This week…

This week went pretty well for KC training.  While our summer is quite mild by Texas standards, the humidity is crazy high…like 90% + in the early mornings.  While I’ve adapted and can deal with it, I am definitely slower.  I pretty much type this every summer….so no surprises.  Ok, here goes:

Saturday:  This run was great!  I did a very mentally challenging runs of loops in my neighborhood with a midway stop for water refill in front of my house.  I dashed in for the bathroom and nothing like smelling fresh coffee brewing when I had at least 6 more miles to go.  But I made it back out for 13.2, and kept my head in the game the whole time.  A victory.

Sunday:  I met my friend Meghan for 7 miles in her neighborhood which is hilly.  We ran pretty easy, but I’m counting it as a hill run.

Monday:  I don’t even remember what I did, so  it must have been pretty standard.  Probably 6 easy miles.

Tuesday:  I am super proud of myself for this one.  7 miles, 91% humidity and hill repeats of big, giant hills.  Fireoak Dr. if anyone knows the area.  I hate running over to the hilly area in the dark, because it is just pitch black for awhile, but I sucked it up and did it.  Full yoga class that night where I still feel my hamstring strain, but every week it’s a little better.

Wednesday:  I was super sore…more so from yoga!  Man, I am such a wimp.  6.5 miles easy in the neighborhood.

Thursday:  Treadmill progression run.  I do the first mile at 10/ min pace…which feels faster on the treadmill and cut the time down each mile.  My plan was 7 miles but I had a couple mishaps with my ipad falling off and knocking out the safety key…which resets everything.  I also try to look at the mileage as little as possible, so I don’t mentally implode and just change my pace every 10 minutes.  So I really have no idea the total mileage.   I’m calling it 6.5.

Friday:  My usual morning walk, or yoga or short bike spin.  Gearing up for the weekend. 

I have running partners Saturday and Sunday!  This is unheard of.  A long run with a partner the whole way.  I don’t remember the last time that happened….seriously.  My goal in the next couple weeks is to really start getting those long runs up and start getting an 8 miler during the week.   This is all quite challenging, but I am still in the early, highly motivated stages of marathon training.  There are some challenges coming up with being out of town and I will have to do a long run on the treadmill pretty soon…but bring it, I am so excited for KC!

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A pretty good first week…

My 14 year old baby…

The first week of “official” marathon training was actually quite good!   I got in most of what I wanted to, and the only reminder that two weeks ago all I could do is limp, is one little sore spot on my left hamstring, which is only aggravated by yoga and sitting.  Running feels fine…finally!

Saturday:  My aforementioned 13 miles.  Although very slow, it felt great to check it off.

Sunday:  Jaspy and I let Mike sleep in and I did 7 miles on the treadmill while Jasp watch roller coaster videos on you tube.   Yoga core at night.

Monday:  Hills.  I’m aiming for one day a week of hills.  Granted I picked the wimpiest hill I do to start, but at least I did it.  A mile warm up, 4 one mile loops with my hill, and a mile cool down. 6 miles.

Tuesday:  Met a new running buddy!  I ran into someone I knew from pacing in my neighborhood while I was walking Cake a few weeks ago.  We couldn’t run together until I was healed up from falling, but finally got together.  She’s faster than me, but it was nice to push a little harder, and getting out the door early is soooo much easier when I am meeting someone.  Hopefully we can continue meeting up.  7 miles, 15 minute yoga short video in the evening.

Wednesday:  Woke up feeling like I was run over by a truck and struggled through my run, cutting it short.  Felt terrible all morning.  Mid afternoon, I thought maybe an extra snack might help.  After eating a pretty good sized snack  I was 100% recovered and felt fine.  Very strange.  Trust me, you would never look at my food intake and think I need to eat more, but I guess for one day I did.  I will keep this in mind though on days where I feel run down.   It was a good thing too….swimming with Jaspy in the afternoon.   Maybe from now on extra snacks are the answer and not more coffee.  6.5 miles

Thursday:  I had to be at work super early, so I did a treadmill run at 4:15 am, which meant a 3:50 wake up.   I am super dorky and always try to make my treadmill runs a 10K.   I am on the very tail end of Breaking Bad and sad about it.  I may have to rewatch this season of Game of Thrones that just ended as my next treadmill show.  It was soooo good.   6.2 miles.  Swimming with Jasp after work, and real yoga class in the evening.  Finished watching Fargo, then collapsed into bed.

