Long run woes for nothing

So I postponed my 'long' run since on Sunday my children slept late (what?! They never sleep in!) and I didn't get up; I didn't even set my alarm, my children are so reliable.  It was also A's birthday party day (at gramma and grampa's house...but I still had work to do to get ready for it)  I took my stuff with me, thinking I could run home after the party, but it got a lot hotter than I thought. 
This morning my tummy was all nervous.  I have 7 miles on my plan, and I was nervous for it.  I KNOW I have run further than that, but for the past couple of weeks, all these 3-3.5 mile days were kicking my butt.  I would return to the driveway and just feel such relief- I was sure every time, that I couldn't run another step.  Well, long and slow was not awful, and when I compare it to my pre-15K runs, I realize there's a big difference running long and slow than doing ALL runs long and slow. It was so much easier today...and I even kept it under 12 minute miles.  Sweet.  I also drove to two points on the route I had planned and dropped off water bottles.  I carried one with me and then traded the empty for the full at each point (don't worry, I drove around at the end and picked them up...and also checked my mileage-I had guessed wrong and I didn't trust my runkeeper app.) 

Today: 7.7 (oops, a little over!)
Week: 7.7
Month: 68.8

I've got my homework done!

I feel like such a good student.  Even though my days of the week on the training plan didn't match up, I did all the work outs, including strength and stretching, which I had not been doing well at incorporating.  I am so glad I made it back to the yoga studio.  Did I mention that already?  Well, I am so happy to be back there!

This morning I took the kids and a gazillion cupcakes to summer rec.  It's A's birthday and he wanted to celebrate there, since he's not old enough to realize he actually has a good deal with his birthday always being on summer vacation.  He's always sad when kids at school have birthdays and bring in goodies.  His teachers have always had either a 'half birthday' day for him or a 'summer birthday' day in June, but let's face it.  it's just not the same as celebrating ON your birthday.  I totally get it.  When I left rec, I headed back to the yoga studio.  The sacrifice I make by going there is that I have to run closer to noon, so it's hotter, but I think it's a sacrifice well worth making most days.  There is class Monday, Wednesday and Friday so I'm going to try and get as many of them as I can. 
I returned home, fully intending to run, but ended up eating lunch instead...and tucking into a pint of Ben and Jerry's Greek Yogurt...crap.  And ate potato chips.  A lot of them.  I had meant to only hydrate.  oops.  I puttered around the house until 3, and finally headed out the door for my run.  I felt AWESOME!  Actually, my LEGS felt awesome.  My stomach was a different story.  I am lactose intolerant and it was not a good plan to have a lunch date with Ben and Jerry.  I spent my run trying not to puke every mile or so.  In between heaving though, I was a rock star!  Note to self:  Don't buy any freaking Ben and Jerry's and pretend that it's for the kids.  It's not for the kids.  And 'just a little taste' out of the pint turns into half the pint.  It's not worth it!!! (Well, maybe it was worth it.  It was the peanut butter banana flavor and it's amazing.)  OK.  So I might do it again, but I will try try try to wait until after a run to do it! 

Any other ice cream/fro yo addicts out there?  What about chips?  I can't seem to walk away from an open bag.  Kettle chips.  mmmmmm.

Today:  3.5
Week: 12. 9 (argh!  I should totally do the math before I walk out the door.  I could have run another .1!!!)
Month: 61.1

So I'm down to just using Hal Higdon's half marathon training plan as my training guide, but week to week I'm using it more as a check list, depending on what my schedule allows me time for.  I will continue to try and keep my long runs on Sunday (or Monday if need be) so that in my plan the race is closest to the actual race day.  Yesterday I had decided to use as my strength and stretch day (originally Monday on the plan) so I went to the yoga studio .  I figured a little yoga fit the bill as both strength and stretching, and it was a great class.  It's amazing that no matter how long I've been away from the studio, stepping on my mat feels like coming home.  I was super sore this morning, so I know I got a good work out.  I'm going to go again on Friday.  Turns out I had 5 classes I paid for 6 months ago.  I can't believe it's been so long since I've been there.  I will be making hitting the studio a priority in my training plan from now on.  I feel ridiculous that I didn't start going the moment the kids started rec 3 weeks ago.  Oh well. 

Today's plan simply said easy run.  Or maybe it said strength and easy run...I only got a run in so i'm going with that.  I took the dog with me today, which is usually more trouble than it's worth, but she behaved pretty well.  I only ended up going about 2.5 with her.  It's been a long time since she went with me, so I was afraid to push her too hard.  I also had to go shopping for my birthday boy, so I needed to give myself plenty of time to get back to the house, shower, dress and hit wally world and be back in time to pick them up from their early day.  I had my timing just right, and I pulled into the parking lot just as their field trip bus was getting back.  Phew!

