Hello January!

I rang in the New Year with my sister and some friends in the Twin Cities area. We actually spent New Years Eve at a low key house party but had fun playing games and having a few drinks.

Friday night a few of us went out to the Local, which is one of my favorite places to go in downtown MPLS. I tried the Big Ginger, which is what they are known for and fell head over heals in love. mmm... so tasty and refreshing! (two shots of Jameson whiskey, ginger ale, ice, and lemon and lime wedges in a 16 oz. glass)


The last couple of days I didn't have access to a gym and only had the option of the treadmill at my sister's house, but my knees were screaming "no". So, this morning, my plan was to head to the downtown Y and bike for about 45 minutes and then swim 20 minutes. It's been weeks since I last got into the pool.

Once I got there, I noticed how crappy the bikes were and didn't want to ride anymore. I really didn't want to run since my last couple of runs weren't the prettiest - leaving my knee feeling a bit tight. However, I ran/walked a couple miles, stretched a lot and then swam 1000M.


Is it bad that I am already re-thinking my goals/races for 2010?

My goal for January is to really get back into bodypump class, as well as trying some yoga and pilates classes. I am also going to begin doing my tripower routine. I will keep running, biking, and swimming, but nothing too crazy. My focus needs to be strengthening and stretching this month.

I won't be making any decisions in regards to any long distance races or challenges until February.


How is the New Year treating you?

Making progress

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I got to hear a great local band Friday, spent a lot of time resting and relaxing (with a little cleaning) on Saturday, and a lot of baking and such on Sunday! I have a Special Ed staff/paraprofessional christmas party that I am hosting this Thursday and trying to get ready for it!



On the workout front, I have been kicking my ass this month! My swimming is lacking a bit, since I am trying to get 100 miles of biking and 45 miles of running accomplished. I will easily make my biking goal - 100 miles - and am more than halfway there. No worries with that!


I still have about 24 miles to go to make my goal of 45 miles for this months challenge. I am trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Since I have just started experiencing pain free runs, I don't want to push myself into injury again. I have thought of a couple different ways to achieve this distance: 1) do more shorter runs throughout the week, or 2) do a few runs but at longer distances throughout the week.

I think I am going to stick with the shorter runs, but listen to my body. For example, yesterday I got on the treadmill with 3 miles in mind, but ended up doing almost 5 miles again. I threw the towel over the distance and just enjoyed the run. I probably could have gone longer, but wanted to spend a good amount of time stretching and doing some yoga.

I think a lot of my knee issues in the past has stemmed from weak glutes/hamstrings. I also think it might have come from tight hip flexors. I have been doing my AM/PM yoga once and sometimes twice a day for the past week and it has helped immensely. I love yoga!

Do you do yoga? If so, how often and for how long?

Spoiled!

I was spoiled on my birthday by all my wonderful friends, family, co-workers, students, as well as my blogger/FB friends! I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such a great group of friends and family!

On top of a handful of giftcards to Target and Scheels (local sporting good store), my sisters and brother-in-law got me tickets to Lorie Line in Bismarck on the 23rd! I have seen her twice before, and can't wait to see her at the Belle! They also got me the New Moon soundtrack and I absolutely love it! My parents got me a cookie press, for making spritz cookies, to keep me busy until my real gift comes... the anticipation is killing me!

My students, loaded me with hugs, smiles, and happy birthday wishes. A couple students who are of different ethnicity sang me a song in their native language, danced around, and tugged on my ears. Supposedly tugging on the ears are well wishes and helps you grow! Too funny.

Asside from being spoiled, I did a two-fer yesterday. I guess some would say I had something up my butt, but I guess I just felt really good and extra motivated on my 29th birthday! I pumped out 14 miles on the bike in the morning and 4.75 miles on the treadmill after work! You read that right... 4.75 miles... running. And it felt great!

I am so excited to be running again, pain free. I still think I have it in me to get 45 miles in this month to meet my goal... only 31 more miles to go in 21 days. I know it's definitely do-able, I am just going to play it day by day and see what the legs can handle!

Running again...

After an extremely busy workday, I couldn't think of a better way to blow off steam than by hitting up BodyPump class at the Y. Yeah, it was one of those days. To make things interesting, I increased my weights on the barbell and pushed myself hard on all lifts, squats, and lunges. I love that class and highly recommend it to anyone who's gym offers a similar class!



Asside from BP, I am back in the running world again! Slowly but surely. I think the combination of doing the PT exercises a few times a week, incorporating BP into my schedule once or twice a week, and keeping up with my biking and swimming, my legs are getting stronger!

I have run 5 times since my PT session a few weeks ago. These runs have been very short and very slow, ranging from 1 mile to 3 miles. All runs have been on a treadmill with a 1% increase, wearing my orthotics. I'm just not ready to push myself too hard... too fast. But, I am truely grateful that I am able to do some running, even if it is slow ... and I will continue to pay no attention what-so-ever to the finish time....

baby steps...

baby steps...

Weekend is almost upon us!

