Moving right along January 3rd-9th

[OakLeaf]

Mile repeats x 3. I wasn't looking forward to the damp and cold, but I reminded myself of the weather some of you are having to deal with!

I'm seeing a PT on Tuesday for my feet/hip/everything He comes highly recommended by my LMT, so I'm hopeful for some good insights and strategies.

[spindizzy]

Good luck Oak!

Jolt..nights aren't so bad..when you're young. When I started having trouble sleeping in the daytime, I knew it was time to get a "day" job.

My short run today was positive balmy compared to last week (-30C, lots of wind) today it was only -9C, wind about 20km/hr. But bright and sunny. Did 5.5k in 30 min - a 5::25 pace. My focus over the last few months has been the bike - I've managed to keep my run pace relatively the same.

[zoom-zoom]

5 miles in SUNSHINE...aaaahhh...26ºF with 19º windchill...quite comfy. Looking forward to warmer temps next week so that the roads will be clear and I can ditch the Yaktrax for a while.

[Grog]

Ah!

After last Sunday's painful run, with my strained groin muscle, I rested all week, even restricting fast walking, and went on the trainer twice (what torture when you can't even stand up to pedal!). I ran across the street twice to catch a bus and it was painful both times, but yesterday I jogged just a few meters to see how it would feel and it seemed fine. Sort of.

So I went out for a jog today. I decided before going that I would alternate running and walking for 1 minute each, for 15 minutes, and keep my stride as short as I could, being careful to always land my feet below my hips and not to stretch forward.

It went well! I ended up going for 20 minutes. Running was uncomfortable but not painful, as long as I kept my stride short.

So tomorrow I'll go for longer, maybe 45 minutes, but with the same walk-run routine. I won't push it. I'll treat next week as a rest week, but still run.

I'm getting excited about the prospect of signing up for a marathon. Has anyone here ever done the Capital City Marathon in Olympia, WA?

[indigoiis]

Yay Grog! I also rested a few days this week due to a cold. I did 3.6 today with my DH on a very big hill route. I used my VFFs and it was a great run! About 20 degrees F here.

[Crankin]

Good luck with your schedule, Jolt. I can't imagine having to work at night. How is this going to impact your job at the nursing home?
You must be getting close to finishing, though.
I am in a weekend class this weekend; holistic approaches to pain and stress. It's an expressive therapy course and I don't know one person in it. Plus, half of the students are undergrads. Not sure how that happened, since it's a 600 level class. So, while dealing with the weirdness of being out of my little cohort of counseling psych friends, I am learning some cool things to use with my clients. But some of this is a little too "out there" for me. She's teaching us some yogic breathing that makes me feel like I'm suffocating. Guess I won't be using that with clients.
No exercise today. I am sore all over from running, a hard trainer workout , and skiing. Will be running on the TM tomorrow, hopefully before I go to class.

[rocknrollgirl]

We did a 30 min trail run today after I worked out in the pool this morning. My hair was still a bit damp and froze a little, but other than that it was a nice run. I think it was about 20 degrees and a bit windy, but nice in the woods.

Mt biking tomorrow

[Urlea]

Been pretty tired today, didn't sleep the greatest last night, probably because I was excited to run this morning. Late last week Maggie found out about a few ultra runners in our area doing group runs together & we were able to join them today for 16miles of a moderately hilly long-run out in the country.

Having never met them before & with all three of them being male I wasn't quite sure how it would go. Could we keep up? Will they be annoyed by anyone talking? What if I have to toot? Can I still video blog my run? Stuff like that.

After the first few miles though I was having a blast!! Such a great group of guys, quite conversational & our paces were matched relatively well.

Around mile 10ish one of the guys was starting to lag a little bit. I just assumed he was getting low on hydration or fuel so we took a short walking fueling break. He mentioned it was the meds giving him troubles & went on to tell me he has Hodgekin's Lymphoma. I was shocked to find out here he was running 16miles in -13F only a few days after having CHEMO! I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around how much passion he must have for running to work through it all. Wow.

Anyway, we ended the run having gained 3 like-hearted comrades. I am looking forward to more treks with them. It's nice to have more ppl to run w/ and others navigating instead of just me.

Grog Glad to hear you are healing well & easing back into it!

[Jolt]

Good luck with your schedule, Jolt. I can't imagine having to work at night. How is this going to impact your job at the nursing home?
You must be getting close to finishing, though.

I'm actually no longer working at the nursing home--got laid off last month b/c they were reducing the number of beds so had to cut staff. Bummer, but on the other hand it leaves me that much more time to focus on school. So, that isn't an issue with scheduling for clinical. Just this semester and then I will be graduating and taking the boards to become certified as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (and then hopefully being able to find a job in a timely fashion...without having to move too far if I can help it). As it turned out last night I was only there for the first half of the shift b/c things were so quiet after the first few hours that my preceptor said I might as well take off.

[Crankin]

Wow, you are almost done, Jolt. I actually know a few people that have been hired at MGH.
I ran for 25 minutes on the TM at 6 AM. It was an interval program, with some walking, but considering the time, I felt OK.
Gotta go into my class now.