May update

May mileage: 106

Progress so far:

January:  63

February:  76

March:  87

April:  101

Year to date: 433!

My main focus for May was speed work training for my upcoming 10K (Bellin) on June 9th.  This is the first time I have ever done any speed work.  I put together a real training plan and followed it pretty closely.  I ran the intervals that were on the plan, I maintained the paces that I had set out.  I think I have gotten to the point where I can no longer (accurately) describe my pace as a 10:00 minute mile.

I honestly didn’t think that I would get 100 miles this month.  I only had two semi-long runs (10 miles) scheduled so that I wouldn’t completely lose my endurance.  But, I guess if you run 4-5 miles five days a week, it adds up pretty quickly.

I am more than 40% to my goal of 1000 miles for the year.  In order to reach my goal, I will need to average 81 miles for each of the next 7 months.  This should be more than do-able.  Like I said, I have my 10K (PR attempt) in about a week.  After that, marathon training starts!!!  (My pace will slow, but I’m strangely looking forward to the long runs.)

I am also working on my push-ups.  I was very diligent this month and did my 5 sets up push-ups every other day.  I am up to 69 push-ups, over the course of the 5 sets.  I am really hoping to be up to 100 before the Tough Mudder in September.

Wordless Wednesday

Five things Friday

1. Chiropractor appointment this morning.  Always feel better afterwards.  Hoping I am good enough to run the 10 miles I have on the schedule tomorrow.

2. Speed work works.  Seriously.  I never thought I could sustain an 8:13 pace…for an entire mile.  Yesterday I did.  And, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  Maybe I need to reevaluate the training plan for the next couple weeks leading into the Bellin 10K.

3. I have a job interview next week.  I’m going to spare you the details, but I feel like this position would be a good fit when I start nursing school in the fall.  If you are of the praying type, please do.  The interview is on Wednesday. 

4. I am spending the day today avoiding all of the dietary pitfalls that seem to trigger my GI issues when I run.  I have a long run tomorrow.  Last Saturday’s long run went very well and I am hoping for the same success.  But, that means: no dairy, no gluten, and very little fiber.  Have a mentioned that I’m a vegetarian (just celebrated my 2 year veggie-versary)?  When I try to adapt my diet to support my running, it doesn’t leave me with many options.  But, running is important to me, so I am willing to sacrifice.  I just hope that it works.

5.  Breaking news!  I also have a job interview this afternoon!  Yikes.  Better get off the computer and go get ready.

Stalled

I’m doing push ups.  “Real” push ups.  On my toes…not on my knees.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  I watched a video of Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres doing push ups.  They were pounding them out like nothing.  (Granted, they have personal trainers and all sorts of other people who take care of some of the ‘daily’ part of their lives.)  But, in order to pound out push ups like that, you need to train for a while.  You need to have a certain level of fitness.

So, I decided that I would train.  I would practice doing push ups, until I could do 25 of them in a row, like Ellen and Michelle Obama.  Because I’m cool like that.

So, I found an app on my phone.  Seriously, there is an app for everything.  When I was in labor with Logan, I timed my contractions with an app on my phone.  (Because I’m cool like that.)

I started by imputing how many ‘real’ push ups I could do in a row.  Four.  Yep.  Hard-core, right?  I had quite a ways to go.  But, I diligently practiced.  I do 5 sets of push ups every other night.  I’m up to 63 total push ups.  That’s pretty cool.  I don’t do 63 push ups in a row.  But, I do a total of 63 (15-13-10-10-15). 

Here is my problem.  At the beginning, I was rapidly improving.  I went from only being able to do four push ups, to doing sets of 8 or 10 or 15.  But, now I’m stuck.  I can’t seem to get past this plateau.  I am able to get through my five sets, but that last set of 15 is brutal.  There are a few mid-set breaks.  (and when you are doing push ups, a mid set break is basically a plank…that’s not really much of a break.)

I am starting to get discouraged that I haven’t seen as much progress lately.  I want to keep getting better.  I have a goal of being able to do 25 consecutive push ups before the Tough Mudder in September.  I don’t know why I don’t feel like I’m getting in stronger. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

It takes a village

Today, I had a 10 mile run on the schedule.  Even though I am working specifically on speed for my upcoming 10K in June, I don’t want to lose my endurance leading up to marathon training. 

I was a little nervous going into this run because I wasn’t sure how my GI issues would present themselves.  I had worked really hard in the days leading up to my recent half marathon to adjust my diet.  In the past two days, I cut out most gluten, dairy and fiber in the hopes that I would have the same GI success I had during that last race.

