PreRace Report

It is the day before a race. In less than 24 hours, I will be forcing myself to run faster than feels normal. I’ve been so focused on distance, my speed is turtle speed. With the treadmill, I hope to improve my speed. I’ve been doing sub-12 min distances. This will be interesting. I have to laugh too because running three miles used to be an out of this world concept. Now, it's my warm up. It will be great and give me a good chance to push it. I'll be reporting in on the Frosty 5k at the Winter Jamboree probably on Monday.

Before I taught yoga, I dropped off our house guest. Jack fit well into our household. He slept in my arms lest he paced the house for the whole night. He gathered his treats and moved them to eat by my dog. He followed me around like a shadow. I think, he looked a little sad when I dropped him off at his own home.

Yoga had an unexpected visitor. The studio has two different locations and sometimes students end up at the wrong one. And sometimes, class are running concurrently. Wednesday night, we ended up with a lost student. The regular and I encouraged her to stay and try out aerial yoga. She did great. I hope it was a fun experience for her. It is fun for instructors and regulars to have new people. It reminds us to slow down and to really align ourselves in the asana. The class was very casual and we worked our shoulders and necks the second half of class. It felt very nice after as I cleaned up.

Thursday I slept in. I wanted to do a two a day but I needed to sleep. I’ve been tired later. Maybe it’s the weather, or maybe it’s related to the sniffles I’ve had for three weeks now. I went to the gym after work. It was not nearly as busy as the morning was on Wednesday. I’ve now got a treadmill I hope for. I was on one that was a little softer for distance running. Two down from me was a similar model but it had a tv screen and I could plug in my phone to watch Netflix. I will be aiming for that one next time.

It was a great run. It felt good. It was hard and I pushed myself. I again improved my speed and managed my third fastest time. A couple of people ran next to me and fell away. Thank you, Netflix, as I watched the second episode of Jessica Jones and the start of the third. I did catch myself looking at the time and distance but I would then adjust my speed and distract myself with a little Marvel action.

Karn got to finally come out and play. He will be getting a bath and crickets this weekend. But he came and snuggled after I got back from the gym. The dog is getting disinterested in him so far but we will keep a watchful eye. When I put him back in, he was rather photogenic and silly.

So I'm a Treadmill Runner Now

I’m joining a gym. It’s just too icey to run safely in the morning. I think I’d be down with the cold but I don’t want to take the chance with the ice. This means my mileage will suffer a bit since I have to drive to the gym and check in and etc, but it will be safer than ice covered streets. I am still waiting for a  good trip on the treadmill. I’m pretty sure it will happen. Anyways….

Cooking more is one of my resolutions. I got two cookbooks for Christmas. One is the Harry Potter Cookbook and the other is Runner’s World Cookbook. Both have some wonderful looking recipes. I already did a roast beef and cucumber/dill yogurt sauce. That was wonderful and so quick and easy to make. There was the curry egg salad too. I added dill to it. I think it would be good but I added way too much salt. Today for lunch I have a version of their tuna salad. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Last night, I delved into the Harry Potter Cookbook. There was a recipe for a honey dill poached salmon. The fiancé was unsure about the poach part of it. I was unsure of the whole thing. It looked rather complicated. He chopped the onions for me. I measured out the other ingredients. The salmon was as fresh as it can get from the grocery store butcher. I futzed with the pan afraid something would burn and make stuff taste weird. After putting nearly all the ingredients, I tasted the sauce. I was not thrilled. I added the wine and was less thrilled. I added some lemon juice (not in the recipe) that seemed to help. I laid the salmon in the pan, covering it, and said a little prayer that I wasn’t ruining the salmon with this sauce. In the meantime, I warmed up some frozen veggies and crusty bread.

I plated the food and set a plate in front of my fiancé. I held my breath. He took a bite and said, “Oh my God, this is delicious!” Success. I took a bite nervously. The sauce had transformed into something delicious. The bread was warm from sitting on top of the pan. It wasn’t nearly as scary of a recipe as I thought it was. Really, without the veggies, it was a one pan deal with easy clean up and readily available ingredients. I did have to add a little water to the pan as the sauce thickened too much. The lemon juice also lightened up the sauce just a bit. It’s something that I would totally make again. I think the fiancé would be happy to see this for dinner again as well.

