I actually had a May numbers post in draft but never finished it. June got busy & now it is already July. Training was been a bit off this Spring. I had a terrible time with allergies & colds/flu & then June brought a work trip to Europe. So here I am just after 4th of July wondering where the heck the first half of the year went & trying to catch up on the last couple of months.
The first half of May was great. The weather was awesome. I was getting in some good workouts - evening adding some bricks (bike + run workout) to the weekly schedule. Ruth & I ran our first trail run of the season at Raven Run. Love, love these - I want to try to do 1 trail run a month. So good for my soul.
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| Raven Run - KY River in background - nice floater |
I ran in two 5Ks in May. It was really the tale of two 5Ks - I ran the Derby Day 5K on May 3rd & The Run for the Nun on 5/31. I placed 2nd in my age group at the Derby Day Stakes 5K. The Run for the Nun was pretty rough though. I probably shouldn't have run it since I was still fighting a nasty cold but I took it super easy. I kept my breathing really easy & walked up the 3 big hills. I ended up with a PW - Personal Worst. No biggie - I rewarded myself with a
Magee's breakfast afterwards so it was all good! Also, I took not one but two naps post race & breakfast. It's not everyday you can say you took 2 naps - awesome!
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| 2nd in Age Group |
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| Run for the Nun - Saturday Morning Coffee Run Club |
May Numbers
Swim: Goal - 15,000 Yards, Actual - 11,600 yards
Bike: Goal - 100 miles, Actual - 46.15 miles
Run: Goal - 44 miles, Actual - 27.95 miles
Walk: Goal - 0 miles, Actual - 26.76 miles
Weights/TRX: Goal - 4 sessions, Actual - 2
Yoga/Pilates: Goal - 2 sessions, Actual - 0
Races: Goal - 2, Actual - 2 - Derby Day Stakes 5K (5/3) & Run for the Nun 5K (5/31)
June was better - no colds, allergies were mostly gone I just had work get in the way. Although an all expense trip to Europe wasn't too shabby. The purpose was to get to the bottom of some customer issues that we were not able to reproduce in the lab but we did get some fun sightseeing in as well. It was a whirlwind of a trip.
June Race - Well, it was really a 27 Hour Relay. I like to call it more of a tailgating event with a few physical activities occasionally thrown in. I have written some posts in the past about this awesome event Paula puts on every year - check them out HERE & HERE. The weather was absolutely perfect again this year. This year the event followed the same format - 2.5 hours of swimming, 12.5 hours of biking & 12 hours of running. Our team divvied up the times so I ended up swimming for 25 minutes, biking for 1.5 hours & running for 1.5 hours.
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| Beautiful Sunrise |
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| 2nd Year Clark has Sponsored the Event |
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| Team Tailgating Setups |
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| Tent City |
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| Smiley's Annex at the Finish |
New Chiropractor - I started seeing a new Chiropractor in June. He has done a lot of work with the local TNT chapter & quite a few friends are patients so I figured I would give it another shot. My hip hasn't been terrible but it isn't good either. I think the only reason why my hip has been as good as it has been is because my total numbers are way off for the season. (Hey - I just found one good thing about not achieving my goals - minimal hip pain!)
So far I am digging his approach. One big issue is that my glutes are not firing properly. What I like about his approach is that instead of giving me 4,001 exercises like past PT's have done he has given me 3. Glute squeeze, glute bridge & clamshells. Prior to going I was doing walking lunges, squats, etc but these are too advanced for my non-firing glutes. What I needed was to go back to the very basics. Stay tuned - More to come on this.
European Vacation, er, I mean Business Trip - This was the Facebook post I wrote as I sat waiting for my beer the night before we flew home - '8 nights, 5 hotels, 3 countries, 3 Lexmark offices, 17 hours of flight time, 19 hours traveling by car, 5 hours on a train to make 5 customer visits. Even though I am exhausted & ready to come home understanding the customer's problem that we could not reproduce in the lab makes it all worthwhile!'
We covered some serious ground in those 8 days. We started in Germany where we did 3 customer visits & had a day off to explore Stuttgart. We then headed to Belgium where we spent the weekend. After a couple days in Brussels we then drove to the Netherlands for 2 more customer visits prior to heading home. This trip really deserves it's own post but a bunch of pictures will have to suffice.
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| Mercedes Benz Museum - Highly recommend if you ever get the chance |
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| Mercedes Benz Museum - Stuttgart, Germany |
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| Mercedes Benz Museum - Stuttgart, Germany |
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| This train went on forever - Brand new Cayenne's, Jeeps, Audi's & Mercedes - Stuttgart, Germany |
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| Run in Stuttgart in front of New Palace built in the mid 1700's and then reconstructed after WWII |
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| Outside hotel window in Brussels, Belgium |
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| Brussels, Belgium |
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| Best freakin' crepes EVER |
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| Brussels, Belgium |
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| Tiny Cave Town in Belgium |
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| Our co-worker invited us to a BBQ for a singing group they are in |
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| The guys turn |
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| YUM |
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| Where I ran in Brussels |
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| Brussels, Belgium |
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| Adolf Sax - 200 Year Exhibit |
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| Elvis Style - Can't believe we missed the actual fountain! Just right around the corner - doh! |
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| Grand Place - It takes your breath away |
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| En route to Zwolle, Netherlands |
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| View out hotel window in Zwolle, Netherlands |
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| Zwolle, Netherlands |
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| De Librije - The restaurant we wanted to eat at but was closed on Monday's |
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| The driver & his fancy car who picked us up to go to the sister restaurant |
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| Where I ran in Amsterdam. Bike trails are all over the Netherlands. I want to go back & ride my bike! |
One bummer about being in Europe was that I missed the 2 year birthday of the West 6th Run/Walk Club. Fortunately, my husband is awesome & made sure I was in the picture along with a couple other buddies who were out of town.
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| Dewayne, Me & Tommy |
June Numbers
Swim: Goal - 15,000 Yards, Actual - 9064 yards
Bike: Goal - 100 miles, Actual - 43.96 miles
Run: Goal - 44 miles, Actual - 37.97 miles
Walk: Goal - 0 miles, Actual - 22.79 miles
Weights/TRX: Goal - June Arms Challenge, Actual - 12 of 30 days of the June Arms Challenge
Yoga/Pilates: Goal - 2 sessions, Actual - 1
Races: Goal - 1, Actual 1 - Well not really a race but a 27 hour triathlon relay
Mid Year Mileage Tally
Swim: Goal - 176,000 Yards, Actual - 73614 yards
Bike: Goal - 1000 miles, Actual - 365 miles
Run: Goal - 500 miles, Actual - 214 miles
Walk: Goal - 0 miles, Actual - 140 miles
TOTAL: Goal - 1,600 miles, Actual - 762 miles
I am off on all my goals. The bike miles will be easy to make up but the run & swim miles will be tougher. I have added a ton of walking since adopting Sammie in January so that is why the run miles are down. Once she gets to be a year old I am going to try to run with her more. She is a super strong dog for how small she is. I considered adjusting the goals but think I will just let them be & see what happens.
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| Sammie - January 18, 2014 - ~4-5 Months old |
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| Sammie - July 5, 2014 - ~9-10 months old |
July Goals
Swim: Goal - 15,000 Yards
Bike: Goal - 100 miles
Run: Goal - 44 miles
Walk: Goal - 0 miles
Weights/TRX: Goal - 4 sessions
Yoga/Pilates: Goal - 2 sessions
Races: Goal - 1, Asheville Sprint Triathlon with Audrey. This will be a fun weekend!
