Relaxing Sunday to Nowhere, PLUS

On Thursday, I did nothing but a 4.5 mile run. Friday and Saturday were full of gig activity and naps. I took the aimless approach to Sunday = Runday, doing a 2 mile run to meet family and friends at the lovely and crowded Curtis Orchard Corn Maze. After a bottle of water and a nice visit, I did the 3.5 miles to home.

I ended up here exactly when the battery on my phone/music/podcasts died, so I laid down in the grass for a while and studied the clouds, then wandered through the woods looking for a particular magical spot. Found, but did not photograph, the place. Maybe someday I'll share it.

Good News, More Good News

First, a summary.

Monday - nice bike ride with Jesse Van Halen, followed with yoga program previously posted.
Tuesday - under such a sad grey sky, 4.5 mile run plus 200 various ab crunches in the woods.
Wednesday - another nice bike ride with JVH, followed with the following exercises, twice through, with15 pound dumbbells:

25 bench presses
25 chest flies
25 skull crushers
25 (each arm) dumbbell single arm row
25 bicep curls
25 crunches on the bench (upper and lower ab)
25 frogs
25 dumbbell push presses
25 dumbbell bent-over rows
25 deadlifts
25 tricep extensions
25 overhead triceps

And now the good news. PT is scheduled to start October 12, X-rays of my back showed NO abnormality, and the pain meds sort of work even though pain returns by morning.

Could Sunday Always be Runday? Please?

I learned some things about yoga during today's run, which took interesting turns and was something around five miles total. I want to like yoga, especially because it might help me with the chronic pain stuff and also make me a wiser and generally better person. I love this Sunday run so much that even if I find out tomorrow it's contributing to the pain and that I have to replace it with something lower impact, I'd still want to keep the Sunday run. I also enjoy stopping for a refreshing sip of paint thinner.

So let me go back in time...

On Friday Brendan Goes to Hollywood and I did the Tar Heels Medicine Ball 200 workout, with cardio intervals plus a wall sit since we had only one med ball. We also installed ios6 and listened to a little bit of Periphery. 

Yesterday I didn't really make time for anything but situps (150) and pushups (75). 

Today there was time and opportunity. This afternoon's strength stuff was all with heavy and light resistance tubes, twice through:

20 Rows
20 side things... (you know, that rotation thing)
20 Incline Chest Presses
20 Chest Flys
20 Lat Pulldowns
20 Shoulder Shrugs
20 Shoulder Press (the light tube)
20 Overhead Tricep Extensions (the light tube again)
20 Bicep Curls
20 Chest Pulls

And an assortment of ab crunches to top it off.

Getting Up to Date

Tuesday's five mile run was fine, no issues, and I followed it with 50 bicycles and 50 penguins. Here is the ominous sighting of the evening, because I suppose whoever left it this way along the shoulder of the highway left in worse shape than the cable:

After that, things got strange, thanks to my old friend, Severe Lower Back Pain. I've reluctantly made an appoitnment with a professional, feeling that if it's DDD again, it could be the cause of my recent tumbles, all on the left side and due to scuffling left foot (foot drop). Or the pain itself could be related to healing the injuries from tumbling. The more I listen to neuroscience audiobooks, the less I understand. Hot tub is a great remedy, but sitting and living are not. Fearing that all this impact can't be helping, I did yoga on Wednesday and Thursday, this workout right here:



And it was surprisingly nice!

However, people being people, I am determined to return to the road, either Friday or Saturday. Brendan Goes to Hollywood is threatening to join me for the Tar Heels medicine ball workout, with cardio intervals added because we only have the one medicine  ball, but if he doesn't, I might just hit the pavement.

Finally, either the yoga got to me or pain causes me to wax philosophical. Here on the eve of the Autumnal Equinox, I'm reading random words of guidance and taking them to mean more than the author probably intended:

Every temptation, every trial and test can and will be overcome in  your everyday lives and living when you seek My help and with your hand in Mine face each one as it comes up, realizing that each one that is overcome and defeated helps you to grow in strength and stature, letting in more and more Light into your lives and pushing out and dispersing all darkness. When a soul has many hardships to overcome, it either becomes hard, bitter, and twisted or else it grows in understanding, opens its heart, loves more, and finds something new and beautiful in the lessons it has to learn along life's path. Never harden your hearts or become resentful and bitter, but see in it a lesson which has to be learnt. Learn that lesson without any resistance and so grow in stature. It is resistance towards life that dehydrates a soul.

I liked it because it's true in the physical world too, every challenge (decline pushups, box jumps, resistance training) we work through makes our bodies look and BE stronger, so even though I feel like I'm dying right now, I have this proof that I'm really not.

What to Do When Children are Sick, Cats are Up to No Good, and Cars are Being Broken Into All Around You

It was not meant to be a workout night. My first plan was to blow it off in favor of rearranging the house, moving furniture, throwing things away. That morphed into resting on the couch, which I quickly countered with an early evening coffee drink (OOOH!) and then burst into action.

