Pain in left foot - uh oh, or okay??

RUN 6.2 miles in 60 mins. 2 mile WU, 2 mile at 9:05m/m race pace, 2 mile CD

Yet another treadmill run. I'd love to join the Thursday run group! But it was below 10F outside. Not warm enough yet. I got "my" treadmill for once. They're different, they really are. I play favorites.

Somewhere around mile 3-4 I felt a mild pain in my left food, under the 2nd or 3rd toe when I roll the foot to take-off. Was mild, didn't feel it much running.

My Race Pace is calculated to be 9:10 for a 1:59:59 half mary. So I ran 9:05 and it felt fine. That's the first time I've run that faster pace sustained, I've been doing songervals mostly.

As for the foot, it hurt a little more afterwards, and even now (the next day) I'm aware of it. It kept me up a bit last night, thinking about how February could be a no-go if this is really an injury. Stress fracture keeps coming to mind, but I've been running steady 3x a week for 2 months now, and I've been at this 12-18 mph for at least a month. So I haven't drastically increased, and I honestly don't feel like I've done the proverbial "too much".

So I wait to see what comes of it. I can feel it just jogging across an intersection :(  My planned runs for this weekend were are a 3 and a 6, I can bike those if needed -- the forecast is for the mid-60's!!!

It's below 30F so I rode inside. HAHAHAHA

BIKE 1 hour maybe about 15-16 miles 

This went by fast, had a lot to think about. What to do next with my diet, because I'm not happy feeling sick like this. I get blood drawn for my new cholesterol numbers Friday, what will it show, and how will I go from there? And more. Chatted with mom on phone via text, stared at a blank TV screen with the DVD logo bouncing around. Used it as a stand/sit interval counter cuz it would move every 15-20 seconds. After the ride I did 10 mins of legs strength and watched the Running On The Sun DVD about the Badwater. Not sure I ever want to run that.

We're having another polar vortex, it's only 1F outside with wicked negative 20-something windchills. Sugar didn't even want to go for a walk, good think cuz I didn't either. But I really can't complain, SO works tonight out in this weather and back home they have it much worse.

I've been having some sort of chest symptoms, I didn't mention them to Dr W yesterday because of a lot of things. Mentioning something like this kinda forces them to run a bunch of tests and I'm fairly certain the tests would come back normal. Reference last October, for example. And because I stopped taking the Amlodipine (calcium channel blocker last week. Why did I do this? I ran out of the prescription while doing my Saturday morning routing of filling my morning and evening pill boxes. I have the new Rx, but forgot to add it in starting on about Thursday. So maybe Weds was the last dose? I think I took some Saturday and Sunday with my new refills. But then definitely Monday through today (Weds) I've been withholding it. I don't want to be taking so many meds. And I wanted to see if stopping this med changed anything. Dr B added it last October to see if it helped with what they thought were artery spasms. I wanted to experiment.

But I've been having this feeling for longer than the last week, but it's either becoming more prominent or I'm paying more attention to it. I think the former. It's like that feeling you get when you get an adrenaline rush -- the cold flood of feeling through your chest, but without the stomach butterflies and racing heart. It's just a feeling, sometimes verging on uncomfortable. But never painful. And never the squeezing tightness that characterized last September. But it's there, kinda regardless of what I'm doing. It doesn't seem activity related. Lab, home, driving, sitting, walking, calm, busy, thinking...

I'd like to think it's stress? I don't feel that acutely stressed but the body does funny things. Especially mine with its strong streak of denial. Could it be the running? Maybe it's not the heart but the lungs and rib muscles readapting?

I'm just being honest here, logging it for future reference. Should I restart the Amlodipine and see what happens? Maybe.

Messed up morning, but recovered it

RUN 4.5 miles in 45 mins, treadmill set at 0.5% incline

The original plan was to get up early to run, because I had an 8am with Dr L and a 3pm with Dr W. I needed to get this done.

