2013 - Week 30 Recap

Recovery week!  I took things pretty easy...a lot easier than what I had planned actually.  I don't know what it was, but this week was fraught with issues.  Mercury retrograde, anyone?

After a fairly successful first attempt at any kind of running in almost a month, my butt was a bit sore but overall not too bad.  Success!  I was pretty sore from Saturday's ladder workout so decided that most of the week would just be some easy running to get my butt and body back into the groove, so no crazy workouts were in the works...I've been having so many niggles that I figured my body deserved a rest after six months of hard workouts.  Most of the week proceeded as planned until I woke up Thursday morning feeling sore and achy with a killer headache and silly me...I moved a bit too quickly out of bed and felt a click in my chest and a sharp pain in my ribs...oh great.  By the time I got to work, I could feel that telltale tightening of my muscles that only happens when a rib comes out of place...again!  Bah.  Luckily after some rollering and stretching, I felt it click back into place...calamity avoided this time.  The killer headache didn't go away though and soon I was sneezing with a runny nose...I proceeded to pound every single thing I could to avoid getting sick as this was our anniversary weekend, and there was no way I wasn't celebrating, ribs and cold be damned!  Whatever I did, it worked because by the time Friday night rolled around, I felt much better...all systems go for anniversary weekend!

Now we all know bad things happen in threes, right?  Sunday I went out in the garden to do some weeding and must have moved just so, and my lower back start to tense up and seize.  It felt OK until I went to bed where it proceeded to ache no matter which way I slept...it bothered me so much that I ended up getting up multiple times in the middle of the night to roller and stretch...sorry Hubs.  It's still bothering me today and making it hard to sit for too long.  Seriously...am ready to trade this body in for a newer, younger and faster model.  Taller would be good too, this five foot nothing business is for the birds.

My constant companions, Ms. Tennis Ball and Mr. Foam Roller.    

And yes, that's a fake palm tree in my office.  What?

Anyways...thank goodness that week is over so onward and upward.  Anniversary weekend was fantastic too...Hubs completely surprised me with a little giftie that got me a little verklempt (OK, a lot verklempt!) at the restaurant...

what a guy...

A wee pineapple for our mutual love of all things Hawaiian...happy tenth, honey...you are the best.

WORKOUTS:

Prepare to be underwhelmed folks...

Sunday: intervals on the bike

Monday: treadmill run
Two and a half kilometres doing 5 and 1's and then some chin-ups! 

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: treadmill run
Three kilometres doing 5 and 1's.

Thursday: rest

Friday: rest
Just getting over feeling sickly so I took another rest day.

Saturday: 3K run/strength
First run outside in a month!!  I can't tell you how awesome it felt to get out there.  And I'm being such an angel and not pushing things too fast, right?  Right?!

FOOD:
A few excesses here and there but none of it counted because it was my anniversary.  Tee hee.

RECIPES:
Kale pesto from Fifty Shades of Kale.  Awesome recipe, but warning to those with spouses...you'll both want to eat it as the amount of garlic in this would kill Dracula.

I Ran

I couldn't resist but add a little bit of a retro kick to today's post.  Yep, you got it baby, Flock of Seagulls!  I'm an 80's child, what can I say?  And the title?  So fitting.

Yep, I ran...but I didn't run so far away.  But I'll take it!  I had my physio appointment today for my weekly check in and good news...I got the green light to start running again.  Wahoooie!  My physio said that he could tell I was doing my homework (yes, I'm puffing my chest out proudly as I type) and that my glutes are way stronger than they were when I first went in to see him.  My hip and muscles have also loosened up considerably, thanks to tons of rollering and some very intense (in other words, super painful) work with a tennis ball.  I have to go slow and build back up again a bit at a time, starting off with two to three kilometres running 5 and 1's, building up to a half hour of running and then go from there.  Anxious to get at 'er, I raced home and jumped on the treadmill...I admit, it took all my willpower to not keep going but I ran 2K doing 5 and 1s as prescribed and I stopped.  And...drumroll please...butt is feeling pretty good!  So I'm hopeful I'm on the mend.  I'm back to see him in two weeks, and then we'll see if I can start adding back lunges and squats and then hopefully I'll get the all clear.  So I've got a bit of a ways to go to be fully recovered, but I'm gettin' there.

