My Workout Routine at 39 Weeks and 4 Days Pregnant

Alright - 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant (but who's counting?) and my workout routine is consisting of hiking up our hill because they're doing construction on our road and we can't park in front of our house. Given the last minute things we've been acquiring for the baby - infant tub, clothes, curtains (ok, those weren't actually for baby, but all part of a to-do list to get done before the baby), groceries (stocking up) - I think that lugging purchases up the hill sufficiently qualifies as a good late pregnancy workout.

Go me!

[I am looking forward to returning to the body I had been used to before pregnancy. Being able to bend over, squat and not fall over, get out of chairs, etc. will be nice.]

Baby Olympics

Thanks to everyone who planned the best baby shower ever! Carrying on the Olympic tradition, the Troxell baby shower hosted the Baby Olympics, including stroller time trials, musical juice boxes, feeding frenzy and don't break the water. Team Mego barely snuck by Team Natedog in a tie-breaker determined by an average of the stroller time trials.

Good Grief!

So I'm finally returning to the blog after a frustrating spring/summer of low to zero energy while running and still no 'cure'. The last few weeks I have headed over to Schenley Park to explore the trails since I'm getting a bit sick of looping over through the north side. Trying to add more miles and get six in sometime before the Great Race, I started looping back on the main trails. After hitting the welcome center, I kept going being Flagstaff Hill towards CMU. Just ahead is a memorial/pond to Westinghouse that I've only ever run through one other time, the day my dad died. Ironically, my grandmother, his mother, passed away peacefully this morning at 96.5. I don't know how my mind unconsciously has let me wandered there twice, but it is a beautiful place and now will be my own memorial to both of them. The warm, yet crisp weather typical of cross country season was much nicer than that March day four and a half years ago. I remember arriving at the sparkling pond just as it started raining. I felt like the skies were mourning with me. A little silly, yet comforting at the same time. Today was not nearly as mournful since you can hardly do anything but celebrate a life so long and full. As I type, I am listening to the "In Memory..." cd made by a dear friend. I love it - but only when I'm ready for a good cry. In reflection, it is amazing how therapeutic running can be. If not just to be in the woods with little distraction to enable remembrance. As tough as it's been to get out the door, I'm glad I went out today. And I am so thankful for the outpouring of love four years ago when my world was flipped upside down.
So this was a little sad and a little scattered, but wanted to share. love you guys!

When Nathan is the Faster Runner

Now that I'm into the third trimester of my pregnancy, my running pace has slowed to probably what some speed walkers can surpass. That's okay; I'm not in it for any medals. With the recent cooler temps, running in the morning has been spectacularly gorgeous.

Nathan has been excited to come with me a few mornings (ok, there was one time when he was excited and one time when he was not so excited to get out of bed) and I have seen a new kind of runner in Nathan that I have never seen before - one who talks and actually seems to be enjoying the run. Normally he is all business; trying to push the pace, sweating up a storm and generally just looking forward to being done with the workout. Not so on one of our recent runs. He was actually making jokes, laughing and talking, while I was the one huffing and puffing and wishing that I could just take a break and walk. Its been a nice role-reversal and though I'm the slow runner in the pair right now, I have to say that I sort of enjoy it!

Swimming - SO much better than running

Ah - the maternity bathing suit - quite flattering...I had borrowed Debo's bathing suit, but realized that I was hoping to get in enough swimming over the summer that I didn't want to wear it out, so I splurged on my own as well.

Let me just say that while pregnant, swimming is so much better than running. For obvious reasons, buoyancy is a key factor. In running, I just feel like I'm plodding along. In swimming, even though I'm not a great swimmer, it still feels rather effortless and I can't tell that I'm pregnant (unlike when I'm running).

There won't be any marathons in the water, but I am totally enjoying this summer workout option!

Brentwood Firecracker 5k

The patriotic McKinneys - Deborah, Miles and Claire were the cheerleaders

Megan and Nathan's 9th Brentwood Firecracker 5k...Megan with baby on board at 24 weeks.

Claire was too cute in her red, white and blue!

Dad and Miles
All of the runners - Grant, Ian, Nathan, Megan (i.e. Emily Kane), Geoff, Lisa

Notable for the 2010 Brentwood Firecracker 5k - red, white and blue popsicles post-race!

