I have taken the plunge, I've committed money to something new, I've decided to go ahead and start cycling. Today I bought a new road bike, helmet, gloves, clothes, spare tube, pump, etc... needless to say it's a lot of money dropped, now I must make the investment a worthwhile one.
I took a picture of the bike and emailed to to my kids. Both responded with an invitation to do a ride with them. Worth the investment? I do believe so :)!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Injury Frustration
If you are an athlete you understand the frustration you feel when you have a nagging injury.
Athletes, whether young or old, elite or amateur, all have in common this innate need to drive their bodies to do the most it can do regardless of whether or not injury my occur. Once injury occurs the difficulty in doing what is needed in order to get well and stay well is enormous. And as my coach says it "it is always an experiment of one".
If you've followed my blog for any time you know that 3 years ago I tore my meniscus. This has translated into arthritis in my left knee and so any time I do anything different with running such as increasing speed too fast, changing surfaces too much, more hills than usual, my knee acts up.
Such is the case at this time. After getting a personal best time at the Cowtown Half Marathon my knee is once again "acting up". This does not mean re injury it simply means that it's reacting to something different and my coach and I must figure out what that "difference" is and put that in our stash of "what not to do next time" so that in the future we will eliminate the stressor. The Cowtown Half Marathon is extremely hilly, but I trained on hills. My pace was fast but I trained for a fast pace. There are 2 - 2.5 miles downhill on brick streets in this race. The surface is hard, uneven and unrelenting.
The change in the surface on a long downhill at a fast pace tells the coach and my doctor that this is the trigger to the knee inflammation. Sigh...frustration.
Now comes the part that is so difficult. Rest, rebuild, rest, rebuild...I get so tired of this cycle. And yet it is what must be done and so this is where I am with running. It is indeed a love/hate relationship.
Athletes, whether young or old, elite or amateur, all have in common this innate need to drive their bodies to do the most it can do regardless of whether or not injury my occur. Once injury occurs the difficulty in doing what is needed in order to get well and stay well is enormous. And as my coach says it "it is always an experiment of one".
If you've followed my blog for any time you know that 3 years ago I tore my meniscus. This has translated into arthritis in my left knee and so any time I do anything different with running such as increasing speed too fast, changing surfaces too much, more hills than usual, my knee acts up.
Such is the case at this time. After getting a personal best time at the Cowtown Half Marathon my knee is once again "acting up". This does not mean re injury it simply means that it's reacting to something different and my coach and I must figure out what that "difference" is and put that in our stash of "what not to do next time" so that in the future we will eliminate the stressor. The Cowtown Half Marathon is extremely hilly, but I trained on hills. My pace was fast but I trained for a fast pace. There are 2 - 2.5 miles downhill on brick streets in this race. The surface is hard, uneven and unrelenting.
The change in the surface on a long downhill at a fast pace tells the coach and my doctor that this is the trigger to the knee inflammation. Sigh...frustration.
Now comes the part that is so difficult. Rest, rebuild, rest, rebuild...I get so tired of this cycle. And yet it is what must be done and so this is where I am with running. It is indeed a love/hate relationship.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Inspiration
There are times in each of our lives when we cross paths with someone who, even in a casual conversation says something that inspires you to be a better person. Inspires you to think about your life in a different way.
Famous writers and better writers than I have written about inspiration, about war, about those who fight for our freedom. It's not a new topic, we hear about it every day on the news. And yet if you are like me it fades in and out of your realm of understanding. I don't keep up with the political issues, I get angry when people don't support those who are fighting for us in Iraq, but it doesn't really have meaning on a day to day basis.
Yesterday after my swim workout as I was getting dressed a woman in workout clothing comes out of the sauna. She sits down, red with heat, sweating. I move my things out of her way as she begins to speak.
Her son is in Iraq, he has been there for 6 months and seen things most of us will never see. She spends some time each day in the sauna praying, it is her way of honoring him. He is there where it is terribly hot and so the sauna is her way to connect to her son so that she can feel at least a bit of the heat he feels in the dessert. She is worried about him but more than that she is hurt by the people in our country who do not support the soldiers and what they are fighting for. Her son is there fighting so that others may have what we take for granted and yet people are so caullous they don't think before they speak and it breaks her heart.