2013 - Week 28/29 Recap

OK, my broken ass is pissing me off.  I know, I know...people get injured all the time and I've been able to continue to exercise so I haven't turned into a total couch potato, but there's nothing that replaces that feeling of hitting the wide open road and just giving 'er.  I haven't quite hit the "feeling sorry for myself" stage quite yet, more the "wish this would just effing heal so I can get on with it" kinda feeling.  I think I haven't quite fallen into the depths of despair because I've been able to continue to work out even if I'm not able to run so I'm not getting too cagey, thank goodness...but it still kinda sucks.  Anyways, not rushing it and just being patient.  If my foam roller was my best friend before, that thing is now glued to me at the hip figuratively and literally...I've been rollering every day and faithfully doing my rehab exercises.  I've even been rollering my butt at work when things feel tight from too much sitting!  Anyways, I won't bore you with all the gory details of Week 28, but I did mostly intervals on the bike to keep my cardio up, PISE classes with modifications, and some home workouts.  No bootcamps as it's a lot of running and hill sprints with scads of squat, lunges and burpees...not what the ol' butt needs right now!  Anyhoo, on to Week 29.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday: intervals
Doing intervals of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off on the stationary bike.  Yup, it's a total sweatfest and I'm just dripping in sweat after!

Monday: PISE
Le sigh.  I may have pushed myself a teeny bit harder than I should have at class...I thought some bodyweight squats would have been OK but apparently not.  Butt was feeling tight and sore the next day.  Blah.

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: PISE
Sob...last class at PISE for the summer!  I can't believe it's been six months since we started these sessions and I'm so, so happy that I've been fortunate enough to be part of this group.  I've discovered I love strength training and want to do more of it in the future...I've always been way more cardio-focussed so am really happy that I've managed to build up my strength so things are more balanced.  I've learned a lot about proper form and have tons of exercise routines from all the workouts we've done so I'll continue on with these while we're off for the summer.  The ladies are all super gung ho for another round starting in late August/September and I'm so signing up for sure!  This week coming up I'm going to take it a bit easy on the workouts...I think because I've been going at things pretty hard core for the last six months and I'm facing some niggles, so a little extra rest is in order starting with a massage Friday night.  Yesss.

Thursday: rest

Friday: intervals
More bike intervals in the morning.  These things are not easy in the morning when I'm barely half awake.

Saturday: home workout
Hubs went for a run while I went downstairs and did a ladder workout that we did at PISE, working from ten to one on the following exercises:

Bent over row
Glute bridge
Push press
Mountain climbers
Situps
Shoulder press
Pushups
Stability ball roll-ins
Renegade row
Burpees (chest to floor but no jump...NOT risking it!)

I adapted all the lower body stuff to upper or core, and man...my upper body is really feeling it today, oooch.

FOOD:
A few naughty things leapt into my mouth this week.  Being better this week for sure, but it's my tenth wedding anniversary this upcoming weekend so I'm throwing all caution and better judgement to the wind and definitely something celebratory will be had!

RECIPES:
Huh.  I didn't make anything new and exciting this week.  Rats.

Why I Run Long Distances by The Oatmeal

I've loved the comic "The Oatmeal" for ages...hilarious, honest and a bit crude (OK, a lot crude), he's been quite often the source of those kinds of laughing fits where my stomach hurts, I can't breathe and my vision is blurry because I'm crying so hard.  Anyways...his latest comic is about why he runs...he's done the full range of races, all the way from 5Ks to ultramarathons, and he talks about all the terrible and wonderful reasons of why he runs long distances.  It's a five part series (seriously, you'll want to read them all), so if you're a runner...this is a must read.  For those of you who know and love us runners, it'll give some insight on why we lace up our shoes and choose to run 26.2 miles and train for hours during the hot blazing summer.  I won't spoil it, but his reasons for why he runs are bang on to how I feel.

So go here to read it.  Go quickly, go now.  Oh, and to the Oatmeal?  I love you.

Achy Breaky...Body?

Have I completely dated myself?  OK I admit...I hated...no, I despised this song when it came out way back when but it seemed like a good segueway into this post.  First...the song is old, like me.  A hit back in 1992, I was a young lass of 23 back when Billy Ray sang about his achy breaky heart.  Hubs and I started dating in 1992 when I was young and carefree without a worry in the world.   So fast forward now 21 years later and honestly...lately I'm feeling every millisecond of the past 44 years, I swear!  This leads me to the achy breaky part...does anyone else ever feel like they're a million years old some days?  Lately I've so been feeling my age...I don't recover from workouts as fast as I used to, and I seem to be dealing with a lot of niggles lately...my broken ass, a vaguely unhappy Achilles (I still don't regret helping that lady!), and I had another couple of ribs that were out and bugging me last week.  Quite often I wake up feeling sore especially after a hard class, but sometimes I wonder if this is normal or it's just me because I'm as old as dirt (OK, maybe I'm not that old, but I sure feel like I am).   For instance, this morning...I woke up and felt soooo tired and had little muscle twinges and twangs everywhere.  Anyways...I think over the next while I'm going to really make sure I up the self care on my body/muscles, and possibly treat myself to a few good massages to help with my rib issues and keep my muscles loose and limber.  Oh and possibly take up line dancing as a new workout...uh, NOT.  Ha!

