Anatomy of a 5-mile run

.02 miles: Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch...

Not exactly what I'm thinking at any mileage...

.05 miles: Must. Walk.

.15 miles: Okay, back at it... easy, easy...

.76 miles: This might not be so bad.

.83 miles: "Not so bad" ... What was I thinking?!

1.00 miles: Walk break! Woot!

1.32 miles: What percentage of done am I? Let's see, 2.5 miles would be halfway, so 1.25 would be a quarter of the way through, so 1.32 ... hmmm... okay, 1.33... 1.34... well, let's just swag it at about 30% done. Almost done!

1.37 miles:  Okay, no.  30% isn't even close to almost done.

2.00 miles: Walk break. Thank god.

2.10 miles: Get going, get going, get going...

2.11 miles: Okay, for reals now. Get going.

2.12 miles:  FOR REALS, body.  MOVE.

2.50 miles: HALFWAY! Now I'm *really* almost done.

2.64 miles: Dang. This wasn't over as soon as I thought it would be...

3.00 miles: Walk break, water break, change from podcast to music break, pep talk break, mop off sweat break, aren't I done yet self-talk break and then I'm all out of time as the treadmill clicks to 3.10 miles.

3.10 miles: Run! Run! Run! Maybe if I sound excited, my body will feel that way too?

3.82 miles: What the hell was I thinking, getting on the treadmill and loading up this workout? Huh? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Remind me never to do this again.

4.00 miles: Four miles would be just as good as five, right? This is a nice, round number, perfectly respectable and more than most people in the world are running right now. It would be a good time to quit, wouldn't it?

4.01 miles: Damn. Thought too long, now I've got to keep going to five miles.

4.10 miles: Okay feet, don't fail me now. Time for the last bit of running. You can do it, you can do anything for 10 minutes, right? No troubles, no worries, just one foot in front of the other...

4.36 miles: Isn't it at 5 miles yet?

4.39 miles: Not yet?

4.42 miles: Still not. Sigh.

4.50 miles: Halfway through the last mile. The math was too easy, I should do this again at 4.57 miles.

4.57 miles:  <incapable of math>

4.62 miles: Sweat in my eyes! Oh my god, the pain!! I'm blinded!

4.71 miles: The faster I run, the faster I'm done...

4.77 miles: Okay, slow down, can't go that fast...

4.87 miles: Closer, closer, closer...

4.92 miles: Done yet?

4.93 miles: Is the treadmill broken? I should be done by now.

4.94 miles: What the hell...

4.95 miles: It's gotta be broken...

4.96 miles: Less than 30 seconds. Don't wimp out now!

4.97 miles: *%&$*#(@

4.98 miles: Must. Not. Trip.

4.99 miles: Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

5.00 miles: I did it. Made it. Accomplished my goal. Sure, I'm a sweat-soaked mess but at least I can lay claim to a job well done. Or, at least, a job done. No trips or spills or falls. No tears, no blood, no major injuries. I can only hope my next run is as totally awesome as this one.  Can't wait!

Water on the brain

I'm in my basement, an overwhelming musty smell making me crinkle my nose. Arms and head hanging, I inspect the puddles of water that are slowly creeping from one wall out across the floor.  As you would expect, water in a basement -- except, perhaps, for those rich enough to have a pool or hot tub down there -- is not a good thing. In fact, it kind of ruins my day.

I march myself back upstairs and gather up an armload of old towels (the upside to having two dogs?  There is no shortage of towels around the house...) and head back down to sop up the water that's already there and put up a barrier against the water that continues to drip in.  See, a week ago we had the 5th biggest snowfall in Chicago history.  And today?  The temperature is nearing 40 degrees and the ice dams in my poor gutters are drip drip dripping down the house and magically seeping through to my basement.

After reining in the puddles, I go back outside and look at all the ice that's formed in my gutters, on my roof, attached to my downspout and even simply frozen directly to the side of the brick wall. This is certainly not what I wanted to be dealing with this weekend. Curses! I wanted to enjoy the unseasonably warm temperatures rather than shaking my fist at their consequences.

