Monday, April 20, 2009

Catching up--again

So last week I started to update this blog, and this was as far as I got:

Last Monday I swam; I did 3x100 ... (plus kicks, pulls, turns, etc)
Wed -- vacation
Thurs kettlebells
Fri ultimate frisbee
Sat 2mi: 1mi walk 16min; 1 mi run 12.5 min; right lower leg all cramped up; icy hot slathered; shower and tylenol ahhh. Sunday heels ok (I was able to wear my high heels w/o any pain, unlike last time.)

OK, so now it's been *another* week. Monday was swimming again; we (my traithlon 'buddy' and I) swam a straight 400m (yd? I don't really know how long the pool is) and then did kicks and pulls. I'd gotten some advice on kicking from the hips instead of the legs and have been working on that. Tuesday I ran 2.8 mi in something like 35.5 min; I hadn't run that far in a while, so I just kept a steady pace. Wednesday I did stationary bike 20 min and some upper body weights. Thursday was rest day; we took a family walk before bedtime. Friday was another group run, but this time it was 1 1/2 mi at own pace, timed. I finished at 16:50, but I'm not sure how long it took me to get from where I started to the 'starting line'; someone estimated abt 20sec, which would put me at the same time or so as my last fit test. When we finished the run, we walked another mile or so back to start, also at our own, nice slow pace. It took at least 20 minutes, probably more like 30.

I didn't have time to ice afterward; my shins felt fine, though my calves were cramping up. Today my shins hurt, but not too much. I wore flat shoes to church today though. :P

I finally got my Polar HRM data uploaded to my training diary; too bad I can no longer remember what I did to go in and edit it. Actually I should be able to use the information here, but it would take a while. I got 12 files uploaded. The last one was from the 13th. Since then I haven't been wearing my HRM b/c I lost it (again). My swim goggles are hiding with it. Monday's swim was goggle-less; that was a fun drive home! dry, scratchy, sleepy eyes, bright sunshine. Oh yeah! Fortunately my husband found more goggles; now I just need to make sure they get into my bag.

My training buddy, a friend from work, has a friend who's supposed to be training with us, but I have yet to meet her. I'm starting to wonder if she actually exists.... :)

Now if I could just find my latest issue of Runner's World. I got as far as the Beginners stuff and was really looking forward to reading it, when I had to put it down, and I haven't seen it since. :(

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Saturday musings and report

I really should be asleep by now, but, well I'm a big procrastinator, and it's been a week since my last post (again). I just hardly get more than 5 minutes at a time on the computer during the week!

Monday I did a Yourself!Fitness workout, low impact; my shins and calves were still quite stiff. Tuesday night I did Yourself!Fitness (Y!F) yoga, which was nice. Wednesday I went swimming. I did a warm-up lap, a lap of kicks, 3 x 100s, more kicks, pulls, sidestroke, backstroke (~50yds each) and practiced turns. It was a good workout, and I didn't overdo it (which is easier to do in a pool since you don't have to hold yourself up).

Friday I played basketball. That went pretty well once my stiff muscles warmed up. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, b/c usually it exhausts me aerobically, but this time that was fine. The hard part about the running was the stiffness...until I hit the floor and lost a nickle-sized chunk of skin from my knee. Then the stinging became the hard part. :P

Today, this evening, I finally got out and ran again for the first time since the group <10min>2/3 mile. Then I did a 15:30 mile. I'm back to that again. :( My right ankle felt like it was catching, and my lower right leg felt like giving out a few times. I should've iced when I got back in, but I wasn't able to; I had to finish getting the kids to bed while DH went to get the Easter Bunny's goodies. :| Yep, we'd forgotten about them when we did our grocery shopping earlier in the week.

I'd really like to like running. It didn't use to hurt like this. I rarely even feel the Icy Hot anymore when I put it on. I don't know if I'm used to it, or if it's just to old. I don't think I like my new Mizunos for running. They're stability shoes but have little arch support. I even put my Asics insoles into them, which is better but still low. I guess I'll stick to the Asics for running and use the Mizunos for other activities (walking, basketball, wallyball, ultimate, whatever). I did try on a pair on Mizunos that I liked a lot back in December, but I couldn't remember which style they were when I finally had the money to buy another pair. (They didn't have my size in stock in Dec.)

I've got to figure out this running thing. There's another (fast) group run in 2 weeks and another fitness test next month. At least the test I can run at my own pace.

I lost 2 pounds! I discovered it Wednesday. But then I went back to work on Thursday (after 2 1/2 days off) and gained it back. Why do I eat more and more heavily when I sit in front of a computer all day than when I'm at home? (Because I don't have to carry things, wash dishes--who wants to eat with wet hands?--fix the kids food, we don't have a "snack bar" at home...)

Saturday, April 4, 2009

OUCH!

Friday I worked out with a group led by a very fit, cheerful, sadistic young man. We did running drills: "tinies" (you know how you see people run through rows of tires, stepping in each one? This was like that only instead of tires, it was a small, flat ladder: right in, left in, right out, left out all the way down, on our toes) to the right and to the left; big leaps, twisting grapevine (they call in something else in athletics, but you get the idea, maybe), and so on. We'd do the exercise down and run backwards back to start. We also did frog jumps and duck walks, suicides, and some kind of loopy run drill. When we finished I got some ice for my shins; that helped, and I stretched my lower legs as much as I could.

All those tiny steps and leaping were really uncomfortable; my calves and shins still hurt from last Friday's run. But today my quads are SO SORE! from those frog jumps and duck walks. LOL I did a little bit of quad stretching after I iced, but I had no idea how much they'd hurt today! I know, duh, when's the last time I did those kinds of exercises. I have zero foresight. My right knee feels about ready to give out with every other step...but I wouldn't be able to fall b/c my quad's so tight! And we have stairs in our house, and baby gates to step over (2 I can open, but 1 I can't), ow!ow!ow! Are you laughing?

I had an inkling of this by bedtime last night and pulled on an extra blanket, but it didn't feel hot at all b/c it was so cold here last night. :(