Don’t worry, this is not a post confessing my addiction to opioids (although I don’t think anyone would blame me) it’s more about taking supplements that have changed my training life. I’ve also come to realize that now, more than ever, my daily activity is my dose of happiness and sanity. So, get your happy pills and join me in reflecting on last week’s workouts!

Happy pills (cookies) for StarFire after a long run!

WEEK OF DECEMBER 4, 2017

RUNNING

Running with Star was the theme of last week which added to my happiness…and hers.  A tired dog is an unaggressive one.  Since I only had three runs on the calendar (it was a bike focused week) I brought her along on all of them. If only I could run her though life, we would both be a lot less stressed.

Tuesday – 6 miles with some speed before bike | 7:30 pace

Friday – 6 easy miles | 8:00 pace

Saturday – 6.5 easy miles  before strength| 8:00 pace

Total = 18.5 miles

CYCLING

As mentioned above, I’m in a cycling block so I was in the saddle for most of the week. I’ve been listening to the Heavyweight podcast I talked about last Friday, to pass most of the time. I also watched part of Jaws 2 (so, so very bad) and caught up on Mindhunter on Netflix which is beyond fascinating.

Don’t even get me started on why I’m wearing my wired up ear buds. My second brand new beats wireless headphones are having issues. Again. Curse you Apple and your stranglehold over me!

Monday – 1 hour power before swim | 13.5

Tuesday – 1 hour 15 min endurance active recovery after run | 17.3 miles

Thursday – 1 hour 16 minute LT 1 base | 18.2 miles

Saturday – 1 hour 15 minute endurance ride before strength | 17.8 miles

Total = 66.8 miles

SWIMMING

No news is good news from the pool. I meet with my coach this week for my monthly form assessment aka soul crushing swim, so that should be fun. Last week though was pure bliss. If you have the opportunity to do recovery swims, I highly recommend them.

Side note: Do you ever look at the lifeguard in the pool and wonder  A) are even paying attention and B) could they save you if you were drowning? #random

Monday – active recovery from bike | 1,600 yards

Wednesday – active recovery from CrossFit | 1,650 yards

Total = 3,250 yards

STRENGTH

Luckily for my legs I didn’t have nearly as much strength training this week. I managed two sessions — one at CrossFit and another from TrainingPeaks. The CF workout took 11 minutes and consisted of 3 rounds of 100 yard walking lunges, 50 banded squats and 50 hip extensions. It sucked but was also great.

This is not from this session but is hysterical. I don’t know the proper name for this move but it involves the words snatch, push, press or up. My face sums it up nicely:

THINGS I LOVE

Let’s talk happy pills people. If you happen to be one of the five guys that read this, you can skip to the next segment.

In the week before my period (you were warned!), every training cycle, I would have a huge dip in my energy levels and performance. It wasn’t obvious to me until my rocket scientist coach read Dr. Stacy Sims book ROAR, and noticed the pattern in my training log. She’s worth every penny folks.

I’ve written about Dr. Sims before and even had the pleasure of interviewing her for an article in Women’s Running. Basically, women are not small men and have very different needs when it comes to endurance and racing. One of Dr. Sims pieces of advice was to take small doses of Magnesium, Zinc and Omega 3s for the seven days prior to the first day of your period. I started doing just that and have since not experienced the same lull in my training. It’s magic. Ok, well really it’s science , or maybe it’s all in my head, but it’s totally worth it and I’m going to continue doing it.

Obviously I’m not a doctor, or else I would have figured this out much sooner, so don’t take my advice. I recommend reading Dr. Sims’ book and educating yourself on all of her advice and recommendations. I keep her book on my desk, basically as a reference. #obsessed

THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH

Being woefully unprepared for the local high school production of  A Charlie Brown Christmas. The daughter of one of my son’s teachers was cast as Snoopy so the boys asked to go. The high schoolers did a really good job and and I was pretty impressed with the stage props and their budding acting and singing skills.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how religious the story is. I’m not a big fan of Charlie Brown and, since the story was written before you didn’t discuss things like “Jesus is the reason for the season” they put a glaring spotlight on it. It was basically the point of the story, which was interesting and fine (12 years of Catholic school here), just odd. It seemed to sail right over my kids’ heads, but then there was the “sing along” portion. Wait, what? Before we knew it there was a chorus of “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “O Holy Night” during which I could only hear Cartman from SouthPark in my head so…

Afterward my friend and I decided that counted as church and walked out feeling #blessed.

MUSIC

Just a few new-to-me tunes I have been sweating to and have to pass on…

Nobody Speak | DJ Shadow

I originally saw this on Wendy is Taking the Long Way Home and instantly loved it! Careful, the language is rough and perfect for speed or hills or whatever…and the video is priceless.

Walk on Water | Eminem ft. Beyonce 

I love almost everything Eminem does and this is no exception, and Beyonce is ok too. Slim Shady raps about how I think we can all feel at times, like an imposter, like something we’re “supposed” to be or trying to be something or someone we once were. It’s raw and heartfelt, in classic Eminem fashion, and he saves his best for the last line…

RANDOM QUOTE OF THE WEEK

So my kids have me pack them a hot meal in a thermos for lunch because the hot lunch at school is usually horrible. I’m more than happy to do it and sometimes even make a fresh pot of mac and cheese before school just so they can have a semi-nutritious meal at lunch. I know, I’m Martha Fucking Stewart over here but anyway…they have been coming home without eating the lunch I slaved over before 8:00am and I let them know it’s not acceptable. If they want to eat snacks and garbage for lunch, fine but don’t have me make you food and then waste it.

All that drama led to this scenario when, after school one day, Miles rushed though the front door:

Miles: Mom! Quick! Get out my lunch, I have to stress eat!

Me: *busting into laughter* Do you even know what that means?

Miles: You have to eat really fast before you get in trouble?

Me: No. It’s eating a lot of food that’s not good for you like candy or whatever because you’re stressed about something.

Miles: So, what do you do when you’re stressed?

OMG…is this kid serious? I RUN!…and bike and swim…and repeat.

Here’s hoping you don’t have to stress eat this week!

[Tweet “The Rundown is taking happy pills this week with #supplemets, new #music and all the #workouts! #train4life”]

How was your week?

Do you take any “happy pills?”

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