Two weeks of almost nothing

Well I shouldn't say nothing. Let's say, almost nothing.

Tuesday 19th 2hr indoor trainer ride for neuro-psychological reasons
Thurs and Fri COMMUTE!
Saturday another 2hr indoor ride, same
Sunday 40 min indoor ride, same

This week --
Monday, Tues, and Weds COMMUTE
And Tuesday I squeezed in a 45 mins indoor ride

I see Dr Lytle tomorrow, and my biggest question is going to be my return to running after the foot injury, still unspecified as to what I injured. I noticed over this past weekend that I was limping much less and in all honesty it doesn't hurt much at all right now. If it hurts at all. So good!!

The rib is much better too. My left hip where bruised still a bit sore.

So I feel like I'm ready to get going again? See what he says. It's been... 4 weeks since injury occurred (January 31st), and ... almost 3 weeks since the last run (Feb 9th). How long should I wait? Find out!

What else going on? Well I'm commuting, YAY! Damn it feels good to be back on that habit. I could be swimming maybe, if the rib and back feel better. It's warming up outside, so the urge to swim is going to turn into the urge to bike and run.

I sold my chaise lounge Monday night, been selling LOTS of things lately! And last night I got FREE dining room chairs and helped a stranger carry stuff down to her car "in payment". I also have a free dining room table from her, not sure what I'm going to do with that. My living room looking so different, and I'm still not done!

NUMERICS
Last week Feb 18th to Feb 24th:
BIKE 72 miles
COMMUTE 19 miles

This week Feb 25th to Feb 3rd (typing this on Feb 27th so not really a final number)
BIKE 11 miles
COMMUTE 28.5 miles

And in the bad times, I fear myself

Tell me somethin', girl
Are you happy in this modern world?
Or do you need more?
Is there somethin' else you're searchin' for?

I'm falling
In all the good times I find myself
Longin' for change
And in the bad times I fear myself

Tell me something, boy
Aren't you tired tryin' to fill that void?
Or do you need more?
Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore?

I'm falling
In all the good times I find myself
Longing for change
And in the bad times I fear myself

I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in
I'll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us
We're far from the shallow now

In the shallow, shallow
In the shallow, shallow
In the shallow, shallow
We're far from the shallow now

Oh, oh, oh, oh
Whoah!

I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in
I'll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us
We're far from the shallow now

In the shallow, shallow
In the shallow, shallow
In the shallow, shallow
We're far from the shallow now

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn....

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright, because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

I can't tell you what it really is
I can only tell you what it feels like
And right now there's a steel knife, in my windpipe
I can't breathe, but I still fight, while I can fight
As long as the wrong feels right, it's like I'm in flight
High off of love drunk from my hate
It's like I'm huffing paint and I love it the more that I suffer
I suffocate and right before I'm about to drown
She resuscitates me, she fucking hates me,
And I love it, wait
Where you going, I'm leaving you
No you ain't, come back
We're running right back, here we go again
It's so insane 'cause when it's going good, it's going great
I'm Superman, with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane
But when it's bad, it's awful
I feel so ashamed, I snapped, who's that dude
I don't even know his name, I laid hands on her
I'll never stoop so low again, I guess I don't know my own strength

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright, because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

You ever love somebody so much
You can barely breathe, when you're with them, you meet
And neither one of you, even know what hit 'em,
Got that warm fuzzy feeling, yeah them chills, used to get 'em
Now you're getting fucking sick, of looking at 'em
You swore you've never hit 'em, never do nothing to hurt 'em,
Now you're in each others face,
Spewing venom, and these words, when you spit 'em
You push, pull each other's hair, scratch, claw, bit 'em,
Throw 'em down, pin 'em, so lost in the moments, when you're in 'em
It's the rage that's the culprit, it controls you both
So they say it's best, to go your separate ways,
Guess that they don't know ya 'cause today, that was yesterday
Yesterday is over, it's a different day
Sound like broken records, playin' over, but you promised her
Next time you'll show restraint
You don't get another chance,
Life is no Nintendo game, but you lied again
Now you get to watch her leave,
Out the window, guess that's why they call it window pane

