Back in the Groove

I promised it wouldn’t be a month between posts… it’s been a month and a half instead!  LOL.  Oh well, life has been so darn busy, when I got a free moment this blog honestly didn’t even cross my mind.  In fact, working out and eating super well hasn’t really crossed my mind either.  There are some good and bad things from that.  The good is that although I wasn’t really ‘dieting’ anymore I didn’t gain any weight.  I’ve become better at just thinking about what I’m putting in my mouth, and more importantly how much of it.  So I’m hoping when I get down to where I want to be weight wise, I will be able to maintain it without too much of a struggle.

The bad is that the Danskin triathlon is in 7 weeks!  7 weeks?!  Yikes.  Have I run in the last month?  Not really.  I have even really worked out in the last month, hmmm… well if you count the amount of exercise at work and now at the house since we are redoing our siding... then yes.  And I have gone on a couple of mountain bike rides, but it’s been a while since those too.  So running, biking, and swimming haven’t really been in the picture as much as they need to be.

Now I’m on a mission to get back in the groove.  My schedule is fairly regular.  I have the time.  And even though there is still a ton going on (residing the house, my new photography business, BIL/SIL/niece moving to Hawaii)… NO EXCUSES.  So today was the day, Mondays are always good to start things on.  I went running!!  Yay!  It was short, but I did an ab and arm workout when I got home too.  Back in the groove means that you will see me back on here weekly I believe as well.  J  but no promises, see how well that worked out last time.  :P

Sam

Please Excuse the Absence

It has been just about a month since I wrote last.  My computer went haywire and I FINALLY have a new working computer!  Yay for extended warranties that actually pay off!

To catch up, here are a few little anecdotes about my fitness journey in the last month:

-          My back pain has finally completely gone away so I have been working on building up my runs again.  The most recently completed full-run-with-no-walking was 28 minutes, and it was seven days ago.

-          I started trying to take Maverick with me on my runs… it became a back and arm workout instead of just a run. It also gave me something else to think about besides running.

-          I stopped trying to take Maverick with me on my runs… not only did it aggravate back problems but it caused both he and I to almost injure ourselves many times due to the fact that Maverick is a bird dog… and he wants to chase the birds anytime he sees/hears/thinks of one.

-          I was trying to mix up the runs so I went for one in Banner Forest which is close to our house.  I got lost.  My 25 minute run turned into 25 minutes running PLUS a two hour hike.  I swore I would never go running in Banner again.

-          Went running in Banner again.  Looked at map before going and did not stray from the main trail.  Much more successful. 

-          Because runs have increased in time and I’m getting a little faster, my typical running path dead ended, and I literally ran out of room to run.  Yay for a little accomplishment.  I have found a new route from home, much more scenic, but a few more hills… not sure how I feel about that yet.

-          I moved to replenishment shifts at work.  This means getting up at four AM most days of the week and WORKING for a solid 5 hours.  And by working I mean getting paid to work out… hauling freight, unloading semis, lifting heavy boxes, squatting to lift boxes, squatting to set planograms, climbing ladders… and the list goes on.  This is great in terms that I am getting paid to workout and I can feel some muscle building starting to occur… HOWEVER, this is not great in the fact that it is really hard to go for a run after having a five hour workout at work.  Cool little side note -- I received these samples of Playtex new Sport Body Wipes, and i've been using them after work so I can go run errands on my way home and not feel completely gross.  They are actually really great, makes me feel refreshed and not like I need a shower immediately.  Should be available in stores soon, watch for them!

This brings us up to this last week.  On one of my off days I did that 28 minute run with no walking.  I have since not been able to complete a whole run and it is really starting to frustrate me.  I’ve been running three times since that, and each time I have stopped and walked during the run.  On Friday, the most strenuous day at work… I came home and tried to run but my lower back hurt so bad that about 17 minutes in I just could not run anymore, and walked the rest of the way home. 

Today I tried again.  I think I ran about 25 minutes total, but it was really broken up.  I ran the first 15 minutes straight, and from then on I ran in spurts with a little walking.  I cant explain it really, I mean, yes… my back hurt, my shoulder was cramped, my hips hurt (which is new), and my left foot fell asleep… but I didn’t make a conscious decision to stop running, my jog would just slowly turn into a walk.  And try as I might to keep starting to jog again, it wouldn’t last very long.  So I don’t know what is up with that… but I’ve decided it really is time to start cross training some more and maybe my body will stop throwing a fit.

I’ve got a little over three months until the Danskin Triathlon, and I’ve done very little biking or swimming.  I’m not as worried about the events, but I still need to work up the distances a little.  So goal for this week: besides running a couple times, bike and swim at least once each!

I promise there won’t be a month lapse this time… see you soon!

Sam

PAIN!

The last couple weeks has been a whirlwind of activity!  A week leading up to the 5K, and a week being sidelined by Pain.  We will get to that in a minute, first a little back story…

Last time I wrote I still had a week until the “Run Like a Fool 5k.”  I had planned on running a couple times that week and then resting thurs/fri before the race Sat morning.  For whatever reason (I honestly can’t remember the excuses I probably made up), I didn’t end up running at all that week.  So come Saturday morning, I was supposed to run 3.1 miles having only run a max of 25 minutes straight equaling a little over 2 miles (and I had only done that once).  Ugh… but I was well rested! ;) 

It was a beautiful morning, sunny and a little windy… so glad the rain didn’t show up!

