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Showing posts from January, 2014

Oh That Girl At The Gym

You know the know the one I'm talking about. You are at the gym, minding your own business and she walks in with some skin-tight, super thin pants, a bright colored sports bra, and a sleeveless shirt tied up 'just so'. She doesn't walk across the free weights area, she sort of glides. I didn't realize you could reach for weights in a sensual way, but apparently you can, because I saw it happen today. And then she got on the machine - the leg press machine. I can assure you when I do the leg press that I don't look like some soft porno flick. And any sounds that may escape me, I can assure you aren't in a sexual way. And if any sounds do escape, I'm usually praying that no one heard them if you know what I mean. But this girl gets on the leg press machine, it's like the entire gym turned to watch her. And in her slowest most sensual movements ever, she does like 3 reps on the leg press with slight moans escaping with each 'press' so to speak

Warning: Discouraged Injured Runner Ahead

I'm not going to lie, I'm discouraged. My training plan calls for 'just another' 2.5 mile run this weekend. I feel like I've been at 2 miles forever . But I have to admit that after my outside run, I could feel the calf a little the next day.  But today, if I'm being honest, my shin (or near my shin) is hurting. And this fascia was supposedly torn when I had my injury. So I'm wondering if it isn't totally healed, or maybe I have possibly re-injured it a little. That being said, as frustrated as I am that I'm just at 2 miles, the reality is it's probably where I need to be at the moment. I have my sights set on the Capital 10 Miler , and I was hoping to all out 'run' it on March 30. But I asked my trainer if I would even be up to 10 miles by then. She said I would probably be at 8, and that I should be able to finish. . So I reasoned that maybe we could 'push' up my long runs. She calmly and politely tells me she is a littl

Running, Why Do You Do It?

Ask any runner why they run and chances are each one will tell you a different reason. Honestly, I sometimes run each run for a different reason. So when someone asks me why I run, well, it's not an easy question for me to answer. Personally for me, it's a complicated one. And the longer I run, the more running defines me, and the more I define my running, the more the two become intertwined.  I will never run Boston. I don't really have a desire too. Do I want to break a 5 hour marathon? (Yes, very bad). Do I want to break the 2 hour mark for a Half? (So bad that I can taste it). Why? I mean I won't ever 'win' the race. The chances of me ever even placing in my age group are very slim. So why do I push myself so hard to try to reach a 'timed goal'. Because.... whether it's good or bad, I am very competitive. For this reason, I have always pushed myself hard in group classes at the gym verses working out solo. "Hmmm, she thinks she&

Cardio - Strength - Walk/Run - Repeat

So this is my current workout life at the moment. I'm following the advice of my trainer and giving it a go.  ( No One Said Post-Recovery Would Be Easy, Or Fun, And Definitely Not Fas t) So far so good, but I will admit that as I type this my hamstrings are screaming at me, along with my inner thighs.  Yesterday consisted of the leg press, inner and outer thighs, calf raises, assisted pull-ups, push ups, 2 minute plank, swiss ball crunches, super man, bicep curls and triceps curls. I followed that with 20 minutes on the not sure of the real name leg press bike, and then 20 minutes on the elliptical. Then, last night I went to a boot camp type group fitness class which involved more push ups, hamstring work, squats, bosu ball and the list goes on and on.  I expected to have a difficult time with my walk/run today. But I was pleasantly surprised. My workout this morning felt great!  It was a 10 minute walk followed by a 2 MILE RUN (can you tell I was little

No One Said Post-Recovery Would Be Easy, Or Fun, And Definitely Not Fast

I waited with anticipation, like waiting for the pregnancy test to say negative or positive. Ok, so maybe not that dramatic, but still I was on pins and needles with excitement waiting to get my running recovery plan.  And then the email came..... and.... in 3 weeks I am up to running 3 miles without walking. WHAT?!? No, surely I didn't read that right. I missed something. Nope, that's what it said. At first I was super disappointed. Surely this isn't right. But then I started looking over the plan. And I realized that my trainer has me doing something toward healing, getting stronger, being a better runner, every day. So I took a step back and realized that she's right. She prefaced the plan with the following message "It's better to keep it pain free than to make it too hard and re-injure the muscle" ( Elizabeth DeSousa, Personal Design Fitness) . So I'm going to trust the process, trust the plan, and trust my trainer. I know it's

Week 2 Of the Recovery Plan And I'm Walking and Running Pain Free

Sorry for being so MIA recently. Lil Man not going to preschool has really thrown off my groove. How did I manage before preschool?!? But also, Hubby being home has changed our family routine also. Oh oh, and add in Mother Nature (hello sub zero temps). So my life has been a little haphazard lately.  But, Lil Man went back to school yesterday. Hubby is back to a normal work routine. And it appears that Mother Nature felt the need to dump a little snow today, but is warming up to an all day rainfest tomorrow. So things are returning to normal.  I've been trying to follow the 'recovery' plan as much as possible. I haven't been following it to the letter, but I would say at least 95% which for me is pretty good!  I moved this Sunday's workout to yesterday. It was my 2nd run outside in the cold. I walked a little less than I was supposed to, and I ran a little more then prescribed, but overall, it went ok. I got in 4 miles.  I could feel a l

Injured Runner On The Slow Road To Recovery

Whoever said that recovering from a calf injury was a slow process wasn't lying. I had 3, that's right, not one but 3 stress fractures "in the worst possible place" (quoting the dr) a couple of years ago. And it was nothing compared to this. Honestly, the pain was minimal compared to this 'mild calf strain'. Maybe I've gone soft in my older years, but I'm sure thankful this wasn't a moderate or severe strain, because I've complained more about this mild calf strain than I probably have anything else in my life. (Yeah, it's starting to rank right up there with post labor recovery).  As I mentioned in a previous post Stop the Press - Injured Runner Runs Again , I'm doing a walk/run recovery plan.  I was told that I needed to take at least one workout a week outside. Well if you've been aware of the weather, you will know that it's COLD. I asked Hubby last night if we moved to the Antarctic.  I took Tuesday's wo