I am not a cheerleader!!

Getting Old is tough. I fight it everyday and stay very active, but there are just some things you just can not fake. I think cheer leading might be one.

My daughter is taking a tumbling class to learn some basic moves that she will need to get on school's pep squad (the competition is fierce in the 3rd grade!!) and during one class she learned toe touches(aka spread eagle jumps). Although I do not talk about it much, I used to be a cheerleader in high school. My best move was the toe-touch jump. I shared this with her and she asked if I could still do it. I thought why not, I consider myself in pretty good shape, it is only a little jump. Boy was I wrong. I did something that almost resembled a jump and proceeded to fall on my butt. The bright side is that I entertained my children who were all rolling on the floor laughing!! The downside was that in addition to hurting my pride, I think I might have broken my whole body!!!

It has been 20 years since I graduated high school. What was I thinking. Cheer leading is not for 37 year olds!! Next time I will just coach, not demonstrate. I do not want to break a hip or something.

Speed Work

I, for the first time since I began running 4 years ago, went to the track and did speed work on Friday. I took some advice from fellow bloggers and after a 1/2 mile warm up I sprinted on the straights and jogged the turns. I did this for 10 laps, cooled down with another 1/2 mile run and was very proud of myself (it doesn't take much).

I enjoyed the workout. I brought my children and they ran laps (kind of) while I was working. They were very supportive, and we had a good time.

The next morning I was regretting it a bit. I was so sore, it felt like I ran two marathons rather than a few measly laps around the track. I never like to be sore, but I always look at it with hope, as I am pushing my muscles beyond their comfort zone and hopefully building.

I do not know if this speed work which I plan to do once a week will help, only time will tell, but I did enjoy a change in routine and having the family get out and do something together was fun.

Family Triathlon

This morning I signed my family (less the 3 year old, plus the grandma) up to do a family Triathlon. We are going to split into two teams of three and do it as a relay. I am looking forward to it, and the kids are very excited about it!! I do not know how grandma feels about it, she kind of got roped into it because we needed another family member to complete the second team. She is a good sport.

The race is July 25th, we have not started training yet as we can not figure out who is on each team, and then who will be doing what. I think part of the fun is that we will have some good family competition between our two teams. I am thinking of putting a wager on the race, such as the team who loses has to cook dinner that night.

The tri breaks down to a 100yd pool swim, 4 mile bike ride (closed loop), and 2 mile run (out and back). Any suggestions on who, between my husband, myself, grandma, my 11, 9, and 8 year old, should take what leg, or be on what team. Obviously, I want to stack the team in my favor (I will do anything to not have to cook dinner), hmmm maybe I will have to conduct try-outs for mommies team!! Not really, being a true mom, I will somehow figure out a way to make everything as fair and equitable as possible. After all, it isn't about winning or losing (or cooking dinner), it is about having fun!!! Right

Newly Discovered Talent

I have just realized this morning that I have a new talent; I can tell you what the distance (in miles) is between just about any major intersection, or point of reference in my town and surrounding areas.

It is really funny, I was trying to decide which Target was closer to my children's school (as I was in route) and realized that I did not need Mapquest, I had all the info in my brain (Yes, I really am very excited about this!!) I guess from all of my years of running locally, I have developed various routes around town that take me on my different runs. Not only do I know the routes, but I also know the increments in half and sometimes tenth of a mile. Is this useful info, probably not, but I am just excited that I haven't lost my mind completely and I still have some capacity to learn.

I am sure that this is, "talent " is not unique to other runners. Of course, we all know the areas we run and what the distances are. It is to me just one more thing that sets us runners apart. I feel another list coming on, ten things that sets runners apart from others. Maybe that will be my weekend work.

On another note, I am going to buy new shoes this weekend. Haven't changed much, but my knee is starting to bother me. I am thinking that it might be my shoes. They have served me well (two marathons and all the training that goes with them) but are getting kind of old. It is kind of sad to downgrade them, they are kind of like an old Friend to me.

Have a great weekend!!

Arm Swing?

My last marathon that I ran (in Feb) must not have sold the amount of photos they had hoped because today I got an email for clearance photos documenting my struggle, or triumph depending on where the photo was taken. Because it was such a small race there were very few marathoners which meant about 30 pictures of myself and my group during my 26.2 mile journey.

