weekly run down

Starting off the New Year positive

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

Well, 2023 didn’t quite start as planned. For all of you that started off the new year with new goals and are still going strong – congratulations! Our new year started off positive – but in a different way. It started off with sickness and then positive COVID tests for our household. This is our first time catching COVID (yes, we made it three years into the pandemic somehow), and luckily it has been mild for us all. 

That said, it still has thrown off our schedule, workouts, and everything else this week. With all the kids home thanks to our quarantine, plus trying to work full time, I knew I had to get in some workouts this week just for my sanity. 

Continue reading →

My 2022 Running Recap

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 14 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I can NOT believe that tomorrow will be 2023. The year was memorable for many reasons – B and I both got new jobs, our youngest turned one, our lives returned to some sense of normalcy with 3 kids at school/daycare, some traveling again, AND the return of in-person racing! I didn’t do many races this year, but it was still a good year, with lots of miles fit into my busyish schedule and no injuries.

I set out the year with these goals:

Goal 1: Add in something else besides running into my schedule. 

Goal 2: Continue to run, injury free.

Goal 3: Run in-person races again!

Here’s how I did related to those goals:

Goal 1: I started doing some other workouts in the morning! It’s nothing significant, but several days a week I start my day with diastasis recti exercises, ab exercises or some other 8-10 minute video before hitting the road to run. It hasn’t been every day (it’s only when I wake up early before the kids) and it’s not all year (I started it maybe in October?), but I actually started this, which is big for me.

Goal 2: Yes! Yes! I ran injury free, thanks in part to continued stretching (sometimes) and rolling my foot out each day after running to prevent PF.

Goal 3: I ran ~5 races this year – they included:

  • Cleveland Marathon Challenge Series: This included a 5K and half marathon. See my recap, here:
  • Communion of Saints 5K: This small race earned me an AG medal! My kids and husband did the one miler. More here.
  • Cleveland Heights Happy 5K: I “ran” this race with my 6-year-old! It was his first 5K. We ended up walking most of it but I feel lucky to have run a race with him. More here.
  • Bulldog Bolt 5K: This was my fastest postpartum 5K and a fast-for-me-right-now time. My kids and husband did the one miler. More here.
  • Stratford, Connecticut Turkey Trot: This was a fun race that I ended up doing before Thanksgiving with my family. More here.

This week, I’m finishing up the year on a quiet note with only a few days of running. I got in three runs in Upstate New York when visiting my family and a short run in Cleveland today. It was an easy week, and I enjoyed some time off of work AND running. With that for this week, that leaves me with the following for this year …

Total mileage for 2022: 1,513.67

Questions for you:

  • How did your 2022 end in terms of fitness?
  • Any goals for 2023?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

 

Negative Twenty Plus Degrees Is Cold

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

I can’t believe that it’s almost Christmas!! The holidays are my favorite time of year, and I am so looking forward to seeing my family tomorrow. But before that, I enjoyed a few nice runs this week. This week, I got the pleasure of sleeping in! Since FW didn’t have school, I was able to get up at 5:30 (yes, that’s sleeping in on weekdays) and get in a few miles later than usual. It was realllly nice and that extra hour or so of sleep made all the difference. That was before the storm came though – the week started out mostly nice, with a few days of slight snowfall that had melted by lunch. But then, the storm came, and my workouts had to adapt … here’s how the week looked:

Continue reading →

A Sluggish Week

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

I am TIRED. It was a WEEK. We have sick kids (two with coughs/colds, one who is getting over an ear infection and one who had a stomach bug), which means less-than-stellar sleep. Sunday night, I ended up with just over three hours of sleep (and this was right after a few days in a row of GM waking up at 3 a.m. and not going back to sleep) thanks to sick kiddos, and that set me up as very very sleepy all week long. I went to bed at 8:30 Thursday night, which is earlier than usual for me, and still could barely get out of bed when my alarm went off Friday morning at 4:30! Needless to say, I’m ready for a few days off and holiday break.

