I think we're coming around the bend (finally)

So I had a case of the blahs last week.  I'm pretty sure that my momentary setback into the land of feeling depressed and anxious was due to training and not sleeping enough.  I just didn't want to do anything but lay on the couch.  I HATE feeling like that.  Isn't that why I started doing this almost a year ago?  So that I don't have to feel like that?  I guess training for a marathon is pretty intense... Who would have thought? HA!  

I didn't do that 4 mile run Saturday night.  I got in bed.  Darren woke us up in the night and had been sick in his bed... FUN!  Sunday rolled around and I did major grocery shopping.  Darren seemed fine.  By the time I was ready to run my 10 mile long run I had started to feel a bit queasy.  I did 3 miles and came in to take a quick potty break and I just couldn't go back out.  I laid down and felt worse and worse.  

Oh no!  Not illness after slacking off!  I'm never going to get to run again! AHHH!  

The next day I was very weak and then Jeremy got sick.  Even more fun! Thankfully Tom never got really ill and we're finally past all that illness and slacking.  Now, back to work!

I ran 3 miles Tuesday night and it was pretty tough.  I felt pretty light headed after two miles but I stuck with it.  Hopefully now that two more days have gone by I will feel well tonight when I do 7! 

I'm so behind on posting exciting stuff.  Don't be surprised if I get a bunch of new posts written in the next few days!

A case of the Blahs (oh no!)

I've been pushing on and on and all the sudden I hit a wall.  Thursday night I should have gone for a 7 mile run.  I didn't.  I felt "sick".  I took a nap at 7PM because I couldn't not take a nap.  I'm really not sure if I was actually sick or if I just hit an over trained moment of weakness.  Last night I went to Zumba.  It's Saturday.  I haven't run since my Tuesday 3 mile run.  So now I've missed two mid-week training runs.  A 7 and a 4.  I'm going to try and get on the treadmill tonight after I get the boys in bed.  I think I'll try to do the 4 that I missed last night. 

I hate the feeling of a funk.  It feels like it won't end and that I will always feel "funky".  

Hopefully getting back on the horse tonight will break this case of the blahs... especially since I have 10 miles tomorrow!  

First jog stroller run of the year!

Yay!  It was 45 yesterday!  Yes, above zero! 

Slated for the day was a 3 mile run so I dressed the boys warmly, strapped them into the stroller and away we went.  I should have known they were very comfy.  It got quiet after the first half mile.  Also, a novel feeling while running: I was hot!  I got down to only my ear band, one long sleeve shirt, and my long tights.  

What a nice run, but man are they heavy to push!  Here we are at the end.

Thanks for sending me a breath of spring!  Back to a snowstorm and cold today.  

Happy reading!  

The Frozen Foote Series

Oh my!  I finished the Frozen Foote series in Canton this morning.  I ran 3 out of the 4 races (I missed the one in Dec.) so I got a shirt!  I'm wearing it right now and it fits great :). 

I'm extremely proud of my efforts in this series!  For you to understand my pride let me detail my past performances.

The first race started out beautiful.  It was a sunny and warm day in January!  But then it started pouring.  I was not trained well because of my fall/winter slack off and I was pretty disappointed in my time.  I also had to walk at some points.  It's a hilly course and there is a pretty big hill right at the end of the 4 mile course.

There are the stats from January.  Don't get me wrong, I lapped everyone on the couch that morning, but that was a pretty slow pace for me, or it would have been last fall.  I was completely out of gas.

So I trained for the following month being much more aware of adding hills to my treadmill runs.  Also I just naturally ran more as our marathon training began.

I was much better prepared for the race 4 weeks later in February.  I knew the course and was ready to shave some time off.  I was so greatly relieved that my training paid off and I shaved 5 minutes off my time!

Hooray!  A 10:30 pace is much closer to my speed.  

For the last month I have been further preparing for this last race in the series.  Last night I wondered to myself if I could go faster. Should I try to go faster?  My mid-week long run I had to dramatically slow down and keep the incline at or below 1.5% because the back of my left knee was quite painful.  A hamstring issue.  Last night at Zumba I stretched my legs really well before and after class and this morning my knee felt pretty good.  I decided to go for it.  To push as hard as I currently can. 

The weather was perfect this morning for a winter run.  Very light small snowflakes, about 30 degrees, and overcast. The only unfortunate thing was that we ran into the wind on the way back this time.  It made the last 2 miles tough.  I'm also pretty convinced that there are more downhills on the way out.  My thighs were screaming on the last very long hill. I felt my body sugars completely drain.  My legs and whole body were quite shaky.  I kept the faith.  I kept my form.  I kept breathing and slowly the depletion went away and I just kept chugging along.  And you know what?  I ran under 10 minute miles! Yippee!  For me this is great.  So I shaved 2 more minutes off my time!  And my knee feels pretty good :)

Rock on running.  I'm ready to meet your challenge of many more miles.  Show me where the road leads...

And please, bring me some Spring?

February in Review. Time flies when you are busy!

