Kicking myself in the ASS now!

I can't believe I did this. I put off running over and over again. Not today I'm tired. Not today it's raining. Not today I should take a rest day off (because of all the sports). Not today, not today, not today.

Well here we are now at the "real start" of training season for the Run for the Toad 25km Trail Race and take ONE GUESS WHO'S NOT READY!!??? Good lord . . . Why do I do this to myself?

I don't want to get hurt. I don't want to get a stupid injury because I didn't bother to run on a regular basis over the spring. So this is my tiny venting and then I'll let it go. There's nothing I can do about now.  I can only try my best and see what happens.

On a positive note, I have been walking almost twice a day for 6 months. At least I haven't been a couch potatoe. I figure the walking has to count for something. Lately though it has been very short walks.  :-(

My main concern right now is how long and how often to start back in. I ran once a week for 2 weeks - 5-6 km ish. Then this weekend I ran 6.5 kms Saturday and 5.5 kms Sunday. Felt good. Feet were a little sore - going to have to remember to roll them  . . .

My schedule tells me that starting next week I should run 24 km total for the week. Yikes! Uhmm . . . 12 kms last week + 10% rule =  13.2 kms this week. HAHAHAHA!

Guess I'll spend a little time revamping this schedule. And by a little, I mean half an hour tonight!  I think I might just revamp it to only go to 20 kms (not 22 kms as suggested) as my longest run in training and just wing the last 5 kms on race day. That way the lead up can be a little less all the way through.

I'll run tomorrow a.m. 3-4 kms and Friday a.m. same. Longish run sometime Sunday . . .  hoping for the best . . .  wish me luck . . . and call me Dumbass!

I'm Baaaack!

So after 1-1/2 yrs approx. I am back on this blog. For the lone one or two people that might have been reading - HI! Hope all is well!   For all my friends - you never even knew I HAD this blog lol. Welcome!

To pick up from late August of 2009 . . . I continued to run after seeing an ART therapist. Fixed myself up for the most part and ran my first marathon in October 2010. Loved it. Had a recurring pain after that point that I could not seem to shake. Took a big break - 3 months to be exact. Went back to my guy . . . he told me to stop being a dumbass - I did NOT have an injury, I just had weak glute muscles - "get in the gym!" he said. Damn!! Couldn't I please, pretty please, have an injury??

That was January 2011 . . . it is now April. Ask me how many times I went to the gym? How many squats I have done? How many lunges? Hmmm . . . I'm hearing silence. That's right!  a big fat 0 - zero, nada, not a one! So do I still have the pain you ask? I can hear your surprise right now when I say: "Why YES! I do have that pain. Isn't that great!??"  I just spent 3 MORE months procrastinating . . . Well, that is over.

It all starts with today. Today I start eating properly (more to come on that - that's a biggy for most people to wrap their heads around). Today I do a body scan that will tell me more than I ever wanted to know about my body composition and more (like my mirror isn't good enough??) So over the next couple of days I will come up with a plan for my muscles. Hmpf . . .

The best part is that I won't be doing it alone. I have a whole posse following along with me . . . right ladies?!? I know you want to . . . come on . . . deep down . . .

Why . . .

me?

So here's where I start to whine. I've been sick for the past week, my IT band isn't improving, in fact it's now starting to hurt on the right side as well as the left. Sympathy pain?? I haven't been sick for months . . . I can never tell whether to run while I'm sick. It really is only a cold, but I get periods of extreme tiredness. We were supposed to do 8 km yesterday - that got cancelled and we'll do it tonight. Except I'm pretty darn sure that by tonight I'll be exhausted. I have an appointment after work for laser therapy on my IT band - I don't think that's working and I'm tired of going to the appointments. But she said it needs a minimum of 9 sessions . . . I guess it's not really getting worse . . . but I haven't run very far yet.

I'm pissy because my IT bands are giving me such problems. I suppose I should stop running all together to rest them but I don't want to. I'm already pissed because I can't do my HM. I have my favourite 5km race coming up in June that I can't decide whether to do or not. My whole running life is in a bit of an uproar. I need to decide if and how hard I want to train for triathlons this season . . . I have all kinds of things I want to do at home but I'm a huge procrastinator . . . I'm not altogether happy with life at home right now, feel like I'm doing something wrong at every turn . . .  See told you this is where I start to whine! Well at least this way I get it out.

oh poor me, cause this doesn't happen to anyone else . . . ya right! Suck it up buttercup!

So try back later and see what I end up doing. . . 

monday . . . need i say more . . .

Oh Monday . . . Not the best start to a week I've had.

Very busy exhausting weekend. I was supposed to run Saturday a.m. - my 7 km run to see how my IT band was doing. . . but the WIND! OMG - 50-60 km winds - not a hope in hell I was running in that.

So instead I ran on Sunday night after a 4-hour night sleep. Wow, did not mean to do that, but . . . oh well. Had a busy day, out all day got home at 6:30 p.m. Decided if I didn't run that night I wasn't because of the REALLY CRAPPY weather we were about to get hit with. So I went. Ended up doing a decent 7.8 kms. Felt good, IT band felt ok running and after.

But today, my legs are sore. Not muscle sore when I move or walk but sore when I run my hand over them massage like . . . its not good. It's actually pissing me off. Thinking about getting "The Stick" - heard that was a good investment?? Anyone??

