Motivation, where did you go?

I woke up this morning with a feeling that nothing productive was going to get done today.  I don't know what that is about. So far this week, I have been rocking my schedule - taking things on, checking off items on my to-do list left and right.  But this morning I feel that energy vibe starting to peter out.  I don't know.  Maybe it has something to do with several nights in a row of six hours of sleep.  Some people can live on that.  I cannot.  And, frankly, I should know that by now.  So, I will muddle through this day as best I can and hope I get my mojo back.

This has been a good week fitness-wise.  After PRing at the 10K on Sunday, I have followed that up with an increased effort week all around.  After several weeks of either maintaining current effort or taking my rest week (at 70 percent of normal effort), I have turned up the volume on all my workouts.  So, my week has thus far looked like this:

Monday:  Slow Flow Yoga and 35-minutes elliptical (up from 30 min,) Tuesday: Power Vinyasa Yoga and 6,000 meters rowing on the ERG (up from 5,500 meters) Wednesday: 60-minute run (up from 55 minutes)

Yesterday's run was particularly rewarding because I went into it feeling sort of sluggish - possibly from lack of good sleep.  In fact, I was wondering if my less-than-enthusiastic anticipation of the run would lead to a bad run.  (You know, negative self-talk and all that.)  I told myself on the drive over to the coffee shop to shape up and just let things happen the way they were meant to.  And, it went great!

I ran with the group for the first five miles, and I had a great time talking to a friend of mine along the way.  It was a slightly hilly route, and I was glad to have someone to push me along.  (I think I would have taken a lot more walk breaks otherwise.)  After circling back to the coffee shop, I added another twelve minutes to finish up the hour I had hoped to run.  I ended up doing 6.3 miles in about 61 minutes.  Average pace of 9:39.  Not bad.  I felt happy going in to coffee and didn't feel the least bit guilty about ordering my Vanilla Caramel Latte.  (It was delicious, by the way.)

Today on tap I have a 6,000 meter row and then tomorrow I am heading up to Green Bay to join a friend for part of her birthday run.  I am really looking forward to this run.  I am curious about the trail we are going to run on and it just sounds like a fantabulous way to celebrate a birthday.  My plan is to do ten miles tomorrow and make this my long run for the week.  I realize that - given my track record (ha! a pun!) - moving my long run from Sunday to Friday is a possible invitation for disaster; my body doesn't seem to like surprises like this.  However, I am hopeful that if I take it slow and listen to my body, I will be fine.  Fingers crossed.

Day 37 of the No-Chocolate Challenge:

So, as a final thought, I was thinking this morning how happy I am that the no-chocolate challenge is almost done.  What have I learned from this?  Well, certainly that I haven't lost my taste for chocolate - I can't wait to eat some on Sunday.  In fact, I have missed it so much that I probably won't ever give up chocolate again.  So, not very deep, huh?  No great insights into what I am made of, no deeper understanding of who I am and what makes me tick - just a deep-seated assurance that I will never give up chocolate again.  Sad, but in a happy way.

Lindt, we will meet again soon...

What do you do when motivation lacks?

The Roller Coaster that is Life

Man, there are times when I just feel like I am riding a roller coaster - with running, life, everything.  This past week, I've had the best race experience (previously reported here), great mid-week runs, and a wonderful weekend getaway - all followed by one of the crappiest long runs I've had in a long time.

A Weekend Away

Let's start with the weekend. Saturday I was invited to spend a night with a group of ladies at a cottage up north.  If spending some time with four of my favorite running friends wasn't good enough, what made it even better was just getting away.

You can tell the group consisted of runners.

When I first told the Hubby about the invite, I expected rolling of eyes, gnashing of teeth, tearing out of hair (I don't get out much).  Instead what I got was a very supportive, sure, we'll make it work out.  So, Saturday morning around 10:45, with my bags packed and directions printed, I said good-bye to Hubby, E., and LG and hit the road.  An hour-and-a-half drive later, and I was there.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  The last trip I had done without the family had been two years previously, so I felt a bit out of practice when it comes to being on my own for a getaway.  I shouldn't have worried, though; I had a blast.  We were only gone for 24 hours, but we crammed a lot of shopping, food, wine, cards, and talking into that time.  I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time.

