Things I like:
* Brooks Pure Connects
* Trail runs on rocky trails
* Naps in the middle of the day
* Hot showers
* The track
* Brilliance
* Nonconformism
* Tight jeans
* Books
* Scars
* Chocolate
* Raises
* Salads in popcorn bowls


Things I don't like:
* Superficiality
* Insecurity
* Falls
* Overreacting
* Cold coffee
* Perfection
* Fear
* Settling
* Financial planning
* Dramas
* Shorter days
* Dry skin
* Sluggish runs

It's been a while since...

...I've had a fall!

Half a mile into my trail run this morning my R foot got stuck under a rock (darn you forefoot strike!) and I proceeded to fall face down. I managed to stop myself a bit with my hands and arms, but my legs got the best of it. I was a bit worried about an infection (the wounds were covered with dirt and I had no water with me) and Chris offered to pee on them, which made me laugh because a scene from my favorite TV show "Girls" popped in my mind. We skipped the pee on the wounds (in case you were wondering) and kept running. We ended up having a great run and I stopped trying to push the pace so that we could beat our time from the previous week (we did not, but my HR was 8 beats lower!) AND let Chris lead (not easy for moi!).

Training musings

So..my running is going well! Hurray! After a couple of weeks of "OMG, my legs have forgotten how to run", I finally feel light and springy on my feet. What a relief! I took myself to the track on Monday for 15X200m, with the goal of running these at 5K to mile pace (which I conservatively set to be 5Kpace-30 seconds). I had done nothing but a few 10 sec hill sprints and one 10x20 secs strides run on the treadmill, so I had no idea how I'd do. Most importantly, I was worried I lost my joy for the track (the track is one of my favorite places to run. I could even run a marathon on the track, no problem). I am fine with getting slower (not yet, but it will happen), but I am not OK with losing my love for the track:) The thing is, I was absolutely amazed that I did not lose any of my high end speed. I lost endurance for sure, and 13 miles seems a bit too far to go these days, but my speed is still there. I yearned to do an all out interval, but managed to stay within my time constraints. And I had so much fun. There might be some track races in my future once I become a masters runner!

And speaking of love...I am also running a lot of trails. Chris and I have been running the Skyline Trail in the Fells (7.5 miles with the detour, 1300 feet elevation gain) once a week for the past 2 weeks, and are having so much fun that will keep this up. This trail is all up and down, with very steep inclines and declines. It is also very technical with huge rocks that one needs to climb, so that it becomes more of a plyometric/strength type exercise done @ 12-14 min miles, which is just perfect for where I am in my training. First, I need strength. Second, the pace of this run totally kills my average weekly run pace in my Runningahead account which is GOOD for someone like me who has a bit of a pace/ego thing going on that needs to be tamed:) Plus, Chris and I have always had the best conversations while running/hiking, and he gets to channel his inner macho by protecting me from the unleashed dogs whose owners are going about their business while their dogs almost chew my shorts off (it happened, but rant over!).

So...if you are curious, my week goes something like this:

M: a.m. intervals/fartlek type workout; p.m. 30 min elliptical + core while Petru swims.
Tue: p.m. very very easy run on trails with no watch/HR monitor, some hill sprints.
Wed: a.m. progression by HR; p.m. spin class + strength legs
Thursday: a.m. Fells trail run; p.m. 30 min elliptical+ core
Friday: p.m swim
Saturday: a.m. long; strength; p.m. swim as a family maybe
Sunday:  a.m. spin class+short easy run immediately after with strides no watch/HR monitor; p.m.

Feels like a routine, ha? Will see where it takes me.

I am not training for anything right now, and am just working on getting my baseline mileage and speed back. The plan is to kill the half marathon this winter/spring, and maybe some 5Ks and 10Ks too in the process. You know, the stuff I LOVE. Would be nice if the killing would result in some PRs; the 10K PR will be easy since I have yet to race a 10K, but the other 2 will be challenging. I am up for it though. I will be using Canova/Hudson training principles incorporating a lot of what I learned from Lucho during the past year. I am excited to write my own workouts and see what I can do. Fall and winter (call me crazy!) and my favorite seasons for running, and I am getting giddy for the miles!

