Marathon Mom

Today I learned the consequenses of racing on a hot, humd day after staying up 2 hours and 2 glasses of wine past my bedtime. This is typically my only duathlon each year and after the increased biking I was hoping for better results this year, but thanks to a couple good friends, conversation and wine I wasn't in the best racing form this morning. Not only was the sleep lacking but the heat was tough and really, why a 9am start in the end of June?! Monkey girl while mommy and daddy race Run 1: 3.3 miles The men start in heat 1 and women in heat 2 3 minutes later so I always make it my goal to pass as many men as I can. This year it 25 men with Matt being the 18th one I passed. This course is set as a 3 mile run, but anyone who has done a race with this organization knows that things are never as planned. Finally about 1 mile in I am feeling awake and no longer considering finding a tree to curl up under for a nap. I was feeling so tired that I decided against the warm up ru...

Another fun week full of change behind me. Yesterday an email from a friend made me realize how much has changed in the past month and how much happier and less stressed I am now. I made the huge career decision last week and have managed to wrap up nearly everything meaning my final day will be Monday followed by a slow transition to my new job over a few weeks, got to have time to enjoy a little summer. Over that time I will take (and pass) my NASM exam. Other fun news is that I am registered to take a RRCA certification course this fall. Like I said the other day I decided against the detox diet and have just fully gone dairy and gluten free, Day 8 now and better each day. The bad part is I am running out of food at home making it more difficult so time to hit the store. The CSA is really helping as the house is overflowing with fresh fruit and veggies, I love this time of year. I could live on salads and fresh fruit, too bad I hate radishes and now have 2 bag fulls to get rid...

Today is Day 6 of completely being Gluten and Dairy Free and I am already feeling a difference. I decided against the big detox/elimination diet thing since I have a tough enough time finding foods that I didn't want to limit myself even more if I could avoid it. I know being vegetarian is my own doing, but add to that My List  of food intolerances: peanuts, yeast, refined sugar, eggs, gluten, milk and a few others and eating can get tough. After just this short time of being strict I no longer look 6+ months pregnant, the pain is much less and my energy and mood are improving. Still not back to "normal" but getting there. On a quick shopping trip the other day I discovered Amande almond milk yogurt . Yum! and even better, soy, dairy and gluten free and fruit juice sweetend. Unfortunately I only bought one, blueberry, guess I need to head back for more. It made a great snack after my quinoa breakfast. Quinoa Breakfast 1 cup cooked quinoa 1/4 cup almond milk ...

Decisions have been made and there is no turning back now, I decided to take the job that seems nearly perfect. I will work with a small group, doing something I never thought was actually out there and with nearly perfect hours. Part of me keeps looking for the negative, but I know I need to push that aside and see where it leads. I am excited for the shorter work days, new opportunity and more family and training time. I also hope this lets me do some more trainer/coaching work once I finally take (and pass) my NASM exam. Saturday was a perfect morning to run; 10 easy miles done with my group including Matt and O. We then hit a local parade and brought home another large bag of candy, toys and stickers. I was back at the gym in the afternoon for a repeat of last week's medicine ball killer workout. Pouty girl wasn't ready to leave the parade! Someone wanted to join the parade I love starting my Sunday mornings with a run, another family run including the dog at 7a...

The past week has been interesting to say the least, lots of thinking, frustration and decisions to come. I am trying to take a minute each Friday to look back on the past week at what went well, what could be improved and make a goal(s) for the week ahead. Everything from food and not feeling well to job stress, possible new career options and new running aches. Sunday I finally did some real training on for my 50K trail race next month. I wanted to start months ago but the leg injury had other ideas and decided to listen. So Sunday I headed out on a 4 hour run without a mileage goal and hit the trails near home. In the end I finished my 4 hours with about 3 hours on the trails for a total of about 25 miles. Ironically the trail running felt better then the asphalt running. Monday I was quickly reminded that I overdid things when my knee was not happy. Luckily it has improved after some rest. I do blame Matt for the knee issue since his knee has been hurting again, it must be c...

I love small local races, especially ones close to home. This race is in the next city and much of the course is on the trails where I do much of my running. Once again, this was less then ideal race conditions: Temps of 70, but 90% humidity and rain coming and for some reason the mosquitoes were awful! Since this was a gun time only race I decided to start right behind the line of guys with the local high school cross country singlets. After a little warm up run, Matt and I got in line as we eyed up the other runners at the front, making guesses on who was out of place and who truly belonged up there. After Thursday's tough workout my legs were still screaming at me (although a little quieter now), luckily the warm up helped but I knew this combined with my lack of speedwork was not the ideal picture for a 5K, my goal was a better time then I ran at this race 5 years ago (22:40) but Ideally a sub 20. We were off and as expected many of the front row runners faded quickly e...

Over the past few weeks I have made myself take a step back and rest a little more then I am used to from running and now I am taking the time to refocus in hopes of becoming a stronger runner. This past weekend of family time taught me a lot about what I need to be doing to be a better mom while still maintaining my workouts. One key thing I learned was that tantrums and O's attitude are much better when we start the day with something fun. Obvious I know, but it took me stepping back to realize she just wants our attention and sometimes the easiest way to get it is to act out. Imagine this with a deadlift added and constant wobbling feet! I went back to work on Wednesday after a 5 day weekend and still manged to maintain my somewhat positive attitude and even managed an early run again on Thursday. I started working with a new trainer. He is a great fit for me since we run together, have many of the same thoughts and goals on training and nutrition and I know he will h...

