A little bit out of the ordinary

I've completed precisely two races this year, a 5K back in February and a half-marathon in April. Oh sure, I had lots of things planned during the summer (a few triathlons and half-marathons come to mind), but my knee was having none of that.

Now that I seem to be back on my feet, I'm putting some semblance of a race schedule together with one race targeted for each month through the end of the year. I was looking for races that are a little bit out of the ordinary. Here is what I'm aiming at:

September: Corrida de Corrales 5K

It is held in conjunction with the Harvest Festival, it's all off-road, and it's close to home. Plus they are giving out running gloves instead of race shirts. The gloves pushed me over the edge when I wasn't sure about running this. I'm treating it as a fun run, though, not going to push it too much.

October: Bosque Boogie 10K:

I've only done a couple of 10Ks and while I really don't care too much for that distance, I do like mixing things up. From the photos I saw from last year, it looks to be a mix of road and trail. I hope it is, because that's the main reason I chose that particular event over a few other options during the month.

November: Veteran's Day 11K:

No that's not a typo. It's an 11K, probably because Veteran's day is on 11/11. Even thought the actual race will be held on the weekend a few days later. Hey, if nothing else, this will be a PR since I've never raced that distance before. Ha!

December: Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 5K or 10K

This would be my 5th year running. It's a race for a great cause and it's always been a lot of fun. I'll decide which distance when it gets closer, but at the moment I am leaning toward the 5K option. Want to have fun with this one. The first year I ran in a Santa hat. Wonder what I can come up with this time?

Out of the four listed above, the only one that I've actually signed up for is the Corrida de Corrales 5K. The race is this Sunday. Eek! I'm not ready! Oh wait, I said I was treating it as a fun run. Because of the race, I am moving my long run of 7 miles to Friday.

At the moment, I'm looking forward to the long run more than the race. That's mostly because 7-8 miles is my favorite distance in training. I'm sure I'll be more excited about the race when I pick up my packet on Saturday. Either that or I'll panic and freak out because I'm not ready!

Anything a little out of the ordinary on your race schedule?

Solo 10K and new project

No run group today, it was deemed a "run-on-your-own" day which is fine by me. I was out the door at roughly 8:20 for an easy-pace 10K run. I opted to wear a hydration belt instead of carry my hand-held and that worked out well for me. Other than the final six tenths of a mile or so (which was uphill and in the sun - double yuck), I felt terrific. I'm so happy that my knee is cooperating again!

It has come to my attention that I probably have more choices for what to wear for a walk/run than I do for going to work*. And yet I keep buying/wanting more athletic wear.**

What's worse is that my strategy for what to wear to a race is typically "whatever is clean." This has resulted in some less than stellar race photos.

So I've decided to start a self portrait project whereby I snap a photo (using the self timer on my new camera) in whatever outfit I wear to walk the dogs, do yoga, run, bike, or whatever athletic endeavor strikes my fancy for the rest of the month.

Why am I doing this? Well, by the end of the next few weeks I hope to accomplish the art of self-photography plus be able to pick out a few of my best looks to target as race-wear for the future. It's a win-win!

I actually started this project a few days ago and it's turning out to be kinda' fun. I'll probably post all the photos to FB and a sampling to my blog at the end. You'll just have to wait to see what I come up with!

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* In my defense, I'm typically in the office 4 days per week, whereas I run/walk/exercise 7 days a week (sometimes twice in one day). It makes perfect sense to me that my athletic wardrobe would exceed my work wardrobe. Ha!

** Seriously, have you seen the preview of what's coming from runningskirts.com? Oh.my.gosh.too.cute. I'm all over that chocofleur skirt when it becomes available!

On Goals and such

One of my stated goals for the month is to hit 100+ miles by feet (run+walk). We are now smack dab in the middle of the month. So how am I doing?

drum roll please...

56.2 miles by feet (25.5 running, 30.7 mi walking).

Thank you, knee!! I'm on track!!

I also put a few tentative races on my sidebar earlier in the month, all 5K or 10K options. I've decided that I'm not going to do anything at Chips&Salsa so I will be taking that off my list

Which brings me to an interesting exchange that I had with someone yesterday.

I was walking the dogs up the hill and came across a man who was doing hill repeats. I have walked this route 12 times already this month. Occasionally I see people running or walking up that hill, but I have never seen anyone doing hill repeats there before. So it really caught my attention.

On my way down, I happened to be walking by while he was catching his breath and taking a swig of water. Seemed awkward to pass by without saying anything, so I asked "What are you training for?"

He said "Just for fun."

Huh? Nobody does hill repeats for fun, do they? If you are doing hill repeats, I'm guessing you must be training for something. But whatever. I just kept on walking and left it at that.

After walking another half mile or so, I saw him again. He came running past me he said "Actually, there's a race here in a few weeks"

"Oh yeah, the Corrida de Corrales. I'm thinking about running that too," I responded.

Phew. Well at least I'm not crazy. He *is* training for something. And I am keeping that one on my sidebar for now. But I won't be doing hill repeats for it. LOL.

Two Things Tuesday

Morning Run

I opted to run solo again this morning instead of planning to meet the run group this evening. This time the decision was driven by convenience. The run group evening meeting time has changed from 7pm to 6:30pm and now 6:00pm in the interest of daylight. It's all good, except that it means I would really need to rush after work and that kind of defeats the whole running as therapy thing.

I also chose to run "naked," i.e. no garmin, no watch. I got a little carried away and also left the the house with no handheld. Oops. There's not much to say about the run, other than I went 4 miles easy and loved every moment of it.

JoLynn asked in comments on my last post "Why no photos?" The answer is simple. Husband had left for work already, daughter was sleeping, and I suck at self portraits. I could have had her take one when I got back, but by then I had forgotten about it.

To prove my self portrait suckage, I present the best of about a dozen photos that I took after my run this morning. Enough said.

Side note, the dogs are playing "bite my ear" in the background. It's non-stop with those two!

Speaking of the dogs...

A year ago, in the midst a difficult time in my life, we decided to adopt a 5mo old puppy. He had been rescued along with his mother and siblings at a construction site. I remember saying that he looked like he would be a big boy.

Here he is one year later. He seems to have topped out at ~80lbs.

I'm so glad we took him in. He's turned out to be a wonderful companion, he and Bandit are best buddies, he did great in basic obedience training, and he loves going on walks. :-)

Saturday Seven

Saturday morning I was scheduled to run with my group at 7am. Sounded like a good idea when I set the alarm Friday night, but when the alarm went off at 5:45 I had second thoughts. Most of the group was running eight, I was only running five. At most, I'd have a running partner for 2.5 miles and more likely only the first mile that we all run together because my usual running partner is out of town and the rest of the group is too fast for me. Plus, the weather has really cooled off. It was a brisk 50deg at that time of morning, but was only expected to be 60deg by 9am and 66 by 10am. No rush to beat the heat. I turned off the alarm, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

I woke up on my own closer to 7am. Had a leisurely breakfast & coffee and made it out the door for my solo run by 8:30am. I decided to debut the mini dots skirt and strappy top that had arrived in the mail Friday. And since it was about 55deg when I left the house, I added a long sleeve technical top for the first few miles. Sorry, no photos! Just trust me, it is a very cute ensemble. I know this for certain because when I got back home later in the morning, even my teenage daughter commented on how cute I looked. :-)

One of the benefits of running solo is that I can start my run from home, no driving required. Another benefit is that I can run my own pace; no artificial pressure. I took it at an easy pace and had no problems at all with my knee. In fact, I felt like I could have kept going. Next week, I will try running six easy and see how it works out.

