Countdown

Only a few more months and it will be time to train for the Flying Pig! Woo Hoo! This time, I’m going to try to do the marathon.

Flying Pig

So no Flying Pig for me this year. I decided to go to Ireland instead. However, that does not mean I didn’t think about it. I was thinking about it the whole day in Ireland. I could hear the music playing as the gun went off and runners began to move. I could hear the crowd cheering us on and taking pictures. I remembered last year around mile 5 or 6, there was a lady dressed as a ‘pink’ cow girl cheering us on. By this time in the race, you can tell the runners that either pushed themselves too hard early in the race or they didn’t stretch enough.

I will always remember the flying pig because it was my first major race. It was the first stepping stone to a future challenge: The Boston Marathon. If it wasn’t for a ‘technical writer’ encouraging me that I could run a half marathon, I probably would still be doing small runs. I have nothing against 5k or 10k runs. But if that is all you do, you’re not challenging yourself to do more. Sometimes it is good to get out of the nice comfort bubble we put ourselves in. The mind tries to take control and sometimes it just needs to be told to shut up. So I’m taking the next step toward the top and I’m going to try and run my first marathon in the fall.

Yes, I’m Still Training!

But no, I’m no longer training for the Flying Pig. FP ’10 has come and gone, and neither Janet nor I were there. The third time will have to be the charm for me; the first time I trained, I got pregnant and couldn’t run it. The second time, I wasn’t able to get back into a good training routine in time after my daughter was born. Next year’s gonna be the year.

Meanwhile, I’m training. This time, it’s for a modest goal: the Bele Chere 5K, to be held in Asheville on July 24. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually trained for a 5K. When planning to run the Ruby Run 5K, I just made sure I could go 3.1 miles without killing myself. That was my training.

This time, I’m actually following a training program from Runner’s World. And I have good news: I’ve been able to stick to it so far! I started official training on May 24, so I’m now in my third week. My longest run so far has been a six-mile long run, but I’m also doing five-mile tempo and speedwork runs in the middle of the week.

On rest days, I either rest (what a concept!) or do a mix of body sculpting and aerobics using one of the shows from FitTV that I record.

Workouts and runs generally occur after 10:00 at night. It’s crazy. I never dreamed I would be doing high-intensity exercise after 10:00 p.m., but there you go. Motherhood changes everything.

I’m enjoying my training and feeling good to know my muscles are starting to come back. I still need to curb my eating habits; pregnancy and its aftermath have made me quite the junk-food junkie. I’ve been baking up a storm and eating my share of cookie dough and cake batter, in addition to nibbling on things once they’re baked. Not good! (Well, very good, as in yummy, but not good for my waistline!)

I don’t know how much I’ll post here as I continue to train. I just wanted to check in and let all two readers of this blog know that I’m still running, and that I haven’t given up on running the Flying Pig!

Setbacks II: Where Does the Time Go?

Life is a constant struggle of trying to find time for everything—particularly if, like me, you have a full-time job and many interests. Even before I became a mom, I had to work hard to fit everything in. For years, I’ve written and revised schedules that included waking up at 5 a.m. to write and think, squeezing in 45 minutes of piano practice during my lunch hour, and listening to college lectures on the commute. I’m an expert at fitting things in to a schedule and am actually pretty good at time management.

Another thing: I’ve learned never to say things like, “Oh, I wish I had more time for X,” or “I’d love to do Y, but there just isn’t time.”

There is time. It’s not an issue of time. It’s an issue of priorities. If I have trouble “finding time” for piano, or writing, or hiking, or running, or just plain quiet time, it’s because I haven’t made it a sufficient priority. If it’s a priority, I’ll find the time.

Before I became pregnant with Anne, many of my old priorities had bowed to the priority of running. I was fine with that. More than writing, more than piano, more even than hiking, running helps to ward off depression. So, even though I missed the other activities, my daily runs got the prime time slots, and the other activities happened only if there was time left over.

So I was able to devote huge swaths of time to my weekly long runs. I could block out an hour or so each day for mid-week runs.

No more. Running has remained a priority since Anne was born, but Anne is (obviously) the greater priority. Anne trumps just about everything else, including running.