Prenatal Yoga

I cannot say enough about the amazing prenatal yoga class that I had with Sheila last week. She came recommended by Emily Harding, but when I asked some of my other pregnant friends to go with me, one had already been and loved her as well.

Sheila does her classes out of her house in Point Breeze. She has the second floor of a duplex and her "studio" is at the front of the house with windows lining the room. Its a nice, big open space with hardwood floors and area rugs - very inviting.

We started on the large balls and while we weren't doing anything hardcore exercise-wise, it just felt SO good for my body. I wasn't sore the next day at all (which I don't think is the point anyhow), but just felt very cleansed and renewed. Sheila talks pretty much the whole time about everything that is going on in your body - what pregnancy does to parts of your body that seem so far removed from the baby - ankles? (She was big on ankle rotation given the extra weight a pregnant woman is caring.) And she made me feel more connected to the baby that is growing inside of me. Up until now, it seems so foreign, maybe even surreal, that there is another human being inside of me. She made us envision this baby and what it is experiencing NOW, not what it is going to be like when it is born or a two-year-old or its first day of kindergarten.

There was only one other girls besides me and she was 16 weeks, so we were able to move to the floor and do some things on our back as well. While I haven't really had bad yoga instructors before, I think the instructor really makes the practice. Sheila was able to tell me to relax certain parts of my body and my body was able to listen to her. Quite amazing that I can't just do that on my own - enlightening.

We also practiced toning, which at first I assumed was some kind of weight resistance, but no, this was toning your vocal chords. Sheila claims that 90% of women say that it is the most helpful tool in a natural childbirth. Still a bit odd and tribal to me, but if 90% of women say it helps, then who am I to argue that it seems silly?

Really looking forward to going back!

Pittsburgh Marathon (Relay)

Race day started out in the sixties with promises of a hot and muggy race if the clouds decided not to drop their rain. But just as we were approaching the first waterstop, the clouds let loose and it started pouring. The rain would not subside throughout the rest of the race (or day for that matter).

Before the race even began there were lots of people to try to meet up with. First, I attempted to meet up with a group from Shadyside Presbyterian for a quick prayer send-off, but none of us were in the same place at the same time, so we missed one another. Next, I had my mandatory team photo with Cool Runnings. Then there's always the thought of meeting up with the porta potty, but with the lines looking as long as they were, I decided to forgo. As we approached the start time, my father-in-law and I realized that we were way too far back in the pack. We tried to push as far forward as possible, but it was somewhat fruitless. As the race began and we approached the actual start line, we saw a whole bank of porta potties with no lines, so we jumped off course to hit them up before crossing the actual start line and then jumped back in with the crowd - perfect!
I have to say, the first three miles were mostly dodging walkers and slower runners. We had worked our way up to the 5:00 hour pace group, but it was really slow-going. Eventually, I think we made up some ground and caught up to the 10:00 min/mile group, which is what I was shooting for. The race itself was rather uneventful - it just felt so good. Running seven miles rather than the 26 you were originally training for just seems like a walk in the park!

I handed off the slap bracelet to Greg Anderson around the 7 mile mark and then I was done! Nathan, plus mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law who had braved the rain were there to meet me and then we trekked back over to the finish line to catch Nathan's dad as he finished the half marathon. Originally we had plans to watch some of the other marathon and relay finishers, but with being soaked to the bone, we headed back home for warm showers.
I had this shirt made when I was originally thinking I was going to run the full marathon while pregnant. Still got some good usage out of it, but it would have been fun to run the whole thing...maybe next year. Hopefully up soon - my prenatal exercise plan!

Week 16 - Race Weekend

Apparently I lost count of my weeks at some point, because I'm pretty sure I should have come up to 18 weeks by the end. That will happen if you stop training midway through. Looking forward to race weekend - lots going on - out-of-town guests to entertain, carbs to consume (!), race packets to pick-up, preparations for SPC activities and, oh-yeah, a RACE to RUN!

And after this week, I'm going to draft a full-blown prenatal workout schedule to keep me accountable. Totally looking forward to yoga, biking and swimming, on top of running as long as I can.

