"I don't know... they're just coming to me!"
Quick, name that movie!*
Today's topic is bending over. I have a long history of back problems, about as far back as I can remember. At one point, not sure when but somewhere between 6th and 9th grades I would guess, I was diagnosed with scoliosis. And, if you grew up in my generation, you, like me, would promptly freak out at that. Because we've all read Judy Blume, which means we've all read Deenie. Remember Deenie? Deenie was a pretty young thing, on the cusp of popularity at her school. So, like you do when you are a pretty young thing on the cusp of popularity, Deenie tries out for cheerleading. But gasp! Deenie is rejected. And why, you might ask? Deenie certainly asked. I will tell you (and Deenie) why -- and here's the part that always struck me as odd and funny -- Deenie is double gasp! crooked! Not crooked like she runs a craps game in the girl's bathroom between periods. Oh no. Deenie is crooked as in lopsided. Noticeably lopsided. Her skirt hem is uneven, y'all. Noticeably uneven.
So concerned phone calls are made all around, or maybe a concerned note was sent home, but the upside is that Deenie goes to the doctor. Where she is given the horrible, awful news that triple gasp! Deenie has scoliosis. Well, actually Deenie says Huh? Because Judy Blume was all about public service announcements in her books. Taking the totally frightening yet perfectly natural -- scoliosis, masturbation, getting your period, losing your virginity**, not getting your period, wet dreams, etc. -- and making it real for the kids. So in a Judy Blume book, it's not that you get your period and that's all cool and natural, but that you get it in front of the entire state while wearing white pants and gushing blood like Old Faithful. Meaning that the triple gasp! part in Deenie is not that Deenie has scoliosis but that she has to WEAR A BODY BRACE. For like FOUR YEARS. AT SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING.
And this is what sent millions of young girls running to their mirrors to check out their posture. In addition to the scoliosis screenings we were already receiving in PE class.
Anyhow, I was diagnosed in one of those screenings, thankfully no body brace just stretching exercises, but with that plus years of carrying heavy book bags on one shoulder and a few car accidents to boot, yadda yadda yadda, I have back problems. Which culminated in a lovely little instability around my L5 vertebrae when I was in my senior year in college. I had just gotten back from vacation where I'd gone horseback riding. Three days later, I'm hanging around my apartment -- sitting down, mind you -- when suddenly I can no longer stand up without excruating pain. Seems my L5 decided it liked the view from a 45 degree angle from the rest of my spine much better. Major ouchies.
It did this for several years, rather randomly too. Luckily it has mostly stopped doing that. But the upshot is that I've learned through the major ouchies that my bending from the waist does not always equal good things. I squat down to pick things up or else brace one arm on my thigh so that it is my legs doing the work, not my L5. This is a correlation to always lift with your legs.
Anyhow, I seem to have reached the point where my back and ab muscles are strong enough so that bending down this way is now rather awkward. But I still have that fear that if I bend from the waist I can look forward to lying flat on my back in pain for the next three days.
So, what is my point? I guess I don't really have one. My back is sore from slinging file boxes around all day yesterday, and I bend down a lot. It made me think of Deenie. I'll try to do better tomorrow. Perhaps I will share the saga of Freaky Toe and Socky Foot. It has been germinating for a few days now and is almost ripe for the telling.
And on that note...
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
*Ghostbusters. With the blonde chick who isn't really psychic?
** So, remember Forever? The book we all snuck home and hid from our parents and highlighted all the sex parts? Just me? Okay then. Anyhow, what I remember most from this book is how the girl had sex for the first time on this shag carpet with a scratchy blanket. So instead of the message that you should wait until the time is right for you and not have sex because everyone is doing it, but if/when you do be sure to use protection otherwise you might go through a pregnancy scare or an actual pregnancy, I got the message that when you do it you should be somewhere comfortable. Yeah, I was an interesting kid.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Day 30: Boobs on the ground!
Thankfully, I never have this problem. I believe in taking very good care of the girls. So the boobies, they don't tap me on the knee when I am running. This is why I wear steel-belted brassieres. From Maidenform's new Radial line.
