marathon training & trying something new

well, week one of my 18 week mount desert island marathon training is done. i made a last minute decision to a) start training at 18 weeks vs 16 like i had originally planned and b) to use hal higdons basic beginner training program vs an intermediate plan (or the pfitzinger 18/55 plan... first run 8 miles with 4 at race pace and 33 miles for the first week? thanks, ill pass). i wasnt sure when i would be able to run again after delivery, but i felt good at 3 weeks and decided to give it a go. despite being terribly out of breath, my heart beating out of my chest, and my legs feeling like jello after just a mile, i was happy to get back out there and knew it wouldnt feel that crappy forever. i started slow and eased back into it. will my doctor be happy that i started running at 3 weeks? maybe not. but i wasnt waiting for my 6 week check up (which is actually scheduled at 7 weeks) for her to say "youre ok to run". if something hurt, i wasnt going to continue. so whatever, it is what it is at this point.

week 1

  mon: walked 1.5 miles

  tues: ran 3 miles- 27:52

  wed: ran 1 mile- 8:46, ran 3 miles- 27:02  

  thurs: ran 3 miles- 27:06

  friday: walked 1.5 miles

  saturday: ran 6 miles- 57:54

  sunday: rest (eat all the food)

total: 16 miles (running)

id say all in all, not a bad week seeing as how its my first real week back. my legs are pretty sore but ive been using my compression socks and stretching. im also sickly looking forward to ice baths in my future... yay running! back in december i won free shoes from the operation jack satellite 10k and they arrived this week (perfect timing!). the first few runs when i started back (wearing my old ravennas) felt weird and my feet hurt. im assuming that gaining 38 pounds in 9 months and then losing 30 in 14 days probably affected my running form just a little bit. i decided to change things up with my shoes and ordered the ghost 6 instead of the new ravenna 4's (i knew i would stick with brooks but i wanted to try something new). the 6 miles on saturday felt great (for my feet... i still wanted to quit after each mile cuz my legs were tired).

i wasnt able to get to the back cove 5k last week but am hoping to make it this week (of course the weather forecast says thunderstorms all week. booooo!) im happy that i am using the beginner program, since i truly feel like im starting again from the beginning, and may look into changing things up towards the middle of the training program if i feel good enough to do so. i didnt realize just how much of my fitness i had lost in just a few months of not running, but i am thankful that i continued to walk and bike up until henry was born. i feel like my heart rate is slowly starting to come back down and im sure the running will continue to get easier as i get further along in my training.

im going to try something new this time around in my training... instead of doing strictly running, im really going to try to do more cross training and some lifting. hopefully ill get back into some biking as well (although i dont have a bike this summer... i just might having to find a way to steal eric's again). and to keep things interesting (in the hopes that ill stick with it) im going to try to do something different each week. this week im going to (hopefully) do these workouts i pinned a while back on pinterest:

source

as of right now i have no time goal in mind for MDI, i just want to finish. i may or may not get back to the marathon time i was at pre pregnancy, but thats ok with me. i dont need to be fast, im just happy to be out there again. i enjoy the time to clear my head and am thankful to be able to do it.