Wife Mother Runner Blog - Wife Mother Runner

The Heat Is On!

July 14, 2014

I have been struggling with the heat. I ran when on vacation in Florida in May and it was hot. It is hot here in CT now. But it is also very humid. Ironically as I am typing this blog post I saw in Facebook that Jeff Galloway posted tips for training in the heat.

I was about to write to express my frustration that I feel like I can’t get faster in the heat. I feel like I am going backwards, well maybe not backwards, but I’m not speeding up. I went for a run on Saturday and was going to just do 3 miles, but decided to push to 4. It was mid morning and it was really hot and humid. I didn’t have water on me. But I took it “easy”. My average pace was 11:45. When I got back home my face was red as a tomato for a while after my shower.

So I am going to learn as I write this blog post and read what Jeff has to recommend. His advice is as follows:

Once a week insert hot segments into your workout. If you feel any indication of heat stress you must stop immediately.

Heat training is similar to endurance training. You have to adjust a little bit at a time. But back off so you don’t get hurt. I learned this lesson the hard when when I pushed myself in the heat last summer and had a hamstring strain. I was pushing myself for Dumbo training during a dangerous Heat Wave. Not too smart. I had water with me, but it is dangerous.

By doing a little heat training and then backing off your body adapts each time to deal with the heat for next time.

Here’s the key point I am struggling with. As it gets hot out we are supposed to slow down our pace. So how do I train to go faster if I am supposed to slow down in the heat. Jeff’s formula is to slow down :30 seconds per mile slower for every 5 degrees above 60℉. But he also recommends the following below for heat adaptation.

How?

Jeff says to do the following:

Week 1 – 5-7 minutes
Week 2 – 7-9 minutes
Week 3 – 9-12 minutes
Week 4 – 12-16 minutes
Week 5 – 116-22 minutes
Week 6 – 22-26 minutes

It’s important to warm up for at least 10 minutes of easy running and walking after the heat phase.

During these heat adaptation workouts it is important to run and walk at an easy pace. You are only working on the heat adaptation not your speed. This is where you can get hurt.

If you are beginning to feel any of the symptoms below you must slow down and walk.

Intense heat buildup in the head
Headache
Confusion or loss of concentration or muscular control
Over-sweating and then cessation of sweating
Clammy skin and excessive breathing
Extreme tiredness, upset stomach, muscle cramps
Vomiting or feeling faint

I was feeling a couple of the symptoms on my run on Saturday. I have run in the heat a lot, but this morning it was a very hot and humid day. I was so hot in my face and sweating like crazy. I also started to feel tired, but assumed it was because of the effort I was putting into my run on a humid morning. When I got home I was dripping with sweat for some time after I was inside in the air conditioning. I took a cool shower and put a cold ice pack on my face. I drank a LOT of water throughout the day. I was very thirsty and I ended up having a headache later in the day. When I ran the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon I had similar symptoms. It’s hard to run in the heat. No doubt about it; but I think with the training like Jeff recommends, it will make me a better runner, especially with the races I do in Disney.

EveryMove Fitness Tracker App

July 13, 2014

As a Sweat Pink Ambassador I am given the opportunity to review new apps, products and gear. Today I am going to tell you about a new app called Everymove. This app rewards you for your activities. EveryMove uses our favorite tracking devices and apps to earn points for daily activities. The points are then rewarded to you in the form of a discount off of products online. There are hundreds of activities you can choose from to earn points from yoga to yard work, cleaning the house, exercising or playing with the kids!

My favorite way to #sweatpink is to run and lift weights. I am also going to start incorporating walking into the days that I am not doing a run to help with my Dopey training for January. When I want to upload my latest runs I use my Garmin and Sync to it from the EveryMove App. You can also manually enter in an activity you completed or you can connect to devices you already use like a FitBit, RunKeeper, Garmin, Nike+, Strava and several others.

I choose to connect my Garmin activity to my tracker for automatic updates of my runs.

With EveryMove, sweat is rewarded with badges, levels, activity day bonuses, exclusive offers from top fitness brands, and charitable donation opportunities. I like the ability to select charitable donation opportunities. This would be a good way for me to give back by doing something that I enjoy doing. I will be researching into the donation aspect of this app more.

You can also join the online community and invite friends and family to cheer each other on and compete. They can use whatever devices or apps that they use and then connect in this community.

I have been using the app for a week so far. I see there are a lot of rewards to choose from and I have already earned my first reward and am working on my second one.

To learn more about EveryMove follow this link.

Follow EveryMove on Twitter or Facebook

Download the app for the iPhone

Download the app for Android

What Stops Us From Living Our Dream?

July 9, 2014

I have been listening to two new podcasts recently, The Dreamers Podcast by Joe Pardo and The Dream Warriors pod cast by Doc Kennedy. I came across the Dreamers Podcast from my friend Eddie McCoy. I love to listen to stories of how people are living their dream and it has really got me thinking about living my dream. Am I living my dream? I think I am. Sure things don’t ALWAYS turn out the way we want or go as we “PLAN” them to, but that is life. Challenges come our way which change us and many times we have to endure hard things in order to really see the good in life.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that something is stirring, there is a lot of change going on at work. I sense a change is happening in my life, not sure if it is going to be with me or with my husband. But I have that feeling. Fear tends to get in the way of us making a change in life and doing something different. I know that fear and doubt are major factors to why I don’t like to make change. I am also comfortable. So why rock the boat when things feel fine? What if I fail? What if I lose money trying it? What if you don’t? What if you succeed? How will you know until you try.