2013 - Week 27 Recap

Looooove Sunday afternoons...mornings are always a blur of cooking, laundry, cleaning and other domestic duties, and then once I'm done it's me and glass of something (lately it's been wine) hanging out and spending some quality time together.

Recap this week is going to be short...I went to the physiotherapist last week to see what was up with that whole butt cheek thing that happened last Friday...I don't mess around with injuries and figure if something hurts, it's your body's way of saying "what the eff, man?!".  Anyways...it's confirmed that my ass is indeed broken.  My left glute muscle is weak and not doing what it should so the piriformis was doing all the work and finally decided to give me the finger and go on strike.  At first the physio said I could do a short run around 5K-ish, but then decided nope...he wanted me to give my butt some more rest so no running, lunges or squats for the next week until I go back to see him again.  He gave me some exercises to do because, in his words, he wanted me to have "buns of steel"...he had me clench my butt cheeks and apparently the left one didn't even engage, lazy thing.  Anyways, he gave me some ultrasound and did some acupuncture, which was actually pretty funny...I'm used to being in various stages of dress with practitioners and don't even bat an eyelash, but he kept apologizing the whole time while he worked on my exposed butt.  Buddy, you can do whatever you want if it means I can continue to work out pain and injury free!  Ha.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday: rest

Monday: home workout
So even though I have a broken ass, it doesn't mean I can't exercise so I've been going back to old workouts that I've done with Josh that were mostly upper body.  Pretty soon I'm going to have no neck with the amount of pushups and stuff I'm doing.  Look out, Incredible Hulk!

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: home workout
I had emailed Danya to tell her my story of woe and asked for an alternative workout to do in the meantime.  Butt was feeling better so I was able to get on the stationary bike and do some intervals.

Thursday: rest

Friday: home workout

Saturday: home workout

FOOD:
Bang on again, go me!

RECIPES:
Mushroom and rice "meatloaf" from Mouthwatering Vegan.

Playing Along

I know, I know...how many of these things can I do, right?  Sorry, I'm a total sucka for a survey so here goes.

A.  Attached or single?
Attached to Hubs for twenty one years, married for ten years this month!  Our impromptu Maui trip this winter was to celebrate our tenth year of marriage-dom and there's nowhere that I'd rather be to celebrate this milestone.

B.  Best friend?
My bestie R...she moved away to the Land of the Living Skies, Saskatchewan a few years ago, and not a day goes by when I don't think about her.  Sigh.

C.  Cake or pie?
Geez, these questions are always so hard!  I like both, but I would have to give the slight advantage to pie.  Love a good flaky pastry and a yummy, fruity, delicious filling like strawberry rhubarb or apple. 

D.  Day of choice?
Friday, or better know as Saturday Eve around our house!  I love the feeling of the impending weekend and knowing that I have two days to hang out and the world is my oyster...nothing tastes better than a nice glass of wine on a Friday night, too.  Tee hee.

E.  Essential item?
Hands down, my iPhone...or as Hubs calls it, my Borg.  I cannot live without my iPhone.  This thing is always within reach no matter where I am, and if I'm separated from it, I start to get a little bit anxious.  There's been times where I know I've put it down in the house and I've freaked out thinking I've lost it.  I know, I have a huge problem.

F.  Favourite colour?
Any shade of green, but my fave is a bright, chartreuse green. 

G.  Gummy bears or worms?
Bears...always the bears.

H.  Home town?
Victoria...born and raised and I've never left.

I.  Favourite indulgence?
Pedicures at my favourite spa in the whole wide world, Willowstream at the Fairmont Empress.  Nothing is better than getting pampered and spoiled.

J.  January or July?
I would have said January because I used to hate hot weather (I know...I'm so weird) but now I love, love, love the summer so July it is!  There is truly nothing better than walking around in shorts and flip flops on a hot summer day.

K.  Kids?
No thanks!  Hah!  I've never, ever, ever wanted kids and knew from a very early age that I didn't want them.  OK, I may have had vague thoughts of having them for like fifteen minutes or something when we first became engaged, but that feeling quickly dissipated.  People have said for years and years that I'd change my mind and have them, but now that I'm pushing 44...pretty sure we're not contributing the gene pool.  I guess I've just never had that desire (I think I'm missing that gene) and luckily, Hubs is on the same wavelength.  I much prefer being an aunty!

