Motivation

Recovery was a bit more involved and slow than I had hoped, but I'm back in action again!  I've run a few times this week for a total of just over 9 miles combined, and I've done a bit of yoga. Time to look forward and carry on.

There have been a lot of talk about Meb winning Boston (yay!) as well as some Bandits caught wearing someone's bib number (boo!).  What there hasn't been nearly enough talk about, in my opinion, was the final Boston finish for Team Hoyt.  At age 74, Dick now has too many health issues to continue running marathons, but they wanted this one last Boston finish anyway.  What an amazing and inspirational father-son team! I'm sure the Boston Marathon won't be the same without them.

Their journey over the years has been pretty spectacular.  If you aren't familiar with it, I encourage watching this video from their website that highlights one of their six ironman finishes (wow).



If that won't motivate you to look past your circumstances and start to focus on what you CAN accomplish, I don't know what will. Have a good weekend everyone!

blogging under the influence again

Today was oral surgery day. I'm too wobbly to walk unassisted because the anesthesia is not fully out of my system, but I'm still numb and not yet the heavy duty pain meds, so i think I can piece together a somewhat coherent post.

The details are a little foggy, but I know I ended up with more bone loss in my jaw than the reconstructive dentist anticipated so what was supposed to be the permanent bridge was put in only temporarily for now.  In a few weeks, he'll remove it and take a new impression post healing so that the lab can alter it to work better with the jaw for a better fit. Once he's happy with the fit, it will go in permanently.  That means at least three more dental appts for this: post operative check up, bridge removal and the old temporary put back in, and then temp removed and the new permanent installed. Those last two will require being medicated again. Ugh.

I've been instructed not to brush my teeth until the post op checkup on Monday. Also to be on all liquid diet until then. Blah. Husband has instructions for changing my gauze and medication as well as details on how/what I'm supposed to eat. I was also instructed not to talk (for how long, not sure).

I think this is going to really hurt once the numbing goes away. Already hurts when I lay my head down, so I'm sitting up for now.

Here's what I'm thinking.  Not happy that it didn't go ideally, but glad there haven't been any complications so far. I knew all along that there was something bad happening in my jaw causing problems, I'm just hoping they got everything out that needed to go so that once this is healed and the bridge is fine tuned, the problems that I've been having that led to this are finally resolved for good.

Also, it's pretty cool that the fake tooth in the center of the bridge was created to go partway down into the root socket. It's kind of a half way solution between a bridge and an implant. I think the point is to promote healing around it in such a way to prevent future issues in my jaw and keep my gums healthy

six miles, all smiles

Yesterday I went 3 miles super easy and my knee seemed okay.

This morning, I went six miles. The only issue was at the end; I was running hard to finish and maybe that want such a good idea.  Otherwise, our was a successful run. Yay!

I think I'm going to go for six again tomorrow and see what my knee thinks about that.

[Updated:  Well, my knee wasn't so happy about the repeat performance.  I'm thinking about not even downgrading to the 10K at the run for the zoo.  Maybe the 1 mile fun run or the non-competitive 5K run/walk.  More on that later...]

Quick Yoga Update

Yeah, so my dogs are better at yoga than I am (and also seem more enthused), but so far I'm sticking with it.  My goal was 15 yoga sessions this month, roughly every other day. It's the 8th and I'm at 5 sessions so far. Definitely on track.

Sometimes I enjoy it more than others. I always enjoy the warm down and short shavasana.  So if nothing else, I've been ending on a positive note each time.

Yoga Practice

I'm not exactly the poster child for yoga. I've blogged in the past about being yoga-challenged. I know it's good for me, but I suck at it.

Well, right now I really don't want to obsess about my knee and whether I can or cannot run a half-marathon. So I'm going to try changing focus a bit, in an attempt to really work at getting/staying healthy.

To do that, I decided to truly give yoga a try this month, in the privacy of my own home, that is.

A few years ago I got a DVD set of Kate Potter Namaste yoga. The style is Vinyasa flow. You may have seen her on tv at one time.  that at one time was on tv, but now is not.  Each DVD set has thirteen ~23-min episodes (it was 30 min on TV, but it's shorter without commercials). That is short enough to fit into my busy day, but long enough to feel like it's making an impact. And there's enough different sessions so to keep it fresh and mix things up.  Plus I ordered season 2, another 13 episodes. Each session has the following format: warm-up, vinyasa flow sequence, cool-down, short savasana.

Why yoga?  Well, I know there are many benefits to yoga including increased flexibility, reduced stress, & better sleep.  Those three alone are enough to motivate me right now to really give this a try.

