Purdue half (2016)

Race report:
I knew going into this one that my main constraints were going to be lack of training, ongoing healing from delivery, and lack of sleep, and sadly there wasn't much I could do about any of them! Thursday night I got about 2 hours of sleep, so I went to bed as early as I could on Friday and was asleep by 9. I woke up around midnight absolutely soaked in sweat and freezing cold (one of those lousy hormonal post-delivery things that hits me every 3rd or 4th night), so I changed all my clothes, rolled up in a dry blanket, and tried to sleep a little more, then at 1 am Matthew's swing totally gave up the ghost. Fed him at 1, 3, and 5 with about 80 minutes of sleep in between each feeding, then got up at 6:45 and got ready. Drove down to the parking lot and fed him in the car again up until the last possible minute in hopes that he wouldn't go crazy before I was done!

I found my friend who was running her first half--we run different paces but were thinking we'd hang together for the first few miles and see how it went pace-wise. We lined up with the 10/mm pacer since she told me she normally ran about 9:30-9:40/mile and wanted a 2:10 finish, so I figure we would shoot for around 9:55 average for the first couple of miles and see how that felt. . Started off out of the stadium parking lot and first mile along Cherry was 9:38--I felt kind of bad because I kept telling her to slow down on this mile--that adrenaline is hard to combat! We walked through the water stop in the second mile (10:07), but she was already struggling with the pace and asked me multiple times to just go ahead. I felt pretty bad leaving her but I also didn't want her to feel pressure to go faster and I knew I couldn't slow much and still make it back before Matthew got crazy hungry.

Third mile was 9:41--nothing really interesting about this. Walked through the water stop again hoping my friend would catch up but when I couldn't see her I figured she was too far back and I needed to just run my own race. 4th mile we got the first decent downhill on Salisbury (9:26) and then the fifth mile was almost all downhill across the bridge to Lafayette (9:06) and skipped the water stop. I was taking Honey Stinger chews every 2.5 so I grabbed my second one here. This mile also made me realize that I couldn't go much faster than the 9:30 pace, since I started to really feel it in my pelvis (that's been getting steadily better since delivery but I sure didn't want to push it!), so I took it back a notch and felt much better.

6th mile was 9:39. This is where we started to hit the hills again in Lafayette that I was dreading, so I reminded myself to just keep a consistent effort and not worry about pace. Ran under one of the church clock towers just as it started chiming, which was really nice coupled with all the steeples and scenic downtown/fall leaves. Walked through the next water stop and slowed a bit with the hills to keep effort the same for mile 7 at 9:59. Mile 8 back over the bridge was 9:36 and then mile 9 with the first of the hills I was REALLY dreading was 9:53...that's the seemingly eternal gradual uphill to Chauncey. It really wouldn't be that bad except all the short steep rollers preceding it in Lafayette wear you out and it's at that crappy point in the race where you've come a long way but haven't hit the double digits yet, so it still feels like a long way left! Then we ran forever through campus, which is a different route than I remembered, so I kept wondering when the heck we were going to turn (and also trying to not think about the fact that I could just turn NOW and be back at the parking lot within 5 minutes!).

Finally turned and ran past the new Co-Rec for mile 10 at 9:37, then down the Engineering Mall and tried to mentally gear up for miles 11 (9:56) and 12 (10:14), which were the second set of hills I was dreading--the two back to back hills on Stadium (mile marker 11 was just before the top of the first hill) and then immediate right turn to McCormick and more uphill. I seriously felt like I could have been walking faster on this part than I was running at the 11-mile marker--this was also the first place where I noticed a headwind during the whole race (of course!). I told myself it would turn into a tailwind during the last mile, but I know my HR was awful at this point and I felt pretty nauseated and awful. Once we cleared the hills I felt much better and was able to enjoy the last mile (9:34) and passed SO MANY PEOPLE, which is always nice to do that late in the race! I was consistently passing about three times as many people as were passing me for most of the race, but in the last mile I passed 34 people and was only passed once, which was nice. Downhill to the finish and last .14 was 1:03. Passed Neil and kids as I ran into the finish chute, then met up with them and waited a good 30 minutes for the kids' fun run (which gave me the opportunity to sit down suddenly before passing out, wish that there were more Porta-Potties, and very classily feed Matthew on a curb underneath a giant blanket). Walked the half-mile to the car, which really helped with post-race stiffness, then home to my shower and some Tylenol with codeine for my grumpy body that was like "are you kidding, just had a baby, let's lie around and eat cupcakes instead of this craziness."

