3 miles while sick

This week has been mostly about being sick. 1 whole week has passed and I still have the cold that won't quit. Granted, I should probably be taking it easier than I am (no running or hot yoga) but the weather has been great (but windy!) and I get so sick of sitting around all day.

Yesterday afternoon I ran just 3 short miles up Big River. I haven't purposefully done that short of a run in months, so that was kindof cool. Then I decided last minute to go to hot yoga. In the future, running and yoga should not happen on the same day. It just takes it out of me a little too much. However, I'm aware of a new restorative yoga class starting next week, which could be wonderful! I'm getting a little tired of attending these yoga classes so regularly because they end up being so similar. I desire a little more creativeness in my yoga, thank you!

I am looking forward to feeling better this weekend and taking another run, a massage on Monday, and restorative yoga on Tuesday.

5 miles & Hot Yoga

I knew I would be running in the rain today, but I didn't know I'd encounter a serious pacific squall 2 miles into my run. I've never run in that kind of bad weather before. Ever. When I began, the sky was mostly cloudy, with slight sun beating through. E looked west and told me I would definitely be running in the rain as we watched a huge grey cloud out over the ocean move inward. Unconcerned, I shed my jacket, clipped on my shuffle, and set out. And like I said, about 1.5 miles into it the rain started. Not too heavy, so I kept going. Rain increased, as did the wind. Something in me said I should probably turn around, even though the Garmin said only 2.2 miles. As I turned, everything changed. I had run the first part of the run with a tail wind, and now I was facing a serious headwind. Rain was driving into my face and the wind made it very difficult to breathe. I had to place a hand over my mouth while I ran so I could actually get a breath! I was soaked within 90 seconds, and was quickly freezing. My hands lost feeling and the rain just kept coming down. For a few moments, I was actually scared. I decided to keep going, and ended up back at the parking lot bathed in clear skies and sunshine, so I did another mile before packing up.

I downloaded some trance/rave-like music from Audio Fuel. It's a company that makes workout music (specifcally running, I think) that sets your pace using beats per minute. Each song is set to help you increase you pace during the run and then maintain a constant pace while you put serious mileage. There's some coaching thrown in, and they even make music for tempo runs, long runs, short runs. You name it. Kind of cool.

Hot Yoga may have been overdoing it, but I felt like getting some more sweat on, and just generally stretching out. I now have some minor pain in my right hamstring that I'm conscious of resting over the next few days.

3.5 miles, & New Hot Yoga Class

While traveling this weekend I had the opportunity to go to East Wind Yoga in Auburn. What an amazing studio ~ tall ceilings, nice consistent heat, wonderful light, lots of props/towels/mats, and a kind instructor. Although I appreciate my local studio a lot, it's hard not to compare and wish we had something like East Wind in my town. I would certainly go there again if I could (too bad I can't put my unlimited classes for 10 days at $10 to better use! What a deal!).

Other than that, I put all my energy Saturday into supporting E in his tourney. I caddied for him, meaning I carried a 30 lb. bag well over 4 miles in the hot sun. I loved supporting him and helping him get his feet under him in only his second pro tourney. Although I didn't get a run in I felt good about the weekend. I'm still grappling with running in unfamiliar territory, and still even have trouble running our local forrest trails without some trepidation. Strangers and danger are on my mind, as well as mountain lions. Obviously having the dog with me makes a bit of difference with both issues, but doesn't put me at complete ease.

In running news, I again tried to run the same local trail that was closed last week due to trees, and was foiled on Thursday. Trail still closed. With only 1.5 hours before I had to be at work, and my 5-mile-plan fading into the distance, I almost had a "damnit-running" breakdown and went home pissed. But E came to my rescue, creating a new and untried uphill route from the highway back to our house. I was doubtful but desperate. This route reintroduced the "hill" to me - I grew up running always either up or down a hill - I have purposely been avoiding hills because I read that if you plan to run a flat pavement race, you should train on flat pavement. Not sure if this is completely true 100% of the time, as I feel like I'm missing out on an important aspect of training by avoiding hills. I used to be a serious trail runner, and now am a pavement junkie. Who would've thought?