Ack! I removed dailymile since I can't get that app on my phone and thought I could put the runkeeper widget in here, but I can't figure it out.  Sigh.  Oh well.  So according to runkeeper I ran .52, reset the work out, then added another 2.3 in my easy run.  Not too bad since I had the dog with me.  I had to reset, since I was trying to listen to a podcast, and I for some reason had the app set to tell me every 5th step (or so it seemed) my pace and time and distance.  Anyway, that makes the totals:

Thursday:  2.7
Week:  9.4
Month: 57.6
Also, forgive any spelling...for some reason the spell check button has an error message.  ;)

"Track" Tuesday

Set my app to a 'track' workout.  The local track at the school is being used for summer camp work outs, so I'm too embarrassed to head over there to do a speed work out (I don't like people to see me stop and walk, even if it's part of my plan!)  Hence the 'track'.  I set the app to tell me to run for quarter mile, then walk for 1, six times.  I headed out for the first minute, jogging for a warm up, then heard her ( I should give her a name..she sounds like a Kim maybe...RunKeeper Kim ?) tell me to run for 1/4 mile.  OK, go!  I did that, but missed her telling me to walk.  I knew when I looked at my watch and I had been running for 4 minutes that I missed it.  Also, I was just on the road near my house, and I know approximately where I hit a half mile, mile, etc.  So I walked.  and walked.  and walked.  Finally she told me to walk for one minute.  Crap.  I gave up, reset the work out and made sure the volume was WAY up.  Ta-dah!  It worked!  My phone was on my back in my spibelt and I could still hear it.  The app helped me focus less on how long/far I was running, and more on just running.  I thought I had one more 400 to do, but I wasn't sure, I thought maybe I was done...I was so happy to hear Kim tell me the workout was over.  Not because it was awful, but because it was over so quickly (not really, but much quicker than last time, even though I repeated a shorter distance) and I really felt great!  I walked for a minute then ran slow back to the house...so I calculated I ran 3.2 miles today, with just 6 minutes of it walking. Before I knew it, my second stride workout complete.  I might still run with the running club tonight, and just take it easy.  I'm not sure...we'll see how I feel tonight.  I didn't go last week it was so crazy hot and I missed seeing everyone.

Today: 3.2
This week: 6.7
July: 54.9

Monday Morning, Back on Track

My plan today was to run 3.5, and that's what I did.  I also used Run Keeper for the first time, which was kind of fun for me.  I had the audio turned on so every half mile or so the voice told me how far I had been and my pace.  I have never paid attention to my pace while I was running, as I don't have a GPS watch yet (but I did back bia on kickstarter, so I'm getting one in April hopefully!) but I had a full phone charge so I figured I'd give it a go.  In the beginning my pace was 10 minutes and 5 seconds per mile, in the middle I slowed to 10 minutes 10 seconds, even as I tried to up my pace.  The air was thick with humidity, and I only had shade for half the run, so between that and the up hill on the way out, I was not surprised.  The way back, I knew it was down hill, but the shade was completely gone and I really had to push myself back home.  I ended up hitting a bit of a wall about a mile away and went to my tried and true push, I started counting.  I usually count 1-100 on my left foot, "and" on my right.  1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and so on...then when I get to 100, I count down the same way.  Sometimes in the middle I count with more steps to 'trick' myself: thirty and one and thirty and two and  thirty and three and.... kind of a 4 for 1 with the steps.  I was still feeling the drag after I got back to 1 so I started counting by twos.  I figured I could count by threes if it came to it, and practice my mad math skills, but at some point on the way back down I forgot I was counting and I was through the push.  I concentrated on my form and my foot turn over the last quarter mile or so and as I got back to my driveway, I heard that my average pace was 9 minutes 59 seconds.  Yes!  It might not be a 9 minute mile, but the nine is in the front (barely, but still!) and hearing my pace along the way prodded me to not give up and walk a bit when the going got tough.  I'm going to make sure my phone is charged the next few times I go out.  It was just the push I needed to get me through the hard part of my work out.

I'm also back on track food wise.  I have put on a few pounds this summer, and although I'm fine where I am, I know that it's a slippery slope to be back another 15 lbs heavier.  I know 15 is not a lot, for some people, but it makes such  huge difference in how I feel in my clothes, while I'm running, everything I do, I feel so much better closer to the bottom of my weight range than towards the top.  I've used myfitnesspal since January, and it really helps me make better food choices.

