Sleepy...

Got up early to swim so I can walk with neighbor later and do yoga tonight...I'm sleepy...

Not Running!

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I've run. How am I fairing you may ask! Not bad I must say.

I swam over a mile in my last outing at the pool, I rode the stationary bike for an hour (yes my butt bones hurt) at a good pace, and I did Yoga on Saturday that I thought would kill me. Today I got up and walked 4 quick miles with my new neighbor. We have walked twice together now, she is trying to lose weight. It's the 40 thing. She turns 40 in February, quit smoking in November of this year, and wants to be in a size 6 by her 40th birthday. So I am a bit of a motivator and it's really fun!

I am hoping to get her doing a walk run interval later in the summer and into a race or two in the fall. She has a competitive spirit and was a swimmer in college so I think she will get there.

I do some kind of working out every day and try to burn every calorie I can plus track everything in Livestrong.com. I've actually lost a few pounds and am lighter than I have been for some time, even through marathon training!

My knee is feeling much better and my coach says that next week I can start back slowly. She will be sending me a training plan before Monday. I hope I can be ready for the Dublin Dr. Pepper 10K. After getting a PR in my 10K here I would like to do that one well, but we will see. I may not be recovered enough by then.

All is good here...I'll keep you posted :)

Swimming

There is no doubt, practice is important! Today I went early to swim, I wasn't even really quite awake. Started slow, trying to get warmed up, but soon it felt better.

The water was cooler today and it felt GREAT! Most of the time at the YMCA they keep the water really warm for those older folks who go in to treat their joint issues. But today it was cool and it felt really good once I was swimming.

I am feeling stronger every day and today swam over a mile in 50 minutes. I know the time may not be good but swimming a mile is an accomplishment for me I promise!

I miss the running but the swimming is feeling really good and especially as I become more comfortable and begin to push myself harder. Just like with running it takes time and practice.

One more week (and two days) of not running then I am hoping to begin again and build up to the hills here.

We registered for the Dublin Dr. Pepper 10K this morning. I am hoping that running here will help me do better there...this remains to be seen!

Walk in the Morning

OK, I admit it. Laying off of running is so HARD. Even if you know it's the best thing for you it's just plain hard to do.

I do want to heal and feel good so I can make myself take the time away from what I love and what keeps me sane.

Don't get me wrong, I stay active. I do something every day so it's not as though I am not getting my exercise in it's just not RUNNING.

Even so, there are pleasures in doing something different. The day before yesterday I swam for 50 minutes. That longest I've been able to swim and at the end I was still feeling pretty strong! I would have gone longer had it not been for needing to get back to work. The interesting thing is, most of the time I try to get a good work out but I don't really push myself like I do in running. But this day there was a man that came to swim as well and he was a good swimmer, one of those you know swam in college. Well that just bugged me and I felt competitive even though there is no way I could ever do that well. It pushed me and I made myself go faster and harder than I have before! Now I know I can do it I will work on doing that more often.

Yesterday we (Terry and I) got up at 5:15 and went to walk on the trail at the park. What a beautiful morning! If I had been running I am not sure I would have noticed the moon and Venus? together in a line and shining so brightly!

Today is weight lifting but I am thinking about sneaking in a little stationary biking. JUST lifting doesn't burn enough calories for me. We will see.

As for Granbury, I am enjoying more and more all the time. It's very pretty here and I am looking forward to spending some time at the lake. I won't lie, knowing the dock is just right out the door I have a hard time not taking off from work to go lay out for an hour or so ;). But I have yet to give into my temptation.

Catch ya later.

Fun with Family

Many people think that Texas is a big desert, no water, nothing green. It simply isn't true.

We spent the weekend not running but instead backpacking, fly fishing, and kayaking, on the Colorado River in Colorado Bend State Park.

The heavy rain on Thursday night and Friday morning made it a bit messy, warm, and humid. But also very green and beautiful.