Week 15 - Me n' Sweetpea

So here goes my first announcement to the worldwideweb (Facebook might come a little later...) that I'm preggo! Very excited for this little body I have inside me who is currently named Sweetpea, but that also means that I'm not actually running the marathon this year. I had reached a training distance of sixteen miles, fully knowing that I was pregnant and reading all the articles I could find on-line that supported my opinion that it was okay to run a marathon while pregnant. Sweetpea and I had some great, frigid runs together in North Park in the dead of winter and he (my opinion) even seemed to enjoy the thrill of speed workouts, but at my first doctor's appointment, I was informed that I should not run the marathon...or even the half. This news even came from a P.A. who is running her first marathon in Pittsburgh on May 2. Not sure if that made the news easier or harder to swallow.

I then went back and read all of the articles on the other side of the debate on whether or not you can run a marathon while pregnant...and, quite honestly, the articles on that side of the debate are much more medically sound. I'm okay with the decision at this point and know that it is best in the long run. The doctor said that it was totally fine to keep running, just to take it at a slower pace and not go for more than an hour. I've since broken that rule only once and only plan to break it one more time while I'm pregnant. I did the 8 mile option for Just a Short Run, attempting to pace myself at 10 minute miles and came in at exactly 1:19:56; you can't get much better than that!

And I'm proud to announce that I'll be joining the Cool Runnings Relay team and will be doing the first leg of the marathon relay!

Week 14 - Run 4 Haiti

After much opposition to the race course and its hindrance upon Sunday morning worship services for churches along the course, my Church has finally decided to embrace the Pittsburgh Marathon and all four pastors will be joining together to run a relay together. They are raising support for the Run 4 Haiti fund.

Last year we also set up an orange tent (SPC is just about at mile 14.5) and we'll be doing that again, so keep an eye out if you'd like some citrus nourishment at that point.

Our service will be moved to 4 pm that afternoon, with a potluck dinner at 5 pm, a cupcake contest (I'm lobbying to be a judge) and Fitness Fest with hula-hooping, yoga, face-painting and balloon-sculpting.

Weeks 12 & 13 - Just a Short Run & Catching-up

I'm behind on my posts and figured I'd catch-up all in one. Two weekends ago was the Just a Short Run with a 5k, 8 mile, half marathon or 30k option - guess which one I picked? It was a great spring day, which meant that it was frigid before the sun came up, but once the sun rose, it was quite pleasant and spring-like. Only thing is that this meant we were absolutely freezing at the start line. This was the first time I had ever run a race at North Park. I'm sure its convenient for race organizers, but its a pretty anti-climatic, boring route, which I can pretty much run anytime I want to. Half the fun of road races is that you get to run in places you normally don't get to - straight down the double yellow lines, if you want!

This past weekend was gorgeous and I slept in a little on Saturday (no work!) and got to take Fres and Nate with me on my run! Recovery breakfast was freshly baked homemade cinnamon buns and a mango smoothie - yum!

Highlight of the week(s) - Spring!

Difficult part of the week(s) - The final push at work for some upcoming deadlines (seriously, though, I think the tough part is almost done)

Week 11 - Central Park & NYC Half Marathon

Could there be a better weather weekend in mid-March? I certainly think not! Running in Central Park was sheer joy on Saturday morning. Nathan didn't have any meetings for work until 10 am, so we got to sleep in a bit and then we grabbed NY bagels (yum) before parting ways - he to the basement meeting rooms in the Javits Center and me to the loop in sunny Central Park - guess who was really looking forward to his/her activity? I entered the park on the south side at the main entrance and the place was already filled with people. As I jumped into the sea of people, generally heading counterclockwise around the loop, I joined hundreds upon hundreds of fellow runners, nearly as many cyclists, a few pedicabs and the obligatory horses and carriages too. And there were even a few odd modes of transportation - I saw two wheelchair trainers (I've seen these plenty of times in races, but never just out and about on a training run), quite a few scooters and one guy on what looked to be cross-country ski trainers for when there is no snow - they were short skis that looked sort of like rollerblades, but with only two wheels and he had poles too, so it was just like the cross-country skiing motion. And then there were folks not traveling around the loop, but still enjoying the sunshine - pick-up games of softball and soccer, a fencer, a group doing yoga and, even though it was in the 60s, an ice hockey game on the north side's rink! Seriously - taking in the human life around me plus the very beginning evidence of buds on the trees and the purple & white crocuses and yellow daffodils, I don't think that you could be anywhere else and experience such vibrancy of life!

