Moving chafing

I feel like the first half of this summer, all my chafing issues were at my waistline or above.  Primarily right around all the edges of all my sports bras, and especially in the middle of my back near the clasp on any of them. 

It didn't seem to matter what I did to try to prevent it, I ended up with a lot of hot spots afterward. 


And since then, my weight has not changed, and I don't think my weight distribution has changed either.  But now, all my chafing issues are below my waistline.  Yow.  Particularly on my right inner thigh. 


Two long runs in a row, it has rubbed a huge spot totally raw -- bigger than a quarter, and to the point where it looks like it's about to draw blood. 


To quote Nancy Kerrigan... whhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy?


I'm planning a really long run this weekend (and I'll try an entire stick of Glide again basically), but then, thankfully, my distance will drop.  It's supposed to be a high (for me) mileage week this week, and so far, at least on my group runs, it has been.  We had 10 on Tuesday and 11 this morning.  In theory, I should be running more during the rest of the week, but I'm just not.  I don't care enough, and I'm perfectly happy to just do boot camp or bike on the other days (although I usually get in a mile or so on boot camp days).  But given my plan for 22 on Saturday, that's going to put me at 45 or so miles for the week.  With only three real runs! 


That counts as high mileage for me this year (well, and some other years, but not recently). 


Oh well, just posting to complain about my chubby right thigh.  It's odd, because it doesn't look any bigger than the left one -- but the left one hasn't chafed at all this season. 


Why do we do this again? 


Oh yeah, cheesecake in the office today...  Yum!  Considering that, a huge chafing spot on my leg is 100% worth it. 

Vacation

Something nice about being on vacation:  All alarms off!

It is kind of hard to describe exactly how nice it was to turn off each and every one. I flew alone to Milwaukee on Monday (Dec. 19), then my husband came up on Wednesday and we drove up north on Thursday.  So Tues and Wed mornings I was solo, with no alarm, no one snoring in bed with me or getting up 4 times overnight to pee, or waking up due to his "natural alarm" at 7 a.m.  And I slept until almost 10:00 both days!  Even though I'd gone to bed before midnight both nights before (even if just barely).  I sometimes think I could easily sleep my life away if I had the option. 

Up north was lovely and snowy.

But it was also very cold.  I was going to go for a run outside Saturday morning (and just wear my mom's yak trax since they don't plow there), but the temp was under 5 degrees, and the wind chill was -26, so I opted for the treadmill. 

Fairly proud of myself for running 11 on the treadmill on vacation.  I have the scars on my inner thighs to show for it -- I either wore bad shorts or I gained weight in all the wrong places.  Oh well, 11 miles is 11 miles! 

Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays and getting to relax a bit! 

One pound

In terms of weight, I think I may have been at my most content in the last decade-plus in mid to late 2013.  Since then, the pounds have crept on, slowly sometimes, in six big plates of pasta eaten in Italy at other times. 


I have been trying not to stress about it, but to focus more on good food choices and plenty of activity. 

As always, I made a list of resolutions this year, among them, getting back to my "happy weight zone," which is defined by me as the 8-10 pound range where I felt the best.  Technically, it's a 10 pound range, but it's only my lowest weight in the last decade plus 8 pounds -- meaning if I ever got back down to that weight, and then lost 2 more pounds, I'd still be in the happy range.  If I lost more than that, I'm sure I'd look better, run better, and possibly feel better, but given the way I view food (joyfully, full of love, often a treat, something to savor and enjoy, rather than just fuel), and the foods I like, if I dropped below that weight it would probably mean cancer or some other illness.  So it's a 10 pound range in my head, but in reality, an 8 pound range.


So anyway, as of this morning, if I could lose a little less than 2 more pounds, then I will only be 5 pounds away from the very top of my happy weight range! 


That's still a lot of work (almost 7 pounds of it), and I'm not underestimating that, but it's closer than I've been in months.  Yeah!


Buuuuuut... right before Mardi Gras...  Oh well, hopefully with a few more months of good choices and bonus workouts, I might get there.  And when I'm back in the happy range, then I can keep going and get toward the middle of that range.  Or even the bottom, but one step at a time. 


If I define a workout as a single session of weights or running at least 30 minutes, then right now, I'm usually doing about 9 workouts per week -- two boot camps, one long run, three runs in the 5-7 mile range, two commute runs, and one extra class (twice this year it's been spin, and that's definitely growing on me). 

Breaking the Seal

I spend very little time drinking in bars these days.  I guess that's not unusual for anyone who's 40 and/or married and/or is working out 6 days a week before 5:30 a.m.  But on the rare occasion that I do drink the night away, I still go back to what I remember as a personal truth from being out in bars in law school and back in my single days in Dallas:  hold off as long as possible at all costs, because once you break the [pee] seal, it's broken.  I could be in a bar drinking for 4 hours and never have to use the restroom, but as soon as I did go, breaking the seal, then I'd have to start going about every 15 minutes.  And if I used the restroom in the first hour of being out drinking, same thing, I'd be going every 15 minutes all night long.  So just don't break the seal! 


