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.