Highlight of the week - Other than everything I just detailed above, the NYC half marathon was on Sunday morning (actually sorta glad that I didn't know ahead of time, b/c I would have wanted to run it, but that would have put a damper on Saturday night's activities) so I got to cheer the runners on

Difficult part of the week - We won't even mention it here

Spring has Sprung!

This week was exciting for me as I opened my shorts drawers for the first time in months. It was a weird feeling and I definitely felt bad for any passersby that might have been blinded by all my pale skin, but it was a delight! And so much easier than the layers I have been wearing. My track workout this week was nothing stellar, but I was happy to be able to run on a non-snow covered track for the first time in a while

This week was also a good week for the cross training segment of training. On Monday,I went to free hot yoga in Shadyside (only one free week left...) and Wednesday I bribed my sister into going to our first Zumba class. ah, the joys of exercising while feeling like a fool! It was definitely fun (basic line dancing with a Latin flair) and had A LOT of hip shaking. We were both laughing since we had thought that we should bring our men sometime...Geoff would probably actually have a good time, but all the regular women might not be happy about a male presence.

As mentioned below by Megan, our long run was not plagued by cold temps and snow, but by sheeting rain that just wouldn't stop. After we called our run early, I had a yummy brunch at Square Cafe and spent the afternoon stalking radar maps to attempt to avoid getting drenched on Part II. After not having rain all afternoon, even with the radar maps being bright green solidly over my house, I set out for my second nine miles around four pm. Part way through my Short Beechwood Loop, it started to sprinkle and eventually got a bit harder. It didn't compare to the morning rain but I did get a bit wet since I was in the rain for another 45 minutes. Just knowing that I had only four miles remaining vs. fourteen, made the miserable weather tolerable. I am happy to be done with the long run for the weekend, although it looks like today is going to be dry, albeit gloomy.

As I write, there are 48 days, 21 hours until the start of the marathon. It seems like that is too soon! But we've put in some solid runs, I'm not taking several vacations to hinder the long runs, and I know the course so well that I just have to get up early that morning and perform!

The new goal will be to stay and marathon shape all year and find some summer/fall marathons to do.

Week 10 - Above Freezing!

I finally get to report that all of my runs this week were performed in above freezing temperatures! Though I must admit that I'd take dry-and-35 (Tuesday morning) over rainy-and-48 any day, which we encountered today. The plan was to do a course similar to last week, with Lisa doing 18 and me making sure I beat Lisa back to the cars since I'm only doing 16. I checked the weather and saw the forecast of rain, but I tried to use my optimistic meterologist skills to justify that it wouldn't rain during our run. It was dry when we started and not five minutes into it as we were crossing the 16th Street Bridge, I said, "I think it might be raining, but its hard to tell." Shortly thereafter it became more evident and soon enough it was clear that it was most definitely raining. We hopped, skipped and leaped over puddles all the way to hand dryers at Station Square and Lisa attempted to dry out her shirt. (They ARE really powerful hand dryers, but it was really a lost cause.) At this point I suggested that maybe we call it (we were seven miles in and it would be 2-ish [maybe?] miles back to the cars). Probably a good decision as we were soaked to the bone and though the rain stopped as soon as we made our decision, there was no way we would dry out over the course of the remainder of the run and the wind was a little chilly. Hope to get in some more miles tomorrow to make up for what I missed today.

Highlight of the week - The runner (under cover and out of the rain at PNC Park) who clapped for us

Difficult part of the week - I was actually pretty sore after last week's long run, but that encouraged me to do a short little run with Fresca the next day and then some good stretching.

Week 9 - Not the Weather in Milan

This morning (finally getting around to posting this nearly a week later) I woke up to do a speed workout and, as usual, checked my Weather Channel app to see what would greet me when I opened the door. (This app has occasionally allowed me to ditch a run before even climbing out of bed. Probably not good, but, hey...) I hadn't necessarily looked at the weather forecast, but heard rumors of 50 degree weather over the weekend (I've since checked; that rumor is false). I was surprised that the temperature was 45 degrees, feels like 41, but thought, "Awesome! Should I wear shorts?" I decided to still dress conservatively and wore my thinnest pair of leggings, my Crazy Daisies long-sleeved shirt so I could use the hand warmers rather than wear gloves, a light jacket and a hat.

