Never skip out on arm day

 I have only recently adopted this mantra, and by recently I mean today.

We spent our usual week in Whistler, B.C and became the people we wish we could be year round. Our days began with a run around the golf course, coffee in the village and then the rest of the day mountain biking, hiking and a white water rafting adventure.
 I would thoroughly enjoy living in a condo so I could avoid yard work and just step outside to enjoy nature without the mundane chores. Ah, life goals.

 Upon the return to Montana, my husband became inspired to hit the gym on a regular basis. Being surrounded by active people and beautiful scenery can have that affect on you. Getting in the gym is easier when your kids have to be there anyway for swimming and karate.

 After only five days of working out I could already see the difference in his face and physique (this is why men suck, I train for a marathon and gain weight, he works out for five days and loses a chin) so I was inspired to have him help me with weight lifting.

 I have been watching with horror as my upper arms have gotten bigger, and not in a good way. This past two years have morphed me into someone I only saw during two pregnancies, despite all my running.

 I have hit the weights pretty hard with hubby. I see no change but have definitely noticed it in myself because I can actually pick up an 80 pound bale of hay again and don't have to flip it end over end from the back of the truck into the barn.

 The snow has already hit here. Zero degrees in the first week of November is a depressing warning of what the rest of the winter is going to be. Only four and a half more months of this. Yah. Needless to say my outdoor running is done. I'll do what I can on the treadmill but for now I am focusing on getting stronger and weight loss. I am not happy with the weight I am at and the heavier I am the slower I run.

 I would love to set a goal for a run, preferably one of the rainshadow runs like the Orcas 25 or 50k but unfortunately, life is just too up in the air to schedule anything like that. Once again praying that we won't be in Montana in a few months, being one thing, too.

 I wish I was seeing a miraculous change, like the stories you read about in magazines and on Instagram stories, but I haven't in myself. Other than a mental coping mechanism for getting through this time in life, at this point that is probably enough!

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

And this is especially true when you're a mom.

 The past three runs I had planned for, my boys ended up having a swim meet on each one of those race days. Soooooo, plans went by the wayside, running was dismal and half hearted and here I sit having my long runs at 6 miles.

 My oldest son has been such an incredible inspiration to me. He decided last summer after watching the summer Olympics, specifically Michael Phelps, that he wanted to try competitive swimming. August 11th will be the one year mark from when he took his first swimming lesson with the head coach of his swim team, to learn all the different strokes, and the weekend after next he will be swimming three different events at the state finals for long course.

 He has worked so hard these past few months after his coach told him not to expect to make state finals for two to three years, and I feel like a big hypocrite when I encourage him to go to practice when he doesn't feel like it yet here I sit, not working towards my own fitness goals, so I told him I was going to start on the marathon plan, whether I run an official race or just do it on my own. His response was the kick in the butt I needed when he said was I going to stick to this one this time, because I had announced a couple times now that I was following a plan and well, I was a big failure! Okay, I added the failure part.

 So yes, I am sticking to this one! I am on week two, a few of the runs have been treadmill runs since we are hovering in the 90's with terrible air quality because of multiple fires burning around the area.

 One big thing I am aiming is losing weight. Running with this extra weight just sucks. My knees are making crunching noises when I go up the stairs, my minutes per mile are two minutes slower than they were before I moved to Montana and gained depression weight, and  quite frankly I feel like crap when I put on my clothes so I determined. Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't try to lose weight while training for a marathon! I have been reading up on nutrition and am doing better energy wise and so far I am feeling good. If I start to feel drained I will change things up.

 So there it is, one week down, 17 to go!!

When it's your long run day but you're just too damn busy

 Week six of my training plan to my June 10th 30K actually became a repeat of week five because of the week from hell that resulted in a horse to the vet and a $1,000 plumbing disaster, so I had to do a re-do.

 The smaller runs were easy to do on the treadmill when the kids were at swimming and karate, my youngest son decided to start running with me this past week, too. Yah!

 The ten mile run was going to be a struggle. Montana weather is still winter, and being that we are on the prairie, finding a day that isn't blowing a stampede of tumbleweeds across endless miles of nothingness is a rarity but I tried it outside nonetheless.

