Tuesday, January 29, 2008

151.8 - A Few Good Miles

I did it--I got a run in at last. It had been almost a week again since my last run, and even though it was out of my routine and I had to put the kids in the gym's day care, it was totally worth it. Here's the way it went down:

I picked up the munchkins and dropped Luke off in the gym's day care, then got Sophie changed into her swim suit for swim class. She jumped in the pool and swam for a few minutes before her turn for class. She wants so badly to go in the deep end each week, but I won't let her unless there's another adult with her. She's only 6! It's 12 feet of water! No way am I comfortable having her out there by herself.

I watched her start class with the instructor in the deep end. Even with a trained swimming teacher out there, my heart was in my throat as I watched my daughter freestyle across the deep end twice. She was completely oblivious to the 12 feet of H2O and swam perfectly fine. She's still working on her stroke--it's not like she went across in a flash. But she did it and was happy as a clam.

So with her all set, I took off to change and grab a treadmill. I had less than 15 minutes, so I warmed up with a fast walk for 1 min. and then ran a 10 minute mile. That was tough. I haven't run that fast consistently for a long time. But I did it. I kept repeating the mantra from my old kickboxing class days*, "You can do anything for 60 seconds." That got me through the last 4 minutes.

I jumped off the treadmill after one mile and got back to Sophie just as her lesson ended. We got her showered and changed and hair dried, and instead of taking the kids home like I normally do, I dropped Sophie off in the day care so I could run some more.

My training plan for the Indy Half called for 35 minutes of running, so I aimed for 25 more minutes. I set my pace at 5.5 mph (10:54) and ran a mile, then took a water break walk for .6 miles, and picked it back up. Around 1.8 miles I started to fatigue badly and backed my pace down to 11:30. I got to 25 minutes but was so close to 2.5 miles that I just kept going. So with the 1 mile from before I ran a total of 3.5 miles.

And as I cooled down and stretched, I felt like I could conquer the world. I love a good run like that.

Food was OK yesterday, but I had some ice cream last night. I'm estimating around 400 calories worth, which isn't horrible and I'm not freaking out about it. I ate lots of veggies thanks to the Veggie Lasagna I mentioned yesterday, and the rest of my food was on target. And the scale is still playing along.

Today we have lunch with a client, and I will go for a run around 4 p.m. at the gym. Wind and rain today and a 30 degree drop in temp from this morning to tonight, so it's the treadmill again. I'll probably aim for another 3ish miles.


*Back in the day, DH and I went to kickboxing classes taught by a guy who looked just like Billy Blanks. He had created his own version of kickboxing and called it Budo Kai. We didn't punch anything but air, but it was an empowering class. He called the different segments "rounds" and said he'd work us the equivalent of a 5 mile run in one hour (which was probably not far from the truth). One of the things we'd do was stand in a plie squat and hold our arms out like airplane wings. And we'd stand there forever. He'd keep saying "Come on, you can do anything for 60 seconds." I use that phrase all the time.

9 comments:

B2B SEO Copywriting said...

the phrase: "You can do anything for 60 seconds." is great. I am going to use that as my mantra now while doing cardio! Thanks for enlightening me!

Nancy said...

Great job on the weight maintenance and for the multi-tasking work out. One of my favorite workouts was when I dropped the kid off at a birthday party and went out for 5 miles in a new neighborhood and was back in time to pick him up. I bet the other moms went out for a burger or something. :D Made me feel like superwoman.

Keep it up, you're doing great!

Nancy said...

Thanks for the prayer. I was worried yesterday but thinking more and more today that this is just Fifths.

Thanks for thinking of me! Can't wait to get back to the gym...

Tigerlilly said...

Great job finally getting a run in . Jeesh, I was starting to worry about you ;)

That Buko Kai(???) sounds fantastic.. you definitely came out of it with something worth remembering. I will have to write that phrase out and tape it to my mirror!!

Grumpy Chair said...

I love that phrase!

That is another bracelet phrase along with "WWWD" and "Grrr".

"You can do anything for 60 seconds". Just love it!

Jess said...

I have a very good story about my own swimming lessons in the deep end, but it involves me barfing, so I think I'll save it for another time.

Great job on everything -- you're doing a wonderful job!

Vickie said...

Think of my youngest who swam in the neighborhood pool for 4-5 years before she could touch anywhere - even in the shallow end. She was swimming and diving the year we moved in and didn't know whether she was in the deep end or the shallow end - because she couldn't touch anywhere at all.

One of the moms at school used to come about 30-45 minutes early and park in her spot - she then had a route where she'd go run and end up back at her car exactly as the kids were climbing in - she did that 5 days a week for years and years.

Marcy said...

Ooooooo that's a good one! "You can do anything for 60 seconds" I think I'll pull that one out when my usual "Faster you go, faster you're done" doesn't work LOL

Lori G. said...

I'm so happy that everyone is feeling better and you were able to go for a run. (I actually mistyped it as fun which is probably just as accurate for you!)

I'm so proud of Sophie for not having any fears of the deep end. You handled that really well (and I would have been so much more nervous than you!).

You're really doing great....much love,