Want a little inspiration? I got some!

http://newworldgreetings.blogspot.com/

Read this story! This woman's journey to complete the Boston marathon is amazing - she overcame polio and crossed the finish line! I am so inspired by her.

God bless!!!!!

Hip Flexor injury continues

Turns out that my injury is a lot worse than I thought. A little lost as to how i'm going to maintain some kind of decent training schedule, but basically i'm thinking over the next two weeks I'm going to have to just focus on my upper body (weights, swimming, etc).

I ordered a bunch of stuff to help with my ergonomics in the car - including a foot rest. Having never driven an SUV before I definitely feel some challenges in adjusting to the new setup.

I'm feeling a lot of pain not only in my injured area but my lower back as well at this point since my back is handling the load on my body what my left leg can't handle.

Having a desk job that runs 10+hours a day doesn't help, especially after doing the same for 10+ years. Sitting like this for hours and years weakened my hip/upper quad/hip flexor area wayyyyy too much. this is not right.

I sense that it is time to make some drastic changes in my life right now. I'm praying about it and thinking hard about it.

I am a bit frustrated but I will not let this deter me. Every problem has a solution. My task right now is to patiently and proactively heal and recover, and get back to training over the next week or two. I can do this. Athletes get injured all the time and they come back all the time. Unless it is a serious injury i have not seen a single athlete give up on a race even before starting. Half Ironman, I'm still coming to get you.

God bless everyone, please stay healthy and positive.

Sunday Summary

60 minutes of boring as heck walking. there is nothing harder than having to walk for that long when my mind just wants to run. However, even that walk made my upper quads/hip flexors pretty tired, i stretched and iced when i came back.

Weights and conditioning for 40 minutes. Worked my shoulders and core, couldn't do the step-ups, but did a less intense step down exercise as suggested by Dianna (my amazing sports massage therapist and beyond) with 16 pounds of weight, which I still found pretty challenging! The squats were qute tough with the weights definitely demanding upper quad strength which has been subsided from the injury. I love how our muscles work, or don't work in this case - the intricacies of our muscles and how they interact are quite amazing to me. I really want to study it some times. More stretching and icing afterwards. Pushups are still so challenging. I always used to hate it when people grown while doing weights - well i was doing that myself on the pushups. The last two of the 12 reps (x2)...major groaning action. So unappealing.

I slept about 9 hours last night - and i slept pretty well. I so needed that sleep from a pretty challenging weekend. But all is well that ends well, and I'm looking forward to this week.

I signed up for the Marin County 10k run to support my friends who are doing the half marathon (it's this Sunday) - it looks like i might have to just walk it or just stand by and cheer them on. But who knows, I might just heal this week! :)

have a great week everyone - and may every day bring you a new challenge and learning experience. Put your heart into everything you do - no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. it all adds up to something big in the future...

Hip flexor /adductor injury

It looks like i'm paying for my indiscretion - last Saturday i biked 30 miles on my road bike. The next day instead of my usual swim or yoga I got on my mountain bike and rode about 20 miles along the beach, with a pretty poor setup (i knew the bike wasn't fitting right but i kept going because i didn't have the tools to fix it). Then the following day I went for a short hike. It was short, but i think it was more than my body wanted to handle. My left hip flexor and adductor were so tight that i couldn't walk without limping. I went to get it massaged, then I went to my surgeon to get it checked. My hip flexors weakened over time and it couldn't handle the load, causing all the other muscles to work harder to do all the riding and running i've been doing. The doctor was actually saying that I should be grateful for not having torn a muscle. What a relief!

I couldn't bike today with my group, but I went swimming instead. i have to say, just simple kicking never felt so bad...my hip flexors were definitely hurting. So i minimized the kicking and focused on pulling harder with my arm, and i ended up doing 2500 meters. i was so happy. the weight training, i have to say, has given me a lot of strength to enable me to do long distance swimming. My goal is to eventually be able to swim 2 miles (about 3300 meters). Exciting.

Injuries definitely suck. On top of that, I had a 24 hour flu/cold but i have to say, all my colds or flu symptoms have been limited to one day - that's it. i have to credit my regular vitamin intake and healthy eating for giving me the ability to kick the virus fast. My recovery has been really fast, i'm so grateful.

I think i'm way behind the running in my training schedule, Bike is almost there with less speed but more distance, and swimming i'm right where i should be. once the injury heals, I will do some more running and try to get some hills on the bike. Until then, Im going to have to focus on swim but also make sure my old shoulder injury doesn't act up (what is a girl to do????)... just need to be careful. also i need to do a lot of strengthening and conditioning exercises for my hip/adductor areas. It will only equip me to become a better athlete.

i'm grateful for this time of recovery and learning.

happy Easter everyone - be blessed on the day of Christ's resurrection!

Trial and Errors...what's working, what isn't

Nothing major to update, but just wanted to say that i've been trying different patterns of training (e.g. 2x a day, 3 days straight with break, 2 days straight with break, alternate days, etc.) and I came to one important conclusion - be flexible and listen to my body. In a perfect situation I'd be working out twice a day (morning and after work in the evening) for 6 days of the the week and then have a rest day on Monday. It turns out in reality, that such a plan is a pipe dream. Or is that one word.

Usually, days after a swim training or bike training session I can still muster another training session the very next day. However, after a run training session, my body needs a full day of recovery. Running hits hard on my joints, my back and hip issues of course and just adds to the overall fatigue. Of course after a long day of riding either yoga or a full rest is quite necessary, although for some reason I've managed to either do weights or swim the day after.

Last weekend I caught the 24-hour flu, got struck hard on a Saturday morning (missed my first group ride, wah!), but woke up Sunday feeling just fine.

This coming week is the last week of the base building phase. I'm becoming more and more flexible with my training plans based on my condition - but trying to keep the swim/bike/run order. Keeping a separate training log as well recording accruate mileage and time.

I'm feeling ok, with occasional pain in the mid-calf areas, ankles, right shoulder (past injury), left and right hip (usually alternating) and my right SI joint on my lower back. Amazing how they overlap with tender points. But in general I am feeling more stable when it comes to energy levels on a daily basis. I was quite foggy for a while, that seems to have subsided lately.

Nothing is perfect and my training schedule has been far less than that. But i'm doing the best I can. I am grateful and ecstatic for those days that I can train, and I am still grateful in those days that i cant, in anticipation for the days I will be able to again.

I feel truly blessed. And even in the days that I don't feel it, I know that i am. That helps me just - suck it up.