Week in Review

This is the last full week of the Runner's World run streak.  I'm through 35 days and still ticking.  Four more days to go, which will be concluded with a race on the Fourth of July.  Honestly, I'm exhausted and sore everywhere, but I'm gonna make it. 

Monday - 6.75 miles track workout
You can read about the workout here.

Tuesday - 2.25 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
Strength training was five rounds of 5 X deadlifts at 90 pounds, 25 situps.

Wednesday - 9 miles treadmill
Wouldn't you know it started to rain/storm as soon as I needed to do a 9 miler?  So, I did it on the treadmill (good gosh!) alternating between a 9:00 and 10:00 min pace.

Thursday - 1 mile
Super easy run with Dave, Sloopy, and Anderson in the stroller.

Friday - 1 mile treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
I thought for sure I was going to break the streak today.  I DID NOT want to work out, but I still found a way to get the workout in.  Strength training was 10 rounds of 25 jump ropes, 10 mountain climbers (per leg).

Saturday - 5 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
It was STORMING this afternoon so again I had to do this on the treadmill.  And it was supposed to be a tempo run so I worked hard to hold a sub-9:00 pace.  Strength training was three reps of 10 kettlebell swings at 10 pounds, 15 knee pushups.

Sunday - 11 miles trail
I slept in way too late to avoid the heat and didn't start this run until about 11:15am.  Gosh it was hot and humid!  I really tried hard to keep the pace under control in a comfortable sub-10:00 range.  I only had one mile over a 10:00 and averaged 9:40 pace for the whole 11 miles.  This is the pace I'm aiming for for my trail races later this year.  I took some pictures of the trail.  I also tried to take pictures of the two wild turkeys and the two baby deer I saw, but they all ran away.

Totals:
Run - 36 miles
Strength Training - 0.75 hours

Three months already?!

Baby A turned three months this past Thursday.  He's getting so big, literally.

Too big for the cradle now.

He's had a lot of milestones in the last couple of weeks.  He's now sleeping all the way through the night.  Thank goodness.  Dave and I love to sleep!  Plus we're old and don't like to party all night long anymore.  ;)  Anderson's also gotten really proficient at rolling around.  He proficiently rolls from his back to his belly all the time.  I've witnessed him doing it both directions.  Although we haven't actually seen him roll from his belly to his back, I know he can do it.  He rolls all around his crib at night and usually winds up on his stomach to sleep, but he somehow also rolls back over to his back.  It's like he's break dancing in his crib.  I wish I could put a time lapse camera up there to see what he does all night.

He's also becoming a slobbering fool.  He drools all over himself and everything else.  We read that this is actually a good thing.  It creates good germs to keep babies from getting sick.  I have yet to put a bib on him for the slobbering but the time may be coming.

He smiles a lot.  He has become ticklish. And he's even started laughing which is sooooo cute.  I'm still trying to get that on video.

It's so fun that he's starting to turn into a little child with moods and attitudes and thoughts.  I'm really enjoying this time with him right now.  I wish I could bottle it up and save it forever.

Foto Friday

I mean, seriously.

Track!

I did the best thing I could do for myself as I prepared for this week's track workout: I did not look at what my paces were supposed to be before I did the workout.  I knew I couldn't hit them as I'm still working my way back into shape and it's also hotter than hell outside right now too, so I just wanted to do the best I could at the workout based on the shape I'm in right now.  This was a great strategy.  The workout was a ladder of sprints: 400, 600, 800, 1200, 800, 600, 400, all with a 400 rest interval.  And here's how I did:

400 - 1:36 (6:26 pace)
600 - 2:32 (6:47 pace)
800 - 3:28 (6:58 pace)
1200 - 5:15 (7:02 pace)
800 - 3:23 (6:48 pace)
600 - 2:34 (6:53 pace)
400 - 1:36 (6:26 pace)

The best part is that my head was in the game.  I only had to collect myself maybe three times, but I kept going.  Not knowing my paces kept me from getting frustrated at how "poor" I was doing.  But let's face it, those paces above are not poor.  They're not where they should be; they're not where I want them to; but I'm getting it done.  That's half the battle.

Week in Review

I'm now through 28 days of the Runner's World Run Streak (run every day between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July) and I have to admit, I'm tired.  This week I also started my 18 week training plan for my fall half marathon.  18 weeks is an awfully long time to train for a half marathon!  And I'm just not quite up to the speed I should be at for the training, but I'm getting through it.

Monday - 3.5 miles, track workout
You can read about this disastrous workout here.

Tuesday - 3.5 miles with stroller
While Dave was doing his track workout, I took Anderson out on a little jog through the town.  This is how he spent his time, either bored or asleep:

Wednesday - 8 miles
This was my midweek long run.  It was supposed to be done at a 7:35 pace.  I knew I had zero percent chance of reaching that, so I turned off the alerts on my Garmin and just ran as hard as I could at this time (and for what the crazy hot weather would allow me).  My overall pace was an 8:25.  I've got a long way to go.

