Sleeping through the night… it’s not just for babies!

Everyone expects babies to get up multiple times a night… but I was really thrown off when my previously great sleeper K started getting up.  It started with getting up at 6am or so to go potty.  Then she started to get up about 1 or 2.  Then it was about midnight and then 2 or 3 and up at 6 for the day.  Once it got up to 4 times a night I reached my breaking point…

I asked friends and the internet if they had gone through toddler/preschooler wake ups.  Most of the things I found were night terrors but I didn’t think K was having these because she would get out of bed and would respond to me.  Some friends said that their kids were going through the same thing and one recommended that K might just need additional reassurance.  She recently transitioned from a small toddler class to a big preschool class so this sounded like it might be the case.  I tried to give her a lot of attention in the day but decided at night to do cry it out.

We locked our door, made sure she had everything she needed if she got up and was dressed warmly, and then settled in to sleep for the night.  The first night she got up about 2am and cried/threw a tantrum outside the door for 30 minutes or so.  Varying from “I want my mommy,” to “tuck me in” to “I have to go pee.”  After 30 minutes she gave up and went back to bed.  The next night it was a 3 or 4 am wake up and pretty much just crying for 10 minutes.  Next 3 nights… no wakeups!

Richmond Marathon 2012 Race Report

After my last tri of the season I had an itch to do something else…  I kind of wanted to do another half or maybe even a full IM, or at least a half or full marathon.  I put that on the backburner for a bit as we went on a vacation and then came back and ran the Army Ten Miler.  After running a personal best by almost two minutes I started looking for a marathon to run since my running fitness was good and my overall fitness/base was very good from my Half IM training.

I wrote a friend and said I was thinking of running the Richmond or Charlottesville Marathon.  She wrote back and said she was running the Richmond Marathon with her team.  I asked if she could pickup my packet and meet me before the race if I decided to do it and she agreed.  With that logistical hassle out of the way I still waivered back and forth on whether to do the race or not.

Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast very hard and the NYC Marathon was cancelled.  A lot of NYC runners then signed up for Richmond and I thought the race might fill up.  The last day to register online was Wednesday so at 10pm I finally decided to register!  I started to get excited after signing up, probably should have signed up earlier!

After the half IM I did a 90 minute run and a 60 minute run for the 10 miler.  After the 10 miler I considered doing the marathon and wanted to get in at least a 90-120 minute run.  I only did a 60 minute run for my long run and the weekend before my planned 45 minute run was only 30 minutes… so in the two months leading up to the marathon my long runs were the Army 10 Miler and my 90 minute run.  For the half IM I had done about 2 runs of 14 miles, a 13 mile run, and a few runs of 10-12 miles.  I was a bit worried about my fitness for a marathon but I’ve done a marathon in an IM with about the same amount of run training and it actually went well so I thought I might be able to tough out an open marathon.

I wanted to qualify for Boston so needed to run at least a 3:40.  With the rolling Boston entry procedure I wanted to go at least 10 minutes under qualification so 3:30 was my goal (and it would be my best time and 8:00 min/miles seemed doable).

Race morning I planned to get up a bit after 4 and head down to Richmond to meet my friend to get my packet.  K decided to wake up and cry at 2:30am and I laid there and tossed and turned forever.  I didn’t think I fell asleep but at 3:30 K woke up crying again…  needless to say I wasn’t very happy.  I got her back in bed and laid there until 4am.  Then got up and headed out.  It was good to be on the road early I guess and I made it down to Richmond in an hour and a half.  Parking was easy and there wasn’t a lot of traffic which I was worried about.

I met up with my friend and got my packet.  The race shirt was really nice ~ a navy blue long sleeve technical shirt with a small logo on the front and nothing on the back.  I like when shirts are fairly plain and definitely like a tech shirt over a cotton one.  We hung until about 30 minutes before the race start and then headed to the start line.  We entered from the left side of the start area and didn’t have any trouble getting in and to our desired start area, right in front of the 3:30 pace group. I read afterwards that runners coming from the right side of the start area weren’t able to get to their start corrals very easily so thankful we entered from the left.  It was supposed to be a high of 68 and the start was about 45 degrees.  I was comfortable in a throwaway hat and gloves and a trash bag (probably didn’t need the trashbag).

