No Running–Week 4 Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Running, Tri Training and tagged with Injured Runner, No running, Running, Swim Bike Run, Swimming Newbie, Triathlete in Training December 27, 2015

Okay, this is no running business is starting to get hard….

I miss running. BUT, instead of being a negative Nancy, I got my butt in the gym last week to get my workout on in other ways.

#igotthis

Monday was my first day of vacation (aka: no work and kids still in school) and I did some Christmas shopping, got in some good walking, and wondered why I didn’t wear a pedometer or something.

I met one of my running buddies at the gym Tuesday morning for my first official attempt at swimming . We were there for a good hour and I learned how to put on a water cap and goggles, swim without plugging my nose with my hand, and the 1-2-3 breathe method. I felt like a rockstar when I finished because I felt like I accomplished so much–and I had!

I abhor wearing bathing suits so getting in one is something huge for me; I went in knowing absolutely nothing about swimming and managed to freestyle swim without looking completely ridiculous; opening my eyes underwater and swimming without plugging my nose were things I just never did. It took a while for me to get used to trusting the goggles and practice not breathing/swallowing in water but after a while, I managed to somewhat get it down. I was SO thankful for my patient friend T–I would never have attempted the feat on my own.

Wednesday I met up with the same friend at the gym. Technically I was supposed to wait for my check-up on Monday for bike clearance but I’m pretty confident I’ll get it so I went with her to spin promising myself I would take it easy–especially whenever I had to stand on the bike.

And I was completely fine. Still no pain and I def took it easy–so much so, I felt like the instructor was pointing me out when she yelled, “If you’re not dying then you’re not riding hard enough!” I wanted to tell her I was new (and injured), lol!

Sssh! My first time spinning!

I was back in the pool Thursday and I felt like the honeymoon was over. I had left Tuesday feeling good about how I’d done with my swimming attempts but that morning, I felt like I had regressed. I wasn’t breathing correctly, my butt/hips were sinking, and my strokes were all over the place. We practiced a few things to help correct them and then jumped in the hot tub to recover. I was pooped!

It was Christmas Eve and my kids left Santa cookies and carrots for his reindeer. My little guy wanted to eat Santa’s cookies sooooo bad.

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Pleeeeease Mommy!!??

Fridays are my usual rest days and I did just that. It was a nice relaxed Christmas and we hung out in our jammies all day. It was perfect.

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My Christmas present to Mom ❤ #adeletickets

And I did do a one minute plank before bed too 😀

My husband ran his 16 miler Saturday morning like the machine that he is–he’ll be running Phoenix Marathon–and I hung out with the kids all morning. I did a short arm/upper body workout before bed and called it a day. I’ve been looking at some good, short routines I could do at home to work my upper body. Any recs?

Sunday I was back at the pool. My friend T, and two other buddies joined me and we worked on a few things to help with my breathing and strokes. After a few tries, I felt improvement and that made me feel better. Swimming is hard. I like hard, but I also like feeling like I’m at least progressing and not wasting people’s time. My friends are amazing and would never feel that way, but you guys know what I mean.

My first check-up is Monday, today, and I’m nervous. I never felt any pain so it’s hard for me to gauge if my injury has been improving. I’m just hoping whatever he sees on the x-rays shows things are going the way they should. I want to run!

I’ll update on Instagram 🙂 Hope you all have a great week!!!

–How was your Christmas? (If you celebrate)

–Do you think swimming is hard? What tips can you offer me?

No Running–Week 3 Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Birthday, Holiday Party, Injury, Injury Report, No running, Running Friends December 20, 2015

Halfway there! Hopefully….

It was a busy week despite no running as it was finals week at work and my last official week of teaching.

Monday started our Secret Santa exchange and I knew I was off to a good start with who I got:

#idonutcare

I did an medium/easy upper body workout before bed. Just a series of different arm weight reps, nothing big.

I had a few friends and their kids over Tuesday to do some pre-birthday celebrating and it was fun to chat with friends who would tolerate me complaining about not being able to run.

One minute plank before bed.

Wednesday was my birthday!! 😀 I turned the big 3-1 and would’ve liked to run a nice, neat 5k (3.1) but alas…

I did however, go to track to hang out with my running buddies. If I can’t run, at least I can hang out with people who love to run.

My kids got me these hip new running pants <3

My kids got me these hip new running pants ❤ and went to track with me

Missing quite a few candles on that hat…LOL

Let it be known, that up to this day, I had gone 2+ weeks with NO SODA. Since the discovery of my injury, I had proposed to myself a challenge of no soda during my no running time frame.

But, so many of my students knew of my love of all things Coke and I was treated to several different sizes of the beverage on my birthday. I couldn’t turn it down.

I could totally feel it though, as I spent the entire day bloated, lol!!

Thursday, I did this video and I felt so good afterward. She can be a little….much…but she’s a good distraction as I find myself listening to her instead of focusing on how I’m struggling with the reps, lol!

It was my official last day at work on Friday and I certainly felt the love from my students. There were moments of the day that were tough, but overall I felt more relieved than sad, and that made me feel like I had made the right decision.

