Weekend Day 2 - RailRunner Bike Tour

If you haven't read my post about Weekend Day 1, consider reading about Saturday's training adventure there first.

All caught up now?  Good.

Bikes on top of the car ready to go before sunrise

Today's adventure required us to get up at stupid-o-clock in the morning because the RailRunner ride was scheduled to begin at 6:30am and it's about a 45 minute drive from our house to the start point.

I'm really not sure why they thought it was important to start THAT early in the morning for a 40 mile ride, but it is what it is.  Part of the reason we opted to participate in the event was to give us a solid day2 ride in prep for the MS ride in early September

A variety of types of riders participated

This event has a photographer and I'm hoping there is at least one good photo of Husband & I.  I really liked one of the photos last year and apparently the event folks did too because they used it on their event page!  Anyway, I didn't take many photos today, just focussed on riding.  I am including this one that shows some of the diverse types of riders that participated (tandem and hand bikes shown) The majority were road bikes, of course, but we also saw a few mountain bikes and recumbents.

Unlike the course we rode Saturday, this course is mostly flat, with one section starting around mile 23 or so that had some slow gradual climbing.  We started off surprisingly strong, averaging 17.5 mph until the first aid station.  Slowed down a bit after that. And I was pretty slow on that climb part. Overall average ride speed (when moving) ended up being 15 mph for the ride, 2 hours and 31 minutes.  We ended up stopping three times, two aid stations plus one stop that we added.  No flats today.  Yay!  Also, it's worth mentioning that the course was very well marked and had alert and helpful volunteers.  Thank you!!

I should have mentioned that I had one of the worst nights sleep in a long time last night.  I was pretty tired when it was time to go and I was very low on energy once we got back home. Took a nap, but I'm still dragging.  Hopefully I'll sleep better than that in between day 1 and day 2 of the MS ride otherwise that 2nd day is going to be very difficult.  I decided to order a white noise machine to help with my sleeping issues.  I hope it works.  It's small enough to take with me when I travel too.  More on that later.  Should arrive Wednesday.

Weekend Day 1 - Aqua-Bike training day

out of breath after loop 2

Given that the Aqua-bike is a week from today, I figured maybe it would be good to ride the course.  And since we're doing the MS ride in a few weeks, we decided to ride the course twice.

I wanted to give my wardrobe choice a trial run as well.  I decided to go with tri shorts and a bathing suit top with a shirt over it.

The tri shorts were okay although I obviously prefer bike shorts. The bathing suit top however is a no-go.  I found it to be very uncomfortable.  I think I'l wear a run-bra thing with a shirt over it instead.

My race times on this course have varied from 42-46 minutes.  I did it in about 43 minutes the first time today and 48 the second.  It's a short, but moderately hilly route.  I feel confident now going into the bike part of the aqua-bike next weekend and I learned that I need alternate wardrobe choice.  From that perspective, it was a good training experience!

True be told, I haven't been swimming laps since sometime in 2013.  I should probably at least check my goggles to make sure they don't leak.  Yeah, you may have noticed that I'm not really all that serious about training for this event.  It's really just for fun anyway and news flash, I'm not going to win anyway. :-D

Tomorrow we have an early wake-up for the 40 mile ride event that we entered.  It has a 6:30 start time and the starting line is about a 45 min drive from our house.

Three (mostly) successful rides

partly cloudy skies!

Thursday - Solo ride of a local 16.5 mile route with some hills.  The weather was quite nice, partly cloudy which is a treat for us in central New Mexico. I was feeling good and had four tubes, a bike pump, and two C02 cartridges just in case I had flat tire issues so that I wouldn't have to call for a ride home.  Ride started out well, but noticed front tire getting soft on the back part of the ride.

Rather than deal with it on the road, I rode on it carefully.  Tire pressure was down to 60psi at home; it was a slow leak not an all out flat. I put in a new tube *and* a new tire on the front. My bike is now sporting a matched set of Vredstein Fortezza tricomp tires. Was another frustrating ride experience, but it is what it is.

new front tire

Saturday - The plan was to complete a ~44 mile route with husband that includes much of the upcoming bike tour route.  I checked to see how my new front tire/tube was holding up before we left the house and it was in good shape.

