Spring Training: Week 3

Spring Training posts document my training for the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon on March 30 and my "A" race, the Wisconsin Marathon half, on May 4.

The week, in training:

Monday: 5.5 miles, hill repeats
Tuesday: 45 minutes on indoor bike
Wednesday: 4.25 miles, speed (6 x 400 repeats) + RAW class
Thursday: 7 miles
Friday: RAW
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

◊ ◊ ◊

I thought I had everything planned perfectly. I skipped a rest day Tuesday, adding in a light cardio session; got up early to squeeze in my long run on Thursday; and hit all of my quality workouts, even the ones the universe tried to thwart. All I had to do was go for a short run after Miles went down on Sunday, and I would get everything I wanted - a solid week of training, quality time with my grandma and a limited-demand trip to Cincinnati.

There was just one thing I didn't factor into this whole plan: traveling with a toddler is exhausting, especially when you go it alone.

There's the  sleeping in a different bed, and the toddler who doesn't want to sleep in his different bed but your different bed. There's also the feeling a bit out of control with food consumption and, even worse, coffee. (A big thanks to my uncle who makes coffee morning, noon and night - literally!) There's trying to see everyone and be everywhere and doing it all on a toddler's schedule.

Oh, and making sure the toddler doesn't terrorize unsuspecting nursing home patients or unplug any oxygen machines. I might have missed a steady state run but I might have managed some sprints.

I might be whining but I promise that I'm not complaining. I designed my training plan so I could miss easy days. More importantly, I feel lucky that in our short trip we managed three visits with Grandma, three meals with my brother, a visit with my godfather, lots of quality time with my aunt and uncle with whom we were staying and short visits with another aunt-uncle pair and my mom's husband. 

Miles also had a good time, discovering a play shopping cart in my brother's basement (he bought a battery) and scoring lots of high fives, a lollipop and stuffed frog from the nursing home residents. I scored lots of coffee, Panera bagels and a couple pounds (more than likely).

But the best part was seeing Miles giving Grammy kisses and him bringing her a book to read.

It's been a rough couple months, uncertain of what was going on or just how serious it was, and it did me a lot of good to see her looking well and even getting a bit sassy. Let's just say she and her new roommate will not be BFFs. She seems motivated to work hard in therapy and get home, saying that by our next visit she'll be outta there.

And on that visit, we'll have the BOB because I learned I cannot run after 3.5+ hours in the car, meal preparation and cleanup. I might have thought I would be OK for "just" 3 miles on the treadmill but I was struggling to keep my eyes open at 6:45 and was in bed by 7:30.

Party. Animal.

Last week, I solicited questions about training and exercise. I am answering them this week - Tuesday or Wednesday more than likely. If you want to know something, fire away!