It's still so hard to figure, though -- we also get torrential rain storms during the summer and does the rain get into the basement?  Nope -- dry as a bone.  This water is just dribbling down the wall, looking a whole lot like the coming of Spring (it isn't, by the way, just wishful thinking on my part) but it's persistence does what the torrential rain storm cannot:  seep through my foundation and end up pooling around my workout equipment (hey! reason #26 not to workout!).

So, yea, this kind of sucks, but maybe I should look on the bright side, right? What's the moral of this story? That slow, steady movement can really go a long way in breaking through barriers, even brick walls. Where raging strength fails, persistence can succeed.  There's a life lesson for you.  And now?  The only ice I'm going to deal with are the three cubes clinking around in my glass, helping to end the day better than it started.

25 Perfectly Acceptable Reasons Not To Workout

1. I coughed so I must be getting sick and should rest.
2. It’s too cold out.
3. It’s too warm out.
4. It's too _____ out.
5. The dogs will give me a guilt trip for not playing with them.
6. I don’t have any clean workout clothes.
7. I just did laundry and I don’t want to dirty anything right away.
8. Did I hear donuts calling my name?
9. I don’ wanna (said in my best, whiny, toddler voice)
10. My horoscope said that it might be dangerous to lift anything heavy today.
11. But there’s a marathon of Law and Order on TV!  I'm sure that’ll never happen again!
12. My blog isn’t going to write itself.
13. I’ve just gained the trust of my bed and hate to endanger that trust by leaving.
14. The sun will make me squint too much and give me wrinkles.
15. Right after I clear the next few levels of Candy Crush….
16. It’s such a good hair day that I hate to ruin it by sweating.
17. It just seems like so much…. work.
18. There’s no one else home and I’m afraid that I might accidentally get pinned down by a barbell.
19. My chakras would revolt.
20. I'm trying to conserve energy in the event of a zombie attack.
21. I've got a very important appointment with my couch that I must keep.
22. Girl Scout cookies are in season again and I'd hate to be rude and not answer the door when they come calling.
23. I've fallen and I can't get up!
24. I need to immediately start working on my new year's resolution to get more sleep.
25. I'm testing out the theory that a watched pot never boils.

Of course, for every 25 reasons for not working out, there's always one good one in support of getting your sweat on: that feeling of accomplishment and badass-ness you get from taking on the world and coming out victorious. And that trumps those 25 excuses any day.

What's your favorite perfectly acceptable reason for not working out?

What month is it?

I'm not saying anything that anyone around here hasn't already said a million times, but I AM SO SICK OF THIS WEATHER. It's the end of March. It's OFFICIALLY Spring. And yet, I drove to work in white-out conditions just this week. And there's more snow predicted in the 10-day forecast. Ridiculous.

UNCLE! UNCLE! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP.

I'm ready to go running, ready to take the dogs for long walks, ready to take my bike out, ready to sit out on the patio with a book and an adult beverage but Mother Nature isn't in agreement. I'm afraid that we're going to go from 20's and snowing to 97 degrees with 100% humidity with none of the beautiful Spring weather that keeps me sane the rest of the year.

I appreciate you allowing me to rant, I almost feel a little better from it. And now I'll descend into my basement torture room for yet another workout because it's too cold to do it outside.

(and yes, I know I could go outside regardless of the weather ... and I used to run outside year-round ... but I'm older and whinier now)

And the verdict is...

My foot doctor appointment was today -- a great way to celebrate my birthday! -- and as I suspected, the MRI didn't show anything more than the x-rays. Ironically, it identified another issue that I've been having on and off since about 2009, but still nothing to worry about.

So, I still have the pain, but as I've repeatedly said, it's not all that bad. In fact, I'd say that it feels marginally better in the last week or so. The doc's advice? Give the boot another couple of weeks, just for kicks and giggles. The advice I'm going to take? My own, which includes getting back to things and not worrying about it.

There's no fracture there that I'm going to turn into something worse. So my new plan of action is going to be to sign up for an early May 5-mile race and start training. I can always revisit this issue if the foot really starts bothering me again.

