Thursday, June 28, 2012

On getting back to exercising after an injury, baby or sickness

Anyone will tell you that getting back in shape after taking a break is always hard.

First tri last year one month before we got pregnant. 
I don't know if it's been the hot temps at night - 88-plus, or the humidity, or the fact that I haven't run under 10:30 pace for 10 months, but running is hard!

First-time runners - I applaud you. I give serious props for anyone getting outside and doing something new because those first couple of months are hard work, without a lot of payoff.

Your still breathing heavy and it just doesn't come as naturally as it once did. I still feel a little bit of pain when I run longer so I am running very short distances. And my legs feel really fresh for some odd reason.

This is my week of "2s." Every week I am upping the mileage I run by one mile. So next week, depending on how I feel, I may run three. I had a great run last night even though it was very hot. I kept it nice and loose and didn't kill myself. Just worked on form and trying to breath and enjoy the run.

I warmed up with a 9:48 mile and then finished the second mile at 9:18 or an overall pace of 9:32. Why keep track of paces? Well, for me it just makes me not go too hard or too easy. And it's a great indicator of your fitness level. Last summer I would time my miles ever month or so to gauge my fitness level. I was happy if it was sub 7:10/20. Next year I would love to get down to see a "6" on my garmin.

And I had a great walk after the run with LaRonda. It was really nice to have some time with a friend walking and just relaxing. Modern Family's Julie Bowen talks about her postpartum need to run here.

Tri next year
I am probably not going to do any triathlons this year. Mentally, I would like to just work on running and swimming and then maybe get a road bike next year.

Racing on Brandon's bike wasn't bad, but for a sprint tri, I would need his bike more to train and he is pretty attached to it on the weekends. And training on a hybrid is just not as fun and takes a ton more work to pedal.


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