Time Flies

Time certainly flies when you're busy. Work's been hectic, and home has been hectic as well. We really need some more employees at work, especially since one recently left, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. We could use some more people at home as well, to help with the house and kids. Things will be getting easier at home, luckily, since this is the last week of  coaching lacrosse for J and school's almost out so she won't be tutoring much longer either.

I've been running, though not as much as I'd like. There have been too many nights where I've gone to bed too late and just decided to sleep in--like last night. I may be racing a 5k this weekend, depending on how the rest of the weekend goes. I haven't run a 5k for a few months, and would like to see where my fitness is. In other running news, I may have found an occasional training partner, but I'll elaborate on that once I have some more details.

The Good, The Bad, and a Realization

I won my race yesterday. One of them anyway. Despite only signing up for the 2-mile, I also participated in the relay, where my team lost. We had the lead going into the last leg, but their anchor was much faster than ours. I lead the 2-mile from start to finish, fending off a challenge over the last laps. I'm not sure exactly how close second place was to me, but I heard people yelling for him to pass me. I unleashed my barbarian kick and held him off to finish first.

This morning I only managed two miles. I felt a little sick last night before I went to bed, but felt OK this morning when my alarm went off, so I went for my run. My stomach started to bother me, and while I didn't feel like I was immediately going to be sick I felt like if I kept running I'd get sick. I stopped at the two mile point of my run, which because I loop around is only about a half mile from my house, and I walked home.

I think I may be trying to run a little too much right now, and it's not leaving me feeling very good. I'm going to back off a little on the mileage, aiming for 60 instead of 70 mpw. I need to be training consitently, and I think backing off a bit will help me be more consistent and lessen the peaks and valleys I'm going through now.

A Kick in the Butt

Every once in a while I need a swift kick in the butt to keep me on track, to keep me moving toward my goal. I need someone to drag me out the door, to say "Come on, we're going running."

After a good M-F's worth of running, where I did get my 50 miles in, I fell apart over the weekend. Saturday I ran six miles pushing the kids, and then Sunday I didn't run. Both days I chose sleeping in instead of running. I probably could have gotten a run in Sunday, but with the changing Mother's Day plans I didn't know exactly what we were doing until it was too late.

Monday morning came too early, and while I did get up and start my run, I didn't make it very far before deciding to bag it and head back home. I was still tired, and my legs felt heavy and stiff. I got back into bed and slept for another hour.

Today I ran 10 miles that went pretty well. Tomorrow's the big day, Fitness Day, where the agency I work for holds running/walking events on the track of the school that's next to our building. Two years ago I won the two-mile, and last year I came in third. This year I hope to reclaim my title.

What Are You Doing There?

This morning was pretty warm, and I had a decent sweat going when I got back from my run. I stood outside for a minute or two and then turned around to go in, and who do I see standing at the door? Puff. It was only a little after six, so he was up early. Normally when he gets up early he goes to find mommy, but today he came downstairs. He must have wanted to find his book, because that's what he wanted after I got inside. He wanted to read Richard Scary's Funniest Storybook Ever. Luckily he cooperated and came back upstairs with me and got back in his bed to read his book and play with the matchbox car and wooden train cars I gave him. Mommy had been out late last night and was still sleeping.

I ran the same loop as yesterday, except today I added a mile at the end to give me 11 for the day. I felt a little sore, but not too bad.

4:24

It sucks when you wake up a few minutes before your alarm is going to go off. You can't go back to sleep because of the anxiety of the impending alarm, but you don't want to get up just yet either.

Despite the alarm problem, I had a good run this morning. I ran ten miles, in a combination of two loops. I had one of those runs where it just flew by. So far this week I've run ten miles three days in a row, putting me right on schedule for my goal of 50 miles from Mon-Fri. A long run Saturday and then whatever I feel like Sunday should give me a good total for the week.

A question: if you wanted to ask someone if the Metro train you were on went to a certain stop, and there were a bunch of people around you, why would you ask the guy wearing headphones, who probably can't hear you anyway? I was on my way home from work, listening to my iPod, when I was asked the question. I think she asked twice before I could stop the music and could hear what she was saying, but then I could understand her because of her heavy accent. Eventually, she appeared to get frustrated and turned away.

Change in Plans

Today was supposed to be my long run, about 15 miles. About two miles in, I realized it wasn't a good day. I was tired, and my stomach didn't feel too great. The first part of the run is a five-mile loop that ends with me coming back to the house, taking a Gu and some water, and heading out for another ten miles. Today when I got back to the house I ran up to the end of the street and back for another mile, and then called it a day. I just wasn't feeling up to the long run, so I cut it off at six miles. Hope evryone else had a better run than me.

Wednesdays and Fridays

I'm not sure what the deal is, but the last two weeks I have not been able to get myself out of bed to run on Wednesday or Friday morning. I know that going to bed late the nights before doesn't help, but I'm still disappointed in myself for missing the runs.

Yesterday I ran the first double in a long time, eight miles in the am and then four more with the kids in the stroller in the pm. I didn't do anything wild with the kids in the stroller the most exciting part of the run (for the kids anyway) was seeing the trucks that were working in one of the driveways of the houses we ran past.

So far this week I've run 34 miles, over the three days that I've actually run. I'm getting solid mileage in when I run; I just need to be consistent, in both my running and my recovery.

Tired

I haven't updated for a while, but rather than write an extended entry about my absence, I'll just summarize. Last week I ended up with 52 miles and the week before that 70. The first two days this week were 10 and 12 miles.

This morning when I got up I had that I'm so tired I feel like I'm going to fall over feeling, so I went back to sleep. I guess the 12 miles combined with only about five hours sleep didn't leave me in good shape. I may run tonight; we'll see how the evening goes.