Month in Review: September

Another month bites the dust and with that we are barreling down right into the holiday season. Scary thought much??

So September actually turned out to be an okay month. After readjusting to the heat and the humidity in SC, things started clicking again. I was clocking 10+ hour per week workouts and even put in a 15 mile training run. While the run was not pretty or fast, I got the miles in, which is always a good feeling, especially because I only do a couple of runs with that distance a year. When I came home after that 15 miler, I immediately noticed some random back spasms. By Monday afternoon, I was in so much pain, that I left work early to see the chiropractor. The spasms came so random and where so painful at time, that it took my breath away... The adjustment brought some relief, but I had to go back two more times that week and wasn't allowed to do any workouts. By the end of the week, I was pain free and just in time to complete a back to back century bike ride (ride report to follow). Which I did and was able to complete without any pain. So the next week, training was back on and clicking along nicely, but my legs were a little tired from the double century.

Last weekend then, I had my first triathlon in three months lined up and started having a sore throat Friday afternoon. A classic. Fortunately, the sore throat never developed into a full blown cold, but I still felt kind of deflated for the race. Still got it done and am fairly happy with the results all things considered (race report to follow). But after the race, the back pain returned. Not as bad as two weeks ago, but bad enough that I was once again at the chiropractor and am now back on workout restriction.

To be quite honest, I am thinking about pulling the plug at the rest of the season. Nothing will be decided today, but it's probably time to cut the losses at this point and focus on getting this funky back stuff under control without the added pressure of races lined up... After all, this is supposed to be fun and there will always be other races.

Doing the Conga

Here we are at the tail end of February. The weather can't decide if it's winter or already spring, giving the immune system a lot of work. A couple of my co-workers have been victim of some sort of malaise in the last couple of weeks and thanks to central air and heat in the office, everyone's germs go everywhere. Well, maybe not everywhere... since they fixed the A/C in our office a couple of weeks ago, it's not working at all... At least it's not freezing cold, but I sure don't look forward to summer at this point.

Back on the topic... The malaise... I haz it or maybe not... Since Monday I have this funny thing going on in my throat and after initially ignoring it, I now went into full force preventative measures... I am doing the "Conga" again, as in "Congaplex" a whole food supplement that my chiropractor recommended back in December to fight off some stuff that I felt coming on back then. I actually took it, felt better, stop taking it. Felt something coming on a week later, started taking it again, felt better and then stopped. A week later, started feeling something coming on, for whatever reason didn't start on the Congaplex regiment and sure enough was out of commission in the first week of January. I like to think, I learned a little from that and I am popping those babies religiously since then... From now until the end of cold and flu season!

In the meantime, I am getting in a decent amount of training... Good rides, good runs, good swims... I really can't complain!

Last Saturday, we had the pleasure to join a group ride from Tigerville over the watershed up to Saluda to Tryon, around Lake Lanier and ending the ride in Landrum for a total of 35 miles. It was a nice hilly ride at a relaxed pace with a fun group... The weather was close to perfect and the food in Landrum was yummie too. Point to point trips are just really nice, even though the logistics of a trip like that are more complicated. So thanks again for everyone involved to make it happen! And thanks for the cookies! ;-)

Catching Up

Well, let's just start a list and see what we are going to end up with:

1. We are not on our way to Myrtle Beach. To explain this a little: Terry was signed up for the Myrtle Beach Marathon tomorrow. Tomorrow will also be four weeks, since Terry was on a run. The doc thinks it's tendonitis, but he wouldn't rule out a stress fracture either. Stress fractures can be sneaking, because a lot of the time they are not visible on x-rays. Now we just wait and see... At least he's still able to bike and swim.
2. First there was talk about going down anyways for the weekend, but then we decided is wasn't worth the money and the time... Now we have some nice alternative plans lined up for the weekend, that I am looking forward to. Quite honestly, I don't care for Myrtle Beach all that much.
3. This weekend is carneval in Germany. Really carneval crazy areas started with the celebrations yesterday and it normally culuminates in a big parade on Monday, before things settle down again. Having been a part of a carneval club for several years as a teenager and enjoyed the partying, I really miss Germany a little more than usual these days.
4. Yesterday at the pool, coach and I were talking about why a lot of dudes drag their feet in the water, while girls tend to stay afloat a little better. My reasoning and speaking for me personally: It's the blubber that I have in my butt. It's a floatation device.... That's my story and I am sticking to it.
5. I am slowly going back to eat normal after the surgery and being on a soft diet for several weeks. Today was the first day back with salad for lunch... While I was able to bite properly before, the chewing still aggravated the area. First salad back tasted yummy and I am just happy that the soft diet days seemed to be over. But I am still chewing mostly on the other side of my mouth.
6. Follow-up on the surgery in general: I had a check up after two weeks and everyone that looked in my mouth said: "It looks awesome!" It's still tender and will take some extra care for the next several weeks, but things seemed to be doing great. I still can not use my electric tooth brush and still rinsing with a presciption strength mouth wash, but those are obviously only minor complaints. I don't feel it during my workouts except for the swimming. I don't know if it's the head position or what, but it still bothers me quite some in the pool.
7. Another follow-up: This time on my attempt to once again get a grip on my nutrition. Things are going really well this time around and I have seen consistant results in the last four weeks on the scale, in my clothes, in my workouts and in my general "wellness". One of these days I will share what I did different this time and some new things I learned and some things that I relearned. But it's important for me to stress, that I am not dieting... I am just feeding myself properly again, after months of eating just whatever I felt like.... and that's mostly junk!
8. I miss CrossFit. It was actually quite funny: Terry and I were sprawled out on the couch last Sunday and I looked something up on YouTube and he said: "Let's watch some CF videos." And then we basically said at the same time: "I miss CrossFit."
9. With that being said, I did my strength work in the gym (vs only bodyweight exercises at home) this week and loaded up the barbell and jumped on boxes and did pull ups... A regular gym really doesn't facilitate a CF workout, but it was better than nothing.... Being sore all week from it, just felt like an extra bonus.
10. Yes, I am nuts... No need to comment on that last sentence.
11. Come Monday, we have one of those wellness challenges at work again. You organize yourself in groups of four and have around 45 days to each log 150 miles (600 miles total for the team) of walking to qualify for the drawing for the main prizes (cash prizes by the way!). There will be milestone prizes too... The smack talking has already started!!!! The boys on my team can be lucky that you just have to complete the mileage within the time frame and it's not about who is first... Otherwise I would be cracking the whip for the next six weeks... Just kidding... No, not really.
12. DONE! Happy weekend!

