Marathon Mom

On Friday my decision was to run the full marathon, but as the day progressed a few things happened that made me rethink my decision. 1) Madison Marathon was cancelled due to heat concerns and 2) Med City Marathon was offering free races changes from full to half also due to heat concerns. Even with these two factors and the potential for Med City also cutting the race I wasn't changing. Then around 10pm I had this idea to run a marathon on June 3rd and switch to the half at Med City. Why not? What are the chances that the weather will be this unseasonably hot three weeks in a row! Saturday at the expo, still debating, we made the change along with many other runners. Why not, we had only paid $30 to enter the race. Ready to go, not too hot yet... The race can pretty much be summed up in these words: hilly, hot, humid, headwinds! I honestly don't know what was worse Boston with sun and 90F or today 74F & 80% humidity at the start with winds of 20+ mph! I started wi...

I have spent the last week trying to decide the best option for me, going back and forth and attempting to weigh the pros/cons of both decisions. I think the back to back longer runs a couple weeks ago really caused me problems and the resting and lower mileage has greatly helped this. Last weekend I ran 12 miles that felt great, followed by another good run on Tuesday which solidified my decision to stick with the marathon. I know mentally I have an easier time if I have to take it easy at this distance rather then another half where I need to take it easy. I will remember this on Sunday :-) Through the last couple weeks I have tried to be smart and learned (something I already knew) that I don't taper well. I have limited my miles, only running twice this week and filling in the days with biking and elliptical. I get restless and frustrated, I feel I need to be out running. Yesterday I decided to sleep in after a long Wednesday and skip my morning workout, but I the...

We all had to ice our legs together while enjoying coffee outside! Saturday started out as usual with a group run, I was a little nervous heading to the gym that morning not knowing what the leg would give me. I guess part of me wanted to deny that there could be a problem. Luckily I ran and it was good, almost 12 hilly  miles pain free and speedier (8:20 pace) then I had planned thanks to conversations that kept me distracted. I made sure head home and ice and not run again Sunday to avoid a repeat of last week. Now I am leaning towards sticking with the full marathon on Sunday and hoping the extra rest and icing is all I need. The rest of the day flew by to the point that I don't even remember what I did. O got a quick swim with daddy in the new pool and then it was dinner out with my parents, the whole afternoon was a blur! Sunday marked our first gymnastics show for monkey girl! Great timing after her failed attempts to climb chairs and do monkey f...

At least I looked fast, right! Most people think 1 mile race no big deal, not me, I have no idea why I do this to myself. I have only run this race one other time with similar results and of course coming off another injury. In 2008  the only difference was weather and I was not racing on a team. I could pretty much copy that report here, minus a few seconds off my finish time, but complete with breathing issues. I think I spent much of last night coughing and wheezing. Over the past 5 years this is only my third asthma issue and the last one was also at the 1 mile, maybe a sign I need to stick with long distance running! A 1 mile race in 25+ mph headwinds the entire time makes for a tough run! No sub 6 like I hoped, not close either (6:53) but I can't complain since there has been no speedwork in the past 2 months. I think I need to remember this when I want to register next year, I'll take a marathon any day over a 1 mile race. The best news from last night, the leg fe...

I stupidly decided to run 10 miles on Sunday morning the day after the half marathon. The run actually felt fine, weather was perfect and I was with a few friends. Now fast forward to yesterday I attempted to run to the gym to add an extra 1.5 miles to my group run but quickly turned around to join Matt and O for the short drive. My calf was tight so I figured I could just use a longer warm up and take it easy. Not really the case I headed out with my group aiming for 4.5 or maybe 6 miles if all went well. I took it easy running 8:45-9 pace which wasn't terrible but achy and tight, boo! They decided to continue on for 6 miles and decided to be smart and go shorter. I made it about 2.5 miles and started walking. Walking was luckily pain free, but running was not. I had no choice but the finished the 4.5 miles but it was not speedy or involving too much more running. I thought this injury was behind me and now it creeps back in! I already plan to take June as an easy, low mileage m...