Friday:  I always do a short walk on off days just to wake up a bit.  I suppose if I could sleep in I wouldn’t do it, but I feel groggy all day if I roll out of bed, go right to the shower then out the door.   Usually I feel pretty awake and alert until after lunch time when I treat myself to a latte if I am at work….and I am right now, and a latte will be happening within the next hour.

I’m looking forward to hopefully running a little quicker on my long run this weekend, and mapping out a nice, hilly route.  I also am excited I get to immediately dip my legs in the pool, as we have free reign of our next door neighbor’s pool for the weekend.  Jasp is in heaven with his own, private pool, and I am looking forward to sipping an IPA poolside on Saturday night!

 

Feeling bonky and drinking milkshakes…

Marathon training had quite a kick off this morning.  It had to be the most humid day of the year so far.  I had hill repeats scheduled.  They went well and I think I am 99% back from falling a couple weeks ago (yay!), but by the end I was downright bonky.   A combo of tired legs, low carb dinner the night before and 98% humidity…all why doing my hills.  Who wouldn’t feel bonky?    It felt good to check off the first workout, but a little scary that it kicked my butt so hard.

And speaking of bonky…Jasper had his first bonk on Saturday.  We started the day with his basketball practice and game, then ran errands and a quick lunch, then his swim lesson, then two and a half hours at the pool with him never stopping movement once.  Finally he got out of the pool, climbed onto his towel and started crying. “I have to go potty and I’m hungry and swimming made me sick!!”  Yes, a classic bonk :  extreme hunger…check…sudden moodiness….check….suddenly feeling like you can’t continue…check.  All these quickly remedied with a squeezy apple sauce and pita chips.   Note to self:  force excessive snacks next weekend.

Sunday was a little more mellow with a trip to see How to Train your Dragon 2.  I LOVED the first one, and this one was just as good.  The anamation was even better.  I love that there are so many kids movies out in the summer for us all to see, and so many of them are so good.  Oh, and a tip for all the Austinites out there, the Alamo will let anyone order off the kid’s menu and the kid’s chocolate chip cookie milkshake is just the right amount of a treat.  It’s not so sinfully giant as the adult shakes are and how can you go wrong with chocolate chip cookies?  I’m eating lunch right now….I could really go for one, but we will have to wait for the next kid’s movie.  Also, I could really go for one for my next run if this humidity keeps up.   A sure fire way to prevent bonking.

 

 

 

And the real athlete of week is……(not me)

The super athlete of the week…

Running this week was little baby steps each day to all the aches and pains from this dang fall resolving.

Saturday:  Only made it 7 miles.  I was concerned after this run.  I was still very sore.

Sunday:  Improvement!  I ran on the treadmill and started feeling glimmers of pain free running.  7 miles, yoga core at night

Monday:  More improvement!  6 miles in the hood and a chiropractor visit, with huge gains.   She reminded me that I probably just have to wait out some of the soreness.  Dang it!

Tuesday:  More improvement!  Another 6 miles in the hood, home yoga at night.

Wednesday:  7 miles.  A little sore with this one.  Then the real athlete in the family got his moment that afternoon.  I am soooooo proud of my angel.  He is swimming like a champ and can complete the distance required to pass his swim test to swim independently….a test normally not even given until kids are 5, but since he’s doing so good the Y said he could take it.    Only issue is he says he doesn’t want to take it.  I don’t want to push it and make him dislike swimming, so for now I will count an hour long session of continous swimming with him as a workout…but he’s the real swimmer, not me. 

Thursday:  6 on the treadmill with a couple short interruptions.  Real yoga class at night.  That hurt the sore leg some, but it’s better today.

Friday:  I walked a couple miles in the morning just to wake up. 

I spent a lot of time this week doing my chiropractor exercises to get these dang legs back to a pre-fall state.   It’s a bit of time suck, but this week was so much better than last.  I predicted this fall would take a couple weeks to work the kinks out, and that is proving to be the case.  Tomorrow’s attempt at a long run will be the real test.  The chiropractor left it up to me if I wanted to try one more visit or not and so far I’m thinking I’m done.  Just avoiding ANYTHING I might trip over.  Oh, and Monday starts marathon training….yippee!!!  So I need to be healed.   I can’t say enough how proud I am of Jaspy for being such a good swimmer….that was the highlight of my week!

