Mom in the Mtns

Hi everyone!  First things first – like my new look?  🙂  I thought it was time for a change!  Anyways, week nine is over and it was rough.  Not my best week.  To be fair, I was dealing with the following:

• I was in Seattle for training all week, which meant that I was constantly “on” and didn’t really get the chance to branch off to do my own thing too much or relax.  I woke up around 6:30 each day and was up close to midnight each night just hanging out with my coworkers that I only get to see once or twice a year, but I didn’t get any alone time until the last day!
• I was staying at a retreat center with my coworkers, which meant sharing super tiny dorm rooms.  No yoga possible.
• And because I was staying at the retreat center, I was relying on them for my coffee…and it was so weak!  I don’t think I had good coffee until Thursday at the downtown office when I got the chance to get Top Pot!  Soooo tired.
• The heat was crazy.  I think Seattle got our 90 degree heat wave from last week, and there is no air conditioning there either  😦
• HILLS.  Everywhere.
• I hate flying and it causes me so much anxiety that it’s seriously exhausting.

But hey, it wasn’t all bad!  The second we landed on Monday my manager made the lovely decision to take us straight to CHIPOTLE!!!!  And I got to eat there Friday too!

Pleeeeease Anchorage, get one of these!

So here was my week in workouts:

Monday:  Pre-flight yoga in the morning and a 3 mile sunset walk to the beach with my coworkers when we got to the retreat center on the Puget Sound!

The sun actually sets here!

Tuesday:  It was a full day and I had no time for anything!  Does dancing to my coworkers’ attempts at karaoke count as a workout?  🙂

Wednesday:  I really wanted to do my speed workout from far away, but I opted for an easier run with two of my coworkers instead.  We ran 3 miles to the beach again, and I swear that it was uphill both ways.  Oh Seattle.

Thursday:  We moved camp to a house in Beacon Hill where we somehow fit 15 girls into one house.  We finished our last day of training at the downtown office, where I got the chance to take a lunch break walk with a few of my coworkers who are leaving in a month.  I also spent the night doing a marathon shopping trip to Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx with my manager!  We even got Panera for dinner!  #bestdayever

Friday:  Everyone else had flown out the day before, so I finally had control of the rental car and made good use of it!  I woke up at 6:30 and went for a 3 mile run in nearby Washington Park Arboretum.  It was GORGEOUS!  And it was a legit trail run!

First I ran through the forest on dirt trails, and then I met up with the Waterfront Trail.  This part was amazing because it went over bridges onto two different islands…

…through some marshes…

…and then along the Washington Ship Canal!

It ran along Lake Washington which was really pretty.  If I lived in Seattle this would definitely be my go-to route!

The bad news was that as you know, I HATE morning running and even though I fueled before running I was feeling super sick from the heat.  But I had big plans for the day!  After showering and packing everything up, I rushed out for one last shopping trip and Chipotle before flying home at 2:00.

Saturday:  It was HTH training group long run day!  Except that when I woke up at 6:30 my body basically refused to move.  I proceeded to sleep in until 11:30 which is unheard of, so I guess I needed the sleep!  I spent the rest of the day resting before hiking the Powerline Pass Trail for a few hours at night.  It’s the most gorgeous trail I’ve ever done!

Sunday:  my HTH training group buddy missed Saturday’s long run too, so we decided to run long Sunday instead.  Spoiler alert:  it was the worst run of my life.  Including the one where I puked at Planet Fitness when training for Zion!  I always feel kind of blah for the first few miles of any long run, but I swear I only felt good for like 5 minutes of this run.  I just kept getting more and more nauseous and dizzy until one point where I got super dizzy and had trouble seeing straight.  I may have cried a few times, including the end where I was waiting for my husband to pick me up.  Seriously Besa, thank you for being there and getting me through it!  Overall I walked/ran a total of 11 miles and I hated each and every one of them.  Is having my longest long run go well in any training cycle too much to ask?  I think it was just a combo of a busy week mixed with not drinking enough water on the trip.  I also drank coffee 2 hours before the run because I forgot I was doing it, so maybe that messed me up.  Yep, that’s not ever happening on race day.  The good news is that my hips feel pretty good and I recovered surprisingly well (I was still nauseous for a few hours, but lots of Nuun and chicken noodle soup helped!).

Overall this week was hard for me – I missed my group runs and was super busy and tired.  It wasn’t the best time for me to be running my longest training run of the cycle, but I survived!  I’m just so excited to get back to normal for week #10!

Have you ever had a long run go wrong?  How do you find time to work out on a work trip, especially without a car or privacy?  And here’s a hard question: which do you like better, Chipotle or Panera?