Yesterday I got my flu shot and today my arm is extremely sore. She gave it to me in my right arm, since I am right handed, with the idea that using my right arm more would keep it from getting sore. Not so much. Oh well, let's just hope I don't get the flu. We have so many kids home sick with the flu already, probably averaging 5-7 kids from each classroom. It's crazy.

Today I got in another run. Only 1 mile, but it was a glorious pain-free run. I want to make sure I am taking baby steps, working my way back into running again. It feels so goood!

Tomorrow I am heading to GF for cousin's weekend.... spending the weekend with one of my sisters, and 4 of our cousins (which are two sets of sisters)! It should be pretty fun. In the midst of the weekend up there, my sister and I snagged a couple hockey tickets from Dad and look forward to cheering on the Sioux as they take on our rivals - MN Gophers!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

It's not about where you come from

After a couple frustrating runs this week that left my knee feeling tight and uncomfortable, it was only expected that I would feel frustrated. This seems to be an on-going thing, but I wonder if my attempt at speed work is bringing it on.

Anyway, I spent the last few days getting back on track with my Tri Power exercises as well as the exercises I got from my PT this past winter. And this morning I was able to pump out 3.5 miles on the treadmill (really slow, but I'll take it), pain free and then 10 miles on the bike. Ahhh.

I am off for a weekend at home. We are having a 60th anniversary celebration for my Grandparents, 50th Ordination party for my Great Uncle, and then our annual family golf tournament on Sunday. Busy weekend, but it should be fun. Now, if I could only feel prepared for the time I will spend at the piano tomorrow during the anniversary open house. *gasp*

I will leave you with a story about a ND girl, Dagny Knutson. I read it in an old Sports Illustrated this morning while on the bike. Check it out, it's a pretty good story.....



Dagny Knutson, a rising high school senior, is making a - 06.22.09 - SI Vault

Shared via AddThis

When the going gets good....

... the good keeps going?



Today I went to the gym after work and knew that I needed to do some running. I have been pretty easy on my knee for the past two weeks with this darn issue. I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another.

Today's run was glorious! I was able to kick out a mere 5 miles and felt strong. It's one of those things that when it's going good, why stop?! A part of me wanted to keep going, finishing with 5 miles, but I knew I didn't want to push it. I still had a lot of my TriPower workout to do, as well as some stretching and PT exercises. Plus, I had to save some energy for volleyball tonight!

The results?! No knee pain, no stiffness, no soreness. Glorious! Like I said, this so-called-injury is the weirdest thing ever. It doesn't really bother me on the treadmill, and only bothers me on a rare occasion when walking. Sometimes I will rotate it funning and it will pinch. However, I will keep up with some strengthening and stretching, as well as rollin' around with the foam roller and hope it continues to get better.

Tomorrow morning I have swim practice if the weather cooperates. It just seems like all we are getting up here is rain for 3-4 days and then a day of sun, and repeat. Oh well, if we don't have outdoor practice, I have already written up a 2000M workout plan for at the Y. Gotta have plan B!

If you haven't checked out my previous post, I put up some pictures from the Tour De Cure this past Saturday! Once again, thanks for all the support!

Happy Monday, y'all!

Fun times & good news

Fun times?!

My sister came into town Friday afternoon and a bunch of us went to the Hairball concert that evening. I don't know where else you can go to hear the best 80's coverband for 5 dollars and get a free drink card at the door!

After a late night out, we slept in a little, walked to the coffee shop, and then did some shopping Saturday afternoon. Saturday night, we went to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert and had a blast! We were surrounded by a lot of "older" people, and I felt bad standing but I just couldn't help myself! The music was so fun, and we had some handsome gentlemen in our isle that danced with us! Ha! This was the second time I have seen Billy Joel and Elton John together, but it was Steph's first. It still is one of my all-time favorite concerts! After the concert we went to a nice little bar and had a couple martini's! Steph took some pics this weekend, so I will try to get those from her and post them later. What a wonderful weekend!

*****

Good news?!

Last Wednesday, when I was using the foam roller as part of my TriPower routine, I was rolling out my right leg, behind the knee and outside the knee and something "popped". It didn't hurt, but tingled a bit. Later when I was going down stairs to check my laundry, I noticed something very exciting. My right knee was no longer popping when going down the stairs. In the past, it's just been so "normal" for my knees to pop going down the stairs, but it never hurt. I just learned to accept it as a part of "having bad knees". I don't know what that foam roller did exactly, but I was thrilled! I am so excited to see how these workouts from TriPower are going to help me with my training!

After my sister left this morning, I just had to take advantage of the nice weather. It was 59 degrees, sunny, and a little breezy. I ran without the knee sleeve, very slow and with a lot of walking, but completely pain free! You have no idea how excited I was! My running legs are not as strong as they were prior to my injury but soon they will be stronger than they ever have been!


Today's Workout:
Run 3.55 miles outside
(sunny & 59 degrees with light breeze)

Enjoying the weather

Last night I played the "I am 21" card again. Actually it wasn't as bad as it sounds. We hit up happy hour at our regular bar after school and the dang place was like a time warp. Only had a few drinks in 7 hours, lots of water, and a few free shots. I didn't end up getting home until close to midnight. I left there with a bar tab of $5.60. Gotta love being a regular!