Knowing that, this week wasn’t my best.  I was NOT feeling my runs this week. I was slow, late getting outside so didn’t have as much time (again, couldn’t get out of bed), and I didn’t put in my daily DR exercises (because I didn’t get out of bed on time). But on the bright side – the weather was great all week and I even got in a run every day (including after said 3.5 hr of sleep night) Hoping that next few weeks are better!

Continue reading →

Wake me up when December …

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

And just like that, December is here! And I’m not mad about it. I love this time of year and all the festive activities that come with it. In terms of running, I don’t typically like winter, but at least last week we didn’t have any snow so I was happy about that.

20221202_112947

November’s running was pretty good. Here are some of the highlights:

  • I got in almost 125 miles for the month, which was better than October.
  • I did one race, slower than my last 5K, but it was a Turkey Trot and I had a good time running in Connecticut before seeing my family for Thanksgiving
  • I got in my DR exercises most weeks. I’ve been trying to be better about making it a priority. I am hoping that when I go to the doctor in January, I’ll find out how far my ab gap really is and if I’ve made progress.  

Here’s how last week specifically looked:

Continue reading →

Kicking off the Holiday Season

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

And so it begins – the holiday season! I love this time of year and can’t now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I can’t wait until celebrating Christmas. This year, for the first time in five years, I was able to travel back east to spend Thanksgiving with my family. The last time we were with my family for Thanksgiving it was before LM was born, and I can’t put into words how great it was to be able to spend the time with my family again.

As part of the trip, I was even able to do a Turkey Trot in Connecticut! It was great to still fit in one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving, and I’m thankful for my family for not only driving 20ish hours total for the trip, but also waking up early on Thanksgiving and letting me get in a race. Other than that, there wasn’t that much time for fitness during my time (see: 20-hours in the car with three kids), but I was glad to be able to fit it in.

Here’s how the week looked:

Continue reading →

Seasonal Confusion

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

Is it still fall or did winter come early?

I know winter technically starts next month, but in Cleveland, it feels like it has come already. We had snow several days last week, and while it thankfully (so far) hasn’t stayed, I am not ready for it! I’ve tried to contain my disappointment and dismay though, since my kids love the snow and were so excited by the first snowfall we had on Sunday, I can’t help but try to feel their excitement. I don’t want my feelings to wear off on them yet! 

With the first snow, came the first few treadmill runs of the season. It was time to (quite literally) dust off my dear old friend and get back on for.a few miles. Here’s how the week looked:

Continue reading →

Cleveland Marathon 2023 Ambassador

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

This week was pretty uneventful running-wise. I ran 4-5 miles most days, did my diastasis recti abdominal exercises and enjoyed the still good weather. BUT there was one exciting piece of news — I am excited to announce that I am going to be an ambassador for the 2023 Cleveland Marathon!

This means that I get to run the race for free, get a 15% discount and get to host a giveaway. Right now I have my eye set on the Challenge Series, running a 5K and half marathon, Saturday and Sunday of race weekend. But I still have some time to decide! If you’re interested in signing up for any of the events, you can use my discount code: MELCARNSAVE15

IMG_20221109_212530_675

And now, onto my week! Here’s how it went:

Continue reading →

Saying Goodbye to October

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

I can’t believe we’re already in November — what happened to summer?

In terms of running, October was alright. It had its ups and downs, including:

  • It was one of my lower mileage months this year, and I finished with around 115 miles run.
  • I did do one race, a 5K, with a time at 25:30 that I was proud of – it was fast for me right now. AND it was a family race, so it was fun to have the kids do the 1 mile with B.
  • I got in my diastasis recti exercises several times most weeks – yay! And I prioritized it, thus some of the fewer miles.
  • For the most part, we had GREAT weather and some beautiful day with gorgeous leaves.  
  • It was DARK. Dark on most of my runs, which made getting out of bed extra hard. Again, thus some of the fewer miles.

And now, onto November! Here’s how the week looked:

Continue reading →