So this week is coming along nicely so far. Monday I had a really successful walk with both dogs. Louie had a NEAR-PERFECT 1.2 miles, even ran with me a bit and stayed right by my side. One of the dogs in the neighborhood that normally sends him into a nuclear meltdown was out, even barked at us a few times like he was trying to bait him, but Louie stayed calm and focused. MAJOR success for my little monster!
Monday was also, of course, the Unofficial Runners' Holiday, otherwise known as the runninng of the Boston Marathon. This year's publicity was, of course, extraordinary. All the focus on the story of last year's bombing ... I don't even want to go there. Me, I just really get off watching all those amazing athletes. I found myself trying to explain to a coworker why Boston is so incredible... and it has NOTHING to do with last year's events. I've learned a lot this year about why the course is so notorious and what makes it difficult, and anyone who can finish it just Blows. My. Mind.
There were a number of people from my local running group who qualified and got in this year, two whom I knew well enough to follow and get text updates on how they were doing. They all finished - Tim and Stacie ran the whole thing together and even crossed the finish line holding hands! How freaking awesome is that?!? Dan did an amazing job and posted on Facebook throughout his trip to Boston and before and after pics. I'm hoping to share more about his experience sometime soon.
Yesterday, Tuesday, I had an early meeting at work - needed to be there by 7:30am for a meeting with all the managers in our office, with the guy whom I'm still referring to as "my new boss." I tried not to grumble too much about the time. I am NOT a morning person, but I must admit, it was nice having the meeting out of the way and getting on with our day. Don't tell my new boss I said that. :-)
I've been working this week on some transition projects - getting files from our old system into the systems we use with the new firm. It's tedious work and can be frustrating at times, but I enjoy tedious work and I feel quite a sense of accomplishment when I get each of these done. There's also a time factor - this project really needs to be completed before we get into our busy season, which is only a month away! Sand is flowing very quickly through that hour-glass... I still have high hopes that all this preparation will create a situation where this year's busy season won't be anywhere near as difficult, or as long, as last year's. I do NOT want to repeat the 4-month frenzy that was last fall and winter. All this to say, I've been enjoying my job this week.
But the point is, Tuesday night was Catch the Wave group night! We were out at the lake and for many of our group members, it was their first time there, and / or their first time running the Lake Run Loop Route. This is the route they will run for the race they've spent the last 9 weeks training for, through some SERIOUSLY bad weather. They have been real troopers, and I'm so proud of our group! We ran the route using our planned 8/1 run/walk interval and they did fantastically. I, on the other hand, was having some trouble during the last mile of our 4.37-mile run. Damn feet started up again. More on that later.
Today I have to miss my Ride the Wave group. I have a board meeting to attend this evening out of town, so I'll be working late and driving home... probably won't be home until after 9pm. Ew, I hate that. I am considering leaving work and taking a long lunch break to go for a run. It will be my last run before Saturday's half marathon. I'm going to let my feet rest until then, other than a possible dog walk on Friday.
I did finally make it into my physical therapist yesterday. He checked out my neck pain and recommended I come in for a few visits to work on correcting that. It's a posture thing - my posture while working at my computer.
I expected him to tell me the foot pain was caused my the same problems I had last year - my calves are too tight, I need to stretch and foam roll more, I need to stop wearing heels. I was prepared for a lecture about the exercises he showed me last year and that he can tell I haven't kept up with them. Instead, he said he was surprised how loose my calves were - they're tight, but nowhere near as bad as last time, and he could tell I've been working on it. That was very nice to hear... but here's the thing: he basically said he doesn't have a good idea about what might be the cause of my foot pain.
He wants me to come in and run on the treadmill and take another look at my form - we did this last year and he had suggestions about my cadence, but said my form was good. Maybe something about that has changed. So further investigation is the plan on that. If we don't know what's wrong, we don't know how to FIX it. Basically, I took that as terrible news. But not the kind of terrible news that sends me to the nearest junk-food bar, so you know... there's that.
He did spend some time torturing me - my neck (upper trapezius), calves, and even the bottom of my feet, calluses and all... and I'm pretty sore today. My shoulder / neck area especially - it actually feels bruised there! And I talked with him about whether I should attempt the Christie Clinic Illinois event this weekend. He didn't want to tell me one way or the other whether to do it or not, but gave me some good input on what to consider. And I've been talking with my Catch the Wave co-leaders and my Ride the Wave group members and leaders about it for weeks. It's time to make a decision.
Found in this mornings email in-box: Today's Daily Kick in tbe Butt:
"We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort."
Jesse Owens
Determination. Dedication. Discipline. Effort.
I think I have my mantra for this weekend's 13.1. I've decided to go, even through I'm not properly trained for it and I'm still having ongoing issues with foot pain. I'll do a 5/1 or 4/1 run/walk interval and take it slow, and if it gets to the point where I can't do the run interval anymore, I'll keep walking.
