Yesterday was my 35th birthday, but I refuse to let that number define me as a person. I feel like I’m much more stable today than I’ve ever been  any other point in my life. I’m infinitely more confident and sure of myself without a doubt. I’m so much stronger when it come to lifting. I am, however, nowhere close to as fast as I was when I first started racing. It’s been 7 years and two kids, but I miss the days when it only took me an hour to knock out 6 miles. My pace was always super reliable and I was able to complete my first full marathon in less than 4 hours and 30 minutes. Now I never considered that having kids might affect my running, but it has (most likely paired with the aging that my body has undergone at the same time). Even 2 full years after having my son, I struggle to maintain anything faster than a 12:30 pace for anything more than a couple of miles. Now to someone who isn’t a runner the difference between a 10:00, 15:00, or 12:30 minute mile may seem rather trivial. But the difference is super noticeable to the person who has done all of those paces.

When I first started running, I never appreciated just how fast I really was. Once I got past my initial belief that I would NEVER be a runner, I pretty quickly found myself regularly running distances at a 10:00 min mile pace. Sometimes I could pull off a faster pace over a shorter distance, but I had to really be in the zone for that to even happen. I ran a ton of races at this pace. I even ran 2 full marathons in 2010 (although one was in Chicago when it was 85 in October, which meant I ran significantly slower). When I found out I was pregnant, I actually used running as the way I announced my pregnancy on Facebook. I was so excited to get back into training with a jogging stroller and baby in tow. After baby #1, however, it wasn’t so easy to just get back into running. Even as I trained, I just could not get my pace under 12:30. This isn’t so big of a difference on a 5K , but it’s quite a difference when you’re doing a half marathon (13.1 miles). I kept trucking along, because I really love to run races. I never really got much faster and then I found out we were expecting our 2nd child. Now with my son, I wasn’t really able to run very long into my pregnancy. My heart rate skyrocketed too quickly for it to be safe for either of us, and I got big so quickly that it wasn’t really reasonable. The fact that I couldn’t run through my whole pregnancy like I did with my daughter took an even bigger toll on my overall pace. When I first went out running  after having my son, I struggled to do anything quicker than a 15 minute mile. This means that my half marathon time is now an hour longer than it was previously. That’s a huge difference when you consider I used to do just over a 2 hour half marathon. I kept with it again, although I began to focus more on shorter distances so it didn’t take so long.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of myself that I continue to race even at my slower pace. I’ll actually be finishing my 13th half marathon this spring,of which I am rightfully proud. I’ve always completed every race I’ve started, and I’ve only missed a couple of races I registered for due to injuries. I’ve logged so many miles that it’s mind boggling. I love running, because you can truly do it anywhere. I’ve run in several states and even in other countries. All I need is a pair of shoes and somewhere to run (be it on a treadmill or around the city). This year, I would love to start trying to get closer to my old pace. I know it will take a lot of work and dedication, but I’ve done it before. I went from someone who would never run unless something was chasing me to a 2 time marathon finisher. This time will be different, because I don’t have unlimited time at my disposal. I never want my kids to miss out on time with me, because I’m getting my mileage in. If I could get faster, this would allow me to get longer runs in more quickly. Good for them AND me.

One thing that I’ve always found helps with decreasing your overall pace is working sprints into your workout. You can do this in several different ways. A lot of the classes I take at the gym include a cardio/conditioning aspect to them. This often involves sprints of various lengths from 20 to 90 seconds. The goal is just to push yourself to maintain the fastest speed possible for that period of time. This video is from my workout Tuesday and was from one of 8 30 -second sprints we did over the course of our workout. This is one of three sprints I did at 10 mph, I also did 2 at 9 mph, 2 at 8 mph and 1 at 7 mph. This is huge, considering I never used to be able to sprint that fast even when I was at my fastest. I would usually never try to push it above 7 or 8 mph. So I’m hoping that if I can start increasing the time that I can spend at these higher speeds that it will help me with my overall distance running pace. I’ll keep you all informed of my progress over this year, as well as some of my gear tips for anyone who is looking to become a distance runner.