This morning I walked the dogs. We have a Jack Russell visiting us while his home gets a new kitchen. He is not thrilled by the ice. Or the cold. Or anything regarding outside right now. My dog is bouncing thru snow piles like she were a malamute or something. While outside, I evaluated conditions. The sidewalks were still icy, some of the roads looked iffy with piles of salt and ice patches near the curb where I run. Treadmill it is.

I packed up my backpack which is my gym bag for the time being. I have a Nike bag some place. I’ll have to hunt that down. It took me a while to get out of the house. I think I need to pack up clothes the night before. I also need to get sandals because I slipped twice in the shower after running.

The run itself was good and tough. I varied my pace using songs as my timer. I ran between 4.5 and 7.5 mph. I had a wayward strap and untidy shoe laces when I first started. Pushing myself like that felt good and panic inducing at the same time. I’m improving myself but at the same time, I had fear that I wasn’t going to be able to keep the pace for a full song; that I’d fall or slide off the end. I didn’t manage 3 miles under 35 min. I hope I can do that on Saturday at the Frosty 5k. I’m trying to imagine the race doesn’t exist right now as I’m terrified I’ll be so slow. Truth is that I did good. I worked hard and got my third fastest pace for the distance category. There is room for improvement but there always will be. In the meantime, I just need to be grateful that I am growing as a runner.

As I see the snow come down putting a fresh, white blanket over the ice, I see another treadmill day in my future.

To Gym or Not To Gym

Happy Monday! We made it thru the weekend.

Friday I went to Level 1 Aerial yoga. Went with my stepdaughter-to-be (SDTB). She really enjoys it too. One of the actresses from Pretty Little Liars does aerial stuffs. We enjoyed the scene from Pitch Perfect 2. And of course, there is the fun and freedom of doing yoga in the hammock.

It was a nice class with familiar faces. I was feeling a little stiff going into class. Stiff and tired. I also got to finally pick up my Christmas presents from the studio. Which reminded me to actually purchase their presents sitting in my etsy cart.

I don’t know that we focused on anything in particular in class. It just felt like a good overall workout. I felt loose by the end of class. My flexibility is suffering due to the running. I need to recover it. I would like to eventually get my splits. I never had them even as a child. Backbends, however, I don’t really have any urge to improve. Anyways, the class reminded my why it’s good to go to other classes than my own. It gives me a chance to relax and enjoy class more. Not to say that teaching low aerial is high stress but you have to be aware of all the students in class and help them with their needs. We talked about running for a minute too, which I never mind talking about.

Not from Friday's class

Saturday, we drove the SDTB to the Madison area in the morning, when I normally do my long run. It felt good to sleep in. It was nice to get up and see the sun already up. At the same time, it did feel strange watching what I ate on Saturday. I think the dog was happy to take a rest even though she is a bundle of energy at this point.

My fiancé has been wanting to start going to the gym. I’ve resisted. I’ve got plenty of body weight and yoga exercises I can do at home and have all the equipment already. Plus, I’ve got running stuff for cold weather. What do I need a gym for? Hold that thought.

The gym he chose is a good gym. Close to the house and lots of equipment including a pool and lots of classes. The staff is all sorts of friendly. They even have a treadmill that is easier on the joints and TRX straps that I can work on aerial conditioning. There is even a nice hot tub, sauna/steam room, and roomy and clean locker rooms.

But still why do should I spend money on a gym when the world itself is my oyster? The answer is this morning. It was -7 degrees and even the roads were shiny with a layer of ice. Because of this, I’m pretty sure I’ll be joining this gym.

While I was there on Saturday, I managed to get in 4.75 miles. Since I wasn’t going to be able to get in my normal 3 hours, I worked on speed. I played around with the pace and incline. I ran my butt off. I tripped a couple of times when I was starting out. It feels weird to run but go nowhere. With such a steady pace, I realized too how much my pace varies. Even though I average 5.2 mph, I definitely go slow in some spots and get a little more speed in others. It was tough to hold a pace. The fiancé checked in on me a couple of times, which made it hard to find my rhythm but I’m glad he did. He knows I can get anxious in new places.

So I’m joining a gym. I’ve got plenty of work I can do in the morning on my rest days. But on days like this morning, I can run safely inside. I wasn’t so worried about the cold, but the sheen on ice on the roads. Sidewalks were nearly a solid sheet of ice. We are also dog sitting a little Jack Russell and I don’t think he is up for runs in the morning. Right now, I’ve got a week pass. I will see about running in the morning and running/walking in the afternoon when I go with the fiancé. When I was using the treadmill, I had to admit that it could be a great tool, especially for me and my need for speed and ice free conditions. Now I’ve got some research to do on how to keep my skin and hair healthy with gym work outs. I might have needed to do it before but now I feel like it’s really important.