If I CAN finish, I WILL finish.
If I can't finish because the pain in my feet is too great, that is going to be okay.
Oh, and as for the title to this post? The Trepidation part? Yeah, this half marathon has me scared. The foot pain, when it's bad, it's BAD and the fear of that pain has been a big part of why I haven't been training more and better since the weather improved. This weekend is about facing fear, not about running through pain. I'll stop if I need to, but showing up requires that I face the fear of that pain.
Showing posts with label Injury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Injury. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Physical Therapy: Euphemism for Torture?
I've had this nagging pain in my left foot, and a recurring issue with my hip, and then there's the chronic back pain. (Welcome to Being Over Thirty-Five, right?)
I went to my doc a while back to check on things, my biggest concern being the potential for developing a stress fracture in my foot. I figured I can expect to live with the back pain but once he suggested a physical therapist, I decided to make sure and get help from them on the hip and back pain as well.
My first visit was last Wednesday, right before heading out of town for work.
Overall, the diagnosis is that I need to develop a LOT more flexibility in my hip flexors and my calves. (And that the high heels I favor are not helping.) I also need to build strength in my hip flexors. The PT, Josh, did a whole lot of muscle massage before having me do some specific stretches to work on these area. He took some photos (definitely the MOST FLATTERING photos EVER taken of me!) of the various stretches and whatnot that he wanted me to work on as my "homework" and sent them to me. By the time I left, my back, at least, was completely pain-free. I bought a foam roller on the way home and I've been doing these a couple of times a day ever since.
I went to my doc a while back to check on things, my biggest concern being the potential for developing a stress fracture in my foot. I figured I can expect to live with the back pain but once he suggested a physical therapist, I decided to make sure and get help from them on the hip and back pain as well.
My first visit was last Wednesday, right before heading out of town for work.
Overall, the diagnosis is that I need to develop a LOT more flexibility in my hip flexors and my calves. (And that the high heels I favor are not helping.) I also need to build strength in my hip flexors. The PT, Josh, did a whole lot of muscle massage before having me do some specific stretches to work on these area. He took some photos (definitely the MOST FLATTERING photos EVER taken of me!) of the various stretches and whatnot that he wanted me to work on as my "homework" and sent them to me. By the time I left, my back, at least, was completely pain-free. I bought a foam roller on the way home and I've been doing these a couple of times a day ever since.
I went back yesterday for my second visit. Uh, let's just say the Gloves Are Off! I had Josh working on me and then an intern. They had me do three new exercises, MUCH harder than the stretches I've been doing, and really worked me over. This was no massage; this was a beating! They did clear me to do cardio and strength training after my appointment, just avoid the legs. So I hit the gym and hopped on the bike for 20 minutes and then did arms, back and core work, NO LEG WORK. Josh warned me I would be feeling it today, and he was right. It felt dangerous to walk around the office - I worried my hip may actually dislodge from its socket if I wasn't careful.
I was worried about trying to run after work but decided to give it a try. I decided to just go by feel, not have any set distance or time, just try some intervals and walk whenever necessary. It went okay. Coty and I walked our normal half-mile to start, then tried some 2-minute running intervals. My hips felt... weird, but alright. My calves were another story. They were so tight I had trouble WALKING once I started running, but when I was running, they just BURNED. This was a tough workout, and it only lasted 30 minutes!
I have another appointment tomorrow and we'll see how it goes from there. I sure hope I'll be able to run Steamboat - just 10 days away! It's only 4 miles, and I was just thinking this morning about how if this lovely weather holds out, I ought to be able to finish around 48 minutes this year, even if I take a walk-break half-way through. (And yes, I checked my race history and that would be a 3-minute PR.... I want to keep my streak going!)
On that note, I gotta go stretch and make friends with my foam roller.
Oh one more thing: weigh-in on Sunday was a plus: down 0.2 lbs! First loss in a while, so I was pretty happy about it, even though it's basically a goose-egg.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Only a Flesh Wound
Duly noted: a little adult language ahead.
I'm happy to report my ice-related-injury of Saturday is healing quickly and I believe I'll be able to run in the Miller Park Zoo Stampede 5k this weekend!
Saturday night was a blast! We had a great time celebrating our friend John's birthday:
I love that in these pics you can't see the mark on my chin. (you know, because lucky me, my face broke my fall on Saturday.) I do have a little mark on my chin where it hit the curb, but that didn't really become visible until Sunday morning, and actually it's not too obvious - looks a bit like a shadow and not really road rash. I WISH I had a photo that included my legs - I had these super-fantastic-sparkly-patterned tights on, and the most awesome multi-colored blue/black/turquoise 4-inch heels! Had a little too much to drink and stayed up past my bedtime, but we got to hang out with some great friends that we don't see too often. SO much fun!
