Workout Recap and Weekly Goals: Post-Bar Exhaustion and Pre-Birthday Festivities

Hi guys! Happy Monday!

Getting a late start today since I've been prioritizing sleep and rest over blogging. I could not believe how exhausted I was after the bar exam! I wanted to get a manicure Thursday, the day after it was over, and honestly could not muster the energy to walk a block. Crazy, right?


Early Birthday Festivities
I hope all of you agree that a birthday doesn't span a day or a weekend, or even a week. It's a month-long party, right? With that in mind, please don't judge me for the fact that I hosted an early birthday workout party a full 11 days before my birthday.

Amanda, my trainer, generously opened up her home and backyard so that I could hold my birthday pilates and yoga class on Friday! My birthday isn't until August 13, but since Amanda is going away on her honeymoon soon, August 2 was the best time to hold the event. We decided to make the workout pilates and yoga so that we wouldn't be too sweaty for the dinner afterwards, but Amanda still found a way to make us burn. My abs are sore three days later!

By the way, a big thank you to Picky Bars, who gave me the discounted donation rate so I could fuel my friends for the workout. Clearly we were all fans! :)

Instead of Amanda charging for the workout, she suggested that it be by donation, with all donations being split between the Lurie Children's Hospital, the organization I'm running the Chicago Marathon for, and the Edeyo Foundation, a Haitian charity that Amanda has worked with in the past.

Thank you so much to all those attended -- we raised $117!! To round it out, I added $3, and made donations of $60 to each charity. I'm only $18 away from my fundraising goal of $750, and would love to raise more than that, so if you'd like to give me a birthday present and support an amazing organization, head over to my fundraising page :)

The lovely ladies - we cleaned up well, right??

After freshening up, we headed to Spring Natural Kitchen for dinner, where a few others met up with us. It was a great night of delicious food and fun conversations. I had such a wonderful time and loved celebrating my birthday with a workout. This might have to become an annual tradition...


Chicago Marathon Training Recap: Weeks 6 & 7

Since I didn't post last week, I have two weeks of training to recap. The week before the bar exam Coach Jess told me that I shouldn't worry if I couldn't fit the workouts in. She posted them on my schedule but said that they were more "guidelines." I ended up getting in all the runs, although in different order and a few a bit short, and the yoga class, but cut out the strength training. As much as I normally love strength training, it doesn't give me the mental clarity or relaxation that running and yoga do, so in the midst of a crazy studying week, it couldn't be a priority.

I actually managed to fit in all my workouts this past week, but some of them were cut a bit short due to my exhaustion after taking the bar exam. I felt really energetic Tuesday after the first part of the exam, but Wednesday left me totally drained.

Monday: 4.18 miles, 10K pace (35:54).

Ran 4 miles "easy" but "easy" ended up being pretty speedy (for me). It was a combination of working out anxiety over studying for the bar, high 50s temps, running with my parents' dogs, and incredible views that gave me serious adrenaline. The speeds didn't feel fast at all!

(1) 8:16, (2) 8:35, (3) 8:33, (4) 8:58, (.18) 8:26

Definitely won't make this mistake in the future and will rein in runs even if it feels easy to keep my legs fresh when I have more miles on the calendar!


Tuesday: Rest day. And by rest I mean studied all day. Might have had a slight nervous breakdown over the amount of information I needed to know for the bar exam.


Wednesday: 60 min. yoga class.

Ah, pigeon post. How I love thee, especially when I'm spending 8-12 hours a day in a chair hunched over books and my laptop!

Took my dad's 7:00 AM class before we drove down to Seattle and said goodbye. It was so nice to stretch before a long plane ride.


Thursday: 31 minutes at easy pace + 4 x 20 sec. strides (3.55 miles).

After another day of sitting, I needed to break a sweat and get outdoors. I missed Washington so much on this run. It wasn't too hot out, but the air was muggy and the sky was overcast. Blech! I felt like I could only make an excuse for this run by writing mnemonics on my hand to memorize while I ran.

Miles: (1) 9:14, (2) 10:54, (3) 11:02 -- slowed myself down after a speedy first mile
Strides: (1) 5:57, (2) 5:43, (3) 6:16 - went 30 seconds accidentally, (4) 6:01


Friday: 5 minute abs.

Quick study break = five minute abs time!


Saturday: 6 miles, easy pace (1:05:13) with Beth.

I ran part of Beth's 16 miler with her -- Beth's longest run to date! It was so nice to get out of my apartment and chat with someone, working up a sweat and soaking up some sun. Focused on feeling strong since this was a cutback week for me.


