Week 11 of 12: Training for the Hell Creek 20 miler

 Me right now:

Sigh.  SO much drama, so much stress.  I am putting up boundaries and they are not being very well received right now.  I have to. I am prone to anxiety and to depression if I get too far in the hole, and I don't want to go back there.  I hope people can understand and respect this decision.  I fear they will not, but for once I have to think about myself.  I am really leaning on good friends and my mom to help me talk it out as that is the best therapy for me.  I seriously could write a book about the drama but at this time, I will not bore you with the details. Although, sometimes when I verbalize it to those who are not close to it, it sounds absolutely insane.  

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 miles    

Wednesday: 3 miles with speedwork

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Cross train

Saturday: 9 miles    

Sunday: 4 miles

Monday:  Rest day.  See the above.

Tuesday:  4 miles.  Beautiful cool fall like temps and humidity.  YUCK.  Still sucking wind trying to deal with humidity. 

Wednesday:  Rest day.  

Thursday:  3 miles WITH SPEEDWORK.  Yes, you read that right.  I did fartleks during my 3 miler.  Boom was not impressed and says he doesn't like speedwork, thank you very much.  Stella also came with, but she was loose so she could go whatever speed she liked.  She did quite well keeping up though.  We all like the cooler temps and low humidity.    

The dogs are getting a bark box now and love it!

Friday: Rest day.  Was suppose to cross train but had our first girls on the run coaches meeting and had drinks and dinner with our new coaches.  We have 25 girls this year and I am SUPER excited!

Saturday: 4 miles and football!  We played our first home game and a very tough opponent.  I seriously almost had a heart attack when I saw their kids walk out. Some of them looked like high school kids.  Honestly, their team beat themselves on offense.  They had several false starts, they had several face masks calls, and they had a touch down reversed due to a block in the back/false start.  We had several good plays, but they did a pretty good job on defense and didn't let the boys run the score up like we did the week before.  Andrew didn't get a ton of playing time till the 5th quarter and I am fine with that because we wanted to win and the game was close.  He did get to play the whole 5th quarter offense and defense, and that was fun to watch.  Again he got two big blocks that created giant holes that helped his runner score.  Afterwards he played hard with his football buddies and that made me SO happy.  

Sunday:  Long run day!  Got up at 4 am to get in 2 hours of running, whatever that looked like and however far that might take us.  I think in the end we got around 9 miles.  The weather was amazing and cool and I couldn't get enough of it.  I am crossing my fingers that the race day will be this nice. I did cheat and took some advil pre run and my leg cooperated.   

Racing was eh. No adult drama per se, but a mixed bag with the cars.  We had not practiced all week thanks to being exhausted from football.  He beat a kid in Sr honda in the heat race and then that kid beat him in the feature.  He did race with three other of the older kids and didn't look too nervous or scared.  He just ran his line and stayed out of their way (they are about 3 to 4 tenths faster right now).  They gave him lots of advice, which I hope he takes to heart since it came from the cool kids.  He only had 2 other cars in Senior Animal and our car had issues in both the heat and feature.  He finally got out on the track for the heat after 3 times of the chain falling off, but then had no brakes for the feature so was not allowed out there.  We are just in the class for experience at this point, so any experience with the good kids is worth it.  

What I actually accomplished this week:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 miles    

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 3 miles with speedwork

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 4 miles    

Sunday: 9 miles

Have a great week y'all and I am going to do the same.  Just keeping my head up and will heed dory's advice and just keep swimming.  

Week 10 of 12: Training for the Hell Creek 20 miler

This accurately describes where I am at right now.  

 

For my mental health I may have to walk away from a few things and while it is going to be super hard I think for me it will be the best thing in the long run, even if I lose some friends. Stay tuned.  

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 5 miles

Wednesday: 4-5 miles easy

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday: cross train

Saturday: 16 miles

Sunday: 7 miles

Monday:  Rest day.  Football practice night and the boys had an amazing practice.  It was so fun to see Andrew take snaps on 2nd team offense and defense.  

Dis my grammy

Tuesday:  4 miles at 5 am.  Seriously, here lately the late afternoon/early nights have been calling my name.  I just need to eat a protein bar before Andrew's practice and then run when he gets done.  The only saving grace was that the humidity was super low and tolerable.  My left shin which has been quiet is now screaming at me and my left groin is hurting again.  My chiro fixed it last week, but I apparently un fixed it.  I am sure it is because I have not been doing strength training at all.  I am really enjoying my nights watching my kiddo practice football instead of lifting.  Again, I need to get my butt out of bed but it's just not happening. 

