Sunday: Swim

I have done no yoga, stretching anything since Thursday.  THURSDAY.  I actually did not feel as poorly as I expected to upon crawling out of bed this morning.  My body recovered from the Tom King half marathon better than I thought under the circumstances.

This morning, though it was daylight savings time, I heroically dragged myself out of bed and readied the children for church.  I put Little G in a frilly church suit, my oldest son in a john john with knee socks, raked a comb through my hair and made it to service with only minimal tardiness.  Of course, up on getting to the church nursery to drop off my children, there was only one nursery worker.  Nervous Pervous that I am, it felt a little scary for me to leave both infant and toddler in a room with one nursery worker and other children.

I had two options here, and they were:  1) stay in the nursery with the nursery worker and help care for my children and others.  However, did I really get all of us gussied up so that we could sit on the nursery floor and squash Pepperidge Farms Goldfish into the carpet.  I really, honestly do not know what Jesus wanted me to do in this situation and the decision I made was my second option.  2) I leave my three year old with the nursery worker and tote the baby with me to the sanctuary and try my luck.

Trying my luck was not so bad.  The baby was pretty good, and when he really got the fuss, the service was nearing communion time.  I was able to hoof it out of the sanctuary to pick up my older son so that he could participate in communion.  The baby held it together and we made it through communion with only the minimal infraction of my older son dragging his toy robot up to communion with him and dandling it over the kneeling rail.  Compared to other church incidents in the past, everything ran pretty well.

Once home, I forced everyone into bed for a nap whether they liked it or not and sat on the couch until it was time to head to swim.  At swim we swam:

• 12 x 50
• 15 x 100 
• 800 pull

This morning, I was pleased to stay in bed an extra half hour before getting downtown to run the Tom King Half Marathon.  I have run the Tom King multiple times in my athletic career and I have always found it be one of the most deceptive races that I have ever run.  It is mostly flat and for whatever reason, I generally think it is an easy race, but I always try to run it too fast AND I barely make it to the end AND  I am then sick and miserable for the rest of the day.

I was hoping that this year, I would have it under control, but no.  I did at least go out rather moderately, so I did not start hurting until the end.  I ran around 7:40's until around the half, then picked it up from there.  I actually ran a sub seven minute mile towards the end.  Today actually made me think that Boston would not be as enjoyable and easy as that last time I ran it.

I ran it two minutes slower than when I ran it two years ago in preparation for my first Boston marathon. I ran that Tom King all out, and I am pretty sure that I spent the rest of that day in pain as well.  Today was worse because I two children instead of one.

I parked it on the couch, held the baby and tried to run interference with my three year old all from a supine position.  It did not work.  When the baby finally went down for a nap, I was able to face plant in my bed and spend further time pondering the wisdom of my Saturdays.  I dragged myself out of bed to run, my husband used almost all my pumped breast milk, and my day was pretty well sacked.

Bleh.  I sort of enjoy it though.

Thursday: Better than Yesterday

So last night, in an effort to retake some control of my life, I planned my day.  I thought I would run my older son to nursery school, then run with the baby in the jog stroller for seven miles.  Then, I would shower and arrive at the YMCA for pilates looking like a clean pilates maven in spandex and lululemon.

It was, of course, not to be.  The baby napped forever, I took my older son to nursery school late in an effort to let the baby finish his nap.  Then it started raining in a horizontal typhoon type deluge.  Whatevers.  I at least got to take my pilates class and run on the treadmill for six miles.  I looked hideous.  My hair was honestly beyond oily.  I was at 48 hours of no face wash.  It was rugged.

Anyway, the silver lining in all this was that the baby fell asleep in the car on the way home from the gym nursery and I was able to set his car seat carrier on the floor of the bathroom and take a luxurious shower complete with shaving, lotioning, and extra conditioner.

It was lovely!!

Something I make every week: Kale, Sweet Potato, Sausage Saute'

MOLLY FITZPATRICK / THE TURNIP TRUCK

2-3 cups sweet potato, peeled, cut into cubes & roasted or boiled until just tender

1/2 lb ground pork sausage (such as Blackbird Heritage; hot sausage works great too!)

1 bunch lacinato kale (6-8 leaves), center rib removed, cut into 1/2 inch strips

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Crushed Red Pepper (optional) 

Cook sweet potatoes using desired method (roasting tends to produce a more flavorful end product, boiling is quicker). If boiling, make sure the water is well salted. They should be just tender or will get mashed up as they are sauteed with the other ingredients. Place a medium sized, heavy skillet over medium high heat. Brown the sausage and allow fat to render -- you can pour some off as desired, but leave at least 2 T in the pan. When the sausage is all cooked through and browned on the outside, put your kale in the same pan and cover for about 1-2 minutes to wilt. When the kale has reduced in size by about half, add the cooked sweet potato and toss together, being careful not to break up potatoes.  

