On the trail again

Well, after several weeks of being off the wagon, Liz and I restarted our walking career this past weekend with 4 miles on Saturday and maybe about three-ish on Sunday. . . and then we blew all that good work away in one girl's night which included desert, and drinks (gasp!) and make-up wearing (even bigger gasp!).  We even got carded, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a good thing (as Martha would say).

We are working on modifying the training schedule to really pump it up as the Catalina marathon is 8 weeks from this Saturday.

NOBODY PANIC.

Nice to be back on the trail though.

Catching Up - Weeks 8 and 9 in Review . . . Jessica

I know, I know . . . I have been horribly bad about updating the blog.  While I am keeping up with walking, I feel like I am barely keeping up with the rest of my life.  I seriously think I may have a mild case of depression over the whole about to be homeless situation, and I am really stressed out about an upcoming wedding I am in (it's on the 21st and I haven't bought a dress yet).  Life never slows down it seems, but I do need to be better about posting here on the blog.

So week 8 - wow, um, we've been doing this for two months?  That is INSANE.  I am crazy proud of us.  And I am seeing total differences in my body and my stamina.

Week 9 - note of caution: don't try to do four miles with two babies in a double stroller.  We are lucky we got in just under two miles Sunday in the time it would usually take us to do at least 5.  We had to stop to feed James, so Maddie got to hang out on the playground with Liz.  She is quite the little daredevil and will go down the big slide by herself!  I will say, thought, that I am really proud of myself for walking on Saturday, we did over four miles on Halloween in between a four hour training I had to go to in the morning, and pumpkin carving and costume prep for our fun Halloween adventure that evening.  I was exhausted from staying up half the night before sewing a Mike Wazowski costume for James.  I am proud of myself for even remaining upright through the walk!  So glad I did it though because I am sure it pepped me up enough to manage to put the rest of Halloween together!

I am very sorry for falling behind on posts, I will attempt to be better from here on out.

Week Seven . . . Jessica

Those of you keeping score may have noticed that I completely missed a week of blogging.  My life feels out of control busy at the moment, and there are the slight complications of having no full time income, having to move out of our house to goodness knows where, and a 17 month old who is popping 6 teeth out at once to add to all the fun.  

So, week six was just as Liz described, including passed-out-guy on the sidewalk.  Fun times to be had by all . . . and get this!  Today, our last day of week seven we had to report yet another passed-out-guy on the sidewalk - this one holding a pink stuffed bunny.  Seriously.  I could not make this stuff up if I tried.

This week was really busy as well, and walking times got moved around, but as Liz mentioned last week we are getting better about adjusting to the schedule changes.  We walked Tuesday night in the rain - we are so committed (it actually felt really nice and kept us cool), Wednesday Liz was traveling for work, Thursday there was football, so we walked Friday, Saturday (independently), and Sunday.  The exciting thing was Sunday we walked at the El Dorado Nature Center Trails and it was awesome!  I have yet to upload the pictures from my phone, but I did take a few and will post them eventually.  It was great getting some experience walking on trails as the Catalina Marathon will be about 80% on trails and 20% on pavement.  

Saturday, my family went to a birthday party and to a harvest festival.  We took lots of pictures.  It's amazing how looking at snapshots of oneself can completely destroy all the warm fuzzy feelings one gets over finally seeing muscles in one's calves.  But I will get over it . . . eventually.

Week Five . . . Jessica

Well, Liz summed it all up with the term discombobulated. I felt that way all week! We didn't walk on Thursday and I literally felt all day like my skin didn't fit right . . . very, very antsy. Then for awhile it felt like I was just off a day, I kept thinking Friday was Thursday, and Sunday was Saturday, and everything just felt off. However, I think in a way it's good to know that we are in such a rut (*cough* *cough*, um, strict schedule) because it means that we have made a HABIT of walking! And that when we don't walk on our usual days our bodies and brains feel that something is missing!

This is a good thing, as Martha would say . . .

. . . Everyone just savor it for a moment . . .

(savoring, savoring)

Ok! On to other things. I totally lied about the schedule last week, alright, maybe not lied per se, but was mistaken in my posting. We did not bump up to six miles on Saturday, but instead bumped up one of the weekday walking days to four miles! Isn't that awesome!?! And we felt danged good after we walked it. Our weekend walk was still five miles, and we walked from Liz's apartment, to the park, around ye old track twice and back to the apartment! It was so crisp and fall-like outside and I really appreciated having a goal and not just going around the track 2.5 times.

On a sour note: I have a confession. I am out of vitamins and have not gotten anymore! So, apparently I didn't make that into a healthy habit quite yet.