Wednesday:  Rest day.  Again, I had hoped to get up and run before my networking meeting but my body needed sleep and I let it get the sleep it needed knowing the next few nights were going to be super rough.  We had a club meeting after work in Topeka and it was rough as expected.  It saddens me greatly to see grown adults act so nasty about a kid's sport.  It should be about the kids, but personal vendettas are being brought forward and used and it just makes me deeply sad.  I have many friends in this club that I care about and to see them all fighting amongst themselves is killing me.  Again, walking away may be my best option at this point, even if it means walking away from watching my kiddo do the thing he loves.  

Dis my new friend at work

Thursday:  5 miles post football practice.  Had hoped the nicer cooler weather when the sun went down would be a welcome respite to the hot and humid mornings.  Since I didn't get much sleep the night before  thanks to my brain waking me up at 2:30 in the morning, waiting till later made sense.  Except in never really cooled off like it had in previous nights and Boom and I were dying when we headed back home to no wind or breeze.  

Friday:  Rest day.  I had intended on going out post a protein bar and running at night.  Instead I stayed home with Tony's mom and just talked about life and enjoyed catching up.  Feeling pretty down about myself lately, and between her and my mom and my good friends, I have needed and enjoyed that talk therapy.  Sometimes I think maybe I am the problem, so it is nice to have someone else look at the problem from a different angle and discuss.

Saturday:  Game day!  Okay I am going to be SUPER honest with you on this one. I was VERY nervous for this game.  Mainly because we did win our scrimmage, but it wasn't the best scrimmage ever and honestly Andrew got in a total of 5 snaps maybe, so I had NO idea how he was going to perform in a game.  

The game was also an away game an hour away in Council grove AND started at 8:30 am meaning we had to be at the field at 7:45 am.  Happy to say we were the second family there, breaking the Coleman curse of always being late.  

I could tell he was nervous because he was talking 90 mph on the drive over.  The first part of the game was a nail biter as we were evenly matched and I felt like equally nervous.  Then our offense got going and we never looked back. 

The most exciting part was that Andrew got subbed in on a touch down play with the starters and he laid a great block that helped his team score.  I was SO excited to see him get lots of high fives, congrats, and have his name called out.  I am hoping this will help him with his confidence moving forward.

He got to go in and out a ton in the 3rd quarter and played most of the 4th quarter on either defense or offense.  He even got to play a new position on defense, which I think he really liked.  Then we got a 5th quarter for all the non starters and he got to play the entire 5th quarter with other first year 4th graders and 3rd graders.  Our  team even scored a touch down in the 5th quarter!!!!!!  Overall, amazing experience and I can't wait to see how this season goes.  

After football we went to Manhattan since everyone was at the stadium already and had pizza and one beer at my favorite tasting room since I was planning on running later.

   

I finally got on the road around 7 pm and got in 4 miles.  My leg is screaming right now and the sensibly thing probably would be to take another break, but it shuts up after 4-5 miles so should be good for my long run right?

Sunday:  Long run day!  I had an idea of a range from 10-15.  I was going to let my body dictate what. I also cheated and took and advil on my way out the door.  I know, I know, not a great idea but my shin stayed quiet.  The temperatures were amazing but the humidity was sky high and we had to keep a close eye on the dogs and stop frequently for water breaks because of it.  I am SO ready for some fall weather.  I felt great, felt strong and I am praying on race day we have cool temps AND low humidity.  The whole time all I could think was the poor runners on the Konza today doing Conquer the Konza. Got 10 miles, felt strong but knew my limits and was happy to fully be in taper mode. 

After running we headed to the pumpkin patch.  Yes, it was 90 degrees out and yes we did all the things that scream fall, but of course the barn with the kittens won out and we spent most of our time there.  

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 

Thursday: 5 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 4 miles

Sunday: 10 miles

Have a great week y'all!!!!  Still praying for fall over here.  Going to be a busy week, football games and racing will end our super jam packed week of goodness!  

