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!

Put up your dukes, let's get right to it

Thought I'd post one of my spin class playlists...

Warmup: Journey: Anyway You Want It

Hill Part 1: Arcade Fire: Keep the Car Running:

Hill part 2: Beatles - Here Comes the Sun

How Android makes my life better

I'm a little late entering the smartphone world, but thanks to my parents I'm the proud new owner of the HTC Amaze. (Slightly off-topic post for today. There is some relevance!)

I've been addicted to the show Alcatraz, where prison inmates magically reappear in society after they mysteriously disappeared 50 years ago. In one scene, someone is trying to explain to one of them what the Internet was.

As I'm sitting there playing with my phone, trying to figure out what one of the songs was on Glee (Verdict: Lenny Kravitz, Stand), I'm thinking: "Man, just wait til he sees one of these things."

I was slightly terrified it at first. But fast forward one week and I can't live without it.

I've barely browsed the Internet on it. I've only made a few calls. What really makes it worth it are the apps. And every single one of these either came with the phone or was a free download.

It's made my life a lot better, and a little bit worse.

WAYS THIS CRAZY TECHNOLOGY HAS IMPROVED MY LIFE (In alphabetical order, because that's how my phone operates)

And this is when Jessica hurts herself

I've been sidelined. Three days in, and it's already killing me. I'm really scared I won't be able to run my marathon in May.

I've been having some calf issues. And knee issues. And tightness in my right IT band. But it hasn't been serious so I haven't worried about it. 

I started to have some real pain the week before the Granville Winter Run. Miraculously, I made it through the 15-miler with no pain whatsoever and with a great time (I still need to blog about it). 

But that was it. The next week, I couldn't barely run at all. I went to MIT Saturday, but after two miles I felt like there was something tearing in both my lower calves. I quit. It was time to call a chiropractor. I got a recommendation for a local guy in town and went today.

Dr. Harrison was wonderful. He took lots of time to really look me over, even though his diagnoses was instant.

I'm lopsided.

I'm back! And reassessing

I've been a bad blogger, but something is keeping you folks clicking, I'm sitting pretty at 723 hits a little more than halfway through the month.

Like half the population, I made some pretty lofty goals at the beginning of 2012. And, like half the population, it's halfway through February and I've pretty much abandoned them.On a positive note, the gym isn't crowded anymore!

I think I'm going to steal an idea from a friend, and take goal setting on a monthly basis instead of yearly. So, I'm going to come up with a post of three goals to accomplish in March, and think small.

Thanks to an inability to keep myself healthy, my training for the Pig has been incredibly rocky. Because of some side effects of one of the medicines I was on, my weight loss efforts have also been stalled. (The jeans are a little tighter today. Prednisone, I hate you.) But not all is lost! I'm still on track for the full, and it doesn't look like I'll have to abandon my time goal, either.

Here's my weekly mileage for the year thus far:

Every time I've fallen back, my gut reaction has been to panic and overtrain the next week. I've had some calf issues this week, so I know that needs to stop. With three miles today and 14 tomorrow I'll be at 26 for the week, a respectable jump. I took a week off from lifting, due to a nasty cold, and time constraints kept me from my routine yesterday, so I'm a little behind in that respect.

So where have I been? I'm still running, still teaching, still writing. I may start posting some of my class profiles, just for kicks.

And I completed the Granville Winter Run Sunday with an awesome time (not as awesome as last year). Look forward to a race report on that... soon(ish).

I will be a better blogger :)

Foodie Friday: Yoplait Greek yogurt

I'm rediscovering Greek Yogurt. I used to force myself to eat it for the protein content, but stopped. But at the store last week I discovered the Cherry Pomegranate flavor. Yummy!

Happy Friday everyone!