Weeks 2-4: 13.1 Training

I knew I'd be bad about updating on my training progress.  The good news is, I feel great when I get out there & pound the pavement (or water since it's flooded).  The bad news is, it's hard to get out there.

Week 2, I did pretty good sticking to the training plan.  I think I missed a workout or shifted it around a little bit, but now it's been too long for me to remember.  I know I made it all the way past the Centennial Bridge towards the downtown area on my long run which is pretty cool in my opinion.  I love that I live so close to the river to be able to run there.  It never fails that the river is different every time I run along it.  It's even different on the way back if I'm doing an out & back run!

Last week I was in Michigan attempting to help my middle sister out while her husband was away with their youth group taking the teens to camp and I didn't get any actual running in which is a disappointment, but I also had other priorities.  She was 37 weeks pregnant and has had some serious medical issues during her pregnancy so she needed to be driven to lots of appointments in addition to needing back rubs.  My oldest sister also came to attempt to help as well.  It meant 6 kids (including 3 toddlers!) with 3 moms and no dads.  Lets just say we all got a workout in throughout the week, just not in the normal fashion that you'd imagine.  I have a huge respect for toddler parents now.

This week is week 4, and I still have my long run to do tomorrow.  It has been another week where the river has changed yet again!  We had over 5" of rain over the past weekend, and 3.5" of that all came down on Monday.  The whole area along the river has been flooded since then and has continued to rise up until today.  It is supposed to peak today and then start to go down.  This means that Lyna (the dog) and I have had a few detours along our routes, but mostly just running through large puddles.  CJ came with us in the jogging stroller yesterday.  He was awake the whole time until the last half mile.  I still feel pretty good though.  My knees are starting to get sore so I am praying they only stay mildly sore or not at all for the duration of my training.

I'm starting to do a tiny bit of weight training in combination with the running to try and put some meat on my bones as well as paying more attention to what I'm eating.  I am taking a prenatal vitamin (since I'm still breastfeeding) and a fish oil supplement, and I'm making sure to eat extra protein after I get done running/working out to help repair those muscles.  I'm probably never going to "count my calories" since it sounds like too much work, but I went on the choose my plate website to calculate how many calories I should be eating each day with running, breastfeeding, and just needing to gain a few pounds in general.  2600 calories is what it suggested.  That's a ton of food!  I'm trying to eat heart healthy foods, which naturally are low calorie, so basically I just get to eat all day, right? ;)  I do hold a special place in my heart for a bag of potato chips though.

As far as fundraising goes, I am at 20% to $1000!  That's awesome!  I did raise my goal to $1000 because $500 just seemed to simple.  I fully believe in the American Heart Association's research, education, and efforts to end heart disease and stroke.  My sister found out good news about the hole in her heart--they won't have to put a patch in it after she has her baby!  It is small enough that the cardiologist isn't worried about it at this point.

If you wish to donate to the American Heart Association, please visit my page here to make a donation of any size!  Thank you so much for supporting me!