April marks the two year anniversary of when I started to really consistently focus on strength training as part of my workouts. What started as a way to get some physical activity and break up the monotony of the early days of the pandemic has now become a consistent part of my routine. 

Last year, I wrote about the progress I'd made after one year of consistent lifting. I noted that I pretty quickly progressed in my ability to increase the weight I was lifting, but that if you looked at me, there was no obvious physical difference -- which was fine. That wasn't my goal. 

This year, I felt like my ability to progress to heavier weights slowed a bit, but I've gained some noticeable definition, especially in my arms and shoulders. 

I noticed it first in this race photo from the Rock N Roll Half Marathon back in November. Never before in a race picture have I ever looked like I had strong arms. In fact, I used to routinely joke about my puny T-Rex arms. 

While I know this is going to sound incredibly vain, being able to actually see some of the results of my hard work has been pretty cool.

In terms of what I'm doing, I'm still routinely lifting 2-3 days a week. Some weeks it's 4 days, some weeks I may only squeeze in one lifting session if it's a more running heavy week. But the most important thing is that it's been consistent. 

I'm still relying heavily on the HasFit videos that my mom found very early on in the pandemic. She and I still virtually work out together several times per week. We pick a workout we want to do and start the videos at the same time. It's been a good way to stay accountable and motivated. 

I use my strength sessions to break up my workday. On days I lift, it's almost always during my lunch break. It gives me a good excuse to walk away from my computer and get some movement in during the day so I can come back fresh in the afternoon.

To help me mark my own progress, at this point in time, I'm using the dumbbells I have at home. We have a bit of a variety, which is good for giving me options. 

I'm using 12-25 lbs for a many upper body moves. Biceps and chest are typically 12-15 lbs. Upper back like rows is consistently 20-25 lbs. And then smaller muscle groups like my shoulders and triceps are usually in the 10-12 lbs range. 

Lower body exercises I'm using anywhere from 30-50 lbs depending on the move. Deadlifts are routinely 50 lbs. Squats and lunges tend to be closer to 30-40. 

As for core work I'm able to hold planks longer and do some of the more advanced moves. 

Overall, I'm really pleased with my progress, and I'm excited to have another year of good, consistent strength training under my belt. 

Now that my race season is officially over, I'm settling into the offseason. My focus for the offseason this year is to finally get to the bottom of my hip and hamstring issues and build a solid foundation to move into spring and next year's training cycles. 

These hamstring and hip issues have been a bother since basically the spring. It started with my left hamstring, then that seemed to heal. But immediately after my right hip flexor flared up. By the time I ran the Rehoboth Half, I was dealing with both my right hip flexor soreness, and my left hamstring was back causing problems too. 

I'm fairly convinced these two things are linked, and I'm assuming I changed my form in the summer to address the hamstring issue and that likely caused the hip issue. 

So, the offseason is the time to fix that. Despite that fact that I've been more focused than ever on strength training to conquer muscle imbalances, I think the culprit here is still weak glutes. 

I've scheduled an appointment for next week to get both my hip and hamstring worked on. I'm hoping if I can start by releasing some of the built up tension and soreness, I can move forward with a focused regimen of targeted glute strength and hip mobility work. 

I'm also putting myself on a forced hiatus from running until after that appointment. It's been killing me inside because we've had some unseasonably warm days lately and I've really wanted to run, but I can tell these two weeks off have definitely helped my hip. So walks and strength training only for now. 

After next week's assessment, I hope to be able to focus on building a solid foundation to eventually layer running back in. My first step is finding a mobility plan that I will actually commit to doing on a daily basis. This has always been a struggle for me. I tend to be really good about it for a week and then fall off pretty quickly. 

The second element of my offseason training plan is to dedicate one of my strength training workouts to runner-specific moves that target the glutes and hips. Most of my strength workouts are full body efforts, so those muscles definitely get hit. But it's proven to not be quite enough, so I want to take a more targeted approach. 

And the last thing will just be maintaining a steady base of running -- as soon as my hamstring and hip allow. The best part about winter running is that you don't have to get up before the sun to beat the heat and humidity, so I plan to enjoy lunch time runs and later morning runs on the weekend. 