Saturday and Sunday, we watched football and I held Karn. The dog is getting disinterested in it as it seems to do very little and doesn’t move very fast. Karn hangs out under my sweatshirt or scarf or even hair where it’s warm and goes to sleep. He also got a new background of Monument Valley which looks rather spiffy.

Here is a shot of Monument Valley that I took this Spring

 

 The dog was also super snuggly. She was cuddled into whoever was on the couch. For a collie mix, she sure can be a couch potato.

That’s it. That’s my report in. Nothing too ground breaking or earth shattering. No epiphanies or wise words. Just staying active and happy. 

A Happy Run

This week you get to read a lot of my thoughts, apparently

Aerial yoga last night was very restorative. On the drive in, my back started seizing so I decided to wring us out in class. My one regular was missed but we survived. An original student came and visited us. We all agreed a nice, extra restorative class would be perfect. We spent time on twists, extensions and inversions. We added a few intensive moves just to keep the blood flowing. I think we all felt very relaxed after class and a little less achy. It seems like the cold weather can lead to stiff joints and muscles. A good restorative class can help regain some of that mobility. I want to also mention that yoga isn’t just about backbends and splits. Those are nice things but I certainly don’t have my splits and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do the wheel or wild thing asanas. It’s about meeting yourself on the mat and looking inward and focusing on your practice of pose, breath and meditation. In many ways, it’s like running where you focus on posture/form, breath, and mental games. Maybe that’s why I love both these things so much.

So, I ran again this morning. I had gotten around to accepting road conditions and figured it was time to get back on track. I was slow to get out of bed and get dressed. I maybe should get back to sleeping in my running clothes. Makes getting up and running much easier when I don’t need to change clothes at 4am.

I had been hoping for some snow. It was in the forecast, but there were only a few stray snowflakes. It was a nice forecast overall with mid 30’s and light wind. In retrospect, I would have left my jacket at home. I was plenty warm with my fleece shirt and leggings. I donned all my reflective gear and my led hat. This hat has been very useful in seeing all the ice in the morning.

When I first started I had a few “I don’t wanna” thoughts, but then I told myself we are going to have some fun. And I did. I sprinted, I walked, I pushed my pace, I ran at my normal speed, all in the hopes to enjoy myself and to increase my pace overall. I have a 5k next week and I’m a distance sorta girl. I don’t feel warmed up till mile 3. I’m hoping this will help me get ready for the short race.

Mental games tried to sneak in but I manipulated myself into a full 6.4 miles. It would have been 6.5ish but I took a wrong turn and missed my normal road. I told myself first that I’d just do 4 miles, and then 5, and then 6, and why I don’t I just do the full run. By the time I turned around, I was enjoying myself. I can’t speak for the dog though. She seemed tired, running next to me rather than in front. She barely needed any shushing as we waited for another dog to go by on the other side of the street. Fiancé mentioned that she is getting older. Being six, I wonder how much longer she’ll be keeping up with me.

I’m glad to be back enjoying runs. I had to learn to adapt and not have expectations. I beat my mind at its own game. I stretched my limits. I’m still nervous about next Saturday. But that’s ok. Adrenaline is good for speed. J 

Falling in Love All Over Again

I fell in love with running all over again this morning. The past few runs I’ve not enjoyed much. They have been hard and slow and while it gave me a sense of accomplishment and reaffirmed my determination; I wasn’t enjoying myself much.

Even this morning, I was tired. I’m still flaring but feeling a little better. Getting up this morning was tough. There was lots of inner whining. Getting ready, I felt like all thumbs. Today, I thought I would try pairing my heart monitor to my Garmin again. It was an immediate success. More thumbs as I gathered up my reflective gear.

The dog was rather uncooperative this morning, running slowly directly in front of me. She also has not gotten the hang of the ice. We have more ice in the forecast tomorrow. I don’t like the idea of running on a treadmill but these super icy conditions might require it. Outside just feels so peaceful, especially in the mornings when so few people are up. It’s so still. It’s just me, the dog, and the road in front of us.

I ran with the intention of pushing myself with a little speed work. Run quickly between ice patches. I think it might be best described as a fartlek day. What is a fartlek? It’s a Swedish word meaning speed play. It’s an unstructured workout like running and then increasing your speed up a hill, or to the next telephone pole. There are fartlek workouts that are much more “organized” but it seems to me that it defeats the purpose.