I'm happy to say that we completed the full route as planned this time. Hit some debris under a bridge at ~mile 32 and had to change the front tube, otherwise an uneventful ride. I felt pretty good when we got home and was encouraged about our planned day 2 ride.  We really need that second day of training since the MS ride is two hilly days in a row, but we don't usually ride consecutive days in training.

ready for day 2

Sunday - Chose a local 18.5 mile route with hills to ride with husband with hills. Neither one of us was all that happy about being on our bikes for a second day in a row (saddle soreness), but once we got going it wasn't too bad. However, it quickly became clear that hills are going to be a challenge for me. Was struggling on the hills and was exhausted afterwards when we got home.

I'll admit, the struggle I had with the second day of riding was discouraging. However, I'm not ready to give up.  I'm just really glad that we're doing the back-to-back riding in training so that I'm in better shape the day of the event.  Besides, "Life's not about limiting your challenges, but challenging your limits."  Right? RIGHT?!?

So here's the plan for the upcoming week:

• Thursday - Solo ~16-20 miles with hills
• Saturday - Ride the 15 mile live.love.tri course (aquabike is the following week) with husband - possibly starting from home to add some distance?
• Sunday - RailRunner 40mile bike tour with husband

Domino effect

sidewall puncture

Friday morning, I was meeting a friend to walk.  I decided to ride my bike to meet her and kill two "training" birds with one stone.  It was about a 20min ride to meet her and I left 30min in advance.  What I didn't anticipate was getting a blowout flat 2 miles into my ride and getting another flat with the first tube I tried when attempting to get rolling again on the side of the road.  I ended up having her pick me and my bike up. In the process of loading my bike in the back of her truck, I bumped the derailleur fairly significantly.  Just great.

We walked.  When I got home, I went through two more tubes and finally realized that my tire had a sidewall puncture.  You can see it between the two red tire levers in the picture posted here.  Too bad it took me three tubes to figure out that the problem was with the tire!  Even worse, they were the last three tubes that I had on hand. Out of supplies (and out of patience), I took my wheel, a new tire, and my bike to a local bike shop for help.

I told them my tale of woe and asked them to put in a thorn resistant tube, install the new tire, and check my derailleur.  I also bought some spare tubes, a new frame pump, and some CO2 cartridges.  With my bike checked out and ready to go, I was ready for Saturday's ride attempt.

two bikes ready to roll

The plan was for husband & I to do 44 miles.  What I didn't expect was that my legs/thighs would be sore from the squatting position I was in while trying to take care of my flat on the side of the road. Hence the domino effect title of this post.  Funny how things just add up some time. I ended up cutting my ride short to 28 miles.  He did the full 44.  At least I got out there!

It's frustrating to have mechanical problems get in the way of ride goals.  I feel like I lost last weekend.  But the good news is that I'm now carrying four spare tubes, two CO2 cartridges, and a new pump.  Plus I have a brand new tire on the rear wheel.  I feel better prepared now for getting rolling sooner if I have problems while riding along again. Of course I'm also considering installing the lyft app so I can call for a ride if needed.

So at this point we have one free weekend, then the 40mi ride, then the aqua bike, another free weekend, then the two day MS ride.  I'm a week behind in my training which was already cutting it close  But, the show must go on. You can only do what you can do.

Ever have unplanned issues like that get in the way of your training goals? 

Undertrained and overcommitted?

or as they say, "What could possibly go wrong with that plan?!?"

• 3.5 weeks until the 40mi bike tour.  It's a route that I've ridden before, not too challenging.  Sounds doable. This one actually should be easy-peasy.
• 4.5 weeks until the aqua-bike, which includes a swim. I haven't actually done any swam lap swimming since last August and may not get in the pool before race day, but it's only a 400m swim.
• 6.5 weeks until Pedal Los Pueblos where I'll be riding ~76 hilly miles at elevation and the farthest I've gone so far is 38 miles on flat terrain. 

Maybe I should spend less time signing up for stuff and more time training.  Ya' think?!?