My hope is that with this focus on rehab and building this strong foundation that when it comes time to pick races for 2022 and start training, I'll be ready to go.

Over the 15 years that I've blogged about fitness, I've always struggled to find any sort of consistency in strength training. Running has been and probably always will be my favorite form of exercise.

Strength training has come and gone over the years -- oftentimes it shows up when I'm rehabbing an injury, sticks around for a while and then takes a back seat when I start training for a race. 

But since April 2020, I've discovered a new appreciation for strength training and actually kind of look forward to my weight lifting workouts now. 

It's a weird shift for me, going from running 4-5 times per week with one day of lifting if I was lucky, to running once or twice per week and consistently lifting 3-4 times. 

But I've found that I don't miss running that much. I think that virtual marathon back in the fall really burned me out. While I largely enjoyed training for it as a distraction from the pandemic, I was also very, very glad when it was done.

Having strength training as an alternate form of exercise to focus on has been a really welcome change of pace, and I've been really proud of some of the progress I've made in just a year. When I started lifting weights regularly last April, I had access to 3, 5 and 8 lb dumbbells at home. My husband was able to find a set of adjustable weights that went up to 20 lbs fairly early in the pandemic. I couldn't use those for much more than a few leg exercises at the time.

By June, I found myself desperately searching the Internet for a pair of 10 lb dumbbells. In just two months, the 8s had become too easy for many things. I felt like I struck gold when a Walmart that we happened to be driving past in Fredericksburg, VA said they had two 10 pounders in stock. 

By the fall I was comfortably using 10 pounds for every upper body move except shoulder and tricep stuff and that was mainly because I was dealing with my stupid frozen shoulder. For lower body, I was now using my husband's adjustable dumbbells alternating them between 15 and 20 pounds each depending on what exercise I was doing. 

And by February, I was ready to bump up to 12s for some upper body things and really needed the ability to jump to 25, 30, or more for lower body if I wanted to avoid a plateau. 

So we started shopping around for one of those super expensive sets of adjustable dumbbells. Bowflex was on a 4 month back order so that was a no go. I found a set of NordicTrack ones on Amazon, but they sold out before I convinced myself I really wanted to spend that kind of money.

I fumed to myself for a while about my hesitancy, and as soon as I saw they were back in stock, I pulled the trigger. And since then, I've been able to continue to slowly progress in the amount of heavy stuff I can pick up.

I'm glad I have these kinds of progress markers because from the outside, I don't think I look very different, and I feel like that's the stuff people are alway curious about. 

All this weight lifting has not given me a six pack, but I can tell my core is a ton stronger because I can hold a plank for so much longer. I haven't lost any weight, in fact, I've actually gained some during the pandemic -- probably from all those M&Ms I eat. 

Maybe if I squint at myself in the mirror, I can see a tiny bit more definition in my arms -- you know if the light is right and I stand just the right way. But this is not some remarkable physical transformation story. I don't have any before or after pictures to show you. 

This is just slowly and consistently working to get a little bit stronger. One year in, I can pick up much heavier stuff, many of my muscle imbalances have gone away and sometimes I even find running faster isn't quite as hard as it once was. 

At the beginning of the year, I said I wasn't setting specific workout goals because it's just too hard during a pandemic to know what sort of workouts I'm going to be in the mood for. I didn't want to set a bunch of goals and lock myself into something that I suddenly had no desire to do. 

So instead, I just committed to some sort of regular movement. 

In January, I took on a four-week strength training challenge through OpenFit. I've come to really appreciate lifting heavier weights during the pandemic, and I was excited to see what four weeks of focus on just that would do in terms of my strength. 

While I'm somewhat limited in what I can do with upper-body weight lifting because of my shoulder, I was still really excited that by the end of January, I was regularly able to do squats, lunges and other lower body-focused exercise with much heavier weight. 

Even some shoulder-friendly upper body exercises showed improvement. 

I did start to miss running a little bit in January though, while I focused so intently on strength training. 

So in February, I decided I wanted to try to find a better balance. I wanted to continue to build my strength because I know it will prevent running injuries, but I wanted to make time for more running. 

