Half marathon training program for running moms

After my previous posts for running moms with some general advice for beginning runners and suggested training programs for 5K and 10K distances, this is (at least for now) the last post in this series with a suggested training program for a 21K run, also known as half marathon. As already mentioned in earlier posts, please use this program as a guide only and adjust where necessary in order to make you feel as comfortable as possible with the level of activity as well as with the selected days for each specific session.

MOM

Mom. Such a simple and small word, but with a huge significance. I find it wonderful how a word with only three letters can have so many different meanings and can cause so many different feelings, depending on who says, hears or reads it. If you ask people what “mom” means to them, you will most certainly get as many different answers as persons you asked the question to. Some people will talk about their own mom and what she means to them. Others will talk about themselves as a mom and how that is a blessing, a challenge, or both. Some will tell you what a wonderful mom their wife, sister or best friend is. Some will talk about that special person who is like a mom to them, even if she isn’t really their mother. Others will be sad as their mom is no longer with them, but will remember how wonderful she was in life.

10K training program for running moms

Following my previous posts in this series for running moms with some general advice for beginning runners and a suggested training program for a 5K distance, in this post I’ll include a suggested training program for a 10K run. As mentioned in earlier posts, please use this program as a guide only and adjust where necessary in order to make you feel as comfortable as possible with the level of activity as well as with the selected days for each specific session.

TEN YEARS

April 18, 2005

My two suitcases are full to the brim with my most important belongings, as well as the things I will need first. Eight boxes full of other carefully selected things will be sent as cargo. Anything that doesn´t fit in these boxes and suitcases has been thrown out, given away or sold. Buying the airplane ticket is easy, but once your organizing, selecting and packing it turns out it’s actually quite an undertaking, packing all of your things when planning to emigrate. What do or don’t I need, what would I like to keep, what can go, what would be better to buy anew once I’m there? Rather difficult, all those choices. And once everything has been selected and packed, mixed feelings. Happy and relieved that it all worked out, but at the same time it becomes a lot more final once you see first all those boxes and then also the suitcases standing in the hallway.

5K training program for running moms

I know it’s been a while, but here is finally my second post in the series for running moms, with a suggested training program for a 5K run. As mentioned already in my previous post with general advice for beginning running moms, it is important to only use this program as a guideline and to make your own adjustments where necessary taking into consideration your available time and energy levels. You can increase or decrease activity, try to do a shorter program if you’ve already been active previously (e.g. by starting in week 3 or 4) or take much more than the suggested 8 weeks to prepare for a 5K distance, even take a break for a week or 2 if needed – just make sure you feel good with your level of activity! 

Mirror Twins

Saturday, 28 March 2015. Tonight when I said it was time to brush teeth, A. was the first to run into the bathroom, like most evenings. She climbed up the step stool in front of the sink and looked at me in the mirror with a beautiful smile on her face. I looked back… and saw N. For a moment I felt confused, maybe I was wrong and it had been N. who had entered the bathroom just a moment earlier? I looked next to me and saw very clearly that it was definitely A. who was standing on the step stool beside me. Again I looked in the mirror, and again I saw N. there. Next to me, A. In the mirror, N. A really strange experience, which confirmed what I already had been thinking for some time. Our girls are mirror twins! I had read something about it a few months ago and I had already been almost sure that our girls were mirror image twins. Their hair naturally parts on opposite sides. We can’t be completely sure yet if our girls are right- or left-handed, but it’s getting more and more obvious that N. prefers to use her left hand to eat, draw, etc. while A. in most cases uses her right hand. And if I remember correctly, their first teeth came in on opposite sites, too! Enough reasons to think about mirror twins, but today it just suddenly got very clear. Pretty strange to see N. in the mirror so clearly while it was really A. who was standing in front of it. But also very special. Identical twins are not very common (about 1 in 285 pregnancies, or one third of all twin pregnancies) and mirror twins are even rarer: only around 25% of all identical twins are mirror twins. So really a lottery ticket, with the first prize: two beautiful and special girls. I’m so proud of them and happy that I’m allowed to be their mom! :)