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

ready to roll

The big training need is to get ready for Pedal Los Pueblos.  Husband & I went out on a ~39 mile ride Saturday.  That's about half the distance we'll need to ready for, but also with hills.  Right now I'm just getting comfortable being on my bike that long.  Soon we really need to add in some back-to-back training days because day 2 is probably going to be the more difficult of the two. Anyway, I took some photos to reflect Saturday's ride.  

half-way

I have a carrier for two water bottles in back along with space for a small bottle and a large bottle on the frame.  I didn't think one small and one large was enough because it was HOT.  So I loaded my bottles in back.  Next time, I'll probably include a small bottle in front as well.  There are a few places on the trail where it gets very congested, but most of the trail was fairly open so we could ride our own pace. Probably the scariest part of the ride was when we needed to cut through a parking lot because there is an intersection without a bike lane.  Someone started pulling out of the space without even looking my way.  Had what seemed like a close call.  We also had an incident on a small section of road with a bike lane when a car suddenly cut over into the bike lane in front of Husband.  Another close call.  Sheesh.

stupid flat

It was fairly calm winds on Saturday, which always makes for a more pleasant experience.  Can't say the same for today.  Glad we're not riding today, but it probably would be good practice if we did. Speaking of practice, Husband got to practice changing a a tube while out on the trail. And we were able to find some shade not far from where he got the flat.  That made it much more bearable.  As I mentioned earlier, it was HOT. I got to practice at home before we left and it looks like I get to practice again before I head out on my next ride because my rear is flat.  See how I spin that in a positive way? It's practice. Hahahahah.  Not that either of us need any more practice, we've dealt with enough flat tires over the past several years to be pretty good at taking care of them.

Next week we're adding another 5-6 miles to our route.  After that, we'll probably start doing back-to-back days.  There really isn't a lot of time to get ready for this event, but we're trying to build up in a smart way.

new black tires installed

And to get ready for all the riding up ahead, I put new tires on my bike.  The ones I had on my bike had been there for 3 years.  Boy, oh boy, the rear tread was WORN.  The new tires are black.  It's weird because I've had blue tires since 2006.  Hopefully they are lucky tires!!  Had a little trouble getting the back tire replaced.  Went through three tubes.  I'm sure it was operator error (mine), but eventually got everything installed, so I'm back in business.

Also, I lied when I said that the live.love.tri was next up. Just registered for a 40 mile bike tour the week prior to that. It will be good training for pedal los pueblos. The goal is to do a long ride the day prior as well. Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' keep that bike-a Rollin'...

The Horizon

I've registered for two upcoming events.

The first is Live.Love.Tri at the end of August.  This is an all-women triathlon, the only one in New Mexico. This will be my third or fourth year competing, I've lost track! Instead of doing the full triathlon, I signed up for the Aquabike division which consists of just the bike and swim. If you would have asked me last year, I would have said that I would never compete in that division, but here I am a year later and it seems perfect given the situation with my knee and foot.  Confession:  I haven' been swimming at all.  I'm not even all that worried about it. I figure I can do a 400m swim without much practice and even if it doesn't go well, I guess it just means that once again I won't make the Olympic team.  Hahahah.

The second is Pedal Los Pueblos MS Ride, a two day event in the beginning of September.  I will be riding a total of ~76 miles over the two days in a hilly part of northern New Mexico.  I'm a little scared, but excited. So far I've raised $0 against my goal of $375. Of course, I just signed up on Monday.   If you feel inclined, you can donate here: National MS Society

Also, I've decided that I don't ever want to do a competitive walk again in my life.  Okay, maybe "never" is too strong of a word.  But I will think twice about doing it again.  I was in so much pain and limping for a few days afterwards. No bueno!

Power Walking my Way to the Podium!

This morning I participated in my first event for the year.  Yes, we're already into July and I'm just now participating in something.  Today was the women's distance festival 5K and I entered as a walker because I'm *still* not running.  In fact, I'm beginning to question whether I will ever run again, but that's a post for another day.

This is one of my favorite events because the all-women nature of it ends up with a very supportive vibe.  Many women who wouldn't otherwise be running come out for this one.  There's always a first time running group that participates as well. I just love that aspect of it

2nd Place Overall Walker

This also happens to be one of the only events in the area that I'm aware of with a competitive walk division. I had noticed from last year's results that the first place walker finished in about 29 minutes (holy smokes, that's fast), second place was 40min or so, and third place was about 45min.  Having timed myself at the track, I had a personal goal of finishing somewhere between 44 and 45 minutes as a power walker and thought maybe I had a chance at third place.  One the race got underway, I noticed a race walking lady about 20 years older than me in a garden hat that was kicking my butt.  I kept her in my sights and found her to be very inspiring for me to keep my pace up.  Eventually I managed to pass her and didn't let up my pace until the end.  This landed me 2nd place overall among the walkers with a finish of 40:33, roughly13min/mi.  Man, that was hard work, but a very rewarding result. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Run Friends!

