16 Done and in the books!

I really have nothing positive to say about the 16 miles I ran yesterday other than it is done.  Because of family life and obligations, I was stuck on the treadmill for this run.  I have confessed before that I don't mind the treadmill but who wants to be on it for 16 miles!!  We are heading out of town tomorrow for the weekend and there just was not enough daylight hours during the week to get 16 in.  I knew I could not use that as an excuse to run it.  At mile 9 I texted a friend telling him I was at mile 9 of 16 and I wanted to quit.  Here was the few texts we exchanged...

Me:  Please tell me I can do this.  I am stuck on the treadmill for my long run this week.  Not ideal but family gets in the way this week.  I am 9 into 16 and I just want to quit. 

Him: Aaaaaahhhhhhh - right now is when you decide if you want to quit more than you want to finish!  We both know the answer - chug on woman!

Him:  I told you October was going to suck - you're 2 days early.

Me: No, you told John October was going to suck.  I can do this. I will do this.  Thanks!

Him: haha - you knew this day was coming!  Get through it and own it!

It sucked but I got through it with the help of his words.  He did tell my husband that October was going to suck for him because running, marathon, and training would be all I would be able to talk about.  He failed to tell me it would also suck for me! 

I struggled for most of the run and I can't even say being on the treadmill made the run so terrible.  I need to figure out this nutrition thing.  When I started training for the marathon the first week of July I started running early in the morning.  I think my body has adjusted to running at 5am so a run at 8pm was difficult.  I could not sleep once I was done.  It was at least 2am before I fell asleep.  My legs felt better this morning than I expected!

I have 17 next weekend and need to figure something out.  We are heading to Harrisburg for the day on Saturday and John is working on Sunday.  I am going to line up someone for the boys so I can get outside.  I think I need to do the same thing for the last weekend of October.  I am fortunate enough to have family that love my boys! 

My run yesterday put me at 132.1 miles for the month.  This seems absurd for me!!

Three Things Thursday

1.  I ran 16 last night and it was ugly.  More on that later!
2.  We are heading out tomorrow morning for Boston.  I am looking forward to seeing family for the weekend but not looking forward to a 6-7 hour drive with the boys.  It will be the first time for a long car ride like this.  The longest we have done is 2 once or twice but usually only the 90 minutes to the beach.
3.  I started weight watchers a month ago and as of Monday I am done 6.2 pounds.  It is coming off slowly!  I am hoping for a good week!

2 down, 2 to go!

Just finished my interval run for the week.  It was 1 mile followed by 200/400/800/400/200 with 400 recovery in between each and then 1 more mile.  It was a good run.  I am now sitting with L on the couch and he told me I smelled.  This kid is 2!!  He is right though. 

I am feeling good about the week, better than yesterday.  I have two runs done and will feel great this time tomorrow morning.  I know I will be good as long as I get up tomorrow morning and get my 6 miles in.  I can do this and I will!

8 Weeks Left

It is a rainy miserable Monday morning.  We had a rough weekend with J so Monday morning was warmly welcomed by myself!  We were supposed to head to the beach for our final weekend of the season and that did not happen.  It was ok because I got a bunch of stuff done that I have not been able to do.  Saturday morning I got a much needed oil change, got the remote for my van fixed, got to one of my local running stores for a copy of a receipt, and did mountains of laundry.

This is a tough week for me.  My total weekly mileage will be 33.5 with my long run being 16.  My runs are 6, 4 1/2 (intervals), 7, and 16.  Not bad but we leave for Boston Friday morning and I know I won't be able to run while we are there.  I have two options...

1.  Run this morning (7 mile run done!!), Tuesday AM, Wednesday AM, and Thursday PM (long run). 
2.  Run this morning, Tuesday AM, Wednesday PM (Long run), Friday AM.

I am still on the fence.  There are pros and cons of both.  I am going to try for option 1 and switch to option 2 if I have a hard time getting out of bed Wednesday morning.

