4 months of work building up my lungs has gone down the drain

Ugh.  So, I'm running again.  My ankle doesn't hurt at all for walking/running, it only hurts if it has to twist (basically, it only hurts if I unclip from bike pedals).  I discovered pretty quickly that my lungs are right back where they were 4 months ago when I started building them back up from my last bout of tendonitis.  I have 2 weeks to strengthen them before my next race.

This week : 

M : sweatfest 33 minutes / 9 miles / 16.4 mph

Pub Run 3.1 / 7:48 / 0 ft

T : 17 min TRX

run 3.4 miles / 7:28 / 39 ft

W : bike 20.8 / 18 mph / 1512 ft

R : 17 min TRX

run 5 miles / 7:42 / 147 ft

Sa : run 6.2 / 7:22 / 343 ft

Su : run 5 miles / 7:06 / 335 ft

total bike miles : 29.8

total run miles : 22.8

My heart rate was through the roof on my runs this week.  I guess it's understandable for today's run at a 7:06 pace after my time off, but my 5 mile jog on Thursday resulted in a heart rate profile that looks like one I would normally see after a half marathon, not after a jog!

This is my HR profile for a run on February 19 at the same pace as this Thursday's run.

This is Thursday's HR profile

And this is Sunday's.

Saturday's is similar to Sunday's except the bars are longer and the suffer score is higher, because it was a longer run.  And it says "Extreme" instead of "Tough"...

My heart rate made it above 200 a few times this week...it never got that high in the 10 mile race I did in February...weak lungs are making my heart work awfully hard right now!  My solution to this problem is to run as hard as I can, every time I run, until my lungs are beaten into submission.  It was working great until halfway through today's run when my legs decided it wasn't fun anymore.

Cake Smash Photo Session

Holly and I have been looking forward to Harper's 1st birthday cake smash for a very long time.  Possibly since she was born, but maybe not quite that long.  We anticipated epic smashing, a big mess, and lots of funny photos.  Turns out, Harper is not interested in smashing cakes.  She spent most of the session trying to wipe the icing off her fingers.  Oh well.  We did get some fun photos though!

she liked the candle a lot more than she liked the cake

tipping the cake over is apparently more fun than smashing it

I love the look she is giving the cake in this one!

Mommy likes the icing more than baby does.

More biking, and revisiting TRX

Last Sunday I decided to temporarily ban myself from biking in addition to running.  Unclipping from the pedal was very clearly making my ankle worse instead of better.  Twisting motions are not great for sprained ankles...  I succeeded in taking off both Sunday and Monday, but by Tuesday afternoon I was getting very restless and craving exercise.  As much as I wanted to go for a run, I also really wanted to be smart and not run too soon.  After two days without biking, the swelling was finally receding, but I could tell my ankle still wasn't strong.  Finally, it occurred to me that I could do a light TRX workout.  Way back when I had a gym membership years and years ago, I used to do a 5:30 AM TRX class 3 times a week, and I loved it.  At some point after I stopped being able to justify the monthly membership expense, I made my own TRX straps at home, and rigged them off my pull-up bar.  I used them for awhile, then moved on to other things.  They collected dust for a long time, until I decided to get back to it this week.  TRX can be as hard or as easy as you want to make it.  I kept it pretty simple this week, not adding jumps to any of the exercises, because of my ankle.  I found out very quickly that my core is even weaker than I thought it was, so hopefully I will be able to commit to doing TRX a few times a week now, so that I can strengthen my core.  It will help a lot with the biking back pain!

I spent a good bit of time debating whether or not I wanted to switch the pedals on my bike.  I didn't really want to go to the trouble, but I also suspected that my ankle really wouldn't be able to handle unclipping for awhile, and I knew I was going to want to supplement running with biking as I try to ease back in. I finally made the decision when my friend Lauren texted Wednesday morning to ask if I wanted to bike that afternoon.  I told her I would if I could get my pedal situation resolved in time.  My beloved cage pedals were on the old Schwinn bike, which is stashed in the hall closet, waiting for the day when I might feel like riding on the river trail.  Thankfully, Merrick had a pedal wrench with him at school, and I was able to bring it home.  I was skeptical about how long it would take me, but it was supposed to be easy.  (Generally I run into problems when things are supposed to be easy, and they end up being very time-consuming, frustration-creating, and tear-inducing before I finally get them done).  It ended up taking longer to unearth the bike from the closet than it did to get the pedals off.  So that was a relief.  Then I turned to the SuperSix to take off the clip pedals.  And immediately discovered that the pedal wrench was the wrong size for them.  But, since I now only had one bike to deal with, I didn't mind riding it down to the shop, with the cage pedals in hand, so Stu could switch them out for me.  Mission accomplished.

me being skeptical about the task ahead

cage pedals look so monstrous after the little tiny clip pedals...

This week : 

T : 30 min light TRX

W : bike 20.7 w/Lauren / 16.1 mph / 1588 ft

R : bike 11.1 / 16 mph / 1119 ft 

15 min TRX

Sa : 20 min TRX

sweatfest 35 min / 16.2 mph

Su : sweatfest 1:30 / 14.8 mph

bike miles : 63.5

Both Wednesday's and Thursday's rides were very windy.  Lauren and I had a great ride on Wednesday.  It was the first time we ever rode together, and I am looking forward to many more rides together, I think we will really be able to push each other out there.  The wind made the ride harder than it should have been, and it made it hard to talk much, because I could barely hear anything over the wind!  On Thursday, it was even windier, and I had to give up after just a short ride, because I was afraid I was going to get blown off the road or into a car, and the last thing I need right now is more injuries...  The rest of the week was various combinations of cold, windy, and rainy, so I decided to play it safe and bike inside.  