This was a very short conversation and nothing I have not heard from others but this time, this woman, her words, and her prayers in the sauna, inspired me to think more about the freedoms I have and the pain she feels. I think about my own children who are her son's age. I miss them so much when they are at school, imagining them in Iraq fighting and not knowing for sure if they will come home...it's truly something I cannot comprehend.
I vow to think about this woman and her son when I decide to feel sorry for myself because of some little mishap in my life, I thank her for the inspiration she gave me, and I thank her son for fighting so that others may have a bit of what we have...I pray that he is returned home safe and sound.
Famous writers and better writers than I have written about inspiration, about war, about those who fight for our freedom. It's not a new topic, we hear about it every day on the news. And yet if you are like me it fades in and out of your realm of understanding. I don't keep up with the political issues, I get angry when people don't support those who are fighting for us in Iraq, but it doesn't really have meaning on a day to day basis.
Yesterday after my swim workout as I was getting dressed a woman in workout clothing comes out of the sauna. She sits down, red with heat, sweating. I move my things out of her way as she begins to speak.
Her son is in Iraq, he has been there for 6 months and seen things most of us will never see. She spends some time each day in the sauna praying, it is her way of honoring him. He is there where it is terribly hot and so the sauna is her way to connect to her son so that she can feel at least a bit of the heat he feels in the dessert. She is worried about him but more than that she is hurt by the people in our country who do not support the soldiers and what they are fighting for. Her son is there fighting so that others may have what we take for granted and yet people are so caullous they don't think before they speak and it breaks her heart.
This was a very short conversation and nothing I have not heard from others but this time, this woman, her words, and her prayers in the sauna, inspired me to think more about the freedoms I have and the pain she feels. I think about my own children who are her son's age. I miss them so much when they are at school, imagining them in Iraq fighting and not knowing for sure if they will come home...it's truly something I cannot comprehend.
I vow to think about this woman and her son when I decide to feel sorry for myself because of some little mishap in my life, I thank her for the inspiration she gave me, and I thank her son for fighting so that others may have a bit of what we have...I pray that he is returned home safe and sound.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A New Personal Best
Since the late summer, early fall, I've been training. Training for what? Well training to run without knee pain, training to run faster, training to increase endurance, and many other outcomes. There are many races we run in and most of them are larger so there is no way I am going to place in my division, there are just too many fast women out there, and that's ok because it's really all about improving myself. And improving doesn't always mean speed, it can also mean endurance, injury recovery, sanity...
We start with the Wurst 5 miler. A 5 mile race at Wurstfest in New Braunsfels Texas. Our times show we are definately faster.
Next we go to Vegas to run the Rock n Roll Half Marathon. It's the first year for the Rock n Roll series to have a race in Vegas. It was an exciting race and we did well with a 1:57. Terry and I ran it together and for the first time we actually ran the ENTIRE race together and finished at the same time. That made the race fun.
Then a month later we went to Austin to defend or better our 3rd place Mixed Masters Division title in the 3M Half Marathon relay. With Terry running 6.4 and me running the last 6.8, this year we came in second! So exciting. And our times show we have improved our times. Plus I am having no knee pain!
