Short and sweet

I'm thinking back to my track and cross country days of running intervals of 200-1200m. While those 1200s around the "back 40" practice football field didn't seem so short, especially when dodging errant footballs and the occasional player, they appeal to me now. There's a lot of bang for your buck when doing speed workouts, and that's what I need now, in the days of timing baby feedings and daddy at home. 

I took off the garmin and even the watch, since I know the mile markers on my usual route. I've been trying to remember old workouts and even how it's supposed to feel to race again, especially those short painful distances. My latest run intervals have been pickups between light poles. My bike workouts this week have consisted of trainer intervals while watching Ironman videos (some of my favs are the 1989 Allen vs Scott and a 1985 classic). Conveniently, I can hop off the bike at a moment's notice to nurse and recover, then hop right back on for the next interval, a la Monday's workout. I haven't bothered to calibrate the computrainer lately, so i don't have an exact wattage to try to hit; every day is different. See, no pressure. Back in the days when I raced 5ks regularly I didn't have all this technology. I'm getting back to my roots, and hopefully some faster running. I'd be happy if I was anywhere near some of my old speeds.

Back in college, when I got converted to middle distance from longer stuff, I never thought about stride length or turnover or really even what shoes I was wearing. Therefore I'm having a hard time remembering those things that I barely noticed. I just ran workouts as fast as I could, or at the pace I was prescribed. I think I had a longer stride with a slower turnover, but it seemed more powerful than my current stride. Today's trend is toward a shorter faster turnover. I'd rather just not think about it and run fast.

It may be the shorter faster training, or maybe the lack of sleep and sleeping on my side all the time, but my legs and hips have been killing me. In the middle of the night it is worst, and subsides during the day, thankfully. The painful wrists and arms are another issue, but at least they don't effect my running!

I did find a couple of awesome bras from Moving Comfort. I highly recommend the Juno, and a close 2nd is the Fiona. They have adjustable straps that unhook and velcro in front, therefore nursing just before a run is totally doable. Not that Hunter sleeps in the stroller anymore, but at least we can try. It's been getting trickier to run with him. He's a happy baby except when his tummy hurts, and the reclining in the stroller isn't helping that tummy. We stay close to home so he can decide if we're cutting it short. He usually likes to take his first nap an hour or two after we get up, and that's the best time for me to take him out, since it's coolest then. We've been having good temps lately, but they're increasing, and I see that early next week is forecasted to be 97F. So it's first thing in the morning or not at all.

Another short and sweet thing in my life is this cute little boy, who's really not all that short. He's growing like a weed, mostly out, but up some too, which is to be expected given daddy's stature. We have to go in to the clinic tomorrow for the 2 month shots, so we'll see if he's doubled his birth weight yet. He's getting strong from practicing his jump squats on our stomachs, just like we saw him doing in an ultrasound at 12 weeks. Now that's something I need to be practicing myself. 

Good luck to Damie and the IMTX racers on Saturday!