Cooled down and had a snack when I got home. Then got the leashes and took the dogs for a walk up and back down my hill for 2 more miles. That makes seven miles total by feet and no knee pain. In my book, Saturday morning was a huge success!

[I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge September 11th. I know that it is an emotional time for many people. For me, it's now tangled up with the anniversary of my father's death (on the 10th last year). It was really good that I could get out and run today. That's really all I want to say about that.]

Three Things Thursday

1 - One of my goals for the month is to log 100+ miles by feet. I thought this was going to be easy until my knee decided to act up again. I need just over 3.3 miles per day on average to hit that number. I was counting on running 4s 3x week, walking 4 1x, and walking 2 sx. Now the running 4s is questionable. It takes FOREVER to walk so I don't know if I'll hit the magic number unless running is in the mix. Stupid knee. Which brings me to plans for today. I'm supposed to run this afternoon, but I'm thinking it may be wiser to walk and give it another day to recover before trying to run again.

2 - I bit the bullet and ordered the black mini dots running skirt from RunningSkirts. It was just too cute not to own. Now I'm tracking my package obsessively. Any of you do that? I'm guessing it will arrive Saturday. By the way, even if I need to take another break from running, skirts make great dog-walking wear. I'm quite certain that I'm the best-dressed dog-walker out in our neighborhood sometimes. :-)

3 - When my kids were little, I used to make their halloween costumes. Then they got older and wanted store bought ones. Then last year, Son asked me to help him sew up a Rorschach mask. I love little sewing projects like that! Well, this weekend is the Homecoming Dance at my daughter's HS. She wasn't happy with any of the dresses that she found shopping and decided to have me alter one for her. It was a fairly simple change. I made it strapless and it's much cuter on her that way. She also found a casual dress on clearance mark-down because it needs mending (it will be an easy repair). One of these days I should do a little sewing project for myself!

Perspective

Within the past 24 hours I walked 4.2 miles, cycled 27, and ran 4. I would be happy about that, but now I'm wondering if I over did it, because the last mile of my run consisted of a lot of walking thanks to a recurrence of knee pain. It seemed to hit me out of nowhere. Maybe I did too much in too short a time. Or maybe it was the cycling.

I'd be lying if I said that this experience this morning wasn't discouraging. And it seems downright unfair sometimes. Why do I struggle with this stupid knee issue? Why can't it happen to someone who is perfectly happy sitting on the couch?

Then I thought about someone we saw yesterday while we were out riding. It was a guy with one leg. Out on the trail. Riding a bike. Just imagine how difficult it would be to cycle one legged the whole way. A lot of people would give up or not even try, but there he was. And he has a big grin on his face.

Then I thought about my own situation. Here I was, out run/walking on a beautiful morning. Sure, my knee is bothering me, but I'm out here. So I smiled.

Right about then I passed the house of a neighbor with Parkinson's disease. He was taking his garbage can out to the curb while walking with a cane. I was running by (slowly) with a smile on my face.

Guess what he said to me?

He said, "What a nice way to start your day."

And he was right.

Seeing Progress

Had a good run with the group last night. I was actually able to keep up with someone else for a change. I think I'm getting my stamina back!

I downloaded the data this morning and noticed some nice improvement in the 4 mile run times that I've captured on my Garmin over the past few weeks. While they all aren't exactly 4.00 miles, they are close enough. It's clear that my body is slowly re-adjusting to running again:

46:46

45:33

44:29

43:35

42:35 * [Edited to add Saturday morning's run, progress continues!]

I'm sticking with fours for another week. Perhaps after that, I can start building up my mileage. Even if I'm not training for anything, I'd be very happy to have my weekend runs get up in the 7-8 mile range. That is my favorite distance for some reason.

Have a great weekend everyone! I have a long weekend, but nothing special planned because Husband will be working. No worries, I'll find ways to enjoy my free time. I'm going to start it off with a nice long walk with the dogs. :-)

Stress Relief Run & August Tally

Stress Relief Run:

Tuesday evenings are the running group meetings. However, I needed to run this morning before facing the day. The group would just have to meet without me. Note that I said needed to run, not wanted to run. Some days are just like that, you know?

When I got out on the trail, each step would be like hitting the backspace key, working to erase the stress in my life. Didn't bring the Garmin along. This wasn't about pace and I already knew where my turn point was. This was about enjoying nature. Taking in the sights, smells, and sounds.

By the end, I could honestly say that I was in a good mood and ready to face the day. Ahhhhhh.

August Tally:

• 66.4 mi walking
• 28.8 mi running
• 5850 yds in the pool
• 13 trips up the hill
  
• 2 rest days
• 3 trips to urgent care/ER for daughter
• 4 calls from school about related absences
• 1 child off to college
• 1 volunteer event

Thoughts:

• Run + walk = 95.2 miles by feet which is my highest month ever.
• My knee treatment worked, no more pain. Hallelujah!
  
• Best swim was a 400 yd TT under 9 minutes
• Best run was Saturday's negative split progressive run
• Favorite run was my 4 miler this morning.
  
• Favorite walks was hiking Garin with JoLynn
  
• The sunrise as viewed from out on the mesa never gets old
  
• Trips to Urgent Care/ER are never fun
• Volunteering is cool, but participating is better

Plans for September:

• Nothing concrete. Hitting 100 miles by feet would be cool. So would doing some race for fun. Otherwise, I guess I'll just keep on keepin' on.

Control

Saturday morning I met up with the running group again. Most of the folks were running 7 in preparation for and upcoming half marathon. Coach & I agreed that I should stick with running 4s for now, until it doesn't seem like such a struggle. Then I can start building again.

A simple goal for the run: Control. Don't start out too fast, work toward negative splits.

The resulting graph is almost unbelievably close to a perfect stair step. Each mile at ~15 sec faster pace than the one before.

I'll count that as Success! I always feel like I owned the run when I can control my pace like that.

I spent some time looking into possible short races for the fall and put them on my sidebar. Not committed to any of them at the moment, but it gives me something to aim for.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks!

Virtual Run Report

I was so excited yesterday evening to be able to join my running group again after well over 3 months of down time. The route they had chosen was a loop that I haven't run for a while, but one that I know is a bit short of the 4.0 miles I wanted to run for MCM Mama's virtual run. No worries, I figured I could add a bit on at the end as needed. Which is what I did, just not quite the way that I had expected.

The first mile was uneventful. Everyone was 'warming up' which means they were running my speed. My favorite part of running with the group is that first mile that we run together.

Soon we had reached the magical one mile point, and the rest of the group pulled on ahead. Coach stayed back with me so that I wasn't alone. He mentioned how glad he was to see me out there again and encouraged me to focus on everything I love about running. Soon enough the speed will return, he promised.

At about 2 miles, we noticed a few of our runners we walking up ahead. When we caught up, we realized that one of them was not feeling well. He declared that he would walk in with her, and the other runner & I continued on ahead.

This part of the loop is on a shaded dirt trail. It didn't take long before the other runner was far enough ahead that I lost sight of him. I just continued on, fairly sure that I knew my way back. However, apparently I don't know it as well as I thought. When I saw the group back at our starting location, they were on the opposite side of the ditch bank.

