If you can't take the heat, stay on the treadmill

I did it. I ran outside. It was all kinds of miserable, but all kinds of perfect too.

So I did 5 miles, and I don't know what my time ended up being because Dr. Adam's watch gave out on me a little after halfway and apparently said it was full of data and refused to create anymore, so it stopped tracking my workout. But I know the first two miles were in the 8:35-8:45 range, and I probably slowed down a little on some of those later miles with the difficult conditions, so I'm guessing I averaged just at or just under 9 minute miles for the whole thing. That might be optimistic, but that's okay.

It was a pretty difficult run for me for a number of reasons:

A. It was super hot.
B. There was ZERO shade on or near the lovely river trail I was running.
C. I am not used to gravel trail... this was all gravel... and grass, which I am also not used to.
D. I didn't have water with me or anywhere along this hot run.
E. I'm pregnant. Okay... maybe that doesn't count given the nature of this blog.

BUT... the run was awesome for me for a number of reasons:

A. I was outside!
B. The scenery here is gorgeous! River on one side, pretty hillsides and mini-mountains on the other.
C. No stroller.
D. Mostly flat course on the river walk.
E. Dr. Adam always says I look hot in sunglasses (which were very helpful in the 100% sunshine of my 10 AM run). He also told me my singlet and such made me look "legit". I'll take it. Hahaha. Love my husband.

20+ weeks... you can kinda see a bump, right? 

Anyway, I better end this so I can get up from this chair and stop being critiqued on my posture. (Another thing I am trying to fix). The joys of being married to a PT. It's all because they care.

Still alive, still pregnant, still running

So, yeah. It's been like 2 months. I know. I even faithfully wrote down most my workouts with pure intentions of posting them when I was able to make the time. But I never bothered to make the time. But yes, I am still pregnant, and yes, I am still running.

The last two months were some up and down weeks, trying to get over that ankle pain that just didn't want to go away. We think it was a sprain that just didn't want to heal while the pregnancy hormones kept loosening me up and messing up the process. So I had some days of cross-training and lower, slower miles, along with my PT stretches from Coach Adam (Now Dr. Adam) that have helped the pain all but disappear by now. I had some good weeks too... they were all anywhere between 10 and 32 miles, depending on how the ankle was doing and what else was going on.

Then Coach Adam graduated and we moved. We now live in Central VA, enjoying the small town life. I just did treadmill running this first week here. Feeling a little weary of running the crazy hills in this beautiful Shenandoah Valley. But I have plans this week to get out a little just for a change, which should be nice. And I may even be running with a cool lady my husband met at work last week. And I'm not embarrassed to say that the idea of actually having a running buddy around gets me all kinds of giddy. It's not something I've been able to find in the past, so I am hoping to find some fun people in this little town.

Anyway, the last week got me a total of 20 miles, only because I took two days off... one because we were super busy with visitors and another because I let myself get a little stress-depressed with all the moving transitions that were just not working out for me in the least. Let's just say, I strongly dislike relying on others who seem completely unable to do their jobs...

But enough of that!

Let's stay positive... I am almost 21 weeks pregnant, still running, an feeling pretty darn good. My weight gain this pregnancy has been pretty minimal and I still get the, "What?! You're pregnant? You don't look like it at all!"... which this time around, is absolutely okay with me. There will be plenty of time at the end to be huge. :)

The next crazy week...

So, to recap this week.

Monday: 5 on the treadmill. Still at a fairly slow pace because of the ankle.

Tuesday: 0 miles. Managed to break or badly sprain the middle toe on my left foot. Couldn't walk well the rest of that day, so no run. Just ice on the foot. Yay.

Wednesday: 0 miles. Still trying to wait it out, still not walking great. Plus, Seth started getting sick. Another case of bronchiolitis. Yay.

Thursday: 0 miles, but Jillian Michaels workout video. I had to do something.

Friday: 0 miles. busy, and still depressed about the toe.

Saturday: 3 miles on tread!!! plus, Jillian Michaels (by request of my 3-yr-old... she loves "exercise movies").
My toe felt pretty good. I could feel it was there and not normal, but it didn't stop the run at all. However, my ankle STILL slowed me down a lot. Coach Adam says I sprained it. So, I'm trying to do some weighted PT work on it, and I'm gonna try running outside more this week since Adam will be home more (and my outdoor stuff seems to hurt a little less). But I'm already fed up with these "injuries" slowing and even stopping my running... so I gotta make this week happen. On to better things!

Weekly Total: ..........8 miles..... (lowest in a loooooooooong time).

