Little by Little

I'm slowly getting better, feeling less cranky about not being able to run.

I was feeling pretty darn frustrated on Friday about my constant state of injury. My left calf, which had NOT been hurting me AT ALL, was extremely tender after my massage and felt quite a bit worse on Friday and Saturday, to the point of forcing me to limp. On Friday morning, it felt a sore so I thought that I'd take it easy on my cross-training hike and went very slowly when we were going uphill. It didn't really hurt while we were walking and we really enjoyed the long walk. The dogs loved being off leash for an hour and a half as well.

Later that afternoon, the calf really hurt, mostly when I got up from sitting. I couldn't stretch it at all so I had a hot bath and took it easy.

Saturday it felt pretty much the same and my butt muscles were quite tender as well. I did my swim in the morning without any problem - 45 min, 1500m - and then we went for a long fairly chilly bike ride. I was supposed to stay in zone 2 so we rode pretty lsowly the whole time, only covering about 33km in the 1:45 we were out. My toes were frozen by the time we got home and I had to stop at Kelowna Cycle to buy a new headband, but it was still a much nicer ride than sitting on the trainer for 2 hours. My leg and butt felt fine for most of the ride but started to feel a bit sore after the first hour so I went reeeeally slowly up the hill home.

Erik took a picture of me downtown, where we rode along the boardwalk. You can see the hills are still covered in snow in the background. I live about halfway up the mountain, pretty much above my helmet, about at the snow line.


Today, Sunday, I had a lot of work to do around the house and at school, so I didn't go to the pool until this afternoon. I found out I can use my YMCA swim pass at the Rec Centre so I decided to save myself 10 minutes of driving and swim there today. I swear the water in that pool is warmer than the Y. I did a speed workout today, first time in a long while.

300m warm up

3X100m fast (I ranged from 1:55-2:15) 1:55 was a PR for me)

50m slow kick.

3X100m fast

50 slow kick

200 freestyle CD

I didn't actually get to do my last 50m because the pool closed at 5pm and everyone was standing there at 4:56 waiting for me to get out. I was the last one in the pool.... :)

Anyway, I did 1150m in about 36 min.

Today, my calf is feeling quite a bit better and my butt is ok as well. I am going to do a bit of gentle yoga stretching tonight and see how things go.

I don't think I'll run until later in the week unless I feel perfect on Tuesday and might want to try 1-2 easy slow kms. We'll see...

Butt Update

Nice title eh?

So - I couldn't run on Tuesday as planned. I went out and gave it a try but quit after 1 km because it tightened up right away. I did some upper body work and took it easy the rest of the day - Ibuprofen, hot epsom salts bath, light stretching.

Wednesday was a planned rest day so I did more of the some. I was quite tired and had two naps. Amazing how low I feel when not on an endorphin high.

Today (Thursday) - I went for my first swim in over a month. I was supposed to do 1000m but felt good and did 1500 in 45 min. 100m on 3:00 - slow and easy. I also tried the elliptical and it felt ok - only did 15 minutes tho.

I managed to find a massage therapist who could fit me in today and she was great! She gave me a thorough check over and figures some of my shin problems could be related to the problem in my hips -weak hip stabilizers - which are also what is causing my sore butt muscle.

She gave me two exercises to do which should strengthen the area and with any luck, get rid of the problems for good. One is using my theraband and walking sideways, much like this. This is an exercise I have done before but not properly and/or regularly. She thinks if I do it 3 times a week, I should see some improvement in a month. 5 left, 5 right, 4 left, 4 right, 3L, 3R and so on down to 1. If at any point the expected "burn" turns to pain, then stop for the day.

After 2 weeks of that, she suggested adding hip hikes. Stand on a stool or a stair, with left leg on the step and right leg hanging in the air, next to the step. Keep hips level. Lower right leg below the stool level, bending the knee of the left leg. Repeat several times. Switch and try other side.

Afterwards she did a good massage. It hurt a lot at first but then loosened up until I felt no pain at all. In fact, I'm farily certain I could run without pain right now, but of course, I won't. She figured if I was feeling ok, I could probably run on Monday or Tuesday, starting with a good warm up and a walk/run and judge how I feel. We'll see how things go this weekend.

I made another appt with her for next Wednesday to make sure all is well.

So I'll continue with the training plan for the next 3 days but I'll skip the planned run on Sunday.


Fri
- 1:30 XT

Sat
- 0:45 swim 1000m
- 2:00 bike zone 2

Sun
- 0:45 swim 1200m

Long time, no see... haha

Sorry I've been AWOL again.