Mixing the two has always been a challenge for me because I find myself favoring one often at the expense of the other, or I try to do too much don't leave enough recovery time.

So my mini-goal for February is about finding some sort of balance. 

I'm doing OK on that front, but the weather hasn't been so helpful -- especially on the weekends when I'd prefer to get outside for runs.

I don't have a treadmill so the only way for me to run is outside, and we've had a lot of ice this month. 

Despite that I did manage to do two runs each the first two weeks of February, and I think about three strength training workouts each week. 

I'd like to try to get in another run (ideally on the weekend). I'd be happy with a balance of three strength workouts, three runs and at least one day of pure rest. 

We'll see how things go the rest of the month and if the weather cooperates enough to let me do that. We've already got another ice storm in the forecast for later this week, so who knows.

Thinking longer term, if in-person races come back in the fall, I'd love to run an in-person half marathon. It's hard to say that that's a goal for the year because I don't know where things will be pandemic-wise in the fall, but it'd be nice to have a real race to look forward to for some extra motivation. 

It's been over a month since I ran the Marine Corps Marathon virtually. Since then, I've been taking a much needed break from running. 

If you've been reading along all pandemic, you'll remember I did the RW RunStreak in the summer from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, running at least 1 mile each day, and then right after that jumped immediately into marathon training. 

I was feeling the running burn out pretty strongly. So this break is much needed. 

For now, I'm enjoying life not on any sort of training plan. 

I've run a grand total of three times since the marathon. 

Instead, I've gone on lots of walks, and jumped back into pretty regular strength training. It's a nice change of pace, and I'm really enjoying mixing things up.

I kind of hate that I'm going to lose a large chunk of the endurance I built up over marathon training, but I just have no motivation for running right now. And with no races anywhere on the horizon, it seems silly to push myself to run. 

I'll have plenty of time to rebuild endurance when I'm excited about running again. 

I plan to spend the weeks between now and Christmas exploring some of the virtual workout options that have sprung up as a result of covid. Variety seems fun to me right now, so that's what I'm going to stick with. 

And I've found that as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, getting outside of the house during daylight hours is essential to my sanity. I've been going for nice long walks over much lunch break, and I've really come to appreciate the fresh air, the less intense movement, and the time away from my computer. It's a nice way to break up my day as my options for doing any sort of outside activities start to diminish. 

So that's my plan for now -- strength training and long walks. I'll reevaluate things again when the New Year rolls around or as soon as my running motivation comes back. 

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with my friend Emily-Anne when she asked if I wanted to swim across the Potomac River with her in the Washington's Crossing Swim.



I was a little apprehensive at first. I haven't done an open water swim in ages (probably since my triathlon in 2012). And the Potomac River is not known for being clean.

But I mulled it over, and two days later I was texting her to ask her to send me the registration info.

So now we're both registered to swim about 1.4 miles from Alexandria, Va., to National Harbor, Md., in early June.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to train for this sort of event. I looked at some half Ironman training programs to see what sort of swim workouts they recommended. I Googled "how to train to swim a mile" and found a "coach to one-mile" swim program.

But I haven't found any program that I've been particularly drawn to. So if anyone has suggestions, I'm open to ideas.

So far my training has been two swims.

Last week I did an endurance swim where I just tried to cover 2500 yards. I broke it down in to a 1,000 and a 1,500 because I was worried about losing track of the distance. That was mentally exhausting, but probably some good practice for an open water swim where I can't rest on the walls.

Then today I did what I consider a more traditional swim workout broken up in to shorter sets. In total, I did about 1,700 yards.

I'm also desperately in need of a new pair of goggles, so if you have any favorites to share, leave them in the comments!

Of all the workouts that I do on a somewhat regular basis, swimming is the one where I'm the most likely to accidentally over do it.

I think it probably has something to do with the fact that I can't tell that I'm working super hard. I mean yes, I get winded and breathe heavy when I'm in the pool -- especially after a set of sprints.

But unlike running or basically any other workout, I don't feel myself sweating. I don't feel my muscles fatiguing nearly as quickly. And I never have to worry about any nagging aches or pains that remind me that sometimes working out can be tough.



