Our Family Beginnings

I have completed the first week of my 15 week half marathon training. I’ve been all over the map too. The last time I seriously embarked on a fitness regime, was 5 years ago, when I was trying to recover from some food issues after losing 30 pounds. I was also near the beginning of being treated for infertility. I had started the half marathon training program, but quit halfway through at the behest of my doctor. I never really got my workout mojo back after that, and of course the pounds followed.

I did get that trainer pack from Mr. Badger two summers ago for our anniversary, and it helped, but I wasn’t doing cardio on my own, so while I gained muscle, I didn’t really lose weight. When I finally did get about two weeks in to running, we got the call about V, and well, while I kept up with it for a bit, the lack of sleep finally caught up with me and that was it, I was done.

Flash forward to this week, and I was really nervous, like losing sleep nervous. Moderation isn’t really my strong suit, and this is the ultimate test in both moderation and self discipline. I actually got inspired by E’s Mama and her dedication to her own wellness plan as laid out by her doctor. She’s following it to a T, that way if it doesn’t achieve the goals that she was expecting, she knows that she’ll have done everything asked of her, and won’t beat up on herself. That clicked something in me. Isn’t it awesome when our friends inspire us?

I sat in the introductory meeting before our first run, and listened to our coaches speak about their experiences with running. It was the usual “rah-rah, you can do it” that one usually hears at these things, but for some reason, it really helped when the coach got on her serious kick. She mentioned that the program is so aggressive because it’s not only for people who want to complete their first half, but also for experienced runners who want to back off from a marathon in order to do a triathalon. That explained so much about the high mileage to me. She kept beating home that the schedule is set up for a reason, that the off days are for serious NON RUNNING workouts, so we should swim, bike, or do some other non-weight bearing exercise. I thought about how I haven’t swum laps since high school, where I was on swim team for my first two years. I started making plans, figuring out what time of day I’d need to leave to get my runs in before V wakes up in the morning, calculating mileage from my parents’ house so I can do my long run on my own next weekend.

And then this morning, when V went down for a nap, I donned my speedo swimsuit I had bought with the intention of swimming so many times before, and went to the neighborhood pool that has a dedicated lap pool. I didn’t put my toe in the water to check the temperature, because it was irrelevant. I was going to swim, and if it was cold, I’d need to suck it up, so I just jumped in. I swam 52 25meter laps, or 1300 meters, or .8 miles. It was like riding a bike, and felt wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, I signed up for the masters swim program that meets on my off running days first thing in the morning during the week.

The plan is there for a reason, she said. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna make it work. Oh, and to stave off the perfectionist food issues, I’m gonna eat like I usually do.  It’s not like I’m a huge eater anyway, so I’m not planning on dieting.  I’m not gonna have a salad unless I feel like having a salad, you know what I mean?  I just need to remind myself that I’d rather be in shape and wear the same size pants rather than be thin and famished.  Because you know what tastes better than thin feels? Ice cream and wine.

edited to add:

I also looked at my splits this morning, since my phone tracks my mileage via gps, and it was awesome.  By mile, on my long run, each mile was faster than the one before it.