Thanksgiving week summary

Monday 2.25 mile RUN (already logged)
Tuesday 17 mile/60 min trainer BIKE
Wednesday 3.2 mile RUN
Saturday 4 mile/35 min RUN!
Monday 17 mile?/60 min trainer BIKE

Wooop for that Saturday run! A sub-9 pace and the longest run I've done since very early October! It felt good, up N24 and back but not all the way to the school road. As per usual, there was wind. This time out of the north so each side got a chance to get cold. It wasn't "cold", but cold enough.

Overall the week went fast and good. Drove home Weds after dropping off the doggie. Had gut symptoms since Saturday (the oatmeal, then some garlic, then maybe chocolate?) and was anxious about having symptoms through the holiday. But to my surprise it was all good and here I am the following Monday still feeling good.

The hip pain was minor after the run, no more than it was hurting before or during the run. Am I healing? Can I go longer? Careful!

One funny thing said over the vacation during a discussion about a family trip for xmas was "if you were doing a race, we could go to that". IS THAT A HINT?! LOL!

The left shoulder is still not healed though, and the biggest worry for me at the moment is that weakness I have. The inability to hold and pick things up, limited to specific motions. It has a mild ache too. The remaining pain (more of a bad discomfort really) is limited to the deltoid area. I see Dr M in a week about this and my hip. I hope I can be feeling good enough to cancel the appt!

Went for a run, want to settle into a schedule. Sign up for a race?

RUN 2.2 miles in roughly 20 mins
COMMUTE 9.5 miles

Today's run was great, minimal pain during and afterwards! For the past few weeks, I'd hurt quite a bit after the run. It's really minor this afternoon, does that mean progress? I sure hope so!

I ran Saturday too, did a 1 hour trainer ride then a brick run. A real workout!

So when can I sign up for a race! :) Frostbite? That's expensive! A 5K? A Turkey Trot in a few days? The FBR? OOH this is fun?

What are my goals? The Poto 100 seems to be out of range for 2016. That'd be my biggie goal, not a "next" goal. How's about a 10K or a January 1st New Years run?

Frozen Feet half mary? Haven't done that since.... 2012?

Time to start thinking, but not getting TOO excited. :)

Miss the Thursday morning run

BIKE on trainer, 60 mins with 1 min and 20s intervals
COMMUTE 9.5 miles

There's so much I want to say, but I don't get it in here. So much going on, but no training so I suppose the lack of "training" to report doesn't prompt me to log in here.

My ride this morning was inspired by a tabata type workout. 1 min hard/1 min rest for 20 mins, then 20s HARD/40 rest for a total of 10 mins. I don't have my bike computer fixed up yet, I can only guess on the distance. I'm watching SG-1 again. Can you believe I still haven't watched all of the last two seasons?!

The ride felt great, and I felt it even more on the morning commute. Ooof, tired legs :)

In other changes, I'm pushing my nutrition to more fat. This is the 3rd day of less carbs more fat. Protein not changing much yet. I found that without training my appetite was all out of whack. Always hungry, never satisfied, waaaaaaay to many carrots! Too early to report much yet on how it's working. I'm hungry less so far.

My bone biopsy results came in Tuesday. Low trabeculae connectivity, and she wants me to take the daily injections of Forteo. From what I'm reading online about side effects, I don't want to take it! Transient increases in bone mass, if there is an increase in bone mass. Back and hip pain, leg cramps, and more. Still reading. And still waiting for the insurance to rule on whether or not they will cover it. The Dr did say she "recommends" taking it. Not "requires". So I'm on the fence, leaning more towards the 'not gonna do it' side.

My shoulder is getting better. I'm noticing and focusing on strength weaknesses and limits in range of motion. Once noted and worked on, it seems to get better? Dr M's office called today, want to see me in 2-3 weeks to follow up.

And he said could take 6-8 weeks for biopsy to heal. This week is 8 weeks! Today the pain is pretty minimal, but it's there. Running really irritates it. The office said I could email the surgeon to get more feedback that could help Dr M with this. Funny this all came up today, as just this morning I decided to call for an appt right after the Turkey holiday.

And the bone doc thinks I have an undiagnosed celiac problem. I'm not so sure about that. I'm also not sure I want to follow up with a GI specialist at all. What would they tell me? I've learned that it all depends on how you ask it. If I go in complaining of symptoms, I'll get tested and drugged. If I go in asking for advice, ...will that be all I get? I don't like calling a doc for an appt then not taking them up on tests and drugs, as I fear they'll think I'm not taking it seriously or don't believe them. Still thinking.

Rainy day update

BIKE 45 mins and 12 miles? on the trainer
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

There, at least something is going on as normal around here!