Swimming is wonderful that way.

But it also means I sometimes accidentally do a more intense workout than I should.

I realized that's what I had done today when I felt completely gassed when I pulled myself out of the pool. Sure I felt my arms getting a little tired during the workout, but I didn't realize just how tired until I'd gotten out of the water.

I did 2500 yards in the pool today. That's a normal amount when I'm swimming regularly. It's not such a normal amount when I've only swam twice in the last month and hadn't been in the pool since April prior to that.

But with swimming it's just so easy to get in the water and fall back into the routine of regular workouts.

Here's what today's workout looked like:

Warm-up: 200 yards
Kick drill: 100 yards

Main set: 4 x 500 broken up as follows:

Set 1: 300, 2 x 50, 4 x 25
Set 2: 2 x 150, 2 x 50, 4 x 25
Set 3: 3 x 100, 2 x 50, 4 x 25
Set 4: 4 x 75, 2 x 50, 4 x 25

For the "endurance portion" of each set, I focused on smooth form.
The 50s focused on speed.
The 25s were a breathing drill.

Cool down: 200 yard breast stroke.

And just like that I was at 2500 yards. When I swam back in December, I did something like 2300 yards. The next day my arms felt like spaghetti. I imagine I'll be feeling something similar tomorrow.

In my last post, I talked a lot about how I've been focused on stepping back from running to rebuild a better foundation through cross training. Through November, December and January, I had found a pretty consistent pattern of strength training, yoga and swimming.



February was kind of crazy for me and a lot of that fell by the wayside, as I juggled other responsibilities. Even after just a few short weeks of no strength training, I could tell things with my hip were on the slippery slope to a backslide.

So I decided to make a better effort in March, and once I got back from my Japan trip, I feel like I did a good job of that.

As I try to gently begin increasing my running mileage, I'm shuffling a few things in my schedule and trying to figure out which workouts fit best on which days.

I don't have it figured out perfectly yet, but the last several weeks have looked something like this:

• Monday - Strength training
• Wednesday/Friday - A short run
• Saturday - Swimming
• Sunday  - Rest day

Tuesday and Thursday are toss-up days. Sometimes I do a yoga or barre class or sometimes depending what's going on that week, I just take a walk or a rest day. These are the days I'd like to try to be more strategic about when it comes to my workouts. But I'm still trying to figure out what works best each week.

I'd eventually like to bump my running back up to three days per week, but for right now, two days seems to be where my hip is happy.

So that's where I am as I slowly rebuild and try to get my running back. It's a very humbling journey.

After a very overly indulgent and delightfully lazy weekend, I was craving some hardcore cardio yesterday to kick my lazy bum back into gear.

Mondays I usually reserve for one of my favorite barre classes, but I was in the mood for something more intense than that. I'd been toying with the idea of a spin class, but I haven't stepped foot into a spin studio since some point in the summer or fall when I was dealing with really bad hip pain.



At the time, hinging over a bike seat was excruciatingly painful. But since things have been pretty Ok on the hip front lately, I wanted to test the waters.

I got to the studio a bit on the earlier side, and asked for some help getting my bike set up since it had been so long. Figured it doesn't hurt to have one of the people actually trained in it make sure my seat was at the right height and distance from the handlebars.

I hopped on the bike and started doing some easy pedaling to see how things would feel. If it wasn't comfortable at all, I could leave before the class got started.

But everything seemed to be feeling OK, and I was looking forward to doing the class.

The class itself wasn't one of my favorites. The music was meh and the mix of climbs and sprints was only so-so, but my hip didn't bother me once the entire 45-minute class.

I'm hoping that my focus on cross-training this winter will help knock out my hip issues once and for all.

In my post on cross-training through the cold winter months, I mentioned that I had been swimming a lot more and really enjoying my time in the pool. Usually when I swim, I follow a workout from a book or use one from my mom's swim group.



But that can get kind of boring and monotonous after a while when you're by yourself. So when two of my friends suggested I join them for SwimWOD workouts hosted by Old City Swim School, I was intrigued.

I attended my first class two Saturdays ago, and really enjoyed the structure of the workout. Classes are taught by former division one competitive swimmers and divers and remind me a ton of my old swim team workouts from high school.


