This week was my last week of “run to recovery” progression runs. Here’s how it went:

MONDAY

I’m only supposed to run 30 minutes at a time as part of my run-to-recovery progression but I’ve been doing a little more lately, basically rounding up the mileage to 5K. Monday morning I ran exactly 5K alternating 1 minute walk with 4 minute jog. I must say I wasn’t a fan of being back in the D.C. humidity! 

TUESDAY

It was an Avicii vs Little Mix themed class at Cyclebar and though I have no idea who Little Mix is, I took the class because I was still on a high from Saturday’s awesome 2000s themed class and Shane is my favourite instructor anyway. It was definitely a great class, though I finished in the middle of the pack, as I usually do, this time. 

In the evening, it was Shack and Track with Pacers! I did 2.2 km (a little over a mile) with Elyse, stopping only at traffic signs. It was hot and humid but this is always a super fun group run!

WEDNESDAY

My grand return to run clubs continued today with Summit to Soul’s Hill Runners. I stayed mostly in the back of the pack, running 4:30 minutes and walking 30 seconds. How I missed those Capitol Hill pics (but not the hills!!).

THURSDAY

Another day, another run club, this time Pacers’ Navy Yards which was doing a special event with Vida Fitness that allowed us to go to their pool afterwards. As part of my return to running progression plan, I ran 30 minutes without stopping ( 2.5 miles / 4.1 km) mostly pain free though I feel like my endurance is completely shot at this point. The pool afterwards was super fun.

FRIDAY

Fingers crossed, last physical therapy session slash rest day even though it wasn’t entirely a rest day! 

SATURDAY

Workouts are better with friends and Saturday it was all about my friend and new mama Bianca! First we took a 60 minute Flywheel City center Class at 9AM.

At 4PM, our friend Brian was teaching his very first class at Bhatki Yoga.

And in the evening, Bianca had a bunch of her girlfriends over for bites and drinks. So yeah, super fun Bianca filled day!

SUNDAY

LONG(ISH) RUN SUNDAY Not exactly a long run but I signed up for the Race for the Cure 5K organized by the Four Seasons on September 14th with the Pacers team. Sunday morning, we had a training run, and I actually ran to the Four Seasons to add a little bit of mileage for a total of 7 km / 4 miles which I am counting as run # 1 for week 1 of my new marathon training plan: cramming for Berlin in 6 weeks.

Bilan de la semaine: For my last week of run-to-recovery progression, I ran 23 km/ 14 miles, took two spin classes AND a yoga class.  And I was all about the run groups this week …. it was nice to make my semi triumphant return 😉

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Former President Barack Obama just shared his summer reading list on Instagram and I happened to be reading one of the books he recommended, Stephanie Land’s maid.  Such a good read, I really found myself rooting for Stephanie and (spoiler alert) I’m so glad she finally got a break, though I know there are many hard-working single moms out there who never do and never get out of this vicious cycle of being a working class poor!

What I’m eating/drinking: I’m still all about the buratta-tomatoes combo! 

What I’m looking forward to on week 12: You know how they have that Couch to 5K program? I actually used it to train for my very first 5K. Well, I’m sort of on a 5K to marathon plan right now… I was a little disappointed that my =PR= DC Distance Training Program coaches were not more helpful in steering me towards a plan to cram for marathon training into 6 weeks. I mostly came up with it on my own with lots of internet research and I really hope it’s good enough. I’m both excited and completely freaked out to get started! And I most likely will not be signing up for this training program in the future ….

Have you ever had to recovery from an injury right before a race like this? I’d love to hear about it (especially all feel good, I did it type of stories!!) and, as usual. I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down. Have a great week!

Greetings from Utah! I spent most of the week in Logan, Utah attending the SmallSat conference at Utah State University. This was my third time so I’m starting to know the drill 😉

MONDAY

The first run in Logan was a little bit frustrating. I managed to find a little time after our press conference and did half an hour on the hotel treadmill alternating 2:30 min walk / run. I couldn’t figure out where the distance was indicated so I have no idea how much I ran though I estimate around 3.2 km / 2 miles.

