Last week's fun, then recovery

Monday: Had a glimmer of hope in me after a weekend where my leg wasn't feeling much of anything. Like... pretty much normal. I got on the treadmill and cautiously started at a 10 minute pace. And rightly so. Sure enough, running is the motion that always brings back the pain in that injury. I did 1 mile at a time, jogging that 10 minute pace, followed by a quarter mile walk/recovery. Did 5 miles total, 4 jogged, 1 walked.

Tuesday: Started out wanting to do a stroller walk outside. But it was horribly hot and humid. Seth fell asleep right away, but Ellie was already trying to convince me to go home all through that first .75 mi loop around our street. Didn't want to make her suffer the heat and boredom, so we did that .75 mi walk as a warmup, came in, laid Seth down for his nap, then found a workout on YouTube to do some cross-training since one loop on those hills was already killing my leg. Many thanks to Jillian Michaels (or her production company or whatever) for being willing to post full workouts online. I did her "Banish Fat Boost Metabolism" workout since it seemed to be a good cardio replacement. I had to watch very short commercials in between each circuit, but that worked out well and helped me make sure I stayed hydrated. With the commercials and all, it took about 45 minutes to do it all, plus the walk. So a good workout day. And I only had to modify a couple of moves for the pregnant belly.

Wednesday: Not much of a day for miles, but a fun day just to try and be a little faster. Went to a little local  open track meet at the Washington and Lee University track. Ellie won her heat in the 100m! She was a very proud little girl, since she always claims to be fastest. I offered to run with her in the race, but she said "No Mom, I too fast for you. You just watch." So young, so competitive, so cute. I, however, was last in both my events. But since I'm pretty sure I was the only pregnant one out there (and only one of 2 females competing), I'm not too concerned about it. I did the 400m in 1:22. Then after about 2 minutes of rest, I did the 800m in 3:11. Considering, just last summer, not pregnant, I ran 3:09, I'll call it good! My ankle killed in those sprints, but not enough to keep me from pushing through it. Did maybe a mile or more in warmups, cooldowns, whatevers. So not much running, but it's always fun to hit the track after a long drought. Worth a few days of pain in recovering.

Heading for the sandpit to practice her long jump. She was so happy there!

Thursday: Did the same Jillian workout online. Turns out it skipped a circuit on autoplay Tuesday, so it was a little longer than the day before. Good workout. Very aerobic and varied to keep me interested.

Friday: Same Jillian again. I enjoy this one a lot because of the mix of kickboxing, plyometrics, etc. It's good stuff, makes me feel like I'm working the whole time, and lasts long enough to give me a good extended cardio time.

Saturday: Had initially planned to try and do an easy run this day, but still felt like that same old leg needed more recovery from the track stuff, so I tried a different Jillian workout for some extra variety. Bad choice... didn't really care for it. It was the 30 Day Shred: Level 1 workout. I think it just wasn't enough cardio for what I wanted. Plus, it was less than 30 minutes, even with a warmup and a stretching cooldown. Just not enough. I was a little sore from the pushups and such the next day or two since I don't do them much anymore, but otherwise, it felt too slow and boring for my personal tastes in workouts.

Goal adjustments

Monday: So as much as I loved running with a friend Saturday, it would seem my body wasn't totally prepared for the workout on the trail. My leg was killing me Sunday. Monday, I tried to get on the treadmill, but immediately had to slow down and walk to warm up. Ended up doing 4.25 miles total... 3 of them jogging at 10 minute pace and 1.25 walking at 15 minute pace to give the leg a period of recovery every 2-3 laps (or quarter miles).

Tuesday: I did 5 on the treadmill. Happy I was able to run the whole time. I did speed up each mile, going from 10 minutes in the first to 8:30 for the last 1-2 miles. Much better than Monday.

Wednesday: Had a busy morning, followed by an OB appointment (40 miles from home), then kids and dinner to worry about, so I didn't get any running in during the day. Then I decided the kids and I would drive Adam to The Fields at SVU and get some exercise running around on the soft turf field. But of course, it started raining the minute we left the house. So I sat and played in the car with kids for the first 25 minutes, then, when Adam came back from the trails, we all put our jackets on and ran around playing soccer and running little races. Not a ton of real exercise. But it was a lot of fun. We will probably go back there often because the kids loved it so much. And hopefully it won't be raining next time!

Thursday: Better day for running. Did 6 on the treadmill, with the gradual speedups as usual. Starting at 10 min pace then working my way up to 8:30ish. Anyhow, felt pretty good and enjoyed it all thanks to Neal Caffrey and some old White Collar episodes I haven't seen in a long time. Nice way to pass the run. Even felt like I might want to go longer, but the kids had already been getting anxious for that last half mile or so, so I decided it was time to stop. Total time was just over 55 minutes.

