Wkd Bust

So all weekend I did nothing in terms of exercise. Friday night Matt and I went to dinner and I drank too much champy and then Saturday after breakfast I went back to sleep and rested etc.

Sat night we watched NOVA and had a dance party at some lounge in ABC City and then I met up with Matt et al. Sunday was another hang out day but was pretty fun overall. Still no workout because Sunday I was hungover and dizzy- fantabulous eh?

Monday I did arms and abs after I did all my leg rehab exercises. My stomach is still on fire from all the crunches etc... I am definitely getting stronger. Last night I tried spin. 10 years since i almost died at spin class in the DR and I finally grew cojones to try it again. I won't say I loved it but it was pretty damned cool. My knee was a little weak at some points but I pushed through it and was happy for it. How many calories do you burn in spin? I was beyond sweaty. BEYOND.

Then we went to dinner at Fig & Olive which I love. I have been below my calorie count recommendation (2100) for 2 days now and will continue today. I think I couldve eaten a bit more last night give the spin class but again, have been carrying around extra weight and am just done with it. Am trying to listen to my body and just do what needs to be done. This am it was hard to wake up- needed an extra hour of sleep- tonight, melatonin and bed by 10. Oh and another 90 minute workout of some kind. The scale has got to budge one of these days.

Impromptu Run

Well it was impromptu but I did have gels and a water bottle.

I just needed to clear my head- I had been thinking all week about work, life etc... and CRAVED that running clear head feeling... so I decided to cheat on Nicole and run for a few miles before our easy 16 miler tomorrow.

Well, instead I ran 15.85 which should count. 2:54:37 so not too too shabby considering my knee was awful. It's seriously eminating heat at the moment (I just finished the run). I ran East on 23rd street, down the east side, up and around (and used the water not the streets which adds prob 2 miles overall) and then up to 82nd street and then back down to 23rd and overback to 5th ave. From 12th ave to 5th ave I was racing the M23 bus. I'm not 100% sure but it was something good to focus on as I was getting quite a bit tired from the run. I did beat/keep up with the bus until 5th ave. Then I decided to walk and get a banana and mango from the fruit guy (yay!! fruit guy!!! where have you been all winter!!! I mean not like I would stand outside in 10 degree weather with fruit either, but you know, recession ;) )

Things I noted on my first long solo run, in ever!!! My first solo run above 13 ever!!! Not in order of note but there is one for every mile as follows:

1) music is now distracting-- I started with headphones and took them off by mile 2 (I did, however, use them to pump me up the last few miles)
2) smokers really should just live on Governers island or something. And the smokers puffing away on the running path, REALLY?
3) West SIde Hwy path above 65th street to the Boat Basin (79th street) is my second place in the city- its so pretty and peaceful
4) BPC is still my number 1 NYC gorgeous place
5) The temperature can vary 10 full degress on a 3 hr run- this is hard to deal with and I'm not getting better at it
6) Double latte powerbar gel makes me pukey
7) A lot of people wear knee braces- and there are a lot of kinds
8) ALl of the soda/water/gatorade machines on the west side hwy are broken (im extrapolating based on trying 2)... they will however give you quarters for your dollars (good if you need those for laundry!!!)
9) Speaking of laundry (we use cards here though) put yours in before a run, change it to the dryer on your way in, and youre almost done without even thinking about it!!
10) mud is just gross, esp on your legs, esp sprayed all over- ew
11) Re wearing your running clothes a week later is gross-- I need to stop doing it or people might think I genuinely smell
12) Middle aged women always think they have the right of way-- I think they only should if they have strollers, and this right is auto eliminated if theyre three deep on a shared pedestrian/runner/biker/rollerblader path
13) speaking of, peoiple walking dogs shouldnt let the leash block off the whole path- I'm running here people
14) My NIKE outer layer jacket is worth more than the $100 I paid for it
15) Indian tourists will waste about 8 min of your time questioning you about H&H bagels, good places to eat and times square recommendations, I'm RUNNING PEOPLE!!
16) Chinese tourists ask for bathroom directions :)

Peace out! First Sat with no run in what feels like forever (even though Yes, I know I didn't run in PR)

sigh

so my knee has been acting up. we've had some work drama. this week hasnt been fantastic.

monday my legs were uber shot, tuesday improved, wednesday great. today i am back to normal and worked out last night for 45 min so that was good. tuesday i just did rehab exercises so that was pretty lame. last night i did 10 min on the wave machine, skull crushers, hip abducters, leg extensions, chest press, abs w a ball and side bends. not too bad. then i stretched.

i feel my back fat creeping back in- gross. i finally got rid of it from running and now its like creeping back in and grossing me out.

nic and i are doing 16 this wkd. the breakdown of which I am not sure- we shall see.

nothing else to report. ready for wkd.

and I thought 18.5 was long?

21 miles.





That is what we ran on Saturday. The big fat blackjack number- 21. 4 hours 1 minute 46 seconds of actual running.

We ran up from Bethesda to the reservoir and while our original plan was to rotate between reservoir and bridle we did 12 loops of the reservoir plus one detour to the 97th street bathrooms and up to 102 and around for some extra mileage. On our lucky 13th time around the reservoir (we started at the lowest part) we ran up to 90th street and then back down to Bethesda.

Nicole got a Garmin. It's the coolest thing ever- good 'ol Mr. G let us know when we were too fast or too slow and kept our mileage right on track. He's awesome and I want to keep him around.