But I woke up feeling sick (bloated, heavy, clogged-feeling) and instead I stressed munched breakfast. I tried to go anyway, thinking 30 minutes is better than 0 minutes. To avoid that "all of the workout or none of the workout" thinking. But it just wasn't there. The motivation, the gut, or the energy.

I think the cabbage I'm eating is causing this. I made a few recipes over the weekend with cooked cabbage and broccoli, and I suspect the cabbage.  It's back to my pre-FODMAP diet symptoms of just pain and heaviness in the gut. Don't even want to move or think.

So instead I leave at 7:15 from home, and in the end this was the better decision. The Hampton on-ramp I would have taken from the gym was near standstill for traffic. As it was, I barely made it to Dr L at 8am. Summary of appointment. He gave me the best explanation so far as to why running the cold is a bad idea. As always, I'll never recapture his detail here but I can paraphrase as best as possible. The cardiac is a "trainable" type of muscle, with the artery muscles are a "non-trainable" smooth muscle. As for me, I reported my mid back problems of tingling and fatigue. Turns out the mid back muscles were OK, but my lower mid back ones were compensating and causing the other problems. He again joked about how "someone so little can require such force to loosen up", or something to that effect. The hip is looking great, and I can train for the half marathon on the condition that my postural muscles maintain good health. He said if JeffH is OK with it, I can run it. I didn't point out that I wasn't working with JeffH at the moment.

Off to lab, where I tried to find closer parking but failed. Oh, and on the way back to lab instead of waiting on traffic I stopped at WF and got potatoes, choc chips (?), and yogurt, and walnuts. Oh and rice. Munch food. But I needed something else in my stomach that was nutritional yet not fiberous. But these foods don't really fill me up. Anyway. Off to lab, still feeling sick and out of sorts. 

I did the maths, and realized that if I walked out the door at 1pm I would have time for a 45 min run before my 3pm with Dr W. Success!! And I saw JP on a bike on  my way out the door, I didn't have time to stop and she was intervalling. 

Summary of appt with Dr W. My BP was 80/56 but if I'm not symtomatic it's OK. And it's not really that different from my usual 100/60 and 90/60. It just sounds worse. I can exercise outdoors down to 30F, but do what I can indoors. We just have to find out what I can tolerate. And as for the bruising, she can change me to Plavix which is a less aggressive anti-platelet. I wasn't so much complaining or looking for a change, as long as the bruising and lumps I'm getting aren't unexpected or out of line. To be sure she ordered a CBC (next day came back all normal).

Then home to get dog and some food then off to Illinois for that lingering jewelry sale. Good to get that clog off my list. Once home I stuck to the TRE goals, didn't eat anymore to let the stomach rest, got 10' mins of strength in, played with dog. And went to  bed at a good time.

Since MLK weekend, I've been sleeping in the guest room. SO noted it was warmer in there. He's right! And I'm listening to his radio as white noise, yay for bitter talk radio. And also since that weekend the phone has been kicked out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. I can not believe how often I think of picking it up "just to check something". Ugh. Awful, But breaking it!

My stomach in pain, swollen, heavy, and took some meds to see if it helped. 

I swam! And hit the 20 min benchmark

SWIM 20 minutes and 900 yards

When the bar is low, it's easy to meet it. Goal today was just 20 minutes of whatever I wanted in the pool. It's my rest/XT day.

Anton asked if I was still doing Paleo, this is from a conversation we had 5 years ago (wasn't I just thinking about 5 years ago yesterday...?) that he remembered. I gave him a brief overview of the latest. He said he's been going more plant-based, I laughed at the thought of how much this has all changed for me in the past few months.

My arms got tired after 4-5 laps so I just switched over to pulling. For some reason, this makes my arms less tired. I go faster and I'm more efficient is why, but you'd think having some kick to help would, you know, help.  Ha, my form is that bad!

Ordered my 2018 blog book today.