My goal is for my personal yoga practice to include at least 15 yoga sessions this month (roughly 1 every other day).  It's the 6th, and so far I have completed 3, so I'm on track.

The only thing getting in my way is myself.  I'm committed to give this a try without judgment until the end of the month.  And then decide if I want to keep with it, increase frequency, try something different, or whatever.

March Summary

Numbers

• 7 days in Puerta Vallarta
• a 25th Anniversary
• 32.9 miles running
• 32.4 miles fitness walking
• 1 session yoga
• 1 successful 9.5 mile run
• 1 less-than-successful 9.0 mile run (knee pain)

Thoughts

• It's looking like I may be inquiring about whether my planned half-marathon registration can be downgraded to 10K. Drat!
• Trying to stay positive.  Running is about staying healthy, not about running certain distances.  Right?

Plans

• Figure out whether the 13.1 is going to be a Go or No-Go
• Survive Oral Surgery
• Get serious about yoga practice
• Keep moving..

Half Marathon Training: Good/Bad/Ugly

Good:

• Having a Training Plan: I put together a schedule to get me to a spring half marathon back in December and have working through it since Jan
• Picking a Target Race: I was eyeing three different races at the beginning of this endeavor and I managed to choose the target race and get registered about month ago.
• Galloway Running: Generally speaking, the Galloway method has been working really well for me.
• Long Run Success:  I successfully completed both an 8 & 9.5 mile runs without issue
• Beach Running:  I ran twice on the beach during vacation.  Yay!

Bad:

• Schedule Nightmare: Having some trouble getting my mid-week runs completed consistently.  Juggling my home/work/school commitments isn't leaving me a very good window for mid-week running right now.

Ugly:

• Return of Knee Pain: Knee pain re-surfaced at mile 6.5 of my long run this weekend.  Had to walk the remaining 2.5 miles back to my car.  Was actually supposed to run farther than the 9.0 miles that this adds up to, so I didn't even get the full mileage in. 

The knee pain return was a surprise.  It hadn't bothered me at all up to that point, and it was a big problem during the long run and for the rest of the day. Still a bit sore now. It might be related to not getting in the mid-week runs consistently and still trying for the long run. Or it might be that my knee simply isn't going hold up for a half marathon.  I am going to rest it the rest of this weekend, and then try some short runs next week to see where I'm at with this. Needless to say, it's discouraging...

Back

Spent the past week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Did some running.  Did some relaxing.  Did some eating. Did some shopping. Did some yoga. Did some sightseeing.

I'm back home now, but work and school are keeping me too busy for a proper post. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, in that case here's the equivalent of 6000 words to tide you over until things settle down for me and I can post again.

Short Update

Husband & I signed up for the Run for the Zoo half marathon.  WooHoo!!

Yesterday, I completed my long run of 9.5 miles.  My legs are a bit tight and it was tiring, but otherwise I feel pretty good.  Yay!

Next week is a cut back week, the week after that I'm scheduled for an 11 mile long run.  It's getting real...

Monday Miscellany

• I'm currently working on a group project for my graduate class. Let me just say this, if I've learned nothing else in my class so far, I've at least learned that I highly dislike team-based academic projects.  Apparently I'm not the only one.  Most people that I've talked to seem to have the same opinion. 
• Husband & I are now officially signed up for the Run for the Zoo Half-Marathon.  WooHoo!
• I seem to be one of the only ones who feels this way, but I love DST.  In fact, I think my body has been on DST for several weeks and now the clock has caught up with me.  I had been getting up at 5am (I don't need to be up until 6) and have been sleeping in the evenings.  Now I'm feeling like everything is the way it is supposed to be. The best is yet to come:  it's now light enough after work to make evening running a possibility!!  If only I didn't have that stinking class sucking up several evenings a week...
• Got tickets for the 2014 home opener  for my beloved minor league baseball team, the Isotopes.  So incredibly excited, you probably wouldn't believe it. I'm a huge fan and we frequently attend games. The 7 months between the end of the minor league season and the beginning in the fall is painful.

• Less than 500 calendar days before I hit the rule of 75. Not that I'm counting down or anything...
• At the moment, I'm on the fence about whether I will continue this graduate program or not. I'm finding it to be incredibly intrusive on my personal life and I'm not sure that I'm getting enough value out of it for my career development.  The plan is to take another class this summer, but at this point I feel it's a coin toss as to whether I will continue on or not.  On a positive note, so far I'm getting good grades.  I feel like I'm a decent student, but maybe this isn't the right program for me?  I'm just not happy about how much I'm actually learning.  There is a whole lot in my current class that I already know. 
• My last few runs were pretty good.  One was 7.4 miles easy.  The other was 2 miles of intervals with hill work. Schedule calls for a 9.5 mile long run this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it!

