Running update: training for a 1 mile and a marathon

This might be a new record of silence for me. Nearly two months. Yikes. And here I am now wondering what I'll blog about...

Generally things have been good. Kaylee just finished Kindergarten. Emily is sort of thinking about using the potty. That might actually be wishful thinking on my part. This morning she looked at me and said "Mommy, I just peed. I need to sit on the potty." Then she sat on the potty for a micrsecond, and declared emphatically with hand motions "Nothing came out!" I tried to explain (in an upbeat manner) that it's easier to go on the potty if you haven't already peed in your pull-up. To which she simply smiled, gave me a hug, and ran off. All in good time, right?

That's not really why you stopped by though, is it? Hmmmm, what have I been doing on the running front? Not much really. I'm running. The last few weeks I've been building up my mileage. Last week I ran 73 miles. The week before it was 67, I think. You know, just building a base. I've decided that I do want to run the BayState marathon in October, and so I'm building up right now.

A couple weeks after my last post I ran a 5K, and it was a huge fail. I think I ran 20:20. The course was a bit challenging with the whole last mile uphill, but I don't know, I just didn't have it that day. It was a downer. My first mile was 5:57, but it went south fast, and I can't help but think that mentally I wasn't in the game. It went right past my street though, and I couldn't pass it up (due the convenience factor). Though now, I wish I'd skipped it. After that huge fail, I decided it was time to back off and run easy for a while. So that's what I've been doing. Running easy.

Last week I started to add some short fast stuff to the running mix. This is true Experimental Running fashion: add short fast intervals to build weeks. I'm sure no coach would ever suggest it, but I'm on my own program. It might not be smart, but it's my way. Why am I adding intervals to my base building? Well, I have a high school track alumni meet on July 15th. I'd like to run a reasonably fast mile. Though to be perfectly honest, I don't know what that means exactly. I mean July 15th is less than three weeks away, so it's not like I can actually do much training (and have it be beneficial). If I could crack 5:30, I think I'd be happy. It wouldn't be a PR, but under the circumstances it would be a reasonably good time. I have no idea if I can do that, however.

That's all that's been going on the running front. Besides running, I've been focusing on trying to strengthen my core a bit. I hate pushups and crunches though, so I've been rowing instead. I've also been reading about how everyone is working on pullups and planks. Just for kicks I tried to do some pullups when I took the kids to the playground a week ago. (I must have looked absolutely crazy. I was in a sundress, because it's cool and comfortable, and you know, doing pullups. I'm completely normal like that.) I was able to do two full pullups, which is good for me. I think I'll keep working on that when I go to the playground (in my sundress).

And lastly I've been working on eating better. When training for BayState last year I lost some weight. Not on purpose. I just felt sick all the time (that's normal too, right)? I was probably training too hard. At some point after BayState (when training for Boston), my body must have become accustom to the training because I stopped feeling sick, and was so excited by that fact that I started eating everything. The result, of course, was gaining some weight. I had lost about 8-10 pounds, and gained back about 8-10 pounds. Well, I've since dropped most of that weight again, but not because I feel sick all the time, because I'm eating better. Hopefully that will help my training a bit.

That's what I've been up to. How about you? Any good potty training stories? ;)