July Recap... or lack of anything to report?

Alright, so seeing as I haven't posted anything the entire month of July here is a brief recap of what I have been up to, or not up to...

After the Marathon I was pretty wiped out. In addition to this, work got quite a bit crazy with the office being re arranged and people being on holidays, that I was getting run down/overwhelmed at work and it was definitely following me home each day. I took a week off from running after the marathon, bought a new pair of runners, and went for a run along the Seawall in Vancouver one week after the marathon.

Brooks... anyone surprised? Didn't think so.

 My garmin and I are on a temporary break. (Yepp, this type A girl aint trackin anything!) I don't have any idea of the distance or pace of my running adventures these days, but thats a good thing. I feel like I need to enjoy running for a bit and incorporate some new things into my routine and work on my energy levels. Based on the foods that I eat and my activity level I shouldn't be as tired as I am so I've been experimenting with protein powders and I think I have found one that works (more importantly I can actually drink it almost without gagging! yay me).

I haven't been swimming or biking much this month, but I think part of that is just recovering from the Marathon. Additionally I took an unexpected trip to Calgary for a weekend and have just been enjoying time with friends. That being said, I often do end up doing active things with my friends... or perhaps its more we do active things at the same time at the same start up and end points? (sometimes your doing separate work outs but its the accountability of going together and seeing one another doing it that keeps us honest).

How is it that frozen fruit makes any drink look much cooler then it is?

With August right around the corner I have a few tentative goals floating around but nothing solidified. As it stands, I'm going to try to get swimming and cycling back into my routine in addition to running and we will see where that takes me. For now,

Rock'N'Roll Seattle

Hey All,

Here are a few pictures of the route from this weekend!

Seward Park

A beautiful day for a run, with a beautiful view

I-90 bridge

With cars on either Side we ran and were likely a bit of a distraction ;)

Coming up on the Home Stretch, with views of my 2 favorite places

Safeco Field

CenturyLink :)

Upside down of the Ferris wheel

What a fantastic day, a bit warm but better then torrential downpour like the Run for Water was.
I will do a full race recap later, but for now here are some pics for it and a forewarning, I hit the wall, crazy hard! and for some reason wasn't expecting to and was completely thrown off... yea...

Anyways! Happy Wednesday, Summer is official here but on the Wet West Coast you can't tell.

Last week of training? or a week of avoiding injury?

Anyone who trains for an event will tell you, injuries are a huge set back. They throw off your training, alter your movement and cause you to overcompensate, even when you are not doing the activity you are training for. Typically getting injured isn't something that plagues my mind, I wear my heels to work, race up stairs and walk with a purpose when necessary (aka, when something is wrong and needs to be fixed... they hear me coming, the shoes you hear first, then you know by the look.. or so I've been told). I promise, I am a nice person; however, I do expect things to function at an acceptable rate or pace.

Anyways, with less than one week to go before the marathon, the idea of sprained/rolled ankles and falling down stairs is plaguing my mind. This was fueled on Sunday, when I was out for a 13 mile run I went along a road with no sidewalk or shoulder. It was in farming area and I was waving to a farmer who was out painting his fence... and then my left foot had a little misstep and found itself in between the road and the dirt/grass. After a very unflattering recovering, full with arm swings and stumbling (I'm lucky I didn't throw my back out! and that there was no cars or video camera's to witness this), I pulled myself together and concluded no more waving! Stay with it Melissa!

Now, instead of wearing heels to work, I'm walking around the office in runners, and today I've even gone as far as to match my runners with my dress... Hey, their my Nike Women's Marathon Runners that are Tiffany Blue... they're fancy see:

 

So this week, is minimum running and minimizing the likelihood of injury... no tempting of fate over here. Stairs- one at a time, no need for running. Running- focus on where my legs are going and not pushing it to the point of fatigue. Biking- none this week... Ya, little bit sad about that but my quads are going to have enough to handle with the hills in Seattle. Swimming- same note as biking... although I might hit up the pool solo tomorrow morning to just stretch things out. 

Anyways, Happy Wednesday, I am half way through the work week and on the home stretch now. Happy Running, Cycling, Swimming or whatever else you do and be leery of being too energetic when saying hello to passerby's. (oh and Go Blackhawks!! Please... show up tonight not like Monday night... you do know this is the Stanley Cup Finals right?)