Another highlight of the morning was meeting up with an old friend.  I had been with her when she ran her very first 5K about 6 years ago at this same event.  She notice that I was participating (albeit as a walker) and decided to sign up for the event again. Apparently this was her first time in a long time to get back to running. Yay to her for getting out there this morning!!!

Overall, this was a great event as always.  I'm glad I participated.  I really surprised myself with my power walk pace this morning and it was nice to take home some bling! Now I'm seriously considering taking up power walking.  I don't think there are many events with competitive walking around here though, so this might end up being a once-a-year thing for me.  Okay, actually, I doubt that I'll take up power walking, but I probably *will* compete as a walker again next year. For the most part, I'm planning to put my energy into cycling; it's a lot more fun than walking.

Next up: Live.Love.Tri at the end of August....but I signed up for the AquaBike division this time.  That will be another first for me!  Stay tuned!

Happy-go-cycling

Celebrated Freedom on the Fourth by going for a 28 mile ride with husband.  When we got back to our street, he continued on for an extra 10.  That was a nice way to ride together even though our distance targets were not the same.

I'm 80% certain that I want to do the Pedal Los Pueblos MS ride in September.  It's a two day ride with a variety of distances to choose from each day. Assuming we do it, I will choose the 36 & 40 mile routes for a total of 76 miles over two days. That's far enough to be challenging, but not so far that I'll hate my bike afterwards.  It's a hilly course, so I need to work on climbing.

Similarly, I'm 80% certain that I want to do the Day of the Tread half century. That one is at the end of October, which is an absolutely beautiful time to ride. That route also includes climbing.  Do you sense a theme?

This morning I went out on a short 8.1 mile ride.  Made sure to do a route with some elevation gain.  It was a nice morning.

Observation that made me chuckle this morning: all of my cycling self portraits tend to be similarly off center.  At least you get some idea of what it looks like where I ride.

I need to register for Live.Love.Tri before it sells out.  I'm trying to decide whether to register for the triathlon or the aquabike.  I'm leaning toward the aquabike just because of the problems I've had with my knee and foot.  If I can make a decision, I'd like to register today.

I'm really trying to LOVE cycling.  Not quite there...yet...but almost.

Three Things Thursday

1) I tried to make a healthy version of chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies.  The healthy version had no added sugar or butter.  The healthy version also did not taste nearly as good.  One of the ingredients was unsweetened almond milk. I bought way more than I needed, so I decided to add it to my fruit smoothies instead of water.  YUM!  So much richer in taste, and theoretically good for me too.  So something good came out of the experiment after all.

2) I've tried out all three of my insoles enough to have an opinion. Here's the short version. The Sole Softec are too hard.  The Sof Sole Airr Orthotics are too soft.  But the Superfeet Berry are just right.  Unfortunately the Superfeet Berry are also ~$40 a pair.

3) I rode my bike for a total of 42.9 miles last week (8.3, 8.1, & 26.5 mi rides).  So far so good.  My foot seems to be okay with it. Planning to ride with Husband tomorrow while we're both off for the Independence Day holiday.  Looks like we should have a nice day for it.

On Life

The first half of this year was a tough one for me.  I haven't shared all of the details but some of the lowlights include the death of my mother, a less-than-ideal oral surgery that required a follow-up procedure, and the elimination of my job at work.  Oh, and while this was going on, I suffered a micro-fracture in my right foot that took running-to-maintain-my-sanity completely out of the equation.

I'm happy to say that while I don't know exactly what the second half of the year will bring, I do know that it's off to a good start. Today is the first day of my new job as a freelancer as part of a new business initiative at at work.  Yesterday was the first day of my month-long summer class at UNM. I have the first of my final two (fingers crossed) appointments to finally finish the work in my mouth scheduled a few weeks out.  And I am actually registered for an event, albeit as a walker, for the first time this calendar year.

