On the reading front, I’ve started a couple books but haven’t really buckled down into either of them. This week has been insane (more to come on that in a few days) and The Magpie has been sick with a fever the last two days. It all comes to a no reading time conclusion. I have some extended ‘passenger in car’ time approaching so I should get caught up again soon.

In fitness land, I’m continuing with the Winter session of BABEies Boot camp at Limitless Performance. Of course everything is still modified because of this frustrating diastasis recti. I’m down to a 1.5-2cm gap at my navel but the fascia is tightening so it’s slowly improving. Three days a week of HIIT. It’s kicking my ass. In fact, I’m sure to post some transformation pictures…

Also coming up in fitness land is a 10K trail run in May. Better get running!!

My Whole30 is going well. Pants are fitting better and I’m eating lots of vegetables. Cooking lots of new recipes too. It’s really made my skin bright I think, despite my sleep deprivation:

Seriously a nap sounds so good right now.

A fresh new year is here and therefore is time to post my goals for this year. 

The are some lofty ones… Goals that aren’t running and fitness related, some that are, and some that are just hopes for the year.

1. Read 40 books + 12 bonus books this year as part of the Popsugar 2017 Book Challenge. Watch for a Reading page, tracking my progress. Email hoodieruns@gmail.com with suggestions!
2. Run a 10K trail race, Race the Falls, with my sister.
3. Complete a Whole30 in January. Day 1, is tomorrow! 
4. Sleep train my disaster, non-sleepers.
5. Develop and follow a regular fitness (strength and conditioning) routine. 

Let’s go 2017, you are a building year.

Happy New Year friends.

Wow. 

It was a long day. A long but awesome day.

The race:

At the start for 7:30am, coffee and dry gear in hand, the Hoodlet and I checked in at Auburn and suited up. We were on the bus for 8:30am and dropped off for the 250m hike in to the start. 

The atmosphere on the bus was subdued, mostly nervous energy. Except me. I was giddy energy. We were dropped off at a secret location at the side of the road and hiked in. 

A tree was selected for the start line and a line was drawn in the dirt. We counted down: five, four, three, two, one, go! And so started what proved to be the flattest five km of the entire race… It wasn’t but fresh legs! Endorphins! Optimism!

As we progressed, the trail became more and more technical. And more hilly. At one point we were hiking up a narrow ridge, with a long, muddy fall to either side. Three points of contact were necessary in a few cases with the slick fallen leaves and rocks and smattering of rain. Oh, and tired legs.

At least three hills were big and bad enough to have names. I cursed at them. One descent had the narrowest slippery stairs; another had a guide wire wrapped in a garden hose. There were a few stream crossings where I cooled my blister off. (Martin the Blister was care of the new trail shoes I wore… such a rookie move but glad I made that decision because trying to do this run without trail shoes would have been nuts.) Plenty of wet leaves, mud, roots and rocks littered the single track trail. This technically challenging section comprised the middle third of the race. 

The final third included less demanding road and trail sections but they all seemed to be uphill!

I felt pretty good through 12.5km. By 17km, my wheels were starting to fall off. By 19km I think I might have gladly accepted a ride home had I been offered one, especially after we ran through an actual field of shit.

The Maitland Trail is very well blazed and The Bad Thing race directors also flagged turns. Pretty straightforward but we still managed to lose the trail once, missing a 90° right turn but a 50km runner waved us back to the trail. 

In the final kilometre we got to wade through the very chilly Maitland River which was very welcome to cool off Martin the Blister, but unwelcome in that I was really regretting carrying my phone if my legs suddenly cramped and I went down. I survived, upright.

Lessons learned:

• A single long run of 12km, on the road, several weeks before the race is nowhere near enough training. 
• This race is way harder than Run For The Toad. Treat it with respect.
• Carrying a hand bottle is a bad idea. You need your hands for catching falls, pulling yourself up hills and wiping the tears and snot from your face.
• Running with your sister is the best.

Conclusions:

I finished. I did not break anything. None of the things I was worried about came to pass. I had SO. MUCH. FUN.!!!! Race Huron, you put on a kickass race! 

Working so long and hard and sharing the experience with your sister is awesome. I love you, Kiddo! Thanks for indulging my crazy and muling my out of shape ass through the last 15km!

I’ll be back next year.

I’m sitting in the hallway of my parents’ home, waiting on a routine disrupted, over-tired toddler to succumb to the Sandman. A toddler that is very stubborn. She comes by this trait honestly, as any of you who know me can attest. While she fights sleep, my head is racing with scenarios for tomorrow’s run. Since I think I’ll be sitting here awhile, I might as well put some of these thoughts on the Internet so you can all see my crazy.

Goals for tomorrow:

1. Finish.
2. Don’t break anything.
3. Win. Bahahaha, just kidding!

What I’m worried about:

1. Finishing. I am very undertrained for this race. My longest run wasn’t even half the 25km distance and it was nearly six weeks ago. I think. Maybe longer. I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER.
2. Breaking something. Not in an abrupt, catastrophic way but more in the shitty, “Oops, I rolled my ankle in the first 10km… Meh, it seems fine… I’ll just keep running. [Three weeks after the race]… Fuck, it is stress fractured,” kind of way. You know, like I did two years ago during Run For The Toad.
3. For doing so shitty that I embarrass and slow down my sister, The Hoodlet. Hi Hoodlet! Thanks for doing this with me!
4. Having to fight off a beat. BEAR! I meant bear.
5. Having to fight off a cougar.
6. Getting lost.
7. Seeing the Labcoat Guy. Watch Into the Dark (four episodes).
8. My kids being tyrants while I’m away.
9. Cracking my phone screen.
10. Having to poop in the woods.

That is just a top ten of my crazy. You’re welcome. 

Note to self: pack toilet paper.

Race report to follow.

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!