Thanksgiving Week

What a week! I had a great week! My workouts were amazing and I ate lots of food, visited with great friends and did some shopping. It was wonderful. I recovered from being sick last Sat/Sun. I did some hill/speed repeats, ran some great trails, and did the Incline two times. My little family ran the Turkey Trot 5k as well. It was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day. Harsha pushed the kids and I ran along side. Our time wasn't impressive, a little over 27 minutes, however there were over 1400 people running the race. Strollers start in the very back, so we had A LOT of people to go around. The kids kicked their legs and Harsha pushed his way around all those people. Ella kept taking her hat off, so we had to stop quite a few times to put it back on. And after all that, Harsha got first place in the stroller division and won $50 to Colo Running Company. He needs a new pair of running shoes, so that $50 will come in handy. I'm so proud.

I did have a big week, so my legs have been a little sore. I've had many weeks with no soreness, so this is a good sign. I love the weeks where I can feel the improvement... or at least, that's what I call it. I took the ladies on some trail runs and had so much fun. I think I inspired a few of them to go out and buy some trail running shoes. They realized how much more work it is to run trails and loved that! I love it for that reason as well as the quiet. I really enjoy being out with no cars and very few people around me.

So this coming week will be just as good. I can't follow up a great week with a weak one. I won't be running quite as much as last week, however I will be doing a long run next Sunday. The longest run I did this last week was eight miles, so I need to do one a little longer this coming week. It is almost December and I am still going strong. My goal is to keep it up throughout the winter and help motivate my friends!

Out Sick

Well it finally caught up with me. The last week and a half, I've been telling Harsha that I'm run down and feel like I am fighting something off. I thought it was a cold, but it was a horrible stomach virus. Not sure if it really was a virus. I went to Garden of the Gods this morning thinking I didn't feel too sickly and once I start running I'd feel better... that's not what happened. Halfway up the second hill, my stomach started churning. I kept a positive attitude and thought I can do this, but I couldn't. About 2.5 miles into it, I was hurting too badly and was worried I might throw up. I made it home and stayed in bed the rest of the day. I felt horrible - painful stomach cramps, hot/cold sweats, achy/sore joints and an awful headache. Around 6:30 this evening, I started feeling better. I ate some dry cereal, first thing all day. My stomach is still cramping up, but it isn't the double over, cry out in pain type cramping I had yesterday evening and most of today. So my longer run for the week wasn't completed. The positive to all this was my wonderful husband cleaned the whole house. Not just picking up type cleaning, he actually moved the stove out and cleaned behind it, those type of things I don't get to very often. It will be great starting the week with a clean house.

I really had an off week. I ran a couple times. I did have a great interval workout. It's been a long time since I've done that. My interval pace ranged from 7:15 to 7:40, depending on the length of it (quarter to one mile). I was really strong and didn't feel exhausted when done. I could have done a few more repeats. This next week should be a better week for working out. Hopefully I will feel 100%. We will be running the Turkey Trot with the kids. It should be a lot of fun. My baby's very first race :-)

And when I'm not trying, that's when I lose all the weight. I now weigh less than I did before getting pregnant with baby #2. I was curious, so I measured myself. My hips now come in at 36 inches, which is five inches less than after having the baby. I really thought they were huge hips... now I'm so much more comfortable with them. And my stomach is back to 25.5 inches. I feel very happy with my body right now. There is still some toning that I'd like to see, but it is getting there. When my clothes are on, I look GREAT! I love being able to say that.

Fall Series #4

I am done running the Fall Series. Race #4 was so much fun. I know I've said that about all the races in the fall series, but it is true. When we started, it was snowing so the rocks were extremely slick. Within the first half mile, I saw three people walking back because of twisted ankles. The race came out to 7.14 miles of very up and down single track trails. I pushed up the hills and took it easy on the way down. I felt strong, however I did fall down at the end... There was about a quarter mile left and we were running in a sandy ditch. When I was coming up the embankment, I lost my footing and fell. I'm so thankful it didn't happen up on the hills, because I would have been injured. With this fall, I sat there, in the sand, for about 15 seconds and got back up and ran to the finish. Now I can say I biffed it during the fall series!

I'm sad to be done with the fall series, but I've started planning the next races. Hopefully having a list of races I want to do will help keep me motivated to run regularly. I'm pretty motivated now, but it's nice having a race list to keep me committed. I had some great workouts last week and plan to do the same this week. I went to my spinning class this morning, even though my body was stiff from the race yesterday. I took it a little easy, but once I got warmed up, it felt great to keep going. I plan on doing a couple runs, another spin class, a few days of yoga and a few days of lifting. I used the race as my excuse not to lift legs last week, so I need to hit them hard this week. I've been great about doing arms, but that's because I can do it easily at home while watching the news.

I've lost another pound. I only have two pounds left before I'm at prepregnancy weight. I can wear my skinny pants now and they look great! My baggy pants are too baggy, so it is time to get the girlfriends together for some shopping. I think I'll be good with three or four new pairs of jeans. All my dressier pants fit great. I got most of those a few months before getting pregnant with #2, when Ann Taylor was having a big sale. I love those sales!

Another week has gone by!

Another week has gone by! The start of the week was pretty slow. I had a weird 48 hour head cold and an almost infection in my right breast. The infection wasn't a full blown one, thats why I say almost. The underside of my breast was bright red and the pain was horrible, of course. I applied heat, took advil, pumped and nursed as much as possible. It did the trick, because I was only in pain Mon - Thur. That wasn't too bad. I wish I wasn't having these problems with breast feeding, but I am. I think it's because I am working out more this time around than I did when Ella was nursing... my theory is it's the sports bras and that is a must when I'm working out!

I did do the Incline on Wed and held my right breast the entire run down the mountain. Talk about shoulder cramps! Better than hurting breasts though. Thursday and Friday I did easy runs and lifted. Saturday I did a great 6 mile tempo run (more if you count the warm up and coold down). When I woke this morning I was really feeling it, but I had plans to meet some friends for a run, so away I went. This morning we did about 8.25 miles in Garden of the Gods. We kept a great pace and did speed work up the hills. It was a lot of fun. My first experience of really pushing hard with this group of friends. It's so great to feel that motivation of having someone cheering me on, as well as forcing me to be the one pushing them... of course, I have to keep up my end of the bargain then. We kept our pace faster than 9:30 up all the hills. The last hill a few had to walk, however we made up for it by running the extra half mile hard. Such a great experience.

I do anticipate sore legs tomorrow. I was already sore before my run today, but tomorrow I'll really be feeling it. This week, I plan to do my spin class on Mon & Fri, incline on Wed, and throw in a few easy runs. Next Sunday is the final race of the Fall Series. It will be in Palmer Park, so the most difficult one of the series. I'm looking forward to it. I need to start working in some speed training. I've been saying that, just not doing it. I am feeling strong enough to do so, especially after my tempo run yesterday. I need to pick a few brains and come up with a good strategy. Right now my goal is to beat my Triple Crown race times from 2005. The only course that will be the same is the Ascent, but I can still compare them.