In The Long Run

[whatevergirl]

I've been a runner for over a decade, and started lifting about five years ago. I'd like to find a balance between lifting and running, and by that I mean, that whenever I add mileage weekly to my runs, my lifting backs off. Whenever I focus more on lifting, I find myself running less. I'm hoping that some accountability here for myself will help me find that happy medium. I use an app ''map my run'' and it's awesome. If you've never used it, I highly recommend. It's not just for running, you can plug in other types of workouts.

Ran after work today and most of the time, I time myself, but through experience and reading articles, etc I've found that not timing yourself can make you a more efficient runner, on average.

Today's run:
Miles: 4:03
Time: 38:19 minutes

Then, did 20 minutes of core work at home. No gym today.

I've also taken up yoga (which I really love), but if I'm ever going to get regular with lifting again, something needs to go, and it won't be running.

[steffo99]

Great to see you in here, will check in from time to time. I do lurk this place sometimes and always thought about starting a journal in this section. I'll wait till I get a bit further with my running and add in more track type of workouts (plyo, jumping, throws etc) so I have something "fun" to share. Good luck with this WEG.

[whatevergirl]

Great to see you in here, will check in from time to time. I do lurk this place sometimes and always thought about starting a journal in this section. I'll wait till I get a bit further with my running and add in more track type of workouts (plyo, jumping, throws etc) so I have something "fun" to share. Good luck with this WEG.

Hi steffo! Welcome to my boring running journal. I’ll try to make it exciting…sometimes?

Today, have a run planned, went to a great spot for lunch with a friend, where it’s fresh, organic and made to order, so in this pic, is my lunch. Had today grilled green beans, quinoa and raw veggies, and baked almond chicken with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Delicious and will get me through the afternoon.



Hope everyone’s having an awesome day so far.

[whatevergirl]

Today's run. Working from home tomorrow, thinking of running at lunch, and then the gym after work.

[whatevergirl]

Lunch today - found this satisfying low carb whole grain bread, only 4 net carbs and it tastes delicious. So, made a low carb french toast, with fresh blueberries. And 2 HB eggs.



Gym after work today, determined to get back to following a lifting program 3x a week, without letting it throw me off balance with running and yoga. Maybe I need to quit my job, it's getting in the way. Happy Friday!

[whatevergirl]

Went to the gym and worked a light routine of squats, deads, and chest. Then, went for a run on a trail that I had never been on, it was really fun. Would do it again. Had to pay a few bucks to run there though, that was different. Never had to pay before to use a trail. There were cameras everywhere too. But, it did make me feel safe going deep into the trail alone.

Squats:
75x10
85x10
100x10
100x8
75x10

Deadlifts:
85x8
85x8
105x8
110x8
120x8
85x5

Incline bench:
5 sets of 65 x 8 reps

Core work - 4 sets of 20 leg raises, and planks (holding for 45 seconds, 5 sets)

*No other accessory work

*Then 3.5 mile run, untimed. This trail was cool in that it had markers to show you how far you had run.

Good Friday was good.

[JohnButz]

Subbed in! Always great to follow along your fitness journey.

[whatevergirl]

Subbed in! Always great to follow along your fitness journey.

Thanks John! Good to see you!

[steffo99]

Good work, WEG.


Today is a big day here I'll watch this local race and the world's largest half marathon, Göteborgsvarvet. This is the race I aim to take part in next year. There are 65,000 starting and I have at least 2 friends running today that I am aware of. It's like a whole folk fest with thousands cheering on from the sides, music, events etc. I'll watch it on TV though and try based on my friends starting groups/schedules to see if I can catch a glimpse of them, but that may be difficult.

[whatevergirl]

steffo, that's so cool!! The world's largest 1/2 marathon? I wouldn't have guessed that. I was going to enter a 1/2 marathon a few years ago, was in the middle of training for it, and sprained my ankle, and it was a bad sprain. It took a little while to heal, and that threw me out of it. I'd love to train for one, I picked up a training program that actually suggests to not run far distances often until you get closer to your event. So inspiring, thanks for sharing it!

Just a brief rant. A friend of mine wants to run with me, today. I have mixed feelings about working out with others. On the one hand, this particular friend is a very fast runner and will push me to improve my pace. But, at the same time, I like the alone time running gives me, it's a time for me to think about nothing really, talk about nothing. A time to destress. Was looking forward to going back to that trail from yesterday, alone. Just feel life is so busy with noise, emails, social media, social functions, work, etc...when you find the time to run alone out in nature, it really is a great change from the workweek.

Thought for the day I ran across on FB earlier:

"Stop getting distracted by things that have nothing to do with your goals.'' We all have details in our lives that sometimes need our full attention, but I take this quote to mean that setting goals in terms of fitness, should be a priority. Not an after thought, or something we fit around everything else.

Have a good day!

[whatevergirl]

Where I ran today - perfect weather!



Went a little over 4 miles, and ran sprints for about 15 minutes. Don't think I was entirely hydrated enough today, by the end of the sprints, felt like cobwebs in my mouth. But overall, a decent run. Didn't run with my friend, she had somewhere else to be. Which was fine with me, I could run alone as I had wanted.

