Girly stuff

Things have definitely taken a different turn. I'm not where I thought I would be this summer. This spring, I looked ahead to summer and thought I'd be tackling more 10k's, improving my speed, half marathon training, running trails, and tackling more obstacle races. Not exactly... haha. There's still time to train for the fall races I wanted to do, but it all depends on how quickly I find a resolution to my injury.

Despite not being where I wanted to be on a fitness level, I'm in a place I never expected I would be a year ago. I am 40 lbs lighter. The realization still hasn't fully dawned on me I don't think. For quite awhile I still had a "fat" mentality, thinking I was still big when buying clothes and feeling shocked to find I no longer fit in what I used to. Then there are other days when I look at myself and wonder where the hell those 40 lbs came from. That's alot of weight... was I really that fat? I guess I was and just didn't realize it.

I'm about to go on vacation and see my family for the first time in a year. The last time they saw me I was 196 lbs. Now I'm 155 lbs. I'm very proud of myself, and happy with the person that I have become over the last 8 months. My energy, confidence, and self esteem are better than ever. I'm one of few people who can say that I am SMALLER than I was in high school (9 years ago). I have conquered challenges that I never knew I was physically capable of, and the feeling is absolutely awesome. It's amazing to think back on who I was, as I embrace who I have become

Anyway, aside from that moment of reflection, I did one more crazy thing last week.

I attended a ball.

Yes, my tomboy, non makeup wearing, jumping into mud pits, outdoor explorer self attended a ball. This was the Army birthday ball - we were invited to go and we figured it would be rude to turn down the invitation. To make it more interesting, we were seated at the VIP table with all the Command Sergeant(s) Major and the big wigs. I enlisted in the help of other more seasoned "girly girls" to make me not look like an idiot - dress, makeup, and hair. I kept it simple and natural looking since I did not want to look like a doll.

I think it worked out pretty well. This dress is a size 6 which was pretty awesome - it was tight across my chest like most things are, but it zipped up! Dress shopping is hard when you have an upside down triangle for a figure!

I love what my friend did with my hair, I thought it was really simple and cute - playful, yet kind of elegant at the same time.

Then of course we got our professional picture taken. My scanner was being stupid, so it's all shiny because I took a picture of the picture. Not sure why my strawberry blond hair turned out super red, I guess it was the lighting and background.

My husband was posting these pictures on Facebook, and my phone BLEW UP. People commenting on how good I looked, and how they could not believe I was actually DRESSED UP! Haha. It was nice though - I'll admit being a girl is *kind of* fun sometimes. And to take me further out of my comfort zone, we even danced a little bit. Stepped side to side really, I'm not coordinated enough for much more than that.

And lastly, since today I have been reflecting on my self transformation, I recalled the last time I dressed up and went to a dance. Senior prom!

This was me 9 years ago. Most embarrassing picture ever! Dyed black hair and a very unflattering last minute dress. Looking at these pictures really hit home for me. I have always had that "I'm large framed" mentality, and never ever thought it would be possible to be smaller than I was at 17.

Well, 17 year old me, I have beaten you. And I ain't lookin back!

Finding the positive

It's been a week since the physical therapist told me I might be experiencing IT band issues. Sadly, my pain seems unchanged so far. I've been following the stretches, but have only walked/run 3 times and done yoga once. I've been working overtime and it's been absolutely nuts - yay for inventory! I have another week to follow her recommendations, and then I will be going up to North Carolina for our family reunion/vacation at the beach. Right after I get back I will see her again. She said she knows an SI joint specialist. I seriously think that's what it is - since the pain varies between my lower back and hip. I'll ask if she can refer me to that specialist. I want to get to the bottom of this already and get back to running!

The good news is, my weight is hovering right around 155-158 lbs! It's been hard to try and lose the last few pounds when I can't really exercise like I was. But I think I can safely say I'm there, and that this is my body's happy weight. I'm sure a few extra pounds could come off my tummy, but I'm at my goal and I'm within "fitness" ranges for BMI and body fat. More importantly, I feel comfortable, confident, and happy with this weight. I'm a size 6, heck maybe even a 4 with certain pants. I don't think I've ever been this small. And it feels pretty damn good.

