vacation

August Adventures

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 1 Comment

Oh, I think August is my favourite month of the year. It’s hot, vacation time, soccer season, stupid HOT, perfect beach weather, watermelon heaven and hot. I’m not a fan of the muggy heat we’ve been having (who has) but I love the heat when I’m in the water – beach, lake, pool….sprinkler too!

I started two weeks of vacation late July and into August and have done so for the last number of years. It’s kinda the perfect timing of almost being burnt out from work but we can still enjoy the summer days with our kids.

We hit up PEI for a short trip due to some car troubles (BIG SAD FACE). We got to visit with family, spend time at our favourite beach and had a lot of car time together (not always fun with young kids).

We spent a lot of time at my parents place swimming in their pool, took an unexpected trip to Peggy’s Cove (again, due to the same car troubles) and had tones of ice cream. I’m pretty sure we ate ice cream twice a day for 3-4 days….I’m not complaining.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll know that I bought a new bike!!!! I’ve been wanting a new bike for a few years now and finally broke down and bought the Liv (Giant) Avail 1. It’s awesome and I love it.

I’ve still yet to name her so if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments. I’m feeling Besty or Blue, I dunno. Hit me up some some suggestions. Though I seem to be getting in some nice rides (44km long ride with my husband), I’ve only managed a few runs.

As I mentioned on IG, I’ve been struggling with my interest with running mainly since I got injured in April but even before that as I barely ran any km this year. I’m trying hard to get in 2-3 runs a week and that’s beyond any soccer games (which yes, is running), riding (once, maybe twice a week) and yoga randomly.

Summer has been busy for our girls with soccer practices twice a week for L and games EVERY SATURDAY! Actually, make that TWO GAMES EVERY SATURDAY. We are exhausted from all the soccer but she’s loving it. H is has been doing some private swim lessons which have been amazing for her. My girls and I went on a trail ride last week (8.61 km), lots of visits to the library, the beach, a friends cottage and even the dentist! Who plans dental appointments during vacation? That was clearly a VERY BAD idea.

Any…way. Summer vacation was good to us and it’s back to work now (BIG SAD FACE AGAIN). Only three more weeks from today and SCHOOL STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!! And one more week of vacation for me 🙂

How’s your summer going?

Anyone exhausted from their kids summer sporting commitments?

Loving running lately or not?

Bike name suggestions?

Rolling in July

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 2 Comments

I can’t believe that we are getting close to the end of July already. That means that summer is almost half over for my kids – woah!

I’ve had one week of vacation so far where we went mini golfing, hiking Baxter’s Harbour with friends, strawberry picking, library (summer reading program), private swim lessons, ice cream eating, my birthday, soccer practice and games, campfire/s’mores, birthday parties and more. I was exhausted by the end of the week and I was kinda ready to go back to work, haha!

I’ve barely been running but have put in a few km on the soccer field. I feel completely out of shape on the field. Sprinting in the HEAT is no joke! It’s taken me a while to even want to run after my calf injury. It’s kinda funny when you are injured and can’t run, it’s all you want to do. Now that I’m officially recovered from that injury, I’m just not loving running lately or maybe I’m just enjoying soccer and cycling a lot more!

I’ve been biking A LOT over the last few weeks. From commuting to and from work a few days a week when my schedule permits to having a biking meeting yesterday! Yes, that’s right, our meeting was on bikes!

We did around 18 k on the Harvest Moon Trail and talked shop (grants, challenges, summer programs in recreation). After we ate lunch, I biked from home and finish the day off with 30 km. My quads hurt a little going up/down stairs last night so I quickly avoided that as much as possible. Legs up the walk and reading last night was my jam.

Commute to work!

I’m not a big reader at all but this year I challenged myself to read more books. Specifically, 12 this year. I figured 1 per month was doable and I’m almost at my goal. Not going to lie, I’m loving the GoodReads app.

So reading has kinda taken over my time to run. I’ve even skipped a morning run to finish a book as it was due that day and I was SO CLOSE to finishing it. As for running, I think I need to sign up for a race in order to kick start my running again. I have a few local runs I want to do – mainly 5k and 8k. I do love my early morning (5 am) runs so maybe I’ll get back to those soon. I’ve signed up for a cycling event but nothing else to date.

We’ve also been enjoying some pool time at my parents place this past weekend in the sweltering heat!

Anyone else struggling with your interest in running?

Favourite summer drink?

What’s your favourite activity to do with your kids this summer?

Also, since I’m not blogging a lot, you can find me on Instagram at pipersrun almost daily.

Oh Hey! I’m still running!

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 5 Comments

Hey there!

I’ve been running but not blogging lately. We’ve been on vacation for the last two weeks and I thought about writing some blog posts but in the end, I took a bit of a social media break. I even logged out of my apps on my phone *gasp*!!!!!!!! It was WONDERFUL!

I’ve been running a lot, playing soccer, swimming a bit in the OCEAN and lakes, doing a little yoga and cycling while on vacation with my family. We went to the beautiful Prince Edward Island and swam in the ocean during our intense heat and humidity.

