This week was so much better than last week. B slept much better, although according to my new activity tracker, my sleep was generally "disturbed" and I'm only getting about 6.5 hours of sleep per night - sigh. But at least B is sleeping and I'm not up all night with him. Poor little dude ended up having an ear infection, which I'm sure is why he was so cranky last week. Thankfully, he's all better now and back to his happy self.

My workouts were surprisingly good this week. Despite the ever increasing temps and humidity, my easy run pace is hanging in there and my asthma is under much better control. Yesssss.

I kicked off the week with a family bike ride on Monday. I love these! Even though we got caught in a crazy downpour about 5 miles in and had to turn around and head back, we had so much fun. We ended up with 7 miles total. Now I just need to get the dogs a trailer and then the entire family will be able to enjoy the fun. 

I didn't really do any speedwork this week. Even my race didn't qualify as solid speedwork, sadly - recap on the way. But I did do a few speed pickups on Wednesday's run ranging from 6:45 to 7:45 and the first mile of my 5K was a 7:40 pace before I had to back off, so I guess that's a small amount of speedwork. That's better than nothing, I suppose. 

This was a planned cutback week anyway, so no worries on the lack of speedwork! I'm just pleased that my asthma isn't acting up too much in this weather and I'm able to hit these paces, even if my race was a bust for reasons that had nothing to do with asthma - yay! Someday my racing ship will come in again. 

Sunday we went out for another family bike ride in the morning and I had planned on a 6-mile run in the evening, but it was thundering and the radar said there was a nearby lightning strike, so I opted out. I was disappointed because I really love evening runs. I prefer them actually, but I hardly ever get to do them anymore. But I'd rather not be a human lightning rod, either. 

Workout recap

Last week's goals

Last week's workouts

• Monday: Family bike ride - 7 miles
• Tuesday:  REST
• Wednesday: Easy run with short pickups - 5.01 miles (8:41 pace)
• Thursday: Barre class
• Friday: Easy run - 3.01 miles (8:46 pace)
• Saturday: Floppin' Flounder 5K 
• Sunday: Family bike ride - 4 miles

Another reason this week was so much better than last week - I spent time with friends and actually got out of the house. When you work from home and your spouse travels, it makes it hard to get in any socializing with any kind of regularity. Sometimes I go an entire week without any in-person adult contact other than the daycare workers, barre instructors, and my husband and that's enough to drive me batty. 

And while the Floppin' Flounder 5K wasn't a great race experience for me, it was a win in general because I got to hang out with friends after the race. And later that day, the family and I finally got to spend time with our friends Rya and Todd on their boat. Every time we've made boating plans with them, the weather or some other circumstance has foiled our efforts. The universe aligned on Saturday and we spent several hours out on the water. We even saw dolphins! B had a blast. I have a little water baby on my hands (not that I didn't already know that!).

When those things are part of your week (and your life), life isn't so bad. And as much as I get frustrated with the state of things right now (life, work, this ridiculous running plateau that just will not end), I know that I am so fortunate to be where I am and live where I live, and even to have the problems I have. It's all about perspective, right?

Art fell by the wayside this week with everything else I had going on so I don't have any sketches to show, but I did start working on a product plan for a line I'd like to launch relatively soon as part of this blog. 

I'm calling this week a success, even if it wasn't perfect. 

Next week's goals

It's summer, so that's not a time for crazy goals, racing or otherwise. Clearly. So my biggest goal next week is to get myself back on a paddleboard for some saltwater therapy. Other than that, I'll just be maintaining my running and barre schedule. 

Happy summer, everyone! Get out and enjoy it!

PS - I've been linking up for the past several weeks with HoHoRuns and MissSippi Piddlin'  for their Weekly Wrap post and I really love it. You can check out all of this week's posts here.