Day 2 of Run March

Woo Hoo!!!!!!  After getting up at 3:30 in the morning to do 3 swim practices, I still managed to get to the gym.  I did 5.5 miles in the same time as my 5.2 miles yesterday.  I had no hamstring soreness at all.  It felt so good!  Now I just need the ice to melt so I can run outside with River again.

I also got new shoes yesterday.  I LOVE them!!!!!!  They are Saucony ProGride Guide 6.  They are the update version of my old shoes and I loved those.  These are much lighter and plus they are a cool color.

They match all my bright running clothes.  I think the new shoes will help with the hamstring soreness as well.

I did hit the wall around 2:30 this afternoon.  I ended up taking a nap to make it through the rest of the night.

Tomorrow I'm hitting the gym around 7am and hopefully going 5.75 miles plus doing full body weights.  It feels so good to be back at it.  I will be scheduling a massage though to help with the recovery.

I am so glad I'm on the mend!

Happy March!

Wow...things have been busy busy busy at our house.

My running took a huge hit when I strained my right hamstring.  I was on rest for over a month.  I'm just not starting to ease back into my running.  In fact, I started a new challenge for March.  I am running at least one mile every day in March.  Today I did 5 very easy, very slow miles and felt pretty good.  I'm hoping I'm on the mend.

I have been taking a Learn To Draw class.  It's been going pretty good.  Here are a few things I've done.  First is a cabin drawn with charcoal.

 

Then we did a rose.  I did this using oil pastels.

 



Currently I'm working on a face using charcoals.  I'm almost done with it and I think it looks pretty good.

I have also been doing a lot of cross stitching lately.  I did more towels for my sister-in-law.  I have been working on a set of holiday towels that were for her bridal shower, but they have taken me a little bit longer.  I still have one more to do.

I'm also working on a big poster for my nephew.  It's going to be the Star Wars poster.  Here are the first two pages of the pattern completed.  I'm almost done with the third page.

My goals for the new year were altered a bit.  I have been making little homemade items for my friends and family to brighten their day.  I have mailed out several already.  There have been little cross stitch ornaments, soap, and magnets so far.  I have enjoyed making these things and James has helped as well. 

I'm hoping to be able to keep up with the blogging as well.  I think I have everything settled and organized.  Things have slowed down and I'm ready to roll.

Here's to a great March!

The Disney Jar Is Growing!

The money in our Disney jar is growing!  With me having to ride the bike this week, it's getting a huge boost.  It's nice to see that we are getting there.  Like Mike says, right now we have just about enough for a lunch for all 3 of us.  LOL.

My ankle is feeling better.  In fact, I really had to force myself to just stick to the bike today.  The bruise is healing and I don't have pain when I move it.  I just have to not start back to running too soon or else it will take even longer to heal.  I am on the bike for the next 4 days and Tuesday I'm back to running.

On Monday after I do the bike, I'm adding my weights in again.  The weights have helped me and I feel better when I have a bit more tone to my arms especially.

My next race is on the 27th of this month.  I'm running the Zombie Race in Milton.  It should be fun.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I love doing races like this.  It's a nice change from just regular road races.  My next road race is the Hannukah Hustle in November.  It will be a good gage as to where I'm at for my goal race in January.

I have a busy day ahead of me.  I'm working on the Univesity newsletter as well as the Marlin newsletter and trying to finish up the last load of laundry and get packed for Buffalo.  But first I'm going to finish enjoying my post-workout smoothie and cup of coffee.  Have a great Thursday!

Back To Reality

Well, after a long weekend it's back to reality.  Back to the pool and back to chaos and craziness.  It's my normal though!

I am glad that I decided to just do the bike this week and give my ankle a break.  I woke up and my ankle was a bit swollen and tender.  The bruise is healing though.  It was just a really deep bruise.  I got the gym and did 10 miles on the recumbent bike.  I didn't push it too hard this morning since I ran a race yesterday.  It felt good to just read and go at an okay pace.  It got all the stiffness out and just got me ready for the day.

I do have a massage scheduled for today so that's going to be awesome!  It's later on this morning and it will also help work out some kinks in my legs.

Today I'm spending the day finishing up the laundry and working on the newsletter.  It goes out next week so I need to finish up my stuff.  I don't go into the office today so I can get some things done at home while getting home things done.

Tomorrow is my long day and I have to find a time to run home to let the dogs out since Mike is gone this week.  I feel bad when he's out of town and they are alone on Wednesdays for so long.  The other days are okay, but Wednesdays are long.

Tomorrow is also my rest day, but I may see if I can sneak a brisk walk in the arboreteum in before I start doing office work.  I won't run, but a walk would be nice.  I'll have to see though.

Thursday and Friday I'm back on the bike.  Friday I head to Buffalo for a swim meet so Saturday and Sunday I'll get in the fitness room at the hotel and get on a bike or go for a short run on the treadmill.  Next week I'm on a training schedule for my first goal race in January, the Robbie Burns 8k. 

