When Pushing Yourself Leads to Falling

I didn't literally fall, but all's been quiet on the Blogspot front for awhile now. At the beginning of this month I started to experience quite a bit of pain upon impact of running in my knees and ankles. Where I was formerly running about four and a half miles, which admittedly was pushing it, one day I could barely make it around the 1/10th of a mile indoor track. I took that day to cycle, took about a week off and then did a mile-and-a-half jog, but was still experiencing pain. So, as I am wont to do, I justified to myself that injury and impending graduation meant I could just stop running for awhile.

I'm sure it was a good decision, but I feel endlessly guilty about it.Plus I miss the roommate running, but Danny is training for an event and I need to slow down. I've also been sluggish and moody from not running, and I think I've gained back a couple pounds, too. So today, when my first class let out over an hour early and my second class was canceled and the sun was shining, I thought, RUNNING. NOW. I bussed down to the good old South Bay Trail and jogged the whole length of it, Fairhaven to the edge of downtown, without stopping. My extremely casual fresh-off-a-two-week-break pace clocked me in at 22 minutes for the 2.3 mile trail, or about 9.5 minute miles.

...Of course since I have not up to this point timed any of my miles, that doesn't really mean anything to me, except that I'm fairly certain that in middle school when they used to make my lazy butt run the mile, it took me eleven to thirteen minutes. So it's nice to know that my tortoise pace now is faster than my best effort then. Even if I'm not one of those five foot tall speed demon girls who used to get six minute miles in middle school. MIDDLE SCHOOL. Those were the same girls who did the V-sit by simply collapsing their spines and pelvises and reaching like twelve inches past their toes. "What manner of beast is this?"

Anyway, nothing hurts and I enjoyed some lovely chipotle guacamole as an after-run snack and now it's time for a shower. Love to The Offspring for musically fueling my run. If it is two weeks before I post again, I shall be as disappointed as you, dear readers.

If you're still out there.

Hello?

With great sameness comes great lack of things to say.

HELLO, my 9 loyal readers! It's been awhile! As the title suggests, I haven't been able to think of anything to say here recently. I haven't pushed myself to much longer distances, but I have definitely retained the benefit of the previous workouts, to where the same length and intensity workouts are much easier for me now. Mike is also improving, having a much easier time running and I'm pretty sure he's losing weight. We don't have a scale so it's hard to say for sure. Maybe he just appears svelte because I've been working out alongside him so I know the exertion he's going through!

I'm also fairly certain that my runners' legs are coming along nicely. I think it might be too soon to do a second set of pictures though. Yes? No? I'm not sure if I'm just perceiving my legs as looking nicer or if the effects would actually be noticeable in a photograph. Well, if you're dying for pictures I could oblige.

My blog just turned a month old on Saturday! And Mike turned 29 on Sunday! We were going to jog then; didn't end up doing so but we did go on a bike ride! ...A bike ride to get a burger. Hey, it was his birthday. And I had a veggie burger, because I don't do the whole meat thing, although it still left me feeling gross. I don't doubt they cooked it on the same grill as the regular burgers, but they must've also injected it with lard or something. It's a Gardenburger brand Gardenburger! How can you add fat to that?! I even opted out of the "special sauce." Me and fast food just don't mix.

So at this point we haven't jogged since Friday (although that was a nice urban jog of about 1.8 miles, the first half gradually downhill and the second half gradually uphill). It is of note that that's about .4 miles longer than we've gone before (at least as a consistent run without walking or stopping). I'm hoping to go out in about a half hour. It's rainy and cold tonight. Not sure where we'll go, but where ever it is, we'll certainly look dramatic with our wet hair and beads of sweat mixed with beads of rain on our faces.

My triumphant return!

...Okay, there's not much to triumph about. Basically, I haven't jogged in several days because I got a four-day promotional job that consisted of me circling Bellingham about 5739 times on foot, sketchy tricycle, and (first time for me!) Razor scooter, spreading the word about a giveaway for college students. But you know, cheap tricycles and Razor scooters are not really Bellingham-friendly modes of transportation. Both of them are just terrible on hills and in rain, both of which I encountered more than once during my employment. All of it was absolutely exhausting; I generally couldn't walk at the end of the day. I let myself stop jogging for the duration of the job because my legs retained (or gained?) plenty of muscle from all the work, not to mention all the calories burning from never stopping or sitting down! I have to give some credit to the Razor scooter, which I vehemently rejected in its popularity when I was a kid. MAN did I feel the burn in my quads from balancing on one foot while pushing myself furiously up sidewalks with the other!

So today, a few days after the job ended and I regained the ability to walk without cringing (thanks in large part to the second pedicure of my life--soooo relaxing), I finally ran again! I was worried that my jogging endurance might have gone down a little, but I did that 1.4 mile section of the trail near my house with no problems! It was even a surprisingly warm and sunny day, which we haven't seen many of up here recently, and which makes it a little bit harder to keep up the pace. I got a huge full-body blood rush when we stopped running. I almost needed something to lean on! It went away quickly though. Was it runner's high? Maybe I should look up exactly what this runner's high thing is supposed to be, anyway, before I keep going around claiming I've experienced it.