This means a five-mile walk/run is likely to be broken up into two (or even three) shorter sessions if Anne decides, mid-run, that she needs me. It means the run is likely to occur at 10 p.m., after my husband is home from his evening meeting and can watch Anne while I run. It means being too tired to run at 5 a.m. because Anne didn’t fall asleep until 11 p.m. and woke up crying and hungry at 3:30 a.m.

It means having to plan to nurse her shortly before I run; if you’ve ever been a breastfeeding mom, you know why. (And if you haven’t, I’m sure you can imagine.) So, instead of setting aside 45 minutes to run, I have to set aside an extra 20 for nursing. That’s a bit of a challenge.

Then this week, while Dan was gone on a business trip for five days, it meant waiting until 11:30 p.m. to run … or not running at all.

I am weak. I am your typical exhausted new mom. I opted not to run at all.

Anne is the priority. Somewhere far below that priority is priority number two: my need to get at least a little bit of rest.

This week has been awful for training, but it’s been a great week of bonding with my little daughter while my husband was gone. Next week, I’ll resume squeezing in the runs when I can, and building my endurance up to where I can walk/run 13.1 miles in one go.

Training

So I purchased my ticket to Ireland this morning! I am so excited! The only bad news about that is I won’t be able to run in the Flying Pig this year. I’m very sad about that, but there’s always next year if that’s in the Lord’s will. We leave April 29th and will be staying for a week. This will be my second trip out of the country. My first trip was to Japan.

I’m still training a race and may do one before I leave in April or do one after I come back from Ireland. This week I’ve been focusing more on biking. The fitness center has a recumbent bike so I can exercise and study for the CPA exam at the same time. 

Sunday: 2.40 mile run.

Monday: 13 miles on bike; 1 mile walk

Tuesday: 4 mile run

Wednesday: 7 miles on bike; 2 mile walk

Thursday: 10 miles on bike: 1.25 mile walk

Quote of the Day

This is just a quote of the day that I receive from Runners World. I get a different quote every day, but this one appealed to me more today.

‘The secret shared by women runners: running is not just physical exercise but a spiritual, mental, and emotional journey.’  -Runners Gazette

Yesterday, I had to say good to one of my favorite programmers. It was the hardest thing I had to do in a long time.  It first I was shocked. Then I became angry with him for leaving.  Now I’m just numb. It feels like all the good people I meet are slowly leaving me. The only way I can  deal with it now is by running. That’s way I like this quote so much.

Running is not only about exercising. It’s a time when I can be alone with God to lay all of my burdens at his feet. To cry out an anguish when situations come into my life. It’s a time when I can regroup and think about my purpose of being on this Earth. Life would not be fun or enjoyable if there was no pain. Without pain, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the accomplishments and plans God has in store for us. 

You don’t have to be a runner to go on a journey. You just find something that you’re passionate about and get lost it in. Let it absorb all your sorrows and stress.  It’s a time to be yourself.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)  – Jeremiah 29:11

Last week recap

Well this week I managed to run a total of 19.15  miles! Yay!! This is the first time since September of last year that I  have ran at least 20 miles a week.  I just hope I can keep it up. I’m not going to do a game plan this week. I’m just going to play it by ear. It seems every time I plan to do something one day, I have a surprise visit from friends or a setback.

Last week recap:

Sunday: 5.15 miles

Monday: 4 miles

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 6 miles

Friday: 4 miles

Saturday: rest

The Body Doesn’t Forget

I don’t remember what it looked or felt like when I first started hiking. I do remember realizing, one day into my thru-hike, once I had five hundred or so miles under my boots, that my body had fallen into a hiking rhythm. I don’t know if I looked graceful, but I sure felt graceful. Despite my 30-pound pack, the steep ups and downs, and the many rocks and roots in my way, I literally felt at times like I was gliding effortlessly along the trail.

When I first started running, I felt awkward—more so than I’d ever felt as a novice hiker. I was not used to running. I’d never been athletic in school, and had been known to fake a stomach ache on the days we had to run. Running felt kind of silly, to be honest. And I know I looked kind of silly—huffing and puffing, red-faced, shuffling along once I got too tired.

But somewhere—specifically, one afternoon on the Indian Creek High School track in Wintersville, Ohio—I stopped feeling like a silly wanna-be runner and started feeling like the real thing. It was the day I first ran five miles. On that day, it was like I broke into a “running rhythm.” I’d reached a level of conditioning where I no longer huffed and puffed after just a few minutes; running, at least at my “long, slow run” pace, had begun to feel effortless. I am a runner, I thought. Again, I don’t know if I looked graceful, but I’d at least begun to feel graceful.