Those are my ramblings on my run today.  I'm glad to be back on track and actually following the plan hanging on my fridge :)

Today: 3.5
This week 3.5
July: 51.7

Foiled Plans Again

Yesterday was not my favorite day.  Both kids were supposed to go to summer rec, and they would be roller skating in the morning, and bowling in the afternoon.  That would mean a day of 9:00-4:00 for me with no kids.  I had grand plans to drop off water bottles along a 7 mile loop and after running,  I was going to go to the sporting goods store to check out hydration belts.  Unfortunately, my older kid freaked out at last minute and just wouldn't go on the field trip.  I am sure if I had forced him to go, he would have had a good time, but then memories of my own childhood came back.  I really was nervous doing things like skating.  I also know what it's like to worry so much about what your peers are going to say about you (he's a crier) that even though I knew he would be fine, I took him back home with me.  My 5 year old got on the bus like it was nothing and had a great day.  My (soon-to-be) 8 year old came home and managed to do nothing but annoy me all day.  I knew it was simply me, being a brat, because my plans had been changed.  I could see myself being unnecessarily annoyed at him for things that were little, nothing annoyances.  I need to work at rolling with the punches.  This will probably happen a lot during training.  My fear yesterday was that if I forced him to go when he didn't want to that I would never get him to go to rec again.  It's hard to balance pushing my sensitive child just enough so he overcomes his fears and worries with allowing him to 'sit it out' until he is more comfortable and enters the activity on his own.  The problem is, that a lot of times he won't 'sit it out' until he is comfortable.  He sits it out permanently. 

Enough about my parenting.  That's fodder for another blog.  I spent the day being grouchy and basically getting nothing done.  I also wasn't super nice to my son, even though I knew it wasn't his fault.  I'm the one who let him stay home.  I made myself take a nap, and by the time my husband got home from work I had decided that I was going to go right out the door for a run.  Mama needed an attitude adjustment.  I got out there and contemplated just going to the end of the road and back, which would be 3 miles, despite my lack of training this week.  I got to the end of the road and realized that I felt good, great even!  My first mile was a little rusty, and achy, but as I moved along I felt better and better.  I took a right and ran to the road that intersects in that direction, turned around ran back past my own road, up to the next intersection, came back and turned down my own road...the loop was like a T.  I have never done it before, and I couldn't guess how far I ran.  I was hoping for 6 miles based on how long it took me, but I'm getting worse and worse and judging my pace when I run longer distances.  I came home, stretched, made dinner, cleaned up and went to bed.  This morning I had hoped to run in my hometown's 5K, but the husband had already made plans for a golf tournament that apparently is always held this weekend, but I always forget (it's the weekend of our anniversary and the only year he hasn't played is the year we got married.  He thinks I remember, but every year I forget)  Anyway, I figure I will run a bit tonight, even if it is in the heat, and just go with it.  I'm feeling much better for getting that run in.  This morning I mapped my run on the usatf website and it was just a touch over 6 miles.  Success!

Yesterday: 6.1
This week 16.6
July: 48.2

It looks like I won't break 100 for the month, but that's okay.  It's not really one of my goals, but I thought it would be neat!

Another rest day...not on purpose

I didn't sleep well last night.  Our house is filled with flies (the joys of country living) even though I have cleaned and scrubbed.  I have no idea what they are after, but between the one that was trapped in my room last night dive-bombing my ear while I tried to sleep and the fact that I didn't realize/remember that green tea has caffeine in it (whoops!  I drank about 4 glasses of the stuff iced with my dinner last night) I was up half the night.  I went back to bed after the husband left at 5:15 for work.  Normally I stay up and have my coffee and generally enjoy the peace and quiet before the boys come tearing out of their rooms around 6:30, or 7 if I am lucky.  Today though, I climbed back in bed and conked out.  My oldest came in around 7:30 to ask if he could watch TV.  "Sure" I mumbled and went back to sleep.  Then at 8:30 my alarm went off reminding me it was time to take them to summer rec.  I dragged myself out of bed to find both boys sitting on the couch in underwear, complaining about being hungry and whining about not wanting to go to rec.  Sigh.  I couldn't very well get them there looking like that and starving.  I fed them, made them get dressed and let them stay home.  It was a short day at rec anyway, and they weren't missing much, but I usually make them go when they want to stay home.  They end up having a great time, and are so much more well behaved when they get home.  Usually somewhere around lunch they are at each other's throats and they have had enough of each other.  I'm afraid if I let them 'skip' rec, they will skip it more and more and 1) I will have paid for it for nothing and 2)I wont have any more time to run in the summer.  Today was not the best day for me to do this because the husband had golf again tonight, which meant no evening run either.  Tomorrow I will make up for it by dropping them off, then placing strategic water bottles along a 7 mile route so I'm good to go when I get home.  I really meant to have them skip rec tomorrow as they are going roller skating (really?!  I love it, but who skates anymore?  please don't let my babies break any bones) and then to the bowling alley after lunch (wow.  Long long day)  I really hope they want to go.  If they are scared, I'm sure my heart will break tomorrow and I will let them stay home and I'll be forced to run in the afternoon heat when my husband gets home from work.  which sucks also because I'm thinking about running a 5K in my childhood home town I just found out about on Saturday.  It would be a good race for the family to go with me to, since the field days are going on there too.  They could hang out with my dad and then we could go get fried food and ride rides. 
I COULD have hit the treadmill today instead, but I really really was tired, and I decided I just didn't want to.  Not a good plan, but I will pick it back up tomorrow.  I have to.  The last time I let it get to me I was in a running funk for a week.  I don't have that kind of time in my training schedule to be in a funk!

Today: 0