Stats

Since I'm not blogging frequently, I can't leave my most recent post as my most recent post for too long.  Yesterday morning, at boot camp, our instructor asked if I track how many miles I've run.  I said I probably could, but I started running pre-GPS watches, so it would involve going back to old paper training logs.  Then he asked if I knew how many miles I've raced.  That's easy, since I've kept a race results spreadsheet for a long time. 


A few of my recent races don't have exact times or dates, but that's because I've been too lazy to look up the official dates and my times, but I have the race name and distance there.


So I looked it up this morning.  Starting with my first grown-up road race in 2003 (I know I did a couple in college and law school, but those don't count since I didn't keep running consistently after them)... 


Drum roll...


I'm just over 200 road races to date, and just over 2,000 miles raced (2028.5 by my count). 


Well, I suppose "raced" is a stretch, since some were run with friends, or just for fun, sometimes I did a race just to get in a training run without worrying about the logistics, etc. 


Still kind of cool to look at that.  That's basically Chicago to Seattle.  Or Dallas to Portland.  I thought it would be super cool if it worked out to be Dallas to Boston, but I passed Boston a few hundred miles ago -- that's kind of ironic in its own way.  If I'd totaled up my numbers when I was in my BQ phase, maybe it would have totaled Dallas to Boston.  But I passed Boston and kept going -- but slower lately.  Oh well, no complaints. 

Pain in my ginocchio

I've had tons and tons of times I thought I was injured in the last 10+ years of running.  Usually random pains that go away after a few days off, usually coinciding with peak weeks or taper time.  I've also had a few falls, resulting in a couple sprained ankles.  Plus I've had two legit injuries -- a pulled muscle back in 2005, and then I broke my ankle in 2015 when I stepped on a rock.  Those are the only two times I've been off running for over a month. 


Oddly enough, in all this time running, I've never had real knee issues that I can remember.  It always seems to be my feet, ankles and calves that get hurt. 


But suddenly, knee pain! 


Oh yeah, the Italian word for knee is "ginocchio."  (Pronounced -- jin -OH -kee -oh, which is odd, because occhio means "eye.") 


Well, somehow my left knee is about the size of a softball right now.


Here's the chronology:


Sunday:  half marathon, pretty slow.  Well, 5-7 miles as planned, then a very slow slog to the finish.  It got into the upper 80s that day, super sunny, not fun.  No pains. 


Monday:  boot camp, less than one mile of running included.  Quads somewhat sore for no clear reason. 


Tuesday:  5 miles, mostly about my average pace from Sunday (so I'd say medium effort).  No pain.


Wednesday:  boot camp, including probably 1 mile of running, and then about 28 flights of stairs up and then down (Mount O) (not something we do often, but probably once a month?).  No pain.  Came home from boot camp, had breakfast, then ran to work.  No pain.  Walking through the lobby and noticed my left knee hurt.  Like hurt.  Went to my desk, went down the stairs to shower (8 flights).  Showered, took the stairs back to my office.  By then my knee really hurt.  It was popping at times, especially at angles, and it felt pretty swollen.  Almost screaming pain when I tried to move my leg certain ways while seated at my desk (so no pressure on my foot).  Wasn't sure how I was going to run home.  Considered getting an uber, but decided to set out after work.  Did a very slow run-walk thing to get home, no pain while running or walking.


Thursday:  5 miles, again, no pain while running.  But my knee was so swollen other people could tell something was horribly wrong.  Again, crazy pain when bending it at certain angles, very painful pops.


Friday:  rest day.  Maybe getting less swollen and painful?  Laying on my back, trying to bend my leg all the way and get my heel toward my butt, I feel like I can't get within 12 inches on the left side, my knee hurts and is so swollen. 


Planning to rest today, and maybe skip my planned "long" run for tomorrow (only 7 miles since there's no race on the calendar now). 


What the heck? 


Part of me thinks it could just be sore from the stairs since yesterday I seemed to feel pain mostly when going up stairs at home.  Maybe it will blow over with a weekend off?  I really don't want it to be anything real. 

VD

Valentine's Day seems to be a really big holiday for people who are dating, but less so for the rest of the world.  For us, it's usually an exchange of cards, flowers and sometimes chocolate for me, and some type of event for us -- special dinner, a show, whatever.  Most of all, lots of extra "I love you"s, shmoopy texts, kisses, and hugs. 


