With only 3 working days, the week still went by too fast.  The weekends go by even faster. I am definitely not complaining.  It actually felt really good to teach for 3 days.  Though Monday’s Institute Day left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.  Yep, more work for us! I talk about it towards the end of this post.

This week felt like Spring.  We had a lot of sunny and warm days.  I was happy to run in shorts again!  It was beautiful with all of the leaves on the ground too.

Again, this week was easy runs along with some fun workouts.  Was I nervous?  A little.  Did I ace my workouts?  Absolutely!  Tuesday was 5 x 1:30 intervals with 1:30 recovery.  Target pace for each interval was 9:45.  The splits were 9:32, 9:27, 9:18, 9:25, and 9:28.  Friday was again 3 miles progressive run with half mile at the end for recovery.  I ran by feel and ran a little faster than last week’s 5k.  Splits for each mile were 11:48, 11:14, and 10:22.  And yes I ran those 3 miles without stopping.

I am finally in The Century Club!  Haha, better late than never, right?  

I am pleased to announce that I was accepted to be a part of the Koala Action Team.  I love my Koala Clip and for over a year have been using it on every single run.   I have a few discount codes for you.  Use code AT2020 to get 10% off storewide.  This discount is good through November 15.  Also, starting November 16, there will be a “once a year” sale.  That will be 15% off sitewide until November 23.  There are a lot of new products online now.  There are the ORIGINAL style Koala Clips up now and LUX is available for pre-order (they will ship by the end of the month).  All of the new Koala Clip colors are coming with a much-improved clip.  I just ordered 3 of the Lux Koala Clips.  🙂

Monday was an Institute Day and let’s just say it was not helpful at all.  We spent most of the morning talking about standards based grading.  Honestly I am not sure why we are even giving out grades this year.  It is a joke!  Not all of my students complete the assignments (which we do in class) and then those that do it on their own, I have no idea if anyone “helped” them.

Then we had some discussion about being there for our kids, understanding that they are going through a rough time, finding ways to get them to open up and talk to us, etc, etc.  I know all of it and I agree with it.  However, NOT ONCE was there any discussion about the teachers.  We are also going through a rough time.  We are also struggling.  So basically who cares about us.  And then to add insult to it, we were given more work to do.  My students use Imagine Math, Imagine Español, and Imagine Literacy during class.  I give them time to use log in those program.  Now I am supposed to set up a weekly class goal and my students are supposed to have a weekly goal as well.  Then I need to check if the class and the students met those goals.  Finally, I need to have weekly conferences with them about their goal.  So yeah I need to do all that plus teach them the curriculum, follow the pacing guide, assess/grade them, and be there for them as well.  I was fuming!  I cried because I did not know what else to do.

This week was interesting.  Lots of things happened.  Tuesday are Parent/Teacher Conferences.  I am definitely not looking forward to them but I know that it needs to be done.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

A new month!  A birthday month!  How exciting is it?  I am looking forward to this month mainly because of the time off I will have.  Tomorrow is an Institute Day, Tuesday is a holiday for Election Day (first time ever), and the following Tuesday are parent/teacher conferences.  I know two of those days are working days but at least I don’t have to prepare lessons or teach.

I finished October with my highest month this year.  I had a feeling but wasn’t sure if it was going to happen.  On Friday I talked to my coach about it and went for it.  I also donated a little bit more than that to the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation in honor of my sister and of course everyone that has been affected by breast cancer.    

My two great runs were on Tuesday and Thursday.  Tuesday’s workout was 4×2:00 intervals at 10:00 pace with 90 seconds easy/recovery.  Nailed it!

I was more nervous for Thursday’s workout because I had never done that one before.  It was a progressive run of 3 miles (target paces were 12:15/11:30/10:45).  I had never run 3 miles without stopping.  Honestly, I did not think I could do it and was prepared to make a few stops along the way.  I didn’t.  Remember, I am not fast at all but seeing these numbers made me very happy.  I was shocked too!

My coach has already uploaded my workouts for this week and yes I am excited about them.  I will be doing some easy runs and the two workouts mentioned above but with some slight modifications (another interval and a half mile cool down). 

Remember how last week I mentioned that I tried to sign up for Target’s Shipt program for $49?  Well, after waiting and chatting with various people, I did manage to sign up.  Right now I have the 4 week free trial and at the end of the 4 weeks I will be charged $99.  I was told to contact Target at the end of the trial period and after agreeing to pay the $99 annual fee, I will be given a refund.  Surely the easiest thing would have been to just let me sign up now for $49, but I am not going to make a big deal about it.  

I am reading this book and am liking it.  Has anyone else read it?

I remember as I child my mother would make an altar, but I didn’t really understand the reason.  I confess that everything made sense after seeing the movie “Coco”.  After my father died in 1991 and her parents in 1992, my mother would spend the Winter in Mexico.  She would leave mid October and return in the Spring.  She did not go to Mexico last year because she can’t travel alone after her stroke.  This year she couldn’t go anyway.  She made an altar at home and is happy about it.  I am happy she is happy.

By the way, I have seen people post on Facebook “Feliz Día de los Muertos” (Happy Day of the Dead).  Umm, not sure how I feel about that.  I guess in English is does sound weird.  Oh well, I should just ignore it, right?  There are definitely bigger problems out there.

Another great week for running.  Pleased with my runs and it makes me excited for when I can run a real race and see how I do.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Is it Sunday again? I guess the days go by fast when you are having fun. 🙂 Another week of some great runs. This week was mostly easy runs with 3 days of some faster paces. I did the same workout on Friday and today and finished today’s workout a minute faster.

