Category Archives: Running

44…..

September 16, 2013 Kim 89 Comments

The start of a new year – my year of 44 and year #2 of blogging!!!

Today’s 44 (and it counts as today because even though most of it was yesterday, I finished after midnight!!!) was a 44 mile run (truthfully, it ended up being a run and then a walk).

All happy before I started – CRAZY!!!

I’m not gonna lie – THIS 44 SUCKED!!!!!

I started off running and was right on pace for my goal for the first 24 miles – not fast, just an even 6 mph. Then, things started to go really south. My left Achilles, which has been giving me trouble for quite awhile was killing me and my stomach was not happy. I decided to switch to a run/walk combo which I did for the next 4 miles.

At mile 28, I stopped for a minute and went in the room where Jordan was (Chris & Hunter were at small group but Jordan stayed home) and told him I wanted to quit. I told him that running 44 miles was stupid and I didn’t want to do it!!!

Jordan basically told me to SUCK IT UP!!! He said, just walk if you have to but you can’t quit!!!

So, I hopped back on and walked (and walked and walked) and pretty much hated every step but…..I did it!!!

Clearly it didn’t take me 37:55 – my treadmill rolls over every 100 minutes and it had already rolled over 5x. It took me 8 hours 57:55 minutes. Not my original plan/goal but thanks to Jordan pushing me, I met the distance goal.

Today, I’m perfectly happy with a rainy, coolish day for my birthday! I’m all decked out in compression gear – shorts and socks – and planning on being a complete BUM for the day!!!

I’m excited to see what the next year of 44s and blogging will bring! I just went back to my very first post and other than going with a similar title, I can see how my blog changed during the past year and I’m sure that there will be more changes over the course of year #2!!

Happy Monday!!!

Kim

Fitness, Running

What a Difference a Few Years Makes!!

September 8, 2013 Kim 53 Comments

Today’s 43 was designed to help Hunter work on his stride length!!! We did 43 steps/strides at different paces to show how much further you can get when you really use your legs to increase your stride. (Yesterday at the CC meet, Hunter sprinted at the end and had a great finish but he was taking short choppy steps instead of using his legs to his advantage.)

For the 43 we started with a normal walk. After 43 steps, we marked our spot and jogged back to the beginning. Then we did a fast walk and got much further. The 3rd test was a super easy jog – we didn’t even get as far as the fast walk. Then we did our normal run – this was the first 43 that I got a lot further than Hunter. The final test was a full out sprint – I told Hunter to sprint like he did yesterday for the first try and then we did another trial where I told him to really concentrate on his stride length.

After we finished all of our different 43s, I had Hunter do some more so that I could watch him!!!

sprinting but not using his legs to their full advantage

starting to figure out how to lengthen his stride in an efficient way!

This was a fun way to get my 43 for the day because Hunter joined me!!!

When Hunter was younger (especially before he turned about 6!) he spent a LOT of time complaining about his legs being tired!!!

At age 4, Hunter still preferred to be in a stroller (or to be carried – yikes!!!) any time we did much walking (like more than about 50 steps)!!!

Part of the problem was that he had lots of leg aches at night – from about age 3 until age 5, I probably spent at least 3 nights a week up in the middle of the night rubbing his legs. (I totally empathize with growing pains because I have had them most of my life and when I was in high school I spent many nights rubbing my little sister’s legs so she could sleep.)

Fast forward to age 12 and I am so amazed at the difference in Hunter and his ability to push himself!!!

Yesterday at his first cross country meet (and his first race ever!) – he ran the mile in 7:00. I think he will drop that time a lot this season because about 1/3 into the race I was at a point to see him and he was smiling and enjoying himself.

He told me after the race that he knew he could have pushed harder!!!

(They ran 7th boys & girls together yesterday but the rest of the meets will just be the boys in their own race.)

waiting to have his shoe chip removed (yep - even at a middle school meet!) — waiting to have his shoe chip removed (yep – even at a middle school meet!)

My little boy who used to complain about the walk from a parking lot into a building is now a runner!!!

Part of his daily routine these days is to do pull-ups every time he walks by the pull-up bar in our basement. I think he does about 25 a day plus he will just drop down and bust out push-ups at random times during the evening!!!

Every once in awhile I miss the days when I carried my sweet little boy ALL over the place! But, I LOVE the young man that I get to run with now!!! I can’t wait to watch him develop even more during this cross country season!!!

Happy Sunday!

Kim

Cardio, Core, Fitness, Running, Treadmill

Self-Doubt

September 4, 2013 Kim 84 Comments

Today’s 43 was a fairly simple one!!! I just did a twisting knee repeater with a band on my arms so that they had a little resistance!

This was a quick move – cardio based and good for the core!!! And, of course, a double!!!

It’s nice to have quick simple moves for my 43 every once in awhile!!!

Today I did a trial run for my upcoming 44 miles!!! It did not go well!!!!

