Thursday, October 28, 2010

10/28

Whew!  The running is getting difficult these days--not the run itself, but just finding time.  The children--the blessed, blessed, saintly children--have started sleeping in until 8 am.  Neil leaves at 6 and I go back to sleep until 8, so I think I'm officially saying goodbye to my morning runs.  I loved having the run over and being ready to go early in the day, but the extra two hours of sleep is making all the difference in the world. 

So naptime runs it is, although I worry about running on the treadmill for the baby's sake, since it's so much hotter than running outside.  I run with the window open and the fan on, but I really hope that things are okay for the baby?  Anybody know on this?  I've thought about running in the evenings, but I usually tend to be pretty nauseated at that point, so if I leave the run until the end of the day, it's just about impossible to make myself go (plus I don't want to leave when Neil is finally home!)

I feel like I've said this before, but pregnancy running is challenging for me, what with the exhaustion, the nausea, and the generally lower energy.  Every run is a victory, which sounds a little odd, but it's true.  So even if I don't keep running as long as I'd like, I'm proud of myself for just making it this far.  And hopefully farther. 

STATS:  4 miles; 9:05/mile (slower today because I honestly felt pretty lousy). 

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

10/26

Bad combination:

1) Running 10 minutes after eating dinner (it was literally the only time all day)
2) Running uphill into...
3)...post-tornado watch winds.

Seriously.  What was I thinking?!  I honestly think I could have gone faster at some points walking than running into the teeth of that wind.  At least the maple woods were breathtakingly beautiful. 

STATS:  4 miles, barely under 10/mile by my kitchen clock when I left/got home

Monday, October 25, 2010

10/25

I've been exhausted lately--I fell asleep last night just after nine and slept until eight this morning and I've still felt groggy and dizzy all day.  Blech.  Running in the morning is so much better for my mood, but I am really struggling to get enough sleep, and I don't know if it would be an improvement to get up at 6 again to run.  So frustrating.

Another treadmill run during naptime.

STATS:  4 miles; 8:41 first 2.6 miles; slowed to 8:49 last 1.4 miles

Friday, October 22, 2010

10/22

Another treadmill run today; I was hoping to run yesterday but the kids were so sick & cranky all day that it never happened between going to the doctor, pharmacy, parent-teacher conference,s and the grocery store.  So I just went to bed early instead, which means I likely won't hit 20 for the week.

My knees were bothering me a fair amount after the race; they started to ache a little today too.  I'm wondering if it's still just post-race stress, or if it's pregnancy affecting my joints.  I guess we'll see.

STATS:  5 miles; 8:41/mile

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

10/20

Four on the treadmill this morning.  I need to figure out a good way to get my winter runs in; I don't like running in the pitch-black morning and cold that have now taken over my normal 6 am slot; it's not much better at 7.  Plus, let's be honest, I seem to need about 12 hours of sleep right now, so getting up before 6 is awful.  It may end up being the treadmill most of the time.  Which, while not my favorite, is an option I'm grateful to have.

I need something new to train for; I need that drive and motivation.  I want to keep running about 20 miles a week as long as possible through this pregnancy, but it sure helps to have a race I'm working towards.  Of course, all the winter races are in places like Disney World, which isn't really on our calendar at the moment.

STATS:  4 miles; 8:41/mile

Monday, October 18, 2010

10/18

First post-race run today.  I wasn't very stiff after the race--at least not right away.  By about eight o'clock that night, my hips and knees were starting to feel like the bones were grinding against each other in their sockets, and I was pretty uncomfortable for awhile.  I ended up going to bed with heating pads on my knees and hips and managed to get up in the middle of the night only by walking along the wall for the first five steps.  I definitely prefer running on trails to crowned asphalt roads.

I felt a lot better today, but I still didn't want to run.  But I did in the end, mostly because I felt like I could run a shorter distance tonight and not feel guilty about it since I could play the "two days after race" card. 

STATS:  3 miles; 8:56/mile

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Official race stats

Indianapolis Half-Marathon

Time: 1:58:52
Pace: 9:05/mile
Div. place: 62/280
Sex place: 260/1580
Overall place: 820/2755
5 mile split: 44:20 / 8:52/mile

*Walked through water stops; 1 bathroom stop (dang thing cost me 2 minutes and was worthless!)

Half-marathon race report

First of all, let me get this out:  my time was 1:58:54.  Pregnant.  Allow me a minute of gloating to myself, because I am REALLY proud that I chipped 7 and a half minutes off my time from April's half (my first).  While pregnant. 

