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:
weekly run down
All About That Base
It’s winter. I have no races on my radar. It’s a busy time of year. It’s dark and cold most mornings. Every few weeks we pass along some crud around our house. So right now, I’m all about that base — keeping up my base mileage, that is (bonus points if you have some Meghan Trainor in your head now!).
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A Sluggish Week
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!
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Wake me up when December …
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.
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:
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Kicking off the Holiday Season
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:
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Seasonal Confusion
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:
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Cleveland Marathon 2023 Ambassador
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
And now, onto my week! Here’s how it went:
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Saying Goodbye to October
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:
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Hello Darkness
Hello, darkness! What a dark, dark week for running for me. Daylight is quickly shortening here in Northeast America so I had quite a few dark runs this week. I also came down with whatever crud is going through our house (FW has had a cough on and off for a few weeks, GM has an ear infection, etc.) so between that and the darkness, the week overall has felt very blah to me. I’ve tried to keep up with my workouts because after running I feel a little more awake and a little less cruddy, but I haven’t been sleeping well, so it has been hard to get out of bed!
Knowing that, here’s how the week looked:
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Fall Running Fun
Another week in October is done, and it really started to feel like fall this week. We had some beautiful fall weather (on Sunday), some cruddy rainy and cool fall weather (Monday through Wednesday), and some warm weather (on Saturday).
And this week, I somehow managed to get out every day, despite the rain (luckily it was mostly a drizzle), and cool that I’m not ready for. Running on Tuesday and Wednesday reminded me of this meme:
This week, I also tried to focus on my core and getting in my diastasis recti exercises. My gap is still a few fingers wide, and I’d love to close it and get stronger as much as I can. So, instead of getting in a full 5 miles most mornings, I spent 10 minutes or so doing my ab exercises and cut my run a little short.
Knowing that, here’s how the week looked:
I Crashed The Web 