New shoes

I took a break from running for a few days because my feet were killing me. I started looking at stuff online and figured my ankles needed more support than my shoes were giving. My parents were in town so my mom and I (and Caitlin) went shopping Saturday. We stopped at the VA running store http://www.varunner.com/ in Woodbridge and I got fitted for a new pair of shoes. It was great - they measured my feet, watched me run in a few pairs of shoes, and really worked with me to find a pair that worked. I ended up with the same brand I usually get, New Balance, but they have more "stability" than my other pair http://www.newbalance.com/running/footwear/WR769/.

Chris also set up (with my dad's help) my old tv on a wall-mount right in front of the tv. So today when I ran I watched part of the movie Transformers. Dorky, I know, but it kept me entertained! I'm also starting a running/walking program. Basically, I'll run for 4-5 minutes and walk for 1. It worked out really well, I'm still running slow but I'm ok with that. I walked for 5 minutes and ran/walked for about 35 minutes. I only did a little over 3 miles but it's better than nothing!

Post-race blues?

It's been too long since I updated this blog! I think I had some post-race blues after the 5k and I was overwhelmed that I only ran 3 miles and the 1/2 marathon has 13 miles :(

I also think I'm dealing with a couple of minor sores/injuries. My heels are bothering me and from what I can gather from my running books and the internet I might have plantar facsciitis, which is basically heel pain. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/plantar-fasciitis-topic-overview I can't figure out if I'm still supposed to run or take it easy. Right now I've been taking it easy although I did run yesterday. I went verrrry slooooow and it was painful to walk after.

Right now I'm considering beginning a running/walking plan for the race. I still have almost 9 months to train and I've found some good programs that, for example, incorporate 4 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking. I think that might be a better idea in the long run for me. One woman I read used that program and finished in 2 hours! The cut-off is 3.5 hours so that's a really good time in my book. I'm just hoping to finish in one piece :)

Survived the 5k!

3 miles down, 10 to go!

Happy to say that I did indeed survive the 5k, although I really only ran a few minutes longer than I'm used to. But my body did seem to notice that I kept running past the usual 25 minutes. I'm not sure of my exact time, I think it was around 31 minutes, and that's what I expected. I stopped once to tie my shoe and jogged the rest. I ran with a co-worker which was great. We chatted a bit but once I started wheezing I wasn't much of a conversationalist :) I'm I slowed her down but we both agreed we weren't considered with time, just finishing. The weather was cold but dry. Just my luck that last weekend I was running outside in shorts and this morning I had gloves on. It even snowed yesterday! I'm over snow - I'm definitely ready for nice weather.

Now I need to wean myself off the couch to 5k program and start thinking about training for the 1/2 marathon. I'm an English nerd so of course I bought 3 different running books with 3 different training programs. They range from 14-20 weeks. Since the race isn't until January I think I'll double the training time and see how that goes.

5k on Saturday

I'm skipping ahead a week or two in my running program to run a 5k this Saturday, wish me luck! My co-worker found a 5k in old town Manassass which isn't far from our house. Chris is going to watch Caitlin while I run. I ran two 5ks when I worked at "US News & World Report," but that was a few years ago. I'm up to running 25 minutes now which is about 2.5 miles for me - I'm hoping to run the 5k in 30 minutes but we'll see.

I'll post whether or not I survived later this weekend :)

No turning back now!

Chris and I just registered for the 1/2 marathon! Eeek - no turning back now! It was pretty expensive but at least a lot of the money goes to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. From what I've seen and read about previous marathon weekends it's going to be an amazing experience. Plus, and most important, I can say "I'm going to Disney World!" We're actually going twice in 2010: January for the race and December for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary :)

I started week 6 of the 5k program, and it's still going really well. Yesterday I ran 20 minutes without stopping... well, I stopped once to get Caitlin up from her nap but since I had to go up two flights of stairs and carry her downstairs I figure it was still exercise. Today it was back to interval training (run for 5, walk for 3, run for 8, walk for 3, run for 5) but now the times go from 20 minutes to 25 minutes. At the end of this week I'll be up to running nonstop for 25 minutes. I'm planning on running a 5k in about 2 weeks hopefully! I'm running with a co-worker so I need to try hard not to embarrass myself :)

Checking in...

It's been really crazy lately at the school I teach at and I think that running has kind of kept me grounded. Last fall, while I was on maternity leave, one of our teachers passed away in his sleep. It hit the kids and faculty really hard. About a week ago a 9th grader (along with her mother and younger brother) was shot and killed by her step-father. Last Friday was the funeral and many of my 9th graders were there.

Sunday afternoon I got a call that a teacher in my department passed away Saturday night. Totally unexpected. She was in her early 50's (but she looked ten years younger) and in perfect health. Actually, she was one of the people I work with that inspired me to get into shape. Until a couple of years ago, Terri ran full and 1/2 marathons on a regular basis. We're all still in shock at school. Ironically, I thought of her last weekend when I was shopping at H&M because she shopped there a lot - she had amazing style.

