Bootcamp Recap Week 5

I'm feeling a little behind on this Monday.  Most likely because it was a very busy weekend in Iowa packed with family, games, bike rides and workouts! Not that I am complaining! I would much rather be busy than sitting on my butt all weekend.
Last week, I struggled to fit in workouts while traveling so I went into this weekend with some new strategies.  But before I get to that let's talk about my workouts.

• Monday - 1 hour spin, 1800yd swim
• Tuesday -  5.2 mile run
• Wednesday - 45 min spin class (threshold test), BBB workout A - push muscles
• Thursday - Off
• Friday - 9 x 400s @ 8 mph with 1 mi warm up, 1000 yd swim
• Saturday - 30 mi bike ride
• Sunday - 12 (+ a bonus .5) mile run, 7 mile bike ride for fun

Swimming made a reappearance this week which I was very happy about.  But once I upped the swimming the strength training workouts went down.  Hmmph.  I'm not getting down on myself because overall, this was a good week on the training front.  No missed running or cycling workouts!
The 12 miles on Saturday were better than I was expecting.  Running in Chicago is flat.  A hill here takes me approximately 10 seconds to run up.  Running in Cascade is the opposite of flat.  No flat running routes exist.  Good for hill training bad when you need to run uphill to get home.  
Ugly.  
But overall my pace wasn't bad but I did take a few walking breaks especially up those killer hills.  I also took a break at mile 9 back at my parent's house to get some water and refuel a bit.  I really wanted my brother to finish the last 3 miles with me either running or on his bike, but he had already showered.  How rude.  
My daily goals this week 5 were

•  Do a morning workout
• 10 minutes of stretching or foam rolling

The morning workouts were only managed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The rest of the days the bed was just too darn comfortable.  I will say that I really enjoyed getting my workout in on Friday morning and felt energized all day.  Will I stick with them?  In reality, probably not but it's nice to tell myself how good it feels. 
The 10 minutes of stretching or foam rolling goal was sort of a struggle but I made it happen! It's best if I take 10 minutes immediately after a workout and stretch out because once I am home I often forget all about it.  Stretching does me a lot of good in terms of muscle recovery and injury prevention so I am working on keeping this a priority!
Now, back to that fitting in workouts while traveling thing.  It can be so difficult when you are visiting family and friends to squeeze in workouts especially when they aren't planning to workout.  Thankfully in my family both my parents walk regularly and its rare when I don't fit in a walk with one or both of them on the weekends I am visiting (like this past weekend!).  
Sometimes it is perfectly fine to take the weekend off from working out especially if you haven't had a rest day in a week, but when your schedule includes 2+ hour runs or rides it can be almost impossible to fit those in during weekdays and weekends become the only option.  
Here are some tips for getting in workouts.
Get it in in the morning.  Getting in a workout first thing in the morning means things can't come up later and cause you skip it.  And sometimes whoever you are visiting may be able to sleep in while you sweat it out.  Sunday morning I was up at 8 am to fit in my 12 miler before the Easter festivities began.
Schedule it with a friend.  On Saturday my cousin Kristin (hi Kristin!) and I scheduled a long bike ride.  It not only made the ride more enjoyable but I had a definite plan for the ride that day so I couldn't put it off or skip it.  
Shorten it up.  Ditch the all or nothing attitude!  If you don't think you can get in an hour workout just do 20 minutes.  Crank up the intensity while you are at it! Sure it won't be the same as getting in a long workout but you still get a lot of benefits from raising your heart rate.  Working out puts me in a better mood and keeps me energized!
Enjoy your Monday!