Week 9 of 12: Training for the Hell Creek 20 miler

Started off a week with a holiday.  Who doesn't like to miss a day of work?  Small business owners, that's who cause we still have to work :)

What I was suppose to do:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 5 miles

Thursday: 5 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 21 miles

Sunday: 4 miles

Monday:  Rest day.  Which I turned into cross training day.  It was a beautiful day and a holiday for us at Coleman Electric, and instead of getting up early and possibly running on my "day off",  I slept in and got on my bike.  I did 8 ish miles with Robin and then headed back out to do 8 more miles.  The wind kicked up towards the end and made it a little challenging, but got it done.  Then came home and ate and laid down and napped. I am not a napper AT ALL.  I think we have some little virus we are all passing around.  We all have some combo of sore throats, some fatigue, and snot in some form.  Andrew seems through his, which gives me hope that mine won't last long. I haven't had any fever, just a sore throat and a little congestion. He has been fine since Friday afternoon, fever free, just a little snotty nose.  

Tuesday:  4 at 5.  The temps were okay, low enough dewpoint for boom to go with.  I am so ready for fall.  Have I said that 100 times yet?  We also had picture day at the football field before practice.  Love his intensity lately and his slow turn around to really liking football.  Can't wait to their first game!

Wednesday:  My plan was to get up and get a run in before my business meeting, but when my alarm went off at 4:45, my body said nope.  I have been battling this virus that andrew so graciously shared with the entire family and it's causing me to have some major head congestion, which means sleep isn't always fun.  The entire day I just felt yucky, no fever, but felt like I was running one.  I had planned on eating a protein bar for dinner and then running post my board meeting and that just didn't happen. I was very tired and still hungry and opted to eat a little more and take an early bedtime.  

Thursday:  4 at 5.  I initially woke up and said nope, but convinced myself to get up, brush my teeth and feed the dogs before I made a decision. I kept getting dressed and headed out the door and my run magically felt 100 times better other than a headache in my sinuses.    

Friday:  Rest day.  I needed to get up and run since I had 5 runs scheduled this week and not enough time to even get 4 in.  I had another "bad day" thanks to whatever this virus is.  Our whole town has it but it isn't Covid and it isn't strep either  (Yes I know strep is not a virus).  Again I listened to my body but still was rewarded with all day dizziness and a killer headache at the high school football game.  Andrew went to his first Raiders high school football game.  We ate concessions stand food, got some new raider's gear, and andrew played his heart out with his buddies.  My heart is so happy.  He has gained a whole new set of friends.

Saturday:  Long run day and race day.  Same story, different day.  Didn't get up early enough.  Wanted a range of 14-16 with 15 being the sweet spot so I can start tapering next week.  I was okay till 11 ish miles and then the heat got to me.  I usually complain about the humidity but on Saturday it was AWOL whic meant my body didn't really know how hot it was till it was too hot.  I started doing some power walking and that felt good so the last 3 ish miles I did more power walking than running.  When I got to the house I was around 14.44 and I called it good.  

Saturday night was another night race and we were moving Andrew up to the senior classes.  You can move up once your kiddo turns 9 and I had thought were might stay in Junior classes all year, but hubby had other ideas.  Andrew had been wrecked so many times lately that his confidence was pretty darn low and hubby had hoped by moving him up that maybe he wouldn't be wrecked every single race and thus gain some confidence back. I was pretty nervous because most of the kids in the senior classes are older and have been driving longer.  I think most of the racers he was with were 12 and above but he held his own and while he got last every race, he pushed his car hard and even spun out a few times!!!!  I think he had a great experience and even though there will be more kids back at the next race (several were taking a break this weekend post national races), I think we will end the season on a good note. 

 

Sunday:  recovery run?  How about a recovery walk?  We had a long day with our first big football scrimmage, a bit of time down in aggieville to pick up our pottery that we painted a week or so ago, and a little bit of Chief's game watching.  Plus, I had a ton of work and track work to do when we did get back to the house.  Wamego Jr Raiders 3/4th grade team won their scrimmage, the Chiefs won a very ugly game, and our pottery looks amazing.  

A quick aside.  I try to never be this parent but I am going to go there.  Hear me out.  This is Andrew's first year of football.  He isn't God's gift to athletics and we know that.  We were very shocked when he was taking lots of snaps on the red offense which is the A team.  Suddenly at one of the last practices, he was moved to the B team and at the game he was shuffled all the way to the C team.  We still don't know what happened or why he was shuffled back so quickly, especially when the head coach wasn't even at the last practice, but he was and it was hard to watch him pretty much sit on the sidelines the entire scrimmage.  He maybe got 5 snaps the whole game.  Since there are 4th, 3rd, and even 2nd graders on the team, it is very hard to get everyone on the field and I get it.   I have volunteered for kid's sports since he was old enough to play and I am trying not to be "that parent", but I would love to know what he did that was so wrong to lose not only starting spot but back up as well. We have a long season so he can always turn it around, but communication would be nice.  Okay got my feelings out, moving on.  

