The Little Things
March 3, 2014

At Christmas I was typing out my 2013 in Running post, and wrote that my 7 miler for my fall half marathon had been my favorite run of the year, followed by my 7 miler from my spring half marathon training. I went back and looked at 2012, and again a 7 miler had been my best run. Interesting trend, right? I’ve had plenty of other good runs, but each of these stands out as a really fantastic run. I guess my body likes the distance?

On Saturday morning I set out for my 7 miler for this training cycle, and I was hopeful that it would also be as fantastic as my other 7 milers. The first mile was ROUGH. Most steps I took hurt, and I could tell I was just slow and achy. (sidenote: I’ve started to realize that it really does take me 2-3 miles to really loosen up. This must be why I didn’t love running when I’d try to do a mile or two at a time!). By about mile 2 or 2.5 I felt myself loosen up a bit and felt myself hit a flow.

I ran past my car at mile 3.66 and paused my watch to drink, eat, and take a salt packet. I’m trying to get my body used to ingesting more salt on runs, both to help the POTS and the leg cramps I seem to get during half marathons. I stopped for maybe 2 minutes, then kept going.

I had planned to stop at exactly 7 miles, but I was feeling so good and was so enjoying the moment that before I knew it I had hit 7.5 miles (although, according to my garmin, I was at 7.7– was my Runkeeper app or the garmin correct? If the garmin is correct, then my pace per mile is definitely lower- hmmm.)! I’m pretty sure I had a smile on my face for the last bit of the run, and it felt pretty effortless.

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I felt like I paced myself relatively well. My 2nd or 3rd mile tends to be my slowest mile, and I definitely maintained a good pace for the 2nd half of my run. I can’t complain too much! Most of my runs past 5-6 miles involve my IT bands hurting, but this run didn’t at all! No body parts really hurt, although I noticed that, just like last week’s run, my left calf muscle felt a little tight around the 3-4 mile mark.

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Jillian Michaels kept me company… or, at least, her podcast did 🙂 I came in and stretched, foam rolled, did a plank series, took an ice bath, showered, and ate a delicious breakfast! I went to Cracker Barrel with co-workers at the end of the week, and had one huge pancake left. I also had some hashbrowns, so I warmed them both up and covered the pancake in pumpkin butter! Delicious! I followed my run up with some time in the kitchen making root beer float cupcakes!

So, yet another 7 miler complete, and it was, as the others before it, really wonderful. These are the runs that I’m thankful for in life.

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you have a distance that you really love to run? What’s your favorite post-run routine or meal?

March 2, 2014

Happy March, and another week of training is done! I can tell that my mileage has increased, as my body has been a bit more achy than usual. I’ve definitely used my foam roller, Stick, and tennis ball most days this week. I did a lifting workout this week with my brother, and as we were doing it he laughed and told me I wouldn’t be able to move my arms the next day. He wasn’t joking. It hurt so bad I seriously considered not even drinking my coffee the next day, and my arm would shake just holding my coffee. So… that means I’ll be doing that arm series again, because clearly I need it. Here’s how the week looked:

So that’s how the week is going. My IT bands tend to start getting quite a bit more fussy once I pass the 6 mile mark in training, so we’ll see how it goes. They were just fine on the 6.2 mile run. I missed my hour of pilates the day after my long run since I had to run on Sunday instead of Saturday, and I’m definitely feeling that today. I definitely need more pilates next week!

Now it’s your turn to share! Did you try any new workouts this past week?

February 27, 2014

Happy Thursday! Last week was a really tough week, so this week’s “thankful thursday” has more to do with last week (and me looking back on it). When stressful times and loss happens, the people that step up and the things that happen can be so meaningful, and in that vain- here’s what I’m thankful for at the moment.

I’m thankful for FaceTime. I wrote an entire post on this earlier in the week, but I really am so thankful for the technology (and the person), that allowed me to “be present” at my grandpa’s funeral without actually being there.

I’m thankful for my sweet friend “L”. After my grandpa died, she called me and asked if I’d like to come visit her and spend the night on Friday night. She knows me well, and knew it would be good for me to get away. I headed to her place after work, and we went out to dinner, watched a movie, and the olympics Friday night. She sat with me while I watched the funeral on Saturday morning (after we went to a bakery for breakfast!), and spent the rest of the day hanging out. It was so good for me to just get away, not do any work, and care for myself.

