Dammit

Well, shit, the running seems to be in a temporary holding pattern for a little bit. First it was shin splints or the beginnings thereof, which means I'm going to end up having to pony up for some new running shoes. Which is actually fine; I'm due for them anyway.

Those started to feel better, and then I had a couple of days of very unhappy stomach. Undoubtedly related to something I ate, but better now. And then . . .

I went and got my pedicure yesterday, which is adorable, I might add. However, I seem to possibly have a bit of an infection in my right big toe. It hurts like hell to put full weight down on it, and wearing a closed toe shoe does not seem to be wise at the moment. I'm soaking with Epsom Salt and using Neosporin to help with the pain and general ick. I did see the tools coming out of the sterilization unit at the nail place, so I'm not overly concerned about a serious infection, just annoyed.

Stay tuned for further details.

Thursday Kitteh Blog (06/18/2009)

Hello, it's Thursday once again, and time for kitteh blog. (A workout discussion will also be included after the pictures).

Immediately after this one was taken, Meredith decided that Stash was evil and chased her out of the room and down the hall. I have no idea why. It's not like I used the flash on her.


This is Stash having the audacity to eyeball my oatmeal as if I would share with her. I reminded her several times that as an animal of the feline persuasion, she's an obligate carnivore, and that my oatmeal, while quite delicious and healthy for me, was not really something that she needed.

Then Meredith chased her.

In workout news, I did another day of Couch to 5K today. This time I went to downtown Olympia and parked at Marathon Park. This park is so named because the 1984 US women's Olympic marathon trial was held here and started at that spot; a very true fact. It's also a true fact that 1984 (only 25 years ago!) was the first year that women ran the marathon in the Olympics, and it was won by Joan Benoit (later Joan Benoit Samuelson). And that concludes today's history lesson.

Anyway, Marathon Park and Heritage Park surround the North Basin of Capital Lake in Olympia. It's a couple minutes by car further away than Yauger Park, where I went on Tuesday, but it's "the" downtown place to run and walk, well populated, and you can get a really nice cooling breeze off the lake and off Budd Inlet (very bottom of Puget Sound). The running path is very nice, there's a cement sidewalk around about 1/3 of the basin, but there's a dirt/gravel portion to the outside of the cement that most runners use. Then there's very small gravel around the rest of the basin, so I didn't have to run or walk on cement at all, which my knees really appreciate.

Today I completed all 8 of the 60-second running segments and I felt great. My legs right now feel incredibly heavy, which I expected and know is temporary, but still, it's pretty comical to watch me walk around right now. I lumber for about the first 10 feet before I hit my stride and can walk comfortably again, which basically means that by the time I walk normally after getting up from the desk, I'm almost in the bathroom. And that's a true story.

Yesterday, I held off my workout until the afternoon time, which was a big mistake, and one that I make periodically. As I said in my last post, I want to maintain my muscle mass, so I did a workout by the Firm, an older one called Super Charged Sculpting. I was never so happy to hear that skinny, but very well muscled woman, say "you did it," as I was at the end of that video yesterday.

Tomorrow I think I'll just do some yoga and stretch.

The Couch to 5K Program and me

So, the truth of the matter is that I would really like to be a runner. I've had periods in the past where I ran, and I really liked the way it made me feel, even when I continued to eat way too much of food that was not good (story of my life) and so didn't get all the benefits from it that are available. As my FB and Twitter friends know, I recently treated myself to an iPod touch, for lots of reasons (the main one being that I flat-out wanted one). In the back of my mind was the idea that if I had an iPod, it would be easier to run because I could have something to listen to. I had heard about Robert Ullrey's Couch to 5K podcasts when I first heard about that program a few years ago. The ideas is that it takes an inactive person from the Couch to running a 5K in 9 weeks. Without a podcast, there's a need for a stopwatch and a lot of checking the wrist (which I consider futzing and would make me unhappy). On the podcast, the lovely Mr. Ullrey tells you when to walk and when to run while being very encouraging, and it's all set to music that has a good beat (kind of techno/dance which is not my normal stuff, but it does what it needs to do).

On Sunday while I worked, I had my iPod helper, Amanda, download the (free) podcasts I wanted. Then on Monday, I did nothing. Well, that's not true, I did stuff, went to visit my brother at his new place, did things around the house, knitted a little, and went to the grocery store, etc., but I did not work out. I sort of vaguely thought about it but didn't do it. I did, however, on Monday eat well, tracked points, drank water, and generally did the nutrition part of what I needed to do, so it wasn't a wasted day. And frankly, it's a little trite and cliche to start things on Monday, and I actively avoid starting out fresh on Monday morning most of the time.

But Tuesday I was set. It took me a while to get out of the bed and then subsequently off my ass and in gear, but I did it. I couldn't find, and still can't find, the chest strap for my heart rate monitor but didn't let that slow me down (just for about 10 minutes while I looked around and then gave up and figured I'll find it later), so off I went. Because the idea of walking (mostly) or running in the street with a headset on makes me nervous about hearing the traffic, I decided not to cruise my neighborhood. I got into the car and set out for Yauger Park on the west side of Olympia. There's a running/walking trail there and it's in an area where I felt like I had a good expectation of safety early being out there alone. It's a nice trail, no cement, just a little bit of asphalt at a couple of spots, mostly it's dirt and wood chips.