I've also decided to let The Ave pass me by this year. I haven't been consistent with my training, and doubt wether or not I could even accomplish a 10k that betters my Whale Run time. There's a lot going on in my life right now (the least of which include big pacific storms!) and running 3-4 times per week has not been my top priority. I'm definitely in the market for another fun 10k or 10 mile race I can set my sights on.

Yoga (& thoughts on blogging)

My plan to go to hot yoga two times this week is foiled, as the studio was closed on Monday and Tuesday. I remembered the Wednesday a.m. class taught by a different teacher and decided to go. She led an almost identical series of poses but incorporated personal thoughts and opinions cleverly disguised as a "yogic lesson". Seriously? The class was fine though, and not as hot as normal.

I've been feeling really tired lately, perhaps because I'm not sleeping very long or very soundly. I bagged my Monday run upon returning from Boonville. Yesterday I knew a run wasn't in the cards because of torrential rain and severe wind. And today I chose yoga over a run and have no plans to run in the 40mph wind tonight after work. I will run tomorrow, and get down at least five miles.

I'm still feeling some pain in my hips (psoas) from pushing myself those extra two miles on Saturday. The pain was intense but I decided to try running through it. Probably not a good idea when it comes to that particular area of my body.
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I spent a lot of time online today reading running/food blogs. Some reek of leftover teenage body angst channeled into an adult forum (eating disorders disguised as health discussions). In public, they can pretend they have nothing to hide (this is especially true when I see photos of thin women paired with in depth discussions of calorie counts). I'm not trying to judge, just observe.

One thing I do envy from these bloggers is their sense of community - they have running partners, running groups, and running friends. I am alone in all this, and it makes me want a running penpal!
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We'll travel to Auburn this weekend, the self-proclaimed Endurance Capital of the World. Sounds like there are lots of good restaurants, some great running trails, an amazing running store and a few good vegetarian restaurants (oh yeah! and a hot yoga studio!). I hope to find time amongst the tournament to indulge in these things. Running in a new place (probably alone) highlights several safety issues that I'm unsure how to tackle.

6 miles - finally

Wow, that took a long time, but I'm back. I ran 6 miles yesterday and hadn't run for an entire week! Thanks to many people I was able to get back out there and remember why I run, and that it's easy to run.

This past week was a difficult one for me in many ways. I don't know if I sidelined my running schedule as a consequence of my bad week, or if sidelining was the cause of my bad week. It is difficult for me to tell (age old chicken/egg type thing). A couple of emails to friends resulted in sage advice (mainly: get out there and run!) and slight pressure to accompany other on "outings" resulted in a plan to actually run.

So there it is. A week of no running made for a painful last two miles. 1 through 4 felt great. 4 through 6 felt like I was going to die. I had to walk four times because my psoas were flaring and cramping, but I think I still finished in under 58 minutes and beat my Whale Run time. Feels good to think that my base run is 6 miles. I plan to run at least two more times this week, and go to yoga twice.

I also have the hot tub up and running again, and soaked my weary bones this morning for 20 minutes before sunrise... aaah, how I love the hot pot.

Four Miles

Sometimes the only reason I go running is because of E. He motivates me to go when all I'm capable of doing is talking about it. I mention a slight desire, or state the obligation of my training schedule, and he's on it. He knows it's ok to pressure me into it, and I thank him when it's all over.

Such was the case on Saturday, when the wind was blowing and the sheets of rain starting to fall. We attempted a V.D. state park but the trail was closed due to a tree down. The track really was last on our list of fun things to do but ended up being the most appropriate run for the situation. I started out thinking I could run 24 laps to get 6 miles down while E played a quick round, but boy, was I mistaken. After 4 laps I wasn't sure I would even make it another two. But somehow my feet kept carrying me round and round, and I made a goal to at least finish 16 laps before E finished his round. I believe I was running much faster than I run on normal "out&back" runs because my lungs were actually burning and today (Sunday) my quads are sore. So distance-wise, it left my training schedule a bit dry but was better than no run at all. For that, I can pat myself on the back. Plus, today has been relentless rain, wind, thunder and nasty.

I still can't seem to log a "long run"....

Six Miles

I often surprise myself. Yesterday afternoon I ran 6 miles up Big River. The first 3 were plagued by ridiculous side ache pain, which magically subsided at the turnaround. The 3 miles back felt amazing and great - at mile 6 I felt like I could have run another 6. I should have. My playlist was awesome and the weather was spectacular. The GPS didn't work - too many trees - but the mile markers along the road are accurate by my google earth calculations.