[whatevergirl]

Breakfast - Starbucks oatmeal with blueberries and nuts/seeds. 2 egg whites, coffee

Heading to the gym shortly, and planning deadlifts, squats, leg press, upper back and core work. Sprints planned afterwards. We'll see how my legs feel after squats and leg press, anyways.

Some Sunday inspiration:



It's not fun to be broken by life, but when you are, when you have dealt with trials and difficult situations, and you come through, you realize that you're stronger than you ever thought. <3

[JohnButz]

Breakfast - Starbucks oatmeal with blueberries and nuts/seeds. 2 egg whites, coffee

Heading to the gym shortly, and planning deadlifts, squats, leg press, upper back and core work. Sprints planned afterwards. We'll see how my legs feel after squats and leg press, anyways.

Some Sunday inspiration:



It's not fun to be broken by life, but when you are, when you have dealt with trials and difficult situations, and you come through, you realize that you're stronger than you ever thought. <3

Sounds like a great day planned! Excellent thought for today too.

[whatevergirl]

Sounds like a great day planned! Excellent thought for today too.

It went well, so plan actually happened. lol

Really light day, because I wanted to run sprints after.

Deadlifts:
75x10
85x10
85x10
85x10
90x10

Squats:
75x8
80x8
80x8
80x8
75x10

Leg Press:
100x10
100x10
100x10
110x8
100x10

Seated Cable Rows:
55x10
55x10
70x10
70x10
55x10

75 sit ups/core work

Bicep curls
3 sets of 10 using 15's
2 sets of 10 using 20's

*Sprints after, 25 minutes

*Notes - good workout overall, sprints went well. I'd like to get under a 9 mm by end of the summer at a 5 mile clip. Hovering in the 9:20 to 9:50 mm on average, currently. We'll see what happens...

Liking this...

[whatevergirl]

Today, was one of those Mondays. Getting ready for work, I knocked over my entire make up bag, make up going everywhere. One of my cats vomited before work, and planned a run for after work, and MMR needs to be ''updated.'' Tried to update it, but it kept kicking me out of MMR. Ugh!

Decided to go to that new trail I recently discovered, where there are distance markers. I went a little over 5 miles, round trip, from car to my destination. Steady state with a few sprints, but mainly steady pace the entire way. Definitely getting hotter outside, but there's something about sweating outdoors, just makes you feel like you really accomplished something.

Pre-run - bowl of oatmeal with raspberries
Post run - 2 HB eggs

Dinner, turkey meatloaf and salad. The day might have started off wrong, but it's ending right.

Tomorrow, gym upper body w/out.

[JohnButz]

Nice work Sharon! You turned what could of been a rough day into an accomplished day.

[whatevergirl]

Nice work Sharon! You turned what could of been a rough day into an accomplished day.

Thanks, John - a great run can make everything better.

[New Evolution]

Oh hai and in.

[JohnButz]

Thanks, John - a great run can make everything better.

Very much agree! The running endorphins are the realest dealest!

[whatevergirl]

Oh hai and in.

LOL Fun times Hope you had an awesome day, Evo!

Very much agree! The running endorphins are the realest dealest!

So true. Endorphins from a run, especially. lol

[whatevergirl]

Today, was a good day. I got to thinking, about the things I need to remove as to simplify my life. Think we feel that being busy with social media all the time is ''necessary.'' But, ********, instagram, etc....it can really be negatively distracting. I used to really enjoy FB, until I started seeing friends of mine act differently on there, than they do off of there. It started to bother me, and make me question who they really are. Eventually, FB became a negative drain in my life, and recently, I decided to deactivate it. I reactivated it briefly, in a moment of weakness, but then came to my senses, and left it again. Not everyone feels the same, but ask yourself, what is present in your life, that distracts you from not only your goals, but your peace? If you have anyone or any thing in your life that takes away from your overall happiness, I say dump it (or them). Stress can really impact your life in terrible ways, so, don't hang onto stressful situations any longer than you need to. Eating healthy, working out, sleeping well, it's all meaningless if you're allowing too much stress in your life.

Tonight @ the gym:

In order:

Deadlifts:
90x10
100x10
115x8
115x5
100x8
90x10
*still keeping it on the light side

Squats:
85x10
95x10
95x10
105x10
105x5
85x8

WG Lat Pull downs:
55x10
55x10
70x10
70x5
55x12

Bicep curls using barbell
5 sets of 10 using 30 lbs

Bicep curls using cable
4 sets of 10 @ 15 (each arm)
*this is always hard for some reason

Tricep dips/seated/unweighted
2 sets of 10

Seated Flyes:
40x10
50x10
40x10
40x10
40x10
*this is a machine

Core work, planks - 5, holding for 45 seconds each

*Then, ran for 2 miles after, steady state pace. The gym has a nice trail behind it, so ran there.