Chip times still haven't been posted; Garmin time for 13.14 was 2:07:26 (9:42/mile).

Random thoughts:

1) Kids' fun run was AWESOME. I loved loved loved this part. Look at the hand-holding! The intensity!! (Jules was feverish and Isaac kept her company.)

2) Neil went to the store after dropping me off, bought cider, and then added his signature spice blend to it and brought me a thermos of hot spiced cider. That was pretty much the best post-race drink ever...I always get SO freezing cold after a race and that was the perfect antidote! Three cheers for him!

3) My current PR is on this course from last year. I hate this course in terms of runnability--there are so many hills--pretty much the entire time you are going up or down, and the big downhill is in the first part of the race, so the last half really is rough. It's beautiful and you run past lots of gorgeous trees (fall is the perfect time for this!) but I wonder what kind of PR I would be able to set at the Mini?

3) I'm really glad I ran so much through my pregnancy. It got pretty hard at the end there with nerve pain in my leg, and I can tell that I'm not 100% healed, nor do I have the fitness that I would have liked to have, but all in all, I don't feel like I crashed and burned during the race the way I was worried I might. :-)

1/23 and rest of week

1/20: First no-stop run today! 3 miles in 32:43, then walked half a mile to cool down. Walked 2 miles last night a few hours after the 14 bike. Leg was kind of achy this morning but totally fine after the run. I think this means my body is a little too good at producing endorphins. Can't wait for that MRI so I can have some peace of mind and stop second-guessing everything.

1/21: Crappy SRD

1/22: 4 miles in 44 flat this morning, plus arm weights. No stops and this is my longest run since IMM! Leg felt much better, so I decided to just start slow (12/mile) and just see how I did, since I would have more time for a longer bike ride tomorrow and would rather fit the run in today. Gradually increased speed over a couple of miles as I warmed up and then settled around 10:46/mile...no pain and felt like I could run forever, but I decided to limit myself to only 1 additional mile. Now fingers crossed that I keep feeling good today and tomorrow!

1/23: OUTSIDE today with DH! Somewhere between 4.5 and 5 miles (Garmin battery was low and quit right after we turned around); most running but a few 2-minute walk breaks towards the end (shin ached on the uphills after 3 miles, so I walked those). About 4 miles was on trails and it was SO great to be out in the woods again, especially doing some off-trail bushwhacking. I probably pushed it a little much doing a longer run like this back-to-back with the 4 yesterday, but we got some kind of crazy news yesterday about one of our kids and we both really needed the mental clarity of a trails run. So I have no regrets. :-) Arm weights to finish at home.

catching up

Okay, here goes:

Thursday: walked 4 miles
Friday: already in labor, walked about 2.5 miles with Neil & the boys trying to regularize contractions, walked another 15-20 minutes around the circumference of the hospital parking lot, walked another 1/3 mile in the hospital halls before the contractions were too bad and Neil had to carry me back to the delivery room (he was born about an hour later).  Really, really, really rough delivery.  Like really awful.  I could barely get out of bed for the next couple of days.

Monday: walked half a mile and it totally did me in for the day.
Tuesday: walked 1.2 miles and did half an hour of yoga
Wednesday: (today, 5 days postpartum) ran a slow mile (about 11:20) to see what I would feel like later.  Didn't want to push it because I'm taking the kids to the zoo after I take baby Nathan to the pediatrician.