 Two miles was all I managed. It was like running in mud up to my knees. My son was struggling to pedal his bike alongside of me, my chest ached from the cold wind and I bailed.

 Attempt number two at getting 8 more miles in was done at the gym on a treadmill while my son had a one hour karate class. Five miles accomplished this time but once again had to bail so we could drive into Helena for grocery shopping. I was bound and determined to get my ten miles in, even if it is rather unconventional to do a long run in stages, at least mentally I would feel accomplished!

 After dinner, we headed out to the OTHER gym we have a membership at and I ran as fast as my lungs and achy legs could handle. Week five complete, 10 miles down.

 The treadmill miles this week owe many thanks to the Ginger Runner to sidetrack me from the endless miles of boredom.

A goal! Yes, I finally have a race!

So I finally bit the bullet and chose a race. I told my husband I was going to make the depressing assumption that we were still going to be here this summer and his response was something along the lines of "I hope not but you might want to prepare yourself for the fact that we may be." So I found a race far away from the flat, color of dirt, landscape that we live in and selected the
St. Regis Trail Rail Run in June in St. Regis, Montana.

 Since it is about a four drive, I felt like driving all that way I should at least make it a worthwhile run and with four full months to prepare, the 30k seemed attainable. I was, after all, able to drag my sad self over the finish line of a half marathon. What's six more miles?

 I printed out the Hal Higdon Novice marathon training plan and tweaked it a bit with the mileage. I absolutely don't want to repeat how I trained for the half marathon in August by not running the race distance before the actual race. The farthest distance on the half marathon plan was ten miles and the last 3 were a killer, so this time around I plan on running 18 miles before the actual race.

 Week one called for three days of 3 mile runs with a jump to 6 miles on the long run day. Yeah, I told myself, probably not happening. I haven't run 6 miles in two or three months. My son had swim team practice the day of my long run so I had to run on the treadmill. I told myself I could probably make it to 5 miles, and that would be a stretch but once I hit 5 I surprisingly felt pretty good and managed the last mile. Week one of my 30k training was complete!

Trudging along and thinking of goals

The weather here has been unbelievable, as in I can't believe I would ever live in a place this miserable cold. I know, what did I expect moving to Montana? There is a reason only a million people live in the fourth largest state in the union. When Steinbeck wrote that this was the "last best place" (what does that statement even mean?) he had been in Montana for a total of 56 hours and primarily stuck to the Yellowstone area so trust me, it is not an honest assessment since he never bothered to factor in the weather!

 At one point, the temperature gauge on the truck read -35 and the snow pile up, even on the more bearable days, was too much to get outdoor runs in. With the two year mark coming up in March, officially releasing my husband of any obligation of having to pay back the money the company spent to move us here, he can officially look for employment elsewhere! It's really the only thing keeping my spirits up in this winter of misery.

 I am a miserable treadmill runner. The most I managed to force myself to run was five miles. I look at guys running next to me, their mileage at 8, and I am in awe. Even with a t.v in
front of me, I am way too bored to run any further.

 My oldest son joined the swim team last summer and he quickly advanced through the ranks to the team that practices five days a week so it keeps me at the gym at least. I switch my workouts between the bike and the stair stepper when I am not running. I use the machines for leg strengthening exercises but I don't venture out to the rest of the gym with the free weights because it can be rather intimidating. The weight lifters are not the friendliest and really make it known that that is their domain, even if we all are paying the same dang membership, so unless I am with my husband, I avoid that area.

 I need a goal, I definitely work better that way. The trail running schedule is out but a part of me feels like I need to be spending my mental energy towards focusing on NOT being here in a few months and signing up for a race would instead be saying "nope, you will still be here so suck it up!" Yeah, ridiculous. It's been almost two years of learning how to battle the self talk that goes on in my head, a daily struggle to focus on how to make the day pass without crying, getting through the day without thinking about what we would be doing if we were back in Washington. I should just sign up for the training goal and look at it from that perspective only.

 And I should probably cut out the second white chocolate iced  latte I have at home every night. That might be a good goal, too.