Potty Training Success!!

Well it was certainly a fulfilling weekend. Lots of running and fitness mixed in with lots of motherhood—the two things my whole blog is geared toward! We made strides in the whole potty training arena. Several weeks ago, we called it quits with diapers. Justin will be 4 in July and was still sleeping and pooping in diapers until Joe put his foot down and said NO MORE! Several weeks ago, we used our last diaper and said hello to a long week of getting Justin to agree to poo on the potty. He became constipated and the task became painful. Finally we got over the hurdle and poo on the potty became second nature. After that, we introduced sleeping at night with no diaper.  I read up on how to avoid accidents in the bed. I followed this plan:

• Limit beverages 2 hours before bed.
• Sit on toilet just before getting into bed.
• Wake him up to pee just before I go to bed.
• Wake him up one additional time during the night to pee.

I followed this plan for a few weeks until one night he woke up on his own and went into the bathroom by himself to pee like a big boy. I still limit beverages and have him pee before bed. I’ll wake him up before I go to bed too, but no longer will I wake him in the night. It’s been several days since a night time accident. The strides we made specifically this past weekend were doing away with the little potty. He was out with Joe yesterday and I got in a cleaning frenzy. I cleaned his Elmo potty so well that it was clean enough to put away—so I did. I told Justin I gave it to another little boy and since he is a big boy now, he could use the big potty. He took no issue and within the next hour was doing poo on the big potty. WOW! I’m feeling way accomplished. I don’t know if it was just good timing or what, but PHEW! What a feeling! He is getting so independent.  Now, when he can wipe his own ass, I’ll be doing cartwheels!!

Other wonderful things that happened this weekend were a very hilly half marathon on Saturday, and some serious gym time on Sunday. While I was doing these things, Justin and Joe were either at a birthday party or at the indoor golf place. We also met up with friends for dinner on Saturday evening and had Justin’s friend over Sunday afternoon. I guess you could say we got the most out of our weekend. 

My half marathon on Saturday was my first race since recovering from my hip injury. I had initially thought with proper training, I could do a sub-two hour race. Then I saw the topography of the race route. Talk about hills!! I later decided, at the risk of re-injury I would do this race “just to do it” and put no pressure on myself regarding a time. A great surprise was (literally) running into my step brother at the starting line. We chatted about pace and agreed to run together. I won’t bore you with details of every mile, but I will say it was a cold, misty, hilly run. No bells and whistles. No street closures even. Just runners running on country roads. Another treat was a little cheer section around mile 6. Fellow runner friends (and sisters) Jen and Kristin were there with water, signs and moral support. I stopped to say hi then quickly ran off. 

 race route topography, lol

Our cheer section!

Marky approaching the finish

Here I am just seconds after Marky!

We finished in just over 2:08. Not bad. 

I think my next half, which is in June (Iron Horse Half), I’ll do for time. I may shoot for 1:45. I did it last year in 1:58. It’s a beautiful, flat course in my favorite area to run in CT. Until then I have a few 5K and 10K races that I’ll be building up speed for. 

It’s not often I write on my blog. But I do like to keep it up to date. Who knows when my next entry will be. Hopefully not several months from now. 

Keep running!!

A Year in Review - 2012 Comes to a Close

Well 2012 ended and we are on to 2013! All in all it was a great year.  Many milestones were hit with running, motherhood, my professional life and in my marriage.

In January, I entered back into the working world after having been a stay home mom and part-time waitress. My once permanent employer invited me back to work on an assignment which entailed planning an annual technology summit.  Justin began day care/preschool and we were introduced to a whole new level of balancing life's obstacles.  This was also the moth we celebrated being homeowners for two years.

February, I completed my third marathon. It was in Hyannis, MA on Cape Cod. It was a cold, grueling, race which I would have PR'd if it wasn't for the 40 mph head winds. It was a fun girl's weekend with my sister Missy.  We did this race on my Dad's 65th birthday so I gifted him my medal. This was also the month we visited Disney World. Justin very much enjoyed the experience.

