Training Weeks 6 & 7

Greta is already 7 weeks old. How did that happen?

Greta has started smiling for me! *Love*

The last two weeks have gone really well!

Week 6: 33 miles

Mon: 3.5 miles easy with the dog while Nate and Craig tortured themselves with a P90x session. It’s so nice to run without a stroller! Mesa appreciated some alone time as well. Except when we ran by a store front that looked nice and warm and she stopped dead in her tracks (stopping me too!) and gave me eyes that said, “Oh, mom… this isn’t fun… let’s go someplace warm instead!”.

Then I sat in on the “team’s” ab-ripper-x session and was pleasantly surprised to be able to do a few of the exercises! Go, abs!

Tue: 6 miles, 54 minutes. I picked it up the last 3 miles to mid-8 min pace and was working SO hard for those paces.

Wed: 3 miles easy.

Thurs: Thanksgiving Day 5k: 24:08. Race recap here. I knew I had a long road ahead of me, but wasn’t expecting that road to be both long AND super steep…

But, I do love a challenge 🙂

Fri: OFF! Drove to the cabin.

Sat: Long run of 9 miles. This seemed soo long! Mesa found two furry friends who accompanied us for 2 or 3 miles which kept me amused. They were having the time of their lives (I’ve escaped my home! I can run free! Yippee!), and Mesa just wanted to run back into the warmth of the cabin. I chuckled. Oh, Mesa 🙂

Sun: 4 miles easy with Nate, Rob, Craig, and Jim at the cabin. Fun to have company!

Week 7: 38 miles


Mon: off. Not planned but I literally was so tired I don’t know if I could have put one leg in front of the other if I had tried… to bed early… although, then I was up 1.5 hours later to feed… yay sleep deprivation

Greta and I heading to “mom class” on Monday (actually called “Baby Talk”). At first I was hesitant… I don’t know many moms and don’t know what to talk about… but have really enjoyed the interaction & the ability to meet other new parents!

Tue: Craig offered to meet me for a workout. I won’t turn down arms that are willing to push Greta! The workout was 7 miles total with 20 minutes in the middle where we did 1 min on/off. Pretty sure I had a smile on my face the whole time! I love running & love getting back into harder workouts!

Paces were 6:30-7:00 on the 1 min sections.

Craig noted that I don’t have the knee drive or back-swing that I used to have. See picture below.

I tried to mimic my old form but couldn’t – my hip flexors are too weak and my abs couldn’t support the drive.

It’s great to realize that, though, and start to work on it! I know that’s a huge factor in me actually running fast, so this probably is a big piece of things. When I was pregnant I think I became used to shuffling vs. my normal powerfully bounding self.

Wed: 4 miles easy

Thursday: 7 miles moderate. With the family! I tried working on my push-off, knee drive, and backswing — could only hold that for a few minutes at a time.

First run with the whole family! Messa did great! I was expecting complete disaster.

Thursday PM: P90x! Craig came over and we had a strength party. We are so cool.

That’s right, you’re jealous that we are so cool. Instead of going out to the bars or other normal social events in the evening, we’re jamming out to Tony Horton.

Realization 1: I still cannot do a pull up.

Good thing Nate likes to help me.

I could use this photo to say, “look! I did a pull-up by myself!”. But no, I’ll be truthful. Nate’s still helping me 🙂

I had a dream that night that I could do a pull-up. Weird. A dream is a wish your heart makes? (When you’re fast asleep… sing it with me)

Realization 2: My balance is terrible! Wow – wouldn’t have guessed this, but it makes sense since my hips are much wider now and my core is mush. I will make doing this video a weekly part of my training from now on! It’s great!

Realization 3: We are nerds. Instead of going out to a bar to socialize after work, we hop around in our basement, do pull ups to exhaustion, and call it a good day when we’re laying on the floor panting after the workout is done. Poor Greta — she picked a crazy family to grow up with 🙂

P90x pushups. Greta’s form is improving 🙂

I also picked up a post-natal Pilates video from the library to try out (yep, nerd). It was recommended to me by my OB as a way to strengthen my pelvis/hips/core. I’ve never done Pilates before…

Friday: 4 miles easy with Nate, Greta and the pup. Life is great!

Saturday: 10 miles easy! I met a friend who ran 6 with me which helped the miles go by a lot faster. I was dreading starting this run… 10 seems so long now! (sigh)

But, I did it! Longest run in a long, long time! I had to walk 4-5 times at the end, but MADE it! YES!

Sunday: 6 easy to cap off 38 miles!

For those of you reading, have you done P90x before? Any of you that are pilates fans? Haters?

That’s all for now, folks. Perhaps I’ll get around to a life update post in the next day or two!