Time to go to work now so I've got to cut this post short. Tomorrow I will be going to the Army Ball and be a girl for a few hours - not really my thing, but we were invited and it'll be good to experience something different. 

Later !

Stretch it out

So I'm on the third day of this new routine that's been recommended to me by my physical therapist....

Hip stretches and strengthening exercises, as well as back stretches. The interesting thing here is she has me doing squats - something I have avoided doing since I thought it might aggravate my pain. I have never been much of a squat person period. Prior to all this mess, any time I did my strength training was usually following a run day. Thus my legs were usually sore, and my logic was that I had worked them yesterday, so I didn't need to do anything to them today. Wrong! In fact, that's probably how I wound up with this injury to begin with. I now see the error of my ways. I have seriously misunderestimated stretching (Teehee! I miss George Bush's silly made up words!) and I've definitely paid the price for not stretching. I was always too lazy, too tired, or too sweaty. And it's one of those things that's so easy to skip because there are no short term consequences. But give it a few months and you'll be hurting. So - if anyone is reading - Stretch after running! Seriously. Injuries suck.

Running plan. Yesterday I did my "Walk 4 minutes, run 2 minutes, repeat 5 times" thing. It went fine, a little discomfort here and there, a little ab cramping, but aside from that it was actually pretty relaxing. Usually when I run I work really hard. I don't really have a "slow" mode, I feel like I always have to challenge myself. So I guess the positive side of this regimen is it kind of forces me to slow down and take things at a more relaxed pace.

Again with the stretching! Before running I have to follow the stretches that are on the instructions she gave me. I seriously felt like it took me 20 minutes just to freaking stretch!!! And all for this measly little 10 minutes of actual running? Seems really silly... but I am making myself do it, I have to get in the habit of stretching before runs. Then afterwards I am stretching even more. Maybe one day I'll learn to love it


Kinesiotape. It's still there, starting to peel in some places but it needs to be on for another day or two. I don't know if it's working or not since I'm doing several therapies at once. Overall, I'm feeling better than I was. There is still soreness but it's much less intense.

Foam roller! Yep, finally bought a foam roller. Why did I not do this before? I ain't gonna lie - it HURTS. But it's a good hurt. I am rolling everything, not just my IT band (never favor one thing and ignore the rest!) Some of them hurt way more than others. But I did feel super relaxed after using it. And supposedly the more you use it the less it hurts over time.

I also got this super cute outfit that was on sale! The top is a tight/compression fit, so I figure this will make good obstacle racing gear. I'm tired of my black shirt and shorts. I am going to be keeping sets of OCR only gear, so I don't tear up my regular workout clothes.

All in all I'm feeling pretty good so far. Today I'm going to do yoga. More stretching? Yes. I love yoga!

Diagnosis, again

I just got back from physical therapy

Their opinion is - IT band. Common runner injury from what I understand. The way she explained it to me made sense... see, back in January-March I noticed some pain and tightness in my right hip. I just tried to stretch and loosen it up before and after running. Then the lower back pain started in March. And now that I'm back to pretty much zero activity aside from last weekend's race, I have noticed that the pain has reverted back to my hip and not so much my lower back. The PT thinks that while I ran through the hip pain, I may have been altering my running form without realizing it in order to compensate for the muscle injury. She also had a really good answer for my mysterious stomach cramp that started happening in connection with all this. There's a huge abdominal muscle that connects the hips to the spine, and if I'm having pain in my IT band, the surrounding muscles will contract in an effort to try to stabilize everything. She thinks it's possible I could be having some SI joint issues as well. But after several tests, pokes, and prods, my IT band is apparently pretty tight - but nothing severe.

I am going to be self treating for 3 weeks before going back for a follow up. Stretches once a day, some of which will include a resistance band. I also need to roll out the muscle - will probably buy a foam roller, but I could always find a random object if need be. She also gave me this stuff called Kinesiotape which sometimes helps with the pain. I have one on my leg and one on my back and will wear them for 2-3 days until they start to fall off. Today my hip pain was pretty bad, but it's slightly better now after doing a few sample stretches at the appointment.

