Good morning from a cozy nook of Starbucks! Boston finally got some snow last night and I used it as an excuse to stay in and binge watch Sons of Anarchy. And before we go any further into this post–I just finished season 6 … WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH. What Gemma just did to Tara?! What? WHAT?! Are you kidding me?? I’m just gonna leave it at that.
I decided to combine the past two weeks of training because they fell in a similar theme. Just kidding. I’m a huge procrastinator and didn’t feel like blogging last weekend. But they do go well together in one post, so my laziness is partially justified.
Recap of Week 5 (Last Week): Negativity
Last week was such a work-life-balance failure. You know when your to-do list is so long and overwhelming that it practically paralyzes you and instead of chipping away at it, you just say fuck this and take a nap instead? That sums up last week.
I see my life as a balancing act between personal life (my own workouts/health, my family, friends, etc.), the blog and teaching. On any given day, I can do two of those things really well and the third usually gets deprioritized. Every day is a little different though, with a different focus, so it usually works out well overall. Welp, not last week.
I’m taking on seven additional classes a week through mid March because another instructor is traveling, and I definitely underestimated the strain it would put on my schedule and just the sheer amount of energy it’d zap out of me. In total, I’m now teaching 15+ classes a week and adding marathon training into that mix along with running a blogging business all on my own and … ahhhhh. BUT mindset is really everything. Last week I got stuck in that snowballing gloom of focusing on the negative and it was awful. This week, I changed my attitude and thinking. My work/class/training load didn’t change, but my experience juggling it all did a complete 180. Positive thinking is some powerful shit, my friends!
MONDAY | 10-mile Run
This was the first week my long run was actually a step back from the previous week and it felt good to cut down a little. Since I’ve already tackled the 10-miler, I looked at my previous stats so that I could have a pace goal in mind before setting out. On December 28th I ran 10 miles in 1:34:41 with an average pace of 9:26. I improved on that by a little, finishing this run in 1:31:38 with an average pace of 9:07. Even if it’s small, it feels awesome to see progress.
TUESDAY | Strength Training (Btone)
WEDNESDAY | Yoga
In between classes at Btone, I did a recovery yoga video that a reader suggested (thanks, Wendy!). It’s basically a guided stretch so it was perfect for sore running legs.
THURSDAY | Most Pathetic Gym Workout Ever
Joe got me a guest pass to come with him to Equinox, but by Thursday I was already in the beginning phases of I-Give-Up-Gonna-Nap-All-Day-I-Hate-Everyone Meltdown Mode so it ended up being really special. The intention was to run 5 miles on the treadmill, work on my chin up & pull up game (I still can’t do an unassisted pull up, but it’s on my list of goals for the year!) and then spend a solid chunk of time foam rolling and stretching. LOLLLLLLLL
This is what actually happened (warning: strong language, sorry, Mom):
Front desk person asks me to fill out my contact information in exchange for a guest pass. Look, homegirl. I’m not going to sign up for your overpriced bullshit gym membership and don’t want your annoying ass salespeople calling and emailing me every goddamn day so how about NO.
*Writes down contact info*
Locker room is super crowded. Get the fuck out of my fucking way. I hate you all.
Treadmill I want is taken. You sonofabitch.
Run 1 mile on second-choice treadmill. This sucks. I hate treadmills. Why is this guy next to me running so fast–relax, hardo. Ohgod what is that smell? Did this bitch in front of me seriously just fart? Get me the fuck out of here. I hate everyone.
*Dramatically tears emergency stop magnet off the treadmill and storms off*
*Doesn’t whip down machine in flagrant display of defiance*
*Realizes she has no idea where anything in this gym is and angrily stomps in circles hoping no one notices she’s lost*
I find a corner with foam rollers and sit down to roll out my legs when Joe walks up to me and asks if I’m okay. OBVIOUSLY I’M NOT OK!!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?
*Cue the tears*
–END OF “WORKOUT”–
So in other words: Awesome gym sesh, most romantic date night ever, and I am basically the poster child for emotional stability.
