Almost Healthy West Virginia: July 2015

This was definitely a week of action!

Lots of family action:

My grandmother and her beautiful sisters and brother.

Then I had some scary action going on. I think I'll save the bloody picture, but my boyfriend's chair broke in two and he fell backwards and hit his head on a brick wall! He had two staples put in and is still having headaches on and off :(

Some standing action:

My work allowed me to get a standing desk since I've been having so much trouble with my back. They ordered the Varidesk Pro 36 and it is amazing. It is easy to put up and down and is very sturdy. I've only gotten to use it a couple of days due to my rotation to work the front desk is up, but I think it will be so helpful! I'm so happy my company was willing to do that and now everyone in the office wants one! I hope they can get it for everyone. Sitting for 7-8 hours a day is so unhealthy for everyone.

And lots of running action:

I tried to get my nephew to join me on a kids fun run. However I thought it started at 6:30, but it started at 6. He was over it within a few feet, haha. I think it might have been more fun if we had started with the other kids. We did make it down the street to the park where he wanted nothing more than to play on the playground. I let him for a few minutes and then bargained with him that if he went back with me we could come back and play after the run was done. He was okay with that so we made it back. He did run back to the finish line since they were cheering for him with cowbells, lol. At least he got ice cream and then got to play on the playground some more! It was all free due to Active Southern WV.

I also joined Active SWV today for my longer run. Unfortunately we don't meet until 2 and it was hot! By that point it was around 85 plus humidity which is always killer here. We did a trail run and then as part of my virtual 10k I did a little more than three additional miles.

I don't know about running with the group. I like them a lot but I get so down on myself running with them since I'm so much slower and need to take walk breaks. I end up pushing too hard in the beginning and then get really tired and end up walking more than I should. I don't know what to really do about it though. I feel like I made a commitment to them and can't back out now...

But I finished the very hot 10k for the Nerd Herd Running virtual race to help fight cancer. I knew there was no way I couldn't finish even if it was a million degrees (according to the weather man), because of my grandmother (not one pictures above). She is currently fighting very courageously from cancer in a couple of different areas in her body. She is a rock star and doing great so far though! We have to keep moving forward and we can do hard things were the mantras of the day for sure.

And this Thursday I will be having some traveling action! Beach trip with the family. I know I better be getting up early for runs there or I really might pass out from the heat!

After weeks of physical therapy for my bulging disc in back that was hitting my sciatic nerve, I realized that I wasn't doing anything under their supervision that I couldn't do on my own. After speaking with my doctor, he recommended figuring out a different method if physical therapy wasn't helping. So I signed up for a three month gym membership. It was definitely cheaper with a sale they were having then paying my co-pay for physical therapy once to twice a week. All I was doing in physical therapy were a few machines to strengthen my core and lower back which I can easily do on my own. I'm also doing stretches one to two times a day. I'm supposed to do twice a day, but I sometimes forget....

After I signed up for my gym membership, I signed up for something that I've been wanting to try for years and that my doctor actually brought up. Acupuncture! I went to On Point Acupuncture I've had two sessions so far and I'm already seeing results. It doesn't hurt, but I can feel when the needles are working on the tense points and feel a type of electric tingle when she puts it in my hips.

From My First Appointment

Yes, needles in my ear.

There were actually a lot more needles used on my second appointment.

So a few weeks ago I joined a training team! It's the Active Southern WV Training Team. It's organized by a group that has a goal to get Southern West Virginia more active. Sadly, West Virginia is one of the most unhealthy states in the US and the southern part of the state is probably the worst. I even got a co-worker and my sister to go on the first day since it was for people that wanted to train for their first race. It unfortunately wasn't really geared towards first time runners, it was for people that wanted to train for a 10K or half marathon. Therefore, it wasn't really right for my sister who is not a runner, but I tried to encourage her to stick with it even if she didn't go as far as some of the other people. The coaches were encouraging, but my sister hasn't been back and I don't think she has energy to put into it right now (she just moved, started a new job and is taking college classes!). I've been following the Jeff Galloway method again for the Half Marathon. Right now I'm alternating running for 1 minute 30 seconds and walking 30 seconds. I run with the group on Sundays and do two runs during the week. I'm working on strength training and some cross training the other days of the week with one - two rest days. I haven't been able to make all the Sunday runs so far due to family matters (like my oldest sister getting married!!), but I've been getting all of my runs in! This past Sunday I went and was going to try to not do the Galloway and just run the full 50 minutes they had on their agenda instead of my 5 miles. However, one of the members got kind of sick. Between trying to wait for her and facing the humidity, I don't think any of us had a fantastic run. There was definitely walking involved and I some slower times. But it was kind of fun to talk about running with people!

Our First Meeting - Source

I've got my eye on a few Fall races. That I will hopefully be able to do injury free and feeling strong. The ones with the team are the Rocket Boys 10K and the Beckley Half Marathon. I'll definitely try to do these two and maaaybe a couple of others! I'll wait to sign up for anything until I'm further along with training to make sure I'm feeling good. So far it has been great getting back into running!

Half Marathon Training Schedule for Runners and Walkers Week Monday Tuesday TT Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 1 off 30 min run off 25 min run easy walk off 3 miles 2 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 4 miles 3 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 5 miles 4 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 2.5 miles 5 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 6.5 miles 6 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 3 miles with MM 7 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 8 miles 8 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 3 miles with MM 9 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 9.5 miles 10 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 4 miles 11 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 11 miles 12 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 4 miles with MM 13 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 12.5 miles 14 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 4 miles with MM 15 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 14 miles 16 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 5 miles 17 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off Half Marathon Race 18 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 5 miles 19 off 30 min run off 30 min run easy walk off 6-8 miles - See more at: http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/half-marathon-training/#sthash.3S3c1UJK.dpuf

Pages

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Week of Action

Monday, July 6, 2015

Acupuncture, Physical Therapy, and a Training Team