TUESDAY

One of my colleagues told me about a trail right behind the hotel so I thought I’d take my runs outside for the rest of the week. The morning air was crisp and cool, perfect running weather. I ran 3.6km alternating 2 minute walk / 3 min run on the Logan River Trail.

WEDNESDAY

I picked up the Logan River Trail where I left it the day before, driving to Rendez-Vous Park then running 4 km / 2.4 miles alternating walk 2 minutes and run 3 minutes, same as on Tuesday. I decreased my pace from 8:40/km to 8:00/km and that felt good to see.

THURSDAY

Last run on the Logan River Trail 😭 I ended up going for a little more than the 30 minutes I’m supposed to do, running 5.5 km / 3.4 miles alternating 1:30 minutes walk and 3:30 minutes run. Funny how 5+ kms feel like a “long run” right now.

FRIDAY

Back in D.C. and back at physical therapy! We went over my progress with Jared and he encouraged me to keep up with the return to running progression plan and hopefully get to the 3x 30 minutes with no walking at the end of the week and resume training, progressively increasing my mileage. It’s going to be really hard to catch up though, obviously 🙄

SATURDAY

I had such an amazing class at Cyclebar. It was a 2000s themed class and I had had such a stressful week it just felt so good to let it all out on the bike. I *never* finish in the top 10 in class ! I really needed to end the week on a good note like this 😉

SUNDAY

LONG RUN SUNDAY REST DAY. I would have loved to go for a run but I forced myself to take a rest day. Besides, I had to stay home while I was getting a new AC unit installed. That was part of what caused all my stress this week. My AC died and it wasn’t an expense I had really planned on having this year (after getting a new water heater a few months ago — the joys of home ownership !).

Bilan de la semaine: It felt good to run outside again and have such a great spin class. I’m feeling a little more optimistic at the end of the week than I was at the beginning for sure. With that said, ran 16.3 km total, just a little over 10 miles. Took one spin class for cross training and did some PT strength exercises.

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Did anyone else LOVE the 90210 reboot ?? I know a lot of people were disappointed that they were playing heightened versions of themselves and not actually their Beverly Hills characters but I thought it was a clever way to do it. For books, I *finally* finished Kamala Harris’ memoir (💤) And read Sweetbitter which I had been meaning to read for quite a while.

What I’m eating/drinking: I’m sad to report that I have NOTHING to show for this week. The food at the conference is better than at most conference but I basically ate free food whenever I could. I did have some decent Utah beers. They’re lower in alcohol which is kinda fun, you can drink more !

What I’m looking forward to on week 11: I’m taking another cyclebar class on Tuesday morning and I’m planning on doing the Shake Shack one mile run as well that day. It will be nice to go back to one of my running groups ! And yes, I’m hoping to be running 30 minutes with any walking by the weekend ….

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down. Have a great week!

Berlin is less than two months away and I’m barely back to running. Is it time to freak out yet ? Here’s how this week went down:

MONDAY

Kicked off the week at physical therapy. I ran 1 mile on the elliptical and 2.5 on the anti-gravity treadmill (alternating 3 minutes at 4 walk speed and 2 minutes at run speed 6).  

TUESDAY

Those who can’t run, spin? Or something like that… I went back to Cyclebar to take Shane’s class.

And apparently, since I can’t run, I spin and trivia! My friend Nickolas is living the dream and moving to Canada. We got together at Crimson to say goodbye, and apparently play trivia too. And it was super fun actually…

WEDNESDAY

Physical therapy AND last day of July. Time to look back and it’s not really pretty… at least it’s not where I should be and yes, I am absolutely freaking out because i am SO far behind right now and it still hurts when I run 😦

At physical therapy, I started with a 1.1 miles warm-up on the elliptical, followed by strength exercises and 2.7 miles on the Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill. I increased my running speed from Monday to 6.5 (run) and 4.2 (walk) and decreased my alternating walk time to 2:30 min walk/2:30 min run. That rounded me up 105 km / 65.6 miles for the months of July, down from 190km/118 miles in June. I’m trying really hard to be ok with this, and focus on recovery so that I can run pain free soon. 