On the other hand, I am on week two of drinking coke zero at home - and only having real coke on special occasions such as being out at a movie with Liz or at the fair. So yay for me and my coke zero habit!

I believe that this week we are going to focus on shaving a minute or two off our miles, so wish us luck!

Week 4 - A month!

Week four, and therefore our first month of walking is in the history books! No way! I am so thrilled to reach this milestone! Today I actually had someone at church (you know who you are cause you read this blog even if you don't follow it publicly, and yes, I mean you Chuck), tell me that I look like I'm loosing a lot of weight! SCORE!

I got my new glasses this week so I found walking this week even easier than the last two weeks as I wasn't having to constantly readjust my broken frames . . . when they would slip to the side the whole world would go off-kilter and I'd feel a bit out to sea. So now that I can see well, and not worry about my glasses falling of my face, I feel a lot more comfortable!

Reflecting on the last month I will admit that it is hard for me to leave my babies when I go out walking sometimes, and hard to be prepared with things like making sure James is provided with enough pumped bottles . . . but it is becoming easier. Overall, I am incredibly proud of myself and Liz. I am already excited about the changes I see and feel in my body and in my endurance. I am totally excited to continue in our adventure, and I love referring to Liz and myself as athletes!

So - Happy One Month of Walking to my best athlete pal - Liz!

Week three down and cruising into four . . . Jessica

So, I've been kind of procrastinating about writing up my thoughts for this week, and here we are on Monday already ready to start week four tomorrow. First, let's just pause for a moment and savor that . . . week FOUR, oh my word, we've been doing this now for almost a month! That is amazing!

Week three was a bit hard for a few reasons. As you can see by Liz's post she suddenly got much busier with the advent of the new school year and several other factors. This means that our walking needs to be done at a certain time every day . . . I have a much less busy schedule than she does (don't get me wrong, I am busy running around after two little people, but I don't have as many commitments to be certain places at certain times), so it makes more sense to work around her schedule. The time of day that we walk is honestly kind of a hard time for me. It's right around the time that I need to be getting dinner ready, and I come home in time to give my daughter a bath and get her ready for bed. As we start walking longer distances my husband and kids may have to start having dinner without me so my daughter can still keep the same bedtime. This makes me a little sad, but I know that what I am doing will help me be a much healthier and energetic mom for my kids. Another difficulty this week was just learning how to schedule, or not schedule my time throughout the day so I can be ready to go walking at the appointed time. Can I just say, for the record, how long it takes to get two kids ready to go, out the door, into the car, and into a stroller? It's amazing! I have come to the conclusion that on days we walk, I just can't really go anywhere (at least anywhere I plan to be at more than about 20 minutes) with the kids after 1:30 p.m. One would think that there is plenty of time between 1:30 and 4:30 to get things done - but there really isn't!

In spite of some difficulties this week, we did have some great walks, including a four mile on the strand at Long Beach. We've decided this will be the location of our Saturday long walks, and as they get longer, we will just head south down the coast. It's kind of cool because we are already seeing some of the same runners training from week to week.

As a last little note for the week - I am trying to do something each week that contributes to my overall health and this week it was remembering to take my prenatal vitamin every day. I am a nursing mom so this is something I am supposed to be doing, but I am horrible about remembering. I am glad to report that I only forgot once this past week, and have already taken it the first two days of this week.

I am really looking forward to this week. Because we had some extra weeks we repeated the first week of training three times. This week we move onto week two, which basically is the same during the week, 3, 2, 3, but on Saturday we bump up to 5 miles. Progress! Yes!!

Week two in the history books . . . Jessica

Well, Liz and I have completed week two of our 28 week marathon walking training plan! It's a big deal to me that we decided to start walking, and to start training for a marathon, and it will be a huge accomplishment when we actually cross that finish line, but actually being in the midst of working toward that goal is just as big of an accomplishment! These last two weeks, and the next 26, are the "hard" part - the part where there is no one cheering you on to the finish line, the part where you don't have the excitement and adrenaline of race day. In training you only have your own motivation - and luckily for Liz and I, we have each other's motivation to draw on when our own is obscured by sweat, or tiredness, or an aching ankle. The motivation can vary from day to day, it can be an old picture when I was my "ideal" size, the pride of being able to say "I did it," or a sexy pair of jeans in an equally sexy size. Liz and I were joking about putting each other's goals on our backs, so when one of us starts getting tired or frustrated, the other can walk in front as a motivator. I actually think this would be a brilliant idea for our longer walks and the actual marathon.