I should have known as soon as I walked out the door that it was not 45 degrees. A) It did not feel warm at all. If you haven't seen the thermometer north of 40 in as long as you can remember, 45 degrees should feel like summer to you. It did not. B) The cars were frosty. Gee - how can the cars be frosty if it is 45 degrees out? I headed down the hill to drop off an envelope at the church and then as I was heading into Emsworth, it dawned on me that the last time I checked the weather app was when I was checking the weather in Milan, Italy, where Nathan is traveling this week!

Oh well. I survived. Actual temperature in Pittsburgh on 3/4 at 5:30 am - 22 degrees.

Long run with Lisa was super fun (I did 15, she did 17) - Lisa mapped out a course that was pretty much exclusive marathon course. The uphill on Forbes wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I don't think I have actually ever run that stretch before. I've run down on the parallel Fifth, but never up on Forbes. It was a chilly start to the morning, but the sun was out by the end and what a gorgeous day it was on Saturday. We did our good deed for the day by dragging a huge branch out of an intersection on the Northside and my run finished with a recovery brunch of a Mancini's pepperoni roll - um, yum!

Highlight of the week - A really successful 15 miles - felt like the good ole days

Difficult part of the week - figuring out what to eat on long runs; I've about had it with Gu (or the like); I tried eating some rice cakes on the run, which were okay, but I don't know how much they really helped en route

Week 8 - Xtraining with Olympicfest

I must admit, I don't think I've gotten any cross-training in during this season's training. Biking, swimming, tennis, etc. just don't seem desirable during the winter months at all. I could totally be convinced to do cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, but just can't seem to find the time...or the equipment. But THIS week was Olympicfest, so that meant I got to do CurlToss, Derby Combined, Super G and...ah...what was Emily's event called - Eat a Snowball?

Here are some pics from the afternoon:

This week was a scaled back week for me, so my long run was ten miles. Sounds easy, but for some reason I was really slow and it just felt like a tough run. Hoping that next week's 15 with Lisa will be better.

Highlight of the week - Meeting the Race Director of the Pittsburgh Marathon! She was at a networking event that I attended and so glad I got to meet her; super nice lady! I also met a spunky Irish lady training for her first marathon - she was a ball of energy.

Difficult part of the week - Still...finding time to fit everything in. I've just got to realize I'm not going to accomplish it all and just go with what I can do. When I leave in the morning at 6:30 am and get home at 9:30 pm, that just really doesn't leave time for much else...speaking of which, I think its bedtime.

Week 7 - Three Mile an Hour God

Last night (the eve of my long run) I was at the Jubilee Conference listening to the opening message from Don Opitz and during his presentation he referred to our "Three Mile an Hour God," as coined by Kosuke Koyama. Don went on to explain that the reason most of us miss the Lord in our daily lives is that we are running through life while God is moving at three miles an hour - pretty much a stroll through the park. Now Lisa and I were trekking along at a pace more than three miles an hour (Let's remember, Jesus walked this world in the Fertile Crescent, not Pittsburgh in winter. I'd make the case that you wouldn't see Jesus strolling at three miles an hour along the shores of the lake in North Park, because, frankly, there wouldn't be many folks for him to walk with.), but the concept is the same - running (even at a pace faster than 3 mph) allows me to slow down my life for a bit. Lisa and I spent 2+ hours with each other. We could choose to talk about whatever random thought crossed our minds or we could simply run in silence. So glad that I get to experience "slowing down" through running.

Highlight of the week - the four slices of pizza I downed at the office after our long run (we normally get Vocelli's, but today we got Pizza Parma and oh. my. gosh. was it delish)

Difficult part of the week - discovering it was actually 12 degrees this morning instead of 22 degrees, as advertised by the Weather Channel

Week 6 - Snow Flurries, Snow Showers, Snow

Week 6 started off with treadmill workouts, mandated by the fact that the roads were still impassable by people on foot and motorized vehicles at the same time. The speed workout was 5 x 1k, which was nice to do on the treadmill. I think the tempo run was supposed to be six miles, but once I got over the 30 minute cardio machine limit, I look around guiltily to see how much longer I can go and break the rules, so I didn't get in a full six miles.

