February in review

February was a tough month as far as the workouts go. I'm having a hard time getting to the gym in the evening and when I get there I have a hard time working out, usually because of what I've eaten for dinner. I'm trying to figure out how to coordinate getting Allie, Doug and I fed and eating the right stuff before working out. Its a work in progress.

One thing that does still work: Going running after a breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt. Thats what I did two years ago when I trained and I did it this morning and felt great. Its too bad I didn't have more time to do a run longer than 3 miles. There's never enough time on the weekends!!

This month I ran 25.8 miles and spent 5 hours, 41 minutes and 54 seconds doing it. So at least my mileage beat January's 23 miles! I "started" my half marathon training in February. I put that in quotation marks because I'm not too satisfied with my progress. I need to look over my goals and decide if they need to be changed.

Year-to-date stats: 48.7 miles for 10 hours, 31 minutes, 24 seconds. Thats a lot of time spent running!

I said last month my goal for February was working in coordinating work with life. I've made progress on that too but that goal is not yet complete.

Its hard to believe March is already upon us. Hopefully by month's end the snow will melt and we can all get outside. I'm looking forward to getting on the pavement and off the treadmill.

My running

Running is really hard right now. I'm adjusting to running at night and I'm still carrying some extra weight from pregnancy. My feet hurt after every time I run and the next morning. My knees are sore. My body is just different.

But I am starting to see glimpses of my old body, even if the scale doesn't agree. I am in the process of adjusting my diet to eat MORE, believe it or not. The first three weeks I was working I didn't work out much at all and lost 7 pounds. The next two weeks I added to exercise back in and gained 4, what? Yeah, as illogical as it seems you actually need to eat more to lose weight sometimes. Another variable in the equation is that I'm breast feeding, which burns calories too.

So I'm taking and extra sandwich and snack or two to work each day. I'm actually glad to take more food since I'm always starving by the end of the day. But on Monday and Tuesday I was not.

But back to running. It seemed so easy two years ago, at least compared to how it seems now. But really, I know it was just as hard before, just for different reasons. One of my big hangups right now is that I've done it before so while I'm trying not to have expectations, I have expectations.

My overall fitness is pretty good, but only running right now is putting me at a disadvantage. I need to figure out how to add another workout each week for cross training. I'd LOVE to start taking spin classes again. But there's just not enough time!

I always say I'm not interested in speed, but I'm realizing that I try to run too fast. This week I'm still running the same speed, but using longer walk intervals. Lo and behold, I passed the 3 mile hump on Sunday! Those 4 miles were fantastic. But then my three miles Tuesday night were hard. But I'm determined and I'm sure one of these changes I'm making will eventually make it all work right.

I love you Allie

Dear Allie,

I love looking at you. I love your pretty smile and the happiness in your eyes. You smile and stick your little tongue out and it melts my heart. I love how you smile at me when I come get you out of bed, even if you're crying.

I love how you snuggle against my shoulder when you're sleepy.

I love how you squeal and coo. I love how it doesn't take much to amuse you and sometimes you just want to be left alone. You're already getting so big and its hard to remember when you were really small!

I hope you know how much you are loved. I miss you every day when I am at work and I count the minutes until Daddy and I can pick you up from daycare. Bringing you into our lives is the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

Love,
Mommy

She's a-movin'

Allie's mobile now! Tonight she rolled over, from her tummy to her back. It was funny to see her reaction because I doubt she had any idea what she did or why we were so excited.

She looked like she'd do it again, so I got the camcorder out, but instead she got fussy.

So now Allie will become mobile... and we'll miss the days when she just turned herself around on her back. But that won't stop us from encouraging her to practice her new skill.

Friday show and tell

Contentment

Its something I haven't felt in a long time, this feeling of contentment. I've been happy, but I think being content is different. Its adding a feeling of security to the happiness.