What I did thanks to being super busy and sick:

Monday: Cross train

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 14.44 miles

Sunday: 2 miles walking

It is what it is.  I am still feeling the effects from this virus, even on Sunday night.  I hope to feel back to normal real this upcoming week (FINGERS CROSSED).  Have a great week y'all!

Week 8 of 12: Training for the Hell Creek 20 mile

 Another week, more craziness, and  little bit of running thrown in.

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 6 miles

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday:  Cross train

Saturday: 17 miles

Sunday: 3 miles

Monday:  Rest day.  I meant to at least get strength done, but with a shop full of guys and football and back to school night all wrapped into one thing, I just didn't have the time or energy.  I did get my new kettlebell and my 25 lb plates in, so that is exciting!!!!!  Fringe sports is the place to be!  Fast and friendly customer service and great products that seem to be lasting.  So excited to start my kettle bell collection, finally.  I did get to meet Andrew's teacher at back to school night and have a long discussion with her.  She seems to be very wonderful and full of great ideas and a partner to us to make sure Andrew has a clear path forward.  

Tuesday:  4-6 miles.  I am giving myself ranges so the plan called for 6 and I decided anywhere between 4-6 would work.  Rockin Robin started out before me since she had an early morning meeting and I joined her at 5:15 am to get some miles.  I ended up at 5 miles at about 6:30 am and called it good so I could have some coffee and relax a minute before getting in the swing of things for school/work.  

Almost as tall as me!

Wednesday:  Rest day.  Not a great day for me all around.  Ended well though at the track.  Andrew ran the fastest he has ever run in his Honda car running a 6.63.  The really good drivers run around a 6.3 so we have work to do, but he was driving hard and wheeling that car like NO OTHER!  Now if we can transfer that from practice to the actually races, he may be able to get a boost that he needs to know he belongs on that track too. 

Thursday:  4 miles.  Totally forgot to set my alarm, but was wide awake before it went off anyway.   Boom got to go again thanks to lower humidity.  Stella is really wanting to go again so hurry up fall!

Friday:  Cross train.  Fall are you there?  Sigh.  Andrew woke up not feeling great.  I was on the fence about sending him but right before we left I took his temp and it was 99.6.  That was too high for me so called the school and kept him home.  Apparently there is a little virus going around with the same symptoms as what Andrew has (snotty nose, sore throat, low grade fever).  Luckily it isn't Covid and we shouldn't (KNOCK ON A HUGE PIECE OF WOOD) get it again.  Between running back and forth to to the shop to print and call people back, I didn't get any cross training done but it is what it is.  

Saturday:  3 miles.  Decided to switch things up since it was suppose to be much cooler on Sunday.  I know the point of the shorter run is to get out post a long run, but again, life.  Stella and I got a quick 3 in before we started the day.  Andrew was pretty much fever free since 8:30 am the day before, so we decided to venture out and enjoy Manhattan since it was an away football game.  We started out with coffee and quiche at our favorite coffee shop.

We painted ceramic pumpkins at our favorite paint and sip shop in Aggieville.

We shopped at our favorite local gift store and got new stickers for Andrew's water bottle and some mini poppits.

We had a couple of beers at our favorite local brewery.

And we ended the night at our favorite Japanese steakhouse for dinner.

Sunday:  Long run 13-15.  Ended up with 13 and horrible chaffing....again.  I used all the things and it didn't work.  Honestly it was a very nice day, humidity in the 80s, with the sun in and out of the clouds.  I did have moments drenched in sweat, but the nice breeze and lots of clean fresh puddles kept us both cooled off enough.  I just didn't have enough in me to go any further, so when I hit the house at 12.75 I decided 13 was good.  

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 5 miles

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday:  Cross train

Saturday: 3 miles

Sunday: 13 miles

Have a great week y'all!  I am looking forward to some mornings in the 50/60s with maybe some lower humidity and a slower paced Monday (although we will still work more than likely).