FRIDAY | Meltdown Day 1
After finishing up a morning of teaching, Joe and I drove up to Maine to spend the long weekend at my parents’ place. This was the “take a nap instead” phase of my overwhelming week. We were active during the day snowmobiling and skating, but other than that I didn’t workout at all. I went to bed at like 8PM every night, lounged in front of the fire and did jigsaw puzzles on my iPad (I’m addicted … it’s embarrassing).
SATURDAY | Meltdown Day 2
SUNDAY | Meltdown Day 3
Recap of Week 6 (This Week): Positivity
I love teaching. Sure my class load is a little heavy right now, but I never leave a class in a bad mood. It always sets a positive tone for the day and if I go to the studio stressed, I leave feeling relieved. Plus, hello extra spending money! I made the conscious decision to focus on the positive this week and the result was increased productivity and decreased stress. This is the mantra I continually repeated to myself:
I’m going to do the best I can with what (time) I have. And that is enough.
If I don’t get a blog post up every day because I need to put my own wellbeing first, that’s ok. If I’m exhausted after teaching and decide to do yoga instead of an intense bootcamp workout, that’s ok.
MONDAY | Rest / Drive Home from Maine
Because after all those workouts I did over the weekend, I really deserved a rest day …
TUESDAY | 13-mile Run
This was the hardest long run I’ve had so far. And not because it was the longest distance. The temperature had dropped to 20 degrees and snow from the previous weekend left the ground icy around Boston. But 13 miles on a treadmill? No. Not even an option. The air was so cold that my eyes ached. Significant portions of the running path around the river were iced over so I had to practically tiptoe across them. My hips started tightening up from the cold and the weird ice-shuffle thing I adopted so my stride became awkwardly short. It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to finish the run. A full TWENTY minutes longer than when I ran my first half marathon. 
BUT when I finally walked in my apartment door, I felt so proud of myself and the discomfort of the run quickly got pushed into the background. I didn’t stop, I didn’t decide to put off the run for a warmer day (although I thought about doing so no less than 500 times haha), and I finished what I started.
WEDNESDAY | Core Workout & Foam Rolling
Just like last week, I used the time in between classes at Btone North End to do my own workout. My legs were sore from the previous day’s run so I revisited this Quick Bodyweight Ab Workout I posted two summers ago (13 minutes long and challenging) and then spent a full 30 minutes rolling out my legs, hips and shoulders. I felt AMAZING afterwards!
leggings are Fabletics
THURSDAY | Strength Training (Btone) & Yoga (YogaWorks)
YogaWorks was on Gilt recently so I bought a 5-pack of classes for $35. I love doubling up on classes, taking a Btone class and then just walking across the street to YogaWorks. So convenient!
FRIDAY | 5-mile Run
It’s pretty cool that 5 miles seems like a short run to me now!
SATURDAY | Strength Training (Btone)
I taught a class at Btone benefiting my Boston Marathon fundraiser for a bunch of my friends (so fun!) so I took the class before that to get in my own workout.
SUNDAY | Upper Body/Core Strength Training
I have my long run tomorrow so I don’t want to do anything too exhausting for my lower body, but I’d like to get a sweat in today. When I get back to my place from Starbuck’s, I’m going to put together an upper body/core workout I can do at home.
And that’s that! BTW I loved your comments on my last training recap post–it’s been awesome to get so many tips from those of you who’ve done a marathon before and are waaaaay more experienced runners than me. Thanks for creating such a supportive, encouraging community for me as I train! 🙂
You can donate to my marathon fundraiser benefiting the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired here. I’m giving away awesome prizes over the course of the next few months as a thank you to donors! I’ve been holding off on January’s giveaway because I’m waiting to secure an *awesome* prize. Stay tuned–it should be up early this week! 🙂
Hey there! I'm Nicole, a group fitness instructor, healthy lifestyle blogger (you probably figured that one out by now) and Certified Personal Trainer living in Boston, MA.
I just got those leggings from Fabletics! I wore them for my outdoor run yesterday. It was around 20 degrees and I wasn’t sure they were built for outdoor winter running but I did it anyway! And I definitely understand your aggravation. When I am in a bad mood, EVERYONE at the gym pisses me off and even during my outdoor run yesterday it was cold and there was snow and ice to avoid and I am glad I got it done but I didn’t leave my bed after I got home and took a shower. Hang in there!
