Traveling

I'll be traveling from tomorrow through the next Sunday. If I get the chance, I'll post about my training while traveling. Considering how expensive e-mail access is from a hotel computer, you might not hear from me for a while. (I don't have a laptop yet.)

I will do my best to keep walking amidst all of my meetings in the beginning of the week and the 26 hours at the Cooper River Bridge Run Expo.

Feeling Great

I did my 45-min. "easy" walk today and I feel fantastic! I had no tightness and felt good the entire time. The warm-up felt good and didn't take too long. My knees were not swollen earlier today and that's a good sign. To help make sure they did not swell up again, I started icing as soon as I finished stretching. Oh, I did ALL of my stretches and they felt great, too. (I still need to find a better IT stretch. I feel it is not being stretched effectively.)

I'm confident I have finally turned the corner. I think I'll start building more muscle and have less swelling and muscle pain.

Getting Excited

I am very excited about going to the Cooper River Bridge Run at the end of the month! We're getting flyers and shirts ready for our booth. We even picked up a racewalking DVD to share with walkers.

I've been walking regularly getting ready for the Country Music Half Marathon, and will use the CRBR 10K as a training walk. Because I've done the Indy Mini Marathon with 29,999 other people, I have a little bit of an idea what a race with 50,000 people will be like. It will be VERY cool to be with 20,000 or so walkers!

In the meantime, I've been taking anti-inflammatories and icing my knees. They are feeling better already!

Swollen Knees

I guess I spoke too soon. My knees are pretty puffy. From looking at old training logs I know this is typical for me. I've seen a doctor a few times and I know all I have to do is ice them and exercise, and they will be fine. I've been icing them all day, I hope it starts making a difference.

7 Miles

I was afraid to walk with my walking club this weekend because of last week's race. I was so tight and had such a hard time moving my legs, I didn't want to hold anyone else back for 6-8 miles. So, I walked alone at Antrim Park this morning.

My original plan was to do 5 laps around the lake for 6 miles, see how I felt and decide if I would add more. After one lap, I was freezing! I ended up going back to my car to get my fleece gator to wear around my neck. It helped quite a bit, but the huge sections of shade around the lake and the slight breeze across the water made me cold. I decided to head up the bike path to stay in as much sun as possible.

I walked out 2.5 miles, turned around and came back for a total of about 7.3 miles. Totally uneventful. Lots of sun, little wind and I even broke a sweat. My legs felt less tight the entire distance and I felt as if I could have pushed quite a bit harder. The few times my stop watch did not get caught on my sleeve and turn off, I was able to see I was walking about a 15:20 mile. That's about what I did last week when I was struggling, pushing as hard as possible and in pain! In fact, I had no pain at all today!

I focused a LOT of attention on stretching. Because I've been so tight and my legs have felt so heavy, I've been trying to stretch more than usual anyway.

So, I feel pretty good! I walked farther than I had anticipated I would and I had no pain. I'll be traveling in a week or so. I hope I can fit in some walking so I keep feeling this good!

Slow and Steady

My legs have been tight and heavy for over a week. Stretching helps a little bit and I am trying to schedule a massage appointment. Fitting it in is the problem.

Last night I was scheduled to do 45 min. I decided to take it easy. I did not (attempt) to racewalk. I kept my arms bent and tried to push through the step, but that was it. When I got home I felt better! I did some light stretches, iced my knees and felt tremendously better!

Until I am past this, I think I will keep my workouts on the less strenuous side and try to increase stretching.

Good First Race!

It was a little bit chilly and there was the time change. Other than that the Spring Fling 5 Miler put on by Run Wild Racing was fantastic.

I'm still a little bit tight, and though I did attempt to warm up, I didn't try hard enough. The first two miles my shins were killing me! After that I was fine. I was way in the back, as I had expected, but it was still fun.

I had not been able to time myself on a known distance this year, but I was not totally surprised to find out I finished 5 miles in 1 hr 15 min. (Official time might be closer to 1:16.) I had the desire to go faster, I just was not able. It was frustrating, but I had not worked on speed yet this year.

I actually needed to get in 7 miles this weekend, so when I got home I walked an additional 30 min. Though I'm still tight and sore I feel I'll be ready.

First Race Tomorrow

I'm entering my first race of the season tomorrow. If I had realized that the time change was this weekend, I might not have signed up. Time changes always kill me. Anyway, it is a Run Wild Racing event, which are always well run races, and it is 5 miles. I'll have to add a couple of miles once I get home.

