2013 Race Schedule

I've been so inspired by the recent and upcoming fall races of many running friends, that even though we're not done with 2012 yet, I've already started plotting my running comeback in 2013. Too soon, you ask? Maybe, but I love the planning, love seeing how races map out on the calendar, love the possibilities!
I've been down and out for a couple of weeks with a collection of -itises that include coughing, congestion, and loss of voice, so both physical therapy and exercise have been put on hold lately. ON the plus side, I haven't felt like eating as much, so my weight is down a bit. While my voice is still gone, the coughing and congestion are better, so I'm finally to the point of THINKING about exercise! Yay!
I'd initially thought about some half marathons for the spring, but after looking at previous races, times, and training, I've decided to assume a slow recovery and build-up, working on 5Ks and 10ks this spring. If training and weight loss go better than expected, great, but I think I'd rather work toward building up slowly than crashing and burning due to overtraining.

My initial plan for the winter and spring is to shoot for the Second Empire Grand Prix Series Spring 2013 lineup, In this series, runners earn points for each race completed, and accumulate points throughout the season. The top 5 overall men and women, and top 3 point-earners in various age groups get prizes. Plus, runners who compete in 6 of the 10 races get invited to the nice Awards Luncheon at Second Empire as well. I'm shooting for the "6 out of 10" option, obviously! ;o)

My fall half marathon schedule will depend on how training goes over the next 10-12 months. Important things for me to work on:

1) Cardio
2) Strength training
3) Weight loss & better nutrition
4) Stretching when warmed up
5) Keeping running shoes pretty current

You may notice a lot of races in my "Races on My Radar" section. Don't worry, I'm not planning on doing all of them! The list is a work in progress, one I'll be updating in the weeks and months ahead.

Meanwhile, if you're planning to do the Second Empire Grand Prix Series this winter/spring, let me know!

Water Aerobics Class

I went to water aerobics class at the gym yesterday morning, and the 60-minute class was wonderful exercise that wore me out! My right IT band is being fussy now too. <sigh> I'll continue my physical therapy stretches and see what I can do about that. It was great to get some good exercise for a change, and nice to be part of a class too. I've missed running with the Raleigh Galloway group.


Clipart from Clipartheaven.com

Physical Therapy Starts Today!!

I begin  physical therapy for my left leg and right ankle after work today! Yippee! I can't tell you how excited I am about moving forward with treatment. I've already started looking at spring half marathons, which may be overzealous (and I have to be careful about that!), but it's fun to dream.

Physical Therapy Starts Next Week!

On Tuesday, I visited the orthopaedist (sports medicine specialty) about my left leg, and she confirmed the diagnosis of IT Band Syndrome. I made my initial physical therapy appointment for next week. I've had PT before, with a high success rate, so I'm looking forward to that!

This afternoon, I saw a PA (physician's assistant) in a foot & ankle specialty office about my right ankle, which has been giving me problems since my spring Couch-to-5K. (I could've seen a doctor, but the wait was longer, next appointment was sometime in November!) I saw my podiatrist about the ankle in June, and he took x-rays ("clear"), poked and prodded (no tendonitis), and prescribed an expensive topical cream (which I've used sporadically).

I gave today's PA the history of my right ankle, and she looked at the x-rays as well as the bottoms of my running shoes. In hardly any time at all, she diagnosed my problem as "varus hindfoot." Basically, I run on the outside of my heels, and seem to be right-leg dominant at it, hence the right ankle pain. My bottoms of my running shoes revealed more wear/compression on the outside of my heels, too. She prescribed ankle strengthening exercises to my already-scheduled physical therapy, and suggested I stop at a nearby orthotic/prosthetic business, the Center for Orthotic and Prosthetic Care in Durham. I stopped in, and they were able to see me right then! Since I already have custom orthotics, they were able to add wedges to the back of the orthotics to help balance my heels. I could tell a difference (and improvement) immediately! Tomorrow will be my first full day in the adjusted orthotics, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that they still feel good in 24 hours.

I feel a big sense of relief that my leg and ankle will be well enough to start exercising again soon! Maybe I'll be able to do some spring races!