Sunday morning I woke up early (isn't that just the way when you have all day to sleep in??) and headed downstairs for my weigh-in. Boo. I was up 0.4 lbs for the week- which I take as no change - I mean, we're talking less than 8 ounces... up OR down, who cares, it's a zero sum game. Disappointing after the really good week I'd had. Frustrating. I think it's time to do some research and figure out what's going on. Pretty sure this is a food issue, rather than an exercise issue; feel like I'm doing great on the exercise side of this equation. Time for a trip to the library.
I was in a lot of pain on Sunday. A lot. Mostly due to my leg, but it may have been exacerbated by a mild hangover. But after some serious couching and limping heavily whenever I got up, I braced myself to take the dog for her walk. Jason offered to go with me... partly just to hang out and jokingly to be there "in case you fall down again." With the ice / snow situation on the sidewalks in our neighborhood, we decided to drive to a local park where we could pick up the Trail. I was limping pretty badly at the start, but we walked at what I'm going to call a very leisurely pace for a little over an hour and covered just under 3 miles. After about 30 minutes, I was walking almost normally. Almost.
When we got home from our walk, I was about ready for a nap. Seriously, it really took it out of me. It seems silly - it was just a one-hour walk, for crying out loud! - but I was ready for a break. Jason had another idea though. He had some errands to run and talked me into joining him for a trip to the grocery store and The Dreaded Menards. Menards always seems to take FOREVER - Jason loves wandering around and investigating new toys and tools to play with... but he was right, it was good to keep moving and keep that leg loose and warmed up for as long as possible. And he promised to keep the wandering to a minimum! So I got about another hour, hour and a half of walking in... I don't really count that as "exercise" but it was good for my leg.
Today was hard but much easier than yesterday. The pain is localized in that muscle on my thigh - my knee and ankles feel pretty close to normal but that thigh muscle is tight and sore as hell. It feels like someone PUNCHED me really hard on my leg. I was still limping, especially in the morning, but knowing how much the exercise helped yesterday, I made a point of getting up every hour or so at work and wandering around the building, either going to the bathroom, walking to the kitchen for more water, whatever I could think of. At one point I was doing some research and just got up and paced around my desk and flexed my legs while reading reports.
After work, I took Coty for another 3-mile walk. My leg was feeling much better and after about 15 minutes I was able to do the rest of the route without limping. I didn't try any running but think I'll give that a shot tomorrow!
So screw the scale: I'm still moving forward, weight-loss or no. There's hope for participating - maybe even running! - in this weekend's 5k after all!
I'm happy to report my ice-related-injury of Saturday is healing quickly and I believe I'll be able to run in the Miller Park Zoo Stampede 5k this weekend!
Saturday night was a blast! We had a great time celebrating our friend John's birthday:
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| Our dear friends Barbie and Tony |
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| Me, John, and hubby Jason |
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| Seems I can't take a picture with my eyes open, but aren't we cute? :-) |
I love that in these pics you can't see the mark on my chin. (you know, because lucky me, my face broke my fall on Saturday.) I do have a little mark on my chin where it hit the curb, but that didn't really become visible until Sunday morning, and actually it's not too obvious - looks a bit like a shadow and not really road rash. I WISH I had a photo that included my legs - I had these super-fantastic-sparkly-patterned tights on, and the most awesome multi-colored blue/black/turquoise 4-inch heels! Had a little too much to drink and stayed up past my bedtime, but we got to hang out with some great friends that we don't see too often. SO much fun!
Sunday morning I woke up early (isn't that just the way when you have all day to sleep in??) and headed downstairs for my weigh-in. Boo. I was up 0.4 lbs for the week- which I take as no change - I mean, we're talking less than 8 ounces... up OR down, who cares, it's a zero sum game. Disappointing after the really good week I'd had. Frustrating. I think it's time to do some research and figure out what's going on. Pretty sure this is a food issue, rather than an exercise issue; feel like I'm doing great on the exercise side of this equation. Time for a trip to the library.
I was in a lot of pain on Sunday. A lot. Mostly due to my leg, but it may have been exacerbated by a mild hangover. But after some serious couching and limping heavily whenever I got up, I braced myself to take the dog for her walk. Jason offered to go with me... partly just to hang out and jokingly to be there "in case you fall down again." With the ice / snow situation on the sidewalks in our neighborhood, we decided to drive to a local park where we could pick up the Trail. I was limping pretty badly at the start, but we walked at what I'm going to call a very leisurely pace for a little over an hour and covered just under 3 miles. After about 30 minutes, I was walking almost normally. Almost.
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| Found this here on Facebook and could NOT stop laughing. |
Today was hard but much easier than yesterday. The pain is localized in that muscle on my thigh - my knee and ankles feel pretty close to normal but that thigh muscle is tight and sore as hell. It feels like someone PUNCHED me really hard on my leg. I was still limping, especially in the morning, but knowing how much the exercise helped yesterday, I made a point of getting up every hour or so at work and wandering around the building, either going to the bathroom, walking to the kitchen for more water, whatever I could think of. At one point I was doing some research and just got up and paced around my desk and flexed my legs while reading reports.