I'm glad I'm still keeping up with running and I think it's helping me keep busy. I ran day two of week 5 yesterday. I ran 8 minutes, walked 5, ran 8, walked 5. The first 8 minutes were killing me until I realized Chris had just used the treadmill and left the incline at 4! I guess that's a drawback of sharing a treadmill :) The Disney 1/2 marathon is 50% full so we'll hopefully be signing up soon!

Ups and downs...

I'm finding myself lately torn between being really proud of myself for exercising on a regular basis and depressed because I still can't fit into all of my pre-pregnancy clothes. I know the saying "9 months on, 9 months off" but it's frustrating because some of my clothes fit ok and some won't even zip up :( I had a reality check today at the mall. I picked out a few cute tops at H&M to try on, plus a pair of pants and a skirt, and nothing fit. I got the pants in one size and the skirt in a size up and neither one came close to fitting. The shirts weren't too bad but my chest is still larger than normal. I'm afraid that if I buy tops now they won't fit once I stop nursing. I guess I'll hold off shopping for a few more weeks and hope that I drop some more weight.

On the bright side, I started week 5 of my program today and feel great. I walked 5 minutes to warm up, then ran 5 minutes, walked 3, and repeated that twice more. That's day one of week 5 - day two consists of running for 8 minutes and walking for 2 or 3 and day three is running for 20 minutes. I'm nervous about day three but then again just a few weeks ago running for 5 minutes nonstop scared me. I think starting slow has really been the trick to sticking with things now. I've been talking with a friend about running in a 5k in the next couple of months. Hopefully I can keep up the enthusiasm until next January!

Overdue update

I haven't posted in a long time - school has been really busy lately and Caitlin is certainly keeping us on our toes!

I just started week 4 today and I'm pretty sore. This week is jog for 3 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, jog for 5 minutes, and walk for 2 minutes repeated twice. I went a little over 2 miles, including a 5 minute warm-up and cool down.

Good news in the weight department: I finally am inching closer and closer to my pre-pregnancy weight! I was stuck at 150 for a long time but now I'm about 146. Some of my pants fit and some still don't. Hopefully by the spring I'll be able to fit into everything. I really need some new clothes but I want to wait until I lose all of the baby weight.

Snow day!

We finally had a snow day today! Luckily we found out last night but I was too tired to celebrate with my usual glass of wine :) I decided to take advantage and ran before lunch while Caitlin was hanging out with Chris. It's hard to run when I'm home alone because the basement is freezing. If Caitlin is down with me I'll turn on the gas fire and cover her with blankets - she doesn't seem to mind but the treadmill is right by the fire so I'm sweating! It's much easier when Chris can keep her upstairs or she's napping in her crib (thanks Mom and Dad for our baby monitor!).

I think running is finally catching up with me. I feel sore all over today and am really tired. It's probably because though I ran I did absolutely nothing the rest of the day so my body is confused :)

Hoping for a delay tomorrow so I can sleep in a bit. Well, at least have breakfast at home for once!

Day Three

Just finished my third workout from week one. You're supposed to do three workouts in one week but I'll probably do it two more times before going to week two. I ran at a higher speed today and still feel good. Sore, but in a good way.

I decided to get on our Wii after running for fun. I haven't been on it since I was about 5 or 6 months pregnant - I stopped doing it partly because it couldn't understand why I was gaining weight.... yeah, they don't have a pregnancy option. Luckily today I was a few lbs below the last time I did it so that was good. The bad thing was I did the fitness test and my Wii age was 43!

We finally got snow today so I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow. We had a teacher workday today but they kicked us out at noon so I didn't get as much done as I needed. Fingers crossed I'll have tomorrow at home to plan!

Day Two

Chris decided it would be funny to take a picture of me on the treadmill - ugh, I really need to keep working out! This was our Christmas present to each other and so far we've been using it a fair amount. Chris likes to run outside but it's too cold for me! Plus it's easier to use the treadmill when Caitlin is napping or when she's in her swing in the basement.

I did the same workout as yesterday: warm-up for 5 minutes, run/walk for 20 minutes, walk again for 5 minutes. I'm also doing sit-ups and a little arm exercises with my 5lb weights.

Workout day one

I'm starting out with the couch to 5k program and today was my official day one. I did about 30 minutes total on the treadmill, including 5 minutes of warm-up and 5 minutes to cool down. The bulk of the workout was 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking. I found an audio to play on my ipod telling me when to walk and when to run which was great. Chris has our tv downstairs hooked up to a computer so I could go on pandora and listen to music through that.

I'm going to try again tomorrow along with finishing laundry, cleaning, and grading. I did some laundry today but then I had to make a dip for a friend's party. The party was fun except Caitlin was not a happy camper so we had to leave early. Of course as soon as we got home she was all smiles and fell right asleep! I think we have a little homebody on our hands! :)

First post

I've thought about running in a Disney marathon for a few years now and this year I decided to go for it. Of course I decided this while I was about 7 months pregnant and couldn't actually run so it was easy to talk about it without actually training! Now my beautiful baby girl is 3 months old and I've run out of excuses. Time to start training! My husband (who thinks this is just an excuse to visit Disney World again... ok he's half right) has been running for a couple of months now and I'm way behind. I didn't realize how much my body changed when I was pregnant and I'm now starting from scratch. I'm planning on doing the couch to 5k program http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml first and working my way up from there. Wish me luck!