Back to the Doctor

Ouch! IT Band Syndrome is back, definitely in my left leg, and maybe in my right leg too. The ankle pain continues to be pesky too. So I have two appointments next week, one with a sports medicine doctor, and another with a physician's assistant at the foot and ankle place. So, it may be a while before I can exercise-doing cardio, anyway. I bet there will be some physical therapy in my future!

Meanwhile, I had an hour-long phone consultation with a nurse in Duke's DukeWell program this morning. This first health goal I'm going to work on is keeping healthy snacks on hand at work and at home.

September Progress

I'm pleased with my exercise progress in September, which included 14.48 miles of walking and 18.10 miles of stationary biking, in addition to some weightlifting. With the plantar fasciitis returning to my left foot and a fussy right ankle (which the podiatrist says is not tendonitis), I may be looking at other ways of tracking my fitness progress, like cardio and strength training minutes. I've been thinking about taking some group classes at the gym, including water aerobics (no mileage but a great workout!) to vary the exercise and take a load of the foot and ankle. (I've even thought about swimming laps.) Another option might be the cycling classes at the gym. They seem a little intimidating to me, but I'll never know until I try!

More Exercise in My Future

Today's my second at-least-30-min exercise day in a row! :-) As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went in for a physical recently, and my new doctor told me to do at least 15 minutes of walking per day. It's been hit or miss with life being so busy. I finally started tracking my blood sugars this morning (another doctor's order, delayed by a few days), and realized I should step up that exercise! Yikes!

I need to remember not to stress about the numbers (no help at all), but let the numbers bring out my inner geek. Stay tuned!



Clipart from Clipartheaven.com

Hitting the Reset Button

I went to a new-to-me physician yesterday for a physical, my first general "wellness" appointment in forever. Oy. We'll I'll be working on some things for the next month, and will report back in a follow-up appointment the end of September. One of my new doctor's marching orders is to walk/exercise for 15 minutes every day. The fact that 15 minutes of daily exercise sounds like a lot should tell me something--that I need to do it, for starters! I can hardly believe how out of shape I've gotten! I can really tell a difference in my fitness, though, in two days of walking. Work and graduate school are taking so much of my time and energy, but I need to figure out how to take care of my health too.


Clipart from Clipartheaven.com 

Summer's Over

Even though I'm working fulltime now, summer's over now that my fall semester class starts tomorrow night. The calendar may say it's still summer, but the "free time" part of summer is officially over.

While my exercise time may be limited (what's new lately?), I have been working on eating better, especially in the Fruits & Veggies Department. Not matter what I do or don't do, exercise-wise, I aim to work on better nutrition this fall, as well as other things (like sleeping better).

I do miss running, and hope to work my way back to it. The ankle is still bothering me a bit. :-( I have a physical next week, so that's on my list of things to mention.

Back on the Bike

Cooks during the '12 Galloway Pancake Breakfast

I hopped on the recumbent bike at the gym for 4 miles (including several 1 minute intervals) this morning, followed by some light yoga/stretching, then a short workout with the dumbbells. Felt good to get the week off to a good start with some exercise! I missed working out this weekend but I had an okay excuse. Saturday morning, I volunteered to help with the annual Raleigh Galloway Pancake Breakfast. Since I'm not running with the group this season (yet), I figured it would be a great way to see everyone, and it was! Standing out in the sun for several hours took its toll on me though, and I didn't get around to exercising the rest of the weekend.

This is a new week though, and even though I have a final exam and a paper due on Wednesday, that's no excuse not to take care of myself, right?!

Fitting in the Exercise

Well, I haven't been to the gym this week as planned, but I have taken a couple of walk breaks at work, tracking the distance and time with the MapMyRun app on my iPhone. Even though it's been crazy hot the past couple of days, taking a few minutes to walk has made a difference. I'm down 2.2 pounds this week, to boot!

Walking Test

Yesterday I downloaded a Couch to 10K app on my iPhone, and it suggested being able to walk 30 minutes comfortably before starting that program. I decided to try walking for 30 minutes today, just to see how it went. I finished 1.4 miles in 30:19. It was a tiny challenge, but not by much. That being said, I was on the treadmill in an air-conditioned gym! I think I need to to some more walking, and see what my right ankle (subsiding pain) and left foot (plantar fasciitis) have to say.