Baby is BACK!

Sooooo.... I was planning on getting back into things this past Saturday and.... I did! Honestly, I didn't quite believe that it will happen, since my mouth was still throbbing on some parts during my treadmill walks.

The weekend started off with oversleeping. Yep, I don't know how that happened, but the track workout was supposed to start at 8am, but I was out like a light and slept until 7.30am... Unheard of. But with this run being my first run back, I didn't plant to do it by the book anyways and left the house a little after 8am to run over to the Furman track to join the team. I can't even remember what I was supposed to do, but I ended up doing 4x400 with 400 RI.... All of them under 8 minute/mile pace. And when I was done, I didn't even feel that tired, so I decided to take the long way home. All and all, I clocked close to 8 miles on my first run back. I am a very happy camper.

While I thought that with this 1.5 week break, I will once again start from scratch, it more feel like I am going back very rested. It sure is a different feeling from the first run after the cold earlier this year. While I felt pretty strong throughout the run, I woke up today with sore quads. Honestly, I can't even remember the last time I got sore from running that wasn't a wicked downhill run or trail run.

Now today was a cycling day. Time to put some miles on those wheels again. I don't know what I was thinking, but while picking out a route last night, I saw the elevation profile, but I guess I was just not paying that my attention after all.

 

All in all, we ended up with a little over 35 mile (riding from the house) and 2,300 feet cumulative climb. And we ended up with a 15 mph average for it. No reason to complain here.... AND... This weather is incredible isn't it? I sure hope that we are out of the woods and winter is not going to bite us in the butt!

With that I leave you... Time to watch the Superbowl commercials.

I'm Walking

Today and yesterday, I clocked a total of 17 miles of walking.

I would rather be running and cycling, especially since the weather has been so mild in the last couple of days. But I had my oral surgery last Wednesday and everything that gets the blood pumping, just doesn't feel that good right now.

But I take it. I honestly didn't expect to feel this decent so early. Good thing, they didn't have to do as much as they expected. Lucky break!

But at least my tooth implant is fixed now.... Or at least I hope so. We'll see, how the next checkup is going down in two weeks.

Karma loves it. I think she will be very disappointed, once I am ready to workout again and the walks are being cut down. 

The soft diet is kind of getting to be at this point. When you start looking at a slice of pizza and start thinking about throwing it into the blender... Well, I am almost there.

I discovered a couple of new roads today, that can be incorporated in future running routes.

But it was hilly hilly hilly. A couple of times, I had to take a breather, because the pounding in my jaw just gotten too bad, but we got it done.

All Wrong

I am so glad, that I didn't make lofty new year's resolutions this year, because it feels like 2012 is starting out all wrong.

This was my view for most of Sunday (They showed the 2011 CrossFit Games on ESPN2, that was quite impressive!). I woke up with a headache from hell (not alcohol induced) accompanied by a throat that felt like on fire and the sniffles and coughing. Happy New Year! Since then, things have gotten worse (Monday), then stayed about the same (Tuesday) and then some improvement today, but I feel like I am fading as we speak...

I know there is much worse out there than a cold, but dang it sucks anyways.

Starting Sunday I did the "when can I go back to training" games. First it was Wednesday, then it was Thursday and this morning after I was almost falling into a temper tantrum, it was enough already! No workouts until at least Saturday... This cough needs to be gone before I start back up, because while this sucks, dragging the cold out would be even worse. I sure don't feel like a repeat of the being sick cycle that I went through early in 2010 only because I never rested long enough.

With that being said, I try not to think about the $$$ that I dropped on another month of CF which I won't be utilizing the way I had hoped (but it's a family membership, so at least Terry can make use of it!). Also, I am working on convincing myself that my first half Ironman distance is still off far enough to get it all done... I haven't been a couch potato over the winter, so I should be getting my fitness back in no time. Right? I also try to ignore the fact, that I will be missing another week of training later this month due to oral surgery... Dang... Can we just call this month a bust or what.

Signing off to sulk.