Brackely Beach Pipers Run

We also hit up the Butterfly house, visited with family, had an amazing even with friends and their kids. I ran super early in the mornings … ha ha okay, not super early. However, 7 am or 8 am runs while on vacation is early while the rest of the family was still asleep.

Piper PEI Run.jpg

We hate so much ice cream! SO. MUCH. ICE CREAM!!! I might have hit my quota for ice cream this summer…. *might*. We have a list….oh yes, a list of ice cream places we wanted to go to and we’ve hit all 7 of them. Looks like we’re going to have to add on to that list because summer isn’t over.

What else? I’ve been reading more then I ever have. The girls are doing a summer reading program with our library so I figured I’d sign up. I’m not a big novel reader but I’ve found some good ones to read. Ones that I can’t put down which is nice!

summer reading

This past weekend the four of us went to Valley Yoga Festival. The girls went to the kids class and my husband and I went to the other class – his first time! It was great! Also, coaching soccer is wrapping up this week so life is going to be a lot less chaotic in our house!!

What else….oh I signed up for two fall races! I’ll share those with you soon but I’m in week 4 of half marathon training with my husband. Yup, we’re running a race together this fall 🙂

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I’ll start blogging about my half marathon training soon!

How’s your summer going?

Beach or Lake?

Training for a fall race?

 

 

Maritime Race Weekend Training (1/2 Marathon) Week 6

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 7 Comments

I started to write this post and wrote week 5 but had to double checked to see if that was correct. I was shocked to see that I was wrong (kidding)…that week 6 is done. That means that my next half marathon is only 6 weeks away, we only have four weeks until Lilly goes back to school and then..we’ll FALL basically starts after that. Yikes!

Side note – I’m totally into the Olympics right now. Loving all the Canadian Women rocking their medals! I may be blogging less due to being tuned into the Olympics more! Go Canada Go!

This past week was fairly good week but lacked a little in kilometres. I managed to get my stomach figured out which was extremely great to not have any “issues”. Last week I was still on vacation so you’d think it would be easier to get in running. I can’t really complain about any of it other then missing one run I did sneak in a few other things. This is how it went…

What was Planned vs What Really Happened:

Monday August 1st: Coaching U6 Soccer | Cancelled due to Holiday. I didn’t work out as I was a little sore from my long run. No pain in my SI joint but my hips and legs felt tired from my long run on Sunday.

Tuesday: Yoga | No Yoga. I was home with the girls and I can’t remember what we did. No recollection at all, ah well.

Wednesday: Coaching U4 & U6 Soccer & Run | Soccer, Hiking, 6k Run. We went for a short afternoon hike which turned into playing “camouflage” in the woods and then playing in the stream for a long time. It was Hilary’s last soccer session (Lilly still has one more tonight) but I managed to get in a late night run. I headed out around 8:45 and got in 6k.

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Thursday: Speed Work | Nope. Boogie Boarding – Yes. I spent the day at Hirtles beach with my running buddy and our kids. You should check out her talented photography skills here, it was an AMAZING day at the beach. So amazing we both burned our upper backs. That night, I could barely have a sports bra strap over my back let alone a shirt so I opted for missing my run and slathering myself with Aloe Vera. We went through a lot of sunscreen that day but still go burnt.

Hirtles Beach

Friday: Rest Day | Swimming. We traveled into Halifax to visit my parents and niece for the day and swam most of the afternoon.

Saturday: 16k Long Run | 18k Long Run. Oh this run was great! It started off hilly in my parents subdivision and continued to be hilly until the 13k mark when it started to get flat. Around 13k-15k I seem to struggle with my pace consistently on my long runs. I eventually ran out of my Nuun and decided to stop at 16k or so to get a drink from a convenience store – best decision ever! I guzzled half the bottle and put the rest in my= fuel belt bottle and off I went.

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I figured I stay down on the rails-to-trails instead of running the hills back to my parents house and I’m so glad I did. I was able to pick up my pace significantly and that felt great! There were so many runners, walkers and bikers on the trail…that too was awesome! However, that massive HILL I had to walk up (Rosewood) was nasty and my calf muscles were hating me. I finished 18k in 1:59:12 with a pit stop into a convenience store – not too shabby!

Sunday: Soccer Game | Rest Day. I missed my soccer game as I didn’t have anyone to be with the girls (my husband was working). It’s okay as I needed a day’s rest. No knee, or SI joint problems !!!!

Recovery at it’s finest.

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KM this week: 24 km

KM this training cycle: 116 km

Overall: It was a slightly low kilometre week but I still did a lot and I’m okay with that. I’ve yet to do any specific “hill” training or speed work to date. I’m not sure if I just don’t want to or I just don’t care anymore. After working so hard during my tempo runs and other speed work for my last half, I just don’t have it in me…yet. I am incorporating hills into my long runs which is kinda fun but I think I need to kick it up a gear.

If you missed last week, check it out here.

Ever get a sunburn that prevents you from doing anything? 

Ever stop into a convenience store for a drink during your run?

Loving the Olympics?