Cards held high to protect the innocent.

I am glad that I enjoyed myself so much, because it became apparent that when I got home I wasn't missed as much as I had thought I would be.  While I expected shouts of joy when I walked through the door, I got "oh, hi."  Seeing as everyone was ensconced in a rousing game of Batman on the Wii, I was barely acknowledged.  When pressed later, LG even admitted proudly that he hadn't missed me a bit.  "No, really.  I'm not lying.  I didn't miss you."  Feeling the love here.  The other thing I missed by being away was E. being sick.  Apparently too much spinning around at the park. Hubby took it all in stride and all was good.

One thing about being away with a bunch of running friends is that - of course - the talk turned to running, so I came home with some good ideas on how to start introducing speed work into my regimen.  I'll be putting them into play in the next week or so, so we'll see how that goes.

The Need for Speed

Speaking of speed work, I had already started playing around with it this past Friday, and that went okay.  The kids had the day off so that left me having to get in five miles on the treadmill.  This is not my favorite thing to do.  Aside from the fact that I am just not a treadmill type of gal, stopping every few minutes to yell at LG for throwing legos is not fun.

Rule #1: Don't throw the legos near the treadmill.  Rule #2: Don't throw the legos near the CF light bulb!  

Anyway, I thought since I was a captive audience anyway, I might as well use it to my advantage.  So, after doing a two-mile warm-up, which included me wearing my new Cortanas, I switched back to the Pegasus and started the speed workout.  What I chose to do, based on Hubby's recommendation was to try for three two-minute intervals at a speed as fast as I could stand.  I didn't exactly know what that would be, so it was trial and error for a bit there.  After managing only one minute at 7:30 pace for my first interval, I decided to take it down to 8:00 pace.  That at least was a pace I could manage for two minutes.I wouldn't say that this first attempt at speedwork went terribly, but it definitely was a challenge.  My legs were feeling it for the couple of days after.

I have worn the Cortanas twice now and the jury is still out 

on whether or not I love them.  I definitely like them.  

They feel really comfortable, but I still need to get used 

to the 4mm drop.  They are really taxing my shins 

and calves right now, so I am hoping a couple of 

miles twice a week will be enough to help me work into them.

Seven Miles and Counting

Given the weekend away, I didn't get in my long run Sunday, so yesterday morning after dropping LG off at school, I headed out.  I fully intended to do my typical Sunday routine of two hours of exercise - running and elliptical.  Yeah, that didn't work out.  I got the run in - seven miles outside in the mild temps.  Unfortunately, my first seven miler since the injury became acute didn't feel really comfortable.  I don't know if it's the time change, repercussions from too much wine on the weekend or what, but running was a struggle.  I was tired, and I seemed to be suffering more aches and pains than usual.  I didn't help myself out either.  I was really shooting for an average pace of 10:00 to 10:30, which I achieved (10:10 for the whole run), but the first four miles or so were done at an average 9:40 pace, so faster than I would have liked.  Try as I might, though, I couldn't get my pace down to 10:00 comfortably - well, that is, until I crashed and really slowed down.  I can see where the run/walk might come in handy.

Once back inside, I managed about ten minutes on the elliptical before calling it quits.  It wasn't that I was tired, rather the inside of my left knee was hurting.  I've had this happen one time before on the elliptical, and I am not sure what causes it, but it's a show stopper.  With any luck, like the time before, this won't become a regular fixture of elliptical usage.  Also, hopefully with a couple of days of better sleep, I'll be feeling a bit more energized all around.  Happy running!

No-Chocolate Challenge: Day 21 - Still no chocolate here, and I have even resisted serious get-out-of-town weekend temptation.  Take that, Challenge!

No-Chocolate Challenge: Day 18 - Faced with bowls full of
peanut and regular M&Ms, I resisted.

