Here are the reasons:
1. Physical therapy might work and I might soon have no pain when running. I say this right before I'm about to head out for a chilly 3 miles. That I'm sure will be painful. Ah, optimism. It gets me every day.
2. The Pig is coming up. While I don't expect to preform very well, I'm also not expecting a horrible run. I've trained for this better than I trained for the last half (if you can even call that training...no, actually you can't) and am feeling decent about where I stand. And regardless of how I do, it's always a very fun time running with everyone in the home town. The entire weekend is a fun fun positive time! We should have a Post Pig Pigout again this year.
3. My breathing seems to be getting a little better. It's still a fight, but I'm feeling a little better and learning.
4. After the Pig...after some recovery...is marathon training!!! As the days go by and the reality of training kick-off approaches, I find myself looking more and more forward to it. I forgot how much I love a schedule, love the increase of mileage and the push. It isn't about speed anymore. It's endurance, getting to know my body and soul again on that crazy level, feeling the rewards of all of it and being so proud of myself. I think I'm a much happier person because of it. Maybe that's just an idealized memory, but whatever it is, I'm looking forward to being happy about my running again.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Physical Therapy
So after last Friday's run, with the painful leg ailment making my first miles miserable as usual, I came back and called Oxford PT. I had had it. There has got to be a way to fix this.
This morning I had my first appointment. It was a positive experience overall. Julie is my therapist, an energetic funny gal.
First she made me walk in and out of shoes to and from her a few times. Then she did some strength-resistance tests and pushed on my feet in different places. Her thoughts are a few things:
1. My right hip is rotated a bit (hips are out of alignment - this has come up before with my IT band and hip flexor therapies).
2. My legs aren't the same length (this has come up before in PT)
3. My right foot over-pronates.
4. My leg muscles are a bit weak.
So I have quite a few strengthening exercises to do with a band. And some stretches to do. And some more calf/lower leg strengthening to do standing and sitting. Often.
I go back Thursday. I hope that by next week I can run pain free. That would be awesome.
This morning I had my first appointment. It was a positive experience overall. Julie is my therapist, an energetic funny gal.
First she made me walk in and out of shoes to and from her a few times. Then she did some strength-resistance tests and pushed on my feet in different places. Her thoughts are a few things:
1. My right hip is rotated a bit (hips are out of alignment - this has come up before with my IT band and hip flexor therapies).
2. My legs aren't the same length (this has come up before in PT)
3. My right foot over-pronates.
4. My leg muscles are a bit weak.
So I have quite a few strengthening exercises to do with a band. And some stretches to do. And some more calf/lower leg strengthening to do standing and sitting. Often.
I go back Thursday. I hope that by next week I can run pain free. That would be awesome.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Foggy Head
This morning I got up and got ready to work before spinning. I had my times all straight in my head...until I actually got to work and then I went back in time to Tuesday. Spinning is at 9:30 on Tuesday. So at 8:45 I thought - yikes! I gotta go!
I arrived and signed up for the 9something class (I didn't understand Dan at the front desk). Then I realized I forgot my water bottle, so bought water. Me, my new water, spinning shoes and towel did some ab work on the floor. I talked to Erin for a few minutes. She couldn't make spinning again because her son had a rash. At 9:10 I went over to the spinning room and did some more ab stuff on the floor...
Where is everyone...usually there's a group gathering...
9:22...why are they still in there?
Oh.
It's Thursday.
I had been there long enough already, so I decided to run.
After a mile warm-up, I did 6 x 400s, upping the speed for each one. It was alright. I think it was a good workout. But I felt kind of crummy when I noticed the girl next to me was running her regular pace at a higher speed than my "speedwork". Sigh.
I'm definitely going to cut out one day of spinning. I need to focus more on running and run more often.
I arrived and signed up for the 9something class (I didn't understand Dan at the front desk). Then I realized I forgot my water bottle, so bought water. Me, my new water, spinning shoes and towel did some ab work on the floor. I talked to Erin for a few minutes. She couldn't make spinning again because her son had a rash. At 9:10 I went over to the spinning room and did some more ab stuff on the floor...
Where is everyone...usually there's a group gathering...
9:22...why are they still in there?
Oh.
It's Thursday.
I had been there long enough already, so I decided to run.
After a mile warm-up, I did 6 x 400s, upping the speed for each one. It was alright. I think it was a good workout. But I felt kind of crummy when I noticed the girl next to me was running her regular pace at a higher speed than my "speedwork". Sigh.
I'm definitely going to cut out one day of spinning. I need to focus more on running and run more often.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Drowning.