Sunday: 3 miles, easy pace (~31:00) with Heather.

Easy paced run while chatting with Heather. It was our goodbye run before she moved to Oregon to start law school! It felt great to clear my head before another day of studying.


Monday: Rest day.


Tuesday: ~3.5 miles easy pace.

My Garmin died partway through (oops) so I had to estimate and ended up a bit short of the scheduled distance of 4 miles at 3.5 miles. I was keeping mid-9's while I could see the pace and it felt easy. I had lots of energy after the first day of the exam for some reason!

I ran an old route that I used to run frequently, before I went crazy and started running long distances. Down along the Reservoir, around the Great Lawn, up the eastern part of the Central Park loop past Engineer's Gate, then west across the transverse, finishing at Whole Foods. Yup, the Whole Foods stop was always part of my runs!


Wednesday: Marathon. By that I mean, second day of the bar exam and no workout.


Thursday: 20-30 minutes of yoga at home. I was supposed to do my tempo run Thursday, but was so freaking exhausted I just couldn't imagine running, let alone running fast.


Friday: (1) Tempo run: 10 min w/u, 45 min tempo, 10 min c/d (6.86 miles) with Theodora. (2) Pilates/Yoga class.

(credit: Theodora)

The first half of the run felt like a struggle, but part of that was probably the fact that I was running with Theodora and chatting a bit. Normally I wouldn't try to run a tempo with a friend, but I felt so tired the day before that I needed to make a run date to make sure I got out and got it done! Warm up and first mile were in Central Park and 72nd St headed to Riverside Park, the rest was in Riverside Park.

w/u (11:52 mins) - 9:38
(1) 9:17, (2) 8:39, (3) 8:59, (4) 9:02, (5) 8:54
c/d (7:19 mins) - 11:31

Promise we didn't color coordinate to form a rainbow!

Tough sequence of glute and ab-burning pilates followed by some lovely restorative yoga. Spending long amounts of time in hip and piriformis openers aren't exactly relaxing, but they feel so good once you get out of them!


Saturday: (1) 60 mins. restorative yoga. (2) 6.2 miles easy pace (1:07:21).

Restorative yoga in Amanda's backyard. Lots of poses while lying on our backs meant I got to stare at this beautiful sky.

This run was supposed to be 8 miles but since I knew I was long running the next morning and I was doing this run at 6:30 PM -- and felt decidedly less than fresh -- I cut it at 6.2 miles for an easy 10K.


Sunday: 14 mile long run (2:32:36) + 2x slightly adapted five minute abs.

(credit: Jocelyn)

I ran this long run with Michelle, who's about to start marathon training! We also ran into Jocelyn and Gia (Gia took this adorable shot of us being triplets in Oiselle shorts and Sparkly Soul headbands), and later on got high fives from Leticia. This run was a struggle so it was really nice to see friends!

The long run was scheduled to be 15 miles, but despite Michelle's lovely company, I felt tired and like I was pushing hard from mile 3. I decided to cut it at 14 miles, since that meant I'd run 20 miles in less than 18 hours and would still be in pretty good shape for this coming weekend's 16 miler.

Splits:
(1) 11:11, (2) 11:15, (3) 10:21, (4) 10:38, (5) 10:35, (6) 10:32, (7) 10:39, (8) 10:45, (9) 10:53, (10) 11:19, (11) 11:39, (12) 11:57, (13) 10:34, (14) 10:55.

I really wanted to quit at mile 10 (if you couldn't tell!) but told myself I had to at least get to 14 -- you can tell miles 10-12 were the toughest, right? Miles 1 and 2 were heading to Battery Park from Chambers Street and then rounding that area, which is filled with extreme numbers of tourists.

Finished up the day with two rounds of 5 minute abs. Ouch, these hurt after Friday's ab-burning pilates class!

Total Mileage = 31 miles <--- my highest mileage week yet!


This Week's Training Schedule
I'm headed to Chicago this weekend to see family and visit my best friend, Katie. Our birthdays are only three days apart so we're celebrating together! The past two weeks weren't ideal for training, and while I had a valid excuse (I think) with studying for the bar exam and then taking it and being exhausted, I'm not letting travel provide another excuse. I've already figured out where and how I'll be fitting in my workouts while in the Windy City!

Here are the workouts Coach Jess has assigned me:
• 2 strength training workouts (1 Refine Method class, 1 TBA)
• 1 easy run (6 miles)
• 1 speed work session (2 mi w/u, 6x800, 2 mi c/d)
• 1 long run (16 miles)
• 1 yoga class


What are your workout goals for this week? How do you handle training + travel? Do you celebrate your birthday all month?