Off Season Goals

While this post goes online, I will be out on the road, riding my bike next to the women's lead pack at the Spinx marathon. I genuinely  was looking forward to this volunteer assignment, while at the same time was nervous about it too. Basically, we have to make sure that the lead pack is turning at all the right places.... No pressure right?? Besides nightmares about letting the leading ladies in the marathon make a wrong turn and screw up their race, I am just antsy to see this race unfold right before my eyes and see some really good runners hauling a$$ on the asphalt.

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

It's now a week since my last race of the season. That was plenty of time, to really focus on what I want to accomplish over the off season. Here is a first shot at the goals, that most likely going to be adjusted/ amended over the next couple of months.

1. Get stronger. That means I have to go back to the gym and start lifting again. On Thursday, I did my first lifting class in several months and boy, I got my butt handed to me.
2. Get more flexible again. Yesterday morning, I did a yoga session at home and had to find out, that I lost a lot of my flexibility over this tri season, when I neglected yoga completely.
3. Mix it up. November and December will be used to mix up the tri routine with gym classes, yoga, hiking and whatever else presents itself. My tri team buddy and I were talking about rock climbing and I would really like to tri out Crossfit. Now all I need is a Groupon deal... Pretty please! And yes, there actually were Groupon deals for rock climbing in the area recently and I just didn't pull the trigger. DUH!
4. Get faster. January and February will be focussed on becoming a faster and stronger runner. The distance will go down (not weekly mileage, I will have shorter runs, but more of them) and the intensity of the runs is going to go up. The December half marathon is off the table and the focus will be on speed, speed and speed. I am sick and tired to get passed on the run during triathlons and the focus on speedy (rather than distance) running is hopefully going to let me be a more rounded triathlete come next season.
5. Plan and save. By the end of the year, I want to have my tri season mostly planned out and want to be signed up for the races as possible. The series that I am looking at right now for next season has some good prices as long as you get registered before January 1st.

That's all I can think of right now.

About my back.

I do feel much better compared to last Saturday. I was still in quite some pain Sunday morning, but ever since pre riding the Spinx course in the afternoon on my roadie, I am mostly pain free.

After talking to several of my tri buddies and my coach and really trying to figure out when all of this back pain stuff started, I was always coming back to the tri bike. Yes, the brand new shiny and so pretty new tri bike. What I am thinking right now is, that I have been fitted too aggressive on the bike and my lower back or maybe even my hamstrings cannot support this position for longer periods of time. Funny enough: I never had pain while on the bike or running, but while sitting in my office chair and when I was standing for longer periods of time. Goal one and two from above is going to help some with this, but I am also going to get me fitted once more on the bike. This time by the guy that also fitted me on the road bike and I am very happy with that and do have a lot of trust that tri bike and I will be best buds again soon.

While I do think that the new bike fit is going to eliminate the back pain stuff, I also started some core exercises that were specifically developed to conquer back pain (Foundation by Dr. Eric Goodman and Peter Park). Terry had a lot of success with these exercises in a pretty short period of time and he also says that he can really feel the difference in his running as well. No back pain and becoming a stronger runner... Sign me up!

Alabama Road Trip

Oh wow.... This didn't even feel like a weekend at all. Good thing, that I have only 5.5 working days left for the YEAR!

As you might have guessed by the title, we did a road trip to Alabama over the weekend.

Since we are kind of used to getting up at ridiculous hours for training and racing, why not get-up at 4am on a Saturday morning for a road trip to Montgomery, Alabama. Out of bed at 4am and on the road at 4.30am. I was up for another hour to keep Terry company while driving, but then took a really good nap and completely missed Atlanta* and then some, waking up on time to announce that I am hungry and need to be fed immediately. Fortunately, this coincided with an empty gas tank and my wishes were fulfilled pretty quickly! Nice, how that sometimes works out! ;-)

*It takes an hour to get from one side of Atlanta to the other side.

Sorry, babe... I cut of your head... Most of the food that you see is actually his. I had scrambled eggs and turkey sausage (cut off at the bottom) and a HUGE muffin and yogurt with granola and fresh pineapples... That's a lot of food... Very yummie though! No calorie restriction for me on a road trip or on vacation... Forgetaboutit!

Shortly after that, we crossed the state line between Georgia and Alabama, entering the central time zone. Terry's first words: We are one hour younger!

All in all, we made the trek from Greenville to Montgomery in around five hours and that was totally worth getting up early. Most of the day, we spent in the hospital with his Dad. One of Terry's brothers also came by with his family and so I had a chance to spend some time with my niece and sister-in-law while the boys got caught up.

In the early afternoon, we checked in the hotel (thanks to my raffle win from a couple of weeks ago, the stay was for free!) and rested up a little, before we headed out for a high school reunion pre-meeting. Turns out that this was the first meeting for most of these guys since they graduated 20 years ago. So there was a lot of catching up to do for them, while I passed the time raiding the buffet... several times. This wasn't an official reunion yet, but more a meeting to get going on the planning for the official reunion that most likely going to take place sometime next summer.

When we finally got back to the hotel room, I went asleep almost the same moment my head hit the pillow. What a long day!

