Rainier Training: In the Beginning

A couple of weeks ago, I found this in my inbox.

And, promptly had a moment of "Oh ****, I'm really doing this."  In the email, the RMI guide gives several gentle reminders about training to climb Mt. Rainier....summarized in one of the opening sentences "To effectively train for the mountains, strive to develop strong back, leg, and core muscles and simulate the terrain encountered during the climb.  This means climbing up and down steep slopes while carrying heavy packs in addition to using the gym."


So, my first goal was to acquire the necessary pack and boots for the climb in order to train with them pre-climb.

Boots - check!

Pack - check!

Gaiters and glasses bonus!

With my Dad's help, goal #1 is complete.  He even threw in some gators gaiters and glasses as a bonus.


Goal #2 - make sure the darn things fit!  HA!  After one return, success on that account as well.

I'm braced to climb the Mountain in ...my backyard?

Goal #3 - Get in good enough shape to truly begin hard-core training.  I need to get back under 200 lbs and then some. (that lofty weight achieved during pregnancy). 


To that end - I have started semi-easy three-a-days.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I start the day with a strength-training session with my trainer Adam.  In the late morning/early afternoon, I go on a 3-4 mile walk with my Mommy Milers group pushing Avery in the heavy stroller.  In the evenings, I do my scheduled run/mileage for NOBO.   In a few weeks when my contract ends with my trainer at the gym and I move to off-site training, this may change the schedule.  Nonetheless, I will also start posting training updates once a week to keep me honest.


Larger goals:
1) Lose 65 lbs before the climb.  This will require me to lose the lingering baby fat plus 30 pounds of the excess I was carrying pre-pregnancy
2) Run Knoxville Half Marathon on April 1st in sub-2:30, which would be a PR.
3) Gradual diet change to exclude refined sugars and incorporate more whole grains and veggies.

Do step-ups on the dog count?

Another new goal that's recently come into the picture - Relay Around Columbus.  My friends and I are putting a 6-person team together for this 107 mile race - how cool is that?


Now to begin training...and to read "Into Thin Air," because why not psyche yourself out a bit???  I will leave you with one last sexy picture...

Climbing boot strip-tease!

Have you ever climbed a mountain???

What's the biggest training goal you've ever set for yourself?


Anyone want to do hill workouts with me?  LOL!

Push Present

Sarah may kill me if I don't publish this post ASAP....sooo....


Apparently, it is tradition for the husband to get his wife a present for carrying and pushing out a baby.  Several people told Mark of this tradition and apparently he intended to get me something, even knew what he wanted to buy, but didn't follow through until this past week.  Mark is not a big gift giver.


Funny - I was just teasing him about it last weekend.  I'm weaning Avery after several issues of mastitis and other assorted breast injuries.  (Apparently, this is why I had a fever on Tuesday.)  Because I am weaning, I teased him about how long he intended to wait to get the push present - until she was teething?  graduated from college?  I guess he took it to heart - poor guy.  (It is rather difficult being married to me).   On Monday, he came home with a little bag from Tiffany's. 

For me???

Inside was a cute little necklace with a charm with an "A" on it.  A for Angry Avery.  


I love it - and Avery has already decided that she rather enjoys grabbing the chain when I am holding her.  This could get dangerous.


On the mastitis - apparently "Weaning increases the risk of a breast infection turning into a breast abscess that requires surgical draining."  Um.  That does not sound like fun.  I've been back to pumping a bit to relieve swelling and prevent blocked ducts after a painful bout.  Hopefully that will prevent further injury.  If the fever comes back or the inflammation returns, I'll be off to the doctor.  I know, I know, TMI.  On the bright side - running will be easier without nursing!


Do you like to give gifts?  


How do you react when you get a fever?  I tend to be freezing no matter what - and I'm usually never cold.

Mommy Milers

My local running store, Fleet Feet, is sponsoring a group for mommy's with babies called Mommy Milers.  It's brand new, but I'm super excited for it!  This is the same store that sponsors both of my running groups, Marathoners in Training and No Boundaries.

The first workout was on Tuesday, but I was down with mastitis - inflammation, fever, flu-like symptoms.  YUCK!  So, I was determined to make Thursday's workout despite the farther drive that meeting location entailed....and as it turns out, despite the fall showers.  


