This phrase, “We’re taking things day by day” has been heard twice by cousins, thrust into circumstances that are unfair and awful. 

When a health crisis strikes, loved ones are suddenly in the eye of a storm that is both slowing time to a crawl and spinning their lives into chaos. It sucks. All you can do is take things day by day.

We are thinking of you. Hopeful for good news in both cases. Much love.

LH

Um.

*Hangs head in shame*

There were 9km and 5km runs and three bootcamp sessions completed this week. As in 56% of what I had scheduled for running. That’s not great.

On the good side: the 9km run was good. I felt much stronger (although so slow) and was even pushing the stroller for the duration! My legs felt much better the next day, compared to my first longer runs.

I’m really enjoying bootcamp. It’s making me stronger and fitter. Clothes are fitting better. I really need to figure out how to incorporate more running, especially as I am planning to continue bootcamp into the fall. The functional fitness I get through bootcamp gives me a stronger running foundation. That’s a good thing.

A couple pictures from my long run:

This week, week four, I am not much better. More to come.

Sometimes you have to give yourself a break or you will get broken.

My ankle has been super tight and grumpy since the long run of week one. Last week, instead of pushing through pain, I opted to rest and let the ankle guide what I got done. In the end, I only did bootcamp classes and stretched.

I am OK with that.

What I am still very inexperienced at is balancing “Momming” with training. Days can start very early around here but I am decidedly the opposite of a morning person. My husband is awesome at fielding the toddler to let me have some additional sleep time in the mornings as I am up several times a night with the baby. This is lovely and makes me happy. The only problem is that the morning is the best workout time. Instead, I find myself cramming in a late evening workout at the end of the day when I’m already tired or worse, skipping a workout altogether.  I will get this figured out…

On to week three.

The Hoodlet (my sister) and I are signed up to run The Bad Thing, the 25km iteration. (For those of you too lazy to click the link, it’s a point to point trail race with a 50km option. The 25km is sold out. Better luck next year. 50km still has space…) Last week was the start of training.

We are using the Run for the Toad 25km training program. The long run for the week was 7km, with a mid week 5km, a pair of 4km’s and TWO WHOLE DAYS OFF. That’s right, two! 

Here’s my summary, in a mangled The Good, The Bad, The Ugly format.

The Bad: I did not do one of the 4km runs and I didn’t get a rest day either. 

The Good: I did everything else plus: 3 bootcamp classes and a baseball game!!! Yes. That deserves three exclamation points. I also started physio to encourage my core to cooperate.

The Ugly: four years of much reduced activity, a pair of pregnancies, extra weight, and being and old lady means I am sore. Not outrageously sore but definitely feeling my knees and right lower leg. It is tight, like a tiger.

Introspection: mentally, I am thinking a big game. I am excited to be training. Working out makes me feel great. Physically, I won’t be able to maintain this pace without injury. This week’s task is to make some pragmatic adjustments to my schedule.

To document this journey, I’m taking regular selfies and will post them here for general consumption. 

Day one: 

Today, day eight:

And the poor feets: 

Relax your damn shoulders.

Take a deep breath, you are running too fast.

Shit, I am so slow.

My feet hurt.

Hey! 10,000 steps vibrations!

Training is going to be so hard.

I can’t wait for training to start.

Are my kids OK?

Am I bad/selfish parent?

Ugh, I need to lose this baby weight.

Time to check my Garmin/Endomondo/watch/Fitbit. Huh, not as long/far as I thought.

I want to write a novel.

When do I have time to write a novel?

I really should just get up and run first thing in the morning. Just make that a habit, m’kay?

Oh God, what if my sister is so much faster than me and doesn’t want to run together for The Bad Thing?!

What kind of flower was that?

Car.

I wish getting out for a run wasn’t such a production.

Does bootcamp count as a run?

Am I close to done yet?

This is hard.

I feel so good.

…

Man, I love running.

The infant sling for our running/biking stroller, the Thule Chariot Cheetah 2, arrived from MEC this week. While we can’t take the smallest little out biking for a while, the interwebs say it’s OK to do strolling and jogging. We did a test walk with both littles and we are ready to start a run/walk program.

I am four weeks post-partum, as of tomorrow and I really do feel great. I was very fortunate to have an uncomplicated delivery and the resulting recovery has been smooth. Hopefully, I will be given the green light to start more activity than just walking on Monday.

Since my last post, I have done a bit of light running, chasing the big little, and that’s been OK. My core feels heavy and a bit unstable but I am hoping that will improve with some time and effort. I also did the Cal Poly Hip Flow two days ago and my hip flexors and psoas are angry about being used… This flow is a great full body warm up that I am going to use on the regular!

Up next on the to-do list is attempting a bike ride!

Our bundle arrived last weekend and week one of recovery is done. I’m impatient to get started but I know I need to take this time easy and make sure I recover well.

That’s not to say I’m not reading and learning in the mean time. Topics such as pelvic floor exercises and diastasis recti are being researched and physiotherapy is being arranged for the six week mark.

The Bad Thing registration opens on May 1st!!

This article, Does Having a Baby Make You Faster?, popped into my news feed today. The timing is excellent as I stare down the barrel at another labour and delivery while feeling grossly undertrained for the “event.” That’s despite knowing that it’s not something I can train for, and that women have been doing it, in far worse circumstances than I, for thousands of years. I’m still feeling nervous and this article helped, reminding me that the female body is strong and capable of many things.

It also gives me hope for a smooth return to running in a few weeks. I’m no elite but I’ll gladly take any speed boosts or physiological changes that benefit me! Fingers crossed…

Them feet there, they are ready to run! And I still have ankles, whoot!

Here it is, Spring in the Canada-land, and there’s 5cm of snow on my lawn. April has been hitting the sauce too hard and confused itself with December. Go home, April. You need to sleep this off.

As promised, hoodieruns is coming back from hiatus, although not yet. Not officially. I’m feeling the urge to write about running and start planning for my return to running, because I miss it so much.

Theoretically, I’ve another 7-9 weeks before I’m actually going to be cleared to run. Hopefully sooner, if I can figure out the magic combination to evict the current resident of my body. In the nesting phase of this pregnancy, my attention has turned to a return to physical activity. Unpacking old training journals and various running books in our library has only made the nesting itch worse. I’m literally moments away from a massive collision between graph paper, calendar, star stickers, Hal Higdon’s wisdom, my new training journal and coloured pens. Hopefully this arts and crafts/training schedule project will tie me over, until real running can begin.

The Bad Thing, I’ve got my eye on you.

This poor little blog. It gets no love from me.

hoodieruns is on another hiatus. This time, it’s forced. Another little person will be joining the hoodieruns family and this one has caused some minor complications for their mama. So, it’s a forced hiatus from all strenuous activity for the time being. Hopefully everything else will go smoothly and I’ll be back in the spring.

Last night, in a fit of Christmas present procrastination and positive thinking, I was searching for something BIG to do next year. The year I had The Little, I ran the 25K Run For the Toad and it was awesome (aside from breaking my foot)! The fall of 2015 has seen me sidelined but I really wanted to do The Bad Thing, which had it’s inaugural run in October. I think this might be the race for me, possibly even the 50K if I can find enough time to train and get fit.

A 50K trail race? Why not? See Fleck Run was very persuasive with her summary of the Creemore Vertical Challenge that I think a big meaty trail race might be just what I need to fall back in love with running.

Guess I better start studying trail markers…