March was epic because we introduced underwear to Justin at the ripe age of 2.5. He began wearing undies to school and has had very few accidents since. We still struggle with him doing poo on the potty and he still sleeps with diapers but we'll get there!!

April was a great month for running.  I PR'd in the Burn Calories for Fuel 10K in two ways. I placed 2nd in my age group and finished in 51:36. My fastest 10K ever! This same race hosted a kid's fun run and was Justin's first race. He had a number (which has been framed of course) and won his first medal. Priceless!

In May, I PR'd again, having won the title "first female finisher" of the inaugural Valassis 5K.  This was also the month that my assignment brought me to Orlando Florida for the annual technology summit. I spent five days away from Justin and Joe. I missed them dearly but also enjoyed a sense of independence.

Come June, I was unemployed again. My assignment ended which I expected completely, but nonetheless was worried about where an income, secondary to Joe's, would be coming from.  These worries, though valid, didn't prevent a family trip to Vegas. My eldest niece Taylor was graduating from high school. Joe stayed behind, but I traveled with mom, dad, Vic, Missy and Justin. The long weekend was filled with celebration. A few weeks later, Mia, my youngest niece came to CT and we welcomed summer with trips to the beach and NYC.

In July, Justin turned 3! Joe and I took him to Mystic Aquarium to see the sea lion show and beluga whales.  He acted horrendous most of the day but our pictures captured some great shots. In 10 years, we'll look back and think we had a lovely day! The following week, my nephew visited and we went to a Yanks game in NYC and enjoyed more beach and CT shoreline.  My job search continued but while searching for full time work, I helped out at a friend's bakery and worked the local farmer's market.

In August, I landed at my current job. Finally full time employment!! It hadn't been since I was laid off in November of 2008 that I was permanently employed! I entered the event planning world as the Assistant to the President, however as time went on, I would be doing more actual event planning.

September was a great month! I greeted the age of 31 at the casino with friends, and then Joe and I later celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary. Training for the Hartford Marathon was well underway, having run over 110 miles in this month. This month however, was also when I injured myself but would remain in denial until after the marathon.

In October, I finished my fourth marathon, and as a pace team leader! I led the 4:25 pace team to the finish line within 21 seconds of our goal. Not without pain though and of course not without support from fellow runners.  Shortly after finishing the Hartford Marathon, I was diagnosed with a inguinal strain.  I was to cease running for 4 weeks and hence forget about running the Philly Marathon in a few short weeks. This was the month my family and I visited the beautiful island of St. John. Nine of us in a villa in Paradise was amazing.

November, I did a lot of cross-training. Lots of spinning and elliptical.  I was prescribed physical therapy but I opted out of that.  I had planned on completing my fifth marathon mid-month but injury held me back from the Philly. I submitted a doctor's note to the Philadelphia Marathon Foundation in an effort to get refunded my $125 registration fee but would later get a letter saying "you won't be refunded, however your registration is deferred to 2013". So guess what's on deck for 2013?! Thanksgiving was spent at Missy's house with very nontraditional dishes and a few of our favorite people. 

In December, I began logging some running miles-- 35 or so. I kept a slow pace and did just a few miles per week. I didn't want to push it, just coming off of my injury. Joe joined me in a few spin classes and continues to do so. Even with the chaos of the Holiday Season, I only missed three non-rest days of workouts. We celebrated Joe's 32nd birthday with a successful surprise party. We enjoyed our annual "Friends with Kids" Christmas Party.  Even Santa showed up! Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent with each of our families and we were far too spoiled!

Now January is here. Welcome 2013! My race goals are set for the year. Kicking it off with a half marathon next month! It's been described as "tough as nails" since it's a very hilly course.  Yikes!

I'll keep this blog posted with some upcoming highlights of the New Year. Until then, KEEP RUNNING!!

Taper Week is Upon us!

