Another post where I talk about being frustrated

My training plan has slipped again. I'm gonna blame the election for this one. Not only because of the stress (flair trigger,) but also because the day of, I walked all over the place with my daughter and my parents to get this picture:

Three Generations who can vote because of her.

Needless to say, I was unable to run for two days after wrangling a hyperactive four year old through a park, a beautiful (if huge) cemetery, and a half hour line. We were lucky, because of my mom's wheelchair we were able to skip the 2 hour line. We only had to wait half an hour to get our photo op. From what I hear that two hour line stayed at around two hours until they shut the gate at 9 pm, well after dark. 

Enough about the election. I promise no more politics!

I finally got back on the treadmill yesterday, and was able to squeeze in a 2 mile run. I was only able to do 2 miles because I ran out of time, but 2 miles is 2 miles. I'll take it. 

I'm just tired of not progressing in my training. It feels like I'm stuck right at the beginning. I know it's because I'm not prioritizing my training, but that's hard to do when I have to cram a run into an already packed day. The fibro works against me at every turn. No matter when I go to bed, I can barely drag myself out of bed in the morning in time to get the Hubs to work and the Munchkin to school. My muscles are always sore now, no mater how long I've rested them. On top of all of that, every work out wipes me out, not right away, but by dinner time I'm out of energy. Just totally falling asleep at the table, unable to focus, done. I feel guilty devoting my energy to training, and leaving none for my family. Typical Mom-guilt (although to be fair these days I guess I should just call it Parent-guilt.)

I'm trying to get over it. This week I'm determined to make the runs happen, even with a "work" commitment looming this weekend. 

I say "work" because it's for a group I'm a founder of, but I don't get paid for it. Although if I tapped out I know from a lengthy conversation with the other founder that she'd just call it and shutter the group. No pressure. 

Tonight I'm planning on a family workout trip to the Y, which we skipped last week due to extreme exhaustion on my part. I've got a crock pot dinner planned and ready so there will be no excuses. 

I've also decided to back off on the speed work drills built into the plan. They have speed work built into two runs a week. I'm going to back that off to just once a week for a few weeks, and see how I feel.

Lets get back to it.

Never give up, never surrender.

I gave myself a week off last week. Between pushing through Halloween, and a bunch of really bad Fibro days, the week was just a wash.

But I'm back at it this week. I've revamped my training schedule (again) and switched which days are my swim days (again) but I think I've got something that will work.

Now to just make sure I take it easy on my body as I ramp back up!

I can feel it in the air tonight....Winter is coming.

My first week of training was going great, until I ran head long into a flare. I kept trying to push through the flare to get shit done, which I think only made things worse. So bad in fact that by Monday I was bed bound for most of the day.

Suck.

I'm moving forward to week two of the training plan anyways, although I did leave off the "strides" at the end of my run today. I wasn't just being lazy either, it was a rough run.

It was cold outside, not as cold as it's going to be, but cold enough that I layered up; tank, t-shirt and long sleeves on top, long running pants, and a buff to pull up over my mouth to keep from ending up with what I'm calling "runner's cough." It was not enough. Fer serious, I was wishing for another layer, like a windbreaker, and some ear warmers.

It was visually beautiful out, which helped ease some of the discomfort, until right around my turn around point (at about 1.5 miles, give or take...I like to leave some room to walk to cool down at the end,) when the wind picked up. I swear it was in my face both directions.

At one point the wind was blowing hard enough to slow me down to what most likely looked like someone attempting to recreate the 80's dance "The Running Man." I swear I was practically standing still, no matter how hard I pushed.

The wind did let up again after a half mile that felt like ten, and I was able to slug out the rest of my 3 miles. Barely. I really did not have anything left in the tank to put into those "strides" (which are really just 30 second sprints with rests in between.)

I'll add them onto a different run later in the week.

I didn't know I was broken till I wanted to change.

Apparently I'm no good at recognizing limitations. Or at least, it seems that being smacked down by this thing has made me do something crazy.

I signed up to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati, OH.

Now, it's not until May next year, so I have plenty of time to get myself trained up to the distance. Also I'll have people to run with, as a few of the Ladies from a Facebook group I'm kind of a lurker on are going to be getting together for this (talk of this is kind of what lead to the crazy decision to sign myself up.)

I've finally got myself started on the training plan I'd mentioned before, although I decided to step back and start with the 10k training plan, then feed myself into the Half Marathon training plan, since I have the time, and I don't want to burn myself out by starting out with too high a milage.

I'm a whole two days in to the plan, and the first day (of the modified schedule I created) was the swim day, So I can't really tell how I'm handling the training yet. I'm still toying with the idea of what I'm going to do for my cross training day, it falls on a Thursday so I could theoretically use that day to go to Karate, but I'm worried about that being too much for my legs. I was thinking maybe biking would work, or another swim day. I don't know, I'll figure it out.