After sleeping in much later than usual this morning, I finally crawled my ass out of bed to try and make the most of the day. I did some cleaning, waiting for it to get a bit warmer this afternoon and just returned from a slow 3-miler.

It was 52 degrees, calm and sunny. I wore my knee sleeve and it seemed to help a little. I can say the run overall was better than my last run, but it wasn't perfect. Once again, about 2 miles in the knee started to get tight on the outside and I did a lot of walking in that last mile. The knee wasn't as stiff as it usually gets after an outdoor run. I popped a few ibruprofens, iced, stretched, and rolled around on the floor with the foam roaller. Ouch.

I think I am going to lay low for the rest of the day. Two nights in a row of being out late and drinking isn't good for me... especially when one of them was a work night. By the way, Deuling Pianos was awesome and if you ever get the chance to see a show, do it!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Treadmill vs. Outdoors

It's been a little over two months since my right knee started bothering me. Then it was excruciating pain when I ran. I did the PT, cut back on running for about a month, and am slowly trying to get back into it. I haven't run more than 3.5 miles since the "injury".

What's the issue now? Some runs are better than others and most of my good runs are on the treadmill. I am starting to notice that when I run outside, my knee bothers me about a couple miles in, where on the treadmill, I can go 3 miles without any issues.

What's it feel like? Today I went out for a short run this evening and about 2 miles in my knee didn't start to hurt, but it started to feel tight. It began to feel tight on the inside and outside.


Calling all running Gods... what's your take on this?


UPDATE:
* I am pretty sure I am not running faster outside than on the treadmill. In fact, I am able to do some sprinting or faster strides on the treadmill with no pain either. Hmm..



(I counted wrong... 26 days left of school! And Jess asked about my comment regarding Midterms due Friday. This year we switched to "trimesters" so we are halfway through the 3rd trimester and the last day of school is Friday, May 29th!)

Running and Music

It's been one of those weeks. We all have them.

Things just aren't going as smoothly as I would like with some paperwork, causing unnecessary frustration and stress. There's nothing I can do about it but just keeping plugging away, doing what I can, and looking for the positives...


On that note, I am going to change into my running clothes and head out for a nice little run.... there's nothing like pounding the pavement with music blaring in my ears to diminish some stress. It's 64 degrees, sunny, and I look forward to the fight with the wind (gusting 25-35mph).

Getting my heart pumping, whether it be through running, biking or swimming, along with listening to music are probably the two biggest things that make me feel better.

Does anyone else find this to be therapeutic? How do you deal with stress?

2 for 2

I successfully put in another swim this morning prior to heading to work. Don't get me wrong, the alarm going off at 445 am was quite a shock to the system this morning but I knew that if I didn't do it this morning it wasn't going to get done. It just felt so good to get it done right away, head to work, and be home to relax before 5pm. Ahhh.

And, I know that time really shouldn't matter in the pool, but yesterday's swim just really sucked. I think I was in the pool for almost 45 minutes and did 1700M, average almost 2:38/100M. That bugs me because I know I can do better and today's swim proved that. I got in the pool, determined to have a good swim and ignore the warmer water temps. Thus, I swam 1600M in approximately 35 minutes... averaging 2:11/100M. Much better.

Now, I am afraid I will not get in the pool until after Labor Day. The pool will be closing to be drained and cleaned. That's okay. I really need to start focusing more on my running as I hope to get in a couple more 5K's before temperatures really drop and 2008 comes to a close... with the idea of shaving my 5K PR in November. yeah.

UPDATE ..... I have let my pushups slide a bit. I didn't do W5D3 last friday, and then didn't do W6D1 yesterday, so today I just did W5D2 again and will attempt W5D3 on thursday. All in all I did 129 pushups this evening... maxing out at 35. I can't wait to be done with this challenge!

Today's Song: Lil Wayne - I am Me
(A song that Michael Phelps listened to pre-race...
beware for those at work or near kids... dirty lyrics)

OSN: 1600M, 35:00, 2:11/100M

I'mmmmm Baaaaaack!

Okay folks. I have been away from blogland for a while and I apologize. Despite the 7 some inches of snow Fargo got Friday, I did make it home (after 50 some miles of pure crap) and was able to enjoy Easter weekend with family to the best of my ability... short one sister and brother-in-law. The weather was just not favorable for traveling from the cities. sniff sniff. But, I will see them this weekend as I will be in the cities for my TRIATHLON! Wahoo!

While I was home, I only managed to get in one run. A short one at that. 2 miles. But, I did get to watch a lot of basketball, take in a D-league basketball game, and just relax a bit. It was very much needed.

Yesterday I got back to Fargo, disappointed to see the snow still on the ground as Bismarck was bare and rain was falling on Friday. Blech. I was hoping for nice weather to get in an outdoor run but that wasn't in the forcast. I hit the gym and tried to enjoy my time with the thrillmill. I did the same this afternoon. But it was so damn hot in the gym that I wanted to die. I guess it's time to start pulling out the shorts again. I have just been wearing yoga-like pants because of the cold outside.

I am off to watch the rest of American Idol. Later gators.

My 9 year old God-daughter and I