The next day, we got up without an alarm and then headed out for a six mile run together. I mapped out a two mile loop in a residential area close to the hotel. Once we were half way through the loop, we came across the "Blount Cultural Park" so we decided to check it out. Turns out that we were in a pretty park with a theater (Shakespeare Festival), a museum, walking trails, ponds and some structures that would remind you of an English country side. All in all, very pretty. We did several loops in the park before heading back to the hotel and ended up with 6.75 miles. the run was a little faster than I was planning on doing, but that's what mostly happens when Terry and I run together... My easy pace is a fast walk for him... almost.

Pictures of the park are taken from here. I didn't take a camera or phone, because I didn't expect there was anything to be seen... Silly me. So just imagine this with a gray sky and brown leafs! ;-)

After the run, we headed out for some breakfast and then stopped at the hospital another time before hitting the road again. We did a short stop at the Tanger Outlets in Commerce to take care of some Christmas presents and finally got home around 6PM. Another long day, which made for a short weekend.

One more note on that run and the "aftermath":

This was only my second run since my took a run break two weeks ago. My first run back was an easy 4-miler on the treadmill after which I didn't have any issues. After this run on Sunday, I felt my IT band tightening up again, once I sat a little while in the car and sure enough, I was back to hobbling. The scheduled run this morning was cancelled, but after massaging the area with the roller things feel much better today. I put it on my to do list, to roll out my IT band and quads throughout the day for the next couple of days even if I don't feel pain walking and let's see if I can't get a grip on the matter.

I am not joking... The roller is sitting on my desk right now...  Funny enough, nobody has asked any questions yet! ;-)

Gotta roll!

No Running Until I Grow Webbing

... or my knee plays nice again.

This is not a full-blown injury yet, so it's time to take it easy for a while. My ITB is acting up again, but fortunately by far not as painful as I experienced it before my first relay in 2009. The timing is also much better this time around, because my next race is not scheduled until January (Resolution Half in TR).

I was supposed to do a track workout this morning, but after hobbling around all day yesterday it just didn't make sense so try to push myself through that workout and do more damage. Last night, after a swim and 20 minutes of foam rolling and still having lingering pain in my knee, I gave the coach a call and for the rest of the week I am not running... It's swimming and cycling now.

That's the beauty of triathlon... When one sport doesn't work out at that moment, we have two other sports to fall back on.

What a different a week makes!

This is me last week at the half-marathon.

This is me yesterday at the 11K.

First, please observe my fancy of some purple in my outfits and then... Yes, it was pretty cold yesterday. It actually is pretty cold today still.

Well, I was supposed to go on a nice bike ride today, but I woke up yesterday morning with a messed up neck and it's not any better by today.... So the trainer it is... I guess.

And now, let me share some pictures from Friday night from the top of Paris Mountain.

I hope you all have a great Sunday and hopefully I'll have the race report up by tomorrow! ;-)

Pain In The Neck and A New Trail Half

Pain In The Neck

I was so concerned about making sure not to ramp up my running mileage too quickly in order to avoid the repeat of the ITB mess of last year... And knock on wood, so far no problems.

And yet... I didn't train yesterday and won't do anything today either. I even skipped my 10 minutes a day core workout because of shooting pain down my neck, shoulder and back.

This is not so unusual, since I seem to get something like this every couple of months (not related to the shoulder hick-up) and normally it's done after a day of rest, a bengay patch and a good night's sleep. Only, this morning I woke up and it hurt even more. Actually, I woke up several times during the night because it hurt.

So once I was at work, I slapped on a heating pad (I have those in my desk drawer for emergencies) and then called my chiropractor and fortunately she was able to squeeze me in at 4.30pm.

When I told my boss that I'll have to leave early for the appointment and that it is my neck again, he suggested that we might have to consider a new spot for me in the office. The problem is that I sit right under one of the A/C vents and the air hits me on my left and all my problems always seem to be on my left.

I feel a little better now after my appointment, but it's not really good. And doc told me, that it's quite possible that I am going to tense up again. In the meantime, I am following my prescribed sequence of ice-off-heat-off-ice-off-heat and biofreeze.

Hopefully, I will be back tomorrow with the run that was planned for today. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

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A New Trail Half

November 13th, 8.30AM

"The inaugural Camp Croft Half Marathon is the first half marathon of its kind in the upstate of South Carolina and will take place in beautiful Camp Croft State Park. This challenging race will consist almost entirely of single and double track trails. All proceeds from the race will benefit Camp Croft State Park and Friends of Croft, an organization created to bring assistance and awareness to this jewel of Spartanburg County."

Registration is USD 35 before September 1st and USD 45 after that.

Isn't this tempting? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Damage Control

As the title of this post already suggests... I am in damage control mode.

Since the sprint triathlon on Saturday was more or less another workout for me, to test out some new equipment (Garmin quick release), nutrition (practicing to drink enough, gel blasts) and pacing on the run, I was planning to do another ride in the afternoon and Terry wanted to join. SCORE! Having my best buddy as training partner. SWEET!

We took off to do the "Green Valley" Loop, which is a little over 20 miles from/to the house. I was planning on riding comfortably and not pushing too hard. Everything was alright, if you ignore the continued no-show performance of my legs. During the bike leg of the race that morning and also on this afternoon ride, I felt a little pain in my left buttock. That's the side that I have constantly piriformis issues, so I just ignored it. UNTIL ignoring it was just not possible anymore, because it felt like somebody was stabbing me with a knife. What the heck??? It got so bad that I got off the bike at one point to stretch, but it really didn't do anything. I still had a couple of miles to get home and the rest of the way I took it super easy and fortunately didn't get another attack of crippling pain. But something was just not quite right.