This year, we decided to get tickets to Shen Yun.  We went the weekend before last and it was an experience.  The dancing was amazing, and we each had favorite pieces (my husband liked the Tibetan drummers, I liked the yellow blossom dance), but we were both very surprised that about 2-3 of the 12-15 dance vignettes seemed to be very anti-Chinese government.  We were totally clueless walking in!  The website has details about how the performance company believes China's government is trying to make the company fail (and the Chinese government's opposition to Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa)).  But we didn't know any of that going into it, we just expected a 2-3 hour dance performance.  Anyway, politics aside (not that I'm sweeping any issue under the rug, I just know it's quite complicated), the dancing was lovely and it was nice VD celebration for us to be all dressed up and out together, whispering in our box about propaganda, whether we were being recruited, memories of when we were in China...


So when it got to be Sunday night this past weekend, my husband asked what we were going to do for the actual day of VD.  Since that meant we had no reservations, I suggested he come to a spin class with me.  And he agreed!  He usually hates working out at night, and while he loves biking, he's not big on spin, but in the interest of making me happy and ensuring we got to do something together on the actual night, he packed up his biking clothes. 


So I went to my second spin class of the year (also second spin class of the last 5+ years), on Valentine's Day, with my sweetest. 


Why spin?  Well, it's being taught by the great Megan Lyons!  At a fun studio, Grit.  If anyone can convince me to spin, it's Megan.  She's a great instructor and I might stick with it on at least a somewhat consistent basis (at least a couple classes per month hopefully) (of course it's very easy to say that since my work travel doesn't start for another month...).  Anyway, my first class was solely an effort to survive.  Megan's sister had given me some tips and I mostly kept the tension off and just tried to move my legs.  But for the VD class, I actually tried harder.  I'm not going to deny that there were multiple times my RPMs were below what she had set as the floor for the class, and I'm sure I always had the tension lower than it should have been, but baby steps!  I managed to get 13 miles in during the course of the class! 

Book Review: Start Here

Quick plug for a friend's book, but I promise, I wouldn't do this if it wasn't worth sharing. 


After I'd been reading her blog for at least a year, Megan Lyons became perhaps the first blog person I met in real life.  I invited her to boot camp with me one day, and years later, we still see each other at 5:30 a.m. a few days per week.  As frequently happens with someone you talk to consistently in such a vulnerable state (early, no makeup, sweating), it was easy to connect and she quickly became a friend.  Anyway, she has her first book going on sale today! 


Here are two links where it is available:


http://www.thelyonsshare.org/starthere/


http://www.amazon.com/Start-Here-Diet-Free-Ultimate-Happiness/dp/0986133205/


I've gotten to read it already.  My thoughts:


It's a good book that distills a lot of research and theories about health into concise and practical tips.  It's well-researched, but reads conversationally and in a straight-forward manner.  It's clearly targeted toward people who are starting a journey toward getting healthier, but I feel like I've been on the "healthier" path for nearly a decade, and I felt like there were a lot of points I was able to take away from the book as well.  Suddenly, I'm looking at sugar grams on labels now.  And I'm standing at work more frequently.  These were things I certainly knew were smart before, but the book has inspired me to actually DO them.  I'm thinking more about vegetable variety.  I've been great about getting more than my share of veggies every day, but at the same time, every single day I think I eat beets, spinach, kale, peas and carrots.  This book reminded me that I'd benefit from subbing those out for different veggies, giving me different nutrients (and the magical things she calls phytonutrients), at least on occasion, even if those 5 veggies stay in pretty regular rotation.  Husband and I have been doing a "grateful list" of 3 things each before bed for some time, but I'm making a point to think about it more during the day now.  I feel like there are lots of aspects of the book that resonated with me.  As with most blogs I read and most healthy people I know, Megan advocates a healthy lifestyle over any type of "diet."  So the suggestions she makes have a goal of being simple and sustainable habits.  I would say it's a quick read, but at the same time, I'm certain I will continue to re-read parts of it. 


Highly recommended, so if you're interested, please check it out.  There's a kindle version available (I don't actually have a kindle, but I was able to read the kindle version on my computer), and of course a paperback version.  Plus, of course if you buy it, I expect that there's some good karma for supporting a good person who deserves success! 