I don’t hike nearly as much as I’d like to, but when I do hike, I’ve noticed that it always takes a few minutes for my body to pick up on the fact that it’s hiking. Once it does, it’s like everything changes: I stop struggling, break into that hiking rhythm, and start gliding. It’s the coolest feeling, to recapture that hard-earned sense of being a “natural” on the trail. It’s like my body is happy to be hiking again.

Ever since I started running in 2006, I’ve never taken an extended break from it … until this past year. When I started trying to run again in February, I felt very much like a beginner. The legs got tired, my face got red, I had almost no endurance. Then after a few runs, my body started to “remember,” and I was able to ease back into the running life I’ve come to love.

The back pain interrupted things. Then, last night, I had that awesome I-am-a-runner feeling again as I ran my first three-mile run in almost a year. I just felt graceful. Gliding. Running felt effortless. It felt great. I was back.

From what I’ve read, a person will lose all (or nearly all) of their fitness level if they stop running for a year, which is essentially what I’ve done. I certainly lost a good bit of it. But the body remembers. I still have a long way to go before I’m as fit as I was a year ago, but the body remembers, and the body recognizes. And it rejoices.

That’s going to make the road back to fitness a lot easier for me.

Random

In a few days, I will be losing one of my best programmers/friends at work. His last day is this Friday and I’ve been in a gloomy mood most of the week.  We both started on the same day and at first, I really did not care for him. But now he’s like my ‘work husband’.  To see him go is breaking my heart, but I know it is for the best. He’s very talented and an awesome person to joke around with.  It feels like I’ve had a crappy year and it’s only March. 

So far I’ve only ran 9 miles so far this week. That’s still good considering what I ran in the fast, but I feel like I’m losing the motivation I had when I first started running.  I haven’t been doing my ab exercises like I want to and I’ve been eating out more instead of cooking.  I’m about brain-dead from work and seriously need a vacation.  I just need to make a phone call to Ms. Motivation and ask her to come back before I find myself on ‘THE COUCH OF DOOM”.

Five Miles!

My walk/run/stretch/abs training has been going well. I did lots of stretching last week, along with some ab work every night. Some nights I just did a few crunches; other nights I did 200 or so crunches for my upper abs, lower abs, obliques, etc.

Running had to take place on the “dreadmill,” last week, thanks to darkness and rain in the evenings. Tuesday night, I walked/ran 3.1 miles (a 5K!), and Thursday night I walked/ran 2.5 miles. Both of those workouts consisted of alternating between walking and running every quarter mile. So I’d walk a quarter mile, jog a quarter mile, walk a quarter mile, etc. I’m generally walking at a 4 mph (15.00) pace and running at a 6 mph (10.00) pace for these workouts.

Yesterday was “long run” day! I had been looking forward to yesterday all week. Not only would I get to try a 5-mile walk/run, but I would get to do so in daylight, and not on the treadmill, thanks to Daylight Saving Time!

Alas, it was raining. And cold. And I’m a wimp.

So it was treadmill time again. Here’s what I did:

Mile 1
Walk .5 mile
Run .25 mile
Walk .25 mile

Miles  2 through 4
Run .5 mile
Walk .25 mile
Run .5 mile
Walk .25 mile
Run .5 mile
Walk .25 mile
Run .5 mile
Walk .25 mile

Mile 5
Run .25 mile
Walk .25 mile
Run 0.4 mile
Walk .1 mile

So, at the end of 5 miles, I had walked 2.1 miles, and had run 2.9 miles. And I felt good.

I followed the workout with about 15 minutes of good stretches, particularly in my “pain areas” of my left upper thigh and my lower back. When I woke up this morning, I could walk. This is a good sign!

This week’s workout, in addition to stretching, abs, and cross-training (which I completely neglected last week), includes a 3-mile easy walk/run Tuesday night, and a 3-mile easy walk/run Thursday night. This week, I’m going to start trying to do a very slow (5.2 mph) jog between run intervals, instead of walking.

I feel great today. So glad to be running (even if it’s walk/running) again!