Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sunshine

on my shoulders makes me happy......

Oh, sorry :)
I've been loving the awesome spring weather we had here recently: perfect temps, lovely breezes, and tons of sunshine. It's been wicked awesome. And to make it even feel spring like here on the bloggy, Breanne at Bella Vita - aka my running partner with the adorable daughter - has bestowed upon me the Sunshine Award (I like to use fancy words like bestowed when I think the English major Bre may be reading, lol).

The point of this award (as I understand it) is to pass this along to a blogger (or bloggers) that you check in on frequently who bring a little sunshine into your life. Sweet, right? So, with that in mind, I would like to pass this pretty little thing on to:

Jcam of my freakin awesome blog. Besides the fact that this girl ad I share a deep love of DMB and books and she taught me to say "wicked" as an adjective, she's also incredible funny and now has a totally cute baby bump to boot.

I'd also like to pass this on to Jenny at What the blog? for being wicked funny, sarcastic, smart, a major book lover, and for teaching me what a snarf is.

And to Meredith at Balance for MEre for being such an awesome source of inspiration. And for having such a cute dog.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Someone Wants Attention



Do you see the Harry Potter blanket under the computer in the first picture?

C25k Week 2 & 3 (and 3 again)

Sorry for going m.i.a. there for a bit, life kinda got away from me. So here's a recap on the last few weeks and an update on where I'm at now.

Week 2 went really well. I did not have any problems hitting the set times and felt really great after each session. I was totally loving the program after week 2.

Week 3 was not so good though. It started off badly when my first run was delayed by 3 days. Saturday, which is when I had been starting the weeks, we were out of town all day, so I had planned to go Sunday. But Sunday morning I woke up feeling a little off, but I figured it was because of the junk I had eaten the day before and that a good bowl of oatmeal and a little waiting time would make it all better. Wrong. I ended up getting incredibly sick not long after that bowl of oatmeal (lesson, don't eat oats if you feel wonky) and was forced to spend the rest of the day on the couch barely able to stomach water. Turns out that this nasty little bug had been going around work, and apparently it was my turn. Monday I still felt bad, so no run that day either. I finally got to run on Tuesday and it wasn't great but wasn't horrible: I could feel that it'd been a few days since my last run and that I was kinda dehydrated/rundown from being sick.

My other two runs of week 3 weren't any better. On the second run about halfway through I started getting this shooting pain up the sides of my ankle. So I cut back on the running times and gave myself a day off before run 3. Unfortunately that didn't help and I had the pain again. So I thought maybe a couple days rest and a repeat of week 3 would help: wrong again. I only managed to make it to the gym twice last week and both runs were horrible and painful.

I've felt this before actually, but it's been a few years. In high school I did marching band and started to feel this pain during long parades. It's this horrible burning sensation up the tendon that runs up the outside of my ankle. It goes away shortly after I stop whatever I'm doing, but while I'm doing whatever it is it becomes incredibly painful just to take a step. We never quite figured out what caused it back in high school, but when I became a lazy bump-on-a-log after school I didn't have to deal with it and stopped worrying about it (plus, with the weight I've lost I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore).

I have two theories on it though. One is that it's a type of tendinitis. Some basic Google researching this past week has me thinking this could be it. The other theory though is that it's just another symptom of my messed up legs: my hips and ankles turn (or kinda lean) out, while my knees turn in. When I messed up my knee in high school I had to do physical therapy and the therapist mentioned this the first time he saw me walk, news to me but not apparently to my mom. She told me later that they noticed this when I was really little but my craptastic doctor told them to just put me in high-top sneakers and I'd be ok - wrong! My mom later said that she wishes they would have put me in leg braces or something back then, so maybe I would have so many issues now. Oh, and if you want to see how bad it is, grab a pair of shoes I've worn for awhile and you'll see that my feet go out so much that I wear out the outside of my shoes really quickly.

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do. I've been loving running (up until the whole burning tendons thing), so I don't really want to stop. I know I should go to the doctor probably, but I don't really know if I will - I hate going to the doctor. I may continue to baby my ankles some - rest, ice, etc - and may try to play with the C25k program and fine-tune it to something I can handle right now. I'm really just not sure. But I promise I'll let you know as soon as I come up with a plan.

I'm trying to turn myself from a self-proclaimed non-runner into a pavement-pounder by my first 5k this summer - and I'm doing it with the lovely Breanne of "Bella Vita". Check out my announcement post and Week 1 (and week 1 again) plus check back weekly for my training updates as I make my way through the Couch to 5k program. And if you're a runner with any tips I'd love to hear them!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

C25k Week 1 = done

So I officially finished week 1 on Thursday. I ended up changing my plan from running Monday and Wednesday and making it Tuesday and Thursday instead because I was fighting a migraine all day Monday and ended up not making it to the gym.

Days 2 & 3 were still a bit of a shock to my system, even after day 1 and the bonus days last week, but I could feel that day 2 was slightly easier and day 3 was even more so. By Thursday I was really looking forward to getting to the gym and getting going. It's still totally mental and I spend a lot of the time talking to myself and reminding myself that I can do this - but it's starting to feel more natural. Plus one thing that really surprised me is how awesome I've felt the next day - totally thirsty but still awesome. I know that it's still small amounts of running so it seems a bit strange to think that it's having such an impact on me already, but I really swear it is. I've felt happier and more energized the next day and just a lot less blah.

I started week 2 on Saturday and it went well, I'll talk more about it next week. Also, I decided while on the treadmill on Tuesday that when I finish (although I kept saying "if" and having to correct myself to "when") week 3 I'm going to order a Bondi Band. I've seen these popping up lately on quite a few of the healthy living blogs I read and they've gotten really good reviews. I cut my hair a couple weeks ago and it's too short for a ponytail, so I've been having to do pigtails and a headband, but I've just got some thin elastic bands so I still end up with a lot of hair in my face. These Bondi Bands apparently stay in place the whole time you're running, are quite thick - so they'll really keep the hair out of my face, and they wick the sweat away too. The only problem now is deciding which one to get.

Finally, I was pretty bored the other night and was playing around with the flair on Facebook and randomly looked up C25k and 5k flair and found this:

I added it to my board but then got to thinking about the fact that it says "training." It just seems so odd to me that I can say I'm "training" for anything. I even questioned whether I could actually say that. But then, being the nerd that I am, I looked up the definition of the word training, and this is what Dictionary.com says:
Train - verb - "to make (a person) fit by proper exercise, diet, practice, etc., as for an athletic performance."
So, technically I really am training for a 5k. I'm also training to be fit, healthy, and (I've learned this week) happier. So I guess that training badge really does fit. But it still seems weird to me that I can say that - given my past feelings toward all things health and fitness. But it's a good kind of weird.

That's all I've got for now, so see you back next week with an update on week 2. And if you celebrate it - Happy Easter!

I'm trying to turn myself from a self-proclaimed non-runner into a pavement-pounder by my first 5k this summer - and I'm doing it with the lovely Breanne of "Bella Vita". Check out my announcement post here and Week 1 here plus check back weekly for my training updates as I make my way through the Couch to 5k program. And if you're a runner with any tips I'd love to hear them!

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