(I know, I know, but I've got to start doing something and have a goal again or I'm just going further down this abyss. No more foot excuses!)

I missed New Habit Monday

Of course, for awhile now it hasn't really been "new" habit Monday -- it's been a rehash of habits from the days of yore. This week it's all about being smart with carb intake -- both amount and type, with an emphasis on honing in on what really works for me as an individual.

This is easy for me; I figured out awhile ago that I don't do well on a typical low-carb diet. When I have a dinner of only vegetables and lean protein, about 45 minutes later all I want to do is eat eat eat (and not vegetables and lean protein, either). By tossing some quinoa, a sweet potato or wild rice into the mix, I find that I'm far more satiated than I otherwise would have been. The issue for me is not overdoing it -- I don't need heaping portions of it, just enough to take the edge off, ya know?

On another note entirely, one of my friends today posted on Facebook on how she had looked back at her BT log on this same day the past few years (beginnertriathlete.com ... remember, that's my virtual hangout despite the fact that I don't actually do triathlons anymore) .  This got me to thinking, and so I took a trip through the way-back machine as well (I love that I've had an online home now for about 9 years ... all that history...also makes me appreciate how I can write on and on about myself).

And you know what? Not last year, but every year before that I was working out and in shape and so utterly unappreciative of the motivation I had to get things done. I took it as a matter of fact that I would be running or biking or strength training or doing something active for an hour or more most days of the week -- being lazy never involved not working out for a full week, it was more like taking 2 days off. Now that I'm out of shape and fighting injury, I realize how much I took for granted. It's going to take me a long while to work my way back there -- and it's made me regret (even more - still - again) getting to the point where I am now. 

And this was an easy workout for a Saturday
because I was racing the next day. That's something
else I used to do -- I used to race. I miss that.

Reading about the nonchalant "went out and did an easy 6.5 miles today" or "up before work to get a quick bike spin out of the way" makes me want to be that person again (I still have no desire to swim, though - that will never change, I don't think! Brrr... cold water... hate it...). I feel like somehow I've lost part of my identity the last year or so and I really need to get it back.

And I know how to do it. One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. The hardest part is starting ... after that, it's simply moving forward just a little bit every day. Reading about my recent-past escapades drove home how much I like myself when I'm able to take working out for granted.

Water on the noggin'

Well, after the record 68" of snow the area has seen this winter (average is under 30"), it's finally starting to warm up just a bit.  I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this -- I'm just so DONE with this winter.

But how does that saying goes?  Be careful what you wish for ... 

The warming temperatures and melting snow brought the outdoors into my basement -- yes, puddles and puddles of water.  Just what I need while I'm dealing with studying for an exam on Saturday! My roommate's been helping switch out towels (most of the leakage is in the workout room, which is good -- no carpeting in there) and my Dad came over this afternoon to help me diagnose the problem, figure out if there's a fix (no, not really) and help get things as good as they can be for the time being. I'm lucky to have people around me who support me in a lot of different ways.

Onto more relevant topics ... I've been peeking ahead in our lessons and there's a good one for Thursday: a 24-hour fast.  I've done the intermittent fasting as I've talked about previously, usually going about 15-17 hours between meals, but a full 24 hours? That's a bird of a different color.

But I'm looking forward to it. I've not only been forgetting what it feels like to be hungry, but forgetting to realize that hunger isn't an emergency that needs tending to immediately. Fasting will be a good way to reset my brain. At least that's what I'm hoping for, because I kind of need a kick start back to reality.

This post is a little disjointed, but frankly, so am I at the moment. After 2 hours spent dealing with water and then another 2.5 hours studying (and it's not like I didn't work a full day first), my head is ready to relax. Or at least go to sleep. Which is what I'm going to do. Right now, in fact. Good-night!

Oh, my achin' foot

Stress fracture, bone abnormality
or just all in my head?