And that’s where I fell in love. It was fun. I got to run hard and take it easy. I got to work around the ice rather than it be a detriment to my intent. I didn’t have the fastest work out. But I feel like this will help my overall pace. I have a hard time with short distances. I don’t feel like I warm up until after the 5k. My time didn’t really reflect how hard I worked, and neither did my Garmin or Runkeeper. But it allowed me to work with my conditions rather than be frustrated with them. It’s freedom.

Short post but I was just so happy to love running again, I wanted to share.

Wandering Around in my Mind

So I didn’t run this morning. I didn’t suck it up, buttercup. I accepted my situation for what it was/is.

Yesterday, I was experiencing sharp pain in the palm of my left foot. Out of nowhere, I felt like someone was stabbing my foot. Someone once told me if it’s a dull throb or ache, you can keep going but if it’s a sharp pain, stop. Sharp pain can be the sign of something wrong, more so than an ache, or that feeling you can get with tendinitis.

When I woke up I didn’t feel the pain but I was wary. Also, I don’t think I really woke up, even now I feel foggy. Exhausted in an way that did not reflect energy output over the past couple of days. My skin burned like I had sat in a tanning bed too long. My collarbones were sore to the touch. Among other things, these were red flags. Yesterday, I had had issues remembering words. I was flaring again.

Normally, I don’t let my autoimmune affect me and interfere with plans. I did that when I was first figuring how to live with it but now I would like to think it has minimal effect on my life.  Unfortunately, there are days I just need to slow down. Even normal stuff, like the time of the month, can put me down for the count if I’m not wary. Take normal stuff and then magnify it. Everyone hurts, everyone is uncomfortable sometimes. People with forms of myalgia are no different. It just seems like our bodies response to it is…exaggerated. And it can get in your head. You can feel betrayed by your body. You can feel defeated by your constantly shifting limitations. One day you can do thirteen miles, and a few days later, walking to the car is a serious effort. People who don’t have these issues try to understand but support from other people who have similar issues helps a lot. Or friends that understand. I have both and it helps tremendously.

Another thing that helps is acceptance. There are a lot of things I have no control over. People get to do what they want, weather gets to do what it wants, the creek gets to do what it wants. I can express influence, but I don’t have control. I don’t get to make people do what I want, even bosses I think can agree with that. I can curse the rain but it will still fall. I can ask the creek to go away but it will still flow. I can do what I can to avoid flares, but they will still happen on occasion. I have control over how I respond to them. I sometimes get cranky and whiny. What I should do is get rest, eat well, and focus on what isn’t wrong or outside things, like the new bearded dragon, or my new wool socks. I can enjoy time with my fiancé and have a delicious dinner.

Which brings me to my next thought for this post. Food. I love food. My love of delicious food helped bring me to high weight. I ate food with the disregard of a growing teenager. I have a weak spot for cheesecake and brownies. As a developing runner and as a person trying to lose weight, nutrition should really have already been part of my healthy journey. I have two new cookbooks: one from Runner’s World and one from Harry Potter. Sunday I looked thru them looking for foods that I could make with fresh food, especially fresh food that the dragon will eat. I ended up grabbing more from the running cookbook this week, but I see many a trifle and stew that looks good out of the Potter book.

While a calorie is a calorie, nutrition is about getting the most out of those units of energy. Losing weight and being a runner is a delicate balance. I hope my new books will help me balance better. Yesterday, I made a cucumber, dill and yogurt sauce to pair with roast beef and feta. All was enveloped in a pita. It was delicious. The fiancé agreed. I really loved that it was so easy to make. It was supposed to be made with hummus but no hummus was found at my grocery store. I also made a dill and curry egg salad that I forgot to bring to work today. But a taste test says that will be delicious too. I also used another recipe, subbing the mango chutney for raspberry preserves and creamy cottage cheese for breakfast. I have peaches for grilling on my new grill pan to pair with yogurt and honey tonight. Pears for baking another night. I’m looking forward to this new adventure. I get delicious food and fuel my body with wholesome foods. Don’t get me wrong, I will still eat cheesecake and I will eat brownies. I’m learning yet another talent. Cooking. I’ve got stuff ready to revisit baking too.