Happy Birthday to ME

Perfect birthday for me yesterday. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Breakfast and coffee with my boys.
A 2 hour trail run with Chris in the Fells.
A nap followed by watching part of Vegas 70.3 and Wisconsin IM.
Apple picking, cider donuts eating with my boys.
Barbecue, champagne and chocolate cake with good friends and family.
Snuggling with my little boy before bed.
Snuggling with my other boy and eating salted dark chocolate.

And now, I am feeling some inner pressure to do something really crazy and different during my last year before the big 40!

Update

* School started today and I found myself envious of the herds of kids walking to school in the morning. Although my job has a large learning component, I miss  being in school. My little guy had no issues getting off the door this morning, particularly since his 2 best pals were waiting for him.

Walking to school with his wife. They got married on Tuesday. They want to have 2 kids, a girl named Horse and a boy named Cheetah. She will stay home, he will work as a policeman giving tickets to those who do not respect traffic signs. They will live in Wisconsin (near Dells Water park) and in New Mexico in the winter. They will make the kids do all the chores.

Waiting to cross the street along with new and old friends. 

Walking with an old friend before yelling at mom "no more pictures".

* Running is going well. I am up to 50 miles this week and so far so good. I did some strides on the treadmill the other day - first in months - and woke up with DOMS. This made me laugh. Still, it is fascinating to me to see how quickly the body regains speed after some time off, with just easy running. It's like you really do not lose fitness; rather, you think you do, but then a few weeks in you are back to where you were before you took the time off. I am nowhere near where I was yet, but my aerobic pace is definitely improving pretty quickly with not too many miles and no speed work. Sweet! 

* I am down to 2 spin classes per week and 1 swim during my day off and will most likely keep these in my schedule. My body feels so good and relaxed after I swim, like I just had a massage (yes, I swim easy!). The spin classes are great quad and glute workouts, better than any strength work for me. 

* And yes, I do strength and core 2 times a week. Recently I've incorporated exercises to strengthen my shins and calves. Interestingly these have become issues for me only when I transitioned into a forefoot runner. I would like to go back to a mid foot strike (because I think it may be the least injury related strike) which now I can do only when I wear bulky running shoes, but won't force it. 

* Truly excited to vicariously cheer on for the various half and full marathons, as well as Vegas 70.3, IMWI and Kona this fall! Not missing racing yet - probably because my fitness is not at a racing level (for me) right now, but I am starting to think (and getting giddy!) about the possibilities. 

Summer

 It's been a busy summer over here with lots of time spent with him:

(Dancing at an outdoor concert)

     (down the slide during a camping trip)

And his friends:

  (Making waterslides with marble works in my living room....and not cleaning up, of course:)

I find that the older my son gets, the more he needs me - perhaps a bit different than how I thought things would turn out (but most of what I thought parenting would be, parenting is NOT:) - and the more interesting and difficult parenting gets. I love being kept on my toes by a 7 year old blond boy - particularly since those toes have needed to be kept busy since there has been very little running during the past month. My shin splint turned out to be a sore spot and perhaps a stress reaction. I wouldn't know because I did not see a doctor for it (I believe in a good PT, but tend to stay away from doctors - I believe that they cause more trouble when it comes to running injuries). But now I am "all better" and ran 15 miles this week keeping the pace easy at my aerobic pace minus 5 beat (which is 8-8:30 these days). I am taking things super slow because I want my legs to get used to the impact; I kept in pretty good shape aerobically with high intensity elliptical and more recently 5 or so hours of spinning a week, so I could easily run a bit faster now, but this would not be good for the legs. If I can give one advice to keeping in shape when injured is to use your HR monitor and train at your aerobic zone, with intervals going up to 95% HR. These are much tougher to do without the impact from running, but they worked for me. I feel strong.

I missed running at times, but honestly not as much as I thought I would. I really dislike summer running and having to wake up at the crack of dawn to run. The AC at the gym allowed me to keep a schedule that worked well for me. But, the main reason why I did not miss running was probably because I did not allow myself to miss it; I simply embraced the bike and the elliptical and stopped reading running books for a bit (I still read blogs though:). I focused on the benefits of not running, and reminded myself that I tend to come back stronger after a break. I also reminded myself that the injury gave me an out - I did not have to run a Fall marathon, phew, because I really do not like the marathon.