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright, because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Now I know we said things, did things
That we didn't mean and we fall back into the same patterns
Same routine, but your temper's just as bad, as mine is
You're the same as me, but when it comes to love, you're just as blinded
Baby please come back, it wasn't you,
Baby it was me, maybe our relationship isn't as crazy as it seems
Maybe that's what happens When a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is I love you too much, to walk away now
Come inside, pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don't you hear sincerity, in my voice when I talk,
Told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball
Next time I'm pissed, I'll aim my fist at the dry wall
Next time, there will be no next time
I apologize even though I know it's lies
I'm tired of the games, I just want her back, I know I'm a liar
If she ever tries to fucking leave again
I'm a tie her to the bed and set this house on fire

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright, because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

No training week summary

Thursday BIKE indoors 60 mins

That's it :(

Let's start at the bottom. My left foot is now always hurting when I walk. But I can press, touch, squeeze my foot and not a problem. The pain moves? I thought it was 2nd or 3rd toe, now I think 4th? The discomfort spreads to my big toe and sometimes my ankle when I'm walking which means I'm limping.

My bruised hip from the fall with the dog is just bruised and it hurts to touch it. But thankfully not any other apparent damage to my repaired hip.

The lump on the IT band area above my right knee seems to be smaller? The bruise is healed up and the it's certainly less painful.

My rib however, ooooh ouch, and using my left arm for things like doors and picking things up -- no bueno. I still don't think it's broken, I just think it's banged up. On top of that, my mid back is suffering this too. Whether I'm compensating, not moving enough, stiffening up wrong, or the back has it's own type of fall-related damage - I dunno. But wearing a coat or a backpack (and hoo boy the combo of the two) is super uncomfy.

So no run for foot. Not much bike for foot (hurts there too). And no swim for rib.

So didn't do much this week training-wise. But I did have a few med appts!

First up Weds with the nutritionist. My initial thought was to not mention the vomiting and gut symptoms of D and C, but I figured I might as well get the help from this I can. This visit went much better, whether I was more open or seemed less rigid, or what I don't know. But it was the same theme with goals and concerns. I need to be sure I'm getting enough calcium and iron. I need to vary my food choices (and the variety I have is a great start). And I need to get the gut symptoms under control or she recommends a GI consult. Ugh. No. Will fix. Goals before the next follow up are to have at least one meal a day of non-pureed or juiced foods (I'm on a baby food/juiced/puree streak) and to increase the amount of fat (some of the vegan heart healthy recipes omit fat, so I been omitting it too without really meaning too).

Then today (Friday) Dr B - this went great! No concerns it seems, as long as I don't have any. I can try stopping the Amlodipine (was added on empirically after the October incident for suspected artery spasms). I can keep training as long as my symptoms don't recur. And my biggest concern in the end is in fact the 10-30% (depending on the study) possibility I have of a SCAD recurrence. My BP was low, HR low, LDL low, but excitement HIGH!

Happy Valentines Day Bee!  Last night Sugar got a big bag of Beggin Strips. And me?  LOL :X

Indoors all weekend; Food frustrations

Friday REST
Saturday ELLIPTICAL 15 mins
   RUN 45 mins and 4.5 miles
   SWIM 10 mins and 400 yards
   BIKE 60 mins and ~16 miles
Sunday BIKE 80 mins and ~20 miles

Yeah, I did the swim indoors. I'm such a cold weather pansy!

I was still hurting Friday so I dedicated to rest. Left foot still hurts (still not really a pain but it's definitely uncomfortable) and the left ribs hurts (definitely a pain, but tolerable). My  left hip is bruised from the fall but only hurts if I touch it. And the 'pebble-ish' lump in my right IT/knee area is hurting much less.

Geez I'm a mess....

