Thursday, January 31, 2013

Training Plan Week 9 - 1/21 - 1/28

Planned:

Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - 3 miles
Saturday - 10 K Race
Sunday - Cross-train

Actual:
None of that.  My back has been an issue since I woke up Sunday (1/20) in pain.  I did a lot of heat and rest throughout the week and then took my friend's advice to see a chiropractor on Friday.  He said it was a problem with my iliosacral joint caused by muscle imbalance and flexibility imbalance. He also said no heat!  He said that there is inflammation and that the heat feels nice but does more hurt than good.  So ... ice. 

Sunday I went for a 30 minute walk with the family.  Not fast and it felt uncomfortable by the end. 

Lots of ice.  Some rest. 

I'm worried about my half-marathon and about letting down all the people who donated to my run for Livestrong and particularly those for whom I'm running a mile.  What if I can't run in their honor? Or only make it 5 miles?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Training Plan Week 8 - 01/14 - 01/20

Planned:
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles race pace
Thursday - 3 miles
Saturday - 10 mile LSR
Sunday - Cross-train

Actual:
Tuesday - 3 miles in 38 (12:36) plus walking warm up/down.  I ran up and down the hills by campus.  School must be starting because it was more crowded than usual. I won't run through campus until after the semester again.  It was about 35 degrees out but still a lovely run.
Wednesday - I went for a hike with my friend and her dog to enjoy the social for the day. It was a lovely hike and she goes quite quickly (3.15 miles in 1 hour).
Saturday - 11.88 miles cycling in 59 minutes.  We were ready pretty early for the kids' birthday party so I went out for a bike ride.  It was a lovely day and I went easy to run LSR on Sunday (let's revisit that). 

That's it.  I woke up Sunday with something wrong with my back. I've never had any significant back issue before in my life.  But I could barely walk.  I spent Sunday and then the Monday holiday on a heat pack on the couch.  I didn't go to the funeral I planned to attend Sunday or for a run or walk. I didn't clean the kitchen or do laundry.  I sat and sat and took pain killers. 

Today it is slightly better but it hurts and is hard to walk.  Running is literally incomprehensible to me.  The half-marathon is less than 4 weeks away.  So far in my training plan, I've done my 5 mile LSR, skipped the 6 mile, had to stop the 7 mile at 5.5, run the 8 mile, skipped the 9 mile due to my stomach issues, and missed the 10 mile due to my back.  I'm concerned about the race.  Assuming my back feels better I can walk it in the worst case scenario but this is by far the least prepared I've ever been for an event. 

On the bright side, our best friends donated $100 to my Livestrong effort yesterday putting me over my $1500 goal.  I raised my goal to $1750 and hope to get a few more donations but right now I'm well over my previous high.  I guess even if I have to walk the HM, I still have made a difference to those who need services from Livestrong.org.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Doctor Who - Tardis Afghan

I have been working for months on a Tardis afghan for ChocolateSon's birthday.  I wanted it to be a secret.  For the first part I felt fine working on it in front of him because for a long time it was basically just a big blue rectangle.  A few times he or ChocolateDaughter asked what was I working on and I said a blanket for one of our friends or their Grandfather or a scarf but mostly they didn't care.  I got as far as the 3rd blocks of door cutouts twice only to decide that the dimensions were off and tear it all out and start again (twice). 

Once I got to the windows, I no longer felt I could work on it in front of the kids so every night I waited for ChocolateSon to fall asleep.  The schedule was tight and I was struggling to try to finish it.  ChocolateWife did the lettering on both the Police Public Call Box and the sign on the door and still the time was tough.  And then Tuesday evening I realized that the top stitching that I had done up until that point (about 2/3 of the top stitching) was on the back (because of the sign on the door).  I had to rip that all out and redo it.  Luckily Wednesday evening ChocolateWife helped me "sew in woogies" or the loose ends and I got it done in time. 

Chocolate Son was trilled to say the least and kept snuggling it yesterday when he was in the living room. 

The best shot of the afghan

Ash holding the blanket
As he opened it

 

Monday, January 14, 2013

Training Plan Week 7 - 01/07 - 01/13

Planned:
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - 3 miles
Saturday - 9 mile LSR
Sunday - Cross-train

Again blogger won't let me upload my image file. This ones shows more bars than last week. 

