Interview with Cindy, one half of the owners (other owner is her identical twin sister) of Running Skirts.com. She is an amazingly fast runner, a mother of one infant son age 9 months, and a business owner. She has a half marathon PR of 1:26 and has a goal to run a 3:05 marathon. WOW! That is freakin’ FAST. Seems to me that once you get around the 3 hour marker, I consider you part of the elite crowd. I’d be thrilled to death with 3:30! She was kind enough to offer her thoughts on how she balances the running, the business and motherhood all at the same time.

Can you tell us about your training, runs per week, current and future goals, types of workouts, if you do cross training??

Before I had my first baby, I was running 3-4 marathons a year and racing a few times a month 5k, 10k and half marathons. I used to run every day (sometimes twice a day) and log anywhere from 50-75 miles a week. I thought the more mileage I ran the better. (that’s a lot of running!!)

Now - post baby (my baby is 9 months old now), it is virtually impossible to run every day and I have been getting in 3-5 run workouts a week. I have been doing a long run, a track type of workout (interval training) and a tempo run each week. If the stars are lined up right and I have daycare of daddy is available, then I try to get in a few more 45 minutes to 1 hour runs each week. I have learned that it’s not about quantity of miles for me, but quality.

Since having the baby (he’s 9 months old now) I have been pleasantly surprised that my 3-5 runs a week seem to be adequate training. I am having better race times post-baby with a lot less of the mileage. I have been very pleased with my 10k, 10 mile & half marathon times post-baby. I just had a p.r. last weekend at the Disneyland half marathon too! Sometimes I rationalize the better results with the better use of oxygen post baby theory and other times I say it’s just because I missed racing so much when I was pregnant, but honestly I know that it is the quality training I am getting in instead of quantity that is making me strong and allowing my body plenty of recovery time between workouts and races.

An average week for me consists of: Monday: easy run 30-45 minutes or cross training, Tuesday: Interval training, Wednesday easy run 1-1.5 hours or cross training, Thursday - tempo run, Friday - rest day, Saturday- long run, Sunday rest day.

How do you balance the career, the running and family without losing your mind?

I have to be honest, some days I feel like I’m losing the battle, but there are two words that come to mind to answer this question: Balance and Flexibility! Family always comes first for us and then work comes second. The wonderful thing about running is that you can do it anywhere anytime. I have learned to be flexible and not to plan my workouts and races too far in advance. I’ve learned to expect that Murphys (infant) law will always strike during my most anticipated workouts or races (by that I mean that the baby will be sick, teething, fussy or babysitter will be unavailable or hubby will be working late so I’ll miss my track workout, long run date, etc….Murphy’s infant law. Before I got pregnant I always swore against jogging strollers and insisted that this would be “my time” to get away. HA! What a farce that was! I have come to realize that if I always waited for “my time” I’d be running all my workouts at 10-11 p.m. when the baby & daddy were both down for the night or at 4:00 a.m. before they both woke up. Enter BOB “iron man” jog stroller, I just got it and, even though I don’t love running with a jog stroller (it’s hard work), it a way to always run and get out with the baby for fresh air and a little decompression time.

On race day- what goes through your mind when you’re running? Do you talk to yourself or have a particular mantra?

I have a few running mantras, one kind of a joke between Christy & I and always makes me smile and forget the pain I might be in - “horse to the barn!”. There’s also a great youtube video of my niece running her first mile race at 3 years old and she is repeating “I can do it” over and over. It’s simple and effective. So many thoughts go through my mind during a race, but I try to stay focused and remind myself of my adequate training and preparation for the pace I am running. I remind myself of my form: run tall, breath right, relax wrists, head down, etc constantly. I remind myself that I am blessed with a strong healthy body and thank God for giving me the strength to use it and challenge myself. I recently saw the bible verse on the back of a running jersey last weekend that I think is great: “I can to anything through Christ who strengthens me”. I also think about my husband and baby who are always waiting at the finish line to greet me with cheers and kisses and that always puts a little bounce back into my step.

I want to say THANK YOU to Cindy for taking the time to answer my questions. These are things I ask myself every single day and I love hearing from others how they make it work. Hope you all found this to be helpful too!

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