Ace Wonderland Mountain Challenge

*not sure why my last post didn't post on the day I wrote it. Now you get two in one day!*

I've been to the physical therapist only once so far, but with some steroids that reduced the inflammation and stretching I'm already feeling better. Starting tomorrow we are going to work on getting my core, flutes, and lower back stronger. I'll write more as I progress. 

My Memorial Day weekend was amazing! 

First I learned that my sister got the job where I work which will be amazing for her! No more weekends for her! Of course we had to celebrate. I didn't take a picture of my food, so the pitcher of hard cider (that I shared), the chips, and the amazing hamburger that I had don't count. Right? 

Saturday was fantastic. It started off with my longest run yet. The Ace Wonderland Mountain Challenge, a 10K trail run. I wasn't in shape enough and was told to go easy on the uphills (like I had a choice) so my time was very slow at 1 hour and 40 minutes. BUT I went out there and went for it and it was fun! 

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but right now I'm thankful I can get out there at all and that I can even walk! The run was followed by a burrito buffet which you see above. They have another run in August which I'm thinking about doing. Everything was really well marked and even though there was only one water stop I had my Camel Back on so it wasn't an issue.

Saturday night one of my best friends got married. They were going for a very unconventional wedding and they succeeded! I had a great time though with my closest friends.

Sunday and Monday consisted of family and outdoor time. My family had been camping so I hung out with them on Sunday. I got a bit of bike riding and more hiking in.

My mom and nephew. He was over the walk at this point. I had to keep distracting him.

And Monday I was mostly lazy but did take Mattie on a two and a half hour hike.

It was a really pretty day, turns out my phone was on sepia or something. Hence the weird colors. It was truly a great weekend. My back is a bit sore but nothing terrible. Yay! 

Down and Out

I'm down and out today with sciatica so I thought it would be a good day to catch up! 

I've been working on running more consistently and getting in walks or bike rides on the off days. I'm currently using Jeff Galloway's 10k training plan.

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/5k10kschedules/

(This is coming from my phone and I can't do hyperlinks)

Anyway, I'm doing a run 3 minutes walk 1 minute method. It's going pretty well. I will be starting week three this week so we will see how the longer times go.

The weather has been hit or miss lately but I've been getting out no matter the weather. I can't stand the thought of a treadmill right now! 

Mattie and I running at night. I fashioned a head light for her! 

New River in WV

Hiking the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. Though I have to say I was disappointed that nothing was in bloom yet at the higher elevations.

My birthday present. A new bike helmet so I can try out more road biking. 

I've only had a chance to try the helmet out once. I was so nervous to go on the roads by myself for the first time. I made it though and had a good time! I could definitely tell my legs weren't used to biking hills.

The weather should be turning for the better so I should be able to get a lot of biking in soon! 

Unfortunately my weight is still in the 180's which is down a bit from the highest after being on prednisone. But as I'm becoming more consistent and the more I'm getting outside my weight is slowly creeping down. My sister is getting married in June so I hope to be down a few more pounds by then.

Celebrating her bachlorette party at the Biltmore in North Carolina. A truly gorgeous place.

Well that's all I have for now. I've got some races coming up so im sure I'll be posting more soon! 

Yeah Yeah

Yeah yeah, it's been since October since I posted anything. But I haven't been completely out of the game. In October I did a Zombie run which was fantastic and I will try to do again this year! Then I also did the Thanksgiving Turkey trot 5K. After that I feel like the holidays made me a bit lazier unfortunately.

I've been getting back at it though! Today I did Run For Cookies virtual 5K. 

As you can see it was incredibly slow, but I'm giving myself some slack since I helped my sister move today. 

No I haven't really lost any weight but I feel like my eating habits are getting much better. I would like to get back into the habit of blogging so I can keep track of my progress. All of this seems so much harder but maybe I don't remember how it really was. But no excuses. Time to get it back and feel good. 

