Injury Report, et al.

Greetings and salutations!

Ok, here's the deal.  I've been shelved for a bit.  Readers of this blog (and those that know me closely) know that I sprained my ankle on December 13th.  Well, I've always been a bit stubborn when it comes to that sort of thing and didn't go to the doctor and didn't give it the rest it needed.  I continued to play basketball, occasionally run, do the elliptical and XBox Kinect.  When the swelling had not gone down to my satisfaction after 6 weeks, I went to the doctor who has now told me no running until I am 2 weeks post no swelling.  Now I really don't have much, but I figure I best lay off for at least this week.  I had been having trouble going down stairs, and I don't need this problem to get worse.  The part that upsets me the most is that the Illinois half is less than 90 days away and I don't even have a real base built up at this time.  I'm actually sitting here right now with some fairly debilitating back pain.  If I sit too long, I have real trouble walking, so I've been trying to get up and be mobile every 5-10 minutes.  I think I am going to go track down some Ibuprofen.  My self-written training program called for P90X chest and back today and a four mile fartlek tomorrow.  I know the run isn't happening, and I'm not so sure about the P90X.  Kids broke the handles on my resistance bands.  >:(  I'll see what the evening brings.  I think I should lay off the XBox as it seems to make my ankle tight.  It's too cold (for me) to bike, so my options are dwindling.

In other news, I have lost 2.5 pounds during January.  This is far behind my goal, but at least it is something.  I also seem to have lost an inch off of my waist.  I gave blood on Saturday and they measured my resting HR at 52.  I was surprised at that number as I had drank 4 cups of coffee and did a low impact workout (elliptical) that morning.  I think in the interim, before I can hit the pavement again, I really need to work on portion control.  I struggle with that as let's face it, I like to eat.

I am still hoping to do the Lake Sara Dam Run - which is an 8 miler on April 6th.  I'd like to do a race on 3/23 as well, if for nothing else it is my birthday and it would be cool to have a race shirt with my birthday on it.  If you know of a good race on the 23rd, shoot me a note.  I don't want to do a trail race at this time - leastwise, not the "toughest 10K on the planet", which is how the Mountain Goat describes their race, I believe.

Well, it is time for me to fly - run happy and safe my friends.

Feb 1 Training Report

I got up this morning knowing I was not going to work and decided to survey the land to see what it looked like as far as ice accumulation. We appear to have about 1/2 inch. I took some pictures, which I will post later. Being February 1, it was time to take some measurements. I'm a little behind on my goals, only losing 3.6 pounds in January. I did lose 1/4 inch off of my neck, 1/2 off of my belly and 3/4 off my waist. This means my BF% is still far too high. I would like to be in the teens and not 20's. That will take a long time. Maybe by November I'll be there. I'm going to have to turn it on to lose 13 pounds in the next 51 days or so.

In that line of thought, I finally did an elliptical workout about 4:20. I did 25 minutes with an avg. heart rate of 148. I was wanting it over 150, but just couldn't get there. It was very strange being on the machine as I haven't been in some time. It took a solid ten minutes to get my rhythm going. According to a formula I found on the internet, this amounts to a 390 calorie burn. I also did some foam rolling and rolled frozen water on the arch of my left foot. Tomorrow, I will more than likely shovel some snow, and I am planning on doing P90X Plyometrics. I like that workout. I have a treadmill, but the distance calculator doesn't work and it doesn't look like I'll be hitting the road any time soon.


Well, the pictures aren't loading. Tomorrow maybe.

Training

I have just scheduled my training for the Illinois half-marathon. (only a half because I am only half crazy :D ) I am going to use the "Break 2:00 or bust" plan from Runner's World. I still need to figure out what cross training I will do - which when it gets warmer I will assume will biking, but one never knows. I really should do some Yoga as I hear that helps and of course strength training - but we'll just have to see how things work out. I must admit, it was a little daunting putting it in - possibly because I started at the end and worked backwards.

I'm getting excited about running again, and I hope you are too. I am planning a 7 mile training run in just two weeks. That should be interesting. One thing I know for sure and for certain is I am going to have to run faster. Training plan will begin on my daughter's 7th birthday - 2/21. I will have to do some good base building in Jan and early February and maybe some speed work in mid Feb. If you'd like to join me please let me know. Would love company, especially on the weekend long runs.