This morning I had a meeting with a client and her printer rep contact. This woman was quite a character. First of all, one of her daughters had just gotten into a very bad automobile accident. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt and smashed her face and body pretty good into the steering wheel and dashboard. The printer rep told the story about when she went to the hospital, seeing her for the first time after the accident, starting with her bloody boots that were beside her bed, to her mangled leg, to her smashed up face. Her motherly and unchecked reaction made the daughter cry.
She told the story hidden behind an almost comical veil, as if she were telling a "good one" about a humorous encounter at the grocery store. I couldn't help but to take it all in: her facial expressions, her chosen words, the knowledge that she didn't know me at all and was freely talking about something so serious, her appearance of being completely unbothered by her daughter's situation while simultaneously emitting an aura of deep concern...
It was fascinating.
The entire drive back to work from the meeting, I thought about how interesting she was. Not that I liked her or disliked her, but that I just found all of the elements around this human being so intriguing and pleasantly compelling. Maybe what romanced me so much was I felt a security through the recognition of her as a person.
And then I thought about the time where I thought I had come up with a fresh idea to write and collect true stories about people. Just ordinary people, and their ordinary but captivating lives...but showcasing their lives in a thought-provoking way. But it had already been done on NPR through StoryCorps. Of course it had.
And then I thought about how much I hate what I'm doing at my job.
I feel like I can be more, do more, create more and show the world (or maybe just the city) more and it is frustrating the hell out of me. I'm drowning in work. Not in the volume of work as it has been so many times before, but in the substance. I am better than this. I need to figure out how to make my talents useful.
She told the story hidden behind an almost comical veil, as if she were telling a "good one" about a humorous encounter at the grocery store. I couldn't help but to take it all in: her facial expressions, her chosen words, the knowledge that she didn't know me at all and was freely talking about something so serious, her appearance of being completely unbothered by her daughter's situation while simultaneously emitting an aura of deep concern...
It was fascinating.
The entire drive back to work from the meeting, I thought about how interesting she was. Not that I liked her or disliked her, but that I just found all of the elements around this human being so intriguing and pleasantly compelling. Maybe what romanced me so much was I felt a security through the recognition of her as a person.
And then I thought about the time where I thought I had come up with a fresh idea to write and collect true stories about people. Just ordinary people, and their ordinary but captivating lives...but showcasing their lives in a thought-provoking way. But it had already been done on NPR through StoryCorps. Of course it had.
And then I thought about how much I hate what I'm doing at my job.
I feel like I can be more, do more, create more and show the world (or maybe just the city) more and it is frustrating the hell out of me. I'm drowning in work. Not in the volume of work as it has been so many times before, but in the substance. I am better than this. I need to figure out how to make my talents useful.
Monday, April 9, 2012
6 Miles
I feel like I'm starting over. There's no point in belly aching over it. All I can do is keep going forward and hope that I figure out some asthma/allergy treatment that works.
I did some jumping jacks and jogs in place and burpees to try to do a "dynamic warmup" thinking that might help my leg pain. I must not have done the right things - the leg pain was strong.
Mile 1 - 11:20
Mile 2 - 11:06
Mile 3 - 10:56
Mile 4 - 10:48
Mile 5 - 10:55
Mile 6 - 10:32
I did some jumping jacks and jogs in place and burpees to try to do a "dynamic warmup" thinking that might help my leg pain. I must not have done the right things - the leg pain was strong.
Mile 1 - 11:20
Mile 2 - 11:06
Mile 3 - 10:56
Mile 4 - 10:48
Mile 5 - 10:55
Mile 6 - 10:32
Monday, April 2, 2012
10 ish Miles
Sunday morning began with a light drizzle and plenty of clouds. The drizzle was over by the time Casey and I started a 10.5 mile run. It was chilly and breezy.
Max joined us for the first 2.5. It felt quick, but the watch told me it wasn't. After a short break dropping off the 4 legged running companion, we headed out for the remaining 8. My breathing was sporadic. We had stopped a couple of times during the first 2.5 due to dogs wanting to say hi to Max. But I figured the short break would have allowed me to get everything back under control.
By mile 3 or 4 it was just really rough. Just wasn't a good running day for me I guess. I'm not 100% sure what the deal was, but by later in the run low blood sugar became an apparent issue. So maybe it was just kind of not ideal from the start. With Red Bird Lane looming in the distance for the stint between 6 and 8, I was a bit nervous. I knew I could get through it, but not well. The first hill had me crawling. I did better coming back. But then I was done. My head was light and I felt puffy-dizzy. The last two miles I talked to my belly button, started and stopped my watch at the wrong times while talking walk breaks, became really grumpy and couldn't stop thinking about downing a can of Pepsi. I was pretty happy to eat some yogurt with chocolate chips back at the Gways. When I got home, I drank most of a Coke...heaven.