5 miles, 3 days to go

I never got a chance to run again last week--it was SO busy.  Lots of walking and yoga, but no time where I was able to fit in the time to get sweaty, shower, and recuperate.

I ran 5 miles this afternoon at 10:54/mile...slow and steady.  I had tons of energy, surprisingly--I felt like I could have gone a lot longer.  As a matter of fact, I stopped at four and started walking to cool down, and I still felt all jittery, so I started running again (I would have kept running after the 5-mile mark, but I ran out of time).  Stopped at 1.5 & 3.5 for water.

Honestly, if this doesn't start labor, I don't know what to do next.  Five miles, kid!  Be born already!!

STATS:  5 miles; 10:54/mile +1.4 miles walking

another day, another run

Three miles tonight--I was so tired when I started, so I was going slow (10:54/mile) and then gradually picked it up to 9:13/mile mid-run, then gradually back down to 9:50/mile (average pace for the whole three was about 9:48/mile).  Water breaks at 1.2 & 2.2 miles (although that second was somewhat of a heart rate break too, since I was running the 9:13 pace and it started to feel not so good after a couple of minutes).  I did get a couple of pretty decent contractions, but they disappeared as soon as I stopped running--of course!

Nine days until my (theoretical) due date!

changing it up

I've been going back and forth on whether I run or walk...today I chose walking, mostly because running hurts so much afterwards (for about eight hours, which is why I've been running at night) that I've started to worry about going into labor and then having this horrible back pain to deal with.  And there are SO many things that I'm cramming into these last few days/weeks that it's hard to find a time where I can have that 8-hour recovery window!  I may be able to squeeze in a couple of miles tomorrow...we'll see. 

STATS:  5.2 miles walking @ 15:46/mile

proving something to nobody

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but tonight I ran 4 miles--nonstop--at about 9:54/mile.  Maybe it was just listening to music that helped, or maybe I just had more energy, but it was great to know that my body is capable of this at 38 weeks pregnant!! 

STATS:  5 miles; 4 miles running @ 9:54/mile, 1 mile walking for cooldown

running at night--yuck

Since I'm pretty much incapacitated in the evenings when I run afternoons, I've been running more frequently at night.  I really hate doing this.  I feel like I'm putting it off all day, which makes me cranky and short-tempered, plus I want to rush everyone into bed so I can finish my run early enough to go to bed at a decent hour.  I don't know whether it's better to limp around all afternoon and get the run over with, or to be able to walk without pain but then still have it to do at the end of the day when I really just want to crash.  Ho-hum.  (I definitely prefer running in the afternoon and taking a bath in the evening to soak away the achiness, but it's probably nicer for my family to have me not randomly collapsing as I walk, which tends to happen rather frequently if I run in the afternoon.) 

STATS:  6 miles; 3 walking in the afternoon and 3 running in the evening.  Running was hard tonight; I had to stop at .4 miles to go to the bathroom, at 1.1 miles to figure out why Isaac and Juliet were screaming at each other, at 1.4 miles to go to the bathroom again (seriously, I hate this!!) and then finished out the 3 miles.  Average pace running 10:46; so slow...I took it back up to 9:50 at the end but the contractions started, and I really can't have this baby until after Saturday, so we'll hold at the slow end until then. 

**I'm probably going to post more frequently now at the end, since I want a good record of the end of my pregnancy for the next time around.

experimenting

During today's run I decided to try a few different things.

First, I ran at my regular speed (9:50/mile).  That worked, but it started to get uncomfortable after about half a mile, so I walked for a couple minutes, then ran another half mile, then walked another two minutes.

Then I took my speed down to 10:54/mile.  And ran for another 2.1 miles before I started getting enough nerve twinges in my leg that I walked it out for three minutes, then ran the remaining .9 miles to finish out the four miles (then walked to cool down and finish out five miles.  I should explain that I only count running miles in the 4 miles, and walking breaks are then counted in the last cool-down mile to bring the total up to five).

