I did it! Today is day 25 of my running streak!
If you are unfamiliar with what exactly a running streak is, the United States Running Streak Association, Inc (USRSA) defines it as "to run at least one mile within each calendar day." The run can be done on the road, trail, or treadmill. Sounds fairly simple right? I mean you must be thinking, how hard can it be? It's not like you are required to run 5 or even 3 miles a day. One mile is a piece of cake, who can't run one mile everyday... well let me say, it's not as easy as it sounds. For me, it wasn't about the actual run, it was finding the time to get it done. Life is busy and the days go by fast. As a mom of two (one being a newborn nonetheless) and working full time, there were days where all I could fit in was one mile. There were days where I was super exhausted, lazy, and just did not want to run, but I was determined and knew that regardless of how I felt before, I always felt great afterwards.
So where do I find time to run you ask? First let me give you a little background on what my schedule is like. 4 days a week, my husband and I are like passing ships in the night. He works during the day and I work in the evening and I don't get home till about 3am. By the time I get home and get into bed, I have about 4 hours before my toddler is up and ready for the day...and by the way, those 4 hours are not straight sleep, let's not forget I have a newborn who likes to nurse all night long, because he's missed mommy while she was at work. Bottom line, I'm pretty much exhausted so I don't always have time during the day to get my runs in. It's also been pretty hot here so the thought of running with my double stroller, just doesn't sound fun for me or the kiddos so I have become a lunch break runner. On the days I don't get my run in before work, I make sure to pack a lunch, eat it at my desk while I work so that I can run during my lunch break. It's actually not bad. I bring my running clothes and change back into my work clothes afterwards. Since I work late at night...and my work is not in the safest of areas, I run in our parking lot where there are security guards. Our parking lot is pretty big and according to my Garmin, it is about a quarter of a mile around...just like a track. I've done anywhere from one mile to 6 on my lunch break. Sometimes I just do a nice easy run or I'll even do speed work. I've got quite a few half-marathons coming up in the fall and have a goal time in mind so it's time to amp up the training. Today's lunch break speed workout looked like this:
1/2 mile warm-up
8 x 800s at goal half marathon pace
1 minute rest (light jog to walk) between each 800
1/2 mile cool down
Ultimately it would have been nice to do a full mile warm up and full mile cool down, but I wasn't sure if time would permit it. Also, eventually, I would like to add 2 more 800s making it 10 x 800 at goal half marathon pace.
So there you have it, 25 days have come and gone and here is to the next 25. Have you ever thought of doing a running streak? Or are you currently on a streak and have any suggestions for me?
As always, run happy!
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
I'm Back!
Wow, it's been nearly a year since my last post so brace yourself, this one is gonna be a long one.
If you read my last post back in August 2014, I was 50 days into a running streak with the goal of getting to 100, but I'm sad to say that shortly after hitting 50 days, my streak came to an end; not because of injury, pure laziness, or some other bad reason. I actually got pregnant (it was planned :) )and was hit with all sort of nausea and tiredness in my first trimester that sadly, I could not continue to streak. Plus, I knew that after the baby came, I wouldn't be able to run for a while so I decided it was best to end the streak and start it again another time.
With my first child, I hardly ran. I stayed active through walking and spin, but for some reason, I was afraid to run. I think I let people like my old school mom scare me into thinking that pregnant women shouldn't run and running would cause some sort of harm to the baby. After my daughter was born, I didn't run till she was nearly 6 months old and I struggled, but eventually I got back into the rhythm and 10 months post baby, I ran a half-marathon.
So now here I am, 11 months from my last post and 3 1/2 months post baby and things couldn't be more different. This second time around I talked to my doctor about running during pregnancy. That was my first mistake with my first child. I never talked to my doctor, because I just assumed that I probably shouldn't be running, but my doctor assured me that because I was already a runner and ran regularly, I could continue as long as I didn't overdue it and made sure to stay hydrated. So with the doctor's "OK" I continued to run and made it all the way to 37 weeks. Not bad, right? Of course I was slower and my mileage was low, but hey, how many moms do you know run well into the third trimester. I was pretty proud of myself and it felt good.
My beautiful baby boy was born at 38 1/2 weeks and he is perfect! Like my daughter, he was born via c-section so we all know what that means right? No strenuous exercise for at least 6 weeks. You can only imagine how much that was killing me. I think that because I had remained so active and ran throughout my pregnancy, the thought of 6 weeks without running seemed like an eternity. Within a couple weeks, I was longing to lace up and run and to be honest, at 2-3 weeks post baby I was feeling pretty good to say I had just had major surgery. I had minimal pain and didn't even need the pain meds that the doctor sent me home with. I can honestly say that I think my recovery from a c-section went so well, because I remained active throughout my pregnancy. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that not only did I run during this pregnancy, but I often ran pushing my 2 year old in the jogging stroller! Okay enough I am mom, hear me roar, let's move on. At about 2-3 weeks post baby I began walking and light hiking by my house. It was nice just to get out, but again, I just wanted to run. I would voice via social media about how much I missed running and how it killed me to have wait before I could run, but then a friend of mine said something that really made me think. My friend said, "6 weeks is for regular people,YOU are a runner!" Now, I am not trying to under mind my doctor in anyway, and I don't advise or suggest that anyone go against doctor's orders, but for me, I was feeling good, I had healed quickly and dammit, I AM A RUNNER! So at 4 weeks during a hike I decided to lightly jog the down hills. Then at 4 weeks and 4 days post pregnancy, I ran. I had only intended to run 1, maybe 2 miles slow, but I ended up feeling so good I ran 4 miles...and let me add that the first half was up hill. Of course I was careful not to push to hard, but man did it feel good! After that it was over. I started slowly and am now on my way to building up mileage again and working on speed.