OOH so Friday. I want to mention my visit with Dr S. My cholesterol numbers are great, I should focus on good nutrition and go ahead to eat what I want, as long as it doesn't make me sick. I mentioned that I'd had bloating, vomiting, other GI issues. He said that I'm "slight" so I will rapidly loose muscle if I don't get enough protein. If I don't get enough protein,  I'll get weak and I'll fall and I won't heal from those injuries. Hmmm...  They are going to do a lipoprotein(a) test to see if I have high Lp(a), which would be a hereditary issue not impacted by diet, exercise, and environment. If it's Lp(a), the statin I'm on won't be of help but the Retha would. So eagerly awaiting results. What else...   My plant-based diet may or may not be the reason behind my improved numbers, but he seemed more concerned out nutritional deficiencies than anything.

Saturday. My goal was to get one hour in at the gym, with a swim and a run. "My" treadmill was busy, all three of that type overlooking the pool were, so I lingered on the nearby elliptical until one opened up. This was more a stair-climbing type of machine, I didn't enjoy it much. 15 mins there, then off to 45 min run at 10 m/m. No intervals, no hills, just foot pain. :( Enough to stop me, but not enough to stop me.

Then swim, I really didn't want to but that was my goal, and goals is goals. And ooooh this did a number on the rib cage. Hurt the rest of the day and weekend.

Later in the day I had nervous energy to burn and so did an hour on the Bird watching the 2nd DVD of Battle of the Five Armies.

Also this weekend --- sold the china cabinet and bought the new oak dresser for the living room.

Sunday -- OK now I'm certainly hurting, foot and rib. And we're iced over so no running outside. Just did 80 mins on the Bird half watching Game of Thrones season 6.

As a nutritional note, I'm encouraged by cholesterol numbers and ready to kinda try more foods to see what happens. I bought a dozen eggs (first since ... November?) and mixed the whites and a few yolks into an oatmeal flour mixture that tasted AWFUL. I threw it away. I also bought rice cakes (doing OK with those, but so unsatisfying), some fake butter spread (for the rice cakes, but it's almost too good I just eat to much), and rolled oats and again the rolled outs were a fail. I eat them and fill up instead of eating real foods. So by the end of the weekend, I threw out eggs, oatmeal, butter. Not a good start.

But I'm tired of forcing foods down to maintain weight. I'm tired of recipes and books. I took a few library books for veg*n bowls and not a single page  inspired me. I don't want anything. But I'm eating, kinda munchy but also forced to some degree. I need a break from food. I wish there was a pill I could take. Tired of the thinking and bloating and pains and cramps and the vomiting and the symptoms.

NUMERICS 6:55 hours, doesn't include the bike commute time
SWIM 1500 yards
BIKE 56 miles (wow!)
RUN 11.5 miles, falling behind on the training plan due to foot pain
BIKE COMMUTE 19 miles
ELLIPTICAL 45 mins

Forest Park loop WHOOP!!!!

RUN 7 miles in 1:09:36 for a 9:57m/m pace

Yup, I just undid my usual rounding up so that I could report a sub 10 time :)

And yup, I hurt. I didn't run this morning as planned due to cold, dark, rainy, and painy. All of yesterday's pains still there. But I wanted to run, kept thinking on it, planning it, so I packed run clothes in my bag and drove off to work. Temps were forecasted to peak at 55F then drop out to 11F overnight. 55 sounds so nice!

At work I don't have terribly much to do, so I keep thinking on the run. I could loop the park, I could run out as far as I felt good then come back, I could just run half a mile and see how it goes then be able to say that I ran. I for some reason needed to do this run.

Around noon I note that the temps never did get over 35F (I barely have enough clothes for this), the winds are expected to get cold and gusty by 1pm, so if I'm gonna go I gotta go now.

This after whining about how much my rib hurt to coworkers. It hurts, but not that bad. Right?

