Week 1&2 of Marathon Training

Lots of running happening over here, and I'm so very happy about it!

Marathon training commenced almost 3 weeks ago. I'm using the Anothermotherrunner Training plan and so far it's going well.  

Week 1 training: I was able to get all the runs in, and felt good doing it. 

M 3 mi + 4 strides

T 3 mi

W yoga and strength

Th 4 mi

S 8 mi

Total 18 miles 

I'm making a conscious effort to include yoga and strength work atleast once a week. Runners world website has an awesome recovery yoga 20 min workout that if time and kids allow I like doing post run. My right Ichilies and arch is still bugging me just a little I've been trying to ice and massage and compress the darn thing. I hurt that pre half marathon. It's just tight right now, but I don't want it getting worse. 

Week 2: Also able to get all the workouts in this week and I used the Lighthouse Run 10 miller race as my 10 mile training run on Saturday. Makes putting in the miles more enjoyable.

M 4 mi

T yoga/strength/6 mi bike

W 6 mi

F 3.1 mi

S 10 mi lighthouse run 1:35:23 not bad 

Total 23 miles

I had work this week and my kids did sleep well at all. It made for some painful work shifts and runs. I got the miles in, but it was mind over matter especially on Saturday. My kids were both up in the middle of the night. I think I got 4 hours for the 2nd night in a row. I think I could've been faster for my race if I'd been well rested. There's the rub with being a working mom. I'm never well rested. 

I'm into week 3 now and so far so good, But this darn Ichilies is still bugging me so I may be taking the rest of the wknd off and trying to rest and ice. I figure one long run won't ruin things. We will see how I feel tomorrow.

I'm working on a race recap! How's running going for you? Any recent races?

 Ice ice baby 

Pound the Pavement 10k recap

I've been running randomly with a friend of mine that had given up on running until I infected her with my running enthusiasm. Yesterday was our goal race. She's been training for 3 months and I'm so proud of her for running the farthest she's ever ran!!! 

We were up and in the car by 615 for the hour drive to the race. I'll sacrifice sleep for being able to be in my own bed.  My brother had decided to run with us so we met at his house which was 5 min from the start.

It was a small race and most of the participants were running the 5k.  It was 37 degrees at the start. Is it May??? Brrrr

We were off on time which was great. The course was mainly and out and back on a bike trail which was super nice. My friend Sarah told me to go so I took off with my brother. We held a steady 920/930 pace for the first 4 miles then picked it up. My last two miles were in the 8's! I also had my fastest 5k post babies 26:20!! Which was my last 3.1 miles. So a new record for me and negative splits which I've really been focusing on in my training. I finished 30s off of placing in my age group :-( but my friend and my brother placed in there age groups. Talk about positive reinforcement!!! 

I'm so proud of both of them!! 

Love that I got to run this with a friend and my dear brother. 

Strength!

I think many runners can say that strength training goes to the wayside when your busy.  Without a doubt I'm one of those.  

I'm in between training programs right now. I have a few more weeks before hard core marathon training begins. I've really been working to strength my postpartum hips and overall strength. I DO NOT want to get injured. It's been many years and a few kids since I marathon trained and I got injured my first go around as well and had to take time off. It sucked. I don't want to do it again. Especially since I spent a fair amount of $$ to run MCM this year. Not to mention its on my bucket list and I WANT to be there.

With that said. I've been doing several things and plan to stick with it when training begins again.  First the myrtle routine. It's awesome http://kineacademy.is/gogn/nutlimur1/pdf-itarefni/myrtl.pdf Try it out it works hips especially for us motherrunners. I've also been using runnersconnect.com for strength routines to prevent injuries. Check it out. Finally I've been doing some sort of routine like this

One to 2 x per week. I'm hoping it makes a huge difference when my mileage increases. Plus who doesn't want to be a strong badass motherrunner? 

My workout partner. 

What routines do you all do? Are you good at sticking to a routine while running or does it get lost in the shuffle? 

Post half Running

So it's been almost two weeks since my half. I took 5 days off from running and spent them doing yoga for runners and the myrtle routine for my achey post partum hips. Saturday I went for a two mile run. Boy were my hips and feet aching. My IT bands weren't so happy either. 

I took another day off then ran 3 miles Monday and 2 miles yesterday. It finally felt better on those two miles. Thank God. I was getting really worried that I was injured. Noooooooo!!!! So I'm taking it easy the rest of this week. Yoga and strength routines. 

Then I have a 10k this weekend. My friend that recently got back into running wanted me to run it with her and I couldn't say no. I got my brother to do it with us to. I'm excited, and hoping it doesn't hurt! 