So much as I'd like to keep my speed up, I think for now I'm going to run at a slower speed so that I can keep endurance up instead, since that always seems to be harder to regain than speed.  And hopefully once the baby is born the speed will come back more quickly, since I'll be considerably lighter and have more lung capacity!!

Best of all:  I honestly enjoyed the run today and felt like I could have kept going for another couple of miles--no fatigue!!  Hurray!!!

STATS:  5 miles; 1 @ 9:50 mile, 3 @ 10:54/mile, 1 @ 17:08/mile (walking to cool down)

37 weeks

After Monday's run I had contractions and back pain until midnight, so I promised Neil I would scale back today.  (Plus it was Abigail's birthday and I wanted to be functioning, not aching.)

So I walked 3 miles this afternoon, then started running after the children were in bed.  I ran 1 mile and started having contractions about halfway through; by the end of the mile it was bad enough that I couldn't run through it anymore.  I walked four minutes, ran another 1/2 mile, walked four, and ran another 1/2 mile (at which point I had promised Neil I would stop, plus the nerve in my right leg was going crazy and I would definitely have fallen had I been running outside without the treadmill bar to grab), then walked to finish out the last mile.  Five minutes seems to be the manageable point; much longer than that and the hurting starts. 

I'm not sure what my plan is from here on out.  I definitely can't run four miles straight.  I'm wondering if I should run intervals, run at a slower pace, or just walk for a week and then start running again (I really need to grade the final papers for this semester before I have a baby!).  We'll see.

STATS:  6 miles; ran 2 (9:50/mile), walked 4

**Reading over this I sound a little crazy.  I don't know why I'm still pushing to run at this point other than I can't imagine not running for a month...or two...

500 miles

Today's 4 miles brought me up to a total of 500 for this pregnancy.  All I have to say about today's run is that it was miserable.  The end. 

5K race recap

I did it!  So glad I did.  I prayed a lot beforehand about running it, and I felt that if I took it slow and didn't try to push myself the way I normally would, things would be okay. 

When I got to the race site this morning, a police officer told me I had to go find somewhere else to park, which was totally contrary to what the race organizers had said.  Aaaaahhh!!  I found a parking spot up by one of the fraternities about a quarter-mile away, and started off.  I asked a volunteer at the site if I could borrow a phone so I could call Neil and tell him that he'd have to park elsewhere, as he was planning to meet me at the end with the kids.  While I was dialing, the cannon went off and the race started!  So I quickly finished the call, jogged over to the starting line, and managed to wedge myself in behind a woman with a seeing eye dog and a guy in a wheelchair.  Everyone was walking, and it took me awhile to weave my way through and get up with the runners.

The very beginning of the race was a super-steep downhill.  I know some people (Neil, for instance) hate downhills, but I LOVE them!!  It's never bothered my knees, and I always feel a huge energy burst going downhill, so this was a great start for me.  A lot of people were walking down because the grade was so steep, which helped me to get ahead of the pack a bit.  It was pretty cold and sprinkling a bit, but I just was so happy to be running this that I didn't mind. 

The first mile was pretty easy--down the streets by campus and totally flat.  When we turned at the end of the first mile, we hit the looooong uphill that lasted for the next mile.  I ran up most of it, but I told myself that I HAD to stop about halfway up at the speed limit sign and walk.  The last time I ran up a hill I had pretty bad contractions afterwards that lasted for a long time, and I wanted to avoid that, plus I knew how worried my mom and Neil were about me pushing too hard, so I made myself a promise that I would walk.   I felt kind of weird just stopping the run and letting all these people pass me, but I also felt like it was a good compromise.  I walked for three or four minutes until the hill started leveling out again, and this gave me time to notice how tight my muscles were from the uphill.  Yuck! 

When I started running again, my legs felt AWFUL.  I told myself I'd run until the end of the song and then reassess, at which point I hit the lone water stop, paused to drink my little Dixie cup, realized there was only a single mile to go, and started off strong again--the leg pain had worked itself out. 


