2 Things

1. I am exhausted.

I stretched my run out to 18 minutes yesterday. 16 minutes isn't going to cut it for my short, slow legs. With 5 minutes of warming up and cooling down, I went a total of 2.37 miles.

This morning I biked the entire 10k in about 28 minutes,  but I still finished my 30 minute ride after I hit that milestone. I did a non-stop quarter mile swim after that. My swim took me 9 or 10 minutes, I lost track. Essentially, the easy 2/3 of my triathlon.

I start bricks next week, so I get 2 days off. How nice that they align with Labor day!

2. COLLEGE FOOTBALL!

I got an invite to watch the games at a local sports bar with the Portland Gator Club. Dan and I have a sitter and I'm excited.

Success

I did it. 16 minutes of non-stop running. After the first 2 minutes, I didn't think I would make it. I started to ache on my left ribs, then right ankle, then right ribs, but none of the discomfort was severe enough to make me stop. I was a hot, sweaty mess after my run, but so very proud of myself. I adore my new shoes, too!

Grand totals for today:

7 minute warm up + 16 minute run +7 minute cool down = 2.21 miles

Now I am exhausted and need to sleep.

Training Day Whatever

I started to write a long post about all of the exercise I've done over the past 4 weeks

Not worth it.

Let's just skip right to the highlights.

My kids are doing awesome at the gym. Rosie will walk right it and say "bye" to me. They have a new arcade style basketball game that Liam loves. He has also suggested that I buy him a Wii since he likes playing it at the gym daycare so much.

Last Friday I ran for 8 minutes non-stop twice with a minute of walking in between. This was the longest I had ever run non-stop in my life. According to the training plan, I was supposed to go from that to running 16 minutes non-stop on Monday. That's a big jump. On Saturday night I was walking outside at night to get the mail and rolled my right ankle down the last step to my driveway. I iced it all weekend and hoped for the best, but I think that was the reason why my right knee was starting to hurt 10 minutes into my run on Monday and why I quit after 14 minutes. So, so close to my target, but still a huge accomplishment for me.

I decided that proper running shoes would also help with my knee pain. I got fitted at a local running shop and bought these beauties.

My kids were champs, though Liam started to melt down when I didn't allow him to run on the treadmill. He cheered up a little when we played chase around the store to test out shoes.

The strangest thing happened during my Monday run, too. I was on the treadmill at the gym watching HIMYM and minding my own business. I heard a loud bang, but I assumed it was an over-zealous weightlifter. Not long after, I notice that there was an open water bottle next to my treadmill spilling all over my yoga mat and gym bag (I was in a time crunch to do yoga, run and shower, so I didn't bother going to the locker room.) Still mid-run, I asked the guy next to me if it was his bottle, but it wasn't. At this point I thought I was going to have to stop to clean up this mess, but a woman came running over from the stair master behind the treadmills apologizing profusely. How her water bottle flew 6 feet and landed on my stuff, I still have no idea. She was embarrassed, but it was really no big deal. My clean clothes in my bag were dry and that's all I cared about.

I also hit a big milestone in my swimming tonight. I swam 400 yards, the full quarter mile, without taking a break. I brought 8 pennies with me and lined them up on one side of my lane. I slid one over after each lap so that I didn't lose count. It was a great swim.

It's a miracle I haven't lost my goggles yet. This little one goes into my gym bag almost daily to swipe my goggles.

I'm putting Liam in swimming lessons in September with a few of his friends. He's is really excited about it. I explained to him that his friends are a little older and bigger than he is, so he will have to work very hard. He told me that he was going to work hard and swim fast. He would be "the floating roadrunner." Meep meep!

I've been neglecting my biking. The really training was supposed to start last week. I'll start in earnest on my next biking day. I think that'll be Thursday. I'll try to check back in with my next run and report how I feel about my new shoes.

Training Days 12-15

Day 12
Biking and swimming today. My biking training is still a 30 minute "easy bike ride around the neighborhood or trails." Except I did mine on the stationary bike in the gym. 5.63 miles. Eight 50 yard laps with 30 seconds of rest in between followed. I completed this in about 12 minutes. I was really beat by the time this day was over because I also hiked a few trails in the Columbia Gorge with my mom and my kids and took a walk around the neighborhood with them in the evening.

Blowing (eating?) dandelions on our hike. 