Until then I'll spend my time with these guys 

WI Half Marathon

I can't believe it! 17 weeks of training.  17 weeks of fitting in long runs and losing sleep and occasionally my sanity. This past Saturday I finally reached my goal of finishing my first Half Marathon post babies! 

The night before I laid out all my gear. I was having difficulty deciding what to wear. The half was down by Lake Michigan so about 10 degrees cooler and windier. 

I ended up wearing Oiselle flyte long sleeve, lululemon groovy run shorts, and procompression marathon socks. I froze beforehand, but was happy with my choice once I began running. 

Miles 1-5 were nice, flat, and I cruised along. Then the hills started. They weren't major, but they were long rolling hills. They didn't quit until mile 10. The pain really started around mile 7.5. My left IT band and hip flexor were screaming. I started repeating "I will not walk" over and over. Every hill I repeated" it's a hill, get over it." It worked but my last two miles were my slowest, negative splits out the window. Oh well. I saw the finish and tried to kick I didn't have much left which let me know I gave it all on the course. I also admit to tearing up as I crossed the finish. 

Official time 2:08:24. A post babies PR. I've run faster in the past, but that was before I popped out two kids, and my body rearranged itself. I'm so proud of myself and my body. 7 months ago I had a baby and now I ran 13.1 miles. Hell yea !! 

Post run with my cheese medal and my Strava/anothermotherrunner Prove It medal. 

Now I've got a few weeks and marathon training for MCM begins! Eek! 

Did any of you run long or race this weekend? 

Waiting for the boulder to budge

I read a post by Lauren Fleshman this morning titled The Boulder Budged. She had a baby 10 months ago now and hasn't felt like herself until recently. 

I'm waiting for that boulder to budge myself. My Norah will be 7 months old on the 17th. I love her. she is truly a happy baby with a great personality. She just doesn't sleep. Up until a few days ago she was getting up 2-4 times a night still. This week it's down to 1-2 and I've had to finally do CIO cuz I'm standing on the edge of a cliff ready to dive off into crazy land. I was spoiled with my first baby. He started sleeping through the night at 11 weeks and really has kept to the 7pm-7am schedule since. Norah came along and shot that all to hell. I try not to complain because I know others have it way worse. At least when she's awake she's happy as a clam. 

My point in this is this sleep deprivation is effecting me big time. I'm a cranky, sand in the eyes, barely can function, exhausted ghost of who I used to be. It's effecting everything. I ran 12 miles yesterday at a 9:34 pace. Not bad right? I was so tired through it I felt like I was dragging my ass on the pavement. Then j got woke up twice last night and now have to go work a 10 hour shift. I'm spent. I love running LOVE it! and am lucky to do it but lately every step is hard. That makes it tough. I'm 3 weeks from my first half marathon since pre babies. I'm so excited and scared that I'm going to get to the start line and be so tired from the constant wake ups that it will be the race from hell instead of the happy comeback I want it to be. 

Breast feeding is zapping my energy to. Being a mother runner is tough! I'm lucky to run that's what I keep telling myself. 

I know I'm Venting but I just want to be real, and reality is that being a mom, working, being a wife and running is freaking hard and sometimes the rewards seem so hard to reach so out of reach. I love to run so much that I will keep putting one foot in front of the other. I will keep going. Running taught me that. I just wish the boulder would budge for me and it will start to get a little easier soon. 

Lucky Leprechaun

After many chiropractor and PT appointments my shoulder is almost back to normal. It's taken a lot of time and icing to get it this good. The real test will be if I can make it through the next 3 days of work. 

The best part about having my shoulder be a little better is I got to run the Lucky Leprechaun 8k with my friend. She just got back into running after a long off period. I was so proud of her and we had a ton of fun! 

Not the best pic but runselfies are tough! 

She did great barely walked at all and she informed me as we crossed the finish that that was the farthest she's ever run! Way to go Sarah!!!

I'm into a new week of training and did my first tempo run today after being injured went really well. I was able to maintain 8.5 mile pace for the 2 tempo miles and felt great. With a WU mile 2 .5 mile recoveries in between and a .5 mi CD total 4.5 I'm ready for the day! 

Have a great Wednesday!

Marine Corp Marathon and this darn shoulder

There are not enough hours in the day to get all the stuff I need to do done! Even one more hour would suffice. Sigh. Despite that I've been keeping to my training plan like a rockstar until it all came to a screeching hault this week.

