Have you ever done anything you immediately regretted? Last week that was Saturday morning yoga for me. I'd been debating with myself if I should go or not after our 10 mile run. Right up until the last minute, I hadn't really decided and then figured it would be good for me to just go. It was all going fine until the very last stretch. Literally the VERY LAST STRETCH, I was lying on my back stretching my hamstring when I felt this awful pop. The hamstring I had injured about 3 years ago was out of whack again. Talk about ruining a weekend!!! Since it was Saturday morning, I knew I'd have to wait until Monday to get it looked at and decided to play it smart and ice, foam roll and NOT run. It was probably lucky for the doctor that I had two days to wrap my head around the fact that I have two months before Earth Day and there is plenty of time to take a week or two to heal without worry that I couldn't run and finish a half. Deb and I ran 12 miles the week before...we could finish a half on very little additional running...if we had to. For the past 7 days, I have only walked, light stretching and light exercises. Charlie is not complaining as he gets to go on every walk; he prefers walking to running and if it isn't too brisk, all the better. This morning, I tried about a dozen running steps to see if there would be any twinges of pain and there were not. Tomorrow I have the green light to try a light run and then a follow-up appointment on Monday to hopefully add more strength exercises to shorter runs for this week. I'm trying to be very compliant and avoid the very long recovery I had last time. Wish me luck tomorrow! Here's to hoping your running is going well on these longer spring days and that you don't do anything you'll regret...never thought yoga would be included in that! Happy running--Missee
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A number of years back, we had a winter that seemed to last an awfully long time toward spring...well that happens fairly often. But, this particular winter/spring, Deb and I were approaching Earth Day Half Marathon in late April and had yet to have one day nice enough to break out the shorts. On a particularly snowy morning, Deb had remarked, "Well, pretty soon we'll be wearing shorts!" There did not seem to be one single sign that shorts weather was coming! After this, we've started saying earlier and earlier that pretty soon it will be nice enough for shorts :-) I thought of this on Thursday and Friday this week when I jumped on the treadmill to avoid the -35 degree windchills. It's always 70 and while not sunny, brightly lit with incandescent bulbs in my basement. You can tell this is an "after" photo by a special someone's attention to the knees LOL! One of my indoor days was a walk plus exercise circuits, the other was a 3 mile run plus circuits, so not a lot of time on the treadmill, but I was thankful not to miss out on those workouts. I've seen some posts lately on Facebook on how to do a treadmill run without getting bored. My comment to the group was that if I need to do a long run, I'll tape a piece of paper over the display and then not peak under it for a certain number of Netflix episodes. Nothing makes the time drag like checking my progress about every 40 seconds. Even on a 3-miler, I'll lock the display on calories and then pick a number at which time I'll let the display scroll again. I can also admire all the taxidermy hanging around the room. There are 3 fish and two deer hanging up for my viewing enjoyment. While the weather cooperated with getting outdoors, this week's long run was a doozie! Twelve miles with the final three at race pace PLUS a 10 minute walk which was expressly listed as not part of the 12 miles. Other than forgetting to start my watch at the beginning, it went off without a hitch. The final 3 miles were 8:51, 8:23 and 8:28, so I was quite pleased. This week coming up is listed as a "Cutback Week." Workouts will be shorter and easier to rest up for even longer runs and more work at race pace. Since we completed 12 miles this week, there is no doubt that we can finish a half marathon, so the next weeks will be about trying to do it faster, stronger and uninjured. Deb and I have agreed that we seem to have fired up some muscles that were not being used often enough. It will be interesting to see how much that might help! My youngest son is an aspiring mechanical engineer. He likes to chat about building and improving things and always has interesting ideas, plus he fixes lots of stuff for his mom. When our school was rebuilding its playground, we had lots of chats about safety and how today's playgrounds are much safer, but some of the adventurous play structures that were common in the 70's and 80's would be considered dangerous. I found this meme that pretty much summed it up. Keep in mind that one of the favorite games on this item was to lay on one's belly with your head hanging off and then dropping a piece of litter such as a discarded pop can and yelling "Dropped it!" and the next guy tried to pick it up and yells, "Got it!" If anyone remembers how we ever won or lost at this game, please comment! I hope shorts weather is coming soon to an outdoor run near you, or that you can enjoy your treadmill until that day arrives. If you have a great old-school playground in your neighborhood, be sure to jump on the merry go round and spin a couple laps on your belly. Happy running! Missee
It has been a great while since I have posted on our Running with Sisters blog. I had back surgery on December 10 and have been working hard on my recovery. Issues with my back began a few years ago. Each time I would recover, but the pain kept coming back. Things got worse this summer and much worse as the school year started in August. I had increasing pain in my leg, hip, and back. I limited my running and tried numerous remedies. An MRI showed a herniated disc in my lower back. I had back surgery on December 10. I am not cleared to run for three months after my surgery, so I now have 23 days to go before I run again. Currently, I am in my third week of physical therapy. My therapy is helping me work towards my goal of running again. I really really really miss it! In the meantime, I can walk. I do yoga and have started riding our Peleton bike on short low impact rides. My goal is to run again, although the fear of back pain is weighing heavy on my mind. I even signed up for a 5K in May. My progress is slow, but I am determined.
Happy Saturday! -Stephanie This fall, I was constantly bummed out by the decreasing daylight each week. Well, we made it to December and now the days are getting longer. It has actually gotten quite noticeably lighter in both the mornings and afternoons. Each week, I am noticing that it gets lighter earlier and earlier in our Saturday morning runs. It made me think of this old proverb: This little proverb makes me feel like I'm beating the race against time and age if I'm up early enough. I'd stand no chance against the lion or the gazelle, but when the sun comes up, I'm challenging myself to be active and healthy.
What makes you feel super strong? The speed work and striders we've been doing in this training cycle are making me feel stronger and hopefully the GPS will start reflecting that. This weekend, we are kicking it up to 10 miles plus 4 striders. I'm looking forward to it; when the sun comes up, you better believe I'll be running! |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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