A pre-week long run

RUN 6.3 miles in 60 mins, treadmill

Yay I feel like I have a training plan and goals and numbers and data and a reason. I'm still in what I'm calling my preweek, with next week being my "official" start to the 8 week half marathon training plan.

So today was yet another treadmill run, really gotta get out of the gym it's driving me nuts, but it is what it is. And I almost wasn't here to complain about it.

I rant the first 5 miles steady at 10m/m then squeezed in the last mile between 8:40-9:30. That felt good, but I'm not sure my HR was low. Lemme look....I think the Garmin is again crossing over my HR and cadence data. Humph. I can say that my pace in the first 5 miles was such that I was able sing along and enjoy my  music. Couldn't say that for the last mile.

No pains, soreness, etc from this.

Took the next day (Sunday) off to rest. Oh no wait, I didn't. I did an ez 30 min spin on the Bird to burn off stress. Afterwards I pulled out my 2014 book to see what I did 5 (FIVE?!?!) years ago today -- I swam! Was a group or clinic swim, maybe with the Evolve group?

NUMERICS 4 hours and 16 minutes
SWIM 600 yards in 15 mins
BIKE 27 miles in 90 mins, all indoors
RUN 15.7 miles in 2 hours and 31 mins, again all indoors.

My first run-swim in ...oh....long time!

RUN 31 mins for 3.1 miles, easy with 0% incline and steady 10 m/m
SWIM 15 mins for 600 yards

The training plan said 3-4 miles, but that next week. I have the "official" start next week stuck in my head this week, so I'm thinking I have an easy 6 tomorrow after today's 3-4. But that's really next week's plan. So I could do 5-6 tomorrow seeing how things feel, as it will be a run-bike-run-run sequence the past four days.

Run felt great, seems my HR is higher than it should be? Or is that just the watch?

The overall goal was a 1 hour sesh at the gym, so I walked WU and CD to 45 mins on the tready, then headed to the pool. I rested the legs and did mostly pull sets.

A few hours later I can feel my arm and back muscles -- they aren't used to this yet.

Sold some of the LR furniture this morning!

Did they tell you you would come undone...

...if you tried to touch the sun?

BIKE indoors 1 hour about 15 miles?

Yesterday I selected the Alton Half as my first "event" for the year. I excitedly told SO who thinks it's "too early" and TH who said "it's not as flat as I think". My excitement dampened a little. But I did step back to re-evaluate. SO could be right, that is a big jump in 8 weeks. But I'm feeling great, no leg/hip/back problems to worry on and I've been running since the first week of December. TH is running the race (so is TG!) and knows the course, and I did say it was "flat" when there is some inclining up and over the bridge. So is this denial?

Either way, I found a training plan described as a "1:59:59" that jumps in me in at about 18-20 miles. That happens to be close to where I am right now. The plan starts next week, so is this my pre-week? LOL

Here's an overview of the schedule, I've rearranged the days to fit me. Starting January 28th which is next Monday:

Monday Rest or XT swim
Tuesday 3-4 easy
Wednesday  XT bike
Thursday 4-6 quality, plan says mostly a WU - race pace - CD
Friday Rest or XT swim
Saturday 3 easy
Sunday long 6

I'm leaving the rest or XT days to be flexible and mostly swimming probably due to the cold outdoors. The plan suggests 30-45' XT.

This first week can be 16-19 miles. Good place to start!!

I'm going to touch the sun.

3 days of rest, then a REAL 60 min steady treadmill - GO GO GO

RUN 6.4 miles in 60 mins, treadmill

I finally put together a list of benchmarks or goals for swimming and running. Wait on the biking until the weather improves, right now I can't even commute with the all ice.

List included a non-stop "steady" treadmill run, completed! Next up includes a FoPa loop, TGP loop, MoBot loop, and as expected a 75 and 90 min steady. Oh and a 10-miler.

Swimming similar, builds in time and distance. No other goals, just get in the dang pool.

Oh and I might have picked my first race for 2019, er... make that an event. The Alton Half Marathon on March 23rd. 8 weeks out. Flat. Can do!

