Besides Running..

So, besides running, we've been busy over here at the "tub" thinking about this.

And it is such a lovely thing to think about, don't you agree?

The Plan - Week Three

So, here it is. Week three of the boring running plan.

Week 3
Monday- Rest
Tuesday - Run 2.25 miles easy.
Wednesday - Run 2 miles easy.
Thursday - Rest or cross train.
Friday - Run 2 miles easy.
Saturday - Run 2.5 miles easy. You make a .25 mile increase today.
Sunday - Run 3 miles easy. You make another increase in mileage here. You are running almost a full 5K distance here. A 5K is 3.1 miles. Keep your pace nice and easy. You can work on speed in future races.

This last week was hard. I did two of my runs outside and it was humid. Holy Moly it is hard to run in humid weather. I was sweating, but not cooling off at all. And the breathing? I felt like I did when I first started this adventure. Then yesterday I ran at the gym - controlled temperature and controlled humidity is good.

Anyway - here we go some more...

The Plan - Week Two

So, week one was fun. Seriously. The one mile run I had to do on Tuesday was So Easy. I ran a mile and said it was easy - so obviously the previous plan on "learning how to run" worked, right? Then, the rest of the week it was two mile runs. I've been running more outside and enjoying the breeze... plus my husband got me an arm band for my ipod so I've got my music with me outside. Anyway - here's week two.


Monday - Rest. This program uses Monday as a rest day, because Sunday is your longest run of the week. You can adjust this to meet your needs, but take off the day after your longest weekly run.
Tuesday - Run 2.25 miles easy. You add a quarter mile to your previous longest run. You will make gradual increases in mileage throughout the program.
Wednesday - Run 2 miles easy.
Thursday - Rest or cross train.
Friday - Run 2.25 miles easy.
Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
Sunday - Run 2.25 miles easy.

I think I'm going to flip-flop Thursday and Friday, because I'd rather have a rest day on Friday. Also - these plans are so much more boring than the plans that teach you how to run, but oh well... here we go...

"My sister has an iphone. A pink one."

Her sister is seven years old.

A student of mine told me, "My sister got an iphone. A pink one."

Her sister is seven years old.

Seven.

7

Seriously?

Seven.

And the crazy thing is, I believe it.

That is the type of community I work in.

First Homework Assignment

We were told to work with our child to create a picture that looks like them. We could use any medium we wanted. We were given a cut-out person to cover up. The assignment was sent home on Thursday - due on Tuesday. Quinn wanted to work on it Thursday - I wouldn't let him. We'd have to gather materials and I wanted a chance to really think about what we could use. Then the weekend came and went and we didn't do anything about this little project yet.

So tonight Quinn and I stood in the kitchen. Then we went in the basement, got some construction paper, stickers, markers, and crayons. Then we went back into the kitchen. How about rice for your hair, Quinn? "No.... how about spaghetti?" Okay that works.

And so... we created this masterpiece with spaghetti, corn flakes, construction paper, crayons, markers, stickers, and glue. Lots of glue.

Man, I hope that glue dries before the morning.

My favorite parts: the spaghetti fingers. I didn't want to do it, but Quinn noticed we needed fingers. AND he had the idea to use 5 pieces of spaghetti for the fingers. The corn flake ears - totally my idea, but come on, corn flakes for ears - perfect, right? And check out the shoes. Quinn added some blue stripes for the velcro things on his shoes. And the shirt? Spiderman stickers, because, "I like spiderman and love my spiderman shirt."

Awesome, right?

I hope all future homework assignments are this much fun.

The Plan - Week One (Also - This is NOT always easy.)

