Can't tell if this calf pain is a real injury or not. I woke up today and it felt fine as I walked around getting ready for work. And it was fine all day. But now that I'm home from work, seems like there's some pain there again as I'm walking around. Ugh.
I'm icing and I've worn compression sleeves today. And I rested this morning and I'll elevate tonight.
Fortunately tomorrow is the hill loop. Last week we were on a 10 mile loop and at about the absolute furthest point from our cars, I passed a guy and asked him if he was okay. He said he was hurting and that he was going to take a shortcut back. Little did he know, there was no shortcut from there. It was basically a choice of finishing the route or trying to find a ride -- from a cab (non-existent in this area at that time), from a stranger (also tough), or waiting for someone else to finish running and then come back to get you. So he just finished it out.
But tomorrow we'll run a circuitous few miles to warm up, then we have a 1-mile loop we do five times, then a cool down. If I need to call it quits at any point on the loop, I'm really close to my car.
So I'm going to cross my fingers!
Work is blah this week -- because I'm not working. Instead, I'm in off-site training and it's so horribly inefficient. Like a serious waste of time. It's frustrating. I'd be better off if I could just read the materials on my own. Argh. But I should be back in the office Thurs afternoon or Friday. And my mom's coming into town Thurs night.
We're going out for an awesome dinner that night. Then Fri I think we'll bring her to camp. Then she and the AC are going to the mall for the day on Friday so she can shop for a dress for my baby brother's wedding and then they're going to see a movie. They might come meet me for lunch. Not sure where we'll go Fri night. Sat I think we're running. Definitely going out for brunch to one of our fave places. Maybe more shopping during the day. Still have to figure out the rest of that day... Sunday she leaves unfortunately. But it will be a fun little visit and I'll see her again (with the rest of my family) in July for my baby bro's wedding.
Tonight's agenda: The Bachelor and researching vacation hotels!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Injured?
This has been a wonderful, completely awesome weekend except I'm a little worried I'm hurt.
I posted last week about having one of the best days ever. It's like it's just kept going (with one exception, detailed below). Work is awesome. I mentioned winning the running class prize at dinner on Wed. About two days after that, I came home to a really large check waiting for me -- the results of a re-balance of my escrow account on our house (we don't escrow ourselves, it's in with the mortgage), so technically I'm just getting my own money back, but score! Since we owed an insane amount (let's just say just shy of 5 figures) on our taxes, it's basically going to that, but still a nice little treat.
Yesterday was the big St. Pat's run. I pushed my sweet godson in a stroller. Here he is after the race.
Unfortunately, I may have scarred him for life. This was the scene in front of us for way too many minutes. And don't forget at what level my godson is seeing this race.
As you can see, this was an uphill stretch so I had to stay behind him until the top when I finally hit the gas just so this sweet kid didn't have to look at that guy's butt anymore.
The race was tough. It was hard to run with a stroller. I started a little further back than I should have. I wanted to run and push, but I started behind a lot of people who were walking. So there was tons of time spent trying to weave around others, both walkers and slower runners.
We ended up with an okay finish time, considering the people dodging, the stroller, and the easy pace I tried to maintain.
The rest of the day was fab. Went with the kids and their mom to meet a whole bunch of friends to watch the parade. Got too much sun unfortunately. Then went to a friend's house party for the rest of the afternoon. Sat around snacking and eating and chatting. Not drinking. I drank a bit at the tailgate party, a couple beers and a single jello shot. But I was nervous about today.
Came home and cooked our usual Sat night meal for a long run.
This morning was 22 miles -- set up with 12 easy, 8 marathon pace, 2 easy. I felt really good for the 12, and then the first 6 at race pace, but then I started fading a bit. Unfortunately, my garmin died after mile 19! It gave me a low battery message, then crapped out to blank screen (despite having 100% charge at the start of the run). And then it randomly came back on with 1.3 miles to go! VERY FRUSTRATING.
I think for the race I might wear my old trusty sports watch in addition to my garmin. My old watch has never failed me, the garmin seems too picky.
Anyway, after the 6 solid race pace miles, I felt like I started slowing down a bit. My heart rate was good, but I was struggling. It was in the low 60s and 80-90% humidity, so that was tough. But I still held a pretty strong pace through mile 20, when we went back to easy pace.
The guy who'd been right in front of me was stopped at the 20 mile water stop when I got there, and he was going to wait for a woman who was right behind me, but I wanted the run over, so I headed out solo.
And somewhere around maybe mile 21, I started getting some sharp pains in my upper left calf. If I'd had anything more than about 2 miles to go, I think I would have stopped. But I figured I'd tough it out.
