While coming back from vacation and returning to normal life is not my favorite part of the whole traveling experience (is it anyone’s?), the nice thing about it is that you often come back with a clear head and a refreshed attitude. I have, what may turn out to be, the busiest fall ever coming up. Now that I’ve been re-energized its time to push forward and get things moving! I’ve begun plotting out exactly what things I need to get done/will have to deal with in the upcoming months.
General adjustments to my schedule:
- Back to boxing! I haven’t been in 2.5 weeks because of vacation and some other random conflicts. We’re going Saturday and I can’t wait to feel the burn!
- I do conditioning and stretching before bed most nights and I want to commit to it at least 6 nights a week (it has gone down to 5 nights the last few weeks). I also want to increase from 50 to 100 push ups and from 350 to 500 ab reps. For one, I am terrible at push ups so if I do more maybe I will retain some muscle memory. Secondly, I always feel better when I have a strong core, especially when I race. So far I’ve done this increased routine the last three nights and its gone just fine. I feel stronger all ready!
- I booked a sports massage for myself for Monday. I had two during my half marathon training and they were HUGELY helpful. I’m sure my body could use a break.
Remainder of August:
- Training steadily increases. I started 7 mile Tuesday/Thursday runs this week. It felt like I had been doing 6 for so long, but looking back it was only the last month and a half! It seems crazy to think that in December when I started my half marathon training I was only doing 3 miles Tuesday/Thursday, but I feel totally capable to take on weekday 7 milers. Piece. Of. Cake.
- I will do my first 20 mile training run on Labor Day weekend. I'm sure it will hurt like hell, but it actually doesn’t seem so intimidating. At least for me, after I knew I was able to run 13 miles longer distances just seemed to melt together. There doesn't appear to be a huge difference between 13 or 16 or 18 miles. I know I'll be able to complete them. All I need to know is that I'll be on my feet for 2+ hours and that I need to carry hydration/fuel with me. Mileage is just a number.
- Next week (maybe this week if I feel ambitious) I will hit 40 mpw! After it took me so long to get to 31 mpw it seems crazy that I’ve been able to get to big number 40 so quickly. And I have now been injury-free for 3 months (knock on wood)! Steady, slow increases of less than 10% are the way to go!
- Wedding dress shopping! Next Saturday I go to NYC to hopefully find my dress! I am super, duper, can’t contain myself excited!
Starting in September:
- Grad school starts. I’m taking two classes: a Monday/Wednesday in the late afternoon and a Tuesday/Thursday in the evening. It should be no problem to do my Tuesday/Thursday runs right after work and still have time before my class starts to do homework/study/etc. They are both language classes so no papers. Maybe if I really run out of time I can study-on-the-run and record vocab lessons on my iPod!
- Work gears up. My job is linked with the academic year. It’s been a slow summer, but it will start picking up again in the fall. I have to be prepared to be much more tired on my weekday runs after working all day.
The rest of the fall:
- There is still a lot of wedding planning to get done: DJ, engagement photos, food tasting, engagement party invites, etc. We really busted our butts to get the venue/caterer selected quickly and we had signed a contract less than 4 weeks after we got engaged. Since then, however, we haven’t done a thing. We’re super lazy bums.
- I’m running in a bunch of fall races, finally leading up to the MARATHON right before Thanksgiving.
It will be an absolutely insane-in-the-membrane fall, but by the time tapering rolls around in early November hopefully I will have a good groove going. Mike and I finally made the decision this week to NOT move in November. We really want more space, but the thought of moving on top of everything else sounded like a bad idea, so we are going to wait until next September when our lease is up. Of course this means I immediately hate everything in my apartment and need to redecorate right away! If I can’t actually get a new place, I’ll just make the old one look like new!
All in all, I'm going to have to stay really organized and really on top of everything so that I don't become a stress case. Otherwise my face will look like this until Christmas:
General adjustments to my schedule:
- Back to boxing! I haven’t been in 2.5 weeks because of vacation and some other random conflicts. We’re going Saturday and I can’t wait to feel the burn!
- I do conditioning and stretching before bed most nights and I want to commit to it at least 6 nights a week (it has gone down to 5 nights the last few weeks). I also want to increase from 50 to 100 push ups and from 350 to 500 ab reps. For one, I am terrible at push ups so if I do more maybe I will retain some muscle memory. Secondly, I always feel better when I have a strong core, especially when I race. So far I’ve done this increased routine the last three nights and its gone just fine. I feel stronger all ready!
- I booked a sports massage for myself for Monday. I had two during my half marathon training and they were HUGELY helpful. I’m sure my body could use a break.
Remainder of August:
- Training steadily increases. I started 7 mile Tuesday/Thursday runs this week. It felt like I had been doing 6 for so long, but looking back it was only the last month and a half! It seems crazy to think that in December when I started my half marathon training I was only doing 3 miles Tuesday/Thursday, but I feel totally capable to take on weekday 7 milers. Piece. Of. Cake.
- I will do my first 20 mile training run on Labor Day weekend. I'm sure it will hurt like hell, but it actually doesn’t seem so intimidating. At least for me, after I knew I was able to run 13 miles longer distances just seemed to melt together. There doesn't appear to be a huge difference between 13 or 16 or 18 miles. I know I'll be able to complete them. All I need to know is that I'll be on my feet for 2+ hours and that I need to carry hydration/fuel with me. Mileage is just a number.
- Next week (maybe this week if I feel ambitious) I will hit 40 mpw! After it took me so long to get to 31 mpw it seems crazy that I’ve been able to get to big number 40 so quickly. And I have now been injury-free for 3 months (knock on wood)! Steady, slow increases of less than 10% are the way to go!
- Wedding dress shopping! Next Saturday I go to NYC to hopefully find my dress! I am super, duper, can’t contain myself excited!
Starting in September:
- Grad school starts. I’m taking two classes: a Monday/Wednesday in the late afternoon and a Tuesday/Thursday in the evening. It should be no problem to do my Tuesday/Thursday runs right after work and still have time before my class starts to do homework/study/etc. They are both language classes so no papers. Maybe if I really run out of time I can study-on-the-run and record vocab lessons on my iPod!
- Work gears up. My job is linked with the academic year. It’s been a slow summer, but it will start picking up again in the fall. I have to be prepared to be much more tired on my weekday runs after working all day.
The rest of the fall:
- There is still a lot of wedding planning to get done: DJ, engagement photos, food tasting, engagement party invites, etc. We really busted our butts to get the venue/caterer selected quickly and we had signed a contract less than 4 weeks after we got engaged. Since then, however, we haven’t done a thing. We’re super lazy bums.
- I’m running in a bunch of fall races, finally leading up to the MARATHON right before Thanksgiving.
It will be an absolutely insane-in-the-membrane fall, but by the time tapering rolls around in early November hopefully I will have a good groove going. Mike and I finally made the decision this week to NOT move in November. We really want more space, but the thought of moving on top of everything else sounded like a bad idea, so we are going to wait until next September when our lease is up. Of course this means I immediately hate everything in my apartment and need to redecorate right away! If I can’t actually get a new place, I’ll just make the old one look like new!
All in all, I'm going to have to stay really organized and really on top of everything so that I don't become a stress case. Otherwise my face will look like this until Christmas:
 |
| Unhappy Kristin |
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