Working on setting things up so it's quicker for me to post updates! As you can see, it's been a while. I'm trying to catch up as quickly as possible, so stay tuned!
In Health -
Anna Dufloth
707-486-6506
Dufloth Fitness Personal Training & Outdoor Family Fitness
www.duflothfitness.com
www.outdoorfamilyfitness.com
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Marathon Training Weeks 8 & 9
WOW! Okay, so life took over after Week 7 and I failed in being able to keep the blog up-to-date. As the mileage for training peaked, other activities in my daily and weekly schedule suffered and got pushed aside. It still amazes me, as I look back on it, how I was able to keep my "normal life" going (to a certain extent) AND train for a marathon.
I know a lot of you really want to know about how the race went and how I felt during this last week, after the race. So I am cramming the last 4 weeks of training into two blog posts so that I can get to the good stuff! Here's a condensed version of what happened in my life with training.
Week 8: Total Weekly Mileage 25.67
Sunday 10/30/11 - Short, recovery run after our peek run of 16 miles last week. Schedule had me down for 6 miles - we did 6.52 miles. It was nice to have a shorter run morning because it allowed me to be home most of the day to prep for Halloween. I had a bunch of prep work to do for both kids' classrooms and for the house.
Monday 10/31/11 - Halloween Day! Super fun day BUT incredibly busy. Had celebrations in both kids' classes so when I dropped them off in the morning I was pretty much at school all day long. We got home from school at 3:30pm, had a little bit of resting time, ate dinner at 4:30pm so we could start visiting family at 5pm and meet up with friends to trick-or-treat starting at 6pm. This was the first year that the kids did real trick-or-treating and it was so fun to watch them. Jazper would come back down the path from each front door, holding up his basket and say "Momma, they gave me more candy!" Seriously one of those precious moments that you will remember forever.
Tuesday 11/1/11 - BAD DAY! Started out with the car not starting. Cathy, bless her heart, met me at the kids' school and we ran from there. We did 4.06 miles at a nice average pace of 10:02. After our run, the car started and she followed me to the gas station and waited for me to fill up to be sure the car started again. It did, barely, and I headed down to the dealership so they could see what was wrong. After being there for an hour, it was only the battery, thank goodness! I was able to make it out of there on time to go get an oil change as well. Got done with the oil change just in time to make it to work in Sevannah's classroom. Talk about a stressful morning! Then that afternoon there was the tantrum of the century from Jazper. I literally ahd to pull over onto the side of the road and sit there for 20 minutes until he stopped screaming and I could drive again. This was not a good day; one I wish to never repeat.
Wednesday 11/2/11 - Rough morning; didn't sleep well and just felt lethargic. I had to talk myself into running and didn't get to that point until noon. The schedule had me running a total of 8 miles so I split it into two runs. When I made it out at noon for the first run I did 4.25 miles at a nice pace of 10:04. Got back home just in time for Jazper to be dropped off by carpool. He and I ate lunch and then I headed off to work. After work, I drove straight to our evening run location to meet up with Cathy and Jennifer. We did 5.85 miles in the dark. We ran for about 20 minutes and then did 6 x 3 minutes pickups with 1 minute recovery at slow jog; then ran the rest of the way home. I felt a lot better after both runs. It still amazes me how running can rid me of a bad mood!
Thursday 11/3/11 - Cathy and I needed to do a 5 mile tempo run. I met her at her house and we headed out. We had a nice, slow first mile, then picked up the speed for miles 2, 3 and 4; slowed back down for mile 5. Mile 4 was a really fast mile for us (8:31 pace!) It was really cold this morning so we had oatmeal and coffee after we stretched. After that, I changed into some dry clothes and headed to my client. When I was done with my client it was time to pick up the kids from school. There had been some issues with my paychecks from my job at the hospital, so the kids and I drove over to St Helena to pick up my check. Seriously long day! Was so tired by the end.
Friday 11/4/11 - Right now, I do not even remember what I did on this morning. I didn't make any notes either. Oh well! I do know that when I picked the kids up from school I had 3 large bags of laundry from Jazper's kindergarten class that I had to take home and wash. OH! And the chicken pox and lice were in both kids' classrooms. Ya - this was a fun end to the week. The kids had been vaccinated for chicken pox but you can apparently still get a mild case. So we were on high alert, checking the kids for both chicken pox and lice. (Luckily, we didn't get either one -hooray!!) After dropping the kids at my mother-in-laws, I headed to work. After work, I got home and immediately turned around to leave again, with Sevannah, for her classes Lantern Walk. It was cold but really pretty!