Rosie made a friend on our walk.

Day 13
2.19 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill on Wednesday. I slept terribly that night- both kids were up and I was worried about my mom leaving early in the morning. I was tired, so I went back to day 25 of the triathlon training program.

Day 14
I was in a hurry to get to playgroup Thursday morning, so I just did my swim at the gym. 50 yard warm up, three 75 yard intervals with 30 seconds of rest in between, 50 yard lap to cool down. 11 minutes and 30 seconds.

Thursday was wonderful. I got a sitter for the kids in the afternoon and went to the spa to get a massage and my very first facial. It was heavenly to treat my tired, achy body.

After putting the kids to bed, I dragged out my stationary bike and did 30 minutes on it in front of the tv in the living room.

I took Friday off as a recovery day. I thought that a recovery day would be a good idea after a massage since I'm supposed to take one day off every week anyway.

Day 15
Dan was away at a conference this week and the childcare at the gym doesn't open until 8AM, so I didn't get to make it to my usual 7:30 yoga class. I still went to use the treadmill. 2.05 miles in 30 minutes.

Dan was supposed to get home on Sunday afternoon, so I had planned to go to the gym to swim after he got home. By the time I found out that his flight was cancelled, the childcare at the gym had already closed, so I didn't get my workout in today. Oh well, I got to hang out with my munchkins instead. We played chase and I lifted them and tossed them on the couch a few dozen times, does that count as a workout?

Training Day 7-11

Despite the title, there are no Slurpees in this blog post. I'm just behind as usual.

Day 7
Mondays are yoga days. Afterwards I ran 1.10 miles in 15 minutes 30 seconds. I added an extra few minutes to my last running interval to push myself a bit further in my training after having taken so much time off.

Day 8
Back on the bike and in the pool today. 30 minutes on the bike at a steady pace. I went 5.44 miles, still short of the 6.2 miles of the 10K biking portion of the mini triathlon. Biking is so much easier with media attached to the handlebars. I guess an iPod will have to do during the actual event if I get separated from my friends. A 400 yd swim in 13 minutes followed my bike ride. I'm taking shorter breaks and doing longer intervals in my swim each progressive day.

Day 9
Back to the dread-mill on Wednesday. 2.13 miles in 30 minutes. I pushed my last running interval to 5 minutes on day 9, probably the longest I had ever run without stopping in my life as sad as that sounds. I struggled with asthma for a long time, especially exercise induced asthma. I haven't had a single attack since I moved to Oregon though, so allergies to something in Florida may have contributed to my trouble breathing.

I took Thursday and Friday off. My mom is in town, so I was busy with her. Not to mention sore sore sore.

Day 10
Saturdays are for early morning yoga. 7:30 AM. I need a long warm up when exercising that early. My regular instructor was out so there was a sub. I could tell that she was a classically trained instructor. She referred to the postures by their Sanskrit names and was really focused on the mind/body relationship of yoga. It wasn't nearly as challenging and fun as classes with my usual instructor. Swimming followed. 400 yds in about 15 minutes. It took me a bit longer today. I did longer intervals and longer breaks than my last swim. I also swam a bit slower to compensate for the longer intervals. (This was day 22 of the triathlon training plan I am loosely following.)

I intended to bike at home on Sunday afternoon, but my children were especially crazy all day, the little dude didn't nap and Dan left early in the day for a week long conference. All of those factors equaled me sitting on my butt watching Ghost with my mom after the kids finally went to bed at night.

Day 11
My regular yoga instructor was back today, much to my happiness. Yoga was great this morning. I followed it up with a run on the treadmill. 1.76 miles in 24 minutes. Having just completed an hour long yoga class, I shortened the warm up phase. I was also running out of daycare time, so I chopped a few minutes off of the cool down phase, too. This was day 28 of the triathlon training plan I mentioned earlier. After I ran for so long last week, I skipped ahead again. I probably shouldn't have done that. My knees are killing my today. I could hardly play chase with my kids this afternoon.

I took inventory of my body during my yoga class today and I have decided that I am in the best shape of my life. That's no easy feat at 27 after having 2 kids. I could still eat better and flatten my stomach a little more, I would like to have more upper body strengthen and I have a long way to go with my running, but the changes that I have made to my body over the past year are really great. I'm proud of myself and this mini triathlon, if I keep up with my training, will be a huge accomplishment for me.