You know what’s difficult to keep up with? This whole blog thing. I want to be better about it. I really do, but I just haven’t found my groove with it yet. I’m trying to map out a weekly plan for it that will hopefully help, but we’ll see.

Before I talk about the week, here’s how the miles mapped out:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 3 miles
• Wednesday: 2.1 miles
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: 3.03 miles
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday: 5.05 miles

First week without Jacks as he’s recovered from an infection on one of his paws. It was weird without him, but I managed. The weather was also rough toward the end of last week. I have a gym membership and could have easily moved inside for a treadmill run, but I was determined to suck it up and run outside. Brilliant idea, really.

Friday was 24 degrees when I ran. Sunday was 33 degrees. Sunday was especially weird as I ran through flurries, sun and wind. Everything but the kitchen sink!

The end of this week looks better, so I just have to get to Thursday. Until then, my cold weather gear is getting a workout. Sigh.

Anyway, I’m going to try to be better about blogging this week. I realized over the last week that while I write for a living and tweet until my heart’s content, I don’t really have a voice yet. Working on it.

Until then, I have a big week ahead with work, life and runs. Stay tuned.

Erin

P.S. I’m 1/3 of the way through training! Hooray!

I have to be honest: This last week of running was pretty tough. Only Sunday’s run felt good, and even that ended with a bit of a sore note. Needless to say, I’m ready for a new week. But before I can start a new week of training, let’s recap the last week, shall we?

First, here’s how my week went in miles:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 3.23 miles
• Wednesday: Rest
• Thursday: 2.27 miles
• Friday: 3.1 miles
• Saturday: 1.61 miles (mostly walking)
• Sunday: 5.1 miles

OK, so now for the story behind those miles:

Tuesday was rough. I wore a pair of running leggings that must have stretched out at some point because they kept pulling down with every step. That made things a little uncomfortable for 3.23 miles. Jacks wasn’t feeling it either (the run, not my legging issue) and was pretty much over it about halfway through. We basically crawled home.

The rest of the week was pretty similar. I clearly hit a plateau, which is tough but I kept fighting through. It was worth it though because Sunday was a great run. Jacks and I killed our mile times, and we both could have run even further if need be. Felt really good about that, until…

Woke up this morning and Jacks wouldn’t get out of bed. Not uncommon. He’s a bit lazy in the mornings. I got him up but he was being really hesitant to jump out of bed. After he finally did, I realized… He’s limping and limping bad. After a frantic call to the vet (“Did he tear his ACL?! Is something broken?!”), I discovered a bump on his front right paw pad. Ugh.

Vet asked to see him so off to the vet we went. He likely stepped on something on one of our runs and it got infected. He’s now on pain meds, antibiotics and getting epsom salt baths for his paw (I know, I know). Oh, and his activity has to be limited.

That means I’m solo on runs this week. Bummer, but Jacks will be healthy soon enough and he’ll be back at it with me. Until then, I’m hoping for a better week on the running trail than the last but as I’ve been told many times: It’s not how fast I’m moving, it’s just that I’m moving.

So, I’ll keep on moving.

Erin

 

I have an hour and a half to get this published before it’s no longer Monday. Talk about leaving it until the last minute. Whoops?

Before I get into last week’s running recap, I do have to say thank you for all the love and support in response to yesterday’s blog. Y’all are great. Mean it to the moon and back.

Also, Boys Town is going to state! So exciting (and the reason for this week’s header photo). As the Boys Town cheer coach, it’s been a wild ride and it’ll be fun to share this experience with the kids.

And without further adieu, here’s how my second week of training went:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 2.2 mile run
• Wednesday: 2.75 mile run
• Thursday: 2 mile run
• Friday: Shoveled snow! (That counts as cardio, right?)
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday: 3.32 mile run

I’m about a half mile under on each run’s goal, so I’ll need to step that up this week a bit. The distance also increases this week, so I’m going to do my best to get more into the 3.5-5 mile markers.

And Jacks has continued to be along for every run. Seriously, he’s a very good dog.

Two weeks in though, I’m feeling so much better. I have more energy, I’m not as sore and I’m enjoying the runs themselves more and more. Excited to see where week three takes me.

On to the next.

Erin

I’m going to be honest: My first week of half-marathon training was rough. The good news is that I’ve got a stellar training partner (which is why he got the header photo, because he’s great!) and we’re keeping at it. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been difficult to stay motivated though.

When I ran my first half-marathon in 2014 (the amazing Lincoln Half-Marathon!), I was already pretty active. It took awhile to adjust to running long distances, as I’d never been much of a runner to begin with, but I got there and enjoyed every step along the way.

This time is going to be a little different. I wasn’t completely lazy before I started training, but I really hadn’t worked out since about this time last year. In fact, my TimeHop reminded me this morning that exactly one year ago today I was scaling the First National Tower. Sort of amazing to think about.

But here’s what I will say about the last week: Yes, it was hard but I kept moving. That’s what matters. Over the next 11 weeks, I’m just going to keep moving one step at a time.

Anyway, here’s how my week went down:

• Monday: 2 mile run (Flipped my rest day from Monday to Tuesday due to Nebraska basketball)
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday: Rest (Couldn’t find motivation, so I flipped my rest day from Friday to Wednesday)
• Thursday: 2.15 mile run
• Friday: 1.5 mile walk (I switched my 30 min cross day from Saturday to Friday, opting to walk)
• Saturday: 2.5 mile run
• Sunday: 3 mile run

I put in almost 10 miles running over the week, with another 1.5 miles of walking. Not too bad. This week’s training schedule is identical to last week, but I’ll probably move the rest days around again.

All in all, I’m happy with my first week and am looking forward to week No. 2.

On to the next!

Erin

P.S. If you have any recommendations for pre- and post-workout supplements and protein to take, shoot me a message. I’m sort of at a loss.