Training recap week of 7/25

Oh, another 4 weeks without a post. Ugh, sorry. It's much harder then I expected it to be to get back into a regular swing. I really am trying, I promise.

I've been running regularly-ish. I have races I am working towards (see below), but since I'm not following a specific schedule, I am kinda just running on how I feel (the scheduled runs I list below are based on what I wanted to run that day). I am fully healed and running, but I'm trying to be kind to my body.

I have to admit, it's taking longer then I would have expected for my fitness to come back. I want to be back to were I was pre-surgery, but I am not yet. Like I said, I am trying to be kind to my body. I don't want to push too soon and risk an injury. It's hard though, I want to be doing more. Even so, this was my highest mileage week post surgery!

Also, as I mentioned, I do have some races coming up. I used to list whichever race I was currently training for and the current training week in the title of each training recap. Moving forward, I am just going to include the next 3 races on my schedule.

Currently training for:

• Disneyland Half Marathon
• Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon
• Detroit Half Marathon

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 4 miles
Actual: 4.02 mi, 41:09, 10:14 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Thursday 
Scheduled: 4 miles
Actual: 4.34 mi, 42:32, 9:47 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 9-10 mile long run
Actual: 9.01 mi, 1:31:15, 10:08 pace

I really wanted to do 10 this week (my previous long run was 8), but it was ungodly hot out and I stopped at 9. Like I said, trying to be kind to my body and not overdue. 9 is still my longest run post surgery, so I am good with that!

Sunday
Scheduled: 3 miles
Actual: 3.25 mi, 33:41, 10:22 pace

Total Miles: 20.62
Total July Miles: 78.28
Miles to Goal (1,000): 561.65

Training recap week of 6/20

I don't know why it is so hard to get back into blogging. I could blame work (we've been crazy) or other things, but honestly, I've had time. I find myself sitting on my couch and thinking, oh I should go write something at 10:45pm. Which is not ideal because I am trying to be better at getting sleep and go to bed at 11pm. I feel like I am still exhausted from my surgery and really trying to get a solid night of sleep.

Anyway, let's at least get to this weeks recap. Hopefully I'll get back on track soon!

In terms of training this week, it is going better. Some days I feel *almost* normal and other days I feel like I am dying. Right now I'm trying to rebuild my base vs. building distance, but I'll start to slowly add in miles soon.

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles
Actual: 3.06 mi, 29:59, 9:49 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Thursday 
Scheduled: 3 miles
Actual: 3.00 mi, 30:48, 10:16 pace

I had to go to LA for work on Wednesday-Thursday and got to do this run along the beach in Santa Monica. I can totally see how people get used to that!

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 5 mile long run
Actual: 5.0 mi, 52:08, 10:25 pace

Sunday
Scheduled: 3 miles
Actual: 3.0 mi, 28:54, 9:37 pace

Overall, not a bad week! I got 4 runs in, one of which was longer. I am slowly getting back to normal.  Plus, Sunday's run was one of my fastest yet (post surgery)!

Total Miles: 14.07
Total June Miles: 42.76
Miles to Goal (1,000): 647.43

Training recap week of 6/6

Before I go into my regular post, I just want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Orlando. As you know, Orlando is one of my favorite places (Disney) and some of my favorite people live there. This is a horrible tragedy, but seeing people come together in the aftermath reminds me that there are good people in this world.

Yay! I have a training recap to post! It's an exciting time folks :) I was cleared to start running on May 31st. And start I did!

I kept it very easy the first week, starting with a mile at a time using a run/walk model. I know it was only two weeks (that I wasn't running), but it was still a little surprising to see difficult the runs were. I guess I thought I'd bounce right back.

This second week of running was also more easy running. I am really working to listen to my body and take walk breaks when/if needed and not push myself about the pace. It's been tough, but I know I'll get back to my "normal" running eventually.

This week was especially fun as it included the Oiselle Volee Northeast Bird Camp. What is Bird Camp? It's a 4 day running camp for the Oiselle Volee members. This was the first year I attended a Bird Camp and it was amazing! There is a ton to share (and there will be upcoming posts on everything!), but in short, it was better then I could ever have expected. More to come on Bird Camp!

While waiting for my recaps, you can check out the Oiselle blog recaps here (short side note, two of those photos in the NE section are mine!).

Now on to the recap!

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles
Actual: 3.13 mi, 35:25, 11:19 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Thursday (Bird Camp Day 1!)
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

The original plan was to go on a short 1-2 mile run upon arriving at camp, but it took us longer to get there then expected and we didn't have time after checking in, unpacking, etc before dinner.

Friday (Bird Camp Day 2)
Scheduled: 2-3 mile easy run
Actual: 2.53 mi, 28:37, 11:18 pace

This was an easy early morning run. Felt good to run! The day also included a cross training session and a hike.

Saturday (Bird Camp Day 3)
Scheduled: 5 mile long run
Actual: 5.10 mi, 56:38, 11:07 pace

Longest run post surgery! I had some wonderful company with fellow Volee members. And let me tell you, NH is hilly! There was another cross training session in the afternoon.

Sunday (Bird Camp Day 4)
Scheduled: 2 mile walk
Actual: 2.0 mi, 42:08, 21:02 pace

This morning included a run, but I didn't want to push it since I'm still coming back to running post surgery. But I still wanted to do something, so some of my cabinmates joined me for a 2 mile walk on the trails.