I'm not going to be car-less for long, but I feel like while I'm doing a ton of running commutes, it's almost the same principle but regarding food in the office. 


I'm back to my old routine now that I'm officially training and running with my friends again in the mornings.  That means my morning schedule for working out and eating/drinking is something like this:


5:00 half a granola bar (I eat those kind that are "oats and honey" two bars to a package, so it's really one full bar in my mind)


Run with friends or go to boot camp


7:00 espresso and smoothie (spinach, kale, frozen beets, frozen blueberries, frozen fruit mix (pineapple, peaches, strawberries, grapes), protein powder, chia seeds (thanks Amy), carrot juice, some kind of fresh juice with ginger, apple cider vinegar (thanks Megan), and now, a little bit of liquid calcium (just using up a bottle my ex-aunt couldn't fly home with)). 


Run to work, shower, chug water.


Mid-morning snack (2 tortillas rolled up with spinach and blue cheese).


Lunch usually around 1:30. 
Random fruit and/or snacks in the afternoon.
Then maybe another half granola bar around 6:00.
Run home around 6:30 or 7
Eat dinner.


Back a couple weeks ago, when I still owned a car and was driving to work every day (and going to the hospital to visit at night), I would take a thermos of espresso to work with me, and I'd sip that most of the morning and I'd eat my mid-morning snack slowly, from about 9:30 until about 11. 


But now with the running commute, I'm just not hungry when I sit down at my desk.  And it gets to be 11, and I'm still not hungry. 


But when I break that seal and eat the first tortilla just because I feel like it's time, then I'm an eating machine.  I'm trying very hard to make sure it's mostly good stuff, but I feel like I'm going for bites of something every 15 minutes (in reality, it's probably not that often, just seems like it). 


Just like the old college days.  You know, but with whole wheat tortillas filled with spinach, instead of Jager and Redbull...

Clawing Back

Somehow the last few months of vacation, holidays, and fun are showing up very clearly on the scale and in my clothes.  Hmm, wonder how that happened??!! 

What's done is done and I just now have to fight my way back. 

I told my running buddy I feel like I'm on the edge of a cliff and I've been there for a few months.  He keeps telling me to just keep showing up.

And it's finally working.  After a solid month of showing up, I'm feeling better.  Mentally, it's working.  I've been actually doing the workouts.  Nailing them.  Glad I am training by heart rate because the paces are just depressing, but at least I'm giving it the effort.

I resisted the urge to phone in a run multiple times in the last couple weeks.  We've had some tough workouts. 

Two weeks ago Thursday was a warmup and cooldown, and four progressive tempo miles in the middle, with a goal of accellerating by 15 seconds on each mile (so the last mile 45 seconds faster than the first).  I did phone it in a bit on the first of the miles, but mostly because I'm not quite sure of pacing and I didn't know what I'd be able to sustain.  I managed to do the progressive part of the run for each mile, ending up with my last mile 1:15 faster than my first.  Absolutely amazing for me!  Even when I'm in great shape, that's a tough run (because I usually push my first one too hard and there isn't enough left in the tank to make it properly progressive). 

This week, on Tuesday, we had a workout that was warmup/cooldown, and in the middle, two miles in zone 3 (which is basically around marathon pace), half a mile recovery, then another pair of two miles.  Of those 4 "business" miles, 3 of mine were within an 8 second spread -- the other (mile 3 of the 4) was about 15 seconds faster than any of the others.  I'll take it.

Today was hills.  Only 3 hills, about half a mile each (this is our "long" hill loop).  I ran the first two hard and I was considering phoning it in on the last one -- purely out of habit.  I'm used to being exhausted on the hills and I somehow got in the routine of "just finishing" the last repeat without worrying about pace or heart rate.  So today, I thought I'd run hard to the street light, about 60% of the way up the worst of the loop, and then I aimed for the "stop ahead" sign, about 66% of the way up the bad stretch, then I shot for the fire hydrant, about 75% of the way up, then I aimed for the slight turn, about 85% of the way up, and then the crest was in sight, and then I said, well, might as well finish out the flat part of the loop, and it was done.  "Just finishing" the last repeat is okay for me when we have a lot and I'm really struggling.  But only 3 loops?  There was no good reason for me not to push on the last one, even though it had been hard and I felt slow and I was struggling.  But it's done!

Slowly clawing my way back...

It's 3 steps forward and 2 steps back right now, but all due to my own choices/priorities.  We have tons of fun on the calendar in the next month. 

I'm flying up to KC in a couple hours.  Working this afternoon, work dinner tonight, working tomorrow, then spending the weekend with my best friend from law school and visiting a few high school friends, including my prom date, which will be great.

Next week there is a very small chance my middle little brother will be visiting but it seems unlikely, but next weekend is full -- dinner with a big group of friends, dinner with another couple, and then book club at our house.

And the following weekend is Mardi Gras!  The ball is actually on Valentine's Day so I bet there will be a lot of red dresses this year.  I haven't picked one yet, need to shop next weekend -- unfortunately, thanks to the last few months, I don't think any of the 5-10 that are in the closet will fit. 

But as long as I keep showing up, keep doing the workouts, keep hitting target heart rates and not stopping just because it feels hard, in the end, hopefully, God willing, I'll get back to where I want to be! 