I have seen them all before but I couldn't help taking another look. This time I started to analyze them perhaps a bit to much, for form.

What I noticed most (besides how I need to work on my, "I am loving every minute of this" face) is that my arm position seemed way off. All of the other runners around me had very little movement, it seemed that their arms were very close to their sides and never more than parallel to the ground. My arms completely cross my body and go up close to my shoulders (it almost looks like I was sprinting the entire way, wouldn'd that be nice!!)

I know that this is not the best running form and really until I saw these photos I did not think it was that pronounced. Although the cross swing gives you great obliques, it does take unnecessary energy away from the run. At this point I need all of the energy I can get. So today I tried to make a effort to not cross swing and it felt really odd, like I did not know what to do with my arms.

It will definitely take some effort to change my ways of almost 4 years of running, but it will give me something to focus on for a while. I guess I will have to view my next race pics to see if I made any progress.

What are your thoughts? Are you arm swingers?? Do you think changing my ways will really make a difference for me?

Time to Look Ahead, Scattered Thoughts!!

School is almost out (8 more days) and summer is here (for us anyway). It is time to start thinking more seriously about my fitness goals and come up with a training plan to achieve them.

It is always harder for me in the summer. Things seem so much more relaxed than during the school year, it is always easy for me to fall into that, "vacation mode" with the children. This year I am training for Boston so the summer is more important to me than ever. I have an hour to shave (all right hack) off my best time, so I am going to have to step it up. Because of the heat here, summer training consists of many pre-dawn runs which, I guess is good as I am usually back, showered and ready to go at the same time I would have gotten up in the winter months.

I do not think the term, "Lazy Days of Summer" will apply this year.

I am working on my training plan........more to follow.

I have put together my fall marathon schedule , and it looks like my first race will be 11/29 the Space Coast Marathon (here in my home town). This will be my first attempt to qualify. I ran this as the half before and it was not my favorite race. I am going into it with an open mind and I am hoping that it will be the race for me.

After Space Coast, I am thinking of running Jacksonville on 12/20, then Disney on 1/10, Miami on 1/31, Tampa in February, then possibly Georgia in March.

I was hoping to get to the Marine Corp. in October, but I am having trouble with the logistics with my children (I still may pull it off, we will see). For now, I am content with running in nice flat Florida, and am hoping that one of those races will yield me a good BQ time.

I am looking forward to it!!!

Top 10 Things

I was checking through my email this morning and saw a featured post from the Spark People site. One of the members, Zen_woman wrote the 10 things she learned on her Anniversary with Spark. I liked it, her points hit pretty close to home for me. I thought I would share Zen_woman's post. I also wrote a little list of my own titled top 10 things I have learned from distance running. You will see it below Zen_woman's list.

Post from Zen_woman on Spark People
10 Things I Have Learned On My One-Year Anniversary Today is my anniversary and I have learned the following during my one year on SparkPeople:
1. Losing weight is hard!

2. Being fat is harder!

3. I rather be fit and healthy than fat and unhappy.

4. Giving up is not a good option.
5. Set backs are inevitable.

6. Overcoming setbacks can make your stronger (if it doesn't kill you- just kidding.)

7. Stay in the game long enough and eventually you will hit a plateau.

8. Pushing harder doesn't always yield the best results.

9. Listen to your body and take a break when you need to.

10. Reach out to at least one person everyday on SparkPeople. (Friends or strangers, it doesn't matter.) It helps and keeps me accountable.


Ok, here goes my list:
Top 10 Things I have learned from Distance Running

1. Shoes matter
2. Pacing does matter
3. Make sure your training runs all have viable bathroom stops along the way (you never know when you will need them).
4. Core/upper body strength is very important to a runner (as I learned the hard way from my sore back and shoulders after my first marathon)
5. Accept bad training days (I have had my share)
6. There is always someone faster than you, go after them!
7. Success and failure (all of the joy and pain associated with it) in running is entirely up to you!!
8. Training pays off.
9. Every step forward (be it run, skip or walk) puts you closer to your goal.
10. Listen to your body, it is irreplaceable.

I would love to hear the things that others have learned from distance running. I am also working on a list of what I have learned from running marathons, anything to add on that would be great!!

Still storming today!! Enough all ready