We are 5 days away from my 4th marathon. It will be my 3rd Hartford. In four more short weeks, I'll be completing my 5th marathon. Wow, who planned that endeavor!? LOL! I'm looking forward to Hartford because I love the race. It's a beautiful route with a lot of spectators. This year, I took the plunge and signed up to lead a pace team. Holy Moly! Thinking about it makes me queasy. I'm totally prepared mentally for this awesome experience, but my leg has been sore since the day after my last 21 miler. I was able to get two 21 mile runs in as part of my training this time. For that, I'm feeling confident, BUT still I feel apprehensive about the leg.

I've been nursing the poor thing for a while. Running less, doing the elliptical more. And lots of stretching! I managed to get two yoga sessions in and will be doing Bikram once more this week. Got a massage on Friday too which I'm looking forward to.

If nothing else, I'm hoping a double dose of Advil coupled with some IcyHot will do the trick. I'm determined to finish this race... and in my goal time. I'm leading a group of other racers that aspire to do the same, so it WILL happen. 4:25 is the goal. we will average just under a 10 minute mile and walk through water stops. If I could only find a damn map of the race route, I'd be able to learn about where the water stops are and how many there are. For whatever reason, it's not in a likely location.

I'll assume there is a stop every two miles. I can't remember from previous years.

In checking the marathon website for maps, I found out the pacer information was published. My bio and pic are in the newsletter! Woot woot!! It's very exciting!

So the weather looks great for Saturday. High 50's and some cloud cover. I'm considering registering Justin in the kids fun run. He was so proud after that one run he did. I would love to see his expression after another.

Okay, so it's late. I'm falling asleep. Was up early today at the gym then finished the day with a great Bikram class. Stay tuned for a post race wrap up!

Ramblings of a Prepared Racer

So two posts in two days! Wow. The excitement builds as each day passes and we get closer to marathon day. This is why I do what I do. Because I love the feeling of anticipation. Then subsequently I LOVE the feeling of completion!

In follow up to yesterday’s post, I did find a course map. There is a ridiculous amount of water stops which made it difficult for me to do my math and calculate which ones we should stop at and for how long. 

The goal here is to do the race in 4 hours and 25 minutes. That’s 265 minutes. When all is said and done, my group will have averaged a 10:07 pace, BUT not really. We will average a 9:55 pace and walk through our water stops. Knowing this, we can only spend 20 seconds at 13 water stops. I think I determined there are actually 18 water stops along the way. We will have to skip some. 

In my write up/bio thing in the newsletter, I suggested all runners come to the race with a water belt. This is because I don’t want them running any differently than they did in their training. Bringing your own water belt is good for a few reasons. Essentially, you become dependent on only yourself in the race. Let’s imagine for a moment that water stops at miles 20-26 actually ran out of water. If you had water in your belt, you’d still be able to hydrate.  It’s called preparation.

Last year, I did the Las Vegas half marathon. I ran without a belt and was fine, BUT a huge complaint from some back-of-the-pack runners was actually that the race ran out of water. Yes, they were pissed. I would be too, BUT in the end, you can’t always depend on the race. You must come prepared.

Another reason you should run with a water belt is that you may not realize how often you hydrate until you don’t have the means to do so. In your training, you may not calculate how often you sip from your bottles. You may just do it when you are thirsty. Makes total sense… but when you’re in a marathon and you leave your belt behind, you may find yourself feeling parched when you’ve gotten used to hydrating every 1 mile. 

By encouraging my group to keep things consistent with their training when racing allows for minimal surprises on race day. Don’t eat anything weird in the days leading up to the marathon. Don’t try new GU’s. Don’t even try a new flavor of Gatorade.  Assume your stomach will not like it. And make sure you’ve worn a new pair of shoes for at least 50 miles before race day, but no more than 300. No new clothes either. I’ll never understand how people wear the free race shirt fresh out of the bag on race day. What if you break out in a rash because it hasn’t been washed? What if the itchy tag is in the exact wrong place and chafes you the whole time?