And when I say dirt, I mean dirt. We haven't had any real rain here for about a month. The dirt on the trails is dry, and the parts where there are no wood chips are dusty. This is how my shoes looked when I came home (they were mostly clean, if not sparking) when I left the house.



(That looked dirtier to me yesterday than it does now.)

When I took off the shoe and the sock, my foot, or at least the big toe area was also pretty filthy, the dirt just seeped through everything.

(That's pretty damn dirty, though. Man, my feet are veiny.)

I ended up, naturally, doing Week 1, day 1 of the program. As I've said, it's a 9-week program (although you can repeat a week if you feel like you need do) and it's designed to be done 3 days a week with rest days between runs. Because I'd like to maintain the muscle mass I have, and because muscle burns more calories than fat, I'm going to work out a schedule for some strength training on at least a couple of my non-running days during each week. The Goddess knows I have enough DVD workouts in my cabinet of shame that I can find something to do.

Anyway, yesterday's workout consisted of a 5 minute brisk walk, then the running/walking intervals, run for 60 seconds and then walk for 90 seconds 8 times, followed by a cool down walk of 5 minutes. All told 30 minutes, at the end of which I was very red faced and quite sweaty. But not in tears, which is quite the accomplishment. I must admit that I was only able to run for the complete 60 seconds on 5 of the intervals; for the other 3, I ran anywhere between 30 and 45 seconds of them (best guess ~ I wasn't wearing a watch). I might have gone out a little too quickly at the beginning, so I reined myself back in so that I could finish the last run at a run.

Note: I use the word run very loosely. It's running for me, but it's slow and there are lots of people on the planet who can walk faster than my run, but this girl is running. Not sprinting, not chasing Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt (or Colin Ferrell) fast, and certainly not running away from a chasing maniac fast; just running at Connie speed.

So that's my story of my first day with Couch to 5K. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

WiiFit report 10/29

Today's activities: Basic Step, Advanced Step, Island Run, Yoga (half moon and tree pose).
Minutes in Fit bank: 39.
WiiFit age: 47

Heart rate monitor says I burned 488 calories; the run was fun, and I did it 3 times.

My age was up a year today, but it turns out that I hadn't put the extenders on the balance board which means it was not recording my weight properly. Now the darn thing thinks that I gained 24 pounds since Monday, but now the difference between what it says I weigh and what my bathroom scale and Weight Watchers say I way is not as off as it was. If you use the balance board on carpet, put the little extender cups on the feet to begin with; my graph is ugly right now.

I did not train yesterday. My legs and butt were really sore from Monday's workout, and my right shoulder was killing me from the hour of bowling practice I put in on Monday evening when everyone else was out of the house. I'm working on getting my pro certification so that I can get a sparkly bowling ball like That Boy has. My new high score there is 159; hopefully I can break 200 by my actual birthday. And I want to try the tennis, too. That Boy hates it but Ms. Thang says it's a blast, so I figure I'll have to see for myself.

What I did on the WiiFit today

Activities: Hula Hoop, Basic Step, Advanced Step, Free Step, Slalom Skiing.
Minutes in Fit Bank: 32
WiiFit age: 46

And I'm unbalanced, I figure everyone who reads this already knew that. You knew that, right?

Last night, after True Blood was over, Ms. Thang and I decided to try our hands at bowling. I beat her soundly the first game (bowled a 140-something), but then That Boy came in and wanted to play with us. The second game was a 3-person one, and I didn't break 100, didn't even pick up a single stinking spare the whole game. Must practice bowling privately and secretly so that I may beat my children.

Yeah, I'm nothing if not competitive.

Look to your right

There's a new element in the sidebar called Check this Out. It's only got one link and that's Fat Chicks Running. I'm not running, but I am the other thing. I'm also not necessarily a poster on that blog, but I do comment, and I've made my commitment to the group of getting off my ass and shrinking it some.

To that end, yesterday I bought myself an early birthday present, a Wii and a WiiFit! Unfortunately for me, I had to work all day yesterday, so That Boy got to have all the first day fun with Wii Sports and setting it all up for me.

Apparently, I'm old, fat, weak, and unbalanced, and even though I won't be thirty-fourteen until next month, my WiiFit age is 57! That was an unpleasant eye opener. So my current goal is one that I'm sure that most women hold close to their hearts. I want to get younger!

Today was my first day with my new toy, and after I made my Mii (complete with blond dreadlocks because I've always wanted those), I spent time in WiiFit land. Hula hoop was fun, except I kept getting conked on the head when the other people tried to play ring toss with me. That's a skill I'll need to work on. Then I moved on to basic step. That was fun, and I did well enough at it (and repeated it enough) to unlock advanced step and some other strength and yoga moves and balance games. After I had my aerobic stuff done, I went for the balance for a little while. I really suck at that. The tightrope walk in particular was brutal. I died repeatedly and my best effort was 19 yards.

Then later, I decided I needed another remote controller, so I picked up Wii Play which had 9 games and the controller, plus a second nunchuck so that boxing against someone can become an option. Next payday, I'm sure I'll want the rechargable battery backs and the charger for the remotes. (Plus there was this game I saw . . . No Connie! Bad Connie! You do NOT need the ski game right now!)

Come check out Fat Chicks Running if you're so inclined, and I'll also be posting here about my WiiFit experiences.