Face The Music Friday #24

It’s not even worth mentioning my fitness this week, but there it is:

I ran on Sunday and Tuesday.

Finished.

I will say, Sunday’s run was my longest ever in distance. My recorded distance on my Garmin was 5.07 miles, (Runkeeper said 5.12 because I started it, zipped it in my pocket, then started my Garmin) but that doesn’t include the warm-up and cool down so it was probably somewhere close to 5 1/2. I’m still doing walk/run because I haven’t built my endurance back up to just running the whole time after my injury break.

I have a race tomorrow in Providence, the St. Pat’s 5K, that was my first ever road race last year. I’m excited to do it again because when I did it last year I had to walk it because I hadn’t fully healed from my hip strain. This year I’ll be running and you know what that means – instant PR!

I skipped Unleashed last night. But unlike the prior classes I missed, I didn’t actually have another commitment. I had such an awful day yesterday (and it’s been an awful week) that I made a last minute call and said I was going home after work. I know it probably would have helped me feel better, but I just couldn’t do it. I figure I’ll just work that much harder next week when they have NE Spahtens day and I go for the full 3 hour day.

I’m also working strength back in to my routine. Dan gave me another great list and I’ll be mixing things up again. This should get me through to the Tough Mudder since it’s less than 3 months away now. I also realized when I was working on my training spreadsheet that I had miscalculated weeks for the running plans I chose. When I corrected them, I realized I’ll be MUCH closer to half marathon distance by the TM, plus that means I’ll actually be at higher mileage already for the 10 Miler I was talking about doing at the end of April.

Let’s talk life, shall we?

 

 

Why yes, yes it does. My depression and anxiety is through the roof lately and I need to get it back under control. I felt AMAZING after my run on Sunday. I ran outside in the cool air and slight snow flurry and it felt awesome. I can’t wait to get back out there on the regular now that there are streets and sidewalks to run on with some snow melt and lack of ice.

Speaking of, we scored some great deals at the REI garage sale we went to last weekend. I got a pair of really nice Keen water shoes for kayaking for less than $20, a pair of Pearl Izumi gloves for the TM (and other OCR) for less than $10 and a Petzl headlamp for running for less than $15! Tara got a ton of clothes marked down as well. I think everything we got was on sale except for a fig bar she bought at the checkout. I also got some Clif Shot Bloks to try on my longer runs since I’ve never run far enough before to need to refuel mid-run.

In other news, I’m continuing with my chiro appointments and they’re going well. They’ve noticed some small improvements so far in my flexibility so that’s a start I guess.

I had a job interview this week internally at the company I already work for. It’s in a different department, but only across the hall from where I currently sit. It actually is a position that could lead to better advancements as well, versus where I am now which can’t really go anywhere. I feel like I tanked the interview, but I guess I’ll see what happens when second interviews come around.

And lastly…I’ll be going to 2 concerts this summer. Tickets are bought. Now we wait!

 

 

 

 

For the song this week, it’s fitting that I go with this one. I really need to do it.

Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

Face The Music Friday #2

First things first: if you missed my initial Face The Music Friday, check it out here.

Now, onto the big business. Drumroll please!

My weight this week is:     184.1

Beginning: 240

Last week: 185.6

This week: -1.5 lb

Total loss: 55.9 lb

I’m honestly surprised that I had as good of a loss as I did. Like I mentioned last week, I typically have two good weeks per month and this happened to be the first of two (if I stick to schedule). Maybe I just lucked out that the junk that I did end up eating this week was on a good week and not a bad week. Dumb luck I suppose.

I had my PT this morning (finally) for my knee. She confirmed it was my IT Band causing my knee pain. She said that I had been doing everything right that I’ve been doing so far in terms of rolling, icing, etc. She gave me some strengthening exercises to help me out because she said that my inner thigh muscles down near my knees (I forget the name of it) were weaker. She also said something about patellar tracking – I guess the kneecap should kind of zig zag as you bend and flex the knee, but mine just goes in a straight line. Who knew!

She also happened to check out my hip (that I injured last year and still bothers me) and said it was most likely also from the IT Band on that side and could be my left knee is bothering me from overcompensating for the right. I’m a hot mess. I tried to tell her just how inflexible I was before she examined me, but little did she know until she saw for herself!

 

 

After we went through the exam and exercises, she did some ultrasound for about 5 minutes with some topical cortisone and then some manual massage for a minute or two. She finished up with a quick minute of ice massage and then I was off to work! It hurt like hell (still kind of does as I write this at almost bedtime!) but I’m hoping it helped overall. She OK’d me using my elliptical, which I had been concerned about, so I’m pleased with that. She wants me to lay off the running for now (which I’m glad I haven’t done other than 1 x per week during races). I have to go back to see her in around a week and see how I’m progressing so maybe we’ll see how long till I can give it the old college try again.

Now to my favorite part of the post: the music!!

This week I picked Florence + The Machine’s “What The Water Gave Me”. I like how it starts out kind of slow and quiet, but builds faster and louder. I can’t really describe the intense feeling I get when I listen to the song.

Fun fact about this song too: the title was inspired by the Frida Kahlo painting of the same name. Frida is also tied for my wife’s favorite painter (with Georgia O’Keefe) so that adds to the fun!

 

 

Now enjoy some Florence!