Where's the Beach?

Blood Clots & Plantar Fasciitis  I don't know about you guys, but I'm definitely getting twitchy for the weekend. It didn't help that I knew I had a follow-up appointment at 7:45 this morning with the hematologist. I just hate hate knowing that I'm about to have to have blood drawn. Doesn't make for a pleasant morning. I also hate going to the doctor, waiting waiting waiting, and then not really hearing anything new. So, not really any follow-up news for me to report other than a scheduled CT scan at the end of the month to see if the clot is still there. The scan will be of the clavicle area where the clot was and where I still have a weird pain as well as my chest just to see if I've had any clots in my lungs - as I did have shortness of breath previously. They never did take a scan of my chest initially. On the upside, I did get to finally run this morning with my friend. It was my first run since my half marathon. I've been babying my foot lik...

I wanted to thank everyone again for your many congratulations on completing and getting a PR at my recent half marathon . The support and words mean so much to me. My legs feel absolutely fine after the race. I could have run yesterday if it weren't for my left foot. So right now I'm trying to heal my left foot. I mentioned that I've been having problems with plantar fasciitis in that foot and that it was the cause of much pain during the race. Since the race, I've been unable to walk on it very well. Lots of hobbling going on. I've been icing it and trying to keep it elevated. But, I noticed that it's started to get some bruising, not horrible, but worrisome. Not sure if it's better or worse for it to be discolored vs red and swollen. However, this could be indicitive of a tear. But, my bigger concern with the bruising is that indication that there's been bleeding. Being on Xarelto for the blood clot means my blood doesn't clot very well the...

Workouts Before I get into Way to Go Wednesday, I thought I'd talk for a minute about workouts. I haven't really been talking about them much lately. I did manage to get in a 5-mile run this morning with my running partner. Despite the dark and cold, I was looking forward to it. I haven't run since Friday because of severe plantar fasciitis pain in my left foot. Saturday and Sunday were spent literally hobbling around. In fact, the left side of my calf is sore from said hobbling. I've been icing and rolling and stretching and as of yesterday, I could finally put weight on my foot and walk mostly like a normal being. So, this morning I decided to test it out. The plan was to do 4-5 miles depending on how my foot felt. I won't lie and say it didn't hurt at all. It was slightly achy, but then it chilled out until right at the end of the run. So I definitely stopped in time. 5 miles was the max and I was honestly happy with that. I spent a good deal of time i...

Well, I wish I could come into Monday's post raving about some awesome runs or even crazy 14-mile adventures. But, I can't. I didn't run this weekend. I won't run today. I may not run again until my half marathon on Sunday (fingers crossed I can then). After my 10-mile run on Friday, my left foot seized up. Hello there plantar fasciitis. We meet again. I won't pretend that it hadn't been acting up. It has been. But I've been babying my foot. Icing, rolling it out, rolling out my calves, stretching like it was my job. During the run on Friday, it wasn't bothering me terribly. It hurt a little here and there, but nothing sidelining. But the minute I stopped running, I was literally hobbling along. I've iced it, stretched it, and stayed off of it as much as possible. I did get to try out some of the new Cathe Xtrain DVDs at least. I'll call that the upside of this for now. Hello DOMS. I was talking to my sister on the phone about the race....

Slower Long Run Saturday Saturday morning I made it a point to sleep in. I made it to about 8 am. That's huge for me. It was incredibly foggy out, but not exactly cool. I had hoped to get going for the long run by 9:30 at the very latest. The plan was to drive down to the river trails for this run. We hadn't run near the river since May. Jason (oh and I love him dearly) is not so quick to get going. Ever. So we didn't end up getting started on the run until close to 10:30. That wouldn't have been an issue had it not been getting hotter and hotter....oh and humid as hell. It was about 65 degrees and heavy fog when we got started. But the humidity was literally 100%. Hello sweat factor. The plan was to make this long run a true, slow, training run. My half marathon plans always call for 10+ milers at like 9:30 or slower. I've been doing mine at more like 8:50. So the plan was 9:20. Period. Done. Let me just say that was harder than it sounds. And crazy because ...

Long Weekend  I hope everyone enjoyed a nice long holiday weekend. I decided to take a break from blogging over the 3-day weekend too. Kind of a nice break. Definitely means spending more time just enjoying right? We didn't have any major plans, no parties or cookouts. That was a-ok with me actually. I just wanted to relax, enjoy, and relax some more. I did get lots of laundry done and a few chores, but other than that...pretty darn lazy. I got in some pretty good runs despite the insane heat. We're getting August heat in September. So indexes are reaching the 100's again and the humidity? Let's just say gills would be nice. Saturday I stuck to a short run, 3.5 miles then got in a really good weight session for shoulders, back, chest. My chest is still sore. Jason and I ran a lot of errands Saturday then had a late lunch out. The skies weren't exactly clear, so no pool time. Sunday I got in 7 miles, part of it with my running buddy. We had such a fun run to...

Saturday Recap Yesterday turned out to be a great day for so many reasons. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Oh and cooler temps in the morning - perfect for a run. Jason and I got in a great 7-mile run. For me, it was ideal because I had zero heel pain during the run. This was the first run since probably November that I can recall having no heel pain. A-mazing. After the run, it was a little tender, but nothing at all like it's been. I truly believe that my plantar fasciitis pain is on the mends. Not just starting to feel better, but definitely healing up. My piriformis is now my main issue to contend with. During the run, it didn't bother me. But anytime I sit for more than about 30 minutes, my sciatic nerve starts screaming at me. And I know this means my piriformis is still very much inflamed and not on the mends. I do have PT tomorrow and she plans to discuss some more invasive options - hopefully just injections. Anyway, after our run, we had to get ourselves ready a...

3-Mile Run I won't brag too much about our weather as I know that some of you are actually experiencing real spring, as in it's gotten cold, or rainy, or cold and rainy again. But it was another beautiful day here. Though, I will admit that 80+ degrees in March does feel a bit wrong. I keep waiting for some freak snow storm now. But, in the meantime, I'll take full advantage of the weather. I won't even complain that it was sweltering for a run at lunch today. I won't have any problem adjusting to running in summer heat at this rate. I'm pretty much already doing it. We set out around 11:30 for a quick 3-miler. The first thing we were hit with was a wonderful headwind for the first 3/4 mile, which also happens to be a nice long, steady, sneaky incline. Let's just say I wasn't a Chatty Cathy today. For the most part (other than standing at street corners waiting on cars that took forever to move along) we kept around an 8:30-8:40 pace. There was a ...

Moving It I had sort of hoped to get in a run at lunch with Jason today. But I definitely needed to rest both my heel and piriformis. So, I hit the gym instead. Since spin is out, the cardio was pretty boring - hello elliptical. I did the elliptical for about 40 minutes then did 3 rounds of a tabata session using kettlebells and body weight. It probably didn't actually help my piriformis one bit, but I couldn't stand the elliptical for a minute longer. It was a super simple workout as I hadn't exactly written it down. I just chose 4 exercises for a circuit that was repeated twice  before a break so each circuit (with break) is 5 minutes. You do each exercise for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest before moving to the next exercise. After all 8, you rest 1 minute. Kettlebell swings Kettlebell figure 8's Alternating front lunge holding kettlebell in both hands chest level Squat thrust with pushups Kettlebell swings Kettlebell figure 8's Alternating ...