At first when I titled this post, I was thinking strictly in terms of time because each day really is getting closer to Ragnar in February. But, the more I think about it, it's also appropriate in terms of me getting closer to returning to running! Woo hoo!
Last week was my first time on the AlterG, or, as I call it when talking with Grandma, the "special treadmill." I had 3 days when I used it, and it was fabulous! I was at 65% of my weight and doing a Galloway-style of 3 minutes running with 1 minute of walking. Everything felt great, and I loved that I could kind of get back to running!
Today was my 4th day, and I was given the go-ahead to move up to 75% of my weight and to increase the running to 4 minutes with only 30 seconds of walking. Loved it! Wednesday is my next appointment, and I'll be at 80% of my weight with 5 minutes of running and 30 seconds of walking. OMG! Too excited about that!
The weather is getting so perfect for running. I think back to April and May when I was trying to train myself to get used to the sun, heat, and humidity that would be a part of the Keys100 relay. While the sun will still be around, it won't be nearly as intense as it was in May; the heat, well, the real question is how much will there be?! I got the cutest pair of RBX pants the other day; assuming it's cool enough to want to wear pants for some of the runs in February, they might be perfect! Of course they're terribly cute too, but you already knew that, right?! (I've searched Google & Bing images; can't find a good picture of these pants, so you'll just have to take my word for it as to the cuteness level.)
Monday, October 28, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Today was AlterG day!
So today's pretty much been the day I've been waiting for since September 8th. Does that day not ring a bell? It was the day of my last run. It's been 6 weeks (to the day, for those of you who are counting) of no running. That's hard! Oh, don't roll your eyes! It really is hard for a runner to not run. Back on topic: today was AlterG day!
This was me from about 9:30 to 10am:
Ok, maybe that wasn't me, but you get the picture! Seriously, how cool is that thing?! It felt so damn good to be back running again, albeit at 65% of my real self. Yup, that's the whole thing behind why the AlterG is so special; you can literally run at a percentage of your true weight.
Over the next 4 weeks, I'll be using it 3 times each week at increasing percents. The idea is to slowly get my bones to realize what's normal without throwing them right back into the mix at 100%!
This was me from about 9:30 to 10am:
Ok, maybe that wasn't me, but you get the picture! Seriously, how cool is that thing?! It felt so damn good to be back running again, albeit at 65% of my real self. Yup, that's the whole thing behind why the AlterG is so special; you can literally run at a percentage of your true weight.
Over the next 4 weeks, I'll be using it 3 times each week at increasing percents. The idea is to slowly get my bones to realize what's normal without throwing them right back into the mix at 100%!
Friday, October 18, 2013
There's a compliment in there somewhere...I think!
Let me preface this by saying I think (well, actually, I hope) there's a compliment masked by the statement for the scene I'm about to set for you. I love the salon where I go for my pedicures & eyebrow waxes. Lee Ping, the owner, is so sweet. In case you couldn't tell, she's Chinese, and that fact will be important in a bit.
Lee Ping knows of my love for running and of all of the races I've been a part of since February; she also knows of my injury and has seen me with my brace and, at other times, limping. (Personally, I considered it more of a "saunter" than a "limp," but that's just me.) As is the case with any salon, you talk about what's going on, so Lee Ping knows all about my "no running" directives from the doctors. Well, it had been a good 3 or maybe even 4 weeks since she had last seen me, and when I walked in to the salon on Tuesday, after saying "hello" to her and the rest of the staff, her first words to me were, "You're not fat!" Ummmmm, there's a compliment in there...right????
Now, to be fair, I know what Lee Ping really meant. Those 3 words were really summarizing this: Wow, it's been a while since I've seen you; I know you're not running at all, but you still look like you always have. Of course, it came out as simply, "You're not fat."
I can't even remember what I said. Honestly, it was hysterical, and I probably said something along the lines of "uhhhh, thanks!" That is the correct reply when a compliment is given, right? We had a good chuckle over it. Maybe it was a language or cultural thing where the sentiment was there, but the words didn't quite express it correctly. Either way, Lee Ping's still awesome, and, yeah, in case you're wondering because you haven't seen me in a while, she was right: I'm not fat.
:-)
Lee Ping knows of my love for running and of all of the races I've been a part of since February; she also knows of my injury and has seen me with my brace and, at other times, limping. (Personally, I considered it more of a "saunter" than a "limp," but that's just me.) As is the case with any salon, you talk about what's going on, so Lee Ping knows all about my "no running" directives from the doctors. Well, it had been a good 3 or maybe even 4 weeks since she had last seen me, and when I walked in to the salon on Tuesday, after saying "hello" to her and the rest of the staff, her first words to me were, "You're not fat!" Ummmmm, there's a compliment in there...right????