Saturday 11/5/11 - James had to work all day, so I had both kids with me at Outdoor Family Fitness class. This proved to be a challenge today. I was tired and cranky, and Jazper wanted to be with Daddy. So we struggled to get through the morning. After class, we went home and I proceeded to work on getting the 5 loads of kindergarten laundry washed, dried and folded. The kids we're counting money while I was doing laundry and Jazper wanted to know what he could buy with his money. He had less than $2.00 in coins so I told him he had enough money to pay for his own hot chocolate at Starbucks. So guess where we ended up next? You guessed it - Starbucks - so the kids could pay for their own hot chocolates. It was a fun to see them order their own drinks, tell the lady their names for their cups and count out the coins.
Week 9: Total Weekly Mileage 32.74
Sunday 11/6/11 - 18 miles!! Yes we did it! We met at Cathy W's house up in Windsor because she lives near Chalk Hill Rd and our route was to go from her place, out Chalk Hill Rd to Hwy 128 and back. This is a very challenging route. We gained over 1,000 feet in elevation - yes really! It was super fun afterwards to look at the elevation chart on my Garmin report. In fact, I'll share that with you here...Chalk Hill Out & Back by annad83 at Garmin Connect - Details After the run, Cathy W had brunch all cooked and ready for us to eat! It was so great to be able to change into dry, warm cloths, sprawl on her floor and stretch, and fill up on good yummy food. When I got home, I ice bathed and took a shower before we headed out to go shopping for a new refrigerator. Our freezer wasn't closing properly, causing the refrigerator/freezer to thaw and not function properly. Really all I wanted to do was relax and take a nap, but this was important. We had to see what kind of prices we were dealing with.
Monday 11/7/11 - Recovery day = no running. I woke up with tight hips and sore quadriceps but over all felt pretty good.
Tuesday 11/8/11 - Ran from my house with Cathy B & Leslie. Faster than we were suppose to be (as usual for our Tuesdays) but it felt good! Heart rate was a little over, and in the last mile I could feel I was pushing a little harder than I probably should have been but it was cold, we were talking, and it wasn't like it felt bad. Total distance was 3.1 miles. We chatted about marathon pace afterwards. My usual Tuesday activities took place after that - acupuncture, work in Sevannah's class, drive two different carpools (kindergarten pick up and grades pick up). Had some MAJOR drama with my parents late in the morning that pretty much ruined my day. Had people come after dinner to purchase our large oak desk and hutch that we sold on Craigs List. I was glad when this day was over!
Wednesday 11/9/11 - Woke up still feeling crappy from all the drama on Tuesday. It was a Lecture Day at the hospital so after driving carpool in the morning I went home and got ready for work. Work went pretty well. I was leaving work when I got an email from the people who bought the desk and hutch. They decided they didn't want it and wanted to return it to us. Ummm NO! You and your husband came to my house, looked over both pieces from top to bottom, had a conversation amongst yourselves and decided to buy it. You both, with James' and my help, loaded the pieces into your vehicle, handed me the money and drove off! This, on top of the family issues just about pushed me over the edge. I got to our evening run location after work in the worst mood. Thank goodness for running and my running pals! Talking over the issues with them while we ran made a world of difference. Before I knew it, I was laughing so hard it was difficult to keep running. It was a full moon and so pretty on the creek path that we turned our headlamps off for a while and ran by moonlight. Amazing! On our way back we had an encounter with a skunk, which had us all laughing so hard we were crying! This run was the perfect way to bring a really bad day to a much better end.
Thursday 11/10/11 - Cathy B and I went to the Coast Guard base to run with Teja again. It was cold and super windy!! Made the run harder but it was great! Took our phones and took pics at the bottom and top of Texas Hill.
Awesome coffee and snacks afterwards. After school that day, Jazper went home with a friend so I could take Sevannah to the orthodontist. After her appointment we met up with them for a playdate at Ragle Ranch Park. During the playdate, Jazper lost his 2nd tooth! It was a busy afternoon.
Friday 11/11/11 - Veteran's Day. The kids didn't have school so we got to sleep in and hang out at home until it was time for me to get ready to go to work. At work that afternoon I did some upper body strength training with a blue band (heavy resistance). It felt really good.