I’m thankful for my coworkers. I love having co-workers and so many friends who are counselors. When the “tough things of life” happen, they know the “right” things to say (vs some of the ignorant but trying to be helpful statements that some can make). It’s been fantastic to have support! My boss let me leave a few hours early one of the days just to care for myself, and another day a co-worker took me to Starbucks! It was so thoughtful.

I’m thankful for lessons learned. Case in point: learning about the comparison trap through my POTS diagnosis. Lessons being learned aren’t so much fun in the moment, but can be so beneficial in the long run! I’m thankful for those lessons I’ve learned, whether they were easy or difficult to learn.

I’m thankful for my older younger brother. He’s been a huge support this last  week. We talked for over an hour, processing what we were going through with the loss of our grandpa, and what we were feeling. Conversations like these are painful (because it’s painful to confront and experience our tough emotions), but they are so good. There were definitely tears, but I ended it in laughter and a smile.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you thankful for right now? Have you learned a good lesson that was difficult at the time, but beneficial now? 

February 26, 2014

Ah, the comparison trap. It seems like the need to compare ourselves to others is ingrained in us when we’re young, and it becomes an automatic (and often unhealthy and toxic) part of our thought patterns. I guess it’s part of being human.

I, being human, have often found myself inclined to compare myself to others. It used to be far stronger than it is now, in part due to POTS. With POTS, life can be somewhat unpredictable, and it certainly makes daily living things a bit more difficult. The fatigue, sick feelings, and the body pain that come with POTS can make life really difficult to live at times, and certainly can change daily functioning up quite a bit.

I did an entire post on how POTS changed how I exercised and how I had to start up exercise again, but one thing I didn’t talk about is how that plays into the comparison trap. The thing is, I can compare myself all the time to others around me, but with POTS I play with a different hand of cards (of course we each have things that make life just a little more difficult for us).

This came to a head with running. No matter what I do, I cannot run consistently with miles in the 8 and 9 minute range. It doesn’t matter how much I compare myself to them, beat myself up, or try to train to get to that point, I can’t because it’s not safe due to the beta blocker that I’m on.

I can’t even really compare myself to myself (although I sure do!). Some days the POTS symptoms feel fairly manageable and minimal, and some days they feel out of control. There are some days that keeping an 11:15 pace while running feels just fine, and there are other days that keeping a 12:30 pace feels overwhelmingly difficult.

POTS has taught me that there are things in life that pop up that just make life difficult, and to beat myself up because of those things I cannot control is absolutely ridiculous. Maybe your thing isn’t POTS, but I bet that you’re busy comparing yourself to others or yourself. The thing is- it isn’t fair to do to yourself because we don’t enter in to the same thing with the exact same deck of cards.

POTS has taught me to be gracious to myself and to others in terms of my judgments and comparisons… I guess that’s one of the good things that’s come out of this decade long journey…. The comparison trap is ugly and certainly doesn’t help us out in our own personal growth, and every bit of it that we can let go is going to be beneficial to us. I push myself as I can, but I’ve also learned to treat myself with kindness and grace.

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you struggle with comparing yourself to others? 

February 25, 2014

On Sunday I set out for my latest training run- a 10k. This was going to be a “two in one run”, as I was using it as my 5k virtual run for February as well.

Every month this year, Licorice and Olives is hosting a virtual race, so make sure to check it out if you’re interested! I had gone to brunch with a bunch of friends after church (I hadn’t run before church because there was ice on the road and I obviously wasn’t going to risk injury on that), and was definitely full when I left their house. I ended up waiting about 50 minutes to go run, but I could tell the first half of the run that my stomach was still full, and that led to a bit slower pace. I hit the first 3.1 in 35:14, which is fine, but obviously no where close to my 5k PR. Once I hit the 3 mile mark, I seemed to hit my groove (and my stomach felt better), and the rest of the run was smooth.

The time flew by, and before I knew it I had hit 6.2 miles (I had originally set out for 5.75 miles). No real achiness or pain (except for about half a mile in the 3 mile range my right calf muscle was a bit tight-weird), and I had a smile on my face! I try to only let myself listen to the Jillian Michaels podcast, as well as the Mesnicks’ podcast, when I work out, so even though I wasn’t thrilled to run today (before I started the run, I mean…), I did have something to look forward to 🙂 The “feels like” during the run was 17-18 degrees, but it felt warm in comparison to the cold it’s been lately. It’s all about perspective, right?

