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Hola, friends!

The best part of our weekend was a picnic and enjoying the summer-like weather in Charlotte! And sharing a treadmill workout.

I packed a bunch of healthy snacks for lunch and we headed to Davidson for a nice little Sunday afternoon picnic! We used this awesome cooler bag (a very functional wedding gift!) that I’ve been dying to use for a picnic with copious amounts of snacks!

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I packed some kale chickpea salads (this kale salad recipe) with added raspberries, tomatoes, and goat cheese, with tuna salad pitas, apples, carrots, tortilla chips and hummus, and chocolate chip bars for dessert.

Ed loved it. Hello Davidson Library in the background.

Other than that, I got a few runs in, one that went really well and one that was just okay. On Friday, I did an out and back on a local greenway for a total of 6 miles. I felt really really good.

My legs felt fresh, I had no trouble keeping my pace, and I was hitting negative splits pretty consistently. It was pretty encouraging, considering my running has been up and down, especially since the Cooper River Bridge Run.

B T Dubs, I love this “Keep Pace” tee. I got it from the Underarmor outlet last weekend!

Weekend Long Run

I had a longer run on the agenda on Saturday and headed to the Davidson trails solo. Ed had run the Tarheel 10 miler earlier that day so running with him was out of the equation.

I wasn’t planning on going too fast and told myself I’d just listen to my body and see how I felt. Rather than looking to run a certain distance, I was focused on just running for time.

I love running on trails, especially for my longer runs. It’s so much easier for me to zone out and focus less on the distance, but more on my body feel. There are no distractions, and I love being out the quiet setting.

I felt pretty good starting out, but after about 8 miles, I started to feel really thirsty. But, I was in the middle of the 8k loop so I finished it out and headed back to my car. I loaded up with some NUUN tabs, as I think I was a little bit dehydrated!

I find it so fascinating that you can do the same exact thing before runs, and feel completely different during each one. It all goes back to how different our bodies are by the day, and how there are so many factors that come into play – sleep, stretching, hydration, nutrients, hormones, weather, time of day, weather. Each run is truly an individual and unique experience.

40 Minute Treadmill Workout

I also did a treadmill workout this week to switch things up! I’m trying to do some speed work once a week.

Usually, I’ll fall upon my favorite pyramid workout.

But, since I haven’t been doing speed work regularly, I wanted something that wouldn’t seem too intimidating or tiresome initially, but that would be challenging.

I planned on running easy (comfortable, normal pace) for the warm up and cool down. And I added some interval work in between, similar to a fartlek. It helped me mentally to know there was only 10 minutes of hard “work”, though those 10 minutes I was pushing myself.

I figured I’d share what I did! It was a workout I really enjoyed and made treadmill running a little more bearable since you’re not so much focused on the treadmill but more on finishing each 45 second interval.