Bottom line is STICK WITH WHAT YOU KNOW. You’ll be pleased by the close of the race when all goes as planned.  You'll be better off knowing you did all you could do to make it a successful race. You don't want to left saying at the end, "Oh I never should have worn those new socks. I never would have gotten blisters if I stuck with my regular ones."

So, in other thoughts… I’m trying to plan where “my people”, i.e. my family will go to cheer me on and give me things. LOL.  In previous years, my mom would be at miles 13 then 21 with food and big signs. I LOVE THAT!!! Not sure if she’s planning that again. My aunt lives at mile 15, so I’m going to ask her to throw me a PB sandwich as I run past. My dad and step mom, Joe and Justin are always at the finish line. Knowing I’ll see my son in 6 miles, then 4 miles, then 2 miles, then .25 miles is wonderful motivation. Maybe if I think I can grab him and take him over the finish line with me this year, I will. I always think I want to, then I get there and I feel like my arms wouldn’t be able to handle the weight. 

Oooooh, all this dwelling in possibility has me excited! 

I skipped the gym this morning. I had a double workout yesterday. Gym in the morning then Bikram in the evening. I figure I may walk this afternoon after work so I decided to sleep in. I certainly needed the extra 75 minutes in bed though.

Justin was up last night around 1:30 am. He came into our bed and was moving and squirming all over. I could tell he was miserable. Upon inspection, I realized he had peed through his diaper! Ugh. Very frustrating for two reasons… The end of diaper use is in sight. He’ll go all day in undies. He even poops on the potty now, which was a big hurdle to get over. I’d like to think he’ll be sleeping in undies soon, but then we experience something like last night.  That coupled with needing to fix a wet bed in the middle of the night makes for the act of sleeping in (until 6:00 am) much desired.

By the way, here a few links to check out:

Hartford Marathon Pace Team Leader Info 

and

The race route map which I swear was hiding yesterday and was unlocatable until now 

CHA CHA CHA CHA Changes

So the past week began with my last day at Burton's and ended with my first day at Valassis. For those of you that don't know, Burton's had been my part time gig for the last 18 months or so. It's an upscale restaurant that I worked mostly lunch shifts. My parents were each able to help out and watch Justin while I worked, and my hours were so few that I never unclaimed my title "stay-at-home-mom"...until Friday anyway. Friday I started working the ole 40 hour, 9-5 again.

Over Thanksgiving, a past co-worker reached out to me. He is with Valassis, a company which laid me off while I was still preggo with the Noodle. Joel asked what my current job situation was and if I'd be interested in working with him in an Event Planner type role. I was immediately interested. I told him I'd have to give notice at Burton's and with Triple Helix (another company in which I worked up to 3 hours per week as a virtual assistant to the CEO). Thank goodness Joel contacted me so many weeks before I started for him because there was a lot of prep I needed to do. In addition to giving notice at my two jobs, I had to secure daycare for Justin. Not only secure it, but mentally prepare for it...

I've always been very apprehensive about getting Justin into a daycare setting. I think germs, first and foremost, then guilt settles in. Justin is MY KID, why should I hand him over to a bunch of strangers while I work? I thought this until just a few weeks ago when I realized he is at an age where he should be interacting with other kids. The daycare we looked at, and later chose for Justin to attend is great for Justin to interact with other kids in, learn, play, explore, etc.

So, though I initially never thought Justin would attend a daycare, I now think it's good for him, albeit the germs are still a concern of mine...

Friday was the big day. I surprisingly slept well on Thursday, woke up on my training rest day and began getting ready for work. Joe was in charge of getting Justin dressed and ready. He will be, going forward. We successfully got ourselves out the door and to daycare and work with no tears. I'm leaving out details of my mini-breakdown on Thursday evening after Justin went to bed ;o)

I called the daycare twice during the day to check in on my little guy and both times they said he was doing great. When I picked him up, I learned he had napped, ate, and sat on the potty twice!! WOW!! That's more progress than I make in a week, LOL! He had a wonderful day and wants to go back, thankfully. He'll only be there three days per week. The other two days, he'll be with my mom or dad. They are able to watch him and I think it's still important for him to be with family.