"I did something stupid about a month ago." That's exactly what I said to my chiropractor as I explained how I injured my shoulder. Do any of you know Menards it's like Home Depot. Anyway I was moving huge rolls of remnant carpets trying to find a deal and a good color. I suddenly felt a tweak in my shoulder. Like most people I ignored it. When it still hurt the next day I iced, stretched and ran. I went on like this for a month until it got so bad this Tuesday I couldn't breath without pain. Dumb.  

So this week I've iced every hour, visited the chiropractor twice, and tried to rest as much as possible. Which has meant no running. It's made me a little depressed. I'm 5 weeks away from my race.  This needs to get better. I'm praying it does. 

On the upside I got this email yesterday 

Horaay!!! My first marathon since 2004. I can't believe it. My hotel and flight are booked. It'll be my first time traveling alone to a place where I don't have family waiting. It's going to be epic. I also get to hang with Adrianne from lacedupwithlipstick.com. So excited.

One race at a time though. So for now I'll keep icing and resting and trying not to go loony toons while waiting to run. 

And it starts

I did it. First half marathon is officially paid for. Registration confirmation.

While I was at it I found a lucky leprechaun race 7k in March. 

Training has commenced!! 

Day 3 of the shred went well. I'm 85% eating clean and then I need a piece of chocolate. Its cool. 

What steps are you taking to reach your goals?

Day 1 New Years Shred

I did the 6 week Holiday Shred with Nhershoesfitness. I lost 8 lbs and changed the way I ate. Because I was so happy with the results and because I still have 9 more lbs to go to get back to prepregnancy weight I'm back at it with the New Years Shred.

Day 1 today! Healthy eating has commenced. It's not as hard as it was in the beginning of the holiday shred and I like myfitnesspal to track my calories. The workout was beyond intense. 3 rounds of 40x burpees, squats, push-ups, lunges, shoulder presses, tick ticks, tri dips, sumo jerk, and bicep curls. I did 2 rounds and that was enough!! 

I also signed up for the Prove it Challenge to train and run a half marathon with anothermotherrunner. Check out there website and sign up! Anothermotherrunner.com. 

Working towards my goals one day at a time!

Happy New Year!

I spent New Years Day at work helping someone receive an organ transplant to save there life. Not a bad way to spend the day. 

I decided to try the RW runstreak from Thanksgiving Day to New Years Day and I put my last mile in before work on Jan 1st. Last mile and first mile for 2014.

2014.  This year I have plans. It'll be the first year since 2010 that I won't spend part of it pregnant. I'm quite pleased about that. I love my babies...who wouldn't love these sweeties.

But I'm super happy to have my body mostly to myself. I say mostly because I'll spend a good chunk of this year breast feeding. That's cool I like providing that for my daughter. 

I'm in the camp of not really diggin New Years resolutions I like goals. I thought I'd write them down here. Writing them down definitely makes them real for me.

Running Goals

1. Run one half marathon

2. Run 1000 miles in 2014

3. Run 5 additional races

Personal Goals

1. Spend time alone each day with each kid

2. Make date night a priority. Alone time with husband at least once a month.

3. Become better at balancing work, mommyhood, and me.

Blogging Goals.

1. Blog at least once per week.

I have been slacking at blogging but honestly learning how to manage two kids and work and oh I don't know sleep here and there blogging has gone down on the list. I want to do better.

What are your goals for 2014?

Start of week 4 of the Holiday Shred

Yesterday was the start of week 4. It's gotten a little tougher mostly due to my maternity leave ending this last week.  going back to 10 hour shifts this past Friday made things kinda crazy.  

Leaving this wasn't easy either 

I've stuck with eating 80% healthy and the other 20% is actually pretty healthy just not the best choices. I'm ok with it. If I was 100% I'd binge eventually and all my hard work would be for nothing. My usual meal plan is:

Breakfast I'm obsessed with quinoa cooked with almond milk, pomegranate seeds, raisins, strawberries, and a drizzle of agave syrup YUM!!

Lunch: usually a salad with chicken or a quesadilla whole wheat tortillas, mozzarella cheese, avocado, tomatoes and corn 

Dinner: chili or crock pot shredded beef or salsa chicken

Snacks Ezekiel bread with almond butter, fruit, veggies with hummus

Runners world cookbook rocks!!

I started the Runners World Run Streak on thanksgiving day and am loving it. I run longer on mon, wed, and Saturday, the other days I stick with 1 mile and a weight routine. I'm loving the Holidayshred13 workouts. They are super tough but I'm feeling stronger.  I've also lost 5 lbs in the last 3 weeks. Woot woot! Results always make it easier to stick with it. 

This is the longest run to date. I finished at 7:45 min pace! Wahoo!

Tree decorating was a sweet success very fun:-) holidays are way more fun with kids for sure!