Saturday 11/12/11 - Taught Outdoor Family Fitness class. It was Full Body Day so I got to demonstrate a lot. Afterwards, I attempted to conquer the mountain of laundry that had accumulated during the week and ran a bunch of errands for Sevannah's class. As the "Class Purchaser" I get a list of items from the teachers from time to time that they need for the class and then need to get those items for them. We hit Whole Foods for a couple items, Beverly's for a few others. By the end of the day I was ready for bed and a little nervous about attempting our first 20 miler the next morning!
There you have - two weeks worth of life and training, albeit, a month late, but at least I finally got it done. The plan it to have the last weeks of training done by the end of the week so I can move on to sharing Race Day and the recovery week(s) after the race. Thank you so much for your support and patience! I do love being able to share my experience with all of you.
I know a lot of you really want to know about how the race went and how I felt during this last week, after the race. So I am cramming the last 4 weeks of training into two blog posts so that I can get to the good stuff! Here's a condensed version of what happened in my life with training.
Week 8: Total Weekly Mileage 25.67
Sunday 10/30/11 - Short, recovery run after our peek run of 16 miles last week. Schedule had me down for 6 miles - we did 6.52 miles. It was nice to have a shorter run morning because it allowed me to be home most of the day to prep for Halloween. I had a bunch of prep work to do for both kids' classrooms and for the house.
Monday 10/31/11 - Halloween Day! Super fun day BUT incredibly busy. Had celebrations in both kids' classes so when I dropped them off in the morning I was pretty much at school all day long. We got home from school at 3:30pm, had a little bit of resting time, ate dinner at 4:30pm so we could start visiting family at 5pm and meet up with friends to trick-or-treat starting at 6pm. This was the first year that the kids did real trick-or-treating and it was so fun to watch them. Jazper would come back down the path from each front door, holding up his basket and say "Momma, they gave me more candy!" Seriously one of those precious moments that you will remember forever.
Tuesday 11/1/11 - BAD DAY! Started out with the car not starting. Cathy, bless her heart, met me at the kids' school and we ran from there. We did 4.06 miles at a nice average pace of 10:02. After our run, the car started and she followed me to the gas station and waited for me to fill up to be sure the car started again. It did, barely, and I headed down to the dealership so they could see what was wrong. After being there for an hour, it was only the battery, thank goodness! I was able to make it out of there on time to go get an oil change as well. Got done with the oil change just in time to make it to work in Sevannah's classroom. Talk about a stressful morning! Then that afternoon there was the tantrum of the century from Jazper. I literally ahd to pull over onto the side of the road and sit there for 20 minutes until he stopped screaming and I could drive again. This was not a good day; one I wish to never repeat.
Wednesday 11/2/11 - Rough morning; didn't sleep well and just felt lethargic. I had to talk myself into running and didn't get to that point until noon. The schedule had me running a total of 8 miles so I split it into two runs. When I made it out at noon for the first run I did 4.25 miles at a nice pace of 10:04. Got back home just in time for Jazper to be dropped off by carpool. He and I ate lunch and then I headed off to work. After work, I drove straight to our evening run location to meet up with Cathy and Jennifer. We did 5.85 miles in the dark. We ran for about 20 minutes and then did 6 x 3 minutes pickups with 1 minute recovery at slow jog; then ran the rest of the way home. I felt a lot better after both runs. It still amazes me how running can rid me of a bad mood!
Thursday 11/3/11 - Cathy and I needed to do a 5 mile tempo run. I met her at her house and we headed out. We had a nice, slow first mile, then picked up the speed for miles 2, 3 and 4; slowed back down for mile 5. Mile 4 was a really fast mile for us (8:31 pace!) It was really cold this morning so we had oatmeal and coffee after we stretched. After that, I changed into some dry clothes and headed to my client. When I was done with my client it was time to pick up the kids from school. There had been some issues with my paychecks from my job at the hospital, so the kids and I drove over to St Helena to pick up my check. Seriously long day! Was so tired by the end.
Friday 11/4/11 - Right now, I do not even remember what I did on this morning. I didn't make any notes either. Oh well! I do know that when I picked the kids up from school I had 3 large bags of laundry from Jazper's kindergarten class that I had to take home and wash. OH! And the chicken pox and lice were in both kids' classrooms. Ya - this was a fun end to the week. The kids had been vaccinated for chicken pox but you can apparently still get a mild case. So we were on high alert, checking the kids for both chicken pox and lice. (Luckily, we didn't get either one -hooray!!) After dropping the kids at my mother-in-laws, I headed to work. After work, I got home and immediately turned around to leave again, with Sevannah, for her classes Lantern Walk. It was cold but really pretty!
