August Vacation!

I've been on vacation with the kids for the past two weeks! My husband had to work, so we made plans to clear out and give him plenty of peace and quiet :-)

But first, we watched the final hours of the Olympics - couldn't miss the men's marathon!



Now, that's what I call finishing with a smile.
Loved how Kiprotich was smiling non-stop for the last 1.5K when he knew he had the gold.

Speaking of smiling - my other favourite London 2012 moment was Tom Daley's team jumping in the pool with him after he won the bronze for diving. And how ecstatic he was to have won a medal.



Anyway - the Olympics was followed by family walk around High Park...

Willow trees are her favourite.

...and finally a run. Stella and I ran/walked 6.28K (my longest to date) in 5s and 1s/2s.

The next day, we packed our bags and hit the road. A few highlights -

We spent a relaxing day at the wonderful Bowmanville Zoo -



 

Catching a ride from the lovely Limba.
She gets to swim in the creek every morning before the zoo opens, one of the reasons why I love this place.

Back home for a serious workout enlarging and joining two corner gardens -

 

The butterfly garden we planted last year grew bigger than we expected and needed more space!

An IRL meetup at an amusement park with Deb, Spud and Sweetpea - on vacation following her stellar half-Ironman!

Kids begged us to be horses for a covered wagon



An impressive web climber

What a nice son I have - he's so pleased with how absolutely terrified I am.
The ride operator laughed at me when I got off.

An overnight trip to my mom's -

STELLA WHAT ARE YOU ROLLING IN NOW??

Sewing lesson

And our annual camping week with my cousin and her kids -

It's been a very busy and fun two weeks, but I'm feeling the effects of too much food and too little focused exercise. Better head out for a run...but first I need to tackle a mountain of laundry...

Getting back in the game

Last week's post-race blues have worn off and I'm not quite as alarmed as I was at the thought of the upcoming tri and this fall's 10.5K. That's not quite shout-it-from-the-rooftop news, but it's a start!

I took some time to rest (great idea, Julie - thanks!), but also made sure that I went for a few runs. Building my endurance back to where it was at the beginning of summer, and then working on increasing my distance is pretty critical to both my confidence and my training plan. 

Here's how the week went -

Sunday - Had planned on brick training first thing this morning but thunderclouds rolled in as I was about to get out of bed and the Women's Olympics marathon was streaming live. But as soon as the runners crossed the finish line (what a finish! Did you watch it??)...

...the sky brightened up here and Stella told me she was desperate to go out. I bailed on the biking and went for what ended up being a short, sweaty run (2K of 2s and 1s)...

Stopped a few blocks from home to catch our breath.

...followed by a trip out to my in-laws' for a BBQ. Went on a humid 2.5K family walk down to the lake and back. Stopped to climb up on the war memorial (it's shaped like the deck of a battleship, cool!) to check out the view:

Monday - A holiday here in Ontario and a fabulous day. The temperature dropped a few degrees and the humidity broke! Hopped out of bed for some sorely needed brick training. 11K bike, then home to drop off bike/helmet, grab hat/leash and head out the door with Stella for a 2.5K run walk. Followed by a cold bath for my sore legs.

Tuesday - A combo Zumba/bootcamp/circuit training hour at Curves, followed by a 3K run. 4s and 1s. Short and sweet and the best run I've had in a while :-)

Wednesday - Back to Curves for a circuit and some strength training.

Thursday - Rest day. Walked the dog a slow 2.5K.

Friday - Another rest day. My shins and knees were tender - think it's time for new shoes.

Saturday - Lazy morning (Olympics) followed by chores, followed by a run with the dog. We did 4.6K of 5s and 1s, stopped at the dog park for 10 minutes or so, then 5 and 2 for the last 1K home.

Post run. Tired dog. Blurry dog.

Total for the week: 11K bike, 4 runs (14.1K), 1 boot camp + Zumba, 1 circuit.

How was your week? The humidity broke here towards the middle of the week and it's made a huge difference to me!

Huh.

Post-race blues hit me hard this week. I was flying on a cloud for the first couple of days, what with the bragging rights sense of accomplishment and all, but then...I started get the blues.

I'm already signed up for a few more races this year, so I know it's not for lack of having something to look forward to.

It's more like I started to feel tired. And old. Too old for this nonsense. Old enough that I should retire to my couch. Certainly too old to muster the enthusiasm to head to another starting line.

What the heck?

I think it's the summer training wearing me down. Or lack of training, actually. Every run is a struggle, and very short. I think I'm worried about being underprepared for the next tri (3 weeks to go) and for the 10K I'm doing in late September.

I was also a bit discouraged by just how hard the tri was, and just how unflattering some of my race pictures are. Clearly I need to get working on losing the rest of the extra weight that I'm carrying.

So, I'm trying to keep things in perspective. Keep going to boot camp. And even short, slow runs in this weather will be better than nothing at all, right? Would love to put things on hold and just wait for this humidity to break...but...

I guess that's what you get for signing up for summer and fall events. Will be planning next year's race calendar carefully, I can tell you that.

Wait - next year's races?

Guess I'm not ready to give up after all.

Huh.

So - let's keep this in mind:

Here's this week's recap -

Monday - The day after the Orillia Try-a-Tri and a Rest Day fail. Went to Curves for a light stretch out, but when I go there, the Zumba music was playing and I couldn't help myself. Did the second half of the class, smiled and sweated a lot and THEN stretched. Husband and I took the dog for a walk after.

Tuesday - Rest day. Took the dog for a long, slow stroll.

Wednesday - Curves boot camp.

Blurry. Sorry. But this structure fascinates us. It's just randomly in the middle of the forest. Why?

Thursday - Family walk at High Park. Son, dog and I went on a trail run in the crazy humidity - we managed 15 minutes of 2s and 1s before we all had to give up. But wow - trail running. Uneven terrain, roots, rocks, low hills. That put a smile on my face:

Sweaty. Blurry. Smiling.

Guess a bit of variety is what's needed, eh?


Friday - Errand day. Blah.

Saturday - back to High Park with the dog. More sweaty trail running with lots of walk breaks.  I cannot tell you how much fun I am having running these trails, with my dog off leash running along side me. Great training for her, excellent fun for both of us.

Worn out but still smiling. She sets a great example.