Whew!

What a weekend!  It pains me to say this, but on the way home from boot camp, for just a minute, I considered stopping at Denny's for a monster-sized breakfast.  Don't they have something like an ultra grand slam I could modify to make vegetarian? 

Is it possible that:
a.) my stomach expanded after just 3 days?
b.) my body is expecting roughly 5 billion calories per day after just 3 days?
c.) tapering is making me want to eat all things?
d.) all of the above?

I am starving!  I got some free dietary advice from Megan this morning at boot camp while we were doing ab work toward the end of class.  I was complaining about already being hungry after eating my normal pre-boot camp breakfast.  She reminded me that eating normally might kind of feel like the first few days of a diet.  So basically it's going to be ugly.  I'm having breakfast now and I was tempted to supplement it with veggie breakfast sausage, which I do on heavy workout days -- but today wasn't a heavy workout day.  It was a day of taking it easy and slow at boot camp to move a little but not wear myself out.  So no extra breakfast sausage for me...

I'm going to try to be super-good about my eating this week anyway.  I am going to aim for fairly balanced meals, no sweets, and protein at every dinner this week (and hopefully real protein, not a frozen crutch like the veggie breakfast sausage).  Well, balanced at least until Thursday, then I will make an effort to increase carbs and decrease fiber and dairy for a few days. 

But this week is going to be doubly ugly because I have a feeling this is going to be a sad and lonely week. My husband will be here of course, and I'll be home the normal amount (maybe less, going to aim for extra yoga this week). But my folks are at the airport and the house feels empty now as I have breakfast.  You know how you just get used to having someone with you all the time?  My husband and I always joke about going through withdrawal when we have to go to work separately and be apart after vacation where we're together 23:45/7.  But now it's my folks that I miss.  It was so much fun being together.  I didn't sleep anywhere near enough and my feet and ankles are sore from more time on my feet this weekend than I've done in ages.  But totally worth it for a weekend that was just filled with good times together.  It just went far too quickly.  I feel like she should be sitting next to me now drinking her coffee and reading a book while I play on the computer.  When I got home from boot camp and walked past the guest room where they stayed it almost hurt my heart to see it empty.  Living away from family is so hard sometimes.  I have no desire to move away from Dallas but I wish they'd all move to Texas. 

Anyway, as promised I took pictures of all the horrible-for-me food that we ate yesterday at the Fair.  I need to pull them off my real camera to share tomorrow.  My husband may have put it best, I wish I could remember the exact wording.  Something to this effect:  The Texas State Fair is like Liberia, but it's the epicenter of the obesity epidemic instead of the ebola epidemic.  That was the most apt description for the people-watching at the Fair.  I'm very lucky that it's only once a year since sadly, I do like much of that artery-clogging stuff...

#Reverb13, Day 18: Wear

Throughout the month of December ((haha), I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.

Day 18 – Wear:
What piece of clothing did you wear again and again all throughout the year? Why? Is it all worn out? Are you going to replace it or keep wearing it?

Nothing really comes to mind for this.  I have way too much stuff in my closet in general, but at times like this (when I'm on the heavy side of my usual range), I'm happy for the variety of sizes.  But even my favorite clothes I try not to wear too often. 

If I had to pick my signature piece of clothing for 2013, it was a pair of neon pink pants that I bought at the Gap.  I wore them to work once (slightly too casual for the office on a normal day), to book club, to dinner, and a few times in Europe.  Unfortunately for me, I wore them on both Christmas card picture days in Europe -- the day we went to Neuchwanstein castle in Germany, and the day we rode on the gondola in Venice.  We had a third picture this year that we used in a few cards and it was from the Ponte Rialto in Venice and it was the same day as the gondola ride.  So I decided to choose my second favorite Neuchwanstein picture to use in our cards since you couldn't see my pants in it. 

I thought the pants were done on the day I wore them in Neuchwanstein.  That night, we had dinner in Liechtenstein.   The place where we ate had a big salad bar where we made plates before our pizzas came.  And as I was eating my salad, a very juicy piece of beet fell off my plate, missed my napkin, and hit my light pink neon pants.  Ugh.  But I used stain stick on them and it worked -- I wore them again in Venice! 

So they are not worn out and if I can lose about 10 pounds and it gets about 40 degrees warmer, I will go back to wearing them. 

The excuses

So one of the things that was the best about going off facebook this year was getting away from people who seem to do nothing but complain.  So obviously that's not what I'd want to have on my blog, particularly since I feel extraordinarily happy and content with my life.

But it's like the hits just keep on coming these days!  At least as to my general fitness and eating routine.  It's like I can't just have a normal 2 week span where I can work out and eat normally and starting clawing my way back to where I feel like I was only two months ago. 

This has been my chronology since late September:

September

• Half a week in Berlin, moderate food, no alcohol.
• Marathon.
• Week in Munich, unhealthy food, tons of Oktoberfest drunkenness.