Thursday - 2 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
Today was a busy day and I barely had time to get in a run.  So, I only did 2 miles on the treadmill and then lifted some weights.  The weights just about killed me.  It was reps of 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 front squats with 65 pounds and BOSU crunches.  I was barely able to walk for the next two days!

Friday - 10 miles treadmill
I had hoped to do a long run on the park trails today but it was hotter than balls outside and I had too much to do to get to the park.  Yes, I ran 10 miles on the treadmill.

Saturday - 2 miles
After not even a 12 hour turn around since my last run, I got up early on Saturday and did a quick 2 miles through the neighborhood before everyone woke up and before we had to leave for our roadtrip.

Sunday - 1 mile treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
The baby and I took a quick roadtrip down to visit relatives in Kentucky over the weekend and I was absolutely exhausted when I got back.  Although I had planned on doing my 6 mile tempo run, I just didn't have the energy.  So I did one mile on the treadmill followed by 3 X 10 reps of oblique crunches at 35 pounds and snatch squats also at 35 pounds.

Totals:
Run - 30 miles
Strength Training - 0.5 hours

Foto Friday

It's been 12 weeks since the baby has been born which means my maternity leave is up.  I went back to work on Tuesday.  Luckily, I work for a company and a boss who lets me pick my schedule and I can even work from home.  Because Dave works for a company on the west coast and does not need to start work until later in the morning to match their hours and also works from home, I took an early shift at work and come home to relieve him of baby duties so he can start work.  Then we don't have to put the baby in daycare.  The hours have been torture this week as I've adjusted to getting up nearly four hours earlier than I have been, but I am happy to be back to work.  Honestly.

Plus, Dave sends me cute pictures of Anderson in the morning.

A Long Road Back

I was reminded the other day by a friend that it took 9 months to bake my baby and it was going to take 9 months to get my body and my running back.  I was really reminded of this when I stepped on the track last night.  I have a plan to try to PR in the half marathon this fall.  I thought this would be a slam dunk - pregnancy hormones are going to carry me there.  What I didn't bank on is how hard it was going to be to actually get back into shape.  The plan started today...

1 mile warm up
12 X 400 at 1:29
1 mile cool down

I knew I was going to struggle.  Dave gave me a pep talk - don't give up.  Just keep going no matter the pace.  The pace was hard, although I wasn't that far off.  What was hard was the energy level.  I just don't have it yet.  By midway in this workout I was toast and I called it a day.

1. 1:31
2. 1:29
3. 1:31
4. 1:31
5. 1:32
6. 1:32

It's going to be a long road back to where I was before I got pregnant.  I wish it was going to be easy, but it's not.  I still have some weight to lose.  I have some inches to lose.  I have some speed to get back.  But, I'm going to keep at it and hopefully it will all come back.

Game on, boy. Game on.

Dave ran a 5K on Friday.  He's been running really well, despite his half-ass-ness training, and he thought he could run for a PR and maybe even win his age group.  I ran up to the center of town to meet him and the baby and spectate the race.  Secretly, I wanted to run too but didn't want to ask my parents to watch the baby one more time and I didn't really want to race with the stroller.  So, spectating it is.  It was a small, expensive race but at least they had good swag.  There was Dairy Queen and Starbucks and root beer and shaved ice and and and.  And it wasn't just for the participants.  Yes, I had a DQ Blizzard too. 

Anyway, back to the race.  Dave started fast - 6:25 first mile.  And then the monkey jumped on his back, 7:00ish and 7:15ish.  But he managed to PR - 21:16 (6:50 pace) and managed to break my PR in the process too (21:33).  I don't take to that very well.  Game on, boy.  Game on.

Week in Review

Week three of the Runner's World Run Streak and I'm still at it.  This was the last week of a pair of shoes so things were sore.  Very sore.  Here we go...

Monday - 5 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
I varied the speed over 5 miles from 10:00/miles down to an 8:00/mile.  Also, 3 reps of 10 of deadlifts (65 pounds), squats (65 pounds), and shoulder presses (45 pounds).

Tuesday - 2 miles with stroller, 0.25 hours strength training
Two miles easy with the stroller in the neighborhood.  21-15-9 reps of one arm cleans (10 pounds) and TRX rows.

Wednesday - 5 miles
Most miles between 8:30-9:30 minute/miles.

Thursday - 2 miles with stroller
Dave and I ran together with the stroller.

Friday - 4 miles
Dave ran a race in the center of town, so I ran from home to meet him there.  Details on this race tomorrow.