The National Anthem was sung beautifully by a high school girl and then were were off.  The first mile was a bit congested but not too bad and by the 2nd mile we were able to run! Definitely nice compared to some of the crowded DC races like the Army Ten Miler or Marine Corps Marathon.  First mile about on target at 7:40 (my friend’s goal was 3:20 so we were going to try to do about 7:40 miles and I was going to see how I would feel and how long I could hold on for).  Next few miles were about 7:30 even though they felt super easy.  My friend ended up feeling sick so she told me to go ahead as we ran along the river (about 8 or 9 miles).  I felt great and probably pushed the next stretch a bit too much.  As I approached the half I was still feeling good but my energy levels were dropping.  I probably should have brought along some energy gels for the first half of the marathon. My body felt ok but my knees had been bothering me a tiny bit from mile 6… I made it through the half in 1:41 and thought I could hold that pace for the 2nd half.

The next few miles were good and I scarfed down 3 gels at mile 15 and felt better.  But then I hit a wall about mile 17…  I have no clue what my split was for that mile but it was across a bridge and uphill and it felt like it took forever.  The next 9 miles were a mind game of pushing myself forward and taking in as many calories as I could.  I started to feel pretty bad about mile 20 and noticed I was very salty.  The next water station seemed to take forever to get to but once I was there I walked the aid station and a bit more taking in as much as I could.  I slowly started jogging again and felt better, or at least like I could finish and not like I was going to pass out.  I don’t know how many times I walked but I think 3 or 4 total, normally around an aid station which they had at the end it seemed about every mile!  At one point I thought I might not be able to get the Boston Qualification of 3:40 but I looked down at one of the mile markers and saw that I still could go about 3:30.

The 3:30 pace group passed me about mile 23 when I was walking.  I told myself to just stay with them and I started gaining on them… then not sure what happened and I just settled back into my survival mode shuffle.  I saw mile 25 and was soooo happy.  I love the finish–lots of turns and a downhill finish so not like some slogs to the finish where you can see it a mile out but it takes forever to get there.  I finished in 3:30 and made myself walk for 10 minutes.  After stretch and eating a bagel and a piece of pizza I felt much better.  The wait for a massage was pretty long but I chatted with a few people, drank my free beer, and the time passed quickly.  After the massage I could walk ok.  I was sore that day and the next but by Monday could walk up and down stairs with just a bit of pain and on Tuesday I didn’t even need to use the railing.

Richmond is a beautiful and fun course and I would definitely do it again.  I liked it a lot more than the Marine Corps Marathon, mainly because it was not as crowded.  They had a record number of registrants at 6003 and well stocked aid stations and lots of crowd support.  The course is rolling (advertised as flat but it’s definitely not flat) and very scenic, passing old row houses, monuments, and running along the James River.

Potty Training Twins

I was super nervous about Potty Training…  from the time I even started thinking about potty training I was very nervous and stressed about it!  I will say that potty training wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I introduced the potty to my girls a bit before they turned 2 and then just let them take the lead. I did get them underwear and tried it out a few times.  The first time was about 2 minutes before someone peed in their underwear. The next time we went for a walk and they held their pee for over an hour… then peed in their underwear instead of the potty I was toting along!   I would have them sit on the potty every so often but for the most part the potties were just a decoration in the bathroom.  At about 2.5 A just decided to go on the potty out of the blue! I was so excited!  I put them in underwear right after A started going.  A didn’t have any accidents but K peed quite a bit in her underwear.  A week or so later she started using the potty and never looked back.  We did have some accidents but nothing bad and it was really much easier than I expected it to be.  Going out was a bit tricky but they soon learned how to pee on the side of a trail in a walk and were good at using public toilets.  One weekend we went out of town and I forgot the little portable toilets.  They were fine using only the big toilets (had been about 50/50 before then) and when we returned they only used the big toilets! That was about 3 months after they first started using the potty so not too long to have to clean the small ones out.