Overall this was a really solid run, and I was pretty happy with it. I ended the run with some coconut water, stretching, cool down planks, and an ice bath while watching House of Cards.

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Evidence of a good run, huh?

I think I’ll go foam roll now…

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you have anything special for when you exercise that helps to motivate you at all? 

 

February 24, 2014

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” – 2nd Corinthians 4: 16-18

Two weeks ago I got a tough text message (yes- a text) that said that my grandpa had gone into the ICU due to pneumonia. Quickly he was sedated and put on a ventilator to allow him to try to fight the pneumonia (he’s had Parkinson’s for the last few years, so his health hasn’t been good in a few years. It was a tough week, as every time a text came through or my phone rang, I was wondering if it was the call to tell me he had died. They took him off the ventilator last Sunday night at 4:50 pm, and he lived until Monday night at 5:00 pm, when he passed away. I’m no stranger to grandparent’s dying, as I’ve lost my other grandpa and my grandma.

I got the call right after I had hopped on my bike trainer for a short afternoon ride. The ride was fueld purely by emotion, but overall the ride was good. Last week was tough, for multiple reasons, and it’s still tough today.

I wasn’t able to go to the funeral (again, for multiple reasons), and this was really hard as well. I had mentioned on Tuesday to my mom that maybe my brothers and I could be face timed or skyped into the funeral so that we could be “present” and say goodbye to my grandpa as well.

So today, I want to say “thank you” to the kind stranger who held my dad’s phone for an hour so that I could be facetimed into my grandpa’s funeral. I’m sure it wasn’t easy at all to hold a phone steady for an hour, but she was willing to do it, and gave me a priceless gift. She gave me the gift of being present, of being able to celebrate my grandpa’s life. The kindness of a stranger means so so much to me.

photoIt was far more clear than this, but you get the idea of what it looked like.

I’m sad for me and sad for my family. I’ll miss my grandpa. But I’m happy for him to be out of this body, that he is heaven where pain and suffering no longer exist. And I’m thankful that I could be present, even at a distance.

Now it’s your turn to share! Who would you like to say “thank you” to today? Have you either done or received an act of kindness lately?

February 23, 2014

FINALLY- I got in a run outside!! After only one other run off the treadmill since 2014 started, I was interested to see how this run would go! It was tough, and my legs felt incredibly heavy the entire time. This mixed with there still being icy spots on the road (lots of weaving and time spent walking over the ice), and it was obviously not my best run by any means. That hardly mattered, though, as I finally got the chance to actually run outside. The temperature when I left was a “feels like” temp of 0, and I definitely had a few moments where I really felt cold. Didn’t matter- I was on real pavement:)

That was quickly followed by an ice/snow storm on Monday, which messed up my workouts on Monday/Tuesday (I would normally lift monday and teach pilates Tuesday morning- neither happened). My grandpa died on Monday night, and that 10 mile bike ride was fueled totally by emotion. I switched things up, and had a pretty good week. Here’s what it looked like:

So that’s how the week looked.

Now it’s your turn to share! Did anything big happen in your week?

February 21, 2014

This week was the final week of the  the Move Nourish Believe Challenge with Lorna Jane and Sweat Pink (you can read about the move challenge and nourish challenge by clicking on the links). It’s been really fun to have little (but not too time consuming) challenges throughout February! With the nasty weather outside, having a little extra motivation for health is pretty great!

This week had multiple challenges that were perfect for my life. My grandpa died on Monday afternoon, so Monday and Tuesday were particularly good for me.

Monday: SPOIL YOURSELF! I had planned on going to lift, but an ice storm moved in so I decided to head home after work and get in a bike trainer ride. I had just hopped on my bike to rid when my mom called to tell me my grandpa had died. I had an awesome ride fueled solely by emotion, followed by a soak in the bathtub. It was definitely an evening to take care of myself.

Tuesday: 5 mindful minutes. As soon as I woke up I remembered my grandpa (those first precious seconds after you wake up when you’ve lost someone are so nice… when you don’t remember that the loss has happened), and I decided in that moment to get in my 5 mindful minutes then. I sat in bed for 6 minutes with my eyes closed and breathed deeply. It was a really grounding way to start my day.