On Sunday then, a training buddy and I drove up to Kings Mountain State Park again, to join the Rock Hill Tri Club for another installment of a course preview. I was able to keep up during the first 10 miles, that are fairly flat, but as soon as the rolling hills started, I felt the pain creeping up on me again and the only thing that seemed to keep it at bay was sitting really upright (think beachcruiser upright) going up the hills and don't push it. As soon as I tried to generate power with my glute muscles, the pain got worse. Fortunately, nothing like the day before, but that was also due to the fact that I didn't try too hard. Of course I wasn't able to keep up with the group, but that's okay. At least I saw the course another time and hopefully by the time the race rolls around, I don't have to worry about stabbing pains in the butt anymore.

Last night, I headed out for a very easy recovery ride on a flat course, just to move a little bit... There was only very little discomfort and right now, I am not sure, if this is just soreness from rolling out that area so much over the last couple of days. Funny enough, I don't feel it during running at all. That's a good thing.

My damage control mode looks like this: stop when it hurts, don't push through the pain.... I don't think right now that I need to stop cycling, but have to make sure to keep it at a level that doesn't aggravate the muscle more.

Then of course I keep on drinking healthy smoothies: recoverite, spinach, acai berry juice and frozen mixed fruit:

Ice, ice baby.

Rolling, rolling, rolling.... Terry is torturing giving me massages with the roller.

And I look at cuteness. Cuteness can cure anything! ;-) Side note: Karma claimed the couch in the downstairs living/ exercise room that nobody uses anyways. If that means that she doesn't bother me at nights, she can go right ahead.

So long! ;-)

Safety First!

This morning, I got an e-mail from the folks at RoadID that my membership is about to expire... As I type this, mine and Terry's membership are both extended to 2011 and while I was at it, I put it on automated renewal so that I don't have to think about it any more.

For those of you, who are familiar with RoadID, you may wonder what membership I am talking about. You see, last year when we decided to do something for our safety while being out and about, we opted for the "interactive" version of RoadID.



The original RoadID gives you seven lines to put down personal information like emergency contacts etc, but that's it... If anything changes, you have to order a new plate or run around with outdated emergency information. But you don't have to order a new wrist band, since you can exchange plates.

In the interactive version, you only have two lines of personalized text (we chose name and area of residence) and the rest is instruction on how to get to emergency information over phone or internet. On the back side of the plate is a serial number and a pin number, so the first responder can access your information. You can add tons of information on top of emergency contacts like your address (primary, vacation home etc), blood type, known allergies, known medical conditions AND whenever something changes, you just log on to your profile and update the information. TA-DAH! The downside is, in order keep your online profile active, you have to pay 10 bucks a year... I am okay with that.

Just to be clear here... I have bought the RoadID myself and I am also paying the membership. I just happen to be convinced by the value of this product and believe that everyone that enjoys the outdoors should invest in this little buddy.

I haven't been wearing my RoadID all the time last year, but recently I tried to get better at it again for my own good. Just last weekend, I was almost run over by a mini van on the last two miles of a solo bike ride. Seconds after that, I almost had a wash out of my rear wheel on some sand and debris on the road, maybe because I was still so scarred from the mini van attack. Seriously, that guy must have been drunk and he was way too fast and he pulled to the right side again before he even passed me. CRAP... And this was Old Buncombe Road... There are cyclist ALL THE TIME, so it's not like I could have surprised him or something.

That was a good mental refresher to ALWAYS wear my ID... when running, cycling, hiking or walking the dog... Whenever I don't have regular ID with me... AND YOU SHOULD DO THE SAME!

The Pain In the Butt And It's Nemesis

As soon as I am back to logging some serious mileage, my pain in the butt is back... Piriformis Syndrome. I mentioned yesterday already that I continuously had to stretch out my hamstrings after the run, because the muscle was tight, tight and more tight. Even though I tagged this post with "injury", I don't really consider this as such but more a side effect when I run. It really doesn't hinder me working out because the pain goes away once the muscles warm up again and really, I don't think I would feel it as much, if I wouldn't be sitting 90% during the day at work. My co-workers are so used to me stretching out at my desk that they don't even have to ask anymore what I am doing. Seriously, at times it gets so painful sitting there.... My last worry is how funny I might look.

Besides stretching, the foam roller does miracles for me to reduce the discomfort. Our dog enjoys me using the foam roller as well because it brings me on the floor and on her eye level... Last night, while I was rolling, she walked all over me and also just sat down on my hip... I don't know how a 45 lbs dog thinks that she could be a lap dog. But the added weight actually felt good on the foam roller, but her pointy bones are just way to uncomfortable.

I asked Terry to snap a couple of pictures of tonight's stretching struggle.

Just sitting on the foam roller, already makes it feel better.


Leaning back and rolling back and forth works even better.


Stretched out my calves for good measure since my chiropractor said they are so tight, that my toes are pointed when I lay down on her table. And no, I am not angry or anything, just forgot to smile! ;-)

Sick and Tired - Quite Literally

.... Or the weekend of skipped workouts.