This dish can easily be made vegetarian or vegan with the following adjustments: omit sausage, and saute kale and cooked sweet potatoes in olive oil over medium high heat. Add a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice & crushed red pepper, and salt to taste. Some tasty additions include sliced almonds, fresh parmesan, pecorino, or chevre cheese. Serve over quinoa or brown rice. Season to taste with salt & pepper (& crushed red pepper, if you like a little spice). Serves 4

Wednesday: Nothing

Oh my goodness.  Today, I put on my swimsuit at 7:30 AM, and I did not take it off until 1:00 PM and I never got in the pool.  Baby G fell asleep before we left for the pool, so overwhelmed with mom guilt, I stayed at home to let him nap.  The nap stretched out into two hours which meant that we missed swim class.

SO, when the baby woke up, I took my older son to his swim class.  Then we all went home in hopes of naps for all and then hitting the pool in the afternoon.  However, my older son slept for 5 hours.  Five hours.

Can I sleep for five hours sometime?  Anyway, there was no going to the pool or running or any of it.  So whatever, day off.  I did a lot of cooking, ironing, housewifery if you will.

I have not washed my face.

Bleh

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: Sleep Deprived

So Saturday and Sunday night, I was operating on three hours of sleep.  Baby G was just ridiculously hungered throughout the night which unleashed all sorts of personal fears about my milk supply, which became more irrational as the sleeplessness became progressively worse.  On Sunday, I staggered around the house drinking a truly terrible cup of coffee from a grind that my husband brought home.  It is so bad it sets my teeth on edge, and I hate to waste things, but that could just happen.  Anyway, I worked about the house before feeling so edgy and miserable that I finally loaded up my son and went to the YMCA for a pilates session on the reformers.  I felt a lot better afterwards and was able to go back home, feed the baby and then head out to swim where we had a great workout.  As follows:

• 1000 meters @ 1:55 per hundred
• 800 meters @ 1:50 per hundred
• 600 meters @ 1:45 per hundred
• 400 meters @ 1:40 per hundred
• 200 meters all out

I actually made all my intervals, but the 200 all out felt like I was swimming though mud and my interval was not faster at all.

At home, I got into bed worried about my milk supply, slept fitfully and wakefully and was up and down with the baby far too much.  On Monday, I was like the walking dead.  I went to swim class, but only because I knew it would be so much worse to try to stay home.  So much worse.  Steven had written a hard workout for us, and I don't remember much about it.  I was just thrilled to have my head underwater.

Today, I am like a whole new person because the baby slept well and I slept from 9:00 PM to 4:00 AM.  It was a vast improvement over the previous two nights.  I had track practice this morning and I really enjoyed myself.  We ran mile six mile repeats and I ran a bit too fast, but got in all my miles at or faster than my pace.  A six mile repeat workout is quite long and Daniel, my usual pace companion was injured, so I had to start early and run alone to get all my repeats in.  I ran a:

• 1.5 mile warmup
• 800 strider warmup
• first mile @ 6:32
• second mile @ 6:47
• third mile @ 6:47ish
• fourth mile @ 7:00
• fifth mile @ 7:00
• sixth mile @ 6:40
• cool down sprint to my car because I was running late and had to get home for the great baby tradeoff

I took a pilates class at the Y this afternoon, and am praying for a good night's sleep!!

Saturday: Fifth Boston Training Run/ Pilates/ Yoga

I fully realize that I am behaving as if I am the only person in the world who has ever suffered from a bit of the sleep deprivation.  I know it, however, IT IS SO AWFUL.  I was in bed so early last night with all my things for my run laid out.  I had all my ducks in a row.  Clothes, food, drinks, alarm set, car backed in so I only had to pull out of the driveway.  Everything was ready to go.  All of it.

 Baby G woke up at 3:00 AM and wanted to party down.  He wriggled out of his swaddle, he ate enthusiastically, then looked at me with saucer eyes that said "You've gotta fight for your right to party".  AND HE DID.  Sometime after four, I crawled back in bed for some horrible nightmare sleep until my alarm went off.  It was like an ice pick to my temple when I heard the soothing harp sounds of my iphone alarm.  It was like a foghorn on the sinking HMS Titanic.

We had a cold front come through after all the terrible weather yesterday, so my car had a thin layer of ice and frost on top.  From my heap of possible clothing options on the bathroom floor, I chose my midweight tights, a long sleeve technical tee, and gloves, a ball cap and regular socks.  Overall, I was a bit under dressed.  I needed a vest or some such to keep me warmer while I ran.  It is not the coldest I have ever been on a run, but I was uncomfortable.