October

• Week in Italy, moderately healthy food but insanely large quantities, lots of alcohol but no intoxication.
• Wrap up of the trip in Amsterdam, more unhealthy food, more alcohol.
• Long trip home.
• Jet lag for an entire week because I made the mistake of falling asleep at 3 in the afternoon the day we came home.  Which meant I was wide awake by 1-2 a.m. every single day.
• Digging out at work.  Over 100 emails needing attention.
• Attempting to get back into the groove at boot camp and with running.
• Three weekday group runs; average pace drops 15 seconds on each day, so steady improvement.  Heart rate and effort are high, but at least the pace is becoming sustainable.
• Long run of 11.5ish miles.  Not horrible.
• Serious ankle sprain at boot camp.  Uneven pavement on which I was doing running high knees.  Lots of pain and inflammation.
• No activity at all for 4 days attempting to get the swelling down.
• Long run of 13 miles and change.  Slowest run I've done in years.  Almost quit a million times.  No particular ankle pain when stepping on level surfaces. 
• Fly to California for 6 days in San Francisco and Napa.  Unhealthy food, unhealthy quantities of food, unhealthy amounts of alcohol.

November

• Half marathon on trails with over 3000 feet of climbing in California.  Slowest half ever I think, but that makes sense given the terrain and elevation.
• Wake up coughing and sick day after half marthon.
• Long trip home, 3 hours time difference given the extra daylight savings time change.
• Jet lag for most of the week because I made the mistake of staying awake until about 2 a.m. Dallas time the night we got home, feeling like I was still in Cali staying up late and having fun.
• Sick for pretty much the entire week.  Coughing non-stop.  Unable to breathe.  Some congestion.
• No working out for an entire week because of illness.
• Long run (two days ago) of 15 miles and change.  Probably slowest pace for a run of that length in more than 5 years.  Felt like death.  Sore afterward.
• Boot camp yesterday where I skipped almost all the running but still ended up sore and winded.
• Insane day of work, auditors coming into town Wednesday.
• Run with a friend this morning at insanely high effort level given the relatively slow pace we ran.  And the run was extra fun because a huge cold front was coming in during our run.  26 mph winds.  Starting temp of 54, ending temp of 47, and we only did about 7.5 miles, so all that was within an hour.
• Watching the news, drinking a smoothie for breakfast, and while not chewing anything, somehow chip the outside of one of my back teeth.  Seriously???  What next? 

Looking ahead

• Attending law firm event tonight, expecting to be hit up for business.
• Big steakhouse dinner tomorrow night with the auditors, dinners usually average about one bottle of wine per person...
• Attending another law firm event Thurs night, expecting to be hit up for business.
• Flying to San Antonio.
• Marathon on Sunday. 

So yeah, that's why I suck at blogging lately.  And why my clothes are too tight.  I haven't commuted to (or from) work on foot since September 18.  And basically a few weeks of vacation in Europe, followed by a sprained ankle, followed by a week of vacation in California, followed by a week of being sick means that I'm guaranteed to have a miserable marathon this weekend.  Thank goodness I never planned to do it for time.  But yeah, being out there that long is going to suck.  To make matters worse, the starting temp is supposed to be in the 60s.  At least if it were cold, there would be a chance I could pull something moderately respectable out of my @ss.  But with that kind of heat, it will just be a mess. 

And, as to the tooth, of course I just went to the dentist the day before I sprained my ankle.  My husband said you can't see the chip at all, but if it's uncomfortable, the dentist could probably smooth it out.  Ugh.  I can feel it with my tongue, even though it doesn't really hurt. 

So I can add that to my list of things to deal with -- along with a chip in my windshield and a garbage disposal that doesn't seem to work right.  But the credit card bill that's headed my way has dinner for two at The French Laundry on it, so I'm really thinking I should defer any unnecessary expenses for a little while.  Plus that whole Christmas thing is coming...

Obviously, all my complaining is all small stuff in the grand scheme of things, as I've said before.  Having this big audit at work means I'm doing well and potentially getting more to do.  And gaining weight on vacation is just fun to me, not the end of the world, I don't mind buckling down afterward to lose it.  And I will be able to pull off the marathon, just not quickly, even by my "quick" standards, which are much slower than some people's.

So I promise I'm not bitching.  But within one week of the marathon finish this weekend, I need to buckle down big time.  If I'm going to make another run at my marathon goal time in Houston, I will have about 2 months to train.  Unfortunately, Christmas and 9 days at home will be right in the middle of those 2 months, but of course, who am I to complain about more than a week at home with my mama?  It just means I need to be even more focused for the 6 or so weeks I'll have to train in Dallas.  Oh my... 

This is going to be quite an unusual year end for me! 

Struggling with it all

Short post. 

Still alive.

Buried at work.

Went running and to boot camp for a whopping week after we came back from Europe, things felt like they were getting better.  Saw my paces begin to drop back into the "easy" run range (though it still didn't feel easy, at least I was sustaining it, which was more than I could say before). 

Rolled my left ankle yesterday at boot camp (height differential in a sidewalk that I was standing on to do high knees).  Ugh.  It's swollen and it hurts, but it seems somewhat better today and will hopefully be back to normal after another couple days. 