Running moms: training programs and some general advice

Are you a mom and have you ever tried to find a training program for a specific running distance (e.g. 10K, half marathon, etc.) that would fit into your busy daily life? If you have, it’s possible you stopped right there when realizing that you would not even be able to complete the first week of the program, let alone continue with it for several weeks or months. Most training programs you can find online have only 1 or 2 resting days per week and at least 5 workouts per week including runs as well as cross training sessions. Some lucky moms might have enough discipline, energy and family support to be able to actually complete these training programs, but for most of us it would not be realistic to set a goal of 5 or 6 training sessions per week. This is why I’ve decided to dedicate several posts to suggested training programs for moms who would like to start running, train for a specific distance or increase their running distance in general, but who do not have time (or energy!) for so many training sessions per week. In this first post I’ll give some general advice for beginning runners / beginning running moms. In following posts, I’ll be including training programs for 5K and 10K distances as well as for a half marathon (21K). 

Time for Big-Kid beds! – Part 2

It took some time, I know, but here’s finally the follow-up post to Time for Big-Kid beds? – Part 1. There are several reasons why it took me so long to write this (or any) post, including of course the Christmas and end of year activities, the two weeks of December "holidays" with no daycare, bad weather outside and two snotty and coughing toddlers at home (I should probably write a post about those two weeks at some point…), but also the transition to the Big-Kid beds – as my precious two hours of silence during afternoon naps are now gone, and apparently won’t come back anymore. But for those of you considering making the switch to toddler or Big-Kid beds soon: don’t worry, it’s not all bad news! Read on for our experience so far with the transition of our twin girls to toddler beds: the good and the bad, the successes and the disasters…

Pepernoten

Today it’s 5 December – time for the Dutch ‘Sinterklaas’ celebrations, lots of presents, happy children and of course: PEPERNOTEN! But what to do if you don’t live in Holland and can’t just go to the supermarket for a bag or two (or twenty) of pepernoten? Here’s your answer:

You will need:

• 500 gram wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 150 gram sugar (preferably raw or brown sugar)
• 100 gram honey
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp ‘speculaaskruiden’* (see below)
• 160 gram soft butter

Time for Big-Kid beds? - Part 1

Last Saturday, the day started with a loud thud, followed by the crying of one of our daughters. Or at least, my husband’s day started like that; I’m glad I didn’t hear it as I went for a run in the early morning and came home just a few minutes after it happened. When my husband rushed into our daughters’ room, he found one of them sitting on the floor between the two cribs. We knew this would happen at some point, it was only a matter of time until they would find out how to get out of their cribs. But we had hoped to have a little bit more time… Fortunately our daughter was all right and the fall didn’t leave any bumps or bruises – it seems our choice to put carpet on the floors was a good one.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 2: the uncomfortable/way too personal questions

After my previous post on common ‘odd/silly/way too obvious’ questions to parents of twins, today I’ll write about the most frequently asked uncomfortable or very personal questions that parents of multiples come across in their daily life. Mostly, these are questions you would probably never ask a mom of one child or children of different ages, but somehow people think it’s ok to ask a mother of multiples. Future parents of twins: as you will undoubtedly hear these questions in the years to come, I would recommend you read through them and try to prepare in advance, so that you can possibly avoid some uncomfortable situations while visiting a public place with your twins.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 1: the odd/silly/way too obvious questions

As a parent of twins, you will come across many complete strangers finding you suddenly very interesting and trying to initiate a conversation by asking all kinds of silly, odd, stupid, uncomfortable or very personal questions that they would probably never ask to a singleton mom or dad, but somehow think it’s ok to ask to a parent of multiples. Just add to this that most of these questions are asked at the most uncomfortable moments (imagine you’re trying to comfort two crying babies at the same time, or attempting to get two toddler twins in their car seats as fast as possible to be home on time for their afternoon nap or dinner), and you’ll have the perfect combination for getting really stressed, upset or even angry with these strangers who are wasting your time or asking things that are not of their business. In the beginning, I found the best way to move on quickly was to just smile or nod or give a quick evasive answer, or sometimes even ignoring people if possible (I know, that’s not very nice… but many questions aren’t, either). However, with time you’ll get used to questions and you can choose depending on each situation if it’s best to give the nod/smile/quick answer reaction and move on or give a real answer/explanation (most of the times you’ll notice that people weren’t really expecting that much information or they even don’t really care and just wanted to start a conversation). Or if you would rather have some fun you can even use a joke or silly answer that will certainly stop people from asking any further. 