During this week's training walks, when I tried to be fast and push my shins were VERY sore and stiff, and I just could not get moving. Even after a few minute warm up, the muscles did not relax. I'll try warming up VERY well tomorrow and see if that helps. If not, I just might be walking alone as all of my friends will be way ahead of me.

We've been very fortunate in Ohio that the weather has been fantastic. No excuses for not getting in the miles. In fact, yesterday my lunch buddies bailed on me, so I went to a park and walked for 20 min. The sun was shining and there were a lot of people there doing the same thing. Maybe I should thank them!

Too Cool for Fleece

I think it is just in the 40s today - maybe not even 40. Because of the bright sun, it felt VERY warm. And because of the sun, I wore just a short sleeved technical shirt and a fleece jacket with heavy walking pants. I only needed to fit in 45 min., so I kept going even though I could feel the breeze through the fleece as I walked out the door. I thought I would warm up and be fine.

I did warm up, but I wasn't fine. The breeze through the fleece kept my arms chilled. My legs felt really stiff and tight, so I slowed down to give them a chance to warm up, and that made me even more cold. A simple wind jacket would have been perfect.

Regardless, it was great being outside in the sun and walking. (Though I do plan to do extra stretches tonight.)

Contingency Plan

It was 24 degrees with a light dusting of snow this morning. I was not sure where to go to get in 6 miles - we had so much rain earlier this week many trails are probably still flooded. After deciding to head to the trail around a small lake, my car wouldn't start. Though irritating, I probably had a better walk heading from the house.

I have not tried to walk this many miles in my neighborhood since I did my first marathon in 2000. Rather than be exact in distance, I decided to walk for 90 min. It would be close enough. (I still have not had the opportunity to walk a known distance to determine my current pace. A 15-min. mile is probably not too far off.)

So, I walked every cul-de-sac, every tiny side street, every bit of sidewalk I could find. The wind had picked up and I was glad I was not at the lake where there would have been nothing to stop it. In the neighborhood I had houses and trees to slow it down. Even when I walked straight into the wind, it wasn't long before I turned up a side street and out of it for a short while. It helped to keep me going.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that one of the benefits of walking is you just need a good pair of shoes and to head out the door. And though I was looking forward to going back to the lake, it helps to have a contingency.
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I like to keep track of what I wear in cold weather so I can remember the next winter. Today I had on double layer walking pants, a long-sleeved technical shirt, fleece jacket, windproof jacket, gator, headband and thin mittens. I worked up a slight sweat and felt comfortable. If there had been more wind, I might have been a little cold.
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When I got home, my husband had started my car and was off to the garage to have the battery checked!

I'm Not the Only One!

I love being in my home office right in the front window. It gives my eyes a break from staring at the monitor, I like watching the weather, and it gives me a feel for the neighborhood with the kids, joggers and walkers going by.

Though we have a few grocery stores fairly close to the house, I was pretty sure that other than the kids who can't drive, I'm the only one who actually walks to any of them.

I just saw a neighbor walk by with three plastic grocery bags! And they were from the store that's the farthest away. I have to admit, my first thought was that his car was not working, then I realized he is like me!

30 Minutes

My schedule says 30 minutes. It's 31 degrees and the only places I saw ice were the front porches of "north facing" houses. Tiny sharp snowflakes started falling and were stinging my face as I finished.

Winter Rain

I hurried home today to get out walking while it was still light outside. That would be a nice change! I encountered the typical delays but was still out the door by 6. (OK, it was an hour later than I had intended, but I don't care - it was light outside!)

It was raining, but that is OK. The thermometer on my car said it was 49 degrees. I wore a technical shirt, fleece jacket and a waterproof shell, baseball hat and double layer walking pants. I also wore the shoes with the least amount of mesh.

Because of the temps I was optimistic that the paved loop around the library would be clear, so I drove over there. About 10-min. into my walk, I hit a huge patch of wet ice and slid quite a ways. Further down the trail, it was totally flooded. What was I thinking! After a few more encounters with ice and flooding, I ended up going to the street that surrounds the park and walking in the street. Yes, I could have done that from home, but I'm tired of walking in my neighborhood.

The original plan was to walk a known distance and start timing myself again to determine my pace and start tracking improvement. I chose this park because I know one loop is 1.2 miles and I needed to walk at least 3 miles.

Though it was an adventure, it is all good! It was 49 degrees today! Woo hoo! I got in 45 min. of walking, did not wear one piece of winter clothing, worked up a sweat, no rain went down my neck and I didn't wipe out!

PS: It wasn't a February rain. You all know how much I HATE rain in February!