THURSDAY

I kicked off the day with a Hips & Hamstrings yoga class at MINT Dupont Circle. I didn’t love the class (the instructor was a little scattered) but I should do workouts like this more often. And it was my first time at the MINT Dupont Circle gym and it is SO nice! I’ll have to try another class with another instructor soon.

In the evening, I did my 30 minute “return to running progression” exercise, alternating 3:00 minutes walk with 2:00 minute walk for a total of 3.7 km/ 2.3 miles before meeting my friends Nicole, Calla and Katya for dinner at Hanumanh. Hanumanh is the new bar-focused restaurant concept from the team behind Thip Kao and it was great to try SO many delicious Laotian dishes and catch up with Katya who just got back from 3 months traveling in Asia (though she didn’t go to Laos!). 

FRIDAY

I ran outside !!

Alternated 2:30 minute walk / run for 36 minutes / 4.3 km before dinner at Meiwah near my office with Kaoru and Cecilia. I kinda love having fun evenings with friends again. Though I also can’t wait for it to end and I can return to having to run 😉 

SATURDAY

I hadn’t taken an Orange Theory class in over two weeks so I thought why don’t I do a 90 minute class… I haven’t really been able to do the 90 minute classes because they’re always on Saturday and I have my long runs on Sunday… but since I have no long runs planned for this week, I figured why not? I used the strider for the first time instead of the treadmill and made the rookie mistake of not picking up a floor card so I ended up not having a spot on the floor / rower and had to cut the class in half. They’re not going to count the class and I still got a great workout on the strider so it’s ok but that was a bit of a bummer.

SUNDAY

LONG RUN SUNDAY REST DAY!

Bilan de la semaine: So I’m back to running, a little. At least I can log in a few miles right? Ran 12.2 miles / 19.7 km this week, which is a little more than last week. Two “runs” were on the anti-gravity treadmill during physical therapy and two were on my own, on the treadmill in my building and outside! For cross training, I did a spin class, yoga and half of an Orange Theory class.  

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: I finished Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, my first Kindle read!!

First, but not last… I’m taking my kindle with me to Utah and hoping to read Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler and Modern Lovers by Emma Straub while I’m on the road (I need some light travel reads!) And I finish them both I have two more books queued up AND they won’t take up any additional space in my luggage… kinda loving this and wondering why I didn’t get a Kindle sooner. Or, you know, a library card. Can’t believe I only got one last year!! 

What I’m eating/drinking: I had a couple of great meals with friends this week and the highlight was absolutely Hanumanh. I love that when we were deciding where to get together and “oh, why don’t we try the new Laotian restaurant” became the concensus we had to ask which one since there are now multiple options for Laotian restaurants in DC.

The red curry was absolutely amazing and I loved the meatballs (they were $6 during happy hour too !)

What I’m looking forward to on week 10: I’m in Logan, Utah for a work conference most of the week. I’m bringing my resistance bands in my suitcase and my running shoes. Hoping to go through week 2 of the return to running progression plan and end on a walk 1:30 minutes/run 3:30 minutes note. Trying to have realistic expectations though… my time won’t really belong to me during the conference… also, the altitude can be rough! 

Not going to lie, it was a difficult week. The temperatures dropped significantly and I just really wanna go out and run with my friends. I’m not a great runner to start with so falling behind like this is really freaking me out. But freaking out isn’t gonna help me get better so trying to focus on more positive thoughts and recovery! And I did get to feel active again this week which was nice.

