Week One

I am so pleased with how I did this week. As I mentioned before, I started my Hal Higdon Intermediate 10K training program on Monday. I modified it slightly. It had me taking a break on Friday and running on Sunday. I never, ever run on Sunday. It's my church and family day. There is no time to fit in a run and even if there was, I probably wouldn't do it. I just like my lazy Sundays. Anyhow, I moved the Sunday run to Saturday, the Saturday to Friday and am resting on Sundays. I am now supposed to cross-train for 60 minutes on Fridays and do my "long" runs on Saturdays. I did not cross-train on Friday as scheduled and plan to skip it this Friday, as well. I recognized that my body needs two rest days at this point. I definitely plan to follow the program perfectly ever after. I can already feel some of my lost fitness/strength has come back, so I figure I will be good to go after two weeks of having two rest days. (I plan to do exercise videos on Fridays as my cross-training, since it is too cold to cycle.)

I ran five of the days in Week One. It has been a LONG time since I have run 5 days in a week. My total mileage was 16.1 miles. It has been a LONG time since I have ran that many miles in a week. It was a good week. I felt more like myself this week than I have in a very long time. (I also walked several miles.)

I look forward to completing this training program. I think it is a very good challenge for me at this point. I have an almost 6 month old baby, who still does not sleep through the night (in fact, he wakes up several times every night). He also needs lots of attention throughout the day and I am limited in how much time I can spend on running. Especially because I am not willing to get up super early to run or run late at night. It has to be during the day when my other eight kids are at school and during one of Henry's naps.

Henry naps for very short periods--like about 20-30 minutes. (It is rare for him to sleep more than an hour for a nap.) I bring his swing down to the basement. I bundle him up well, turn it on and start my warm-up (usually a brisk walk or rarely a super slow run). He watches me while I warm-up and by the time I start running, he is dozing. Sometimes he wakes up too soon and cries. I have to stop the treadmill and hold him for a bit or put him on a ginormous, thick blanket with toys (then I have to stop the treadmill anytime he gets off of the blanket, because I do not want his sweet hands touching the disgusting cement basement floor). It's basically a pain in the butt to get a run in on the days he won't sleep well. This week he did much better. I think he is starting to understand the routine, and the sound of my running is repetitive enough that it is soothing for him. It seems like the second I stop my run, he wakes up. Sometimes I have to hold him while I do my cool-down walk. Not fun. He is at least 19 pounds and it kills my back to walk and hold him. He also makes stretching afterward hard. He loves being held and I spend most of my day doing just that. He expects to be held and gets very upset if he sees me and I am not holding him. I just need to find some time during the day when I can squeeze in more stretching or using my leg roller. I do not want to get hurt because I am not taking enough time to stretch.

Anyway, I had a great week. I ate well (except for yesterday) and remembered to take my vitamins. I felt so much better this last week.

I plan to eat very healthily today. Tomorrow is my weigh-in day. I will see how I did for the week. I am hoping to be down a few pounds.

My goal for this week will be to stay on program (except for Friday--which happens to be our baby's adoption finalization day!!) and to eat healthier than I did this first week. Mainly, I need to incorporate more fruits and veggies. I just want to get back down to my lowest weight and get my fitness/strength back. Then I can focus on new goals.

The 10K training program ends before my scheduled 10K happens. I am not sure if I will just repeat a couple of the weeks or if I will start the half marathon training program as soon as the 10K one finishes? I do plan to do a half marathon in April. I guess I have a little bit of time to make that decision. What do you think would be a better choice?

Edited to add: I looked at the advanced 10K training program and that might be a good option. I can just do 3-4 weeks off of that schedule after I finish the intermediate program (before my 10K race happens).