My eye is pretty good now - pain lasted only a few days and then is was fine. My vision is slowly clearing, varies from day to day and even from hour to hour sometimes. I bought some reading glasses and use them sometimes, mostly when reading a book, but so far I don't need them for the computer. I think I will eventually.

I'm in the middle of my spring beak right now, and loving every minute off. I've been training hard and getting lots of errands etc done. I've lost two lbs sice I started my diet and hope to be down to 122lbs by next Saturday.

Training

Last week, my twitter friend, Brian, helped me set up a training plan for the next 8 weeks, and he has me working like a fiend. I'm loving it!

Here's my past week:

Mon - rest day, getting ready for TT test ride
Tues - warm up, cool down, and 3 mile TT on the trainer to get baseline data.
Wed - 1:30 on the trainer. Zone 2 plus 25 minutes ot isolated leg drills.
- 0:30 plyometrics
Thu - 0:45 run - strides
Fri - 1:30 XT Hiking and yoga
Sat - 1:30 bike (outside!) zone 2
Sun - 1:00 run focus on pace. Sadly, my left glute seized up and I had to bail after 40 minutes.
- 0:30 Gym workout. Was too sore so did 0:15 of upper body weights at home instead.
Mon - 1:00 trainer. Warm up, cool down, and 0:40 at HR 148 bpm, 92 rpm

Wow, lots huh?

This week coming up:

Tues - 0:30 run, with some hill repeats. *Might skip the hill part if glute still hurting)
Wed - REST DAY!!!
Thu - 0:45 swim 1000 m
- 0:45 run strides
Fri - 1:30 XT
Sat - 0:45 swim 1000m
- 2:00 bike zone 2
Sun - 0:45 swim
- 0:45 run strides

I'll try to update my blog at least twice a week from now on.

Thanks for reading!

Post Eye Surgery

Thanks for your patience. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time on the computer lately because of my fluctuating vision so editing my podcast had to take priority.

I had my laser surgery early Thursday morning and felt ok, just a little sore, for about 36 hours. Around 7pm Friday night, my eye started to swell up more and hurt quite a bit and I had a fairly bad headache that lasted a few days. The worst of the eye pain only lasted about 24 hours then subsided, so by Sunday morning, I was feeling much better. I alternated ibuprofen and acetominophen every two hours for that 24 hour period and didn't need to dip into the heavy duty percocet. This morning, I went back in to the clinic and they took out the 'bandage' contact. My vision should begin to clear slowly over the next 2 weeks. In the meantime, I can't swim and probably can't road ride but hey, the weather's still cold and crappy so who cares about that. :)

I went for a run and did 5 sets of pushups and crunches yesterday so I'm back in good training form. Today, I took off to rest up to do a 5k TT on the trainer tomorrow so I can send some data to my buddy Brian who is going to help me with my bike training plan for the next 8 weeks.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my 2 weeks off, getting some house stuff done, and starting to plan our trip to France this July. Whoo hoo! Can't wait!!!

Third Time Lucky?

Well, I'm going under the knife, er, laser, again tomorrow morning. Last March, I had the first stage of my PRK laser eye surgery done. In November I had a touch up on my right eye with the hopes my brain would adapt to monovision so I wouldn't need reading glasses. It didn't. Tomorrow, I get the left eye touched up to 20/20 as well. I bought some reading glasses today so I can still read the computer screen when I get home tomorrow. :)

My surgery appt is at 7:30 am. I'm taking two days off work and I don't even get to sleep in! They'll do some preliminary scans first, then give me 2 mg of ativan (enough to drug me up good), and then laser the eye. The treatment itself takes less than 5 minutes, and the worst part is the smell of burning hair (skin?), and the extreme ice cream headache you get for a minute when they spray water on the eye to cool it off. Other than that, it doesn't hurt in any way. It feels fairly irritated about 24 hours later and that lasts for a day or two.

I'm thinking it would be fun to record the procedure and use it in my podcast but I don't know if they'll go for it. On the other hand, they did provide me with a video tape of my first surgery and it's sitting on youtube for all to see (search kelownagurrl with 2 r's on youtube to find it). Or go back to March 2008 in my blog and it's sitting there too.

Training

Had a good week so far. Did all my planned workouts although I had to do my strength training tonight instead of last night because I forgot about our volleyball tournament and windup party last night. My shins were very happy last weekend, but not so happy on my run today. Whatever.

I have a friend whose son has shin splints and he was given some kind of cream to rub on his legs before he runs. I don't think it's simply an analgesic, but I can't find out anything with the name she gave me. Can any of you medical types help me?

