A race and a half

So today was the first road race since we found about about Junior. I wasn't sure what to expect and went it with limited expectations. I've been running throughout my pregnancy, more so over the last 2 weeks since starting to feel a bit better. The down side is that recently I have been advised by the MD to monitor my heart rate and aim for lower than 140, no higher than 150. My mornings runs have demonstrated that this is not a reality, so I've been running for a mile and then walking to get my heart rate back to the desired range. Today was no exception, although I had to be much more intentional about it. I took off with Mike and Joe and at one point Mike indicated we could move a little quicker and I agreed only to remind myself that no. In fact I would only be slowing down. Joe took of before my first stop and I waved Mike ahead at the first mile marker. The race consisted of me running from mile marker to mile marker and walking for 3 minutes at each marker. Definitely hard to get a flow going. And when I found myself frustrated at mile 3 I reminded myself what was going on here. I was out on the roads, feeling good and growing a human at the same time. My running life for the next few months is not going to look the same as it has in the past. It's only going to work if I allow myself this time. Take the good days as they come and cherish how normal it feels to be out there with my sneaks. The bright side is that if all goes well, next year I'll beat my time as well as the husband who is going to be pushing the stroller!

Miles raced today: 5

Let's bring it to the here and now, please

Dear Weather Woman,

I try to trust you, I really do. This morning you again let me down. I turn you on as I get ready for a morning run. Your display tells me it's 39 out. My house is only 58, too cold to take my warm PJ's off. Yet you go on and on about a warm front. If you said the phrase once in the 15 minute period you said it 18 times. I don't care what it will be at 2pm, I care about the here and now. It's cold enough to demand 3 layers on top, a tank, a long sleeved shirt and a jacket. Cold enough to demand a hat and mittens that stayed on the whole 3 miles. Cold enough for my nose to still be dripping as I type this. Cold enough that my thighs are bright red under my pants. So please tomorrow when I turn you on, lets talk about what it's really like outside. When it's cold please don't try to mislead me with graphs of troughs and discussion of warm fronts.

Sincerely,
A cold runner

Miles run today: 3

It's all about the numbers

Running is really a game of numbers.

How many miles should I run today? What about for the week? How far have I gone this year? What's my pace? Am I running tempo, recovery, or repeat? Speaking of repeat, how many repeats in this workout and how many laps does that mean? Now divide my pace by the number of laps so I'm sure I'm on target. How many laps have I run? How many miles till I'm done? How many miles on my shoes? How long till new shoes? How many races in a year? What should my race pace be? Was this a PR? How many days do I need to recover? What's the temp out and how does that impact my clothing choice? How many liters of water have I consumed and is it enough based on the humidity? How many more days till the next track workout? Is it hot enough for an ozone alert day and a reason to skip track?

I could really keep going with the running related math questions. Until recently I have avoided the heart rate number. I just figure there are enough numbers following along behind me I didn't need to add another, or add another gadget to measure another number. Yet, here I am crunching all there is to learn about heart rates and acceptable numbers and finding myself with yet another number to peserverate over. I would prefer to listen to my body and run like I have learned to run. I really don't want to care about another number. I signed up to run, not to do math.

Miles run today: 4

Saved by the parking spot

All day I debated, do I run or not. Came close a few times to throwing in the towel. I almost used the, "I'll wait till you get home and we'll go together excuse", knowing full well that we won't go. Finally the bell rings and I am freed from the working day, a bell didn't really ring but it felt that way when 4:00 flashed on the bottom of my computer monitor. I felt fine and no emergencies came up that were going to prevent me from going to the gym so off I went. Now my gym has a very tiny parking lot and I have always gone by the rule that if there isn't a spot than it wasn't meant to be. That said there are ALWAYS spots after work. Low and behold I drive up and the lot was FULL!!!!!!!! YAHOO! Get out of jail free pass. Rather than going right home I stopped at the yarn store and made a completely unnecessary purchase and was feeling chipper as I got back into my car. For some strange reason, almost alien, I drove back by the gym. Ugh, multiple spots, I should have taken the other way home. So I did what anyone else would do who suffers from irish guilt. I pulled in, sat in my car and pouted, then went for a run. Friggin parking spot!

Miles run today: 3

Not sure if it was a waste or not

I did run this morning, I'm still sweating as a type this. I took the easy way out and used the treadmill in our basement. It's a beautiful day out there and perfect for running. I just knew that I didn't have the motivation to go outdoors. Not that it takes that much more effort, maybe a long sleeved shirt rather than the tank I'm wearing. I don't think I would have gone any further outside than I did on the machine but I'm sure it would have been more enjoyable. At this point I'll take the miles when I can get them. Inside or out, I can mark on my log that 3 miles were complete, lets not talk about how empty the log has been looking lately. I'm also not going to talk about the pace of my runs, did you know that I found my Garmin that I didn't know was missing. I don't even want to turn it on to see the last time I used it was. Eventually I will find that desire to really train for something again, for now I'm OK with a few runs a week at a leisurely pace. Who knows we might even get some 5K's in there every once and again, it's a lot easier to do those when you don't care about your performance :)

Miles run today: 3

Day light savings

For all of you complaining about day light savings, I'm sorry but I think it's great. We just about bounced out of bed this morning before our run. The run itself was delightful. Cold enough to allow for hats but warm enough not to burn the lungs. I could see the road ahead of me, the sky was a light pink with the sun up before we finished. I don't care that it's 4:38 now and dark enough I should shut my shades. I also don't care that eventually my body will adjust to the time change and 5am will go back to feeling like 5am. Fow now it's WONDERFUL!

Miles trained today: 3.5