Feeling Proud!

I woke up yesterday morning a little under the weather and I thought about sleeping in for a half of a second. The other day at work I kneeled down to speak to a kid and she straight up, no warning coughed in my face. I could feel every drop of germs just cover my entire face. And for the rest of the day I felt a twitch in my eye. For the 6 or 7 weeks we've been in school so far I've managed to not get sick. Can't say the same for my son. So to have this girl sneeze in my face was utterly disgusting. I didn't let that deter my plans though. I was hoping I could sweat the cold out or something.

Another reason I thought about sleeping in was my son was on his 10th or 11th hour of sleep from that night. Woo-freakin-hoo! I so didn't want to wake him. Well he awoke on his own 10 minutes later anyway...lol.

So we choose a spot to run and got started. The route was pretty flat, which is great because I hadn't run with the jogger in a while and didn't feel like even attempting hills with a jogger.

I pushed the boy for the first 4 miles until the hubs took over. I was amazed at my pace even while running with him because it had never been that fast before and especially because of the long break. I guess it was because of the flat terrain.

The last 4 miles had it's rough patches. I went from motivated, to wanting to stop, to needing to stretch during (and as I type this right now I notice I'm not nearly as sore as I'd normally be...no ice bath for me...yet.), and to using this old guy as my pacer.

The last 2 miles were more mentally painful then anything. This was an out and back route so I had to look at the same thing I'd already looked at. Good thing there were a lot of other folks out biking, walking, and running. I just imagined I was at a race and didn't want to let the onlookers down. Hey, it works!

When I finally finished, one of the most perfect ratchet songs was playing so I just had to do a little dance. The hubs and son (with his feet propped up in the jogger) were just finishing so we high fived...and then I was tired for the rest of the day. ;-)

I have another 8-miles scheduled for next Saturday. This whole week will be challenging as I start Week 5 of the Nike training plan. It has me down to run 6 miles on a weekday...ugh. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck :)

What's your favorite recovery snack or drink after a long run?

Weeks 1-4 Brief Recap

It's been a month since I've last posted. I'm glad to report that I've finally found my groove or a routine that works while working full-time, caring for a 10-month old, and training for my first half marathon post baby. Waking at 4:30-5 a.m. is still challenging, but I just have to make sure I'm in bed and asleep by 9:30. Much respect to the moms who've been doing this for a while!

I'm on week 4 of my Nike+ half marathon training program. I chose the beginner's option since I'm training from "scratch" again. I would like to make a PR, but I don't want to add more pressure to myself than I have to. Although I will say, the difference between this training and my first time training for a half (which was my fastest half), is that I'm doing more consistent speed training this go 'round. Whereas for my first half, I just ran the miles Hal said while ignoring the other stuff, and I don't even remember cross-training much. Wow!

On the first 3 weeks of training, Nike had me focused on building my base and learning the fundamentals for the weeks that would come. As I start week 4, I am now focused on building my strength and endurance. I have an 8-mile long run scheduled for the end of this week that I will be trying my best to blog about. This will be a very meaningful run, as this is my longest run since having the baby and since my last half in January 2013. Knowing me, I'll probably be overwhelmed with emotions, lol. If you're a runner, I know you understand :-)

I'm so thankful that I have my husband with me on this journey. I know I've probably said that, but it makes a big difference when you have a running partner or a group.

I may not blog as much these days, but I do update my Instagram and Facebook pages more often if you're interested in following my journey more closely. Let's motivate each other!

Here are a few pics I've snapped so far. I'll get better... And, oh yeah, I turned 30 along the way, too. :)

How are you goals coming along?

Upcoming Goals: Fall Half Marathon Season

Now that the Peachtree is over, I have a lot more confidence that I can go to my next challenge, running my fifth half marathon. I call it a challenge because, of course, I don't know how even less "perfect" training will be with a baby. Can't just get up and go, ya know.

My original big plan in the beginning of my pregnancy was to start training for my next half marathon 3 months post partum. This was supposed to be my motivation to get back to running. Good thing I didn't need that; I had clothes to get back into, and there was no way it was that serious to go running with my son in his stroller in the cold temps we had. I had him in October and wanted to run a half at the end of March, which means I would of had to start training in December/January. Umm, yeah, that was a little far-fetched. Not saying one couldn't do it, but I couldn't for so many reasons. I did run a 5k, though.

I haven't registered yet, but the race I'm thinking of is in November so I will start a 12-week program on August 18th. I really don't want to register until I'm at least half way though training. The price increases are only $5. Expensive is expensive period and I've already missed the much lower registration fees. Maybe I'll find a discount if it turns out I'm able to run it. Off topic, but in the past, I've never paid over $55 for a half marathon, but I've been wanting to do this race for forever. Sigh.

I've decided to try the Nike+ Coach feature. In the past I've used Hal's plan, but I want to give Nike a try for the extra motivation. I like that it prompts you that you have a run the next day. I already track my miles with it, so it will tell me if I am on track with my time goal, and I love the interface. A big plus, I don't have to constantly refer to a document or sheet of paper to check which day of training I am on. It'll all be on the app.

An even bigger plus is that my husband has accepted the challenge of training himself. This would be his first. So at least I'd have someone alongside me during those long runs. I can't make the group runs much, or rather the places they meet aren't really stroller friendly, so he'll have to do. LOL. J/k... 'cause he reads my posts.

My focus from now until August 18th is to build strength. I'm going to focus even more on incorporating weight and running less often. I just want to maintain a 4-mile outdoor run until next month. Yesterday's workout felt pretty good. I did a body works plus abs class at the gym and ran 2 miles on the treadmill hill setting. My next workout will be Wednesday... and it may have to be a Jillian Michaels DVD day.

Now it's time for Nike and I to have a conversation...

If you run long distances, do you follow a set plan or make up your own? What's your favorite way to cross-train? :-)