My favorite ornaments from my husbands grandma. Beautiful 

Happy Holidays all! Are you streaking?

Stache Dash Race Recap

It's been almost 5 weeks since I was cleared to run. Life has been chaotic and will not get more so when I go back to work in a week. Why can't maternity leave just last forever?? 😃 it's been a wonderful stress reliever to be able to run again. 

A few weekends ago my dear friend Amanda, another mother of 2 and a new runner, and I decided to run the Stache Dash 5k. It benefited prostrate cancer which was a bonus.  I haven't ran a race since the MotherRunner 5k when I was 20 weeks pregnant. 

The day was the coldest yet this year and the wind chill only made it colder.  I've never been happier about a noon start. At least then it'd be a little warmer. Try 9 degrees instead of 5. Wind gusts were up to 20 miles an hour. Goal one not to get blown off the road. 😉 

It was well organized. Packet pickup was right across the street from the starting line at a bar. Runners were crammed in there listening to a band playing songs from our local radio station who was sponsoring. Southern Comfort sponsored to. I got a blinky southern comfort necklace to run with. Kinda funny that a booze company is sponsoring a race. 

The awesome mustaches we ran with! We renamed them snot catchers! 

The race was through a park so it cut the wind which was nice. There was one water stop that i just blew through. I might have stopped if they had hot chocolate.  Other than the 1 major hill that went on forever it was a pretty flat course.  I felt pretty good throughout, and was pumped when at the end I looked at my garmin to see I had negative splits! 

1. 10:10

2. 10:09

3.  9:30

After the race we decided to warm up with Starbucks! Who can argue with that. They were nice enough to snap our pic with the pretty sweet medals.

Rockin team sparkle skirts!! 

Anyone else enjoy a turkey trot or weekend race? I love races this time of year. Happy running!!

Nhershoes Holiday Shred

November 18 I began a 6 week shred through nhershoesfitness. Its clean eating coupled with tabata, HITT, weight, and running workouts. Bobbi even includes recipes. I've wanted to be better with my diet for some time but its hard to do. I've got to many distractions 

To be able to find new recipes, make a grocery list and meal plan. This includes all that and with a little prep work I've been eat the dishes all week. 

Hello pumpkin banana muffins :-) yum

This will hopefully keep me on top of things through the holidays. I really want to lose the last of these pregnancy pounds along with firming up the good ol tummy.

I'm also using her 10k training plan to train for a virtual 10k on Christmas Eve.

Week 1 is well underway and so far I'm not feeling deprived and whoa these workouts are amazing and painful. Hello 200 squats youch!

On the clothing front these athleta capris are amazing! Check them out.

Follow along on my journey! I plan on being better at this whole blogging thing!

Back at it!!

Ive actually been cleared to run for almost 2 weeks now, but everytime I get near the computer one of my kids takes my attention away. So I'm taking these 5 minutes where both my babies are asleep to tap out a post on my phone. I apologize for the phone post it is what if is right now.

Norah is almost 8 weeks old now I can't believe it! Time goes fast and slow all at the same time.  Managing two kids is a humbling experience. My oldest is 21 months and is quite jealous of N. He gets very upset when I'm nursing her. I've been trying different things but nothing has been foolproof to distract him. Its a learning experience for sure. Any suggestions??

My first run was wonderful and slow as heck, but I didn't and don't care because it finally happened. I pounded on the deadmill for 2 miles loving every minute of it.

My Halloween run :-) since they've been going pretty darn good I decided to sign up for a race. I'm doing the Stache Dash 5k in a few weeks and I'm super exited. I even got a fellow mommy friend of mine to do it with me.  

My first outside run in my new Guide 7s. Saucony makes great shoes and these updates are no exception. I love them. Flexible but still supportive. Pretty light for a stability shoe.  The colors are excellent as well.  

My life is very full. Full of chasing a toddler and keeping up with my baby's needs. Coffee is my best friend. Sleep is still a precious commodity that I'm not getting much of.  I love COFFEE!!!  I'm so happy to have my running stress reliever back again, and my ability to drink more than a cup of coffee. I love baby snuggles, but I'll be ok when the 3 am baby time comes to an end. 

Sweet baby E in his Halloween costumes.  Mr. Bones :-)

Norah 1 month and workout Update

My little girl is 1 month old.  Time flies!! She is really an alert baby.  She looks at everything and focuses so well.  She has great head/neck strength.  My first little screamed so loud for any tummy time and lil miss lifts her head right up and starts looking around.  She's still getting up a lot at night which I'm trying to remind myself is quality mommy daughter snuggle time, but boy do I miss my sleep.  Coffee anyone?

