Looking back and forward... and up

I haven't been blogging much. I also haven't been running all that much. I took a nice long break after the last half-marathon. I continued to run, but felt no guilt at skipping runs to meet a friend for a hot beverage or to do my Christmas shopping or to simply avoid the cold. As such my stats fell WAY down (this is the first year I didn't go up in my yearly stats too).

2015 Running stats

But I can't say I regret it. I feel balanced and in control. I'm not running to lose weight or to make it to the Olympics. I'm running to feel better and to be happier. So if I skip a run here or there and spend that time doing something else that makes me happy? No guilt.

That's not to say that I'm done running or that I don't have future goals or dreams. But I was beginning to feel bogged down by them and I'm glad I took a step back and remembered why I am doing this in the first place.

I'm going to try to stay on a nice routine this winter for as long as I can. At the end of the month I'll be having a little surgery that will put me on the bench for a short time. I'll have to start slow and short and build back up from that.

At the beginning of 2015, I wrote:

I'm keeping my goals for 2015 simple:
1. Run 3 times a week2. Bike 2 times a week3. Cross train (strength, core, etc.) whenever I can4. Run with friends whenever I get the opportunity! 5. Be the best runner I can be
I'm not giving myself any time goals. I would like to PR at both the 5K and half marathon this year. I'll work damn hard to do it. But I'm not going to define myself by that. I'm not going to judge my success on numbers. I'm not an elite, not a pro, I'm just another Strong Running Mama trying to stay sane and be a good example to my kids. If I do the majority of my runs with a smile on my face (or at least in my heart) and run with friends and laugh, I'm doing pretty good. I am a million light years ahead of where I was 5, 10, 15 years ago. 

For most of the year I did run 3 times a week. I fell off the biking over the summer. It's hard to use an indoor stationary bike when your kids are outside playing. Someday I'll be able to add outside biking to the mix, but not quite yet. I did cross train whenever I could. And I ran with friends whenever I could too. 5:15 am runs are just not for me. I need sleep and if I don't have to get up that early to run (because I can run after preschool drop off), well, I'm not going to. But I have tried to run with Jen on the weekends as often as I can.

Running and biking combined. 

I did PR at both the 5K (and broke that a few months after) and the half marathon this year. I actually had a really good racing year and I think keeping everything in perspective helped.

Back in July (after that big birthday of mine) I bought myself a Garmin Vivofit 2. It's an activity/sleep tracker that works well with the Garmin running watch I have. Someday I'll write up a proper review but today is not that day. From July-December I racked up 2,452,591 steps. That's over 2 million steps in 6 months. Since I wear it 24/7 that number naturally includes all my running miles as well. But an awful lot of those steps are just me getting chores done in the house. I shoot for 10,000 steps a day and most days I do more. All the running in the world doesn't mean anything if you go back home and sit on the couch for the next 8 hours. I am a lot more conscious of any inactivity thanks to the Vivofit (it has a red line that gets longer and longer if you don't get up and walk. Long car rides kill me). This is actually one of the reasons I don't blog as much anymore. I hate to sit for extended periods of time now.

In light of the unknowns about the upcoming surgery (it's possible it will take me longer to bounce back) I am hesitant to have concrete measurable goals. It would be great if I could get my mileage back up but if I wind up needing more than a month off, it may not happen. I'm not signing up for any long-distance races (Ragnar not included). So this year, 2016, I'm going to challenge myself in different ways. I'm going to go outside my comfort zone. I'm going to run toward what I always run away from. This year, I'm going to embrace the hill. I'm not concerning myself with speed (yes, I know hills are speedwork in disguise) or overall distance or anything truly measurable. I am simply going to tackle the hill (really, all hills) and go forward and overcome it. By the end of the year I hope to conquer it and be able to say "yeah, I can run anywhere, any race" without stressing over elevation maps.

Catching Up

Seriously nice bling

It's been a while.

First things first. The stats.

August 

Total 103.4 miles
Running: 91.3 miles
Biking: 12.1 miles
Cross Training: probably none
Races: 1

September

Total 76.2 miles
Running: 76.2
Biking: 0
Cross Training: Ha
Races: 0

August was a great month. I ran a lot. Vader and I raced a 5K together again and I broke my PR again. 27:05. Second in my age group. Just prior to that race I helped my 5 year old nephew run his first 1 mile race. That was awesome. As was having my sister at the finish line to watch me break that PR. It was a great day.