I start out taking the hilly side first to break up the headwind. At a few points it snowed. I took the hills easy (easier, I guess). My left foot injury hurts, I'm getting convinced that I probably have a stress fracture, it's not improving over the past week since it started. My back is tight but OK. My rib, well I ignored that and it wasn't hard to do really. My hip only hurt if I touched it, so that's easy. And that pea-sized pebble in my right IT-band didn't hurt at all.

If anything, my left foot was my primary complaint. 3 miles at Skinker, as per goal I took the "group run" route and climbed the hill. Breezed down as much as my foot allowed and hit my fastest mile at 9:17 in this range. This northern section was the windiest and coldest and I was looking forward to turning east for the tailwind. I thought I'd warm up here, but didn't really. The temps were noticeably dropping, the snow was enough that I had to remove my sunglasses, and my feet were wet from the flooded trails. I had a few opportunities to cut shorter -- up the hill to finish on Euclid, up the skating rink hill to skip the Clayton section, but I took it all and wanted it all. So much that I looped Smoker's Park until I rounded up to 7 miles. This is my long run goal for this week!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!

But not sitting here later I'm hurting (rib and foot) and I still gotta walk out to the truck in the cold (now 27F) into the headwind to get home to see if the dog managed to lickety-lick her foot into a bloody mess. At least I limited her to first floor and no furniture, so the mess if any would be minimized. Right?

Earlier mom and sis were asking how I'm doing after the fall. Dad even called last night. SO told me to take the day off. So either I'm too dramatic in reporting what's happening or nobody trusts me to make good decisions (I can't disagree with that assessment....), and as mom said today about my "the rib is not broken" comment --is this the Queen of Denial talking?

I fall down, but I get up again

BIKE 75 mins and 20? miles, indoors

Indoors for rain, cold, dark and early morning golden-doneness :) Watched first DVD in Battle of The Five Armies. For the WIN.

Later walking the dog on our normal loop by Nebraska and Juniata we took a fall. We somehow tangled, I got hog-tied, I tried to avoid her, but fell on her anyway. She yelped and cried out, my first fear was that I broke her back or ribs or shoulder. That's right where I landed. But she bounced up and started licking my face. Me on the other hand -- smacked my upper left hip HARD, I think I landed on my elbow? and the hit reverberated through my back. But we seemed OK and I'm still more worried about her. And pissed that had just taken my phone out seconds before all this to select the next podcast. I'm sure that played some role in my reaction time.

We get home and while wiping the rain off her feet I find blood. She's missing a toenail on her right hind foot!! Blood everywhere on the carpet, before I steadied her in the living room. I needed a few moments to take stock, replan, get my head together. The carpet cleaned up super easy while I planned. Call vet, delay work, get ice on me. The vet can see us in 90 mins, so while I iced my hip I moved her to her bed with a towel cover, cleaned up the puddles on the kitchen floor, colored in a book to calm down, and texted mom and SO.  Mom wanted me to contact a doctor -- for the blood thinners, and the fact that I had a mild headache. I did have the headache and some on/off nausea, but between the stress, worry, pain, more it was hard to pinpoint everything. I Dr Googled for symptoms to watch for. I had none of the worsening headache, abdominal pain, dizziness. So dog next.

The vet (new one Dr Goff) said this was a common and minor injury. Really?! She's bandaged up shortly, antibiotic'd, and we're out the door $151 dollars later. Ugh. And this common injury was also in the next dog in the waiting room! But this dog did NOT look good or happy. So my doubts about whether Shoogie really needed a vet visit were erased.

We get home, I sit w her a bit, then I have to go. No bike commute due to rain. And my injuries, LOL! At work I have lunch with TV, get my shit done, then leave on a half day. I was starting to hurt more. My hip was developing a nice bruise underneath a half-dollar sized area of abraded skin. The swelling was lumpy but focal and not spreading yet.

And later in the day, a left side rib started to ache. I didn't notice this before? Sharp focal and right at the sternum so my guess is cartilage. This combination of hip and head and rib and back all made for some uncomfy sleeping.

But who am I to complain? I didn't lose a toenail! I wonder if she gets a discount at the groomer's now...