Splits...though they became very off towards the end since I couldn't seem to consistently start and stop my watch (I was stopping it when we'd start running after a walk break even though I never stopped it in the first place). Way worse than I've been doing. Never was in the 10:15 arena.
Mile 1- 10:22
Mile 2- 10:47
Mile 3- 10:30
Mile 4- 10:43
Mile 5- 10:51
Mile 6- 10:47
Mile 7- 11:18 (but this could be off)
Mile 8- 12:02 (definitely off)
Mile 9 - 12:30 (definitely off)
Watch ended up showing 9.5 miles, but we think we ran 10 or 10.5. Took a wrong turn at one point - and with my bad watch operation...not sure! But it was at least 10.
In about an hour I have an appointment with the allergist to see if I need anything else for the breathing. I just want to make sure I'm doing all I can on my end, and then I'll go from there. Chest never tightened, airway never really was restricted, but I still wheeze on my exhales.
Max joined us for the first 2.5. It felt quick, but the watch told me it wasn't. After a short break dropping off the 4 legged running companion, we headed out for the remaining 8. My breathing was sporadic. We had stopped a couple of times during the first 2.5 due to dogs wanting to say hi to Max. But I figured the short break would have allowed me to get everything back under control.
By mile 3 or 4 it was just really rough. Just wasn't a good running day for me I guess. I'm not 100% sure what the deal was, but by later in the run low blood sugar became an apparent issue. So maybe it was just kind of not ideal from the start. With Red Bird Lane looming in the distance for the stint between 6 and 8, I was a bit nervous. I knew I could get through it, but not well. The first hill had me crawling. I did better coming back. But then I was done. My head was light and I felt puffy-dizzy. The last two miles I talked to my belly button, started and stopped my watch at the wrong times while talking walk breaks, became really grumpy and couldn't stop thinking about downing a can of Pepsi. I was pretty happy to eat some yogurt with chocolate chips back at the Gways. When I got home, I drank most of a Coke...heaven.
Splits...though they became very off towards the end since I couldn't seem to consistently start and stop my watch (I was stopping it when we'd start running after a walk break even though I never stopped it in the first place). Way worse than I've been doing. Never was in the 10:15 arena.
Mile 1- 10:22
Mile 2- 10:47
Mile 3- 10:30
Mile 4- 10:43
Mile 5- 10:51
Mile 6- 10:47
Mile 7- 11:18 (but this could be off)
Mile 8- 12:02 (definitely off)
Mile 9 - 12:30 (definitely off)
Watch ended up showing 9.5 miles, but we think we ran 10 or 10.5. Took a wrong turn at one point - and with my bad watch operation...not sure! But it was at least 10.
In about an hour I have an appointment with the allergist to see if I need anything else for the breathing. I just want to make sure I'm doing all I can on my end, and then I'll go from there. Chest never tightened, airway never really was restricted, but I still wheeze on my exhales.
Monday, March 26, 2012
9 miles after the race
Casey and I ran 9 miles Sunday. Last week I didn't do much. Had one sloppy slow run. No spinning (it was kind of nice to take a break from spinning). A lot of yard work that made me sore. And fighting a motocycle I was dropping that made me sore.
But by Sunday I was good to go.
Splits:
Mile 1- 10:18
Mile 2- 10:35 (leg pain)
Mile 3- 10:34 (leg pain)
Mile 4- 10:31
Mile 5- 10:13
Mile 6- 10:01
Mile 7- 10:20
Mile 8- 9:52
Mile 9- 10:02
So, kind of sort of a negative split run? The hills kind of dictated the pace fluctuations. But I tried to finish strong. Asthma kicked in at the end, which was a weird sensation. I'm still figuring it out.
But by Sunday I was good to go.
Splits:
Mile 1- 10:18
Mile 2- 10:35 (leg pain)
Mile 3- 10:34 (leg pain)
Mile 4- 10:31
Mile 5- 10:13
Mile 6- 10:01
Mile 7- 10:20
Mile 8- 9:52
Mile 9- 10:02
So, kind of sort of a negative split run? The hills kind of dictated the pace fluctuations. But I tried to finish strong. Asthma kicked in at the end, which was a weird sensation. I'm still figuring it out.
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