I'm Back, and It's Official!

I have not been active on this blog in, um yeah, forever. Oops. I think part of the reason for that stems from my lack of goals in my training. And laziness. And busyness. So, last year I don't think I raced more than once-it it was on New Years. Sad! Part of it was time, part of it was the timing of the races, (always on Guard Drill!), and part of it was I no longer had a running buddy, and lost my motivation to train hard.

I still ran all year, but lower mileage than I'm used to. I still passed 1200 for the year, but overall it was a blah   kind of running year. That's okay. We'll just call it an off year, and move on.

Which brings me to the title. I am officially registered for the Seattle RNR Marathon. I have been wanting to do a full for two years, but the timing hasn't been right. Honestly, I don't think it will ever be perfect timing, but at least all three kids are in school, and I have time to commit to a training plan. I am doing the Train Like a Mother Finish It plan. I am liking it so far, and am just getting into week 2. 

I also joined a gym by my house, to help with getting strength training done. For all my good intentions to do it at home, it is just too easy to get distracted. So now I go to a strength class on Monday and Wednesday mornings. I am hoping that it will keep me injury free, without being too much for my muscles to handle. 

I am finding it is not the actual training that is hard, (yet), it's the time. Yes the kids are in school, which helps a ton, but life is still crazy busy. Oh, and me being me, I decided to commit to doing Ballet Exams in March. Which means, I have 10+ hours of dance class a week that I'm committed to. On top of marathon training. Yep, I'm a genius. 

Let's get this party started!

Snow

I am having an unexpected day at home with my youngest today. Gotta love waking up to vomit in the morning! Being a mom is so glamourous some days.

We have gotten over a foot of snow in the last two days. The kids are loving it, and honestly, so am I! Normally snow on March 1st would make me sad, but we have not had much in the way on snow this year and it is pretty. I love where our house is, accross from a vacant field where the deer hang. Oh, and it is the perfect sledding hill. Joy all the way around. Last night we got to eat dinner watching the deer ripping bark off the trees, then start bedding down for the storm. Pretty cool.

Anyways, running. I am still running, but I am not loving it right now. I'm not sure why. January was a really low mileage month at 39, but I knew it would be. 39 isn't terrible considering I didn't run for 3 weeks, and had to come back slowly.

February came in at 110 miles. Not bad, but not really where I wanted it to be. Some of it was life happening, some of it was migraines happening, some of it was an unwillingness to push farther. I don't know. I am just not as proud of that 110 miles as I probably should be.

Yesterday's run was an adventure. There was 8-10" of new snow, plowed in places and not in others. I wore my Yaktraks which worked well if the snow wasn't too deep. It felt like an obstacle course, leaping over piles of snow and running with high knees in the deep drifts. I had forgotten that snow is tough on the legs for any distance. 7 miles felt very long. I made a questionable choice to take the trail home, knowing it would be pretty. I figured it would be slow, but I had time. I thought. Except, no one had been on that trail at all yet. And the snow was over a foot deep because of the snow drifts. And it is all uphill. Whew. it was a very long 2 miles home, and I discovered my nifty Yaktraks don't work so well in deep snow. The snow was actually pushing the chain up and over the top of my toes. After stopping to correct it a few times, I just took them off and slipped and slid my way home. The miscalculations on time left me hauling up the BIG hill to my house since it was most direct, and needing to drive to the preschool in dripping running clothes. (They probably think I don't own real clothes since this is often the case)

Lessons learned? Snow slows you down-a lot. Plan for that next time. It is a lot of fun, but hard work. maybe cutting it a little shorter would have been good.

I have to admit, I kind of like the strange looks I get from people running in the more extreme conditions. It makes me feel bada@#. I have been feeling rather down lately, so it is nice to have that pick me up.

Feels so Good!

I got to go for a run yesterday, for the first time in almost three weeks. I got the tenative okay from the surgeon on Thursday, with a warning to take it easy and see how it goes. I went to ballet on Friday afternoon, figuring that would be a great test of how much my stomach muscles were ready for. It felt great! Except my feet-big ouchie there. They are always the first casuality when you stop dancing for a few weeks.

I was all jazzed to run on Saturday. The funny thing was, not running and laying around instead is a habit now. So weird! It took me until 4pm, (and after eating half a bag of candy orange slices) to get out the door. I was really sore from dance, (just muscles, not from surgery), so the run would either help or really hurt already sore muscles.