These are the days I love, watching my little girl's face glow with excitement as she experiences new things. This is actually our second trip to the zoo, but this time she had much more fun and loved naming all the animals and of course wanting to go pet them all! Thanks to her giraffe toy she was so excited to see all the giraffes and was disappointed when we told her that she couldn't ride them! Good thing we found these ones willing to let a little girl sit on their back.  Our next problem arose when we made her leave the turtle exhibit without being able to climb under the fence to touch them. Someone at the zoo must have a toddler and planned accordingly with all the fake animals to ease thee desire to touch the real ones! We ended the day with a carousel ride, I wasn't sure how this would go over since she is always covering her ears and saying things are too loud. This carousel has been around (and restored) since 1914, both Matt and I remember riding it...

We had originally planned a short family vacation, but after being so busy lately and being gone so much I thought it would be better to stay home and have fun doing things that we never have time for. I hate when trying to enjoy a vacation only leads to more stress, so why not avoid this stress and vacation at home? Thursday Summer here is packed with community festivals and parades, as a past princess for my hometown I know many of these very well. Thursday was the end of school and my hometown parade. O is finally catching on the the concept of candy throwing, but I think the pom-pom from the football team and political stickers were the highlight. (I did my best in monitoring her choice of political advertising!). The school was handing out books, so much better then candy. Beads and a pom-pom, what more do you need? Friday Parade #2 in our neighborhood. and another late night! I learned that she hates clowns just like I do when they tried to stop and she responded with ...

Anyone who tries to say that running is purely a physical exercise is wrong! There are days when the physical part of running is the easy part, just one foot in front of the other, right? The past few races I have gotten caught up in the mental side of everything and let it get the best of me. Pacers , don't get me wrong I think they are great if you want someone else to run with so you can forget pacing, but they mess with my mind. I feel like I can't run my own race and get so caught up in pace groups and staying in front of numbers to the point that it frustrates me when it doesn't happen. This is wrong, but I feel like because of pacers everyone else knows how you are doing, whether good or bad. Without a pacer holding a big sign, you are on your own and running your own race. Hills , although a big physical part here too, they are a huge mental game. Have you ever tried running up a big hill and looking at the top? It sucks, almost like convincing your body ho...

I am trying very hard to take it easy and think I am recovering well, I feel great and just managed a comfortable 4.5 miles with my group. What else am I doing... Pilates and core work, must add in some yoga too Taking time for family activities Drinking a little wine Making a new training plan for myself Working on setting new goals Enjoying the heat and not needing to be out running for hours in this Attending way too many work related conferences: 4 days of sitting and listening in 2 weeks is too much  Studying for NASM Personal Trainer Certification, yes this was the next step towards a career change. Any advice on the exam or studying? I've been wanting to say more (even wrote an entire post) but am a little nervous about making a potential change like this. And of course cooking... Mexican Quinoa Bake 1 cup uncooked quinoa 2 cups water (or broth) 1 small yellow onion diced 2 cloves minced garlic 1 15oz can black beans rinsed and drained 1 15oz can di...

After changing to the half last weekend due to hot, humid weather we decided to run this marathon instead, I was hoping to redeem myself and start my comeback. Last year I ran this race with a 2nd place AG finish and 7th woman, completely unexpected but something I was hoping to repeat. This wasn't close to being the race I had today. This was one of those days when things just didn't work and much was out of my control. This isn't a list of my excuses just a way to reassess where I am and what I could have done different. Over the past few days I just haven't felt "right" headaches, fatigue and weakness and then yesterday I started getting a nasty sinus headache and despite ibuprofen it stuck around. Pretty sure this explains everything else too. I woke up with a headache still and made mistake #1 and after great debate gave in a took a nondrowsy antihistamine which worked for the head but hurt the rest of me. By the time we arrived at the race start my GI ...

What a month, not very highlight filled, but it definitely ended better then it started. May was filled with the stress of a new job (and strong consideration of a complete career change), a lingering running injury and poor racing and plenty of time to reassess where I was and where I need to head with training and life in general. Running: 158 miles (22 hours) nice to see this coming back up. Racing, like I said didn't go too well. Biking: 16 hours including spin class and a few nice outdoor rides Eliptical: 2hour 15 min, it is nice to see this decreasing Weights: Continued with 2x week Pilates: Weekly, usually the day after a long run, manged 2x one week I made changes to my diet, very unsuccessful on the breakfast change which only last a few days and the cereal was back! Help, I need more options. Otherwise things are pretty good and I feel better again.  June will be a new start in many ways; Summer weather is here, I am refocusing my training and will fully get ov...

I think I am asked at least daily for running advice whether it be from those wanting to start running or those wanting to improve. Recently I've had many questions from friends and family training for their first races. I love sharing my passion for running and hope I can pass this on to others too. I sat thinking about the most frequent questions I am asked and decided to put together a list, feel free to add your advice or questions... I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was perfect It's Fitness Baby When do I start to like running? I think this is the most frequent question and I always hate to say "there are some days I still hate running!" For me the key is to take it easy some days and push myself other days, enjoy the surroundings while out and savor the victories whether this is running that 1st mile or a PR. Like anything new it takes work and does get easier, I still remember when 3 miles was a chore and now I can't remember the last time I want...