Please enjoy this throwback yearbook photo of my high school swim team.

I've only been to two classes so far, but it appears most are typically structured in a way that starts with a warm-up followed by some drills to focus on form. Then we get into the main set. Sometimes the main set is entirely swimming in the pool. Sometimes it's a set of pool work followed by drylands (basically strength work done outside of the pool). Then class ends with a cool down swim.

I love having this kind of structure in my swim workouts. First, there's a coach figuring out the workout for me, so I have to do zero thinking. Then there's the general camaraderie that comes with everyone in the group being "in it together." Even if we're swimming at different paces, we all share collective groans when the coaches surprise us with especially torturous workouts.

I actually liked the workouts so much that I signed up for a ten class pass and plan to make SwimWODs a regular part of my weekly workout routine this winter.

Here's what my first two SwimWOD classes entailed.

First swim class workout

200 warm up
100 kick set

Main Set
12 x 50
3 kick on 2
3 swim on 1:20
3 pull on 1:50
3 swim on 1:20

Strength Work
Tread water for a minute, get out of the pool, do 10 squats, repeat 8 times (my legs felt like jello after this)

150 cool down

Total yards: 1050

Second swim class

This workout featured the sprint set from hell. It was a pyramid sprint set, with active recovery, instead of just regular rest. I was pretty gassed by the end.



Warm up and drills
200 warm up

50 kick

4 x 75 breathing drills

4 x 50 breathing drills

Main set: Pyramid sprints with active rest

200 hard
100 easy

4 x100
Alternate 100 sprint, followed by 100 recovery

4 x 50
Alternate 50 sprint, followed by 50 recovery

2 x 25 hard
50 easy

Total yards: 1800

I know when I first counted this up right after the workout when it was still fresh in my mind it was 1800 yards. But somewhere between then and when I wrote it down, I lost 100 yards. Maybe we swam a 100 after the breathing drills before the main set.

The coaches also wrote our times down for the sprints. I haven't been timed for real since high school, and I have to say I was surprised the numbers were not slower than they were. (Note: The time for my 200 in the picture above is definitely wrong because I shared a lane with a girl who finished before me and according to that picture, she has a slower time than me).

While I normally swim 2000 yards if I'm just going to the pool by myself, I like the structure these workouts provide. I like having coaches and focusing on different things rather than just straight swimming. I'm definitely excited to see improvements in my form and my times from more structured coaching.

The last several weeks it has been cold and grey in DC. So cold that even being outside was painful for any exposed skin.


The Potomac River totally frozen over.

That meant I was largely trapped inside with limited human interaction.

If it weren't for a few strategically timed workouts and hangout sessions with friends, the cabin fever would have destroyed me. As it was, by Sunday, I was already going a little out of my mind from being so confined.

When it's this cold, I can't bring myself to run outside. I'm a wimp and need it to be at least in the high 20s or 30s before I consider an outside run. Otherwise the cold air stings my face and burns my lungs.

Since running was off the table, I doubled down on swim workouts. I went to pool a bunch of times in the past couple of weeks knocking out 2,000 yard swims. I'd forgotten how great of a workout swimming is, and I've enjoyed being back in the pool. It makes me feel strong in a way that's different from running.



I've also been to a bunch of barre classes, which I've really come to appreciate lately since they do an awesome job of incorporating my PT exercises.

Between the swimming and the barre classes, my hip has been feeling kind of awesome. I'm not sure if this is because I haven't attempted a run since the week before Christmas or if all the cross-training and strengthening work is slowly starting to correct some of my muscle imbalances.

It's supposed to be pretty warm here by the end of the week, and I'd like to attempt a run to see how it goes and how my hip responds. No matter what happens, I plan to keep up a steady level of cross-training through the winter. If I can stay on top of that, maybe by the time spring weather rolls around, I'll be able to run pain free on a regular basis.

Lately the steroids seem like they are really helping things with my hip. I go back to the doctor tomorrow, but over the last couple of weeks, I've been able to do a decent amount of workouts.

