Good morning!

I don’t know about you all, but this week has been pretty exhausting for me. I’ve picked up the running more, which has made me immensely happy, but work and other things in life have left me passed out by 8:00 PM. Yep, I guess this getting older thing really takes a number on you!

Needless to say I am excited to have the weekend here so I can catch up on some rest. I’ve got some fun Mother’s Day plans so it won’t be a super lazy weekend, but that is perfect in my book!

So let’s talk about recovery shall we? That seems to be the talk of most of my posts lately but what can I say it’s what I’ve been focused on so it makes me happy.

Ever since I started back running (okay that’s only been since last Saturday), I’ve been working really hard to stay positive and not worry about pace. It’s hard, but I need to practice what I preach right? I definitely picked up my running this week, but still made sure to take it easy. Just to give you an example, before I took time off I was running my easy runs somewhere between an 8:50-8:15 depending on how I was feeling that day. During marathon training my easier pace tends to be naturally slower.

This week during the segments of running each day I haven’t gone over a 9:40. I have been on the treadmill so my speed has been much easier for me to control, but I am really focusing on just letting my body get back into running naturally and at its own pace. I don’t have a specific race I am training for right now so to me this is the perfect opportunity to really just listen to my body and let it do what it wants. Sure, there are days where I just want to see how a 7:40-8:00 pace feels again, but I always remind myself to relax and let my body feel the pace.

I plan to keep it relatively easy for the next several weeks. We are going on vacation at the end of May and after I get back I may reevaluate and see where I am, but right now I am no rush and just trying to have fun with it. At the end of the day if you can’t have fun then what’s the point right!?

In other fun recovery news, my husband surprised me Wednesday with an awesome new gift. A spin bike! I’ve always enjoyed spinning as a form of cross training, and have been wanting to alternate days with it, but getting to the gym early in the morning is always tricky. It doesn’t open until 5:00 AM and I’ve need to be back home by 6:00 AM. With travel time, it just isn’t ideal unless absolutely necessary.

We did some research and had been toying with the idea of adding to our dungeon gym (which only includes a treadmill right now), and he finally pulled the plug and surprised me! I’m really excited to see how this not only can make me stronger but how it can also improve my running. Cross training is something I’ve really avoided for a long time and only looked at it is as something that was only done during injury. I’m ready to change that and learn to enjoy it!

I’ll make sure to tell you all more about it when the bike gets here and we get it set up, but I’m really excited to add it to my morning routine in the near future!

I’ve been really focused on strength training the past two weeks. While I may not notice immediate results I know in the long run it is really going to pay off. I don’t do anything crazy but 15-20 minutes 3-4 times a week and that seems to be a good amount for me.

Some days are more rushed than others, but I know without a doubt this is going to be essential to really getting me to where I want to be. It may not be today, tomorrow, or even a year from now but these things will pay off further down the line. I’m starting to enjoy it too, to be honest it isn’t always my thing but just like I do on the days I don’t want to run I just suck it up and make it happen.

That about catches you all up! I have run 3 times this week and am hoping to do a final run on Saturday for a total of 4 days. After not running for 4-5 weeks I am really happy with this and the slow progression that I am making! 

In case I forget, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!

What are your Mother’s Day Plans?

What kind of cross training do you do?