Aw, just kidding.
I was thinking about the bounce issue recently, thinking about how not only is bounce reduced by my running bra but I also run at the gym in fairly form-fitting tech tees. As you may know, I have the breastage of at least a size large shirt but the rest of me is a medium. It's a fine line between shirts where you can see my heartbeat and shirts where I look 50 lbs heavier. I realized that it's thanks to bellydancing class that I became comfortable in snugger workout gear. I used to always work out in a baggy shirt, but in bellydance you need to be able to see your hips and waist so you need to wear something form fitting. After just a couple of classes I got very comfortable doing that. I even did a couple of races (in public!! with spectators!!) wearing a tank top. A snug tank top. That's huge change for me.
There's this woman who is often walking while I am running and she is always in this huge sweatshirt. And it's hot up there. Really, really hot on that track. I always want to tell her to fly and be free and let the girls breathe. Oh well. I also see a lot of women running outdoors with the spandex running tights and then shorts over those. Why? If you're wearing the shorts for the extra pockets, that's cool. But otherwise? Just giggle while you jiggle. Before, I was always pulling my baggy shirt out of the way, or pulling up my sweats. With my workout clothes now, I can concentrate on just my body.
I really had no point with all of that, other than to do the boobs on the ground! song. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
My bum is feeling MUCH better today. I took Alisa's advice and got together some piriformis stretching exercises that I did last night before a couple of rounds of the heating pad and that seems to have made a HUGE difference. (Thanks Alisa!) I do still have some hip pain, though -- it's in the front side of the hip bone, about where the elastic from your undies would be, and about just that wide too. I got some stretches for that area as well, which have helped. The first half mile this morning was agony, and then suddenly my hip felt fine. I'm going to keep up with both sets of stretches as a preventative measure. I've also been trying to move around a little more at work to keep the hip flexible. So far, so good!
I've set a goal with my Nike+ to run under an 11:30 average mile five times by a certain date. I don't actually remember the date, because I set this goal after meeting another goal that I had no idea I'd made in the first place. I went to download my Nike+ one day and it congratulates me on meeting this goal, something about running one more day a week for five times than I had been previously. I have no idea quite how that got set as a goal in the first place. It's kind of creepy when your tech starts doing things like that. As though we're just a bit, baud and a byte away from Skynet taking over. Anyhow, I wasn't quite there this morning but I will keep working on it.
And keep my boobs off the ground!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Boobs on the ground
Boobs on the ground
Runnin' like a fool with your boobs on the ground
With the age comin' on ya
Skin all loose-like
Boobs hit the ground
Call yourself a young cat
Runnin' like a fool
Headin' downtown with your boobs on the ground
Get 'em up, hey!
Get your boobs off the ground
Runnin' like a fool
Ain't no fun in runnin' with your boobs on the ground.
Get 'em up, hey!
Get your boobs off the ground
Runnin' like a fool with your pants on the ground
Aw, just kidding.
I was thinking about the bounce issue recently, thinking about how not only is bounce reduced by my running bra but I also run at the gym in fairly form-fitting tech tees. As you may know, I have the breastage of at least a size large shirt but the rest of me is a medium. It's a fine line between shirts where you can see my heartbeat and shirts where I look 50 lbs heavier. I realized that it's thanks to bellydancing class that I became comfortable in snugger workout gear. I used to always work out in a baggy shirt, but in bellydance you need to be able to see your hips and waist so you need to wear something form fitting. After just a couple of classes I got very comfortable doing that. I even did a couple of races (in public!! with spectators!!) wearing a tank top. A snug tank top. That's huge change for me.
There's this woman who is often walking while I am running and she is always in this huge sweatshirt. And it's hot up there. Really, really hot on that track. I always want to tell her to fly and be free and let the girls breathe. Oh well. I also see a lot of women running outdoors with the spandex running tights and then shorts over those. Why? If you're wearing the shorts for the extra pockets, that's cool. But otherwise? Just giggle while you jiggle. Before, I was always pulling my baggy shirt out of the way, or pulling up my sweats. With my workout clothes now, I can concentrate on just my body.
