Week 6 was not a stellar week for me overall. However, I finished the week strong. What derailed me in the week is tending to a sick kid. Don’t worry, Colton is fine now. However, he did have an ear irritation happen on Monday and Tuesday. So, let’s just say that I really needed to be home with him and Brooke during the week. Plus, taking care of a sick kid really tears you up a little. By Wednesday afternoon, Colton was starting to resemble his usual perky self and that continued throughout the week.

In an effort to limit my losses, I did make both of my scheduled workouts on the weekend. For the very first time, I completed more than 4 repeats on the track! In my two previous attempts at this sort of training cycle (time improvement), I’ve stalled out at the first track workout that called for 4 repeats. This time, I was bound and determined to get all 6 repeats. As I drove to the track, I reminded myself that this was only two more than last time. I decided beforehand that I wouldn’t obsess over the time each repeat took. If I was slower, I’d be okay with that. It was more important to get all 6.

That was all before I finished my first 400. Look at how I did two weeks ago for comparison…

As you can see, ALL 6 repeats were FASTER than I ran any repeat two weeks ago! When I saw my time in my first 400, I was blown away. It was pretty exciting to see how far I’ve come.

Now, to be fair, I was slightly faster when I did my 4 x 400’s in preparation for the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon last year. However, that was over only 4 repeats. To complete all 6 repeats alone would have been awesome to me. Hitting all 6 under my time goal of 2:35, would have been even better. However, to hit all 6 faster than I did just two weeks ago is better than I would have dreamed!

The fun part of this workout was when I got through the 3rd repeat and I was still faster than my fastest repeat from two weeks prior. It felt as if I could totally fail the final three times and it would have been all good. By the time I got to the fifth repeat, I knew I was on bonus time. This was my first attempt beyond 4. So, it was a total victory before I even finished the lap. The fact that I was slightly faster than repeats 3 and 4 was just the icing on the cake. After this effort on the track, I’m kind of looking forward to the next track workout in two weeks!

After the track workout, it was off to Toys R Us/Babies R Us for an event they were throwing for kiddos who had recently turned 1 year old or were close to it. Colton was still a week off. However, we still thought it would be cool to take him. For the record, Colton turns 1 year old this coming Saturday, March 18th!

It was such a fun event! They had lots of fun things for the kids to do. Colton loved the ball thing he is holding here!

 

Of course the highlight of the event was having Geoffrey there to greet all the kids. Even though Colton has met several Disney walk around characters, we was a little unsure of Geoffrey. Still, it was a fun time. There was a story time and a raffle for some prizes where everyone who attended got one. We got a birthday sippie cup for Colton.

Changing the clocks is not fun in the spring. Loosing an hour of sleep is not fun. For a lot of Sunday, I felt really tired. However, after having such a successful run on Saturday, I have started to see the value of these gym workouts. They appear to be helping me. So, my attitude about the gym workouts is in the process of change as well. I know these workouts help.

My training plan that I came up with calls for me to hit the treadmill with the 400 repeats that I’ll next tackle on the track. Therefore, I get two weeks of doing those repeats before I have to do them on the track. That meant I needed to follow up my 6 x 400 on the track with an 8 x 400 on the treadmill Sunday. So, I took to the ‘mill to do just that. Each 400 brought a new set of thoughts to get me through. Since I was tired, I was unsure of how it would all go. Initially, I told myself that I know I can do 4 no matter what. Once I got done with 4, I reminded myself that I had done 6 each of the previous 2 weeks and just did 6 on the track the day before. So, I should make it. For the 7th one, it was kind of this new adventure. I was charting uncharted waters. For the 8th, I was aiming for legendary. I made it through all 8 and felt amazing at the end!

For the machines, I had decided last week to up the weights and did so in each machine. Right from the first set on the assisted chin-ups machine, I could feel the difference.  This was going to be work. I believed I could and I did. I completed every set at the heavier weights! Let me tell you, I was feeling it at the end of the last machine before hitting the elliptical machine. This was the only thing I didn’t up the ante on. I figured that upping the repeats on the treadmill and weights on the other machines would leave me pretty tired. So, the goal on the elliptical machine was to finish all 27 minutes…15 minutes pedaling forward and 12 minutes pedaling backwards. I’m proud to say that I did exactly that!

Guys, I’m thrilled with how each of my two workouts went in week 6, but not thrilled that I skipped both of my mid-week runs. So, in week 7, I need to remedy that and hit all 4 workouts.  Bring it, week 7! I’m coming!