Where to begin.....

It's been a messed up couple of weeks.

Apparently, I messed up my ankle trying to run on a rather rough field during my cool-down at that 5k I last wrote about. As soon as I tried to run on Monday, I was like "WHOA... that's not gonna happen!" I had to slow down to 8:30 or slower for all of my runs that week, otherwise I was killing the ankle. And even at those slow paces, I was still hobbling to keep up with the treadmill for a lot of the miles. Bleh. No fun. Here's the rundown for that week:

Monday: 5 miles. slow.
Tuesday: 4 miles. slow.
Wednesday: 5 miles. slow.
Thursday: 6 miles. slow-ish.
Friday: Got busy with family stuff and took the day off, hoping to be ready for Saturday's 5k.
Saturday: 3.1 miles. 22:40ish at Run Rogue 5k.

Race Recap: This is actually a race that a good friend of ours at Rogue Racers organized. She did an amazing job, and the race raised an incredible amount of money for some amazing charities. Not only that, but it was always an extremely well-organized and fun event!... and not just like, "wow, that was really good for a first-year race event", but like "that was an awesome event... period." So well done! I spent the morning working as a volunteer at the registration booth, which was crowded, but a lot of fun. We were working fast, and it all seemed to go smoothly.
Anyway, since I was working the booth, I didn't do any kind of warmup or strides or anything for this race. My entry was actually free and not optional according to my good friends and my husband... so I just decided to go out and see what I could do without worrying about it the way I would a regular race. It is a famously terrible course (a whole lot of uphill, followed by turns that lead to more uphills). Last summer, I ran it in 24:something, so I was pretty pleased to come off a bad week and run it in 22:40. Plus, it was a lot of fun. Thanks, Rogue Racers!

So, for the week: 23+ miles.

And now, pregnancy is calling me to the kitchen... so I'll recap this even less productive week later today!

Slow week, but good race

Sorry. I am already a terrible poster on this blog. So it goes. Here is the rundown for last week:

Monday: 0 miles. Plenty of excuses. But mostly, I still just felt exhausted and messed up from travelling that previous weekend. Oh well.

Tuesday: 5 miles on the treadmill, just barely under 8 min pace.

Wednesday: 7 miles outside. Didn't feel good at all. In fact, I stopped and took a break after all but one of those miles. It was the only way I could keep myself from just going home or walking. Depressing day.

Thursday: 6 miles on the treadmill. Still sluggish, but done.

Friday: 6 miles on the treadmill, but finally forced myself to try and pick things up a little. Sped up gradually, with the last mile being under 7:30 pace. Didn't feel amazing, but still felt better just making myself push it a little more than I have been.

Then Friday evening, we went to dinner, and stopped to say hi at the running store on the way. A few minutes later, we left the store with a comp entry to a little 5k just a few minutes from our house the next morning. I wasn't excited about the prospect of running a race after the slow 2 weeks I've had, but I was hopeful that maybe the racing adrenaline and such would get me out of the little funk I've been in.

Saturday: 5+ miles total. 1 mile warm up, then the 5k, then a mile cool down. The race definitely helped do the trick for me. It was a tough course, out-and-back with the first half being almost all downhill and the second half being almost all uphill. Not fun for the mind or the body. And I took the first half pretty fast, like faster than 7 minute pace... just praying I would crash and burn when I turned around to climb back up. Of course, I did slow down in the second half, and my breathing sounded TERRIBLE, but I kept pushing. I was even complimented later by a nice, older gentleman who runs pretty much every race in this area. He said, "great job pushing to the finish... you sounded like you were hurting. And nice job on the tangents!" Yes, sir I was hurting, and yes, I took every tangent to the max... it's the only way I was able to reel in the girl in front of me and take 3rd overall for the females. Always take the tangents. She didn't, and that's how I got her.

Anyway, I ended up tying my 5k PR at 22:20. A little sad that I was in such a survival mode that I didn't look at the clock soon enough to see that I could have gotten a new PR, but at least I proved that I can still do it... even feeling like a sick pregnant lady. Good mental boost. And a good end to the week.

Week: 29 miles... I know, missed my 30 mark, but there just wasn't time to fit any more miles in on Saturday... to much going on with the family and such. It's all good.

Busy week, busy miles

Sorry for the lack of updates. It was a busy week. I knew it would be a busy week. So I ran accordingly.

Monday: 7 AM miles on the tread. Right about 55 min.

Tuesday: 7 AM miles on the tread. Just over 55 min.