I thought about doubling back, but remembered that there was a bridge up ahead. So I continued on until I was able to cross back to the other side. That little mistake added another .4 to what would have been a 3.6 mile run, so it turned out perfectly.

I'm certainly no speed demon, but I got it done. 4.0 miles in 45:13, a pace of 11:19. That's actually quite a bit faster than my 4.0 miler Tuesday morning, so it made me smile.

Slowly, but surely, I'm coming back!

Three Things Thursday

1) Just for grins, I decided to tally my month-to-date numbers. So far I have 71.2 miles on my feet (56.4 mi walking, 14.8 mi running) and 5850 yd in the water with six days left (including today). I thought about running solo this morning, but I really want to meet up with my running group this evening. So I'm taking it easy for now.

2) Look what arrived in my mailbox the other day, courtesy of a give-away on Java Joggers' blog. Thank you! I'll bring a bottle of nuun along on my run later today.

3) I still need to put together a 4.0 mile run race report for MCM Mama's virtual race. I hope it's not considered cheating if I hold off to choose between the best of several 4 mile run attempts. Given that my pace right now is in the 11:30-11:45 range, I'm guessing I'm not positioned to win anything other than bragging rights that I actually made it through the distance. Which reminds me, I'm happy to say that my knee hasn't been bothering me at all this past week. Woot!

Sanctuary at Sunrise

sanc·tu·ar·y n. 3. A place of refuge or asylum.

The only healthy way I know to deal with stress is to get outside. The dogs & I found peace this morning out on the mesa.




* Daughter was in ER for 6 hrs last night. This time, I think we have a solid diagnosis and treatment plan. I'm home with her today to ensure she is making forward progress.

Letting Go

Some personal struggles over the past several months have really forced me to employ the principle of "Let Go and Let God." Good thing that I've been working on this for awhile, because the weekend gave me opportunity to put this into practice.

Son & I had an early flight Saturday morning to Oakland. From there we took a taxi to his housing complex. He stood in the check-in line for well over an hour while I stood guard over his luggage. Surprisingly, he was the first of his room mates to arrive. The dorm was configured with one set of bunk beds and a single. There appeared to be space to debunk the beds and reconfigure the room and debunk the beds. So we did. Then we made his bed and went out for lunch. We returned to find one of his room mates had arrived. They spoke a bit about the configuration and he was more comfortable unpacking his stuff. We had some time to kill, so we explored the housing complex and surrounding area then decided to walk over to my hotel.

Exploring the grounds of his housing complex

This courtyard looks peaceful.

Just as we walked out of the dorm, JoLynn texted me to make plans for Sunday. We intended to finalize plans shortly after I got settled into my hotel.

However, I arrived at the hotel to discover that while they had my reservation, they didn't have any available rooms. How does that even happen?!? Both the hotel clerk & I tried our luck at finding some other accommodations near campus to no avail. After all, it was move-in weekend. Sigh. The only option in Berkeley was down by the marina at a much higher rate.

JoLynn graciously offered her spare room and after working through things in my mind, it really seemed like the best alternative. It was better for her because she wouldn't have to drive up to Berkeley early on Sunday morning. It was better for me because I wouldn't be alone Saturday night. It was better for Son because he was anxious to get on with his college life without mom hanging around for another day. However it did mean that I had less time to explore Berkeley and needed to say goodbye to him much sooner than I expected. We had a quick dinner, walked to the nearest BART station, said our goodbyes, and I was on my way to Fremont...

I must say, JoLynn and Keith are wonderful people. I feel so blessed that things worked out the way that they did. What initially seemed like a bad situation (no available hotel room) turned into something wonderful. We we up late Saturday evening chatting away until JoLynn & I were both exhausted. They fed me breakfast. JoLynn took me to her favorite hiking location (Garin, of course!) along with Boomer and Bella. She even lent me some shorts because the weather turned out much warmer than expected (irony, huh?) and dropped me off at the airport when it was time for me to go home.

Single Track at Garin

JoLynn (and Boomer too!) & I

Despite the fact that the weekend didn't turn out anything as expected and Son has moved out and moved on, I have nothing but pleasant memories...

It seems I also may need to let go of my plan for the half marathon in October. With the pressure off, I was able to really enjoy my four mile run this morning. It rained last night, so I found myself running on a muddy ditch bank. We're never too old to play in the mud, right?

Life is good!

Friday Follies - Stressed Out Edition

Didn't end up swimming Thursday either. This time it wasn't caused by laziness. I have been in full-time Mom mode for the past few days. And Mom duties *always* take priority over training.

Daughter is fighting intestinal issues that left her severely dehydrated. We ended up at Urgent Care twice in less than 24 hrs. The meds that were supposed to help with GI problems caused nausea and made it worse. Re-hydrating her orally wasn't working. She ended up with 2 liters of fluids by IV and some anti-nausea meds. She seems to be doing much better today. Whew.

Son & I leave early tomorrow morning to board a plan to so that we can get him moved into his dorm at Berkeley. Today we need to finish getting him packed and ready to go. He's very excited, and I'm sure he'll be just fine. Can't say the same for me. Whether I like it or not, he's leaving home tomorrow. It makes me sad.

However, I am very much looking forward to meeting up with JoLynn on Sunday morning. She's currently planning to whisk me away to enjoy a bit of hiking the hills of California. This after doing a century ride on Saturday. Wow! By the way, she keeps telling me to bring warm clothes. Apparently the Bay area is much cooler than New Mexico. Right now that sounds awesome to me!

I was able to get out this morning for a 2 mile run* (~11:30 pace) followed by a 4.25 mile walk along the bosque. Got a little bit later start than desired and it sure was hot out there. Other than that, it was a nice way to work off some of the stress that I've been experiencing over the past few days.

*Note: If I were following my abbreviated half-marathon training schedule, today should have been a 5 mile run. It really doesn't seem like that is going to happen. I have my eyes set on mid-September 5K or 10K as an alternative.

Morning Motivation

Remember how I was going to swim yesterday. Yeah. So that didn't happen. For me to have time to swim before work, I need to leave the house at 5:45. I don't think I rolled out of bed until 6:20. Oops. Swimming is back on the schedule for Thursday. Guess my swim motivation was missing.

Yesterday afternoon I talked to Coach. He wanted to know how the return to running was going. I told him about the knee incident on Friday and cancelling my run Saturday. Also about having success with some short runs. We agreed that frequent short runs was a good way to ease back into running. At the end of the discussion, I mentioned that I would like to try 3 miles (easy pace) in the morning, but would back off from that if my knee showed any signs of distress.

The nice thing about running vs. swimming is that I don't have to travel anywhere to do it. No problem rolling out of bed (again) at 6:20 and still having time for a short run. Even thought it wasn't exactly an early morning wake-up, I had plenty of motivation to get out there this morning. I queued up Matisyahu "Smash Lies" on my ipod and took off.

"Dream awake. Make no mistake.