I was all set to jog back, too, but Mike wanted coffee (which is available for purchase in the park!) and we ended up walking the whole way back. I'm still glad we got out at all, though. Mike's breathing also seems to have improved a lot since we first started! It's much easier for him to jog the trail now. We're both doing this without walking or stopping: a straight 1.4 mile jog. Granted, it's a casual pace, but it's definitely jogging.

On Mike's aunt's recommendation, I entered a sweepstakes a few weeks back to try and win a pair of Vasque Mindbender trail running shoes! Eagerly awaiting the results of the contest now... I'm sure they're only giving away one pair, and hundreds if not thousands of people entered, but my chance is as good as anyone's, right?

Not much else to report other than that. School started up; senior year! We're going to try waking up early to run in the mornings before class. We'll see how that goes...  I am definitely not a morning person. Happy autumn, everyone!

A TMI post. Because there just had to be at least one.

In the last few days I have learned that PMS and jogging should never go together, at least not when you PMS like me. (I decided PMS could be a verb, too. Just roll with it.) My worst PMS symptom is sore boobs. Sore boobs + sports bra (see also: garment that is primarily designed to flatten, but in no way support, your chest) = very unhappy Lucy. If there is no one running towards me (since I look completely ridiculous doing this), I end up flattening my chest with my fists as I run, just so I can stand to jog without wincing. If anyone knows of a miracle sports bra to fix this problem, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, TELL ME! I'll probably have to wait awhile to be able to afford it... but it'd be good to know about.

Despite my... predicament, Mike and I braved the ever-greying, approaching-autumn overcast skies and drizzle to jog along the South Bay Trail again. Mike has a (distant) history of asthma and smoking, so in our first few weeks as runners, he's been having a rough time with his breathing. We're both breaking down barriers all the time, though, and we were able to run the whole 1.4 mile course to the park without stopping! Then we walked around the park and half a mile back down the trail before running the last mile. This is definite progress for him, and quite good for me too, since I haven't done anything like my three-mile jog of frustration lately.

I am now completely wiped out. I meant to eat, do dishes, shower, and go get some groceries--in that order--after we got back from the jog. I ate a little bit, and then my body disabled my brain and decided it needed a shower (dishes be damned, apparently). I didn't realize I was supposed to do the dishes first until I turned off the water at the end of my shower. I'm so clean now that I can't bring myself to do the dishes! And my legs hurt so much that groceries are going to have to wait, too. Plus it's still raining. But the progress is good enough for me.

I wear my jogging shoes at night.

So last night, after a rather uneventful, gloomy, rainy day, Mike and I decide to go jogging. In addition to it being gloomy and rainy, it was then also dark. Normally I would protest, as even though I'm a native Seattleite, I've never gotten used to cold and rain--still hate it. However, the thought of the exercise spreading warmth through me, the same way a nice mug of hot chocolate does, put a smile on my face. I figured if there's anything I could enjoy in the rain, especially after dark, it would be jogging.

Face-sweater?

Sure enough, the rain pouring down my face as I ran was refreshing. It also made me feel like I was working harder. I'm not a face-sweater. ...Face-sweater? Hmmm that didn't come out like I wanted to; it sounds more like a robber's mask, or a sweater someone's grandma knitted Santa's face onto. No, what I mean is that during physical exertion I sweat from my armpits and back. That's usually all the sweating I do, so I don't get the dramatic Gatorade-ad style dripping face syndrome (especially not in bright green), which I typically associate with someone who's really pushing themselves. The rain provided that illusion for me. Anyone I passed last night must've thought, "There goes a brave, hardworking American." Okay, maybe not.

But the rain also adds to the idea that I'm in the midst of a cinematic masterpiece, running towards my long lost love, or away from a serial killer. A little imagination is always good for your endurance, I think. Anyone I passed might also have thought, "Go! Keep going! Don't stop! You can achieve your dreaaaammm!" They probably stopped right there on the sidewalk and applauded, tears of admiration streaming down their faces and mixing with the cool September rain. Or, you know, not.

I've noticed, though, that running at night seems to be harder on my lungs than daytime running. It must be the cold air, or maybe it's the dampness, but I get lung cramps instead of side cramps or anything else. I can push through them, though. I have to stop for side cramps, but the lung pain is just a nuisance. I also get an increased presence of the lovely cheese grater effect in my esophagus, or wind pipes, or whatever. I'm going to have to figure out how to remedy this, as fall and winter are a-comin' and nothing--including my sobs and futile attempts at harnessing the sun and pulling it closer--is going to stop them. I'm certainly not stopping my running just because it's cold out. It's going to be a game of chicken between me and the weather. Who caves first? Stay tuned.