Three Things Thursday

1.  In 6 weeks John and I will be in New Orleans celebrating our 5th anniversary a month early.  Our actual anniversary is December 3rd but it is such a tough month.  J's birthday is the 4th so we did not want to plan time away then.  The boys are so young and we always have so much planned around the holidays so we figured a month early would be best.  We leave early Wednesday morning and come home Saturday night.  I am starting to print out restaurant menus, tour ideas, and other things to do!  I cannot wait to go home tonight and start digging through stuff with John.

2.  We are heading to the shore tomorrow evening after work.  It will be our last weekend down for the season.  Kinda bummed about that!  The rides and stores on the boardwalk close October 10th and this is the last weekend we can get down.  It was a great season though!

3.  My dad gave me his Kindle yesterday because he upgraded to an Ipad!  I love when he gives us his hand me downs.  I bought one book and a few free books already.  I took it with me to J's karate class last night and I was not sure how I would like it.  I am hooked!

When a run does not make sense

I did my long run for the week today.  It was only 13 miles since this is a stepback week for me.  My long run last week was 14 and I felt great.  I don't remember what my pace was but I was happy with it.  I know why I struggled through the run today.  I was tired.  I barely slept last night.  J has had a rough couple of days with his allergies and last night was terrible, resulting in a sleepness night for mama!  I took the day off today but still shipped the kids out this morning.  My mom watches the boys while I work so she took L this morning and I dropped J off at school.  I went home to sleep but it was not happening so I figured I would run.  I struggled through the entire 13 miles and almost quit several times.

I logged my run and my pace was about 25 seconds per mile faster than my pace for last week's run.  That does not make sense to me.  I also ran the last half of the 13 about a minute faster.  Again, that does not make sense to me. 

Who knows!!  I am just happy to have my long run out of the way for the week!  We are heading to the beach for the last weekend of the season.  I don't have to worry about fitting 13 miles in down there!

Good news and man, I feel old!

The stitches are gone!!  I cannot wait to get back out on my bike, back in the pool, and start doing some strength training again.  The stitches prevented me from doing all three.

John and I went to dinner tonight without the boys.  We don't do it often so it is nice when we can.  Because it is a Friday night, I asked our babysitter to watch the boys.  Any family members that help us out with them work during the week and I don't like to ask for a Friday night.  Nothing makes me feel as old as driving the babysitter home!!

I have 14 miles in the morning.  Gotta go to bed soon. 

Three Things Thursday

1.  Tomorrow is Friday and that means I finally get these awful stitches out of my hand!  I just took the bandaid off to check out the wound because we were not sure if the stitches were ready to come out.  Well...they definitely are!  I am making the doctor's job easier too because one fell out on its own!

2.  I can't wait to adjust my training schedule and fit in some swimming, biking, and lifting.  I am going to dissect my marathon plan tonight and plan out the next 9 1/2 weeks.

3.  Holy crap!!  The marathon is 9 1/2 weeks away!  I still cannot believe I am training for a marathon!

Product and customer service rave!

I recently contacted three companies about running socks.  I never had problems with socks until I started wearing orthotics.  I was constantly getting blisters where the arch of my foot should be.  I will not mention the name of all three companies.  I emailed them, explaining my issues, and asking if they could recommend a sock of theirs for me to try out.  Let me add a disclaimer here.  This is the first time I have ever done this and I expected nothing except a response.  One company never bothered to respond.  The second company shot me a very short email stating to purchase a few different socks they make and hope one worked for me.  They gave me no recommendations.  And then the third company...Thorlos!  A lovely woman named Susan responded and asked me all kinds of questions.  She asked me my shoe size, what shoe I am wearing, what my runs are, what I am training for, and loads of other questions.  We emailed back and forth a few times before she told me she was going to send me 2 pairs of socks to try out.   I gave her my address and within 3 days I had 2 pairs of socks in my mailbox!  She sent me a thick and a moderate cushioning.  I was amazed at the customer service!

I have since worn both pairs on my runs and it is a win win situation!!  Both pairs work for different runs.  The thick pair for my long runs and the moderate pair for all others.  I am ready to put in an order and will be a customer for as long as I am running!!

He is so grown up!!

