Two-a-Days = One Tired Mama

The good news first: I had an awesome 7 mile run today. And I mean awesome! I haven't felt that strong in a long time. It was like "old times" - when I used to run 5-7 mile runs on weekdays and feel really good.  I did that for years and years, back in my marathon days. Seems so long ago now!

And that's not all: I also did Master's swim this morning. I only swam about 1500 yards but it felt great. As usual, I had to leave by 7:00 to get the kids to school but I did the main set and I was very happy about that.  We did two 250's, two 200's, two 150's, two 100's, two 50's, all at race pace with about 30 seconds in between (after a 500 yard warmup).

The not-so-good news (or should I say the reality check) is that I can hardly move now. This is the difference between training when you are almost 49 and training when you are 29 or 39. I can still do it, but it takes longer to recover.

My younger training partners don't seem to get this. They seem to think I can run what they do and feel fine. Not!  There is a definite difference in recovery time (and energy level, sleep, mood, and sex drive, but that's another story) when you approach 50. Like I said earlier, you can still do the training but you get sore-er, faster. As my kids would say, it's more better to be younger.

Then again, all of my running and endurance training has paid off in other ways. I'm fairly smart about what I need to do to accomplish my goals and I know darn well how one day can feel significantly different from the next. Every runner will tell you that you can run like the wind one day and feel like a turtle the next. Its the nature of the beast.

So, its rest, ice, and Celebrex for me today (icing my hip). And since this blog is about training and parenting at the same time, I'm off to the school to pick up my two punks plus 3 others. All five kids will terrorize hang out at my house for a few hours and then I take 3 of them to church and the other 2 to soccer practice.

Such is the life of an Iron Quest Mama. Ha!

Master's Swim: The Ultimate Humbling Experience

Well, today was another chance to test my "mental strength" and positive-thinking skills. I had the dubious honor of sharing a lane at the pool with Natalie this morning. I'll just use her first name so as not to embarrass her (as if she would read my blog anyway!).

Everyone in our Master's swim class knows Natalie. No, she's not some former collegiate rockstar swimmer....in fact, I don't think she's ever swam competitively at all. But she should have because she's amazingly fast and never out of breath.

If she weren't so gosh darn nice, we'd all hate her. But Natalie is one of the sweetest, quietest people I know. She's a joy to be around and I was honored to share a lane with her today.

I have to mention that Natalie has 8 children. Yes, you read right. She had 6 boys the old-fashioned way and then she and her husband decided to adopt. They adopted one beautiful little girl and are in the process of adopting another. Being an adoptive mom myself, I admire anyone who has SIX boys at home (yes, they're all at home, ages 8 - 16) and then decides to add two more to the mix. She's way cool in book!

So, today I was in the lane first by myself warming up, feeling pretty frisky, and there goes someone right by me. Whoever it is is swimming so fast, she's already lapped me once. Its gotta be Natalie, and it is.

At first I don't worry about it but as I start to swim faster and find that I still can't keep up with her, I start to wonder how in the world I'm ever going to swim 2.4 miles nonstop in Arizona in under 2 hours (ok, I know I already swam that distance in Florida in 1:18 but still...I felt like a drunk turtle next to Natalie!).

Just gotta shrug it off. She's always quick to remind me that I could run circles around her (her words, not mine) and that "we're all different". Yes, but I still would love to swim even half as fast as Natalie can.

So, today we warmed up with 150 free, 150 pull, 150 kick, and 150 choice. I did the first three sets and then Richard started the main set: 4 x 150's with the 2nd and 4th being faster; then 4 100's descending (the last one being the fastest) and there was more but I had to leave at 7:00 to get the kids to school on time (oh darn, I have to leave!).

I'm out of the pool at 7:00, home by 7:20; get the kids up, fed, and off to school (Kurt was at work early today), stopped by to see my mom and came home to go for a run.

Left the house at 9:20 and jogged slow for 10 mins. It was colder than I thought it would be and the sky was grey. I wore my Ipod and let myself settle into a good rhythm. I love my weekday solo runs - I just let my mind go and run without thinking too much about anything.

I tried picking up the pace but must admit, it feels weird after a hard swim. I don't know why that is, to be honest. My arms and shoulders are tired from the swim but you'd think that it wouldn't affect the legs. Yet, I felt slow and awkward at first. I finally loosened up and pushed the pace. I ran several several pick-ups and then one long 10 minute tempo run.

When I got back home I felt like I could've pushed a little harder or gone farther but that's ok. Right now, I want to hold back just a little. I don't want to go all out yet. It's too early.

So not a bad workout today: hard swim and good run. I may not be the fastest swimmer but as long as I keep showing up, it's alright with me.

Movin' Right Along

Since I get a lot of questions re balancing family life with training, I thought I'd write about that today. Basically, it doesn't work.

Hold on, don't leave so soon!  What I mean is that you can never have everything in perfect balance. Work, family, training, cleaning, chillin'....all good stuff but its impossible to balance it all 100% of the time. I gave up trying to do that a long time ago.

Instead, I just prioritize tasks each day and let the rest go. I can't do it all and I don't even want to try.

So, today is a good example. I had to be in church by 9:15 and I wanted to get a good Spinerval workout in. My house needed cleaning and the kids were up and about.

Normally on Sundays, I don't have to be at the church until 10:30 but today there was an adult ed class I really wanted to go to, so I shortened my Spinerval workout and walked right past the dusting and vacuuming that needed to be done and got to church on time. To me, getting a good workout and going to this class were a higher priority than a clean house.

And btw, these Spinerval tapes are great!  I did the same one I did last week (see previous posts) but this time, I made it through the 16 sprints (45 seconds on with 15 seconds rest). I felt great afterwards!  There was another set of 20 sprints after this one but I didn't have time to do those and that was OK.

Like yesterday, I chose to do less today so that I could fit in other things I want to get done. It feels really good to do that.

I think a lot of women put everyone else ahead of them and then they don't have time to exercise. I understand that and its admirable in a way, but I think they would be setting a better example for the kids if they moved their fitness level a little higher on the priority list. I would go so far as to say this: do your exercise first and then let the chips fall where they may. You'll still get the important stuff done but you won't get EVERYTHING done and that's ok...because it feels soooo good to be fit that its worth it.