I'm sooo tired today. So I'm outta here.

Let's hope Tuesday is better.

Yuck!

What an ugly day! Rain, rain and more rain. Thankfully I don't have a run scheduled for today.

Yesterday was my 5km run around my neighbourhood that we affectionately call "the crescents". I was doing it alone (happily) and earlier in the day (I left work early) so it was warm and sunny and not too busy on the roads. I was excited because I would be using my brand new Garmin and heart rate monitor. I didn't want to affect the results at all so I made sure I didn't look at the thing the whole way. Checked my pace a few times - excellent - in fact faster than I expected. But felt really good. Knee was happy, breathing was happy, I was happy.

Just over 1/2 way I decided to look at the distance and time - I was curious . . . everything read  ZERO!! I had forgotten to push start. $%#*&^&%$$#^**$@@#@@ OMG, I can't believe it. So excited to use it and I go and have a brain cramp! So I pushed start and went about my run. A little dejected but still on. Got to the end of my run and in the house. Said to my husband "You didn't happen to notice what time it was when I left, did you?". He looked at me, looked at my Garmin, looked at me, looked at the Garmin . . . said "Ahh, noo??". I proudly stated "Forgot to push start." That got a good laugh and shake of the head.

So, I g-mapped it, 4.78km. So I figure I did it in 28 mins. Knee felt great. Even after. Took a Traumeel, showered, rolled around on the foam roller for a while. Got some food and put an ice pack on my knee and relaxed! It was only 6 p.m.!! Wow, I'm usually only getting home! This working for a living sucks!

Knee still feels good today. That's a good sign but still only minimal mileage . . . tomorrow I'm going to try for 7km. That's usually where the twinge starts. Going for laser therapy on the IT band again today. Hard to know if it's doing anything but worth the try!

Happy Friday!

Newbie . . .

What in the world am I thinking doing this? I wondered for awhile about blogging. I always figured I didn't have anything to say and I wasn't witty enough . . . maybe that was because I grew up with my brother constantly telling me "that wasn't funny". Or my husband rolling his eyes at my jokes. Or him looking at me with a face that says "OMG does she ever shut up!??". Or his comment of me "living in my own little bubble". Or any number of comments from him . . .

But as I read other blogs, I think - I can be funny and it doesn't always have to be funny anyway. That just helps. Plus I find that when I can't talk to people I end up writing them emails that end up sounding just like blogs. I need an outlet.

So . . . a little background for now . . . I am just 39 yrs old (omg when did that happen!) female, married, 2 teenage children, 2 teenage step-children, wannabe athlete (specifically running and the occasional triathlon and just entering the world of weight training) , full time job - sucks takes away from sooo much.

As I run, I talk. I talk non-stop usually. Actually I talk all the time anyway. It's not that I am uncomfortable with silence, it is just that I have so much to tell people. One day one of my running buddies said to the other running buddy . . . If Michele would just shut up, she would probably run faster. Wow I thought, what a concept! I never thought about my talking slowing me down. So I try. Some runs I keep quiet, some start out talking and then I let it go for a bit . . . I know I won't actually stop talking but I do try to not do it as much anymore. Plus I thought "maybe someone else would like to talk once in awhile"  . . . hmmm.

I just finished a half marathon in March. My last long run before the race included a re-occurence of an IT band issue - Ahhhh Nooooo!  So off to the sports injury doc for a lovely bout of ART therapy. Owww. Fixed me up for a bit, race was OK, but still had pain for the last half of the run. Continued to train - did the weights and hills for strength and shortened my long runs to 12-16 km  . . . but still got the pain at 8-9km mark. Just figured oh that's normal timing - nothing awful.

Well  . . . Last Saturday I went out to do 10km. Felt the normal little twinging at 8 km . . . stopped at 9 km for a small walk (10 & 1's) and as soon as I stopped the pain in my knee was more intense than I ever felt. So I tried to pick the run back up again - no way was my knee having that either! I proceeded to limp peg-legged pirate style back home.

So . . . now I'm thinking the May half marathon I'm supposed to do is out of the question. I am cutting back my runs to 4km (last night - went ok), 5km tomorrow and 7km on Saturday - see how it goes. But my long runs were supposed to go like this - this week 16km, next 2 weeks 18km, taper down to 12km then the following week is race day. There is no way that is happening. I'm not 100% ready to give up this race - waaahhh. I guess I'm going to have to. Drop down to the 10km race. I have to get myself healthy. That must be my main concern right now. If not, I'll never run right again. Dammit!

Weight training hurts. By the way, I'm a bit of a whiner . . . I think in the nicest way but still a whiner. It's my outlet. It's just what I do. I hate training anything hard - I'd rather not hurt - LOL.  So tonight will be the weight training night. I'll have to work hard - I have to get past this mental block of hurting - because it really isn't physical. Yes, it hurts but that's not what stops me . . . it's my brain. Weakling in brain strength! Do they have an exercise for that too??

As I look back at this blog, I see that yes I talk a lot. I'm not even done yet. But I'd hate to lose my first readers, just because I can't shut up.

Sooo  . . . . have a wonderful rest of your day and maybe you'll come back to hear the rest of my rambles.

Later!