I really had no point with all of that, other than to do the boobs on the ground! song. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
My bum is feeling MUCH better today. I took Alisa's advice and got together some piriformis stretching exercises that I did last night before a couple of rounds of the heating pad and that seems to have made a HUGE difference. (Thanks Alisa!) I do still have some hip pain, though -- it's in the front side of the hip bone, about where the elastic from your undies would be, and about just that wide too. I got some stretches for that area as well, which have helped. The first half mile this morning was agony, and then suddenly my hip felt fine. I'm going to keep up with both sets of stretches as a preventative measure. I've also been trying to move around a little more at work to keep the hip flexible. So far, so good!
I've set a goal with my Nike+ to run under an 11:30 average mile five times by a certain date. I don't actually remember the date, because I set this goal after meeting another goal that I had no idea I'd made in the first place. I went to download my Nike+ one day and it congratulates me on meeting this goal, something about running one more day a week for five times than I had been previously. I have no idea quite how that got set as a goal in the first place. It's kind of creepy when your tech starts doing things like that. As though we're just a bit, baud and a byte away from Skynet taking over. Anyhow, I wasn't quite there this morning but I will keep working on it.
And keep my boobs off the ground!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Monday, February 8, 2010
Day 29: A distinct pain in my ass.
That isn't griping about anybody or anything around me. No, that would literally be a distinct pain in my ass, thanks to a tight right hip flexor. I remembered some time in the middle of the night (as I tried to sleep on my right side and started whimpering from the pain) that I had meant to get out the heating pad and do a few rounds of heat and ice. I definitely need to do it tonight. It's funny (not in that amusing sort of way, but go with me here) that it's the hip itself that hurts when I'm walking but my bum when I'm sitting. I need to do a refresher on the anatomy of the ass.
I'm starting off Week mumble mumble -- what is this, Week 5? Yes, Week 5 -- all bright eyed and bushy tailed (and ass achy, but we've already covered that). As in, I am doing absolutely nothing exercise related on my rest day. It's tough, I know, I'm feeling the burn, but it has to be done. Actually, it is such a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest that if you told me that I could take the rest of the day off if I went out instead and ran I would totally do it. I wouldn't run tomorrow, but I would totally do it. It is supposed to be nice at least through Wednesday.
I didn't really get a chance to say much about yesterday's long run. Eight miles is the farthest I have gone to date. It went pretty well, except for my hip. The pain wasn't enough to make me stop for good, but I did stop several times to stretch out my hip, and it was enough to think "Boy, this would really be annoying if it felt this way for 26.2 miles." I already know I'll be packing some advil in the marathon and now I'm pretty sure I'll have tucked away an emergency vicodin. It's not like I'm planning to drive that day or anything. It hurts because the muscle is excessive tight. What better remedy than a muscle relaxer? If I were running on a broken bone, that would be totally different. For example, I wouldn't be running, period. I'd be sitting at home, chasing vicodin with vodka or something. Or maybe tequila, I'm not a big vodka kind of a person.
Anyhow, back to the run. I've noticed -- and maybe you have too -- that I'm much much slower on the long runs. At first, I told myself, "Self, the runs are longer. You get more tired, it's natural that you'd be slower." Which sounds all logical, right? Except that I was even running the shorter distances of my long run slowly. As in, you'd think I'd be running the first three or four miles at a decent pace. But I wasn't. I think I've finally figured out why that is: Most of my long run routes have been in straight lines. And apparently, seeing that distance stretch out endlessly in front of me, my tiny little bwain feels overwhelmed by it all and I slow down.
Stupid, tiny little bwain.
So, I am happy to report that yesterday I ran a lot more than I have been, and nearly got under a 13 minute per mile average pace. I would have ran a lot, lot more except for my hip flexor. (Stupid, tiny little hip flexor.) But even then, I would run a mile and then stop and stretch then walk for a minute or two before beginning to run again. (I also stopped to take a few pictures of the river, which I need to download -- I probably could have been under 13 minutes if not for that.) Later in the run, I would walk at the mile in order to do a shot blok and sip some water. I may have not been fueling properly for these long runs. Yesterday, my legs started to get really tired so I decided to do a shot blok ahead of schedule. It seemed to help, so after another mile I did another one. Lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe I need to do some more research on this.