Strive to be alive most every day"

I promise not to complain about how slow I am or how much of a struggle running even three miles is after taking 3 months. I am and it is; this is not a complaint, just a statement of fact. Rather than dwell on how running was before or how I want it to be, I'm really just trying to enjoy how it IS. What I love most about it is the feeling of being alive. What do you love most about running?

mile 1 11:24

mile 2 11:39

mile 3 11:29

Hey, if nothing else, my splits were more consistent than usual. That's gotta count for something!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I was rather disappointed that my Friday 2 mile easy run turned into two half mile running segments and a mile of walking. And after working the water station this weekend, I was really chomping at the bit to get back to running. I figured that if my running is limited to half mile segments, then so be it; I'll run half mile segments.

So that's what I did. And I made through a 1.2 miles without experiencing knee pain.

With that bit of success, I made it a goal to head out again this morning. This time just a little bit further... 1.5 miles. Again, no knee pain.

Then I got really crazy. Decided to go out one more time after work and try to go 2.0 miles. Now I know twice in one day may seem like a bit much, but it's no different that running one day in the evening and then again the next morning.

And guess what? I made it through 2.0 slow miles without knee pain. Don't get me wrong, there was significant struggling with the heat. At points I doubted that I'd make it back to the house without keeling over from heat stroke. But no knee pain.

Are you following along at home? I've run a total of 4.8 miles over the past 2 days without knee pain. This, my friends, is a very good thing. It's nowhere near what I need to be doing to prepare of a half marathon (yeah, I'm thinking that probably won't happen, but we'll see), but I think I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Trust me, I don't want to push it and end up with another injury. Tomorrow I'll swim.

Weekend Wrap-Up

After my failed run attempt Friday morning and my lovely 4 mile walk, I went to the pool. I didn't have any particular workout in mind, I just wanted to repeat my 400yd time trial. I was happy to find an open lane, no sharing required. It helped that the guy in the lane next to me was swimming a similar pace. I tried to stay with him for a bit, then kicked it in to pass. I was quite pleased to check the time at the end of my 400...08:53. Finally! Under 9 minutes. I *knew* I could do it. Woot!

My Saturday 'long run' was off since my knee isn't ready yet. Instead, I took the dogs for a 3 mile walk, including one trip up and down my hill. When I got back home, Son was ready to start packing for college and taking inventory of what he still needs. We also did some shopping. Next Saturday I will be flying out with him to get him moved into his dorm. So far, we have two large suitcases full, 2 more pairs of jeans on order, and a pretty good idea of what else needs to be packed.

Had to wake up early this morning to make it to the race venue by 6am for a volunteer's meeting. It was about a 40 minute drive from my house, so I had set the alarm for 4:30am. Yikes, that's early! Got instructions and supplies and went to the 1.5 mile location and got the table set up.

Here is how the table looked while we were first getting set up:

Here I am ready for the runners to come through:

The aftermath:

The half marathon runners came by first. Then we had a pause to get more cups ready. Then the 5K runners came through. After that, we picked the cups up off the ground, packed up, and headed over to the finish line. Got there in plenty of time to cheer for every one of my friends who was in the race (and everyone else that I saw).

Volunteering was a great experience, but I sure miss being a participant...

Friday Fail

I have a standing Friday morning bosque walk date with a friend. Today, I decided to show up at the meeting place a bit early to test my knee with an easy 2 mile run.

And so I did. And the knee promptly failed the test.

I made it roughly a half mile before my knee started to ache. I walked a bit, then tried again. Same result. Drat. My knee is clearly not ready yet. The planned 2 mile run turned into a few half mile run segments filled in with walking. Drat.

This is disappointing, but I still have hope. The doctor said that it could take up to six weeks after the final injection for me to experience maximum results. It's only been two weeks. At two weeks, I was cleared to run if it didn't hurt. But it does. So I'll be giving it more time.

I still went off with my friend for our scheduled 4 mile walk and it was grand.

It would be so easy to be bummed out and frustrated about the knee situation, but it's important to put it all in perspective. If the worst things in my life right now are not being able to run and my son leaving for college next weekend, life must be pretty darn good.

Three Things Thursday

THING ONE - The Return to Running and an Attempt at Half Marathon Training

Yes, I promise that I will take it easy. If my knee isn't ready, I will give it more time. If the half-marathon isn't meant to be, there will be other races. I get all of that. Really, I do. But right now I really, really, really want to get out there and test it out. My rusty-trusty running partner is meeting me bright and early Saturday morning. He has promised everyone that has expressed concern that we will be going SLOW.

THING TWO - Race on Sunday

I got my assignment for the half marathon on Saturday. I will be working at the first water stop along with another lady from my running group and her daughter. I think it is going to be loads of fun!! I'm so tempted to bring my camera (lots of friends are running this race), but the assignment is to give water to thirsty runners, not take pictures of them! LOL

THING THREE - Swim Progress

I made it to the pool four times last week and twice so far this week. I timed another 400 yesterday morning: 09:11. While this is not bad really, I am rather disappointed that I still can't get under nine minutes. I can feel my form fall apart in the back half of the 400, but I'm not sure what "one thing" to focus on right now (While it is quite possible that there may be multiple things that I can improve, but I can really only focus on improving one thing at a time). Without knowing for sure what that one thing is, I will focus on my head position and see if that helps.

Cramming for a Half Marathon

I'm getting really close to my 'cleared to run' date. I haven't received my training plan for the mid-Oct half marathon yet, nor do I know how my knee is going to respond. Neither of these two things stopped me from sketching out a path to get there.

4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11-12,6,race. <---- that's the answer.

Those numbers represent my planned weekend LONG runs (left out the mid-week runs at this point, will fill those in later) beginning this weekend and taking me up to the race in 10 short weeks. And quite frankly, it scares the snot out of me.

Officially, I am cleared to run on the 15th. Which is Sunday. Which is the day I am volunteering for the Rio Grande half-marathon. So I'll just have to bump up my first run a day (or two). I'm going to try to go 4 miles. Doesn't seem like a lot on paper, but it's going to be my first run in two months. Fingers crossed.

The following weekend I will be out of town for Son's dorm move-in at Berkeley. I'll try to get in my long run of 5 miles Friday before heading out there. (I'm also planning on checking out some single track with a certain someone while I'm out that way, more on that later).

From there I will ramp up 1 mile at a time. The decision about whether to do the race or not will need to wait until my long run gets to 7 or 8 miles. Want to see how my knee holds up before I commit.

Oh, and the peak weekend will be two weeks before the race with an 11-12 mile run scheduled. Of course this is all subject to change, but it's a first pass.

What do you think? Is this doable? Have you crammed for a race before? Is this a recipe for disaster? What can be done to increase the likeliness of success?

Product Reviews - Ab Roller and Balance Board

Several weeks ago, the good people from America's Nutrition, sent me a few products to review. Their site has several interesting items, including nutritional supplements, but I was mostly interested in the fitness gear. The two items that I received to test and review were the Ab Roller and the Balance Board.

I'm including images from the boxes, because it does a better job showing how to use these products than I'll be able to explain with words:

The Ab Roller is an interesting addition to our home gym equipment. As shown by the photo on the box, you kneel, grab onto the handles, and roll forwards, then back to your starting position. Both my Husband & I have noticed that while doing the exercise (2-3 sets of 10), it doesn't seem very difficult. However, the next day we both really feel it in our abs! I like it. My only complaint is that the knee pad that is included is too thin to be helpful. If you have your own mat at home, use that instead.