September was full of back to school nights and kid sports and birthdays and while I did my running I didn't do much else. I really felt the stress of the plan this month.

The plan that ended yesterday.

Yesterday was the Wineglass Half-Marathon that I have been training for these last few months. I had originally aimed for a sub-2 time but as the summer went on I let that goal go. My speed work was good (and clearly helped my 5K time) but the weekly tempo runs were sucking the enjoyment out of me and I decided I didn't care enough about a sub-2 to keep doing them. There was also the issue of my BRF recovering from mono and I switched my focus to just finishing the race with her.

We had a bit of a drive to get out there and stayed in a crappy Days Inn for the few hours of sleep we were able to get. The half-marathon started at 7:45 but we needed to take a bus there and the last bus left at 6:30. The weather was iffy all week--we weren't sure if the predicted hurricane would be bringing us rain--but as we lined up for our final portopotty time the sun started to peek out and I was glad I stuck with my tank and arm-warmers instead of a long sleeve.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to switch our run-walk ratio from 1 mile/ 1 minute to 4 minutes run/1 min walk. We planned on doing that for the half and it definitely worked well. We started the race really strong--maybe a little too strong--but we felt good. We settled into a good relatively consistent pace after the first few miles.

Mile 1: 9:47
Mile 2: 9:24
Mile 3: 9:44
Mile 4: 9:51
Mile 5: 9:51
Mile 6: 9:55
Mile 7: 9:56
Mile 8: 10:03
Mile 9: 10:05

I started to lag behind Jen and she actually missed a couple of walking breaks because she was running so strong. At mile 10 my calves started to really tighten up and it was painfully difficult to keep running. I couldn't catch up. Jen saw and slowed down enough for me to get closer, but I just lost it at miles 11 and 12. I can't remember exactly when but the 2:10 pace group passed us and that kind of broke my spirit. We had been running so strong and I just totally lost it.

Mile 10: 10:20
Mile 11: 10:35
Mile 12: 10:37

Jen was up ahead and she was flying. You would never have guessed that just a few months ago she had mono and couldn't even get out of bed. She looked so strong and powerful and I thought there's no way I can catch up to her and finish with her. But I really wanted to. I rallied and pulled it together the last mile.

Mile 13: 9:55

The finish line was in sight. My legs were protesting every single step. I thought about just laying down and rolling over the finish. But when I needed it most, Jen went off to the side, slowed down, and reached out her hand. I had to get there. I busted my butt, caught up, and we finished holding hands. I wasn't breathing very well because I'm pretty sure I was sobbing.

Mile 13.16 8:38

We finished at 2:11:17, 10 seconds away from my PR but a big PR for Jen and that was awesome. I felt pretty bad that she could have done even better had she not slowed down for me, but I know that I would've done the same for her. (But oh the irony! For so long she was afraid of slowing me down because of the mono and here it was the opposite! I think I saw smoke coming out of her shoes!). I didn't run my best race and there are a number of things that probably contributed (fueling, water), but I will never ever forget this one. When it gets tough you need your friends to help you through and I am so grateful to have one like her.

July stats

I know it's already August 8, but it's been busy busy busy here. Also, blogging requires stillness and I have not been very still as of late. But that's another blog post. 

My birthday month is over and it was a pretty good one. I had some great runs and some crappy runs but I had ZERO TREADMILL runs so it was awesome. My speedwork is coming along, I continue to hate tempo runs, and my long runs depend on many factors. Today's long run was spectacular because I ran with a couple of friends, one of whom is my BRF who hasn't run long in quite a while since getting mono! It was so nice just to run with her again. But today is August and I need to talk about July. 

Stats

Total 68.6 miles

Running: 50.9 miles

Biking: 17.7 miles

Cross Training: 5 sessions

Races: 0

I skipped a couple of days of running when we went camping for the first time ever. I did do a lot of walking however and tallied 27 miles in the 4 days we were away. I also skipped some biking before and after camping. I did good with cross training the beginning of the month but then things got away from me and on the list of priorities it was low. I did do quite a bit of swimming and while we were camping I did some rowing in the canoe. So maybe I should count those. 

June stats

Stats
Total Mileage: 68.3 miles
Running: 55.9
Biking: 12.4
Cross training: 4
Races: 0

Running-wise June was ok. I started training for my next half-marathon. It's the toughest training plan I have ever done-- faster speedwork, tempo runs, faster long runs. There will be no stroller runs this time around. Vader has been working a lot of early days which means he's getting home early enough for me to run outside. Other days I've paid a babysitter. I've been lucky enough to not do a treadmill run since May 5! I'm hoping to keep that trend up this summer.