Saturday 11/5/11 - James had to work all day, so I had both kids with me at Outdoor Family Fitness class. This proved to be a challenge today. I was tired and cranky, and Jazper wanted to be with Daddy. So we struggled to get through the morning. After class, we went home and I proceeded to work on getting the 5 loads of kindergarten laundry washed, dried and folded. The kids we're counting money while I was doing laundry and Jazper wanted to know what he could buy with his money. He had less than $2.00 in coins so I told him he had enough money to pay for his own hot chocolate at Starbucks. So guess where we ended up next? You guessed it - Starbucks - so the kids could pay for their own hot chocolates. It was a fun to see them order their own drinks, tell the lady their names for their cups and count out the coins.
Week 9: Total Weekly Mileage 32.74
Sunday 11/6/11 - 18 miles!! Yes we did it! We met at Cathy W's house up in Windsor because she lives near Chalk Hill Rd and our route was to go from her place, out Chalk Hill Rd to Hwy 128 and back. This is a very challenging route. We gained over 1,000 feet in elevation - yes really! It was super fun afterwards to look at the elevation chart on my Garmin report. In fact, I'll share that with you here...Chalk Hill Out & Back by annad83 at Garmin Connect - Details After the run, Cathy W had brunch all cooked and ready for us to eat! It was so great to be able to change into dry, warm cloths, sprawl on her floor and stretch, and fill up on good yummy food. When I got home, I ice bathed and took a shower before we headed out to go shopping for a new refrigerator. Our freezer wasn't closing properly, causing the refrigerator/freezer to thaw and not function properly. Really all I wanted to do was relax and take a nap, but this was important. We had to see what kind of prices we were dealing with.
Monday 11/7/11 - Recovery day = no running. I woke up with tight hips and sore quadriceps but over all felt pretty good.
Tuesday 11/8/11 - Ran from my house with Cathy B & Leslie. Faster than we were suppose to be (as usual for our Tuesdays) but it felt good! Heart rate was a little over, and in the last mile I could feel I was pushing a little harder than I probably should have been but it was cold, we were talking, and it wasn't like it felt bad. Total distance was 3.1 miles. We chatted about marathon pace afterwards. My usual Tuesday activities took place after that - acupuncture, work in Sevannah's class, drive two different carpools (kindergarten pick up and grades pick up). Had some MAJOR drama with my parents late in the morning that pretty much ruined my day. Had people come after dinner to purchase our large oak desk and hutch that we sold on Craigs List. I was glad when this day was over!
Wednesday 11/9/11 - Woke up still feeling crappy from all the drama on Tuesday. It was a Lecture Day at the hospital so after driving carpool in the morning I went home and got ready for work. Work went pretty well. I was leaving work when I got an email from the people who bought the desk and hutch. They decided they didn't want it and wanted to return it to us. Ummm NO! You and your husband came to my house, looked over both pieces from top to bottom, had a conversation amongst yourselves and decided to buy it. You both, with James' and my help, loaded the pieces into your vehicle, handed me the money and drove off! This, on top of the family issues just about pushed me over the edge. I got to our evening run location after work in the worst mood. Thank goodness for running and my running pals! Talking over the issues with them while we ran made a world of difference. Before I knew it, I was laughing so hard it was difficult to keep running. It was a full moon and so pretty on the creek path that we turned our headlamps off for a while and ran by moonlight. Amazing! On our way back we had an encounter with a skunk, which had us all laughing so hard we were crying! This run was the perfect way to bring a really bad day to a much better end.
Thursday 11/10/11 - Cathy B and I went to the Coast Guard base to run with Teja again. It was cold and super windy!! Made the run harder but it was great! Took our phones and took pics at the bottom and top of Texas Hill.
Awesome coffee and snacks afterwards. After school that day, Jazper went home with a friend so I could take Sevannah to the orthodontist. After her appointment we met up with them for a playdate at Ragle Ranch Park. During the playdate, Jazper lost his 2nd tooth! It was a busy afternoon.