This is not my list of excuses or how I quit a race, but instead how my plans changed and I finished the race but with a new plan and injury free. The morning started out great, leg was feeling good and I was ready to go. I took an easy warm up run to the car and back, had to use the bathrooms and the port a potty line was awful so I took advantage of having a potty chair with. I hid in the back of the SUV. Yes, I peed on a potty chair and it was so convenient to have why not take advantage of it! The race lined up and I made sure to be in front of the 1:40 pacer knowing the first few miles of the course were easiest and I wanted to bank some time. I was on pace the first 2-3 miles but it was tough, the leg injury has made me back off both speedwork and hills for the past 2 months making a race like this nearly impossible. I kept pushing but suffering at the same time and telling myself "just stay in front of the 1:40 pacer" I passed Mile 5 and saw O and my mom cheering m...

Free from work and free to ramble on Friday: Taper, parenting and goals. Taper madness is real, I swear it needs to be an official DSM diagnosis! Your emotions are all over the place, you second guess everything and every little ache/pain becomes the biggest problem and has you losing a limb! One minute the extra energy is great to refocus on the things pushed aside during high level training, but the next it is cause for worry of your eating, running and reason for that weird ache. You spend your time trying to convince yourself that resting is okay (believe me this is the toughest part for me). No matter how many time I have been through it (this is my 19th episode of taper madness) it is always the same, at least this time I have hubby to experience it with me! Since it is Fitness Friday let's first look at my workout goals: Pilates 2x this week, 3 morning workouts resulting in 3 doubles, but I have failed to call the gym at work. The leg ache is back but lower this time, so ...

It has been awhile since I have run by myself. Tuesday and Saturday I always run with the group at the gym, Sunday I have been doing long runs with some friends and most other runs involve the cutest little running partner in the BOB. Today the Sunday long run plans with friends changed due to a few injuries and storms so I was on my own. After waking at 2am and hearing thunder, hail and downpours I wasn't sure of what to expect and even considered a treadmill run instead. I took advantage of this and slept in, heading out around 8 instead of the usual 6:30 meeting time. It turned out to be the perfect morning to run, 50s and mostly cloudy. My first long run of the year in shorts. Thanks to iTunes and their $0.69 Gen X playlist I was set with Blink 182, Toadies and few other new songs reminding me of high school and college life to keep me going. I am in need of new songs, what are your favorite running songs? I love having access within 1 mile of home to 100s of miles o...

Why does it always seem that when everything is finally falling into place that something snaps and it just doesn't seem to be working anymore? I keep reminding myself that I just ran a marathon, had been injured and ill recently and haven't eaten the greatest resulting in a little extra weight. I have decided I need to take a look at what I am doing and what should be changed to improve not only my training but also my overall mood, stress and energy level. I feel like my body is regressing back to where I was a year ago and I don't like it! As any good health provider I decided to do a full assessment and plan... Food/Weight: I have a bad habit of mindless eating and consuming a lot of carbs. To fully look at this I started tracking everything earlier this week and see thins trend. Tracking is helping me to focus on if I am truly hungry when I eat and to see what I already knew that I need more protein and should cut some carbs. My goals: Continue tracking P...

A little late, so I am keeping it short. What a month! April was filled with much more cross training, a little running and strange taper. My toughest marathon in Boston after an injury, a new job, illness and now things are hopefully on the up. Biking 14 hours including a weekly spin class Running 100.6 miles, not too bad considering I was limiting runs Strength training 2x per week, I have been slacking Elliptical 12.25 hours, yikes this is way too much Continued with pilates a few times and went to a new yoga sculpt class May will be filled with races and warmth (I hope). My first half marathon of the season and hoping for an improvement from last year's time. This is a hilly, tough course so no expectations of a PR, but I would love another 1st place AG finish! A marathon PR would be great, but realistically I want to get back on track with a strong race and running 100% again. My 2nd team race is a 1 mile race in a few weeks, I am a distance girl so this is alwa...