Rainier Training: Hodge Podge

As most of you know, I've had a crazy couple of weeks.  We are back home from traveling for my mother's funeral and trying to settle back into our routines.  I will try to catch up in blogland during Avery's naps today...but I also promised Mark I'd pack up some Christmas decorations.  :)


I never did a week-in-review last week with the news about my mom - so this will sum up both weeks of training.


Quick Look Week of Dec 26-Jan 1:

# of Workouts: 5

# of miles ran: 13

Weight: 196.6 (Down 0.1 lbs from previous week)

Chest: No measurements taken

Hips: No measurements taken

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: 3.5 mile run with my stepmom, 11:10 min/mile avg
Wednesday: 2 mile - 1 walk, 1 run (9:47 min/mile)
Thursday: 2.5 mile walk carrying Avery in Bjorn
Friday: 5 miles on elliptical
Saturday: Supposed to be travel day - flight canceled
Sunday: Supposed to run 6 miles - travel day

Quick Look Week of Jan 2-Jan 8:

# of Workouts: 4 (in 2 days)

# of miles ran/walked/hiked: 12

Weight: 194.2 (Down 2.2 lbs from previous week)

Chest: 41.5" (Down 0.5" from previous measurement)

Hips: 50"  (Down 2" from previous measurement)

Monday: My mother passed away - rest
Tuesday: Rest day as I packed and purchased what I needed to travel
Wednesday: Drove to NJ, Mother's Viewing
Thursday: Mother's funeral
Friday: Drive back to Ohio
Saturday: 7 blissful running miles!
Sunday: 2.64 mile hike carrying 25 lbs, 2.2 mile walk with Cassie

Honestly, with all the travel, I ate horribly for the past two weeks and for over a week, my exercise was TERRIBLE.  I'm shocked that I still managed to lose some weight...possibly because I overcompensated when I got back to Ohio and wanted to keep my mind off life's troubles.  

Me and My mother

I want to say a big thank to everyone who has brought brownies, sent cards, called, sent text messages and posted on my blog and on Facebook.  I have told many people that I am so thankful for the support structure I have right now.  It makes dealing with such a sudden and unexpected loss, while not easy, easier.  An extra shout-out to Laurie for taking such great care of my dog Cassie while I drove to NJ, and to Sarah for driving to my house and giving my cat his insulin injection for me.  Not having to worry about my furry children made it easier to focus my energy on dealing with the loss.  I cannot thank you both enough.

Some positives from the past week:

Mark and I made some extra strides in the mountain training yesterday, taking advantage of the awesome weather.  We loaded Avery into the Kelty pack for the first time, put on our mountain boots, and hiked in High Banks Metro Park.  Avery only cooperated for one loop of the trail - but it was a great start.  

I'm working hard to emulate all that junk mommy will have to carry on the mountain.

Other than the initial shock of the weight from the fully loaded pack (I also carried the water bottles, etc.), the weight didn't feel too bad and the pack balanced her perfectly on my back - no back pain!

Check out those snazzy boots!

Although I was very sad to miss the First on the First race that I'd trained for with all the NOBO peeps, I am thrilled that so many of them joined MiT and will be training for their first half marathon with me!  YAY!  We had our second first MiT workout on Saturday and the Ohio weather rewarded us with Spring in January.  I wore shorts.  In Ohio. In January.   Awesome.   Despite my bad week, I was even able to get my scheduled 7 in without pain!  Double YAY!

MiT gathered pre-run

MiT seems even bigger this year and I'm excited to be running with a new pace group and fully training with them while NOT pregnant!  To make things even better, my friends from NOBO and I are going to do informal group runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays...meaning I won't have to do many training runs alone.  Fabulous!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful couple of weeks and I look forward to catching up on all your blogs!

I have some other stuff in the works and will be more on top of the blog thing this week - promise!

How do you cope with grief/loss?

Have you ever carried weight while training?  What's the most weight you've carried?