Saw the foot doctor today to get the X-rays read, and like Google had already told me -- if there's a stress fracture, it's not readily apparent. Which it should be, since the length of time that I've had the pain would be long enough for the calcification of the bone to show up. The doc did say that she saw some "abnormality of the bone" where I've got pain, but she's not exactly sure what might be the issue.

So - onto the next step: an MRI. Oh, joy. Part of me wants to abandon all this right now and just deal with it, like I have been for the past 7 or 8 months. It's not a stress fracture, so I'm not in danger of breaking my foot, right? It's only been 2 weeks and I'm already sooo over this whole thing. Doc did concede that if the walking boot didn't seem to be doing any good, then I could consider ditching it, though now I feel like I ought to give it more time. Catholic guilt at it's best.

Thing is, if it were just this same ol' low level pain all the time (think: 3 or 4 on a pain scale of 10), I wouldn't think anything of it. But there are moments when I step a little on the side of my foot, or just the wrong way and .... YEEEOOOOWWW... and all of a sudden, the 3 or 4 becomes an easy 8 or 9 (plus a few curse words). And it hurts whether I'm standing on it, running on it, squatting 145 pounds or laying down trying to sleep. Very weird, in my estimation.

If the MRI doesn't show anything then I really am going to just start ignoring the pain and waiting for it to go away on it's own eventually. What's the worst that can happen, right?

We interrupt this blog to give you 9 days of probably close to nothing.

In my real life, I'm an I.T. professional and starting today, I'm taking a Microsoft class on Server 2012 for the next 9 days.  But not just a class -- an intense, bootcamp-style class (without the cardio or fun strength training).  Saturday and Sunday don't even offer a break from the 12 hour days.

In preparation for this, I made a bunch of food so that I could easily stay on track with my nutrition (if I so choose to).  Historically, these classes cause me to eat eat eat -- as I'm working away, or trying to stay awake during lectures, I always want something to munch on.  I've got veggie choices for these snack attacks, and not too much in the way of junk food in the house, so I'm hoping that this doesn't end up being a bad week.

So, posting will be light until I'm done with this special week and a half of hell.  I'm making a commitment to getting up early to get workouts in, and as long as the weather is okay, I'll walk the dogs a little longer twice a day because I'll need a break.  But I won't have time for much more than that.  It's an exhausting 7am-7pm work day.  Lovely.

Don't miss me too much!

What a week

It's been quite the week:  wake and funeral for my grandma, muscle-spasming-in-my-back issues, things breaking at work issues and yesterday I managed to catch the bad cold that's been going around (and just as my back was feeling good enough to try working out again!).  You know, because everything else wasn't enough.

Nutritionally, this has been a most awful week.  I pretty much ate all sorts of crap because it was convenient and easy and I wasn't feeling up to taking care of myself.  In return, I enjoyed some junk food but felt kind of nasty afterwards.  I don't like feeling like that.

I need a reset.  I need to eat healthy.  Even though I'm not feeling well, I need to spend this weekend doing food prep so that I have healthy options right in front of me.

Just wanted to update everyone -- I know it's been awhile since I posted here.  I'm around, just sniffling, coughing and miserably whining about not feeling well.  It's not pretty.

In a rut

I hate it when things are hard.  I want to WANT to workout.  And this week I'm just not feeling it (yea, I'm still whining).

Got my strength workout in this afternoon -- had a session with my roommate personal trainer -- but then opted not to do anything afterwards.  I had a headache from work and was tired and crabby -- one of those days where I wanted to just sink into the couch and ignore the rest of the world (except maybe the dogs) (because they're really cute) (and like to snuggle with me).

I could blame it on work being extra-tiring and stressful this week, but that's kind of a cop-out.  It's not like this kind of week is completely unheard of in my life (though, work life generally isn't a huge source of stress) and at some point I need to learn how to be healthy even when life isn't all rainbows and butterflies.  And remember that whole spiel about how exercise helps stress and mood?  Um, yea.

That's all for now.  Gotta figure out how to dig deep down and find my mojo again. It's there -- that I'm sure of -- but just covered in yawns and headaches at the moment.  So, I'll leave you with a good night, enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow, better than ever.