It was definitely motivating to run with a group, and my mother-in-law!  I knew she would be faster, since she had already worked up to the distance, and had run this exact run a couple of times… but it was nice to see her blue sweatshirt bobbing way out in front of me!  J

I finished.  Without stopping!  It was long… but not quite as hard as I thought it would be.  Definitely wore me out though!  I finished (not even close to last) with a time of 37minutes and 42 seconds.  Nowhere close to what I used to run in high school, but hey… I finished!  And now I have a time to improve upon!

We celebrated afterwards with a soak in the hot tub, and some mimosas!  So relaxing…

After that we enjoyed a lovely baby shower, and I got to get new running shoes!!  Check these puppies out…

I got them at South Sound Running in Olympia… and if you ever want to find the perfect running shoes… go there.  They check out your old running shoes and look at the wear pattern, they make you run in each set of shoes you try on, and they find the best fit for you.  And if for some reason they get it wrong, there is a 30-60 day (depending on the shoe) return policy… bring back the shoes, even if you have run in them, and they will find another one for you.  They are awesome!

Now to the pain… I was fine all day Saturday, felt like I might be a little sore from the run, but I felt pretty good.  Sunday morning at 4:30am I woke up in extreme pain across my back.  Now I have had some pretty awful back cramps in the past, so bad that I couldn’t really walk… but this was so much different.  Just pure pain and in a very specific band across my back, a 3-4 inch section right below my shoulder blades.  When I got hungry too, the pain radiated to that same area through my abdomen.  And it was so weird because I could differentiate between my sore muscles, and this area of pain. 

To make a long painful story shorter… it was awful all day Sunday.  Tried painkillers, ice, heat, mom’s muscle relaxers, and Aaron tried to massage it… but nothing helped.  I laid in bed all day Monday, and it felt a Little better, so Aaron drove me to work for my four hour shift… and I about died by the time I got home.  Tuesday, feeling worse than Monday, I went to the doctor.  He poked around, decided I had probably just had a pretty severe muscle spasm in one of my muscles directly connected to that area of my spine (at least that is what I understood from what he said, lol).  He prescribed me some different muscle relaxers, and put me on a regimen of those and some different painkillers, and said if it didn’t ease up in a week or two, to come back for xrays.  The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday I took it pretty easy, went to work… but Aaron drove me so I could stay on the muscle relaxers which made my reactions pretty slow.  And it finally started to feel better. 

Thursday it was more of just an ache, so I took the day and went to see my niece.  Saturday and Sunday were a little more active with my Father-in-law’s bday party and a full shift on Sunday.  Today, Monday, I’m feeling much much better.  It is no longer a band of pain, but I can still tell exactly what muscle is in the spasm, and can pinpoint that tightness in my back.  Hopefully one of these days, it will let go completely so I can sleep better (I’m typically a side-sleeper, but that makes it worse, so I have had to sleep on my back which makes me not sleep as well) and feel like I’m not limited.

Needless to say, I did not go running all last week.  Today, feeling the best I have, I went for a run.  I went back to week 7 of the Cto5K, and did the first workout: Walk 5, run 25, cool down walk for 5.  In the middle of the workout I did stop a few times when I felt my back tighten up.  But after a good little stretch I would get going again.  I think I probably ran a total of 20 of the 25 minutes.  Hopefully, I can run the full thing next time!  And hopefully the next time I write, the aches and pains will have subsided completely!

Knock on wood!

Sam  J

The Birds and the Bees and the Smell of Fallen Trees

Oh Spring, how I LOVE you.  My run today was absolutely beautiful!  A perfect 56 degrees and the sun on my face!  <3

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I am training with no music.  I found out that I cannot wear my ipod or anything like it during the triathlon (makes sense… don’t want to get my ipod drowned in the first leg, lol).  And when I found that out I decided I needed to get used to running without good tunes to help me through.  It has been interesting, trying to come up with things to occupy my mind, especially as the runs have gotten longer.  Today the sounds of spring really did me good.  The birds were chirping, all the dogs were out barking (which I find adorable, as long as it’s not Maverick barking at the neighbors for the thousandth time), and the chainsaws were going.  Time for yardwork!  There was a huge fir being felled, and boy did it smell like spring to me!

All these things made my 25 minute run feel not as long as I thought it would feel.  Today finished off week 6 of Cto5K!  And I officially have no more runs that include any sort or recovery walk in the middle.  :/  Because my runs are now longer, I am going further and this is what I had to encounter halfway through my run today…

A hill!  And not a little one either.  And yes, I took this picture on my phone while I was running up it!  I definitely ran slower the second half because of this hill, but since my runs will go this long in the future, I am hesitantly looking forward to better results!

