Down but not out

This was supposed to be a "taper" week but I ran only once this week, so far. I ran a very comfortable 12K distance on Tuesday, but by Thursday I was sick. It's a cold that's going around but it really knocked me out. I have no energy to run or to even set foot in the gym to try something else like the recumbent bike. I'm feeling a little better as I type this entry, so I hope I can get in an easy run around my neighborhood tomorrow. Even though my weight is stable and normal, I feel like I weigh a ton. I don't do well being sedentary, even when I know it's better listen to my body and rest... I''ve been easing up on the carbs since I'm not doing much, and I've been drinking plenty of water... Sounds boring but I dislike being sick. Ugh!

Marathon article

Browsing through the San Diego UT I found this article about the RNR marathon and three first time marathoners. Do check out the link. I could relate, especially when they discussed aches and pains...

Hot in Las Vegas

Sitting out at the pool all day only turned into an hour... It was way too hot. 100+ degree heat and no shade just didn't cut it. The good thing about the Las Vegas trip is that I wasn't as bored as I thought I would be. It helped that there were some other non-architect people around as well. I did well with the eating and drinking and did not have to deal with hang overs, bloatedness or weight gain. I did fit in a 4 mile run on the treadmill at the Luxor gym. I dragged a little but I felt good that I did it. I also attended the convention and picked up a bazillion free pens and what ever else they had to give. Michael was like a kid in a candy store. He loves all the building supplies and shiny, new, state of the art materials and fixtures. We also walked up and down the strip in the evening, which is a long walk, but even though I got the 4 miler in that same day, I needed to keep moving. Even at midnight, it was still toasty outside. The newer casinos have state of the art filters and air conditioning systems, which helps with the smoke, but being a non-smoker, the smoke around me still made me feel as if I lit up myself. Only one person in our group was kind enough to ask if it was okay to light up. Nice guy. No other smoker in our group asked. Hmmmm. I didn't run today, even though I had planned to. I was exhausted, due to a late flight home. Tomorrow I have plans to visit the gym and get in a 40 minute run. I have "12 sleeps" left before the marathon. I restocked my MSM, but I need to hit up Costco for the Sam-e, as it's much less expensive there. The next couple of weeks are all about staying on track with out over training. I received my race number and corral number last week... Gotta chill. Nerves are starting to creep up. Gotta find that "Zen" state of being.

Ramblngs, rantings, etc...

Yesterday turned out to be a no run, no exercise day, but not intentionally. I played front desk person at work while the other staff memebers had a seminar in how to use a very high tech piece of optical equipment that takes retinal photos. Retinal photos used to be done with a special Poloriod type camera, which was adequate but it was a flat, 2 dimensional photo. This new, nifty (huge) piece of equiment shows several computerized layers into the eye, in which the doctors can check the health of the eye, and if the patient is having prolbems this can be a valuable tool in aiding a diagnosis. Without getting into a ton of optometric vocabulary or a long winded explanation, this high tech piece of equipment will be a time-saver for the doctors. Sorry, the name of this machine escapes my mind at the moment! Arrgh! After work, I took my 17 year old son, Erik, to get his hair cut. It's a miracle! He said he would get his hair cut, but not at my place, so I took him to a "hip" place in Hillcrest. Keep in mind that his hair resembled the rock and roll hair of the 1970's -- really long and bushy. Someone said he looked like a cross between Jim Morrison and Slash... His hair cut was somewhat of a dissapointment because the lady at the shop gave him a dutch boy 'fro... not a good look... It looked okay wet but when it dried out the volume of his hair took over... I guess she never cut super thick, wavy hair before. Today I'm taking him to my stylist to "fix" the unjustice... Other foibles? My daugher ran out of gas, the dog left an unpleasant surprise on the carpet, every other call at home was a soliciter, Erik forgot his cell phone -- and was at the "Star Wars" premier but waited in line with all the others that HAD to see it at the midnight show -- his friends kept calling his cell phone a few times to see where he was in line. Blah, blah, blah! The best thing about yesterday was the gorgeous weather and free lunch from the guy training the staff on the new equipment. Today I'm going out to the gym for a tempo run and, perhaps some abs exercises. Next, it's all about packing for Las Vegas for the AIA convention this week end. I actually do not want to partake in this trip because, as a non architect, I will be bored. The last time we went to Las Vegas for a business related function I was bored silly since there was no one to hang out with while everyone attended seminars, and I don't gamble. (I have this thing about loosing my money...) I couldn't hang out at the pool because it was February and rather cold. Maybe, this time, will be different. The weather is much warmer so, maybe the pool will be a good place to hang out with a good book, even by myself.

Taper week and other ideas

Yesterday I decided to do upper body super sets with resistance bands. I think that was a wise decision because, boy, I sure feel it today! I also threw in 3 sets of 100 regular abs crunches, just for fun... Since this week starts my taper I ran an easy 3 miles in 30 minutes on the gym treadmill No, not fast but it was comfortable. I took a good 20 minutes to cool down and stretch. I am now planning my next strategy for AFTER the marathon, which is more strength training. I purchased yet another work out book "Lean, Long & Strong -- The 6-week Strength Training, Fat-Burning Program For Woman" by Wini Linguvic. It was at Costco so you know it didn't set me back much. I have yet to really read it but the color photos which illustrate the exercises are nice, plus there are some stretches and stability ball exercise that I would be inclined to try. I've had the majority of my work out success on BFL, but it's good to see what else is out there. My boss swears by Billy Blanks Boot Camp, and says it's really hard -- she's a work horse, so it's gotta be a toughie! I know I said I would post what I'm eating but with the carb loading my eating does not follow the BFL guidelines , especially from Wednesday evening to Friday evening when I do my carb load. I suppose I should log the food intake anyway, just for my reference, but I've gotten really lazy about doing that. I know what I need to/not eat, and what is working and what isn't. Whole grains have been working great. My Friday dinner is Asian cuisine, usually from Pickup Stix with brown rice. Yummy! I know a lot of runners dine on pasta but it didn't work out for me. I felt like I was running with rocks in my stomach -- 'Twas not a good feeling...

