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Archive for the ‘exercise’ Category
Wharf to Wharf
July 29th, 2010 | 
Author: Its been awhile…
Well, with the injury to my IT Band I haven’t been doing much in the way of exercise. I did the stationary bike but its not the same. It doesn’t give me the same reaction that running does. I’m sitting still, spinning and watching TV inside my house. When I’m running, I am outside in the sunshine and fresh air moving all of my body. Its just so much better.
And as my exercise was not happening, neither was my tracking. The two went hand in hand with me. I no longer felt excited about the weight loss and eating good foods. I did a lot of small cheating and the end result as of last weeks weigh in was a six pound gain. Yeah.
But all my resting my IT band DID pay off and I was able to run/walk the Wharf to Wharf last Sunday! I only ran on the downhills because I wasn’t sure how my knee was going to hold up but I managed to shave 17 minutes off last years time, finishing in 1 hour and 41 minutes by their time. As anyone who has ever ran or walked a large race you know that it takes you quite a while to get to the start line once the timer starts ESPECIALLY if you are a walker because you are more towards the back of the pack. I started my own timer when I crossed the start line and my time from start to finish was 1 hour and 35 minutes. Six miles in 1 hour and 35 minutes!! That is HUGE for me. I was over the moon happy with that.
For those that aren’t familiar with this particular race it is called the Wharf to Wharf because you run from the Wharf in Santa Cruz to the Wharf in Capitola. Its a one way race so at the finish line you walk up to a large parking area where they get everyone on a bus that shuttle you back to Santa Cruz where your car is located.
It is also a very fun race because it has over 40 bands placed throughout the race course that you get to listen to as you run by.
For the last three years my husband(a guitarist) has been one of those bands. He always plays at the same location of mile 4.5.
Last year I took the shuttle back to Santa Cruz and had him come pick me up there after the race was done. That was just crummy. After walking the six miles you go down to the beach to get your prize packet and then hike up a big old hill to stand around in sandy shoes on sore feet for at least an hour while they get everyone on these shuttles. Ick.
So this year we figured that it would actually be easier for me to walk back to where Rob had been playing. I figured that my feet wouldn’t start hurting as long as I kept moving and what the heck, I had already walked six miles, what is another 1 and a half?? 
So that is what I did. I was wrong about my feet though. As soon as I slowed my pace they started to hurt and the blisters that had developed were making themselves known. But I did it! So Sunday I walked/ran 7.5 miles!
After I got to the car I did my IT band stretches but didn’t do any other ones. Why would I? I hadn’t injured any of them! Ha!!! Monday morning I could BARELY MOVE!!
You have to figure that I hadn’t run or walked in at least two weeks or so prior to this and then I pushed my body farther than I ever had but didn’t stretch after. Smart.
Everyone at work had a good laugh as I hobbled around like a 90 year old woman but I didn’t mind. It was just a testimony to the fact that I did the best I had ever done on a race and I was proud of myself.
The great news is that of all the things that hurt on my body, my knee was not one of them. I didn’t hurt my IT band! It is healed! Game on! Tomorrow I start back on my walking routine at lunches and the diet goes back into full effect!
In other news I am going to be participating in a local theaters production of Repo! The Genetic Opera. I auditioned Tuesday and I’m in. We have our second meeting tonight. The schedule is going to be pretty tight. Rehearsals are Tuesday through Friday from 6-9 PM, Saturdays from 11-4 and the occasional Sunday. So most days it will be from work straight to rehearsal then home and bed. Good thing I don’t have a social life.
The good thing is that Rob is also in the play as the guitarist in the band so we can car pool. Also the tight schedule should limit my evening snacking so that will be a bonus. And as long as I stick to my walk/running on my lunch breaks I will not be lacking in the exercise because of the play so yay!
Oh and in case you are wondering, I lost 2 pounds this week and plan on getting back to my 10 percent goal by next week.
Get the Funk Out!
I’ve been in a funk. Ever since I hurt my leg I’ve been bummed. The 10K is in less than a week and I can’t run it. I will walk it but I don’t want to do any further damage so I’m not going to attempt even a jog.