Defining moments

May was a really good month.

First, there was that PR-breaking 5K. Then that PR-breaking Half Marathon. I took a week off from running and then the kids and I did the second Wildcats marathon at school. SkyWalker ran on his own and although the Princess started out with me she eventually ran ahead too. I had to stay with Chewie and motivate her to keep running when she stopped to walk every two minutes. It was a really long 1.2 miles but there was no crying this year and I was mostly just really happy that the Princess ran her own race.

The gang

I wasn't intending on doing the Freihofer's this year because it was just 2 weeks after the Half Marathon and I took a week off from running and I don't want to get injured and yadda yadda yadda. But it's been FIVE YEARS and I only ever skipped it once when I was pregnant.  How could I not run it? So when a friend said, hey wanna do Freihofer's?, there was really only one choice. We both said we would take it easy and just enjoy it since we both had different reasons for not wanting to push it.

Me & Jen before the race

We started the race together and even though we never once talked about it and we didn't say a word to each other while running, we stuck together. There were times when we took different paths to pass people and one of us would get slightly ahead, but then we'd be together again. There were roughly 3200 women running so it was a bit congested in the beginning. I did the first mile in 9:07 and thought ok, taking it easy. But then we were speeding up and around 1.5/1.6 I started doing the math and thought, hmmm, we might actually do pretty well if we keep this pace up. I did the second mile in 8:48. Around 2.5 my bladder hit and I was super glad I was protected. Jen got slightly ahead of me and I started to doubt I could finish strong. I could still see her and I just focused on her and tried to forget my rotten bladder. I tried to speed up but it wasn't happening.

Had to steal a couple of glances at my foot,
since I seem to have lost my SRM bracelet!

Then at 2.8/2.9 I thought, this is it, if you're going to make a move, you've got to do it now. This is your defining moment. You can either accept a perfectly reasonable time after having just raced a half and taking a week off, you can be satisfied with this, you can be complacent, OR you can rise up, accept the challenge and get it done. I chose the latter. All I focused on was catching up with Jen and I closed the gap so we finished together. I did the last mile in 8:28 and the last .1 in 7:09.

Perfect negative splits:

This makes me giddy. 

We passed the clock at 28:01 and I knew that would be a PR for her because of our distance from the start line. I wasn't even thinking about my time. I was just so happy for her. She wound up with 27:26! A major PR after having a baby in September! Isn't that amazing? I was so proud of her! My net time was 27:24. Yes, 2 seconds shy of my new overall PR. I was THRILLED. I hadn't intended on running fast, I haven't been doing speedwork, I haven't been biking, I took a whole week off from running! And there were 3200 women running! It was a definite Freihofer's PR. Everyone says you can't really PR in this race because of the size, but we did pretty good. (Our speedier friends finished with unbelievable times). We beat over 2500 other women! I love that I finished nearly 6 minutes faster than my very first time, I love that I finished 34 seconds faster than last year, I LOVE that we did perfect negative splits, but I really love that we finished it together.

No age awards here, but not too bad!

Stats
Total Mileage: 49 miles
Running: 49
Biking: 0
Crosstraining: Um. Does pool cleaning and gardening count?
Races: 3

Lots of double run days!

April stats

I'm still riding pretty high from Saturday's race. I had to tell Lauren Fleshman how I did because we're besties now and she replied and retweeted me. Such a perfect day. The best part though was having my family there and my kids seeing me get the medal.

April was a pretty good month. I was able to do some stroller runs, some decent long runs, good speedwork & I ran a race. I upped my running mileage and for the first time in months I ran more than I biked! I seem to have forgotten to do any strength training. Oh well.

Stats
Total Mileage: 129.4 miles
Running: 72.4
Biking: 57
Crosstraining: Oops
Races: 1

March stats & wrap-up

Guess where I had that kidney stone problem...