After moving a stand, an old TV, two dressers, a bed, a side table, a sofa, and a shelf of DVDs, I got the 'sick kid' call and spent the rest of the night between bedpan and television. All I could come up with to do was this, TWICE through:

25 leg lifts (on all fours) per leg
25 fire hydrants per leg
25 inner thigh raise (on side) per leg
25 outer thigh raise per leg
25 lower ab crunch
25 upper ab crunch
25 bridges

Why We Heart Sunday So Hard

I didn't work out at all on Thursday or Friday, and on Saturday, there was only time for a 5 mile run, WITH pain from the morning's charlie horse!! This makes Sunday ultra special.

After somewhere between five and ten cups of coffee and several gallons of water at OPH (and a little bit of Dutch baby with sugar free syrup), my 5.5 to 5.8 mile journey was sunny and adventure-filled. I took the podcast about parasomnias very personally and then spaced out on the second podcast until I realized I was spacing out and switched over to music for the last couple of miles. Along the way, I bothered a gas station and a clinic for the use of their facilities. I like to run to this water fountain, where the water tastes a little like paint thinner. It's thought provoking.

Once home I put away laundry, watered the stuff in the garden that's already dead, and ate the rest of the Dutch baby with sugarfree syrup while perusing Fitness magazine for ideas. As it turned out, I already knew what I wanted to do and took a heavy and a light resistance tube out to the woods with the following program and more music.

With the heavy tube (it's grey and you can barely see it in that photo),
25 chest press, 25 chest pull, and 25 standing side ab per side - TWICE
25 shoulder lift Left, 25 shoulder lift Right, 25 upright rows, 50 plie bends - TWICE
25 bicep curls, 25 tricep extensions, 25 jackknifes per side - TWICE
25 bent row Left, 25 bent row Right, 50 penguins - TWICE
With the yellow tube, which is the lightest one,
25 deltoid flys with Left foot forward, 25 deltoid flys with Right foot forward, 25 front delt raises, 25 lateral delt raises, and 25 baseball swings per side - ONCE

Now for a shower and some kind of dinner party with friends.

The Great Outdoors

Last night, I kept it simple with a 4.5 mile run around the block and then a series the doc found on fitness magazine online: resistance tube abs workout. The last exercise in that series was alternating side planks, and the tube kept slipping off my feet and threatening to slap me hard, so I did 50 lower/upper crunches instead.

Today I issued this challenge to Josh of Seagulls, but I got it done in 27 minutes so I added on for an additional 11 minutes:

40 reps, then 30, then 20, and then 10, of the following series, using our new matching 8 pound medicine balls:
- offset pushes, rolling the ball from one hand to the other (40/30/20/10 total)
- soccer drill (toes touch the ball, 40/30/20/10 per foot)
- with both hands on the ball, burpees from pushup position through squat jump
- v-sit with rotation
-overhead triceps, holding the ball
- high knees with ball
- woodchoppers (Peggy style)
- suitcase crunches

And here's the stuff I added:
- on all fours, 50 leg lifts per leg
- "circles" standing with ball, 25 in each direction
- 50 woodchoppers (Men's Health magazine style) tossing the ball in the air
- on all fours, 50 fire hydrants per leg
- 25 figure 8s, standing with the ball
- 50 penguins (per side)

I did this out in the woods. I hope josh had as much fun as I did.

It Was Too Beautiful to Go Outside

Well, it was so beautiful that I wrote these ideas for a routine to do in the yard, but then a surprise thing came up, and I couldn't work out until about 9pm, so I set up in the good old garage!

using heavy resistance tubing and a step and a jump rope
5 minutes jump rope
1 minute bent over row, left foot
1 minute bent over row, right foot
1 minute box jumps
1 minute box runs
2 minutes chest press
1 minute chest pull
1 minute shoulder lift, left arm
1 minute shoulder lift, right arm
1 minute box jumps
1 minute football drill on the step
2 minutes hip abduction using medium tubing
2 minutes hip adduction using medium tubing
1 minute box jump
1 minute football drill on the step
1 minute bicep curls
1 minute upright rows
1 minute football drill on the step
1 minute box runs
1 minute bicep curls
1 minute upright rows
5 minutes jump rope
1 minute tricep dips
1 minute wall sit
1 minute tricep dips
1 minute standing side abs, right side
1 minute standing side abs, left side
1 minute standing forward abs, right knee
1 minute standing forward abs, left knee

Going to Work Now...

Friday, nothing.
Saturday, a long fast walk with an old friend.
Sunday, 5.5 mile run and then the Tar Heels medicine ball workout and DINNER WITH THE DOCTOR!

That is all.

Harder than it Looks

Because there wasn't a lot of time and I'm still celebrating the new equipment, I stayed in the yard and did these.