I’m not sure what the problem was. I’m hoping to run about 10 minute miles for the whole run (44 miles). Today I started around 9:13 pace and played around between that pace and 10:00. Nothing felt good. Nothing was easy. WHAT?!

In the end, I only ran 6 miles and walked 1.5 for a total of 7.5 miles which is about 1/6 of the distance that I will be running in less than 2 weeks.

I’m not feeling very confident about my ability to run (or even finish) all 44 miles. And, the 44 is supposed to be my final training effort for my 50 mile race in October!

I’m going to spend a lot of time the next few days trying to prepare myself mentally. I know that I have done the physical training and put in the time and effort, now it is just a matter of making sure that I don’t psyche myself out!!!

I’ve always said that these super long runs are as much mental as physical and I think that right now I need to focus on making sure that I’m prepared to push past the self-doubt and negative voices in my head!!!

I’m going to keep telling myself that – “I got this!”

What do you do when you start to doubt yourself?

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

BOSU, Core, Fitness, Running, Treadmill

Why do I stay up till midnight?

August 29, 2013 Kim 44 Comments

Today for my 43 I decided to do a move that Kristen @ Stuft Mama demoed. This move involves one of my favorite pieces of equipment –

Kristen called the move a scissor move on the BOSU – I’m not sure if I did it exactly the way she did but either way it is an incredible way to work your core!!

Just balancing myself was a challenge!!!

I counted a right leg up and a left leg up as 1 rep. 43 of these were hard!! And, I had to hold lightly to the ball otherwise I kept rolling off!!!

I also taught Garage Boot Camp this morning. We did another repeat workout – 7 mini workouts or 1 Super Boot Camp one of my favorites!!! (I really do have a lot of favorites, I guess – oh, well all the favorites match all of my exclamation points!!!)

I decided to do another short run – I’m so happy that I’ve been able to run on consecutive days again. I’m trying to not get too crazy with the running though because I have some big runs coming up – 44 miles in about 2.5 weeks (birthday run) and 50 miles in mid October – no time to end up injured due to running too much!!

Today I just did 5 total miles – 4 hard (24:19) + 1 much easier (almost 12 minutes) all with a 1.5% incline. Other than my left Achilles which stays swollen all the time, my legs are feeling really good these days!!!

For the past 6 years, I have become one of those people who gets up at the ~~butt~~ crack of dawn and therefore, I rarely stay up past 10:00pm. This works well because Chris has gotten up early forever so he likes to go to bed fairly early, too.

However, lately, I haven’t had time during the day to spend blogging so when Chris (and the boys) go to bed at night I sit down with my laptop (and HGTV!) to play catch-up. All good until this happens –

Midnight!!! 12:00 am!!! 5 short hours before my alarm will start screeching at me and I will start all over with another day!!!

Yikes – how did it get to be so late with me still up?! And why am I up? Maybe tonight will be the night that I don’t ring in the new day!!! (doubtful but…..)

How late do you stay up on a normal night?
What time do you get up in the mornings?
Alarm or natural wake up?
How many hours do you generally sleep at night? (I’m to the point where it is rarely more than 6 & staying up till midnight is making it even less!)

Happy Thursday!

Kim

Fitness, Lunges, Plyo, Running, Treadmill

We Bought a Business!!!

August 28, 2013 Kim 109 Comments

Today for my 43 I did a move that Kim @ BusyBod shared in a leg workout – a plyometric runner’s lunge. Not gonna lie – this was a tough one because I had to do 2 sets of 43 since I have 2 legs!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXOg5-oYwaI’]

I like to add plyo moves but maybe I should do them on days that I’m not running?! Oh, well – it worked out OK!!!

I also ran again today (2 days in a row!!). Today I did 7 miles (at 1.5% incline) – for the first 6, I alternated between 8:00/mile and 7:30/mile – the last mile I increased the pace some – total time 53:05 – 7:35 pace. I finished off with a cool down mile for a total of 8 miles in 66:39.

So, yesterday was the culmination of our summer “project.” Chris and I have spent the last 2 months doing all of the many steps that had to be done in order to make our new venture official. As of yesterday at about 2:30 – we own The Governor’s Row House (an event venue)!!!

Governor's Row House — Governor’s Row House

This is an existing business and we plan to continue hosting events and hopefully add in some fun new things. We will do weddings, receptions, business dinners & lunches, graduation parties, holiday parties, retirements, reunions plus we have plans to add in some new features over the next number of months!!!

front room - perfect for small parties or showers — front room – perfect for small parties or showers

This new adventure is part of why I have been struggling with balance so much lately. I’m sure that over the next few weeks/months I will continue to figure out how to make everything work (and still have time to relax at the swim beach!!) without going totally bonkers!!!

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous – but I’m also super excited and have so many ideas rattling around in my head that I am sleeping less than ever these days. Just as well, no time to sleep – too much to plan and do!!!

Please check out my new blog – it is a work in progress but will grow rapidly as we look to add new events every month!!!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Kim

www.govrowhouse.com

Day With KT