The Balance Board is more of a therapeutic tool, in my opinion. It's something that was recommended to me by my PT for rehabilitating my knee. The main idea is that you stand on it, and shift your weight side by side to improve balance and agility. You can also stand on it while to engage your core while doing upper body free weight exercises. I like the balance board for these reasons, but I'm not sure it's something every runner would appreciate. However, I did notice that Balance Board exercises were mentioned in the latest issue of Runner's World in conjunction with barefoot running, so maybe I'm wrong on that point.

Thank you, America's Nutrition. And readers, go check them out! Both items arrived quickly and were well packaged well; I wouldn't hesitate to order from this company.

Morning Musings

Started this morning off with a 400 Yd TT at the pool. I don't know what I was expecting my time to be after taking such an extensive break, but I certainly wasn't thrilled with the 09:14 that I clocked. I could feel my form fall apart at the end. That's what I need to focus on: form. Next time I show up at the pool, I'm doing drills. I won't be happy until I get my 400 back under nine minutes.

This morning when I went to the hot tub afterward, my swim stalker mentioned that "that guy over there" prefers that lane that I was swimming in. "Just watch, when he realizes that lane is open, he'll move over" And by golly, that's just what happened.

[NOTE: I've come to the conclusion that this man is harmless. He's just an elderly gentleman who comes to the gym regularly and doesn't have much else to do with his time other than people watch.]

I had also arranged to meet a friend for a 4 mile walk along the bosque. I stopped home first for a quick snack and to change clothes. My poor dogs were confused and disappointed when they saw me leave the house in walking clothes without them. I almost always take them with me, but not when I go the bosque.

It was a nice morning for a walk. I should have brought my camera, we saw about 3 hawks circling up overhead near our turn point. I wonder if there was a nest nearby?

My garmin says that we maintained a decent walk pace, ~16:50. It was much faster than the last time we did it. After I got back home I realized that my knee didn't bother me the whole time. I do believe it's getting better!

Mid-week swim

Set my alarm for 5:30 this moring so that I could get up and swim. I realize 5:30 isn't all that early when it comes to early morning workouts, but I haven't needed to get up before 6:15 for months.

I hit the snooze button when the alarm went off. This is never a good sign. Caving into the snooze button is generally a path that leads to disaster.

But not today. I actually popped out of bed when the alarm went off the second time. I put on my swim clothes and stumbled into the kitchen. Poured a cup of coffee, sat down and drank it, and was off.

I was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but two open lanes when I arrived at the pool. Nice. My plan was to swim 1000yds, and that's just what I did.

I hopped out and went over to the hot tub to stretch. Some retired gentleman said to me "Haven't seen YOU here for MONTHS. You used to swim farther than that."

Great. I have a swim stalker. Or perhaps my conscience takes the form of an elderly gentleman at the pool.

Either way, I'll try to be back tomorrow. After all, I used to swim farther than that...

July Tally & Return to Pool

July by the Numbers

• Miles by Feet - 74.5
• Trips up the hill - 20
• Yards Swam - 2750 (see below)
  
• Ab workouts - 4 (more on that later in a separate post)
• Injections received - 3
• Rest Days - 5

Thoughts

• Seventy-four point five miles walked, including twenty trips up and down the same hill. I'm either crazy or stubborn (or both!)
• I don't recommend swimming for anyone trying to lose weight. Swimming makes me hungry. Crazy hungry. I'll-eat-anything-I-can-find hungry.
  
• My idea of returning to normal activity and the orthopedic's idea of the same are two different things. When he said I could return to normal activity next week, he did not mean running. I'm not cleared to start running (or do any other strenuous activities involving my knee) until the 15th of Aug. Even then I need to start out short and easy until mid-September. There's no rushing the healing process. Sigh.
  

Plans for August

• Keep swimming.
• Keep walking.
• START RUNNING!!
• Send Son off to College
  

The Return to the Pool

I had been thinking about swimming all week. Then the orthopedic guy burst my bubble by telling me that I couldn't start running again next week after all. That's the nudge I needed to bite the bullet, re-join the gym, and get back to the pool.

I intended to swim 1600 Friday afternoon, but quickly learned that one loses significant swim fitness from taking a year off. My 200 yd "warm-up" wiped me out. Who knew?!? I made it to 1000 before calling it a day.

Not one to be so easily defeated, I returned to the pool Saturday morning. I asked a guy who was clearly counting laps if I could share his lane.

"I'm swimming a mile, " he said smugly.

"Me too," I quickly retorted.

And just like that, I had committed myself to go 1750 (yes, I know there's technically 1760 yds in a mile but 1750 is close enough for me). And so that's what I did. Booyah!

Friday Five - High Desert Edition

I live in the high desert of central New Mexico. When most people think of the desert southwest, they think of the low desert (Phoenix) and saguaros and such. That's not what it's like here. We're up a mile above sea level! So not only is it different from where most of you live, it's different from what you might imagine. Today I looked for five photos from my camera to share a little bit of my world with you.

I took this first one just the other day as I was coming down the hill. This is what my neighborhood looks like. Most of the houses are one story with flat roofs. The primary plant that you see naturally growing is sagebrush. The "soil" is sand. The mountains are the Sandias. Sometime I'll share a photo from sunset in winter when they turn pink.


From first glance, I'm sure all you see is brown. But there is color in the desert, I promise! This next self-portrait was taken in front of my house the day before we left for our vacation in NYC. Hummingbirds love trumpet vines, I don't have to put up a feeder to attract them.

I took this next photo out of the passenger's window of my car. I promise, I wasn't taking photos while driving, my car was stopped!

As I mentioned earlier, you won't find saguaros here. That doesn't mean we don't have cactus plants, just not that type. This particular cactus is growing near the fence line of our back yard. I think it's interesting how the blossoms are two different colors, yellow and pink.


And I couldn't resist adding this one in. The roadrunner is our state bird. I see them daily running across the road. Somehow a roadrunner found it's way to the roof of our house one day this spring. They can't really fly, so it seemed odd that he was up there. It's a neat photo though, don't you think?

Now you know a little more about my world. In a bit I will be off to get my third and final shot in my left knee. WooooHoooo!

Three Things Thursday

1) I'm posting this at 3:15am. When I have a lot on my mind, I wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep. On my mind right now is my Son's imminent departure for college. He leaves in a little over 3 weeks. We need to decide who he wants to go with him and book our flights. I'm going to talk with him about that tomorrow. On the one hand, I hope he wants me to go with him so that I can see where he'll be living. On the other hand, I kinda hope he wants his dad to take him so that I can shed my farewell tears in the privacy of my own home. Sigh.

2) I've walked 72.5 miles so far this month including 18 trips up and down the hill. Do you have any idea how freaking long it takes to walk that many miles? Three days to go before I close the books on July. Even though I can start running again (knock on wood) in August, I think I will continue walking on my cross-train days. It's growing on me.

3) I'm officially out of the Chile Harvest Triathlon. Mixed emotions about this, but I believe it was the right decision. Maybe next year. Oddly, shortly after getting that taken care of, I received an email about the Patriot Tri in mid-September. That's the one I didn't do last year because it was a few days after my dad died and I was an emotional and physical mess on race day. Now I need to decide whether to add this one into the mix or just concentrate on the HM in October. Hmmmmmmmm. Stay tuned.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Musings

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I've been sick for the past few days. Stupid strep throat. In retrospect, sharing a water bottle with my daughter (who also ended up diagnosed with strep a few days earlier) was not such a good idea. Sleeping, drinking water/tea, & taking meds is pretty much all that I've done since Saturday evening.