Friday 11/11/11 - Veteran's Day. The kids didn't have school so we got to sleep in and hang out at home until it was time for me to get ready to go to work. At work that afternoon I did some upper body strength training with a blue band (heavy resistance). It felt really good.
Saturday 11/12/11 - Taught Outdoor Family Fitness class. It was Full Body Day so I got to demonstrate a lot. Afterwards, I attempted to conquer the mountain of laundry that had accumulated during the week and ran a bunch of errands for Sevannah's class. As the "Class Purchaser" I get a list of items from the teachers from time to time that they need for the class and then need to get those items for them. We hit Whole Foods for a couple items, Beverly's for a few others. By the end of the day I was ready for bed and a little nervous about attempting our first 20 miler the next morning!
There you have - two weeks worth of life and training, albeit, a month late, but at least I finally got it done. The plan it to have the last weeks of training done by the end of the week so I can move on to sharing Race Day and the recovery week(s) after the race. Thank you so much for your support and patience! I do love being able to share my experience with all of you.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Uncharted Territory - Week 7 of Marathon Training
Oh boy, here goes nothing! With Week 7, I'm moving into distances on our long, slow days that I have never ran before. It's a scary and intimidating thought; trying to wrap my brain around the idea of 16 or more miles all at the same time!
Sunday 10/23/11
16 miles - our task for the day. We had a big group of people wanting to run today, all different distances, so we figured out a loop that we could do that would work for everyone. It was a 7 mile loop, which was perfect because it gave everyone the distance they needed. Some people ran it once, others ran it twice, and a few ran it twice and added on. Cathy B and I ran it twice and added on to get our full 16 miles. This was also the first long run in my new shoes, so I was hopeful that the balls of my feet wouldn't hurt as much or cramp as much by the end of the run.
Having a loop was great because it allowed for us to fill up our waters, restock on gels/blocks/etc... and lose layers. The weather was perfect! It was a little chilly when we started but 7 miles later as we started the 2nd loop we were all plenty warm. Being able to loop around also made it convenient for people to join us or take off when they were done with their mileage.
The whole run was good. The last two miles were a little hard and I could feel the miles; ready to be done. My right foot cramped a little bit but no where near as bad as on the 14 mile run and it was more localized. I could feel that it was my sciatic nerve (I have sciatica that bothers me from time to time). My left foot was a lot less sore, so the cushioning in my new shoes is working!!!
When we were done, we stretched and then grabbed coffee and ate the yummy muffins I had made. We chatted and laughed, as we always do, when we hang out and enjoy the company of friends at the end of our runs.
Stats for the run: 16.0 miles in 2:55:13; average moving pace 10:57. My heart rate was right in the middle of the range. This all made me beyond excited because our pace was faster than what the training schedule had me doing for the day (11:18 minute/mile).
After the run, I went home, talked to James, then took an ice bath. Jazper, this time really wanted to get in with me so I let him put his feet in. He thought it was great! He looked at me and said, "This is easy momma!" I had to laugh. He had no idea how cold it would be to be sitting in it form the waist down.
A nice hot shower after the ice bath and plenty of resting time during the remainder of the afternoon had me feeling tired but good. 16 miles wasn't so bad - it was actually okay.
Monday 10/24/11
Morning after 16 miles - I was worried about how I would feel. On that first step out of bed in the morning, I felt my calves. They were a little tight. But a walk to the kitchen to get breakfast started and lunches made loosened them up. Other than the calves, nothing was sore, I was just tired. Not bone-dead tired; just tired like I wanted to curl up on the couch and read a book. But alas, I had things to do and get done before I went to work.
After driving carpool, I went home and caught up on some emails and paperwork, and had a session with a client. After my client left it was time to make lunch and get ready to go to work. With Mondays being a "rest day" I normally do not run, but will still do some light strength training on occasion. Since I was still feeling tired from Sunday's 16 miles, I did not do any strength training with my groups at work today. I truly took a rest day.
Tuesday 10/25/11
Recovery run day - though Cathy B and I always have a hard time running slow. My schedule said 5 miles, and Cathy's said 2 - 5 miles. We both were feeling good so we decided to go for 5 miles. We did a loop from my house that ended up being just over 5 miles. It was a good run, but we both felt it by the end; not in a bad way, just that we were ready to be done because we were tired. Our total was 5.15 miles at an average pace of 10:09 (about a minute per mile faster than we should have been.... oops!) My heart rate showed it too. It was a little over the limit for the day.