After work, I took Coty for another 3-mile walk. My leg was feeling much better and after about 15 minutes I was able to do the rest of the route without limping. I didn't try any running but think I'll give that a shot tomorrow!
So screw the scale: I'm still moving forward, weight-loss or no. There's hope for participating - maybe even running! - in this weekend's 5k after all!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Becoming Calloused
Well with the new job I'm struggling a little with making some time for blogging but I'm still doing my thing over here. It was a great week at work - I'm totally loving the new job. SO glad I decided to make this change! So... workout rundown for the week:
Monday: pouring down rain. Of course, it was clear but cold all day, right up until I got off work and headed home for a 3-mile run! It started pouring down while I was getting changed into running clothes. I actually had to talk Coty into going for a walk. That's how bad it was. Completely insane. Do you have any idea what it takes to make that dog LAY DOWN when you suggest going for a walk??? So we did get in one mile... one very fast mile and got completely soaked through in under 15 minutes. :-D
Tuesday was a long day - I had to go out of town for work, so up at 5am, on the road at 6:15am, worked 8am - 5pm at a client, then the 1 1/2-hour drive home. No workout for me. I call that a "rest day."
Wednesday was the first night for Ride the Wave! I've been so excited for this, and made sure to eat "clean" all day - a really healthy lunch (one i was so pleased with, I took a picture!) and hefty afternoon snack to fuel up, and left work early so I could change clothes and be there right on time, at 5:15pm. There was some socializing and introductions, some discussion of what the program is about, etc. and then a 2-mile assessment run. We had an opportunity to warm up with about a 1-mile jaunt to the "starting line" so I did an easy 2-minute walk / 2-minute jog to warm up on that distance. I was hoping to run the entire 2 miles and average about a 11:30-min pace. It was dark, so although I had my Garmin on, I didn't have much opportunity to monitor my pace, and the point is to run at a "comfortable" speed, and as I said, a speed I can maintain for the full 2-mile run. As expected, I was one of the last to complete the assessment (compared to the 50-odd other participants, I'm definitely one of the slowest!) but I'm happy to report I came in at 22:54 - RIGHT ON PACE with my goal. Awesome.
Thursday was a gym day and I started with 20 minutes of interval training on the stationary bike on Level 5. That one is still pretty tough but it may be time to consider trying Level 6. Got in 5 miles before the timer went off. Then I did a "full-body" strength training workout - three sets each of 11 different exercises, hitting all muscle groups. Highlights: I bumped up my barbell curls from 20 lbs / 10 reps to 30 lbs / 6 reps. That was tougher than I expected. Will have to work on that. Another new Bosu Ball Exercise: squats on that wobbly thing! Pretty self-explanatory, but I found a video for you anyway. That was challenging - think I worked on balance more than glutes with those squats - but MUCH easier than the side-to-side lunges from two weeks ago! Another new exercise: "Fireflies" - this is awkward and I don't like to think what it looks like if you're a fellow gym-goer and have to watch me do this, but it feels good, works practically the whole body, and it's difficult! Check out the video below. Oh and this will be relevant later on... we had a snowstorm Thursday night. Started around 4pm and it was fun looking out the gym windows and seeing all that snow dumping out of the sky! (Didn't hurt that the weather kept the gym attendance low that night!!)
Friday I was a bit sore (the good kind) from the gym workout but feeling fantastic. As always, Friday is a rest day so after work, just chilled out till Jason got home and we headed out for an evening together. Burger baskets, beer, and oh yeah, something in the basement of the bar CAUGHT FIRE. That pretty much cleared the joint out, but of course, we finished our beer and made sure to settle our tab before we headed home. In all honesty, it was really more of a smolder than a fire but it's more fun to say the place was in flames, don'tcha think?? The fire department never even showed up but they located the source of the smoke and took care of it inside of maybe 20 minutes or so. All's well that ends well - Jason had to work today anyway so we had planned to make an early night of it.
So today I planned a 3-4 mile group run. The roads were relatively clear of all that snow but there are still patches of ice and packed snow here & there. Well, wouldn't you know it, I found the ice! About 4 minutes into our run, my left foot hit a bit of (what appeared to be) wet pavement (but which was in fact, wet ice) and went sliding at freaky-fast speed directly to my right. I went sprawling. UGH when will I learn not to fall down all the damn time?!?!?! I landed HARD on the outside of my left knee and the outside of my thigh, tweaked my ankle just a bit, and my face hit the curb. (I had a nightmarish flash-forward of how I was about to lose my teeth. Thank goodness I just hit my chin on the curb. My teeth remain intact.) I'm SO GLAD Meg was running with me, she encouraged me to stay still, evaluate my condition and then we walked for several minutes, tried some more running, and finished the run. We just took care, took our time, ran some, walked some, and chatted. Got about 3 miles in after all, just slowly - about 54 minutes (including my time on the ground). There was a stretching demo set for after the run so I stuck around for that and gave my very unhappy leg/knee/thigh muscle some solid stretching. Once my body began to cool off, it REALLY started to tighten up. I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day, RICE (Meg taught me this great acronym) Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.