MONDAY

OK. So last week I was resting and feeling sorry for myself. That ended today. I set up a nice little space for me to do my PT exercises (currently foam rolling, single leg squats and lateral walks with resistance bands) and decided to add some arms work. I found this 30-day arms challenge on health.com and will be doing those in addition to PT everyday.

Chloe loves my new set up and really wanted to be involved for moral support 😉

TUESDAY

I went through my PT exercises + 3×10 reps of bicep curls + isometric hold and 3×10 reps triceps pulses + hold. I had my second PT section, which started with 6 minutes on a bike, went through my current exercises and added three more: single leg 3-way HIP with resistance bands, lunges with 5 lbs weights, and non-weighted side lunges. I felt really good after the session and more optimistic than I have in a while! 

In the evening, instead of attending Pacers Navy Yards’ neighborhood shake shack run I went to Eaton D.C. for BYT’s bookswap with Nicole. Such a fun concept for an event! Here’s what Nicole and I picked up (she took Under the Udala Trees to read first):

ps: do you know about my Read & Rosé instagram account? Now you do 😉

WEDNESDAY

Today I added dumbbell overhead presses to my arms workout. I’m using 7 lbs weights. Since I felt good after Tuesday’s PT session and my limping is minimal now, I decided to do my first “Return to Running Progression” run: thirty minutes on the treadmill alternating 4:30 minutes fast walk and 30 seconds running. It didn’t feel great but it did feel good to log two miles into my running journal. It’s something …

In the evening (feels weird to be having non-running evening activities again!) I went to Audi Field to see the friendly match between D.C. United and l’Olympique de Marseille. I guess DC United played its reserve team and the game felt really lop sided (1-8 for Marseille). Also. It rained. Slash poured. That wasn’t on the forecast and definitely put a damper on our beer garden happy hour beforehand…

THURSDAY

I did some of my exercises in the morning, knowing I would do more at Physical Therapy later. At PT I did 1.5 miles on the elliptical, more exercises, and then 20 minutes on the anti-gravity treadmill, alternating 3 minute walk and 2 minute run. That’s the most I ran in a while and while it felt super weird I’m SO excited to have another 3 miles to log into my run journal.

FRIDAY

I felt pretty good on the bike at PT so I decided to take a spin class at Flywheels.

SATURDAY

PT exercises + hammer curls for the strong arms challenge. Coach Tammy had a few people over at her place for brunch to celebrate her 10 year DCversarry and later went to see 10 Things I Hate about You with Calla at the Shakespeare Theater. But it was the teenage film version with Julia Stiles, not the play! And it was SO fun (especially because of bunch of kids in the audience were seeing it for the first time!)

SUNDAY

LONG RUN SUNDAY Ok, not a long run Sunday but at least I ran! Summit to Soul, this awesome active women store in Barracks Row, turned three and they’ve been celebrating all week. It’s one of the first running group I ever went to so I really wanted to join them for their Capitol Hill loop. I cut it short a little to 4km instead of 5, alternating walk and run and managed to meet up with everyone for the group pic on the hill!

Afterwards we had a donut cake back at the store and that was brilliant ! Will run slash walk for donut cake apparently 😉

The rest of Sunday was spent by the pool until I headed over to my friend Philippe for a barbecue.

Bilan de la semaine: So I’m back to running, a little. At least I can log in a few miles right? Ran 7.5 miles / 12 km this week, which is better than nothing I guess. Did lots of good strength exercises through PT and at home and hope to keep a better routine on my own as I get back to marathon training. 

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: For books, I read The Sun Does Shine on my brand new kindle and listened to Kamala Harris’ book The Truths we Hold. Anthony Ray Hinton’s memoir of his wrongful imprisonment for 30 years for three murders he did not commit was devastating and I highly recommend it.

On the same topic, I watched Ken Burn’s Central Park Five documentary which was a great complement to the Netflix series Now They See Us.