After changing clothes I headed off for the rest of my morning/day: acupuncture, handwork helper in Sevannah's class; drive the Kindergarten carpool; lunch with Jazper; piano lesson with Jazper; pick up the 2nd graders and drive them home. It was my normal "busy Tuesday".
Wednesday 10/26/11
My morning to drive carpool so I ran by myself after drop off. It was a really nice run today. I hadn't had a chance to find a spare set of ear buds yet so I did something I never do,play music from my phone. I don't like doing this because then anyone around me would be subjected to listen to whatever I had playing, but I really wanted to listen to my music this morning since I was on my own. Overall, the run was a little fast according to what the training schedule said I should have been at for pace, but my heart rate was within the range I should be on for my slower runs. I did 5.25 miles at an average pace of 10:33 (should have ran at a pace of 11:16).
After my run I headed home and did some chores and paperwork until it was time to go get a manicure and spa pedicure. It felt so good to have my feet pampered! Plus, I had Toni give me hot pink toes with white polka dots which made me smile! Once my polish was dry I headed home and prepped lunch while I waited for Jazper to get dropped off by carpool. He and I sat down and enjoyed lunch together before I had to leave for work. Work consisted of teaching two stretching classes today. It felt really good to lead them through the stretches, working out some residual kinks left my the longer run on Sunday.
Thursday 10/27/11
Last week, Cathy, Teja and I made plans for Cathy & I to head down to the United States Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma to run together. Teja's husband is in the Coast Guard and she invited us down to run with her since she is there every morning dropping her kids off at school. Once we parked, we went into the gym and looked at the various running routes. Both Cathy and I had about 6 miles to do so we picked the longest route they had 6.2 miles. The two guys behind the counter that morning in the gym told us there was a hill - we didn't think anything of it.
We headed out and it was a gorgeous morning. A little chilly, but clear. Cathy and I marveled at how beautiful the base was as we ran on the path at the outer perimeter. We stopped and checked the map a few times to make sure we were headed in the right direction. At one of these stops we were approaching a very, very steep hill. Sure enough, according to the map, we had to run up that hill! And man, oh man, was it steep! But the view from the top was breath taking. We all wished that one of us had packed our cell phone so we could take a picture, so we decided we would have to do this run again.
Once we were done with the run, we sat in the Two Rock Coffee Shop on the base and enjoyed the best coffee! We chatted until we had to get going with the rest of our days. It was such an amazing morning! It was also the first time Teja had ran that far. Cathy and I were both so excited for her. It's great to be able to help others learn that they are capable of more than what they think.
Once back in town I had only enough time to regroup and prep for a busy afternoon before it was time to pick the kids up from school. Once I had the kids, we headed down to Santa Rosa Ave to have a quick lunch/snack and go to Costco. We breezed through Costco as quickly as we could because I had to pick up a friend's daughter from school. My friend had to work that afternoon and needed childcare. So with the car loaded down with Costco, we went and picked up Adie, and then went home. The kids played while I unpacked from Costco and cleaned the kitchen. Adie really wanted to stay for dinner, so after okaying it with her mom (we both agreed she could only stay if she got her homework done!) I settled into making dinner and helping her with her homework. As the three kids ate dinner, I searched online for a new muffin recipe. I found one that sounded good, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.
After Adie headed home with her mom, I made dinner for James & I and made the muffins. The muffins came out okay. I'll have to tweak the recipe some more the next time I make it. I made it "healthy" style like my Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee muffins - using agave in place of sugar, grated zucchini in place of oil/butter and whole wheat pastry flour in place of white flour.
After the kids were in bed, I took a quick shower and went to bed. It had been a long, busy day.
Friday 10/28/11
I dropped the kids off to carpool this morning and then headed to a local Starbucks to work done on this blog. I worked until I had to see a client. After my client, I had to quickly get home to prepare for the afternoon. I had the kids' bikes to load into the car for their afternoon at Grandma Peggy's and lunches to make.
At work that afternoon, I had a request to do Upper Body Work, partner style, and there was an odd number of participants, so I had to partner up with someone. It felt good to get some great strength training done.
Saturday 10/29/11
Being that it's Halloween weekend, today was our Halloween Class for Outdoor Family Fitness. Every strength training station is Halloween "themed". It's always a super fun class. Here are some pictures:
That afternoon, the kids and I carved their pumpkins. I got to do all the hard work - scraping out the insides - and the kids carved their pumpkins. I had to help Jazper a little with his, but Sevannah did all her own work. I carved a few too.