Hmmm. On the weigh in issue, I did not heifer back up into the 189s but I was slightly higher than the day before. Still, I'll take the overall loss for the week. By the way, out of curiosity I weighed a glass of water this weekend -- the cup in the bathroom with which I, you know, drink water. I don't usually weigh myself every day but I wanted to see how I fluctuated overal several days. Since this wasn't routine, I would remember to do it at the last minute, and usually right after I'd had a glass of water. I'm sure that those people who do not have tiny little bwains will realize right away that two cups of water weighs one pound. You know, two cups, a cup is 8 oz, a pound is 16 oz, insert "D'oh!" here. What can I say, it takes me a while to get intelligent in the mornings. Anyhow, I'm trying to remember to be 100% pure CilleyGirl before stepping on the scale, with no artificial fillers or colorings or anything. Yep, me and Foster Farms chickens.
As a side note, Foster Farms is a client of mine. If you ever want to get turned off of eating chicken, try reading a list of their equipment. Just reading the list. No need to see it in action or anything. Because, what the hell is a "paw puller"? Do chickens have paws? And it gets worse from there.
But I still loves me some chicken. I'm really not terribly squeamish.
And on that note (or side note, as the case may be), I will leave you to your chicken dreams.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
I'm starting off Week mumble mumble -- what is this, Week 5? Yes, Week 5 -- all bright eyed and bushy tailed (and ass achy, but we've already covered that). As in, I am doing absolutely nothing exercise related on my rest day. It's tough, I know, I'm feeling the burn, but it has to be done. Actually, it is such a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest that if you told me that I could take the rest of the day off if I went out instead and ran I would totally do it. I wouldn't run tomorrow, but I would totally do it. It is supposed to be nice at least through Wednesday.
I didn't really get a chance to say much about yesterday's long run. Eight miles is the farthest I have gone to date. It went pretty well, except for my hip. The pain wasn't enough to make me stop for good, but I did stop several times to stretch out my hip, and it was enough to think "Boy, this would really be annoying if it felt this way for 26.2 miles." I already know I'll be packing some advil in the marathon and now I'm pretty sure I'll have tucked away an emergency vicodin. It's not like I'm planning to drive that day or anything. It hurts because the muscle is excessive tight. What better remedy than a muscle relaxer? If I were running on a broken bone, that would be totally different. For example, I wouldn't be running, period. I'd be sitting at home, chasing vicodin with vodka or something. Or maybe tequila, I'm not a big vodka kind of a person.
Anyhow, back to the run. I've noticed -- and maybe you have too -- that I'm much much slower on the long runs. At first, I told myself, "Self, the runs are longer. You get more tired, it's natural that you'd be slower." Which sounds all logical, right? Except that I was even running the shorter distances of my long run slowly. As in, you'd think I'd be running the first three or four miles at a decent pace. But I wasn't. I think I've finally figured out why that is: Most of my long run routes have been in straight lines. And apparently, seeing that distance stretch out endlessly in front of me, my tiny little bwain feels overwhelmed by it all and I slow down.
Stupid, tiny little bwain.
So, I am happy to report that yesterday I ran a lot more than I have been, and nearly got under a 13 minute per mile average pace. I would have ran a lot, lot more except for my hip flexor. (Stupid, tiny little hip flexor.) But even then, I would run a mile and then stop and stretch then walk for a minute or two before beginning to run again. (I also stopped to take a few pictures of the river, which I need to download -- I probably could have been under 13 minutes if not for that.) Later in the run, I would walk at the mile in order to do a shot blok and sip some water. I may have not been fueling properly for these long runs. Yesterday, my legs started to get really tired so I decided to do a shot blok ahead of schedule. It seemed to help, so after another mile I did another one. Lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe I need to do some more research on this.