Cannot believe we are going out of town again on Tuesday.  Heading to San Fran for the first time as a couple (actually, I think hubby's first time ever, but I'm not sure).  We're going to stay until Sunday night.  Woot!

No idea how I will ever get caught up at work, even though I'm going to work from California. 

I feel like new lawsuits are coming in at an unprecedented rate. 

The day before I rolled my ankle, I'd just registered for a half marathon in California that I was dying to do on trails, but now of course I'm not certain I'll be able to run it. 

My work clothes are uncomfortably tight and I haven't lost any weight since we've been back, and I think I've actually gained.

The weight is going to get worse in Cali.  We have trips planned for wine tasting and to one of the (if not THE) best restaurants in the country. 

The house is a mess -- clutter, packing/unpacking, disorganized, leaking garbage disposal, clogged shower drain.  And a little star on the windshield of my car (hit by a rock kicked up by the vehicle in front of me on the highway) and it will certainly result in a huge crack any day now. 

Credit card is on fire.  I am adamantly opposed to carrying a balance, but between a couple thousand dollars spent in Europe, hubby's birthday present (purchased immediately before we left), and that upcoming Cali trip, yikes, I hope I find a money tree immediately.  And now the holidays are on the horizon! 

Fortunately, when we drop a cool G on dinner at that restaurant, we are going with my brother and his wife and we've decided the dinner will count as a mutual exchange of Christmas gifts.  But I still have a bunch of other brothers and family and I love picking out things to give friends and family...

But I know I can't really complain.  The ankle will heal.  Gaining weight (or inches) from trips to Europe and wine country is hardly worth complaining about.  I have a good job and will manage to pay my bills.  And eventually, I'll get counsel on all these new lawsuits and things will calm down (or things will stay crazy busy and some of my cases will be reassigned to someone else here to manage my workload). 

Big sigh.  More blog neglect definitely on the horizon!

Alive and Back!

Just a quick post to indicate that against my better judgment, I have returned from vacation.  Hubby gained NINE pounds!!  He was saying in Venice one night toward the end of his trip that he felt too fat to untie his shoes.  I told him I was too fat to help from a standing position, but maybe if I laid on my stomach on the bed, I could reach them. 

While I didn't really gain weight (maybe a few pounds, but certainly less than five; kind of hard to tell since my weight always gets jacked up before a marathon), I definitely lost fitness.

It seems hard to go on a vacation that includes running a marathon (a PR and re-Q no less) and actually lose fitness, but trust me, it's possible.  We were away for just over 2 weeks after the marathon was over, and that entire time felt like Thanksgiving.  Eating and drinking non-stop.

Sure, we walked a lot in some of the cities.  My walking was limited in Munich because of that whole post-race soreness thing that took several days to resolve.  And my walking was limited in Nicastro, Italy where my husband's extended family lives because we don't go sight-seeing there. 

But hours and hours of leisurely walking are not going to maintain fitness for a person who a few weeks earlier was logging 40-50ish miles of running per week, as well as at least a couple boot camp classes per week.  Actually, if I'd been eating like a sane person, maybe it would have been fine. 

But instead, I went crazy with beer at Oktoberfest, and then we are essentially force-fed the entire time we're with hubby's family. 

I can't really blame Oktoberfest and his family though. 

When we finally left Lamezia and flew to Venice, we were talking on the plane about what we wanted to eat that day in Venice.  We both said that the only thing that sounded good were great big salads.  So what did we do when we got to Venice?  Found a restaurant that looked good, and each ordered an antipasto course, a pasta course, and a second course.  And THEN we walked around to find a gelateria that looked like it had good choices and there we had dessert.  And let me tell you, I've never ordered a single pallone of gelato in Italy and I certainly wasn't going to start now!  Ugh...

My clothes are so tight they leave marks on me.  My work in-box is out of control with over 100 messages needing attention.  There is a huge stack of mail to go through.  The house is all dusty and hot.  I am out of breath after a single flight of stairs.  My personal email inbox has lots of messages awaiting responses.  I don't think I could run 5 miles at marathon pace right now, and I'm not entirely sure about my ability to run 5 miles at an easy pace either.  I'm so jet-lagged that we were in bed at 5:30 last night (and correspondingly, I was up at 12:30, went back to sleep, and was then awake at 2 a.m. for good today!).  We have massive piles of laundry to do. 

But I wouldn't trade it for the world!  I love being gone so long we can't remember the alarm code for the house or any of the passwords to log-in to computers! 

Right now, it's 2:00.  My goal for the afternoon is to work on 3 cases (2 new ones, 1 old), and to try to stay awake until at least 7:00 tonight. 

Dinner Strategy

So today I'm bound for Philly again, but only for about 24 hours -- then I'm going to take a train to DC for a 4 day weekend.  I haven't spent the Fourth in DC in more than a decade and I always used to love it.  I absolutely can't wait for this trip since I'm going to see two of my best girlfriends, as well as a bunch of other friends I think. 