I must finally be feeling better because I'm starting to get a bit stir crazy and bored. In my boredom, one of the things that I decided to do was look back at posts last July.

Did you know that it was roughly this time last year that I tried out Saucony Progrid Triumph 5 running shoes courtesy of a giveaway from onlineshoes.com from Wes's blog? Wow. How awesome that was! I ended up switching to these shoes and I couldn't be happier.

I was also sporting a broken/smashed finger. Don't miss that one bit! What is it with me and stupid injuries in the summer? Last year smashed/broken finger. This year scraped/broken elbow.

My running mileage in July 2009 was 55.7 miles with my long run at 7.0 miles. I've exceeded that mileage total already this month walking hills, but it's obviously not the same as running. And the long stuff isn't happening for me right now. However, somehow I am reassured by looking at those numbers. I don't think I'm too far off actually.

My post reading was interrupted by the postal carrier ringing the doorbell. I appreciate our postal carrier driving up to the house to deliver a box at the doorstep instead of leaving a slip and making me go pick it up myself at the post office. But I don't understand why she puts the rest of the mail in the box (I have a long driveway) rather than bring it up as well. Anyway, the package was a box with a few interesting products from American Nutrition to try out and review. Will post a review in about a week once I've had ample opportunity to try them out.

I also decided to make a word cloud. It made me smile so I posted it on my sidebar. Oh, and I made a few slight changes to the blog layout.

That's all I've got for now. Stay healthy!

So close, and yet so far

Received my second of three Euflexxa injections on Friday. On August 2nd, I can resume whatever activities I wish including running, however it might not be until early September that the full benefits of treatment are realized.

I was signed up for a local Sprint Tri on Aug 7th. I haven't been able to train for it. I have debated whether or not to show up and try to have fun or cancel my registration. It seems unlikely that I can go in unprepared and finish this with a smile, so I sent an email to the race director this morning asking if I can give up my spot so that someone else can participate. The race is likely to sell out, so I am fairly certain he will either give me a refund or forward my registration to next year.

The following weekend is the Rio Grande half-marathon. Earlier in the year I had wanted to participate in this event and aim for a time goal. That's obviously not happening. Instead, I am participating as a volunteer. I'm actually looking forward to being on the other side; it should be fun.

My plan is to begin running in early August. Starting off slow and easy to test the knee. If all goes well, I'm jumping straight into half marathon training for a race in mid October. As long as my goal is to finish upright, smiling, and wanting to do it again, this should be do-able. I won't take crossing the finish line for granted after several months of down time.

Looking at my sidebar I notice how empty it is of race results. Oddly, I'm okay with that. My return to run training will coincide with my son's departure for college. Something tells me that I'll need it then way more than I need it now anyway.

Friday Follies - Back from NYC Edition

Wow. Five days, four nights in the Big Apple. What an experience. I took 175 photos with my brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC- ZRI camera (love it!) and uploaded about 30 of them to facebook - find me there to see them. For the blog, one photo and a few thoughts from the trip



1) There was a lovely path with lots of other runners along the Hudson river just steps from our hotel. I wasn't able to run, but took a nice stroll one night as the sun was setting.

2) New Yorkers get a bad rap. I expected rudeness, but experienced nothing but kindness.

3) The subway was convenient for getting around, but it was unbearably hot in the tunnels while waiting for the trains.

4) Blue Men Group was the highlight of the trip. And Son was chosen as an audience volunteer to participate in the show. How cool is that?!?

5) Holy smokes there were a LOT of people everywhere. Especially Times Square at night. Aye Carumba.

6) Gelato = best sweet treat ever. Why, oh why, don't they have that where I live?

7) It was cool how every neighborhood was different and unique. So much diversity on one little island.

8) Embassy Suites Hotel rocks for a family of four. Huge room, bedroom for us, kids slept on the couch bed in the other room. Breakfast buffet included with made to order omelets.

9) Two words to describe the financial district = Concrete canyons.

10) One of these days I'll learn. Bringing exercise clothes on vacation does nothing but waste space in my luggage. No worries though, we walked all over Manhattan!

Have a great weekend folks. Time for me to tackle a mountain of laundry...

Looking forward

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

I realized yesterday that if I can walk 6.2 miles over the next 2 days, I will be 0.1 miles over my May monthly miles by feet on July 15th. Now if that's not some motivation to get out there and keep moving forward, I don't know what is!

I get my first of three Euflexxa injections the morning of the 16th. That comes with some planned downtime, so the numbers won't go up too much after that.

Essentially, this is the base I have built for myself for when I come out on the other side in August ready to run. Will it be enough? Time will tell. Right now the plan is to run Duke City HM again in mid-Oct. That means when I start running, I'm headed straight into half marathon training. Yeeehah!

Crazy? Perhaps. Determined? Absolutely!

Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits. ~Robert Brault

Saturday Seven

No, not seven miles, seven random things:

1) As of the morning of July 10th, I have logged 32 miles of fitness walking which includes 12 trips up the hill. It's growing on me, but I miss running.

2) I'm getting really bored with that hill. Need to find a new one to climb.

3) I *so* love Marshall's. I recently picked up 2 pairs ($9 each) of Layer 8 shorts that are designed just like Nike Pacer shorts except that they are missing the rear pocket for an Ipod. One is grey with yellow trim, the other is black with pink trim. Score!

4) I also found really soft microfiber twin xl sheets in brown and khaki for Son to take to college. I'm sure that's not as exciting to most of you as the shorts, but it's something he needs for the dorm room and the price was perfect. Score again!

5) I also love Headsweats hats. The only time that I don't wear them when walking or running (or gardening) is when it's too cold. I picked up two new ones recently: lime green and white with pink trim.

6) Last night we went to the Zoo for a summer concert. It was a perfect night to sit out and listen to music. We had never heard of the artist, Carrie Rodriguez, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that we really enjoyed her music. I think I might pick up her latest CD.

7) Five days until my first Euflexxa injection. Not that I'm counting or anything...

Three Things Thursday

Yet another reason I'm anxious to get on with knee treatment...I'm running out of things to say.

1) Still walking and walking and walking and walking: 21.75 miles in the first 7 days of July. After dinner last night, I had the opportunity to walk up the hill with my son. While we were heading that way, I mentioned that I've seen a two runners recently run a bit further up to the very top and then disappear I have no idea where they go. We decided to climb up there and check it out. It's just a big sandy plateau up there. I'm still not sure why they go up there or where they go after that! It's not obvious that it connects to anything. Maybe they go down the other side and connect to another road/trail and make it a loop instead of an out and back? Oh well, at least now I've been up there.

2) I am enjoying gardening wayyyyy more than I ever expected. I'm out there every day tending to the plants, weeding, harvesting veggies, and sometimes just observing progress. I am so glad we decided to fence in an area for it when we did our landscape remodel. Before this year, I was doing container gardening which was not nearly as much fun. Pretty much everything in the garden is doing well, except for the strawberries. The strawberries have really been struggling. Over the past few days, I tore out some of the dead/dying plants and replaced them with new plants. That by itself would be the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I also attached some netting to the fence on that side of the garden to give them filtered instead of direct sun for at least part of the day. When instructions say to give plants full sunlight, they don't mean 15hrs of the intense, cloudless sky, high UV, scorching sun of the desert southwest. From my past experience with container gardening, strawberries did better in partial sun. It's worth a try anyway. If this doesn't work, I'll give up on strawberries entirely and plant something else there next year.