J started preschool this morning!  I look at him every day and I ask where my little boy went.  I cannot believe he is going to be 4 in December.  I have not been emotional with any birthdays or milestones yet.  Four years old might do me in though!!

How training is like a pregnancy!

When I was pregnant with my first son, I started the weekly countdown around 25 weeks.  Every Thursday morning I would wake up and say "Only 15 weeks left til my due date."  This continued on until my due date came and sadly passed.  Every night after that my husband asked me what I was doing the next day since I was already on leave.  My answer was "Since I did not have a baby today, I want to have a baby tomorrow."  My second son was a scheduled c section since the first had to be forced out!  Once it was scheduled, every Monday morning I said "10 weeks until this pregnancy is over and we have this kid!"  Little did we know what was in store for us but that is another post! 

Every Sunday morning since I started training in July, the first thing I think is "____ more weeks until my first marathon!"  And then Sunday night I say "In ___ weeks I will be able to call myself a marathon runner!"  I don't even say it out loud anymore because my husband rolls his eyes at predictability of it now! 

Yesterday I out loud to myself "10 more weeks until my first marathon!"  And then I thought "Oh crap, 10 more weeks until my first marathon!"

Week in review, a first, and some pics!

Despite my hand injury, I had a great running week!  My total mileage for the week is 28.69, my highest yet.  I took Monday off from running and stuck with a core workout.  Tuesday was a 5.15 interval run, Wednesday a 4.52 miles, Thursday another core workout, Friday 6 mile base run, and this morning was a 13 mile long run.  Because of family schedules, I was stuck on the treadmill for my long run.  13 miles was not bad considering I watched 3 episodes of Gilmore Girls!  I almost cut my run short at 8 miles because the sweat was burning the cut on my hand.  John told me to suck it up and finish it so I did.  Thanks honey!!

I took my first ice bath after my long run this morning.  The tub was a little crowded with the boys' toys but I was too lazy to clean them out.  It was not as bad as I expected it to be!

I was bummed as we went outside through the garage this morning.  My bike looks a little lonely hanging there on the wall.  This would be why I can't bike...

The wound or "bug" as L calls it is just at a bad spot for riding!

Three Things Thursday

1.  Life is not fair!!  I hardly ever say this!  John has a viewing to go to tonight.  This will be the second time in 5 years we/he has to tell a friend "I am so sorry for the loss of your son."  Really?!?!  How is it fair that 5 years ago next week good friends had a son at 24 weeks for him to live 9 days.  His funeral was hands down the hardest day of my life.  And now, John has to say the same thing to old college friends tonight.  Their 7 year old son collapsed on the school playground and they have no idea what happened.  I just don't get it!!

2.  J has his preschool orientation this morning.  How is he going to school and turning 4 in a few months!  He was snuggling with me last night and he is just all boy!  There is absolutely no toddler left in this child.

3.  I cannot believe how busy our fall is shaping up to be.  Our fall is busier than our summer was.  I am thrilled for that because we spent a lot of time at the shore.  This weekend we have my tri club end of the season party, next weekend is a birthday party, the following weekend back to the beach, then a weekend in Boston for a brain cancer walk, then my Grandmom's 80th birthday, then our niece's 4th birthday, and then finally a free weekend!  Phew!  I am tired thinking about all of that!!

My way of starting week 10

Six stitches in my right hand and a tetanus shot!  I was opening a can of black beans to make soup and I sliced my finger/hand.  John had just gone out to the garage and I yelled loud enough that he had no problems hearing me.  We knew right away it was an ER worthy cut!  Of course the night I have to go to the hospital, is the night that absolutely no one is around...his parents, my parents, my sister, his brother and family, both of our neighbors that we are close with, and my aunt!  He ended up wrapping it pretty tightly and sent me on my way.  Thankfully we live within 5 minutes of the hospital so driving myself was not that big of a deal.  I texted him and a few friends during my 3 hour ER visit.  My favorite text to a fellow runner was

"If I get stitches in my hand tonight, can I still run in the morning!"

Running was the second thing I thought of.  Swimming with the kids today was the first thing!  Luckily I had not mentioned taking them swimming before slicing my finger.  I decided to sleep in this morning but I will run tomorrow. 