March could have been a bit better if I had not had that damn kidney stone problem. It cost me 14 running miles! Grrr. Overall I'm okay with it. I'm not a 100 mile a month girl. Running 3 times a week & biking twice is working out for me. I'm not quite sure what the proper terminology is for biking... I'm on a semi--recumbent bike. Is that still biking, or cycling, or spinning? Does it matter? I'm on it right now which is why I'm musing about it. When I add my running and biking miles together it's a decent amount:

Stats

Total Mileage: 128 miles

Running: 63.5 miles

Biking: 64.5 miles

Crosstraining : 7 sessions

I skipped my strength training yesterday. I did my 1/4 mile repeats and I was really feeling it since it had been my first run since doing them last week. So I decided not to push it. Which kind of sucks since I'll be missing it on Friday as well. I'll just have to be more vigilant next week--when the kids are on school break.

I feel like my running is getting better, my biking is getting better, and I'm hopeful I'll do well in my next 5k. I've increased the resistance on the bike and I'm doing speeds I did at the lower resistance. That's progress. My speedwork is feeling better and my long runs are going well. The easy runs on the treadmill are NOT working out, but I am hoping to do my first stroller run tomorrow. I should just get up earlier and run in the morning but I think I need the sleep more. 

My next 5k is just a tune-up race to see where I am right now. Chewie & LightRunner are doing the 200m, SkyWalker is doing the 1 mile, I'm doing the 1 mile with the Princess and then I'm doing the 5k. That will give me 4 and I need 10 for the day so I'll have to stick around and run some more. 

I'm looking forward to my first double digit run this weekend (since my last half). I'll be using my new Garmin Forerunner 220. I've heard good things about it so I hope it can fill some of the hole left by my beloved Bia. We'll see. I'll have to squeeze 10 miles in to the weekend and see my sister's new twin babies too. I can't wait! For the babies. I'm looking forward to doing 10 miles again, but not in the same way.

February stats & recap

Daily Runs

February was definitely better than January (but strangely less than last February. Had I done my long run yesterday it would have been more, but alas, I did not.) Despite it being one of the coldest Februarys we have had in centuries (for reals), I did all of my long runs outside and even managed  a rare midweek run on the road too. 

Daily Rides

I have not done very well with strength training or core or anything besides running and riding. I've decided that for the time being I am going to try to do strength/core/other stuff just once a week instead of trying to fit it in on my running/biking days. I have a limited amount of time to do anything and I have plenty I'm doing. So we'll see how well that works. 

I have been pretty consistent with the bike rides and have advanced to doing more than just nicely pedaling the time away. I've added some resistance training. I was going to just do "speedwork" on the bike and pedal really fast for certain intervals, but I think it'll be better for me in the long run if I do the resistance training. So rather than pedal really fast, I increase the resistance for a minute and pedal as fast as I can (not very) and then recover for a minute with lower resistance. The funny part is that when I am doing an easy bike ride I wind up with speeds of 11-12, but when I do the hard bike ride my hard speeds are 11-12 and the easy recoveries are much higher. So I am actually biking faster anyway. I think this will strengthen my legs, particularly the parts that don't get a lot out of running. 

I've got 61 days until my "A-goal" 5K race and 76 days until my "B-goal" half-marathon so only time will tell. 

Stats:

Mileage: 52.1 miles

Runs: 11

Races: 0

Bike: 67 miles

Rides: 8

Crosstraining: 3 

January stats

Running and Biking

I had every intention of getting into a good routine this month and really upping my running and biking miles. 

You know what they say about intentions right?

It's not entirely my fault. I started out the month sick and I ended the month sick. And someone was sick in the middle. In fact, someone has been sick in one way or another since November. I've just gotten my first delivery of Essential Oils and am getting some diffusers soon so I am hoping to stop the sickness. I'll let you know how it works out. I am a natural skeptic, but I will say that during LightRunner's illness I rubbed some oils on his feet and never once had to give him tylenol or ibuprofen. So there's that. I thought I'd do something nice and take the girls to the movies at the mall and I was rewarded with the flu. I didn't go to the doctor and get diagnosed. But I haven't been that sick in 16 years. I was in bed for 16 hours. That does not happen. Ever. It knocked me off my feet, literally. I missed runs, biking, cross training. That big ol' gap in the graph up there is my flu week. I did nothing but sit on the couch and watch Thomas the Tank Engine. I couldn't even focus enough to read. It sucked. 

It's also been wicked cold and snowy. You know, winter. Bah, winter. My long runs have not been long. Whine, whine, whine. The highlight was being able to do a couple of runs with friends. I really need to do that more often.

January was not the best. But onward and upward right?

Stats

Mileage: 40.7 miles

Runs: 11

Races: 0

Bike: 54 miles

Rides: 6

Crosstraining: 6 days. I think.