What else can I say about the run. The first 5 miles sucked... from 5-16 the miles came 'easily', I only ate 3 gels... Mango, Margarita salt blocks with lots of water and then Chocolate. I also had a Gatorade... My sight felt dim around mile 20 but I hadn't eaten for a while... I ate at minutes 40, 1:30 and 2:10... now that I see this I see that I need to eat a lot more often at the end but I don't know perhaps I was just ok.... I felt like I could've finished.

My knee wasn't on fire at any point but I def had issues getting my legs moving again in the pm. On Sunday they were pretty cooperative and the massage definitely helped. Monday was slow moving in the am but legs are coming back to life now.

Overall. It's humbling. It's humbling to think that I can do something so physical and so active. It's humbling to know I can exercise for 4 hours at a time. It's humbling to realize how many factors one must consider when running so far. The entire thing- its just amazing. On Saturday I actually liked running. I was actually proud. It was pretty damned cool.

On a side note- Nova is in the Sweet Sixteen- awesome.

ankle weights are cool

so for the past 2 days i have done all my rehab wimp leg exercises. they're pretty tough lemme tell you. I basically go to Equinox, strap something that looks like this to my ankles (yes, both) then I lie on my back and raise my leg for 3 sets of 12. Then I lie on my side and alternate between abductions and adductions on each leg. Also 3 sets of 12. Then i do this thing where you raise your leg and bring it forward and back and forward and back until i'm bored out of my mind.

Last night I did some abs work with a 4 lb ball, passing it under my knees and back over. I did some regular crunches too, some butt exercises (that don't engage the knee) and then I did some back extensions (which also don't really engage the knee). That's about it for last night. On Tuesday I did arms, chest press, bicep curcls, tricep extensions, deadlifts with rounded knees.

I had a nightmare last night that no store would sell me gels. Like only the ones that would make me puke. And then I was running and projectile vomiting. Fun huh? I need to go get more gels though so I suppose the dream makes sense.

On the positive side, my throat feels better, mustve been allergies!!!

Peace out.

bad news

Last week I went to the infamous knee doctor. Well, I wouldn't recommend him. I didn't think he listened to my body clues (my scoliosis, when my knee started hurting (when I changed sneaks)) and he only looked at one xray. He told me I shouldn't run. What sports injury doctor won't give you a plan of attack when you ask for one? I have run how much? And your best advice is "Gee Jen you're in a tough spot?" You suck Doc.

I saw Brandt (massage therapist) later that night and we came up with a better strategy. Take a week off, ice, take meds, do the rehab exercises, rest a lot. We think its my new sneaks that I boguht abotu 5 weeks ago (maybe 6). They apparently fixed my huge pronation and did end my shin splints. But what good did that do me? 6 weeks later shin splints gone, knee inflation- WOW. Apparently my right knee has a tilt angle of 24 degrees whereas my left knee has a normal tilt of about 10. The good news (also why I think the knee is fine and curable quickly) is that the overall angle of my knee is 137 on the right and it should be around 136 or below... so we're not working with something too too terrible. Its not swollen on the XRay or anything but more like he thinks its swollen because of the pain- its not visible on the XRay or to the naked eye- also good news I think.

I was in Puerto Rico this past weekend and got back last night-- i hung out a lot but didn't do the pool running i said i would. I did ice, I did take meds. We had a really good time. We stayed at La Concha in Condado and the wedding was really fun too. Unfortunately there was no kayaking or the like and I didn't make it to the gym. On the flip though I did rest a lot and eat a lot and sleep alot. My carb stores are definitely all restored- ha!! Overall though, it was much needed in terms of both rest and relationship. I think the winter, esp in NYC, can get to you. I know that I was stressed and feeling it from a work/knee/running perspective so it was nice to be out of that environment and be able to focus on what was really important- good friends and a good bf who rocks.

We hiked in el Yunque yesterday though and I have to admit that the way down was tough and the way up was tougher in terms of knee pain. I have ice on right now. But I suppose that's to be expected. I am going to rest the rest of the week and then Viola, it might be cured- I mean you never know. I'm going back to my old sneakers which I suspect make up the majority of the problem as it relates to the knee and to the pronation itself. In all sincerity it makes the most sense that my new sneakers which fixed the pronation in my gait actually did more harm than good given my jacked up hip from scoliosis. Perhaps my body did better when it was overcompensating for its own downfalls. It's almost ironic because maybe our bodies do know what they're doing and all this tech crap actually does more harm than good- I don't know.

I suspect that Saturday will be an awesome run :) But that's just me!!!

wed hump day

It's Wednesday and I haven't run since Saturday. I almost feel anxious about it. I have no intentions of running until next Tuesday. A full 10 days of rest. I have been working out even though I took yesterday off. My knee was iffy on Monday. I did sets of squats, one legged squats (both with a 15 lb bar), leg extensions,back extensions and then an arms and abs class. I tried to run (just to see how my knee felt) but it killed so I instead walked at a steep incline for 10 min. Blah.

Tonight, yoga and more strength hopefully. Tomorrow I wanted to run but instead I will take cardio kick (depending on what the MD says tomorrow at my 2 pm appointment) or will do boring elliptical. I have no concept of how I used to muddle through it.

Speaking of boring there is a new ipod shuffle. It looks awesome. You can have multiple playlists- I like this.

At the gym on Monday night there was a line for a treadmill... once I got to the front I decided I didn't want a treadmill in the front row mainly because I knew I wouldn't be on for very long and I'm still uber sensitive to that kind of stuff- I should get over myself. Anyway- I let a girl cut me in line and apparently the girl before her didn't SHUT OFF the treadmill so when this girl tried to step on, she went flying. I felt terrible, that would've been me. I probably would've killed my knee or back or something. I don't know but all I kept thinking was things definitely happen for a reason--- someone is looking out for me.