Mile Markers: Double Digits
Hi there! How was your weekend?
Not only did I maintain another 30+ mile week (only my second one since I sprained my foot a couple months ago!), but I ran my first double digit long run since my injury. I missed running long, and while I have certainly lost endurance in my months of reduced mileage, I finally feel completely back to normal in my running – normal mileage, normal (easy) paces, and hopefully over the coming weeks normal variation of intensity with some harder run.
Monday: 4 mile treadmill run
Originally, Ryan and I planned on hiking, but we decided to skip it because it was raining and had been raining all weekend – and our idea of a fun Fourth of July hike did not involve trudging through rain and mud. So instead I ran 4 easy, unremarkable miles on the treadmill.
Tuesday: AM: 7 mile run; PM: 20 minutes core work
I ran 7 easy miles through Seattle sunshine, and by sunshine I mean a light, barely perceptible drizzle of rain. Last summer we had abnormally hot weather, and this summer we continue the year’s record-breaking precipitation. Honestly, I’ll take the rain over the heat most day, especially for running.
For core work I did this stability ball workout and finished with pushups.
Wednesday: AM: 5 mile run; PM: 30 minutes weight lifting
I split my run in two: two miles on my own, and three miles with Charlie. Much like myself, Charlie doesn’t warm up until 10-15 minutes into a run, so our first mile and a half were slow and filled with puggle potty breaks. Charlie is in such a better mood when he gets his weekly run in!
Thursday: 30 minute Pilates
Finally returning to normal mileage has also returned the normal tightness to my quads and glutes, so I did this Pilates video to combine a core workout with some quad stretching and hamstring strengthening. My muscles just feel so balanced after doing this workout.
Friday: 10 mile long run
The tragic events that occur far too often in our nation weigh down my spirit and I need to pour that sadness into a run. I pray, ponder, and embrace discomfort of the miles.
This run was my first double-digit run since I sprained my foot – my last long run before this was a 12 miler in the first week of May! The miles felt both enjoyable and strenuous, as I was glad to be running long again but not used to the additional demands that those few extra miles have on the body. That’s not to mention the effect of 14 mph headwind I battled for most of the run and the 87% humidity! Although I shouldn’t complain, because the temperatures have steadily been in the mid 50s-60s during the mornings.
Afterwards I prioritized recovery with a bowl of oatmeal with Bob’s Red Mill plant-based vanilla protein powder added in, plus some coffee in one of my favorite Kate Spade mugs. If you haven’t already, you can enter here to win your own bag!
Saturday: 6 mile run
Ryan had been experiencing some foot pain over the past week, in the same foot of the ankle he sprained back in April. A last minute podiatrist exam revealed that when he sprained his foot, the angle at which he tripped caused a tendon to rip a piece of bone off of his foot. It had been healing on it’s own since then, but his long run aggravated it a bit.
Thankfully, he can still run and hike, but he has a brace to wear during those activities. We decided to shorten his run and stop if he felt any discomfort, especially since braces can take time to adapt to wearing and moving in. We enjoyed a 6 mile hilly run together and then had these protein pancakes for breakfast.
Sunday: 2 mile walk
We scratched our plans to hike in order to let Ryan’s foot rest, so instead we took advantage of a nice day and drove 2 hours northeast to the Northern Cascade National Park.
Ryan, Charlie, and I walked on a short and flat trail along the Skagit River. The views of the mountains, even though low-hanging clouds hid their peaks, was breathtaking!
[Tweet “Weekly Workouts and Northern Cascades #nationalpark #sweatpink #runchat #weeklywrap @thisrunrecipes”]
P.S. Did you watch the men’s 5000m at the Olympic Trials? What a spectacular performance by Lagat, who’s 41! More than anything, his inspiring win shows just how much consistent training over time and never burning yourself out for one race matters.
Linking up with Weekly Wrap!
What was your best run last week?
What does your favorite coffee mug look like/say?
What did you do this weekend?
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32 Responses
Congrats on getting in your longest run since May! Ryan’s foot injury sounds painful! I can’t believe he was able to run through that! Glad its been healing and he is almost recovered. Enough with these foot injuries, right?!
Thank you! Ryan’s injury explained a lot why his sprain was so much more painful than mine, but then after he took that initial week off there was no pain – crazy! I agree, enough with all of us getting these foot injuries. I hope your foot feels better this week! 🙂
I am still surprised that I never bought the kate spade – eat cake for breakfast- mug lol. love kate spade! and I really want to try the bobs red mill protein powders, especially after you said the chocolate is really good!
That’s such a cute mug! I love Kate Spade mugs because they keep coffee so warm and the slimmer top enhances the smell and flavor of coffee. They’re Ryan’s favorite mugs also – we have monograms ones as well. And yes you should try them – enter the giveaway if you haven’t already! 🙂
Yay for double digits!!! It sounds like you are back on track – that must feel great! And I hope Ryan’s foot feels better soon. Dang feet! 🙂
Thank you – I hope his foot does also! But seriously no more sprains or foot problems for anyone, it seems like we’ve all had our share of those. It does feel great to feel back to running normal – and just in time for CIM training to start soon 🙂
Congrats on hitting double digits again!!! Sometimes that is a great feeling and confidence boost, not to mention, a great way to clear your head 🙂
Hope next week is even better!