I started the day with my usual Thursday 7:30am strength training workout with Adam.  Then, Mommy Milers met at Glacier Ridge Metro Park at noon.  It was cold and raining.  It was our first time at this park so it took Chelsea and I a few tries to find each other.  Turns out, Chelsea and I were the only ones crazy determined enough to come out in the icky weather.

Chelsea getting her letting one ready in the rain

What's wrong with you Woman?  It's raining, close the flap already!

We fast-walked (as fast as you can with the bulky stroller I still have to use - a few more months until Avery can use a jogger!) the Marsh Hawk Trail.  The map says it's 3 miles...but my Garmin said 2.66 miles at the end.  It would have probably been pretty entertaining for spectators to watch us trying to juggle umbrellas and strollers for the first half while still maintaining speed.  When B got a little fussy and Chelsea ran ahead for a minute or two...she gave up on the umbrella....I wasn't far behind on the umbrella ditch.


Despite dodging puddles and cold rain, it was a great workout!  The park is beautiful and we both could see all kinds of potential for as the group gets really going.

The area through the trees was gorgeous!!!

Not gorgeous enough for me to include with the picture of the kiddos though.  Oops.

Avery did pretty well - she was snug as a bug in her carrier and had fallen asleep on the drive.  That's why I love my chicco system - even if it's not meant to be a jogging stroller.  I simply lifted the car seat out of it's car base and placed it in the stroller - and other than a brief moment of eyes open, she was warm and dry during her nap while Mommy walked in the rain  LOL!  I think we might have been the only 4 people in the park that day - I'm sure people would've thought we were all kinds of bonkers if they'd seen us.

Easiest workout ever.

That night - I still did my run with NOBO.  Today - I'm a little stiff after three separate workout sessions...even though each session itself wasn't grueling.


What do you do when the weather turns bad on days of your workouts?  What's the worst weather you've gone out in?
Have you ever done two-a-days or three-a-days?  With my mountain training - I'll need to.


If you have kiddos - do you have a mommy workout group?  Fleet Feet started this one because we all begged for one and couldn't find one...love that.

Melons and Pumpkins

A week ago, Mark and I dressed Avery up and took her apple picking and pumpkin patch wandering.

Exactly HOW do you expect ME to pick apples Mom?  The apples are the size of my head!

Being propped up against a giant pumpkin is HARD work!  I think I'm gonna fall here...

We came home with some cool memories, a bag FULL of apples, a pumpkin and some apple cider.  Then, on the following Monday, Avery had her first real session of smiling and laughing in response to something I did (rather than due to gas).  Coincidence?  I think not!   Of course, she CHOSE to do it upstairs, where my only available camera was my cell phone.  

HAHAHA!  This woman is completely bonkers!

And promptly ceased all smile activity when I ran to get the real camera and the video camera.  Seriously?  Definitely my child.  When she can stick her tongue out at the camera, she will.  I tried again the next day with the video camera...you can see for yourself how successful THAT was.

Also at home, our "let's plant this because it's 99 cents" watermelon plant yielded a watermelon!

We fully intend to cut it up and eat it with our tacos this evening.  Hopefully it's as yummy as it looks!


In other random news, I've been made a mentor runner in the NOBO program.  I'll get a special shirt and everything.  Yay!  Also, Whittaker Mountaineering called to tell me that they didn't have the boots in the store in my size....so they were having a pair shipped directly from the manufacturer.  Talk about great customer service!  More on that stuff when the boots arrive.


Back to the garden sensation - Normally, we only grow tomatoes and peppers...and strawberries and blackberries.  Have you ever grown a melon?  What's the most unusual thing you've grown at home?


Have you ever been apple-picking?  Did you "sample" any of the apples while picking?  Ha!

I suck - but look, giveaway!

I've totally been lost in Avery world lately and suck at keeping up with my blog this week.  :(

My friend Deb made the awesome quilt.

If I could run, workout, sleep and take care of Avery while blogging, I would be superhuman.  Just sayin'.   I will be better, promise.


I had to exchange my mountain climbing boots because they were too small, but I will be posting something with funny pictures and my fears about this big upcoming climb when the replacement boots arrive!


A lot of my friends are running the Columbus Marathon this weekend, and I'm totally jealous.  Especially since I'm too fat and out of shape at the moment to even really think about it.  I wish them all the best of luck at the race!


