Week 10: Taper time for the Rockin K trail marathon!

Welcome to the first week of taper in my little mini 12 week cycle I have created!  I am excited to be done with peak week and be on the back end.  I am glad to be back in Kansas, but sad because I miss my mommy and miss my Tennessee home.  Back to the grind!  I kind of screwed up last week and didn't get my blog posted to the link up, but will be better this week and get it posted, I promise.

Monday:  I really, really, really did not want to get up at 4 am and go to Cross fit, but my body just instinctively woke up at the correct time.  We did back squats and then a partner work out that included box jumps, ring rows, dead lifts, and kettle bell swings.  I partnered up with my BRF Mel and split up our 50 reps of each exercise.  I really feel like I am getting stronger because the WODs don't kill me quite as much as they were, and I feel like I can push much harder now.

Tuesday:  6 miles.  I woke up feeling on the edge of a cold.  Not really sick, a little snotty and just that off feeling.  EVERYONE around me lately has been sick with some thing whether it be Flu or upper respiratory gunk, so I have been trying to take my extra vitamin C and praying.  I could tell I wasn't 100% during my run too.  It just felt like a struggle the whole time and of course, a little over a mile in my watch died. I first thought it was a sign to turn around and go back home, but decided to tough it out and get it done.  I tried switching Strava on and using it to log my run, but it was horribly off compared to where I KNOW my miles are.  I just estimated my time when I logged my run based on what I have been doing and let it go.  The type A person in my cringed not knowing if I exactly ran the correct distance and time, but does it really matter?  Getting much better at letting this stuff go and super proud of that.

our article finally came out!

Wednesday:  Cross Fit.  This is my last week of Cross Fit till after my race based on recommendations of my Cross Fit coach and others.  I could try and do lighter weights and lower reps, but we are in the middle of another build cycle for back squats and dead lifts and it wouldn't really fit with what they are doing:(  I will probably just do some body weight stuff at home, which I suck at, but I am going to try my hardest to do. We did tempo dead lifts with tall box jumps. I am still doing box step ups and to do tall box step ups was nearly impossible for me due to my height and the weird angles that it made me have to create with my hips.  My coach scaled them to regular box step ups with weights.  Then we did a partner work out with 15 calorie rows,12 sand bag squats, and  ending with 9 pull ups.  One partner completed a whole round before the next one started.  Unfortunately, I mightily struggled with the sand bag squats.  I couldn't get the sand bag high enough up to actually do the squats deep enough to really count.  My coach showed me a way to try and get the sand bag higher, but I just couldn't seem to do it.  The sand bag was too long and bulky and longer than my torso really, but when I got it high enough, it wouldn't break enough to sling some of it over my shoulder.  I guess I need to be like the strong men and hold it on my shoulder, but I am just not there yet.

ignoring cows, good boy!

Thursday:  Easy 6.  Back to normal so whatever was ailing me was gone!  Took the kiddos out on our normal route and had fun.  I love the walk run intervals and have enjoyed learning how to power walk to keep my times down.  I think this skill will help me in my next trail marathon.  I could tell when I did some power hiking in TN that I was doing much better at keeping a steady pace no matter what the terrain.

at the park enjoying warmer temps

Friday:  REST DAY!  I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.  We are finally seeing signs of spring so we are trying as a family (which is huge for my couch loving hubby) to get out and enjoy it.  Ball season isn't too far around the corner and Tony is coaching this year, so he is trying different stuff on Andrew and trying to get him ready since he will probably be the youngest on the team.  Throwing seems to be 100% better, but catching is still hard for him unless it is a grounder.  He will get there, I just hope he doesn't take a ball to his face this year and get to where he doesn't want to play anymore.

trying my new dirty girl gaiters!

Saturday:  14 miles.  Tried to sleep in.  Dogs were like NOPE.  Did get some sleep though as we finally got up around 8. Fueled and was out the door by 10.  The run was eh.  Felt sore and kind of felt like I was struggling the whole run.  Ran by the house at 13.5 and called it good.  I usually don't do that, but I just wasn't feeling this run.  Fueled correctly, but just never felt great.  Not sure why but glad I got it done even if it was a tiny bit shorter than I had planned.

Post running, we as a family needed to get a lot of errands done in town, and we decided to reward ourselves for adulting by having a flight and some yummy food at Tall Grass Tap house.  Ended up with a growler of the German lager, but i seriously could have gotten a growler of each (Except the IPA, not a hoppy fan).  I had a corn dog made with andouille sausage and it was AMAZING!  I never would have guessed a corn dog would be that good, but paired with the amazing beer they brew there, it was!

Boom's first walk/run mile

Sunday:  Easy 5.  Back up.  I stayed up duper duper late hanging out with my BRF Saturday night.  Our schedules are crazy different right now, so we aren't running together and only getting a little bit of talking time pre cross fit twice a week  We send a million FB messages a day,  but that doesn't count as much as in person talking.  Her hubby was working late, so we had some good beer and watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.  I had some small bit of hope that I would get to sleep in, but the kiddo and the dogs said NOPE.  We had plans for the morning, so the run would have to wait.

We took Andrew to a quarter midget car track day where the kids got to do 10 laps in a real quarter midget car for 15 bucks.  Andrew was super excited, but I just didn't know how he would do.  Once they are suited up in their safety gear, they go off with the track people to be put in their cars, and then wait for their turn on the track.  Andrew is going through yet another weird separation anxiety phase, so I held my breath.  This was post waiting for over three hours for his track time.  Apparently, even though the event started registration at 11, most people where in line to get registered at 10.  We got there around 11:45.  Whoops.  Lesson learned.  The track people were quite smart though because they had so much chalk for chalk art, hula hoops, bubbles, and a fully stocked concession stand to keep kiddos and parents happy.

I was SO proud of him.  He listened to them talk about safety, got strapped in and learned how to drive the car, and then sat patiently while the car on the track died several times and had to be pushed.  When it was his turn, he did his 10 laps, and even after the checkered flag knew to go to the end guys even though they weren't paying attention that it was his last lap.  Afterwards he was all smiles and kept talking about going back.  We stopped and had ice cream on the way back to celebrate and then I got ready to run.  The above picture is of Boom and Stella running.  I have decided that he is ready to start doing at least a mile of walk/run with Stella, so he learns how to run correctly with me.  She takes running VERY seriously, so hopefully he will get the idea.  We already walk quite a bit taking to Andrew to school every day, and I will not be doing any more than a mile and no more than 3 times a week until his growth plates are closed.  

Thanks for joining me this week.  I am going to link up this week and not forget :)  Thanks to Kim at Running on the Fly and Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner for hosting the Weekly Run Down!  I so enjoy the blogs I have been reading and can't wait to discover more new favorites!