So now I'm limping. I took a bunch of Advil & I'm RICEing it. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I don't think I have a serious injury. Just some bruising and, apparently, some balance issues!
Tonight is our friend John's Big Fortieth Birthday so I'm planning to wear Extremely Un-Sensible Shoes, have dinner out, and party like a 40-year-old rock star later. Hope my leg holds up to the abuse! And as always, tomorrow will be another weigh-in day. Have fun out there!
Last thought for the day: found this on Facebook this week and I loved it. I love the thought that "Your mind becomes calloused to effort." We can train our minds the same way we train our bodies, and at the same time.
BTW, here is where I found it: Not sure the source, it was on my friend's wall.
Monday: pouring down rain. Of course, it was clear but cold all day, right up until I got off work and headed home for a 3-mile run! It started pouring down while I was getting changed into running clothes. I actually had to talk Coty into going for a walk. That's how bad it was. Completely insane. Do you have any idea what it takes to make that dog LAY DOWN when you suggest going for a walk??? So we did get in one mile... one very fast mile and got completely soaked through in under 15 minutes. :-D
Tuesday was a long day - I had to go out of town for work, so up at 5am, on the road at 6:15am, worked 8am - 5pm at a client, then the 1 1/2-hour drive home. No workout for me. I call that a "rest day."
Wednesday was the first night for Ride the Wave! I've been so excited for this, and made sure to eat "clean" all day - a really healthy lunch (one i was so pleased with, I took a picture!) and hefty afternoon snack to fuel up, and left work early so I could change clothes and be there right on time, at 5:15pm. There was some socializing and introductions, some discussion of what the program is about, etc. and then a 2-mile assessment run. We had an opportunity to warm up with about a 1-mile jaunt to the "starting line" so I did an easy 2-minute walk / 2-minute jog to warm up on that distance. I was hoping to run the entire 2 miles and average about a 11:30-min pace. It was dark, so although I had my Garmin on, I didn't have much opportunity to monitor my pace, and the point is to run at a "comfortable" speed, and as I said, a speed I can maintain for the full 2-mile run. As expected, I was one of the last to complete the assessment (compared to the 50-odd other participants, I'm definitely one of the slowest!) but I'm happy to report I came in at 22:54 - RIGHT ON PACE with my goal. Awesome.
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| Full Garmin details here |
Thursday was a gym day and I started with 20 minutes of interval training on the stationary bike on Level 5. That one is still pretty tough but it may be time to consider trying Level 6. Got in 5 miles before the timer went off. Then I did a "full-body" strength training workout - three sets each of 11 different exercises, hitting all muscle groups. Highlights: I bumped up my barbell curls from 20 lbs / 10 reps to 30 lbs / 6 reps. That was tougher than I expected. Will have to work on that. Another new Bosu Ball Exercise: squats on that wobbly thing! Pretty self-explanatory, but I found a video for you anyway. That was challenging - think I worked on balance more than glutes with those squats - but MUCH easier than the side-to-side lunges from two weeks ago! Another new exercise: "Fireflies" - this is awkward and I don't like to think what it looks like if you're a fellow gym-goer and have to watch me do this, but it feels good, works practically the whole body, and it's difficult! Check out the video below. Oh and this will be relevant later on... we had a snowstorm Thursday night. Started around 4pm and it was fun looking out the gym windows and seeing all that snow dumping out of the sky! (Didn't hurt that the weather kept the gym attendance low that night!!)
So today I planned a 3-4 mile group run. The roads were relatively clear of all that snow but there are still patches of ice and packed snow here & there. Well, wouldn't you know it, I found the ice! About 4 minutes into our run, my left foot hit a bit of (what appeared to be) wet pavement (but which was in fact, wet ice) and went sliding at freaky-fast speed directly to my right. I went sprawling. UGH when will I learn not to fall down all the damn time?!?!?! I landed HARD on the outside of my left knee and the outside of my thigh, tweaked my ankle just a bit, and my face hit the curb. (I had a nightmarish flash-forward of how I was about to lose my teeth. Thank goodness I just hit my chin on the curb. My teeth remain intact.) I'm SO GLAD Meg was running with me, she encouraged me to stay still, evaluate my condition and then we walked for several minutes, tried some more running, and finished the run. We just took care, took our time, ran some, walked some, and chatted. Got about 3 miles in after all, just slowly - about 54 minutes (including my time on the ground). There was a stretching demo set for after the run so I stuck around for that and gave my very unhappy leg/knee/thigh muscle some solid stretching. Once my body began to cool off, it REALLY started to tighten up. I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day, RICE (Meg taught me this great acronym) Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.
