Long Run

I needed to log 16 miles this weekend. But Saturday after my race it was pouring. Then yesterday when I could have fit a run in Jorden's schedule it was hot and humid! So I gave up and said I'd go this morning.

It was so tempting to stay in bed when my alarm went off at five! But I didn't. I got up, pumped, ate, loaded up my stuff and headed out.

I drove Jorden's car down to my parents house where I parked and headed out. Jorden is so supportive and helpful to help me get my training in. Anyway, he loaded all the girls up and brought them down to my parents, and then took his car back to work. All while I was out running.

Have I mentioned I can't do loops that loop by someplace I could stop? Well, I can't. If I start to feel tired and loop past my house I'm going to stop. I'm just that pathetic. So I've started doing out and backs or point to point runs.

Since I started the run before the sun came up I ran through the neighborhood by my parents and then headed out for my out and back.  It was going good.

But holy hills. HOLY HILLS. FOR THE LOVE!!! THE HILLS!!!

Thankfully Chicago is known for being a flat fast course! Yeeesh.

My SPD still acts up as I go up hills. If I walk and keep more upright it doesn't feel so horrible, but running up the hills is just not happening. So I walked the hills, and there were a lot. A. Lot.

I felt like I was on top of my hydration and salt intake. I was doing good. I felt good.

Then boom.

Mile 14.

Suddenly I was starving.

I totally bonked.

I was so bummed. I could hardly walk forward! I finally decided instead of looping through the neighborhood I would just head to my parents. So it ended up at 15 instead of 16. Womp Womp.

2:46:48 for 15 miles

Thats a pace of 11:04.

I was not happy with that final pace at all. I felt like I put out a lot more effort than an 11 min pace!!

But as I cooled off and walked slowly the last .2 miles home I reminded myself that I'm only 4 months post pardum. I'm 4 months post c-section.  I'm 4 months post respiratory arrest. And I'm doing better than I could have ever dreamed.  I celebrated every breath. I was so thankful for the fact that I could even hit 15 miles!!

So while it's easy to get down on myself, I'm damn proud of where I am already!

Now it's time to really zero in on nutrition on my runs!

But the best part of my run?

Coming home and snuggling with Mabrey and her enjoying some breakfast! 

Tales From a Breastfeeding Athlete

I had planned to get up at 530 and head out to run my 6 miles by 6 am.  At 430 when Mabrey was just finishing up nursing I knew that I wouldn't be heading out at 6 because I was just too tired!

So I decided I'd head to the gym.

Then my friend stopped by which pushed back going to the gym from before lunch, to after naptime. No big deal, but like anyone else (or at least that's what I tell myself) if I push back a workout more than once I usually end up just skipping it all together!

Well after naptime we loaded up and headed out! After I showered, because I looked at my legs and knew I couldn't go to the gym with Chewbaka legs!!  I got half way to the gym and realized I had forgotten my socks!! So home we went to get my socks, grabbed my socks and headed back to the gym.  Got the girls dropped off in the nursery and took my stuff to the locker room.  Headed to the treadmill and realized I left my headphones in the car! Headed out to the car and realized I had locked the stupid car doors!!!

Forget it. I don't need music, I'll just read subtitles to pass the time.

A mile and a half into my run I was feeling really good, my pace was awesome, and I was happy.

Then I heard it...

The wail.

The wail every mother knows is HER baby making all the noise in the gym!

Just as I realized it was her one of the employees was coming up to tell me they needed me in the nursery.  I figured it'd be no big deal and I'd nurse Mabrey real quick and be back in no time. Well, no such luck, Mabrey was a GROUCH so it took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to get her calmed back down and comfy. Since I had spent almost 45 minutes there I decided to split my run and just do 3 miles instead of 6 because I really wanted to get into the pool too!

By the time I finished my run I only had enough time to do half of the swim workout I had planned on doing too. So it was a halfsie workout, but a really good workout!

When I got home and was looking at my Garmin connect and saw my times!  I am so excited to see my times improving! Since May I have gone from a 12:25 pace, to this!!

The pink box shows how long I was running vs how long it took me to get Mabrey happy again! 