I ran the last mile at a pretty good clip.  It was great to be passing people consistently again and did a lot for my motivation.  The rain had cleared up, there was a brisk breeze, and I felt so great despite the gray cloudiness of the day.  During this last mile, I just felt so much gratitude for the healthiness I've been able to enjoy throughout most of this pregnancy and that I was able to reach this goal of running one final race a few weeks before my due date.  I was also really excited to see my family at the end, since I've never had anyone to greet me at the finish line before!  I started picking up speed as I rounded the last mile marker and entered the finish chute, at which point I saw Neil and the kids running towards the finish.  I yelled to Abigail and they all turned around and started waving like crazy.  It was such a great ending to the race and such a perfect start to the day.

My final time was 32:02, which I was happy with (the first mile was somewhere between 9 and 9:30 I think?)  It's not going to win me any records, but at 35 weeks pregnant and with walking 3 or 4 minutes of those 32, I was pleased.  And more than anything, I felt like this race was a great culmination to the last 8 months of runs and everything I've battled through to get to this point--still running!! 

the circled one is me, just before crossing the finish line

35 weeks

My big debate right now is do I run the 5K on Saturday, or not?  I walked the course with my mom last week and there's a pretty good hill (one that I dreaded running up during half-marathon training when I was NOT eight months pregnant).  It's about 6/10 of a mile uphill at a decent grade--not super steep, but one that is substantial enough to warrant use for hill training.  Ho-hum.  We'll see.  I haven't run on the road since December, which is my other hesitation...but I am really tempted to run this, because I've been motivating myself to keep running with this 5K in mind!!  (Does anyone even read this blog anymore, or am I talking to a void?)

I've been really low-energy this week...I stayed up too late (accidentally) on Monday night reading and it's been killing me ever since.  Last week I ran my 12 and then walked another 9 and my legs started aching a little bit, so I'm glad that's eased itself out now...I'm starting to have more shooting sciatic nerve pain in my back (in the evenings, not when running) and some other weird pain in my hips towards the end of my runs...fun fun.  There's that.

My run today went pretty well--I ran 3.35 miles and then stopped to take care of Jooj, then finished out the 4.  Walked another mile to cool down. 

STATS:  4 miles; 9:50/mile

34 weeks

I hope this is good training for labor, because I think I'm developing some serious willpower.  That's what running is coming down to for me these days.

Today I ran 3.2 miles, then I helped Juliet turn over her tape, walked for 4 minutes while I gulped down water, and ran my remaining eight-tenths of a mile.  The first few minutes of the run are SO hard for me!  I told myself that if I still felt as tired and yucky and dragging, I could stop after half a mile, walk for a minute, and then run again.  And then, minute by minute, I just talked myself into keeping going until I hit that 3.2 mile mark (also a lot easier to make myself start running again when there's less than a mile to go).

I'm starting to really worry about labor.  It's keeping me up at night.  Hopefully I can sleep better tonight after this run, because I've been struggling the last few days.  I can't believe I still have six weeks left...this feels like the longest pregnancy ever, probably because of all the problems and ultrasounds and doctor/hospital visits during the first trimester.

But if I can make myself run for another minute when I'm tired and my legs ache and my stomach feels weird, I can make it through contractions, right?

STATS:  4 miles; 9:50/mile, plus 1 mile walking to cool down

33 weeks

Feeling a lot better now that I've finished those antibiotics!  Today's run and Monday's run were more comfortable, although I'm still not pushing very hard at this stage in my pregnancy. 

Ran 2.1 miles today and then stopped for a drink and walked for 4 minutes to get my heart rate down (the walking break seems to help with the pain in my hips afterwards). Ran another half-mile, then leaped off the treadmill to stop the beginnings of a temper tantrum from Juliet, then finished out the last mile and a half. Steady pace of 6.1 throughout, not my favorite, since my calves hurt more when I run slowly, but I'm really trying to go easy on my joints.

4.1 miles @ 9:50/mile

strep!

