Training is going

I haven't really had my set walks this week, but I figure I'm still good because I've walked the mall many times this week in search of something to wear for a wedding today. I will say that my pace has picked up from the previous two weeks as I planned. It's faster than my everyday walking speed but it's not yet at my "I'm at Disneyland" speed. That will be my pace the last two weeks before I start running. I did do a long walk on Sunday, or I should say I wanted to do a long walk. But at minute 35 I had a pain underneath my ribcage on my left side that forced me in. I also tweaked my knee on Thursday though I still don't know how I did it. I hope it's fully better by tomorrow as I'm walking a 5K (3.1 miles) for Breast Cancer research.

In other news. Today is the Ironman Championships from Kona. I love watching the stories when they replay the highlights on tv. It's just such an incredible thing. Real inspiring. If they can do an ironman, why can't I do a half marathon?

Days 5 and 6

Sunday, day 5, I went for a walk with Hunter before coming back to watch The Amazing Race. We walked for about 30 minutes and I remember feeling fine, just another stroll. I'm now currently "house sitting" for my parents while their master bath gets remodeled so I'm walking their neighborhood. Monday was a rest day according to the book and Tuesday I also did not walk. Well, I did walk the malls but I wasn't doing it for time, I was just doing it to be at the mall, window shopping.

Yesterday was day 6. I walked with Hunter around my parents neighborhood in the morning for 30 minutes. By the end of it it was getting quite warm and I was sweating. Hunter had fallen asleep of course. Last night we went for another walk. This time we went 40 minutes. The weather was much better and I felt great. However, towards the end, we came across a small snake. I first thought it was a stick on the sidewalk until it started to move.  I start to walk by, but then curiosity kicked in. I stepped back, and sure enough, I see a diamond shaped head. It was only about a foot to a foot and a half long, but the end of the tail did look different than the rest of his body. Perhaps a baby rattler? As I was looking at him, he curled up and elevated his head and I took off. Thought it was best that we get going. So, future walks here I'll try to stick with daytime ones that don't end when it's dark.

Day 4

Yesterday was a rest day but I did take a nice leisurely stroll last night for about 15-20 minutes. Today I took advantage of the YMCA and did some cross training. My book says to do between 45-1 hour but I only did 40 minutes. I did 10 minutes on a stair climber, easy. I felt fine, but winded after that. Then I moved to the recumbent bike for 30 minutes. I thought I was taking it easy on the bike too, but by minute 26 my upper abs were hurting. So, I dropped my pace considerably and the pain subsided. However, by the time I got to my car it started hurting again. It really will take some time for me to get to feeling normal again. I hope I'm just sore from not using these muscles for over 10 months and that the pain will go away and that I'll learn just how to push myself safely.

Day 3

Went off the schedule today. I was supposed to cross train for an hour, but seeing as I don't have a gym membership and my bike needs to go in for a tune up after the triathlon, I couldn't do anything. So, I walked again. This time we went 45 minutes. The weather felt cooler today and it didn't seem to be as humid so I actually enjoyed this walk. And, Hunter was awake for all but 10 minutes of it. That's an improvement from the first 2 days. However, as bad as this is, I walked in flip flops. My legs hurt a little. Perhaps if I'm going to walk more than 30 minutes I should actually put on shoes. My parents come to town today and they have a membership to YMCA. Maybe they have a guest pass option and I can go with them on Saturday to do some cross training. We'll see.

Day 2

Hunter and I got out for another walk today. We were out for 30 minutes. It wasn't as hot today but it's very humid. There was a chance for rain today here in Phoenix but as of this writing, I have yet to see any. I feel about the same as yesterday. I'm thinking about breaking up these 6 weeks (depending on how I feel of course) into 2 week chunks. First 2 weeks are still pretty casual, step up the speed the next 2 weeks, then one more notch the 2 weeks after that leading into me being able to run.

Until then, not too exciting.

Day 1

I'll try to type this with my 6 week old in hand. He's at that stage where he's not happy unless someone is holding him. Or, it's right after a very long nap and he's been fed and changed, and it's not nighttime.

Hunter and I went on a 30 minute walk around our neighborhood this morning. How did it go? It was hot. It is September 21st and it was 7:45am and it is still hot out. But, this is Phoenix I guess. Hunter was asleep by the end of it. But, sure, he was being pushed around in his car seat on his stroller.

Me? I'm still trying to tell myself it's ok to walk right now. I know that 6 weeks puts it at November 1 and it makes me nervous that I won't be ready in time for the race, but, I won't know unless I try, and I can't push it too much as what I had done was major abdominal surgery. I have to keep telling myself that so I don't get frustrated.

I just hope that my sister, who also plans to do the race with me, doesn't not start training just because I can't run quite yet. I'm not entirely sure I can do this run without her, even if it is at Disney World.

Got the green light, kinda.

Today was my 6 week postpartum visit to get the all clear on various things. The one I was most anxious to hear about was exercise. I had a c section on 8/9/10, after I registered to race in the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon race at the end of February. I've named this blog in honor of a shirt that my sister and I saw when we were racing the 5K at Disneyland last year. It said Princess in Training and had running shoes with a crown on it.

Anyway, I have the clear to start physical activity, slowly. I explained about my goal to run in this race (yes, run. I'll have to keep a 16 minute/mile pace - not too bad, but I hate running!) and she said to start with walking first and that I should wait about another 6 weeks before I really start pushing myself.

I'll be honest. That does concern me as that puts me running in early November. I do however have a book that has a 20 week training guide for a half marathon. One version starts off with a walk and run combo, the other is just walking. There is a just walking version for the first 10 weeks. Hopefully I can do this walking and gradually build up the pace over the course of these next 6 weeks that way come November, I can make an easy transition to running.

I was on a board for runners, those that actually enjoy running. I looked at a post about mom's post c section and how soon they got back into running. Some got back in after 2-4 weeks. Those that did though, almost all talked about their incision splitting open. I asked about that with mine and I didn't quite get an answer. I want to assume that if I have the go ahead for everything post delivery that my incision would be good, but, how do I know for sure?!

Anyway, I want to use this blog to capture my thoughts as I train for this race and for future triathlons (because that's really what I like) along with journaling my training sessions and how I feel after all is said and done. And, I'm sure, on occasion, I'll be looking for some motivation and reassurance from people.