What I’m eating/drinking: Nicole and I had dinner at American Son after the the book swap and I *loved* the shishito pepper dish was amazing!!! Closer to home I made this grilled pork chop with caramelized peaches 🍑 and basil (recipe here) and it was amazing and very easy to do on the grill!

What I’m looking forward to on week 9: More Physical Therapy and hopefully a little more running. As I start to feel better I have to remind myself that I can’t increase the duration or intensity of my runs too much if I want to minimize the risk of injury recurrence… but it’s hard!! I want to get back to my training and not feel like I’m soooo far behind.

We’re 10 weeks away from the Berlin marathon on September 29th and I’ve had a very frustrating week dealing with an injury. Honestly, I don’t have much to report, at least not on the running/training front. The heat wave canceled most of the fun plans I had for the weekend and it actually didn’t matter because I finally did see a physical therapist and I’m not running for the next couple of weeks. What am I going to do with myself?

MONDAY

REST DAY. My leg wasn’t feeling great after Sunday’s not-so-long long run so I decided I would sit Monday out.

TUESDAY

I did 6.7km/4 miles with Ian and Pacers Navy Yards. It was hot and my leg hurt throughout most of the run. Not good 😦

WEDNESDAY

OrangeTheory kicked off “Orange Voyage” with a row heavy workout. Like we spent half the class on the rower which never happens. I actually really liked this workout. My leg didn’t hurt on the rower though it did on the treadmill so I switched to the strider and felt fine. I rowed 5500m!

On the downside, I always have a harder time getting splat points on the rower and I barely got 3 splat points. But I felt like I had a good workout, especially given my limitations this week.

THURSDAY

TRACK DAY REST DAY. As much as my leg felt fine during the Orange Theory workout, it didn’t feel good afterwards and I was still limping when walking. With my first physical therapy appointment scheduled for Friday I decided to take a break. 

FRIDAY

I went to Physical Therapy and did some exercises. I’m basically off running for the next couple of weeks and I’m obviously freaked out and sad and frustrated but trying really hard to tell myself it will be ok. I hate falling so far behind in training. I’m not a good runner, I really can’t afford setbacks like this… But it wasn’t all bad that day. The mini-ragnar relay at DC Brau I was going to participate in was canceled so I didn’t have to feel like I was missing out and I made it to the mall instead to see the amazing celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that landed on the moon.

It was spectacular to see so many people on the mall ! You can see the full video/projection here. It was honestly one of the coolest experience I’ve had in DC since I moved here 14 years ago.

SATURDAY

I had planned to cheer the runners at the Crystal City Twilighter but that was canceled. I did some of my PT exercises. And in sort of keeping with my theme of training for a marathon in Germany I went to a German wine tasting at Weygand Wine Store. Not the same, I know… 

SUNDAY

Spent the day mostly IN my pool. Nothing to report.

Bilan de la semaine: This week felt like the worse. I barely ran 4 miles, did one Orange Theory class… I’m trying really hard to listen to my body and take a break so I can get better as quickly as possible but it’s very frustrating! 

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Less running means more time for reading! I finished Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsonn which I loved, The Incomplete Guide to Running by Steve Sagal which I also loved and Brooklyn, which I loved as much as I loved the movie.

And I binged on the new season of Queer Eye. Gosh I love that show and it gave me a great excuse to spend a few hours indoors in the air conditioning! 

What I’m eating/drinking: I took Corey to Texas de Brazil for his birthday so we ate all the meats! Otherwise, I was really good about bringing my lunches to work this week, alternating between a feta salad with chickpeas and canned sardines and club sandwich. I made this simple and delicious quick chia seed strawberry jam using a recipe from The Kitchn. I’m planning on eating it with cottage cheese or whole grain waffles for breakfasts next week!

What I’m looking forward to on week 7: Physical therapy and getting better?? I hate feeling like I’m falling so far behind on my training 😦  

During marathon training you have good weeks and you have bad weeks. This week wasn’t a good week for me. I was actually in quite a bit of pain after last Sunday’s long run and so I spent most of the week trying to take it easy and recover. But it’s sooo hard to take a break! 