So after being all whiny about feeling awful running earlier this week, I finally went in to the doctor today, after some serious encouragement from Neil (probably brought on by the fact that I was sitting on the bed crying at 11 am in my bathrobe.  I've really been feeling awful).  I kept waiting for things to get better, but they haven't, but I also didn't feel super horrible, and I would always start to feel better by the end of the day, and then the nights were bad...yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, I went to the doctor today, and found out that a) I have fluid in both ears b) the beginnings of a sinus infection and c) what is probably strep throat (she didn't culture it because the lab people are all out until Monday).  So.  I started my Z-pack and took my Mucinex-D and felt a lot better--surprise surprise! 

And since I felt jittery and headachy without exercise, I decided to try just a little after the kids were in bed.  The doctor at the student health center told me not to do anything other than lie in bed all weekend, but honestly that's foreign enough to my body that I think it would just make things worse, so I sort of ran very gently with walking breaks to see how it went. 

Feeling SO much better now--I ran 4 10-minute intervals (1 mile each, so I was running very slowly) with 4 minutes of walking in between to get my heart rate and breathing back down.  The coughing was a lot better with the walking breaks, and I really feel so much better after "running."  Hopefully I can sleep well tonight--I think just getting a solid 8 hours would make a huge difference, since I haven't been able to sleep more than 4 or 5 all week. 

32 weeks

Wow!  Proud of myself today for running--I've been sick for five or six days and after Monday's lousy run, I was not looking forward to today at all.  (But it was better than Monday--I wasn't nearly as nauseated, for one thing.) 

Stopped today @ 2.1 miles for water and walked for 4 minutes, since I was having trouble with coughing.  Stopped after another 1.3 miles for the same thing, it seemed a little silly to stop but I was glad I did since Jules came in just a second or two later asking me to get her a snack and flip her audiotape over to the other side.  Finished out the last .6 mile, then put Isaac on my bed with a snack while I walked to cool down and finished up with 5 miles (4 running and 1 walking).

Top speed today was only 6.2; I just never felt good enough to bump it up to 6.5, so I ran at 6.2 the entire time. 

STATS:  4 miles @ 9:40 (plus cool-down)

31 weeks

I talked to my doctor last week about running--she was surprised that I was still going, but said it was fine as long as I wasn't having any serious issues.  So I'll just keep going.  I'm starting to daydream about what it's going to be like to run after the baby is born, I've gained just under 20 lbs and it is definitely wearing on my joints to have that extra weight. 

4 miles; 9:30/mile

30 weeks

Oh man!  I don't know how much longer I can keep running--my joints are REALLY starting to protest.  The running itself usually isn't that bad, but I usually have to take a hot bath every night to just soak away all the achiness.  I didn't run last Friday because we were driving up to Chicago (and I knew how much I would be hurting the next day, and I didn't want to be limping and grimacing all around the Field Museum, plus the 8 hours in the car and 2 hours sitting at the temple.  And it was SO nice to have a couple of days totally free from pain.)  I'm going to talk to my doctor about this tomorrow; I can make it work with the baths and the yoga to keep the pain at a manageable level, but I don't want to do any long-term damage.  I have this nightmare vision of irreparably stretched ligaments or something like that. 

Anyway, today I started to feel a little cramping in my stomach while I was running.  When it didn't go away, I stopped and took a drink and then finished up the last mile without incident.  But it makes me worry a little about how much longer I can go.  Any thoughts?

4 miles; 9:37 mile (slower at first and then speeding up for the last mile after my break)

29 weeks

Only four (slower ones) today--I was hoping for five, but a combination of Isaac waking up just as I finished the fourth mile and a general feeling of malaise kept me at four. Oh well--the plus is that hopefully my hips won't hurt as much later tonight.  I'm still feeling pretty good when I run, but I definitely feel it later.  Thank goodness for my oversized bathtub, since it's becoming my best soak-the-pain-away friend. 

4 miles, 9:36/mile