I first thought of this Saturday night as Doug and I were sitting down to the movie portion of our date night. Grandma and Grandpa Swanson were baby sitting Allie and we were able to go out and relax. I started to realize that even though my job isn't permanent, that I do have a job and Doug and I are starting to get this parenting thing down. Its not all gloom and doom anymore.

I have to say I like this feeling.

Red crayon revisited

Allie wore this outfit when she was a few days old, and Doug and I thought it made her look like a red crayon. Well, I put it on her Tuesday and found she looked even more like a crayon because the hat doesn't fit her anymore and looks pointy! Isn't this cute?

Here's the picture from the last time she wore it. She's so small!

I've been reorganizing Allie's dresser, packing away clothes that she's grown out of and taking out some bigger ones. I also took everything out of her bottom drawer and put it back in, with what had been in back that she had never worn put in front. I've found some great gems, and here's Allie's latest proclamation:

I had a rough day yesterday. But it was instantly perked up to see Allie!

January in review... a way better start than last year

2010 has started out way better than 2009 did. So I've decided that even though more than a week has passed in February, it is still worth it to do a belated January in review.

January was when I got a job and finally returned to consistent running. I DID NOT slip on the ice, have to use crutches or get laid off like last year.

I ran 23 miles in January, and spent 4 hours, 49 minutes and 30 seconds doing it.

January was when I finally started feeling like I have gotten the hang of this mommy thing. Then I became a working mommy and that feeling of "getting the hang of it" disappeared.

Goals for February include getting my act together on coordinating life with working. I'd like to be able to write in the blog, work out consistently, talk to my friends... the things I used to do. I'm slowly adding things back in week by week. I also plan to run a lot of miles and get a good start on training as well as get back to a routine of eating well. That will be a hard task since the last time Doug and I ate well was probably well before Allie's birth. But it will happen again!

It seems like I should write more about a month in which so much happened, but this will suffice. It will be interesting to compare February's review with January!

How did this happen?

So over the last three weeks, I've worked out maybe four times. I've eaten way more ice cream than I should and a lot of junk. Yet I lost SEVEN pounds?

Yep, I did. I have now lost 38 of the 65 pounds I gained in pregnancy. Now at 202, I only have two pounds to go before I get back below 200! If I can just start working out consistently and not eating junk, who knows what could happen? I've been upset with my lack of weight loss and the changes in my body since Allie's birth. But considering I've lost almost 40 pounds in just over three months, that's really pretty darn good. I'll take it!

I suppose it helps that when I'm at work I can't just go to my kitchen to eat, as was my tendency when I wasn't working. I also take the stairs up and down two floors at least three times each day... and besides that I don't sit in front of the TV every day anymore.

In other news, the Colts are my team, but I can't be upset that the Saints won. I would have rooted for the Saints if they'd played any other team. It was a good game.


Here's me and Allie celebrating after a Colts touchdown. We're going to work on the touchdown signal in the offseason.

I had my first training run today. It was just two miles, so I decided to experiment with my speed a bit. I upped a bit at each running interval, getting to 5.2 mph before deciding to slow it down. I ran my two miles in 25:40 with running intervals of three minutes and walking intervals of one minute. I think I can work with the one-minute walking break. I felt really strong. I think taking the stairs at work is paying off. I really felt like a runner today. Its great to be back.

In training... sort of

Well, this week I'm starting my half marathon training... sort of. The Madison half marathon is 16 weeks away on May 30. My plan is 16 weeks long. But its unknown to me when I will really get much training in. Between starting work and then getting sick, I've logged only about four workouts in the last three weeks. I thought I would finally get a streak going this week, only to go down with that cold at the end of the week.

I will train for this race using intervals. I was determined to start out with continuous running, but since I've logged 4 workouts in three weeks, my endurance, among other things, kinda went away. And I figure its probably better for me to start slower with the intervals and thus, hopefully less chance of getting hurt.

I've never been interested in speed, though I was getting pretty fast (for me) when I got injured in October 2008. I had run a 5-mile race at about a 9:50 pace. Contrasting that, my current pace is about 13:05. But I can't complain because I'm running again.

