hills are my friends

For the first time in many, many years, running took a back seat in 2011 to other priorities in my life, the biggest being my brand new baby boy. W was born in late June and since then, it’s been a struggle getting back into a running routine but I think I’m finally there. I’m now running 3-4 days a week for around 15-20 miles per week. I’ve done unstructured speedwork about once a week to keep things interesting and it’s paying off as most of my runs are around 8 – 8:30 pace and I had a successful 1500 race a couple of weeks ago. While this is by far the lowest mileage I’ve run in years, it’s a balancing act to fit it in between W, work, and graduate school and I’m slowly coming around to understand that it is enough for now. So 2012 will be a year of low mileage for me… But that doesn’t mean I won’t be running.

I signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler lottery on a whim and I got accepted so I’ll be running in DC on April 1! I’m going to find training plan for some workout ideas and see what I can fit in as it gets closer. I’m already running up to 7 miles once a week, so I don’t think a 10 mile race in April will be too much of a stretch. I’ll see as it gets closer what kind of shape I’m in… I’ve also signed up for the PPTC Cherry Tree 10 miler in February to gauge where my fitness is and make sure I can run 10 miles before the race in DC.

Since I’m pressed for time most of the time these days, I’m also going to try and add in some strength work by way of the 100 pushups training plan. I picked this to have some structure since I won’t do it at all if I don’t have a plan and because it doesn’t take up much time. We’ll see how it goes – I tried it a couple of years ago and got stuck at 4 weeks in so hopefully I’ll get further this time.

2012 is going to be another challenging year for me with all I’m taking on, but I’m ready for the challenge. Hopefully at this time next year, I’ll have a happy healthy 18 month old at home, be done with my classes for my master’s degree, and still be able to run a 6 minute mile.

I raced! Coach emailed about a week ago to tell me about the Colgate Women’s Games at Pratt and I figured I might as well give it a try. It was free, on the first Saturday when B didn’t have to teach all semester, and I needed some motivation to do speed work. I decided on the 1500 since it was probably going to be the first race of the meet, and also because the mile has always been my favorite distance to race on the track.

To prepare, on Wednesday I ran a short 400 workout – 6×400 with 2 min rest – mainly to see what my race plan should be for Saturday. The workout went well, with all of the 400s at around 88 and I was able to finish fast, with the last one in 84. I figured this meant I could go out and run around 90 for the first lap of the 1500 without having to worry about dying in the second half of the race.

So Saturday morning, I headed over to Pratt. It was an easy trip from Carroll Gardens on the G train. When I got off the train, 3 other women got off too and we walked outside and looked around wondering where to go. Luckily, another woman in running clothes came by, saw that we looked lost and asked if we were headed to the meet and then led the way for us. When we arrived, I checked in and got a goodie bag and headed into the track area. The stands were already filling with spectators and I found a spot for my stuff and got a warmup in. I ran for about 20 minutes and did some stretching and realized at that point that nothing was starting on time. I asked one of the women nearby who looked like she’d run here before and she said that the first one of the series each year tends to start late. She was right, the first heat went off about 45 minutes after the posted 9am start time. For my age group, the first heat was all women that said they’d run 5:00 and then the second group was all sub 5:20, so it was the last heat for me. Turns out, I could have stuck with the 2nd heat and been fine as I ran well and they were a little ambitious with the 5:20 predictions, but I didn’t know it at the time. So after lots of waiting, walking around to try and stay loose and some last minute strides on the track, we were on the starting line.

And then we were off… I followed my plan and tried to stay comfortable, running the first 2 laps in 88 and in 3rd place. I realized the two women in front of me were slowing down so I went around them and led the rest of the way, trying to pay attention to my splits. I was running 45′s for the rest of the time and feeling strong. The last two laps were tough, but I never felt like I was slowing down or that the distance I had to go wasn’t going to be manageable. They didn’t give times at the finish line, so I don’t know what my final time was but I left knowing I ran a smart race and that I was happy to be running 6 minute pace for a 1500 before W’s 6 month birthday.

This was a really great event and I’m hoping I’ll be able to make it to another one in the series this winter. Even though it didn’t start on time, it was free, and it got lots of girls and women out racing on a Saturday morning. I’m finding that being a new mom is all about balance. Since I don’t have much time to devote to running, getting in shape so I can run decent times in short distances is more practical than trying to fit in longer runs so I can get the endurance to race longer distances.

