Ow, dang neuroma!

I went running at the gym yesterday, but since I wanted to maintain a steady pace I used the treadmill. I can't remember the last time I ran on a treadmill. The run went well. 8min walking warm-up, ran a while, walked a bit, ran some more, cooled down...I ran at between a n 11:30 and 12:45 min/mi pace. It felt slow, but I (think) I ran longer, not that that's saying much these days. This morning the ball of my left foot hurt. At first I didn't realize what the deal was. It's never hurt this way before, hurt to step on. After my shower I noticed that the ball of my foot was swollen. I took some ibuprofen, but I couldn't tell that it helped. This evening I tried an Aleve. When I touch the ball of my foot, it hurts at the top just before the toes start. I guess my foot didn't like the treadmill. Those narrow blue Asics don't help either. I think I'm going to have to replace them sooner rather than later.

I've been doing about half of the active warm-up most every day, doing the leg swings and scissors. Day before yesterday I pulled up all of them & did them w/Princess.  When we got to donkey kicks, she said "I know what those are!" and jumped right in. We also did some exercises she does in P.E. It was fun. Later I did a KB ladder. I couldn't find the printout, so I made it up. Accidentally did a set of snatches one minute! Just snatched that bell right up there.

Last night DH and I tried melatonin for the first time. & for the first time in weeks I woke up without feeling weak and shaky. I actually felt rested, sleepy still, but otherwise rested. I was expecting to be in bed by now, but Monkey Boy and Princess took late naps on the couch. Princess just went up to bed finally, but Monkey Boy shows no signs of returning to sleep. :( It's so late now that I don't know if I should take melatonin again tonight. (I took it at 11:45pm last night & got to sleep sometime after 12:30am (Monkey Boy again).) I got up before 8 this morning w/o much difficulty. Sleepy now though.

I've been up for almost 2 hours

School holiday today, so I got to sleep in. I wanted to be up by 8, but even by 9 I was still extremely sleepy, couldn't keep my eyes open. Part of the problem was that I was up till midnight last night. I was going to make a training plan last night. I was going to go to bed by 10:30. Instead I continued fighting the "watch more Doctor Who" urge and Googled this guy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855039/) my latest actor crush. (so I was "looking at" as opposed to "watching" :P )

I have been so tired this past week. I was chalking it up to not sleeping last Sunday night due to working on my thesis. Every morning last week, except Friday, I went back to bed for an hour or two after getting the kids off to school. Friday I fell asleep in class; I sit close to the front. Yep, got caught. Even 5 Hour Energy hasn't helped; I've fallen asleep after taking that too. I've been trying Sudaphed (the good Sudaphed, pseudoephedrine) and Tylenol for congestion and sinus pressure. It helps some.

I did work out Saturday (yay), I didn't feel like braving the 25deg weather and so did a cardio workout in the comfort of my own living room. Thanks Jade and Brooklyn on ExerciseTV. I threw in some situps and side crunches b/c I hadn't felt like I'd had much of an ab workout either of the last two times. The rib cage muscles were sore yesterday.

So my plan for today...is KB swing ladder #1 from kettlebellfitness.dk, and active warmup from RW's Fully Fit series, and...running outside ... cringe. According to Accuweather it's 22 and feels like 13. But it's SUNNY, or at least partly, and I could so use some sunshine. (Watch it be cloudy by the time I get out there.) Maybe I'll take the dog. I ran in 19deg once last winter. OK. Here I go.

I worked out yesterday!

I'm finally getting back into a workout schedule. Yesterday I pulled out my latest Runner's World and did the Fully Fit sets in there. It took between 15 and 20 minutes. My legs are really sore today! (I didn't do the "Carioka" exercise as I only had ~3yds rather than 20 to move in.) Today I also found a 9 week kettlebell workout plan. It's prep for a 5min clean and jerk session, which I think I already can do, but hey, it's structure which I don't have on my own.

I don't anticiapte a workout today. I've been so tired in the mornings that I've gone back to bed after getting the kids to school. I didn't this morning & fell asleep in class.The prof had to ask the girl next to me to wake me up. o_o  I created a running program at Polar, which was supposed to start today. I think I'll give the Fully Fit and KB workouts a week or so and then re-set up the running. Next fit test by March 12 as far as I know. Aside from the fit test I'm looking for an event to do so as to have a target to work toward, some extra motivation. I looked into a local indoor tri, but it's turned into an indoor duathlon: run-bike-run or bike-run-bike, for time: 25min bike, 30min run. I'm much less interested in it now.

We're moving in the spring, so I was trying to find an event there to do this summer. Didn't find much, especially since I limit them to Saturdays.  Well, time to read for class and work on my thesis.