We cleaned up from the pumpkin carving, had dinner and put on our Halloween costumes. We had tickets to Sprites Night at Summerfield Waldorf School & Farm (where the kids use to go to school). The kids had a blast seeing the different skits and people who they miss. It was a long evening, and all three of us were super tired, but it was a lot of fun.
So there you have it - Week 7 of my training. It was a long hard week, but encouraging, making it for the whole 16 miles, which is something I have never done before. And it's scary at the same time knowing that higher mileage weeks are coming.
Sunday 10/23/11
16 miles - our task for the day. We had a big group of people wanting to run today, all different distances, so we figured out a loop that we could do that would work for everyone. It was a 7 mile loop, which was perfect because it gave everyone the distance they needed. Some people ran it once, others ran it twice, and a few ran it twice and added on. Cathy B and I ran it twice and added on to get our full 16 miles. This was also the first long run in my new shoes, so I was hopeful that the balls of my feet wouldn't hurt as much or cramp as much by the end of the run.
Having a loop was great because it allowed for us to fill up our waters, restock on gels/blocks/etc... and lose layers. The weather was perfect! It was a little chilly when we started but 7 miles later as we started the 2nd loop we were all plenty warm. Being able to loop around also made it convenient for people to join us or take off when they were done with their mileage.
The whole run was good. The last two miles were a little hard and I could feel the miles; ready to be done. My right foot cramped a little bit but no where near as bad as on the 14 mile run and it was more localized. I could feel that it was my sciatic nerve (I have sciatica that bothers me from time to time). My left foot was a lot less sore, so the cushioning in my new shoes is working!!!
When we were done, we stretched and then grabbed coffee and ate the yummy muffins I had made. We chatted and laughed, as we always do, when we hang out and enjoy the company of friends at the end of our runs.
Stats for the run: 16.0 miles in 2:55:13; average moving pace 10:57. My heart rate was right in the middle of the range. This all made me beyond excited because our pace was faster than what the training schedule had me doing for the day (11:18 minute/mile).
After the run, I went home, talked to James, then took an ice bath. Jazper, this time really wanted to get in with me so I let him put his feet in. He thought it was great! He looked at me and said, "This is easy momma!" I had to laugh. He had no idea how cold it would be to be sitting in it form the waist down.
A nice hot shower after the ice bath and plenty of resting time during the remainder of the afternoon had me feeling tired but good. 16 miles wasn't so bad - it was actually okay.
Monday 10/24/11
Morning after 16 miles - I was worried about how I would feel. On that first step out of bed in the morning, I felt my calves. They were a little tight. But a walk to the kitchen to get breakfast started and lunches made loosened them up. Other than the calves, nothing was sore, I was just tired. Not bone-dead tired; just tired like I wanted to curl up on the couch and read a book. But alas, I had things to do and get done before I went to work.
After driving carpool, I went home and caught up on some emails and paperwork, and had a session with a client. After my client left it was time to make lunch and get ready to go to work. With Mondays being a "rest day" I normally do not run, but will still do some light strength training on occasion. Since I was still feeling tired from Sunday's 16 miles, I did not do any strength training with my groups at work today. I truly took a rest day.
Tuesday 10/25/11
Recovery run day - though Cathy B and I always have a hard time running slow. My schedule said 5 miles, and Cathy's said 2 - 5 miles. We both were feeling good so we decided to go for 5 miles. We did a loop from my house that ended up being just over 5 miles. It was a good run, but we both felt it by the end; not in a bad way, just that we were ready to be done because we were tired. Our total was 5.15 miles at an average pace of 10:09 (about a minute per mile faster than we should have been.... oops!) My heart rate showed it too. It was a little over the limit for the day.
After changing clothes I headed off for the rest of my morning/day: acupuncture, handwork helper in Sevannah's class; drive the Kindergarten carpool; lunch with Jazper; piano lesson with Jazper; pick up the 2nd graders and drive them home. It was my normal "busy Tuesday".
Wednesday 10/26/11
My morning to drive carpool so I ran by myself after drop off. It was a really nice run today. I hadn't had a chance to find a spare set of ear buds yet so I did something I never do,play music from my phone. I don't like doing this because then anyone around me would be subjected to listen to whatever I had playing, but I really wanted to listen to my music this morning since I was on my own. Overall, the run was a little fast according to what the training schedule said I should have been at for pace, but my heart rate was within the range I should be on for my slower runs. I did 5.25 miles at an average pace of 10:33 (should have ran at a pace of 11:16).
