Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Still Focused

Thanks to my brother-in-law I have a new long-term fitness goal, that being to train and run in the Hood to Coast relay in record pace (for me) in August 2009. This will be 6 months after having my baby girl in late Feb 09. As of right now I can walk a 5k, but no longer run it, just due to the weight on my joints of the pregnancy. My heart and lungs miss the cardio and I have jogged a good 1/2 mile recently to get my heart rate above 130 which felt marvelous. It was at night jogging in Old Sacramento and I felt I could go forever, but was cut short due to time.

So I need to stay in at least decent shape until my baby's birth and then return to running as soon as possible afterwards. My left hip is still an issue and with the additional weight of the pregnancy fatigues easily after a day of picking up a 20 lb 5 month old (my nephew) and his brother a 2 1/2 year old with a broken ankle (40 lbs). This week I've gone to a yoga class every other day and either walked 2 miles on the treedmill (with hill inclines) or swam a 1/2 mile in the pool. I find that my weight stays down the more I walk though, so I need to keep this as the focus of my exercise even though swimming and yoga are nicer on my hip. Wish me luck.

My goal for the Hood to Coast is to run my 15 miles or so in record pace for me, pushing it down to close to 10 min miles! I used to be able to run at a 9 min mile pace in 2003, which was when before bearing two kids and pushing over age 30, so lets see what staying focused will do.

Go Red Carpet Warriors...Hood to Coast here we come!