There is something about spending time with family and friends in the beauty of nature, it makes you feel so alive and close to one another. Of course when you have to do EVERYTHING out in nature with all your family and friends around you, you get "closer".

The water is low, even with the heavy rain it wasn't enough to bring it up to where it should be. We are in a drought after all. Even then it is beautiful and the Silver Bass are fun to catch on a fly rod. Springs and waterfalls abound...it's amazing what God has made.

Kayaking was a bit tough especially going upstream and there were a few places we had to portage due to the low water. Most of the time though paddling was good. Needless to say I am sore and tired but in a good way.

The weekend was good and without running I still managed to be extremely active, I did however eat poorly, sigh.

Tomorrow it's back to using Livestrong to track weight and diet. Hopefully I can lose a few pounds even while not running but cross training instead.

Time with family and friends in the beauty of God's nature...what more can you ask for?

Not Running Blues

Yeah I've got them, the "not running blues". Perhaps I'll write a song.

As mentioned in earlier blogs my knee and the hills here are not getting along. After exchanging email with my wonderful doctor I realize that every time I dramatically change my running my knee flairs up. This is normal and to be expected.

I was doing so well, not hurting and running faster than I have in a long time. And then we moved here and I kept up the same schedule but now everywhere I run there are hills. Needless to say this is increasing intensity by leaps and bounds.

Now I am awaiting a new plan from my coach, one that will help me acclimate to this new environment. In the meantime I've not run since Monday.

I took the weekend off because of Friday's run my knee really hurt. The weekend we worked in the yard (that didn't help much) and so on Saturday and Sunday I rested.

By Monday I just HAD to get out and run and because I missed my 10 miler on Sunday I made the decision to get it in on Monday morning. DUMB decision.

So I go out, run for awhile on the highway and then I turn onto a road by a very nice cemetery (isn't that interesting?). Anyway, great place to run back in there...very pretty homes and it was nice and quiet, not a lot of traffic. However I get to about 6 miles and I realize that I really should not have gone out so far. My knee is at this point hurting and I still have 4 more miles left in order to get home. And then my stomach gets knotted up. Sigh...those of you who run will understand. This was NOT a good run.

I did make it home, but my knee has been hurting since. I've been icing and taking ibuprofen, walked last night, swimming and yoga today. But NO RUNNING. My plan is to take off of running this entire week, get the plan from my coach, and start anew on Monday. I am back to doing my strengthening exercises for the knee, and stretching more, back to the routine that got me healthy again. I do not anticipate it being too long before I am back on the road.

In the meantime...I shall sing the "not running blues"...woooooooo......

Knee issues

As you are aware my knee has been bothering me yet again. I emailed my coach she asked me to talk to my doctor. And so I emailed the doc.

As I suspected the change in activities has aggravated my knee. Packing, moving, unpacking, heavy yard work, running on ONLY hills, running faster, etc... all have an impact on the degeneration of my knee.

I knew this instinctively but it is nice to hear that the doctor agrees. Basically with the change I just need to go a bit lighter until my knee is used to the change. Just as anytime I make a change it will swell and hurt, no damage, it just gets aggravated and always will.

I emailed my coach with the doctors response so I am waiting for her to send me an updated plan. I'm not really training for a race now but in June there is a 10K I seem to always have trouble with because it's hot and humid in June. I am hoping to train for it and do well. And then it's on to El Scorcho at midnight on the 19th of July.

The house is coming along. We got the guest house painted on the inside, and the cabinets painted, it looks better but there is more to do. It just never seems to stop! We need trim in the bathroom, a new light fixture, painting the little porch outside the guest house, and then a good cleaning and it should be ready.

We've planted flowers, traditional plants and I also planted a wildflower garden and noticed this weekend that they are sprouting!

Terry mowed and fertilized the grass and then we had a huge rain yesterday and very early this morning so the yard is looking good! It's all shaping up...

Running here is different. There is only one trail/path through the parks, it's a little over 2 miles long. The longer runs are all done on the street, and where we live there are no real big neighborhoods so it's lots of highways to run on which means a lot of traffic. It's a little hard to get used to, you really have to pay attention to the traffic. But all the runners do it and they seem to be used to it. I guess I will get used to it as well.