It's time to start.

Weekend Derailment, Monday back on track

Isn't that how it always goes? I was doing so well last week, and then *bam* Friday night I go out and derail myself.

We went out friday night to a work function for the Hubs, a work function at a bar (drink one - a can of beer), then headed over to this really cool Halloween themed fundraiser for a local art gallery (drink two - spiked mulled cider), then since we hadn't eaten yet we headed over to a cool resturaunt/bar nearby for food and a drink (drink three - strawberry spritzer, and food - crabcake and fried calamari). We rounded out the night at a friends place hanging out till two am watching bad cartoons (drink three and a half - about a half glass of bad desert wine.)

It didn't seem like a wild night until the next morning...or rather, two o'clock the next afternoon, which was when I managed to drag my butt out of bed. I was completely non-functional until then, and it didn't feel like your run of the mill hangover. I had a headache, yes, but mostly I was extremely fatigued and my muscles were totally locked up. I'm guessing the combination of drinking, too little/not so healthy food, and upending my sleeping schedule triggered a flare. Luckily I was able to walk the Munchkin down to the diner near us for milkshakes (a pre-promised Saturday outing) and afterwards I was, for the most part, ready to go.

Sunday we had a cool day at the Zoo for "Zoo Boo" planned, the kids get to go "trick or treating" in costume at the zoo. We were having a good time, and even though I could still feel a bit of fatuigue, my body was holding up. Then while we were sitting eating lunch at the "cafe" by the lions, disaster struck. The Hubs, who is non-life threateningly allergic to bees, got stung. In the Neck.

A few panicked minutes later (got ice, applied ice, searched the zoo futilely for Benadryl, left the Munchkin with my parents and drove to Rite Aid to purchase Benadryl) we were relatively sure we wern't going to have to head to the hospital. The Hubs and I hung out in the car while my parents finished doing the "Zoo Boo" route with the Munchkin, then it was back to my Parents so we could relax and have a backup caretaker in case things took a turn for the worse.

Luckily, it seems as long as he keeps taking Benadryl, the swelling is staying down, although that's leaving the poor guy sleepy and groggy most of the time.

Today however I got myself back on track, exercise wise (and hopefully eating wise - that kinda tanked over the weekend too.) I got the dog out for his morning walk again and hit the pool.

I managed to do 11 laps this time, and it felt less sucky. My plan is to add a lap each week. Hopefully that's not too much, but is enough to help me start to loose weight again.

The other component is the eating. I keep falling down on tracking what I'm eating. I'll to great for two or three days and then I'll run into something like Family Dinner (which we have Tuesdays with the in-laws and Fridays with my parents.) I'm awful at tracking then, or when I go out. I suck at that. Especially if I'm drinking.

It's going to be rough adapting to my "new normal" where a couple of drinks is too many (Honestly! I had three and a half over a six hour period. Sheesh.)  And I have to watch not only how many calories I eat, but what kind of foods I eat (Anti-Inflammatories are my friend.)

But I am once again determined. Enough of this wallowing BS.

Thank goodness for the Y

Yesterday was a win. I took the dog for a walk in the morning and then orchestrated time at the gym for both me and the Hubs.

Now that we're Y members, we get to take advantage of the drop of childcare room. We get two hours a week. That's just about two gym sessions for my slow a$$. Since I swim during the day, while my daughter is at pre-school, that might just be enough.

The run was awful though. First I felt like I was running at a good clip, before I glanced at my speed: 15 min/miles. Yeah, not sure when I got so slow, but there it was. Around mile 2 my hip started cramping up, but I toughed it out to finish up three miles. Which took me around 45 min, plus warm up and cool down, I was coming up on an hour. I'm just happy there wasn't anyone waiting which would have activated the 30 minute max rule for the cardio equipment.

But a sloggy run is still a run. I'm hoping this is the start of an uptick in my physical ability. So far, other than being unreasonably achey and sore, I'm doing ok.

Fingers crossed!

Harder than I remember

I took the plunge (ha ha ha) and showed up for lap swim at the Y today. I had a fancy new suit and anti-fog treated goggles. I figured I'd do slow laps for about half an hour or so.

If you ever wanted to know what scares me, it's this.

Yeeeah. I did 10 laps. Ten.

Every couple of laps I had to rest for a second to catch my breath. My body just isn't used to not being able to breathe continuously. I had to drop from a breath every four strokes to every two just to finish out the ten laps.

I'm trying to be proud of myself for doing it, and to remember that everyone starts somewhere, and this is where I'm starting.

My plan is to add in a lap or two each time. Hopefully that will keep me from overdoing it.

I'm also gearing up to start a stretched out version of the half marathon training plan in Train Like  Mother. I'm targeting the same spring half marathon I've done twice already, but it's just a nebulous target. I'm not gonna sweat it if it's not in the cards.