Unfortunately, it actually hurts right now. I did my ice bath when I got home and went out for Mexican food with hubby and ran a few errands. Now I've iced again and I am about to put on my compression leg sleeves. And I've had a ben gay patch on since after my shower. Fortunately the tortilla smell was stronger than the ben gay smell!
I'm afraid. Actually very afraid. It's my first real possible injury this season. And it hurts when I walk, which is a very bad sign. And it's definitely just the one leg. When both legs I hurt, I figure it's just soreness. This is possibly injury.
I'm taking tomorrow off. This is our last really big week, so I'm hoping it was just the stress of the long run, and I'll be fine on Tues morning.
Fingers crossed! About to start doing some major cooking for dinner tonight and lunches this week!
I posted last week about having one of the best days ever. It's like it's just kept going (with one exception, detailed below). Work is awesome. I mentioned winning the running class prize at dinner on Wed. About two days after that, I came home to a really large check waiting for me -- the results of a re-balance of my escrow account on our house (we don't escrow ourselves, it's in with the mortgage), so technically I'm just getting my own money back, but score! Since we owed an insane amount (let's just say just shy of 5 figures) on our taxes, it's basically going to that, but still a nice little treat.
Yesterday was the big St. Pat's run. I pushed my sweet godson in a stroller. Here he is after the race.
Unfortunately, I may have scarred him for life. This was the scene in front of us for way too many minutes. And don't forget at what level my godson is seeing this race.
As you can see, this was an uphill stretch so I had to stay behind him until the top when I finally hit the gas just so this sweet kid didn't have to look at that guy's butt anymore.
The race was tough. It was hard to run with a stroller. I started a little further back than I should have. I wanted to run and push, but I started behind a lot of people who were walking. So there was tons of time spent trying to weave around others, both walkers and slower runners.
We ended up with an okay finish time, considering the people dodging, the stroller, and the easy pace I tried to maintain.
The rest of the day was fab. Went with the kids and their mom to meet a whole bunch of friends to watch the parade. Got too much sun unfortunately. Then went to a friend's house party for the rest of the afternoon. Sat around snacking and eating and chatting. Not drinking. I drank a bit at the tailgate party, a couple beers and a single jello shot. But I was nervous about today.
Came home and cooked our usual Sat night meal for a long run.
This morning was 22 miles -- set up with 12 easy, 8 marathon pace, 2 easy. I felt really good for the 12, and then the first 6 at race pace, but then I started fading a bit. Unfortunately, my garmin died after mile 19! It gave me a low battery message, then crapped out to blank screen (despite having 100% charge at the start of the run). And then it randomly came back on with 1.3 miles to go! VERY FRUSTRATING.
I think for the race I might wear my old trusty sports watch in addition to my garmin. My old watch has never failed me, the garmin seems too picky.
Anyway, after the 6 solid race pace miles, I felt like I started slowing down a bit. My heart rate was good, but I was struggling. It was in the low 60s and 80-90% humidity, so that was tough. But I still held a pretty strong pace through mile 20, when we went back to easy pace.
The guy who'd been right in front of me was stopped at the 20 mile water stop when I got there, and he was going to wait for a woman who was right behind me, but I wanted the run over, so I headed out solo.
And somewhere around maybe mile 21, I started getting some sharp pains in my upper left calf. If I'd had anything more than about 2 miles to go, I think I would have stopped. But I figured I'd tough it out.
Unfortunately, it actually hurts right now. I did my ice bath when I got home and went out for Mexican food with hubby and ran a few errands. Now I've iced again and I am about to put on my compression leg sleeves. And I've had a ben gay patch on since after my shower. Fortunately the tortilla smell was stronger than the ben gay smell!
I'm afraid. Actually very afraid. It's my first real possible injury this season. And it hurts when I walk, which is a very bad sign. And it's definitely just the one leg. When both legs I hurt, I figure it's just soreness. This is possibly injury.
I'm taking tomorrow off. This is our last really big week, so I'm hoping it was just the stress of the long run, and I'll be fine on Tues morning.
Fingers crossed! About to start doing some major cooking for dinner tonight and lunches this week!
Friday, March 11, 2011
St. Pat's Prep
My fave race of the year is tomorrow. A 5k called the St. Paddy's Day Dash Down Greenville. Tons of people run, about 6k this year. Lots of people wearing green. Afterward a great party with beer (and I have connections to get lots of beer tickets). And then you layer on more clothese and move across the street to watch the St. Pat's parade.
In the past, specifically in 2009, I would count this as one of the best days of my life. I'd raced and PRed in the morning with a crazy good time. I was invited to join the running team I'm on. I had family and friends in town. It was the day of my bridal shower and then my bachelorette party. It was awesome.