It felt great to wear my running gear. I had forgotten that my shoes are on the verge of dead and needing to be replaced. The wind was cold, and I was already having second thoughts. I have been dreaming of being able to run again, and I was not in the mood.

Then it felt great! Running, I love you! I've missed this! I'm flying! Until about mile 1.5, then ugh, why does this hurt? Why am I out of breath? Please tell me I didn't lose ALL my fitness in three weeks!

I finished the three miles. Since my Garmin had been set aside at forgotten the last few weeks, it wasn't charged. It was probably for the best that I ran without it anyways. I am so glad I was able to run pain free, but somewhat discouraged how hard 3 miles could feel.

The plan for this week is to run every other day, as long as I am still feeling good. I'm glad to not be running today since it is blowing some crazy snow out today. Honestly, tomorrow won't be much better, but I can hope.

3 Things Thursday

Happy Thursday! So this is me blogging on drugs. It could be entertaining, or just incoherent.

1. My surgery yesterday went well, and they were hopefully able to fix something. I don't know. The doctor told my husband what all the did, since I was still out with drugs. And him being him-he doesn't remember everything. I guess I will find out more at my post-op appointment in two weeks.

2. It feels so weird to just lay around in bed. I mean weird. It is hard to imagine doing this for the next two weeks. Right now it is easy because moving is seriously ouch. When it isn't so painful, I'm guessing I will need some reminders to take it easy.

3. Drugs are good. Sleep is good. I had a very random running dream, (that the drugs had something to do with). I've got to say, having wings on my shoes would be pretty cool. Of course, the outfit I was wearing looked kind of like an american gladiator outfit. That was definitely the drugs.

2011 Recap!

Happy New Year! This past year has alternately flown by, and seemed like forever. Isn't that always the case? So here's a brief recap:

Miles Run in 2011: 1442

Total Miles including swim and elliptical: 1511

Highest mileage month: December 159!

Lowest month: July 82

It was not a great race year, I struggled to find my speed after injury. I struggled with injury and illness, (shin again, knee and wisdom teeth removal). My only PR for the year was the Pear Blossom 10 miler, because I had not run that distance as a race before.

What am I proud of for this year? This fall and early winter, I built up my base and feel STRONG! I am injury free, and anything up to 9 miles feels easy most days.

September: 140

October: 148

November: 151

December: 159

I streaked all through the month of December, and have not taken a rest day since November 26th. I ran at least one mile each day. I expected to feel burnt out and tired, but I feel fantastic and wish I could keep going. Unfortunately, today is my last running day for a while. I am trying to look at my time off as a positive break, and I'm sure it will be. I just need to ban all things sugar from my house. My willpower with Christmas goodies=not so good.

Looking into 2012, I have no idea what is next. That is a first. I raced the Hangover Handicap on New Year's Day, (recap to come), but other race plans are on hold due to surgery tomorrow. It could be just 2 weeks off, it could be 6.

If my time off is short, I might due the Eugene Marathon. If not, Portland. After maintaining a strong base this fall without injury, I am ready to tackle my first full marathon. (eek, it's out there now!)

Other goals: Sub-2 half, 10 mile PR, more strength training-and sticking to it!

I'm off to run a few, and enjoy my last run for a while!

Hello Blog, Long time no See!

I am sitting on my bed, looking at a large pile of laundry and thinking of all the things I should be getting done this morning. And I am not in the mood to do any of it, so I think I'll FINALLY write a post.

We have had a lovely fall, with very little snow so far. That is unusual, and it the general opinion seems to be: if it starts late, beware! I am thinking there will be lots of snow soon enough. I have been running as much as I can, getting in the mileage before the weather turns, and before I am forced to take at least a few weeks off, (more on that later).

Monthly totals the last few months:

August: 133

September: 140

October: 143

November: 151

I have been so pleased that I've been able to up my mileage and hold a good 35-40 mile per week average WITHOUT INJURY!!! Huge accomplishment! My 151 miles in November was the highest mileage I have hit that I know of. I am over 1300 miles for 2011. This makes me happy.

This month will probably be a little less, but we will see. I have been feeling strong and great on most of my 7-9 mile runs. My goal is to be able to run 13-14 miles any day and feel as strong. A few weeks ago I ran 12, and I was hurting my the end.

