What an awesome week I had last week. It gives me happiness whenever I plan my runs and try to stick to it and achieve it. Last week was similar to that. Will this week live upto the expectations? Let’s find out.
Day 1 – Sunday, July 26, 2020 – Quarantine Day 132
I am not sure if you noticed or not, I changed the title from “Detroit FreePress International Marathon” to “UltraMarathon prep” as this year’s Detroit Marathon has been scrapped due to COVID-19 concerns and has been made entirely virtual. I have decided to postpone my entry to the next year and I know, I will be just as excited for it. Also, I got an extension on my current visa, so I will be around here for at least next three years. So, it will be a while before I mention “Detroit FreePress International Marathon” again.
Starting the week in style – NOT!
After spending so much time outside on Friday and Saturday, I decided to take the official REST DAY today. I could feel my body telling me to slow down and give it some rest. I complied and didn’t go out for run. However, I did go out on long walks twice on this beautiful Sunday. The first one was when I was talking to my parents on the phone and the second one was after dinner in the evening with friends and their kids.
Nothing more appeasing than a relaxing Sunday, am I right?
Day 2 – Monday July 27, 2020 – Quarantine Day 133
The first day of the work week and it could not have been better. Well, it could have been if I would have gone out for a quick run, but I didn’t. You can call it my laziness or too much work load for the past few weeks.
I woke up in the morning and grabbed my running gear and sat myself down to have a glass of lemon juice. While I was sipping on lemon juice, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t gotten a chance to read in the last few days, so I thought I would read while sipping on the lemon juice and then head out for a quick run. My love for reading had different plans in mind & I ended up skipping the run for the day and read for a good hour. By the time I was done with a chapter from the book, I realized & looked at the clock, which shouted “You are too late for your run, lazyass!”. I just looked at the clock and told myself to get some shower and start with my office work.
The was a little bit too much today so I didn’t realize how fast it went by. By the time it was 5PM, me and my friends decided to do a HIIT workout almost after 4 months. This was the first time we were doing a HIIT workout as we have stopped going to our CrossFit sessions to avoid risking ourselves exposing to COVID-19, so it was a little difficult to start off with this workout, but YouTube helped a lot and we went ahead with the following 30 minute strength training workouts.
At the end of this workout, I was dripping in sweat so much that the kids thought I just took a shower. It was so so fun doing this workout and would definitely recommend it.
The workout was followed by an hour of soccer with the kids, followed by some lovely dinner. My body shut itself down after dinner, so I didn’t even realize when I went to bed!
Day 3 – Tuesday July 28, 2020 – Quarantine Day 134
Awesome day!
The day started with an early morning run. If you are keeping track, I am trying to run at least 23 miles every week to finish 1,000 miles by the end of this year. Also, I have been reading Grit by Angela Duckworth, one thing that I really liked so far in this book is to accomplish small goals, which contribute to the one big goal in the end. Therefore, for every run, I am trying to keep the distance just a little bit more than 3.3 miles, and I was glad to know that this run turned out to be longer than 3.3 miles, totaling 4.3 miles with around 10’ pace. Though, I would have loved a little faster pace, my goal is to focus on the distance, more than the pace.
It turned out to be a one more busy work day for me, giving me just enough time for a 30 minute HIIT workout and 1 hour of soccer with the kids in the evening. The kids are really getting better with their soccer skills, all thanks to their perseverance and constant practice.
Day 4 – Wednesday July 29, 2020– Quarantine Day 135
After yesterday’s HIIT workout, I knew my thighs were tired, but after waking up this morning, I knew that something was really wrong. I couldn’t walk properly due to shooting pain in both the thighs. This forced me to skip the run for the day.
On the professional front, I do have a big thing coming tomorrow, so today was spent in preparing for that, details of which, I will reveal once the dust settles. That’s what I was busy in the whole day.
Though my thighs were hurt, I knew I could undergo the 30 minutes HIIT workout, excluding some of the activities that include my things such as squats and lunges. I made sure I don’t hurt my thighs and took the legs exercises quite lightly. After the workout, we decided to skip the soccer for the day & head out to bike. We were biking after a few days, so enjoyed spending time on the road.
Day 5 – Thursday July 30, 2020– Quarantine Day 136
Took the official rest day today. The tired thighs and the big thing at work made me skip the run for the day. Apart from the run, I didn’t go out for biking and didn’t exercise also, so a complete rest for me.
Keeping track of my miles for this month, I am still short of 5.6 miles from the 100 miles mark. If my thighs allow, I would like to run at least 5.6 miles to accomplish this goal and it will be the first time for me to accomplish something which looked such a mammoth task to me when I started this preparation.
I am excited for tomorrow.
Day 6 – Friday July 31, 2020– Quarantine Day 137
The final day of the month for me and the one thing I knew that I had to finish 5.6 miles of running, keeping the 100 miles distance in my sight.
The day started well. I was contemplating a little whether I would get to run in the morning or not for a couple reasons. The first being I had to head to work (physically) to grab my belongings as Ford Motor Company extended the work from home order until further notice. I feel lucky to be a small part of such a wonderful organization which keeps people at the top of the priority list and do enough to make them happy. The second one was that we slept in the tent last night, which makes me wake up a little later than my usual time of around 5AM.
Fortunately, none of these two things delayed my wake up time and I got some room to go out for a quick 5K. I finished the 5K in under 30 minutes, enough to give me confidence and get along with my day.
The work day was filled with many things lined up before the week ends, so I made sure I finish them one at a time. Also, there were a couple friends expected to show up at around 7PM to have dinner with us, so I knew, I would have a small window to go out for run one more time to finish that 100 miles milestone. Fortunately, I got 30 minutes of free time to go out for a quick run and I managed to finish the required 2.5 miles under 25 minutes. I was so glad with this accomplishment.
Before I started running seriously, I never knew, I would cover 100 miles within a month, but as I practiced more and gave running more time, I have improved upon both pace and stamina when it comes to running and it is the sweet fruit of this continuous practice and the “never give up” attitude.
Here’s how July looked for me, as far as running is concerned.
Day 7 – Saturday August 01, 2020– Quarantine Day 138
I knew I wouldn’t get any time to run on Saturday, as we had plans to go to hiking. I love hiking, but after experiencing sore knees and tired thighs for the last couple of days, I knew I won’t be able to finish the 23 miles of running for the week.
I am not sad because of this one failed goal. I know I should have gone out more for running and should have accomplished that goal, but I must listen to my body as well, and that’s what I did this week. I made sure I give enough rest to my body and prevent further wear and tear.
Saturday has been a hiking day for us for the last few months now and this time, we decided to head to Proud Lake State Recreational Area. The biggest advantage for us was the weather. The weather had been cloudy since morning and there was no sign of sunshine throughout the day. That worked in our favor and we didn’t need to drink throughout the hike, which lasted for good 4 hours and we ended up completing more than 7 miles.
After Holly Recreational Area, I would rate this hike as the second most favorite for the season, because of two reasons. The weather was nice, so couldn’t complain and the second reason was the canoe facilities. This recreational area is blessed with so many spots for the canoe riding and we instantly fell in love with it, just by looking at it. I haven’t had a chance to canoe yet, so it will be interesting to see when I get to do that and this recreational area is surely on our radar for canoe. Fingers crossed.
After finishing this not so strenuous hike, it was time to have our regular pizza and head home. The day was filled with many memories of the rain during the hike and spotting a few frogs throughout the hike. Loved every single part of it. This is how the hike looked like.
Grateful for one more week, could have been better, you know!
Let’s see what next week has in store for me!
stochasticity 
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