But even last year was great -- I raced and bonked. But I met random people in a parking lot and played hackey sack with them for hours because I realized I was probably too intoxicated to drive home. I'm meeting up with some of them this year too!
So tomorrow I'm going early and running about 5 miles solo. Then I'm going to meet a good friend and help her set up strollers. Her hubby is out of town, so we'll each push one of her kids in a stroller. So that should be fun. My first race with my godson! And of course if I'm pushing 50 pounds, no worry about trying to go for a PR.
My original goal 1/1/11 was to PR at this race, but my coach vetoed that. We have 22 miles with some marathon pace on Sunday, and I won't be able to do that if I race a 5k on the day before. So this will be a fun way to do the race without screwing up my Boston training.
Tomorrow after the race, we'll hang out and watch the parade with a bunch of friends, then I think she'll go home and I'm going to make my way down to the home of another running friend for her parade watching party, though the parade will be over by then, but they're going to grill out and stuff.
Should be yet another awesome day!
In the past, specifically in 2009, I would count this as one of the best days of my life. I'd raced and PRed in the morning with a crazy good time. I was invited to join the running team I'm on. I had family and friends in town. It was the day of my bridal shower and then my bachelorette party. It was awesome.
But even last year was great -- I raced and bonked. But I met random people in a parking lot and played hackey sack with them for hours because I realized I was probably too intoxicated to drive home. I'm meeting up with some of them this year too!
So tomorrow I'm going early and running about 5 miles solo. Then I'm going to meet a good friend and help her set up strollers. Her hubby is out of town, so we'll each push one of her kids in a stroller. So that should be fun. My first race with my godson! And of course if I'm pushing 50 pounds, no worry about trying to go for a PR.
My original goal 1/1/11 was to PR at this race, but my coach vetoed that. We have 22 miles with some marathon pace on Sunday, and I won't be able to do that if I race a 5k on the day before. So this will be a fun way to do the race without screwing up my Boston training.
Tomorrow after the race, we'll hang out and watch the parade with a bunch of friends, then I think she'll go home and I'm going to make my way down to the home of another running friend for her parade watching party, though the parade will be over by then, but they're going to grill out and stuff.
Should be yet another awesome day!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Best Day in Ages
Yesterday, after I recovered from whatever blood sugar or exhaustion issue I had on my short run, turned into one of the best days I've had in ages.
My list of activities isn't particularly entertaining. As usual for a Wednesday this time of year, I got up and went to boot camp for an hour with hubby. After that, I ran home with Joy (she kept me company for the first half of the run). Then I went to work. Instead of going out to lunch or eating at my desk and working through, I went to a doctor's appointment for moral support. Worked the rest of the day. Went straight from work to the social run. Then stayed after the social run for dinner with friends.
Notably, this is the first year I haven't gone to church on Ash Wednesday in at least a decade, probably longer. It's something I need to figure out. My church has had some issues over the last year with some social policy stuff, and they're losing me. The Dallas diocese is parting from the national church, whether formally or informally, and unfortunately for me, I live in Dallas. Another subject for another day.
But yesterday was one of the best days ever for several things that happened during the course of an uneventful sounding day.
First, I was happy to go to work knowing I'd knocked out nearly 6 miles already that morning and I only had 8 on the schedule for the day. Wednesdays are always tough for me. On Tues or Thurs, it's no prob to run 10 or so miles, but Wed I cross-train in the a.m., so adding miles on top of that is hard logistically and physically.
Then, perhaps one of the biggest reasons for yesterday being awesome, at the doctor's appointment, it was very good news. I don't want to go into detail, but it's been an ongoing issue. I posted about it in the fall. Someone very important to me in my family had surgery right before I started this blog. Good. But then in the fall, it was bad news. ICD needed, more surgery, maybe unemployment and all kinds of other not good consequences. Patient decided to hold off on any decisions for 6 months and then to get another reading and then possibly a second opinion. The big appointment was yesterday and the news was good. Major recovery and progress. No new device needed, no imminent surgery (or unemployment). MAJOR source of relief.
At work, there were two good things. First, I got a message from the office manager at my old job. Good news. The motion for summary judgment I'd worked really hard to develop had been granted. They were all celebrating the win, and part of me kind of wished I was still there to celebrate with them but I am really so much happier at the new job, though this was a momentary pang. And then, good news at my new job -- I found a material mistake in a document that was fairly widely used (not our doc, but our client's), and brought that to the attention of our VP, who brought it to the attention of the client, who was very grateful, and I was credited for my "eagle eyes."
Then, I went to the social run. Hubby met me there with the final touch for my special pre-St. Pat's outfit and he had some very good news. All our vacation details are finalized. We'd held off on making some flight reservations within Italy because we had some unresolved details. Everything is all booked, even the rental car. Awesome! That will have to be a detailed post soon. In short, the trip is Pittsburgh, Boston, Lamezia Terme, Lecce, Brindisi, Paris, Pittsburgh, home. Woot! And as a bonus, lots of direct flights!!!
