Changes

Good morning friends.

It is Tues and my routine is totally different today.  I am home from work (though they have already called 3x and it is only 10 am), I am inside house cleaning as it is raining quite hard outside (really I am).   I don't know exactly where to start in here as I have not been inside for any length of time for 10 days.  My time has been focused on work, feeding my family and helping with the farm seeding.  That has all changed for just a day and I am embracing a break in the usual.

I have my garden planted, a whole bunch of shrubs and cedar trees planted and a big flower bed project done so I am happy for the moisture.  I might even sneak a nap in today.  I am so excited about my garden, well gardens as I technically have 3. I need a special spot for different things that I plant.  One garden is small and grows the cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, zucchini and squash.  Another garden at our main farm grows the potatoes and corn.  The garden by my house grows all the rest (beans, peas, carrots, onions, cabbage, kale, tomatoes, asparagus, swiss chard, etc as well as all my fruit like strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, saskatoons, cherries and hascaps.  I can't wait to start eating!  I don't always like the weeding part but that it all part of eating all the wonderful, homegrown foods.

Well, last post was pretty heavy.  Last weekend was supposed to be my marathon weekend which of course was changing to either the half or 10 km.  But, it actually changed to nothing.  Nope, didn't go.  We were too busy in the fields and with rain coming this week, we couldn't leave on Saturday in time to get to packet pickup in time.  To be honest, my husband and I were so tired that the runs would have only been a fun run basically and the travel time would have just drained us totally.  9 hours of travel in 24 hours with a run in there would have not set us up for a good week.  Instead, the morning of the race, we both had a great early morning run together, I ran 7 he ran 10.  We showered up and got back into bed for some more sleep.  Had a great day with the kids so it all worked out good.  This is the first time we were no shows and I regret losing the money but sometimes I think it is unavoidable.

I have still been working hard on strengthening so many of the glute, leg, abductor muscles to hopefully get the IT band happy again.  My knee did start to get sore at the 6 1/2 mile mark so I know I am making progress.  The week before long run was 3 1/2 miles before I needed to stop.  I have been running stairs at the local grand stand, doing 747's, squats, exercises with the resistance band, pistol squats (can't do these yet as they are sooo tough or I am sooo weak)  I am hoping I can run in 3 weeks at the next run I have registered in.  It is the Manitoba Marathon and I am registered to run a 1/2.  Last year, my goal was to set a new PR which I did do and I was hoping I could do the same this year. The middle of June is a nice time to run a fast race for me as the busyness of seeding is over and I have a bit more time to train.

I have rode my tri bike into town a few times and last night my husband and I went for a 16 mile ride in the rain.  We weren't concerned with time but more with care as little tires and wet roads can spell disaster. It was an opportunity though and they are rare so we took it.  It is an uphill ride the first half and then back down hill on the return.  Good workout.  We are going to sneak out today to the high school and do some track repeats in the next hour.  Sometimes the training is all over the place but when you get a chance, you need to capitalize on it, the messy house will still be here when I get back.

My daughter had her track and field meet last week.  They had a great day and she had lots of fun and placed in some of her events.  If you place in the first track meet, you go onto the the championship meet which is this Friday.  I'd better start thinking of ways to calm her stomach.  She gets so nervous.  I loved track meets when I was a youngster.  They rated second after Christmas in my books!  I was so nervous the night before I usually barely slept so I totally get where she is coming from.



Well, gotta go, my shorts are calling my name.  Have a great day!

 

 

Party time

Hello friends, it has been awhile.  Happy Mother's Day!

Have you ever had a party, for one?  Yah that's been me for a couple of weeks and you know the only parties where one is invited is not a celebration but a gathering of the pities and woes of the world.

Disappointment is a hard thing to handle when it comes unexpected.  About 10 days ago, I ran my longest run before my taper.  Things were going well, nice weather, feeling good until about mile 16 when my right knee started to really hurt.  I took a walking break for a bit and when I tried then to run again, the pain was very intense.  I continued to walk for a mile until just by coincidence my husband happened to drive by and gave his hobbling, discouraged wife a ride to her vehicle (I live in the country and was running in town).

Goodbye dreams of my marathon, hello IT Band.  What a bummer.  Even 10 days later, it still stinks.  I have since tried running 2X and can only run a bit before needing to walk.  6 miles was my max so I am not even sure if I can run a half in a couple of weeks.  I hate to push it too much and then be out for awhile just when the running season is starting around here. I feel like I am going nuts.  To be going full tilt with training and then be reduced to walking.  Really?   I miss you dear stinky sweat.  I didn't realize how good you and I were together.

But, I have tried to take a positive approach to this.  I have been increasing my strength and muscle workout in terms of improving the strength and flexibility of my glutes, hip flexors and abductors.  I hope an improvement in overall muscle balance will get me back on the road again sooner.  So often it seems that pinpointing what causes these setbacks is so hard to do because it could be a combination of so many things.  It does seem to me that I incur injuries quite often.  I'm sure that this is a direct result of the stomach issues I have.  Let me explain my rationale.  I have been told that being prescribed a strong antibiotic many times in the past few years has disrupted the stomach and intestinal lining and has caused a bacterial imbalance.  This imbalance has created a situation where the good bacteria and enzymes have a hard time doing their jobs and as such digestion is compromised.  I can feel the effects of this in terms of poor digestion of certain foods, bloating and pain.  I can see the effects by the change in my abdomen appearance.  It looks like anything else that is inflamed-  it looks swollen.  I am a stomach gal and so this swollen, rounded, fluid filled abdomen drives me bonkers when it has been so flat in the past.  This brings in a whole new game- the mental dialogue that suggests the F word- yes you know it FAT.  Any woman can understand the consequences that come when we start seeing a part of ourselves that we don't like. So, back to my point; my inflammation levels have been high for some time and I just don't think our bodies can handle that much irritation before something gives.  Makes sense in my head but my heart still weeps for the loss of the goal that I have been training for and striving for since January.

So, decisions will need to be made in the next week or so.  Until then, I am icing my leg, foam rolling and stretching and I will continue to bike and run lightly.  All this with my legs and fingers crossed that improvements will be made and all planned events will not be gone.

Now a quick update on my non-training life.  My son has been accepted to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in the college of agriculture.  I am helping with graduation plans and he received his grad pictures the other day.  I am being forced to accept that somehow he is 18 now.  

My girls and I traveled last weekend to Edmonton, Alberta for a wedding and had some great girl time.  We got some visiting in with family we don't see often as well as seeing some of the sights of the city.  Well, if you count the malls as city sights.  Edmonton boasts a mall called West Edmonton Mall which is the Canadian version of Mall of America.  The mall houses a huge aquatic park, theme hotel, adventure center and skating rink as well as many retail stores.  

My husband and I have been doing some home renovations.  We ripped the carpet out of our office and replaced it with hardwood.  The project went quite quickly and I think looks great. We just need to get everything moved back into it. 



Now that it is nice outside, the renovations are going to start outside.  More info and pictures about this next project to follow.

Wishing you all a great week.

Think of me when you go for your run tomorrow.  As much as you might not want to get out there and run, remember that somewhere there is always someone who would gladly take your place.