By the time the weekend was here, I was ready to be outdoors, but it was still a question as to what roads I could run on. I called the office in North Park to see if they had plowed the trail around the lake, but the lady on the phone there would not tell me. She said that I had to come judge for myself whether I thought it was safe or not. Hrmgh! Lisa and I made plans to meet early Saturday morning, but she had to cancel because of a cough. I enjoyed an extra half hour of sleep and then headed into the office and made plans to do North Park in the afternoon when the so-called sun would be out.

The trail around the lake was the empty-est I have ever seen it before. Sometimes I will be headed out there, thinking Lisa and I are the only devoted runners, only to encounter dozens of other crazies. Not so much on Saturday. I could probably count the number of non-sledriders that I ran into on two hands during my two loops around the lake. There was some sun shining through when I first arrived and some beautiful snowflakes, but it soon went back to blah, wind and cold. Since I am beginning to expand my acceptance of such things as treadmills and music, I decided to do the ipod while I ran AND I decided to give the imapmyrun app another try. I had tried it when I first got my phone, but was thoroughly underwhelmed with it and just gave up on it. I had seen that it had some updates, though, so figured it I'd give it another whirl. It was great! As I was listening to music, a nice lady come on over my headphones to tell me when I hit my miles and what my pace and speed were. It was great until I drained the battery...it didn't make it through the whole run.

Highlight of the week - rediscovery of the imapmyrun app
Difficult part of the week - No yoga/strength training accomplished this week - need to bet back into that, though that has never been the best part of my training...

Week 5 - Gettin' in the Routine

I'm late on this post, so trying to remember what all week five entailed. I was out of town at the beginning of the week, so I did my "speed" workout on the treadmill. One complaint on treadmills - I wish you could convert to meters! It was 3 x 1600, so pretty easy to stick to miles and not that big of a deal, but it would be nice. I did a nice run with my winter dog some evening Wednesday (?), Thursday (?). Who remembers?

And then, of course, we all know that the biggest snowstorm since 1993 hit! I would have loved to run outside to take in the sights of all that snow, but there was no way the sidewalk would have worked and the roads I would have run on were barely passable by two cars and since they were so treacherous it simply would not have been smart. I considered running up and down the shoveled portion of my street (it was quite pristine, really), but it was only .07 of a mile, so I would have needed to do 50 reps up and down the hill in front of my house to get in seven miles (and I'm pretty sure the neighbors would think I was weird.) But thanks again to the incompetent folks at the YMCA in Bellevue, I got another free pass. They can't find the waiver that I need to fill out, so they just let me go in for free. I try to pay, but to no avail.

Highlight of the week - my first good speed workout (treadmill holds you accountable)
Difficult part of the week - the drunk jagoff in Bellevue who made catcalls to me as I ran past (I hate that)

Week 4 - On a Scale of 1 to 10

I'd say my training this week was a 4 and it was significantly boosted by the fact that Lisa invited me to do the long run together this morning in the 10 degree weather. Hey, at least it was sunny out; we got to enjoy a great sunrise!

Bringing the average down would be the fact that I simply skipped some workouts. My workout plan was set so that I could do some running in the morning and some either yoga or stability ball in the evening, but with the long hours at work, finding the time to do two workouts a day has proven to be a challenge. But, most days I've done at least something, whether that be yoga/stability ball or running.

The long run was fantastic this week! The tempo run, ah, not so much. I delayed it until Friday evening this week and it was a frigid night. I went out with that mentality, of "Go at least a mile and if its that horrible, you can turn around." Well, after a mile, I actually took myself up on that offer, so I only did two. The "track" workout was supposed to be 6 x 800. I'm thinking I really need to map out my neighborhood in 400 increments so that I can really measure this. I'm totally guessing when I do this workout and I'm sure I was short. Again, it was freezing (and by freezing, I mean MUCH below freezing) and I gave myself a bit of a break.