Off to get ready for my massage.  Have a great day!

Oktoberfest Thanksgiving 5k

I just ran a new personal best by over a mintue!  I'm so excited about that too!!!!!

For two weeks I've been trying to get my bruised ankle to feel good running.  Monday I had the worst run ever.  Wednesday wasn't much better.  I took the rest of the week off and rested it so it could heal up a bit.  I guess it paid off.  I ran a 31:25 today on a route that is hilly.

Mike is in Ohio so I had to run without a cheering section.  His brother did get up and meet me at the finish line and drive me to the starting line so my car would be at the finish.  I didn't want to have to wait for the parade to finish before I could come home.  I really appreciate that he did that.  I made him a pecan pie for Thanksgiving so it evened out.

I decided that I was going to dress up for this race.  It's a fun race and since we run the parade route there are a ton of people.  I decided to be Wonder Woman.  So yesterday I hit the Halloween store and put together my costume.

It was cold this morning so I had to dig out my winter running clothes.  Luckily I had just bought a few long sleeve running shirts for the winter and one of them was red.  It workout out well.

I felt pretty good the whole race.  The route was hilly, but I knew that going in as it was my 3rd year running this race.  I like running this race because the people there for the parade make a great cheer squad.  I did see James along the route.  He was excited to see me. He said he really wants to run it next year.  We'll have to see though.

When I crossed the finish line I had to keep checking my watch to make sure the time was right.  I looked at the clock to make sure as well.  I still can't believe I ran a personal best.  I'm closing in on that 30 minute goal. 

Saturday I sat down and mapped out my training schedule for the next year.  I have 3 goal races I'm looking at so I wanted to see how I was going to train.  My first goal race is the Robbie Burns 8k in January.  The next one is the Chocolate Race 10k in May and the last one is the Zoo Run 10k in September.  I have a lot of other 5k and 10k races sprinkled in there to keep me focused, but these are my goal races. 

Next week I'm giving my ankle one more week off and just hitting the bike in the gym.  The following week I'm back to running and weights.  My next race is the Zombie Race on the 27th.  That's just a fun race though.

I'm gearing up for another great running season!

Today though, I'm going to enjoy my Thanksgiving and relax.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Friday!

It's finally Friday!  Although this week seemed to just fly by so I can't really complain too much.

Last night I made James' Halloween costume.  He's been so excited that I just broke down and did it last night.  He's going to be Toad from the Mario games.  Here is the finished product.

He's pretending to drive a car.  It really turned out well.  I just used some scrubs that I got at Walmart for the pants and vest, yellow duck tape for the edge of the vest, and the hat was from a clearance Toad costume that was too small for him.  Add a brown t-shirt and you've got Toad!  It was super easy.  Since the scrubs were too big I just cut and hemmed up the pants.  I had to remove the pockets from the shirt and pants as well as the sleeves.  That was the most time consuming part, but overall it was super simple.  He can't wait for Halloween now.

This morning I was going to go for a short run after walking James to daycare, but decided to rest my ankle and just walk home.  It is feeling better, but I don't want to have it hurting too much since I have to run a race on Monday.  The course is pretty hilly too so I want to be as pain free as possible.  Next week I'm just going to do the bike for the week to really give it a chance to heal.  I'm not happy about that, but I have to let it heal before I can go back to a good running schedule.  Plus next week our Disney jar will get a lot of money put in.  I usually do about 10-12 miles on the bike when I ride.  I guess that means we have that much more for Disney.

I have this weekend off because it's Thanksgiving.  I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend.  I'm going to get the house in order on Sunday since Mike leaves for Ohio.  Monday I'll just relax after the race and watch chick flicks and cross stitch.  It will be a nice quiet Thanksgiving for me.  Tomorrow I we are doing Thanksgiving at Mike's parent's house.  It's not the big deal that it is in the States and I can't get used to that, but it's still family.

Today I'm baking a blueberry pie as James requested it for tomorrow.  So off to the grocery store I go!  Have a great day!

Yucky Wednesday Run

Ugh...this was not pretty in the least.  I only ran 1 mile, but you would have thought it was 10 by the time.  My ankle hurt and I was not happy.

I ran in the arboreteum and the trails were better than the road so Friday I may go to the park and run as opposed to running on the sidewalk. I'll have to see.

I HATE being injured.  I want to keep going and that's not good for it.  I think next week I'll just stick to the recumbent bike to stay in shape and lay off the running for awhile.

I wish I knew what I did to my ankle.  It's still swollen and very bruised.  I just have to make it through the race on Monday and then I can hit the bike for a week or two.

I am so not good at taking the adivce I give though.

Welcome to Monday!

We had a pretty low key weekend.  We did do the Run For the Cure yesterday.  That was a lot of fun. James loves doing the fundraising and then getting all dressed up in pink for the race.  I made t-shirts for us this year.  On the front I did a different super hero logo for each of us.  On the back I put "Heroes Wear Pink."  Here we are in our shirts.

