5K Summer Series, #2

I reverted to some old habits during this race:  a fast first mile, a decent second mile and a dreadful third mile.
Old habits die hard.
When I stood on the start line next to Daniel, he asked, "6:18 pace?"
I agreed.
But then I found myself running sub-6.  And although I knew I was running too fast, it felt manageable.
Maybe on another day it would have been manageable.

Let me back-track to Monday.

Monday started off as a normal day.  I went running before work, had a productive day and went grocery shopping to raid the clearance section of meats and veggies that expire at midnight.
When I was driving home from the grocery store, absolute exhaustion hit me like ton of bricks.
I just needed to lie down.

Once I lied down, I did not get back up.
My 75% discounted, but needed to be ate immediately, meats and veggies did not get cooked.  I sent David out for fast food instead.  This is a never-seen occurrence.  Not so much the fast food, but letting food go to waste!

Around 10pm, I was suddenly awakened by throbbing, aching arms.
I woke up David, who told me I had anemia and needed a juicy steak.
I called my mom, who said it sounded like the flu.

My mom brought be both a steak and Tamiflu the following morning (and chicken noodle soup).  Although nothing made me instantly recover, I felt mildly better.  I slept the entire day.
I slept most of the day on Wednesday but by Thursday, I was able to watch TV in between naps and check my Facebook.  All my Facebook friends were alive.

Some people have asked me what I did with my kids during my 4-day hibernation.  As always, I utilized my help.  But, they also did a good job entertaining themselves.
It doesn't really take much to entertain them, a simple office chair in the kitchen will do the trick:

Hayden played with cars:

And Brenna huddled in blankets, just like her mother, and watched him.

such a good girl!



My mom warned me not to run over the weekend.
She said, "You don't want to relapse!  Take it easy!"
Even though she is always right, my brain convinces me that I need to do the opposite.
Like I said, old habits die hard, right?

A bunch of other things then proceeded to go wrong in the next day:  insomnia, bloating, lower back pain and a new blister.  I don't know how you get a blister from being bed-ridden.

This 5K is my favorite one of the series because it is a trail run.  It's not technical nor difficult, but a trail is a trail and it's always better than a road or sidewalk.   I decided that I was okay not winning this race and formulated two reasonable goals.  The A goal was sub 6:20.  The B goal was sub 6:30.

So you see now why it really made no sense for me to run the first mile in 6 minutes flat.
I will say what I always say, it just felt good.
That first mile always feels good.

The second mile felt okay too.  There were some tight turns and mellow dips that naturally slowed me down for a 6:12 mile.

The third mile is where my race spiraled out of control.  I started the mile with fatigue so I transitioned to my A goal.  I focused on keeping my breathing smooth and solid.  But as the mile progressed, my physical state withered.  I lost control of my breathing and found myself gasping.  My chest hurt, my heart rate was too high and my arms were tumultuously tight.  In between moments of telling myself, "I can't" and reminding myself, "I can", I focused on shaking out the arms and taking deep breathes as I transitioned to my B goal.

I think a well-performed 5K should hurt.
But I don't think it should hurt like that.

I got passed in the last mile which did help me achieve my B goal (6:29).

I finished second overall but only because the course was short - it ended at 3 miles exactly.  Had there been a .1 sprint, I would have come in third - this runner and I had an identical chip times, I only beat her with the gun time.  And, unlike me, she didn't look like she was meeting death when she passed the finish.

When they called me up for my award, I promptly grabbed my medal and went over to a bush to puke.
I would have felt sorry for myself, but it was poor pacing on my part.  You have to race according to your capabilities for the day, not your capabilities in general.

When I returned, the kids were excited to see me back in my running shoes that had collected dust on the floor next to the door all week.  They got in the stroller and sat in it for quite awhile.
I love that my kids love to run.
But they will have to wait until next week.