Saturday - 5.55 miles trail
The plan was to do a lot longer but I was really beat.  I ran with the group which is the first time I've done that in about a year.  They dropped me like a bad habit and I wasn't even going slow.  My overall pace was a 9:04.

Sunday - 2 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
50-40-30-20-10 reps of jump ropes and BOSU crunches.

Totals:
Run - 25.55 miles
Strength training - 0.75 hours

Radio U 5K

In my quest to do 12 races this year, I have some serious making up to do since I missed basically the first six months of this year being super pregnant.  So I found some short, cheaper, races to do all right together.  This week I did the RadioU 5K held at a local metropark.  The course description said a mixture of paved path, crushed limestone, and grass.  Now, I've been going to this park since I was a kid and I have NEVER seen anything except the loop paved path, so I had no idea where I'd be racing.  We showed up to this race a little later than we should have (welcome to our new life with a baby) which created some rushing for a bathroom stop and picking up my packet.  Of course by the time I picked up my packet they were out of my shirt size so I did not get a shirt.  If they could only refund $10 to make up for that!  After all of that, there was only about 5 minutes left until the start of the race.

Looking around, um, there didn't appear to be that much competition.  This was a fundraiser for the local Christian radio station and most people appeared to be doing the race not for competition but rather to support the cause.  I'm cool with that.  Anyway, when the race director called for participants to line up, I moved my way pretty close to the start.  The race started and I was off pretty quickly.  The race started on a paved path but quickly turned into trail.  And no, it was not crushed limestone.  It was all-out trail with roots, big rocks, and lots of ups and downs and twists to it.  Plus it was not very wide.  I'm not gonna lie, I never ran cross country in high school and my trail running skills are not exactly up to par, so although I can push myself up an uphill, I am scared shitless to fly down them.  I was getting passed by big dudes flying down the hills and it was scaring me to death.  I really had to hold back so I didn't fall.  Around the one mile mark we were into a grassy area that continued until the turn around.  I started counting...I was the seventh female and then quickly got passed by a perky young thing.  Teenagers!  So I was in eighth.  And that's where I would stay until the finish.

The race had no medals and no age group awards so soon after I finished we left to go home.  Results were posted today.  My official time was 25:27 (8:11 pace) which I don't think is bad for the terrain.  I actually was the 9th overall female as someone got me on chip time.  (Seriously, why do you need to chip time a 5K with less than 300 people?)  I have one more 5K planned, this time running with the stroller, and then I'll get into the real meat of my scheduling including a lot of trail races.  I'm looking forward to it!

I love my treadmill!!!

If you remember, I got a new treadmill for Christmas.  I used it a ton during the winter as it was cold, I was pregnant, and I just didn't want to be outside.  Now that the weather is better and the baby is here, I still am using it every week to supplement my weekly workouts.  And I still love it!  (Well, maybe not as much as EMZ loves her treadmill, but I like it a lot.)

Yesterday I had planned on running at the park and doing a long trail run, but time slipped away from me and I didn't get to.  I thought I would do the run this morning, but when I woke up it was pouring outside.  Ugh!  Nevermind.  So, I decided to give it a go on my treadmill using all the incline features.  I chose a challenging workout that was supposed to take me 1 hour, would get me somewhere around 5 miles, and would burn like a zillion calories.  This workout was no joke.  After a short warmup the incline started and progressed basically every couple of minutes.  It just kept inclining and inclining and went all the way up to 12% THREE times!!!  I was barely jogging at that speed, but I was trying.  And I was dripping sweat everywhere!  I had hoped to start the program over at the end of the hour to get in 9 total miles, but I was wiped out at the end of that mile and had only made it 4.28 miles.  Dude, if I plan on doing this whole trail running thing, I might have to use the incline features on the treadmill more.  Which will totally suck, but sure will make me a better runner.

First Run With the Stroller

Today I did my first run with the baby in the jogging stroller.  We have communicated with just about every person imaginable regarding when is an alright time to use the stroller as a running stroller.  (We have a BOB Revolution - a stroller specifically make for running.)  The manufacture says wait until the baby is six months old.  That's what the people at the baby store say too.  However, why would they make it so you can put the car seat in it if it is not intended to be used that way.  We've talked to the pediatrician about it numerous times and he's always had this nervous look on his face.  At our last appointment we brought it up again, this time mentioning that the car seat locked into the stroller.  He said, "Well that changes everything!"  So today I bundled the baby up, locked the car seat in, positioned his head good and tight using some rolled up hand towels, and set off on a small run.

 

I loved it.  He loved it.  The ride was so smooth - much smoother than walking on the sidewalks.  Our front wheel of the stroller does not lock into place which made turning easy.  I ran with only one hand on the stroller at a time so I could swing my other arm freely.  Because I'm short I had no problem running behind the stroller without knocking into it.  And nothing seemed really heavy or labored.  I don't know how fast I was going and I don't care.  So, I signed up for the local Fourth of July race and plan to run with him in the stroller, for fun.  I can't wait to share all my miles with Anderson.