Crazy morning

It got really dramatic here this morning getting the kids off to school. Princess took her sweet time getting dressed. Of course, since the clothes she brought down weren't enough to keep her warm even in the house, I had to find her some other clothes (LS shirt, pants, socks...). Spiderboy took his time getting up; he was supposed to have left by 7:20 to eat breakfast and do Safety Patrol. Instead he got up ~7:20. Then he suddenly remembered his reading log for the week was due today. He typed one up, but I questioned its veracity & marked off what he'd put for yesterday. So then he got upset (because the log would be incomplete & he'd miss recess) and reprinted it. I went ahead and initialled it. THEN he realized he was supposed to do Study Links HW but forgot to bring home his book. We were able to find a school site online that had the assignment, but he was all worked up & had trouble doing it. ("Long" division. They're only just now learning it? How have they been doing the other big division problems they've had?) Finally at 8 I got them into the car and drove them 4 blocks to school. I was just telling Princess yesterday that I felt like such a wimp for driving her to school when other kids are still walking despite the cold. I got back home and cried in the car and got some of the stress out. It would have been significantly less stressful if the clean clothes that have been washed over the last few days were put away, if the kids would put they're shoes reletively neatly when they take them off, if they wouldn't leave 3 big Nerf guns on the floor at the bottom of the stairs by the front door. Reading a few blog posts has helped me relax.

Now I get to put away laundry. I have to. The kids aren't the only ones with clean clothes filling up a laundry basket (at least they're mostly still in baskets). And DH doesn't fold laundry either, so it's not a simple matter of putting clothes in the right rooms. It's not like I have data to analyze and a thesis to write. I wish DH would sort out his delayed sleep phase disorder, or at least put it to good use. Yeah he's pretty noisy at dishes, but what about the living room? kitchen floor? downstairs bathroom? budget? It doesn't help that, now that the kids are back in school, I'm only getting about 6 hours of sleep a night. I stay up late working on my thesis or unwinding from the day but have to get up and get the kids up. Yesterday I had some 5 hour energy and still fell back asleep.

Running? What's that?

Actually went running today!

I ran ~ 1/3mi in the middle of a bunch of fast walking. It felt good to get outside again. I've been doing minimal workouts lately, like 10-15min KBell stuff: cleans, swings.

I saw a video recently on SUAR's blog (in her comments) that talked about running efficiency, longer strides actually rather than shorter ones BUT with low bounce and still keeping the landing foot under you, basically midfoot striking, though it didn't specifically say that. It talked a lot about angles: stride angle as you step out, knee angle as you land, etc. So I was trying to step out farther but still not land on my heels. It reminds me of jazz running.

Merry Christmas

Well, first to catch up. I went running twice last week in Albuquerque. It was really nice the first evening; the weather Sunday through Wednesday was highs in the 50s. Thursday though a cold front came through. It rained ALL day; that's not common in Abq. Friday there was snow. I went running the second time on Friday evening. It was rather chilly. Actually, I didn't know when I started out if I'd actually run. I was walking fast (to get warm!) for about 1/2 an hour. My right knee had suddenly started hurting the day before, under/below the kneecap. After the 1/2 hour warm-up I jogged for about 20 more minutes. I felt really good and wanted to go longer, but my ears were hurting from the cold.

This week I didn't do much. Monday I did KB cleans for 10 minutes: 80 each side for a total of 160, then some lunges, crunches, etc.

My right ankle, or foot below the ankle, on the outside has been hurting more and more. I noticed it first in the shower when I scrubbed it. It hurt more the day after I got back from my trip. I thought it was just from my boot pressing on that spot, but now it hurts to have any pressure on it at all. Tonight I was feeling it, & I seem to have found a spot that is more tender than the rest. I should probably go to the dr about it. My right knee is feeling better, but my left one still bothers me--feels "full" inside the back of the knee.

The kids all enjoyed their Christmas presents: Nerf guns, Lincoln Logs, a keyboard...
I thought about going for a run today, but I got a late start baking cookies. I had a huge can of pumpkin pulp which amounted to a triple batch of pumpkin cookies. Then we went to some friends' and watched Despicable Me. The guy was mean, but I expected him to be meaner. Now I just need to see MegaMind.

Well, hope you had a good Christmas.

Went running Monday, walking today

Monday I ran at the gym. I walked almost 1/2mi, ran a mile, then walked the rest of that 1st mile. The running mile was in 13:12min. Pleased with that. :~)  The overall pace was less than 15min/mi. By the end of the mile run, my head was feeling tight & I could feel a slight headache coming on. So I didn't do any push-ups or sit-ups. My quads were sore the next two days!

Today I had to go over to another building a couple of times for work. It takes all of 1 minute to drive there, so unless the weather's really bad, I walk. There was a pretty chilly breeze on my face, but the rest of me was warm. There's a big hill to walk up to get to the other building, so I got a bit of a workout in. Traveling next week, plan to run daily.

My shin has not been hurting but my right knee was hurting toward the end of the run. My left knee has been hurting the last couple of weeks when I sit on my left foot or rotate my leg outward with my knee bent (like sitting on the floor cross-legged). It hurts in the back.