So, I feel like I owe it to you to let you in on a little secret. This plan of mine that I've been following. It's not always easy. There are days where it's physically hard for me to follow. There are days were it's mentally/emotionally hard for me to get out there and do it. This week - Thursday I tried to run outside while pushing Liam in a jogging stroller. Hard. Physically. So I stopped and told myself I'd go to the gym after work. And then I forgot to pack my sports bra and didn't go to the gym. I didn't follow the plan. And since I failed, getting myself ready for Saturday's 2 mile run was proving to be hard mentally. And well, since I went out Friday night for my birthday waking up and motivating myself to get to the gym to run two miles was hard. And, then, to top it off, I wanted to leave the boys at home because Liam has developed a tricky habit of pooping while in the child center so I need to go change his diaper - he manages to do this after I finish running a mile and it causes me to split my workout. And, well, Mike's been home with the boys a lot this week - Thursday night I had to work, Friday night I went out, and here I was Saturday morning leaving again. It's hard to leave them for something like this. I think to myself, "really? Shouldn't you be home with them? You're going to leave just to go run 2 miles?" (It's also hard for me to leave them and go out with friends, it is, but I still do it, because people swear that it's good for me to get out.) And then there's times I'm running and my legs are burning. Burning! But I have to keep going. I have to keep following it and I'm going to keep following it, but I want you all to know, it takes a lot of self-talk to get me there. To get me started. And to keep me going during my runs.

So anyway....

Yesterday I ran two miles! Actually, I ran 2.2 miles because of a good song and the guilt factor of not running 1.75 miles on Thursday. And today I took the boys to the gym, took a pilates class, changed a poopy diaper, and then ran one mile. The plan said I could pick - 2.25 or 1 mile - since I wanted to get some pilates in I choose a mile. (I feel so strong through the week when I do my Sunday pilates I knew it would be good for me to get some core strength work in.)

And so now I'm on Week One of Training for Your First 5K. WooHoo. The sad news - no more timed runs - it's all distance. And Tuesday's run is the last time I get to only run a mile. After that it's all 2 miles plus. But, you know, I'll do it.

Week 1
Monday - Rest. Rest is an important part of any training program. This program uses Monday as a rest day because Sunday is usually the longest run of the week. Adjust this to fit your specific schedule.
Tuesday - Run 1 mile easy. Run at an easy "conversational" pace. If you cannot talk clearly, you are running too hard.
Wednesday - Run 2 miles easy. Run at an easy pace.
Thursday - Rest or cross train Rest or engage in a non-running activity.
Friday - Run 2 miles easy.
Saturday - Run 2 miles easy. All of these easy runs are performed at the "conversational" pace.
Sunday - Run 2 miles easy.

And there you have it. It sort of makes me laugh that it says, "run 1 mile easy."

The Poop That Looked Like Curious George

Last night it took an extra 40 minutes for me to get Liam down for bedtime.

He had to poop.

I knew he had to poop.

He knew he had to poop.

And since the windows were open, I'm sure the neighbors knew he had to poop.

To make a long story short - Liam spent about 30 minutes complaining and trying to decide where to put this poop.

He wanted to poop in his diaper, he didn't want to poop in his diaper. He wanted to poop into the toilet. Oh no way, he did NOT want to poop into the toilet. He wanted to poop into the big toilet like Quinn. Oh no way, he absolutely did NOT want to poop into That toilet. He wanted his diaper back on. He wanted it off. He wanted it on. Off. On. Off. Oh so help me... all this with the whining and the holding of his butt and the crying.

Finally, I gave up. Put his diaper on and started rocking him and singing to him. Except, he still Has To Poop.

And the poop started coming and he started screaming.

No poop! Stop! Wait! Toilet!

So we went into the bathroom.

He wanted to sit on the toilet, he did NOT want to sit on the toilet. And so...

He stood there, with me holding a diaper under him, while he pushed his poop out right into the diaper.

And then I put it into the toilet where Liam laughed and said, "looks like ooh - ahh - ahh!" Which means, "it looks Curious George!"

PreKindergarten

Today was Quinn's first day of prekindergarten. We are not allowed to call it preschool. Oh no, Quinn will have none of that.



Quinn was excited. And maybe a little nervous. At 6am he said to me, "But I don't know how to make an M for Quinn M." So I showed him. Luckily, an M is pretty close to an upper case N. Phew. Crisis diverted. Time to be excited again.




