Let go

Running tomorrow! First race since baby was 30 weeks and I had a little boy in my belly as a running buddy. Little Ryder is going to be sleeping and I am feeding him at 5 am and then leaving. Hopefully it will work out just in time.

Nice incentive to run fast huh!?

Got some fun new songs for my ipod to run the Emerald City 10K.

Here's some fun new songs

Let Go by Safetysuit
2 Breath Electric songs
Good Night by Reece Mastin

And...of course Home by Phillip Phillips. This has the perfect beat for running - when I run to this I get like 90 cadence for some reason. Weird. I confess I sometimes listen to it at least 3-5 times per long run.

And maybe imagine I'm Kara Goucher at the Olympics. :)

Catch up posts, what's been going on

Spiced up my breakfast adding quinoa to my oatmeal mix - delicious!  

It was a campground. We had loads of time. He was wearing an Homage shirt....A&F pose just seemed right. 

We got to go to SkyZone with Olivia and Andrew who had a ball and made a pretty awesome dodge ball team. 

One of Ryder's first times at the park. Sophia was his park escort. 

This was the best pic I could get of Olivia and Andrew. They were getting some air. 

Instagram pic of the skies on the way home from SkyZone. Yes. I may have been looking for tornados. 

2012 Olympic Track party at which Liv and Andrew rocked. We did 100s and a 400. 

You could only attend our track party if you had neon shoes. 

This kid is the happiest little guy. He just goes with the flow and loves life. Love him. He is 2.5 months old here. 

We have had loads of porch parties this summer since it's a lot cooler and we are home more with baby Ryder. The girls love giving every baby, barbie and character a bath. 

No wonder I'm tired..

I laugh when I saw my Daily Mile stats. In May (when Ryder was born) I actually ran 9 miles! And then I look at July and August and see a jump from running 9 miles to 64-plus!

No wonder I'm tired. But, as hard as it's been to fit in running with nursing, housework and little sleep, the mental and physical benefits have been so worth it. I'm losing baby weight and stress from days of watching three little beautiful, but busy children. Excited to see these numbers rise as I train in the fall.

What's your training regime right now?

1.  
2. 5
   Dec '11
3. 38
   Jan '12
4. 39
   Feb '12
5. 33
   Mar '12
6. 28
   Apr '12
7. 9
   May '12
8. 9
   Jun '12
9.  64
   Jul '12
10.   57
    Aug '12
    
    
    
    

Shmidt summer get together

Brandon's family met together in the end of July to eat, swim and boat at Deer Creek Lodge. Soph and Ava spent the night with Momma and Poppa Shmidt at their campground, while Brandon and I had little Ryder time. We all met up the next day with their whole clan and got to meet Emily and Dave's new baby girl!, and hug it out.

The girls had a ball swimming and seeing all of their cousins. Soph roasted marshmallows with Judah and Wesley in the bottom picture. Top left is Aunt Tammy, Grammy, Poppa, and Poppa Shmidt. Sharon or Momma Shmidt is in the top holding Ryder.

Summer highlight: Balloon fight at Momma and Poppa's House

We had so much fun this summer. Balloon fights, cookies, reunion with family... It's been busy! So I am going to post some fun collages of our summer fun over the next couple of weeks.

This was our balloon fight at my parents' house. We had a haystack party where we all brought different taco toppings to celebrate having Olivia and Andrew home from Arizona. Mom made some yum chocolate cookies fresh from the oven and the kids had fun with the water balloons and playing football.

Olivia and Andrew were here for three weeks and we loved having them.

Relief!

My bestie Ann from college. She ran a tri 3 months after having a baby. What a woman!

Running after baby
The break in the heat in Ohio has been unreal. It's like a sweet sip of relief. We have been able to play outside during the afternoon instead of melting into oblivion in the 100-plus heat. And running is so much more enjoyable when your not wrapped in the humidity of torture.

Oh you love running in 100-plus heat with 80-90 percent humidity? Great. I loathe it.

My running plan has been really working! I have done plans before, followed certain race plans and formed my own hybrid plan for this fall.

I run about four days a week, but each of these days has a purpose. And I ice all of the time. Brandon and I both are always asking each other to bring in the ice packs at night while we are watching TV #weareold.

