Fun Fall Weekend + Failed Workout

I am loving this picture-picture fall weather we are having in Minnesota right now! Actually it was on the warm and humid side on Friday and Saturday, but then Sunday was sunny with a hint of crisp fall air.

This weekend, my mom, Cullen, and I went to the Twin Cities to stay with my sister, Kristy, and her husband, Nick. It was a full weekend but a lot of fun as I did some shopping, attempted a marathon pace workout that actually didn’t go so well, a trip to the zoo, and a visit to the apple orchard.

We drove up on Friday afternoon and stopped at some stores we don’t have in Anchorage: Nike Outlet, Trader Joe’s, and Home Goods. I also went to Lululemon even though we do have one in Anchorage, but I had been doing some online shopping and wanted to try on the pieces in the store. As always, Lululemon took more of my money than I had planned, and I ended up buying these running tights (because it is going to be cold when I get back to Alaska), this running long sleeve top (that seemed warmer than a lot of their other long sleeve running tops), and this sweatshirt because I am a sucker for cute, comfy sweatshirts, and it is all I wear during the winter because I’m always freezing.

Friday night we had dinner together, and Kristy and Nick grilled turkey burgers for everyone. After dinner, we hung out and watched Sing (Cullen’s request) since Cullen napped in the car and didn’t go to bed until 10:30 p.m. anyhow.

Saturday morning Kristy and I did my marathon paced workout. It shouldn’t have been too hard, but I really struggled–even more so than I did three days prior during a similar workout.

Saturday’s workout:

30 minutes @ GMP (goal marathon pace) = 6:45 – 6:49, 2 minutes easy, 30 minutes @ GMP, 2 minutes easy, 20 minutes @ GMP with the last 5 minutes a little bit faster

I naturally woke up at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning, had some breakfast (RX Bar, toast with peanut butter, coffee, and Generation UCAN), did some computer work, and we were ready to go by 9:00 a.m. Definitely a little later as the humidity was on the higher side, but it was raining from about 7:30-8:30 a.m.

We did a couple warm-up miles that felt fine. We knew the humidity was going to be a challenge, but it was overcast. Then it was time to go! The first 30 minutes we hit all but one of the targeted paces: 6:44, 6:43, 6:45, 6:53.

By the end of that first set, I was already feeling like I was putting in way more effort than I should be, so I decided to slow the next segment down to 6:50 – 6:55. We started out, but within the first mile I knew things weren’t moving so quickly anymore. I really struggled to stay with Kristy, and I thought about stopping way too many times. I finished but it wasn’t pretty: 7:08, 7:18, 7:14, 7:11.

We stopped for some water at this point, and Kristy and I started talking about my extremely labored breathing, so labored that I can barely catch my breath. This happens when I don’t take enough iron, and it dawned on me that I had been taking less iron in the last week. You see, usually I take a prenatal vitamin with 30 mg of iron + an iron supplement with 65mg. However, this last week I started taking some vitamins my coach gave me last summer that are some ‘premium’ vitamins. What I didn’t realize was that there isn’t any iron in this multivitamin pack. I was continuing to take my iron supplement, but 95 mg (which is usually what I take) versus 65 mg is a fairly sizable difference. It seems I need all 95mg as a very similar thing happened to me two winters ago when I changed up my vitamin ritual. I even blogged about it here.

The other possibility is the humidity was too high and affected me, which I’m sure didn’t help. Either way, I’m going to increase my iron intake and pray that that’s what my body needs.

Kristy and I finished up the last 20 minutes of the workout as best I could run it, even though the splits were even slower: 7:19, 7:26, 7:45.

I was so dead at the end of this workout. Oddly my back even ached, and I felt kind of nauseous and completely depleted of anything and everything in my body. Even trying to run a cool-down was a challenge.

As we were running back to Kristy’s house, we saw my mom and Cullen at the playground, so we walked back to the house with them. On our way, we stopped at a garage sale and scored a train table–complete with extra train tracks, Thomas and Friends trains, and more train accessories than one kid could play with for $20. It was such a steal and is still in excellent shape. Prior to purchasing this set, this was one toy Cullen asked to play with time and time again, and he literally hasn’t stopped playing with it since we got it. I’m so glad he got one, but sadly we won’t be able to take the whole thing back with us to Alaska.

Saturday afternoon Cullen actually took a nap (the power of Grandma’s!), and Kristy and I took our time eating and getting ready. Around 4:00 p.m. we headed to the Como Zoo because it was the one thing Cullen really wanted to do when in Minnesota. He, of course, loved it and was literally running from exhibit to exhibit. He seemed to especially like any of the animals in water.

Saturday night we laid low, Kristy made a Chicken Artichoke Pesto Pizza based off this recipe, and Cullen wanted to watch Secret Life of Pets. Once again he didn’t go to bed until 10:30 p.m. (even though we tried much earlier).

Sunday morning I did an easy 7 miles before church. After church, we all headed to the apple orchard where we picked apples and enjoyed a quintessential fall day. It was so nice!

Then it was back to Kristy and Nick’s house for lunch, the Vikings game, and a little more time together before we had to pack up and head back to the farm.

Today I’m laying low, going for an easy 6 mile run in a little bit, and then will probably do more blog work, Beautycounter-related things, and maybe even take a nap!