So last night I decided to sit down and spend some serious time working on a new and improved training plan for the next few months – it will take me right up to a half-marathon I am definitely registering for in early September (Rotary Run for Life in Stony Plain) plus another few weeks that would include some pretty tough training to prepare me for a Ragnar Relay – on the off chance I get chosen to run with Team Dimity or Team Sarah in October going from Maryland to Washington, D.C. I’m hoping the power of positive thinking will help me out in that one

Regardless of whether I get to run in the cool and exhausting relay, I did need to get my prep plans in place for the Rotary Run. My DH is pretty sure his work schedule is going to have him home that weekend so we will get to finally do a half-marathon together, after the sucky September where pneumonia played havoc with our first planned joint half-marathon. Plus my schedule will continue to include some good strength training for our Mud Hero in August. Organizing my training plan always takes me some time – I am using the Train Like a Mother Finish It Half Marathon Plan, but I need to adjust so that my rest days are Saturday; it just works better for me. Plus, I convert it all to km instead of miles (10 km just sounds farther than 6 miles – doesn’t it?!) I’ve got the last two weeks of May then all of June, July, August, September and early October covered now. Phew! Now I can relax and go for a run.

Feature image © iQoncept – Fotolia.com

I was so proud I actually pushed myself to go for a run last night at the end of a hectic, hectic day. You see, first I tried to balance working with running back and forth to my oldest’s middle school track meet. Because despite the deadlines and the urgent requests, a mother runner is clearly going to want to watch her son on the track (aka the bus transfer station converted to a “track” with some painted lines). Races were staggered throughout the day of course, so I would go and watch for 10 minutes, go home and work for 30-45, then go back again to start the cycle over – thank goodness we live close.  And I’m so glad I did because the speedy little boy – who is in fact not a little boy at all as he is 11 thank you very much and almost as tall as mommy dearest – won his first heat in the 200, qualified for the 200 and 100 m finals (finishing 3rd and 4th respectively – out of all grade five boys in his school!) plus ran a 400m race, did the high jump and basically just ran his heart out. It was very exciting! Poor kid had a soccer  game after supper too, so let’s just say he was one tired puppy when the day was done.

So yeah – tried to balance all that, plus spend some time with the bored 5yo, plus helped with serving hot lunch at said 11yo’s school and of course I was assistant coach at that post-supper soccer game, which thankfully was nice and close to home. Coaching soccer is something I have truly grown to love, but it takes a lot out of me at the games – I get so excited and invested in those boys! Needless to say by the time we were done, showered three boys to get the bug spray and sweat off, read a few pages of stories and remembered to get 11yo’s earring back in – I was feeling pretty done in myself. But then I saw this tweet from Dimity of Another Mother Runner and knew I had to get my butt in gear and get out the door for a some kind of a run. And I was so glad I did – it helped clear my mind of the chaos of the day. Which is good because today…well, let’s just say it’s another one of those days

Featured image tag cloud from Tagxedo

It was a very different kind of run for me, and I LOVED it! For one thing, it was nice not to be alone. Some days, okay maybe most days, I love being alone when I run, but since it’s very rare for me to run with anyone, I enjoyed the novelty of it. It would be nice about once a week I think. Also, it was a chance to spend some time with the big boys without the littlest along. He was not happy about that of course, but we left him to keep daddy busy, so oh well! My oldest especially kept bringing his bike back around to me to chat. Despite how hard it is for me to chat while I run…I struggle to even breathe, lol, it was nice to listen to him talk. My middle child on the other hand was way too busy racing ahead on his new bike (with gears people, he’s like a grown up now, and yes, for the record his bike is almost too big for me and he’s only 8!)

Last, but definitely not least, running behind bikes helped me work on speeding up a little. I took fewer breaks too, because they would have gotten bored if I’d walked much. When I run alone on the treadmill I stay a fairly steady speed and when I run alone outside sometimes it’s easy to run slower than I mean to.

All in all, running with my boys was a perfect Saturday morning – I totally recommend it!

