Thinking about a half ironman

(Eeep don't know what happened to this graf before) I've had ups and downs, but overall training for the Pig has not gone well, and it has me rethinking whether I want to do a fall marathon.

I'm not quitting. Far from it. I just need something new, different, to shake things up a bit.

Then I remembered the random thoughts I've had of maybe doing a half ironman.

So I started looking at some events. I started off on www.trifind.com, and started looking at all the official Ironman events. I fell in love with this one, at Cedar Point, until I saw the entry fee.

$263!!! #%@!!!! Label that one under: "Maybe someday."

So I turned to lord google to try and find another option. I mean, do I really care that it's a official such-and-such certified whatever course? Not really.

The basic requirement is that it be in the $100 range, and within 2 hours of my Casa de Newark, or Hotel Mom and Dad in Lakewood.

So far I've found this one in Springfield, Ohio Aug. 26, with an entry fee of $150.

Here's one in Mt. Sterling Sept. 23. Entry fee is $100. 

I'll do some more Googling when I have more free time and see what else I can come up with!

Five simple workout apps

As I've noted before I'm trying to add weight training back into my routine. I'm doing the balance training, which I'm getting the hang of. But I wanted something simple to add into my routine.

I'm also trying to become a proficient smart phone user.

I downloaded the Daily Arm Workout and have done it a couple times. I really like it. All the moves are simple and can be done with basic hand weights. It also lets you choose how long the routine should be.

This was the first app I paid for and it was worth it.

So today I downloaded the four sister apps from Amazon: Daily Cardio Workout, Daily Butt Workout, Daily Leg Workout and Daily Ab Workout. I'm not quite sure how I'll use them in my routine yet but I'll figure it out.

At $0.99 a pop these are the first apps I've paid money for. We'll see how it goes!

Balance training

I had to abandon the New Rules of Lifting for Abs when my back got all screwy, so I haven't done any strength training for a month.

My chiropractor mentioned that I should be working on my balance. I remembered this book I picked up eons ago when I had a Barnes and Noble gift card to burn up, Balance Training by Karon Karter.

There hasn't been a lot of time up until this week -- the stretches the chiropractor gave me take a good hour each night, in addition to my running and cycling schedules (and that silly little thing called a day job!) But I'm furloughed this week so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Like the New Rules, Balance Training has a series of workouts that are meant to be done in a progression.

I tried the first stage, which is all body weight stuff done on the ground. It was way too easy. I had some time, so I did Phase 2, which is done on the foam roller. That felt relatively easy as well, but now I'm definitely feeling it a bit!

I think I may improvise and go back to Phase 1, and do it on the balance board instead of on the ground. If that works out I'll do that for four weeks, and then either find a way to modify the foam roller phase or just skip it altogether and move onto the stability ball phase, which looks tough!!

Since this is all lower body stuff, I'l going to find a 15-30 minute arm workout to do in addition.

Feeling pretty strong!!

Carry a compass to help you along

Cycling playlist for the week!! This is a good one :)

Edgar Winter Group -- Free Ride

Waiting for the End -- Linkin Park

Another reason to be excited for the Pig

The Flying Pig Marathon released the shirt design today.

It's perfect.

Getting back on track

Team 12:00

I ran 16 miles Saturday, and I managed it without walk breaks and very little pain.

I'm still being uber-careful, taking it really easy, doing the run/walk thing at times and subbing cross training for some miles.

Saturday was wonderful. I was secretly dreading going 16 miles at a 12:00 pace, but the pace team turned out to be just wonderful and made the miles fly by, even though we were down to a mere 3 people once the halves turned back!

Michele H., the 12:00 pace coach, gave some sound advice for after the run: When you get home, stay on your feet for a half hour before retreating to the couch. That is supposed to reduce stiffness. It was difficult to do, but I took Miss Lizzie for a walk and cleaned up around the house a bit. She was right! When I woke up from my nap my legs felt much better, and there was just mild stiffness Sunday morning!

Stand, you're gonna run again :)

What a crazy week! I'll schedule a post to go tomorrow with an update on how I'm doing injury-wise, to sum it up in one word: Better!!

In the meantime, my spinning playlist for the week (a few repeats from last week) :)

Warm-up: Lenny Kravitz, Stand

Hill: Doors - Hello, I Love You

Hill with jumps: Matt & Kim - Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare -- How am I just now discovering this song -- it is AWESOME and PERFECT for spin!!!!!!

Injured Jessica finishes a 5K!

I got off the treadmill, grabbed a stability ball and stretched out over it. It felt SO good! Then I grabbed my phone.

"I don't think I've ever been happier to finish a 5K!!!" I texted to a running buddy.

To recap, my saga has gone like this: Training for the Pig was going swimmingly until I encountered some horrible calf pain. I saw a chiropractor, who said it wasn't my legs at all. Instead, my back bone was curved wrong from practically a lifetime of subconsciously leaning to the right.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've run more than a mile. I was cleared to run on Tuesday, tried on Wednesday but couldn't make it more than a mile. I was ok to cross train though, so I tried to make up for not running as best I could spinning and on the elliptical. I spent nearly 3 hours on the elliptical Saturday trying to make up for the 14 miles I wasn't running.

I told myself I'd go to MIT Saturday if I could manage 3 miles today. After spin class, I got on the treadmill and set it to a 12-minute mile. I did a 4:1 run-walk ratio, the same as MIT's run walk group. The first mile went well, but 12 minutes in it was so discouraging to see that I hadn't even gone a mile! That's when things started to hurt -- bad. I tried to stand up straight and have good form, like the chiropractor said. Every time I fell into a slouch it was more comfortable, but the slower pace made it easier to focus.

20 minutes in, and I was only halfway there! And this was so painful -- all in my back, but my legs feel fine.

By 30 minutes, though, I was starting to feel better. I finished the 5K in 39:52, and by the end I actually felt like I could keep going.

I'll probably be doing the slower pace and the run/walk thing for awhile, but I'm just happy to be back on my feet!

I'm excited to go back to MIT Saturday... I'm about to seek out some advice from Coach Randy and the chiropractor on how far I can go.

Time to stretch!