Selfishness, Selflessness and Swimming

I witnessed a conversation yesterday where someone commented that runners were selfish.  Without delving into too much back story, here is the gist of the situation:
   - woman has small kids
   - husband discovers running
   - husband feels entitled to run as much as he desires and is gone from his family numerous nights per week and on weekends.

Most of my friends are runners so obviously I do not agree with the blanket statement, "runners are selfish."   But, I understand the sentiment.

Running is a selfish sport.
Although perhaps on a micro-level other people benefit (i.e, it puts me in a better mood so I am more enjoyable to be around), ultimately running is only about one person: me.

I think it's okay to have a selfish hobby.
I think most hobbies are selfish.
I think we are worth doing things that bring us pleasure and fulfillment.  But the question is - at what expense?

Although I was not really part of this conversation, it is essentially what this entire blog is about:  balancing a selfish hobby with one of the most selfless things in life - motherhood.

Clearly I believe, and hopefully demonstrate, that it can be done.

But, I think the selfishness comes with entitlement.
You know how they say it takes an entire village to raise a child?
It also takes an entire village to create an athlete.
As grateful as I am to have running in my life, it would mean nothing if I did not have my behind-the-scene team.  These people would move mountains so that I could run.

I have given them a shout out before, but it's nearly a year later so I think it's time to do it again.

There is my husband who pumps up my bike tires for me every night before a ride.  I know, I know...he has dreamy eyes.


There is my mom, who watches them when I race.  We also refer to her as "G-Ma".


There is my dad, who is the best cheerleader/photographer.  And he is always coming over so that I can run, or bike.  Oh yeah, or work...I do that, too.


And of course there are my kids.  I couldn't be who I am without them.
They are always willing to sit the jogging stroller...especially if there are cheerios.
They don't mind it if I am all sweaty when I give them a hug.
And they go to the gym-daycare so that I can swim. We went for my one "pre-triathlon" token swim today - as expected, the kids were delighted.
And even more so when we ate at the cafe afterwards.
I know some toddlers are picky eaters, but mine will always eat the $4 special. Today they gobbled up pesto!


Once again, they showed-off their classy and refined etiquette by using forks:


Regality is just a bite away - we just need to work on keeping our mouth closed.

Speedwork and Spa day!!!!!!

Training: My third and final speedwork day before my race. Although in some ways, it was really my first speedwork of the season since I ditched the fartlek style getting-back-into-it method and busted out some intervals.

oh, how I missed thee intervals...I love speedwork.

800 x 8 , with .15 recoveries - 3:24 / 3:19 / 3:17 / 3:14 / 3:19 / 3:20 / 3:19 / 3:18

Considering my planned workout was onl 800x4, and considering two weeks ago I struggled to run a sub-7 pace for more than a few minutes, this is a prime example of why I love running: you get out what you put in. If you do the speedwork and you do the tempo runs, you will run faster.

It's not so simple when it comes to biking and swimming - there is skill and technique involved. This frustrates me...I dont want to practice bike handling. I dont want to do swimming drills. I mean, I will - because I also dont want to suck - but I just love how anyone can run and how it makes sense. Tying a shoe is so much easier than changing a tire (which, btw, makes me cry).

Twins: This morning we all wore matching wife beaters. It was definitely worthy of a picture...it is getting harder and harder to get the twins to take a picture with me. They dont want to stand still, they dont want to look into the camera and they certainly dont want to smile while being forced to do all this:

This was the best picture I could get. You can tell they dont want to be posing with me:

The reason Brenna was wearing a wife beater instead of her usual feminine outfit was so that she could wear a new jacket...I got it at Kid2Kid for $1. It's awesome, I wish it fit me!

My dad came over to babysit during the afternoon so that my mother and I could go to the spa. We got a manicure (my first) and protein treatment for our hair. We also each got a hair cut, which is a pretty big deal since NEITHER of us have had a hair cut for THREE PLUS years. It's actually kind of embarrassing.

I love my mom.