Highlight of the week - running with Lisa
Difficult part of the week - the cold

True Confessions

After not going out yesterday since it was 12 degrees and I had to get some things to the post office first thing, I knew that I HAD to run today. Unfortunately, it actually was colder today than yesterday. Fortunately, Megan has been running on Sunday mornings, so I cajoled her into running with me. I had it all planned out, since she was doing 10 and me 14, that we could run 7.5 together and then split at Forbes. Megan would head back to the Strip District and I would head up Forbes into Oakland. Well, it was just too cold. My to layers of pants just weren't cutting it and I didn't know how smart it would be to keep going. The other issue was the GU that I took on our water stop. It was in an outer pocket on my coat so that I wouldn't have to disturb my layers to get it out. Turned out that GU was as frozen as it could be. Not quite a solid, but close to it. Of course I swallowed the lumps anyways, which my stomach quickly decided it hated, causing some stomach pain for the last three miles. I stopped four streets early at the 16th st McDonalds to use the restroom while Megan kept running to get her car and camera (see FBook for photo...). So here's my confession: I was so preoccupied with getting all my layers back on that I'm almost positive I didn't flush the toilet. Gross. And I was going to comment that those restrooms are a lot cleaner than they used to be. Oops! I'll have to pay more attention next time. Even with skipping the last four miles and the ridiculously cold temps, the run was a success. Megan and I were able to meet up for a run and we actually got out the door in this weather!

Night at the Track

In the third week of running, I finally made it to the track for the first time. It was definitely motivation that the temps were pushing 40 and the sun was shining - probably the only nice weather all week. It was also motivating that the workout was a measley 4x800. Totally doable, even if not totally recovered from said stomach flu. I took advantage of a middle aged man run/walking around the track and made him my rabbit. I had to use him since there were more people at the ice rink than the track (3). I was surprised at my relative consistency, now to increase speed next time: 3:39, 3:36, 3:35, 3:36.

I am hoping the track stays clearer than last year...

Week 3 - The Night Runner

Other than my long run, all of my runs this week were at night and I really enjoyed it! I got into a nice routine of coming home late from work (ah, busy season), putting on a one-pot meal of something that takes awhile to cook (jambalya, soup, etc.) or staging Nathan to get dinner prepped and then heading out the door into the dark. I figure its going to be dark no matter what time I'm running during the week (the wee hours of the morning or the late hours of the night) and it is much less of a rush if I go in the evening. Granted, this means that I pretty much then go to bed after eating dinner, but, hey, I'll take it. Bonus - chocolate milk is sometimes a recommended recovery drink and I figured why not make it hot chocolate in the winter, so I've totally enjoyed that!

The long run of nine miles worked out okay this week - really nothing to report. The weather report accurately predicted that rain would start at 9 am on Sunday, so I got out the door in time to be finished by about that time. Sure enough, the rain started on my last half mile of the run. Helped me pick up the pace to get home!

Highlight of the week - Listening to (and heeding) the weather report
Difficult part of the week - Trying to do a speed workout in the dark and cold (hard to look at a watch because its so cold that I don't want a draft to come in at my wrists); I end up trying to count seconds in my head - very accurate

Third Time's a Charm

I've been attempting this same 13 mile long run for the last three weeks (Beechwood loop, past CMU, up Ellsworth, loop through Point Breeze...) but have been having difficulty getting it done.

Week 0 (thought it was Week 1 but miscounted): The week when Pittsburgh received more snow in one week than any time since college. I set out at 6am to run on the roads since I knew sidewalks would be impossibly frustrating. Well that didn't go so well, since Pgh decided not to plow or salt until 8am that day. By the time I hit the "fork in the road" (Murray & Forbes) where I could either be home in three miles or go out for the rest of the long run, I was exhausted and decided that 9 was plenty since it was taking as long as 13 and I honestly felt much more tired than if I did 13 on clear roads.

Week 1: Set out in the sunshine with last week's snow mostly off the sidewalk. I was one.five miles from home when my ankle pain from the MCM returned and I knew that it was not a good idea to try for 12 more miles. I am learning that my ankle pain is directly related to my flexibility. On a normal/bad day, I can touch the ground with at least one knuckle. When I stopped in agony, I couldn't get closer than six inches from the ground. ouch. So I took a lovely walk through Frick Park and went home and did Jillian and Bob tapes for a few hours to make sure I kept my heart rate up for a good two hours.

