"We just want to pump you up"

Do you remember Hans and Franz from Saturday Night Live? I'm dating myself. I was not a fan of SNL but the few times I watched back in the 80's when Hans & Franz came on they always made me laugh. Now that my April marathon goals have been postponed until November, the fact that we have had single digit temps and snow this winter I have revamped my fitness goals. Before we decided to take a family vacation around the same time as my marathon I was up to an hour and a half of running on the treadmill in training for my marathon. That was about all I could handle on the mill even while watching episodes of 24. As I type we have 6 inches of snow covering the ground, so obviously I am going to be on the treadmill for a while longer. Since I no longer need to be working on adding miles I decided about 2 weeks ago to add more strength training into my workouts. I have noticed as I am aging I'm not as strong as I used to be. I have been enjoying adding more weight lifting to my routine. I have even noticed in the few weeks I've been lifting I've been able to add more weight and reps. So for those of you interested this a general outline of what my running/fitness schedule looks like for this week.

M-F Run on the treadmill for 30-40 mins. (with intervals most days)
Sat. I will do a long run (hopefully outside!)

M,W, F-Upper body weighted workout
T & Th-Lower body weighted workout

I do most of my weighted workout using dumbbells. I do have a weight bar and weight bench for chest presses and leg extensions. My biggest challenge is time. Adding this much strength training adds and additional 40-50 mins. of time in addition to my running. So far I have only missed a couple of workouts because I just ran out of time or was too tired after my run. I plan to keep this schedule up as long as I am stuck inside.

Hope you all have a great week. Pressing on with you in health.

MIA

Wow! if the past four weeks are indicative of what this new year will be like then this year will fly by just like last year. Honestly I still can't believe a new year is upon me. I have been thinking about my running goals for this new year and have had a really hard time figuring out how to balance life with what my desired goals are. I have had to look realistically at my responsibilities as a wife and homeschool mom and adjust my goals to these priorities. As most of you know My husbands father was diagnosed with incurable cancer back in August 09. This news set our lives on a new path and brought with it some additional responsibilities and stress. The news of my husbands dad came one month prior to our scheduled family vacation with them to Florida and Disney. As difficult as it was to tell our kids the vacation had to be cancelled they never complained or question once our decision. Running this year especially after my father-in-laws diagnosis has been challenging, but at the same time something that kept me moving forward emotionally through some very difficult times. Like many of you the physical highs and lows of running parallel life in so many ways, which is one reason why I love running. One of my desires this year was to finally run that marathon that has alluded me in my 20+ years of running. Now that my husbands dad is in remission my husband and I have had a chance to sit down and evaluated this years goals and plans. My husband is a very loving, wise and godly man. Last year was a very difficult year for both of us in many ways. We both could have used a vacation! So he suggested that we re-plan our original vacation, sooner than later this year. The time he suggested conflicts with my April marathon. I was reluctant at first to give up this goal but I know this is something our whole family needs. Our children have been amazingly mature through this whole process and my heart just wants them to have this time. The weather here has also left me stuck with training a lot on the treadmill. This was one of my biggest concerns for an April marathon. My training has been hindered by the snow storms and single digit temps. I have endured hours on the treadmill but I am no where near where I need to be in my mileage. My competitive nature just doesn't want to run an "okay" first marathon I would like to be strong and finish in a decent time. So with all that, I have set my sights on having a wonderful much needed family vacation and training for my first marathon in November (The Rt. 66 Marathon, hint, hint, Kim). I will probably run some shorter races until then and then there is always my old stand by the Tulsa Run 15k in October (hint, hint Mary Ann). So as for now I am keeping my base mileage up on the treadmill and really looking forward to some warmer weather so I can begin to see what these old legs have in them. In the mean time I will try to update weekly but it may get a bit redundant until I can hit the trails once again. Until then keep pressing on!