I've been trying to find some races to reach for this year but haven't quite decided on any yet. I need a training plan soon though! 

Ironman Kona!

This Saturday is spent watching Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. If you want some inspiration check it out, here.

I've got to admit, I'm routing for defending champion Rinny Carfrae and American Tim O'Donnell.

But really the women's and men's race is going to be a tough one. Can't wait to hear about the age groupers as well, who can be so amazing.

Back to watching now!

Beckley 5K

Lordy, Lordy I've been busy. Things have been going well though. I'm down to 10mg of prednisone. Woot Woot! After blood work next week, hopefully I can reduce some more! I've been working on my running and a little indoor biking, but it's still hard. The extra weight mixed with legs that still feel like lead makes everything harder. But I will persevere.

I thought I'd share a few photos of what I've been up to lately....

Pumpkin Patch Fun.

Hiking with two kids and two dogs. I'm quite proud I didn't yell at anyone.

Inducing child labor. In my defense, he volunteered.

Tried out a new trail. Went for over 22 miles on the bike!

 I don't have a picture of the Beckley 5K that I did yesterday. It's the same 5K that I did for my very first race.

2011

The only thing good about this race is that I did beat my time from 2011. My time was 36.39, my first race in 2011 I came in a little over 39 minutes. It was just a hard run. It was once again freezing. I believe it was right at 40 degrees when the race began. My legs just kept feeling like lead. This race runs really close to my house and the thought of just running home did cross my mind! Mentally I was struggling as well. I couldn't get over how hard it felt and unfortunately I didn't have any support at the race to look forward to. I ended up walking a total of four times I believe. Of course, my watch was dead, so I'm not sure how long my walk breaks were. I finished the race though. Honestly, the pace of 11:48 is pretty consistent, if not a little faster, than what I've been running while training. So I shouldn't be too disappointed with my time. I guess I was just hoping that once I got out there, the atmosphere would pull me along and it would be less hard.

It might have hurt me that I haven't been very consistent with my running lately. I've been going to my niece's volleyball games during the week and trying to hang out with them on the weekends or I'll have some event or another. I haven't been as good as juggling my time as I used to be (mainly because I haven't been this social in quite a long time!).

But this race can be a good starting point. I know I've got to lose the extra weight and just keep at it. I went for a gorgeous two hour bike ride today on a rail trail in another county and it was so relaxing! The good thing about me being busy, I do work in activities that involve moving, but I still need to make sure I get my runs in so that I can get my heart rate up and my muscles stronger.

3.1 Miles

I may have skipped a week or two of my Couch to 5K today. Last week I walked 1 minute and ran 4 minutes, for 30 minutes. My runs were a little off though. I tried to squeeze one in while I was watching my niece and nephew after a trail walk, that only last about 20 minutes. The next day I did the full 30 minutes on the treadmill and other than sweating to death, it felt good to run for a longer period at a time. Then Friday I could only squeeze in 25 minutes before I had to go to dinner for my mom's birthday. And I did all of those runs in three consecutive days. I had a family reunion on Saturday and just wanted to make sure I got my runs in before that. My legs were feeling quite tired!

So I didn't run or do too much yesterday at the reunion, other than fail at playing volleyball. Today, my schedule was to walk 1 minute, run for 4, for 35 minutes. I did an out and back with my dog today. I went a little further out than I really needed to and when I was at 35 minutes I was really close to 3 miles, so I walked for my one minute and decided to just run for the next four minutes like I had been.

Obviously this was an extremely slow 5K, slower than my first official 5K even. But I did it!

This was my first time over three miles since the Biggest Loser 5K in June. This was also Mattie's longest run yet! My legs were feeling heavy, which seems to be the normal now, but I'm still hopeful that will get better with more running. I think I will keep my runs at 40 minutes for this week and then maybe keep the same routine for next week but add in an extra day.