I went out for my second stroller run today during lunch, which reminded me that 2 weeks ago, we went for our first stroller run and I took some photos to document the occasion.

Here’s W before we got going, he was already pretty sleepy…

And here we are at the Pier 1 park about half way through.

We don’t have a fancy running stroller, so I have to be careful when I go out and stick to smooth paved paths. We are too far away from Prospect Park for me to head up there on an easy day but I do have the waterfront bike path along Columbia Street and the connecting path between Pier 1 and Pier 6 so I have a nice 3.5 mile route I can use. I’m glad he’s gotten big enough to join me for a run every once in a while and that he seems to like it well enough – 3.5 miles with W is way better than not getting out at all, that’s for sure!

Want to know a surefire way to make yourself feel fat, slow and old? Do a track workout during a high school track practice 4 months after having a baby. Those kids kept flying by me as I did my spur of the moment track workout tonight. I’m getting tired of doing my easy 3-4 mile runs so I decided to head to the track. I picked 400′s because they usually make me feel fast an strong but not tonight. Still, I wasn’t slow, and I had a couple that were faster than they should have been when I was getting passed.

Splits were:
94, 95, 90, 94, 93, 90, 93, 94

Over the last two weeks I’ve managed a total of 5 days of running. It’s not enough to be considered real training, but I’ve done some quality workouts so I’m ok with it. I’m on a 24 hours / week work schedule for the month of September and I’ve found that days when I work, I just don’t get out to run. I’ve got to do something about that for when I’m back to a full time work schedule next month or my running will really suffer.

I have done a few surprisingly good workouts in those 5 days though. Last week, I headed to the Red Hook track for some 400′s. This being my first post pregnancy track workout, I had no idea what to expect so I decided I’d do 4 with 200 walk/jog rest and see how I felt and then add on 2 more if I felt good. I ended up feeling great, doing all 6 in around 95-96 with the last one in 91. It felt good to work hard and get my legs moving fast again. My abs were sore the next day, but not a bad sore, a good kind of sore like they’d worked hard and were going to get stronger from it.

Yesterday, I did 6×800, at the Red Hook track once again, but instead of running on the track (it was crowded and I didn’t really feel like it anyway) I ran around the paved path around the track and ballfield next to the track, which turned about to be exactly half a mile according to my garmin. Again, I had low expectations going into this, I know 400 type workouts are my strength since I can hold a decent pace for short periods of time but I didn’t know if I’d have the stamina needed for 800s. Turns out I surprised myself again, running 6×800 with 2 minute rest all at around 3:20-3:25. So I guess I didn’t lose too much fitness!

The last two weekends, I’ve also managed “long” runs. Two weeks ago, I did around 8 miles at a slow pace, with some wandering around on the trails in Prospect Park with the team. Last weekend, I was on my own and headed to the park again, this time for a loop on the main road around the park. Got through a little over 7 miles in around 8:40 pace and felt strong.

So all this bodes well for the Bed Stuy 10K which is coming up in 3 weeks. I’ve looked at a few 10k training plans and from what I’ve read, they generally have long runs form 7-8 miles and workouts of about the same duration I’ve been doing. When I initially decided I’d run this race, I was looking at it as a “just get out there and run for my team” run, not a race. But now that I’ve been feeling so good on these workouts I may try to use it for a hard effort to see where I’m really at with my fitness. At this point, I’m not sure what my time goal will be. Going to do a tempo run or some longer intervals next week and then decide.

I’ve made it almost 4 weeks since getting the all clear to run again after my pregnancy. And it’s going well so far. I’ve been running 3-4 days a week for about 30-40 minutes a day. This week I added some short hills (4x~.1 mile) on Thursday and a long run (8 miles) today. These runs are much slower than I’ve been in many, many years, but I have to start somewhere. I’m hoping that adding some variation and a little intensity to my running will help me see results and get me moving faster. If all goes well, I’ll try to stick with this plan of one short workout a week and the weekly long run with the goal of running in the Bed-Stuy 10K in October. I know I won’t run nearly as fast as I did during marathon training last year, but it’ll be nice to put in a hard effort and see where I’m at and then build from there.

