Monday, December 21, 2009

Dr and ramblings

It took me a long time to fall asleep last night, and then I had to get up early this morning for a follow-up with the orthopedist. That took all of a minute, so I went to the gym, one closer to the clinic.

I used a new LifeFitness elliptical. Pretty cool; it had a virtual trainer even. I selected an interval heart rate workout. There was no warm-up. It immediately ramped up the resistance to get my HR up to target (155). But it took so long to register my HR that I passed my target and couldn't get it back down even when the resistance lightened. I'd gone up to 165. After 3 minutes I was supposed to let it drop to 125, ha! Fat chance of that happening, so I changed to workout to just a cardio one. Not until cool-down was I able to change the resistance. Once I dropped it from 1 to 0 (!) I was finally able to get my HR down below 150.

At one point I noticed that the 4th toe on my left foot had started to get kind of tingly. Then I realized that the neuroma started a lot longer ago than I had thought, b/c I've felt that tingly/numbness starting at least a year ago. I just thought that something about the way I was standing &/or the shoes I was wearing made that part of my foot go to sleep.

And the results of my dr visit? Don't run, again, and I'm to get a bone stimulator. The dr submitted the paperwork today, and someone is supposed to call me and set up a meeting. I'm tired of this pain. I know that stress caused it to flare up again, and I don't mean running stress, rather life stress. I don't want it breaking my bones! I've been thinking about looking for a PC version of Yourself!Fitness to use on my laptop. We rearranged the bedrooms, so now I have one as an office/study/exercise space. Or maybe there's a way to hook up the PS2 to my laptop? And then I'd have to go back to figuring out what my son did with my disk when he took it out to play one of his games. He never puts the disks away!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Cardio on Precor on 12/19/2009

Went to the gym today and was able to get on a Precor elliptical. I was going to do a heart-rate workout, but the sensors weren't working, so I switched to manual. Afterward I stretched and did 2 x 15 AF "crunches"
My shin is feeling a little better; calf is tight.

I had been wondering if I should call and make an earlier dr appointment then realized yesterday that my next dr appt is Monday. He's not gonna like that I ran on Thursday.

Gym--walk/run on 12/17/2009

Ellipticals were almost all full (the ones left bother my foot), so I walked a mile (~17min including warm-up). Then I started jogging 1/2 lap, walking 1/2 (9 laps/mi) for 5 minutes, but I was feeling that spot in my left shin--achy, tight. So I spread out the jogging and slowed it down. It's just so hard not to run at the gym! peer pressure 8-

I know, I wasn't supposed to run. It was less stressful to try running than to just keep walking.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

An old familiar pain

Yesterday morning when I got out of bed I felt that same old pain at the inside of my shin, a couple of inches above my ankle. I didn't feel it during my run the day before or later that afternoon/evening. Not till yesterday morning, faced with my last final exam (of the quarter) and lots of stress. I took some ibuprofen and hoped it would go away after the test. It did subside a lot, but it still aches to day.   :~( I'll walk, rest, and do other cross-training over the next several days and see how that goes.

Speaking of cross-training. I finally have a kettlebel. :~)  It's the Christmas gift I picked out with the money my in-laws sent. Actually my husband picked it out after I told him I wanted a 20lb kettlebell, and he did the rest. It has a skinnier handle than I'm "used to" (see the pink one; it's been months since I last lifted a kettlebell) and smaller (but ~a couple of pounds heavier) and flat on 2 sides. But since the handle is as high as it is, the bell will sit well below my wrist when I clean, so the flat side won't bother me much, and shouldn't bother me at all once I wrap my wrists with an Ace bandage.

Well, I was trying to upload some pics, but the upload keeps failing. In the image above (from Walmart), it doesn't look flat around the 20 like mine is.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Another run/walk workout on 12/14/2009

Another good run/walk workout, but boy were my shin muscles burning! I don't know what the difference was except not waiting another week to work out? It wasn't the shin splint spot but the muscles all along the tops of the shins--a "feel the burn" kind of feeling.

It was a gorgeous day; the sun was out, temps above 50, breezy. I wore capri tights, a short-sleeved tech shirt and a really light-weight hoody that I took off and tied around my waist once I started running. A decent stretch out and snack after. (Chocolate milk, cereal and milk.) Good.

Now BACK TO STUDYING FOR MY LAST FINAL EXAM!!!!!

MapMyRun.com - Recovery: another run/walk workout on 12/14/2009

Stress-reducing run on 12/10/2009

Such a stressful week! Such a stressful day! I'd finished up my programming final the day before and was studying for my math final. I was about to go to the gym when I was reminded that I had church that night. I had to go b/c I was taking some of the food. So I went for the dinner and song practice, but the "baby" wouldn't go in the nursery, and during practice, started getting troublesome and rude (yelling for me to hush--why doesn't he like to hear me sing?). So I packed him up and we went home.

The temps had been in the teens all day with wind chills to the single digits. When I got home, the wind was negligible (relatively at least), so I decided to go for a run. My forehead below the ski mask got cold going into the breeze, and my legs from my hips to mid-knees were cold but everything else stayed (got) warm. I'm not really sure how many laps I did. I forgot to count. Either 4 for an 11.5min mile (iffy) or 3 for a 15.5 min mile (wow! big difference! but that sounds more reasonable since I was walking 2 minutes out of 3.) Yeah, I'd say 3 laps (after the 2-lap warmup not counted here).

I felt much better and energized...and forgot what day it was and thought I had another day before my final. Had a bit of a freak out when I remembered what day it really was and how late I'd stayed up.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

PSF Run #3

After being inspired by Shut Up and Run's comments about what she wears running in Colorado in the winter, I actually didn't overdress for Saturday's run. The only part of me that stayed cold past my warm-up was my face. My "run" was actually 2/3 walking and my legs got a little chilly during the walking parts, particularly when going into the breeze. It was maybe 30deg outside (14deg below average!). If it hadn't been sunny at all, I wouldn't have gone out to run and would've done something indoors instead. I'm glad it was sunny! This was only my 3rd run in the last 2 weeks! I've had tests and homework and now finals. 8-| Anyone good at Fortan? (No, I'm not kidding; Fortran)

Well, my husband says I'm keeping him awake, and it's rare to have him sleeping so "early" so that's it for now!


run 1 min, walk 2 min. A little twinge in the shin last part of lap 5 so ended with that lap. Cold day, good run.

MapMyRun.com - Easy Run / Jog: PSF Run #3 on 12/05/2009