Actual:
Tuesday - 4.1 miles in 46 minutes (11:13) plus walking warm up/down.  This one was in rain ranging from sprinkling to pouring down rain throughout.  Temp was about 49 so not freezing but bracing.  I ran at the track to avoid having to deal with very much traffic.  Pace seems faster than usual but I checked and double-checked my lap count/math and it seems pretty good. 
Wednesday - Raining again and I skipped the run to go to lunch.  It just seemed... unwise.  While I hate missing a workout it didn't feel right to me and felt really wrong to my ChocolateWife (which I didn't actually know until later but makes me feel even better about skipping).
Thursday - 3.76 in 46 minutes (12:14) plus walking warm up/down.  I ran the hills around and through campus.  It was a really nice run in perfect running weather - 55-60 and sunny.  Strangest sight was a dead adult possum I saw near the end of the run.  I guess it wasn't perfect running weather for him.
Saturday - 20.3 mile bike ride in 1:45 (11.6 mph).  It was supposed to be LSR Saturday, bike Sunday but I wanted to bike in 68 degrees and run in 40 so I switched the schedule.  The only downside was that I was riding in the pretty wet and a little light rain.  Felt really good throughout though.  I don't go fast but I feel like a 20 mile ride is very doable for me now. 
Sunday - 12.5 mile bike ride in 1:02 (12.1 mph).  It was cooler (45 or so) but dry.  I should have done a LSR but my stomach has been very problematic and I'm very nervous about runs when my stomach feels like that.  Bike ride didn't give me my LSR time on my feet but did a little cardio and activity and calorie burning. 

Right now this is probably the least prepared I've been for a race.  I've missed 2 LSRs completely and cut one short.  Right now I'm just trying to keep myself active and make it fit into my life. 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

2013 Goals

Well it's 2013 and what are all the cool kids doing?  Setting their goals.  Setting their fitness goals. 

I only set two goals last year and I didn't reach either of them.  So ... what's the purpose of a goal? Should it be specific and measurable such as "I will lose x pounds by March 1 blah blah blah..."  Or should they be more vague and less measurable?  I think that's up to the individual.  I haven't felt driven to setting goals but now I've been thinking of it a lot.  Maybe I'll set motivations for the year such as:

Motivations:
  • Run >750 miles and Bike > 750 miles OR Run/Bike > 1500 miles
  • Do >75 core workouts
  • Run a half-marathon in <2:35:59
  • Be more fit
  • Love more
  • Laugh more
  • Make love more
  • Volunteer at some races
  • Give more
  • Forgive more easily, more quickly, more thoroughly
  • Pay better attention
  • Be more present

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Training Plan Week 6 - 12/31 - 01/06

Planned:
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 4 miles at pace
Thursday - 3 miles
Saturday - 5K race
Sunday - Cross-train

Hmmm.  Blogger is not letting me upload my handy-dandy image today.  If I could it would show 3 bars and that is it.  A very scant workout week due to life in general.

Actual:
Tuesday - 14.84 bike ride in 1:20.  Very fast or felt so on the ride out. Then I turned into the wind and was just about blown backwards. I rode my bike rather than running because New Year's day gave me the chance to do so.
Thursday - 3.82 in 46 minutes (12:02) plus walking warm up down.  I ran over to the park so had some trails and hills.  It felt like a very good but cool run. I did 2:30/:45 and feel like I could keep running more/walking less.
Friday - 3.15 in 40 (12:41).  Wet and yucky out.  No timer so I ran when I wanted and then walked short bits.  Took it every easy. 

That was it for my week.  My niece was a Bat Mitzvah this weekend which took precedence over everything as it should be.  I'm glad that the 5K race fell on this weekend rather than missing an LSR. 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2012 Running/Riding Totals

Last year I posted that I wanted to run 1100 miles and break 2:30 in the half marathon in 2012.  I achieved neither of those goals but I had a good year. 


 
I ran 709 miles in 2012 which was markedly down from 2011. But that was because I began to focus on a more varied exercise schedule which included more strength and cross training.  You can see from the graph that in the early part of the year when I was just running, I was logging more miles than in the later part as I became more flexible in my workouts. 
 

 
The graph at the top shows my running miles and the one at the bottom show all miles.  In the later part of the year as I started to do more biking, my miles increased although my running miles decreased. 
 
Although I did not reach my goals in 2012 it was a good year.  I ran a 2:41 half marathon which was a 9 minute improvement from my first effort.  I stayed relatively healthy and had no injuries.