3) While parts of the country are struggling with insane crazy hot temps, it's actually been quite nice here. Highs this week around 85-90 and lows 60-65. The big temp swing during the day brought to us by virtue of cloudless skies and high altitude (nothing to trap the heat when the sun goes down) makes for quite pleasant mornings and evenings.

Off to a Good Start

With the cortisone shot now kicking in, my knee is feeling a bit better and July is off to a good start.

Thursday evening I took the dogs up the hill. I then dropped off Bandit at home and took Stymie out for another mile.

Friday morning the dogs went up the hill with me again. I dropped them both off afterwards and went for a 1.5 mile easy run. I wasn't wearing my Garmin, so I'm not sure how fast I was going, but I'm sure it wasn't very fast. I was pleased that my knee felt "okay" and considered going for a longer run Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came, and I decided that I'd be better off walking the dogs than trying to go for a longer easy run. Anytime that I've tried running multiple days in a row, it has not turned out well. Instead, I took the dogs up the hill, dropped off Bandit, watered Stymie, and went back out with Stymie to traverse the hill a second time.*

(*For the record, I'm not playing favorites with the dogs. Bandit is older and gets tired after the 2 mile hill climb. Stymie, on the other hand, has the boundless energy that one might expect from a large 15mo old puppy).

So for anyone keeping score, here's how it adds up: We're three days into July. Already I've traveled 10.5 miles on my feet, including 4 trips up the hill and one short 1.5 mile easy run. I'm quite pleased.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. In honor of Independence Day, I'll leave you with the following thought: “What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom “to” and freedom “from.” ~ Marilyn vos Savant

June Tally

The Numbers

On my feet: 58.0 mi
On my seat: 9.3 mi
Races: Nada

Thoughts

Being injured sucks. Being "double" injured sucks doubly. Focussing on what you CAN do rather than what you CANNOT - priceless.

Plans for July

Keep walking hills. Receive treatment for knee. Reconcile race schedule.

The Verdict

What's up with the Elbow and Knee?

Arm/Elbow - Got X-rays and had a quick follow-up appt in which I received the green light to resume normal activities. If it bothers me in the future, come back, otherwise case closed. That was good news. I was good about following doctors orders: resting it and doing my mobility exercises. I think this helped speed up recovery.

Knee - Same diagnosis as in 2008. Chondomalacia Patella (irritation of the back surface of the kneecap) from Patellofemoral Syndrome (kneecap scraping on the femor). Essentially, this is a chronic issue that is never going to go away completely, but it is manageable.

Treatment plan - He gave me a cortisone shot yesterday which hurt like crazy, but is supposed to provide short term pain relief by tomorrow. I will start a series of 3 Euflexxa injections spaced out one week apart beginning on the 16th. My patella tracking doesn't seem to be much of an issue, so no PT this time, but I should keep up with the PT exercises from before for maintenance.

What is Euflexxa?

Euflexxa is a particular brand of medicines for HA therapy.

Essentially it helps replenish the joint fluid, providing cushion & lubrication to the knee. This works for my issue, because it gets the kneecap up off the femor so that it stops scraping. It normally provides relief for 6-12 months. In my case, it was wildly successful treatment last time, providing relief for nearly 18months. He said he's never had a patient report such long lasting results. I'm optimistic that it will work for me again, although I'll probably consider going back sooner if I have even mild symptoms because once my knee started bothering me it went downhill fast and the wait to get in for treatment is rather long.

What does this mean for Training/Racing?

I don't expect to be able to resume run training until mid August. If you follow me on FB, I posted a note yesterday with my thoughts on specific upcoming races and a half-baked training plan for the interim. When I figure it out completely, I'll fill you in here.

All-in-all, I'm encouraged. Just a bit anxious to put this all behind me. Mid August seems like a long way off.

Tuesday Three

* My fitness walking (with an occasional wog) added up to 19.25 miles last week. That's on par with my run mileage during half marathon training. I may not be building cardio fitness, but it should be good for building strength; I went up and down the hill 10 times last week!

* Son traveled solo for a few days at UC Berkeley last week. His travels went well except for a minor issue on the BART (boarded wrong train) which he was able to work out. Apparently he had a blast while he was there. He came home *very* excited for school in the fall. Next time that he heads out to Cal, he will be moving in and staying for 4 months. *gulp*

* Today is my long awaited orthopedic appointment for my knee. I hope he devises a plan to fix me up soon so that I'm able to run again. My knee has gotten progressively worse over the past several weeks. It now bothers me even on my walks. This appointment also includes a follow up on my elbow fracture, which is feeling much better. Perhaps I'll be released to normal activity on that front. Fingers crossed...

Monday Musings

• Walking is a pain in the butt. Literally. I don't really feel it anywhere else, but my glutes have been particularly fatigued since embarking on my run-walk endeavors.
• Our neighborhood is home to not one, but two three-legged dogs. One is missing a rear leg. One is missing a front leg.
  
• This weekend I bought a pair of white jeans that are too long. I knew they were too long and bought them anyway. Why? I like how they fit in the rear.
• My elbow is feeling a lot better this morning. I'm hoping to get the green light for normal activities (from an elbow perspective) when I go back to the orthopedic next week.
  
• I'm still waiting on the appointment for my knee. Not happy about the long lead time...
  
• Bandit graduated from basic obedience training this weekend. He did even better than Stymie! Proof that you *can* teach an old dog new tricks.
• One of my cherry tomato plants is out of control. I counted 15 tomatoes on it this morning and at least 75 blooms. It's crazy!
  
• I planted my watermelon and cucumber hills 5 ft apart in anticipation of being overwhelmed by the vines. Instead, the plants are maybe 3" tall. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong.
• I totally misjudged how long it would take to walk 4 miles Sunday morning. As a result, I missed church. Oops.
• It's officially the first day of Summer. I hope this means that the wind will finally die down.
  

The Elbow Saga continues...

Tuesday morning I got a call from the Urgent care clinic. Upon further review of my x-ray, the radiologist discovered a non-displaced fracture at the radial head. I was told to see an orthopedic asap.

Got in this morning. Ortho doc explained that when you move your forearm, turning your wrist over, the radial head must rotate within the joint. A fracture reduces this movement, causing problems with extension, as well as forearm pronation and supination. I need work on these movements so that I don't lose mobility. If it heals improperly, mobility is gone for good. That would be bad.

No cast or sling or surgery required. I consider that to be a good thing.

No swimming, no cycling, no weights. Take it easy with the arm and just work on mobility.

Running technically okay, dog walking not so much. But he stressed that taking it easy so that it heals properly is very important. Damaging it further would be a bad thing.

I'm supposed to go back in a few weeks. Until then, I guess I'm on injured reserve...

Greek Yogurt & Elbow

Greek Yogurt

A few weeks ago, I decided to get on the non-fat Greek Yogurt bandwagon. On paper, it's a great snack - loads of protein, zero fat, real sugar (but not too much of it), pro-biotics, and calcium. All packed into an individual snack sized container.

I don't recall the first brand that I tried, but it was a big YUCK.

Next I found Oikos brand in strawberry, which I liked a lot. Except for the price tag. It was ~1.69 for a 5.3 oz serving. Yikes.