How do you live your dreams? I am learning a few things about this. There are goals I have in life and things that I would like to achieve. Some of them require some learning, growing and time. Identify stumbling blocks that can be used for stepping stones. This has been something that I am using as a resource. Past adversity and create opportunities. I am going to chew on that for a while. I think the key to that is the timing. We don’t know how long the past adversity will open the door for a new opportunity, it could be a year long process, it could be big picture and a few years.

So the basics about dreaming and living or pursuing a dream:

Write down your dream. When you put it on paper it becomes concrete – something to act on.
Believe it. Be positive about it. Visualize your life as you are living this dream.
Do it. Don’t talk, just do. You’ll never know until you try.

Another important thing to me lately has been to live in the present. We aren’t promised tomorrow. I’m not waiting to enjoy life, I am enjoying each day.

What is your dream? Are you living your dream? Have you had challenges along the way to get there? How did you overcome them?

Philadelphia Training Run – 16 miles

July 7, 2014

This weekend I had a 16 mile training run on my schedule from Jeff Galloway. Being the holiday weekend I was looking forward to some down time and sleeping late. I figured I would do this long run on Saturday so that I could still get some sleep on Sunday and there’s no reason why I couldn’t also take a nap Saturday afternoon if needed. I am beginning to like cat naps!

I set my alarm for 6:00 just like I did two weeks ago. I got up made breakfast and was out the door before 7:00. I didn’t have a fixed finish time in my mind for how long this run would take but I knew that I wanted to get it done early before the sun got higher in the sky. It was a perfect morning. I don’t plan my runs around the weather, because when you train for a race, you have to train for any condition since there is no guarantee that race day will be the perfect day. But I’ve been getting lucky that my weekend runs have been beautiful days.

I am really enjoying getting out early like this while the family is still sleeping and putting in my miles so I have the rest of the day to do whatever we have plans for. I did the total distance in 3 hours 25 minutes. I was happy with that. My average pace was 12:49 per mile and I did intervals of 45/30. As it got warmer in the morning I felt that it was affecting me a little bit and I also had to be smart about it and not push too fast. I also thought of a new route where I wouldn’t have to climb 3 large hills on my way back home. I had one large gradual hill that wasn’t so bad. I actually ran up most of it.

How can you not enjoy such a beautiful morning?!

The next long training run isn’t until the end of the month. Since getting up early and putting in my miles has been tolerable, I am considering doing the Red Dress Run For Women 5K in Hartford this weekend. I better get my butt in gear and register for it! They are giving away cute bracelets for their finisher’s medal. How can I pass that up?!

Today Was The First Anna & Elsa’s Royal Welcome Procession with Kristoff

July 5, 2014

Today Kicked off the Frozen Summer Fun events at Hollywood Studios.

Chip and Co. released a video of the Anna & Elsa’s Royal Welcome Procession. I watched the video with my family today and wished so badly we were there! I know some friends who are there today and I was jealous when I saw their pictures and videos.

So the next best thing is to watch the video yourself. I am impressed with what Disney did. The costumes are beautiful and I could just tell that all of the little girls were mesmerized by Anna and Elsa! I know I would have been if I were there!

Take a few minutes out of your day and watch the Frozen Summer Fun!

I Need A Personal Assistant!

July 4, 2014

So I was at work yesterday and received a phone call from my children’s pediatrician. I was wondering why they were calling me and then it dawned on me. I missed my appointment I had scheduled for my son’s 7 year physical! CRAP! Now I am going to be charged $30 for a “free” well visit. How many times has this happened to you?

I have been very forgetful lately. I lost my favorite pair of flip flops (I just found them minutes before writing this post). I haven’t had the time to really look for them but today I finally found them because I had 30 minutes to getting to the piles I have to stare at all during the week. There’s too much going on. With all the electronic gadgets and things we have now, how is it possible to forget an appointment? It’s because I didn’t put it into my electronic gadgets. I wrote it down – the old fashioned way. But there is no reminder set when you write it down.

The house needs to be cleaned, the fridge cleaned out, I have to get groceries, but when it is nice out we just want to go outside to play! So I say screw it and go play! However, that doesn’t get the chores done. So what’s the secret to getting it all done? I try to fold laundry at night when everyone is in bed and I can watch some of my favorite shows while doing that. Then I need that 10 minutes to get it all put away rather than look at them in the baskets all week.

And all the things that need to get done have to get done after a 40+ hour work week, in-between working out, and having time with the family. My kids are old enough to start helping out. Do you have a chore list that you give them? What do you do to get them to help out more? Sometimes in a pinch I set a timer for 5 minute and hit the main spots of each room to clean them up, throw away junk and make it look presentable. It helps. I’d love to hear your suggestions!

How do you do it all? Do you have an app that you use to help you juggle everything?