One of my best friends is having a very tough time right now -- she is a high-level exec at a government agency that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, and she feels like her job is on the chopping block not because she had anything to do with the incident, but for the sake of being able to say that they cleaned house.  It's tough for her since she's worked very hard to get to where she is and she's great at her job -- and she enjoys it!  Not many people would really embrace working for one of the most hated parts of government, but she's brought skills and personality to the table and basically got into her dream job.  So spending a few relaxing days with her will hopefully help her de-stress a bit.  She's also super into yoga and running so from a fitness perspective, this trip will be good for me and won't even cause a blip in my training.  We're also going to road trip to Charlottesville for an overnight stay to see my best friend, which is always, always good. 

Anyway, the whole thing I was planning to write about, last night, to complete the ten days of work chaos with an audit and two trips to Philly, I had dinner with clients. I go to these client dinners with my boss and sometimes a colleague. And since my boss outweighs me by at least 100 pounds, he drinks me under the table at every single one.  Fortunately these dinners don't happen very often, a few times a year at most. But we eat and drink so much that usually I feel like I double can't walk when I leave -- tipsy and way too full. I usually end up having to ditch my car at the restaurant and have my sweet husband come pick me up. We're both very paranoid about driving with alcohol and particularly since he had a heads-up that it was going to be one of "those" dinners, he didn't mind.

So last night, we went to a place called Ocean Prime.

My choices:

Pre-dinner cocktail:  Pear Grapefruit Fizz (well, if you want to be technical, pre-dinner cocktailS)

Appetizer: Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli, Golden Oak Mushrooms

For the record, what I wanted as an appetizer, but I was worried there would be meat and I didn't think it was very professional anyway: Aged Wisconsin Cheddar Fondue for the Table
You just know anything with the word "Wisconsin" in it has to be good! ;)

Salad: Ocean Prime House Salad, Romaine, Spinach, Granny Smith Apples, Goat Cheese, Walnuts, Sherry Mustard Vinaigrette (ordered w/o the nuts and with oil and vinegar instead of the vinaigrette)

Entree:

•Sautéed Button Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions

•Jumbo Asparagus with Hollandaise

•Black Truffle Macaroni and Cheese

•Steamed Broccoli

•Jalapeño Au Gratin, Sliced Potatoes, Aged Swiss

I just ordered 5 side dishes that sounded good to me and to others and I shared them to create my own veggie plate.

Dessert: White Chocolate Key Lime Tart with Whipped Cream and Vanilla Anglaise
What I really wanted (but couldn't eat because it had nuts): Ten Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and Pineapple Syrup

It was all really good, but what was strange was that for the first time ever at one of these dinners, I was not completely stuffed when I left.  Definitely tipsy, but not feeling like I might hurl if I bumped into something.  It was a mystery until I got home and I realized my involuntary strategy for not eating too much had worked like a charm.  I'd worn a skirt that was already fairly tight, so I think I ate less since there just wasn't any room to expand! And fyi, while I've held off over 30 years on getting a tattoo, I think the imprint from that skirt's zipper is going to be permanent! 

My not-getting-stuff was a necessary strategy since my diet isn't going to be pretty for the remainder of this week in Philly and DC (and maybe Charlottesville).  Guess I'll have to pile on some more miles of running.... haha, I can't complain about that!! 

Skin Fury

I have been insanely lucky to be born with relatively clear skin.  I remember having some pimples and stuff in high school, and I have some freckles/sun spots, and I'm starting to get some wrinkles, but I generally don't deserve the skin I have, particularly on my face.  I'm horrible about washing my face before I go to bed.  I sometimes will swear to myself that I'll do better and I'll be good for a few days, but then there will be a night that I just feel too tired and the routine is broken.  But since my skin generally doesn't reflect the lack of care, there's not a huge incentive to do better (I also wear minimal make-up, usually just eyeliner and lipstick, nothing on my cheeks or anything).  And as for the rest of my body, I have plenty of freckles from being out in the sun too much, but generally I end up with a bit of color in the summer and am pretty good about wearing sunscreen. 

But right now, my skin, all of my skin, is hating me for no apparent reason. 

My face seems to be breaking out, or at least my forehead and near my nose. 

And almost 50% of my runs involve some horrible chafing hot spot. 

The face I think could be due to the fact that I have been eating like $hit for almost a week now.  My little Memorial Day short weekend trip was full of some very healthy foods and also some unhealthy ones.  I practically never eat chips but I ate a ton on Memorial Day, and then finished off the bag in the days that followed.  And I've been eating cookies like crazy since about Sunday -- my bestie's mom makes these awesome snickerdoodles and she sent me home with some leftovers, plus there have been cookies at the office. 

In terms of the junk food, I don't feel like I've directly paid any price in terms of my body.  My weight hasn't changed and everything still seems to fit normally.  And I'm still having pretty typical for me meals, at least since Tuesday.  And the chips are finally gone and there are only about 6 cookies left that I'm looking forward to enjoying in the next few days (or this afternoon!).  And then I expect I'll be back to eating like normal. 

But the chafing on the runs is killing me.  It's like become some grand mystery.  There are a few rules that I follow regarding chafing:

1. I always wear body glide on my problem spots on long runs, usually anything over about 15.
2. I do not wear the few items of clothing that seem to cause problems on long runs.
3.  I wear more body glide if I gain weight, even if it's just a few pounds that seem to stick around for a few days.

