Finding my stride

I’ve attempted to start this blog a few times but never really found my stride so to speak until now. I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted it to take and to be honest I was just trying to figure how to be a new mom of one baby while pregnant with number two. Writing definitely took a back burner to everyday life as did many of my previous hobbies and interests. My babies are toddlers now and we are at the fun age of starting to learn numbers and letters and they way things work. They love to help mommy with everything which has given me a great opportunity to get back into some of my former hobbies as it is something we can share and learn about together. Writing is just one of the things I used to do for myself but as a new mom I didn’t make it a priority. The other two main interests I didn’t bring back into my everyday activities until after my children were born were running and cooking. Looking back I find this interesting as running and cooking/nutrition are two of my biggest interests and something we do as a family everyday now. Perhaps this is a sign about making writing a priority again.

Anyway, let me me reintroduce myself as I haven’t blogged in what seems like forever (I think its been 3 years). As I mentioned above, I’m a SAHM of two toddlers. I love to cook and try new recipes, run, lift weights, read and travel. I have tried a few different types of diets and exercise programs but coming back to running and a plant-based lifestyle has made me my happiest and healthiest. Stick with what works, right? I’m currently training for a half-marathon (my first) and eating and cooking a plant-based (vegan) diet.  I was a vegetarian for over 15 years and I grew up running with my dad (he’s a running coach) so going vegan and starting distance running again wasn’t a far leap but I am so glad I took this step.  It’s been a win for everyone as my husband has lost 30 pounds, my kids get to share a love of running with their mom and papa and overall we are happier and healthier. Not going to argue with that.

I have my first half-marathon this Sunday so I will definitely be doing a recap blog about that next week. I am super nervous about it as it’s my first, I’ve never run that far ( my training runs have only been 10 miles) and this past month my training has been all over the place consisting of mostly biking and home workouts because I have been struggling with shin splints. Rookie mistake? Maybe? But with everything there is a learning curve as our bodies all react and operate a little differently. Some runners are able to stay injury free with little to no cross-training but that has not been the case for myself. However, I really had no way knowing becasue as an adult I have always included cross-training with my running until now. I had been consistently cross-training with weights and strength exercises up until my last 5k in April when I took a break from it and started to concentrate solely on my running as I wanted to up my mileage and get in more long runs in preparation for my race this weekend. Well, that definitely backfired as I started to get symptoms of overtraining after only a couple weeks without my strength exercises but having not dealt with an injury like this or trained for a distance beyond a 5k I didn’t pick up on the signs until I was sidelined for a week and then another. Yes, you read that right. So frustrating. I took a week off and biked and started to feel better so I decided to try running the following week with a modified plan of only three days a week running and two biking which in theory is and will be a good plan but it was too much too soon and again I ignored the symptoms of my shin splints shrugging it off as just DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Wrong move. Ended up having another off week where I attempted to run three days in a row to only make it a mile and end up walking. At this point I probably should’ve started biking to keep up my base endurance after the first failed run but instead I let my anger and frustration get the best of me. I instead attempted and failed to run three times in a row before I decided to take another break and start some home workouts focusing on leg circuits to build calf and shin strength in order to avoid worsening my shin splints and build the strength to get rid of them. So now a month later I have two weeks of no running with some biking and  leg workouts and two weeks of running but no runs longer than 8 miles. How this will translate on race day will be nothing short of interesting. Running and training is a bit like a puzzle as you have to try different ways until you figure out what fits. For myself that picture includes cross-training (biking, leg circuits, HIIT workouts, weight-lifting) and my of course my beloved running. 

More on my taper and race preparation tomorrow.