I’ve had to practice accept today. I forgot my Vivosmart. I am not tracking my steps and thus not getting an accurate track of my calories. I know one day will not make a huge difference but I feel strange, like naked. Instead, I could consider today a day of freedom. I can only do so much and I cannot change the past and go back and grab the tracker before I left for work. I cannot control if the dog eats it while I am at work. That chance is past. All I can do is if it’s not eaten, try not to ever do it again. The fiancé and I had gone to see Bridge of Spies and when asked by Tom Hanks character if he were worried, a prisoner responds, “Would it help?”

Not quite the same thing but you get the idea

It looks like the theme for the month, if not the year, is “let it go.” I promise not to sing the song. Unless there is a snow storm. Then, maybe J

In the meantime, here are a couple fish photos to help remind myself to go with the flow. And Karn because he's cute. 

Suck It Up and Let It Go

Happy New Year! You made it another year. Congratulations.

Wednesday yoga was interesting. One of my regulars reminded me that she’ll be MIA for the next five weeks as she is doing another class with a friend. We had a visitor from the Thursday class again. My other regular was there as well. The class opened with letting go of all the stress, anxiety, disappointments, and other things hanging over our head or sitting on our shoulders from the past year. We opened ourselves to the possibilities of this coming year and let go of our expectations.

With all this in mind, we twisted, wringing ourselves out, and pressed into heart openers, feeling the release that only heart openers can provide. Of course, I had to add hip openers and quad stretches. It felt nice to loosen up from tip toe to crown. I left feeling much more relaxed.

My runkeeper shirt (in a mirror)

My running was interrupted by New Years. I was feeling so tired and we had plans to do some dancing this year with some friends so no run on Thursday. Instead, I danced for roughly three hours. I figure that has to count for something. Friday I had the potential to run 3 miles but I slept hard till the rest of our plans caught up with me.

Saturday had me a flare from the excitement of the holidays. I was very disappointed. I, generally, try to ignore the myalgia but sometimes it’s rather insistent. That’s when my fiancé surprised me with an early birthday present. We spent the better part of the day getting my new bearded dragon settled in. I have named him Karn and he is a little squirrelly but mostly likes to hang out and watch things.

Sunday I had me a run. Sunday I finally had enough of no running and started out at 6am with my favorites streaming on IHeart. I got to use my hat with LEDs and all my reflective gear. It was cold, low 20’s, but not too cold. Two layers on top, one layer on bottom, gloves, and headband properly prepared me for the weather. I wore my trail shoes to help navigate the snowy terrain.

Which gets me on a sore spot on the run. Well, to be honest, I wanted to turn around and go home for the first six miles. I had a banana on my way out but only one Gu pack. And that might have been fine but I had to fight with winter. Or rather people who don’t deal with winter. There was ice all over but that is to be expected. But the bike path I run was not cleared, nor sidewalks that the city was in charge of like by parks or freeways. Businesses didn’t clear their snow. Residents left it all sitting on their sidewalks. Sometimes, there isn’t a safe place to run on the road. I could deal with the ice but the plow packed snow just killed me. I just wanted to go home and give up.

But I kept saying, just make it to the next light, or that mailbox. I accepted that this run was going to be more about the miles than pace. I was getting so frustrated and, then, I heard a guided meditation come on my IHeart station. Her voice reminded me to breathe and relax my shoulders and hips. She reminded me to let go. And I did. And it helped. I still got frustrated during the run with all the roadblocks but each unshoveled sidewalk gave me a chance to let go and just enjoy the experience. (Maybe with a little swearing.)

One of the other things that was annoying me was my underpants. Make sure you wear proper underpants or you can have the experience that I did where they roll down. Didn’t matter how many times I chased them down and pulled them back up, they would just roll back down again. I don’t know if they were too big or too small but I will not be wearing those again.

The dog also upset my serenity, the serenity I was hoping to find on that run. She decided that she just didn’t need to bark at the dogs but lunge and growl. We ran into a number of dogs. The most frustrating part of it all is that she is actually friendly and would like to play. Most people don’t see her and think friendly. That’s one thing we’ll be working on when we thaw out.

So what did I learn on this run? Suck it up, buttercup. Sort of. I needed to accept my limitations on Saturday but I knew that my desire to stop on Sunday was mental. Much of running is mental. In the beginning, I had a heck of time running for ten minutes at any speed. And now, aside from snowy barriers, I can run 3 hours without stopping. My brain still tries to tell me I can’t do it, but I know better. The last half of the run was pleasant because I had finally managed to shush my mind and enjoy my music. I’m so glad I kept going.