I'm No Quitter!

I have SOOOOO neglected this blog since school started. What can I say, I can only focus on one thing at a time and family, teaching and running are two things too many already...so teaching has won out over almost everything but family over the past month.

Running has been blah lately. I noticed on my yearly mileage, I am only 25 miles away from hitting 200 miles in 2011. I think I've got that covered in the next month or so. I've scrapped the training schedule that was created for this event and made my own, "no injuries" plan. I am taking a low mileage approach in my half marathon training. My longest run this far has been 6 miles. I am shooting for 7 this weekend, but we will see...

My body keeps telling me to quit. My mind is also headed in that direction. But I'm no quitter. I finished college, grad school and my Rank 1 (a fancy teacher degree above your Masters) in 7 years, have taught kids with severe behavior, academic, emotional and physical problems, given birth, raised a child for 4 years and completed one half marathon already. So surely I can complete 13.1 measly miles of running (or some form of walking/jogging), right?!?

I'm working on staying focused, running a little longer each week and not worrying about speed.

Any advice for this?? Should I increase my long runs by a mile each week?

Long Time No Blog!

Hello, again. Yes, I am alive and well.

It's been a while. Where to begin...

Since school started it has been one long day after another. Feels like I've ran a marathon at the end of every day. And it's only September! I'm in for it this year!

Running is...going. 3 days a week. 2 shortish runs working on pace and speed. 1 longer run working on just not dying. My longest run has been six miles. Last week I wanted to sell my bib for this half-marathon I am attempting to train for. Running felt like torture of the worst kind. Heck, any physical activity felt like torture.

This past weekend called for nine, but it did not happen because I was out of town for Labor Day and ate my weight in greasy, salty, high calorie food. So I just didn't run. This week was about detoxing my body and getting my legs moving again. After 2 really good 3 mile runs, I feel better about running this week. Last week was just a fluke, I hope.

I just wanted to update anyone who may be wondering where I have disappeared to. Life has gotten busy and stressful and I am learning to deal with it again, as I do every school year when I go back to work. It just feels like I am not dealing very well right now. So when I figure out how to do that, I will be blogging on a regular basis again. For now, I will teach, I will run and I will do it with a smile on my face. Or at least I will try...

I survived the first week of school. Can I survive 5 miles?

Last week we were supposed to begin school on Monday. But on Saturday, we had a nice little storm that knocked out electricity to 150,000 people in our city and a lot of the schools in my district. So fast forward to Wednesday, and we actually got to have the first day of school.

I have never felt exhaustion like I did this year. Even being in labor for almost 20 hours with the little one four plus years ago seemed easy-peasy compared to this week. This coming week will be an actual 5 day week, and I am wondering if I should take a sick day already! Seriously, though, I am going to be depending on caffeine and getting to bed early to get me through.

Because of this exhuastion, I have taken 2 rest days (Friday and Saturday). So that means today has to be the dreaded long run day. 5 miles. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

I'm thinking that I will do as much as possible on the treadmill (maybe 4?) and then head outside for about a mile. My last outside run resulted in muscles so sore I felt like limping all day. That's what I get for thinking I could run outside on concrete at 6 a.m. without warming up first. It was only a mile! I've ran much longer than that before in the afternoon or evening and not had any soreness. I'm almost positive that was my body's way of saying, "You don't need to run in the morning!" My thoughts all along. 

In other news, there is a small possibility that I may be teaching 5th grade this year. Yes, school has already started, I know. I am a special education teacher. I work with 4th and 5th grade. There is a 5th grade teacher that is going to retire in November. I would like to take her place when she leaves. The team of teachers I work with would like for that to happen too.

I am certified to teach both special ed and regular ed. I was always waiting for the perfect opportunity to move into regular education, and I think this may be it. Don't get me wrong, I love special ed. But in my school district, if you are a special ed teacher, you are expendable. Year to year it depends on our numbers of students with special needs as to whether I stay or go. And the numbers have been dwendling every year. Next year most likely I will lose my position at my school. So that makes this decsion easier. That and the fact that I will still get to work with the same kids and teachers I am currently working with.

So I may be updating soon about my principal's decision to either keep me where I am or move me to 5th grade. *Fingers crossed!*

I'm baaaaack!

Did you even realize I was gone?? Here's an update of what's being going on...

Work

Been a wild and crazy week so far, with no slowing down for the next 2 days. It's that time of year when teachers start getting ready for the new school year by spending countless hours in professional development, meetings and setting up our classrooms, or for me, my closet.

I am a resource teacher, so I spend most of my time in other teacher's classrooms working with kids that need extra support, as well as teaching with the classroom teachers. But I do have a small room that I share with someone, and I use it to pull kids out that need one-on-one help or for testing, etc. Unpacking, rearranging and paperwork have consumed the last 3 days. I'm ready for the kids, but I really am not ready for all the "logistical" and "political" parts of my job.

Speaking of political, I wanted to share this awesome video clip of Matt Damon going apesh*t on a reporter asking a question about teachers having incentives for test scores and job performance:

Training

I've had good days and bad days, as expected. Saturday's long run of 3 miles was pushed back to Sunday because Saturday was so busy. But I got it done. Not gonna lie. It. was. hard. I began to rethink the whole half-marathon thing. Again. But that was nothing compared to Monday. That was my first full day back to work. I was exhausted. It was a cross-train day, so I did Ripped in 30, at least I did most of it, and called it a night. Again, I am not a morning workout person, so going back to work then taking care of the little one, and finally working out at the end of the night was tough. I had forgotten how tough. 

Last night was a repeat of Monday night. Except, I was supposed to run 3 miles. Again. When I got home from work, we swam in our neighbor's pool for over an hour. I did lots of laps, and some with kids hanging on me. So needless to say, I was wiped out. So I modified my schedule and only did 1 mile. I would have done more if my chest didn't feel like it was going to explode. Sharp pain when I breathe. Weird side effect of swimming?? ever had that happen?

Today is back to cross-training. I'm thinking walking at an incline on the treadmill while watching Big Brother sounds like a plan. Maybe a little Ripped in 30 before that starts...I dunno. We'll see.

Balancing It All

I've spent this last week easing back into some work stuff. Next week gets even more intense. You see, teachers don't get all summer off like many people think we do. Sure, we get several uninterrupted weeks of fun in the sun, but that is intertwined with professional development classes (thus far I've done 37 hours, still have 27 more before school starts on August 15th) as well as meetings, and classroom set-up--which is a week long process for most. I tell you this not to complain, but to update you on my what my summer vacation really looks like.

source

I've been thinking, "how in the world am I going to work full-time, attend after school meetings and more professional development, plan excellent, motivating lessons for my students, keep up with mounds of paperwork, take care of my child, keep my house clean, finish reading the series of books I've started, and train for a half-marathon???" The answer is "I DON'T HAVE A CLUE!" and I'm freaking out a little bit, as I always do this time of year. The difference this year is that I am training, which I was not last summer when school started. I was barely even running at all.

Anyone have any advice?? I know some of you have to work full-time, have kids and run or workout even more than I do. How do you balance it all?? What's your secret? Do tell...