Here's what each week looks like:

• One tempo run - 1 mile w/2-4 mile run 1 mile/cooldown
•  Hill/speed work run - 3-5 miles
• long run - depends on what I feel like but try to do 6-12 
• recovery run - 3-5 miles easy and untimed. This may seem weird, but running the day after I do a long run at a slow recovery pace helps to clear lactic acid and has lessened my soreness 
• 1-2 rest days, depending on aches and pains
• 1-2 cross-train with bike trainer or cycle

On days when I can only fit in a couple of miles (Thursday) because of nursing or our schedule, I try to fit in two-a-days. This means running in morning (3) and (3) at night. Not that I mind that because I actually really love it. If you didn't like running, you could always do a tape or something else. Bart Yasso, Runner's World, has a great video on speedwork. 

This schedule leaves me totally ready for the next run and not dreading it like I did with last year's plan. And my times are getting consistently better! Last week I had a tempo run of 3 miles at 8:54 after a 10 mile run three days before. Three weeks ago I was pushing it to do a 3 mile tempo at 9:30/mile. 

So, oddly it's working. The key is to not go too hard at once and not get discouraged at first when it seems to take a little time. Here's an article about running after baby from Coach Jenny of Runner's World. 

Picture Friday

Little Ryder is now 11 weeks old. This is a 9-month shirt from the Winklers and it fits! So cute. Ryder is now grabbing for objects, cooing, talking and loves his sisters. They make him laugh/cry (Soph).

Someday these feet will look so small. 

Soph and Ava like to watch for me to come back from the trail on my runs. I snapped this picture because it was so darn cute. They love saying, "good job mom!" 

I did it! Before my 10-miler. It was hard, I was tired, but I kept going.  

Ryder worn out from a long day of back-to-school shopping. #girlsareexpensive! 

Ava is our big collector. She loves to collect things like roly pollies, apples at Coffman park, acorns, leaves, etc.. For a fun game, Ava likes to count the cars going by and diagram how many have gone by based on color and size. Future actuary like daddy? Brandon said he used to do this with his baseball cards. 

I hate to use the word "destroyer" because as our pastor's wife and my mom says we should use words of life. So let's just use the word recycler." Soph finds a way to take or cut or empty everything she should not to "repurpose" it. The other day she "dusted" my nightstand with lotion. And she has cut her own hair, swallowed a penny, and cut her other baby dolls hair numerous times. She has the sweetest heart though and you can't stay upset with her for too long.

Sophia brought up "breakfast in bed" for me last Saturday.

Dirty shirts

Having a 2-month old, along with a 3- and 5-year old means most of the time I know I don't have it all together. But, most days I would like to be somewhat presentable or "cute."

Take yesterday for example.

I was shopping with all of the kids (for the first time since Ryder was born!) when I noticed a stain on my shirt (not a new thing with Ryder) so I just shrugged thinking maybe it was celery or something else green and put the groceries in the car.

Only a couple minutes later when I was changing Ryder did I realize what the green stain was -- right...poop. Awesome. Pretty sure I had that on my shirt for at least 30 minutes in the store.

Being a mom is just plain hard work. If you are a stay at home mom, you miss having a chance to pee by yourself or talk to an adult over coffee while sporting a suit and heels. High heels. Meanwhile, if you are a mom who works outside of the home, you miss your kids terribly during the day and wish you could sit by the pool with other moms and their kids. There's no in-between.

Yeah, that baby nurse who gets you a Starbucks like on the Real Housewives while you are shopping? She's not available. Not sure you would want her anyways.

And it gets harder when you move your little 2 month old to their room for their first night in a crib. Or send a little girl to her first year of preschool or your oldest goes to kindergarten.

We are talking full day kindergarten. Legit school. Gulp.

But wait, those moms in the back are raising their hands saying it's hard when you send your teenager who has been with you for almost 18 years to college. You stuff their car full of graduation presents and kiss them and hope they make good decisions on their own. And the moms who are finished with that amazing job they have done and their kids now have their own families wonder, "What's next?"

That's why for me I just think all moms and women who watch and love our kids deserve our praise. Because you know those dirty shirts, yep. Those shirts are a sign of a job well done. You might not be the most in fashion like you once thought you were with your wedges and pencil skirt, but your shirt tells the story of God's place for you. The shirt is helping you raise generations.

Psalm 79
Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, 
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise


Oswald Chambers

Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

Ice ice baby

Ava feeding the ducks at Scioto Park

Sophia wading in the water

Sophia, Ava, Logan and Nadia playing in the creek. 

"Call me...maybe?" Ryder at 9 weeks old. Such a big boy. 

We had a fun time last week -- we played at the park with our friends Sarah, Logan, Nadia and Debbie and her girls, we had a great lunch on Sunday with the Seeds and Heins at City BBQ and we got to see our cousin Nick and Aunt Rita. And the girls had fun at the pool with Momma Kuhns and Kelly, Ethan and Charlotte. It was a really fun week. Oh, and we had gymnastics. Ava is really enjoying gymnastics and learning a lot of new things. She like to do the uneven bars and tumble. Sophia loves it too and her Coach, Coach Amy.