Wednesday: Be Happy- Show Us Your Happy Place! I have a few happy places, but one of them is Marco Island, Florida. If you click on that link I think you’ll see why 🙂

Thursday: Let us know what you’re thankful for! Done- you can see my “Thankful Thursday” post here.

Friday: Shout Out to your #1 Supporter. Oh my, is this difficult. I think this sort of changes from time to time, and situation to situation. One of the most stable supporters is my oldest younger brother, who is in the Air Force.  He goes on runs with me, makes sure we talk at least once a week, is always on the look out for funny or interesting articles for me, and is so often affirming of me. This week especially with our grandpa dying, he has been an overwhelming support. I was lucky when he was born…

So that’s it for the Move, Nourish, Believe challenge. You can check out more about Lorna Jane here.

February 20, 2014

Happy Thursday! I hope you’ve been having a great week. It’s finally starting to warm up here (no “feels like -25” mornings here this week!), and I’m loving it! Here’s what I’m thankful for right now:

I’m thankful for the Olympics! Yes- I know that I started my list last week with the same thing, but I’m still so thankful! I’m extra thankful for the fun and enjoyment of the Olympics this week because this past weekend I had a huge amount of work to do, and it was made much better because they were on TV. I love the suspense of all the events, and love hearing the stories that help to power the competitors!

I’m thankful for the tea I brought from Cuenca, Ecuador. The person I was staying with went out and bought me one of my favorite teas I had while I was there to bring back to this country. It’s a chamomile tea with honey in it (how do they do that?!), and it’s so warm and relaxing. When I drink it I feel like I’m sitting around their kitchen table in Ecuador, and it’s full of great memories.

I’m thankful for bananas. Not only are bananas one of the most psychologically healthy foods, but they are delicious! I eat bananas 2-3 mornings a week for breakfast (or, at least, first breakfast), and I love them!

I’m thankful for my electric blanket. One of the great joys of winter is turning my heat blanket on about an hour before I get into bed, because once I get into bed, it is so relaxing and cozy! I don’t sleep with it on, but as I fall asleep, I feel like I’m being hugged by heat, and I love it.

I’m thankful for my mind. To have the ability to remember things and think things through in logical ways is a really great thing, and something that people don’t always have. I’m so thankful that I have a working mind.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’re you feeling thankful for this week?

February 19, 2014

Back in April of 2012 I went to see a sports medicine doctor because I had shin splints. Beyond some PT exercises, he also gave me 2 BioSkin compression sleeves. I decided to give them a try, and they soon become one of my most important running items ever.

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Above are some pictures to prove to you that I really love these sleeves: Monumental Half Marathon 2013, Indy Mini 2013, Monumental Half Marathon 2012. I LOVE running in these compression sleeves, and I can tell a huge different when I don’t have them on during a run. I do run occasionally without them, but I don’t like the feeling at all. These sleeves are great quality and have held up perfectly for almost 2 years now!

You can read all about the benefits of compression here. In a nutshell, compression can help with muscle damage (less DOMS later on!), muscle fatigue, helps blood flow from the legs, and can lead to a better and faster recovery.

To me, these compression sleeves are so much more than running though. With POTS, blood can easily pool in the legs (much more than the average person). Between that and overall blood flow issues due to the POTS, I not only can get really dizzy when I exercise, but I get really sore and have a higher likelihood of injury. These compression sleeves are true lifesavers for me. If I know I have to be on my feet for long periods of time (even when not exercising), I wear them to keep proper blood flow. I also wear them often on long car trips and flights, again for healthy blood flow (and to avoid DVT!).

These sleeves come with me on almost every trip and to almost ever race… at least over the last 22 months. If you’re looking for high quality compression sleeves that won’t stretch out or lose their shape, then these are your sleeves. They are definitely worth the investment. I’ll be wearing these sleeves as I train for my 5th half marathon this spring as well!

I love this product so much that I started communicating with BioSkin via twitter in the summer of 2013, and ended up sharing a bit of my story with them. You can check it out here (and share your story with them as well!). I want to mention here that I was in no way asked to write this post, but thought I would share with each of you this product that I truly value (obviously since I’ve been wearing them for 2 years now)! BioSkin has many other products beyond compression sleeves (like foot & ankle braces, knee braches, thigh supports, back braces, and wrist braces). Make sure to check them out!

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you use compression during or after exercise? Have you ever heard of BioSkin before?