Injured runner: I’m having a hard time swimming

Things OK to do while on the mend:

• Walking
• Elliptical-ing
• Biking/spinning
• Core and strength training
• Swimming

Things not OK to do well on the mend:

• Running
• Jumping
• Bearing weight on my knee (so like, table top/cat/cow position in yoga would all be a big fat no!)

I’ve been doing a pretty good job of consistently doing all but the swimming on my first list. I stopped going to yoga altogether after I talked to my doctor about a month ago to get specifics on what I can and cannot do while I let my stress fracture heal. I know I can still go to yoga but that I wouldn’t be able to do all the moves everyone else is. (So far, I haven’t gotten the courage to go back).

So, why is swimming so hard? I’ve done it before.

But, my doctor had also told me to avoid breast stroke when I swim — too much kicking of the leg/knee out that could cause aggravation to the injury. Um, as a runner where swimming is not my forte, breast stroke was my saving grace! Now that I have to do the crawl the entire time, swimming is way more stressful and tiring and time consuming.

Right now, I only have the lung capacity to do two laps (so out-and-back twice) of the crawl. After two laps I am winded. I am gasping for air and my heart is beating pretty quickly. I hate having to pause/take a break, especially if there are other swimmers in the lane — it just messes up with the whole flow!

So, what do I do? Just keep going to the pool and get better? The last two times I went to the pool, I spent a majority of my time using the kick board. I wouldn’t mind doing backstroke either, but this takes skill if you have to share the lane with others …

It’s also hard to get better at swimming when I only go once a week. But, the lap swim schedule and my work schedule and how crowded the pool gets on Saturdays leaves me with just Sunday swim days.

Maybe I’ll try aqua jogging. That doesn’t take being in the lap lane. I keep running into my old high school cross country coach at the pool and he’s been telling me to aqua jog instead of doing mindless laps back and forth if I hate it so much.

Maybe I don’t need to get any better at swimming. Maybe I’ll just stay in the slow lane and kick board the entire time.

But, it would be nice for my workout to not take an hour plus …

Happy Father’s Day: the flashback edition

Here’s a flashback to November, when my dad and I converted to iPhones together.

We’re pretty excited to take our first selfie

Hate to say it, but dumping my flip-phone for a smartphone wasn’t even on my radar at the time. But my dad was upgrading so, I decided to upgrade too.

Dads always know best.

And, for a list I wrote in 2011 of “what my dad has taught me,” enlighten yourself here.

The list can never get outdated because everything always holds true — even his comment about stating your name when calling on the phone. He still does this even when I am calling his cell phone!

Happy Father’s Day (to my dad and all the other dads and dad-like folks out there!)

PSA: Put sunscreen on everywhere

I don’t usually like to instill my opinions on others (with exception to that time I wrote that everyone should vote because that’s what a good citizen does) but today I have one more public service announcement:

Put sunscreen on everywhere.

I don’t care if you are dark-skinned and “never burn.” At one point, I was like that. (Or, so I thought).

Always remember your face (duh) but don’t forget the shoulders and the backs of your ears and even the part in your hair (if you’re one that wears your hair the same way or have a natural part).

I was in California for less than 24 hours.

And, I got burned.

Because I was negligent to apply sunscreen everywhere.

I forgot my feet.

And now they are swollen and red and hurt oh so badly.

For the first time in my 26 years of life, I have had to apply aloe vera.

Sure, I’ve burned before, but never this badly.

But I guess sitting in the San Clemente sun for four hours on the beach will do it to you. I really should have been a better sun screen user. It did reach a high of 90 degrees that day …

I’ve learned my lesson. I will put sunscreen on everywhere.

And, I will never have to use aloe vera ever again.

And, my feet will thank me.

Because, right now, they wish they could go barefoot everywhere …

 

But, burns and all, it was worth celebrating Annie and Gabe. Congrats to the newlyweds!

 

2013: Getting faster, getting injured and crushing PRs

I got faster this year.

Or, I just pushed myself beyond my “pain threshold limit” of years past.

I PR’d in the 5K, half marathon and marathon distances.

I PR’d my marathon time in May (4:07:40 – a SIXTEEN minute PR) and then beat that PR in October (4:05:26).

I PR’d my half marathon time in August when I was beginning to have my IT band pain.

I PR’d my 5K time in September (22:34). This was a PR that took TEN YEARS to achieve. I am finally faster than my high school self.

Yes, I am bragging.

I had no PRs last year.

I worked hard for these times. I am not a “naturally fast” runner. My body isn’t a “runner’s body.” Running doesn’t run in my family (ha ha, yep, went there).

Sure, compared to others, my times are average or maybe even considered “slow.”

But, to me, I am fast.

And, I am only going to get faster next year.

I have taken the necessary time off since October and have been going to physical therapy for my knee/IT band problems. I’ve been doing my stretches and exercises daily to strengthen my core and back and glutes so that my injury does not become a recurring problem.

I have solved my anemia issue. (I actually went to the doctor this year for a regular check up — something I hadn’t done since high school). I try my hardest to sleep 8 hours a night. I don’t excessively drink or eat sweets. I treat my mind and body well.

Physical therapy will end (hopefully) within the first or second week of the New Year.

And, I’m excited.

I’m ready to train my hardest and set some more PRs next year.

It’s not easy. Nothing worth attaining is ever easy.

Good-bye 2013, thanks for being nice to me race-wise. You may have been hard on my knees but I won’t hold it against you.

2014, BRING IT ON.

Year End’s resolutions

We’re all encouraged (or pressured by others) to make New Year’s resolutions.

Every New Year’s Eve we think of something that will better ourselves … The classic, “I will go on a diet” or “I’m going to go to the gym” to more thoughtful ones like starting to volunteer at an organization you support.

I don’t remember what I was thinking about at the end of last year.

It probably had something to do with focusing on my running. At the time, I was on a “running streak” where I ran at least 20 minutes a day for as many days in a row as I could. I accomplished 39 days until sickness had me down (literally). And by sickness, I mean a common cold, nothing serious.

The nice thing about resolutions is that they can be as big or small as you want them to be. No one even has to know about them if you don’t want them to.

But, instead of focusing on New Year’s resolutions, why not Year End’s resolutions, too?

In what way do you want to finish off the year? How do you want to feel when the clock strikes midnight?

I made a decision in November to take the stairs every day at work rather than the elevator. This may seem like a small feat for some but my office is on the 8th floor and eight flights of stairs at 7 in the morning isn’t fun. By the time I get to the top, I am perspiring because I get too lazy to take off my down-jacket because I don’t want to carry it along with my lunch and work-out clothes bag. (OK, OK, I’ll stop complaining).

Maybe when January rolls around I’ll be like, “Pshhh, eight flights of stairs! Bahh. That’s nothing!” And speed-walk up them faster than the two minutes it takes me to drag my feet up it now.

Maybe my Year End’s resolution isn’t something big that is “making me a better person,” but it’s making me less lazy.

Every morning when I walk through the doors of the building and see people walking into an elevator, I want to join them. But, then I remember that I don’t like elevator small talk. And, I get impatient when I have to stop at every floor on my way up to the 8th. Plus, I have that resolution.

Can choosing to take the stairs actually be a resolution? I mean, maybe it’s more of a goal.

But, the whole point is that the 2013 is quickly coming to a close. Do you want to be getting into that work elevator that will probably break down (again) or do you want to be using your own two feet by taking the stairs — and coincidentally run into former colleagues who you actually enjoy talking to?

It’s up to you. Enjoy 2013 while it’s still here.