Yoga Plan

I just saw this link and it's my new dream:  http://www.doyouyoga.com/partner-yoga-poses/

I absolutely love partner/couple workouts in general.  It started in 2005 when I ran the NYC marathon and I saw a couple running while holding hands.  They had something cute on their shirts about how if they could make it through this, they could make it through anything.

And thus was born my dream of running a marathon holding hands.

Unfortunately, my husband has zero (maybe even negative) desire to run a full (he's done about 5 half marathons so far). 

For the record, I may make my third serious play at getting him to do a full with me in the next month or so (glad he doesn't read this blog).  I started raising the idea pretty much as soon as we started dating, but never really pressed it.  The first time I seriously tried to convince him was immediately after his first half, because it struck me as the next logical step.  No go.  The second time I seriously tried to convince him was in 2008 when I decided I'd run the Marine Corps Marathon (and my husband was/is a Marine (never know how to say that, he's not in the Marines now, but there's this whole "once a Marine, always a Marine" thing)).  No go. 

And now, I may push for Miami in January solely because one of my best friends and her husband (my former boss, and one of my husband's best friends) are doing it.  And it's going to be her husband's first (and last he says) full, doing in honor of his 50th birthday (it's funny that she and I both married guys older than us).  So maybe I can convince him this time.

But anyway, aside from the "holding hands marathon dream", I like working out together in general.  We have been doing boot camp together since 2007.  We were first invited to a free weekend bootcamp in 2006 by my local bestie, and we loved it -- but it was a women's only camp aside from the occasional open weekend sessions.  But the instructor recommended a co-ed boot camp where he worked out himself.  And the rest was history. 

Sometimes we shouldn't partner up at boot camp, because of different ability levels, but we usually do anyway.  Sometimes it works out well -- if we have to do 100 push-ups and 100 situps between the two of us, he can do 70 push-ups (and I'll do 30), and I can do 70 sit-ups (and he can do 30).  But then there are exercises like the one we call "the divorcer" (basically walking pushups face-to-face with a clap in between).  But generally, it makes us stronger.

As for yoga, he's tried Bikram with me exactly twice.  The first time he thought was kind of okay (or so he said), but by the second time, he said he hated it.  When I started my 30 day challenge in April and he was complaining about not getting to spend much time together, I tried to convince him to join me.  No go.  He sang me the line from Meatloaf -- "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that." 

In talking about it, it seems what he really hates is the 105 degree temperature of Bikram.  He also doesn't love it because he's not super-flexible, but obviously, that's the point!  He also doesn't like it because he has limited mobility in his neck thanks to a joint fusion and a plate that were put in before I knew him. 

So as I try to figure out what my personal yoga future looks like, I think I'm going to attempt yoga at home for a month or two (collossal failure last time I said I'd do that), and then I'm going back to Bikram but will attempt moderation.  But when I'm doing yoga at home, maybe these few partner yoga poses can be added (and maybe I can find more) and maybe we can do them together -- that would be an incentive to me.  The butt-to-butt one just looks so funny.  I can imagine laughing with him while we try to do it. 

A Monumental Shift

Okay, for about six years now, I have had the same basic breakdown of training days. 

Sundays -- long run with my running buddies
Mondays -- boot camp, sometimes at a very easy effort if the Sunday run was long/tough
Tuesdays -- group run with my running buddies
Wednesdays -- boot camp
Thursdays -- group run with my running buddies
Fridays -- boot camp
Saturdays -- race or rest

And since November, I've tacked on 7.5 commuting miles on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 3.75 commuting miles on Thursdays. 

But still, the routine was the routine. 

It's official to say it has now changed.  It's only been a couple weeks, but the plan is that this change is permanent, at least until after the Berlin marathon.

I am now skipping boot camp on Fridays and instead doing a 10k hill loop with my running buddies. 

In some ways, this sucks because a.) I pay for boot camp, even if I'm only going two days per week, and b.) one of my favorite things about boot camp is working out with hubby.

But I'm serious about hitting my goal time in Berlin, and hills are a major running weakness for me (it doesn't help that I live in pancake-flat Dallas).  So this is what must be done.