5 minutes jumping jacks/scissor jacks
1 minute wood chopper (the old skool wood chopper) with 8 lb med ball, to the right
1 minute to the left
1 minute box jumps
1 minute soccer drill
1 minute pushups with left hand on the medicine ball
1 minute right hand
2 minutes box runs
1 minute v-sit rotation with med ball
1 minute suitcase crunches
1 minute burpees with the ball
1 minute high knees with ball
2 minutes tricep dips
1 minute deltoid fly, with lighter resistance tube
1 minute front deltoid raise w tube
1 minute jumping jacks
1 minute lateral deltoid raise w tube
1 minute box jumps
1 minute shoulder press
1 minute incline rear delt fly with heavy resistance tube
1 minute v-sit rotation with med ball
1 minute incline read delt fly with heavy tube
1 minute upright row, medium tube
1 minute back extension, heavy tube
1 minute jumping jacks
1 minute supermans
1 minute outer thigh with band
1 minute inner thigh
5 minutes jump rope
1 minute wall sit
1 minute pushups
1 minute crunches (upper and lower abs)

I Know What the Doctor Did Tonight

She did RAMPS at the stadium with Hott Wendy. Unbelievable.

Meanwhile I started to run and then went back home cause I drank too much water too early. Then I left again and did the usual 5.5 miles, some lazier than others. When I got home I experimented with exercises for the (40lb) resistance TUBE that I got myself for Josh of Seagulls' birthday, taking a break to deliver a snack and a cel phone to someone who forgot both.

Here's what I finally accomplished: 4 sets of 10 each of bicep curls, chest flyes, chest presses, bicep rotation curls, and shoulder shrugs.

Then the doctor arrived, and we schemed about core exercises for Slamma!

Getting Caught Up

On Saturday, we just didn't have a lot of time before leaving for the gig, so I kept it simple with two sets of 25 each of:
upright rows, bicep curls, standing abs (knee to elbow, each side),
chest pulls, shoulder raises each side, tricep pulls each side, standing abs (knee to chest, each leg),
squat with shoulder lift (had to bust out a lighter resistance band to stretch it all the way up),
standing back rows each arm, deep plie side bends (elbow to knee, each side)

On Sunday, I ran 5.5 miles in the rain with my shoes full of water and my headphones on the fritz. I found that I could stash my phone and the busted headphones in my bra, speaker side up, and hear the podcast (about brain wiping) as long as I chose side streets where there were fewer cars making splashing sounds as they passed. Running on previously uncharted side streets brings lots of backtracking out of unmarked dead ends, as with any labyrinth, so this was probably a six mile run but easy due to the nicer temp. Because my feet were drenched the whole time, I got blisters in all new places, and then relatedly, my hair was ratted out of control even though it was in the usual pony tail. I really like running in the rain, even with these surprise effects.

On Monday, I shopped for Josh of Seagulls' birthday at Dick's, which means I had to buy some things for myself too. My workout for the day was testing various medicine ball (8 lb) exercises with the birthday boy, getting a foot massage from his bestie, and writing possible workouts which could use the new equipment and be done at home.

Tonight I tried some medicine ball workouts the doctor found for me online - one from Shape magazine (8 exercises) and one from Men's Health (10). After those, I ran 3.5 miles and then did several shoulder exercises with lighter handweights. WHAT FUN! And today I even got to see the Doc!

I saw Lynndi again!!

But this time I saw her on HER turf!  I realized (at 7:30 last night) that property taxes were due today.  Since there wasn't enough time to mail the check, I had to travel to the Brookens Administration building to drop off my check at the County Clerk's office.  While, I wasn't thrilled about having one more item added to my already busy day of nursery rounds, meetings and clinic, I knew I would get to see Lynndi in her office so that made it worth the while!

I never realized just how glamorous Lynndi was when sitting at her desk all day long but such glamor should be shared with the world...or at the very least, with the three people who read this blog:

Those are some seriously bitchin' slippers Lynndi!

Slamma, I am sorry to hear that you haven't been able to workout.  Maybe you need a pair of those slippers to wear during your recovery period!

After I got my fashion lesson from Lynndi, I went back to the hospital for the first of two meetings.  As luck would have it, the second meeting was cancelled so I got to go to the gym over my lunch hour!!  Today was speedwork.  I did a 2 mile warm up at usual speed.  then I did 6 quarter mile repeats at 8.3 miles per hour (with a 40 sec walking recovery between the repeats) and finished with a 2mile cooldown.  I also did some of my ab work.  After that, I showered and went to WORK.  

I have done pretty much no working out:(

I'm sorry to report I've done no working out. My foot issues have been bad and I am scheduled for surgery for September 10. My foot hurts alot and I'm still in the walking boot. I have been keeping up with crunches and push ups though but not much this weekend:( Here's a link to what I'll be having done although I'm not sure where they got the 6 week recovery period from. My doc said 1 month non-weight bearing then another month in the boot again and gradually in a shoe to resume normal activity. I'm unfortunately done with Derby for this season, but hopefully to come back better and faster and tougher next season! http://www.ibji.com/education/patient-information/foot-ankle/kidner-procedure