I ran with this guy whose company I always enjoy. Easy conversation, awesome pace. Perhaps a little faster than I should have gone, but it felt good, and since I'd done so many miles that morning, I didn't have too many p.m. miles on the schedule, so it was okay to be a little fast becuse I didn't go long enough for my heart rate to get too high.
We were among the first people to finish the run. My coach was waiting and the end and he got everyone to scold me for coming in too fast, but it was all good-natured fun when I was able to prove that my heart rate was okay.
Then they had some give-aways for social run attendees. I won the best possible prize for me! A gift certificate to my favorite running store for a running class! So I guess I'm definitely going to do another marathon after Boston, likely this fall, and my training will be free!
What a wonderful, wonderful day. My soul was singing, my heart was light, and my smile felt permanent -- wrinkles be damned! Seriously, the medical news was a big relief, the vacation is exciting on the horizon, work feels perfect, etc. Woo HOO!!!
My list of activities isn't particularly entertaining. As usual for a Wednesday this time of year, I got up and went to boot camp for an hour with hubby. After that, I ran home with Joy (she kept me company for the first half of the run). Then I went to work. Instead of going out to lunch or eating at my desk and working through, I went to a doctor's appointment for moral support. Worked the rest of the day. Went straight from work to the social run. Then stayed after the social run for dinner with friends.
Notably, this is the first year I haven't gone to church on Ash Wednesday in at least a decade, probably longer. It's something I need to figure out. My church has had some issues over the last year with some social policy stuff, and they're losing me. The Dallas diocese is parting from the national church, whether formally or informally, and unfortunately for me, I live in Dallas. Another subject for another day.
But yesterday was one of the best days ever for several things that happened during the course of an uneventful sounding day.
First, I was happy to go to work knowing I'd knocked out nearly 6 miles already that morning and I only had 8 on the schedule for the day. Wednesdays are always tough for me. On Tues or Thurs, it's no prob to run 10 or so miles, but Wed I cross-train in the a.m., so adding miles on top of that is hard logistically and physically.
Then, perhaps one of the biggest reasons for yesterday being awesome, at the doctor's appointment, it was very good news. I don't want to go into detail, but it's been an ongoing issue. I posted about it in the fall. Someone very important to me in my family had surgery right before I started this blog. Good. But then in the fall, it was bad news. ICD needed, more surgery, maybe unemployment and all kinds of other not good consequences. Patient decided to hold off on any decisions for 6 months and then to get another reading and then possibly a second opinion. The big appointment was yesterday and the news was good. Major recovery and progress. No new device needed, no imminent surgery (or unemployment). MAJOR source of relief.
At work, there were two good things. First, I got a message from the office manager at my old job. Good news. The motion for summary judgment I'd worked really hard to develop had been granted. They were all celebrating the win, and part of me kind of wished I was still there to celebrate with them but I am really so much happier at the new job, though this was a momentary pang. And then, good news at my new job -- I found a material mistake in a document that was fairly widely used (not our doc, but our client's), and brought that to the attention of our VP, who brought it to the attention of the client, who was very grateful, and I was credited for my "eagle eyes."
Then, I went to the social run. Hubby met me there with the final touch for my special pre-St. Pat's outfit and he had some very good news. All our vacation details are finalized. We'd held off on making some flight reservations within Italy because we had some unresolved details. Everything is all booked, even the rental car. Awesome! That will have to be a detailed post soon. In short, the trip is Pittsburgh, Boston, Lamezia Terme, Lecce, Brindisi, Paris, Pittsburgh, home. Woot! And as a bonus, lots of direct flights!!!
I ran with this guy whose company I always enjoy. Easy conversation, awesome pace. Perhaps a little faster than I should have gone, but it felt good, and since I'd done so many miles that morning, I didn't have too many p.m. miles on the schedule, so it was okay to be a little fast becuse I didn't go long enough for my heart rate to get too high.
We were among the first people to finish the run. My coach was waiting and the end and he got everyone to scold me for coming in too fast, but it was all good-natured fun when I was able to prove that my heart rate was okay.
Then they had some give-aways for social run attendees. I won the best possible prize for me! A gift certificate to my favorite running store for a running class! So I guess I'm definitely going to do another marathon after Boston, likely this fall, and my training will be free!
What a wonderful, wonderful day. My soul was singing, my heart was light, and my smile felt permanent -- wrinkles be damned! Seriously, the medical news was a big relief, the vacation is exciting on the horizon, work feels perfect, etc. Woo HOO!!!
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