All last week, I felt like something was up. I just felt tired and cranky and unmotivated.

The weekend started on Friday with a skipped trainer ride. I was set on doing this workout even though I had a very short night before. After I left my chiropractor appointment Friday after work, I just felt exhausted and went pretty much straight to bed.

Saturday started early with a 6AM wake up call and being at the race site for the Greenville News 5K at a little after 7AM. The volunteering was fun, we did the Kid's Run and time flew by, but three hours on my feet in the cold just left a mark. The planned six miler that I did right after I left was cut short a little and slow (even for me), but at the same time laborious. Well, I didn't have a crappy run in a while so maybe I was just due having one. I called it another early night.

Sunday started off as usual with a nice breakfast and church. They called for rain and raining it did... Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. When I finally dragged my feet out of the door, Terry and I were discussing possible routes... I had the crappiest attitude towards running (that didn't happen in a LONG time) and when the rain all of sudden turned from a little drizzle into pouring down in buckets, I turned on my heel and went back to bed.

Yesterday, I woke up with a sore throat and just did a little strength workout in the evening. Today more sore throat, but still went to do my swim in the morning... Over the course of the day, the sore throat developed into a full blown (pun intended) sinus infection. Coach said to reduce my workout volume in order to give my body more rest, so I won't get "sick sick"... I don't know, if we are not already past that point.

Needless to say, that I am frustrated... No, I am FRUSTRATED!!! I just barely recovered from this cough and now I am in for round two? Really, I shouldn't be surprised because one after the other in the office is getting sick and with my workout load, I am not surprised that my immune system is showing me the finger. Myrtle Beach is just three weeks from now and time is ticking away...

Also, my goal of being back to 125 lbs by the end of the month has been moved to the end of my priority list. While my body is trying to fight this infection, the last thing I want to do is cut calories, but I make sure to reduce my junk calories as much as possible in favor of good (in a nutritional sense) food. Still I have been steadily coming closer to that goal again and I am not worried about it, it just (most likely) is not going to happen until the end of NEXT month.

Four Day Weekends Are FUN!

Where to start when wanting to recount the activities of a four day weekend? First up, a painful truth: Even four day weekends are eventually coming to an end. Good news, I will get a little break in tomorrow, since I will be off and actually there won't be another full working week for me in 2009 anymore. Sweet... Mmmmmh? ;-) We are not allowed to carry any vacation or comp time over to next year and since I am kinda running out of year, I have to take care of it. (It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!)

So what was going on over the weekend? It can be compiled in these handy categories sorted descending by the time spend on the matter: rest, food, training, health issues and shopping.

REST

It may seem to some people that I am getting older or less fun, but my highest priority for this long weekend was certainly to get as much rest in as possible. I averaged around 9 hours of solid sleep each night from Wednesday night to Sunday night. Not counting the nap I got in Friday on our way up to Charlotte to drive the course for Terry's marathon in two weeks. Also not counting the time I was dozing or relaxing in the bed or on the couch. Do I feel much better today for all the rest that I was getting in? Not really, but I sure would feel much worse if I hadn't kept a low profile over the weekend. More about the in the health issue section of this blog post.

FOOD

Hey, it was Thanksgiving weekend, so of course we have to talk about food! Over my handy Google Reader I am subscribed to all kind of health blogs, runner blogs etc and a quite a lot of the blog posts leading up Thanksgiving have been about advice not to undo a whole year of training over one day and NOT TO GO OVERBOARD with the food. I threw in my two cents about this last week too. I think I did fairly good considering all the circumstances. We had Thanksgiving lunch at Terry's sister and the food was deeeeeeeelicious. I can't remember how much I ate, but I do remember that I actually had leftovers for dinner again... I really didn't expect to even feel appetite that soon again. For the remainders of the weekend, I was fairly alright, but I think at one point, there was a McFlurry involved as a desert. Shame on me... Or what the heck... Live a little. Today, I was sabotaged once more my an endless supply of German chocolate in the office. Nobody else to blame but me, since no one is stuffing it into my mouth, I do that all my myself. At lunch, I got some really food into my stomach and that held of the chocolate rant for the remainders of the day... Kind of... At least a little.

TRAINING

Yesterday, I finished up my highest mileage running week in a long time... A little over 22 miles. I am feeling pretty good about how the running is coming along for the MB half. Even Terry said yesterday while we finished up a 5-miler, that if I keep running and improving like this, than I will actually give him a run for his money at the 2010 MTY Sprint Tri, which is the ultimate baseline between the two of us... He is already adding up where he needs to save the minutes in 2010 so he won't be defeated again! ;-) Honestly, I have no doubt in my mind, that he won't let me repeat my victory from 2009, but I am determined on making it as close as possible! Between Thursday and Sunday I had on tap: a run and a lower body workout, a trainer ride (it was sunny outside, but cold, so I chicked out) and another two runs. Not bad at all.