Wednesday: 6 PM miles on the tread. SLOW. I wanna say somewhere close to 50 min.? Either way, slower than 8 minute pace for pretty much the whole thing.

Thursday: 10 AM miles outside. That's right, I said 10. Time was 1:20:57

Friday: 3 miles on the hotel treadmill. Just under 8 min pace.

Saturday: No run.

WEEK TOTAL: 33 miles

So, this week, among many other happenings, we were preparing for a trip to Columbia, SC for Coach Adam's marathon. We drove down Friday (about 7 hours), then race Saturday morning, followed by the 7 hour drive home... with the kiddos of course.

So, knowing that I wasn't likely to hit a lot of miles on Friday or Saturday, if I hit any at all, Adam gave me the challenge of running some back-to-back higher mileage (at least much more so than I have ever done in the past). It was kind of fun, I'll admit, just ticking the numbers off in my head... "yep, it's only Tuesday, and I'm at 14!" But it was also pretty tiring. I did feel more fatigue and my legs felt kind of tired most the week. Of course, I'm also pregnant, a busy mom, and the driver of at least 11 of our 13 cross-country hours this weekend.

The 10 miler was a good challenge. I was excited to do it just because I really haven't done anything over 8 since early November. So that was good to get back. But coming off of a tougher early week felt like it did weigh me down a little. I intentionally took Wednesday night slow and easy, to prepare for Thursday morning. But I found myself, even in the first couple of miles, having a lot of trouble even getting down to 8 minute pace. Normally, when I get outside, I'm at 7:50 or faster right at the first mile. So yeah, my body went into a slower, endurance kind of mode, no matter what I did. I stopped for a quick water and gel bursts break at the halfway point, then went out and did the second 5. I really should be pleased with this run, cause even with all the negative factors, that's probably the fastest 10 I've ever done. I guess I just expected it to be faster, or maybe just easier, based on the shape I've gotten into in the last few months. And on a good day, I think it would/will be. No need to fret over it now. I think I should be happy enough to be a pregnant lady out running 10 miles on a Thursday morning, right? Right.

A press guy took this photo of us after the finish. Poor Adam was too sore to bend down, Seth was out cold, and the wind wouldn't stop blowing all of my hair into my face. It all seems appropriate for a post-race pic, right? At least we got Ellie to stop hiding her face in my neck!

On a side note, the trip to SC was great. It was a fun little Marathon in its first year, and Adam did great, in spite of running so many miles in isolation and with some crazy wind in his face. He managed to get 4th overall and 1st in his age group. I am a proud wife!

Fight the Power...

... the power of pregnancy nausea, that is. Saturday, I felt about as miserable as I ever get during a pregnancy. 

Most of my mornings this week were all the same: complete nausea and dread the second I open my eyes in the morning (or in the middle of the night when the kids decide to wake me). Yes, it is joyous. But I still don't feel like I can complain too much, as I know many women who have no way of getting over the nausea. Whereas for me, I generally feel better once I can get some food in my stomach, or once I get moving or showered. 

Saturday was different. For one thing, I had an 8 miler planned with Coach Adam. On top of that, my nausea was not going away after my giant bowl of cereal. In fact, I felt worse every time I stood up. 

So there I was, sitting on the couch, sleepy-eyed kids sprawled around me, as I debated whether or not I could even attempt this run. And Adam needed to get out the door so we could be back for him to head off to work... no real time to let the nausea pass on its own. Adam told me to just get up and then I'd feel better. Sounds like a risky thing for a husband to say to his pregnant wife, right? Normally, maybe. But Adam is Adam. He is a runner, a coach, a medical professional, and a person whose guidance I try to follow as much as possible. So I let the offense slide (well, maybe there was a slight eye-roll, but that hardly counts), and I got off that couch, went up the stairs, put on some running clothes, and we were out the door in the next 10 minutes (after we set the kids up with food and let our wonderful baby-sitter, G-mom, know that we were leaving). 

8 Miles. Done. We didn't take any watches. Adam wasn't doing that kind of workout, and I was too lazy to go back up the stairs and get one for myself. So we just went. And honestly, for at least half of the run, I could feel that nausea just under the surface. Not enough to stop me, but enough to let me know it was still there. But I was able to keep it at bay and run a pretty good pace. I'm glad I didn't let the pregnancy symptoms stop me on this one. It was good to get that 8 in. And.... it totally makes up for my bad missed day this week and gets me to 30 miles for the week! It's amazing the things we can do when we just get up and go.

According to the clocks, we were out about 1:02ish. Not bad at all for a morning sickness run. I will take it.