UPDATE

This blog is temporarily on hold due to my recent diagnosis with Lyme Disease.
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Running on Empty

This photo is lovingly borrowed from The Daily Coyote archives . Please visit this unique and wonderful blog at THE DAILY COYOTE. COM


I have been feeling wholly and completely unmotivated lately. This has made my regular running schedule a near impossibility. This comes on the heels of a soft-tissue injury to my lower right ribs - a vestige of my difficult pregnancy and an injury that has been re-awakened most likely by over-training.

I have been running three time a week , training on a rebounder twice a week , taking Pilates and a yoga class and resting one day where if i do anything it is a simple walk . Some of my workouts are more vigorous than others and i have started using weights in my workout and i fear this is what injured me. I have great muscle weakness in my upper body and my form suffers . It is easy to pull something if one isn't careful.
Oops.

Anyway , this injury is supremely painful and has rendered me virtually useless. I can't laugh or cough or pick up my son without feeling a painful twinge and a reminder that i need to rest it for it to heal.

So , it feels better this week but i have lost my drive and ambition along with the pain. You see , this is a curse of mine - if i slack off even a bit i lose my momentum . I need a good kick in the rear to get started again .
Any takers ?

Blossom on Board

I have been running now (officially) for 1 month.
My progress has been slow , but enjoyable and i am still doing it
which is the key point of all of this.
I want it to stick.

i am simultaneously embarrassed and elated to say i can now comfortably run 1/2 mile.

Some days this is seamless and some days it is more of a run , jog, walk 1/2 mile but it is a
heart rate- up -where- you -want -it- to- be 1/2 mile and that is what really matters.
I am moving and my heart is pumping and i am sweating and breathing deep , joyous lung-fulls of clean air and i feel alive in my body , something i haven't felt in a very long time.

I usually walk/run a minimum of 2 miles everyday so this usually includes bringing my 2 year old son . When i started this i actually broke the stroller which was pretty heavy duty but obviously not made for running. So , i went to the local REI and bought the new model BOB Revolution jogging stroller. I should have started running two years ago !! This thing is AMAZING. Expensive but worth every red penny ! It is effortless to push and the baby is so much more comfy and at home in there.
Last weekend we stopped and picked mulberries and Magnolia blossoms on the way to the park and i snapped this shot.
Under the Mulberry tree , just my monkey boy and me.



Now you know the real reason i run .
I need to be strong and healthy for my beautiful little boy.

Triumph !

No , it's not what you think.
No marathons for me - i am a snail remember ?

I went to Metro Walk & Run last week and bought myself these...

Women's Saucony Pro Grid Triumph 5

SO SO Comfortable . And sleek, too.
I love them .
And i am not a sports shoe gal by nature so that is saying something.

I want to go running right now just looking at them !
but i can't it's a rest day .
Tomorrow , tomorrow ...

Stats

They ( the Running experts ) say it is useful to keep track of your Stats e.g. progress by keeping a running log with various information to be able to track your (hopefully ) gradual metamorphosis from slow-moving earth-bound caterpillar into a graceful and free-flying butterfly.

So , i have started to write my daily run / cross-training in a notebook.
i must warn you , Dear Reader , my progress will be painfully slow -
i am the type of personality that usually goes in both barrels blasting , running out of ammo shortly thereafter and beating a hasty retreat which of course leads to the inevitable surrender not long after that.

I am DETERMINED not to do that this time so it is SLOW and STEADY - the whole way.

Here are my embarrassing , yet still strangely hopeful statistics for my first week -

Day One :
8:30 am - 90 degrees -Sunny

Stretch for 10 minutes
Walk for 15 minutes
Run for 1 minute , walk for 1 minute X 5
Walk 15 minutes for cooldown

Day Two :
3:00 pm 95 degrees- sunny/humid

stretch for 10 minutes
walk for 10 minutes
run for 1 minute/ walk for 1 minute x 7
walk for 10 minutes cooldown

Day Three :
3:00 pm 95 degrees - sunny

No run today -

stretch 5 minutes
Bike - 2.5 miles
1 uphill stretch

Day Four :
7:30 am - 85 degrees- overcast

stretch - 10 mins.
walk 10 minutes
run/walk 2 minutes x 4
walk 10 mins.

6 pm -
1/2 mile walk w/ sprints

Day Five :
8:00 am - 85 degrees- sunny

stretch 10 mins
2 mile walk with sporadic jogs to elevate heart rate

7:30 pm
2.5 mile walk

Day Six :

Lifecycle 10 minutes - uphill setting
yoga 1/2 hour
walk 2 miles

Day Seven :

I AM NOT GOD _ I DO NOT REST TODAY !!!

8:30 am - 85 degrees - Sunny
4 mile walk with a friend /brisk pace

Feeling great !
I am energized by doing something everyday - even if minimal.
I have some minor aches and pains but i am careful to rest after my runs
and take ibuprofen to offset any damage.
I can definitely feel some shin and knee issues brewing if i am not careful so i am going to continue at a snails pace for now.


and that's right where i want to be....

I really just started to run on a whim, more or less.

I have a neighbor and close friend who is a supreme athlete . She used to play Soccer professionally before having 5 kids and moving to the suburbs. She is still in incredible shape ( chasing after all of those kids helps undoubtedly ) but i knew she was still 'training' to stay fit .
I decided to ask her how she did it.
"I run everyday " she said.
For months now that phrase played itself over and over in my head - like a diabolical mantra.

I initially shrugged it off as something i was neither interested in nor capable of.
Isn't that how all new endeavors begin? A perverse fascination turns into something you actually want to do .

Well , for me anyway that's how it started . I just couldn't shake the image of myself running like the wind - hair flying behind me like some kind of banshee , the wind in my lungs , blood coursing through my tired old veins and a strange kind of calm flowing through my body - the kind i was missing and didn't know how to get back.

So , i would try running. No promises , no regrets.

This time i would take it slow and steady . Start with baby steps and go from there , little by little . Everyday . Just take it nice and easy.

If there is one thing i have learned from being a mother it is that you cannot rush things. Everything worth doing takes time . From giving birth to a fitness regime - it cannot be rushed . You are in for a lot of pain if you think otherwise.

I , being the over-reaching , ever- curious student of life always need to research thoroughly whatever interests me. This simultaneously annoys and/ or impresses everyone who knows me - depending on their mood and disposition.
Be that as it may , it is the way i do things. Always , ad nauseum.

So , i am reading everything i can on running , in the hopes that i will do this the right way ( if there is such a thing ) and avoid injury and failure by doing too much too soon or bad form or whatever. Running apparently is a lot more complicated than just throwing on some shoes and running out the door. I have my work cut out for me.

I have read that to turn an activity into a habit takes approximately 40 days . Anything you do for less time has a likely chance of running its course ( pun intended) and fizzling out . Anyone who knows me can relate to this phenomenon. I try on many of my interests only to leave them abandoned by the roadside after deciding - A > This is not for me , B> I am no good at this , really or C,> i like it ! ok , now what else can i
try?

I am an infamous Queen of the U.F.O. ( unfinished object) and it is something that i am not proud of , but there it is , the truth. In all of its ugly toadness.

So run i will . The question is will i keep at it ?

Stay tuned , folks.

I am going to give it my best shot...