February is always a very busy month for our family.  Tom and I started dating 14 years ago on the 12th, then there is Valentine's Day on the 14th, my father's 80th birthday was on the 16th and then Tom's birthday was on the 20th!  Phew!

The last week of February was spent taking care of our two children.  They were both very sick.  Thankfully they were not sick at the same time.  Our oldest was sick first and started to feel better after a few days, then the baby started to get sick and man, oh man, was he sick.  I didn't herald the exact end of my running month because the days slipped together in a sleep-deprived fog created by a cranky, feverish, and not sleeping toddler (I think he literally slept 3 hours in a two day span).  Finally, days later his fever subsided and he started sleeping again.  He's still recovering, but I'm sleeping back in my own bed and not on the extra twin bed in the boys room! Yay, small victories!

So back to running.  Even when little Darren was very sick I only missed 1 run, a 3 mile mid-week run.  Lately my running week has looked like this:

Monday: Resting (if my long run was on Sunday from the week before.  If the long run got pushed to Monday then this was the long run.  We're up to 10 miles now.  My last long run was 7; a step-back week).

Tuesday: Shorter mid-week run.  Right now these runs are 3 miles for Tuesdays.  If I'm behind this run is on Wednesday after Zumba class.

Wednesday: Mid-week long run.  These have gotten up to 6 miles. I do Zumba on Wednesday, so I run after class at night.  It's pretty brutal.

Thursday: Shorter mid-week run.  These are also 3 miles.

Friday: Rest.  Sometimes I do Zumba on Friday night.  It just depends on what our weekend plans are.  I like to do Zumba twice a week, so I pick between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Saturday: This is supposed to be the long run day, but I usually do long runs on Sunday.  Sometimes I do Zumba in the morning, but this usually ends up a rest day.

Sunday:  Long run day.  Coming up this weekend is 12 miles... I'm really not excited about it.  I'm starting to get nervous about the long runs.  Pretty soon I will run farther than I have ever run before!


February Goals? Met!
I completed a race (goal of 1 race/month), the 4 mile Frozen Foote and I ran 61 miles this month (goal of 40/moth)!  Yay me!  I missed two runs, one at the beginning of the month when I was sick, and then one I missed at the end of the month when Darren was really sick.  Not too shabby.

I'm finally ready for March!  And there are only 24 days of it left.  I'm so ready for milder weather and for the snow to melt.  For now I'll stay the course and keep putting one foot in front of the other whenever possible.

Happy reading everyone and have a great weekend!

Winter Run

I took some pretty pictures while outside on a long 10 mile run today.  They are from along the Maple City Trail, Oswegatchie River, (first two pics) and one of the St. Lawrence River (third pic).  The bridge to Canada is in the distance at the bottom.  There were people out ice fishing.  You can see the little ice fishing huts.  It was really nice to get outside, but the 15-20 mph winds were tough for me.  Enjoy! :)

Sickness, Another Race and a Hat

February started out pretty slow for Tom and I.  Like someone snapping their fingers, overnight we went from being perfectly healthy to being quite sick.  It was either one of the worst colds I have had in a long time or a light flu -complete with muscle aches and fever chills.  We missed our long run from the end of week 3 and also a mid-week training run before either of us felt like we had enough energy to even go out to the garage and turn the space heater on to take the edge off the chill for treadmill running.  Thankfully I can report that we seem to be in very good health again.  Also, the kids were not ill, which is such a blessing!

Saturday the 8th was the third Frozen Foote race.  Another race done!  The weather cooperated very nicely in my opinion.  It was overcast and about 18 degrees and only light wind on the 2 miles out.  The 2 miles back were warm and pleasant.  I was very glad that I switched out of my vest and into my windbreaker jacket.  I was a little warm at the end, but I think I would have been uncomfortably cold for a very long time without it.

I shaved 5:20 off my time from last month!!!!!  Woot Woot!

I contribute this acceleration to both actually running again and also doing "hills" on the treadmill.  The Frozen Foote course is quite hilly compared to where I run around the house.  I have really fallen in love with the "random" setting on our treadmill.  The "hill" setting on the other hand... I'm sure it's great training, but MAN is it exhausting!

When I checked our mailbox yesterday I was surprised to find packages containing Buffalo Marathon tech hats!  Maybe they are a little corny but I was pretty excited!  They are from the race and there was a little note about the hat and that they are working hard to make it a great event.  :)  I love a surprise!  It's nice to get a surprise present!

I'm exhausted, cold and tired right now, but there is a big smile on my face as I write.  I just did what I am going to call an exhaustion run.  I went to Zumba and it was a great workout and then decided to do my mid-week run on top of the Zumba (which I  have done before). I did it as a hill repeat workout with the "hill" setting.  Curse you "hill" setting!  Wow. There has to be great benefit both mentally and physically to start a run when you are already physically tired.  I'm finally cooling off from the run and I had better get cleaned up and into bed before I get any colder!

Thank you for reading and have a great end of the week and weekend.  Happy Valentine's Day!