Okay, I'm done now.  :-)

Neil and I got up at 5:15 this morning and drove to Indianapolis.  We picked up our packets (sidenote:  it's weird seeing a bunch of runners all together because it's like what America would look like if there wasn't such a big obesity problem.  It made me realize how used to that I am when I was surprised by seeing so many slender and fit people), but it was icy cold, so we climbed back in the car for awhile and luxuriated in the warmth.  Then we decided to go over and go to the bathroom at CVS before the race, rather than a portapotty, although honestly, the portapotty would have probably smelled better--the CVS bathrooms had been very overused that morning.  We waited in line for almost 40 minutes (!!!) and then when we got out, we heard the last notes of the Star Spangled Banner drifting away in the breeze.  And Neil had still not tied his shoes, for some weird reason.  So we sprinted to the start line, and since we were in Corral C, we had to do a lot of running to get up to our place, since the corrals went back to H or so.  But we were both had a serious shot of adrenaline to start off!

This race is much more of a blur to me than the last two.  I ran to my iPod the entire time, since I start to slow down when I'm talking.  Pros were that I was more focused, cons were that I didn't feel as connected to Neil throughout the race since weren't talking much (and apparently I was talking extremely loudly). 

The first couple of miles were great.  I was running easily; we were going through a state park with gorgeous fall colors, and I felt fantastic.  Right about at the third mile marker we hit the first substantial hill, and we were back on the road, and that was not so pleasant.  I jogged up the hill making sure to stay in front of the 4-hour marathon pace group and decided I wouldn't worry about pace as long as they were in sight.  I actually managed to maintain a really even pace during this race, which was great--I think all of the training and speedwork really paid off in making me a more even runner without a tendency to run fast on the flats and then slow way down on hills.  Anyway.

Mile 5 is distinguished only because I felt my hernia scar hurting.  Then it went away.  Mile 6 was where I stopped to go to the bathroom because it seemed like a good idea, and I could NOT GO AT ALL.  I was so irritated that I'd wasted the time!!  Mile 7 was one of those really annoying doubler things where the people on the other side of the road already ran to a turn-around point, and you're just running wondering how far it is until YOU get to the turnaround point, which we did at mile 8.  I noticed the time at this marker was 1:14 something, which was encouraging because we only had 5 miles left and I was fairly confident at this point we'd make it in under 2 hours.  Miles 9-10 were another annoying turn-around thingie, except this one was really, really long.  And it also doubled back on the marathon course, so we could see the very front runners in the marathon on mile 17 or so.  We were also running through a bunch of leaveless walnut trees at this point, which I found annoying because they were very ugly, and I didn't like looking at them for so long (I know, it was a dumb thing to be irritated about, but...).  Just before mile 11, we were back in the woods and hitting the nasty hills.  Many people were walking up; I kept on running but it was pretty much willpower getting me through, since I could feel the lactic acid hitting my legs and some of the fatigue setting in.  Neil, on the other hand, was jumping up to grab branches and making them shower leaves down on the people behind him, which I'm sure they all loved.  Tall Man Not Running to Capacity Because of Slower Wife. 

Mile 12 was another willpower mile.  I knew that I was still within the time for a sub-2 half, and this thought kept me going.  Honestly, at this point I was very zoned in and focused.  I didn't feel good, but I was just extremely focused, and annoyed at the people trying to shove water at me.  Seriously?  You think I'm going to stop for water now

Mile 13 came and went somewhere, and I don't know when, because we could see the finish line from about 1/3 of a mile away, so I was really just looking ahead wondering how it was still so far away.  The guy next to me kicked my foot right as we were about 100 yards away and grabbed my shoulder to pull me back up, which I really appreciated, since it was probably my fault that we ran into each other anyway. 

I crossed the finish line at the same steady pace that I'd used the whole way--honestly, I don't think I could have sprinted if I'd wanted to, since I was just in my zone and running with the exact same tempo that I'd been using for the last five miles.  Right up until the very end, I was still passing people, which felt GREAT--the last guy I passed was probably 20 feet from the finish line?  It was pretty much the best thing ever to be consistently passing for the whole race, although some of that may have been due to the fact that I took the time to walk through every water stop so I could actually stay hydrated for the baby's sake.  And I didn't feel like passing out like I did after the April half, which was also awesome.  I really felt pretty good; Neil and I walked around and looked at all the tents and ate some food and I got an astronaut blanket, which helped control the crazy shivering I always have after I finish a run.

Overall, I was really happy with this race, not just that I met my goal of a sub-2 half-marathon, but I really felt like my training paid off.  During the last three miles, I was tired, but my body was so conditioned to just keep going that my legs took over and just did their own thing.  I must say that while I did MORE mileage overall, and did a lot more speedwork, than I did for my first half in April, the most I ended up ever running for the long runs was ten miles (the 11-mile run got knocked out by Neil's concussion, and we tapered to 7 instead of the 12 last week), but I think overall I was at a high enough fitness level that it wasn't an issue.  I think the last three miles, in a weird way, were actually easier than some of the middle miles. 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

10/12

More tapering--30-minute tempo run, although I didn't really bother with the tempo part; I just ran.