So what have I learn during this bout with injury?

1. 80 miles is my top mileage for now. Going above it = potential for injury.
2. I need the hard/easy methodology. Running the same pace, even during base, stresses the legs in the same way, and leads to injury for me.
3. I may not be able to handle doubles. I may be able to run 15 miles at once, but not as 10 and then 5 later. I used *may* because I am not convinced yet about this.
4. I can't log high mileage or do lots of high intensity training during periods of high work stress. I cope well with stress, but nonetheless, when stress is there I either need to sleep even more (ha!), or cut the mileage or intensity.
5. I enjoy training myself. I love training logs, numbers, paces, reading about anything running related.
6. I need to be true to what running means to me during the present moment. This has been changing for me over the years. I rely on running less and less (a good thing!). I am attached to goals less and less (another good thing!).
7. You can work the bike and the elliptical and get endorphins just as much as you would from a run. This requires a mental shift, however.
8. I absolutely love to cheer on my friends training for marathons, especially Jenn and Katie, and am secretly happy I don't train for one myself (though I terribly miss running with Katie!).

Run/Cross train Happy:)

Bloggers in real life

When I started this blog many years ago I was not interested in followers (I still am not, sorry!). I was not interested in making connections. I simply wanted to write anonymously, document my training, and have a record of my running(s) and living(s). It took me over 4 years of blogging to even consider responding to a comment; when I received a couple of emails after my first marathon in 2009, I thought it was kind of weird. I felt perfectly content in my personal life, with enough friends and family to consider letting anyone from the blog in. Ha! How things have changed. I am now emailing almost daily with 2 women I met via this blog, who have become very close friends.

I virtually trained with Jenn for Baystate 2011 and rapidly became able to share private details of my life that typically take me years to share. Perhaps because we are so similar. I am looking forward to the time when we will be able to both train for something without one of us getting injured. I am also looking forward to our sweat contest - you see, she think she actually sweats more than I do, ha, ha, ha!   Jenn is someone who puts a lot of thought into every aspect of her life. She is a no nonsense, no excuses super busy person who somehow always makes time for those who are important to her. Oh, and she is also very hot.

 Sometime early 2012, I think, I started to exchange emails with Amanda. It was Boston 2012, however, that really sealed my friendship with her. Amanda and I are very different in many ways. She carries emotions on her face while I  often choose not to show my emotions. She is a free spirit while I am more of an analytic thinker. But Amanda won me over with her big heart, genuineness, and incredible ability to connect. She is a ball of energy and sexy muscles. You think you know her from the first meeting, but girl's got layers and depth and wisdom beyond her years.

After many many emails we finally met in Boston 2 weeks ago. Amanda arrived earlier and she and I waited for Jenn (whom none of us had met before) pacing around the airport. And then we got home and talked nonstop in my living room from 12 noon to 2:30am. Boom! It was easy conversation, and we covered topics from G to NR17 and more. There were no hang ups. Everyone was comfortable getting food, sleeping late or waking up early, emailing or talking. It was truly perfect. We walked the streets of Boston, shopped for jeans, ate a few bags of chips and a pound of dark chocolate, ran some, ate some more.... Several bottles of wine and some beers disappeared in the process. Sometime Saturday night I fell asleep on the armchair while these 2 played dress up and took pictures for a dear friend who could not make the trip (sorry, none of those will be posted!). We went to bed at 4am.

In no particular order:

                                                                    Jenn and Amanda!

                                                            Jenn and I - the dark circles under my eyes clearly show that I    
                                                               need my 8hs of sleep!

                                                             Jenn and I

                                            Amanda - this little bundle of muscle - showed us some of her talents!
                                            She can also do 10 pull up in a row, thank you very much!

Monday morning came too soon and I feel that there were so many topics I wanted to cover and did not get to. Next time for sure. In the meantime, really thankful for this little blog and for the email to continue our friendship!