This week we have gymnastics, laundry (oh!) and a fun week of back to school shopping. It's that time. Time for haircuts, lunch box shopping, as well as shoes.

Brandon got a great bike ride in of almost 40 miles and I got a long run in on Saturday. This long run kicked.my.butt. It was 8 miles and during mile six the rain came down in sheets. I got seriously soaked. And it hurt because body glide just doesn't work when it's raining. :)

This Saturday is my longest run, 10 miles, before the Emerald City 10K on Aug. 26.

Since I just started running again after having Ryder I have zero expectations for getting a pr (personal record). I am just using it as a tempo run for the Columbus Half in October. The Emerald City 10K was my very first race ever! And I am excited to run it again.

Here's some of my personal tips for running and staying healthy
(As you know, I'm not a doctor or trainer.) 

For some added inspiration, watch US marathoner Meb as he gets ready for a 12-mile tempo run. The guy is an animal.

• Ice. Ice liberally and ice often. 
• Take your mileage slow. If it's your first time for a double digit long run, aim for completing the miles and "time on feet" rather than killing it. It may not hurt your muscles during your run, but those little tears in your muscles will take a very long time to recover. Some coaches suggest doing 3 long runs per month and one shorter run at a 10 K or half marathon tempo pace. So 8, 9, 10 milers at a relatively easy pace at which you can hold a conversation, followed by a 5-6 mile tempo run at your 10K pace. This enables you to make sure you can run at your goal pace on race day and teaches your body how to run fast for long periods of time. 
• Utilize ibuprofen or anti-inflammatory foods 
• Do dynamic stretching before running (less than 30 seconds) and static stretching after running (holding stretch for 30-90 seconds). Never, ever run and then head home. This is a sure way to get straight up injured. 
• Every third or fourth week in your training cycle, take a rest week. Cut your mileage and allow your body to reboot.
• Cross-train! I set my two-mile pr when I started swimming and cycling. This also builds up other muscles. Cycling is supposed to be the best cross-training exercise for runners. 
• Try this stretch after your long runs, it acts just like an ice bath and takes the lactic acid out of your legs. Source-Runner's World. 
• 

Perfect postrun snack

We have been obsessed with these popsicles this summer. I found these popsicle molds on Amazon and one day had a little bit of chocolate milk left. So I poured the milk with some bananas in the mold and froze it. I was sick of trying to find fudgesicles that didn't have a bunch of extra stuff in it and wanted to try to make my own.

The girls loved them. Brandon loved them. And they are seriously the perfect after dinner or postrun snack. Chocolate milk and bananas. That's it! Plus, chocolate milk is known as one of the perfect postrun snacks.

And making your own popsicles save money. We have made these almost every day and about a half gallon of milk yields 2-3 batches of popsicles.

When you were 8 weeks old

You loved snuggling with daddy at Starbucks. 

You weren't a fan of your hat. 

Camping made you really tired. 

You loved being held by aunties-here's aunt Becca.

Ryder is getting so big. He's 9 weeks old and growing fast. And he's started sleeping from around 9-9:30 pm until 4-6 am! Having him sleep this long is so nice.

Ryder is also starting to love interacting with his sisters, unless sissy (Soph) gets into her crazy moods. Then, he cries and you know she's around him trying either to put lotion on his head or "change" his diaper. Be afraid Ryder, be very afraid.

Ava is a great little helper and even can change his diaper. She really enjoys holding him and singing to him in her little voice.

I get the question, "how's it going with three kids?" a lot and it is going good. Granted bedtime can sometimes be hard if the girls wake him up. And getting lunch for them, feeding Ryder and then feeding myself is hard. Many times we have eaten dinner at separate times since Ryder seems to want to eat right when we all sit down to eat.

He's also standing up with help, cooing, tracking objects and doing tummy time. He usually eats around 4 or 6 am.  and then eats every hour until 11:30. I think he's storing up for his long nap and since he is sleeping so long at night. He cluster feeds at in the early evening, which can be hard to plan outings. But, I would rather he cluster feeds and sleeps!

Not sure if it's nursing or running, but I can't get enough sleep. I have been going to bed at 9 or 10 almost every night. Sometimes I do wonder if I will always be this tired with kids, baby and housework. I know it gets easier after the baby is done nursing exclusively.

What about you? Were you always tired when you were nursing? Did you get your energy back after you weaned him/her?