L.  Life isn't complete without?
Scotch.  Hah, I kid!  Love...from your kids, parents, friends, spouses, furbabies...it all counts.  Sappy, but true.

M.  Marriage date?
July 26, 2003...anniversary coming up soon, woohoo! 

N.  Number of brothers/sisters?
One older bro, currently living in Edmonton and works as a prof at U of A.

O.  Oranges or apples?
Oooh, this is even harder than the cake or pie question.  I love both...but would probably give the slight advantage to oranges.

P.  Phobias?
Two huge phobias...I'm absolutely terrified of spiders and will emit blood curdling screams if I find one of those awful looking big brown house spiders in the basement.  Truly, I'm hysterical and I know I'm being hysterical, but I can't help myself.  The other thing that sends me into fits is heights...I can't get up on a step ladder without getting dizzy and losing my mind.

Q.  Quotes?

 

R.  Reasons to smile?
Friends, family, good  health, a roof over my head and food on the table.  Don't need anything else!

S.  Season of choice?
Summmmmeeeeerrrrr!

T.  Tag 5 people
OK, I won't force anyone to do this so I won't tag anyone!

U.  Unknown fact about me?
I signed up to go to nursing school but changed my mind.  So glad I didn't, as I've become squeamish in my old age.

V.  Vegetable?
Hard to pick as I like 'em all, but I'd say my two faves are broccoli and asparagus.

W.  Worst habit?
I leave dishes lying around everywhere. Poor Hubs has to pick up after me in that department all the time. 

X.  Xray or Ultrasound?
Neither, thanks!

Y.  Your favourite food?
Sushi, hands down.  Absolutely love it and never get sick of it.

Z.  Zodiac sign?
Right on the cusp between Aries and Taurus, but I think I'm more Taurus.

2013 - Week 26 Recap

Happy Canada Day, folks!  I cannot believe that this year is precisely half over...where's the time gone?  Anyways, this weekend was absolutely stellar...beautiful, warm, sunny weather and one of the most relaxing and fabulous weekends I've had in recent memory.  Happy, happy, happy sigh.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday: rest

Monday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Crazy workout day.  Had a good cardio workout in the morning at bootcamp and then got my ass absolutely handed to me that night at PISE.  OK...I've done a lot of tough classes with the king of butt-kicking Jason...but this one was on a whole other level of omg-I-think-I'm-gonna-lose-my-lunch kinda hard.  It was totally awesome.

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Jason class in the morning...lots of hill repeats but I wasn't doing so hot.  What's up?  Well...the night before Hubs and I were leaving the grocery store, and this poor little old lady was backing up out of her space and her car broke down right in the middle of the lane, blocking both sides of traffic.  As we walked up, we watched people walk past her and not even offer her a hand, and the people in the cars were getting more and more irate and honking.  Incensed at what utter and absolute jerks people could be, Hubs and I offered to help push her car back to her spot...and in the process of doing that, I think I overextended my Achilles heel (I was wearing flip flops) and it was hurting at bootcamp Wednesday morning...hills in particular were difficult.  Not happy that I injured myself, but I couldn't not help that poor lady!  Strength work for the evening class (am super loving strength work) and some exciting news to announce...well, exciting for me...ha!  I moved down a band for the assisted pullups!  I know, small things please small minds...but I'm that much closer to being able to do an unassisted pullup.  One day...

Thursday: rest

Friday: PISE p.m.
Double le sigh.  I skipped class in the morning to let my Achilles rest, but managed to pull my left glute muscle when I was doing some lunges at the evening class.  We were just at the start of our workout and as I went into the lunge, I felt a sharp pain in left butt cheek and it hurt enough that I couldn't continue on so had to modify the workout (it was still tough!).  As it cooled down that night, it started to ache and going up and down stairs was painful...gah!  Over the past few days I've been making sure to ice it every few hours and managed to get some compression on it and thankfully it's feeling better...I'm not going to take any chances though and am going to take it easy this week.  I've had some niggles over the past while with my right calf and now with this Achilles and glute thing so I think I might to take this week off from classes and just let my body get some rest and recover.  It's going to drive me crazy to not exercise, but what's a week in the whole grand scheme of things...and better to be off one week than three months, amirite?

Saturday: upper body workout
Did a Josh workout that was all upper body to rest the old butt cheek while Hubs went out for a run.  As always when I'm injured, I regret those times when I jammed out on workouts in the past and wished I could have gone with Hubs...love our runs together.

FOOD:
Bang on. 

RECIPES:
Lemon rosemary garlic lamb chops from Food.com.