Note: I changed blog hosts a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still working out some things with the RSS feed. Sometimes it updates, sometimes it doesn't. If you normally get my blog updates via RSS, you may want to resubscribe. That's the only thing that's worked 100% of the time for me. 

I've struggled this summer to find workouts that I can do that don't bother my hip. Running has been off the table for months, and biking/spinning isn't always super comfortable.

That mainly leaves me with swimming, which is hands down the most logistically challenging workout. It requires a decent amount of equipment and the ability to get to a pool during limited hours.



Plus it just destroys my hair.

That's not to say I don't enjoy swimming. I just don't enjoy the headache of trying to figure out how to make pool workouts fit in my schedule.

But after spending basically the entire month of July on vacation, I decided I needed to do something to feel less lazy, so I made an extra effort to get the a pool.

There's an outdoor pool not too far from my house. It has pretty limited hours, but because swimming outside on a nice summer day seemed fun, I made it work last Thursday.



I wasn't sure what kind of workout I'd tackle that day, but I eventually settled on something that was a mix of 100s with some 300s thrown in for good measure.

After not being in a pool for well over a year, I could tell I was slow even on the short sets, and by the last 100 yards of the 300s, I was definitely fatiguing.

Despite all that, I still managed a total of 1950 yards before the lifeguards started blowing their whistles like crazy, and everyone had to get out of the pool because a crazy thunderstorm was passing through.

Not being able to get in the last 50 yards to round things out a nice 2000 still irks me a bit. It's like doing a run and finishing with 4.8 miles instead of an even 5.

P.S. This is what I looked at after walking home through that storm.



Normally getting caught in a storm like that would kind of annoy me, but since I was already soaking wet from being in the pool, I was just kind of amused as I hopped majorly flooded areas.

I was hoping to do another swim workout tonight, but it's currently pouring here, and it doesn't look so promising that things will clear up later today, and the pool is closed tomorrow. See what I mean about logistical challenges...

I've officially hit the half way mark of the ValSlides program, the new strength training routine I started, and I wanted to share how things are going so far. (Numbers are at the bottom if you want to cheat and skip ahead.)


The program has six workouts each week. Three days are cardio sessions, meant to be short and higher in intensity (though my 17 mile run on Monday hardly falls in either of those categories) and three days are Val's strength routines.


Val's strength programs are intense. I talked about my first workout using the program and how I was literally dripping in sweat and laying on the gym floor exhausted after I finished, and that hasn't changed with the other workouts.

They literally kick my butt. Val loves lunges and holy goodness my butt is getting a workout on this program.

But so are my arms, shoulders, chest, back and abs.

Val's program also comes with a food plan, which I'm sort of kind of following. I really, really suck at "diets" or any program that tells you to eat certain foods and not eat others. I love food, and if you tell me I can't eat something, it's pretty much the only thing I want to eat.

That said, I would say I'm following Val's plan about 90 percent of the time.


Her plans calls for lots of fresh produce (easy in the summer!) and lean protein while completely eliminating bread, flour, alcohol and all processed food for three weeks.

I've certainly reduced the amount of the prohibited foods, but I haven't gone completely cold turkey on any of them.

So to track progress Val has you record measurements at the start, mid-way point and end of the program.

I'm not doing this specifically to lose weight, and since I'm not following the diet super closely, my results probably won't be as awesome as someone who was.

But hey, I've got my friend's huge pool party coming up in a few weeks and if I'm going to be running around in swimsuit all day long, I'm not complaining if one of the added benefits of this program is that I slim down a smidge.


Half way through here's where things stand. I'm not sharing real numbers because I don't really feel like putting that out on the Interwebz. If you're dying to know, shoot me an email and I'm happy to share.


Weight: - 3.5 lbs
Bust: - 1/2 inch
Waist: -1/4 inch
Hips: no change
Right Thigh: - 1/2 inch
Left Thigh: - 1/2 inch
Right Bicep: + 1/4 inch (whooo getting gunz!)
Left Bicep: + 1/4 inch

I have a very, very love/hate relationship with lifting weights.


There are times when I think it's the most boring thing in the world and I'd rather blow my brains out then spend time in the gym lifting.

Then there are times when I think lifting is the best thing ever, when I crave the next-day soreness after a good lifting session.