It's a humbling reminder that life is a journey.  Sometimes you have to hang in there and take every opportunity to add value in the very moment you are in as an investment in your future.  And have faith that things will eventually settle down and work out.

On Power Walking and Cycling

On Power Walking:

I decided to time myself to get some idea how fast I might be able to power walk.  Here are my first three day's worth of information.

• On Sunday, I walked an imprecise mile briskly and timed it in 14:40
• On Monday, I walked the same imprecise mile and timed it at 14:15
• On Tuesday I walked at the track with my Garmin for a total of 3.8 miles.  My average for the full distance was 14:53, but the real story is in my split paces:  13:34, 14:17, 15:21, and 16:40.  For the record, I walked the first mile and a half  solo, but had a friend join me for the remainder.   

What have I learned?

• I cannot power walk and chit chat at the same time.  My walking paced really slowed down when I had company.
• Walking clearly uses different muscles than running.  My glutes are sore.
• I could *probably* power walk a 5K somewhere in 44 to 45 minutes as long as I stayed focussed. Maybe faster if I really practice. 
• I walked on the very outside edge of the track to stay out of the way of the runners.  Each loop was just under .3 miles.  When running the inner loop, it measures pretty close to .25 miles.  Interesting, no?

I'll get to test my theory on July 20th, as I registered for this year's Women's Distance Festival as a walker!

On Cycling:

Went for another short ride before work. Same 8-ish mile route as Sunday.  It took me 20 minutes to get to my turn point and 15 minutes to get back home. That's the difference between having an uphill climb vs. coasting downhill.  I wasn't focussed on my speed, just wanted to get some exercise.  It was fun!

I'm planning to meet a friend on Saturday at my turn point and we'll go for a longer ride from there.

A Fresh Perspective

Happiness really is a matter of perspective.

Being a Happy Cyclist

It started with an idea of testing out my foot with a short bike ride.  It was a beautiful summer morning, not too hot, not too windy.  I chose a route that was 8.3 miles long with a decent bit of climbing, just to test things out.

For the most part, it was a success!  My foot didn't bother me too much.  My knee was a little annoyed, but not too bad. And there was the encounter with a snake.  I am not sure if it's considered bad luck to have a snake cross your path (like a black cat) or if maybe it's actually a good sign.  In any event, I figured it wasn't going to be good if I hit the snake with my bike so I swerved to avoid it.

When I got home from the bike ride, I started thinking about about events that I might like to consider for this year. One is the Live.Love.Tri in August.  This is the all women's tri that I've done for a few years now.  I might not be able to run the run, but since it's a super supportive event, I don't think that will matter too much how fast I am able go.  It will be fun to just to participate.

Day of Tread Ride

Another event that I'm considering is the Day of the Tread.  Last year we tried the metric century and had to turn back early because of my knee.  I ended up doing something closer to 50 miles rather than the planned 64.  This year maybe we'll just plan for the half-century route.  It's 49 miles with just under 1500 ft of climb.

One final event of interest is the MS ride.  It's a two day event with several distance possibilities each day.  Husband did it last year, and would like me to think about joining him this year.  I don't want to hold him back, though.  Maybe I'll just do one of the two days?  Or maybe I'll just go out for support?  Not sure exactly what my role will be, but I put it on my calendar as something to think about.

WDF 2014, wearing blue shirt, green skirt

While looking up the dates for these cycling events, I stumbled across a photo from last year's Women's Distance Festival.  This is an all women's 5K that I've done for several years. They have both a timed run and a timed walk. This year's race will be in about 4 weeks. I was starting to get bummed about the likelihood that I'll need to register for the walk or skip it all together. Just for grins, I decided to look up the timed walk times from 2013.

The first place walker finished in 29 minute.  Wow. That's pretty speedy. I can't always run a 5K that fast!  The second place finished in about 40 minutes. That's just under a 13 min mile.  That's probably still faster than I can walk, but getting more reasonable. The third place woman, however, finished in 49 minutes. That's a little over a 15min/mi. I decided to time myself for a brisk one mile fitness walk.  I was able to complete it in 14:40 although I'm not sure if I can keep that pace up for a full 3.1 miles.  In any event, it certainly puts me in the range of a 3rd place podium finish if this year's walkers have similar paces as last year. Wouldn't it be a hoot if I could actually get a medal walking the race?!?!

