Week 3 Training Recap

Week 3 was rough. Not so much physically, but mentally.  I did almost 17 miles again. I was feeling like 6 days a week is a lot of time, and then thinking about doing this for the next 9 months. . . was a lot. There is also a TON of stuff going on with my job right now, which is making it hard at home with a crazy schedule and a lot of additional work that I don’t usually have to do.

I started to realize that the kind of running I’m doing now is different in a few ways. It’s “active” running. Before, when I was ready to go out on a run, I put my headphones in, thought about how far I was going to go, about how long it would take me, and off I went. As I was running, I wasn’t thinking. I was totally zoned out, and thinking about life, the grocery list, what meetings I had tomorrow, how the kids were doing in school, etc. Not about what my body was doing while I was running. Now, I have to think about what my body is doing, how I’m feeling, where my HR is, etc. It’s a much more active process. I can’t just “click off” my brain. When I do that, I find that I’m not paying attention to what my body is doing. .I just start going and look down and then I have to catch up. Not good. So learning how to run “actively” is interesting.

My right kneecap (the top) is starting to ache. I’m fairly certain after a couple of runs paying close attention; that it’s my shoes. I need a 2nd pair of shoes. I might go and try some on this weekend, and try to decide if I’m going to stick with the Asics  Tri Noosa 8s (they are still available on Amazon. .I would then have THREE pairs of the same shoe lol!) or do I want to try the Tri Noosa 9s or something totally different?

Those are some of the things I thought about last week. Stay tuned for the Week 4 update!

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Week 2 Training Recap!

Week 2 is complete! I ran 16.95 miles (can I please round up to 17?!) and ran 6 days this week. I’m very glad today is a rest day!!

I finally figured out the heart rate monitor thing. PSA to all girls with larger breasts (and the bras to go with them): The HRM goes physically UNDER your bra. Not below it. I had been wearing it actually below the band on my bra. . apparently the correct placement is directly under the girls. I’ve had much better luck now after I moved it up, and then adding some electrode conductivity gel. SO much better readings! Here are all the things I had tried PRIOR to moving it up under the bra:

• Electrode gel
• New battery (it’s less than a year old and Garmin says it should last 2 years)
• Updating the firmwear on my Garmin 220
• Wetting down my shirt (in case it was static caused by my “performance fabric” aka non-cotton workout wear)
• Swapping to a Polar HR strap I had laying around.
• Washing the strap (even though I’d washed it less than a week ago)
• Super soaking my HR strap before I used it

**most of these tips I found from DC Rainmaker. . one of the “web gurus” on all things training gear related. Here is the link to his original post on this: Troubleshooting your Heart Rate Monitor

Here is what “bad” looks like:

Bad HR Data on Garmin Connect

And here is what “good” looks like:

Good HR Data on Garmin Connect

 

I’m training with Nick from Tranbarger Training Systems. He also trains triathletes, not just runners. His plan is a bit different than I had been doing when I was training on my own. I’m trying to get used to the “new normal” of this type of training. I’m sure as the workouts get more challenging I will look back at these 2 build weeks and laugh. . and wish for them to repeat! So far so good though.

Other stuff going on this week: I went to the doctor Friday. I’ve been having some left upper quadrant abdominal pain after eating for about the last 3 weeks. It was getting to the point I couldn’t let it go any more. My Dr did labs, xrays and scheduled an ultrasound for next week. I’m hoping it’s something simple, and not something  more complicated like gallbladder or ulcer. I will NOT be happy if I have to abandon my training because I have to have my gallbladder out! Or if my mesh from a previous abdominal surgery has moved and it has to be removed. Seriously, not happy. Please send no surgery vibes!!

We went as a family to a wedding on Saturday, after the kids had early morning football. It was a good day, but the kids were pretty tired by 9pm, so I took them and went home a bit early. Did I mention I’m so glad today is a rest day? I will be meal planning, grocery shopping and doing laundry. Ahh, all the glam work of a Mom :)!

Week 1 Training Recap.

I survived Week 1!! Yay!

14 miles complete this week, 6 days of running.

Things I need to work on:

•Writing the calendar down or printing it out. So I look at it before each run. I ended up shorting myself a mile on Saturday because I didn’t look at the calendar before I went to run. Oops. I think I’m going to put a calendar with my training schedule on our bathroom mirror where I can easily see what I’ve done and check off the workouts as they are complete(who doesn’t love to mark things off a list!)!

• To be helpful, technology must work. My Garmin is awesome. However, it’s never accurate for me on the treadmill. I think I need a footpod, it may be because my stride is short due to the fact I have a 27 inch inseam. Also, my HRM is acting crazy. I know while running a 11:45 mile, that my HR is not 70. I’m no Lance Armstrong!! Going today to get a new battery and some conductivity gel and hoping that fixes the problem.

•Trying to restructure an old habit (as opposed to starting a new one) is harder when you are away from home. Traveling for work is hard enough. Traveling out of the country, and trying to start a new habit while working is not fun either. Now that I’m home. . I have to start a new routine again!!

• I like knowing I have to be accountable to someone. Nick is making me log all my runs at logarun.com. I’ve never used this system, and am still getting used to it. But the fact I have to account for each run makes it easier to get motivated to do them!

•I still love running a lot and I’m so glad I’ve been able to get back into it after my injury. When I was injured, I was really afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to run the way I wanted again. I didn’t know if there would be any lasting tendon/ligament issues. Thankfully, so far it’s going well!!

Looking forward to what the next few weeks will bring. I’m in the “aerobic build” phase of training. . I think that is fancy-talk for “going easy on me in the beginning” !

A Goal, and a Plan.

After this year was not as successful as I wanted it to be with running due to my injury, I’ve decided to set a pretty high goal for next year.

I want to run a spring half in under 2 hours.

My first half marathon last November was awesome. I loved every second of it. Had a great time, and felt fantastic the whole way. Never felt like I was really going “all out”, but I was also running with a friend. Fast forward to this year, where I was hoping to run at least 2, possibly 4 halfs and gradually decrease my time (on my own. . with some training plans I had found thru Google). After being injured, the only race I’ve done was a 5k with family a few weeks ago.

I have signed up with a running coach, who also happens to be a friend. He is an awesome triathlete, smart, and also happens to have a kinesiology degree. I’m a little bit nervous about running five to six days a week, that’s a lot of time with 2 kids and a full time job and all the other things that “life” requires. But having a coach gives me accountability, and someone to guide me where before I was just running to run.

So that’s what I will be doing for the next 9 months. And instead of an adorable tiny human at the end, I will get to say I ran a half marathon in under 2 hours!!!

I’m going to try to blog and talk about what I’m doing and how it’s going so if nothing else, I can have a log for me of how my training went and what I learned.