For their second blog post, Bridget and Heidi, friends and business partners in the Hell Yeah Projects, interview each other about their soon-to-be-training and race experience. The two are training for ZOOMA Cape Cod. Check out their first post here!

Bridget on the run.

Bridget Sprague, 41; mother of three, entrepreneur and soon-to-be-Director of Marketing for Revision Energy. Future 10K finisher.

Are you a runner yet? 

Bridget: Ha! NO!!

Why not? 

I’m still not convinced swimmers are runners.

So, you’re a swimmer? When’s the last time you swam? 

HAHAHAHA. Okay… it’s been a long time since I swam. Like over a year.

And when’s the last time you ran?

This morning. Fine, maybe I’m almost a runner.

Awesome! So how’s your training going?

It’s going well! Because my husband has agreed to help me and hang out with me while I’m training which makes it so much more fun.

So is he in a pace car? 

HAHAH- kind of. He’ll run/walk in front of me. It has really helped because I found out I was running too fast, so now I jog at a slower pace and I can run further. It seems so obvious, but it wasn’t until I did it. When I swam I was a sprinter so I think I was trying to train in a similar way – and the truth is swimming and running aren’t the same so I had to shift my mindset.

So you’re adopting the mindset of a distance runner? 

I wouldn’t go that far. I’m trying to adopt the mindset of someone who is trying not to hate running.

Bridget works on adapting her mindset.

How’s your cross training going?

Much better than my running! Billy and I go for hour-long bike rides in the morning on cross training days. I think I’m falling in love with the idea of becoming a cyclist.

So anything but a runner, huh?
Well, maybe, just maybe, a sprint triathlete. But I still think running would be the most difficult part for me.

What have been your training highs and lows? 

One of the last times I ran, I felt stronger than I thought possible at this point in my training. I found myself getting excited about running further. I was feeling kind of proud of myself.

Any lows?
I’m still trying to figure out when to fit it all in. When I miss a day of training I get really frustrated with myself. But overall there really haven’t been as many lows as I expected. ☺

Reading your last blog, I wasn’t quite sure if you were actually happy about doing this. Has that changed? 

100%. I’m realizing now, I can do this. Even after putting in just a week of training, it has already gotten easier. Yippee!!

Heidi Bellamente, 39; mother of two, entrepreneur and leadership coach & consultant. Future ½ Marathon Finisher. 

Heidi glows after a workout.

Heidi, I know you’ve had a busy week, how the heck are you squeezing training in for your half marathon?

Heidi: I won’t lie – this week was really tough. I had an awesome five-mile run on Sunday and then played my usual Monday night soccer game and the combination felt like I over did it. When I went to run on Wednesday it didn’t go well.

Oh no! What happened?

My foot and my shin hurt pretty badly so I couldn’t complete my run. However I was very proud of myself for moving over to the Arc Trainer and doing my workout on that plus some plyometrics.

What the heck are Plyometrics, Heidi?

Ha! Let me see if I get this right. Maybe I’m not using the right word. I think it’s an old school term for floor work, squats, jumping, and burpees. I probably sound like an old woman calling these things Plyometrics.

Sounds impressive to me. I didn’t do plyometrics this week.

Thanks, but it felt like a real let down. For a hot minute, I thought I might have really injured myself.

One of Heidi’s favorite runs.

How do you feel now?

Today I feel great. I tested my feet and legs again with a very short run on Friday and then did an easy four miles on Sunday. So I feel like I’m honoring my body and working my way back up to my mileage.

So you’re feeling better about training?

Overall, I kept exercising so I’m proud of myself for not letting that potential injury prevent me from getting my heart rate up. I’m glad I didn’t push through that particular pain to try and run anyway, which is something I probably would have done in the past.

What’s changed? Why do you think you didn’t push it this time?

Because I’ve learned it’s not worth it and I feel like at 39, I know my body better than I ever have.

What are you looking forward to this week?

My goal this week is to actually make a real schedule for August and September to make sure I’m fitting in the whole training program. Basically I need to figure out how I’m going to fit in all of this exercise along with my family life and other obligations.