All in all, it's been a good day.  I'm feeling encouraged and energized even though nothing has changed about my situation from a running perspective.  The difference is simply a fresh perspective and an open mind while exploring some other options.

Update

Has it really been four weeks since I posted an update? Hmmm. That might be an indication that it's time to retire the blog...

My foot is doing better, but I'm still hesitant to try running on itl. I will be doing an experiment with three different insoles to see if that helps. It's worth mentioning that I've walked quite a bit on my foot recently without the addition of an insole.  I can tell it's not 100% back to normal, and I want to give my feet some extra support.

• An older pair of Sole Softec moldable inserts - I've had these for awhile and they were in another pair of shoes.  They are fairly rigid and have been heat molded to my feet. I've tried walking with these inserts in my kinvaras.  My foot felt okay, but my my hips began bothering me a bit.  This might have something to do with the fact that I molded these to a different pair of shoes with higher drop than the ones that I'm currently using?  Not sure.  Anyway, it's just one data point so far.



Sole Softec

• A new pair of Superfeet berry inserts - I have these on order because they were cheaper online than in the stores locally.  Seem to have very high ratings.  Should arrive on Monday.  I'll replace the Softec inserts with these when they arrive so that I can test them out.

Superfeet Berry

• A new pair of Sof Sole Airr Orthotic inserts - These are also on order.  About half the price of the superfeet insoles. I plan to put these into a second pair of Kinvaras when they arrive. 

Sof Sole Airr Orthotic

Much as I hate to admit it, I'm starting to think that it actually may be time to hang up the running shoes for good and move on to something lower impact. My knee isn't all that happy even with the walking, so as soon as my foot isn't causing problems, my knee will likely begin to act up.  Sigh.

Walking isn't so bad as long as I have company.  Luckily, I have a couple of enthusiastic walking partners that have yet to turn me down even once.

Hoopin'

So, I guess I lied.  I haven't recommitted to my yoga challenge.  I seem to have a mental block right now since I know I'm not going to hit my goal.  I'll start up again in June.  I think.

But this doesn't mean that all is lost from a fitness perspective.  My fitness hula hoop has been stashed right next to the yoga mat, and while I haven't grabbed the mat, I have grabbed the hula hoop.

The hoop that I have is 42" in diameter and weighs about 2 lbs.  I bought it from Canyon Hoops several years ago. I've been thinking of getting a 40" hoop which would probably be a better fit for me, but I'm going to see if I stick with it before I invest more $ in another hoop.  Interestingly, I discovered that this company recently merged with Body Hoops which has a studio in Santa Fe (about an hour away).

It turns out that there are a bunch of exercises you can do with a hula hoop, but I've stuck with basic waist hooping to get back into it.   It is a lot easier for me to do do counter clockwise hooping than clockwise hooping.  I've got a killer bruise on my right leg from trying to master the clockwise hoop motion. Ouch. But I think I have it sorted out now.

Have you ever done fitness hooping?

Friday Five

• FOOT:  I cancelled my podiatry appt and they were supposed to call to reschedule, but I haven't heard from them.  I think I'm just going to skip that.  Too much going on at once and that just doesn't seem important enough. My foot is healing. I've had two people comment that they noticed that I'm walking without limping. That's progress!!!!!  And it's mostly because it doesn't really hurt right now.  YAY!
• MOUTH:  I survived the bone graft procedure yesterday afternoon.  Whew!  So glad that's over.  It was a brilliant move to schedule this before a long weekend.  I can already tell that my recovery from this one will be much easier/faster than the last surgery.  I have been able to manage during the day today with ibuprofen vs. prescription pain meds (but I expect to need the heavy duty stuff for night again) and I'm much more functional today than I was the day after last time. I just need to give this time to heal...and then the final step...and this whole ordeal will be over in 6-8 weeks, I think.
• DEALING WITH CHANGE:  It strikes me that more has been changing in my life all at once than I'm able to comfortably process. My mom died in Jan. My running came to a sudden end a few weeks ago when I fractured and/or sprained my foot. My son graduated from college last weekend. And I've been told that my job is about to change significantly at work. It's all been out of my control and quite honestly that's not a situation that I like to be in. I told husband the other day that "I don't know what to do" because my leaning is to "do something" to try to regain a sense of normalcy. I've decided instead to try my best to be more of an objective observer and see what shakes out...
• PERSONAL YOGA CHALLENGE:  I was doing so well toward my goal for the month until we left for California. I got out of the habit and didn't pick it back up when we got home. I'm recommitting to this starting tomorrow, though!  
• NO RACES ON THE HORIZON:  I haven't had a single race this year and there is nothing for me on the horizon.  Wow.  That's different!  Another example of dealing with change.  Anyway, I think I'm okay with this right now. But I need to figure out how to stay fit and healthy. I think strength training will be making a return to my regular routine. Maybe swimming as well.  And when my foot gets better, I want to get back out on my bike.