February will be better. 

Yearly wrap-up and future goals

Lotta green (Easy) on there… 

I decided to take it easy in December. No speedwork, no long runs. Partly because of holiday prep and sickness and partly because I did the Quickfit Holiday Challenge with Jessica Smith.

Stats

Mileage: 32.6 miles
Runs: 10
Bike: 39.2 miles
Trips: 6
Races: 0
Cross training: 22 days / 27 sessions

Not a lot of running, but more than last December (23.7) and I did a decent amount of biking and cross training. I also did a decent amount of socializing! Lots of nights out with friends and holiday celebrations. It's been a pretty good month. 

I recently got a new iPhone (5S) that can take full advantage of the Health App and count my steps and track my sleep and all that fun stuff. I manage to walk an average of 3 miles per day just doing chores in my house. The sleep tracker has confirmed that I sleep like crap. I'm awake multiple times a night and don't get a lot of deep sleep. I'm sick AGAIN though, so I'm hoping to get back on track. I was doing so well getting up at 6:30 every morning and it was easier to fall asleep but then Christmas vacation happened and we all got sick again and yeah. I hope to start again on Monday. 

As far as the year went… I wound up with 661.9 miles (yes I find that funny too) which is the most I have ever done. Sure, it would be great to have a 1000 mile year, but I don't think that's in the cards for me right now. As long as I keep going up, which is what I'm been doing, I'm happy. I think I'm also less likely to get injured that way. I've got 51.7 biking miles for the year to add to those running miles too.

Last year's goals: 

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!

1. 4 times a week is tough. I had some good weeks, but quite a few when I couldn't get that 4th run in. I'm pretty sure I did 3 times a week consistently though. 
2. Tee hee. I had months when I did a lot of cross training but many months when I did none. 
3. HAHAHAHA, nope. Not even close. 
4. No injuries, so that's good. 

So, not quite a successful year as far as that goes. BUT, I had lots of special running moments that meant more than the time on the clock (Ragnar, Wildcats Marathon with my kids, Ran a race with my husband, Running the half marathon for Fallon). I also participated in something called the Earthathon and helped other runners reach an awesome goal of running 25,000 miles. For 2015 I am helping to lead a team of over 20 runners (United Snails) as we try to reach 25,000 before other teams (there's still time to join! Go here to join a team. All you need is a twitter account.) It's a great way to stay motivated to run during a cold dreary winter.

I'm keeping my goals for 2015 simple:

1. Run 3 times a week
2. Bike 2 times a week
3. Cross train (strength, core, etc.) whenever I can
4. Run with friends whenever I get the opportunity! 
5. Be the best runner I can be

I'm not giving myself any time goals. I would like to PR at both the 5K and half marathon this year. I'll work damn hard to do it. But I'm not going to define myself by that. I'm not going to judge my success on numbers. I'm not an elite, not a pro, I'm just another Strong Running Mama trying to stay sane and be a good example to my kids. If I do the majority of my runs with a smile on my face (or at least in my heart) and run with friends and laugh, I'm doing pretty good. I am a million light years ahead of where I was 5, 10, 15 years ago. 

November stats

I feel like I was just writing October's stats. We spent the majority of November sick. After 3 weeks I gave up and went to the doc (yesterday) for meds for a sinus infection. I only took a weekend off when I was sick and the girls were both sick and the idea of running long just wasn't appealing.

I did pretty good sticking to my routine this month but it's getting harder. It's getting cold out there and the toddler does not like to bundle up for stroller runs (and it's hard to buckle him up wearing a coat anyway). I think I'll be doing more treadmill runs soon. My long runs are not quite long yet, but I ran more often this month. Last November was 32.8 miles.

Stats

Mileage: 54 miles
Runs: 14
Races: 1 (Celebrate Women 5K)
Cross training: 8
Bike: 12.5 miles

I did really well with the cross training this month. In addition to the Jessica Smith videos, I've been adding some bike miles. I bought a bike trainer to use with my road bike but it didn't work out the way I hoped. My bike is a smaller sized mountain bike. The back tire was being shaved by the trainer and when I looked into getting a replacement tire I realized that I couldn't get a trainer tire for it and to get just a regular mountain bike tire would have been too much work and money. Adding it all up didn't make sense. So I sent the trainer back and bought a semi-recumbent bike instead. I should have done that right away but I swear when I first started looking all I saw were bikes for thousands of dollars. My research failed me. I'm not heading for a triathlon or giving up running. Biking is great cross training for running and an indoor bike is something I can do during the winter. I'm hoping to do the bike twice a week, run 4 times a week and throw in some videos when I can. 

