mantra: babies, husband, family

Last Monday I only had a 40 minute run to do.  That shouldn't have been difficult.  I should have been able to hop on the treadmill and run, run, run, like it was no thing. For some reason, it was a thing. a big thing. a difficult thing. Quite honestly, it was one of the hardest runs that I've done so far.
Hardest. Run. Yet.

Why?  I'm still not sure.  Perhaps I wasn't all in.  Perhaps I was distracted.  Perhaps I really wanted to be running outside.  Perhaps it was all of the above.

There were more walking spots than usual (normally, in a 40 minute run, I'd do one or two 30-60 second "rest walks" to stretch my back out), and I stopped many times on the sides of the treadmill and tried hard to convince myself to jump back on.  My music wasn't exciting me, people watching wasn't helping, water breaks weren't good enough, nothing.  I really almost stopped running.  What would it matter?  Who would know?  Will it be that detrimental if I don't finish today?

I got to thinking about it -- thinking about what I was running for, why I was running.  For whom I was running.

I am running for babies. Babies who don't have a voice. Babies who don't have a choice. Babies who are tiny humans in need of someone to care for them, to pray for them.  I run for the babies and their mamas who need me, and who need you, to care for them and pray for them.  My running is my prayer for them.

I am running for my husband.  When we were married 4 1/2 years ago, I vowed to love him always, and to help get him into heaven.  Every time I run, every foot strike on the pavement (or treadmill), every breath I gasp for, these are all prayers for him. For us.

I am running for my family.  I run for my 3 littles, that I might learn to be a good mama for them, that they might grow in wisdom and joy and silliness always.  I run for the 5 of us, that we, as a family, brought together as part of the Divine Plan, might figure out what our mission is in this life even beyond the need to grow in holiness together.

And when I quickly went over these things in my head, my mantra became: babies, husband, family. babies, husband, family. Don't stop. Keep running, hard work, dedication. babies, husband, family.  And I got through the run. And I stretched. And I was never so glad to be done with a run.

I am thankful to be running for more than just myself.  I am grateful to be able to elevate my training and running to something for more than just me.  If I didn't have that, I'm not sure that I could have finished this particular 40 minute run.

I used the mantra during my runs (and cross training) the rest of last week.  I did much better in the moments when it got difficult.  Incidentally, on Sunday I ran my first 6 miles. There was a moment around mile 4 when I realized that I still had 2 miles to go and was frustrated, but I dug deep and just. kept. running.
babies, husband, family.
Woot!


Blessings! and Joy!
Nicole

Family Gym Night [The Science Center], and Intervals, Oh and Running

Last night, my husband decided to join me at the gym which meant that the kids were going to come, too. The little boys were very excited to go and play, and Grace, well, she managed to fall asleep on our way to the gym so we just hoped that she would wake up in happy spirits.


As an aside: What a day the boys got to have!  We were at the Carnegie Science Center in the morning, shopped for birthday presents for friends and cousins in the afternoon, and then gym playroom at night!  Sweet!

 In the Robot Room

There were 2 of these giant operation games.  The boys really got a kick out of playing with them.

Back to the gym:
Since Bob was there and I wanted to work out with him  we decided to "run" on the elliptical.  I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I am not really a fan of the elliptical machine.  I would rather run (surprised?).  I do, however, find myself using it as a tool to work muscles that I don't otherwise work while running outside or on the treadmill.  Usually I'll hit the elliptical on days when I know I'll be using free weights as my warm up.

Anyway, a mile was more than enough for me, and he seemed ready to move on around the mile mark, so we were going to head down to the sprint track to do lunges and squats and all sort of fun legwork exercises. I spied a free treadmill just as Bob did when we were walking down the stairs, and he saw the look in my eye and suggested I grab it before someone else does.  He decided to cycle, and I ran intervals.

I. ran. fast.

I started at 6.5 mph, ran a minute or two, stretched, and then began climbing speeds in .2 increments.  10-20 seconds rest in between 45-30 running time 1 minute running time for the first few speeds).  It really felt good.  I climbed all the way up to 9.1 mph and ran at that speed a few times 3x for 15 each time.

9.1 mph Woot!  hahaha, I ran a mile and a half in 13 minutes -- a record for me ;)

After the my intervals and Bob's miles on the bike, we did a couple of exercises on the circuit machines.  Just looking at them overwhelms me. He showed me how to use a few of them to isolate different arm muscles (I'm terrified of getting giant shoulder muscles and still having flabby arms, Weird, huh?).  I still am not sold on the machines, but I appreciate his help.  I think that I'll have to try them out a few more times to become more confident with them.

We left the gym earlier than I had intended as Grace woke up and was grumpy for Nicky, so we called it a night.  It was a great night though, and I'm looking forward to more gym dates with the family!

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This morning I ran for 40 minutes.  I ran around 3.5 miles.  It was a "slow" morning compared to last night, but it was running just the same.  The goal was to run for 40 minutes with my heart rate average 60-75% of it's maximum, which I did, and not to run at crazy speeds.

I am learning how powerful that my body can be.  I am learning, slowly, how fast I can go. I am learning how much I can really accomplish with hard work and dedication. (Thanks, Dolvette).  I am learning how much I can endure when I put my mind to it.  I like this learning. I like it a lot.


Blessings! and Joy!
Nicole mArie

Let's (ALL) go to the gym

On Thursday, when my alarm went off at 5:20 a.m., I looked at it and turned it off. I decided to lay back down and think about if I really wanted to go to spin class at 6. I thought. I made a choice.

I chose to reset my alarm for 6:20 a.m. so that I could make it to the gym to do my run — a run was actually in my training plan for the day. The spin class was an “extra”. When my alarm when off at 6:20 I looked at it and I turned it off. I totally stayed in bed. I didn’t run early. I decided that since the kids were all feeling well that I would simply take them to the gym to play while I ran on the treadmill.

hahahaha read that last sentence. I wrote “simply take them”.

It took me an hour and a half to get us all out of the house — a big part of that was trying to remind Max that yes, he does like to play at the gym. Yes, I am going to exercise while he plays and that I would just be in the next room (sort of). Yes, he can put gas into the cars at the gym, and yes, I would come back as soon as I finish exercising.

When I actually got them into the playroom after saying hello to the buses parked below the parking garage, and after pressing all the wrong elevator buttons, and after greeting the mannequins in the gym lobby, I was bracing myself for an outburst of, “Don’t leave me mom, please stay and play with us!” Guess what? I had to chase all 3 of them down to snag kisses before I went to run. Who would have thought?

The run wasn’t difficult. It was just 30 minutes while concentrating on my cadence and my form. I am trying work on a faster foot strike — It seems that I strike about 80 per minute and it would be beneficial if I can up that to 90 or 100… Let’s see how I progress!

This article helps to explain what I was working on:

Blessings! and Joy!

Nicole