There was some debate on whether
the Chocolate Raspberry Port should actually be
considered chocolate or not.

After checking out the contents of a glass,
it was decided that this was NOT chocolate.

Deep Tissue Torture

I love massages. Whether it's a Swedish massage administered by a chiropractor wannabe in a Hungarian bathhouse (another story for another time), a tear-evoking reflexology massage in the Czech Republic, or a spa hot-stone massage with aromatherapy and new age music, it makes no matter.  I love them.  Of all the massages I have had though, my favorite of late is the deep tissue massage (DTM).

Pre-race and post-race massages are the BEST!

Yesterday was my fourth long-awaited DTM.  I had been anticipating this for almost three weeks since I set up the appointment.  I had high hopes that this might help nail the cause of my shin problem.  Does that seem odd to put so much faith into a massage?  I suppose it does.  However, it was when I had my hip problem last year, and after going to PT for a month or two, that I experienced my first DTM.  I had never had one before.  I came out of that hour-long session feeling beat up, bruised, and completely worked over.  I hobbled around for a day or so, and then, miraculously, I started feeling better.  I had told the massage therapist about the hip and she spent quite a bit of time working on the muscles surrounding it.  I truly believe she was the last thing I needed to set things right.  With the muscles professionally loosened, it was almost as if the PT exercises could take better hold, and my recovery proceeded at a much faster rate than previously.

So, what is DTM?  According to www.massagetherapy.com:

Techniques that utilize deep-tissue/deep-muscle massage are administered to affect the sub-layer of musculature and fascia. These techniques require advanced training and a thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology. ... It helps with chronic muscular pain and injury rehabilitation and reduces inflammation-related pain caused by arthritis and tendinitis. 

This is not your Swedish grandmother's massage.  This is NOT a relaxing experience.  It starts out pleasantly enough.  I think the practitioner tries to lull you into a false sense of comfort and security before going to work.  After all, if you are too tense, they can't get past the surface muscle to work the deeper layers beneath.  If the massage is done right, in my opinion, it can send you screaming for your mommy be slightly uncomfortable.  In my experience, the more knotted up the muscles are, the more slightly uncomfortable it will be.

Hubby is not as big of a fan of massage as I am.  I got
him a massage gift certificate a few months ago for his
birthday and he has yet to use it.  I keep eyeing it.
If it isn't used soon; it will be reclaimed.

Will yesterday's Deep Tissue Massage hold the same magic for my shin as last year's did for my hip? I don't know.  I hope it does, although only time will tell that.  Right now, I feel completely bruised on my left side - my hamstring particularly.  During massage, the therapist found that my left hamstring, quad and calf were all tight, with the hamstring being the biggest offender.  With the idea that it might not be the shin that is the true culprit, rather all these other muscles pulling on it and causing it to work harder, she dug her fingers and elbows into the knotted muscle.  The result?  I once again feel like someone worked me over with a baseball bat.  Experience tells me, though, that in a day or so that will resolve and I will be left with - what I was looking for all along - deeply relaxed and more flexible leg muscles.  

Weekly update:

I suppose I should write something about my week so far.   It's been pretty good run-wise.  I ran on Sunday for 42 minutes (70 percent of last week's effort) and did the elliptical for 42 minutes, too.  Both felt great, however I was not able to ice right away and the shin area felt inflamed most of Sunday and Monday, too.  So frustrating.

As alluded to, this week I am doing 70 percent of last week's effort.  Additionally, I will probably be taking Friday off in anticipation of the Point Bock 5 Mile Run I am participating in on Saturday.  I am so used to exercising while LG is in pre-school on Fridays that I am not even sure what I will do with myself.  A nice problem to have.

The ab fab Fab Abs Challenge is nearly at an end!  Today is the last day.  Unbelievable.  And to think I almost didn't do the exercises last night.  After the massage, I was feeling too beat up and mellow at the same time.  My husband guilted me into it, though, so I am on track for finishing today with NO MISSED DAYS.  (I'm very proud of that.) What's next?  I am not sure.  I already have two options - a plank challenge someone posted and a 100-push-up challenge, posted over at Neurosis of the Stay at Home Marathoner of 3 (Kids).  So, I don't know exactly what I will end up doing, but I do know I will do something.  I have had a lot of fun doing the Fab Abs Challenge.  I can't wait for the next one.

