It’s been a long winter. Here’s what I’ve been up to, fitness-wise, since my last post.

1. I sprained my ankle – badly

This has been the biggest factor in my fitness (or lack of it) since FEBRUARY. I rolled my ankle during a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. It’s May and it’s still sore. This means I haven’t been working out as much as I would like (I basically did nothing other than basketball in February and March), but it’s stable now. April was about getting back into a groove. May is about amping up – because I’m running the Chicago marathon!

2. I got into the Chicago Marathon

It feels like every Canadian who signed up got in! I decided I’d only do a marathon in 2016 if it was a big city marathon – NYC again or Chicago. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get into NYC, but here I come Chicago! Jill got in too. October 11. I’m going to start a 16-week training program in June. I still haven’t settled on how to approach this training cycle because I want to: 1) run 4 times a week; 2) leave space on the weekend for summer adventures, long runs AND recover; 3) play softball and basketball; 4) fit in more cross-training this time around and 4) have at least one rest day. I can schedule this out on my own, but want someone/something to keep me accountable. I’ve toyed with paying for a Runner’s World program through Training Peaks – has anyone tried that before?

3. I ran the Blue Nose Half Marathon

A few weeks ago, I made a spur of the moment decision to head to Halifax for the long weekend and run the half. My mom was doing the 5k and Jill was doing the half. I was really nervous about this race – I’ve only run 15k once this year – but it worked out fine. Jill and I ran together, with the goal of running under 2:10. This felt strong and not hard until the 19km mark, which is better than I expected. We finished in 2:09:33. It was so much fun to have the race be a family affair and to revisit the place of my first full marathon.

4. I ran a trail race

Photo: @ayoungvoice

I did the 5peaks Trail Series April race and it was a lot of run. I am a bit confused about trail running. I don’t know how people can appreciate being in nature when you’re spending the time focusing on roots and rocks and not falling on your face, but I guess that comes with practice. I’m going to do a few more and see if I can get a handle on this. It was fun doing something different.

5. I’m still playing basketball – and softball season has started

I am convinced basketball is the reason why the Blue Nose went well. I’m essentially doing speedwork for 50 minutes, twice a week. I signed up for two teams in the spring. It’s been a bit much, scheduling wise, but it’s been good have two set workouts a week no matter what happens. Softball season started last week too. I bought batting gloves. I’m getting hardcore.

6. I signed up for a two-week ClassPass trial.

Have you heard of ClassPass? $89 a month gives you access to hundreds of studios in Toronto – and you can go to up to three classes per studio a month. I am iffy on the prices point against the amount of times I would use it, but I am open to seeing if it fits. I have a two-week free trial. I’ve been to one class so far (a mediocre vinyasa restorative class) and have signed up for 4 more. With my gym membership expired, it could be a better option for cross-training than my yoga + swimming + Nike Training Club combo I did for NYC marathon training. So far, the interface and class options are fantastic. But I think I’d need to go to 2-3 classes a week to make the price point worth it. (Plus it would give me content for this blog, right? The blog I never update?)

I think that’s it. I have so much fitness coming up in the next few weeks.