My first song of the 2019 songlist, originally found in JoeM's training CD he made for us many many moons ago (2011) -- Indigo Girls: Go. Turns out it has some spoken, low-sound lyrics to love.

The truth is I was afraid
I felt inferior
I felt I excelled in competing with others and I knew instantly that these people were not competing at all, that they were acting in a strange, powerful trance of movement together
And I was filled with longing to act with them and with the fear that I could not

My first song of the 2019 songlist, originally found in JoeM's training CD he made for us many many moons ago (2011) -- Indigo Girls: Go. Turns out it has some spoken, low-level lyrics!!

Anyway, the run. Felt awesome. Did my song-ervals, varying the speed with the song but staying at 0.5% incline and between paces of 6.0 and 7.0.  Less mental in this run, more in the "space".

Another win this morning, I actually got up at 5am (had some bad nights of sleep lately) and stuck the landing on this gym visit. Went home to dog, walk, then work. Lost some of my win in that I forgot my water bottle for the gym at home, then lost some more when I fell in FoPa in the icy slush from the skating ring zamboni (back still hurting a bit, like a lightly pulled muscle). Win with the arrival of the butterfly & bee puddler gifts, win with TV lunch, and win with just getting the day back on track. GO!

First 60 min steady run

Saturday RUN 6.2 miles in 60 mins on treadmill

YAY! This was a benchmark goal for me, to do a steady long run without all the walk breaks. Felt great, even on a treadmill. No major fatigue or issues later.

I'm nearing the end of the PP30 first week, can't say I've noticed a difference yet. But that is confounded in part by the fact that every night before bed I feel "too full" and kinda sick. Too big of dinners? 

Sat night into Monday was like a full rest interval. As in, binge watching Game of Thrones for a day rest. LOL!  Went to bed Sunday night on a very light dinner and felt great, so I think that goes towards confirming that I need to tweak dinner. This week I successfully ate little bits of broccoli and brussels sprouts! 

Missed the Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse. I should say "missed" it, cuz in getting to watch it I would have missed something better, and I made the right call on this one. Totality was 10:41pm to 11:43pm. Auspicious numbers, and I love that stuff.

Monday night went be bed feeling too full again. Dammit! Slept terribly and let my self sleep in until 7am. So I missed my run. 

Happily, though, I have NUMERICS!

SWIM 500 yards in 10 mins

BIKE 14? miles indoors in 60 mins

RUN 12.2 miles in about 120 mins

I SWAM!! And the PP30

SWIM!! 12 mins and 500 yards

If you set the bar low enough, you can only improve. Amiright?

Was planning a run but I haven't been sleeping too good, so I slept in and swam instead. It might be more true to say I haven't been getting up to too good, so I snooze in...

Gotta move the Blerch out of the room? Try it. Oooh I'll bet it's hard. But I wake up a lot, stay awake awhile... been a trend for awhile now.

And was hoping to see Anton but he wasn't the lifeguard today. I did see my friend who is Teresa T's training buddy wife...the wife of a guy who trains with TT...and she was surprise to see me. I told her the story of what's going on. I need to move on from this story.

The plan was 500 yards, done! My arms got tired. My form slipped. I did mostly free but mixed in others as I got tired. I found myself holding by breath too long, my aerobics and breath control out of tune. The 4-beat breath pattern wasn't working, and my HR would drive up from that feeling of lack of oxygen.

The water was warm, quiet yet bubble, slippery and smooth. LOVE IT.

---

Almost forgot to mention the PP30. Plant Paradox 30 days Challenge. Yeah, I started on the 1st of Jan with this, but fell off a bit due lack of ideas. Last week by chance I learned of the next book which includes a 30 day detailed plan. This appealed to me, a schedule and details and oh I suppose it's just a training plan for food :)  Bought the book the next morning! I rarely do that, and started reading.

It seems a good plan, give me a challenge to try new foods, and give me direction. Otherwise I just eat random munchy shit.