The weather was so weird. Most of the days I wore tights and a jacket. Thursday morning it rained and then the temperature went up to 70 degrees. Maybe 80? The next morning it was still warm and I ran in tank top and shorts. Of course then it got cold again.

I don’t like to procrastinate (but do know that sometimes one must do it). I’ve had some great runs when I waited till later in the day to run. Friday morning I was checking out the Target website and saw an offer to sign up for their Shipt membership for $49 (regular price is $99). I didn’t sign up. Didn’t sign up Saturday either. Sunday morning I wanted to sign up but the offer was not available anymore. I got in touch with their customer service department hoping they would extend their offer but they wouldn’t. I am debating if I want to sign up anyway. I love Target but don’t really need to be going there all of the time.

This week was not that exciting. Haha, no school drama. Friday was an Institute Day and we learned the process, procedures, and schedules for when the students go back to school. Still no word when that will be, but so far teachers are still required to go back November 9. That may change. Numbers are still going up.

No excuses but I finally voted! Don’t know why I waited so long since the voting place is across the street from where I live.

I am happy with all of my runs. My coach uses TrainingPeaks to upload my workouts every Sunday. I do get excited when I check it out and see what he has planned for me. Is that weird?

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Another great week of running. Still keeping up with the run streak. Today is day #51.

I had some great workouts again this week. There were a few days of easy runs and a few days of faster workouts. Fun!

Tuesday’s workout was 1 mile easy warmup with 6 sets of short intervals (1 minute @ 9:45 pace and 1 minute easy), then 1 mile easy cool down.

Friday morning I was so tired in the morning. I woke up at 5am to use the bathroom and to feed my cats and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 7 but got out of bed at 7:20. There was no time to do my workout (1/2 mile easy @ ~ 12:45 pace, 1 mile mid-effort @ ~ 11:00 pace, 1/2 mile easy @ ~ 12:45 pace, 1 mile mid-effort @ ~ 11:00 pace, and 1 mile cool down @ ~ 12:45 pace) so I decided to do it after work or in the evening. I almost skipped it. Glad I didn’t. I was actually shocked at how I did.

Based on Friday’s late workout I wasn’t sure how I was going to do on Saturday’s run. The workout was first 4 miles @ 12:30-12:45/mile and last mile @ HMP 11:15-11:30/mile. I decided to run by feel the last mile. I guess I still had energy.

I did a few fun Peloton runs. I did my first run with Robin. I had no idea she was Cuban! My favorite running instructor is Matty but now am going to add more of Robin’s runs to my list. 30 minutes is not enough for Hamilton nor Celia Cruz but I did enjoy them. J Balvin was OK.

In non running news, there was a School Board Meeting on Wednesday and a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday. The latter was very intense and I actually felt kind of bad for the Superintendent. Parents were angry and not happy with the responses. The meeting was shown live on the District’s website. It was also recorded so others could watch it/listen to it later. However, it was then taken down from the Website. Teachers are now expected to return to the classroom on November 9th instead of October 19. I don’t remember what was said about the students. Honestly, I will be very surprised if we (teachers and students) end up returning this year at all.

I finished unpacking all of my boxes. I still have to add some final touches like borders, posters, etc., but everything is put away. It definitely looks much better. The video is from the first day I went to set it up. I was overwhelmed and did not know where to start. I did play on repeat one of my favorite songs.

I started reading this book. It is good but I skipped parts of it because I got bored. Now I am at the part where she is speaking at the Senate Confirmation Hearing.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

How is it that it is Sunday again?  The days go by fast for me.  This is week #2 of training for a 5k.  I ran a total of 22.55 miles.  My runs were similar to last week and they went very well.

Monday and Tuesday were again easy runs.  Honestly I do not remember too much about them.   What I do remember are my runs on Thursday and Saturday. 

Thursday’s run was 5 miles.  There were also 3 1/2 mile tempo repeats.  Targeted  pace was 11:10.  I ran each repeat without stopping.  I am not “fast” at all so seeing those numbers made my day.

Saturday’s run was 5 miles with the last mile being the fastest. Last week was 4 miles with the last one being the fastest one. The last mile was 3 seconds slower than last week but I ran 1 mile longer and the 4 miles were at a faster pace too (and negative splits). I am very pleased with this workout as well.

The weather has been great for running. I wore tights for my runs but on Saturday and Sunday wore shorts. I love the colors of the leaves. Very beautiful!

In non running related news, I bought a new car.  I’ve had my car since 2006 and I love it.  I never wanted to get rid of it.  A few months ago it began to fail.  It began to turn off and then quickly turn back on again.  I didn’t think anything of it because I was rarely using it anyway.  Then about 2 weeks ago it began to happen again.  Also, this time it would take a few times turning the key before it would turn on.  Again, I didn’t think anything of it.  Last Saturday I used it to go to the laundromat and then left it in front of the house.  Then Sunday evening it would not turn on.  I tried a few times before calling my cousin’s husband (he is a mechanic) to check it.  Long story short, still did not turn on and I had to decide whether to fix it or get a new one.  All last week I thought about about it and decided to get a new one.  Why not?  I work hard and deserve it.  

Here is my new car.  It is a Honda CRV.  I love the new car smell.  There are so many features and it is intimidating.  Ha, just turning it on is very new to me.  I will miss my cassette and CD player. Oh and I am having a little bit of trouble with parallel parking. I don’t understand why since I am very good at parallel parking.

With no car I did not go to school at all. It was actually nice to stay home. I do know that teachers are still required to show up at school on the 19th. No kids yet; there is a Board Meeting on the 14th where a decision will be made. I am planning to go this week and hopefully be done with it. What I really want to finish is to put everything away in the lockers. I don’t care too much about the other things but it drives me crazy to have an unorganized room.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.