One week down in the No-Chocolate Challenge!  I can't believe I have gone a whole week without chocolate.  It has had its ups and downs, but all in all it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, at least not yet.  The worst thing so far is that I seem to be hungry every night.  I wonder if my body is missing that extra 100-200 calories of chocolate that it used to have.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

Coming Soon! Bondi Band Giveaway!  Stay tuned for a review and giveaway of Bondi Bands!  More details to follow.

Happy Running!

No-Chocolate Challenge: Day 4 - Denying the chocolate chip pancake

So, today was a little harder with the no-chocolate challenge.  I kind of shot myself in the foot by promising my kids I would make them pancakes this morning, because invariably they ask for chocolate chip pancakes.  I was kind of hoping that we wouldn't have any chocolate chips on hand, but, of course, we did - three-quarters of a bag of Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips.  So, I made the kids their pancakes and then searched for an equally good alternative for my own....  What I came up with? Date and walnut pancakes.  They were very good, and I even made myself clean the melted chocolate off of the spatula before flipping my 'jacks.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes BEFORE

Chocolate Chip Pancakes AFTER

Chocolate Chip Pancakes REALLY AFTER

Preparing the dates and walnuts

Date and walnut pancakes DONE and DELICIOUS!

Basic Vegan Pancake Recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup sugar

2 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp Ener-G egg replacer

4 TBSP warm water

1 1/2 cups soymilk (plus some extra) - I use Silk unsweetened.

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix-ins of choice (have done chocolate chips, blueberries, dates, walnuts)

Stir together the first eight ingredients in large bowl.  Mix together the Ener-G and water in small bowl.  Add the soymilk and oil and stir to mix.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry and whisk together. Add enough additional soymilk to make a pourable batter.  Pour the batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a non-stick hot griddle.  Turn when bubbles form on top.  Done when both sides are golden brown.

No-Chocolate Challenge: Day 3

Just for fun, I thought I would record how this No-Chocolate Challenge goes.  So far, cravings are not bad, but I did pack leftover chocolate from Valentine's Day in the kids' lunch/snack bags today so I could get it out of the house.

One worry that I have started to have is that with chocolate off of the menu, will I start seeking out and perhaps developing a taste for non-chocolate sweets?  Although I am a chocoholic, my one saving grace is that I have never really had a sweet tooth for other items.  Candy, baked goods, pies, cakes, cookies?  If it didn't have chocolate, I wasn't that tempted.  With chocolate deprivation underway, though, to what extremes will I go?  And - gasp - what if I start liking these non-chocolate goodies?  Then, when chocolate is back on the menu, will I then have even more bad habits than when I started?  I guess I won't know for a while.  Three days down, Thirty-seven to go.

Day 2 had me already looking for alternative sweets (not good), but I made it hard on myself.  The result?  Homemade cinnamon bread.  Delicious!  No redeeming health value, but tasty!

My 40-Day Run from Chocolate

My favorite chocolate bar right now
Chocolove - Check them out at
www.chocolove.com

So, the other day was the start of Lent, and ... drumroll, please ... I decided to give up chocolate.  Horror of horrors, I know.  This may not be a big deal to some, but for me it is monumental.  I am addicted to chocolate.  Seriously.  I don't think a day goes by where I don't have chocolate in some form or another.  It's probably my one true uncontrolled indulgence.  So, why give it up, especially since I usually don't give up anything for Lent?  I don't know really.  I guess I want to see if I can do it.  Maybe I feel the need for a personal challenge, and since running isn't really giving me any in the near future, I thought this might be a good option.  So, what are my goals with this?  Well, pretty basic:

1. To see if I can actually do this without driving myself crazy (so far I have been obsessing about whether or not I'll actually remember I am doing this)
2. To see if I can get past the NEED for daily chocolate.  How nice it would be to have a passing craving for chocolate and be able to tell myself, No, I don't think so. Not right now.  