After my run I headed home and did some chores and paperwork until it was time to go get a manicure and spa pedicure. It felt so good to have my feet pampered! Plus, I had Toni give me hot pink toes with white polka dots which made me smile! Once my polish was dry I headed home and prepped lunch while I waited for Jazper to get dropped off by carpool. He and I sat down and enjoyed lunch together before I had to leave for work. Work consisted of teaching two stretching classes today. It felt really good to lead them through the stretches, working out some residual kinks left my the longer run on Sunday.
Thursday 10/27/11
Last week, Cathy, Teja and I made plans for Cathy & I to head down to the United States Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma to run together. Teja's husband is in the Coast Guard and she invited us down to run with her since she is there every morning dropping her kids off at school. Once we parked, we went into the gym and looked at the various running routes. Both Cathy and I had about 6 miles to do so we picked the longest route they had 6.2 miles. The two guys behind the counter that morning in the gym told us there was a hill - we didn't think anything of it.
We headed out and it was a gorgeous morning. A little chilly, but clear. Cathy and I marveled at how beautiful the base was as we ran on the path at the outer perimeter. We stopped and checked the map a few times to make sure we were headed in the right direction. At one of these stops we were approaching a very, very steep hill. Sure enough, according to the map, we had to run up that hill! And man, oh man, was it steep! But the view from the top was breath taking. We all wished that one of us had packed our cell phone so we could take a picture, so we decided we would have to do this run again.
Once we were done with the run, we sat in the Two Rock Coffee Shop on the base and enjoyed the best coffee! We chatted until we had to get going with the rest of our days. It was such an amazing morning! It was also the first time Teja had ran that far. Cathy and I were both so excited for her. It's great to be able to help others learn that they are capable of more than what they think.
Once back in town I had only enough time to regroup and prep for a busy afternoon before it was time to pick the kids up from school. Once I had the kids, we headed down to Santa Rosa Ave to have a quick lunch/snack and go to Costco. We breezed through Costco as quickly as we could because I had to pick up a friend's daughter from school. My friend had to work that afternoon and needed childcare. So with the car loaded down with Costco, we went and picked up Adie, and then went home. The kids played while I unpacked from Costco and cleaned the kitchen. Adie really wanted to stay for dinner, so after okaying it with her mom (we both agreed she could only stay if she got her homework done!) I settled into making dinner and helping her with her homework. As the three kids ate dinner, I searched online for a new muffin recipe. I found one that sounded good, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.
After Adie headed home with her mom, I made dinner for James & I and made the muffins. The muffins came out okay. I'll have to tweak the recipe some more the next time I make it. I made it "healthy" style like my Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee muffins - using agave in place of sugar, grated zucchini in place of oil/butter and whole wheat pastry flour in place of white flour.
After the kids were in bed, I took a quick shower and went to bed. It had been a long, busy day.
Friday 10/28/11
I dropped the kids off to carpool this morning and then headed to a local Starbucks to work done on this blog. I worked until I had to see a client. After my client, I had to quickly get home to prepare for the afternoon. I had the kids' bikes to load into the car for their afternoon at Grandma Peggy's and lunches to make.
At work that afternoon, I had a request to do Upper Body Work, partner style, and there was an odd number of participants, so I had to partner up with someone. It felt good to get some great strength training done.
Saturday 10/29/11
Being that it's Halloween weekend, today was our Halloween Class for Outdoor Family Fitness. Every strength training station is Halloween "themed". It's always a super fun class. Here are some pictures:
That afternoon, the kids and I carved their pumpkins. I got to do all the hard work - scraping out the insides - and the kids carved their pumpkins. I had to help Jazper a little with his, but Sevannah did all her own work. I carved a few too.
We cleaned up from the pumpkin carving, had dinner and put on our Halloween costumes. We had tickets to Sprites Night at Summerfield Waldorf School & Farm (where the kids use to go to school). The kids had a blast seeing the different skits and people who they miss. It was a long evening, and all three of us were super tired, but it was a lot of fun.
So there you have it - Week 7 of my training. It was a long hard week, but encouraging, making it for the whole 16 miles, which is something I have never done before. And it's scary at the same time knowing that higher mileage weeks are coming.
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