Today I had broccoli and brussels sprouts and cabbage at lunch. First time for broccoli and BS since 2014. See how it goes. They tasted good to me, see if gut agrees.

8-12" of snow and I go for a run. At night. YAY!

RUN 6 miles in 66 mins, 6-7pm

After being snowed in for the morning (a Saturday), then going to work for a few hours, then errands, I was ready to move. Yesterday on the way driving along TGP I saw a guy running in black tights and headlamp, briskly crossing TGP into the park and I felt the urge to run, really strong. It stuck with me, and I acted it out!

I had a good shopping spree at Schnucks right before that buoyed my mood. I had this $10 off coupon that seemed to have no restrictions of minimum or type of purchase, found this last week left by a previous shopper at the self check out. Like handing me $10!

Waiting in line was frustration. The woman two ahead of me was buying cigarettes and the cashier seemed to struggle with this. She was picky, not explaining it right, I dunno. Then the guy ahead of me was also slow, minutes dragging on while the cashier slowly rang up his almost $200 in packaged foods and junk. Finally me, and the cashier (I suspect he was new to the job) took a long time to ring up my pile of veggies. Didn't know what collards or turnips were, same problem he had with guy ahead of me. The Mr Junk food leaves his Babybel Gouda cheese on the counter. OMG, suddenly I want it. But I should return it to him, but he's gone out the door. So I kept it! Confession. Dog and I enjoyed it later, but I ate it too fast and didn't really enjoy it.

The run was great! I had my bright new pink vest and headlamp, Cascadias and purple coat, and new headphones. Yeah, headphones in night run. I know. I was feeling great, the snow kept me slow. The snowfall was the heavy type that packs down so my steps were rough. My legs felt some tired, and I thought for sure my hips and back and legs would hurt later but they didn't!

Down to Cherokee, to the brewery, up Lafayette, by some Spire equipment at Lafayette Park to round up my distance, then home. One of my favorite routes :)

So quiet, so peaceful, and so BACK TO NORMAL!

Mintervals on treadmill

RUN 50 mins and 5 miles on tready

Upp'ed to 10' 15' 15' and 10' mintervals today. Still zero incline. The 15's feel good! Look forward to joining my friends on the Thursday run. This is a step in that direction.

A real run, outdoors in warm weather

RUN 5 miles in 50 mins, with about 1 mile walking in between.

It was sooooo warm out, in the 50s so I couldn't resist a morning run outside. There will be plenty of treadmill time yet this winter. Took my new vest out the door and wheee!

I stuck to plan, 10 mins off and rest, and stuck to goal distance. I ran to Brewery, then Broadway, up Russel walking most of the hill, then over to Lafayette Park. I looped the park, but left out the out-n-back along Park. Save it for later, there will be more running. And I was feeling the fatigue.

Heck with rehab, this RULES.

Hello 2019! And a lectins test

Took the 1st off and rested, took the 31st off too. So that kinda follows my pattern of 3-4 days running with 2 back-to-back days of rest.

Weds RUN 4 miles at 10m/m (6.0 mph) at rehab. Felt awesome, and all heart rate numbers look good.

Thurs Dr L appt, only worked on my mid thoracic on the right side along the spine. Lately it's been easily fatigued especially post run days. Some times I wear out just sitting and can feel a light tingly feeling. He described the issue as -- instead of a smooth curve of spine as I twist to the right, that results in a "stair step" effect through the vertebrae, I instead had BIG steps that wasn't smooth. He worked on it, Ouch as usual, and he commented on how someone so little can need such big work, LOL. The whole drive back to lab I could feel it. Hours later, the little tingly appearing after a day at the bench.

Oh, and he said layering on swim and bike is not a good idea yet. Get running to be normal first. Yes, no swimming! haha.  Oh, and test the time-on-treadmill to see if running a shorter distance results in less fatigue. This can help differentiate between a muscular fatigue and a form issues. Love me some experiments :)  And he also joked that I could do a 5K, as long as I didn't race it. Hahahahaha, right.