Knee oh Knee! Or is it something else?

Well I am having issues yet again. Sigh... I have this pain in my left leg, behind my knee actually is where it started. I am pretty sure it is the Hamstring Tendon that attaches the kneecap and calf and hamstring. It was pretty bad last week, but then got a bit better and moved to the inside of my knee where it used to hurt after I tore my meniscus.

I am not sure what to do now and my coach has given me some ideas but wants me to talk to the doctor so I emailed Chad and will see what he says.

I really think it has to do with all of the changes, running ONLY on hills, and on sloping roads here. There are not really any good flat areas to run. I'm just not used to it so I think it will be ok I just need to ease into it a bit.

I will see what Chad says and then send that on to my coach and see what to do from there. This is so frustrating.

Anyone have any ideas?

More Knee Issues

Well I was supposed to run today but my knee is bothering me. It has been pretty bad since last Friday so I am taking off today. Sigh...I swam yesterday but I am just not up to that today. I may go and do the stationary bike tonight. Micki (my coach) said I could do that if I feel I need to do something.

I am tired of this knee bothering me. Sigh... Oh well I guess all of us runners have some nagging injury.

I emailed Micki more specifics, we will see if she can pinpoint what is going on. I think it must have to do with the constant running on hills here, something I did NOT do in Abilene. My body is trying to get used to it.

I will post later on what happens after today.

New Group

Guess what? It is windy again today...I cannot escape!

Even with the wind though we were invited to run with some folks here who have a new very information running, cycling, group that has begun to meet at the square on Sunday mornings at 7:00.

This morning with the wind the turn out was light. We were told that last Sunday they had quite a few.

The organizer of this group is a man that Terry met while running at night here before I moved up here. He is a Boston qualifier, has run it more than once and his best marathon time was actually at Boston! He is also very good about running whatever pace he needs to run to enjoy the social aspect of running with friends.

It seems to be his goal to introduce us to some people here who run, cycle, and do tri's. He showed us different places to add loops to the 10 mile loop we ran today so that we can add or take away miles as needed.

It's great to have someone to help us get going here and and his family are very nice. We look forward to meeting all of the people who show up to run in future weekends.

On Friday I ran a 6 mile 8:29 pace and the tendon in the back of my knee really hurt. My coach says it's either the hamstring or the calf so I have to ice and take ibuprofen, stretch well. Today 10 miles may have been a little much. It hurt some today when I was finished up and it is stiff so tomorrow I will lay off, maybe swim instead or maybe take a day off.

I miss ARC and everyone there. We will find new friends I know, but those folks will always be in our hearts. I hope they are all doing well.

Now it's time to work on the garage where we have way too many boxes still piled up. We cleaned up the yard and planted flowers yesterday, the place is looking good!

Granbury and Wind

The wind blows here too. I guess I cannot escape. It's not as strong as Abilene, I assume that the trees and hills block it some.

We joined the YMCA, it's not as big as Abilene's but it is very busy. The Yoga is very good and I am enjoying it tremendously, I even got my wonderful husband to join me.

I've also been swimming there. The pool is ok, only 25 meters and that is a bit of an adjustment I keep running into the wall! It's not in the best shape but it works and I am getting my swimming in so it's all good.

I've been able to stick to my running/workout plan and I feel great although I am not getting enough sleep...sigh :(

The hills here are good, helping me get stronger.

Upcoming races nothing really until June when I do Dublin...my worst race, every year it's a struggle, although I usually get in the top 3 in my age it is a struggle in the heat and humidity. I am hoping to be stronger this year and enjoy it more...and then there is El Schorcho the midnight 15 miler in July, my birthday run. This year I am being coached and won't be traveling the week before so I am sure it will be better and more fun.

Well that's it for me. Swam and ran today so tomorrow is a Power Hot Yoga tomorrow...YEA!