Last week was a challenge for me. I really didn't get in a whole lot of training and I feel like I lost some footing in where I had gotten myself to. Getting back there is now a little tough, but I know I can do it. It won't be easy, but I can do it.
I sort of went with the easy excuses that just kept piling up for me last week. I didn't have to work hard for them either. Monday, the parking lot was full at the gym. Tried for a bit and gave up, planning on going back about an hour later. I feel asleep on the sofa for over an hour! There was no going back when I just wanted pj's at that point.
Wednesday I really did plan on going, even put my purse right in my trunk before starting my car or clearing the snow of my car from being in the work parking lot all day. Then I started driving. And skidding (on my sled which happens to have 4 wheels!). I went home. I HATE driving in the snow when the roads are that bad. (After once sliding across 2 lanes of traffic and only stopping because a GIANT MBTA bus was parked, which I hit... not a big fan of driving on snowy, untreated roads. Who hits a bus??? ME!)
Thursday night I was going to do my lap swimming at the pool, until I found out that their water heater was broken and the temp of pool which is normally 82 degrees is down to 70 degrees! I don't think so! So skipped that too.
Just a bad week overall. :(
Yesterday I slept in. Between Wednesday and Thursday night I got a total of about 7 hours of sleep. I was EXHAUSTED!! So Friday night I wanted to sleep. I got up around 10, had to do a few things around my house, but I also had to be on the road by 11:45 after my shower so I could get to the bank before they closed and to my massage appointment with my old massage therapist.
During the summer of 2009, I was in physical therapy for an extremely tight shoulders/upper back/neck area. I was told I had rocks, the knots were so big and so tight. After a couple of months of PT and not having any difference, they basically said they couldn't help me. In August I started seeing a massage therapist once a week for a 30 minute massage, just on that area.
It was the first week of October when the MRI results came back that it was a bulging disc and by February, after 3 rounds of cortisone injections, still no results! Still had my weekly massages with Ed until he was no longer working at that location in May. I hadn't had a massage since then.
SO... I emailed Ed and went to visit him about an hour away from me in North Andover, MA. (Serenity Massage, on High Street. Ask for Ed. He is AMAZING! LOVE HIM! Well, after 8 months? Any surprise!) With all the running, exercise, and overall lower stress level in my life, the knots are actually better. Plus I have lost a lot of weight too, which might have been part of it. Who knows, my shoulders are better!
But this time I did a full body massage for an hour. Ed knew I had been running, so he did my calves and my IT bands. When he asked, I said, "I had a small problem with my IT band on my left leg when I was regularly running on a track in worn out sneakers, but now that I got new sneakers and I'm off the track, my IT bands are fine."
HA HA HA!! SO funny! NO! NOT FINE! He didn't even put all that much pressure on when he was massaging that area. He said to him it felt like a rope. It was that tight. By last night, just lightly touching my finger over my thigh, I could feel it. I knew I was in trouble!
This morning (back on the exercise wagon!) I work up, had a banana and a breakfast bar with a cup of coffee and got myself moving. My friend Kim picked me up and we were at the 9am 90 minute Zumba class down the street from my house (yup, felt my IT bands acting up in the class!)
When I got home, the only time I sat was to change into my running sneakers. I grabbed my water, ate power bar energy bites, grabbed my towel and Ipod and headed off to the gym.
My legs were in so much pain! HORRIBLE, horrific pain on the outside of my thighs. My wonderful, "no I have no problem with" IT bands. Yup, now it really does feel like a rope. So I didn't get in as much of a run as I wanted. Only pushed it to 3 miles, which was a challenge. I didn't want to make things worse, or really injure myself, but I did want to get something in.
After a really good stretch and an incredible ab workout, I headed home. Even just laying here on the sofa right now not moving anything other than my fingers typing... I can feel both legs with a dull throb.
I know that foam rollers are painful to use over the IT bands. Not a comfortable position and the pressure is very painful when you try to work out the tension, especially in the beginning. I know I am going to hate it. But I also know that it is something I am going to have to do. If I want to keep going, I have to take care of myself. I don't want this to be a problem that is going to keep me down, so it will have to be something I address NOW.
Tomorrow... 5 miles on the treadmill followed by a leg and ab workout. I know I can do it! I'm looking forward to it. I had a rough week last week so I need this. I need the focus, the commitment, the consistent schedule and the momentum to continue and improve. I can do this!
I know and I knew going into it that I would have down times. I knew I would stumble. I knew my drive and my confidence would struggle. I knew I would second guess this. But I can overcome it. I can think positive and get back on that horse and get myself moving forward again.
The half marathon is 3 weeks from today. I am absolutely terrified about it. I don't know if I will be ready. But if I have to walk points, then I have to walk points. But if I flake and don't try it, then I will never finish! I have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward.
Nothing worth anything is easy. The things in life that are the most appreciated are the one that require the most work. This is hard. But the benefits of this will be incredible! I need to figure out how I want to feel and play that over and over again in my head. I need to get my mind in the right place. SO much of this is a mental thing. If I think I can, then I CAN! So I need to get myself to not just think but to KNOW I can!
Stumbles will happen, but it is what I do after I stumble that counts. I got up, dusted myself off, took a 90 minute Zumba class, ran 3 miles and did a super 30 minute ab workout and I'm ready for tomorrow's workout too. One foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other....
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