Marathon Mom

After about a month, I finally got back in the pool. Wow, had I regressed back to my old habits, but luckily I was with my coach and she quickly corrected my form and got me back on track. I got in a great workout and need to make myself do this swimming thing more often. My coach even told me that she thought I looked like I was losing weight, maybe a pound or two and I haven't been trying. This was great to hear since I have been dealing with all the thyroid issues, my energy level has been terrible and I have skipped more workouts then I should. Over the past year I have gained about 10 pounds, which probably surprises most people, I just blamed this on my injuries and lack of running. Currently, I am back down to within about 5 pounds of my typical training weight. I was started on thyroid medication 2 1/2 weeks ago and hope things regulate quickly. I think the better weather should help with the energy level too. Besides the swim, I got in 8.5 miles of running today. 3 miles o...

I think I can actually call this morning's run perfect, especially with all I've had to deal with throughout this training. The weather was beautiful, low 60s, overcast and just a slight breeze. The most important part was that I ran pain free and felt that I could have kept going at the end! I headed out on the park trails with plans of an easy long run. I guess I kept it a little easier on the way out 8:40-8:50 pace, but then I crossed the dam and got a new burst of energy from the water spray. I crossed the dam on the way back and what a great view of the river. I even saw a couple deer along the trails this morning. The way back I ended up running 8:10-8:30 pace and ended with a negative split by about 3 minutes, yay! In the end 16.5 miles done at an average pace of 8:30 (yikes, maybe a little fast). I thought I was running slower, but was just doing what felt good. Just under 4 weeks until Grandma's...

What a perfect day to be out for a run. I don't think we could have asked for better weather for our first training run at Lake Calhoun this morning, low 60s and sunny with s light breeze. The team is at about 125 runners and I think we had about half of them show up for the run today, great turn out. Many of them were first time runners and finished their 2-3 miles to the cheers of the team. Our veteran runners ran 6 miles this morning. I opted for the easy option of 3 miles since I had done 14 miles yesterday and felt it better not to push it. Great start to the season, just think about where you'll be in October when you cross that finish line! 3 miles will seem like a piece of cake. GO TEAM!

Last night was the Fall season kick-off party. Prior to last night's registration, we had over 100 people signed up for the run team. It was a mix of emotion in the room, excitement from everyone and a bit of nervousness from the rookie marathoners. With the right encouragement, hard work and dedication, they will all be crossing the finish line in October. We have some great races coming up this season Twin Cities Marathon, Nike Women's Full and Half Marathon in San Francisco and Dublin Marathon in Ireland. I also got to meet Gwen, our team's second honored teammate, last night. She is 23 and has been battling leukemia off and on since she was 5 and is once again in treatment. Our other honored teammate, Nancy, is also a runner on the team. Nancy has CLL and was diagnosed 3 years ago. She is running the Nike half to celebrate her 60th Birthday! The team starts training tomorrow. I can't wait to see how everyone progresses. It's not to late to join the team if you a...

Team in Training held a great event last week to recruit for the Nike Women's Marathon. There was wine tasting, massages and a Nike fashion show where I was one of the models. This all happened at a Minneapolis Art Gallery and was a great success. And to make it even better, I got to keep the new running outfit! I even got Sarah and Twila to come and almost convinced Sarah to run the marathon, I'm still working on it... Some pictures of my modeling debut (I love the Nike Running Skirt)... The entire group with the man in the Tux and the Tiffany's box...

Here are a couple pictures from the 1 mile race, I don't look as bad as I felt that night:)

Matt and I signed up for this race before my injury and figured why not still run. It is held in downtown along Nicollet Mall. We warmed up for about 1.5 miles of slow running trying to stay warm. It was cold last night upper 40s and cloudy, perfect for marathons, but not speed. My last timed mile was 6:03 during training last August, so in ideal conditions, I was hoping for a sub 6, but with injury I wasn't pushing. Matt's wave went first and I was 10 minutes later. The final times aren't up and I forgot to start my watch, but I was about 7:00 I guess not bad for being injured and only back for 2 weeks. Matt was about 6:50, he beat me by about 10 sec, so I will never hear the end of it! My lungs were not very happy at the end and I am still wheezy from the cold air last night. To redeem myself I am already planning the next 1 mile race against Matt...July 22nd in St.Paul for Grandma's Minnesota Mile.

I'm trying to be good and thought I was until I looked back at last weeks workouts and realized I had run 3 days in a row. Oops! My plan is to only run every other day and continue with the run/walk schedule for 1 month, which means 2 more weeks. I managed to get in 19.25 miles in 5 runs last week, I hope I don't regret this. I have 2 races scheduled for this week, TC 1 miler on Thursday which I am doing and Oakdale Duathlon which I am not sure about. My road bike is in for a tune-up and I plan to ride tomorrow to see what I think. The race is 3 mile run/12 mile bike/3 mile run, so not to tough, I might just go into it with no expectations. It is my first Duathlon, so I shouldn't expect much and I haven't had my road bike out since last July when I fell. I may end up waking on Saturday morning and deciding what I will do. 7 weeks until Grandma's and I'm feeling pretty good about being able to run it. I won't expect much out of myself, but I plan to run and f...