The good news, is that I felt pretty good during this run.  No real GI issues!  Yeah!!  So, this means that I will continue doing what I’ve done for my next long run…at least until I can get in to see the GI doc at the end of June.

Up until yesterday, I wasn’t sure that I would even be able to do this run because I didn’t have anyone to watch the boys.  Finally, mom was able to take them for a couple hours this morning.  Jaden loves going over there and helping her take the garbage to the dump (I know, he’s strange).  Logan doesn’t always do real well over there.  Their house isn’t child-proofed, so he doesn’t have the same freedom to just run around.  And, today he must have been tired.  Mom said he was kinda sad.

I was really excited because my friend Tiff, is in town this week.  She lives in Madison, but she was up visiting her family.  When I posted on facebook yesterday that I was planning a long, slow 10 miler, her sister saw it and said that Tiff might want to run it with me!  I NEVER get to run with people.  I was so excited to have someone to run with.  Tiff just had a baby 5 weeks ago (I know, and she is already running 10 miles).  The reality is that if she hadn’t just had a baby, I never would have been able to keep up with her.  She is much faster than I am.  But, that was pretty cool, too.  She pushed me just a little.  If I had been running it by myself, I would have settled into my long, slow pace and just plodded out my 10 miles.  Instead, I had company and conversation and we ran a bit faster.  Which proves to me that I CAN do it.

We also ran past Tiff’s parent’s house.  Her dad had been kind enough to set out a cooler with some water bottles in it.  How awesome is that?!?  So, we stopped by on each loop and got something to drink.  It was nice to not have to carry my own water.

Here are my splits

Mile 1: 10:20

Mile 2: 10:32

Mile 3: 10:36

Mile 4: 10:26

Mile 5: 10:24

Mile 6: 10:10

Mile 7: 10:02

Mile 8: 10:20

Mile 9: 10:16

Mile 10: 10:02

Total: 1:43:09

Average pace: 10:19

So, now I know that if I have 1) someone to watch the boys, 2) a friend to run with, and 3) a neighbor to put out bottled water I should be able to get through another summer of marathon training. 

Any takers?

My life as a stay-at-home mom

I’ve been doing this stay-at-home mom thing for about a month now.  Honestly, I don’t know how ladies do this every day…for years (decades!).  I am not cut out for this.  I miss working.  I miss adult conversation.  And I only have two kids….and one of them is in school all day. 

Anyway, here is a glimpse of what a typical day looks like.

6:00 a.m. Tim’s alarm goes off.  He hits snooze.  I roll over.

6:09 a.m.  Tim’s alarm goes off again.  I gently kick nudge him to remind him that his alarm is going off.  I roll over.

6:30 a.m. Jaden gets up and loudly announces that he is awake.  I roll over.

6:48 a.m.  Logan is fussing in his crib.  I finally drag myself out of bed, go to the bathroom, and then get my adorable toddler changed and ready for his day.

7:15 a.m. Tim leaves for work.

7:16-7:45 a.m.  Fight with Jaden to get him ready for school while trying to feed Logan some breakfast.

7:48 a.m. Take Jaden to school.

7:51-7:55 a.m. Sit in the drop-off zone at school wondering why it takes Jaden forever to get his butt out of the car.  Seriously, 6 cars drove up, dropped off their kids, and drove away in the time it takes my 6 year old to get out of the car!

8:00-8:45 a.m. Eat my own breakfast, typically while constantly providing snacks to Logan, who seems to eat his weight in graham crackers every day.  Put in a load of laundry.

8:45-11:00 Play with Logan, according to the above rules.  Occasionally stop to provide him with more snacks.  If he is playing alone, consider what I will make for dinner.  Move laundry to the dryer.  Sometimes I will feel really ambitious and I will clean something.  My favorite is chasing Logan with the vacuum cleaner.  It’s hysterical…for me!  Go grocery shopping…with a toddler (loads of fun).

11:00-11:15 Give Logan a glass of milk and put him down for his nap.  Breathe.  Listen to the silence.

11:15-12:00 Run. 

12:00-12:45 Shower, eat lunch, accomplish the myriad things that need to be accomplished.  Fold laundry.  Leave it on top of the dryer for a minimum of 6 days, or until everyone runs out of clean socks and underwear.

12:45-1:15 Retrieve Logan from his nap, feed him lunch. 

1:15-2:30 Play with Logan.  Occasionally get him a snack…have I mentioned that the kid likes to eat? 

2:30-ish Tim comes home. 

2:30-3:30 Something usually happens at this time.  I can’t seem to remember what it is.  I am usually in a haze by this point because I haven’t had any adult conversation all day and I am covered in half-slobbered graham crackers. 

3:30 Go pick Jaden up from school.