Reflections after Berkeley Commencement Weekend

two wonderful young adults

Husband, Daughter, & I flew to California on Thursday for a long weekend celebration of Son's Berkeley Engineering Commencement.  We spent Thursday evening in Berkeley, Friday afternoon in San Francisco, Saturday afternoon doing a driving tour of the South Bay area, Sunday back in Berkeley for Engineering commencement ceremony, and then flew home Monday morning.

a rare mother son photo opportunity

I opted to leave the orthopedic shoe/boot at home, because I couldn't imagine doing as much walking as I knew was planned with it on.  That may or may not have been a wise decision.  I can say with certainty that we walked way more than my foot was happy with on Friday while we were in San Francisco.  But it was worth it to see the area of town where he hopes to live.  I was happy that we opted for a driving tour the next day though, my foot needed a rest.

he sees us! center with blue shirt

after the ceremony

Having a child graduate from college is a surreal experience. It's also clear how much has changed over these past four years.  He's grown more and more independent during each year of college. Four years ago he left home as an ambitious 18 year old to go to school out of state without really knowing what was in store for him.  Now he's a confident young adult with an impressive college degree, some internship experience under his belt, and a job on the horizon.  I'm mostly incredibly proud, but somehow, this also makes me sad.  As a parent, it seems that in the blink of an eye everything changes.

attempt at family photo

He'll be coming home for a few weeks before leaving again to go live his life as an independent man.  He has some travel planned this summer, including a trip to Europe. Then he's off to join the ranks of corporate America with a full time job in silicon valley.

one more shot of the recent grad

It's worth mentioning that Daughter isn't far behind him.  She's been taking classes during summer semester and is on target to graduate at the end of next summer, just over 3 years in.  She hopes to continue on for a masters degree after that.

I'm extremely proud of her as well, and am having a hard time getting my head around the idea that by the end of next summer, it is likely that they will BOTH be college graduates.  How did this happen?  Where does the time go?

So I guess Husband & I will continue the mental transition to empty nest. My immediate focus is on getting my foot healed (right or wrong, i cancelled my podiatry appt), and getting through this next oral surgery (Thursday, yikes!). I'm still debating whether or not to take a class this summer or wait until fall. Life goes on even as it changes...

Foot and Mouth

So actually, these are two separate issues and I didn't actually stick my foot in my mouth even figuratively, although I do find this image amusing.

Foot:  Still sore.  I was told to go back in if it was still sore after a week. It is and I did.  Apparently has developed "quite a hematoma," or so says the urgent care doc who saw me today.  Did not get another x-ray. He said that if the x-ray shows a micro-fracture, it means 3 more weeks in the shoe/boot.  If it doesn't, just wear the shoe until it stops hurting, which still is likely to be 3 more weeks.  He didn't think it was all that critical to know if it was a fracture or not since the treatment is essentially the same.  He did, however, suggest that I see a podiatrist mostly because I'm a runner and he thinks custom orthotics might be necessary in the long term. So I left with a referral to podiatry and the shoe/boot still on my foot.

Scheduling with podiatry ended up being way more difficult than it should have been. For whatever reason, they have zero flexibility if you say that you can only come in during the afternoon.  It's first thing in the morning on the next available day, or they look at some other day. What.the.heck?!?!.  So, I have an appt for first thing in the morning on Tuesday the 20th, because that was the first morning that was both open and worked for me.  I guess it's a good thing it's not urgent since he was only sending me for a long term solution (orthotic) vs. healing/treatment of whatever is going on right now.  Good golly.