When we got to the race there were all sorts of fun warm-ups.  James had a ball doing the zumba one.

He ran the race and did an awesome job!  He dropped 5 minutes from his time last year.  It was a great day.

This morning we walked to daycare.  It took us a bit longer than usual as we had to carry our Star Student stuff.  James is Star Student this week so he had to make a poster about himself this weekend and bring in something special to him to share.   He did the poster and decided to bring in one of his scrapbooks that he made.  That meant we had to have an extra bag to carry everything in as well as his bag for running tomorrow.  His mother has to take him to the clothes had to go with him to daycare.  We were loaded done.

After I dropped him off at daycare I went for a run.  I wanted to go between 6-8 miles today, but that didn't work out so well.  Last weekend at one of my races I bruised the inside of my right ankle, right on the bone.  I rested it last week hoping that it would heal fairly quickly if I didn't run and push it.  I was wrong.  I think because I'm standing on the pool deck and walking around on it, it hasn't had a chance to heal.  I started out feeling pretty good, but after about a mile it really started to hurt.  It went numb and then it really started causing me problems.  I would stop to stretch, but you can't stretch out a bruise.  I was really frustrated.  I had a good pace going and I was feeling really good.  I ended up only running 4 miles and my time was AWFUL!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow I'm doing some speed intervals so we'll see how it does on the treadmill.  I'm just not happy about this at all.

Well, I'm off to make my smoothie, get a quick shower and then head to the pool.  Have a terrific Monday!

Friday in Ottawa

This week has been one crazy week!  I worked on recruiting packets for the University to set out at the meet.  I am currently at Provincials and trying to get some other work done in the evenings.  It does help that I don't have to be at the pool until the afternoon though.  I'm 2 days into the meet with 2 more to go.

I haven't run since Tuesday so I made it point to run today.  After my swimmer was done, I had an early dinner and came back to the hotel to let it digest.  I decided to go on the treadmill since I'm not sure about this area and the traffic is really bad since it's Canada Day weekend and I am in the capital. 

I did some speed intervals this evening. Not a lot of distance, but I did try to push the speed a bit to see how my knee would take it.  While I didn't go as fast as I normally would, I did kick it up.  My knee was fine.  I had no pain at all.  I was so glad.  Tomorrow I'll go about 4 miles as a nice easy pace to see how it holds up on a longer distance.  I'll do it on the treadmill again and I'll try to get a shorter run in on Sunday before I check out and head to the pool.

I'm so glad that I can run again.  I have found that it is my time to destress.  This past month has been hard for me emotionally.  I haven't had the physical outlet that I needed to clear my head to deal with everything.  Now I feel like my head is clearing and I can process everything again.  And, bonus, I'm not feeling like I could cheerfully stab someone.  That's always a good thing.

On the swim side, my little guys have been doing well.  I have one 11 year old girl that is just kicking butt in the pool.  She has really become a good little swimmer in those longer events that 11 year olds normally don't like to swim.  I'm so proud of all my swimmers though.  They have really worked hard all year and I'm glad they get to show how far they've come at this Provincial level meet.

Two more days of the meet and then its home to pack for Winnipeg!  We are all excited about that!

Enjoy your Friday night!

Haven't been feeling very Inpirational

I've been taking some rest time due to my knee.  I did get a short run in last week and felt pretty good.  Today it wasn't the same result.  I'm icing my knee right now.  The pain wasn't sharp, but it was still there.  I know it's healing and I just have to give it time, but I'm having a hard time being patient right now.

I have focuse a lot on our swim meets the past few weeks and this past weekend was fun.  Today just kind of killed that.  I had to search for some inpiration today.  Here is what I found.

I have to just keep doing what I know is right and be patient.  I can do this I just have to allow myself to heal.

Sunday I'm running a 10k and I've altered my plan for the race.  I know the course is not flat so I have to take that into consideration.  I am thinking of what could go right and not what could go wrong.  I have to just take it one kilometer at a time.

Inspiration Tuesday

.  Today was not a good day as far as my running goes.  I did something to my knee yesterday and today it killed me to run the mile that I did.  I wasn't even really running, but more of a fast walk.  Right now I'm icing it.  The plan for the rest of the week is to rest it tomorrow, cross train on Thursday and I'm at a swim meet Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I won't be running then.  I'm hoping with icing and resting by Monday I can be up and running again.  I have another 8 mile run scheduled, but I think that may get cut short to see how my knee does.  I may have to put this training program on hold for a bit.  We'll see though.

I read this today and thought it really fit what I need today and for the week.

I have to remember that everyone had bad days and I have to roll with it.  If this week is a week of rehab and taking it easy then I have to accept that.  I can keep going with other things though.  In the long run what I do now will help. 

Have a great day!