a SCORCHER! I got out relatively early for my run and it was already 90 degrees! I had to take two air conditioning breaks during the course of this 4 miler so that I could cool down.

Then I headed to Lancaster to meet my pal Sherrie and go to an event called Slide the City. It was a huge slip 'n slide that was about 2-3 city blocks long. It was on a street with a slight downhill, so as long as you stayed on your inner tube, you slid the entire way to the bottom, where there was a pool of water and you could hop out. Our wristbands entitled us to 3 slides each.

First of all, let me say that I had an AWESOME time with my pal Sherrie. We have been friends since elementary school, and even though life drifts us apart, whenever we reunite, it is like old times. We're the same fun loving girls we used to be... I mean, we were going to a GIANT slip and slide!

However, the day didn't go exactly how we expected for a couple reasons...

1. The "real feel" was 104 degrees. IT WAS FREAKING HOT.

2. We had to wait in line for almost an hour and a half... without water... and no shade... to ride the slide.

3. Once we were on the slide, we did not experience the cool water we were hoping for! The summer heat made the slide HOT. The pool of water at the bottom was WARM. We were so hot waiting in line and by the time we got out of the slide, we were still hot!

Needless to say, we did NOT ride three times! We didn't feel like standing in line for that long- especially in the heat.

Luckily we had tons of fun catching up while we waited in line, and I got to finally meet Sherrie's daughters! You know you don't hang out with someone enough when you haven't yet met their TWO KIDS!

Sherrie and I circa 2002... We were adventurous girls and once went to NYC alone

and hit up Madame Tussaud's!

Sherrie and I all grown up! Sorry, no slide pics... some people had their phones out but I don't understand how they did that without getting them wet!

I was DEPLETED after being outside in the heat all day. I was also starving. When I got home, Paul and I ate dinner and watched Sling Blade. What a movie! When I saw the first time I don't think I was old enough to appreciate it. This time around, it made me ugly cry! Paul was even choking back tears!

Have you ever been on a huge slip 'n slide?
What movies make you ugly cry?
Ever played Sequence?
Were the temperatures BLAZING in your neck of the woods this weekend?