3:45-4:00 Help Jaden with his homework.  Make his lunch for the next day.  Contemplate dinner.

4:45-5:15 Make dinner.  Repeatedly tell the rest of the household that dinner is ready.  Get frustrated because no one listens to me the first time.

5:15-5:45 Eat dinner with family.  Pick up sippy cup from the floor a minimum of 387 times.  Cajole Jaden to finish his dinner. 

5:45-6:00 Clean up dinner.  If Tim does this, . 

6:00-7:00 Play with the kids, read a magazine, make Tim’s lunch for tomorrow.

7:00-7:45 Get both kids ready for bed and put them to sleep.  Smile.

8:00-9:00 Relax with Tim on the couch and watch something that we have on the DVR.

9:00-9:30 Randomly stalk facebook, catch up on emails, finish things that need to be done.  Get ready for bed.

10:00 Fall asleep to the sound of Tim playing Star Wars on the computer in the other room.

Seriously, I am so not cut out for this.  I miss the camaraderie of being around other adults all day.  I love my kids, but I love them more when I am given a chance to miss them.  I really hope I am able to find a job soon.  And…kudos to you women who have dedicated your lives to staying home with your children.  You rock!

April recap

I like doing these month-in-review posts.  There is a certain sense of accomplishment as I see myself progressing toward a goal.  And goals are good.

 

In my goal toward running 1000 miles in 2012, I am definitely making progress.

January: 63 miles

February: 76 miles

March: 87 miles

April: 101 miles  Hooray for a 100 mile month!!!

2012 year-to-date: 327 miles

2012 year-to-go: 673 miles

Average needed for each of the next 8 months: just over 84 miles

I have high hopes for May.  I don’t have any races lined up, but I am going to be doing some intense speed training in preparation for the Bellin Run on June 9.  Now that I think about it, since my focus is on speed, I may not reach 84 miles in May.  I will have to keep an eye on the mileage.  Even if I don’t get to 84, I need to make sure not to let my mileage get too low that I put myself in a deficit for the rest of the year.

Back to April…I ran the Oshkosh Half Marathon and got a pretty nice PR of 2:11:15.  I am really excited about it for a lot of reasons.  Mostly, because the start of the race was really tough for me and I had thoughts of quitting.  But, I was able to work through that, refocus, and finish very strong!  I am stronger than the negative (temporary) thoughts that try to hold me back. 

How was your April?  Any fun plans for May?

Rest days

I took the last two days off running.  It has been a long time since I’ve taken two days off in a row.  But, my body was begging for rest…so I (reluctantly) listened.  Now, I have two more days this month to run 7 miles.  That will put me at 100 miles for the month of April.  I don’t remember the last time I ran 100 miles in a month.  It has been well over a year…probably during my last marathon training plan.

This means that the speed-work intensive training plan that I put together for the Bellin Run in June has already been adapted.  That’s okay.  I’ll get back to the letter of the law plan on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

I’m currently reading Bart Yasso’s book.

This guy has had an amazing life.  He has been able to go so many places and experience so many things.  And he has done it all with an amazingly positive attitude…even when life throws him a curve ball.  He is a great story teller and I would highly recommend this book to anyone…runner or not. 

Last night I read the chapter on how he developed the Yasso 800’s as part of a marathon training plan.  I’ve heard about Yasso 800s and I know people who have bitched about ran them.  But I never really looked into what exactly they were or how they were supposed to be run as an indicator of marathon performance. 

After reading that chapter, I can say that I completely understand why people will curse his name during this workout!  The workout consists of TEN 800s.  TEN!  With 400 meter recoveries.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a nice set of 800 meter intervals.  In fact, it is one of my favorite workouts.  But…ten of them?!?  He’s insane.

That being said….I can’t wait to try it. 

Have you ever done a set of Yasso 800s?  What am I in for?

Oshkosh Half Marathon…in photos

This was taken somewhere around mile 4-ish (?).  I was feeling pretty awful at this point.  And, my hands were REALLY cold.

I don’t really look like I’m enjoying myself, do I?

My right foot always does that when I run.  It sorta ‘whips’ around.  I don’t think my left foot does that. 

Approaching the finish chute.  The last .5 mile was really narrow.  We had to run across a bridge (in the background) and then make a sharp right into the finish area.  There wasn’t a whole lot of room to pass, especially on the bridge.  A lot of runners commented on that in their reviews of the race.

Tim’s shot of me approaching the finish line.  I was giving it everything I had.  And my hands were cold.

I have so many finish line photos of my with my head down, turning off my watch.  But, I am proud of myself for throwing down to beat that girl behind me.  (How white are my legs!!??!)

Post race family shot. It was cold.