I'm in the latter phase right now.

I've gotten to the point where I have these really strong legs from running (and now cycling too), but my upper body isn't on par. I have skinny little spaghetti noodle arms in comparison.


I don't know if it's because summer is on the horizon and I'll be wearing tank tops more or if with tri training I just want to be more balanced all over, but I've decided to recommit to my lifting.

Luckily, my coworker Emily is in the same boat. So we've decided to lift together during our lunch breaks at work again like we did last year.


Having a gym buddy definitely makes it easier to stick with a plan.

When I lift, I'm all about high weights, low reps. I usually do three sets until I max out and can't really lift the weight anymore.

I hit all the major upper body muscles groups, then moved on to core work.

And because I had some extra time, I rounded the session out with a little bit of the leg work I used to do in physical therapy to help stabilize my knee.

Holy Moses are my arms feeling it today, but it's that good kind of I-just-kicked-my-butt sore. I am super excited to be mixing in lifting on a regular basis again. Strong arms and a strong core will pay off big time in my races.

Does it ever seem like the whole world is out for a run whenever you're injured and can't be running?

That's sort of what I felt like yesterday. I've been resting and icing my knee ever since I experienced that sharp pain during my run on Thursday and ended up at home like this:


I took Friday and Saturday as straight rest days, and by Sunday I was so antsy to do something that I figured I'd head to the pool.

As I was driving there, it seemed like every single D.C. resident had decided to go for a nice Sunday morning run even though it was kind of gloomy and overcast.

I was bitter. I was cranky. I wanted to pull my car over and join them on their runs.

Instead, I got in the pool and swam 3200 yards.

It was a bit more than I need to be swimming for my tris, but after two days of sitting around with lots of pent up energy, I needed to blow off some steam.

I plan to ice my knee some more at work today and then go out for a short run when I get home to see how it feels. Fingers crossed!

You know that phrase, "It's just like riding a bike" that's supposed to describe how easy it is to remember how to bike ride (or really do any activity) even if you haven't done it in years and years?


Wellll I'm pretty sure that phrase doesn't apply to me.

The last time I rode a bike was probably more than 10 years ago.

And we'll just say when I took my new bike for my first outdoor ride this weekend, it didn't all come back to me.

I am terrified every time I get on the bike. I'm scared of going too fast and losing control. I'm scared I'll get hit by a car. I'm scared I'll pitch over the front of the handle bars and break something.

It kind of reminds me of when I started to learn to drive. I was definitely that girl who was afraid to go faster than five miles per hour.

Turns out the same thing is true on the bike.

At one point, I was riding down a hill at a blistering 6 mph.

But I could climb the hill at closer to 10 mph because I felt more in control and much comfortable going marginally faster.

(You know something's not quite right when you go faster up the hills than down the hills!)

I'm sure it will just be a matter of time before I gain some confidence on the bike, but right now I'm seriously wondering if this whole triathlon thing was the best idea ever.

Swimming and running aren't going to be an issue, but this whole bike thing. I just don't know.

Finding balance is never easy especially when we're constantly told we can have it all and do everything, you know, that whole superwoman complex. But trying to have it all and do everything is a one-way road to burnout town.

Trust me, I know.

I've been experiencing that a lot the last several months, between major work projects, the end of half marathon training and a jam packed social calendar.

I blog a lot about trying to find balance between work, fitness and my social life, but it's something I constantly struggle with.

When I'm training for a race, I tend to go overboard and sacrifice just about everything else at the expense of my training. I skip happy hours or nights out to make sure I have enough sleep to get in my long runs.


When I'm not training, I make up for all the skipped social events by jamming my calendar so full I can barely function.


Here's a glimpse of what a typical weekend looks like for me during the off-season:

Friday evening - Happy hour with friends
Friday night - Movie with friends
Saturday morning - Run
Saturday afternoon - Bike shopping (or other errands)
Saturday night - Out with friends
Sunday morning - Church, grocery shopping, other errands
Sunday afternoon - Lunch with friends
Sunday evening - Sunday Night Football or collapsing on the couch exhausted

Lately I've been trying to avoid the extremes and find a more happy balance.