So now I'm limping. I took a bunch of Advil & I'm RICEing it. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I don't think I have a serious injury. Just some bruising and, apparently, some balance issues!
Tonight is our friend John's Big Fortieth Birthday so I'm planning to wear Extremely Un-Sensible Shoes, have dinner out, and party like a 40-year-old rock star later. Hope my leg holds up to the abuse! And as always, tomorrow will be another weigh-in day. Have fun out there!
Last thought for the day: found this on Facebook this week and I loved it. I love the thought that "Your mind becomes calloused to effort." We can train our minds the same way we train our bodies, and at the same time.
BTW, here is where I found it: Not sure the source, it was on my friend's wall.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Chilly Chili Fun Run 01-19-2013
Saturday was the Chilly Chili Fun Run out at Lake Bloomington with the Lake Run Club folks. This is not a timed race, but there is an organized water-stop and free food & beer afterward. It's also a very low-key event and they have no objection to running with dogs, so it was just what the doctor ordered for me. The weather was warm-ish (in the 40s) and not too windy so I was looking forward to another nice 4.37-mile run with Coty. It was a stressful week and I needed an antidote.
After some debate about whether or not to wear my windbreaker, I got there right on time (I know, totally out of character, right?) and had enough time to get my registration turned in, get my gear on, and chat with some other runners and friends from the Heat Wave and Catch the Wave groups before our run. I was really bugging out about running with just my tech tee on and the belt. It feels... lumpy. In the end it seemed smarter and more comfortable to skip the windbreaker with the temps so warm, but the belt is a whole new wrinkle that makes me more self-conscious. It's a great tool, though, so I better get over it!
I'm never sure how well Coty will respond in a crowd like that, especially before she gets some exercise, but she was really well-behaved, even with several other dogs around who were acting pretty weird & nervous. There was a beautiful German Shepherd who we've seen before, and who's not really crazy about other dogs, and a Doberman we've also met previously, who's REALLY not crazy about other dogs. Then there was an ENORMOUS St. Bernard (is that redundant? Aren't they all enormous?) who was completely new to me. He ALSO didn't seem to be great with other dogs. It's a miracle Coty was so calm before the run started.
I know, I know - enough about the dogs already... but there's a reason I bring it up.
So the run starts off, I stayed way at the back of the pack to make sure Coty didn't trip any of the other runners. The German Shepherd & Dobie were fast and got ahead of us quickly, but it turns out the St. Bernard wasn't running - he was a spectator, standing to the left of the road and barking and lunging at everyone as they went by. I was focused on just moving forward and calmly staying on our path (a good general rule I learned for controlling my dog, which I got from the Dog Whisperer years ago), but the St. Bernard lunged right toward Coty as we passed. Coty bolted to the right, directly into my right leg, which was moving forward (um, cuz I was running!) and I went down like a sack of potatoes.
I know I yelled out something on the way down, and I'm pretty sure there was at least one four-letter word, but whatever it was, I can assure you it was NOT "oops!"
An anonymous stranger helped me up. I did a little physical inventory and assured I hadn't broken or sprained anything, and got going (again). I had a little road rash on my knee and the palms of my hands but no mortal wounds. I took a couple pics once I got home.
At this point I was way behind everyone, my adrenaline was pumping like crazy and I felt I needed to refocus and calm down a bit, so I decided to do a slow jog for a half-mile to test things out, then walk a half-mile to make sure I'm really well warmed up, then run as much as possible for the remainder, similar to last week. That worked out pretty well, and since we were so far behind, I let Coty off her leash for about two miles along the route.
Right after the first mile-marker, when I really got going, a van drove past, stopped and rolled down the window as if to ask something. I slowed down to talk to them and they said, "No, we were just stopping to look at the deer." Huh? What deer? This area is at the edge of a LARGE field and there was a sizable herd of deer (maybe 10-12 of them) bounding through, a little more than a quarter of a mile away from us near the edge of the wooded area. I stopped and soaked that in. So glad they pointed it out to me! Coty couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, they were too far away.
As we followed the road left about a half-mile after that, another deer! This one all by himself, really big guy, running parallel to the road and towards / past us. That one Coty saw... very exciting.
There was, in fact, a water stop complete with SPAM(r) soup and a whole lot of Peeps - you know those Easter marshmallow candies? I skipped all of it, but hung out and chatted for a few minutes with the folks manning the station. Wish I'd had my camera - there was a guy serving stew with this totally awesome Spam hat that my dad would love!
Along the way I also ran into Dan - I got to know him a little this year when he was organizing the We Care Twin Cities Half Marathon. He's awesome, and he had run over 28 miles before starting the Fun Run today. He is a MADMAN and an inspiration!! Holy cow!!
Anyway, yadda-yadda-yadda I finished the run, nothing too exciting pace-wise... Felt good.
