Out with the old, in with the new

Yeah. It's been a while. I've been pretty busy. Holidays, weekend getaways with good friends, basketball, life.

I haven't done all that much running. Sick kids, holidays, aching foot. Blah blah blah. I did get my table cleared off:

I'm pretty happy about that. I also got LightRunner's first year scrapbook done. 6 months late. But it's done. I am so glad that I decided to only do the first year when SkyWalker was a baby. I'm also glad that this is the last one!

We've been on school break for almost 2 weeks now and it's been great. We've had some scuffles, because I am a mean mom who made her son do school work that's not due right away. Apparently I have to be meaner though because I am starting to feel like I hold SkyWalker's hand way too much with his writing and that I basically write everything for him. I am like a mama bird vomiting the words into my baby bird's mouth. I am still searching for the right balance between helping and doing. (I'm not literally writing assignments for him but it just feels that way. It is very hard for me to accept how much he dislikes writing.)

Anyway.

Stats:

October: 24.1 miles
November: 32.8 miles
December: 23.7 miles

I'm okay with this. I think I really needed to slow down and be able to concentrate on other things. But now it's time to get back on the horse. Not literally because I don't want to fall and break my leg. I have a Ragnar in May.

I ran my highest mileage this year, even with having to take time off for injuries and kidney problems. I'm trying to not focus on numbers so much as improvement.

2012 was pregnant/newborn year. But I did breastfeed for 8 out of 12 months for 2013. As long as I'm going up… 

I had very specific goals for last year and I think I may have put myself under a wee bit too much pressure to achieve them without taking that whole breastfeeding thing into consideration. I know lots of moms bounce right back and run marathons with 3 month old babies… but I am not lots of moms. I barely ran while I was pregnant. I exclusively breastfed for 6 months. I pumped every day in addition to breastfeeding. And LightRunner is my 4th kid. Four kids are pretty tiring. I probably should have cut myself a little slack. 

Last year's goals:

I'm keeping it relatively simple for 2013:

1. Run (at least) 3 times a week.
2. Cross train 6-7 days a week.
3. Run a 28 minute 5K in April. (pre pregnant PR is 27:35)
4. Run a 26 minute 5K in June.
5. Run the 10 mile Clove Run in August.
6. Run the Mohawk Hudson Half Marathon in October.

Non running-related:

1. Read more books!
2. Fold and put the laundry away when it comes out of the dryer... not 3 days later.
3. To live life fully and spend my time doing the things I want to do.
4. To see more of the people who bring out the best in me and to return the favor by being a positive encouraging friend.

How did I do?

1. Mostly, except during injuries and recovering.
2. Not even close.
3. Pretty much. 28:30
4. HAHAHAHA
5. Done.
6. Done.

And then.

1. Done! (Lots of reading/blogging going on over at GoddessLibrarian. I joined Goodreads too!)
2. Yeah, no.
3. Yup!
4. I think so and I hope so!

So what's next?

I have a new schedule for January for running and cross training. I don't have anything in particular that I am training for yet which makes it a little difficult. I need a race. I'm not sure that a trail run is the best to pin my hopes on… or a race in June when we can be hit with 90 degree temps. I need a good road 5K in the spring. I haven't really looked for one yet though. So far, just two days into January, I've done well. I did a 40 min Superset Sculpt with Jessica Smith and then 40 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. I've been pushing myself to go longer faster. I started with 30 seconds intervals at a 7:30 pace and now I'm doing 45. I'm going to slowly bump it up. I also want to try adding some tempo runs into the mix but I have to figure out the best way to do that on a treadmill.

So. Goals. I've hemmed and hawed over how much pressure I want to put myself under. Do I want to be disappointed again? Or do I stop making excuses and push myself. I'm not breastfeeding. I'm not "hurting" anyone else by pushing my limits. I think it's better to be disappointed than it is to sell myself short. Which is the exact opposite of my keep the expectations low policy, but whatevs.

1. Run 4 times a week
2. Cross train 4 times a week
3. Beat my 5K PR of 27:35
3a. Set a new PR of 26:30
4. Don't get injured doing it!

I have kind of vague goals of sleeping better and eating better and drinking more water and being more patient and things that are hard to really measure. But those are relatively boring. Perhaps blog more should be on the list?