Pumpkin bread with seeds

I usually have a pumpkin (or two) at home. In Costa Rica you can buy these the whole year and I think it's one of the most convenient vegetables on earth: while still in their skin you can easily store them for several weeks until you need them, you can make a delicious puree out of it in no time, it's very healthy and what's more, my daughters love it! Last weekend I decided to make something else out of it besides the usual portion of puree for our girls. So I took part of the puree and made a pumpkinbread, and with this I also found a good use for the seeds (due to lack of time and inspiration these used to disappear in the trash can, but that will really change from now on because they're delicious if you bake/roast them quickly with some olive oil, salt and pepper!) 


Here's the recipe and some pictures. This recipe is good for 1 large or 2 small breads - you can of course adjust the quantities depending on how many breads you would like to bake.

Running in early morning paradise

5:20 am, Friday morning. I open the front door of our house and step into this almost surreal but oh so wonderful world around me. It’s still quite dark but the first shy daylight has just made its presence. The many tones of green that can usually be seen around here during the day are now still one single tone of dark, very dark green, while the sky is slowly changing from black to dark grey to dark blue. Thousands of little lights are far below me, lights that will still be illuminating the dark streets and neighborhoods of the city for another 20 minutes or so before day really starts and they can be turned off.

Heredity of twin births and different twin types

“Do twins run in your family?” This has probably been one of the most asked questions – by friends as well as strangers – since the very moment we learned we were expecting twins. What follows is usually me giving a brief explanation of why it doesn’t really matter if there are twins in our families or not, as identical twins (like our girls) are never hereditary. People then usually stop asking, but most of the times I can see by the look on their face that either they didn’t quite understand or they just don’t (want to) believe it. So I’ll take a moment here to explain a bit more about the heredity of twins and the differences between identical and fraternal twins.

Why “GiraZonneFlower”?

Yes, why this blog name? And what does it mean, anyway? Let’s start with that, as it’s the easiest part. “Gira” comes from “girasol” (sunflower in Spanish), “Zonne” from “zonnebloem” (sunflower in Dutch) and “Flower”, well… could be any flower of course, but in this case, definitely refers to sunflower.  So one beautiful flower reflected in a mixture of the three important languages in my life. The three languages, also, that I will use to write this blog. You’ll probably ask: why writing in multiple languages, wouldn’t that be too much work? Maybe it will be, and only time will tell. In an ideal world, I would do this to be able to reach out to a much larger audience. Just imagine how many people in the world speak English as their first (or second) language. And Spanish. And… well, Dutch maybe not that many, but it’s still quite a few potential readers on that tiny piece of earth I still call home even though I haven’t lived there for almost ten years now. But even if the audience would remain small. Let’s say, my Mom, a couple of good friends and stop counting. Even then, chances are still high the blog would be read in at least two, possibly all three languages. So yes, certainly worth it to give it a try at least.

Welcome to my blog GiraZonneFlower!

This is my first of hopefully many posts to come and before taking a deep plunge into the world of blogging and starting to develop the many ideas whirling around in my head, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for stepping by and reading this – hopefully I’ll be able to convince you to join me on this new journey and keep visiting, reading and – why not – commenting my posts now and then. I’ll be more than happy to receive your comments, ideas for new posts or some of your own experiences you would like to share!

What can you expect to find on this blog in the time to come? If you’ve already visited my profile in the “About Me” section, you’ll know that my name is Anouk and I’m a busy but happy Mom of identical twin girls – two little but fast growing toddlers who have put my life upside down (in a good way) and have become the center of my existence. You will also have seen that some of my interests and favorite activities include running, cooking & baking, crafts and travelling. I hope to be able to share information, thoughts and experiences with you on these activities, as well as on the wonders and challenges of raising twins, twin pregnancy, raising bilingual children and other things I encounter in my daily life. Some posts will include information from various sources while other will be based mainly on my own experience.

So keep on the lookout for tips for (expecting) parents of twins, step-by-step picture recipes, ideas for creative projects, advice and inspiration for runners (and of course, for running moms!), information on places to visit, advantages and challenges of raising bilingual children, and more! Don’t want to miss any new posts from GiraZonneFlower? Make sure to submit your email address in the “Follow by Email” section on the right side of this page – you will then automatically receive an e-mail every time something new is published.

Hope to see you soon :)

Anouk / GiraZonneFlower

(P.S. Check out my next blog post for an explanation on the blog name!)