The thing about mud races like this is that you can’t just train by running, you know? The race itself is 6km, which is easily manageable for me, but there are also a pile of obstacles – everything from crawling through mud to climbing a cargo net. I sure hope the weather isn’t too cold!

To prepare myself sort of properly I’m trying to throw a bunch of strength training into my routine. Sometimes I stop running halfway through my planned mileage and do some exercises (pushups, squats, kettlebells). Sometimes I just try to do my strength training at a different time of day. Depends mostly on how much time I have open. It’s forcing me to be a little more flexible and to work out more than once per day (well, not ALL days of course!) I think I’m more motivated now than I have been in a while. That’s worth the entry fee all by itself.

Have you ever done a mud or obstacle run? I’d love any tips!

Now, I know plenty of people already know how smart it is to start their day with a workout, but I’ve been in denial that I should consider it for a long, long time. I work from home, I have a flexible schedule, I can work out when it suits me – that’s how I’ve been thinking.  And I really do like working out around midday. But here’s the thing – lately my work has been sooooo busy. And half the time I have to pick up littlest boy from preschool at lunchtime. Plus sometimes I help out with hot lunches at oldest boy’s school. Really, my lunchtimes aren’t as free this year as they were last year and I kept ignoring that fact and then not getting in my workouts or  I ended up trying to motivate myself at 9 o’clock at night after the boys were all in bed. It simply wasn’t working no matter what I wanted to believe.

So last week, when my monsters were on spring break and it was a tiny bit easier to manage, I started working out first thing in the morning. Last week that meant like 7:30 am-ish. It went pretty well. I took a day off in the middle of the week because my legs hurt, but I got in 19 km between running and walking – the most I’ve managed in a week in a long, long time! This week I’m off to a good start too, I worked out midday yesterday and today I set my alarm and got up at 6:25 in order to get in a run before waking the kiddos up for school. I’m also starting to incorporate some strength intervals because after the 10k I’m planning for June I have my first mud/obstacle run to train for in August!

Moving in the mornings – who knew it could work for me?!

Featured image © Ana Blazic Pavlovic – Fotolia.com

I have a friend who wants to run a 10k together in June (we haven’t picked a race yet, but I can estimate dates for now). I’m not going to be pushing for a PR or anything this time. Maybe in the fall, so I’m choosing to adapt the Finish It Plan from my Train Like a Mother book (going to run 4x per week only) to prep for the race.

March is almost over so I’m sharing my April schedule (using the gorgeous Run Pretty Far calendar download as template for extra motivation!)  It’s a pretty easy plan actually, if I just actually get running already. Maybe I can make a “deal” with myself that I can buy something new from RPF if I finish all my training runs in April. If it warms up enough I’ll be trying to do speed workouts at the track, but probably will be on my treadmill til May. All local outdoor tracks are pretty buried under snow at the moment! Have I mentioned I can’t wait to get outside and run? I know, lots of people go out in this weather, but I’m not a fan of it.

Last year I was lucky enough to be able to attend the inaugural BlogWest conference. I was totally looking forward to attending again this year, but circumstances have dictated otherwise. You see, I’m coaching my second season of soccer (indoor this time, U12 boys) and we’ve had a pretty successful season, despite what one particular parent seems to think. This blog is apparently actually “findable” (waving high to the lovely mom of one of my soccer players who found it recently!) so I will not say any more on that topic, except to say I may not know a ton about soccer, and I may have been a little reluctant to coach at first, but at the end of the day I did agree to coach, I have been there for every game, every practice and I have spent countless hours planning and organizing, downloading drills, inflating soccer balls, buying bandages and goalie gloves and just plain old thinking about soccer and how to be the best coach I could be, so let it go buddy, it’s MY team!

Anyway, we qualified at the top of our tier, got a bronze medal in our grouping at the Cities and now we are heading to the highest level we can achieve for our particular level of community soccer, which is the Inter Cities competition in Calgary. It’s March 9 and 10 of course, thus the end of my BlogWest 2013 plans. I hope there are tons of great recap posts about it during or after the conference so I can get a little taste of it this year Don’t feel bad for me though – I am totally looking forward to my weekend away, even if I’m sharing a hotel room with my 3 boys instead of soaking up some peace and even if I’m grabbing a buffet breakfast before each game instead of luxuriating with room service like I did during BlogWest last year. It will be fun and then soccer will be over, for this season at least!