On another hesitant note… I’m going to do a 5K… in a week!!  So I might be jumping ahead a little bit, but my Mother-in-law found a 5K for us in Olympia that is perfect for beginners.  It is next Saturday at 8am, two loops around Capitol Lake.  I’m going to love the fact that there are no hills!!  It is all flat, and fairly scenic too!  Let’s hope it is a beautiful day like today!  I am really excited to see what kind of time I get from this first 5K.  And it is going to be really awesome to have a running partner for this race!  I’m a tiny bit worried about the fact that I won’t have run the distance before the race, but when I ran the half marathon I only ran 10 of the 13 miles before the race, so if I accommodate for the smaller race it might be ok.  Hopefully the adrenaline and excitement of Race Day will help… it better, ‘cause I’m running it either way!

Not sure if I will have time for another post before then, so wish me luck!  ;)

Sam

A Niece, a Nose, and a No-walk Run

This was an absolute whirlwind week!  Monday morning I started getting text messages from my SIL at about 4:30am… she was in labor!!  Yahoo!  I spent all day at the hospital waiting with family, and my new niece, Scarlette, was born at 11:31pm Monday night!  She is the most precious little girl!  Aaron and I didn’t get home that night until around 1am, and I was still pretty wired from the excitement so sleep was not easily come by.  But she is so worth it…

Tuesday morning, I had to go to work, and even though I was super tired, I went back to the hospital afterward so I could cuddle that little darling for a few hours!!

Needless to say, by the time I got home Tuesday night, I was so exhausted… there was no way I was going running!  Wednesday I was supposed to work, but that morning between the exhaustion, some dehydration, and a small head cold (can we say congestion and runny NOSE)… I could hardly stand up.  So I spent Wed and Thur recovering! 

Finally, Friday… today!  I worked this morning and then went for my final Cto5K Week 5 workout.  And I did it… 20 minutes straight of jogging!!  It was so not as bad as I thought it was going to be, especially after a few days off!  Don’t get me wrong, I can already tell my hamstrings are going to feel it, but I finished!  This may sound weird, but to keep myself in motion today I concentrated completely on my breathing.  In fact, I counted… all 685 breaths of my 20 minute run.  And knowing that I take 4-5 steps per breath (in and out as one) I ran around 3000 steps!  And estimating from that I think I ran a little under 2 miles… kind of fun, huh?  I am probably going to take the car one of these days and find out how far I really am running.  See if I really might hit 3 miles in 30 minutes when I get there.

Now I am going to go watch some Cake Boss, and dream about eating cake ;)

Sam

The Ominous Week

Ok, besides the fact that this last week has actually been ominous for the world (earthquakes and tsunamis and such)… I was dreading getting to this week as far as running!  Week 5 of the Cto5K plan starts to change, so every single workout is different and they start ramping up to continuous running!  I’m going to miss my recovery walks!!!  Week 5 workouts are as follows:

Week 5, Day 1 – Brisk 5 minute warmup walk.  Jog 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, jog 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, jog 5 minutes.  5 minute cool down walk.

Week 5, Day 2 – Brisk 5 minute warmup walk.  Jog 8 minutes, walk 5 minutes, jog 8 minutes.  5 minute cool down walk.

Week 5, Day 3 – Brisk 5 minute warmup walk.  Jog 20 minutes.  5 minute cool down walk.

Today I finished the Day 2 workout… in the very brief time it didn’t rain.  It was hard.  The first 8 minute jog wasn’t so bad, but the second one was painful, there was definitely some wheezing in the lungs at the end of that run… but I pushed the last minute.  Had to finish strong!  I am so scared for my run on Tuesday… 20 minutes straight?!  That will be the longest period of time I have run in years!  I know I am still young, but I can’t imagine how I ran that half marathon in high school.  It does not seem possible.  Oh well, I’ll take what I can accomplish now!

On another note of accomplishment… I am proudly down 3.5 pounds since a week and a half ago… a better diet and working out consistently is finally making a little bit of pay off!  Yahoo!  That is encouragement enough to keep on going!  Soon, I am going to start adding in the other aspects of the triathlon, slowly… but I’m excited!

Have to go guard my knees now… husband and dog are playing rambunctiously on the floor and keep running into my knees!  Gotta save them for runnin ;)

Sam

Dodge the Puddles!

There was no way around running in the rain today.  It was absolutely pouring rain this morning, so the first little break I saw, I changed my clothes, put the dog in the crate, and off I went!  Today was awesome.  I know it might not be huge, but this was the third workout of week 4, and I saw improvement in the distance I was running since I went the first time on Saturday.  I turned around at the same place, but the end of my last run was almost all of the way up the huge hill that is usually the beginning of my cool down walk.  Talk about an exhausting end to a workout, but the signs of improvement were all there.  J

I think my favorite part of today was actually dodging the puddles.  I get bored really easily when I run, so I try to figure out things to think about to keep myself from thinking about the running itself.  Since it was pouring rain, there were lots and lots of puddles!  I spent pretty much my whole run trying to not step in one... which meant that today I spent a lot of time varying my stride length!  In the end, I think my legs got more of a workout today than they have just with normal running.  Who knew the Washington rain would improve my workout?!

However, I’m still wishing spring would come sooner!!!!

Sam