Happy Mother's Day!! Hello Week #9!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there.  You are the world's best mother!!  We are very grateful for everything that moms do.  Without the moms - the world would not be the same.  I have the best husband in the world.  For mother's day, he gave me a dozen red roses, new dry fit running socks and a water belt for my upcoming race.  Perfect and thoughtful gifts.  He is just the best!! 

Today is Sunday, rest day!!  Thank goodness!  My weekend has been spent at my son's baseball tournament in Fort Collins.  His team did a GREAT job this weekend.  My running workouts struggled this weekend due to our baseball schedule.  With having to leave each morning by 6:30am, it was impossible to get in a decent workout, especially with not arriving back home until the early evening.  So unfortunately, no running workouts this weekend. However, I will say that I did get in some exercise even at a baseball field. The trick isn't the where but the how.  With fields and fields everywhere, this is the prime opportunity for good brisk walks.  Yesterday I took 20-30 brisk walks between baseball games. This not only got my heart and blood flowing but it also allowed me to still get in some type of exercise and workout even if I wasn't at home running.  I took about (3) different walks throughout the day on Saturday.  At my current minute/mile pace, this is a little over 4 miles for my workout.  Not too bad for being at a baseball tournament all weekend.  The final games were today.  The team lost the 2nd game but still finished at the top of the pack.  As a mother, I'm so proud of my son.  He played awesome and even won the MVP / Sportsman Award from another team's coach. 

Last week was a big challenge with my workouts.  I moved my workouts to the late afternoons.  I was noticing that I wasn't getting enough sleep with my morning workouts. I was only averaging about 6 1/2 hours of sleep with a 4:30am workout time.  I was struggling to find energy after 2pm.  I needed to find a way to get more energy, especially since my day doesn't end until 10:00pm.   Changing my workout times is working because my minute per mile pace went from 16.75 to 16.33.  Wow!  Who would have thought that changing your workout could have a great effect on your running time. 

So with baseball done for another weekend, it is onto Week #9 workout.  This week I will continue to do my workouts in the late afternoons.  I think I will get better results and performance even though afternoon workouts can be a challenge time wise.   This week it is about daily increases.  Each day will increase in time and distance.  This is going to be a tough and challenging week. 

Week #9 Workout
Monday - Run/Walk = 2 miles
Tuesday - Cross Training = 45 minutes
Wednesday - Run/Walk = 4 miles
Thursday - Rest Day
Friday - Cross Training = 60 minutes
Saturday - Run/Walk = 6 miles

My goal this week is to cut another 20 seconds from my time.  This might be a big step but I'm willing to take the challenge.  Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

Trainer Tip:  This week I learned a great tip.  I found this tip from Kendrick on the Run Like a Diva Facebook site.  Here is the tip:  Lemon up!! Lemons shrink fat cells so use it up whenever you can...good trick... squeeze some lemons and freeze in an ice cube trays. Now you can have some lemon without the hassle of cutting up lemons everytime you grab a drink.   Drink up.. and fight fat!!  

Have a great week!

Happy Running!