Meals:

Breakfast: egg whites, turkey bacon, coffee
Snack: 1/2 cup almonds
Lunch: turkey chili and crackers (didn't finish it, rushed at work today)
Snack: cottage cheese and fruit
Pre-workout - Syntha shake, and small bowl of oatmeal with raspberries

Dinner: Baked chicken and veggies

[JohnButz]

Excellent session and thoughts on social media etc. Last year I deactivated mostly because my page was basically a commercial for a company that I worked for, but also the fact that I was sort of tired of the nonsense. Just this last week or so I reluctantly had to restart a new page for some new endeavors, but I'm going to keep the app off my phone, limit to just certain times etc.

[whatevergirl]

Excellent session and thoughts on social media etc. Last year I deactivated mostly because my page was basically a commercial for a company that I worked for, but also the fact that I was sort of tired of the nonsense. Just this last week or so I reluctantly had to restart a new page for some new endeavors, but I'm going to keep the app off my phone, limit to just certain times etc.

That's a good idea, John. Nothing inherently wrong with FB, but it becomes addicting quickly, and I think if FB got rid of the 'like' feature, no one would use it. lol A study came out last year that FB causes depression, and that teens have a high rate of depression over using FB too much. That's really sad.

[whatevergirl]

Today's run, 4.15 miles - pace: 39:34 minutes - I'm okay with it, today.

*After, 20 pushups, core work, and 15 minutes of stretching



A random observation for the day. I live in a suburb where there's a leash law for dogs, but, for some reason, there are dogs running around without a leash. It can be scary when you're running, to pass by larger dogs, and you're not sure of their demeanor. Need to find some different trails to run on, but I went on a congested one near my house, in the interest of time today. I don't understand dog owners sometimes, I have cats.

[New Evolution]

Great work WEG! I enjoy reading your burps, pics and daily meal. You're really clean. I wish I can do the same.


"Eating healthy, working out, sleeping well, it's all meaningless if you're allowing too much stress in your life."

QFT on this.

[JohnButz]

Today's run, 4.15 miles - pace: 39:34 minutes - I'm okay with it, today.

*After, 20 pushups, core work, and 15 minutes of stretching



A random observation for the day. I live in a suburb where there's a leash law for dogs, but, for some reason, there are dogs running around without a leash. It can be scary when you're running, to pass by larger dogs, and you're not sure of their demeanor. Need to find some different trails to run on, but I went on a congested one near my house, in the interest of time today. I don't understand dog owners sometimes, I have cats.

I know exactly what you mean. The track I do my sprints on just posted new "300 FINE FOR NO PETS" in the park and on the track.----first thing I see round the first 1/4 mile is a couple with matching Pomeranians.

[whatevergirl]

Great work WEG! I enjoy reading your burps, pics and daily meal. You're really clean. I wish I can do the same.


"Eating healthy, working out, sleeping well, it's all meaningless if you're allowing too much stress in your life."

QFT on this.

Thanks Evo!! Always nice to see you in here.
I don't always eat clean, but it ends up being easier than falling off track and having to get back on it, ya know?

I know exactly what you mean. The track I do my sprints on just posted new "300 FINE FOR NO PETS" in the park and on the track.----first thing I see round the first 1/4 mile is a couple with matching Pomeranians.

LOL! That's funny

So, $300 fine?? I need to move there. lol I don't mind dogs, but there's no reason to let them run without a leash. It's not safe for the dog, either.


So, today, I'm supposed to go to the gym, but after the day I've had, dealing with more people, doesn't sound appealing.

[whatevergirl]

Totally love it when the gym is empty, but when it's packed, it gives me a chance to get inspired by those who are performing exercises that maybe I hadn't thought of or have thought of, but just never tried for myself. Tonight, my gym was packed, and it was great to see everyone doing so many different types of exercises from deadlifts and squats, to plyometrics, to a spin bike class to cross fit. High school teens, to people who are in their 60's were there tonight, all trying to improve themselves. My gym has a wall where you can write quotes, sayings, etc in these neon colored magic markers, which is a nice touch. If the gym is packed, it doesn't need to be a problem...make new friends, get inspired, learn something new. Look at it as a good thing, the next time.

Workout:

Deadlifts:
*light again

85x10
95x10
105x8
110x8
110x8
110x8
95x10

Squats
*light again

80x10
80x10
90x10
100x5
105x5
105x5

Bicep Curls:

3 sets of 20, using 15's
2 sets of 10, using 20's

Leg extensions
55x10
55x10
70x10
70x10
55x10

Jumping squats, fast
3 sets of 20

2 mile run/slow

*Felt tired when I got to the gym. I've stopped taking pre workout stims, because honestly, they're not good for you. Maybe on occasion, but not as a steady thing.

Tomorrow, a rest day, and maybe some ice cream. I've been strict this week, with my macros.

[JohnButz]

Nice work Sharon! Enjoy the rest day & ice cream.

[whatevergirl]

Nice work Sharon! Enjoy the rest day & ice cream.

Thanks John! Had a nap this afternoon, and going to have a slice or two of pizza tonight, instead of the ice cream. Fridays are a good day to take as an off day, I think.

Have a great night!