This morning we did P90X Legs & Back workout, followed by Ab Ripper. Again, I'm surprised how strong my legs feel; perhaps even stronger than when we were doing P90X every day! The abs video is still really hard for me, but it felt great to do some back work using two bands in the door jamb. Funny, the door blew open on my last set and the band anchor shot back at me - first time that's happened - but I wasn't hurt.

Diet's been pretty good and consistent, with moderate amounts of gluten and dairy. Last night I made a delicious lentil soup with spelt grilled cheese. Had another almond protein shake post-workout today, and an Amy's tamale meal for lunch. Tonight and tomorrow, I'm "off", as dinner tonight will surely be a splurge, as will tomorrow's field trip to the ball game.

Yoga

Went to hot yoga last night and absolutely despised the new music playlist. R&B-hiphop-alicia keyes-type music that, honestly, if it continues, would make me not return to yoga. E says I should say something about how I feel, and maybe it will come to that. It's funny how music can have such an effect, and is so intensely personal. Is this "pole-dancing-playlist" really that different from the usual playlist? And on the same note, I sent E an amazing new song and he said he couldn't stand it. He downloaded two songs from a band he heard last month (unheard of!) and I was thoroughly unimpressed. But a lot of music does have mass appeal - speaking of: Jack Johnson has a new album coming out! So the yoga was good, and I really pushed myself but am not sore at all. P90X Yoga did make me sore a little bit on Sunday, so maybe need to mix it up more. She really does lead the same sequence of poses every class.

My last run was on Friday. Yes, I needed the rest over the weekend, and I'm having extreme pms symptoms this week, but there is no excuse for not putting down even just 3 or 4 miles on Monday or Tuesday. It's now mid-week and I'm scheduled for 5 miles, yet my 8 mile long run didn't happen on Monday. Maybe I need to revamp my schedule - it seems easier to put in runs on Friday and Saturday, and I should do my long run after two days rest... I'll think it over, preferably during my 5 mile run this afternoon. :-)

Ridiculously Sore

Today has been another crazy stormy day. Windy and raining all night and all day. E and I had resolved to do P90X's YogaX video, and we got started around 11:30. As we made our way through the vinyasas I realized how similar the P90 routine is to the hot yoga class routines we do. We completed the first 40 minutes of power flow, and decided to skip forward to the stretching part, skipping the yoga abs and a bunch of the balance poses. It felt good to stretch my sore muscles and I definitely felt looser by the end of the hour. It was supposed to be a cross training day - 50 minutes - and yoga is a pretty weak cross training activity. But for a rainy day, and for how sore I am, I felt lucky to be doing anything at all.

A gigantic easter brunch was next - I had already anticipated consuming far too much gluten and dairy (my two nemeses), and I went over the top with one too many mimosas and two extra cups of coffee. I felt fine at the time, but the toxin-induced headache hit me at about 7 pm. I'm still really sore, especially my inner thighs (from lunges), my period is around the corner, and the combo of these things made for a pretty painful sunday disc golf round.

Dinner was great - E made polenta with veggie sauce from our CSA box. I drank two glasses of OJ and am attempting to take it easy now. The Eight Miler is on the schedg for tomorrow and I'd like to feel well enough for it.

Seriously Sore

I am so sore. Yesterday, determined not to let another stormy, rainy, windy day pass by without some kind of physical activity, E and I turned on P90X's Core Synergistics video - 59 minutes of hard work. E couldn't make it all the way through, but I persevered, and even did the 17 minute ab ripper video afterward. Seeing E's inability to make it through the videos made me realize that hot yoga and running have put me into pretty good shape. Granted, I'm so sore today I can only sit, stand and walk with pain and difficulty... And when we'd finished working out the sun decided to shine and the rain went away. I decided to put 4.5 miles away, and we drove north where I could run on dry pavement. All told, it was about 2 hours of working out and I felt beat.

I notice after especially hard workouts that I have trouble sleeping that night - the physical muscle and joint discomfort makes me toss and turn for hours. Also might be related to my monthly cycle?

Have also started drinking chocolate almond rice protein shake once daily. Probably best after working out.