And the good news is, I can still do stuff! I have a plan for running that I'm to follow. It will seem like chump work to me I'm sure... the first one is like "walk 5 minutes, run 1 minute, repeat x" but the idea is to work my way up and see if the pain persists or not. As long as I don't have a sharp pain, I'm pretty much good to go with any type of activity. And that's the tricky part... figuring out what exercise is good and bad for treating injured muscles, because let's face it, it all pretty much hurts and/or feels tense. But now I'm armed with some good information. Hopefully this is all it is, and it's not some deeper issue. I have a feeling that since my symptoms have changed according to my activity levels, it's gotta be something cureable. Here's hoping...

I'll probably go out for my "run" on Saturday morning. It's raining like mad here (thanks Florida) so maybe tomorrow I'll just hit the weights instead.

Can't wait to see if this pain improves!

Warrior Dash continued!

Tonight I got my results and pictures from Warrior Dash. I've been anxiously awaiting my finishing time, because at the race they had TV's set up that were just scrolling through the finish times. It was at 56 minutes when I walked up to it, and I was pretty sure I had finished under 55. And I was right - 54:59 to be exact, so just BARELY under 55!! I finished 215/1037 out of my age group, and 2115/6991 overall. I'd say not bad for being relatively out of practice for the last 2 months due to my defunct back/hip. Luckily it did not bother me one bit during or after the race. It's hurting a teeny bit now, but I've come to realize this particular kind of pain in my hip comes from sitting down

I went ahead and got my pictures. I'm all about nostalgia! I was only aware of the camera for one of these pictures... the rest of them is me concentrating on what I'm doing and being totally unaware of the camera. Somehow they missed me at the barb wire crawl and I couldn't find myself in the lost and found. Oh well.

Yay!

Physical therapy tomorrow. I'm going to make it clear to them that I want to continue running and exercising, so we'll see what they have to say about that. Hoping for some good news!

Warrior Dash - North Carolina

I'm back from Warrior Dash!

Man, it was a hot one! It was 90 degrees and sunny... luckily I brought a bunch of water and took advantage of all the water stations. I'm also glad I came prepared with sunscreen because I am very prone to sunburns!

 Yesterday morning I made the drive to North Carolina and arrived at the Rural Hill park 2 hours early. But not before snapping this picture of the course from my car window (stuck in traffic) I was kind of irked at the sight of this, because of how DRY everybody was! And I figured it had to be at least a mile in because there was a water station in this segment. Anywho. Good thing I got there so early because this event was not very well organized. Now, this isn't my first foray into racing, so I know to come early and be prepared to wait. I didn't complain loudly like some others did, but it was kind of a mess. I'd say it took me at least an hour and a half to pick up my packet. They had tried to form lines for gender and name, but the line was so far back that nobody could see the signs and it was essentially one giant clusterfuck. Somehow I happened to walk right into the correct line for my gender and name, so at least I didn't have to lose my place and move. 

One great thing was, I did not have to check my bag. The parking was literally right next to the race grounds and I got a really good spot, so I just kept my stuff in there. I brought my Spi belt just in case, and had a plastic bag to put my key in so it wouldn't get muddy. I made it right on time for my 2pm heat. And off we went!The first mile was really just running through a field - a very hot field. Then we started to see the obstacles. Alot of climbing obstacles here. My overall feeling of them is, they weren't super easy but most of them were not too challenging for me. About medium I'd say. 

The two that gave me the hardest time were - an A frame ladder where the rungs were loose hanging chains. This one was simply awkward to maneuver because the chains made me shake and wobble. But my strategy here was to keep my center of gravity low and use my butt as a support if need be. The other one was a ladder that had an overhanging board at the top that jutted outward, so you had to figure out how to get up and over that. I hoisted my leg over rather than relying on my upper body to push myself over, because I didn't want to end up hanging off of it with my legs dangling. 