Feb Summary

Numbers

• 0 outside cycling
• 30min bike trainer
• 37.1 running
• 21.2 fitness walking
• 1 memorial service for Mom
• 1 race decision made
• 1 oral surgery scheduled
• 1 vacation planned
• 1 new Grandneice born!
• 1 more birthday survived
• 2 pedometers replaced!  I'm on #3!
• 4 tix purchased for an outdoor concert in late May
• Several assignments completed for class
• 0 races completed

Thoughts

• February never shapes up the way I completely want it to, but I'm happy enough that I'm getting outside running fairly regularly again now.

Plans

• Register for Run for Zoo half marathon now that it's officially the spring half that I'm targeting.
• Keep up with school!
• Enjoy upcoming 25th wedding anniversary and vacation.
• Keep training for half marathon. 
• Commit to doing yoga at least once a week during the month.
• Try not to stress too much about oral surgery/dental work.

Tuesday Tidbits

I wanted to summarize my Feb, but that needs to wait because I don't have that info handy at the moment but wanted to share some of my recent thoughts

I'm afraid to step on the scale. I had been doing really well and was getting close to my desired "race weight" but then my eating habits basically took a nose dive for the worst.  Sigh.

I killed my old pedometer by accidentally putting it through the laundry. Got a new one and about 10 days later the led segments in the hundreds and thousands places stopped working.  What.The.Heck?!?!  So now I need yet another one.

Decision has been made regarding which half marathon I'm doing. Oral surgeon took the Albuquerque Half is off the table because of necessary recovery time.  So I will sign up for the Run for the Zoo half which is two weeks later.



I suck at yoga. Yes, I know it's not a competition sport but I seriously suck at it. I am not very flexible, or patient, or able to focus when I'm doing it.  I know it is supposed to help calm you down, but it ends up stressing me out.  Except for that deep relaxation bit at the end.  I can do that.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who struggles with yoga.  

Friday Five

1) School is kicking my butt.  I am so glad I dropped the second class, it's hard enough to keep up with life and one single graduate class. You name it, I'm behind in it. My opinion swings from one end to another lately about whether taking classes is even a good use of my time or not.  Sometimes I think the benefit isn't worth the sacrifice.  At other times, I think maybe I should pursue a Masters Degree rather than just a professional certificate.  In reality, I just need to take it one step at a time.  Right now, I need to focus on getting through this class successfully and figuring out how to juggle my life priorities.

2) My training plan called for a long run of 8 miles for this weekend.  I did it this morning. 8.1 miles was my total distance employing a 3:00 run - 0:45 walk interval from beginning to end.  My knee feels good.  I think this means the half is on!  However, I don't think I'm going to be able to do the Albuquerque Half because that's the week I'm scheduled for oral surgery. I have a consultation with the surgeon on Monday, will see what he says about recovery. Worst case, that just means I will plan on doing the half at the run for the zoo two weeks later.

3) It's been a full calendar month today since my mom died.  Yesterday I was going through old phone messages and happened across one from her.  A few weeks ago, hearing her voice would have made me cry. But yesterday it made me smile. I still miss talking to her, but I think I'm starting to move past the overwhelming grief phase. Happy memories are beginning to emerge again. In the words of  Dr. Seuss "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

4) Don't hate me, but our weather has been quite pleasant lately with several days with highs around 60.  I think I might wear sandals today because Daughter and I are supposed to get pedicures.  I don't quite know why the nasty polar vortex hasn't managed to dip down far enough to affect us in central New Mexico, but I'm not complaining.

5) I'm just about to head out to drop off my car for 50,000 mile service plus a repair.  The driver side read window has decided that it doesn't want to be rolled up.  This is the problem with electronic everything - when the electronics act up, you can't do simple things like roll up your window.  I guess it's a good thing that our weather has been pleasant.  Image driving a car with a window down in nasty winter weather.  No thank you!  I hope they are able to resolve it today.

Have a good weekend everyone!!

BUI - Blogging Under the Influence

Fair warning - I had a dental appointment this morning in which I needed to be "medicated."  The medication hasn't yet worn off.  I'm really not able to think clearly, but yet here I am. So if my thoughts seem a little discombobulated, it's because I'm blogging under the influence. Just to be safe, I promise to refrain from CUI (commenting under the influence).

