Running is on hold...

Well, running is on hold for about 3-4 weeks or so. Last Thursday (7/18) I was running down hill on a sidewalk and centered a stone (placed my foot directly on top of it when I took my step). I twisted my ankle pretty bad and probably sprained my ankle. For the past week, I've been nursing it, trying to help it get better. And it is, slowly but surely. I am hopeful that I will be able to have it heal up enough that I can run soon. Meanwhile I am itching to run, but taking my time getting back to it. I really don't want to re-injure it and have it take longer to get back to running.

As of right now, our plans for the Turkey Trot and Reindeer Run are still on. I'll update my progress here as I heal.

Mid July

Well, July has brought some new things for us. Hot, humid runs and a toddler who is trying to grow up. The runs have been hard, but not impossible. I am learning how to slow down so that I can run farther, longer. It doesn't seem to make much sense to my mind, but when I slow my pace down, my overall time is faster. The last couple Saturdays I've tried to run the same course, just to give myself something to gauge how I'm doing by. Last Saturday, I slowed my pace down, but I ran more than I had previously run. I knocked a couple minutes off of my finishing time! I was so thrilled! I did have to walk a couple times, but I kept them short and just until my breathing slowed to the point of no longer gasping. :-) It was an enlightening experience. Before, I would try to run as fast as I could for as long as I could. That doesn't work for me. I need to slow down and try to run as far as I can.

This month, Jianna's vocabulary has sky-rocketed. She has started putting words together into sentences, and wants to communicate almost from the time she wakes up until she lays down. She asks "why?" and "what's that?" a lot, too. It is fun to see her changing and growing.

Well, that's what's new with us so far. Not much exciting going on. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer!

New Month... July 2013

Well, it is a new month! I wonder what it will hold for us. Jason and I are planning on running an 8k together on Thanksgiving day this year. We decided to use this time as training for that race. It will be in colder conditions and I can almost run the distance already, but I want to be able to run it non-stop and at a 10:00-11:30 min per mile pace. It will be a challenge! I don't know if strollers are encouraged or allowed on the course, so my goal pace is without the stroller. We'll see how it works.

So far, my training schedule includes 3 days of running a week, with 2-3 days of cross-training usually. I have a long run day that I try to go out for the distance and simply finish it within a certain time. I try not to stop, but usually I am only able to run 2/3-3/4 of the total distance. Right now my long run days are 4.5 miles long. On my shorter run days I run two+ miles and I try to walk only 2-3 minutes of the total distance. Sometimes it works, other times, I learn something from the run. :-) I would like to include some hill repeats and some interval training, but haven't figured out how to incorporate those yet. I'm going to try to work on that this week.

What's new with you this month? Do you have any plans for the fall? What do you enjoy doing for fun? Are there any exercises that you simply enjoy doing?