So far I am dubious.  Already this morning, as I reached for the carton of chocolate Silk - with the idea of adding it to my coffee - I had to mentally smack myself.  I have the feeling there will be a lot of those Oops moments.  Wish me luck on my journey of self-deprivation....I'll need it.

The unintentional run analysis

So, Tuesday I went to see my PT again for a scheduled appointment and managed to get some exercise in at the same time.  Since whenever I go in my shin doesn't seem to be bothering me, I decided I would arrive a half hour early, use their treadmill, and see if I could "light up" the injury site.  I set the machine at 6 mph and managed to get in 26 minutes before my appointment.  I threw in a couple of five-minute intervals at 7 mph just to see if I could do it (I could), and tried to ignore the fact that in the last five minutes, the PT started videotaping me for a running analysis.  

Overall, the appointment went well.  My running analysis didn't reveal too much.  I overpronate slightly on one side and have some hip dropping on the other.  I heel strike a bit, but not significantly, and my cadence is pretty good (about 176 strides per minute).  Some good news, too:  my core is STRONG.  Apparently, I don't show a lot of core weakness.  I'll credit the Fab Abs challenge for that.  The weird part about the appointment?  Running for 26 minutes didn't really get the shin to hurt.  Go figure.  Either I have to exercise longer to get that response, or the treadmill is somehow more forgiving.  

PT#1 still seems to think this is a tightness issue, exacerbated by the fact that I am not resting it completely.  She thinks if I were just to sit around and do nothing, this would go away relatively quickly.  However, since I have chosen to stay active, I am stuck taking one step back for every two steps forward.  But, as long as what is happening with me is still considered a recovery, I guess I am okay with that.

I thought I was a pretty stable person, but apparently I need more stability in my life

One thing the PT did recommend is that I look into getting into some mild stability shoes.  This suggestion would have come as a complete surprise if the lady at the running store on Sunday hadn't just told me the exact same thing.  I don't know why I need mild stability now after I have been told for the past few years that I am a solid neutral runner, but I am willing to give anything a try.  Stability shoes in the past have not worked for me, but that was before I knew about mild stability.  So, yesterday it was back to the running store to try on shoes once again.

Saucony Cortana - www.saucony.com

The pair I actually like - but have yet to buy - are in fact neutral shoes that have enough stability in them to cross over into the mild stability category.  Unfortunately, they are also the most expensive shoes I have ever considered buying.  The fact that they are rated for up to 600 miles makes me feel a little bit better about the $140 price tag, but not much.  The sad part, though, is that of all the shoes I have tried on in the past couple of months, they are the ones that feel the most comfortable.  I have now tried these shoes twice, and I like them, but the guy at the running store wants me to hold off until I can try another pair of shoes they are bringing in from another store.  He thinks I might like those better.  So, I wait.

Since I ran on Tuesday at the PT's office, I thought I would just try to do some sprints on the track yesterday, so I went upstairs and warmed up for five minutes and then let 'er rip.  Three 45-60 second sprints around the track at top speed, interspersed with recovery jogs left me whooped.  You can tell I don't normally do speed work.  I only did this for fifteen minutes total, so not a huge effort.  And, I have to say that, despite feeling like I was going to hork up a lung after, I enjoyed the challenge.  Really.  There might even be some more speed work in my future.  In fact, I might actually do a little research on how one is actually supposed to do it.  I followed up my brief run with 30 minutes on the rowing machine and 15 minutes on the elliptical.  A good well-rounded effort, I would say.

After picking up the Little Guy from pre-school, we headed over to the gymnastics center for some playtime.  That was a blast and allowed LG to get in his exercise, too.  Unfortunately, that also meant I didn't ice right away, and - perhaps as a result - the shin was more sore the rest of the day.  Ah well.  If nothing else, I think I am finally starting to learn to recognize the triggers and how to work around this a bit now.  That's something, I suppose.