Weekly Workouts: Start of 2020

The combination of mild weather and Ryan being home from work allowed me to enjoy several outdoor runs both last week and the week before. 

I slacked on strength workouts last week. I wanted to enjoy every moment of family in town and Ryan off of work during the start of the week, and then the second half of the week was busy with onboarding new athletes. If I’m short on time, I’ll choose to run rather than strength train because of the mental release. Postpartum hormones are no joke, and running helps take the edge off of some of the new mom anxiety I experience. 

Monday: 5 mile run

I started off the week with an easy 5 mile run. I am so grateful that five-mile run feels comfortable at this point postpartum and that I’m relatively close to my pre-pregnancy easy pace. 

In the afternoon, we took a long walk. It was chillier than in the morning, but I enjoy every moment outdoors before the bad winter weather arrives. 

Tuesday: 30 minute treadmill run

With snow on the ground and the desire to spend time with family, I opted for a short treadmill run. I like how the basement treadmill allows me to just squeeze in a short run without much thought. I ran about 3.4 miles at a comfortable effort.

Wednesday: Rest day

The 4-month sleep regression hit us during the holidays. I worked hard on teaching Isla good sleep habits, but she still had disrupted sleep and I stared at the baby monitor well past her falling back to sleep. Between her fussy outbursts, Ollie woke me up in a trembling panic due to NYE fireworks. I opted for sleep and family time rather than a run. 

Thursday: 40 minute fartlek run

Isla and I both slept better and I awoke feeling energetic again. After weeks of easy runs, I feel ready for harder workouts. I warmed up with 10 minutes of easy running and then ran 10 x 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy. For the hard intervals, I started at 8.0 mph and progressed to 8.4 mph. I cooled down with 10 minutes of easy running. 

Friday: 4.4 mile run

My current go-to route is 4.4 miles, which is perfect for a quick easy run. I took Ollie with me and (despite his best attempts to speed up) maintained a leisurely pace. 

Saturday: 30 min hill run

My initial plan was to run 8 miles, but then our power went out shortly after I awoke. It came back after a couple hours, but by then I had lost motivation to squeeze in a run of that length. We were all hungry and her naptime was quickly approaching. Instead, I plopped Isla in her Baby Bjorn bouncer and ran a short hill workout on the treadmill. She stared entranced at the treadmill the entire time, even when Ryan was able to take over watching her. 

After a 10 minute warm-up, I set the pace to 7.0-7.3 mph and ran 4 minutes at 3%, 3 minutes at 4%, 2 minutes at 5%, 1 minute at 6%, with halftime recoveries at -1%. 

Sunday: 50 minute walk

Since the weather was so mild, we took a long walk with the stroller. 40 degrees in January feels amazing!

Linking up with Weekly Rundown! 

How was your week in running?