Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Awesome 3000 Training Week #4

Sunday - Playing at church

Hailey always runs around after church and climbs the playground equipment. It was an atypical Sunday as I had an old friend visiting. It was a fun afternoon! But not much time to run.

Monday - Hailey ran 4 minutes, walked 2 minutes - three intervals

Kara and Derek were sleeping so we had to run around the house and church grounds. There was slight mist in the air, but it did not rain until later (thankfully). Hailey struggled again to make four minutes. I let her walk for 10-15 seconds after two minutes and that seemed to help. Her pace is still all over the place, but she is getting more comfortable with running for longer periods of time. She was complaining of a side ache so we'll try drinking more water beforehand and in between intervals. I am glad we completed it though! She's doing good.

Tuesday - Hailey ran 4 minutes, walked 2 minutes - three intervals. Hailey also did 30 minutes of swim lessons and biked for about 10-15 minutes

It was tough again for Hailey today, but she really pushed through it and did not complain very much. I told her if she ran really good and did not complain, we'd go to Big Five later in the afternoon and buy swim goggles. Justin let her use swim goggles at her last lesson and she loved them. She really wants her own. We told her she could not get them until she was better with putting her face in the water and was in lessons longer. So we did go out around 5 to get goggles and she picked up a nice colorful pair.

I had a little bit of a scare. I thought it would be perfect to have Hailey run laps around the house while I played with Derek and Kara in the backyard. It worked at first, but I realized Hailey was doing the thing where she runs 15-20 seconds really fast and then quits and complains of being too tired. She really needed me to coach her. She kept tripping on the roots in the front yard (and then I think she was starting to make herself trip). I went to the front yard to help her and was gone only 15 seconds or so. When I got to the backyard Kara was gone. I hit the panic button. It's one thing when Derek wanders off. He's three. He knows he's not supposed to. You call him and he comes. But Kara is 1 1/2 and has no concept of traffic (we don't live on a very busy road, but there are cars that periodically come by) and does not respond when you call her since she's still learning to talk. She is starting to escape out the back gate all the time. You can't take your eyes off her for even a few seconds. I should not have risked it even for those few seconds. I started yelling at Hailey to find Kara. Thankfully she was right by the garage and I found her right away...she was not in any dangerous spot or anything. I decided this running around the house was not going to work and Kara needed to be contained.

So I put Kara in her pink car and Hailey and I ran around the parking lot and the church grounds. I pushed Kara and she always likes the ride. Derek ran a little with us and then waited for us on the church playground. It was a much safer solution. Hailey did really well. I know this is really challenging for her and I honestly don't know how this race is going to go for her. But it is something we're doing together and I almost wish someone would have done this with me (though kids races weren't not nearly as big in the 1980's). It might have kept me from quitting track which I still regret to this day.

I am doing the 5K in Lebanon in a few weeks. I am not as trained right now as I could be. But I'm doing it for Hailey so she can see a race in action. I really want her to know that she's not the only one pushing herself and training for something. Also seeing Hailey swim this afternoon, then run, and later bike made me long to do a triathlon. I REALLY want to do one and it will be so much more planning and effort than a running race. I need a bike and access to a pool and probably 6-8 swim lessons. It is not possible right now, but someday I hope it will be.

Wednesday - Hailey and Derek did hills.

We ran up the Hrubetz Road hill to Liberty past Liberty Bar and Grill--up and down twice with little rests in between. Hailey ran the whole way and was very confident. She did awesome. Derek ran/walked. I honestly don't think it was challenging enough for her and we need to do a steeper hill. :) She wants to run at the new park on Mildred once we get better weather.

Thursday - Hailey ran 5 minutes, walked about a minute, and ran another 5 minutes followed by walking. She also swam swim lessons for 30 minutes. She biked four about 10-15 minutes.

The running today was a much tougher workout for Hailey. She really struggled. She wanted to quit again after one minute and was struggling, groaning, hardly moving during most of the run. Her confidence was so low today and she got choked up at one point. She also got kind of frustrated with me at another point. She kept saying she just wants to run as fast as she can. I was trying to explain it to her she cannot hold that pace for very long. Hailey is my child who likes to argue the opposite of what I say even though she knows I am right. With other issues I have just said, "OK, you can think that. Not going to argue anymore." Rob is the same way. Must be a Toornstra thing. I let her run as fast as she wanted at one point and she could only 30 seconds or so. I think she understood what I meant that you have to maintain a pace. It was a little frustrating and discouraging, but I tried to keep it together and be very encouraging as well as patient. 5 minutes is a long time for a 5 year old to run. We did 10 second walks after around 2 minutes. She really did stick with it. She understood it was tough workout and she probably did not do as best as she could. She said she still wants to try it again and run on Saturday.

I don't care if she runs the whole way in the race or even walks a big part of it. I just don't want her to give up and quit right away or drop out halfway through. I have been trying to explain that to her. I know we still have a few more weeks to go. I think the continued training and consistency is going to help. We all have bad running days. I cannot explain it to always go smoothly or even be fun all the time.

Friday - Hailey rested today

She deserved it! We did have good weather today so could play ball and run around the backyard. Hailey also worked in the garden with Rob.

Saturday - Hailey ran 5 minutes, walked 1 minute, ran 5 minutes

Hailey did awesome! She ran her longest yet--three minutes non-stop. For the five minute intervals, I let her do 10-15 second walks and then run again. We ran at Woodmansee Park on the trails and she loved it! She liked running across the bridges and through the woods. I think she is intimidated running on the street and she doesn't really like it. I was thankful Rob wanted to be out at the park this evening. He played with Kara and Derek on the playground while we ran. I am also thankful we had good weather today too. Hailey was way more confident today and did not complain at all. She also wants to run alone now and not cling to me. We were running holding hands for awhile so she could pace better. She likes to run on her own now. I'm really proud of her!

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