This is what it says on his container. 100 CPD DICLO 5% in PLO GEL

***********************

Also - big news - I am now a proud member of the 2009 KONA ENDURANCE Triathlon Race Team!!!! Yes me, ordinary age grouper triathlete gurl, I am a sponsored athlete!! How cool is that!!

Kona Endurance sponsors amateur athletes, as well as the pros, so I applied last month and on Monday, I got an email saying I was invited to join the team.

So what does that mean? Well, I get to wear my new Kona Endurance tri top at my races (coming soon), and I get a season's supply of Kona Endurance Pro supplement which is touted to increase VO2 max and reduce lactic acid which will improve endurance and speed recovery. From everything I've heard and read, it looks like good stuff, and if it's good enough for IMC winner, Bryan Rhodes, maybe it can help me too! I'll keep you all posted on how it works for me!






Well, I'd better hit the sack and hopefully recover from my surgery quickly so I can get back to training....

More later...

A Few Good Runs

OK, run #2 is in the bag. Felt pretty darn good too.

I did a good warm up, then ran 5 mins, walked 1min, several times. Here are my splits. Notice I am getting faster than last run. :)

1st 5 min ~ 6:04/km (9:45 min mile)
2nd 5 min ~ 5:33/km (8:55 min mile)
3rd 5 min ~ 5:52/km (9:26 min mile)

I walked 4-5 minutes at the end and did a good stretch afterward, then I wore my compression sleeves for the rest of the day. Right now, at 9pm, my lower legs are feeling fine.

I did an upper body workout and crunches today too.

Saturday - I did and hour and 10 minute trainer ride. Aero Base Build Spinervals DVD.

Plan for the Week

Mon - bike
Tues - weights
Wed - run
Thurs - eye surgery, yoga?
Fri - in pain, who knows.
Sat - maybe run, but probably not.
Sun - hopefully run again, back to normal?

Inaugural Run

The shoes felt great! Like wearing slippers - no pressure anywhere. I cannot believe it.

My shins are still tender and I expect they will be for a while yet until they are completely healed but hopefully, once my body is used to the new shoes, I won't be doing any more damage. I hope.

In the meantime, I will walk/run and only go out every 3rd day until they feel strong.

Diet Update:

I decided last Saturday that I was going to record my eating on Sparkpeople again for a week or two, cut back calories to 1400-1500 per day, and try to lose one pound this week. I'm at 125 and want to get back down to 120.

Overall, I have done really well since then. I've eating about 1400-1600 calories a day, mostly fruit, vegetables, lean protein (chicken, tuna, shrimp, eggs once, and plain yogurt every day), and whole grains - rice, bread. I have also had one piece of chocolate every day and I had a glass of red wine on Saturday. I feel good and have been feeling full enough. My weight went up at first for some reason and then went down again.

Sat - 125 lb
Sun- 125.4 lb
Mon - 125.4 lb
Tue - 126 lb (!)
Wed - 123.8 lb (sigh)

We'll see how it goes. I just want to be down to 124 on Saturday. (And 123 the followin Saturday etc).

Training Update

Sat - I did upper body workout - 3X15 reps- plus 50 pushups and 150 crunches. The rest of the time I spent doing report cards and running around doing errands.

Sun - busy all day, all I could fit in was stretching.

Mon - my first run with the new shoes. Took it easy and only did 3km to be on the safe side.

Tue - upper body workout again (not feeling well in the evening)

Wed - stayed home from work sick so didn't workout.

I've had this gut ache thing every few months and from the reading I've done online, it sounds an awful lot like gall bladder issues (sharpish pain in upper right abdomen, going thru to the back, worse on bending over. Some nausea and general feeling of being unwell.)

Weird thing is, I don't have many of the risk factors other than age/gender. I'm not overweight and my diet is low in fat and sugar, and although I have cut back on calories lately, I have by no means had a sudden weight loss or been fasting. Since they happen very rarely (3-4 times a year), I really don't want to go the medical route because I don't feel it's bad enough to have my gall bladder removed. I need to get my allergy shot next weekend so I will bring it up with my doctor I guess.

Other than that, things are going well. My report cards are done and this is my student teacher's last week so I have to get back to teaching next week. My eye surgery is scheduled for next Thursday, 11th.

I'll be on the Triathlete's Coffee Shop again on Monday night (March 9th, 5:30 pst, 8:30 est) so feel free to drop by the chatroom if you're around. I'm sure I'll be quiet-ish again. I feel out of my element with those guys but it's fun to be there. :)