So this week marked my first week back to running and I have to say it went really well. Here’s a quick recap.
Monday: Got the all clear from my doctor, but because I had to wait until about 2 for my noon appointment, I didn’t make it out for a run that afternoon.
Tuesday: First run back, 4 miles, 34 minutes.
Wednesday: core workout
Thursday: 4.5 miles / 40 minutes
Friday: 30 min elliptical, core workout
Saturday: 5 miles / 46 minutes with the group

Not a bad first week back! The goal now is to get into a consistent routine once the excitement of being back starts wearing off and to rein in my enthusiasm and not do too much too soon, I have a feeling that will be a challenge.

As you can see, today I made it out to a PPTC group run, although I didn’t stick with them long. You see, they were heading from GAP, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and into Manhattan for the Summer Streets. While I would have loved to do that whole 10 mile run, I decided to play it safe. I met them in my neighborhood, about 2 miles into their run, and tagged along across the Brooklyn Bridge for 2.5 miles with the team, at which point I turned around and ran home. This got me 5 miles / 46 minutes which was all I needed. It was great to be out with the group though, definitely made my run go by fast. The group was huge and lots of new faces, I guess a lot has changed in the 8 or so months I’ve been away…

Yesterday I went for my first, doctor approved and therefore worry-free, run post pregnancy! And it felt good! And I didn’t run all that slow! I headed out as soon as I could at around 10 yesterday morning (I have a slow morning routine these days between trying to get a little extra sleep and feeding Baby W). Did my regular Red Hook loop, stopping at the track for a water break. I avoided looking at my watch except to look down at around 15 minutes in and think to myself that this was the most I’d run in about 10 weeks. When I got home and checked my pace, I was surprised to see I’d run the 4 miles in 34 minutes, or 8:30 pace which was also around my pre-pregnancy easy run pace. I’m not sure why that felt so good and I’m wondering if it was the excitement of the run that made me go faster than I probably should have. So next run, I’m going to wear the heart rate monitor and keep my pace in check. I did notice my lack of core strength, I felt like my hip flexors were working hard and I had to really concentrate to lift up my feet for the big Brooklyn curbs I had to hop. I was also a bit shaky on my crunches that I did when I got home. Got to work on that.

So the plan going forward is to wear the heart rate monitor and do some easy running over the next month. I am not going to let myself run 2 days in a row for this month, in hopes that I don’t increase my milage too fast given my enthusiasm for getting back into running. Also going to attempt to do more ab / core work and mix in low impact cardio on non running days since I really should use my gym membership. I’m writing this all down here so now I have to stick with it… I’m so happy to be back!!

I’m feeling myself again and getting back into a workout routine. This week, my 4th week post pregnancy, I’m aiming to do some cardio every other day. I’m hoping that over the next couple of weeks, I’ll add a day a week to get up to 5 days a week of some activity by my 6 week doctor appointment where hopefully I’ll be cleared to run. Today I managed an hour, doing 40 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes walking on the treadmill. I’m trying to mix it up, not doing the same machines two days in a row, alternating between the stationary bike, stair stepper, elliptical and treadmill, hoping that this will keep me from getting too bored in the next few weeks when I’m stuck inside. I have to say, this is a good time of year to not be allowed to run, it’s so darn hot out there, I don’t think I’d be very happy running anyway.

I did order some new running shoes for my return to running in a few weeks. They should arrive by the end of the week and it’s going to take a lot of willpower to not take them out for a test run. I may be a little overly excited about getting them, but to be fair, this is probably the longest stretch of no new running shoes I’ve had in many many years, they’ll be my first new shoes in about 9 months.

He’s arrived! After a wonderful, who-knew-it-would-be-so-last minute, baby shower on Sunday, I went into labor on Monday night, and on Tuesday morning gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy! I can’t resist posting a picture of our expanded family from our first day home:

So now to learn about his routines, hopefully influence them so I can get some sleep and figure out how to get back to exercising. Right now (day 5) I don’t feel like doing much of anything. I’m sleeping when I can, which has involved a couple of naps a day, and trying to get out for a short walk (a couple of blocks) to keep my sanity so I don’t go stir crazy in this apartment. When I met with the doctor for my discharge from the hospital on Thursday, she said as long as I don’t do anything that causes lactic acid to build up in my blood, I can do non impact cardio as soon as I want to. So for now, I’ll take it easy, but will be back at the gym as soon as I feel the motivation for it.

An added bonus of his early arrival, I’m hoping to be able to make it out to the NYRR Club Champs to cheer on the PPTC runners and show off my baby at the mini-picnic we have afterwards. He’s gotta learn to cheer on the runners at road races sooner or later!