On the up side - my friend Sarah is having an awesome giveaway on her blog!
Check it out:
http://runningonwordsblog.com/2011/10/09/bobble-review-and-giveaway/

This post is totally boring Lady.

Destination Race and more

Well, my Longhorns lost in spectacular fashion yesterday.  Sometimes having a young team can be rather painful.  Avery was especially displeased:

They lost to OU???  I cannot show my face around the block!

After much debate and with the helpful comments from my last posting, I did sign up for the No Boundaries program.  The first workout was pretty easy for me given how much I've done trying to get my stride back, but that's okay.   I'm looking forward to building back up at a slower rate....hopefully that'll help me get some speed mojo going.  Looks like my friend Deb will be joining me in this back-to-basics endeavor AND I've already made a new friend in the group - Susan.  YAY!


After the MiT and NOBO workouts, a group of us went to breakfast (perhaps the best part of group runs).   Over breakfast the idea of destination races came up.


Here's the deal.  Every year, Mark goes on a golfing weekend trip with his guy buddies.  I asked him if he planned to do it again this year (considering Avery's existence), and he does.  SO - if he gets a baby free weekend where I'm left watching her by myself - I think that means that I get one too.  Right? Right? 


He seemed to agree.  My idea is that I travel with running friends (or perhaps by myself if I have to) to a destination race.  And by destination, I mean not here in Columbus.  LOL.


Any ideas or suggestions????   I'm ideally looking for a Spring or Fall race.   Half marathon might be ideal with the rest of my schedule that I'm already planning...but I'd consider a full marathon for the fall.  If I can convince the Lucky 13's, I'd also consider a marathon relay.


I'm already thinking that the Las Vegas Rock n' Roll marathon in 2013 might be on the schedule too...because Sarah said she'd go with me!  (That could be my destination race for 2013).


Thoughts?  Race suggestions?  Have you ever done a destination race?  (i.e. a race where you had to travel).  Any big tips for those types of races?

NOBO and Absence

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?  Sorry y'all, Mark brought home a cold from work...and I have learned that there is not much worse than caring for an infant while YOU have a fever.  UGH.  I'm feeling much better now - other than tired which I think is a permanent condition - and will be catching up on all my blogs!  To make me feel better - Mark sent me edible flowers yesterday.  I think I'm in love with chocolate covered bananas.  Just sayin'.

So, many of y'all know, that the running group I run with, MiT (Marathoners in Training), is run out of my local running store, Fleet Feet.  Fleet Feet also does a couch to 5K program called No Boundaries.  Because of my frustrations with not getting back up to my pace quickly enough, my friend Sarah suggested that I join No Boundaries this session.   The session starts this Saturday and they are training for the First on the First 5K.   If I did this, I would basically run/workout with them in October and November until MiT winter session starts back up...and then I would probably move over to MiT.  (Or if I'm really ambitious, I could do both - they train back to back from the same location).


I'm torn about whether or not to do it.  Some days, I think I should, and some days I think that it would drive me bonkers to join it.   I never did a couch-to-5K program myself.  I started running by self-training for a half marathon...and yes, the initial runs for that sucked about as much as a lot of my runs have sucked lately.  (although - confession time - I haven't run since Oktoberfest).  I am very type A though, and anything too easy isn't worth doing.  LOL.


The head coach of MiT is also one of the coaches for NoBo.  I spoke to him and the other coach last night about whether or not NoBo would benefit me given my situation.  I know that they start with 30 sec run/1 min walk intervals - and I KNOW that would drive me batty.  He told me that there may be some others in similar situations to me - and they might be able to work up a more "advanced" schedule group.


One benefit of the program would be increased accountability, and it would bridge the gap between now and the start of MiT winter session.  You also get a snazzy jacket and technical training shirt.


So - the point of this rambling post is - to get some opinions.  Yay or nay?  I'm too torn to make this decision alone!


Has anyone reading this done a couch-to-5K program?  What was your fitness level going into it?  


Would you recommend it to someone who has run/walked a quarter marathon and a 4 mile race in that last couple of months?


Is my whiny "It'll be too easy" attitude ridiculous?


Here's a cute Avery picture to make up for having to read this...from her first week home.