The Exerpeutic 400XL Folding Recumbent Bike

I did just start Jessica Smith's Quick Fit Holiday Challenge which means videos almost every day for the month. I generally don't do challenges because I have a hard time fitting them into my running schedule but I like the word "Quick" in this one. All of the daily workouts are 20 mins or less. I should be able to get that done on top of whatever running and biking I am doing. I'm expecting to have a really strong winter of exercise so I can have a really strong half marathon time next fall. When a good friend says she's running her first post-baby half and asks you to do it with her there's only one response. So I signed up for the Wineglass Half Marathon in October. A destination half with friends and wine. Awesome. 

October's stats

That month went by pretty fast.

I was determined to not let this October be a repeat of last October when my 2 weeks off after the half-marathon turned into more. I intended on only taking a week off so that's what I did. I've been fine too, no aches, no soreness, no need for extended recovery. I started back relatively slow but now I'm kicking it back into "high gear" with a planned 4 run week. Two stroller runs, one speedwork, one long. I hope I can keep this up!

Stats

Mileage: 43.4 miles
Runs: 9
Races: 1 (Mohawk Hudson Half Marathon)
Cross training: 4

Last October was 24.1 miles, so I'm okay with 43.4. I've started to get some Jessica Smith workouts back into my rotation too. I'm hoping that if I stick with it all it will make the winter slightly less horrible.

September's stats

September is always so crazy with back to school and soccer and crap. I ran more this month than last month but not quite as much as I did in July (or September of last year). Considering how insane our soccer schedule has been and how incapable of getting up before 8:00 I am, I'm okay with September's miles. 

Stats

Mileage: 69.8

Runs: 12

Crosstraining: Laundry?

Yes. 69.8! Had I known while I was on the treadmill yesterday that I was so close to 70 I would have added .2, but alas I had set out to run 40 minutes and that is what I did. I briefly considered hopping back on but I had just run intervals and I was done with it. 

I am in week 13 of my training plan. For some reason I decided to do 4 runs a week instead of the 3 I did last year… or I should say I decided to plan 4 runs a week. Unless I get up before the sun I can't do 4 a week. Particularly if I wind up doing my long run on Friday because of weekend insanity. I am greatly looking forward to our weekends calming down. Although basketball will start up in December it's only one kid and Vader won't have to mow the lawn, so our weekends should be somewhat easier. 

I am in taper mode and only have to run 6 this weekend… but we'll have two soccer games, two soccer picture times (in a different location) and other stuff to do. My preschool playdates start up this week as well, so I've got plenty to keep me busy. 

August stats & back to school

As I suspected my August stats weren't quite as high as July. There were no more stroller runs and it was hard to motivate myself to use the treadmill when the sun was shining and the kids had things to do. I knew it was our last month of summer fun so I let running take a bit of a back seat. We had some traveling to do and at the end of the month we went to Great Escape for the first time. We actually stayed for 3 days. I did my long (10 mile) run before we went and then spent the weekend walking the park. It was the perfect end to our summer--quite literally since we got back the day Chewie had her bus safety day at school. The next day the big kids went back and the day after that Chewie started kindergarten. This is our first full week of school and I'm anticipating being able to get some stroller runs done as well as some Jessica Smith videos now that I only have one child at home. One child who naps. I hope the weather holds out as long as it can so I can keep up with the stroller runs.

It is quiet without the kids and I miss them, especially Chewie since I am used to her being around, but they all seem to be happy with school this year. Chewie is doing great and got on the bus with a huge smile on her face. It makes it somewhat easier to let her go. I am glad I have LightRunner to keep me company and entertain me. He repeats EVERYTHING I say and has such a great sense of humor. I think he will fill the void okay.

Next weekend is SkyWalker's 10th birthday party so I'll be doing my long (12 miles) run on Friday, which is less than a week after doing my last long run (Sunday, 11 miles). I have reached the point when I am looking forward to tapering and kind of wondering if I want to do this again. It's hard to fit in with soccer schedules and school requirements and life. It's much easier to squeeze in a 6 mile run than a 12.