This week in running…

Saturday:  Absolutely heavenly run.  Did a route I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, all the way down Spicewood Springs and back.  6 on the treadmill, then down a canyon into the end of Spicewood.  6 bunnies and a porcupine spotted!  Super hilly and tough.  One mile cool down with Pancake.  14 miles

Sunday:  Run with friends downtown.  Could almost keep up, but not quite, but still tons of fun.  8 miles.  Yoga core at night.

Monday:  Maybe 3 miles before falling.

Tuesday:  Does run/ walk with mostly walking count as a run?  Sure…  6 miles  yoga core at night.

Wednesday:  SLOW, 11-12 minute mile run.  6 miles

Thursday:  Same route as last two days.  Still over 1o minute miles working out all the kinks.  Had to hit the road at 4:30am to get this one in….6 miles.  Yoga for Runners at night.  Too sore to go to a “real” yoga class this week.

Friday:  Same neighborhood route.  Today was the first day I got out of bed without it hurting, so I think it’s all progress from here!

Happy I can still move around even if it’s at a reduced pace.    I won’t be running very long this weekend and I’m hoping after another week of rehabbing the legs should be back to normal.  Highlight of the running week:  seeing a porcupine up close.   Low point of the running:  I think I already covered that one….

An unfortunate blob of concrete…

We had shirts made for our “training”. They are based on a silly inside joke, but aren’t they lovely? Still smiling….sorta.

I’ve been on a high. After 4 months of achy hamstrings, I’ve been feeling great. I had wonderful weekend runs, and we’ve been in full summertime swimming mode. Jaspy has been given some serious incentive to stay in bed until 6am and so far it’s working. No more running buddy at 4am. Life is good.

Monday I was doing an easy recovery run as is the norm for me on Mondays. Just a couple miles in, I suddenly found myself air born. When I touched down, I somehow stumbled a few feet and barely touch the ground, avoiding a ton of a road rash, but I felt searing pain up the backs of my legs, the right leg much worse. I had tripped over a big blob of concrete, went flying, and landed awkwardly, straining my right leg and tweaking the left. Ahhhhh!!!!!! I immediately knew there was no way I was running home and even walking was going to be a challenge. What really irked me was the exact two hamstrings I had just spent all the effort on were completely messed up. I limped home a couple miles fighting tears. Now don’t get me wrong. I have perspective here…I work in a trauma center for Pete’s sake. I know I didn’t break several bones, or get terminal cancer, or have some terrible medical problem. But, I knew right away I had at least messed my right leg up pretty good, and I panicked. Would this mean weeks of not being able to even walk like the time I threw my back out?

I got home and freaked out…..and got right on a ice pack and foam roller. I decided to make a chiropractor appointment right away and Mike talked me off the cliff and said at least give it 24 hours. I spent the day working with an ice pack under my leg and limping around the hospital…..and in a foul mood.

The next morning was better….no limping. When I saw the chiropractor for the first set of hamstring woes, she pushed keeping active to keep blood flow to the injured area and to prevent scar tissue from stiffening. So I went with that theory and did a “run” / walk. Really it was shuffle a few steps, and walk a lot. Felt better than the day before but not good. I believe I called the chiropractor and made an appointment the minute 24 hours post fall hit.

This morning was more of the same…run/ walk, but maybe a little better. I still felt like I was just dragging my right leg along, and was counting the minutes until the chiropractor appointment.

So. Glad. I. Went. She said this is basically a whole new injury from the fall. She did some muscle strength tests and I actually saw the hurt, little, teeny muscles in my right leg quivering. No wonder it’s so painful to do anything. She worked away, taped me up and gave me some new exercises. I have a ways to go on this, but I don’t think it will be 6 weeks of 24/7 limping like when I threw my back out. I feel better knowing there is a plan of attack, and Monday morning is far enough away I see some bright side.

– I suppose this is a good time for this to happen. If I was a week out from a marathon, I’d be hysterical.

– I was air born enough that I am lucky I didn’t do worse than a muscle strain. Don’t knock strains though, they can take weeks to heal, make nasty scar tissue, and hurt like heck, but a broken hip would have really sucked.

– while this will set me back for a couple weeks, at least I can do something.

I will never run on the side of the street with the concrete blob again. Just like I avoid plank bridges after a raised plank sent me flying on a run years ago, and don’t even get me started on uneven seams in a concrete side walk. Those are my version of the Game of Thrones moon door. “I want to see the silly lady fly.”

Well I got some therapy band exercises calling my name and a very early wake up call and some concrete to avoid…..