Updates! Saw Dr M Tuesday morning, he K-taped me and send me out the door with instructions to ice and rest. Diagnosis of tight muscle or spasm? in the left back. He pressed on it and OUCH! But is that all? So much pain in the anterior outer front corner still. It's almost been 2 weeks, and it feels so much better. Just gotta be patient with it.

I did a short run Sunday afternoon before a 60 mins trainer ride. Felt WONDERFUL to be running, and I made it 1.8 miles in 16 mins before I started feeling twinges of tightness and mild pain. Then sure enough, pain that evening and next day (yesterday). Nuts. I've been patient! What gives?!

My sis and her family visited last week. Almost couldn't pick a better time. With some Disney stress Monday morning, Dr M appt and James appt on Tuesday, then K's appt on Thursday it was bizzy! But again WONDERFUL to have family, support, giggles, and playground time :)  I enjoyed playing in the park once I got the hang of it. It's one of the Whole9 principles -- Play! Sugar enjoyed it too.

Rain yesterday, rain today, I think more tomorrow. The leaves are falling off the trees and coating the ground in the last splashes of bright yellows, intense orange, and deep reds. Love it :)

Everybody running and riding but me

Or so it seems anyway. We are having the most beautiful fall weather. Warm, sunny, mostly dry, color explosion of leaves and trees.  And I'm injured.

Not only the hip injury now, but last Thursday my left deltoid started hurting. Over the course of the day it progressed from annoying to painful to WTF! I wanted to wait until an urgent care opened, but that wouldn't be until 7am. At midnight I cracked and drove myself to an ER. There was no comfortable position and it felt like a baseball bat was used on my left shoulder. Near the spine, on the deltoid, across the collarbone. Hate saying this, seems so wimpy, but oh man did it hurt!

Just saw the radiologists report. The ER guessed a muscle strain, they might be right. But the xrays show "something" at C7. I see Dr M tomorrow, I'll worry more about it then.

This kept me from joining TV at OT100. I was supposed to be his ride there. And I was supposed to volunteer and crew another runner from Omaha. I might have been more stressed about missing all that! So it was a long weekend in which I had nothing planned to do, and not much I could do. I kept moving, testing, and resting. I did what I could.

On a good note, RM borrowed Puppy for his first ever CX race. He loved it so much he raced a second race! Good Puppy! :)

TV had a great race. My friend SK WON the female division! TH had a good half mary. So it just seemed like everyone but me having fun.

And some good Disney news this morning. One good thing about the injury is it kept my mind off this morning.

Early morning trainer ride!

BIKE 45 mins, maybe 12 miles?
COMMUTE my usual 9.5 miles

Can you believe it didn't even occur to me to find the little measuring unit for the bike?! Come to think about it, where is it? My best guess...in the tool bag under the seat. Gotta check. Poor Bird, still a trainer bike.

I had an alternate plan of riding outside. Last night the weather didn't indicate rain this morning, but it was there. No complaints. I like rain :)

Kept it simple, although it was boring. 10 mins of 30 spin-ups, then a gearing pyramid. My hands and butt weren't happy, they need more time for that. And to keep it from being boring, I should get videos from the library! And I can ride Puppy there to get them!

I wonder if my neighbors can hear the trainer humming on the floor? What happens when I start doing this really early like I usually do?

The hip doesn't feel better or worse for doing this, so maybe after some acclimation I'll settle into a pattern for this. I reminded myself yesterday of my rule that biking can help running (but not the other way around) so maybe I can offset some fitness loss doing this. Well, unless I get injured doing it, I will certainly gain something from it!

Writing this later in the day, I don't feel any pains or fatigue from the session. And I'll note that I don't have soreness like I usually do from the AbRipperX workout from yesterday. Either the BCAAs really do help that, or I'm not working hard enough.

Full moon and rain.

Last night while on the third floor I saw a bright glow in the east sky. Soon enough, a near-full moon peeked out behind the clouds! I checked, and yup -- a full moon today :)

And rain, the first rain since I moved. Of course, that means I won't be able to enjoy the full moon due to cloud cover. But it's there. Always there.

And that means I had a cold wet commute. But oh well, makes me appreciate the warmer, less remarkable days all the more.

I checked, and assuming Potawatomi 100 is April 2nd, it means I have 22 weeks until the race. 26 weeks if it's not until the 8th. My training plan is 26 weeks and starts out at 40 miles per week! I'm already behind?! When I looked at it earlier, I miscalculated and thought I had more time to heal?

Yup, just put together the excel sheet, turns out this week is week 4 already. Ugh. I was excited earlier when I was wrong!