One month after 3M, just last weekend, we head down to Fort Worth to run the Cowtown Races. Cowtown conssists of a marathon, an ultra marathon, a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. I ran the half marathon and Terry in the 10K. These races are not easy. They are hilly and I mean VERY hilly and in the half marathon there are 2 to 2.5 miles downhill on brick streets. This is a very hard and uneven surface. It's tough to run on and tough on the body. Never the less the races are fun and exciting. Knowing how tough this course is my goal is just to break the 1:57 pace I seem to be stuck in. Last year at Cowtown I ran a 1:57:33. I would like to run a 1:56. As I start out I feel myself going into a faster pace than I really intended and I try to slow it down some but my body has other ideas. I realize now that my slower pace is really a faster pace as I've gotten stronger. However, it is most common for people to start out way to fast and then die at the end...I did NOT want that to happen. The race was hard but I found myself strong on the hills and was able to continue a good pace even going uphill. The downhill on bricks was really tough, it comes about mile 8 and it's mostly downhill which really pounds your legs. While my knee did not hurt my hips and hamstrings were crying out. And yet I kept pushing. There were a few times I really wanted to stop but I quickly pushed the negative talk out and kept going. At mile 10 I realized I was way ahead of pace, the question now was whether or not I would make it at this pace or faster, or crash. Mile 11 and 12 are uphill, not a fun place for uphill and while I continued to be strong mentally it was a challenge. And then I saw a friend, she usually beats me in races, I could see that she was moving slower than I and so my brain clicked and my pace picked up. The competativeness kicked in and from that point forward I pushed with everything I had. Coming down the last stretch into the finish I got that familiar "I'm gonna throw up" feeling which always means I am giving it my all. Luckly I held it together and got a new personal best of 1:53:23. I've not run a half marathon at that pace ever and the closest was in 2000 with a 1:54!
All of this to say, we may be getting older but there are things in life that age defys and on that day my age didn't matter. I still beat a time I never thought I would beat and I am thrilled.
However, now I realize that I've moved the bar, getting another personal best will be tough.
We start with the Wurst 5 miler. A 5 mile race at Wurstfest in New Braunsfels Texas. Our times show we are definately faster.
Next we go to Vegas to run the Rock n Roll Half Marathon. It's the first year for the Rock n Roll series to have a race in Vegas. It was an exciting race and we did well with a 1:57. Terry and I ran it together and for the first time we actually ran the ENTIRE race together and finished at the same time. That made the race fun.
Then a month later we went to Austin to defend or better our 3rd place Mixed Masters Division title in the 3M Half Marathon relay. With Terry running 6.4 and me running the last 6.8, this year we came in second! So exciting. And our times show we have improved our times. Plus I am having no knee pain!
One month after 3M, just last weekend, we head down to Fort Worth to run the Cowtown Races. Cowtown conssists of a marathon, an ultra marathon, a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. I ran the half marathon and Terry in the 10K. These races are not easy. They are hilly and I mean VERY hilly and in the half marathon there are 2 to 2.5 miles downhill on brick streets. This is a very hard and uneven surface. It's tough to run on and tough on the body. Never the less the races are fun and exciting. Knowing how tough this course is my goal is just to break the 1:57 pace I seem to be stuck in. Last year at Cowtown I ran a 1:57:33. I would like to run a 1:56. As I start out I feel myself going into a faster pace than I really intended and I try to slow it down some but my body has other ideas. I realize now that my slower pace is really a faster pace as I've gotten stronger. However, it is most common for people to start out way to fast and then die at the end...I did NOT want that to happen. The race was hard but I found myself strong on the hills and was able to continue a good pace even going uphill. The downhill on bricks was really tough, it comes about mile 8 and it's mostly downhill which really pounds your legs. While my knee did not hurt my hips and hamstrings were crying out. And yet I kept pushing. There were a few times I really wanted to stop but I quickly pushed the negative talk out and kept going. At mile 10 I realized I was way ahead of pace, the question now was whether or not I would make it at this pace or faster, or crash. Mile 11 and 12 are uphill, not a fun place for uphill and while I continued to be strong mentally it was a challenge. And then I saw a friend, she usually beats me in races, I could see that she was moving slower than I and so my brain clicked and my pace picked up. The competativeness kicked in and from that point forward I pushed with everything I had. Coming down the last stretch into the finish I got that familiar "I'm gonna throw up" feeling which always means I am giving it my all. Luckly I held it together and got a new personal best of 1:53:23. I've not run a half marathon at that pace ever and the closest was in 2000 with a 1:54!
All of this to say, we may be getting older but there are things in life that age defys and on that day my age didn't matter. I still beat a time I never thought I would beat and I am thrilled.
However, now I realize that I've moved the bar, getting another personal best will be tough.
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