Let me start with my dental tale of woe.  A tooth that fractured a long time ago, was crowned, then had a root canal and was re-crowned, had it's crown come off and was crowned for a third time is giving me grief again.  I thought the crown was loose, but actually my tooth is about to separate from the roots. Nice, huh? I guess if it wasn't a root canal tooth, I would have felt pain long before it got this bad.  But whatever. At this point, it is what it is.

What needs to happen next is that I will have the adjoining teeth prepped for crowns.  A few weeks later, I will visit an oral surgeon to have the bad tooth and it's remaining roots extracted.  Then I will have the two crowns and a middle 'fake tooth' bridge installed as one permanent piece. The dentist wants to do it the day of the extraction so that the gums heal around the new fake tooth.
Oh, and the reason I'm medicated is that I'm a nervous dental patient as it is; today he was hoping to be able to save the tooth but it became clear that that isn't going to happen. The idea of having the extraction is about to send me off the deep end.  The dentist and oral surgeon are trying to figure out how to work it out so I can have the extraction and permanent bridge installation happen back-to-back.

The oral surgeon wants to knock me out (yes, please!), but the dentist needs me to be able to follow instructions (bite down, etc) when he does the installation.  In any event, all of this will probably not happen until April.  Hopefully my tooth won't break off between now and then! I'm chewing on the other side to try to keep that from happening.

But you probably don't care so much about all of that.  This weekend I managed my 3 mile run with MM. I blogged about that on Friday.  I did a 6 mile run on Saturday at an easy pace.  That went well.  Sunday I did a 2 mile hill/interval run whereby I was either running uphill or running hard during my running segments.  So far my knee is good with all of that.  Next weekend is an 8 mile run attempt.  If I can find time to get a mid week run in before that, it will be a good thing.  It won't happen today.  I'm still a little wobbly from the meds. It probably won't happen Wednesday because I have class.  Maybe Tuesday?  or Thursday?  We'll see.

Galloway pace stuff

This week's "long run" was actually prescribed as a fairly short run, but with a Magic Mile.  Since this is a Galloway thing, I wasn't sure whether the Magic Mile was supposed to include walk breaks or not.  So I did a hybrid - skipping my first and third break, but taking the second one.

Looking at his website now, I think the MM was supposed to be a continuous mile, oops.  I guess I'll try it again in a few weeks.

The good news is that today's MM time of 9:47 aligns to the 3:1 ratio that I am using, although I've modified it to be 2:15-0:45.   I think if I were to run continuously for my MM, I'd be at the 4:1 ratio on the chart. When that happens, I will probably do 3:00 - 0:45.  The 45sec walk breaks seems to work well for me.

Next weekend I am up for an 8 mile run.  If my knee does okay for that, I'm fairly certain that my half marathon attempt will be on.  If my knee doesn't hold up though, I'll probably abandon the half marathon quest for now.

Long Run Friday

snazzy new shoes

This morning I strapped on my new shoes and decided to go for my "long run" for the week. Shoes are the same Kinvara 4 that I've been wearing, just a new pair in a new color because my old ones are starting to break down.

I realize that the weather is really cruddy in most parts of the country, but we're actually enjoying some pretty nice weather for February. It was 50 and sunny for my run this morning.  I was dressed in capris and a long sleeve shirt (mostly to protect my arms from the sun). Crazy for Feb!

My training plan has 6.5 for the long run this week, and that's exactly what I did.  I stuck with the 2:15-0:45 interval that I mentioned in a previous post.  I think this interval works well for me.  I'm not breaking any personal speed records, but I'm moving faster than I would have expected given all the walking.  My overall average pace was 11:45 for the run including the walking.  Right now I really don't care about my pace, I'm just trying to work up the distance and protect my knee.

shadow at mid point

What really isn't working so well is the whole running solo thing.  I ran with music for the first time in a long time. I had one ear bud in and one ear bud out.  I've recently bought some new albums, so this kept me somewhat entertained, but it really isn't the same as running with a partner.

To keep myself from bailing on the distance, I did an out and back route.  Once I hit the mid point, I had no option other than completing the distance to get back home.
It was a fairly flat route with lots of sand, which is nice on my joints, that I can run straight from home.  There was a little too much sun though, I won't be able to run this route when it gets warmer.  When that happens, I'll need to drive to a path that has shade.  It's going to be hard to get motivated to do that by myself.

But for now I'm just taking it one day at a time.  

Happy Friday and Happy Valentines Day.  Remember to be kind to others and to yourself!