Our local running store had a Donut Run/Walk 5k Saturday morning and my daughter and I were all about it.

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My and my daughter, and Runner Jenny and her daughter. And a person wearing a donut costume.

I skipped the donuts though, letting my daughter take care of it 🙂

Later that night, it was our run club’s holiday party and oh boy….

Each year there are gag gifts sprinkled in the White Elephant exchange (that’s where you pick a present but don’t know who it’s from). Of course I ended up picking a gag gift … It was a pair of lingerie underwear!! I was SO embarrassed and was forced to hold up the gift for all to see. I don’t want a picture of me holding up a pair of pink lacy underwear on the inter webs so I’m skipping posting the pic LOL But here’s one of me while opening it and dying.

Trying unsuccessfully to hide the gift…while the MC announces what I’m opening.

It was a fun, busy week that kept me distracted from not being able to run. I’ll be attempting my first swimming adventure on Tuesday and that will definitely be interesting…jaja!!!

I hope everyone has a great week and happy holiday! ❤ , helly

–Any fun holiday party stories??

–What did you ask Santa for for Christmas??

–Anyone else with a birthday in December? Do you get the, “This is your birthday AND Christmas gift.” Grrr…LOL

No Running–Week 2 Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Half Marathon, Race, Running and tagged with Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon, Injured Runner, No running, PR December 13, 2015

This is awkward. A recap about not running….

It was quite the eventful week despite no miles and I’m now 4 weeks away from hopefully getting back into the game 🙂 In fact, I have an appointment in two weeks to see how things are progressing.

Monday found myself at the dentist as I had been having some serious teeth pain from two molars. This pain had been happening for several weeks and I actually had an appointment upon returning from San Diego; but, I got sick and they would not perform oral surgery if I had any issues with my sinuses…so, more time with pain.

But finally, Monday came and I had never looked so forward to getting teeth yanked out. It was a complete disaster as what was supposed to be a simple procedure turned into a Saw movie. My teeth broke as the dentist was trying to pull them out and because he had to get a good grip, mechanical utensils were brought out. I heard every single thing as I had chosen to not be put under. Good times.

I took the day off from work Tuesday as I was pretty much an immobile, starving mess.

The doctor had said no exercise for 2-3 days so Wednesday was day 2. I made it to work and spoke as little as possible telling my students to make sure they brush and floss daily and to lay off the soda.

Thursday was actually the day I felt the worst but I pulled up my big girl panties and went to work. It was also beautiful in Phoenix that day and I really wanted to take advantage of the weather since we were getting a cold front the upcoming weekend. So after work, my little family went to our zoo’s annual Christmas light show ❤

A lot of hilly walking but I felt fine. No pain at all.

It was a tough day on Friday though, not because of anything injury related, but because I finally announced something I had been thinking about for a few weeks. I wouldn’t be returning to work the following semester. My students took it pretty hard–most actually like me!–but they understood once I explained.

My husband has been taking on new responsibilities at his job the last few months that have required him to travel extensively, sometimes out of the country and sometimes for multiple weeks at a time. It’s been tough on me as I become the sole caretaker for our kids–I’ve mentioned my 45 minute morning and afternoon commute before and when my husband is not home, I have to get myself ready, my kids ready, drop them off at school, then drive my 45 minute drive to make it to work by 7:45–if there’s traffic or an accident, that time increases and inevitably I don’t make it to work when the bell rings.

I knew it was becoming a problem when I was late several times and had to call security to cover my classes. And my decision was sealed when I tried waking my kids up a little extra early so I wouldn’t be late–seeing them sleep so comfortably and wanting to wake them up at 5:30 in the morning so I could get to work on time absolutely killed me. I just couldn’t. And I knew that I would have to make a decision. It was a no brainer; my kids are my first priority.

I don’t know how long this teaching hiatus will last, but I feel good about my choice.

I was glad we had some more family fun time on Saturday because I needed a pick-me-upper. We went to our local rec center and had breakfast with Santa 🙂

My son was not impressed.

And on Sunday, my husband ran the Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon. This was supposed to be our goal 1/2 marathon race for the both of us but of course, I couldn’t run it. He did, and absolutely killed it finishing with a new PR of 1:36:31!!! He also helped our run club finish 1st team overall 😀

My champ.

Many of my friends finished the race with PRs and it was fun to be there cheering them on. Fun, but I’m lying if I didn’t say I wished it was me. I know things happen for a reason, yadda yadda yadda, but I miss running dammit. If anything, I’m glad that I’m finally starting to feel a little better from this teeth business and I can finally get myself to the gym. I need some sweat time. Need.

To end on a happy note, last week’s Hot Chocolate 5k/15k pics were released this week (and were FREE). This was my favorite pic as I crossed the finished line with my walking buddies ❤

I think we had fun.

Anyway, there’s my no running recap! I hope you all had a great week–tell me all about it!!

–Any dentist horror stories? Do you like going to the dentist? I have friends who actually do. Of course, they have perfect teeth.

–Share with me a high point of your week something positive 🙂