Here's the stats - total time 57 minutes, time running 54 minutes & change, and the splits. Not bad, really, especially considering a walked about a half-mile of it.
I'm hoping they will post some pictures on the LRC web site so I can share some of the love.
I headed in for my free post-run beer but never made it. I stopped to ask a group of folks to take a photo of me (after running to the car & rescuing my phone). They did, and offered me a beer from the cooler in the back seat! I ended up chatting with them for about 45 minutes and taking a couple more pics.
Not as lumpy as I thought with the belt & leash and everything... pictures are sometimes helpful in figuring out what "reality" is.
I gotta go to bed, so I guess I'll fill you in on my lovely evening out and today's weigh-in... tomorrow.
After some debate about whether or not to wear my windbreaker, I got there right on time (I know, totally out of character, right?) and had enough time to get my registration turned in, get my gear on, and chat with some other runners and friends from the Heat Wave and Catch the Wave groups before our run. I was really bugging out about running with just my tech tee on and the belt. It feels... lumpy. In the end it seemed smarter and more comfortable to skip the windbreaker with the temps so warm, but the belt is a whole new wrinkle that makes me more self-conscious. It's a great tool, though, so I better get over it!
I'm never sure how well Coty will respond in a crowd like that, especially before she gets some exercise, but she was really well-behaved, even with several other dogs around who were acting pretty weird & nervous. There was a beautiful German Shepherd who we've seen before, and who's not really crazy about other dogs, and a Doberman we've also met previously, who's REALLY not crazy about other dogs. Then there was an ENORMOUS St. Bernard (is that redundant? Aren't they all enormous?) who was completely new to me. He ALSO didn't seem to be great with other dogs. It's a miracle Coty was so calm before the run started.
I know, I know - enough about the dogs already... but there's a reason I bring it up.
So the run starts off, I stayed way at the back of the pack to make sure Coty didn't trip any of the other runners. The German Shepherd & Dobie were fast and got ahead of us quickly, but it turns out the St. Bernard wasn't running - he was a spectator, standing to the left of the road and barking and lunging at everyone as they went by. I was focused on just moving forward and calmly staying on our path (a good general rule I learned for controlling my dog, which I got from the Dog Whisperer years ago), but the St. Bernard lunged right toward Coty as we passed. Coty bolted to the right, directly into my right leg, which was moving forward (um, cuz I was running!) and I went down like a sack of potatoes.
I know I yelled out something on the way down, and I'm pretty sure there was at least one four-letter word, but whatever it was, I can assure you it was NOT "oops!"
An anonymous stranger helped me up. I did a little physical inventory and assured I hadn't broken or sprained anything, and got going (again). I had a little road rash on my knee and the palms of my hands but no mortal wounds. I took a couple pics once I got home.
At this point I was way behind everyone, my adrenaline was pumping like crazy and I felt I needed to refocus and calm down a bit, so I decided to do a slow jog for a half-mile to test things out, then walk a half-mile to make sure I'm really well warmed up, then run as much as possible for the remainder, similar to last week. That worked out pretty well, and since we were so far behind, I let Coty off her leash for about two miles along the route.
Right after the first mile-marker, when I really got going, a van drove past, stopped and rolled down the window as if to ask something. I slowed down to talk to them and they said, "No, we were just stopping to look at the deer." Huh? What deer? This area is at the edge of a LARGE field and there was a sizable herd of deer (maybe 10-12 of them) bounding through, a little more than a quarter of a mile away from us near the edge of the wooded area. I stopped and soaked that in. So glad they pointed it out to me! Coty couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, they were too far away.
As we followed the road left about a half-mile after that, another deer! This one all by himself, really big guy, running parallel to the road and towards / past us. That one Coty saw... very exciting.
Along the way I also ran into Dan - I got to know him a little this year when he was organizing the We Care Twin Cities Half Marathon. He's awesome, and he had run over 28 miles before starting the Fun Run today. He is a MADMAN and an inspiration!! Holy cow!!
Anyway, yadda-yadda-yadda I finished the run, nothing too exciting pace-wise... Felt good.
Here's the stats - total time 57 minutes, time running 54 minutes & change, and the splits. Not bad, really, especially considering a walked about a half-mile of it.
I'm hoping they will post some pictures on the LRC web site so I can share some of the love.
I headed in for my free post-run beer but never made it. I stopped to ask a group of folks to take a photo of me (after running to the car & rescuing my phone). They did, and offered me a beer from the cooler in the back seat! I ended up chatting with them for about 45 minutes and taking a couple more pics.
 |
| Not as lumpy as I thought! |
 |
| Bill, Doug, Joe and Tracy (John not pictur |
I gotta go to bed, so I guess I'll fill you in on my lovely evening out and today's weigh-in... tomorrow.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Oh, Poor Puppy!
This is a bit off-topic for the blog, but had to share.
