A) It's efficient. Short amount of time, and I'm giving my heart a great exercise.
B) No gym membership, no driving somewhere, time efficient, wallet-efficient.
C) It feels awesome.
D) It is worship. For me, starting at 2-3 weeks postpartum, it is a way I physically thank God for my health. Hard to explain.
E) It's can be *good for your joints, and good for your heart. (See articles I linked to previous post)
But, I will say, I'm not gaining muscle. After running a certain mileage (which really isn't very high), your body gets so used to it, it stops being a way to lose weight/build cardio. (Look in any running journal to find the scientific mumbojumbo, I don't have the energy to link right now). So, it's probably not something you do to lose weight or get in great shape.
But, it's something I do because I *love.
Up until my 16mi run, it gave me energy, endurance for my day, and a time to focus on God.
My muscles and joints feel awesome. Doing taxes on the computer hurt my joints worse than 20miles. A little tight 3rd day, but no pain.
But, I. Am. Exhausted.
...I basically use every ounce of energy in my day to spend time with my baby and teach him things. Which, let's be honest is more important than spring cleaning.
Everything else: Gone To Pot.
What's funny, is I am just running ONE time a week, but I am drained all week from my one long run.
That being said...... I'm not training the way a runner should be training for a marathon. I'm eating fast-food and PBJ's and pizza. I'm running one time per week instead of three, and I'm doing no muscle-building. And I really feel that that is the reason I'm wiped.
But, I am training the *best I can while being a mom (minus the poor diet, that's just bad habit), while putting my baby first and my husband first. (Which is why, they say being a stay-at-home mom is a full time job..if it's really your priority, it IS a full time job!)
What I wasn't expecting was that being a mom is incredibly and unexpectedly draining physically, emotionally, spiritually.
And, I'm glad I'm not training for the whole 4-6month period that most runners train, because that would be a long amount of time to train for ONE short event.
So, what has training looked like for me?
Three weeks ago, I ran 16; Lots of hills, but nothing to report except hamstring soreness that lasted 4 days.
The week after, I ran 18.9. The hardest run by far. It was 82 that day, I ate three Goo in the first half hour (stupid, stupid mistake) and my legs felt like ten million pounds. Awful day.
This week, I ran 20.8. I felt really good afterwards, definitely had another 2 miles in me, no complaints. Okay I'll find one. It's hard to 'stay off your legs' when you have a 10month old. I think that's why I can't recover quick enough energy-wise to run during the week.
This week: Exhausted. I am literally having to push myself to get laundry done, to take Elijah out, to go to Target and I LOVE Target.
So......do I still love running?
Yes, please!
Will I ever run another 26.2 mile-marathon?
Not while there is a baby in the house!
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