So all I’ve been thinking about lately is how far I had come only to be stopped. I was really looking forward to seeing how far I could run in the 10K and have been really down on myself because I can’t do it now.
Last night my husband sat me down and we had a talk. Basically he is sick of the pity party and he had some very valid points.
He brought it to my attention how I have lost focus on why I originally started working out. It was never about running a half marathon. It wasn’t about running anything. It was to help with my weight loss and because it made me feel better.
I’ve gotten so tunnel vision about numbers and distances and run times that I have lost sight of why I started in the first place.
I’m crying over the fact that I can’t run a 10K when 3 months ago I couldn’t run for more than 60 seconds at a time! I’ve come a long way in a short time and my body is telling me to slow it down. I may want to do well in races but the act of getting healthy itself is NOT A RACE. There will always be a 5K or a 10K looming on the horizon that I can sign up for. And let’s not forget the half marathon in December. But the benefits of the exercise will last me a lifetime.
It’s so easy to lose sight of the little things that are the most important and that is what I have been doing.
So what if I don’t run any part of the upcoming 10K? Is the world going to end? Of course not! The only thing that is going to happen is that it will just take me a little longer to do it because I’ll be walking. Not that big of a deal is it? No! I am doing great and no one can take that away from me, not even myself. 
In other news I headed over to Big 5 this noon and got myself a foam roller.
A while back when I was seeing the chiropractor regularly he recommended one for my back and I blew it off. Since then Lisa has been singing it’s praises and that has made me pretty curious. The final straw was when my runner sister in law told me it would really help my IT band. Okay, I’m sold! I tried it out really briefly when I got back to work and it really feels pretty good. I’ll do it more extensively when I get home and update at a later date but I have high hopes for this thing.
IT Band Ickiness
A huge thank you to Lisa for commenting in my last entry about my knee/leg pain. She said that knee pain in runners is usually having to do with an IT Band issue. I did a quick google search and sure enough I have a textbook case of Iliotibial band syndrome. What a freaking bummer.
It totally makes sense because I didn’t do anything for four days and then did two 30 minute runs without a proper warm up. Normally I walk for at least five minutes before I run but lately I’ve been shortening the time and the last run I didn’t even walk for a full minute before launching into my run. Stupid impatient me! Also my pelvis has been known to tilt in the past and leave one leg shorter than the other so that might be happening again too. Gotta make an appointment with my chiropractor next week.
So I’m bummed and totally self loathing because it is my own fault when my husband says: “But this is great news!”
Um, yeah…on what planet??
He proceeded to explain that we know the issue and it can be resolved. It isn’t a pinched nerve like I first thought and it isn’t something that may sideline me from running altogether. It is a completely treatable issue that won’t cost us anything to fix. I just need to rest it and make sure I do everything correctly in the future when I do run.
As usual, my husband is right(don’t you hate that??) I just need to rest. I need to NOT stress about the upcoming 10K because there is nothing I can do about it. I will walk it and it will be good practice for the wharf to wharf.
I remember Brooke had an entry fairly recently where the same thing had happened to her so I emailed her and she gave me some helpful advice and insight on the whole thing. I am so absolutely grateful for the weight loss/fitness blog community. In just two days I was able to diagnose and find treatment for a condition that was very mysterious to me and it is all thanks to the blogs and twitterverse. Thanks guys!!
At any rate, I was going to attempt a walk today but it is still hurting quite a bit so I passed. The hardest part is going to be forcing myself to take time off walk/running. It has just done so much for my body and my mind, but I know I have to let my body heal or I’m just going to make it worse and be off my feet even longer. Don’t you hate it when you have no one to blame but yourself? Hmph.
Oh well, can’t change it now. So I will be icing and stretching for a while and I’ll update with progress as it happens.
Oh and I just discovered Naan Bread and Hummus. This can’t be good for my weight loss. Hehehehe.
Pain
I work for a man that writes a health newsletter that promotes all natural type things and he has been doing it over 25 years. He recommends lots of different combination of all natural vitamins for all kinds of different ailments. In the five years I have worked here I have never had a real need to follow any of them.