Now that it's 2019, I suspected that my insurance co-pay has ended. Sure enough, a call to UHC showed that I'd be paying a copay. That means the Wednesday run probably cost me $50. So I'm graduating myself from rehab, I'll stop in tomorrow morning but not run. See if they have any advice on my ramping up, go from there. Instead of quitting by phone call.

This is Day 3 of the lectin challenge, so far not noting much? But still lots of tummy upset, lots of pepto bismol. No upchucking but sometimes I really want to!

Friday RUN 2x15' for a total of 3 miles. Feeling good, I can feel the difference up to 15 mins. Maybe 10 was becoming a habit? This was all I had time for. Not sleeping great so I slept in.

2018 Songlist

One by Johnny Cash "We're one but we're not the same, we get to carry each other". Another damned song dedicated to Monster and the Sabotage.

Believer by Imagine Dragons "Pain -You break me down, you build me up, believer." The first few runs after surgery weren't easy, they hurt, and it seemed I was getting nowhere. I found this song in a running cadence app recommended by JB at PT.

Be Good To Yourself by Journey "Be good to yourself, when nobody else will." Every time I type this I type Bee Good, lol.

Wonderwall by Oasis "Maybe, you're going to be the one that saves me". Started rebuilding the hip and core with JH.

Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean "Down through the woods and out to the pasture, Long as I'm with you it really doesn't matter." Dual meaning on this one. Running. And more.

Keep The Dream Alive by Oasis "I'm at the crossroads waiting for a sign. My lift is standing still, but I'm still alive".  This seems so overly dramatic now after everything else that happened this year but this song fit the time. The slow process of rebuilding the run and getting back the miles.

Come A Little Closer by Dierks Bentley "I feel like letting go of everything that stands between us." This one is about mental issues, the frustration and the patience and the unfortunate ways I sabotage my progress and goals.

Here It Goes Again by OK Go "I guess there's got to be a break in the monotony, but Jesus when it rains how it pours".  Can't recall the exact thing that got this song in the list. I think it was more of a case that the cyclocross video that I love so much is set to this song, and it reminds me of riding Puppy. At this time, it was mostly commuting miles.

You Make It Easy by Jason Aldean "You're my inspiration, girl you take me places, put the words right into these songs." It's about running! Of course, right?!

The Troubles by U2 "You think it's easier to give up on the trouble, when the trouble is destroying you." The trouble in this case, was a strong return of the Monster. (I don't mention it anywhere else, but M died on the Saturday night before the Sunset Tri).

Gangnam Style by PSY "??????" I looked up the lyrics but it's no use. This was the song that played at the post-race festivities at the Sunset Hills Triathlon. Sat at the Club tent with my friends, realizing how much I missed them and triathlon and the life of a triathlete.

Drink In My Hand by Eric Church "I'll take my jacked up drop er' down in 4x4." I just wanted this song in here.

Maybe It's Time by Bradley Cooper "Maybe it's time to let the old ways die". I gotta move on from the past, don't let it define me. I'm past all that happened, but the stress coping mechanisms and sabotage are still there. The past 4 years of habits, gotta let them go.

Always Remember Us This Way by Lady Gaga "You look at me, and babe I wanna catch on fire." Nuff Said :)

I'm Still Here by Sia "Oh the past has haunted me, Oh the past it wanted me dead". Post heart attack song. This one kinda describes itself.

Ray Of Light by Madonna "Faster than the speeding light she's flying, Trying to remember where it all began." Return to running, all treadmill in cardiac rehab but woohoo.

Anything But Mine by Kenney Chesney "I don't see how you could be, anything but mine." Yet another case in which a love song is really about running. How could I not be a runner?

Tubthumping by Chumbawamba "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down". This song came on my radar days after the first heart attack, but didn't get added onto the list after I'd started running again "on my own" at the YMCA. My HR was a little high the first run I had this song :)


Wow long list! Lots happened this year!