Then a local health food store had 6 oz servings of Chobani on sale for .99 each. I picked up a couple in several different flavors each: strawberry, pomegranate, vanilla, peach, & blueberry.

The strawberry was too sweet for me straight out of the container, but my daughter likes this one. With some real berries added in (strawberries or blueberries), the flavor is balanced out more to my liking.

My first try of pomegranate was favorable, but since then I've decided that I don't care of the crunchiness of the seeds. I probably won't buy that one again.

I did not like the vanilla when I first tried it. The vanilla flavor is too overpowering. But it's grown on me. I actually enjoy it mixed in with my granola instead of milk and a handful of fresh blueberries.

Peach is hands down my favorite. I like it every way that I've tried it. I like it straight out of the carton. I like it with my granola. I like it with berries. I think I could eat this for breakfast, snack, and dessert and not get tired of it. Just thinking about it is making me want another one..

My husband's favorite is blueberry. I like this one too, but not as much as I like the peach.

Flavors I didn't try were plain, pineapple, and honey. I wanted to try plain, but they didn't have it in the 6 oz containers. Pineapple sounded interesting, but it wasn't non-fat. Honey simply didn't sound like something I would like. I also noticed that it had more sugar & more calories than the other flavors that I tried.

Elbow

I ended up going to urgent care this morning because my elbow was hurting more quite a bit more than I thought it should. It was also a bit swollen. They took an x-ray and it doesn't look fractured. However, the wound had gotten infected, which is what the doctor thinks was causing the tenderness and swelling. They cleaned it up again, wrapped it, and put me on antibiotics (Good thing I have all this Greek Yogurt on hand to replenish the good flora). Tomorrow morning I need to unwrap it, clean it up, and wrap it again. I'm really hoping that the doctor is right, and that my elbow will feel better when the antibiotics kick in.

Good thing I wasn't chewing gum...

You know how some people can't 'walk and chew gum' at the same time? Well apparently I have trouble with the simple act of walking. Who knows what would have happened if I had complicated matters by trying to chew gum too...

I woke up early Wednesday morning to give time to do a repeat of the hill gallowog from Sunday before work. I was out door at 6:00 with Bandit in tow. We had just completed a run segment and were slowing down to a walk.

When out of nowhere, I was attacked by a speed bump! Okay, maybe "attacked by" isn't the right phrasing. Perhaps "surprised by" is more accurate.

Next thing I knew, I was going down...and man oh man, that asphalt was unkind upon impact...

So, I picked myself up, dripped blood back to home, and proceeded to clean up my newly acquired road rash.

The worst of it is on my left elbow, where is where I took the bulk of the impact. I have a very impressive 2 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch gash/wound. It's rather disgusting looking and still painful. I'm expecting a scar to match the one I have on my right knee from a swing set related injury as a kid.

I'm taking a few extra days off so this can get a good start on the healing process.

On the bright side, this new elbow injury has distracted me completely from the problems I've been having with my left knee!

Be safe out there. There may be a speed bump hiding in wait to attack YOU!

Hill Gallowog

After reading more about the Galloway method, I decided to give it a try on Sunday. Right now I'm thinking of it as walking with run breaks (vs running with walk breaks) and expecting it to balance out to a slow jog pace. Hence my term, Gallowog.

The plan was to take one dog out solo and go up the hill near my house. Try something like a 1:1 or even a 1:2 (more walking than running). Return home. Repeat.

Decided to take Bandit out first. Had to adjust the run/walk interval a little to optimize it to the route we were running, but it went fairly well. My run/walk buddy, Bandit, did a good job matching my pace and staying at my side with a loose leash.

Switched dogs and went out with Stymie. Woah, boy! During the run intervals, he consistently took off at a much faster pace and I found myself trying to reign in my 80lb puppy. I need to work more with him to get him to match my pace and/or use the hands-free leash if I plan on running any with him.


When it was all said and done, it took me about 60 minutes to "gallowog" the dogs for a total of 4 miles and traverse the hill twice.

I'm quite pleased. This seemed like a much better workout than normal dog walking, was fun, and still didn't bother my knee.

Looking at my exercise logger, I realize that I haven't taken a rest day for the past 10 days. So, that is what I shall do today.

Have a great day!

Running vs. Walking

This morning I covered ~4 miles by feet, of which only 1.25 mile was running. In addition to being easier on my knee, the slower pace of walking allows me to enjoy the world around me in a new and different way, but it takes *forever* to cover the distance.

When I got home, I decided to do a little research about the benefits/disadvantages of running vs. walking. This is what I've discovered:

1) From a calories burned perspective, logging miles makes a lot of sense. It doesn't matter if you run a mile or walk a mile, it takes the same energy either way. But since running is faster, walking requires a larger time investment to burn an equivalent number of calories. It's doable, just takes longer.

2) Walking does help with cardio fitness, but not as much as running. That's because normal walking doesn't usually raise one's heart rate to the optimal training zone. Brisk walking and/or hilly terrain, however, may help.

3) Running has 3-4 times the impact on your bones and joints than walking. That means running has a higher risk of injury. It's also why it bothers my knee more. But on the flip side, the higher stress on the body from running has a bigger benefit toward building/maintaining bone density.

After digesting all that I've learned today, I'm beginning to think that a good compromise may be either a structured easy run/walk (Galloway-style) or race-walking (which I'm really not too interested in).

And with that, I'm off to learn more about the Galloway method...

Different Paces, Same Places

Walked the dogs for 2 miles Tuesday morning. I rode my bike to the run group meeting spot in the evening, chatted for a bit before they headed out on their run, and rode back home.

Wednesday I took the dogs on a 1.3 mile walk in the morning, then did a short 0.7 psuedo-run for national running day. Yeah, it wasn't far, but at least I got out there an ran!

Today I took the dogs out for a short 1 miler in the morning, and another 1 miler this evening.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm realizing that even a little bit every day adds up. Including Monday, I've traveled 8.2 miles on my feet and 18.5 miles on my seat (bike). Not too shabby.

May Tally and Random Musings

May Totals

46.1 miles on my Feet (run + walk)
84.3 miles on my Seat (cycling)
0 races
1 high school graduation

Thoughts

The summer isn't going to turn out as expected due to issues with my knee, but sometimes life's greatest experiences are unplanned; I'll try to make the best of it!

Plans

Orthopedic appt at the end of the month. Taking it one day at a time from now until then with regard to my run/walk/cycle schedule.

Random Musings

* Chobani Strawberry yogurt tastes just like strawberry jam. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy strawberry jam (on toast), but I prefer yogurt to be more tangy. The Oikos brand Strawberry is much more to my liking.

* I had been planning to run another half marathon in August. It now seems unlikely that this will happen. Today I decided that if I can't run it, I will volunteer. It's a win-win!

* Rode my bike yesterday to the store to pick up a few things and carried them home in a backpack. Felt all proud of myself until I saw another couple who was there with a pull cart attached to a bike and an entire week's worth of groceries.

* Our grill seems to have died and needs to be replaced. Is it wrong that rather than be sad, I cheered? I'm really excited that we might be able to replace this old grill with a new Weber grill (they are supposed to be high quality)!

* I'm only about 3 lbs from my goal weight and holding steady. This makes me happy.

* When all else fails, boiling water is an effective organic ant killer. You're welcome.