It could be worse I’m sure. I’m still managing to work kind of. In short bursts. I even managed to coach soccer practice last night. My assistant coach had the flu and someone had to be there! We’re on the last round of play for the indoor season and with two wins so far I’m actually hoping the boys will make the Indoor Cities tournament/championship thing.

So I guess I need to focus on my eating habits if I want to lose any weight this month. This hasn’t gone well so far, because I admit to being one of those people who when unhappy or stressed likes to eat. By eat I mean devour chocolate.  Mmmm, chocolate. I think I’m getting distracted. Blogging seemed like a good idea, but I’m feeling achy so I think I better go find a better distraction. Grocery shopping fun, here I come (well, not fun, but has to be done, ugh).

Featured image is a small piece of a beautiful Run Pretty Far calendar I got as a free download

So the other day I posted about how I was getting on track with my workouts and such. I totally amwas too. I even got on my bike that same afternoon to get in some exercise. I ride a bike on a trainer in my basement. The space is nothing special, but hey there is a tv and I can watch episodes of Parenthood while I ride. I’m only on season one, because somehow I missed the train on how good this show was – so loving it!

The scene of the crime...er, accident.

Anyway, as usual I was a little behind schedule. I only had an hour before school pick ups and I had to switch my husband’s bike off the trainer, put mine on and get a move on. A little oil on my fingers from the bike chain, a little bit of effort and I was ready to ride. Things were going well, I hadn’t even hit any teary parts of my show yet and suddenly everything went wrong. Very, very, VERY wrong. I dropped my water bottle. Okay, that’s not exactly a tragedy or wrong, but what happened next…not pretty. I decided I just had to pick that stupid water bottle up. I unclipped one foot from the pedal, leaned over and then I went BOOM. Somehow I ended up tipped on my side, one foot still clipped to a pedal. Do you know what happens when you fall off and on your bike at the same time? Your girl parts hit the bar. Super hard. Apparently this can be termed a “straddle injury”. It is much more violent than it sounds. Ouch, ouch and ouch some more. I have a bruise bigger than my hand on my bottom, my whole perineal area is super swollen (I swear it is worse than after giving birth and I had third degree tearing and an episiotomy) and I cannot sit down properly. It’s been two days and I still cannot sit down properly! I am totally off workouts for a little while I guess. I’m only comfortable lying face down at the moment, or curled on my couch in exactly the right position to take the weight and pressure off the bruised and swollen mess.

The moral of this story is simple. Don’t be lazy!!! If I’d just spent two seconds to unclip both of my feet, I’m pretty sure I’d be standing here today without bruises and swollen girl parts. Actually…I’d be sitting

Today I’m using the quiet for work too. Well, except for right now while I take a break to do a little blogging for a change!

So, it’s 2013 already people. Isn’t that crazy?! Well, some people I know think each day is just another day, but for me, a new year is exciting somehow. Plus this year is the year my baby will start kindergarten. Not for like 9 months, but I’m going to start getting excited anyways. Because I’m that type of mom, the one who can’t wait for whole entire days of quiet, not just two hours of preschool time. Grade 1 will be even better. I think I appreciate my darlings more when they aren’t, you know, in my face and all needy non-stop, lol. It wasn’t too bad over Christmas break because I wasn’t working through most of it. We actually did do almost everything on our list of fun stuff.  The weather even cooperated so we could skate outside even! I played on our new Wii U way too much, ate a lot of chocolate and sugar, read a great book (Shadow of Night), slept more than I have in ages and just generally relaxed. I feel ready to be back in a routine though, and I actually have been working out properly again and am ready to eat healthy and lose those darn extra 30 lbs I’m dragging around. For real this time. I mean it!

Okay, off to enjoy my last 30 minutes of quiet happiness. And to get a last few little work things done. Hope you all had an awesome holiday season too!