I’m sorry you had a rough week, but thank you for your honesty! It’s nice to know rough weeks happen to everyone, and it’s not all sunshine and roses!
I just started following your blog and I’m enjoying it a lot! Love to hear about your successes, and the struggles. Seems like I’ve been having a bit of struggles in my marathon training, but hoping it will turn around soon!
You went from being ONE of my favorite bloggers, to my absolute favorite. I know, I know, this was your life goal and you can finally just relax. I just love this post because it’s SO real. It’s so relatable and it shows that you are are subject to shitty days and meltdowns just like the rest of us. I love it and YOU.
I literally just blogged about how we, as bloggers, need to keep it real and be authentic because I feel like there is a lot of phoniness out there. Once sponsored posts became a thing, I found that I was censoring myself because I didn’t want brands to be turned off and not choose me for campaigns. I tried to keep everything PG and politically correct and I totally left out all of the personl “real life” stuff that I used to write about. So I decided recently to say fuck it, and just write openly and honestly since it is, after all, MY BLOG.
So long story short – these are my favorite posts of yours. The ones where we get to see into your daily life and you show us how human you are. Happy training and I’ll see ya in Boston this April! Woo woo.
Oops – please excuse typos!!
Thank you so much for this comment, Kate!! <3 And I totally agree--it may be appealing to some brands if you keep it PG and politically correct, but there are ways to *respectfully* be neither of those as well (haha). And keeping it real is so, so important. Exciting you're running Boston too! I'll look for you at the finish line (ya know, when I cross it like a solid two hours after you haha).
OMG you can do jigsaw puzzles on the ipad? That’s amazing. There goes all my time. Also, I loved your gym meltdown. We’ve all been there 🙂
I definitely have had meltdowns like your exact one before! It’s the worst. I always tell myself to finish whatever mile I’m at – even if it’s only one – and then get off. Try again another day, you know? Some days aren’t worth work outs – especially when you’re marathon training. That may sound silly, but you’ll find that sometimes it just doesn’t work.
And that’s totally cool.
I agree–sometimes taking that extra day off does my body wayyyy more good than dogging out a workout that just isn’t clicking.
I really enjoy your blog, great mix of humour, inspiration, information and honesty (nice language! You share my vocabulary!). I am interested in your weekly training, when you teach a class do you actually participate in the whole class? I only ask as it would be a heck of a lot more training on top of you own personal plan. I do need to increase my activity, and your previous weekly activity plans give me a decent guide of what to do to trim up and get fit, but the classes you teach must give you a lot more activity!
Thankfully the classes aren’t like spinning where the instructor does the whole workout with the class (I’d be so dead if that were the case haha). I demonstrate the exercises and do part of the workout but am mostly walking around the room adjusting clients and the megaformer. It is a lot of *activity*, but I don’t consider it a *workout* (although when I teach a ton of classes in a day it’s definitely a workout!).
This was too funny!! I haaaatttee feeling lost in a foreign gym. And as a former a gym membership rep, I hate being called about joining more than the what I should. I have zero patience for that even though I used to do it.
But you’re so on point. Positivity is the key to bust any bleh-week.
Every time I stop by your blog I’m just blown away with your honesty, style and story. You make me want to get up and make sure I do my workout every day! Thanks for making the every girl feel normal. Also…I love Love LOVE foam rolling! It is my new obsession. Sometimes it’s 9/10ths of my warm-up and cool down because it feels so good. ;p
Aw thank you! This comment made my day! 🙂 And I agree–I can NOT get enough foam rolling. Hurts so goooood
hahahah I can relate all too well with your pathetic gym workout. Hilarious.
LOVE all the honesty in this post!
Congrats on getting through your training!! I loved the mimic the reformer workout you did awhile ago. Are there plans to do another one?
I’ll add it to my to-do list! I LOVE the megaformer so it’s always fun to share workouts mimicking the movements. 🙂
This is great – thank you for sharing both the negatives and positives of training. Fitness is certainly not always easy! Meltdowns are just part of the process.
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My coworkers says these are a life saver for running on snow/ice: https://www.yaktrax.com/product/run
Good luck!
My boss just recommended those, too! I’ve gotta get a pair. 🙂