Going #2 was a lot harder… I think it was about as difficult as I expected potty training to be. The girls did not want to go on the toilet and would either ask for a diaper or go #2 in their underwear.  I got pretty tired of cleaning the underwear out!  Then, just like the pee, it just clicked one day.  Or somewhat I should say… the first time K went she started crying.  A went a few days later and wasn’t too excited about it.  They still would ask for a diaper or have an accident for a few weeks but then they started to go completely on their own and we are potty trained!!!  K was night trained about the same time as she was #2 trained, A still wet her pullup for a few more months but eventually was waking up dry and wanted underwear so we made the switch with her a bit after 3.  All in all from the first pee to going #2 in the potty all the time it was about 3 months so not too bad! I definitely recommend introducing the potty and letting your children take the lead.  Also just let each child go at his or her own pace.  Often twins potty train at different times and that is completely ok!

Army Ten Miler 2012

It’s been my goal since my first Ten Mile race to break 70 minutes.  I’ve come close but have never broken 70 minutes.  This year I really wanted to break 70 minutes at the Army Ten Miler!  I felt good leading up to the race, a bit of hip pain occasionally but nothing too bad.  Race day was beautiful running weather — projected high of mid 60s and sunny.  Race morning it was high 40s so not too bad of a temperature to wait before the race.

I find the 10 mile distance a hard distance to race.  I’ve heard the best 10 milers run at a 10km pace, whereas the slower runners run more at a half marathon pace.  I tried to figure out my pacing for the run but still didn’t have a good plan. I’ve gone out too hard and died, and I’ve gone out too slowly and have been unable to make up the deficit.  My loose plan was to run at an aggressive pace from the start to get my body used to running a fast and hold it.  I planned to go pretty hard the first two miles and then maybe ease off a bit then build the rest of the run.

I took the metro down and met my team in a hotel near the race site.  It’s fun to run for a team and I really enjoy the camaraderie that comes with being part of a team.  We put on our company shirts and headed to the start area about 7:15/7:30.

I did about 5 minutes of warm up running with 3 short pickups and really felt great. I was ready to break 70 minutes! I lined up in my start wave a bit back but I didn’t think I was too far back.  The cannon went off and I was running about 2 minutes later.

The first mile was really congested and hard to run so I tried to weave around the slower runners as best as possible.  I felt fine and didn’t feel like I was going too hard but I had no clue what my pace was. I ran through the first mile at 7:03 and was really happy with that because I was on track for sub 70 without feeling like I was pushing much and with having to weave and not be able to really run smoothly.  The next mile was still congested and I passed 2 miles at 14.01.

The third mile things started to open up a bit but there was a water stop which I thought really slowed me down. They advertise the Army Ten Miler as a flat race.  While it isn’t hilly it definitely isn’t completely flat.  One of the gradual uphills is about mile 3 so I tried to push it up there and rest at the downhill.  I didn’t even realize I missed the 3 mile marker until I hit mile 4 at 27:40.  I was thrilled with that and I still felt great so I thought I really could break 70 minutes!  I was still feeling good and contemplated picking up the pace but figured I would just hold that pace until mile 6 and see how I felt.

Mile 5 at 34:33, missed mile 6, and 10km at 42.52.  I was happy we didn’t have to do the long out and back by the Capitol and was soon headed back toward the Pentagon.  I hit mile 7 and 48:22 and was still holding about the pace.  We started running into a headwind so I focused on keeping my turnover.  I was passing a lot of runners which definitely is a much better feeling that being passed, which has happened to me in several past 10 mile races!  Ran past mile 8 at 55:16 and there was a guy who passed me that I decided to stick with.  Across the 14th Street Bridge I just stayed a few steps behind him and he led me across the bridge and past many more runners! Right before 9 miles there was a gradual uphill and I let him get away.  Mile 9 at 1:02:06 and I realized I could not only break 70 minutes but also 69!  I was pretty tired though and a lot of the runners passed me from mile 9-9.5.  At 9.5 I told myself to dig deep and push the last mile.  I looked at my watch as I crossed and saw 1.09.01. I knew I might have started it a bit early so didn’t know if I broke 69 minutes or not. I had to brace myself on my legs at the finish and was exhausted, but so happy with my effort.  I walked around a bit and stretched and felt ok.  After our team lunch I headed home and checked results when they came up and saw I had a 1.08.58! My first sub 70 10 miler!