Stats:

August:

Mileage: 56.7
Runs: 11
Races: 1
Crosstraining: Swimming, biking, vacuuming

July stats

July was the best. It wasn't my highest mileage ever, but all but 2 runs were outside and that is just awesome. My long runs are getting longer and now the difficulty will be getting my mid week runs longer with no camp to rely on. I think I'm going to have to get up early… sigh.

Stats: 

July:

Mileage: 75.1

Runs: 16 

Cross training: 2, but lots of swimming, biking and playing with the kids. 

For comparison's sake, last July was 56.1. Hopefully August won't take a nose dive. 

June: lasts, kids, & stats

June is always such a crazy busy month. Field trips, field day, flag day, last parties, early dismissals, birthdays. This one was no exception. Chewie turned 5 in the beginning of the month and we celebrated by getting her ears pierced and having lunch at Dave & Busters and swimming in our new pool and Mommy not running. Oh well. The girls will be having a joint birthday pool party next week to continue the fun. We also went to another 30th birthday party just to make me feel even older. 

Chewie graduated from preschool and had her last gymnastics class (I don't do it once they're in school). I'm not planning on putting LightRunner in gymnastics, partly to save some money next year, but also because if I'm going to put him in anything it will be basketball. He truly loves it and I think he could do really well. I don't think there are any programs for 2 year olds though. Chewie also had her last speech session and that was actually a bit sadder than her preschool graduation. She doesn't need any services over the summer and when she is in kindergarten she will have what SkyWalker did--speech correction once a week. The speech teacher there thinks she probably won't need it for long but after a summer of nothing and with kindergarten so demanding these days, I wanted to make sure someone was keeping an eye on her at school. She is doing SO much better and I would hate for her to lose her progress because they have kindergarteners doing advanced calculus now. 

LightRunner will be two in 18 days and is less and less baby-like and more big-boy like every day. It is bittersweet. I eagerly look forward to not changing diapers (10 years is a long time) but he is my last. He plays with cars all the time and says "weeerrrr" and we could probably get rid of all the baby toys we have. He repeats nearly everything we say and calls me "Mama" and sometimes makes me want to have another one. But I don't want to jump the shark. I'd rather end on a high note. He is definitely embracing two and likes to make things difficult sometimes but knows when to use his dimples. I had to stop giving him big boy cups--not because he couldn't drink out of them but because he is a thrower. He intentionally throws his cups of milk across the room and I couldn't stand it anymore. So we're back to sippy cups until he can control himself. 

SkyWalker is at basketball camp and will soon be taller than me. He survived 4th grade and pulled it together at the end. His grades in each subject in his last report card went up (except social studies which stayed at 98). He got above 90 in everything and really worked much harder than in the middle of the year. I hope this means 5th grade won't be so tumultuous. 

The Princess had an awesome report card and once again got S+ in Art. She's a hard worker in everything and likes to teach Chewie things. She's slightly less batshit crazy, although yesterday she told me sometimes she gets angry for no reason and then she just has to stretch it out. Oookay. I need to get her running longer distances. 

They are all going to camp for the next 4 weeks. It was hard for me to fill out the paperwork and actually do it this year, but I am telling myself that it's not babysitting, it's an opportunity for them to all have fun without each other and without me and to do new things. It'll be good for Chewie to make friends with kids going to kindergarten. It'll be good for me to have some time to get boring stuff done (filling/trashing all the paperwork on my office floor!) and to do some stroller runs and have some one on one time with LightRunner. I can't send them everyday because I am odd, but I'm planning on sending them 3 times a week. I wish I could be one of those moms that just says "See ya" and ships her kids off here and there, but I'm not. Even if they drive me crazy, I'll take that crazy over anything else in the world. 

I've probably gone over my break time and I still have 3 book reviews to write. 

Stats:

Miles: 43.8

Runs: 9

Races: 0

Cross training days: 6 (not including swimming!)

Not my best mileage month, but not my worst. Last June was 28.4 miles!! I've got my half-marathon training plan on the fridge so I should start seeing that mileage go back up. 

May stats

I started May with a race and ended it with one! It was actually a pretty light running month because I did have so many races. I like to take a couple of days off before and after a race. And I took some extra time off after Ragnar. 

Stats: 

Mileage: 46.9

Runs: 7

Races: 3 (I'm counting the 3 Ragnar legs as one race) Spring Runoff, Ragnar, Freihofer's

Cross training Days: 3. I know I know. 

