Training Update: Week 10 (August 17-August 23)

The heat has been so horrible for the past few weeks but the positive thing is that I have not had any hip pain for ten weeks! That is truly a blessing and when I think about that, the heat really doesn't bother me anymore. There is always something to be thankful for and life is so much better when we try to see the good in everything. 

Here is a recap of Week Ten:

Monday: Strength Training: My day started out with Jury Duty. I seriously don't think I would be good on a jury so I spent most of the day praying that I would be excused and I finally was!

I wore my Mountains 2 Beach shirt to celebrate the fact that I just signed up to run the marathon again in 2016. I love this race. If I ever BQ, I would love for it to happen on this course because I love it that much.

Tuesday: 6 Miles: Speedwork: This one did not seem too bad until it ended with two miles at tempo pace instead of a nice and easy cool down. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it but somehow I did.

Wednesday: Muscle Imbalance Strength Training: I felt a little better on the Bosu ball this week. I was sore from all of the body squats so I guess it is working!

Thursday: 7 Miles@8:21: This was a really tough day for me because I could not sleep. I ended up getting three hours of sleep and then going to an all day training for work. I could barely stay awake and had already decided to put my run off until the next day. Once I got home and rested for a couple of hours I decided to go to the gym and run on the treadmill. I haven't done any of my runs on a treadmill unless my coach actually tells me to so it was a good change. I did take two breaks because my IT band started hurting a little bit and I had to stretch it out.

Friday: REST DAY: It is always nice when my Off-Friday and Rest Day fall on the same day. I slept in until 7:30 am, spent some quality time with the furkids and ran some errands.

Saturday: 15 Miles:  The weather was perfect but my energy level was low. I am getting so used to slowing these long runs down that when I have to run at endurance pace it seems hard. That is the only thing that scares me about running my long runs at a much slower pace.

Sunday: Strength Training: I didn't feel like driving to the gym so I decided to get my sweat on at home with my Bosu Ball and other tools that I have at home.

TOTAL MILES: 28

2015 MILES: 835

Three Things Thursday

1. My goal for July is to run 150 miles so I signed up for The Bigfoot Challenge over at http://www.teamigotyaback.com/#cac5. I saw it on Instagram and decided to try it since it is already in line with the mileage I had planned for the month of July. I hope I can do it but as we all know that sometimes life gets in the way and we have to make changes in our running schedule. I don't follow the recommended running schedule because it does not work with my schedule but the mileage I have planned will meet the goal if I can stick with it. Wish me luck!

2. I am thinking about running the Cypress 5K again this year. I ran it last year and got the worst side ache so that is all that keeps playing in my head. I am going to wait until the last minute to sign up to make sure I am ready for it. 5K's are short but oh so painful! If I run it, my goal will be to break 23 minutes (22:59) and I am not sure if I am capable of that right now.

3. This is kind of a sad thought but it has been on my mind for the past few days. I was driving to meet my carpool on Tuesday morning and I saw something in the road. I assumed it was a dead animal and sure enough it was. I decided to change lanes to avoid hitting the dead dog and when I made the lane change, I noticed a small white dog laying in the dummy lane who was still alive. I presume that he was waiting there for his buddy that had just got hit by a car. It was just really sad and just makes me realize how darn faithful dogs are. I did not stop because it was really dark where the dog was at and I did not want to scare him and make him run into traffic because of me. I drove past the same spot after work because I wanted to make sure that he did not get hit too. He was not there so I was relieved to know that perhaps someone rescued him or he made it to safety. This just makes me love my fur babies that much more!

Today is my Friday since I have the day off tomorrow so have a great weekend everyone!

Meet the Party Animals

Yesterday was my dog Roxy's 12th birthday and we celebrated. I bought her a peanut butter flavored doggy bone cake from Three Dog Bakery. Sprinkles cupcakes is next door to the dog bakery so I decided to treat myself to a cupcake so I wouldn't be left out of the party!

 No, all of the party animals don't belong to me. Cinderella, the smaller Pom that looks very much like Roxy, belongs to my daughter and I am still thinking of what I am going to do with Sugar. She is getting really attached to us so I have to formulate a plan quickly to avoid breaking her heart. I would like to say that Roxy (top left), Buster (bottom right), Sugar (bottom left) and Cinderella(top right) had a blast but it was kind of a fiasco to say the least. Cinderella is a barker and all of the other dogs don't really care for her behavior so they got nervous/excited and started scrambling/hiding and things got kind of chaotic.

The good news is that they all loved the doggy cake, especially Cinderella. She was able to scare all of the other dogs away with her barking and eat most of the cake herself.  The party was officially over when Cinderella pooped in the middle of the living room! Nobody wanted to get blamed for that one!

  Roxy has been part of the family since she was a few months old and she is the best dog ever.  She is so sweet and super smart. She knows how to do lots of things other than the standard sit, stay and lay down. Roxy knows how to play dead,  roll over, finds things on command, and brings you specific toys when you ask her for them. Roxy does not like baths, nail trims or teeth brushing but she loves to eat her doggy beef jerky and any kind of table food that she can con you into giving her!

I noticed a few months ago that Roxy was starting to lose her hearing so I took her in for a Senior Wellness Exam to make sure she was in good health.  The vet gave her an exam, did some blood work, a urinalysis and cleaned her teeth.  Roxy is starting to lose her hearing but she can still hear us when we are within close range of her. Other than the issue with her hearing, she is a pretty healthy girl! 

Happy 12th Birthday Roxy Girl!!