Sunday was supposed to be a bike ride with Christine. Unfortunately, Saturday night I was in the ER with Drake (he's okay) and Sunday we had a follow up doctor's appointment, so bike riding was out of the question. Not to mention it was crazy hot that day. Sunday evening I did manage to go for a walk with Caden and it felt good to be out there although I felt guilty for just walking.
Monday was our usual a.m. session at the gym. I did NOT want to get up. The heat makes me feel lazy and my butt was dragging. If Christine wasn't there waiting for me, I probably would have gone back to sleep. But I managed to get there and was half asleep through the first circuit. By round 2 I was feeling alert and good. We did a cardio and leg circuit that kicked butt. Let me tell you, I am sore today.
This afternoon after work, I had made plans with Kristin to do some fartleks (speed play). We decided to go to Torrey Pines beach. The weather was amazingly beautiful with an awesome breeze. We both kept commenting on how gorgeous it was there. We started out by warming up with a jog on the flat stretch to the hill. We got to the hill and started our climb. Holy crap it was tough. We got part way up and walked the rest of the way up the hill that seemed to never end. At one point I had to stop and stretch my calf because it got very tight.
When we got to the top, we started our run which was flat for a bit and then we hit a gradual incline that seemed to go on forever. We maintained our pace and ran the whole way. I set goals for myself on that hill (make it to the sign, make it to the curve, etc.). We reached the top of that incline and turned around and headed back. We ran the whole way back to the car which was mostly downhill. This is where I started rambling to Kristin. I've realized when I'm starting to get tired, I just start spewing nonsense to whoever is with me to create a distraction. There was a flat part at the bottom and as soon as we reached that point, I realized how much running down hill requires little effort because my legs were like lead trying to push forward. It took a couple seconds to adjust, but then got back into a running groove. Our total run time was 55 minutes and then we stretched. As I've mentioned before Kristin is my stretching cheerleader. She drove us there so I had no choice but to stretch (just kidding. I would have stretched anyway because that's my goal this time). The stretching did feel good and after the hills, I'm sure it was more necessary than ever.
Running outdoors like this is so refreshing. Not only is the scenery amazing (the beach, sunset, the trees, etc.), the people exercising are so nice. It is like an unspoken bond with runners when you are out there. Every time we ran by someone running, they would wave and smile. I can't wait to go back and try this run again and see how I improve over time. They say hill running helps with long distance running and I can see why. It completely builds up your endurance. We didn't do speed play today, but the hills definitely were a challenge and worked me hard!
Tomorrow is our early morning gym session. We're doing a lot of cardio in our circuit and for the first time we're using kettlebells. Can't wait to try something new.
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