Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Push past the pain!

NY Times Article.

That article has nothing to do with what I’ve been up to lately. I just threw it in because as many of you know, I don’t find the NYT’s Health and “Sports” articles to be very good. They are anecdotal but not that useful. When I finished this one all I could think is that it boils down to the writer wanting to brag about her son.

In other news, I finally went out for a 2 mile run last night. The ankle seemed to be agreeable to it. Here I am on the train the next day and it feels no better or worse because of it. I may need someone to watch me run though’. I’m curious if I’m still favoring my left side, limping in an odd sort of way when I run. I’m suspicious because my left leg (good ankle) was very tight during and after the run. The bad ankle was questionable for a few minutes of the run but I think could be that because everything was trying to re-learn what was supposed to be going on.

Post run I had a good bit of asthma. Maybe it was the cooler temperature or all the fall molds in the air? It’s strange because it doesn’t hit until I actually stop. Maybe because it was such a short run my body didn’t have time to kick in the adrenaline and other stuff that usually keeps that in check? This doesn’t happen often, I haven’t had an inhaler in over 20 years. I just wait it out.

So my left leg is really tight. I’m not surprised; the last couple weeks just walking around I’ve been noticing that my left hamstring & glute are awfully grumpy for not doing much. I made some weak attempts at stretching it out but really I don’t think I stretch at all unless I warm myself up with some sort of workout first. So stretching out is more of a 30 minute thing than a 3 minute thing. Well I was warmed up so I spent the next 20 minutes or so working on the hamstrings. It’s almost scary how tight the left was compared to the right. I kept at it until Genine got home. Now it was time to get on the bike trainers. As I was waiting for Genine to get ready I also got a few sets of shoulder presses in. Having access to the weights at home is definitely going to pay off.

We biked for 45 minutes. Genine said it felt like she was starting from zero again. (I think I said that about my bike ride the other week.) I told her the good news is that the next time we have to bike in a race is months away so there is really no rush. Her work schedule is crazy so what we are working on now is to stay motivated enough to be consistent.

Monday night’s Yoga session was a tough one. We spent a lot of time in downward dog, planks, forward lunges and warrior poses. I was dripping sweat and at times my one ankle was really testing the limits. The next day I was sore, I know I’m not in great shape right now but this was a good wakeup call. Not to mention, I think that even though I was concerned for my ankle at times during class, I think those stretches are exactly what my ankles need long term.

Going to a yoga class once a week and not doing any yoga in between is like taking piano lessons but never practicing outside of that lesson. Fortunately, it looks like there will be a second class I will be able to go to each week. Now to add in a couple sessions at home along with taking the time to stretch properly post bike and run, maybe I’ll start seeing some progress again.

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