So we walked to school.

Then we took the all important picture by the door to the school.

Then I made him and his good friend pose together with their "puzzle pieces".

Then he stood in line to meet his teacher and went inside.

Two hours later I picked him up and we went to the train restaurant to celebrate. I think he was tired.

The Plan - Week 8

Well, I finished Week 7 without any problems. Sort of. On Friday I felt myself coming down with another cold - so my Saturday and Sunday runs were hard. Plus, on Saturday my ipod shuffle finally died. With .5 miles left for me to go on my second one mile run. Ugh. I managed to go .2 miles without any music, but then I could not do it anymore. Between the annoucements at the gym and the fact that it was hard to breathe in general, I stopped. No worries, though. Sunday morning I went again (with a new ipod nano - ha! see how that works?) and I did the complete run Sunday. Warm-up for 10 minutes, jog/run for 1.5 miles, cool-down for 10 minutes. That was the longest I've run continuous ever. And I did it with a nasty cold. Nasty nasty cold. So, I'm thinking since my nose seems to be clearing up today I'm hoping this week will be a synch. Well, as close to a synch as this can be -


Week 8
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Warm up by walking for 10 minutes. Jog 2 x 1 mile repeats. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Wednesday - Walk/Jog for 30 minutes. Walk for 30 seconds and jog for 5 minutes.
Thursday - Warm up by walking for 10 minutes. Jog for 1.75 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Friday - Rest or cross train.
Saturday - You will do your longest run today. Warm up with 10 minutes of walking. Jog for 2 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Sunday - Extend you run again today if you are feeling up to it. Warm up for 10 minutes. Jog for 2.25 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking. If you are feeling fatigued from yesterdays run, just run 1 mile today.
You have done it! You should now be able to jog comfortably for 2 miles. What you do now is up to you. You can just maintain your new level of fitness by continuing your daily workouts or you can move up to the next level and train to complete a 5K race.

I'm just a little freaked out that I will actually be running for 2 straight miles Saturday without any walking breaks. Just a little. I'll let you know how it goes. I know, I know, you're all on the edge of your seats, right??

Greedy Me.

Let's forget about this for awhile, shall we? And let's move on to more important things. Such as?
Next week is my birthday! Woohoo.

I don't normally have a list of things I'm wanting, but, boy oh boy, there's a list this year.

An ipod nano (in blue, yellow, green, or purple) of course, I'd settle for a shuffle to replace the one I've had for years. The one that I somehow broke while cleaning the house while using it. Not broke enough to where it doesn't work, but broke enough that when the battery dies I will not be able to charge it. And then I will cry.

A flip camera. I didn't think I wanted one, but then I played with my aunt's. oh boy, do we need this.

A nifty fifty. Apparently it's a must have - the more I look around - the more I want one.

What? You weren't planning on spending that much on me?

Silly me.

Here's a list just for you -

My favorite socks.

My favorite water bottle - I already have a green, pink, and purple one.

Also - gift cards, of course!, are always welcome. Starbucks, Ann Taylor Loft, Target, Kohls - all acceptable.

Ha. That was fun. =)

Calcaneal Sliding Osteotomy

If you're new to this blog - you can catch up on the story of Quinn's feet here. Start at the bottom of the page.

Well, the doctor still wants to wait a few more months before doing surgery - to give Quinn's heel a bit more time to grow. He said he could do it this winter, if we wanted, but he would prefer to wait until early spring (wants us back in February) - and get more xrays to see how the heel has grown. He actually said there's no hurry to do this, but that most parents prefer to have it done before the child starts kindergarten.

The name of the surgery is: calcaneal sliding osteotomy. I googled it and stumbled upon pictures of what they'll actually do. Yuck.

Basically, they'd cut his heel bone - insert some more bone into it - causing it to do what it's supposed to. They would also have to tighten the ligaments, since they are stretched from his heel falling down. We could get bone from Quinn's pelvic bone - or from a bone bank. The doctor highly recommends using a bone bank - the pain from recovering from the pelvic bone thing is awful.

