This week brought the official start of the running/triathlon season for me. While I have vowed to not race as much this year as compared to last year… I will admit do feel a bit like this lately:

But instead of running, I would replace that with racing for me… I’m trying VERY hard to not sign up for ALL the RACES (with my biggest current desire being a Ragnar Trail Event… seriously. I want that.).

However, despite my wishes to run all sorts of events, I feel like I have a very solid schedule this year that is heavy in June but shouldn’t burn me out for the Fall.

This weekend I was very excited to kick things off in a big way with Seneca 7! However, I’m going to skip talking about that until my next post which will be dedicated to that…

Other than the race on Sunday, the first part of my week was spent on the road again (See a trend here?… so do I…. somehow my travel is not slowing down per the usual. Not sure how I feel about this, but such is life!). As I mentioned, Pennsylvania on Monday, I went to Ithaca Tuesday to speak at Cornell, and Wednesday I was visiting customers in Western NY. After over two weeks out of the office, I was happy for a couple days back to catch up on some things!

Saturday gave me the first opportunity to get out on the 70.3 Bike Course! I rode the Sweet Hill Road, cut across on Route 80 and headed back towards Jamesville for a 2 hour ride. It’s a little scary to admit, but I’m actually starting to truly appreciate the course and Sweet Road. It’s a challenging course, but as I get used to it, and ride it more I’m actually enjoying it. (I’ve come a long way from last year when I cursed it each and every time I had to ride the course.)

To give perspective for what I am talking about, at mile 2 of the course, you are at 750 ft in elevation. At mile 12, the elevation peaks out at 1,900 feet. Needless to say, those 10 miles are a pretty slow crank to work your way up the hill. Syracuse seems to be proud of the challenging course offered. It’s definitely not a course to underestimate, and it makes me happy that I live local so I have the advantage of training on it ahead of race day!

Weekly Workouts//

• Monday – Rest Day – (by default) – was supposed to have a 1 hour recovery bike ride, but due to a last minute trip to Southeast Pennsylvania and back during the day, the day became a rest day (with the exception for a couple walks with the dogs at night).
• Tuesday – 2400 yd Swim
• Wednesday – 1:35 Brick – 1:20 Bike/0:15 Run
• Thursday – 1 Hour Run – with Speed Work
• Friday – 2700 yd Swim
• Saturday – 2 Hour Bike
• Sunday – Seneca 7 Relay!

Weekly Totals//

• Swim – 5100 yards (2.9 Miles)
• Bike – 2 hours – 32 miles on the Northern part of the 70.3 Course
• Run – 2 hours 34 minutes, 19.85 miles
• Brick – 1:35 with Hill Repeats —> 1:20 Bike was inside due to weather, 0:15 Run was with Bronco for 1.86 miles
• Total Time – 8 Hours, 9 Minutes

Weekly Photo Recap//

Nice weather leads to puppy playtime (and subsequent rest time… for Bronco that’s hanging under the deck with his toy.)

Tried Stitch Fix for the first time last week. I’ve had friends who have loved it – it did not go well for me… just not my style (or I already had very similar items in my closet) so all these items went back. However, I will say Stitch Fix is being very good to me, and giving me a credit to try their service again…

If you read my post on Friday, you already know this, but I thought it was worth including again… I finally have my quilt finished! I love it!

As part of the FitFluential offerings, I was sent a sample from JavaPro – can’t wait to try out this!

Roxie and Bronco have been subscribed to Bark Box and they received a new box last week – Bronco loved the new toy and Roxie has enjoyed the little beef treats.

Just chillin’ with the awesome toy – actually this was promptly before the subsequent destruction of the squeaky tennis ball inside the toy, but Bronco was just saving us all from the evil that lurked inside. (Not sure why both my dogs feel the need to dissect and destroy all squeaky toys…)

Doing a speed workout outside calls for some notes to help you remember the running mission….

Another nice day, means the front porch is open for business… Roxie sitting on the bench getting ready to survey the passerby’s.

Keeping watch over her domain.

And Bronco joins in the fun. I feel like walking by my house could be slightly intimidating with Bronco joining in the fun this year… 

A rainy Saturday didn’t stop me from getting my bike ride in.  First time on the 70.3 course for the year, and happy to get outside for a bit! (…and let’s hear it for awkward washed-out self portraits.)

Saturday also brought some Seneca 7 Costume preparation. (I was Gaia from Captain Planet – since I wasn’t going to run in a purple gown… I went for the next best thing… a glittery purple tutu!)

 

Our team finishing up at Seneca 7 on Sunday evening. (Race/Relay recap later this week!)

 

And, I’m not sure how this is even possible given my lack of green-thumb but I’ve kept my poinsettia from Christmas alive. Yes, it’s almost May. I didn’t know they could live this long.

Tell me, did you do anything fun last week?

Has anyone else ever experienced a poinsettia living past the holiday season?!

I hope you all had an awesome week last week and a very happy Monday!