Week 2: Caught the Stomach flu on Monday. Didn't eat for three days, lost 8 pounds. Some of that might have been brain cells as I thought it would be fine to try 13 miles again today. And why wouldn't I want to do this when it involves two Gu packs on an already weak stomach!?!? At the same point of no return (6 miles), I was feeling tired but good. So I went on for more. CMU finally shut off the water fountains outside the parking lot so I had to go inside the building for some quick water. It seems like forever since I've run the length of Ellsworth and it was a nice trip down memory lane as I passed all our old houses and stomping grounds. And then I hit 10 miles. And utter exhaustion. I was not surprised that this happened since I really have no energy stores for that kind of endurance. For the next three miles I had to walk more frequently than I would like, but I was happy to be completing the run that seemed to be starting to be a mental block.

I'm glad to see that I've learned a thing or two about limitations over the last couple decades of running (am I really that old to be able to say that?? gross). I'm also happy that I can be content with my ability and performance as it relates to all the twists life throws my way. I am striving for drastic improvement this year (Boston in 2011, anyone??), but am not going to kill myself to get there. It has to be fun, or there is no point.

P.S. The beechwood crappy blue car with the window covers roped on was gone today! I had to do a triple take to make sure that I just hadn't missed it because I was so used to seeing it there. I wonder if it was being used, had been sold...or had been towed!

P.P.S. I witnessed another accident today. Not as scary as the one we ran passed on Murray, but some guy tried to park on Beechwood at 40ish mph and when he hit some leaves he couldn't stop fast enough and popped a Grand Caravan. He tried to blame it on the leaves, but the screech and the pop were too loud and long for him to be going anywhere remotely close to the speed limit.

P.P.P.S. Sorry for the novel. I will try to write less, more frequently. Welcome back to spring marathon training!

Week 2 - My Friend, the Treadmill

Week 2 was not such a successful week of training...I worked no less than an eleven hour billable day this week, so that made it a bit difficult to get in much training. On top of that, I was out of town in an area where running outside isn't really an option, so the one run I got in during the week was done on the hotel treadmill. It was actually really fantastic, from a running perspective. It was the night of the Haiti earthquake, so I was beginning to see some of the first images that were coming in from the mainstream media.

I am a little embarassed to admit that my long run was only scheduled to be a five mile run this weekend. I thought it was supposed to be eight and wanting to enjoy some sleep on Sunday morning, I figured I'd wait until the afternoon to do it. It was raining cats and dogs when I was originally planning on running and it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so I moved on to Plan B and figured I could convince myself to do my "long" run on the treadmill. At this point, I still thought it was eight miles, which I thought was WAY too much to do on a treadmill, but also WAY too much to do in 35 degree rain. Then I checked my schedule and saw it was only five miles and there was much rejoicing! Not much of a long run, but given the week I had, I'll take it!

Highlight of the week - Discovering the treadmill isn't as horrible as I always make it out to be
Difficult part of the week - Finding time to run

Week 1 - Successful Kickoff

Finished up week one of training for the Pittsburgh Marathon! I'm doing a training schedule that I mixed together from Hal Higdon's beginner level (being realistic about time constraints during busy season) and the FIRST program and I've worked in some yoga and stability ball workouts at home and hopefully can get in some cross-training too.

My first long run was seven miles, which seemed achievable even though I hadn't been doing that good of a job in keeping up with running after the half marathon in the fall. The morning of my long run the temperature was a chilly 3 degrees (windchill of -10), but I took it as a challenge and headed out. (Bonus - there was a nice, light snow as I headed out - very beautiful!) I had that thought that every runner has on a morning like I was facing, "Get through the first mile and if its that horrible, you can turn around and go back." After mile 1, I wouldn't say I was warm, but I was willing to keep going. By the end, though, I was freezing and glad that I could cut it off at seven miles.

Highlight of the week - completing my first long run
Difficult part of the week - people who don't shovel their sidewalks

Pgh Marathon Training Schedule

OK, so I mapped out my training schedule...guess this means I'm committing now!