He would do both feet at the same time since, "It's easy for kids his age to just move around on their bottoms during recovery." Also - then we'd only have to do the surgery once - and go through recovery once.

The doctor we're seeing is:

Robert Bielski from the Univesity of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. You can google him if you want. He sounds really good.

He did explain some of the other options for surgery - and why he wanted to do this one. Also, he stressed and stressed that the number of surgeries he actually performs on kids like Quinn is actually quite low - usually "typical flatfoot" kids don't require surgery, but Quinn's case is very severe. Quinn's feet are not actually flat when he's not standing on them. He has a very nice arch, but then he stands, the bones mess things up, and he's got flatfeet. (Most of his surgeries are on children with cerebral palsy and spina bifida.) Of course, he then did explain that he has done this surgery on typical children and it has been very successful - he just wanted to make sure I understood that he doesn't chop up every kid that walks in his door, I guess.

Recovery would take about 4 weeks - or less.

I told him I'd be seeking a second opinion and he happily gave me the xrays and notes from our visits. He even recommended a doctor from the group that we were referred to - and told me not to say anything about this surgery - and to not share the notes from this last visit so that doctor could come up with his own conclusion.

And well, I know this is a big deal. And maybe I'll be a little more freaked out come February, but really, I'm pretty relaxed right now about this. I feel much more informed and prepared with more questions. I also feel very confident in this doctor. And will still seek a second opinion and ask more questions. But honestly, I think since I read so many stories from other moms and dads about what they are going through medically with their own children, that this doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

The Plan - Week 7

So I had a bad running week last week. Between the tight IT band being treated by my chiropractor and the fact that my legs were, just in general, killing me, oh! and the rain (the rain it never stopped) - I was losing motivation, desire, and anything else that would actually make me get out and run.

Luckily for me - I have a pretty good support system. An email from my brother-in-law with actual dates of 5Ks, some facebook comments, some comments on that last post, a chat with a semi-new, but oh so very motivating friend, my chiropractor, my family - there's just so many people - and talking about this running thing is making it easier.

But really - what's helped the most? Is that my semi-new, but not that new, but very motivating friend, told me I don't need to run every day. I've been running every day. And doing my own thing. I had my own plan. One mile in August. Two miles in September. And then three in October. Every day. Anyway, this semi-new, but not that new, but very motivating friend, said there are plenty of training programs online for running a 5K and none of them have you run every day. AND - she only runs 5 days a week (and she is like, you know, a true runner.)

Anyway - so I looked some up. This is the one I like the most. They provide a training program for people who don't run at all yet and also a training program for Your First 5K run. I started at the end of Week 6 of the "program for people who don't run at all yet" and then I'll be doing the program for "Your First 5K".

Saturday I ran 2.75 miles - 5 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking - but I covered that much ground. A 5K is like 3.1 miles.

So - here's my plan for the week.

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Today you are going to try something different. Go to a school track or a trail in your area that you have measured. Warm up with vigorous walking for 10 minutes and then jog 2 x 1 mile repeats. Jog one mile and then walk for 5 minutes. Then jog another mile. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Wednesday -Walk/Jog for 30 minutes. Walk for 30 seconds and jog for 5 minutes.
Thursday - You will extend the distance of your workout today. After a 10-minute warm up, jog for 1.25 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking. You can run almost anywhere. Through your neighborhood; in a park; on a school track; or on a treadmill.
Friday - Rest or cross train.
Saturday - Warm up for 10 minutes. Jog 2 x 1 mile repeats. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Sunday - You will extend your workout again today. Warm up by walking for 10 minutes. Jog for 1.5 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.

The best part about this plan? Every Monday is a rest day. Which makes it really easy to do exactly what I'm supposed to do on Monday morning. Awesome, right?

I like having a plan. Even better, I like having a plan that forces me to take rest days. Even better than that, I like having a plan that makes sense.