Aches, pains and shoes

I was looking forward my long slow distance run yesterday, but the arthritis decided to make it's presence known. I thought warmer weather equaled happy knees, but around 7 miles into my 10 miler I started to have discomfort that caused me to stop and stretch. I did a walk/run for the next 2 miles, then walked the last mile. I still considered my 10 miler successful because 1) I made the effort to do it, and 2) I didn't have to send my husband to get the car -- I walked home on my own. On the up side, yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny spring day. I feel very blessed to live in Southern California. Once I arrived home, had my protein/fruit shake, showered and rested a little, we then made the trek out to Road Runner for shoes. Sometimes aches and pains means needing new shoes. I ended up with Nike Shox Oz. I was wearing Mizuno Wave Rider 7, but a leather detail at the toe caused some discomfort, and I felt that same discomfort with the Wave Rider 8. The Mizuno's had great support for my high arches, but the toe was going to give me grief if I didn't change the shoe style. Bummer. The Nike's felt comfortable, had decent arch support, (but enhanced with a shoe insert for high arches) and the toe wasn't hitting anything weird. I'll see how they do in the real world. The sales guy tried to sell me the most expensive shoes at the store, but those didn't fit correctly. Then I began to notice that he showed this particular brand/style to other customers. Having a sales background, I realize that you always present the customer with the "creme de la creme" item first, no matter what their budget is, however, it was funny to watch this guy bring out the same shoe over and over again. I must give kudos to the sales guy, though. He helped 4 of us at the same time and we never had to look for him. Shopping doesn't float my boat, so I felt good leaving the store with my purchase. Today is R&R. I plan on staying put and, perhaps, firing up the barbecue.

Yeee Haaaa! Warmth!

The weather forecast calls for sunny skies and temps in the mid to high 70's, maybe even 80's. I guess with the arthritis stuff I've turned into a warm weather person and now I have a tan. I don't purposely go out and get a tan, I wear at least a SPF 15 sunscreen every day, and a SPF 30 or higher on the days I run outside -- with all the out door running I do, especially on Saturdays, I've gone from rather naturally pale to having more warmth to my skin tone and everyone notices. I am looking forward to my LSD run this Saturday with the warm weather. My knees will be much happier. I did a full on UBW with resistance bands today and really tried to challenge myself, especially since I haven't used the Bowflex or weights in about a month or more. I could have probably pushed myself a little further with the bands since I'm not really "feeling it" yet. We'll see.

Time to taper

I mustered my 20 miler on Saturday and it was not easy. There were changes in the barometric pressure through out my run so I was dealing with pain early on. It would go away but as soon as the clouds would move in I would definitely feel some discomfort in my knees. I ran my slowest training time ever. I averaged about a 12 minute mile pace. That sucks, but I did it. I just hope the weather will be kind by the time the marathon rolls around. Today I have plans to whip out my resistance bands and do my UBW. I am starting to get itchy about weight training again. I haven't weight trained in a few weeks now, just resistance bands, yoga type stretches and miles upon miles of running. The next 3 weeks will be my taper distance running, until the marathon. Even though it looks like I'm prepared for this first (and probably last) marathon, it's still an unknown factor for me. I need to start thinking "this RNR Marathon will be a ton of fun" instead of "26.2 miles is long."

Figuring out my arthritis

Yesterday I felt speedy on the gym's recumbent bike :) ... The forecast said rain but my joints weren't feeling so bad and I'm not quite sure why. I'm still figuring out what really aggravates my arthritis and what doesn't. So far, weather is the largest factor determining pain, and the second is being sedentary -- I do better when I stay active. I wish I could figure out how to harness and control barometric pressure just for my knees... Now, wouldn't that be something! I'm currently taking glucosamine-condroitin, MSM, Sam-e, calcium-citrate, and a multi-vitamin. Yesterday I purchased Rush-Tox and I'm adding that to my collection of supplements. The marathon is just a month away now and all I want to do is finish it. Prior to the diagnosis of arthritis I was convinced I'd run the marathon in well under 5 hours. Now it's a matter of participation and making it to the finish line on my own. I'm trying to do everything the books say to do in marathon training, but I won't exactly know how it will be until I get there...

Running Tunes

No running today since I did a tempo run yesterday at the gym via the treadmill. Today I did "housewifely" things (I don't like that term "housewife" since I didn't marry a house) --- I did laundry, vacuuming, general cleaning -- which is your basic maid service. I came across some CD's I forgot about and decided some of the songs would be good running tunes... My MP3 player now has "Diamond Dogs" and "E-Pro" by Beck, "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson, "What is Love" by Haddaway, "Fell In Love With A Girl" by The White Stripes, and "The House Is A Rockin" by Stevie Ray Vaughan. This officially puts my MP3 player at 103 songs, which is almost nothing compared to those who have Ipods. 103 songs will keep me from getting bored for a little while ;) I need to start entering my running distance and times and daily food intake here... It's off to do UBW with resistance bands...

LSD runs

My 8 LSD mile run scheduled for yesterday turned into a 12 miler instead. The weather was perfect and my knees weren't giving me any problems, so I just went with it. I have an 18 mile LSD run scheduled for this coming Saturday and there is no reason why that shouldn't go well, either. I've backed off the speed and number training days so my knees are happy and I'm able to run without that awful pain I had just a couple of months ago. I'm looking ahead to after the marathon, as I'll probably go back into BFL again.