The bad part of this injury is where I did it.  I cut it right at the base of my index finger so it is killing me every time I move it!  I also have to wrap my hand because a bandaid won't stay on it.  The nurse wrapped me up like I hurt my whole hand and wrist.

Yesterday marked 11 weeks til my first marathon. 

Long Run and Hurricane Earl!

I kept changing my running plans for the week since we are at the shore for a long weekend.  We worked it out for me to do my long run one of the days we are down here.  We knew the weather would be questionable to do anything outside today because of Hurricane Earl coming up the East Coast.  It was at least 200 mile off shore but we have been in a Tropical Storm Watch since yesterday morning.  We woke up today and John told me to check the weather and then head out for a run. 

I want to put it on the record that it was HIS idea for me to run my 12 miles today and not Saturday or Sunday.  Of course I went along with this crazy idea.  I was game because it did not give me a chance to think and over analyze my longest run to date!  So I got dressed, put my sneaks on, and headed out the door.  I brought 16 ounces of 1/2 strength Cytomax, 2 Espresso GUs, and $5 for water.

Before I left the house, I told John I was just going to stay on the boardwalk and be somewhat close to home in case the weather took a turn for the worse.  The boardwalk is 1.85 miles long and I could not imagine running that 7 times so that thought went out of my mind.  I just ran and enjoyed myself.  The wind was pretty bad at times and I saw some crazy rough waves.  I hit mile 9 and I was close to our street but I was not even tempted to head home at that point.  The boardwalk in Wildwood has 5 piers.  One pier houses the convention center and the rest are rides, water parks, and attractions.  I got to the convention center pier which is 5 blocks from our street and felt like I hit a wall.  The wind was so bad so I hung a right and ran the length of the pier.  I ended up running up and down that pier for 2 miles but it was better than running straight into the wall of wind.  The building was blocking most of the wind.  I hit mile 11, decided to head home and call it a day. 

My plan called for 12 miles this week and I made it to 11.55.  I am thrilled with this!  This is the farthest I have run to date.  I have done 10 several times in training and twice for races.  Two weeks ago I was supposed to do 11 for my long run and family life got in the way.  I think one of the boys was sick so that ruined my run.  I got the miles in but not the full long run.  It is also the furthest I have run outside.  Most of my long runs will be a combination of outside and on the treadmill.  My average speed was super slow but I am not going to worry about it.  I know a lot of it was the weather. 

I am ready for my rest day tomorrow if you can count a few miles walking on the boardwalk with the kids!

Bring on 13!!

Checkout this giveaway!

I hope I am doing this right!  First time for me.  I hated the fuel belt I tried out this morning.  I may have to check these out!

http://runningdivamom.blogspot.com/2010/09/fuelbelt-product-review-giveaway.html

Three Things Thursday

1.  I am really enjoying my early morning runs.  Sure, I don't like going to bed at 9 so I wake up at 4:15 when my alarm goes off but the pros are outweighing the cons!  I especially like taking a shower without a 2 year old standing there holding the shower curtain open.  I really like drinking my coffee without the same 2 year old trying to steal it away from me!

2.  I am counting down the hours until we load up the car and head to the shore for the weekend.  We should be there already but my husband decided he needed to work today.  Oh and we are also dealing with Hurricane Earl and it is supposed to rain all day long tomorrow.  Fun times being stuck in the house with a 2 and 3 year old!  I am hitting up Barnes and Noble this morning for some new sticker books and other goodies.  Earl is the main reason my husband wants to head down still!!

3.  I am annoyed because the ANT thingy for my Garmin Forerunner is broken.  I am going to bring it with me this weekend and hope I can upload my run but I am not hopeful.  I went to take the cap off of it last night and the whole thing pulled out of the casing.  I called the company and the wait time was over an hour to talk to someone.  The recommended time to call is in the morning.  Sure, that works for me!  I am either with my two monsters or busy at work.  I sent an email instead.  I got a response saying they will respond in 3 business days, which is Tuesday.  We will see!  I have heard fabulous things about their customer service.  I hope that is the case.