I started out at my normal warm-up pace of 8:40, but I felt nauseated after just two minutes.  So I slowed down and ran 3.5 miles at 9:02/mile.  I just have to keep telling myself to focus on mileage, not on pace, but it's hard to not want to push myself--it's a very different mentality that seems foreign to me after a year of trying to push myself to be tougher and faster.

On a sidenote, I've run 178.5 miles during this pregnancy so far.  Not too shabby. 

STATS:  3/5 miles; 9:02/mile

Monday, October 11, 2010

10/11

Four miles today--really struggling with fatigue.  This is always the hardest thing for me in early pregnancy, and while the running gives me endorphins, sometimes I'm just exhausted while I run.  It's not that my muscles are tired, or sore, it's just that I'm so tired that I spend all day in a haze of wishing I could lie down--not sleep, just lie down.  But at least I'm running.

STATS:  4 miles

Saturday, October 9, 2010

10/8 & 10/9

Starting tapering!  Hurray!  We're almost there.

Ran three last night; I was pretty tired so I didn't really start to enjoy the run until the last half-mile, at which point I thought about continuing, but I still had a ton of grading to do and it was dark enough that it was hard to see.

Ran a lovely seven this morning.  I'm not timing myself anymore, on the advice of more experienced pregnant runners, so I don't really know what my pace was, but it took me 71 minutes to run 7 miles, stop for water 4 times, find someone to unlock the nature center bathroom and then use the bathroom.  So I think that's pretty good. 

In our original plan we were going to run 12 today, but I'm glad we decided to just do 7 (Neil actually only ran 6, haha I won!) because all our kids are so sick that we couldn't have left them with anyone else, we have the longest to-do list today that we've had in months, and I just plain don't want to run run 12 miles by myself.  So I'm really happy with today's run.  Now I have to go mow the lawn.  The end. 

STATS:  3 miles 10/8, 7 miles 10/9

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

10/6

It wasn't until yesterday evening that I even thought about the fact that I needed to run; it just wasn't on the radar.  I've been grading like crazy every second that the kids are sleeping, and I'm seriously rethinking how much I can actually handle teaching-wise with three kids.

I went to bed last night dreading my run this morning.  I woke up all night because I was so stressed about having to get up and worried about not getting enough sleep, so of course I didn't sleep well!  When I finally was running this morning, it was such a relief to have it over, even if it was only 3 miles.  Tapering, I love you. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

10/4, 10/2, 10/1

Ran 5 this morning and 5 on Friday.  Saturday was supposed to be a long run, but after the awfulness of spending Thursday in the ER with Neil, I was a wreck.  Neil wanted to run, so we ran about five and a half together, but I was having awful stomach cramps around 5, so we decided to walk for a couple minutes (we were almost home) and then stop for Conference, which was just starting.  I thought about running on the treadmill during conference, but I was just feeling so sick like I was going to throw up any minute.  So then I thought I'd run after Conference.  I got up to go and I was so nauseated and dizzy.  I ended up showering and just sort of sitting on the floor feeling terrible.  I felt awful the rest of the day and had stomach cramps all afternoon until I finally went to bed that night.

Today I'm still exhausted.  I couldn't sleep last night because I was so stressed over the last week and how much I have to do this week.  My running partner mentioned that I shouldn't even do the 12-miler I have planned for Saturday (next Saturday the 16th is the half-marathon).  She suggested that I just start tapering this week.  I'm leaning towards this option because a) both people I regularly trade running babysitting with will be out of town this week b) I have been so tired plus Neil has a concussion and c) I'm 8 weeks pregnant.  Surprise surprise!  I'm not mentioning this on my regular blog because I don't want people to hassle me about still running, but it's affecting my running enough that I decided to go ahead and mention it here.  I don't want my body to be totally shocked by the 13 (although I don't care about time anymore and I just want to finish) so I don't know whether it will be better to NOT stress myself with the 12, or whether the thirteen will feel harder having only run 10 miles as my longest run this training period.  I have a TON of grading to do this week and I'm kind of an emotional wreck right now (lots of stress + pregnancy hormones + husband in the ER was a very bad combo!), so the idea of somehow wedging in 12 miles this Saturday is not very pleasant. 

So what would you do?  Try to fit in the 12, or just do a 6 or 7 and call it tapering?  Anybody have pregnant-and-running advice to share?