And YES to Lagat’s performance at 41!!!! WOW. Loved it.
Thank you! Definitely a great confidence boost. And yeah, Lagat’s race was amazing – especially that final lap. He just threw down the pace and crushed it at the finish. So incredible.
Yay for getting back to double digits! Love that feeling–I remember when I hit it (down in ATL) and it was just a great moment. I am loving watching the trials. I felt a bit bad for Alyson Felix because Jenna’s trip and fall inadvertently put her just in front. CRAZY
Thank you! It is such a good feeling, and it’s good that we’re both back at it 🙂 The trials are so fun – they’re getting me super excited for the Olympics in a month!
I have some coffee mugs I won at races and they are my favorites. I actually wrote the time and placement on the bottoms with sharpies. Even though we have sets of dishes, those are the mugs I actually use each day! Looks like you had a great week of training and hooray for a double-digit long run! You will get your endurance back pretty quickly considering you cross trained the whole time you were injured, and 10 miles in general is pretty good for a long run. I hope you have a wonderful day :).
Coffee mugs are an awesome race reward – they’re so useful! Thank you! I am hoping my endurance does return quickly, but like you said I cross-trained through that foot sprain so hopefully. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Looks like a great week Laura, and congrats on getting in your first double digit miler since you sprained your foot!! I’m so excited for you! I’m going to live vicariously through you the next few weeks!
Thank you Jen! I am so sorry to hear about your stress fractured foot. What is it with all of these foot injuries?!
Congrats on the 10 miler and I’m sorry about Ryan’s foot!
Thank you on both accounts! 🙂
There’s a piece of bone floating around in Ryan’s foot?!?! That’s crazy! No way! Okay so what happens now? Is he always going to have it in there? Will the missing piece grow back? Where will the floating piece of bone go? SO MANY QUESTIONS.
So crazy! I asked all these questions also. When he sprained it, apparently the angle of the trip/roll caused his tendons to rip and they pulled a bit of bone with them. If he hadn’t been wearing well-fitting hiking boots it would have been worse. The bone is now reattaching and healing as the tendons heal and he has a weird sock corset soft brace to wear for running and hiking through the rest of summer to help the bone heal back in the right place. But overall his bones are healthy!
The route you ran your double digit run on looks beautiful! I bet that was a good place to do some reflection!
Thank you! It is such a pretty route for long runs – and it just goes and goes for miles without seeing any cars, it feels like the country!
These photos are insanely gorgeous!! I’m excited for you to be back to ten miles… you’re bouncing back quickly!
Thank you! I’m excited to be back as well and it means a lot to have the encouragement!
Your scenery is absolutely amazing! Wow – how fantastic to run with all that lush green, but I guess if it’s wet all the time… 🙂 In MN my lawn is already dry as straw and green/brown color. ISH! That’s great that your feeling better and able to get back out there.
Thank you! The constant rain is a trade off for all that beautiful green, but certainly worth it – especially since it rarely rains hard or thunder storms.
Congrats on the double digit run. You have such pretty places to run and hike too. My favorite coffee mug is a yellow Disney mug with Mickey on both sides. One side says “funny” and the other says “smart”. I would welcome a nice rain over heat, but all we get are thunderstorms this time of year. The lightning today was very intense. Thanks for linking, Laura. I hope things continue to go well!
Thank you! Washington is certainly a beautiful state for running and hiking – and it’s even nicer that it’s not hot 🙂 Thank you for hosting!
The weather here has been kind of odd compared to last year! I would like it to be a little warmer but not like the scorchers of last year since I still don’t have an ac unit! Glad you were able to get back to your long runs this week! I hope Ryan feels better soon. That sounds like a nasty injury!
It has – two very different summers, although it barely feels like summer. And thank you! Ryan seems to be past the worst of it and well into the healing stage – so hopefully it’s a smooth recovery!
Woah I feel bad for Ryan. :'( Poor guy. I’ll be praying for healing! And I’m so happy that you are doing better; I love seeing your running photos on Instagram. God has created such an awesome world for His glory! I always get a surge of delight and joy and wonder seeing your photos.
Yay for so many good runs! I hope this week is a good week too.
Thank you, Emily! We appreciate the prayers. He’s healing up well – the injury actually happened several months ago, so with the brace hopefully it’s all good in a few weeks. And thank you – God did create such a beautiful world and I love sharing photos of it! I hope you have a wonderful week! 🙂
I did the last double-digit run of 25k training this weekend. I had 7 great trail miles but then had to escape the mountain thunderstorms and finish up on the road. Feels really weird to stop running for half an hour then start again on a completely different surface!
That’s awesome – well, not the thunderstorms, but that you got in your last pre-race long run! Starting and stopping does feel weird on runs – it’s like the legs have to warm up all over again.