So, we walked another 12 miles this week, it broke down as 2, 3, 3, and 4. 3 miles is starting to feel really comfortable and 2 miles almost like cheating - although I do love being done that fast on those days! Saturday was a 4 mile day and we went down and walked at the beach in Long Beach. We ran smack dab into all of the women walking the Revlon Walk for the Cure marathon and half marathon and it was really, really inspiring!

I've been doing a lot of reading as well about the technical aspects of walking, and I'm trying to incorporate them so that I am walking correctly! I am looking forward to adding on mileage, so that I really feel like a distance walker. I know it will tough, but exciting at the same time.

Week one, over and out! . . . Jessica

Today we completed our first week of training! We walked this whole week at Cerritos Regional Park - here was our schedule:

Tuesday - 3 miles

Wednesday - 2 miles

Thursday - 3 miles

Friday - cross training day, some other form of aerobic activity

Saturday - 4 miles

Sunday - easy walking

Monday will be a rest day, and then we start again on Tuesday!

That is twelve whole miles this week!

So far the only aches/pains/injuries I have to show for our marathon training are a small sore on my left heel from my new running shoes, and a lovely blister on my right foot that is already settling down into a callous.

Honestly, the first two days were not that hard, but I will admit that the three miles on Thursday was just a killer! There were probably several reasons for this: I didn't get much sleep the night before as the little people were up most of the night, also we started a bit later than usual which didn't help psychologically, although walking with the sun setting is slightly cooler. The biggest reason Thursday was so hard is most likely the fact that I was pushing my almost 17 month old around in a stroller as we walked. It wasn't even the larger stroller that has a really high handle, but the little pink fold up stroller with handles that are just a bit too short to be comfortable for me to push around. For some unknown reason, I repeated this mistake Saturday morning. It's harder on me, but she really loves strollering through the park. However, if she comes with me again (hopefully I will just be strong and say no when she gazes forlornly out the screen door when I leave) I will definitely make an effort to bring the larger stroller.

Saturday (even with a little person in the stroller) seemed much easier than Thursday, and it was a whole mile more! We got up early to go walking, but we still managed to get full sun and I, for one, got really hot and sweaty and red in the face! Also, another lesson learned today, don't stop walking! We paused at the end to give someone directions to the nearest gas station and it was hard starting back up!

All in all, I think our first week went great! I am noticing almost every time we walk that my stamina is increasing, and that it's getting easier. I am both excited and scared about next week, we will be walking up to five miles in one go next Saturday! In the upcoming weeks we will also be walking on some hills and some dirt trails to start getting our bodies ready for Catalina which will have lots of hills and 80% of the marathon will be on trails! Wow!

Day One . . . Jessica

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

-Lao-tzu

Today Liz and I met at Cerritos Regional Park for our first day of walking. We completed two circuits around the park to get in our three miles. I am so proud of us! We started our training even though the humidity was through the roof and it was ridiculously hot. We did our three miles in under an hour, and we weren't desperately out of breath when we were done, so yay for us!

It's only the first day, but I am proud of us for starting, I am proud of us for making it through the first day, and I am proud of us for committing to a goal!

The beginning of our adventure

Hi! Welcome to Walking Away With Ourselves! The purpose of this blog is to document our journey as we train to walk the Catalina Marathon in March of 2010. . . let's get the five w's (and how!) out of the way, shall we?

Who - Liz and Jessica. We are friends that live in sunny southern california. We are both moms, Liz to a 9 year old boy, and Jessica to a 16 month old girl and a 2 month old son.

What - The Catalina Marathon! Walking 26.2 miles in 8 hours!

When - March 13, 2010

Where - On trails over the gorgeous island of Santa Catalina located 26 miles off the coast of Southern California:

(Avalon Harbor)

Breathtaking, huh?

Why - There are so many reasons! One of the most important ones is because we both want to be more healthy. Picking the goal of walking a marathon makes us committed to training, deciding to do it together makes us accountable to each other, and choosing to blog about our training makes us accountable to our families and anyone else who decides to read our blog. We are both so excited about committing to this goal, it's a really big deal for us to walk a marathon as neither of us has any experience in this sort of thing. We will be so proud of ourselves when we cross that finish line!

How - We found a great website: http://marathonwalking.com/ that has awesome training schedules. We are using the one for beginning walkers, it has 24 weeks of training, and we have 28 weeks before the Catalina Marathon, so Liz is putting together an extended calendar for us. We basically have 4 days of walking (Saturdays are distance days!) and one day of cross training a week.

As we begin training both Liz and I will be posting about our journey, we hope that you will follow us through this exciting adventure!

- Jessica