Now, to be fair, I know what Lee Ping really meant. Those 3 words were really summarizing this: Wow, it's been a while since I've seen you; I know you're not running at all, but you still look like you always have. Of course, it came out as simply, "You're not fat."
I can't even remember what I said. Honestly, it was hysterical, and I probably said something along the lines of "uhhhh, thanks!" That is the correct reply when a compliment is given, right? We had a good chuckle over it. Maybe it was a language or cultural thing where the sentiment was there, but the words didn't quite express it correctly. Either way, Lee Ping's still awesome, and, yeah, in case you're wondering because you haven't seen me in a while, she was right: I'm not fat.
:-)
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Oh happy day (yesterday)!
I did not think I'd be writing this so soon, but I was officially cleared to run yesterday! Yes, you read that right! No, I'm not making that up! Seriously! :-)
Yesterday was my 4 week follow-up appointment with the ortho in Jupiter. Honestly, I wasn't sure why I was even going, but I figured it was worth it just to go & ask about physical therapy. It started out as the usual doctor visit with the "How's everything going?" question. As has been my standard answer for about the last 4 weeks, "I feel great, but I'm not really doing anything where I shouldn't feel great." We talked about my weekly mileage prior to the injury, the doctor did some mental math, and then said I could start running! Half-mile run, a mile walk, a half-mile run, and that's it! I can do that 4 times a week. The following week, I can up it to a mile run, a mile walk, a mile run. Of course, I asked how fast this could be. While there wasn't a physical eye roll, I'm sure he was mentally doing that! Honestly, my pace will suck. I'll be lucky if I can do 8 min/mile (which was never anything "special" prior to the injury unless it was a 12+ mile run). His answer, in case you're wondering, was to take an "average pace" and add 30 seconds per mile to it.
I know you think that I would come right home from that appointment yesterday and get right to running! Trust me, I wanted to do just that! But honestly, I don't want to hurt my crotch any more than I already have. (My sister & I have had a running joke since this happened about how I hurt my crotch. I know, it's slightly inappropriate, but if you can't be immature and inappropriate with your sister, who else would not find it offensive? Miley Cirus????) Here's my plan: I've got my physical therapy appointment for next Friday. (They couldn't get me in any sooner; I asked and even begged!) Between now & then, I'll continue to power-walk the 'hood and do some elliptical workouts. It won't kill me (although it feels like it will) to not run a bit longer. As Joan said, you know how fast a week goes!
Yesterday was my 4 week follow-up appointment with the ortho in Jupiter. Honestly, I wasn't sure why I was even going, but I figured it was worth it just to go & ask about physical therapy. It started out as the usual doctor visit with the "How's everything going?" question. As has been my standard answer for about the last 4 weeks, "I feel great, but I'm not really doing anything where I shouldn't feel great." We talked about my weekly mileage prior to the injury, the doctor did some mental math, and then said I could start running! Half-mile run, a mile walk, a half-mile run, and that's it! I can do that 4 times a week. The following week, I can up it to a mile run, a mile walk, a mile run. Of course, I asked how fast this could be. While there wasn't a physical eye roll, I'm sure he was mentally doing that! Honestly, my pace will suck. I'll be lucky if I can do 8 min/mile (which was never anything "special" prior to the injury unless it was a 12+ mile run). His answer, in case you're wondering, was to take an "average pace" and add 30 seconds per mile to it.
I know you think that I would come right home from that appointment yesterday and get right to running! Trust me, I wanted to do just that! But honestly, I don't want to hurt my crotch any more than I already have. (My sister & I have had a running joke since this happened about how I hurt my crotch. I know, it's slightly inappropriate, but if you can't be immature and inappropriate with your sister, who else would not find it offensive? Miley Cirus????) Here's my plan: I've got my physical therapy appointment for next Friday. (They couldn't get me in any sooner; I asked and even begged!) Between now & then, I'll continue to power-walk the 'hood and do some elliptical workouts. It won't kill me (although it feels like it will) to not run a bit longer. As Joan said, you know how fast a week goes!
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Going nowhere fast
So by now, you know about my stress fracture and the strict "no running" orders that I've been given by multiple doctors. That's why this blog post's theme is "going nowhere fast." In the three-and-a-half weeks since the official diagnosis, I've been doing a whole lot of that. Some of it's been fun, and some of it is God-awful boring.
I think I made it a whole week-and-a-half, well, maybe it wasn't even that long, before doing something semi-active: kayaking! Even though it was not the fast-paced type of activity of which I'm fond, it was very fun and super relaxing! Thanks, Joan, for sharing your passion with me and getting me to try something new that I've wanted to do do for a long time! I've been on Craig's List trying to find a kayak to buy. Who knew those things could be so much money?!