I've tried a couple different intervals. One night I ran 2:1 (two minutes walking followed by 1 minute walking) and another I ran 3:1. I did pretty well with the 3:1 intervals and was a bit faster. I don't know if I'll stick to the shorter intervals or try to go longer. I ran 5:2 for my first half and 6:2 for my second. Even though I don't have the endurance I had a month ago I think I'm in overall better shape than I was when I started training for the first time two years ago. So while I can't avoid the walk breaks, hopefully I can take shorter ones in order to bridge to continuous running for my planned August half.

There's a 5K here next weekend that I had considered running. While I'd love to race again, I think next weekend is too soon. If I hadn't had such a poor showing on the workouts lately I probably would have run it. My first race then will be the Shamrock Shuffle on March 14. There's a 5K and 10K, and I hope to run the 10K. But first I need to make it a full week with working out!

I'm so excited to plan my race calendar! I just hope I can make the time to put in the training to reach my goal. Its already proven difficult. But two events in my life have helped me see that I really can do anything: Running that first half marathon in San Diego and giving birth! So surely I can train for a half marathon and be a working mom at the same time.

Allie's proclamation

So you can't see it very well because the onesie is the wrong color. But Allie proclaims: "I'm the cutest ever." Is she wrong?

I'm feeling better today and Allie hasn't been sniffling at all. But Doug is still feeling bad. He didn't sleep well last night. There's so little time to get stuff done on the weekends and it just really sucks that we have to spend our free time sick!

Under the weather

Our house is sick right now :-(

We had a family sick day yesterday and Doug went home both Wednesday and today. I'm at work because I didn't have enough sick time to stay home today. Doug and I seem to have some nasty colds. I can't remember the last time I got sick. It was sometime last spring. So it would figure I get sick as I start working and don't have any earned sick leave.

But its Friday and I get to go home in half an hour. I'm going to work Saturday, but at least I get to sleep as late as I can before I do. And for the rest of the weekend, out family is relaxing and getting over these colds!

I'm still not sure if Allie actually has her first cold or not. She's had a runny nose since Tuesday, but thats been it. She's behaving and sleeping normally, though maybe a little more fussy than usual while eating.

Being sick is no fun. And its even worse when I still have to work and take care of Allie!

Recent firsts

First "word" (sort of): "Ah goo," spoken last night. The book lists combining vowel and consonant sounds as the beginnings of talking! And it just so happened this combination was spoken while we had the camcorder out recording her smiling and playing! And tonight she was just talking up a storm! I promise I'll post the proof some day...

First time grabbing a toy: Tonight while in her bouncy chair Allie reached for the green elephant hanging down.

First laugh: Doug and I swear we heard Allie give a small laugh on Sunday morning. But hasn't yet been repeated and we don't have video proof.

And an unfortunate first: We think Allie is coming down with her first cold. :-( She's got a runny/stuffy nose and has been rubbing her eyes. But as of right now her behavior hasn't changed and she still seems to be in a good mood. I guess we'll see if its really a cold of just a runny nose.

Allie at three months

I can't believe how fast time has flown. Its already hard to remember when Allie was really small, and its only been three months! I'm glad we have the camcorder. I'm hoping that we can look at the video soon and make some DVDs and maybe post some video here too.

I finally get to post some pictures, though not as many as I'd like because I don't even have time to take pictures! I'm sure I'll get the hang of this working mom thing eventually.

Look! Allie doesn't hate tummy time anymore! And she's really good at it.

We're starting to see Allie's personality more every day. She smiles all the time and even laughs a bit. When she was on her play mat yesterday she was trying to talk to the musical bear. She's growing like crazy. Last week I got out a box of bigger clothes and I've been putting away clothes she's outgrown.

We love every minute we get to spend with our little Allie!

And here's one of those pictures of when she was really small:

Surprise, she's sleeping! She hasn't grown out of that yet. She still sleeps all the time!