When I first started running I was getting very sore in my knees, hips and ankles. Understandable since I had and still do have a lot of weight pounding down on my joints.
I decided to follow his joint pain protocol and eventually the pain did subside. I was never sure however, if the vitamins were working or if my body had just gotten used to the running.
Ever since then I have been breaking out quite a bit on my face. Not even really acne but more like a light rash around my nose. Dry spots that were easily prone to irritation.
I knew it either had to be from the running or the supplements. Well I wasn’t about to stop running since it was doing wonders in the way of shrinking my body and lowering my blood pressure and such so I decided to go without the supplements for a couple of weeks and see if that made a difference.
It takes a few days to get the supplements out of your system and I continued to run on those few days, taking care to wash my face thoroughly after each run. Then I got sidelined by my period, car problems and my own laziness and didn’t run for four days. When I resumed this past Tuesday I ran for 30 minutes and was struck by a pain in my thigh as soon as I stopped. Throughout the rest of the day the pain traveled from my hip to my thigh to my knee and back.
That night I soaked in Epsom salts and used icy/hot and then it went away.
Wednesday I set out to walk the loop, only walking because I didn’t want to cause anything else to happen to it and was only able to walk part of it due to the pain coming back on the uphills after I attempted a power walk.
Thursday I was paranoid enough just to only take a mild stroll down to the cul de sac and back just to get some sunshine. My leg felt pretty okay with that and so today I decided I would attempt a run again since we had to be at work early again.
I stretched and started out. It was hurting a bit but I soon got into the groove and it was fine. After 30 minutes of running I stopped and headed out Starbucks to get my reward for my early morning run(tall skinny caramel latte–2 points!) and as soon as I put weight on my foot after sitting in the car the pain was there and it was intense! After three steps it was fine again. This went on all morning and now it is finally starting to ease off.
So my question is, was my supplement regimen actually working and keeping away any joint/muscle pain the whole time Ive been running or do I have something seriously wrong with my right leg?
I don’t have an answer obviously but I started taking the vitamin protocol again today and will continue to see if it helps. I can deal with bad skin but Ill be danged if I’m going to stop running!
My other theory is that I have a pinched nerve in my back.
I had one once, years ago when I was at my heaviest. We had just spent a week in England I can only assume I got it from falling asleep in a sitting position on the plane for a long amount of time. The symptoms are kind of similar in the way that the pain happens as soon as I try to put weight on that leg after sitting for an extended period of time and then it goes away as I start walking. I don’t remember it traveling to other locations though. It was very painful but it was usually located to one spot on my leg. I also remember getting a numbness in that area for a couple of days before the pain started and I don’t recall that happening this time around. I DO remember getting a fluttering sensation in my hip/inner thigh area for a couple of days before this started though, not sure if it is related.
Back then my doctor gave me some stretching exercises and told me it would work itself out, and eventually it did.
The problem I have with that is my I have 2 10 Ks next month and I want to be 100% for both of them. I also don’t want to do any more damage by running through the pain. Ug. I’m just at odds right now.
I guess all I can do is take my supplements and see if it makes a difference. If it doesn’t I guess a trip to the chiropractor is in order. Pffffftt
Edited to add: The pain is now mostly in my knee. Please comment if you have any advice or suggestions or are familiar with this sort of thing at all. Thanks!!!!!!!!
Running–The New Anti Depressant!
It seems the two are related. I took four days off of running and was miserable all four days. Like seriously falling into a depression. I have also noticed this on my days off in the past, I just never let it go passed one day off usually before I start running again.
Well what started with my usual Friday off extended through Saturday and Sunday due to my period and really bad cramps but I had every intention of getting back to my lunchtime runs at work on Monday.
The universe had other plans for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not about to leap off my prescription or anything and I know it isn’t that easy but it is nice to know when I find myself falling into a funk that a quick jog might be able to perk me out of it. I will experiment more and report back later! ?
Dysmenorrhea
If I have any men that read this blog, you might want to skip this entry. It deals with that subject that most men find icky. The monthly cycle that makes us women able to create a life…or as I call it since I am never going to have kids: “the completely unnecessary once a month painful bleeding session that makes me crave a hysterectomy.”