Total Miles: 12.76
Total June Miles: 19.21
Miles to Goal (1,000): 670.99

{Side note: I picked my total yearly mile goal as 1,000 back in the beginning of the year. I knew I'd be having surgery so knew 1,250 (which I've done for the past couple of years) wasn't possible, so I went with 1,000. I definitely underestimated the recovery time and how I'd feel after surgery. I'm leaving it as my goal, but am totally okay if I don't make it.}

What's been going on...

No training recaps this week or last (mainly because there is nothing to recap). But I did want to provide a bit of an update on things with me. The lack of upcoming races and my recent level of training will probably make a little more sense after this.

Yes, I am wearing a hospital bracelet in the photo above. Last Monday, I had surgery. If you remember from my check in, I mentioned I had some personal stuff going on. Yes, this was the personal stuff.

I am not going to go into too much detail about it (somethings should remain personal), but just give a topline.

Last fall, during a routine GYN appointment, they found a mass in my stomach. It turned out to be a fibroid, which are benign tumors that grow in your uterus. Long story short, mine was large enough that it had to be removed. I was very lucky in that it was not causing me pain and I could (mostly) run as usual. The only issue was having to pee all the time. It was sitting on my bladder (I have an increased respect for what pregnant women deal with). Otherwise, no side effects or issues.

I worked with a wonderful surgeon here in NYC (at NYU Langone) who was able to remove it robotically. The traditional way to remove these is through a procedure similar to a C-section, which I would have done if needed, but the recovery time is 6-8 weeks. The procedure my doctor was able to do only has a 2 week recovery time.

The surgery went very well and they removed the fibroid. There was also no signs of endometriosis, which sometimes occurs alongside fibroids. They also tested the fibroid for cancer (even though they are almost always benign, always better to be safe then sorry) and the tests all came back benign.

I am recovering now and every day is a bit better. Last week was rough - everything hurt and I was exhausted. I basically lived on my couch for a week (my fitbit totals looked sad).

This week, I am still slightly sore, but feeling so much better. I am going to keep resting this week and letting my body heal. I had my post-op appointment this AM and everything is healing nicely. The doctor even gave me the OK to start running again next week (slowly). I am going to ease back into working out and running, taking it one mile at a time.

So that's whats been going on with me and why I've been a bit MIA this winter. I needed to process all of this one my own, and to be honest, I was a bit in denial at the beginning. But now it's all in the past and I am looking forward to getting back to training (and racing eventually!).

What's been going on with you?

Training recap week of 6/23 (Grandma's Recovery Week)

Sorry for the delay in my recap from Grandma's.  The delay is two-fold - busy week at work and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.  Despite all the work I knew I had put in, I wasn't sure I'd PR so actually PR'ing has made the whole thing very emotional.

My goal is get them all done within the next week.  I plan on doing a recap of the expo and spaghetti dinner, race recap, post race party recap and travel / logistics overview.  I know when I was doing travel for this race, I wasn't sure which airport I should fly into, where to stay, etc.  Want to put together a post on my thoughts in case others are thinking of running it and this helps them out.

This week was all about recovery.  I did get a couple of short runs in, but took them all easy.

Monday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Wednesday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Thursday

Scheduled:Rest
Actual: Rest

Friday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Saturday

Scheduled: 3-4 miles (very) easy

Actual: 4.00 mi, 44:34, 11:09 pace

Sunday

Scheduled: 3-4 miles (very) easy

Actual: 3.19 mi, 34:42, 10:53 pace

Total miles: 7.19

Total June miles: 129.26

Miles until goal (1,250): 560.10

2 on Tuesday

After how bad my legs were hurting me the last 2 weeks, I finally went out and bought some compression socks.  I went with hot pink (because, why not?).  I haven't been wearing them to run, but after my runs to help with recovery.  I have to admit my legs do feel better after I am wearing them, so that's good (this was also a really low week, so take what you will).  I definitely think these will be part of my recovery process moving foward!

My friend Vanessa (the one I visit in SF in June for the SF Half) is adorably pregnant.  She's like the cutest pregnant woman ever.  And just last week she told us she is going to be having a boy!  Even though we live on opposite coasts, I still planning on spoiling him from a distance.  I started this week by sending her 2 different "Mustachifiers".  One black (above) and one brown.  I'm sorry, how freaking cute are they?  I can't wait for him to be born so I can see him using them!

A while

Ok, so its been a while since I posted. Not too much has been going on. Took the week of after NJ to recover and pack (I moved last weekend). Last week was pretty good training wise. Had a solid temp run on Tuesday night and did lots of xtraining and strectching during the week. Coach Josh said I looked much more loose then the week before (thank god).

This past weekend I did a long ride on Saturday morning with the team. Rode with Coach Andreas and he gave me lots of pointers, which was helpful. Did about 19 miles total. This week I am going to clip in for the first time! My friend Peter is going to meet me and help me do it. Wish me luck!

Sunday I did a long run - nothing super long, about 8.5 miles. Slowly building up my mileage. I also had swimming Sunday night. Did 2,900 yards total - about 1.65 miles! Felt great the whole time!