I pretty much jumped into the obstacles with no fear. Spartan Race taught me not to think - just do it. I "chicked" quite a few guys out there yesterday!

The second half of the race was a woods trail. It felt good to get out of the sun, but I was pretty tired at this point. I can't say I ran the whole thing - I definitely stopped for walk breaks. But the majority of the people were walking by this point, and I was one of the few still running at all. It was at this point that I realized all the mud would be at the end. After I jumped over the fires - was really looking forward to that part, my Spartan Race had no fire! - there was the mud. Oh, such mud there was ....

This mud. Was like peanut butter. Let me put it this way... it was a bottomless mud pit, yet I was floating in it. That's how THICK this crap was. Nobody was moving. When I finally got a chance to try and move forward, it took all my strength just to move one inch. Most people were crawling out to the side, and unfortunately I did the same. I'm normally not one to opt out of obstacles, but this was just ridiculous and I only would have frustrated myself. So, over the finish line I went, looking like a mud monster. I have no idea what time I finished (I would have had to wait around to find out) but I estimate somewhere between 50 and 55 based on the announcer calling out the next heats to start. 

And, my medal! I love the fact that it's a bottle opener too. I really do love mud... it felt great and cooled me off after that very hot run. This mud was literally about an inch thick on my skin. I felt like a frosted cake! So it was time to find the showers, because I still had to drive back to Georgia. The "Warrior Wash" was just a guy with a fire hose who kept running out of water. It didn't do the job very well and there was no changing tent, so I had to get creative in the back of my Jeep. Good thing I brought dry towels and baby wipes! Unfortunately I did lose my free beer ticket, prolly from that fire hose. But it's ok - I got to stop at Chipotle, a place I absolutely love and haven't had in almost a year! The food was way more filling than I remember, but maybe that's because I don't eat like I did last summer...lol.  So all in all, a great day of muddy racing. Feel like I conquered the course pretty successfully!

My thoughts on Warrior Dash

Pros

• I love the warrior/viking theme of this race. The atmosphere is fun and laid back, they always had music going and alot of people were just hanging out and enjoying themselves. It's not "elitist" or "hardcore" by any means.
• There are alot of people who run in costume which adds to the "fun run" element. They have contests for the best costume and best beard
• The pricing is pretty modest compared to other races
• The fact that they let me transfer to the North Carolina race due to my back problems that started a week before I was supposed to run the Georgia race. The deadline to change registrations had passed, but after explaining my situation they allowed me to transfer anyway. There was a $10 fee but I didn't care. It's nice to know that not all people are robots, and some do have sympathy.

Cons

• Not managed well. For how big this racing series is and how long it's been around, I'm surprised they still struggle here. Lines are disorganized and long. My race also could have used a better washing system and a changing tent. Definitely show up early, expect to wait, and bring plenty of wipes, towels, and clean clothes - also, you may be changing in your car.
• Lack of mud. This might be a pro to some people. Not everyone wants to get muddy right off the bat, then have to run their entire race covered in mud. It also makes the obstacles harder as they get covered in it. I guess most people just want to splash in it at the end of the race and spend less time getting dirty. Not me. I love mud. Spartan Race had mud throughout, and it's not just obstacles and running. I think what this does is shifts your mindset for a moment, from "holy crap I have to complete all these crazy obstacles" to more of a mindset of playtime and carefree wading in the mud. Kind of calms your nerves and distracts you a little, which I personally like. 
• Here's my beef with the obstacles of this race. It's not so much that they aren't challenging, it's that they lack variety. WD has alot of climbing and crawling oriented obstacles. At Spartan Race you had plenty of that, but you also had to push, pull, lift, and throw. 

I had fun at Warrior Dash and I'm glad I finally got to go! It's a great race for people who are just starting out in obstacle racing, or for those who just want to do something a little more laid back. That being said I do prefer Spartan Race - it's a hell of alot harder, but is better organized and the obstacles have more variety. 

And of course, I love my viking helmet!

More pictures and official results to come when I get them