Another activity in which I've been partaking is walking. As I said to Dave, this isn't "walking" as in taking a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. It's a definite power walk, but even that's not enough to really give a decent cardio workout...at least for me. I guess I should look at it as a precursor to running. It gets me out & about, it's fun to get some sun and see the neighborhood, and it's certainly better than doing nothing. I've been tracking my walks on RunKeeper, so I know how far I go, what my pace is, etc. Although, it is hard to hear those RunKeeper updates every minute and know where I would have been (distance-wise) had I been running.
While at the ACE Conference in Orlando, I did hit the gym at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista. It was my first time on an elliptical in what feels like forever! Man, oh man, did it feel good to be back to that! Don't worry - I didn't "over do it." (Although, to be totally honest, I did have to not tell my one doctor about this since he advised me to do nothing. Yes, literally nothing.) The Hilton ellipticals were really nice. They were smooth and would constantly scroll between your RPMs and your speed in MPH. It tracked the time and distance too, but you already knew that! As much as I would've loved to spend a long time on there, conferences aren't very conducive to long workouts, so I'd only have about 30 minutes each day. (Ok, ok, it was a bit longer because you can't just stop! You've got to cool down!)
My last morning at the conference, I hit the gym for one final elliptical session. Bernadette said that when she walked by, she saw me, but thought I was on the treadmill running. Of course, she knows that I'm not supposed to be doing that, so (in her words) she was about to do that panicked "mom knock" on the door to get me to stop running. Luckily, before the first knock, she realized that I was on the elliptical and all was well with the world! Thanks, Bernadette, for being a good friend and being ready to save me from myself! LOL
Wednesday's my 4-week follow-up visit with my ortho in Jupiter. Keep your fingers crossed that I can convince the doctor that physical therapy and the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill are good ideas! It would be awesome to get back to running, even if it is only at a small percentage of my body weight.
So while I'm currently going nowhere fast, I'm hoping that my running friends (Stephanie, Susan, and Melanie) will enjoy their big races on the 12th & 13th! Stephanie's running the Chicago Marathon, and both Susan and Melanie are doing the Key West Half Marathon! Right now, I'm vicariously living my "running life" through them! You go, girls!!!!
I think I made it a whole week-and-a-half, well, maybe it wasn't even that long, before doing something semi-active: kayaking! Even though it was not the fast-paced type of activity of which I'm fond, it was very fun and super relaxing! Thanks, Joan, for sharing your passion with me and getting me to try something new that I've wanted to do do for a long time! I've been on Craig's List trying to find a kayak to buy. Who knew those things could be so much money?!
Another activity in which I've been partaking is walking. As I said to Dave, this isn't "walking" as in taking a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. It's a definite power walk, but even that's not enough to really give a decent cardio workout...at least for me. I guess I should look at it as a precursor to running. It gets me out & about, it's fun to get some sun and see the neighborhood, and it's certainly better than doing nothing. I've been tracking my walks on RunKeeper, so I know how far I go, what my pace is, etc. Although, it is hard to hear those RunKeeper updates every minute and know where I would have been (distance-wise) had I been running.
While at the ACE Conference in Orlando, I did hit the gym at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista. It was my first time on an elliptical in what feels like forever! Man, oh man, did it feel good to be back to that! Don't worry - I didn't "over do it." (Although, to be totally honest, I did have to not tell my one doctor about this since he advised me to do nothing. Yes, literally nothing.) The Hilton ellipticals were really nice. They were smooth and would constantly scroll between your RPMs and your speed in MPH. It tracked the time and distance too, but you already knew that! As much as I would've loved to spend a long time on there, conferences aren't very conducive to long workouts, so I'd only have about 30 minutes each day. (Ok, ok, it was a bit longer because you can't just stop! You've got to cool down!)
My last morning at the conference, I hit the gym for one final elliptical session. Bernadette said that when she walked by, she saw me, but thought I was on the treadmill running. Of course, she knows that I'm not supposed to be doing that, so (in her words) she was about to do that panicked "mom knock" on the door to get me to stop running. Luckily, before the first knock, she realized that I was on the elliptical and all was well with the world! Thanks, Bernadette, for being a good friend and being ready to save me from myself! LOL
Wednesday's my 4-week follow-up visit with my ortho in Jupiter. Keep your fingers crossed that I can convince the doctor that physical therapy and the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill are good ideas! It would be awesome to get back to running, even if it is only at a small percentage of my body weight.
So while I'm currently going nowhere fast, I'm hoping that my running friends (Stephanie, Susan, and Melanie) will enjoy their big races on the 12th & 13th! Stephanie's running the Chicago Marathon, and both Susan and Melanie are doing the Key West Half Marathon! Right now, I'm vicariously living my "running life" through them! You go, girls!!!!
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