I'm hoping June will have a little more consistency and cross training. There are always so many school obligations though so I'm not beating myself up. I've started on the right foot by getting up wicked early (4:30) on Wednesday to get in a short run for National Running Day with some of my best running friends. And then spending 3 hours at Field Day because that's what Running Mamas do. 

April stats

I started April with a stomach bug so I wasn't sure how it was going to go but I'm pretty pleased with the results. I didn't do much running (or much of anything) during our spring break but it was right before the Dodge the Deer race so I was okay with that. I've managed to fit my runs in around all the crazy school stuff and demands of children who want attention. I did not do so well with the cross training, but I'm not sweating it. 

Stats:

Mileage: 70

Runs: 15

Races: 1 Dodge the Deer

Crosstraining days: 6 (eek!)

It's a giant improvement from last month's 48.8 and last April's 52.5. 

As I was running today I listened to the Another Mother Runner podcast about Time Management and how we always say we don't have enough time when really we do. I know I squander huge amounts of time… but I don't really think of it as squandering. We don't have to be "busy" to be valuable. It's okay to have the time to sit down and read a book or check Facebook/twitter or just watch TV. It was a really good podcast. As a "stay at home" mom I often feel like I am slacking if I'm not making things really hard for myself, but I'm not slacking. I am enjoying my freedom for as long as I can and if that means saying no to some things so I can have that blank space on my calendar, then so be it. Ironically as I am posting about this I really need to shower and get the laundry out of the dryer and think about dinner and Lightrunner has just woken up from his nap. I also have to mentally prepare myself for Chewie's Kindergarten screening tomorrow. That'll take the most time.

March stats and milestones

Like I said, March wasn't the best for me. But it wasn't the worst for me either. I had good speedwork sessions, long runs with friends, and I ran a mile with SkyWalker.

Stats:

Mileage: 48.8
Runs: 10
Cross training Days: 12

I did lots of good cross training routines. I joined a forum on Jessica Smith's website for extra accountability.

I've switched my speedwork to traditional intervals instead of the fast 30 second pickups. I did fast quarters and tomorrow I will do half-mile repeats. I'll get up to mile repeats before my goal race in May. I've failed miserably at the tempo runs and discovered that they were actually causing me more stress than they were worth. I've also had a hard time with my long runs, feeling like I just have no energy and am dragging through the whole thing. So I decided to focus on the intervals and drop the tempo run. I think I need more easy runs and less stressful ones… I might replace the tempo run with some (treadmill) hill runs or just keep it easy. My "tune-up" race is in just a couple of weeks so I'll see where I am then and re-evaluate.

While on my last long run, I passed 700 miles on my Dash Gloves. The beauty of minimalist shoes, no cushioning to break down means no reason to buy another pair until they start falling apart. So far, so good:

Taken right at the 700 mile mark.

I'm hoping April is a bit better and I can get some stroller runs done. Running outside--even with a stroller--is so much better than the treadmill. I am grateful for it and the week I couldn't use it sucked, but it just doesn't compare to outside.

And February is done

I always make some sort of excuse for my February stats saying that it's the shortest month so I had less time to run. I'm really pleased that I didn't use that as an excuse this month. Even with taking most of the February break off from running & exercise, I still did pretty well.

Stats:

Mileage: 58.9
Runs: 11
Cross Training days: 9 (I'm including days I shoveled snow instead of following routines, because I did a lot of that)

I ran 5 fewer days than I did in January but only 3.1 less miles. Last February I ran 34.3, so I am definitely going up. I'm doing better with my tempo runs and still doing well with the intervals. I had been focusing on increasing my speed for each fast interval and lengthening the time of the fast portions, but last Thursday I decided to take a different approach. I went back to doing just 30 seconds at 7:30 (8.0 with 1% incline), but instead of walking each slow part, I ran slow. I wound up walking only 4 of them (compared to 12), so I was pretty happy. It's all well and good to get my faster parts faster, but if I have to walk after each one I'm not going to make that much progress. So for now, I'm going to master running in between each interval and then bump up the speed again.

I should be out doing my long run right now, but it's cold. I just don't have it in me to do it now. I also don't have any motivation to do 8 miles on the treadmill. I am afraid tomorrow won't work either because it's going to--surprise--snow again. If SkyWalker wins his basketball game later today, he'll be playing in the semifinals tomorrow anyway. His team has won one of the tournament games and lost another, so this game will decide it. I am technically not in training for anything specific, so I am okay with skipping it this weekend if I have to. Sometimes you need to let life be in charge.