Mouth:  So as it turns out I will in fact be having another round of oral surgery. This time a bone graft to try to rebuild a small section in my jawbone. It's scheduled for the 22nd (just two days after the podiatry appt.  lucky me). I'm none too pleased about the prospects of another surgery, but after having two separate consultation appts, I do think it's the right thing to do in the long run, so surgery it is. If I have this all figured out correctly, I have a total of 5 more appointments until this whole ordeal is fully behind me. That's assuming everything goes as planned with this next surgery and the pontic adjustment afterwards.  I am *really* hoping that this one goes better than the last, there are no complications, and recovery goes smoothly.  I'm ready for this to all be over!!

Enjoying What I Can

The swelling in my foot is down, but it still hurts. I suspect that I'll be heading off for another x-ray on Friday.  Running is off the table at least until whatever is going on in my foot is resolved.

I don't want to be wallowing in self-pity over what I can't accomplish right now, so I'm choosing to focus on what I can do.  Here are some of the things that come to mind that I can still do with this foot problem that make me happy:

Gardening:  Over the past few days, I've put in most of the plants for my garden.  I also tried planing asparagus several weeks ago, but I may have messed that up because of my need to recover from oral surgery.  If the asparagus doesn't come up in a few more weeks, I may dig that out and try again.  I also still need to put in seeds for soybeans (something new to try) and green beans.  Otherwise, my garden is mostly in and ready for tending.  I bought a new set of windchimes and had Husband put them up in the shade structure near the garden.  I love being out in the garden and hearing the chimes.  The veggie garden is definitely one of my happy places.

Yoga:  I did well with my yoga goals last month.  While I wouldn't say that I'm crazy about yoga, I am noticing that my flexibility is improving and I generally feel calmer after doing it than before.  So I want to increase my yoga practice by roughly one day per week.  My goal last month was 15 times in the month, so this brings it up to 19 times.  That's about 4.5 times per week.  It's a strange number, but it means doing it roughly every other day with one set of 3 days in a row each week or twice one day per week.  Something like that. Very doable and something that I think will make me happy if I achieve it.

Regular Dog Walking:  I had been in the habit of walking my dogs almost every day.  This fell to the wayside with the oral surgery recovery and then the problem with my foot.  I intend to get back to this because it's good for me, it's good for the dogs, and it's good for my relationship with the dogs. As the weather gets warmer, it's important to make sure I walk them in the morning so they don't burn their paws.  I'm going to need to figure out how to balance this with my yoga practice, but regular dog walking needs to become a mainstay in my daily routine again.  I just need to be careful not to walk too far, and make sure my foot isn't feeling worse as a result of the walks.  The good things about dogs is that while they love long walks, they are also happy with just about any distance and any time of day.  Every walk to them is a great walk.  I am going to try to adopt that same mindset.

April in Review & May Look-ahead

Numbers

• 15 yoga sessions
• 29.9 miles running
• 14.3 miles fitness running
• 5 full days recovery from oral surgery before easing back into life
• 3 Isotopes games (woohoo!!)

Thoughts

• Beyond the numbers or anything shared on the blog, April was a rough month and I'm glad to have it behind me.
• I did, however, achieve my goal of yoga every-other-day on average.  Yay.

Plans

• Finish spring semester graduate class
• Register for summer session graduate class
• Travel to see Son graduate from UC Berkeley in middle of month!
• I am registered for Sunday's half marathon at run for the zoo.  I've known since my knee started bothering me again, that the half marathon wasn't going to happen.  Was planning to switch to the 5K. However, that's clearly not going to happen (see below)  

Latest Injury

• Was out for a planned 6 mile run and started experiencing pain in my right foot. Ended up walking after 3.5 miles.  Took off my shoe and noticed significant swelling.  Iced it.  Still wasn't feeling better in the afternoon, so went to urgent care.  Doc suspects a fracture in the 5th metatarsal, even though it isn't showing in the x-ray.  If still hurting in a week, I'm supposed to get a new x-ray (week old fracture of this nature likely to show up better).  Otherwise, maybe it's just a sprain. In any event, running off the table entirely for now. *Sigh*