HEALTH ISSUES

A lot of my resting, eating and training was worked around my current sinus infection and a surprise-backstabbing-ankle-pain-attack. I have mentioned before that I am fighting with a head cold these days. By linking my previous blog post to this one, I just noticed that I am dealing with this mess for over two weeks now. Fortunately, it's still all in the head and not on the lungs which leads me to believe that I can train fairly normally. It just a constant cycle of headaches, sore throat and runny nose. It doesn't seem to be a full blown sinus infection, but it also doesn't go away. Since I am not a person that starts taking pills right away, I basically left the whole thing untreated... I mean, what can you do about a cold anyways. But over the weekend I broke down and got me a family pack of Emergen-C and Ricolas and pop and drink as much as I can get into my system. The extensive rest over the weekend sure helped to not make things worse, but unfortunately didn't make things much better either. This ongoing sinus stuff also leads me to the attitude right now, that I eat whatever I want because my body is fighting off an infection. I kinda doubt that German chocolate is a big help, I think I need to choose healthier foods in order to be able to justify this behavior reasonably! ;-)

A little surprising was the ankle pain. I was talking all the time about how happy I am that my knees and hips and back and everything else handles the mileage increase so good this time. I noticed that I had some pain in the inside of my right ankle, but just when touching it... It was just like some nerves were a little sensitive. Then I looked at my ankle Saturday night and it's all swollen up. What the heck?? I didn't have any pain in it that day, but I displayed that nice cankle. The next morning everything looked fine again, but in the early afternoon the swelling had returned. I ran my 5-miler and felt fine for the most part, only the last mile or so was a little painful. I put my ankle brace on over night and this morning it was back to normal, but the swelling came back over the day. We'll see how this little bugger is developing.

SHOPPING

I really didn't feel like participating in the Black Friday shopping frenzy, but my mom gave me a looooong shopping list and I kinda needed Christmas gifts, too. And there were tons of deals out there, but I sure didn't get up early early. We actually spend Black Friday on the couch, on the bike trainer (I did, while Terry was out for a run), in the car on the Charlotte marathon course and on our way back we stopped in Gaffney for dinner and some shopping. I am happy to report that I was able to get pretty much all the Christmas shopping out of the way over the weekend. Most of it Friday night and then we did another short trip yesterday and I thought I was all set until I got on the phone with my brother... Oh well, I am off tomorrow.

On another note... I really start getting excited about the trip to Germany now. Just another 17 days and we are OFF! ;-)

Random Thoughts To Start Off The Weekend

Fridays are always welcome, but this week I needed it more than I normally do. Why? See below some of the reasons mixed in with general randomness.

1. I have another long weekend ahead of me. Since we have to get rid off all the vacation and comp time days by the end of the year, I will take off days here and there and a big vacation over Christmas/ New Year.
2. Tomorrow is a Downhill MTB Race at Paris Mountain. That sounds like a fun thing to watch!
3. I have been lazy when it comes to workouts on Thursday and today, but I am looking forward to some nice running (preferably on a trail) and a longer outside bike ride.
4. They finally forecasted dry conditions over the next couple of days... I really need a break from the rain.
5. On Fridays, I normally have a chiropractor appointment, that's a good thing... My lower back was killing me all week and my knees acted up a couple of times. Once again, Renee did her magic and all is better now.
6. Terry and I need to start making Germany plans: picking out a race that we want to do (racing internationally, baby!), pulling together some sort of itinerary... We definitely want to stay a couple of days in Bavaria to meet up with some friends and do some cross country skiing, winter hiking and sightseeing in Munich.
7. I don't get any household duties done during the week and I always feel better after I got caught up with stuff.
8. I need to catch up on sleep!
9. According to the National Geographic Adventure magazine issue from Aug/Sep '09 page 20: "Follow that German! No matter what corners of the globe you've reached before any of your friends, you've likely found one thing there upon arrival: Germans. Somehow, they manage to get everywhere first. Since August is Europe's biggest vacation month, we checked in with Hauser Exkursionen in Munich to find out where Volk are going this year - so we know where to book for 2011." I thought that was funny. By the way... Namibia, Libya and Armenia are the places to go! ;-)
10. Kerrie, my team mate from the Blue Ridge Relay is taking off for a relay ride from Greenville SC to Austin TX this Sunday. This is the Palmetto Peloton Project Challenge to Conquer Cancer Ride (P3C3). Please have all the riders and their support crew in your thoughts and prayers. You can follow them on their blog!
11. Speaking of relays... The American Odyssey Relay is still planned for next year for team D.N.R. or a variation of it. Now I learned that there will be a solo attempt by this guy. Good luck for the preparations!
12. We decided to do the Dan Davis Memorial Turkey Trot again this year. That was my very first 5K (my first ever race was an 8K a couple of weeks before) and will also be the first race that I do for the second time. It's a nice race (good course, well organized) raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on Furman Campus.
13. This week, I was pretty good when it comes to food. There was just one cake incident yesterday (homemade banana chocolate-mousse cake), but that's okay....
14. They finally decided to turn on the heat in the office, after it felt like living in an iglo earlier this week... Well, let me rephrase this... They finally decided to turn of the A/C in the office. Thank goodness.

Have a great weekend everyone... Enjoy! ;-)

Final Preparation before Take-Off

I can hardly remember a week, when I did less exercise than the days since my test run. I decided at the time to take it very easy and that's what I did and my volumes show that too. Of course, it's the right thing to do, but when you are used to working out all the time, it just feels wrong. On top of that, I am always very nervous about races, the working out and preparing myself for a race, helps me to feel more confident... This time, I will have to make it work without the feeling that I have done everything I should... I "just" did everything I could. But it is, what it is and when push comes to shove, I will have a whole team to back me up... Fortunately, I have one of the shortest legs that you can have in the Blue Ridge Relay.