Hmmm. On the weigh in issue, I did not heifer back up into the 189s but I was slightly higher than the day before. Still, I'll take the overall loss for the week. By the way, out of curiosity I weighed a glass of water this weekend -- the cup in the bathroom with which I, you know, drink water. I don't usually weigh myself every day but I wanted to see how I fluctuated overal several days. Since this wasn't routine, I would remember to do it at the last minute, and usually right after I'd had a glass of water. I'm sure that those people who do not have tiny little bwains will realize right away that two cups of water weighs one pound. You know, two cups, a cup is 8 oz, a pound is 16 oz, insert "D'oh!" here. What can I say, it takes me a while to get intelligent in the mornings. Anyhow, I'm trying to remember to be 100% pure CilleyGirl before stepping on the scale, with no artificial fillers or colorings or anything. Yep, me and Foster Farms chickens.
As a side note, Foster Farms is a client of mine. If you ever want to get turned off of eating chicken, try reading a list of their equipment. Just reading the list. No need to see it in action or anything. Because, what the hell is a "paw puller"? Do chickens have paws? And it gets worse from there.
But I still loves me some chicken. I'm really not terribly squeamish.
And on that note (or side note, as the case may be), I will leave you to your chicken dreams.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Day 28: I'm back!
Hello everyone! Hope you have been having a wonderful week. Mine was odd, although it ended well with Friday's brew crew and Saturday's trip out to the Portland Wine & Cheese Festival. Now I'm ready to get back into it all.
First, I must say that Roger Daltrey still has one of the finest asses in rock and roll. It's right up there with Springsteen.
Next, here is the Week 4 recap:
Mon/Day 22 - Rest. SUCCESS! I did absolutely nothing running related.
Tue/Day 23 - 3 miles. SUCCESS! Logged 3.02 miles.
Wed/Day 24 - Weights. FAIL! I skipped the gym.
Thu/Day 25 - 5 miles. FAIL! I skipped the gym and didn't make it to work either.
Fri/Day 26 - 3 miles and weights. FAIL! Didn't go to the gym again.
Sat/Day 27 - Rest. SUCCESS! I'm getting back into the training schedule.
Sun/Day 28 - 8 miles. SUCCESS! Logged 8.03 miles. Almost averaged under 13 minute miles.
Total mileage for the week: 11.05 miles. Oops.
I think everything just got to me this past week. Not doing much more other than training, work, and gym. My dogs are sad that I'm not spending time with them. I'm sad I'm barely home in the evenings before it's already time to go to bed. Also sad that the scale still wasn't moving.
But then I read the Week 4 chapter in the Whitsett book, which cautioned against setting any other goal than completing your first marathon. In other words, you don't want to complete your marathon but still consider that you've failed if you didn't also make a weight goal. And I talked with The Gazelle, who pointed out that marathon training will in fact be my entire life, but only until the marathon. It all helped me to get my head back on straight.
Oh, and I'm sure since I skipped three workouts, that's why I lost nearly four pounds during Week 4. Seriously, I started on Monday at 189.6 and yesterday I weighed 185.8. It may have been more than a year since I was under 186. It's like meeting men, only happens when you stop paying attention. Of course I'll probably weigh 190 tomorrow morning!
So, on the schedule for Week 5:
Mon/Day 29 - Rest.
Tue/Day 30 - 3 miles.
Wed/Day 31 - Weights.
Thu/Day 32 - 5 miles.
Fri/Day 33 - 3 miles and weights.
Sat/Day 34 - Rest.
Sun/Day 35 - 10 miles.
A big mileage week! Sunday I'm doing the Fanconi Anemia 8K, so I need to figure out how to add another five miles onto it. Yes, I realize the logical thing would be to run the course twice, but I won't exactly be finishing first and they'll be closing the course down not terribly long after I finish. I might just run back and forth along the waterfront until I hit ten miles. If anyone knows how far it is between the Steel or Broadway bridges and the Hawthorne, leave me a comment eh?
Okey dokey, I am off to watch some more commercials. Wish they'd quit interrupting them so frequently with this football game though.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
First, I must say that Roger Daltrey still has one of the finest asses in rock and roll. It's right up there with Springsteen.
Next, here is the Week 4 recap:
Mon/Day 22 - Rest. SUCCESS! I did absolutely nothing running related.