MONDAY

So Monday was interesting… starting with torrential rain/flooding and ending with pretty decent running temperatures. Like I mentioned in the intro, I was still a little sour from Sunday’s 14 miler and I have this recurring pain in my upper left thigh that is starting to worry me so I kept it short Monday and ran 5K with Pacers 14th street. We had a huge group for the 3 mile run!

TUESDAY

I hate missing the monthly Track and Shack run but I had a birthday party that evening so I ran a quick 5.3km all by myself like a big girl in the morning. My leg still wasn’t feeling great though 😦

WEDNESDAY

It was one mile benchmark at OrangeTheory and I didn’t want to miss it! I always compare myself to other runners and let it to me and get me down. Wednesday’s benchmark mile helped me remember the only comparison that really matters:

Me in January: 10:45/mile or 6:41/km

Me in July: 9:38/mile or 5:59/km

Of course it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t still find a way to beat myself up over that. Back in April, I ran one of the Crystal City 5Ks at a 9:18/mile or 5:47/km. So I know I’ve made a lot of progress and it’s great to see some concrete results, but I also know I can do better and have to ask myself what held me back during the benchmark… 

THURSDAY

REST DAY.

FRIDAY

It’s Britney b*tch! I had been really itching to take a spin class so when I saw that Christine, one of my favourite instructors, was teaching a BRITNEY themed class at Flywheel Dupont Circle at 8AM, I just couldn’t resist (though it was probably not the ideal “rest my leg” activity)!!

SATURDAY

My bestie Caitlin was in town visiting and helping me celebrate France’s national holiday in style. She’s also training for Berlin but we thought we’d have some fun today. First, we took a special Core Power class on the rooftop of the Pod Hotel in Chinatown. In the afternoon we headed to the Wharf to do some Stand Up Paddleboarding which was super fun.

There’s just something about being on the water on a got sunny day! Also, we worked out our arms and core so I’m totally counting it as cross training.

SUNDAY

A long day that started with my usual 6:30AM long run with PR =DC= DTP. I took a step back since I had barely ran this week and just ran 8 miles. My leg still doesn’t feel great 😦 I actually had company the whole route (we ran along the mall), not from Caitlin who’s much faster and ran with some of the other peeps in the group, but from another girl who had just gotten back from Sweden. We talked running, traveling… it was nice!

After that, we did a little recovery at the pool and then it was on! Full on Bastille Day celebrations starting with one drink at Opaline at the Sofitel, another drink at the rosé garden at the Four Seasons Hotel/ ENO Wine Bar, lots of drinks at the French Embassy and lots of food and dancing at Bistro du Coin. It was an ambitious agenda. I might need to call in sick Monday 😉

Bilan de la semaine: The low mileage (25km / 15 miles) is really frustrating and I’m not 100% sure it actually helped but I couldn’t just stop altogether (could I?). I’m happy I did different activities like SUP-ing, yoga and spinning but I need to get back on track next week.

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: My attempt to read more books by international authors took me to Japan for the second time. Hiromi Kawasaki’s The 10 Loves of Nishino is a quirky  love story told through the eyes of 10 different women who help draw a portrait of a mysterious ladies’ man.

I’m also listening to Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson and really enjoying that. 

What I’m eating/drinking: I had a lovely dinner with Caitlin, Calla and some of Caitlin’s friend at Zeppelin, a new(ish) sushi, yakitori, and izakaya bar  in Shaw. But the highlight was this cute little Bastille Day themed religieuse from Dominique ansel that Caitlin brought on the train with her. It was filled with Nutella so obviously I’m in love. 

What I’m looking forward to on week 7: I hated being forced to take a break this week and I’m looking forward to getting back to a 50+ km mileage week, if my leg allows it. Also, Wednesday is Corey’s birthday and there’s lots of fun stuff in DC planned for 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions.