I Blame the IPad..and Dr. Oz..

So I've often thought about blog posts I wanted to write over the past couple months, but for some reason.. they just don't seem to happen. No excuse, really. I mean, yes, I'm 'busy' with the two boys and all.. but not THAT busy. But, I'm more likely to be surfin the interwebs these days on my ipad and typing blog posts on that is..not my favorite. I even got a keyboard thing that you can hook your ipad up to for Christmas! (my poor husband always gets me great gifts..that I then proceed to allow to collect dust because I'm too stubborn to learn new tricks) But that's an extra step and, again, just doesn't seem to happen. But since I don't journal or do any other cool method of tracking my kids lives along with my athletic endeavors, I'm going to make a solid effort to get back to keeping this bad boy running.. So here goes! I guess kind of a lot has gone on in the past 2+ months.. where to start.. We'll start with running. So I ran my first half a few weeks back. I guess that means this is my 'race report'? It was.. OK.. I think I maybe had some unrealistic expectations.. as usual. My training went fine. I followed Hal's plan and felt like I was set to go. My long runs felt good, but looking back, when your usual LSD pace is 9min/mi, does it really make sense that you'll all the sudden run over a minute/mi faster for the same or longer distance? I understand the concept of 'LSD' for building a base and for 'finishing' a race, but I'm thinking if I want to get faster at the half marathon distance, I'm going to need to run my longer runs faster..maybe long tempos, or long runs with a set amount of 'race pace' miles in there? I'm using the 'advanced' training for my next half, which is 2 months away, and it has some of those things in there, so we'll see. Though, I'll explain later why that is not going to be a PR kind of run. So anyway, back to my 'race report'.. I ran the Sam Costa 1/2 Marathon on March 23. It's a smaller race and early in the season, so I really liked the low stress smaller race and using this run as a 'starter' for the season (too bad I thought it was going to be an 'A' race? seriously.. hind sight really makes me look like an idiot). So I met up with my ol tri buddy, Ashley. It was great to get to catch up with her. After last season completely away from racing (growing a human, you may recall), we haven't seen a whole lot of each other. I knew we weren't going to run together.. she's been training her run a LOT and had a BQ last yr, so out of my league right now.. which is fine. At the start, I felt ready, but oddly nervous.. like I hadn't done this before? I think I'm just way out of practice. I started off fine. My plan was to hold 8min miles..the whole time.. So. Obviously, when you plan to hold 8's, you start out in the 7:40 range, yes? NO??! Hmmm. By a couple miles in, I started to get the feeling that I wasn't going to be able to hold my goal pace. By about 6 miles in I felt myself looking ahead for.. what, exactly? I was looking for some kind of 'break' point? Like a transition, or something? But then I remembered that I'm running a half marathon..ya dummy..and there's no stop until you're done. I kinda knew I was in for a rough one at that point, but I kept plugging along as my pace slowly, slowly...got slower. I was hanging in with the 8:30 crowd for a bit. Then for the last couple miles it was all I could do to keep below the 9min range. I felt bad.. usually in a race I'm the chipper, smiley lady congratulating people and offering ever-so-helpful "keep it up" and "looking good"'s, but not this time.. This time I felt like, instead of thanking all the volunteers (and there were a ton.. this was a turn-heavy coarse, so there were people at every corner telling us which way to go), I felt like my eyes were pleading with them to tell me how to make it stop. But I kept plugging away..until we finally did reach the end.. I crossed in something like 1:52/1:53.. I have no idea. I forgot to stop/check my watch and didn't really look at the clock, either. I'm sure the official results are somewhere on the world wide interwebs for all of posterity. So some have said: "that's a good time", or "that's not too far off from your goal" (which was 1:45, which is my previous PR..which I got under someone else's name and therefore is not really 'mine' yet)..and that's all true, but I think the bigger kicker for me wasn't that I didn't reach my goal, but how I felt in the run. The half felt long.. it used to feel like something you just do on a tuesday before breakfast just because.. so it was weird for it to feel so...loooong. And I was pretty wiped. Even my abs and where my c-section scar is (too much?) hurt. I wasn't prepared for a hurt like that, especially when I felt like I ran so slow.. but I guess my pace wasn't so much by choice, but by default. Maybe if I had set out at an 8:40 (or whatever a 1:52 half mary pace averages out to) pace and just held that, I would have felt better.. But since I, instead, went out fast and was forced to slow down.. it hurt. ANYWHO.. enough negativity. I did the run. I had fun catching up with a friend. It was a nice day for a run... Uh...that's all I have to say about that! I did learn that I have a long way to go, as far as improving my run..so that's always fun. And I decided to back off of my full marathon plans for this fall and will, instead, continue to work on the half distance and see if I can't somehow get faster there before I move on to the full. Biking and Swimming? Absolutely nothing to report there. My swim has gotten slower as I've been in the pool less and less regularly. I just can't seem to get excited about it.. maybe when the outdoor pool is open? As of now, I haven't signed up for any tri's, but I'm thinking mid-late summer sprints and maybe an oly will be the plan. Sometime before those dates, I will get back in the pool and make swimming a priority again. I did get out on my bike last sunday and it. was. awesome! I love riding outside so very much and, again, it was great to catch up with my good pal, Lara. Now that it's finally getting nice out (cue insane days and days of rain. You're welcome), I plan to get a good bike ride in on the weekends.. week days are pretty much out because of husband work schedules and kids stuff and sunlight.. Oh, well. Weekends will work. CrossFit has kind of taken center stage these days, so there's quite a bit going on there..and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. So I'm still going in to the gym in the early am before Matt heads to work, but my 3..or 4.. days a week has quickly turned in to 6.. or sometimes even 7, since they started having open gyms on sunday. We just wrapped up the 'Games Open'. "What the..??", you say? Right. Well, if you're not in to CrossFit, I'm not sure how exciting discussing the Open will be.. but I guess we'll find out! (in other news, I'm back after a few hours, baby played with, then fed and put down for a nap, kid fit dealt with, timeouts served, lunch made and eaten, dinner prepped, chutes and ladders played, kid down for nap.. and now I remember why I let myself slide with my blogging. Anyway. Where were we..) So the Open is the part of the CrossFit Games where everyone can play.. Everyone can sign up (and pay their $20, but whatever) and take part in the workouts that the 'HQ' (uh..headquarters) folks put out. After the workouts are announced on wednesday evenings, we watch two of the top crossfitters take on the workout, then we get a false sense of how to do the workout, only to be quickly humbled when we actually try them the next day.. Then.. if you're like me and are a part of a gym that wanted to make it to Regionals (the next step) as a team, you obsess over what strategy to employ as you take on the workout again (and again) before having to submit your final score on sunday. Fun, right?! It actually is, and maybe I'll blog another day on my thoughts about the Open.. But it does teach you how to be more 'strategical' in your workout to try for the best score possible. It also makes you push harder than you maybe would normally and can even force you to break through some perceived barriers in your training. ie: I thought my 1 rep max on the snatch was 95#.. I had tried 100# before and failed.. it was scary to me to even try throwing it over my head, for some reason. Well. Here comes the 1st workout and wouldn't you know it, there are snatches and if I want to get a decent score, I'd better throw that 100# over my head.. and I did! Boom. Barrier broken (and then I quickly got mad at myself for missing any and not getting MORE of my (new) 1 rep max at the end of a 17 minute workout.. ah, well.. I celebrated for a moment). I also did my first workout with muscle ups in it.. so that was fun. I got up on those darn rings a few weeks (months? I don't know) ago and have been working on it A LOT to try to get it consistent and where it would be 'no big thing' in a workout.. They still aren't perfect, but it's great to at least, finally, have that skill. So anyway, the Open is now over and guess what.. I did alright! After just 4-5 months of training post baby, I wasn't so sure how things would go and if my fitness would be up to par with where I needed to be.. But the Open tends to favor gymnastic-y folks like me.. so.. I don't know. I was happy with how I did, though I do know I still have lots of room for improvement (which is good, otherwise.. what am I doing??). So. Our team DID qualify for Regionals by placing in the top 30 in our region (Central East.. there's so many crossfit gyms that there's several regions just in the US). And to top it off, I ranked in the top 3 gals in our gym, so I get to compete at Regionals! I'm excited.. and nervous. It was the goal and something I worked hard for these months since I've been back in the gym and definitely focused hard on it through the 5 weeks of the open.. But now that it's REAL?! And we've started REAL training?! I'm even MORE excited.. but nervous, too. It should be an experience, to say the least. I'm going to really work hard over these next 2 months so I can do my part on the team and give it our best shot! So that's that.. Did I leave anything out? Ah, yes.. How does running fit in, if you're focusing on CrossFit? Well.. I plan to continue to run. I DO feel like the two can work together and even benefit each other.. So I'm still going to run my next half.. which happens to be the weekend before Regionals..which is why it won't be a 'PR kind of race'. But my sister and I have talked about running this half together for YEARS and she FINALLY agreed to it.. so I'm not backing out now. Plus, honestly, when I first looked at the timing of the two things I thought "perfect. The half will be a nice 'active recovery' from all the lifting stuff and it doesn't interfere with Regionals!". Of coarse, it might not be 'perfect', but it wouldn't be 'me' to back out of the run..and I gotta be 'me', right? That's what I thought.. I'm back to doing the tumbling teaching gig. I do all the classes two nights a week, which is up to 3 a night, depending on how many kids sign up. So far it seems to be working as far as kids, eating, sleeping (them, not me), etc.. So we'll stick with it as long as it continues to go well. Mason and Miles are great (well, aside from the crazy fits Mason likes to throw at times.. like today.. Miles crumpled up a picture..I mean 'map' that Mason drew and the kid. fell. apart.). Mason actually has kindergarten registration TONIGHT!! Ah. How did this happen? 'Big Boy School' has always been something we knew was coming..we talked about it.. But how is it actually HERE?! He's psyched, though. As much as he has liked the Goddard School, he's already talking about moving on..ready to get this 'big boy school' thing started. Miles is 7 Months now and 'busy'. That's what I like to call it.. I love looking over at him to see him sitting on the floor just 'busy'. Working on picking things up, turning it over, putting it in his mouth (of coarse), etc. And the boys, for the most part, are doing very well together. Mason loves making Miles laugh and Miles is quick to smile at pretty much anything he does.. so it works out well for both of them.. And me. I love to watch it all. I think that's all I have to say for now.. As for Dr. Oz.. I blame most things on him. I've long been meaning to blog a rant about him..particularly regarding his 'magic diets', and 'super foods' and 'tricks for wt loss' that he keeps insisting he knows all about, which often border, if not fully delve in to disordered eating.. but perhaps another time. For now, I bid you adieu and hope to check in here again sooner than later..

getting decent at the 5k...

..but I'm training for a half marathon, yes? Mr. Higdon? It's cool. I can definitely get on board and I understand the idea that I need to slowly build the miles that I can sustain a faster pace, as well as just building miles at the slower, easy pace. Actually, the 5k (or the 3mi time trials I was doing pre Higdon training plan) has kind of become my favorite love/hate run workout.. It's efficient and sufficient.. you know? I'm not out there for hours..but when you push hard on the pace, I feel sufficiently wiped out from the run. Today there was a 5k 'race' on the ol training dockett, so even though I did my last 3mi time trial just a couple weeks ago.. and last sunday I had a 3mi 'pace' run (meaning I needed to run just 3mi at the pace I'm hoping to run my half marathon), I decided to go for it again. I was really hoping to get under 22min and with my first mile coming in under 7min, I was hopeful.. But with the chilly air, a stop to prevent a dog from joining me for the rest of my run (side note.. get control of your dogs out there!? I've had more than my fair share of dog run-ins over the past few weeks.. some more amicable than others, but all need to be better wrangled in their yards, if you ask me..), a stiff head wind that some times made me feel like I was running backwards, and my sore legs from another great week of crossfit.. it wasn't meant to be. I did manage to eek out another very unofficial 5k PR of about 22:15. I pushed hard, but felt pretty good, overall. I had the distict pleasure of hearing each and every huff and puff and gasp for air as my ipod ran out of juice just as I finished my warm-up mile..so that was nice.. I cooled down with another couple miles and felt pretty good about the run. The rest of the week? As far as running..nothing too notable. I had my trail run last weekend and that went well. No clue about pace, but the weather and company was awesome and they tell me we did 7mi.. so that's good, I guess. My 'pace' run the next day felt great! What's my goal pace, you ask? Well.. I consulted Mr. McMillan to see what I should be aiming for in these training runs and such.. and turns out, he's quite the optimistic fella! Seems he felt that, according to my recent 5k times, I should be shooting for a goal pace of something in the mid 7:50 min/mi range.. Well, that seems ambitious, but I figure my goal pace will be 8 min/mi, but if I can hold 7:50's, that would be good, too.. So I aimed for my pace run to be 3mi at 8min/mi and I was surprised to find that holding under 7:50 felt pretty darn easy! I know it was only for 3mi, but it definitely gives me hope that I'm heading in the right direction with my training and can maybe pull out a decent half marathon or two this season.. and maybe even PR the full?! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but it sure felt nice to push the pace a bit and have my body respond positively. During the week was business as usual with my early running on the treadmill before crossfit. I actually took saturday off from running, so today's 6mi with the 5k 'race' in the middle was my only run.. but another week of Higdon training in the books! Other stuff.. I biked twice and swam once.. I think I'll stick to that plan, at least for this month. I think I've mentioned before that, ideally, I'd like to swim or bike in the evenings on the nights that I teach gymnastics.. but I'm not ready for that just yet.. Maybe next month.. or the next.. Whenever. At the very least, when summer comes creeping up and I set my sights on some tri's, I'll up my swim and bike.. but until then, I'm just going to do whatever fits in to the week to allow me to cross-train and maintain at least a tiny bit of my swimming and cycling fitness. Crossfit continues to be a lot of fun for me. My hands are healing up nicely and I was even able to do a pull-up workout and bar muscle-ups this week without having to slather my hands in athletic tape..so I consider them pretty well healed. Of coarse, now I have some rips on my wrists from working on ring muscle-ups.. Darn it all if I'm not getting close to conquering that skill. I'm going to keep at it and I WILL get myself up on those rings. Nothing too exciting from this week, except that I was happy that I could pretty easily complete a hang clean and front squat workout with the 'prescribed' wt of 115#.. That's about 90% of my 125# max, but judging from how well I could handle that wt in the workout, I'm thinking I should go for a new 'clean' PR.. yes? Maybe next weekend.. Mason and Miles? All good things there.. Miles has conquered the 'front to back' roll. I'm pretty sure he views the 'back to front' as a 'why would I do that?' kind of thing. Mason started back at his 'gymnastics flips' class, which he actually asked me for for Christmas! He loves it.. not exactly a 'natural', but who cares if he's having fun. Teaching/child watch went better this week. Miles continues his 'anti-bottle' campaign, so we'll see how it goes this week when he stays a little longer.. I'm going to stay to teach both classes, so that means the boys wait for Matt to pick them up.. which is only a difference of 30 minutes, but man that can be a long time in baby world! So we'll see.. I'm sure it'll be great.. So that's about it for us!

Good News/Bad News..

I feel like this week has been full of good new things.. all with some sort of caveat.. Nothing huge, just a little bit of.. "you can have this good thing, but ya gotta give a little something back". For example, this morning, I'm up at 5am, been up since my 4am wake-up feeding with Miles..but I don't need to be up this time?! So, good news is I've adjusted to waking up at 4am for my workouts and other morning duties.. bad news is that even when I was going to 'sleep in', I'm up.. Not a huge down side, but still.. I was kind of excited about the idea that I was going to take it easier this weekend with my workouts and such and I'm just planning to meet some friends for a 6mi trail run later.. I guess the 'back up' side of it, though, is that I'm getting some writing in! Another 'good news/bad news'?..it's 50 degrees in Indiana in January.. Awesome! Buuuut.. it's going to rain every day until it gets cold again.. Oh, well. I'll take it. I'm taking advantage of a few dry, warm hours today and hitting the trails with my old trail running buddies. I've, for some reason, gotten away from running trails and I miss it! I know what's kept me from them.. it's just easier to run straight from my house and not waste the extra time driving and such.. But, since I'm not doing any of my other usual saturday am stuff (Crossfit.. it's closed today because there is a big competition in town and some folks from the gym are competing! I really, really want to go watch some of it.. but we'll see if I can make that happen) and it's going to be so crazy nice out, I figured today would be a good day to take a little extra time and get out to enjoy some wooded running. So. Let's review this week, shall we? My first official week of following a plan.. I'm realizing more and more that I need to really just focus on what I've determined as my goals for this year and just let go of my 'need to do all the things' ways.. Meaning.. I need to be OK with missing swimming and spins if time/ schedule/soreness/sleepiness/etc doesn't allow for it. I need to get my running in and do as much crossfit as time allows and just be good with that. Those are the goals that I set for myself, after all.. so now I just need to embrace it! So this week, so far, I have done all the running that Mr. Higdon advised. With today's 6 mi run in the woods, which I'm sure will be plenty slow, that covers my 'long' run for the week and leaves me with just a 3mi 'pace' run for tomorrow. I'm thinking, unless it's raining hard, I'll try to branch out of my 'hood a bit and hit some hills, but then that will be it for me for workouts tomorrow.. So just running this weekend! Doesn't exactly sound exciting or note worthy, but for someone who normally tries to cram all sorts of workouts in (ie: I just let go of the idea of doing my own triathlon of sorts today.. I thought, since I missed my swim yesterday..due to my crazy boys and their early am hijinks!.. I'll go swim early today, then, since I'm there, I might as well spin..and then I'll head out for the trail run!.. welcome to my world of crazy), I'm kind of strangely proud of myself for re-evaluating that plan and deciding what was best, not only for meeting my current goals, but also for what my family needs. Of coarse, my family would survive with me gone for the morning.. Matt can handle things just fine.. BUT.. would I feel good about it? That is the question, my friends. I have no problem at all taking time for myself to do the workouts that I enjoy and that get me closer to my own, personal physical goals, but when I start adding things in 'just 'cause'? I gotta draw the line there. More so these days, I'd say, with having the two boys and all. Re-learning the infant stage all while balancing time with Mason has had it's..well, to stick with my theme here.. 'good and bad'. I won't go in to great detail and we're certainly working things out, but it's hard to meet both boys' needs all the time..and with Matt's long work hours, a lot of the time I'm on my own.. it can get messy at times, but we're doing our best and figuring things out. Mason tries his best and is a huge help a lot of the time.. He is 4, though, so he has his moments. Anyway, I got off track a bit there.. Where was I.. The rest of this week was good.. Did just 1 swim, which was a bit of speed with 50's and then some other stroke/IM stuff. I squeezed in a spin yesterday during one of Miles' naps.. basically 10 min of steady/slightly fast spin increasing resistance every 2 minutes, then 15 minutes where I switched to the heavy ring and did 2 min steady climb and 1 min stand/sprint, repeat..then Miles was up, so my spin was done! I actually had a good sweat going and was pretty ready to get off the bike anyway, so it worked out well. Crossfit is still going well. Good news on monday was that I got my bar muscle ups and was able to do them in the workout.. Bad news was all that swinging on the bars gave me matching rips in the middle of both hands. Another good thing was that I started back with teaching gymnastics this week.. Bad news was that the child watch place is an overstimulation nightmare for a sleepy baby and by the time I came back (only an hour!..I'm just doing set up and 1 class for this week and next, then I'll start staying a bit longer to do both classes) he was all hot and bothered from crying and they had squeezed the poor thing into these newborn size shorts I happened to have in my bag.. Oh, those thigs were not meant to fit in there! They claim he was OK for a bit and was in the swing doing fine for a while, and he wasn't crying the whole time.. but that was the most upset I had seen him and it broke my heart to think of him crying up a sweat in there while I was teaching. He calmed down as soon as I held him and the rest of the night was fine.. but if it doesn't go better or we don't figure out a way to make things go smoothly for him while I teach, I just don't see how it makes sense for me to continue if it's going to make him so upset. I can always wait until he's a little older and can handle the child watch stuff a little better. It really isn't equipped to handle sleepy babies, nor do I expect them to be able to soothe him to sleep.. so we'll just see. Matt seems to think it will work out and be fine, but a lot of things have changed since I originally took on this job and it may not make sense for us at this time.. When I started, it was just taking Mason to child watch and he was old enough to actually play and enjoy that time.. But now, Matt's long hours and an infant with his schedule and needs in the mix.. Again. I keep saying it. But we'll just have to see. I'll give it a fair chance, but I'm not about to have my little guy in fits every tuesday and thursday night just so I can teach a couple tumbling classes.. you know?? Anyway. So that's that. Anything else? I think that covers it. Wish me luck in my first trail run in a while! I hope I don't fall down..and that the trails aren't so soggy that it's no fun.. But I know it will be nice to get out, enjoy the day and the company of my old running friends!

It's On..

..sort of.. So I took a look back at the last post there.. Not only was it jam packed with type-o's, it gave me a quick flash back to how much can change in just one little month! Anyway, I've made some decisions...sort of.. and am following a 'plan'...more or less.. My original idea, if you'll recall, was to wing it and do the gradual long run mile increase with the first of the month 3mi test run.. Well, I still am keeping that plan in mind, but it occured to me that just upping my long run distance and keeping it high for months and months might not be all that great. SO. Enter good ol Hal Higdon. He's an old pal of mine.. I used his plan back when I did my first half and full marathons.. so I figured I'd see what he thought about the whole training thing and I liked what he was throwing down. I've had a coach for training in the past and I definitely don't think I'm 'above' needing a coach.. Quite the opposite, actually.. I shall return to my trusty coach.. once I have a new goal to strive for. Right now, though, I'm just trying to get back a good, solid base and THEN I'll see where I'm at and what kinds of crazy plans I can make for myself.. For this season, though.. I still want to work on and improve my running.. which I suppose could be 'coach worthy'.. but I think maybe I don't want the extra pressure.. So a free plan from the world wide interwebs fits the bill. And just what, you ask, are these big plans you have?? Well, I've decided my first half marathon will be the Sam Costa Half Marathon, which is a small, local race that a friend of mine has tried to get me to run for years.. The timing was right, so I guess I'll finally see what all the fuss is about! So my plan for that started this week..which I didn't actually know until last night (saturday)..but it turns out I was pretty on track, so we're good! My weekly plan will look a little something like: Monday: short warm-up run and CrossFit Tuesday: swim and spin Wednesday: (will be kind of a doozy..so may need to adjust..) speed/hill run and CrossFit Thursday: short run and CrossFit Friday: EZ swim Saturday: pace run and CrossFit (it's a skills and 'active recovery' day) Sunday: LSD run or at least that's my plan for now. You may notice the lack of a full day of rest.. which I know is important.. but until I go back to 2-a-days..which I'm hoping to start that at some point soon when I start back teaching gymnastics.. But we'll see. I'm definitely aware of the problem. For now, though, I see friday 'EZ swim day' as rest.. I know.. This week followed that fairly well. There was a holiday in there, so a little different. But mostly we were on task. As for those 'changes' alluded to in the start of this entry? Well, today was my 3mi test run and I improved by 2 minutes again?! I really didn't think, after the last one and how much it hurt.. I didn't expect to go faster.. and my time keeping skills were 'unofficial' at best.. but I did my 3 miles, after a 1mi warm-up, in 22:18! Still not setting any land/speed records or anything, but I'm happy with the improvement. It still hurt, but I think it felt a little less like death than the last time..though if you judged it by my 1mi trudge home, you might beg to differ. So there's that. I topped my LSD runs last sunday with a lovely 9mi treadmill run. That was kinda tough. I need to get my treadmill calibrated, or something.. because the paces are definitely off.. But it was too cold and icy last week and I just didn't feel like spending 9mi looking for clear roads to run on.. so basement 'mill it was. It wasn't that bad.. but I definitely prefer the fresh air. I've come to realize I really look forward to and enjoy those sunday runs, so I must be doing something right as far as balancing how much running I'm doing. I actually enjoy all of my workouts right now, which is a really good thing...and is also why I can't seem to cut anything out to give myself a rest day.. I've started using actual workouts for swimming again..so I have that going for me. Nothing too crazy, but getting back in to the idea of having a plan when I hit the pool.. trying to work on some speed, watching the clock and such.. Hadn't done that in a long time! I toyed with the idea of going to do a modified version of 100 x 100 with Indy Aquatic masters on New Yrs day.. I would have done 75's because they were going on the 1:40, which I would not have been able to make.. and I was just going to do as many as I could.. So I did kind of a trial run on my own and did: 6 x 75 swim, 6 x 75 pull, 6 x 75 kick, 6 x 75 swim with fins, 6 x 75 pull with paddles, 6 x 75 back kick.. I think.. it was something like that.. darn it. I'd like to gradually add on to that, so next time I have a little more time to spend in the pool, I'll do 8 of each of those 75's.. then 10.. and so on.. (I stuck with the 1:40 interval). I also have enjoyed doing workouts with a lot of 'other' stroke work.. back, breast, and I even include a lil fly in there from time to time.. Stop laughing at me, lifeguards.. stand down.. I am not drowning, can't you see I'm a beautiful butterfly in here??!! Spin kind of is what it is right now. I'd say the bike is going to be the thing that takes a bit of a back seat this winter/right now. I kind of bounce around between my trainer, doing my own spin sessions on a spin bike at the Y, doing the ol' programs on an exercise bike, or going to spin class.. But until it warms up, I just have to try to keep myself entertained on the indoor cycle options.. CrossFit is coming along. I've been feeling like I'm making some improvements there and have decided to really focus on strength and olympic lifts and skills that I need. There is the 'Open' games stuff coming up in Feb or March, so I figure we'll see how things go with that and if I/our team makes regionals again, maybe I'll dabble in some crossfit competitions.. So we'll see what happens there. I did a couple of max effort olympic lift things this past saturday.. so as of now, my max for Power Snatch is 90# and max for Clean and Jerk is 125#..Plenty of room for improvement there, but a good start and definitely working on form. So that's that! Only thing left for me to figure out for this season is what to do as far as triathlons.. I had said earlier that I would just do some sprints and kind of lay low on the tri's this summer.. but I just can't seem to get excited about the short stuff! I don't know what it is.. maybe I'm actually just scared to try to push that hard in the short races.. I don't know.. Plus, if I'm focusing on running half and full marathons.. it just seems to make more sense to me to do a half IM or two.. No? Anybody else follow that logic? I'm tinkering with some ideas still, but I'd really like to do the KS 70.3, which would be 1 week after another half marathon that I plan to do..which is also in KC.. which would mean a week long stay with the folks! It's a plan I've had for a while now..to do the two races, stay with my parents, get a little extra visit time with them AND get to do two races.. everyone wins, right?! Then I'm still figuring out whether I'd do a second half IM or not.. Gotta make some decisions soon, though.. I already missed the first price increases and the next increases are looming.. So those are my loose plans for racing and my first part of training has begun! In other news.. The boys are great. Mason had a wonderful Christmas and is already planning out the return of his 'elf on the shelf' and what he will ask Santa for next year. Miles is.. still growing! He has rolled from tummy to back a couple times, though I'm not sure I'm ready to declare it as an official skill...mighta been a bit of a fluke, but I know it's all coming! He's had some teething pain lately, which has made lying on his back no fun for him.. good thing he's comfy in his car seat, though, so he's been sleeping there for a few days. Most of the time, though, he's a chill, smiley, fun guy that's getting interested in toys and LOVES to smile at his big brother! Mason loves it, too. He'll ask if he can go in to Miles' room when he's waking up from a nap so he can make him smile.. Very sweet. I think that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll make some more decisions and put some money where my mouth is! Race Plan for this season to be continued..but it's in the works and coming along!

We introduce..the baby Jesus runs!

Well. I'm sitting here all bored because my little fellas are BOTH oddly sleepy tonight.. I hope Mason's not sick.. I'm probably in more trouble with him than with Miles. Mason is probably going to wake up ready to roll at about..just after I close my eyes? Sounds about right. Anyway. So I guess I'll use this time to update myself on what's going on with training and life on this little electronic diary I have here..so here goes! We'll start with running. I feel like I'm making some strides there.. I had my longest post-baby run the weekend after thanksgiving..at a whopping 6 miles. Still holding the 9min mi pace as my 'all day'/go-to pace. Then last weekend was my 3mi test run day and.. I cut 2 minutes from my previous months time! I think it was 24:18? I should re-check my harming, but I remember thinking it was 2min down from last time, so that should be about right. Now my next goal is to make that pace not hurt so bad! I started off feeling good..holding under 8 min mi and feeling good.. But by about a mi and a half, I was desperately watching that Harmon just counting down the tents of a mile and doing my best to hold the pace. So next time, I hope to keep that pace, but have it feel a bit easier.. Sound good? Too much to ask? These days I'm still getting in super short runs before crossfit during the week, but with the warm weather this week, Mason and I have taken advantage of it and got a few evening runs in around the neighborhood to check out the Christmas lights! Hence the 'baby Jesus runs'.. Not sure how or why the name started.. I'm guessing I was trying to explain the nativity scenes, which led to us pointing out the baby Jesus.. Anyway. He loved it and I got some good running in, too.. So win/win! So far this week in running was about a mile warm up before crossfit on Monday, then a 4mi 'baby Jesus' run that night. Today (Wednesday) I got in a progression run of sorts on the treadmill..workin on the ol speed! Got just over 3mi there. And that's the story of my running! I'll pick the 'long run' back up with 6mi again this Sunday and keep slowly adding. I have noticed that overall, I'm feeling like running is getting easier, so that's a move in the right direction. Swimming..not much to report there.. I still usually get 2 swims in a week (except for this week with the pool closed), but they tend to be short, easy, recovery type swims.. But that works for me. As long as I keep up my form and am ready to build on it when I decide to do another tri, I'm all set! Biking..same thing..couple spins a week..either in the basement on my trainer or spin class at the Y.. Feeling good! Crossfit is going well. The friendly gym competition deal was fun.. I did learn a few things.. One main thing, I guess, was that if I ever want to compete..I need to master the art of 'hurry up and wait'. It's hard to warm up, work out, get cold..wait.. I just couldn't capture that magic again..ya know? I did fine and had fun..but I was completely forgetting how to do things..double unders? Toes to bars? Completely lost my rhythm.. Oh, well. Plenty to work on! But already since that day, I've improved on some skills and feel my strength coming back bit by bit.. I'm getting there. Most of all, I'm really enjoying the workouts. I'm currently nursing a sore arse from Monday's workout.. It's good to be back! The boys are doing great..for the most part. As I mentioned, they've both gone to bed uncharacteristically early tonight, so we'll see how that plays out. Miles is still eating..a lot.. He's currently off the charts on his weight, but what can ya do? Keep on keeping on. Not going to deny a crying, hungry baby his food. Thanksgiving was a fun weekend.. Started off with a great, hopefully new tradition of having friends and their families over for a run, then a kids run, and then waffles!! So..the 'waffle run', of coarse (we're big on naming runs around here)! It was a great time..aside from Mason's melt down when he didn't win the kids fun run.. Sheesh. Kid does not like to lose, no sir.. Working on that one.. Not sure if I'm making any progress, though.. Then it was dinner with Matt's cousins family.. Then my parents and little brother came in for the weekend! Mason was thrilled and now is a big fan of his "awesome uncle Jimmy". Dinner with the family was a success. Not sure what has gotten into me lately, but I've been cooking up a storm lately and have eaten more veggies and produce these past weeks than ever before. I even made my own dried fruit in the oven the other day..and it was such a success, I made more yesterday! I guess I'm embracing the whole 'stay at home mom' gig. I just realized today that my 'stay at home mom' status kinda snuck up on me! I love it..and am so lucky to get to be home..but I just didn't even realize it was happening?.. Is that weird? Anyway. So things are good. Christmas is almost here..and I've gotta find a new spot for this silly elf thing that we got duped in to getting! It doesn't work at all, by the way.. It's supposed to make kids behave, yes? Yeah.. But he does like finding him in the morning..and has quite the eagle eye out for the little guy! And that's all I have to say about that!

Fresh start

And another month goes by.. Time just seems to fly these days! I've officially returned to my usual working out..and so far..pretty humbling, actually! But it feels so good to be back at it. I'm loving every butt kicking workout. I've realized that my endurance, obviously, took a huge hit from a year ago. Understandable and completely predictable, given that my 'runs' for the last several weeks of pregnancy were limited to 20-30min at a crazy slow pace..but still..kinda surprising to actually see it play out. So. I'm embracing this time as a 'clean slate', of sorts, which allows me to set goals and slowly build to achieve and surpass them. I think I mentioned before that my plan is to focus on running and crossfit for right now, so I'm mostly working on making gains in those areas. I'm still getting some swims and spins in, but pretty much just for maintenance purposes at this point. So..where am I starting from with running and crossfit?.. I've been lucky to have a few benchmark crossfit workouts come up in my first days(literally..my first day back, we did the notorious Fran workout..welcome back!) and weeks back in the gym. As rough as those workouts were, it gives me a great chance to see where I am now..and hopefully I can improve from there! So my Fran workout hurt..and was relatively slow..somewhere in the 6 or 7 something minute range? I'd have to look at the JoCo CrossFit website, but it's there for my reference when it comes time to do it again. I'm constantly sore and the first days back were rough..some still are..but I'm already feeling stronger and getting back in the swing of things and feeling more like my old self again. So I've started with 3-4 days a week of crossfit, which is working out well so far. Running..has also been rough..a bit.. But, again, gives me a chance to really see some gains after kinda stalling out when training for long distances through my knee injury last year. So I'm running about 4 days a week, but very short distances. I get about 20 minutes before heading to crossfit where I get whatever I can get in on my treadmill. I'm basically just working to get my base speed up and working on holding a good pace longer and longer. Then I'm working to up my distance in my 'long' run on Sundays. I started at 3 miles and did a 'baseline' run that I'll do at the start of every month to see how I'm doing.. First test? 3 miles in a whopping 26:16. Like I said..lots of room for improvement! So then my next Sunday run was about 4 and a quarter miles. I'm wearing my garmin again, but only for distance and to reflect after the run to see where my pace is. I'm not using it for speed work and only glance at it occasionally. Seems my comfortable pace is hovering right around 9min miles right now, which would actually be fine with me if I can maintain that as my comfy pace as my distance increases, so we'll see if that's how it works out. I think that's all I have to say about my workouts. I had a birthday, so that was awesome. Started off with the toughest workout I've ever experienced at crossfit. It was hard for me, anyway.. I'm sure it's not 'toughest' for everyone, but that's how it works there! It was 5 rounds of 30 each of kettle bell swings (started with the 53, but half way through round two, decided to switch to 44), Burpees and 'GHD's', which, being pregnant, I hadn't done in a long time! (it's an ab thing that has you hang off a back extension thing, so you're arched back, reaching for the floor, and then come up and touch your toes..let's just say every inch of my core STILL hurts!). It took me over 40 minutes, which I don't think has ever happened before. So that was the start of the day.. Then Mason decided to be in quite the mood. Lovely. Kids don't care when it's mom's birthday..fits and tantrums wait for no one. But we did go out to dinner..first time as a four!..Miles slept through it, but it was nice to get out. So anyway, typical birthday of a mom, I guess. Miles is growing a ton! He's definitely more than doubled his weight in under 2 months. We see the doc next week, so we'll see where he is on the charts. But he's doing great. Now pretty well in to the day time pattern of 'sleep about an hour, wake up, eat, up for maybe an hour or so, eat a little more, then back to sleep'. Ah, the life of a baby! People always ask about how he's sleeping..I say he's doing pretty well. He goes about 5-7 hours in the first stretch, which usually starts between 6 and 7, then after that first wake-up/feeding, he sleeps in about 2-3 hr shifts most nights. Some nights are better than others, but for a young guy, I think he's doing just fine. He's smiling lots now and seems to be getting a little more interested in little toys and things..but pretty much is just content with a rousing game of 'peek-a-boo' and then it's back to sleep! Man, it's so great to see him get such a kick out of seeing your face.. Mason is still doing a great job, overall, at the big bro thing. He loves making him smile and even enjoys being my helper quite a bit. Of coarse, he's not perfect..he has his moments..and he likes getting up in his face way too much.. But, again, for a little guy, I think he's doing pretty great. So that's what we've been up to around here! Can't believe thanksgiving is next week already! I'm debating doing some races that weekend, but I'm kind of leaning toward keeping things simple and just running at home. This Saturday is a friendly competition of sorts at crossfit to celebrate their second anniversary..we'll see how that goes! First I need to get un-sore from Monday's shit show..ow, ow, ow. Even my rib muscles are sore!

So much, yet so..not much..

That's how I feel about these past few weeks.. I do so much and am pretty busy.. But yet, if I were to try to explain what I've been doing, there's not much to say. Hence why I haven't bothered writing lately. That and every time I think about sitting down to write a bit, I get called away for baby duty or realize what time it is and that dinner hasn't been made, etc.. So anyway. Things are good here! I had a few more set backs with my healing and thinking I should heal faster than I was.. Seemed like every time I'd feel good and try to advance my activity..BOOM..reminded that I need to slow down. But. At around 5 wks post partum (is it weird that I want to call it 'post-op' vs 'post-partum'? I just feel like its not so much the 'having a baby' slowing me down right now, but more the 'having my belly cut open'. Either way, at about 5 weeks after the c-section) I started to turn a corner as far as how I was feeling. The week before I was starting to question whether I'd ever heal and get back to my activities, but then all the sudden, I was able to walk and get around much better and things were looking up. I know.. So dramatic.. Now. Here we are at almost 7 weeks and in 1 week I should get the 'all clear' from my doc! Miles has grown so much already. He's sailed through the newborn clothes and diapers..actually I'd call the size 1 diapers about done, too, and we're on to 3mo clothes. He's still a pretty sleepy little fella, but we've had our first glimmers of a smile and he's getting more alert time every day. Just for my own 'baby charting' purposes, I'll note that as of now, Miles goes to bed (for the last time of the day..if that makes sense) at about 8 after one last marathon feeding session.. He goes about 4 hrs before his next feeding, then is usually up again about 2-3 hrs later, then again in the early hours of the morning..back to bed and wakes up for the day around 8am. I'm sure this will continue to adjust as he gets more awake time in the day and we set more of a schedule..but that's where we are for now! Mason is doing great. He still seems to love his big brother status..if anything, I have to shoo the guy away some times to quit giving kisses and hugs and let me put Miles to sleep! He's been going through a bit of a 'scared' phase.. He seems to be scared of lots of things and has slept on the floor in our room a bit too much recently. Hopefully he'll pull through this soon. I can't seem to say the right thing to fix it, though, either. I try to teach him about what to do IF there was an emergency, which leads to multiple questions..next thing I know, he's crying about the 'bad guys' and I'm helping him set up his 'floor bed' in our room.. Eh. We'll figure it out..some day.. Speaking of being freaked out about 'bad guys', Matt has been super busy with his new role at work..all the extra responsibility, new employees, procedures to learn, and travel to the further away locations has meant some long hours and my anxiety of a break in has been elevated a bit. And no, I haven't mentioned this to Mason, but maybe he still picks up on it.. But anyway, I worry all the time about what I would do and how to keep the boys and I safe, so we got an alarm system put in this week! I'm very excited about it. Hopefully it'll give me some peace of mind..maybe Mason will feel safer, too. So.. I guess that's about all that is going on around here. I do have a 'plan' for the upcoming season and what I want to focus on as far as racing and exercise..but it's a pretty loose plan and could totally change based on how things continue to evolve wih our routine here.. But I want to focus on running and crossfit these next few months. The reason..other than the fact that I like those activities, but I feel like I can be pretty time-efficient with those things. A crossfit workout is an hour at the most and I plan to get there first thing (6am) and be quick about my business there to get home to let Matt head off to work and to get going on my day with the boys. Running can be just a quick jog on the treadmill downstairs, or just head out the door for a bit, and I'm all set. I'd like to plan on an early spring half and then at least one fall marathon, but I haven't committed to anything just yet.. But that's the plan! I still want to swim and bike for cross training and recovery..and maintenance.. But the focus will be on running and crossfitting. We'll see how that goes! I will admit that I have started to do small amounts of activity around here.. I even had my first sweaty workout clothes to wash yesterday! It was just a treadmill walk..with incline..and then a short, light crossfit type workout.. MAN do I feel weak! I get super sore from just about any activity, so I'm trying to take it slow..ease back in to it.. I should probably stretch more.. We'll work on that. Mostly I'm trying to get back in the habit of waking up to work out, but it feels good to move a bit more and start trying to build some strength back. I think that's all I have to say about that. We had our 6 yr anniversary on Sunday and our neighbors came to hang with the boys, so we got to enjoy a lovely dinner out. I had my 10 yr reunion at Ball State homecoming last weekend and had fun catching up with old friends for a bit. Matt's birthday is today, so I'm trying to make a nice dinner and Mason and I are going to decorate a cake (hopefully). So..good times at the Blunck house! Again..not much going on, but things are pretty great around here. And..with that.. My littlest guy needs me!