Tue/Day 23 - 3 miles. SUCCESS! Logged 3.02 miles.
Wed/Day 24 - Weights. FAIL! I skipped the gym.
Thu/Day 25 - 5 miles. FAIL! I skipped the gym and didn't make it to work either.
Fri/Day 26 - 3 miles and weights. FAIL! Didn't go to the gym again.
Sat/Day 27 - Rest. SUCCESS! I'm getting back into the training schedule.
Sun/Day 28 - 8 miles. SUCCESS! Logged 8.03 miles. Almost averaged under 13 minute miles.
Total mileage for the week: 11.05 miles. Oops.
I think everything just got to me this past week. Not doing much more other than training, work, and gym. My dogs are sad that I'm not spending time with them. I'm sad I'm barely home in the evenings before it's already time to go to bed. Also sad that the scale still wasn't moving.
But then I read the Week 4 chapter in the Whitsett book, which cautioned against setting any other goal than completing your first marathon. In other words, you don't want to complete your marathon but still consider that you've failed if you didn't also make a weight goal. And I talked with The Gazelle, who pointed out that marathon training will in fact be my entire life, but only until the marathon. It all helped me to get my head back on straight.
Oh, and I'm sure since I skipped three workouts, that's why I lost nearly four pounds during Week 4. Seriously, I started on Monday at 189.6 and yesterday I weighed 185.8. It may have been more than a year since I was under 186. It's like meeting men, only happens when you stop paying attention. Of course I'll probably weigh 190 tomorrow morning!
So, on the schedule for Week 5:
Mon/Day 29 - Rest.
Tue/Day 30 - 3 miles.
Wed/Day 31 - Weights.
Thu/Day 32 - 5 miles.
Fri/Day 33 - 3 miles and weights.
Sat/Day 34 - Rest.
Sun/Day 35 - 10 miles.
A big mileage week! Sunday I'm doing the Fanconi Anemia 8K, so I need to figure out how to add another five miles onto it. Yes, I realize the logical thing would be to run the course twice, but I won't exactly be finishing first and they'll be closing the course down not terribly long after I finish. I might just run back and forth along the waterfront until I hit ten miles. If anyone knows how far it is between the Steel or Broadway bridges and the Hawthorne, leave me a comment eh?
Okey dokey, I am off to watch some more commercials. Wish they'd quit interrupting them so frequently with this football game though.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
More free stuff!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
People giving away free running stuff!
Days 22 and 23: My humps.
I have lost that bloggy feeling of late. Over the past several days I have felt the need to pull inward, to regroup, to nest if you will. Perhaps I have been around too many people and it is catching up to me. That happens some times. I start to feel drained and then I need to hunker down and recharge my mental batteries. I also feel as though I am about to get over a hump in my training. On one side is cutting back, slowing down, maybe even giving up. On the other side is doing more, getting faster, a successful marathon. I feel as though I could go either way, and the decisive factor in all of that is me. So I need to gird my loins (?), gather my strength, stay away from shiny things, and take the step that I want to take. (That would be on the not quitting side of things, in case you were wondering.)
All of this has left me feeling less than creative and in danger of falling into a funk if I write here simply to write here. Because I know it will all end up blue and sad and whiny. And I don't want to do that. It's boring. So, until I get my whimsy back I may be a bit sporadic. Never fret; I feel as though this transition will be coming very soon. This weekend I'll spend some time with my friend S, plus on Friday I get to go do the best part about running: spend time with running pals drinking beer. Yay!
Anyone else feeling a bit off lately? Maybe Mercury is in retrograde or something.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
All of this has left me feeling less than creative and in danger of falling into a funk if I write here simply to write here. Because I know it will all end up blue and sad and whiny. And I don't want to do that. It's boring. So, until I get my whimsy back I may be a bit sporadic. Never fret; I feel as though this transition will be coming very soon. This weekend I'll spend some time with my friend S, plus on Friday I get to go do the best part about running: spend time with running pals drinking beer. Yay!
Anyone else feeling a bit off lately? Maybe Mercury is in retrograde or something.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)