Dusting off this space

WELL.

That was a significant break from blogging.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing- it’s that life happened and happened in a beautiful way and while I wanted to write, I was just so damn busy experiencing it all!

It has been over a year since my last blog post-  and in that time this little guy entered our lives.

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Michael Theodore was born on May 7th, 2015.  We call him Teo.  Pronounced “Tay-oh”.

He’s currently 5 months old, and pretty amazing.

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So little!  (yes, that is a cloth diaper peeking out from under those shorts).

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While in utero he ran 2 half marathons, several double digit training runs, and raced a 5k.  I’m hoping to address running while pregnant and what I did (and didn’t do) in separate posts and am happy to take questions.  I ran in all 3 trimesters- but not up to the bitter end as some women can.  I took a conservative approach and in many ways I am glad I did-  I was able to return to running around 3 weeks postpartum  (walk-runs) and have been working on building up my base.  20150618_113100

6 weeks postpartum- 6 mile run with the baby.  I have the BOB Ironman jogger and a carseat adaptor.  Teo is just getting big enough to sit in the jogger without using the carseat.

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8 weeks postpartum- 8 mile run around Mackinac Island, MI.

Running postpartum has been challenging in new and different ways.  I’m slower than I was before. I’m tired, like really really tired. The baby is in daycare 3 days a week so we are getting sick, often.  I sprained my ankle over labor day weekend and needed to take 2 weeks off from running entirely  (running while tired is hazardous).  I was trying to train for the Baystate Half Marathon but decided not to run it under trained-  I would just have been disappointed in myself and my performance.  I didn’t want to run the race just to run- I wanted to run it well.

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Yes- that is my yucky sprain!  Looks are deceiving- it only needed to be babied for a little while.  Good thing, since I have a baby.

I’m training again.  This time for the Hyannis Marathon-  and I am hoping to BQ  (Boston Qualify).  That means I need to run it in <3:35  (or under an 8:10 pace).  That isn’t going to be easy, for so many reasons.  But that doesn’t mean impossible or improbable.

I’m currently running between 20 and 30 miles a week.  Prior to spraining my ankle I had gotten back to about 40-  and that’s where I’d like to be in the next few weeks.  As far as a training plan goes, I am probably going to go with Pftizinger’s 18/55 plan-  I’ve done it before (Disney 2012).  It looks something like this:

To put my current fitness into perspective, this past week I only ran 25ish miles-

Mon- 5 miles @ 8:49 pace (TM)

Tues- 60 min arc trainer

Weds- 7 miles (broken up over 2 runs)- 9:05 pace and 8:30 pace (a 3 miler and a 4 miler)

Thurs- 60 minutes arc trainer

Fri- off

Sat- 9 miles, 8:49 avg (TM)

Sun- 3-4 miles- 2 @ 8:1o ish, the others at ?.

Hyannis is in 19 weeks….  so next weekend my long run will be 11 miles and then we will be launching right into the 18 week program.

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Selfies!

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I had to add just a few more photos of him-  I can’t help myself.

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10 Responses to Dusting off this space

  1. Frank G says:

    Great post, glad to have you back! Looking forward to more. :)

  2. CA Foodie says:

    Welcome back Kristina and congratulations on Teo — happy you could take time getting him off on a good start; so few moms are able to swing that these days. Nice to think his childhood food memories will be a nice balance of avocado and blueberries as well as custardy fruit “salad” — enjoy!

  3. Anda Cumings says:

    We want to know about Teo’s favorite foods!

  4. Linda says:

    Welcome back! I cannot get enough pics of cutie Teo, either, and I’m glad you’re able to continue your marathon training. Would I be out of line to hope you may have a recipe or two to pass on to your hungry friends?? (in your “spare” time?!?) :-)

  5. kristen says:

    Yay!!! It made me so happy to see this!

  6. Charlotte says:

    Yay! You’re back…new and improved!!

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