After that, I did some gentle yoga stretches from a yoga app on my iPhone, then lifted weights on three Nautilus machine. I'm an inflexible wienie. I need to exercise more than just on weekends to see any improvement. Now I'm thinking about the Second Empire Grand Prix Series coming up this fall. Could I do it?

Back in the Gym

I made it back to the gym yesterday morning, and am not sore today, which is a pretty good thing, I guess. I'm still on the injured list with my ankle, but am going to the podiatrist today for another issue, and hope he can take another look at the ankle too. Meanwhile, the stationary bike and strength training seem to be good for staying active. Also, I received a new-to-me book in the mail yesterday, Yoga for Wimps: Poses for the Flexibly Impaired. I've been thinking about going to a yoga class at the gym, but I've been a big chicken. This book seems to be the way to go for now.

Cleaning Plus Elliptical

Yesterday afternoon I got a good bit of housecleaning done, and followed up with a 30-minute session on the elliptical machine last night. I was bushed afterward, and slept hard last night! It felt great!

I've been trying out a couple of new exercise apps on the iPhone/iPad lately, Nexercise and Slimkicker (which has an accompanying website). Both use a point system, and it's been fun having some new virtual gadgets to play with. I would recommend both so far.

Good Bike Ride Yesterday

I had a vacation day yesterday, and meant to get an early workout in to start the day off right! I ended up puttering around, though, just enjoying a morning where I didn't have to be somewhere by a certain time. So, I ended up at the gym around 1:30 PM, since it had gotten so hot! I hopped on the recumbent bike, and went 7.2 miles in 40:05 minutes. I enjoyed working up a sweat!

This morning, I've been cleaning up my blogroll just a little, deleting a handful of blogs where the blogging runners have decided to stop blogging and move on to other things. One or two decided to stop running for now, as their lives have gotten busy with other things. It's made me a little nostalgic about running buddies (in person and through the  blogosphere) that I've met over the years. Some I keep up with, but others I've lost touch with. That's life, though, isn't it?

Easing Back In

I went to the gym this morning for a short workout. After warming up on the recumbent bike for about 15 minutes, I ran on the treadmill for about 5 minutes. Since my ankle has been fussy (tendonitis), and the plantar fasciitis still peeps at me, I decided that less would be more today. So far, so good. Now I'm a little more hopeful about starting a 10K training plan soon. One step at a time, right?

Back on the Elliptical

I returned to the gym this morning, but got on the elliptical instead of the treadmill, and it was such a refreshing break! Wow! No plantar fasciitis or tendonitis pain! I'm looking forward to running again soon, but this morning's break was so refreshing! Wow! Meanwhile, I'm starting to look at 10K training plans. They look doable after that C25K! :-)

C25K W9D3 Complete

I finished the Couch-to-5K program yesterday on the treadmill, not at the New River 5K as I'd hoped. While my sore throat was a lot better, the plantar fasciitis and tendonitis, on top of being bone tired, had me wanting to stay close to home. George wasn't feeling on top of his game for the half marathon, either, so we decided not to make the 3-hour (each way) trip yesterday morning. So, I slept in and hit the treadmill at the gym in the early afternoon. 2 miles in 40:24 min, a decent pace for me these days. What's next? I plan to keep training, but may do some other cardio to give my foot and ankle a bit of a break. I've found a 10K training plan that looks good, so we'll see!

Sluggish C25K W9D2 Done

This morning's run was sluggish and discouraging. Plantar fasciitis and tendonitis were both fussy this morning, and I have a lingering sore throat (but no fever as an excuse). I also overshot my time, so I got in more than my 40 minutes! I'd planned to run the nearby golf course again, but some early golfers were out, so I had to change my course on the fly. I headed through the sunnier, slightly hillier neighborhood, instead. Not so much fun, but it'll pay off later, I hope. It was a training distance PR for me during this C25K, but it didn't feel very good. Some days are like that. Time to look ahead to finishing this C25K!

C25K W9D1 Complete

I can hardly believe I've made it  all the way to Week 9! This morning's run went pretty well, pretty flat course and overcast skies helped. Ran a little extra to hit 2 miles for the first time since Run for the Oaks!