Ever since I “became a woman” and was blessed with the ability to create a life I want nothing to do with, I have had very painful cramps. I’m not talking “take a midol and get over it” cramps, I’m talking “miss a day of school/work because I am throwing up uncontrollably due to pain” cramps.
At fifteen I was diagnosed with Dysmenorrhea and put on birth control pills. Glory Be Hallelujah they worked and I was able to resume a normal life.
Somewhere along the way I stopped taking them. I don’t remember when or why…it might have been when I was too old to be on my mothers insurance. Because the cramps were caused by a health condition the pills were covered by insurance so that might have been part of it. At any rate I stopped taking them and the pain eventually came back.
As I gained more and more weight my periods became very irregular. I would go for months without a period and then bleed for a couple of weeks and then go another three months with nothing. After the initial pregnancy scare, I didn’t miss my period at all. It was quite nice to go a long time without a period but when it finally showed up it was HEAVY and it HURT! But being the kind of person I am, when the period disappeared I would put the pain to the back of my mind until it started up again so I didn’t go to the doctor about it.
Fast forward to me losing about 50 pounds and my periods regulated to once a month again. Now that it was a regular occurrence again and at my husbands insisting I saw my doctor about getting on the pill again. She said no. See, I had this little nasty smoking habit and rightfully so, she did not feel right about putting me on the pill given the increased chance of blood clots in smokers at my age. She told me if I quit smoking she would gladly write me a scrip but she had actually seen it happen to her patients that were smokers so she was gun shy.
So that was that. I learned to live with it. I have system, and if it works correctly I don’t have that much trouble with the cramps. If I catch it at the first twinge and preload with Advil, I can avoid major pain and function like a normal person. Sometimes however, the cramps start while I am sleeping and I either don’t wake up or I am too tired to get out of bed to go get the advil and that is when the trouble starts. I used to keep an advil on my bedside table until my dog decided it looked tasty and that was the end of that.
I have quit smoking for the most part but I will have an occasional cigarette(Vegas anyone???) and I’m so paranoid of blood clots that I never re approached the subject of birth control pills. So I live with it.
If you haven’t guessed I am on my period this weekend. And I have done nothing.
I had such plans for this weekend. I was going to go to the track and try to walk/run a 10K and I was excited about it! I was going to go dress shopping for our vow renewal. I was going to go out to breakfast with Rob and his parents for Father’s Day.
I woke up on Saturday with cramps in full swing. I took my advil and Rob put me back to bed. He said I had an hour to sleep and let the advil work before I had to get up and get ready for the breakfast with my father in law. I couldn’t get back to sleep but I tried. Finally I got up and hauled myself in the shower and got dressed but I was miserable. As we were about to head out the door I just couldn’t do it. I knew I would be no kind of company and I wouldn’t be able to eat anything so tearfully I asked if Rob minded if I stayed home. Of course he didn’t, he understood and put me back to bed before leaving for breakfast.
Part of the system I have when I get bad cramps is to sleep. If I can get to sleep, even for a half an hour, the cramps and nausea are usually gone when I wake up. No such luck yesterday. I read in bed to try and get my eyes tired but I just couldn’t fall asleep because I had to keep running to the bathroom every fifteen minutes or so(yes, not only am I gifted with pain, heavy bleeding and nausea but I also get diarrhea. Nice.) Finally I got up and got a bucket to bring to bed with me, the throwing up portion was inevitable. After one round with the bucket, Rob came home and I was starting to feel a bit better but since I never fell asleep I was still left with an overall sense of ickiness.
I was starving but the thought of food repulsed me. Rob had brought home some food for me so I chose the least offensive thing(a biscuit) and ate a tiny portion of it before laying back down. A few minutes later my stomach woke up and demanded more food so I had a little more and some diet sprite to settle the stomach.
To make a very long story short (too late!), I have not counted my food this weekend and I have certainly not walked or run. While I think being in pain like I get is a legitimate excuse for taking the weekend off, I still feel horrible about it.