Being a breastfeeding athlete is not easy, to say the least! I am so grateful I have a gym that supports me by watching my kids and is so helpful with them! Its so exciting to see the gains I have made in the last 3.5 months!!  Can't wait to see what the next 3.5 months have in store for me! 

Training with a Infant

Writing the title I totally wrote "Training with a newborn" and then I realized, she's not a newborn anymore!! She's an infant.  And then I wanted to cry.

Anyway.

sigh.

So I've learned that training with an infant is a lot harder than I had imagined it might be.  You see, I have every intention of getting out the door at 530am to get my long runs in. I plan to meet people for swim practices, runs or bike rides in the evening but yet I find myself with this sweet little baby clinging to me as she nurses like I haven't fed her in 3 weeks right when I'm supposed to be leaving. So I get delayed, I get left behind, sometimes I miss the workout all together.

Then there's the times when I hear my call at 3am. That utterly pathetic "ahh- wahhh  ahhh - wahhhh" that continues until I can untwist myself out of the covers and stumble into her nursery. When I peer over the edge of the crib I see the sweetest little face that goes from sad pathetic pout to huge light up your life smile when her sweet blue eyes connect with mine! That moment always makes the 3am part a little bit better.  But by the time I crawl back into bed anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours later, I'm usually ready to turn my alarm off and settle for a shorter run when it's hotter out, or even worse, a run on the treadmill at the gym!

Thankfully our gym has a nursery and the kids love going, but Mabrey technically can't go until she's 4 months old.  Now mind you they allowed her to come at 4 weeks and were quite insulted when at 4 weeks I went to just leave Ryleigh and Cora and head out on a walk with Mabrey since I knew she couldn't stay! They informed me that since they had watched her grow during the last 9 months and watched me faithfully workout she was considered a gym baby and they would take her. So they have been awesome with watching her, but I usually just stay right there and run on the treadmill since so that they can come get me if need be, instead of having to wait for me to sprint back from where ever I am.

Anyway, I've also gotten good at shifting my workouts around. Especially now that I'm heading back to work. I have to rearrange long runs so they happen on Friday mornings instead of Saturday mornings or even a Tuesday instead of Saturday.  And the rearranged schedule gets rearranged even more depending on what type of mood Mabrey is in! In doing a lot of rearranging I'm finding I'm doing more and more training on my own...which is good and bad. Good because I'm not "competing" against anyone else and bad because I only have to talk myself out of a workout! 

On a good day I can get up, pump, leave a bottle with Jorden and sneak out by 545 to get in my long runs. That way I'm back in time for him to get ready for work before Mabrey needs a bottle. It works pretty well, and Jorden is super supportive of me training and doesn't complain too much even when it means that he doesn't get to sleep in on the weekends very often! 

I find that I drink a LOT more than normal on my runs and during workouts. Breastfeeding takes a lot of fluid consumption anyway, but for me you add in any run over 2 miles and I'm drinking like a camel. I take a hydration pack with me on runs, particularly if it's blazing hot out. I use my hydration belt in mornings or cooler days as well.  When I first told people I had signed up for Chicago when I got in with the lottery, I got a lot of skeptical remarks and a lot of people just assumed I was going to quit breastfeeding while training.  I am determined to have my cake and eat it too.  So I fuel with real foods not just gu's and shot blocks.  I eat a breakfast before I head out, and depending on the run length I take a PB & honey sandwich cut up into bite size pieces or hard boiled eggs or a banana. I've found I make a LOT more milk when I fuel with real foods during the run! It's crazy to me that I make more milk while running then on a normal day! 

I have a hard time really knowing what to eat though. I get tired of the same thing, and half the time I forget and have to throw something together from the fridge or cupboard the morning of which of course makes for a not ideal training routine. People always suggest trying shakeology or herbalife shakes but I hate the texture and aftertaste of most of those.  The chocolate shakeology is bearable but the price is not! 

I read a lot of other women's stories of how they did utlrathons while breastfeeding, or Ironmans while breastfeeding etc etc etc and it motivates me to keep it up! And again, that's why I'm putting my story out here on the interwebs. I want to be that support, that motivation, to anyone who needs it, but especially to other moms!