Right now, my rules have all gone out the window.

Yesterday morning, for example, I had a group run at 5:15 a.m., consisting of 7 miles, including 4 miles of progressive tempo (starting at marathon pace for the first one, then picking it up about 10 seconds each mile).  I wore pink shorts that rarely cause me to chafe on the middle of my back, right near a seam in the waistband.  Never had any other problems with those shorts.  And my weight is pretty stable, completely on the low end of my usual range right now. 

I ran the entire 7 miles without a single issue. 

I went home, had breakfast, watched the news, then set out for my commute to work (under 4 miles), wearing the same thing.

Within half a mile, I could tell that I was chafing on my inner thighs like crazy.

WTF? 

By the time I got to the office and got into the shower, it seriously hurt, and when the water hit my legs, I wanted to howl. 

I do not understand why shorts that never bother me would give me problems two hours after I ran seven pain-free miles in them.  Did a few added degrees make a difference?  Was it because my shorts weren't completely dry for my commute?  Was it because I run my commute at a slower pace than my group run?  Do the running gods hate me? 

Lately, I feel like almost any part of my body remotely near clothing, is subject to chafing.  Everywhere covered by my shorts.  Everywhere covered by my sports bra.  Everywhere touching my heart rate monitor.  Under my arms where they come in contact with the arm holes of my shirt.  Looking at myself right now, I seem to have chafing marks almost everywhere.  It's crazy.  Good thing I don't have anywhere to wear a plunging neckline in the near future. 

I just don't get it.  The simple solution I guess is to wear glide for every single run, but man, that would be a pain.  I just want things back to normal -- glide on Sundays for long runs, and no chafing on short runs with safe clothes.  Please? 

State of the legs

Well, I have officially been doing 5 commutes per week on foot for over 6 months now (well, 5 per week at most; I've missed about 8 or so total).  And marathon training started this past week.

If I hurt anywhere in relation to running, it is generally something in my calf.  I know way too much about the various calf muscles and primary tendons (the gastroc, the soleus, the Achilles, the peroneus lungus).  All of those have been identified at one point or another in one leg or another as the problem and source of my calf pain. 

Well, after the 5k on Saturday, I felt solid.  The race hadn't gone particularly well (about 45 seconds slower than a PR, and about 5 seconds per mile slower than my other two 5ks within the last month), but I attributed that primarily to the weather and to the course (a bridge hill that we ran over and then back over).  I finished the race, grabbed some water, and immediately headed out backwards on the course to find my accounting buddy as she was finishing up her second 5k ever.  I found here, and we walked and ran the last 3/4 of a mile together. 

Then I had a fairly typical rest of the day Saturday.  I spent some time after the race hanging out, having a beer, waiting for the AG awards.  I went home, had an early lunch, showered, went to volunteer for a couple hours (seated work), went to that confirmation/communion thing, went out for dinner. 

What was unusual was what happened Saturday night -- I woke up in the middle of the night from calf pain.  I usually sleep partially on my left side, partially on my stomach, and somehow my right leg was on top of my left leg and pushing against my calf -- and it hurt a lot. 

I'd already decided to take Sunday as a rest day.  My very last Sunday off until Oct. 7, the week after the marathon probably.  Though I suppose there may be a couple random Sundays that we are out of town or something and I have to reschedule or skip my long run.  But basically the last Sunday before my Berlin training season gets underway.

All day Sunday, it hurt.  It seemed to be worst when I dorsi-flexed my foot.  But the absolute most intense pain was when I touched it.  Even lightly rubbing my inner upper calf on my left leg caused A LOT of pain. 

I have no good explanation for why I went to boot camp Monday.  Well, that's not true.  This is the explanation:

 

Yes, that photo seems like a good reason to go to boot camp!  I'd eaten a very healthy dinner Sunday night when I hosted book club, but I followed that with too much of a very unhealthy dessert!

 

So I really felt like a slug and I needed to get up and get moving on Monday morning.  I decided I'd go to boot camp but give the instructor a heads-up about my pain and just avoid doing the running, and avoid any leg work that caused pain. 

 

When I got home from camp, there was still the same issues -- pain when I dorsi-flexed, pain when I touched it.  Fortunately, Mondays are my day to drive to work (so I can bring my laptop and my clothes).  I put a bunch of Bio-Freeze gel on under my work pants and went to work smelling like I was made of menthol. 

 

All day, I made a conscious effort not to cross my legs, and it seemed like even after the Bio-freeze wore off, it was somewhat less painful. 

 

Tuesday morning, there was still some pain, but I set out for my first group training run of the marathon season.  And of course the first day is always rough in a group at our pace.  Lots of the guys turn it into something of a pissing match, outdoing one another on the pace, but honestly, the women are almost as bad.  Everyone runs too fast, thinking they have to prove they belong.  And I was more guilty than some.  Our group got very spread out (usually that's a no-no, but this season for this group, that is the plan), and I stayed toward the middle, when in reality, I belong at the back.  The run was very tough; it didn't help that it was 79 degrees at 5:15 a.m.  I ran much faster than I should have, and while I didn't have any calf pain, when I finished the 6 miles, pretty much everything hurt.