Tuesday I go to see the rheumatologist. I'm hoping that the taper of prednisone will continue, maybe even at a faster pace. Starting today, I'm down to 30 mg, but I need to get under 10 for the side affects to lessen. I can't even tell you how much weight I've gained. The batteries quit working in my scale and I've decided to leave it that way for now. I'm still watching my food intake. I splurged yesterday at my reunion, but did well at my mom's birthday. Mentally I am not doing well with the weight gain. I just borrowed pants that are a size 16. Before all this, I was wearing 10-12's. I just hope I can get back to that. I don't think the weight is going to come off before I get off prednisone, but I can still be healthy! I'm just ready to feel like myself again. I feel uncomfortable all the time in my body. It just better be temporary.

Couch to 5K...Again

Week One:

Day One: 5 minute warm up, alternate 1 minute run with 90 seconds of walking for twenty minutes

Day Two: Supposed to be same as above, but I did more of 1 minute run with 1 minute walk for twenty minutes

Day Three: Same as Day Two.

Starting the Couch to 5K is definitely like starting all over. I'm out of breath quickly, my legs feel tired and heavy, and it's just hard. But I know this time around I can do it. So far I haven't had issues with being incredibly sore afterwards, maybe a little, but I'm fine the next day which is important. If I experience soreness for days, then I know I've gone too far and need to pull back.

I've been incorporating the bike on the trainer. I haven't ridden outside yet, just because my arms get tired easy and I don't want to have to deal with hills. I've also been trying to add in light hand weights and ab work on the stability ball.

My weight hasn't budged, in fact it keeps going up little by little. But I'm still pushing with keeping track of food during the week. I meant to start tracking this weekend, but friends coming in out of town just kind of threw me off. I've also been extremely munchy lately. I guess it's the meds, I don't know, but I feel out of control sometimes. But I'll keep forging on. I know I have to keep at it, even if my weight doesn't change, because if I were to just let go, I may gain fifty pounds instead of 15.

Week 2:

90 seconds run 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes. It ended up being more than twenty by the time I got home, more like 25 plus my warm up walk of five minutes.

I ended up running home after a charity game of kick ball.  There were some hills and oh my it was rough. I was really sore the next day. So Monday I didn't run but decided to do an arm workout. I did do some squats which caused some soreness the next day. I took Wednesday off just to make sure I wasn't pushing too far, but Thursday I felt just fine!

I'm thinking about following more of the Spark People 5K plan which is the plan I did the first time around. But we will see.

Week 3:

Walk 2 minutes and run for 3 for 25 minutes.

 This is more of the Sparkpeople plan.  Shew, it was tough. Three minutes seems like a long time when running. My knees are feeling the weight gain and my shin splints acted like they may come back. But once I got warmed up, I didn't have issues. I used this week to concentrate on form. Landing well on my feet and making sure I keep my back straight, with my should pulled back not hunched over which I can tend to do.

Week 4:

Walk 2 minutes and run for 3 for 30 minutes.

On Saturday I went on a hike and I definitely felt it on today's run! I was tired. I ran with Mattie, my dog, and a friend. Thank goodness for my friend. He pulled me through and made sure I didn't go extremely slow. We ended up with 2.36 miles in 30 minutes. This is a far cry from what I used to do. But I'm trying to remind myself distance doesn't matter right now. Going out for time and getting my body back is shape is what matters.

Overall, I feel like my legs are heavy all the time. It's easier on the treadmill, but I like going outside too much to keep to the treadmill. I'll get there though. On a good note, the running hasn't affected my muscles as far as my Polymyositis. All my blood work is normal. I've started reducing my prednisone, I'm down from 60 mg. to 40 this week. In two weeks, I'll get to reduce to 30. After that will probably depend on more blood work.

And to make this post a little more interesting, here is some pictures of my hike on Saturday. It was another gorgeous hike! 

Love it.

Mattie Loving Life.

Courtesy of my friend Brian

New River Gorge Bridge