A look back

Tomorrow, day before Valentine's Day, is my birthday.  It will be the beginning of my final year in my 40s. This makes me think about what I might want to accomplish in this upcoming year before achieving age 50. Before figuring that out, I thought I would look back at what my forties have brought so far. Wow. Here's a list of five things in each of three categories (family, fitness, career) that quickly came to mind:

Family

• Watched my kids grow up before my eyes.  At age 40, they were 11 and 13. Both were in middle school. One was newly a teen. At age 49, they are 20 and 22.  Both are in college.  One is graduating this year! The other is engaged!
• Experienced the loss of both my father (2009) and my mother (2014).
• Celebrated a 20th wedding anniversary, and am now preparing to celebrate a 25th.
• Lots of family vacations throughout, but started vacationing just with Husband more frequently as the kids have gotten older.
• Experienced the loss of one old dog and then another and then another. Eventually added a new cat to the family, then a new dog, and another dog. One cat was constant throughout this period.

Fitness 

• Learned to swim!
• Bought a bike.  And then another bike.
• Became a triathlete, runner, and cyclist.  
• Completed over 75 run/cycle/tri events thus far after having completed fewer than five in the entire decade prior.
• Became a part of the community of weekend athletes. Started Blogging. Joined a run group. Made new friends.

Career

• Worked in the same organization in the company, but held different positions and gained new skills.  
• Received some fairly significant recognition at work; also won an iPad in a work-sponsored contest.
• Traveled outside the US a handful of times for work.
• Taught classes/workshops at work and now am taking graduate classes for myself.
• Enjoyed two sabbaticals, a benefit we get every 7 years.

PPP: Progress, Plans, Problems

Progress:

• It might not seem like much, but I did a test run with a 2:15/0:45 interval instead of a 2/1 and it went well.  I was planning on working my way closer to something like a 3/1 interval, but after reading some stuff on Galloway's site it seems like a :45 walk break should be sufficient.  So I'll go with this for awhile and see how it feels.  It's the same percentage running/walking, just with more frequent, but shorter, walk breaks.
• I also hit my total mileage goal for the week, although not quite exactly as scheduled.  Good enough for me though.

Planning: 

• This weekend I realized that there is another alternative for a local half-marathon: NMBPS Run for the Zoo. The race I had been targeting, the Albuquerque half marathon is on 19-Apr, and this one is a few weeks later on 04-May.  This may be the perfect solution to my rocky start at half-marathon training - push it out a few weeks!  Otherwise, I'll probably plan to run the 10K at Run for the Zoo.  I don't need to take action on this right now, but I will need to make up my mind in the next month or so for sure.

Problems:

• I'm really struggling to find motivation without my usual running partners (two of them have now moved away!).  It seems like I'm going to have to do my long runs solo.  Ugggggggh.

Snowball Shuffle - a week late

Medal Earned!

When I joined the Winter Miles challenge, I also pre-ordered a finishers medal for the Snowball Shuffle virtual 8K. The virtual race itself was last week, but that didn't happen for me.  I did, however, earn my medal this morning.  Since I didn't have to report back my time (due to being late), I wasn't paying all the close of attention to my overall pace, but given that I am still doing a 2:1 run:walk and wasn't really pushing it, I'm guessing it ended up something like a 13:30 pace which puts it in the 66-67 minute range.  That sounds about right.

I'm fairly certain that I will not be entering the Sweetheart Race for this weekend.  After this morning's run, I'm confident that I am not really in race shape.  And I don't really want to pay two entry fees (for both me and Husband) for a training run.  This virtual race, albeit a week late, is good enough for me to feel back at it.  As for Sunday, I think I'll simply run solo before or after church instead.

Looking at my training schedule, next weekend I'm scheduled for 6.5 miles. As long as I can do that, my half marathon training is recoverable.  Right now it's more about the distance than speed, so that's going to be my focus.

Jan Look Back

Numbers

• 30.4 miles by feet (running and intentional fitness walking)
• 185 minutes bike trainer
• 2 days fence work
• 1 celebration of son's 22nd b'day
• 2 kids off and back to school (empty nest again)
• Many emotions and decisions and actions related to having a elderly parent clearly in her last days
• 1 trip out of town for Mom's memorial service 
• Graduate classes started
• Bible study started
• New job assignment at work
• Several special moments with daughter

Thoughts

• More stress than I like and not enough fitness.  
• Some joy, some sadness.  
• Glad to put the month behind me.

Plans

• Refocus on half-marathon training plan.
• Enjoy upcoming birthday.
• Plan for spring break vacation.
• Stay caught up in class.
• Be awesome!