Here's what I've been trying:

1. Setting a goal to get in three workouts each week. Rather than having to do certain workouts on certain days like when I'm training, I'm shooting to just get up and move a couple of times each week. This lets me be flexible enough to fit in workouts and social events.

2. Learning to say no. I love having a full calendar and spending time with friends and family, but there are only so many hours in a day and unless I learn how to clone myself, I can't be everywhere at once. I really struggle with turning down invites, but I'm trying to make more me time in my calendar so I'm not burnt out all the time.

3. Adding in variety. I don't think I've run once since the Hot Chocolate 15K, but I have done lots of pool workouts, which I'm really enjoying. I find that mixing up my workouts in the off-season helps prevent mental burnout and gives my running muscles some much needed rest. Plus swimming works my arms, so it's nice to have that bit of balance in my workouts.

4. Getting enough sleep. A jammed social calendar sometimes really cuts into my sleep and I end up burning the candles at both ends a bit too much. I'm pretty sure that's why I got sick last week. So I'm trying to be more diligent about getting my eight hours of shut eye. Even if that means going to bed early like a granny some nights of the week.

5. Not stressing about missed workout. Yes, I have a goal to move more in the winter, but if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen. I was sick last week and worked out once. I've only worked out once so far this week because I'm still tired and run down. It's not the end of the world. I obviously just need to be getting more sleep and and get better at saying no. But in the meantime, not stresses really helps.

I'm far from having this balance thing down to a science, but I think I'm getting a little bit better. At the very least, I'm embracing the off-season and enjoying my time off from serious training. So if nothing else, I'm good at finding balance there.

That has been my motto when it's come to workouts lately.

Ever since the half marathon in Philly, I've wanted to be active, but running is the absolute last thing I've wanted to do. You'd think my running shoes had the plague or something, that's the kind of distance I've been keeping.

Luckily, while I was home in PA, I was able to hit the pool with my mom a few times for some really great workouts.


My mom swims with a masters swim group, and every morning they get to the pool and one of the ladies in the group has put together a workout everyone can follow.

On Wednesday, the workout looked something like this:


Lots of short sprints!

That's my kind of pool workout! I get really bored swimming longer distances and lose count really easily on the number of laps I've done.

I impressed myself by being able to complete the entire workout. (Though I did bust out the fins for the 125's and 150's because I couldn't quite make the time intervals without them.)

In total, we swam about 2,775 yards.

Not too shabby for having not been in a pool for more than two years.

I was actually really bummed the pool was closed on Black Friday because I was itching to get another pool workout in.

I've been doing some research on pools in D.C. because I definitely plan to spend a lot of time this off season in the pool.

My touch football league kicked off this weekend!



Our season opener was Sunday near DuPont Circle in D.C., and I convinced Megan to join the team so we had enough girls.


Carrie, me and Megan

Our league has two important girl-specific rules:

1. There have to be three girls on the field at all times.

2. In order to get a first down, a girl has to get positive yards on at least one play in a four-down series.

So having enough girls is pretty important so that you don't forfeit.



Our game on Sunday started out well. We played a pretty solid first half, but struggled in the second half.

It didn't help that we were playing one of the better teams in the league.


I mean they had this dude. I think his bicep is bigger than my thigh...

It also didn't help that I didn't catch a single pass. I mean I'm no football super star, but I've always been able to pull my weight and make a few short catches to make sure we meet all the "girl requirements."


Proof that I can actually catch the ball....too bad this was in warm ups.

It was definitely disappointing to lose the first game of the season, but I'm glad we played one of the better teams first. It gives me lots of confidence that we're going to kick butt the rest of the season.

The guys on our team are pretty solid players


Diving catch



and the girls are pretty athletic too


Me and Carrie rushing the QB

so I'm sure we'll rebound next week.

And even if we lose all season (wow, I really hope that doesn't happen), football is going to be some great cross-training. I woke up this morning with the sorest hamstrings I've had in a while. I'm clearly not used to the stop and start running that you do in football. I'll have to give the legs a foam roller session when I get home from work today.

Huge thanks to my friends Sarah and Emily for taking all the pictures in this post! You guys are the best!