It has been a few days since the race.  My legs are still a little tired.  I was hoping to be able to jump right in to my next training plan…I’m working on a PR in the 10K in June…but I think I will take a couple days off.  the last two days of running have left me feeling exhausted, instead of energized.

Oshkosh Half Marathon

This was a good day, overall.  Although, for a while, I wasn’t sure it would end that way.

Today, I ran the Oshkosh Half Marathon.  This was my first half marathon in almost two years.

There were a lot of things that went really well during this race.  Unfortunately, my Garmin wasn’t one of them.  It didn’t find a satellite until about .4 miles into the race.  I started the clock when I crossed the start line, but my splits are a little messed up.  No worries. 

So, when you look at the first mile split, it is actually about 1.4 miles.  It also adjusts my average pace.  Instead of a 10:17 pace, I averaged a 10:01 pace. 

So…I started out running with Tim.  The 5K and the half started at the same time.  And, just like every other 5K, all the walkers lined up (some with strollers) right at the beginning of the pack, just waiting for us to plow them over.  Seriously, if there is one thing I hate, it is walkers who don’t line up at the back.  Someone is going to get hurt! 

Just shy of the one mile mark, the 5K runners made a left and the half marathon kept going straight.  Tim and I amused the runners behind us by trying to kiss each other before we split.  But, we didn’t stop running, so we ended up just bashing our faces into each other.  Apparently, it was hilarious!

I quickly realized that I should have worn my gloves.  My hands were freezing, quickly going numb, and anytime I tried to do anything with my fingers for the next 10 miles, I was reminded that I made a bad choice.  I almost couldn’t get my gel out of my SPI-belt, because my fingers couldn’t work the zipper.

In addition to cold fingers, the first four miles were awful.  I honestly had thoughts of quitting.  I was having a hard time maintaining what I thought was a good pace.  In reality, I didn’t really know what my pace was because I had pulled the sleeves over my hands in a (failed) attempt to warm them up.

During this time, I threw all of my time goals out the window.  I was just hoping that I would be able to finish.

Finally, around mile 6 or 7, I started to feel pretty good.  My pace picked up a bit, although I still wasn’t checking my watch.  I was running more comfortably and instead of being passed, I was actually passing people.  That does wonders for your confidence.

When I got to mile 10, I finally started to warm up.  I freed my hands from my sleeves and looked at my watch.  I realized that my B goal (2:15) was still a possibility.  But what motivated me even more, was knowing that I could beat my sister’s half marathon time of 2:14.  All I had to do was keep each of the last 3 miles under 10:00.  I started to pick up the pace….considerably. 

I started those last three miles, trying to just keep my pace under 10:00/mile.  My legs kept going faster than that.  In my head, I knew that I wanted to save something for the last mile.  But then I started thinking that I might be able to reach my A goal (2:10), so I really threw down. 

Sometime during mile 13, I realized that the A goal wasn’t going to happen.  I also realized that I was pushing my legs to their limits and they were starting to shut down.  Then I saw that I had a bridge to run up before I got to the park where the finish line was.  I let the A goal go out the window and just tried to hang on as much as I could at the finish line.

It was pretty amazing to get to the end and know that I had giving it absolutely everything I had.  And it felt so good to know that I was able to push through feeling awful around mile 4 and keep going.

There were a lot of differences between this race and my first two half marathons. 

* Other than the water stops, I never walked.  That certainly wasn’t the case in my first two half marathons.

* This time, my training plan included speed work. 

* During this race, I wasn’t afraid to feel uncomfortable.  Even during those early miles, when I contemplated quitting, I knew that I was stronger than the discomfort I was feeling.  I kept telling myself “I can do anything for one mile.”  Over and over again.

Probably the best part about this race, other than the 9+ minute PR, is that I didn’t have any GI issues.  Truthfully, this is good news and bad news.  The good news is that I can run without stomach problems.  The bad news is that it took changing my eating habits DRASTICALLY for the 2 days prior to the race. 

I will continue to experiment with different dietary changes for my long runs when I start my training for the Milwaukee Lakeshore Marathon.  That training will start on June 10.  My next training plan starts on Tuesday.  (I’m giving myself tomorrow off.)  Tuesday, I will start my speedwork training for the Bellin Run 10K in June.  I am hoping to get another PR at that race.  Today was very encouraging for that race, too.  I know that my last 3 miles were my fastest.  And the last 1.77 miles were run at a faster pace than I will need to run to PR for my 10K.

Check out the fun photo of Jaden running the kids’ race on Saturday.  He has such a determined look on his face.  Love that effort.  He had a great time.  He is also going to be running at Bellin.  They put on a great kid’s race.