On the upside, I only had a 12 mile run this morning.  It was an easy out and back to Radnor Lake, and I fully enjoyed myself.  I over hydrated initially, so had to stop for a bathroom break and got dropped for the first half of the run.  Though, as I was so fatigued and blah and had nothing to contribute to conversationally to the other runners, this was not a terrible thing.

Had a chocolate mint gu at the halfway mark and hoofed it back to the car at a faster pace.

Now, the last time I ran the Radnor Lake run, I drilled it.  It was on a Saturday when I had had a full day off on Friday and I was very well fed.  I struggled with hunger today.  This makes me think that before any long run that I do from now on, I will not be doing anything cardio the day before.  I will plan on eating fully and well the day before, maybe take a pilates class and be ready to hoof it in the morning.

At home, I took the boys to the YMCA so that I could do some yoga and pilates. Pretty good day!!

Friday: Swim

This morning, my level of misery found me at the gym (because under the circumstances, it is better than staying at home) wondering what the women at the gym who run the coffee maker DO to the coffee to make it taste so wretched.  Do they secretly pee in it?  Do they take turns spitting in it or dipping the insoles of their shoes in it?

I only had one cup of coffee at my house, where I was woken at 3AM and then at 5AM.  The bad part about the 3AM wake up was that the baby never actually went back to sleep.  He just laid in his bed talking away to himself, until he finally woke my three year old.  My three year old roamed about the house, turning on lights, talking to himself.  I was in and out of sleep from 3 to 5 listening to one child babble and the other roam the house chatting away like he was at a church social.

When I finally dragged myself from bed I was angry at EVERYONE.  I parented poorly, I wanted to burst into tears when I looked in the mirror and saw how bedraggled my night had left me, and wanted to run away.  My only glimmer of excitement was that we were invited to a party in the evening, and I had something fun to wear and my parents were going to babysit.

So, with my glimmer of hope on the horizon, we betook ourselves to swim.  At swim, I got into the pool reasonably on time. Workout as follows:

• 500 warmup
• 14 x 25 @ :35 (sprint/easy by 25s)
• 100 swim
• 12 x 25 @ :35 (sprint/sprint/easy by 25s)
• 200 swim
• 10 x 25 @ :35 (sprint/easy by 25s)
• 300 swim
• 8 x 25 @ :35 (sprint/easy by 25s)
• 400 swim
• 500 kick

The middle part was killer and Steven held us to the workout.  It was good exercise.  It was all I did today and I am hoping that next week, I am going to step it up and start putting in more runs.  I promise nothing, however.

Anyway, back to my coffee and my glimmer of hope.  I choked down two sips of coffee and just decided it was better to be groggy.  Then stepped outside the gym after my workout into the telltale muggy weather of tornado season.  The radio was full of it.  I had 5 messages on my phone from my family, friends and husband telling me to take cover for the next six hours until the tornado time had passed.  

Then the tornado time kept coming, the party was cancelled, and I sat on the couch with my three year old and my infant and we all stared at the news for hours.  It was depressing to say the least.  I am still in my gym clothes and it is 9PM.  

Not the best day ever.

Thursday: I Gambled and Won

So with the current night waking situation, getting up early to run was just not in the cards.  Even though Baby G only woke up once in the middle of the night, I was a wreck this morning.  I could barely drag myself from the bed.  I looked terrible, I felt awful, I turned on the shower and then rolled my eyes, turned it off.  I put on extra deodorant, turned on the coffee maker and noticed I had forgotten to defrost my glowing green smoothie (spinach, romaine, celery, apples, pears, lemons, cilantro, parsley, cucumber) for the morning.

I had to be at work at 10:30 AM, and drop my older son off at nursery school on the way.  Me getting to run today was anybody's game. Work, as usual these days, was a welcome respite from the trevails of home.  I sat at my desk, drank a Starbucks and used my graduate school education.  That is what I did.

Once home, all the planets aligned and I was able to run.  I loaded the baby into the jog stroller, and he rode happily along for 3.5 miles.  It was amazing!!  I might be able to run on other Thursday afternoons.  I took it easy because it was our first jog stroller day, but I might be able to go farther next time.  I could do longer tempo runs on Thursday and get in this "more mileage" that Mark Miller speaks of.  It's all happening for old Betsy Sloan.

At home, I loaded us up all gross and sweaty to pick up my older son at nursery school.  At home, I cleaned and cooked and got in a Tracy Anderson abs workout.

Good for me.