Coty went into the front yard this afternoon, sat down in the grass... then yelped! Turned around and started biting and licking her hindquarters. Then I saw a big, fat, yellow bumblebee fly out from under her butt! She sat on a bumblebee! It was clear she'd been stung by the little bugger. She snapped at it a few times in protest but then was so distracted by the sting, she let it go and went back to licking her leg.
I called the vet to ask if there was anything to worry about. He said if she appeared to be having an allergic reaction, we could give her a dose of Benadryl. She calmed down and let up on the licking after a few moments, so I made a judgement call. We went on our planned run and I kept a close eye on her, willing to turn around any time she made a protest.
She did well with our run, a little over 3 miles, not much limping and didn't stop to try & lick her leg or anything. But now, poor thing, she's limping around like a three-legged dog. Really favoring her leg. Once we get her up and walking around a bit, it seems like it loosens up, but she's definitely got some swelling and soreness.
Oh, poor puppy!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Chris, did you quit blogging already?
No I guess I haven't quit blogging. If I thought anyone was really following, I would feel bad about not posting for a couple of weeks, but since this is so new, I know no one is counting on me for posts.
I was planning to ease off of running a little after the Race for the Cure - cut back to twice a week instead of 4-5 runs a week. I was getting a little "twinge" in my leg that I thought might be an indication that I needed a little break. The "little break" turned into two straight weeks of having NO EXERCISE!! Ack! Nope, none at all, with the exception of a couple of dog walks (no running) and some gardening. This wasn't entirely a consequence of laziness: there was all sorts of hell breaking out at work and I was crazy busy and my husband generously took care of Coty for me on a number of occasions.
After a couple of weeks off, my first time back was rough, but Coty and I suffered through a 4-mile run/walk on a REALLY hot morning, to kick off Memorial Day weekend. It was a busy weekend; we were throwing a party Sunday afternoon so Saturday was filled with frantic housecleaning, picking up provisions, and I even squeezed in a manicure. The good news is, when I weighed in on Sunday morning, I found I'd lost nearly 3 pounds - so not too much damage done by the break!!
The party went off pretty much without a hitch - TONS of food, WAY too much beer & other indulgences, LOTS of good friends hanging out in the back yard telling jokes and stories till way too late. Good stuff.
Monday is a blur of hydration, Advil, and television. Recovery day. I managed to sit outside & read for a while, but the sunlight eventually got to be too much for me.
This week, I expect another crazy week at work, and limited time for exercise, but will be carefully watching everything I eat and make sure not to overdo it. I'm gonna try to get out to the Lake for TNAM on Thursday for our third of six qualifying runs in our 8-week program. There's still time to get all 6 runs in before time runs out!
Lastly, I recently found out my running group is organizing an event in September. The event will include a 5K, 10K, and 1/2-marathon. I decided to register for the 10K - still too scared to try for the half. I'm going to take some shit from my running friends when they find out, but I'd love to try another 10K and see if I can finally improve my time!
So that's it. I'm back. Still at it. Not going anywhere.
I was planning to ease off of running a little after the Race for the Cure - cut back to twice a week instead of 4-5 runs a week. I was getting a little "twinge" in my leg that I thought might be an indication that I needed a little break. The "little break" turned into two straight weeks of having NO EXERCISE!! Ack! Nope, none at all, with the exception of a couple of dog walks (no running) and some gardening. This wasn't entirely a consequence of laziness: there was all sorts of hell breaking out at work and I was crazy busy and my husband generously took care of Coty for me on a number of occasions.
After a couple of weeks off, my first time back was rough, but Coty and I suffered through a 4-mile run/walk on a REALLY hot morning, to kick off Memorial Day weekend. It was a busy weekend; we were throwing a party Sunday afternoon so Saturday was filled with frantic housecleaning, picking up provisions, and I even squeezed in a manicure. The good news is, when I weighed in on Sunday morning, I found I'd lost nearly 3 pounds - so not too much damage done by the break!!
The party went off pretty much without a hitch - TONS of food, WAY too much beer & other indulgences, LOTS of good friends hanging out in the back yard telling jokes and stories till way too late. Good stuff.
Monday is a blur of hydration, Advil, and television. Recovery day. I managed to sit outside & read for a while, but the sunlight eventually got to be too much for me.
This week, I expect another crazy week at work, and limited time for exercise, but will be carefully watching everything I eat and make sure not to overdo it. I'm gonna try to get out to the Lake for TNAM on Thursday for our third of six qualifying runs in our 8-week program. There's still time to get all 6 runs in before time runs out!
Lastly, I recently found out my running group is organizing an event in September. The event will include a 5K, 10K, and 1/2-marathon. I decided to register for the 10K - still too scared to try for the half. I'm going to take some shit from my running friends when they find out, but I'd love to try another 10K and see if I can finally improve my time!
So that's it. I'm back. Still at it. Not going anywhere.
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