And I can no longer say Dallas is pancake flat.  There is apparently a mountain range right in the middle of the city that I somehow never noticed.  It starts on "Mount Flagpole" and is a huge range of six mountains with very steep climbs.  Or at least that's how it feels on the 10k mountain loop.  Haha.  Someone who runs somewhere with hills would probably still laugh at this loop, but it seriously kicks my @ss, and that can't be a bad thing! 

Non-running soreness

Yesterday's snow day seemed a little pointless.  By mid-afternoon, it hadn't warmed up much, but enough cars were out that the ice on the roads melted for the most part.  So I did something different.

I ran to work. 

Woot!  It was only about 4.5 miles, and could have been shorter if I'd made a couple different turns.  This was my first time doing that since we don't have shower facilities at the office.  But since the office was closed today, it didn't matter if I was sweaty and in running clothes.  The miles were pretty slow -- I ran in the streets, but since I was heading downtown, there were several places that had a bit of traffic so I had to move to the sidewalks, which generally were considerably icier than the streets. 

I woke up this morning in pain.  Mostly lower back pain.  As soon as I isolated what really hurt, I had no question it was from boot camp, as a result of my poor form on some exercises, and that it would go away within a day or two. 

This was our workout at boot camp yesterday morning.  We ran between each station. 

30 knees-in, an ab exercise
30 high knees/prisoner-run style
10 tuck jumps
20 curb jump squats
30 mountain-climbers
30 push-ups
30 knees-in ab exercises
30 wood-choppers (may have been a parial culprit for my pain)
30 in and out squats (likely the primary cause of my pain)
30 split squats
30 jumping jacks
20 or 30 squat thrusts (can't remember how many)
20 cherry pickers
30 knees-in ab exercises

And we had to go through that circuit three times.  For the in and out squats, you squat with your feet together and touch the ground, then jump into a squat with you feet apart and touch the ground.  The reason he makes us touch the ground is that too many people cheat when you don't have to touch the ground.  But I found a way to cheat while still touching the ground -- instead I bent with my back more instead of using good form on the squats.  Oh, what a mistake...

My legs are fairly sore too -- mostly hamstrings and groin, but it's really my lower back that hurts.  Oh well.

I skipped the run this morning because our coach emailed us last night and said "Friday is the new Thursday."  Because of all the ice yesterday, some of which remained today, our Thursday 10 miler (including 4 fast miles!!) is moved to tomorrow.

This scares me.  I'm going to have 36 miles in 3 days.  I've never done that before.  10 tomorrow.  6 Saturday easy.  Then 20 Sunday easy.  Wow.  Here's hoping I feel solid and strong on Monday, instead of broken! 

Running Home from Camp

We had a tough camp this morning, including 30/30 hard/easy intervals for about .7, then 6 mins of hard on the trail broken up with an exercise every minute, then a bit more running after the trip on the trail.  I was in a group of 6 and we were insanely lucky when we had to roll the dice for our exercises -- rolled 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 3, leaving us w/o ever getting a 5 or a 6 (50 hindu squats or 60 cherry pickers).  That meant doubles of 10 spider lunges and 30 squat hops, but it could have been way worse.  And they were all honest rolls! 

Anyway, I ran home solo after camp up the trail, felt like I was struggling to stay at my goal pace of 8:30ish, but ended up at 8:18 and 8:23, plus a 4:11 to finish.  Not bad, but I was completely soaked by the time I got home.  For some reason I seem to be a million times sweatier after an hour of camp and a few miles of running, than I am after about 8 miles of running.  So curious! 

Drank a G2 at home and had cereal for breakfast, all standing up b/c I didn't want to sweat on anything.  Normally I could put down a towel and sit at the table, but the table is all set (with both leafs in it) for a dinner party we're having this weekend, and even the bathroom towels are clean and fresh, so I couldn't use them w/o having to do more laundry.  So I ate while standing.  Plan for tomorrow is 7-9 easy (hopefully 8), and then I'll pick up a couple easy miles on Fri after camp to run home with Russell, which will be a first in more than a year.  I think if I hit my plans for the next week or so, I'll finish up June at about 132, which is just over last year's 130.  That will put my YTD deficit at 7 (currently at 9).  But I expect July and Aug to be lower than last year, so I might need to push through in Oct more than last year.  Goal for the year is 1200 I think.