Most of the packing for the relay was done yesterday. It's crazy how much stuff we got together, just for a 2.5 day trip. But really, a running trip just needs a little more preparation and stuff. Also, with conditions in the mountains constantly changing, we basically have packed everything from the short shorts to the running tights, from the singlet to the gloves and the armwarmers. As they say, there are no bad conditions, just poor clothing choices. Please remind me that I said that, when I have to run my "middle-of-the-night" leg, sleep deprived and in the rain! :-) The agenda for the rest of the day is a chiropractor appointment, last minute purchases for flashing lights and be at the meet up point on time. Then we will head out to Boone (NC) to stay there for the night. Tomorrow morning, we'll travel another 1.5 hours to the start line, pick up our packages, most likely we'll have to sign a mile-long waiver, get our group picture and send our first runner on the course. Then kick back and relax until it's our turn to run! Exciting! :-)

This morning, I took the puppy out for a nice long walk around the Furman Campus. Here is a visual for you:



Even as cloudy as it was this morning, you can still see the beauty of the place. In the front, you see Furman Lake with the tower and in the back the base of Paris Mountain, the top is covered in clouds. I know, I keep mentioning it, but it's just awesome, to have those two scenic landmarks in our backyard!

When we get back in town and caught up on the sleep some, I will post a race report and pictures.

GO TEAM "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" GO!!!

Test Driving the Knee

After not running for the past week, yesterday was the day to test out the knee and make a decision, if I am going to do the Blue Ridge Relay or if I have to make a phone call for my backup... Understandably, he wanted a couple of days heads up.

So, I finally worked up the courage to do the run and this was my "test track". A nice newly paved piece of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Sweet and flat.



Have a look at my "wheel set" too! ;-) They are enhanced with the Kinesio Tape and some Aspercreme, just to make it as easy on the knees as possible.




The first 0.5 miles were a complete breeze. It felt great to be out running again. Sometimes the running just bores and frustrates me, but whenever I haven't done a run in a while, I am just itching to get out there... Unless I am worried about pain, then it takes me longer to roll out of bed. Anyways...

As I said, the first 0.5 miles felt great and then the pain came back a little. For the next 0.5 miles, I was debating in my head, if I just let it go and need to accept, that the relay is over for me. The pain came and went in waves and after I did one mile, I got back to the car. I ran a little loop first, just to see how things are going. I threw the water bottle into the car, because it irritated me. Mental note: use your fuel belt instead of a water bottle... You have the stuff at home, just use it!

After that, I tried to apply what I had read about in the book ChiRunning. So I lean forward, concentrated on picking my heals up in the back instead of lifting my knees up in the front. I was focusing on relaxing my whole body and made sure my core was engaged... And I sure spend a lot of time wishing, that I already read more of that book! :-) Nevertheless, I felt like those points really made a difference in the pain. But as soon as my mind started to wander, I slumped back in my regular posture and the pain got worse... That reminded me to focus on my form again.

The run had it's ups and down, but was decent overall. I ended up doing 4.2 miles in under 40 minutes, which is a good time for me especially when fighting with pain. But I still didn't feel like I had an answer to my question, if I would be able to get through the relay.... So I asked the team... And the team told me, that they would pick up the slack, if I won't be able to run my legs and so it was decided.... :-)

In order to be as pain free as possible, there will be no running or cycling before the race anymore. I will do my stretches, ice the knee down, use the foam roller, go swimming and put Biofreeze on it.... Any yes, hope for the best!

The race is in two weeks.... What to do??

A nice feature of BF's house is, that Paris Mountain State Park is basically in the backyard. So it was a short ride over there this morning to meet with some people from our Blue Ridge Relay (BRR) team for a training run up Paris Mountain. It's a 4.4 miles run (up and back down) and I was looking forward to it, because I haven't been running a lot lately due to the move, but also due to some pain on my right outer knee. This morning's run was my test on how things are going and if it felt good, I actually planned on doing another run to bring my day's total to 10 miles. Make a long story short, I did 0.5 miles and the pain was coming back... bad... even though I was wearing my brace. Instead of running through the pain, I stopped, got the dog from BF and did a walk around Lake Placid until the guys returned from their run.

I am worried, to say the least. Volume wise, I have backed up already for the past 1.5 weeks and there doesn't seem to be any improvement. And the BRR is not a race, where I can just go and if I can't finish due to an injury, I DNF and be done with it... of course it would suck, but what can you do. When you are a part of a relay team, things are getting a little more complicated. I honestly don't want to go to Virginia, only to be in pain from the first mile on... Walking my legs is not an option either, because of the seeding etc etc etc. That's a tough one. Today a friend joined us for the run, but he is not part of the team... I told him, it's possible that he has to be my backup... We'll see.

So while unpacking and organizing, I started to map out a plan for the next two weeks before the race. What I am thinking right now, is not to run until next Saturday. I will try to go on the elliptical a couple of times and then cycle and swim for my other workouts. I have to stretch EVERY day and ice the knee down. Last week, I ordered some kinesio tape but don't have a shipping notice so far. Hopefully it is going to arrive soon and what I hope even more, that it is going to work. The countdown is on, wish me luck.