Goals for 2012

• Get back to speed work! My speed has been seriously lacking, and I have been hesitant because of injury
• A sub-2 half. I have been so close a few times, but keep falling short. Thus the speed work!
• Hopefully, a marathon-most likely Portland

That's all I've got at the moment. I am sure that list will grow.

January will be a low mileage, (if any) month for me. I am trying not to dread it. At least it won't be for injury for once! I am having surgery on January 4th. I was hoping to get it over with in December, but no such luck. The surgery will be laparoscopic, so the recovery should only be 2-3 weeks or so, but it depends somewhat on how things go.

(sorry if it's TMI) I had massive complications after baby #3, and spent two quality weeks in ICU. I do not recommend this. Things have never quite been right since, so they are going in trying to figure out why, hopefully fix what they find, and to deal with a few cysts. Fun, huh? Hopefully it will be a simple fix, but we shall see. (if anyone wants the long version, let me know)

It is weird to think of taking weeks off without even being able to cross train. They say it's good to give your body a break once in a while, so maybe I will come back rested and ready to train hard. In the snow that is sure to have arrived by then.

Tale of the Worst 5K Ever

Seriously, I would have to check, but I am pretty sure it is my slowest 5k EVER. Not how I expected the race to go. Oh, and forgive typos and errors, my backspace button is broken. How inconvenient is that?!?!

Backing up a bit, this was the Running Y 5K for the humane society. I haven't run a 5k in forever, and i really haven't done speed work in forever, so I had pretty mediocre aspirations for this race. I even joked than anything under 30 minutes was fine with me.

Oh, backing up a little more, I have chronic migraines/headaches. My doctor put me on a new medication hoping to help with his problem. One possible risk, it could slightly lower my (already low) blood pressure. I could just see how it goes.

Race morning: chaos in sues. Kid 1: pick up from birthday party, deliver to soccer. Kid 3: deliver to birthday party. Kid 2: whining that she did not get to do the things kid 1 or 3 did. Add a fight over clothes since we were having our first fall weather, and it was a doozy of a morning.

I got to the race on time, and warmed up a little with A. I was actually wearing a matching outfit, (unusual for me), but due to previous chaos, I don't have a picture. Need to work on that.

We start. Whoa, not used to running with dogs. Right, humane society. hadn't thought of that. OKay, deal with the dogs. Mile 1: 8:38 all uphill, difficult, but doable knowing I had a few downhills. The course looped the golf course more or less, and was surprisingly hilly.

Then things got interesting. Around mile 1.3 I start to feel funny. then I start to see black spots. that can't be good. I slow down a bit, and actually walk through a water stop (in a 5k!). I start up again. Oh, hello black and colored spots now! Dancing! And my hands are numb. Huh. And my feet. That can't be good. seriously, what's with the spots? I slow more. take a quick walk break. It gets a little better. I speed up, hello spots. Dang it. I am leapfrogging a few ladies and feeling ridiculous, like I need to explain that I am a real runner! I can run a 5k! But holy crap can someone take the dang spots away?

The finish. Uphill. a very big uphill. I have been working very hard on hills, but this one defeats my already shredded ego and body. I just want to be done. The course is not well marked, and weird. We finish by cutting across a basketball court then through the parking lot. Finish time, 31:23. Over 30 minutes. for a 5k.

Now let me say, I know a lot of people that run 5k's slower than 30 minutes all the time and that is fantastic. For me, I was bummed knowing I can do better.

A asked if I was okay, which was a big no. I swear birdies were flying over my head. I drank my nuun I had packed, thankfully, and that seemed to help some. It was like I had massive low blood sugar, but that didn't make sense. or low blood pressure. Oh! The light dawned. That would explain the spots and the tingles and why I didn't feel like I could stand up anymore.

I felt odd and weak the rest of the day, and laid pretty low. Sunday morning I still felt so low energy and weird. Walking downstairs felt way harder than it should. We stopped at Fred Meyer's on the way home to get gas, and I went inside to use the blood pressure machine out of curiosity. BP 79/58. Whoa. I have low blood pressure typically 100/80ish, but dang! I've never seen it that low. /that explains a lot.

needless to say, I am NOT taking the medication anymore, and when I see my doctor on thursday, we will come up with a plan b that does not involve me seeing spots, thank you very much.