Trying to Train Smarter

I cannot say this has been the best summer of my life. Definitely not. Today my family laid to rest a wonderful lady, my grandmother Kathy. It was horribly sad. Her passing was a shock and hard on everyone that knew her.

I don't really want to go into more detail about that, but I thought writing, no matter the subject is a great tool to get your mind on other things.

I think I have to face the fact that my back is not getting better. I have good days, great days, and some awful days. I broke down and called the doctor for an appointment, which is this coming Tuesday. Though I didn't get to try it for very long due to the family emergency. I was going to try training primarily on the treadmill and elliptical while doing the strength training machines at the gym.

That was working out okay and I definitely felt better running on the treadmill, but the bulging disc just keeps coming back. I admit, I had slacked on some of the stretching, but I got back into it last week and this week. Still, I have pain. I have also come to realize that the shoes that I wear during the day, have a big effect on if I'm going to hurt later that day. Flats with no support or anything with a hint of a lift are a definite no right now. I wore a wedge type of dress shoe yesterday and could hardly walk by the end of the day. Ugh! I should not be having these issues. I'm only 29!

But anyway, I have decided to drop down to the 5K from the Beckley Half Marathon that I was supposed to do on September 29th, if I can run at all that is. I also have the Rockey Boys 10K on October 3rd and the Babcock 15K trail run, Stick and Stones, on October 10th. I really hope I can do these. Honestly, I'm to the point I hope I can just get a steroid shot in my back and get back to normal asap! I am so very very over being in pain and feeling weak. I have no idea if I can do any of these runs, but I'm really hoping so! I know I'm not ready for a half and I'm hoping if I can get this resolved in a timely manner that I won't completely fail on Stick and Stones. Though, let's be honest, I'll be walking half of it anyway. It has over 1005 feet of elevation! (For some reason I can't put the elevation chart on here). I've already had to not go to a 5K that my Active Southern WV Training Team participated in. I was going to sign up the day of the race. I woke up that day and was in lots of pain. I had planned on doing the race and then going to our State Fair. I ended up on the coach most of the day with an ice pack on my back. Fun, fun. But I just knew if I had pushed it and tried to run, I would not have made it and been in more sever pain. Once it gets bad I can hardly walk.

Monday, all I did was the elliptical and then the strength training machines. Today was the funeral, so I didn't exercise. Tomorrow, depending on how I feel, I would like to get in a small treadmill run and then strength training, then alternate with elliptical and treadmill for the rest of the week. I know I have to keep trying though. The day I give up on exercise is the day my body will just go downhill all the more quickly. I also have to try to reign my weight back in. The gain is definitely not helping my back and I've definitely been emotionally eating the past few days. Exercising on a regular basis will help with the emotional side, so I just have to get back to my routine.

Send good vibes my way that I can figure something out with the doctor next week!

Summer Vacation 2015

Ah, vacation. Time of relaxing, eating, drinking, laughing, and enjoying life. Yup that about sums up my vacation this year. It may have started out a little rocky since it was the first time we used my parent's camper, but it turned out really well.

Our Redneck Heaven

I promise the beach is just beyond the campers.

We ventured down to Myrtle Beach. Because that's where we are required to go as Southern West Virginians ;)

We had a blast just chilling though. We had a few cookouts, did a lot of reading, and of course went to the beach a lot! It was definitely hot but not unbearable. I got some funny looking burns even though I used 100 SPF sunscreen! I'm officially not a fan of the spray on sunscreen. And no, I did not take a picture of my one streak of burn on my arm and my burnt knees.

I didn't take too many photos since I was busy drinking relaxing. But I at least did get a couple of runs in. I did my long run on Sunday which was about five miles. I meant to do more, but hey it's vacation and it's hot there! I ran in the evening to beat most of the heat though. Honestly I didn't run the rest of the week after that, but some things came up that didn't put me in a running mood, so I just hung out with the family.

Here is a snapshot of our trip:

Feeling Free

Enjoying a beautiful night

Yummy Seafood! - Clams, shrimp, oysters, and crab legs.

Grossness! - Oyster Shot, tasted like hot sauce with a slimy surprise inside.

The week ended with seeing Pippy Longstocking at the local outdoor theater, Theater West Virginia. The kids loved it!

Then on Saturday I went kayaking and tried out something new...

Haha, Mattie hated it! She actually jumped out the first time. The pictures are from the second try. She actually did pretty well and we only had a few attempts to tip us over. Not sure we will attempt it again, but it was fun(ny).

Sunday I ventured over to the Active Southern WV Group run. It went okay. I ended up doing 6 miles. I'm still not sure I like running with a group. I ended up just doing my run/walk, running 2:30 and walking 30 seconds, but they kept waiting on me and then they would walk some so it threw my timing off and I think I walked more than I should have. The run started off horribly though. I felt really weak and not good, probably due to the travel and the sun taking it out of me. I felt okay after a couple of miles though. I had done a little over half a mile by myself before we began just to shake my legs out. Not sure it really helped, but whatever. I'm still feeling kind of blah, but that might be due to the lovely time of the month, so I'm taking my rest days early in the week. I'm sure I'll regret this later in the week.

I was also told that I'm six weeks out to the Beckley Half Marathon! Holy Moly! It will be hilly and hard. Hopefully it won't be too hot though. I'll definitely have to do a walk/run method, just hopefully I feel strong doing it. I have a 5K coming up on the 15th that I need to sign up for and then Labor Day weekend I'm heading to Vermont, so I'll have to make sure I don't slack on my training, running and strength training between now and then. (Don't take today's unexpected rest day as lazing, I will get it done!). I still feel really slow, uncoordinated, fat, and just blah. But I'm working on it. I'm still only running three days a week which follows the Galloway method, but I still might add an extra short run on a day I do strength training.

My back has been doing better. It has been hurting a little yesterday and today, but I've also been lax on stretching so that may have something to do with it. I just tried stretching before sitting down to write and that made it worse. But I know I have to keep it up. Got to keep up with it if I don't want to go back to not being able to walk! Definitely can't have that right before my half. I also have to work off all of my vacation eats and drinks. :)