It is supposed to be rather chilly this week (why is the first week of spring colder than the last week of winter?!) so I'm not sure what biking will end up looking like.  I do plan to try running again, starting with tomorrow's Pub Run.  I haven't run at all since the Pub Run 2 weeks ago.  I will see how tomorrow goes, and then decide what to do from there.  Walking is painless, and I just happened to run down the stairs while I was doing laundry yesterday, and that didn't hurt either.  So I imagine running will be fine as long as I am very careful with the terrain.  No jumping into ditches allowed. 

Adding up the Bike Miles

Ugh, injuries.  I don't think my body likes being healthy.  Why else would it decide to break right after the best long run I've ever had?

It's debatable at this point which is harder on my ankle, riding or running.  So I probably should have taken the week off from both, but I'm not good at that.  So I've been riding.  I even gave up the 5k race yesterday, which was disappointing, but probably the better choice.

This week : 

M : Pub Run 3.1 / 8:36 / 0 ft

T : bike 20.5 / 18 mph / 1499 ft

F : bike 24.3 / 17.5 mph / 1847 ft

Sa : bike 27.3 / 16.2 mph / 2283 ft

total run miles : 3.1

total bike miles : 72.2

My ankle actually felt really good on Monday's run.  So good I was really tempted to run further, but I decided to be smart and stop after 2 laps like everyone else.

Tuesday's ride was good, and my ankle didn't seem to be strained too badly, but then I was stretching afterwards and apparently moved my foot just the wrong way, because my ankle was suddenly filled with stabbing pains.  So that set me back a good bit, and resulted in 2 days off.

My back did some complaining on Friday's ride, and even more on Saturday's ride.  Not really surprising, given how many miles I rode this week after not riding much at all for months.  I'm going to have to stretch it a lot more until it gets into better bike shape.  Which hopefully won't take long, because Spring is here and I will be on the bike more often!  (I think.)

The world hasn't turned green yet, but it was warm and sunny all week!

Sunrises

I absolutely love a gorgeous sunrise.  But they are seriously hurting my productivity.  9/10 times that go into work early, I end up getting far less done than planned, because I just can't resist those gorgeous sunrises!  There are of course, worse problems to have!

At least I still get more done than I would if I didn't come in early at all!

Sunrise 3/10/2016

Sunrise 3/3/2016

I'm sensing a theme.

It appears that Thursdays are gorgeous sunrise days. 

Lazy Week a/k/a Recovery Week

Because I don't believe in taking days of for injuries, I went for a run on Monday.  I taped up my ankle first, but that still doesn't necessarily mean that it was ok to run on it.  I didn't actually have a visible ankle bone at that point... However, it seemed to loosen up throughout the run and seemed no worse for the wear.  I told my friends that my body has magical healing powers because it knows I don't believe in rest.

It was warmer out on Tuesday, so I took the opportunity to bike.  The twisting motion of unclipping from the pedals was uncomfortable for my ankle, but it survived.  (The swelling was down enough for my ankle bone to reappear by now)

On Wednesday I decided to take the day off.  I stayed late at work trying to get ahead instead.  It seems the harder I try to get ahead, the more I find to do.  So in the end, I never really get that far ahead.  I would love to get ahead enough that I can start working on the yearbook during school hours, instead of relying on snow days (of which there may not be any more) and weekends.  Wishful thinking. Stayed til 5 on Wednesday, and went in at 6 AM on Thursday, and I still ended up getting sucked into the yearbook vortex this weekend.  On the plus side, I do enjoy working on the yearbook.  It may not be my first choice of a way to spend my weekends, but at least it's fun!

I went for a run on Thursday, and felt pretty good.  Friday morning when I woke up my ankle informed me, through various aches and pains, that just because I could  run, didn't mean I should run.  So I didn't run again for the rest of the week.  And I have been faithfully icing, elevating, and wrapping my ankle all week long!  And taking ibuprofen occasionally, just in case it will help.  I'm impressed with my new-found powers of taking care of injuries.

The weather wasn't nice enough for me to be tempted to bike on Friday or Saturday, so I didn't exercise.  I was hoping the temperature would reach 50 on Sunday for a bike ride, but it only got a little bit above 40.  I spent several hours debating whether or not to bike.  I eventually decided I wasn't going to, and started my Sunday cooking-fest.  Then the sun came out and even though it was still only about 41 degrees, I decided exercise was a much better option than 3 days off in a row. So I biked.  It snowed a few times this week, so the roads were covered in extra grit and gravel, which was highly annoying, but it didn't actually cause me any traction problems.  Probably because I was being extra careful.

This week : 

M : run 4.3 miles / 8:09 / 284 ft

T : bike 18.4 miles / 16.5 mph / 1457 ft

R : run 5.3 / 7:29 / 420 ft

Su : bike 17.7 miles / 17.7 mph / 1329 ft

total bike miles : 36.2

total run miles : 9.6