My 10 K is in two weeks and while I know I can easily walk it I was hoping to be more prepared with the running and this was a wasted weekend. I feel useless and guilty and just blah.
Tomorrow I will start anew and all that but today? Today I feel like a failure.
New stuff
People at work have been telling me I’m an inspiration. Not gonna lie. It feels really good.
I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but my friend and co-worker Julie is my inspiration in the weight loss/fitness game. Last year we both decided we were going to run the Wharf to Wharf 10K in July. I think we had like five months to train and we both got very excited and gung ho. We both started the Couch 25K program independent of each other and after a while I got discouraged with my lack of ability to run and decided I would just walk the darn thing. Julie kept training and ended up running most of the race with her sister. I walked it and finished in just under 2 hours. Jewels finished in under an hour and a half if I remember right. I was very proud of her and kinda disappointed in myself for not keeping with the training like she did.
After the race we both lost a bit of focus and she and I both gained a bit of weight.
Julie regained her motivation while I floundered and she has lost over 50 pounds. She has gone from a size 18 to a size 10. She rocks!!
The reason I tell you this story is because not only is she my inspiration, she is responsible for saving me tons of money as I go through my own weight loss journey now.
In an effort to purge herself of all her “fat clothes” since she knows that she will never ever let herself get that big again, she is giving them to me! I’m not talking a couple of pairs of jeans here, I’m talking about a full wardrobe of shirts, jeans, sweats, capris, dresses and track suits. In sizes 18 to 14 so I have will not have to keep buying clothes as I shrink! How awesome is that??
How is this significant to today’s story?
Because this morning I put on a pair of 16 capri’s with a 14/16 size tee shirt and they FIT! SIXTEEN!!!! I can’t even remember the time I was a size 16! I think I was in my early 20’s and it was when I was on my way back up in weight. Wow. Now, I’m not officially a sixteen because I have some jeans of hers that are a sixteen that are not even close to fitting but I do in fact, now fit into a pair of 16 pants that didn’t fit a month ago. I am over the moon!!
Updates on running.
So this week was pretty cool for the most part. I turned 36, we had a three day weekend, I walk/ran two unofficial 5K’s and I ran a whole mile.
Yup! Remember the post where I realized I couldn’t run a mile yet. Well I can now!
It began last Thursday when it was raining. I was supposed to walk on my lunch but it was POURING outside so I didn’t end up doing it. Instead The Hubs took me out to lunch and I made good choices. By my afternoon break the skies hadn’t cleared but the rain had mostly stopped so I got changed and told myself I would at least go for a quick walk. I walked for a minute and a half before I started running, telling myself I would stop whenever I felt like it, at least I was moving.
Prior to this I had only been able to run for five minutes at a time, so in my mind I was shooting for five minutes but after the five passed I felt I could keep going so I did. After 12 minutes of running the only reason I stopped was because my break was over. Don’t get me wrong I was glad to stop but I felt I could have gone a little bit longer.
The unfortunate part of the run is that my GPS doesn’t work in the cul de sac I run in by my office so I wasn’t able to see what my distance or speed was, just my time.
Friday I had a chiro appt so I took that as my rest day since I had a pretty big adjustment.
Saturday I got up, got dressed and headed down to the local middle school. I had no intentions other than just to walk/run until I wanted to stop.
I walked the first five minutes and then took off in a run. Knowing that I was able to do 12 minutes on Thursday, I did push myself a bit more than normal and after 13 1/2 minutes according to the GPS on my phone I had run a mile from the time I started running. I was elated, but I was also exhausted so I walked the rest of the time, finishing 3.1 miles in a little over 43 minutes. Pretty exciting stuff.
Sunday the Hubs had to help his dad chop down a tree in their yard so I decided to tag along and try out my MIL’s treadmill. I hadn’t used a treadmill since last August when we were on vacation in Vegas and I was trying to keep the buffet’s from doing TOO much damage to my waistline. As I remembered it, it was WAY easier to run/walk on a treadmill than it was outside, so I was excited to try it again.
Well, I managed to walk/run (mostly walk)2 miles in about 35 minutes and by the time I was done I was DRENCHED! Literally dripping and my tee shirt was sopping wet.
