A Peek at a Peachy Peak Week

Last week was a pretty fantastic week.  I feel like I got a lot done, but also don’t feel crispy fried from it.  I just want to continue riding the wave of inertia and make sure I end up feeling good and fresh on Sunday, so any goals I need to drop to make that happen will be thrown to the ground.

Training:

Lookie!  A bike!

I felt like I nailed this last week!  Finally!

• 40-45 miles.  Running every day (let’s try this again).
• Long run of 17-18 with some form of speed/pickups/tempo/etc.
• One tempo run of 4-5 miles half marathon pace or under.
• At least 15 minutes of non-running workout or maintenance a day (swim, bike, stretch/roll, weights).
• At least 1 weights session (2 preferred).

Look at that!  Besides not doing two weights sessions, I nailed every goal I had last week.  I hit 40 miles exactly (and I definitely would have done more if they weren’t 100% treadmill runs :P).  I did a long run of 17 miles, descending the pace for the first 11 and then intervals for the last 6 with a pace in the 10s overall.  I rocked a 5 mile tempo at half marathon pace.  I am not sure if it averaged out to be exactly 15 mins a day of maintenance, but it was close if not even actually MORE if you include walking.  I did only do one weights session, so something to improve on next cycle.

Race Week!

• Normal run Monday, Tempo Tuesday, then initiate mid-week taper week.
• 3-4 miles on Wednesday and Thurs, 1-2 miles Friday and Saturday.
• Run 13.1 miles hard on Sunday.  I’m not going to be upset with myself if I don’t make it because I’m training for a marathon, but I’m going to go for a PR (sub 2:08). About 30-35 miles total.
• Continue with 15 minutes non-running per day (bike, swim, strength, stretch, walking, etc).
• One weights session (two preferred), but no weights Friday or Saturday (and no heavy weights).

Food/Scale:

This My Fit Foods Gumbo was the BOMB.

I feel like flippin’ Violet Beauregard right now (I’m wearing purple and feel extremely bloated), but I’m doing the right things so I’ll just keep on keepin’ on and hopefully the results will come.

• All lunches and dinners are healthy take out minus 2 days (probably one weekday + Saturday).
• Continue tracking my food, attempting a -500 calorie deficit, and sticking to my macros.
• Push more calories to the 1-2 hours before my workout so I don’t get hangry and cut things short to go eat.
• Back to the harsh reality of daily weight tracking.

Wednesday night or Thursday lunch are when we needed to pick up food, and we just didn’t.  I did have healthy food all week minus a burger and fries after my long run on Saturday, and potato cakes with lunch on Sunday (apparently I was craving fried potatoes?).  I tracked every day and am getting used to the -500 calorie thing pretty well now.  I didn’t leave any workouts because I needed food so bad I wanted to die.  I got on the scale every day until Saturday (so I have a decent baseline) and will resume once that once a month bloat gets a bit less.  I don’t want to have hormones + some awful number send me into a shame spiral right now. 😛

Race week eats!

• All lunches and dinners are healthy take out my normal pre-race lunch and one meal after the race Sunday.
• Continue tracking my food, attempting a -500 calorie deficit, and sticking to my macros EXCEPT for Friday and Saturday (eat what I burn, push the carbs a little more).  Post-race, I’ll give it a go to keep a deficit but that’s optional too.
• Continue to track weight starting Wednesday.  No judgies.
• No booze after Wednesday.

I want to give myself a little time of actually being flush on calories before the race.  I don’t expect maintaining a minor calorie deficit will actually affect the outcome of a 2 hour effort as long as I feed myself well that day, but I’ll give myself the 2 days previous as an insurance policy.

Dishwasher arrives next Tuesday.  I am excited to be able to cook again!

Life:

First time I’ve ever worn this dress and I bought it this summer.

Also a pretty good week in this category.

• Gaming at work during downtime.  Color at home.
• Get up 15+ minutes earlier than last week (this is where I’m going to be fitting in the majority of that cross training).
• E-cig only every other day
• Go out and do something this weekend with friends
• Make the workout room usable
• Get my bike to the shop for a tune up
• Wash my hair mostly every day immediately upon coming in the house every day and keep the laundry basket far away from the bedroom to mitigate allergies.

I forgot a few things.  I didn’t get the bike to the shop (I have much time before I ride it outside, so it’s not a huge priority).  I didn’t crack open the coloring book (but I plan to tonight).  The workout room treadmill is now usable, but it’s still really messy.  However, I feel like I accomplished a decent amount, especially considering I nailed my peak week training as well.  And… we did this…

Our wall o’Krasayansky is finally up!  I’m so happy!  We’ve been collecting it for over 10 years….

Race Week Stuffs.  All the things that are To Dos that take effort are kind of negotiable depending on level of energy.

• When I put my laundry away, set out 3-5 things I’d like to wear over the next week.
• E-cig only twice next week and not any for the three days leading up to the race.
• Continue to wash my hair at least every other day (and always on bad allergy days).  Keep laundry basket out of bedroom and wash it once it gets full.
• Gaming during downtime at work, coloring at home.
• Exchange my Christmas gift at the outlet mall.
• Clean out workout room and build shelves.

Regarding the clothing fore-thought, I did that last week and it was awesome because I wore different stuff than the normal t-shirt and jeans because it was easy in the morning.  Right now, since I feel like a giant grape, I may play it by ear on how I feel in the mornings, but it’s nice to have an idea when I have more of a brain than right after waking up.

I’m starting off this week a bit groggy and stuffy from allergies, but hopefully I can shake that quickly and have a great third week of the year!

Question: what is your favorite piece of art/decoration in your house?