Sweet kiddos.  Big brother is sweet with her most of the time, but there is definitely some jealously.  When I'm not able to do what he wants he has reached the tantrum stage.  I try to divide my time as much as possible, but its hard.  Two is really busy especially when the older one knows when you can't chase him(nursing) and goes and does naughty things.  Lil stinker.

On the workout front I've been walking as much as possible.  

I've been trying to just take E on these walks rather than both of them so he feels like he's getting mommy time, but I have been pushing the double BOB.  It's a beast but for a double stroller its pretty sweet.

9 more days and ill be cleared for working out.  I miss my sweat sessions so much.  Just the stress relief alone or how about the alone time.  I'd take that to! Can't wait to start blogging about running and working out again.  It is what this blog is for, but until I can ill enjoy my littles.

Fall Days are the best

Norah is 11 days old.  It's been an adjustment and we are learning to manage two kids.  It's definitely a humbling experience.  

She's a serious cuddler.

And her big brother is diggin her which I'm so greatful for.

Today we spent the morning at a Pumpkin farm.  Sweet Emmit rode ponies, a barrel train, and as you can see pumpkins.  There was a craft fair and pancake breakfast.  Pumpkin pancakes btw are delicious!!! It was the best feeling to do that as a family.  I'm feeling really blessed.

I'm also enjoying my first glass of wine in over 10 months.  Life is good :-) 

To all who are racing and running I have run envy, but ill take these baby moments and live them up.  Truly the best moments in my life.

Welcome Norah!

Sweet baby Norah Josephine has arrived! Born Sept 17th 8lb 10oz.

Everyone is doing well, and I'm so happy to be home, healthy, and not pregnant.  :-) 

I'm looking forward to this new journey.  Being a mom of 2 has already shown to be an entirely different ball game but we are loving it.

Looking forward to sharing my journey of mommyhood and getting back into fitness.  I miss running.  I won't rush the healing process though.  I did have a c section so that really requires minimal lifting and activity in order to heal.  As we should with any injury ill take the time and enjoy my new family of four.  What a blessing.  Love them all.

Where did that dark hair come from lol!?! 

Anyone racing this weekend/ today? How did it go? 

One more pic 

32 years old and 39 weeks pregnant!

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday! It is very true that the years pass quicker as you get older and once you have kids.  

I've never subscribed to the "unlucky" theme of Friday the 13th.  I enjoyed my birthday and it was a great day.  Especially because the temperature was finally perfect for this very preggo lady.  65 degrees and sunny.  I spent the entire day outside with this little fella.

We rode tractors at the farm.  Picked apples and pumpkins in the garden, and played in the sandbox.  My dear husband brought me starbucks for breakfast my absolute favorite thing, and my parents delivered Friday fish fry for supper.  We love our fish fries here in WI.

I've also reached 39 weeks pregnant and can't wait to meet my little lady.  It's gotten extremely uncomfortable and my workouts are down to walking with my the jogger.  There is no room left in this inn.  I've signed the eviction notice.  :-)

When I was a Newbie

A post I recently read on crazyrunninglegs.com inspired this post.

As I sit here not running it makes me nostalgic.  I began running when I was 19 many years ago.  I did it to lose weight, get in shape, and fill that void that going from a 3 sport athlete in high school to nothing in college had left in me.  Little did I know what running would bring me.

At first it was all about losing weight, and being impatient I thought it should work right away. I also made the classic newbie mistake of running every day and piling on mileage as fast as possible.  It took me a while to realize my mistake.  I suffered a case of burnout and injury.  Learning from this I started again with a run walk plan and entered my first race.  CrazyLegs in Madison WI a 5 mile race through the campus and the city finishing on the football field.  It was painful and amazing and I was officially hooked.  My senior year at Madison I took the Marathon class.  The only requirement to pass,run a marathon.  There were 40 of us in that class and thanks to them I ran the Madison 1/2 marathon and then the Chicago Marathon.  Truly the best class i ever took!

I went on from there to run several other marathons and 1/2 marathons.  Every run and race I've done has helped me learn more about myself.  I've learned more about dedication, willpower, strength, and resilience from my years of running and the people I've met along the way.  I've learned to listen to my body.  To know when to push it and when to take it easy.  I've learned that running goes only as good as the shoes you put on your feet, spend the $ get the right show.  

I've learned that I'm a happier, more patient, peaceful person if I can get a run in.  

So as I sit here 38 weeks pregnant ready to be unpregnant I think of all these goals I've reached and things I've learned and I CAN'T WAIT!! To run again.  Where's my patience now?? Oh yea I haven't ran in a while I have none :-)