We ran a family 5k this past Saturday evening. I borrowed a friend’s double BOB and pushed both kids for the first time ever.
93 pounds of kids + a rather heavy stroller = a LOT of work!
One guy I passed said, “look at you – you’re running for three!” Yep!
Bryson fell asleep, Matthew enjoyed every moment, including the water stop. They’ve requested that we do it again but, alas, the stroller was a loaner! 😉
We made the paper:
My running and race schedule is winding down. I have a half marathon on 10/16 and a 10k trail race on 10/29, with two 5Ks sprinkled in, but mid-October after that last half is looking to be when I’ll start transitioning to a more cross-training mode. The winter always encourages me to ramp down the running and ramp up the weights and guided cardio classes. There is an 8-mile trail race on 12/3 that I’d like to do, but that won’t require much training and it will really be a game-time decision based on weather.
Problem is, I’m not feeling ready to ramp the running down in a month. Maybe I will feel better about it as it gets colder, buy I’m not digging the idea of it right now. I’ve found a half on 11/5 and I’m this close to signing up for it. I mean, there is still room on my race wall for a few more bibs and medals.
What to do, what to do….???
I ran a 10-mile race this morning. I knew there would be one nasty hill lasting two miles before it flattened out but I didn’t let it bother me because I figured this would not be a PR race for me.
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My kids slept like crap last night. My youngest was in our bed by 12:45 followed by my oldest an hour later. My husband went to sleep with our big kid but he left his dad alone in his bed at 2:00 and returned to me. Whatever, just go to sleep. That started a cycle of being woken up every 40 minutes by my kids and it was truly terrible. Imagine fully waking up every 40 minutes between 12:45 and 6:45 the night before a 10-mile race. At 4:45, my big kid and I were both in tears over the situation (my lack of sleep caused my tears, my yelling caused his).
It.was.a.shit.show.
Come 6:45, I was up and getting ready to go and I was seriously considering dropping into the 5k race group. I could hardly even think, I was so tired. I got my husband up (who had slept alone from 2:00-7:00 what the hell?!?!) and told him I was probably running the 5k.
“You don’t need to decide until the split. Don’t decide now.”
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I found my old friend who is a crazy fast runner (sub-8:00 pace for 15 miles) and I told her I was considering the 5k.
“Courtney, come on. You know you can do the 10. So It’s not going to be a PR, just run it.”
Yeah, ok. I think so. God, I’m so tired.
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I was pacing fast with an average of 8:33 on my fitness band (which was off the mile markers by 0.06 miles) through mile 5 where I sat at 43:20 with a real 8:40 pace (adjusted to compensate the distance discrepancy). Not at ALL what I expected. I didn’t think I could keep that pace but the group, overall, was so fast that I just kept with them. I passed some people but I was always in a group (key!). With 1 mile left, my band showed an average pace of 8:31 (not adjusted). Shit! I was picking up speed in the second half of the race… A SOLID negative split!
So, I took it home. I crossed the finish at 1:26:13 (second half of the race timed in at 42:53 with an 8:34.6 pace) with an average pace of 8:37… My fastest distance pace ever. A new distance PR by a long shot (last one was 9:04). Even if I’d had to do a half marathon (13.1 miles) today, I would have finished under my prior half PR because I was cruising and easily could have done 3.1 more miles at a 9:00 pace.
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I have no idea how I did it… I’m still so damn tired. Maybe that’s my secret weapon?
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Stats:
18/51 Women 40-44 (35.29%)
172/334 Overall Men and Women (51.5%)
62/175 Women (35.43%)
Week 3 Statistics (Ending 09/07/16)
I like to keep track of all of my progress, but one of my favorite ways is to photograph my abs along the way. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and we all have our own areas that respond to fitness differently than they do on other people. My weaknesses are my legs and ass – no matter what I do, there is little visible change. My legs definitely have more shape than they did a year ago, but muscle definition does not happen in my lower half. My strengths are my shoulders/back and abs. If I put any amount of work into those areas, they reward me by responding quickly to my efforts.
I took my “before photos” on 8/16, two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve ramped up my ab workouts but not by a crazy amount. I definitely am making sure I get the ab workouts in now that they’re on my schedule, and I do think I’m working a bit harder when I do them. “Before photos” motivate the heck out of me and when my abs looked the way they did back in February, I know I can work harder than I am now.
The lighting and positioning is a little different in these, but they still tell the story. I took the second photos a couple of days ago, so these photos are exactly 2 weeks apart. “Before” on the left, and “Now” (because I can’t say “after” until I’m done!) on the right. Both flexed.
I’m excited to keep working them. Now, if I could just motivate myself to lift weights as often as I do abs!
Week 2 Statistics (Ending 08/31/16)
ever-changing evermore 