Wells is 6 weeks old today!

My exciting news of the week is: I did a workout!! 

Actually, I’ve done 2 “workouts” now. The first was just a short, impromptu hill sprint workout. A few hours before my run that day, I thought it would be fun to push the pace on some hills. I ended up doing 4 x 40 seconds hard uphill. I jogged for 40 seconds between the hard parts. It was hard, but not too bad – a good intro to pushing the pace.

Then, my pace twinsie, Jason, challenged me… nudged me… not sure what the right words are, but he said he was doing a hard mile on the track on Wednesday of this week and asked if I was going to do one too. (We don’t live in the same state so we weren’t going to do the workout together physically, just updating each other virtually!) I said “maybe” but I knew right away I was going to do it.

Carnegie Mellon University track

Wednesday rolled around, and I was nervous. I walked Currie to school and told her what I would do while she was at school. I did this more for myself as some “get pumped for the workout talk” than for her. “I’m going to run to the track at Daddy’s work and do 4 laps as fast as I can. Then I’ll run back home, shower and come get you.” She thought that sounded fun and wanted to skip school to join me. I told her we could run together another day!

So, the workout: I got to the track and did another 3 laps to make about a 1.5 mile warmup. I did some high knee walks, some butt kicks and 4 x 50 meter strides. I was going through all the motions slowly, nervously. I was stalling. Finally, I had nothing else to do, so I was off. Laps were as follows:

• 88
• 90
• 90
• 90

5:58.02! I finished the workout with a 2.5ish mile cooldown to make 5 miles for the day (5 mile Turkey Trot coming up!) I was very pleased with this. It wasn’t a puke-inducing workout, but it also wasn’t easy by any means. My secret goal was to go sub 6:00. I know I can always do a 90 second lap, but was unsure of doing 4 in a row. I told myself to be happy with anything between 6:00-7:00. So yes, I’m very happy!

I was sore the next day in my hips, inner thigh, butt, and stomach – the places where I had the biggest body transformation during pregnancy. Also where I am holding the last 10lbs of baby weight. (Not saying this as a complaint at all. I realize I look good for 6 weeks postpartum, even for someone who hasn’t had a baby. Just noting that I’m 10lbs over racing weight and sore in these places.)

So far so good with the running. I’m just taking it day by day. Here are the 6 weeks pics:

6 weeks!

Questions for you:

Do you stall when you’re nervous for workouts or just jump right into them?

Do you talk to yourself/family/friends about workouts that frighten you to get in the right frame of mind?