Friday: Took an impromptu trip to NOVA with the kids to hang out with my momma. So that evening, I used her elliptical while she did the bike. did 45 minutes at a good pace, resistance level 4, whatever that means.

Saturday: Had to make the drive back home to Buena Vista, And this pregnant lady felt completely drained. Was tempted in my mind to try and fit something in, but the body said it just wasn't going to happen. The hot car ride had left me stiff and dehydrated... and hungry for dinner. So I just played with the kids at the park in the evening and called it good.

Definitely not meeting the mileage goals anymore, but I have realized the obvious and clear pattern to my workouts that has made me okay with changing the goals. It is clear that I usually have 2-3 good running days most weeks, each one followed by1 or 2 not so good days where my leg hurts again and doesn't want me to run much, if at all. So, until the leg pain finally goes away for good (which at this rate, may not be until post-pregnancy), I'm going to try to work in 1-2 recovery/cross-training days after each longer or harder run that I do. Coach Adam and I have decided that the main thing needs to be to try and get a minimum of 30-45 minutes of whatever I decide to do those days (walk/run, walk the stroller, workout videos, whatever). This way I can try to maintain my fitness level as much as possible, while cutting down the miles to try and give my leg/ankle a rest and hopefully a chance to heal itself the rest of the way. Nothing exciting, but I feel good about it all and know it's the best way to proceed from here. Then we can reevaluate later.

Cross-training, here I come.

Odd Week for Workouts

Okay, so maybe the week itself hasn't been that odd. Maybe it's just me. Either way.


Tuesday: The kids needed to get out, and I wanted some time in the sun, so I decided to try for a long walk/run. Mostly walk, with just some running on the downhills (which is almost impossible to avoid anyway with the double stroller pulling you on those steep grades). Anyway,the street we live on is quiet and safe to walk with the stroller, and it's just a .75ish mile loop. So I did lots of loops.... well 4 miles worth of loops, then some out and back over and over on the milder side of the loop since the steep hills on the other side were starting to make my ankle/shin flare up again. The kids were asleep before the first mile hit, and I had the convenience of passing the house for a bathroom break and such, which was nice. But yeah, ended up pushing those 100+ lbs in the afternoon heat for 5.6 miles. Not bad... and definitely a workout. Took me a little over an hour and a half, including bathroom breaks and helping kids while they were awake.


Wednesday: Not my best day. I wasn't feeling well to begin with, but thought I'd force myself onto the treadmill anyway. But alas, even starting at a super slow pace, my ankle was killing me (I'm assuming from walking all those hills with the stroller). So I gave in to the pain and called it recovery/rest day instead.

Thursday: Woke up feeling terrible, like first trimester all over again nausea and such. Not fun. So after lying around wishing I could feel better for the first half of the morning, I decided.... "The Lord doesn't want me feeling this way... or passing the day this way." So I got up, showered, ran some errands, and by afternoon, felt ready for a run. Did 5 on the treadmill, gradually speeding up from the slow 9's to fairly well under 8 for the last mile. Felt pretty good. Total time was 42:44.

Friday: Another non-motivated day. Didn't feel up to running at all, and my ankle was hurting. So I followed one of Coach Adam's old sayings he always gives me on these days... "Just do 2... you can do 2." Some days this ends up being 4 or 5, but it only turned unto 3 this day. 3 slow miles at a steady 10 minute pace. No fun, but it was done.

Saturday: Best run I've had for a while. Adam went out and did his 20-miler nice and early, so that I could meet a new running friend by the river trail at like 8:30. It was awesome. I don't get many (like not any) opportunities to run with people, but it made such a huge difference. The time just flew by and I didn't think about it at all since we were talking the whole time. We did run pretty good for my current state though. We ended up doing a little under 7 miles in... well, I can't remember now, but it was under an hour. I think we were between 8:30 and 8:45 pace for most of it. And the trail was very nice. Had to jump some puddles and branches, but it was very pleasant. Great way to end an off week.

Side note: We finally tried out a green smoothie recipe this week, and I have to say, we loved it. Of course, we did choose one of the sweeter-looking ones without a lot of crazy ingredients. But it was yummy, and I was more than pleased to watch my children happily consuming something with a good amount of spinach in it! Miracles do happen! If you want to try the one they like, it's a Paula Deen (of course... she's the only one I trusted to have a green smoothie that actually tasted good and sweet). hahaha.