Are You Smarter Than A Two-Year-Old?

Since I ran 3 x 1-mile repeats on Sunday, I skipped this week's track workout (which just happened to be 3 x 1-mile repeats). I figured I'd be ready for today's tempo run, though, so set out - once again, in shorts! This is going down in my book as The. Best. Winter. Ever.  (and definitely a great winter to be training for a spring marathon!)

In place of Tuesday track, I did an easy 6 miles, and it was a really nice break - nice to just go out and run, with no plan or target paces.

Back at it today, though. I raised the bar pretty high last week, with the 8-mile tempo run at a 7:16 pace. (I'm still a little astonished that I did that). I had a feeling I wouldn't quite get there today, but I was ready to go out and try.

I ran a different 8-mile route - I was getting kind of sick of the other one, as I've run it for the past 6 weeks in a row. The new route was flatter, and a nice change of scenery. But it wasn't feeling like last week's run. I was working hard, but running slower. Still running at a great tempo pace, but after 7:16, 7:35 feels slow.

I was a little discouraged at first, but then I reminded myself that I had just run a 5K a few days earlier, with an average pace just under 7-minute miles. And that I was probably just barely recovered from that effort, and was asking an awful lot of my body to put in those tempo-pace miles today.

So I didn't get mad, or upset. I cut myself some slack. I didn't give myself permission to bail on the run, and I didn't give myself permission to slow down to an easy jog. But I did give myself permission to settle into a pace that might be slower than what I wanted to be running, but that would respect the fact that my body needed an easier day than I had planned.

The last few miles felt tough, but I was pleased when I was finishing up to see that I had still managed to maintain a 7:25 pace. Not as fast as last week, and not an easy run, but a smart run - and still with very good results.

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Carmine's vocabulary has exploded. He still adds the suffix "en" to lots of his words, though. When he wants his hat, he'll say "hat-en." And when he wants a treat, he'll say "treat-en."  Like the infamous "det-doh," I'll be a little sad when he stops saying it.

He plans ahead when he greets people, too. Instead of just saying "Hi," he'll say "Hi, Bye. See ya!"

His table manners have improved slightly. He's till a ticking time bomb, and not ready for restaurant meals yet - you never know when he's going to lose interest in his meal and start causing all sorts of chaos. But we at least have some relatively nice time with him prior to that happening. It's made mealtimes a lot less stressful.

One thing I've noticed is that he really enjoys playing with his food. And if it keeps him quiet, I'm not going to try to put a stop to it. Especially since he's finally starting to say "please" when he asks for things, instead of just screaming at us. Gotta take the good with the bad, right?

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Gabe has become a germophobe and hypochondriac. Over the course of the past few weeks, he's asked me about the plague, disease-carrying mosquitos, epilepsy, poisonous jellyfish, and pneumonia. Part of the problem is that he reads so much, and if he sees even a mention of some kind of disease or illness, he gets fixated on it.

I'm trying to answer his questions as best I can, but also stressing to him that there's no point in worrying about things that you can't control. We do everything we can to stay healthy - eat well, exercise, wash our hands - and that's all we can do.

And I assured him that he doesn't have to worry about catching the plague.

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It was yet another beautiful day here, so when Carmine woke up from his nap, I got him ready to go outside. It wasn't really cold enough for mittens and a "hat-en," but he asked for them nicely, so I went and got them.

After I put them on, he grinned, threw his hands up in the air, jumped up and down, and yelled "Hooray mittens!"

Some parts of this Family Re-Charge make me think a lot of being more like a kid - be present, enjoy where you are and what you're doing at any given moment, appreciate the small things (like mittens), rest, and enjoy life.

I'm still learning, but the 2-year-old has it all figured out : )

Comments

[Wes]

"you never know when he's going to lose interest in his meal and start causing all sorts of chaos"

That made me LOL!! :-)

[Laura]

That's an awesome tempo run pace! I've had to do tempos on the treadmill lately, and the pace feels so hard for some reason. Need to get back outside for those runs! Your 2 yo sounds a lot like mine... spirited and unpredictable. :) I agree on the food, I'm okay with her playing with it a bit when it keeps her happy and quiet and we can all sit at the table a bit longer!