 

I went home, had breakfast, loaded up on the bio-freeze again, and then set off for my slow paced easy run commute.  I had a friend keeping me company for the first mile, which was nice and ensured I wasn't picking up the pace.

 

In the end, I think I had one of my slowest commutes ever.  My friend u-turned and I had no gas in the tank to pick up the pace.  It was a nice, slow run. 

 

The main thing I noticed during the day Tuesday was not calf pain, but all over leg pain.  My hamstrings on both legs were very tight.  I could touch the back of my leg and it felt like a taut rubber band.  Ugh.  At one point, I was in my boss's office on a call, and I was trying to remember a judge's name.  I knew I had it on a printout in my office on top of my desk.  In my office next door.  So I attempted to stand up, run to my office, grab it, and run back.  But what happened was that I heaved myself up, hobbled out, grabbed it, and hobbled back.  Oh, it was painful.

 

Due to some pretty big thunderstorms, the track meet on Tuesday night was cancelled.  Instead, I worked late on Tuesday so that I wouldn't be running home in thunder or lightning, and ideally not even running home in the rain.  Fortunately, I'm so far behind at work, I could have stayed all night!  I had a dry run home, but one of my slowest commutes going home (downhill) ever.  My legs were so tight and sore, and I felt like I never got into my stride.  At one point, I could see that I needed to speed up to catch a traffic light, and it was so awkward and painful. 

 

Wednesday morning, I woke up and I hesitate to say this, but something miraculous happened overnight.  I woke up pain free.  No calf pain on dorsiflexion.  No calf pain to the touch.  Hammies are still tight, but not excessively.  I still skipped out on about half the running at boot camp and elected to jump rope instead during those times, and I ran pretty slowly to work, but I think it's all good.

 

Wednesday night was a smooth and slow run home, half of it with my accounting buddy, and on this morning's group run, I did a better job of hanging toward the back of the pack and taking time to stretch pretty throroughly when I finished.  I'll head to work in about 20 mins and take it nice and easy, part of it with a friend again. 

 

So my current biggest leg complaint is that I have had some chafing for two or three days in a row in the most awkward place ever.  Pretty much right where the liner of my shorts hits my inner thigh.  I've had inner thigh chafing before, but this wasn't that -- this was higher, and actually from the liner.  Ugh.  And I have no idea why.  My weight hasn't changed at all and these are all three pairs of shorts I've had and worn for a long time without issue. 

 

But I feel like aside from the chafing and a bit of tightness, I can honestly say that I'm starting this season pretty strong and injury free.  Usually at some point in marathon training, I realize that when I flex my legs just right, my quads sometimes feel like rocks.  Surprisingly enough, I'm already there.  And I'm already at my Boston marathon weight (which is my current PR), so ideally, I'll be a couple pounds below that for Berlin.  All that remains now is to do the training and to stay where I am physically, pain-free and at PR weight. 

 

That is the official state of my legs. 

Big Ambitions

So the scale has been alarming lately.  I don't feel like I'm really doing anything differently, but not only have I still not lost my Italy pounds, but it seems like another couple pounds are joining them.  Ugh.  I need to start watching things. 

I have big running plans for the weekend, maybe that will help.  Unlikely, I know, but maybe.

Tonight we're going to dinner at a friend's house.  I'll probably eat and drink way too much.  But tomorrow, I'm meeting a couple pals for a lake loop very early in the morning.  That will be about 9 miles.  After that, I'm going to walk or run solo to a nearby park for a race.  My local bestie is going to pick up my husband and meet me there, then the three of us are going to be a team for the relay.  It's a 6 mile race, 3 person teams, 2 miles per leg.  I go first, hubby's taking the middle and my bestie's running anchor.  That should be fun.  I want to run really easy for the lake loop so that I can try to go hard in the race.

But who am I kidding?  It's way too hot for me to realistically expect to do well.  But I can try. 

Then we have a day o' crap on Saturday.  Fun things like mailing wedding shower gifts to my next future sister-in-law, washing sheets and towels, taking my car in for an oil change, a couple cleaning/organizing projects, hopefully a movie (hubby's choice, something about apes), and probably several other errands.  If I'm very, very lucky, I'll get to start a puzzle with my bestie.  Hubby and I have a wedding Saturday night but we rsvp'd no b/c it's just too much, esp with our Sunday morning schedule. 

Sunday morning my running best buddy is going to run from our running store to my house to pick me up, then we'll run to the store together (just under 2 miles, so he'll be at almost 4 miles by the time we get to the store together), then we're running with our White Rock training groups for 10 miles, then he's going to run me part or all of the way home (another 2 miles for me, 3-4 for him). 

So I had about 1 mile this morning at boot camp, then about 11 on Sat, and 14 on Sun.  That doesn't sound too crazy really, kind of like doing a 6 on Sat and 19 on Sun, which doesn't seem too bad, but it's going to be the most I've done 2 days in a row in a long time. 

The key for me is not to eat like I'm running 25 miles in 2 days!  Then maybe I can start to undo some of the damage that's being done...

Sunday