At 15 1/2 weeks post baby, I have run 2 10ks at pretty decent speeds and my longest training run has been 13.1 miles which I did at 13 weeks post baby. I've got quite a packed fall race schedule which includes a couple 10ks and several half marathons. To make things even more interesting, I have signed up to run a full marathon 9 months post baby in January 2016. I'm pretty scared about that and question whether that was a good idea since I haven't run a full marathon since before having my first child back in 2012. I got to 13.1 pretty quickly and easily, but the thought if 26.2 seriously terrifies me. So that's where I am now. Oh and I've tried to take another shot at that running streak. I kicked it off on July 4th at a 10k race and am now 24 days into it. I would love to do a full 365 days on this streak, but for now, I have set small goals to hopefully get me to the end. My first goal is to get to 25 days, after that we'll see.
If you read my last post back in August 2014, I was 50 days into a running streak with the goal of getting to 100, but I'm sad to say that shortly after hitting 50 days, my streak came to an end; not because of injury, pure laziness, or some other bad reason. I actually got pregnant (it was planned :) )and was hit with all sort of nausea and tiredness in my first trimester that sadly, I could not continue to streak. Plus, I knew that after the baby came, I wouldn't be able to run for a while so I decided it was best to end the streak and start it again another time.
With my first child, I hardly ran. I stayed active through walking and spin, but for some reason, I was afraid to run. I think I let people like my old school mom scare me into thinking that pregnant women shouldn't run and running would cause some sort of harm to the baby. After my daughter was born, I didn't run till she was nearly 6 months old and I struggled, but eventually I got back into the rhythm and 10 months post baby, I ran a half-marathon.
So now here I am, 11 months from my last post and 3 1/2 months post baby and things couldn't be more different. This second time around I talked to my doctor about running during pregnancy. That was my first mistake with my first child. I never talked to my doctor, because I just assumed that I probably shouldn't be running, but my doctor assured me that because I was already a runner and ran regularly, I could continue as long as I didn't overdue it and made sure to stay hydrated. So with the doctor's "OK" I continued to run and made it all the way to 37 weeks. Not bad, right? Of course I was slower and my mileage was low, but hey, how many moms do you know run well into the third trimester. I was pretty proud of myself and it felt good.
 |
| 36 weeks 2 days pregnant. Still running and still rocking my INKnBURN running apparel. |
My beautiful baby boy was born at 38 1/2 weeks and he is perfect! Like my daughter, he was born via c-section so we all know what that means right? No strenuous exercise for at least 6 weeks. You can only imagine how much that was killing me. I think that because I had remained so active and ran throughout my pregnancy, the thought of 6 weeks without running seemed like an eternity. Within a couple weeks, I was longing to lace up and run and to be honest, at 2-3 weeks post baby I was feeling pretty good to say I had just had major surgery. I had minimal pain and didn't even need the pain meds that the doctor sent me home with. I can honestly say that I think my recovery from a c-section went so well, because I remained active throughout my pregnancy. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that not only did I run during this pregnancy, but I often ran pushing my 2 year old in the jogging stroller! Okay enough I am mom, hear me roar, let's move on. At about 2-3 weeks post baby I began walking and light hiking by my house. It was nice just to get out, but again, I just wanted to run. I would voice via social media about how much I missed running and how it killed me to have wait before I could run, but then a friend of mine said something that really made me think. My friend said, "6 weeks is for regular people,YOU are a runner!" Now, I am not trying to under mind my doctor in anyway, and I don't advise or suggest that anyone go against doctor's orders, but for me, I was feeling good, I had healed quickly and dammit, I AM A RUNNER! So at 4 weeks during a hike I decided to lightly jog the down hills. Then at 4 weeks and 4 days post pregnancy, I ran. I had only intended to run 1, maybe 2 miles slow, but I ended up feeling so good I ran 4 miles...and let me add that the first half was up hill. Of course I was careful not to push to hard, but man did it feel good! After that it was over. I started slowly and am now on my way to building up mileage again and working on speed.
At 15 1/2 weeks post baby, I have run 2 10ks at pretty decent speeds and my longest training run has been 13.1 miles which I did at 13 weeks post baby. I've got quite a packed fall race schedule which includes a couple 10ks and several half marathons. To make things even more interesting, I have signed up to run a full marathon 9 months post baby in January 2016. I'm pretty scared about that and question whether that was a good idea since I haven't run a full marathon since before having my first child back in 2012. I got to 13.1 pretty quickly and easily, but the thought if 26.2 seriously terrifies me. So that's where I am now. Oh and I've tried to take another shot at that running streak. I kicked it off on July 4th at a 10k race and am now 24 days into it. I would love to do a full 365 days on this streak, but for now, I have set small goals to hopefully get me to the end. My first goal is to get to 25 days, after that we'll see.
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| Laguna Hills Memorial Day 10K - 8wks Post Baby |
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| Freedom Run 10k- 13 weeks Post Baby |
Phew that was a long one. If you read the whole thing...thank you! There is still so much more to say, but no need to cram more in this post. I'm hoping to blog regularly about how my training is going and how I can fit that into life with 2 kids! OMG, I am a mom of 2 kids. I sold my single BOB stroller and now own a double...and it's a beast! I hope you will come back and visit my blog to see how things are going. Until then...Happy Running!!!
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