Week in Review

I started the Runner's World summer run challenge (run at least a mile every day from Memorial Day until the Fourth of July) so I have something to report for every day this week!

Monday - 3 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
Easy run on the treadmill followed by 21-15-9 reps of deadlifts at 65 pounds.

Tuesday - 2 mile run, 2000 yard swim
Two miles easy run in the neighborhood.  The 2000 yard swim included a lot of fast and slow.  Funny enough after being pregnant for the last year there wasn't a whole lot of difference between slow and fast in the pool.  :)

Wednesday - 3 mile run

Thursday - 8 miles
I had wanted to go run the trails, but didn't have time, so I just ran 8 miles from home in the oppressive heat.  Luckily, it turned into a descending run but it wasn't designed that way.
Mile 1 - 9:28
Mile 2 - 9:07
Mile 3 - 8:59
Mile 4 - 8:56
Mile 5 - 8:46
Mile 6 - 8:48
Mile 7 - 8:36
Mile 8 - 8:45

Friday - 2 miles treadmill

Saturday - OSU Ross Heart Hospital Aquathlon (1800 yard swim, 3.1 mile run)
You can read about it here.

Sunday - 1 mile treadmill
I did this run at 9:30 PM on the treadmill because I wanted to keep the Runner's World run streak alive.

Totals
Run - 22.1 miles
Swim - 3800 yards
Strength - 0.25 hours

OSU Ross Heart Hospital Aquathlon

I am my own worst critic.  Having lost most of the pregnancy weight and gotten right back into running, I would expect to be able to race where I was.  But I can't.  I'm nowhere near as fast.  It's hard to remember that I've basically taken a year off.  It frustrates me.

A year ago I wanted to get into aquathlon.  I thought this would be a great sport for me: I'm a decent swimmer and obviously can keep up with the fasties in the run.  But then I just had fun and had great results in running so I decided not to do any aquathlon races last year.  Despite being pregnant, I had my focus most of the year on this aquathlon.  I thought, "hey, I can win this thing."  Going into the race this morning I was nervous.  I wanted to win.  Right off the bat, though, I knew I was in for a long race.

The swim was "1 mile".  According to many people there it was much longer - more like 1.3 miles.  This was my first open water swim in two years and only my fourth swim total since I had the baby.  The water was chilly but not overwhelming.  I eased my way in with the starting gun and found my rhythm.  I got hit in the head a couple of times but then I found some space.  I think I was sighting pretty well as I literally hit EVERY DAMN BUOY! 

 Visual proof I hit the buoy.

The girl in front of me couldn't sight, however, as she kept crossing right in front of me and cutting off my stroke.  When we hit the buoys to turn around I became quite aware of how windy it was.  The waves crashed over my head.  Every time I went to sight I got hit with water in my face.  The course was two loops and I kept thinking..."I wonder how mad Dave would be if I just stopped after the first loop?"  Nevertheless, I kept going.  Eventually I finished the stupid swim with a 47:43.  Holy slowness!  Really?  I wasn't last; wasn't first.  Whatever.

This race was weird.  There were actually two "races" going on.  One was just a one mile open water swim and the other was the aquathlon (1 mile swim; 5K run).  No one wore chips in the swim.  It was hand-timed.  Your time stopped when your feet hit the beach.  You told the timer your name and she recorded your time.  If you were doing the aquathlon, your transition time did not count.  So, I walked to transition, took my time getting off my wetsuit, put on my shoes, hat, and shirt, and then started my run only when I hit the line.  The run was chipped time by the bib.  Funny enough, the race director has all the swim times on the website but no run times.  Hmmm....

 I started off looking so fresh...

Anyway, the run was down the boardwalk (cement) until it ended.  Then you went through a grass trail until the roadway for another mile or so.  Then you turned around and came back.  I was wearing my watch but forgot to record any splits.  They were close to 9:00s however, which I just found to be absurd.  There's no way I suck this bad?!  I kept saying to myself, "You're doing this for Anderson."  I wanted to set a good example for my son.  Whatever.  He didn't care.  He was asleep in the stroller.  I passed maybe two people on the run and ended with a time in the 27:00s.  I'm hoping the run course was a little long too or else that is a personal worst for a 5K.

 ...and ended looking like death.

There have been no results posted so I have no idea how I actually did.  Physically and mentally, I felt awful.  Maybe I had my expectations too high but I really thought I would do better than I did.  Let's look at the positives, though.  I just had a baby.  I'm already out there doing my second race.  I was not fearful of the open water swim.  I finished the race despite wanting to quit.  And I already fit into my tiny running/triathlon clothes.  Victories all around.  Onto the next race.

The baby did this himself.  This was not staged.