I guess because I have trained myself outside, it is harder for me to do it on a treadmill now. It’s so weird but after I was done I knew I didn’t want a treadmill. I like to mix up my pace depending on my music and it was too hard to keep upping and lowering the speed. I’ll stick with my outside walking thankyouverymuch!
After that my friend Paula took me out to lunch for my birthday where I may have made poor choices but the first thing I did when we got the food was cut it in half and set it aside. And as for the strawberry margarita, well it was my birthday!!!
Monday, since I was so disappointed with my performance on the treadmill I boogied back over to the middle school track and completed another 5K. This one was done by running five minute, walking five minutes, running five, walking five and so on and so forth. My finishing time was only a minute more than the last time so that was encouraging.
As for the rest of the week I have been getting my run/walks in on my lunch breaks. More walking than running because I was trying to give my body a bit of a rest after the weekend.
Today however, I completed my longest consecutive run. Fifteen whole minutes. Only two minutes longer than my last one but still!!! This is HUGE for me. For so long I didn’t even think I could do FIVE! I hate to pat myself on the back but DANG! I’m psyched!
So tell me when was the first time you felt like a real runner?
I got my mojo back!
As I perused the website I clicked on the course map and looked at the route for the half marathon.
And I swear to you that this thought actually went through my head: “Hmmm. 13 miles. That isn’t so bad.”
Ha! Never in my life would I have even thought about running one mile, let alone THIRTEEN!
Now let me clarify, I wouldn’t normally even have entertained the thought of a half marathon but it’s in Vegas! The course starts at Mandalay Bay, loops around the Welcome To Las Vegas sign, goes all the way to downtown and then back up to Mandalay Bay. They basically shut down the strip for a few hours and you get to run up and down it. In all the years I have been traveling to Vegas I have never walked the whole strip so this would be a treat for me! Plus the course time for the half is FOUR hours! I could do that now WALKING the whole thing! And I’ve got 7 months to train!
So in the course of the last two days I have convinced myself I’m going to do it. My friend Melissa, who is an avid runner said she will help train me and my friend Julie that has recently lost over 50 lbs and began running said she is going to sign up with me.
AAAANNNNDDD, Hubs and I are going to take the week after off and have a little bonus vacation in Vegas. Rob said that if I finish the marathon he can justify staying somewhere swank-a-fied during the week like the Belagio. I’m totally down for that. What a reward!!
So yeah, I’m really stoked. On payday I am going to register and I just put in for the days off at work today so I’m really going to do this thing.
It has already proven to be the thing I was looking for to remotivate me.
Ever since I missed that 5K I’ve been in a rut that kept me pretty unmotivated in both diet and exercise. The end result of that rut showed up with my first gain on the scale last week.
With the thought of the half marathon looming, it’s like I’ve been reenergized and I’m back on track with my eating and my walk/runs. I’m excited again.
My first Gain.
Sooooooooo…I gained at my weigh in today. One pound.
As I stepped on the scale and saw the number, my mind immediately started in with excuses. “You should really hold off and weigh in tomorrow.” “You drank a whole bottle of water when you took your advil at four this morning, you don’t normally do that.” “You are on your period, you should really wait a day to see if the bloat goes down.”
And while these are all true, here are some more facts:
I did not track my food all last weekend. I didn’t cheat per say but I did a lot of “a bite of this here” and “a taste of this there” and we all know how that goes. I also only exercised 3 times this week and one was kinda half assed.
So while I AM in fact on my period and retaining water, I don’t think that is to blame for my gain. I let myself get lazy this week and I am paying the price for it on the weigh in.
While it would be easy to delay the weigh in one more day to see if that pound will drop off, that defeats the whole purpose of having a weigh in day right? I need to hold myself accountable for my actions and let’s face it, this is going to happen from time to time. I am human and since this is a lifestyle change I have to realize that as long as I don’t let myself spiral out of control, once in a while I will show a gain. As long as it is only ONCE AND A WHILE I am okay with that. It sucks but that’s life.
Lost In Your Own Life by Alexa Vega