Small celebrations

This Sunday, I will have run further in a week than I ever have before: 50 miles in 6 days.  I made this connection this morning after a brutal 11 mile workout, where 9 miles were at an 8:40 pace and the other 2 were tired and still too far from home to walk.  So to celebrate this new accomplishment, I wanted to make a list of the things that have changed for me since I've started increasing my weekly totals, and average paces.

• I take the long routes in my car just so that I can warm up my butt a little longer with my seat heater.  

• I wear a bathing suit in the bathtub during ice baths so that I can maintain some sense of pride when my boys barge in laughing sadistically at my shivering body.  

• Blow drying my hair takes 3 times longer.  This is partially because my body is tired and holding a hair dryer above my shoulders sucks.  It is also because I aim the air stream at my beat up legs for half the time.

• Ice baths work better when I roll my legs out with a foam roller first.  My post run ritual is now quite long.

• I run better the next day if I roll my legs out again before bed.  My night time ritual is now quite long.

• Chocolate milk tastes better than advertised.  To think I used to hate that delectable liquid...

• My body has a harder time processing foods the more I run.  So fresh foods, small meals, and lots of fruits, veggies, yogurt, and trail mix have become my daily norm.

• I naturally wake up before 5:30 every morning ready to run.  

• I've made friends with the baristas at the Starbucks near my house, not because I purchase coffee in the morning but because on those crazy cold mornings where I can't feel my fingers, they yell out the drive through window at me that I am crazy and they love my dedication, do I need to come and pee where it is warm?  

• I've stopped peeking at the weeks ahead on my training calendar.  It scares the hell out of me, so I am trying to take it one day at a time.

I am really surprised by how far I've come.  I never used to be able to run 2 consecutive days and now I run 6 days in a row!  I am running farther, faster, and more miles in a week than I ever thought my body could handle.  After each run, I am proud of myself.  It is like daily goals that I alone get to conquer, where my body shows me how strong it truly is and it feels unbelievably good.


How do you celebrate milestones, whether large or small?  

What things have changed for you during your training?

What foods to you enjoy more now than before you began running?

~Roadburner

From Boogers to Icy Hot

Training for my second marathon is a lot like having a second child.  I've already been there before, I know the race will be painful, but hell or high water, I'm finishing.  It isn't as exciting the second time around.  I don't study my calendar as closely or count the weeks I've covered or what I have left to do.  I get up everyday, go run, and get on with my day.  I brush my teeth every day too, and I don't write home about that.  It's become routine and I like it that way. 

I did however, make a discovery yesterday when I compared my Garmin from January-February 2013 and January 2014 to now.  I've run exactly twice the amount of miles this year as I did last year (130 miles vs. 260).  Somehow my legs haven't fallen off yet, so I guess something is working.

It's been a really busy and random week and most of the events have nothing to do with the other, so I figured it would be easiest to list them off.  Here we go:

• I had a small cold last week.  It wasn't a bad one, but enough to leave my head full of boogers and ready to explode without Mucinex D.  I love that stuff.  But more than one pill at a time leaves me high as a kite, so one pill is all this light-weight can handle.  

• Speaking of my cold, I completed 7 miles of speed work at the gym, mildly ill.  Working out at the gym sucks when you are sick because you can't blow snot rockets, it becomes a slipping hazard.  

Sorry boys.

• My youngest son caught my cold, which completely plugged his nose.  Of course picking your nose is much more efficient to a 3 year old than blowing it out as Mommy preferred, so he studied his boogers all week.  "Sticky boogers are more green than watery ones."  This booger fascination compounded today when he decided to stick a Chocolate Cheerio up his nose.  After it came out, I asked him why he thought that was a good idea.  "I wanted to see if it fit, Mommy!" which sounded reasonable enough.  I responded, "Well, I'd say it fit pretty well, buddy."  To which he replied, "Sure did, Mommy!  Cause it was STUCK!"

After the Cheerio was gone. 

• My mom came to town for the weekend.  Apparently, she is more awesome than me.  That's okay, Ethan and Owen, your kids will think I am more fun than you someday too. 

"How many Cheerios will fit in that hole, Grandma?"

• After my speed work lately my legs have been completely shot. My calves have been so tired that I actually calculate the effort it will take to climb the stairs to collect the dirty laundry, versus the effort of allowing my kids to throw the laundry at me while I wait at the bottom and picking it up again to bring it to the washer.  (Still think I'm not fun boys?  What mom subjects herself to laundry target practice? Really awesome, tired ones!)

• Last year, I started taking ice baths after my 17 miler.  By started I mean, I took one and swore to never do that again, the "icy hot" pain was unbearable.  This time I did some research and learned you don't have to induce frostbite to encourage muscle healing.  8-10 minutes in 40-60 degree water is sufficient.  I like 50 degrees best because 40 is sadistic, 60 seems wussy, and 50 is tolerable, although my girl parts still think they are being punished for something they didn't do. 

 

Owen watched as I lowered myself in.  He told me he likes warm baths the best just in case I was confused.

• Rest days leave me with an insane amount of pent-up energy in the afternoon.  I swept, mopped, and polished my hardwood floors yesterday.  Bona Floor Polish is amazing.  Not to mention the rest of the house I cleaned, the awesome dinner I made, or the 2 mile bike ride I took Owen on (that's a lot for a 3 year old who stops to touch the mud to investigate how "squooshy" it is every 10 feet.). 

 

• I watched my 6 year old take off in a dead sprint across the football field yesterday after I picked him up from school.  He was racing a boy in his class that is easily a foot taller (Ethan is in the 10% for height), and 2 boys who are in second grade.  They ran about 100 yards and when Ethan beat them all by about 15 feet or more, I silently danced in my head.  That's my boy!  

Don't let the shell fool you, this kid's got speed!

That sums up my week but leaves me with a lot of questions for you:

How is your week going?

Have your kids ever stuck anything up their noses? 

What do you do on your rest days? 

How many miles have you run this year so far?

Do you take ice baths?  

How do you compare training for distances that you've covered already?

~Roadburner