Work for me was good too by the way. I'll enjoy my role there. It was good to be welcomed back by so many familiar faces.

So, it's winter in New England and I'm training for the Hyannis Marathon in 6ish weeks. Friday was my rest day and yesterday was supposed to be a 17 miler. Wind and bitter cold pushed me into postponing the long run to today. A sleepless night and still single digit temps are pushing me into postponing to tomorrow. Justin woke up vomiting three times last night. Twice I stripped the bed and stuck him in the tub. Poor guy has never been sick like that before. Correlation with daycare...I dunno... :-/ I'm tired today but still am contemplating running 17. Tomorrow is MLK day, a work Holiday and temps are supposed to be back up into the 30's. I may be stupid not to take advantage of being able to do it tomorrow. We'll see. If it's not above 20 degrees by noon today, then I will go tomorrow. It's a shame since I hydrated so well yesterday in preparation for a run today. I'm a planner after all and if things go askew, it nags me.

Well, laundry beckons... need to take one comforter out of the dryer to get the next set of bedding in then the next set. argh. An all day affair :o(

Great Training

I had been thinking about my marathon training over the past few days and realized that I followed a really great plan! To be actually walking around, cleaning and even willing to go for a recovery run/walk the very day after the race shows that I must have had successful training. It's not enough that I was able to complete the race (with no injury in fact) but to recover rapidly is a true testament. I figured I would share my plan for anyone who is interested...

Setting the goal to race is obviously the first step. Depending on your level of physical fitness should determine when you race. Four months out? six months out? Personally, I knew I'd be doing Hartford Marathon a year ago (right after I completed my first one). From months 1-6 (October '10-April '11), I pre-trained. I did a few 5k's, and even a half marathon. I didn't over stress about timing. I just ran to run. Got my miles in before I got down to business.

Come Spring 2011, I began training for the Ironhorse Half Marathon. It's a race I've done before... a flat course with beautiful scenery. It's at the beginning of June and I was able to PR with a time of 1:56:30. A minute and a half past my goal, but a PR nonetheless.

Post Ironhorse...let's get down and dirty...four months until the full marathon. My plan was to get a lot of cross training in (I'll add that I trained for two sprint triathlons in August and September. This helped immensely to avoid injury). My training schedule consisted of long runs on Saturdays with running and cross training during the week. I swam, biked, attended spin class, etc.

The distance of my long runs began at 6 miles and I added 1-2 miles to that distance each week. Below is a sample week from months June-September/October...

Monday: 5:45 a.m. Spin class followed by 5K run
Tuesday: 4 mile run, 600 meter lap swim
Wednesday: Weights, cross train (most likely the ARC Trainer at the gym)
Thursday: 4 mile run, 600 meter lap swim
Friday: Rest or cross train/weights
Saturday: Long run (Or brick training depending on where is was with tri training)
Sunday: rest completely

As it got later into my training, into the 15+ milers, I began to back pedal with mileage. For instance, if I ran 15 one week, I'd back pedal to 13 miles the next week, before doing 17 the following week. Then I'd go back to 13 before 19 the next week. This helped with extra healing time. I think not following this type of plan last year led to extended recovery time after the race.

Looking back on my year, I realize I was quite busy!! 2 half marathons, 2 sprint triathlons, 1 full marathon, several 5Ks, even a Warrior Dash and still one more half before the year is over.

Knock on wood...no injuries!! Definitely less running, more cross training is to credit for this year's success... and added weight training too. I'll save my weight training regiment for another post...

Hope this is helpful to anyone looking to adopt a successful training plan. In the end though, it boils down to what works for the individual. Good luck to you all!