Earning Our Road Rights

We recently become hooked on the hilarious BBC show Top Gear.

I could generally give a rat's ass about cars, so it was a major surprise that I found this show remotely appealing. But it's Pythonesque and I routinely laugh my ass off... so if in doubt, give it a shot (you can find it on BBC America).

To illustrate ... one laugh from this morning, as they prepared to race a couple of beaters across Botswana (yes, THAT Botswana), noting that one of them has cardboard taped over the battery because it "shorts on the bonnet," and "the breaks are terrible, they only work on that one wheel...." one host pointed out, regarding the rough terrain of central Africa, "The people of Surrey think they need 4 wheel drive cars because they live on a lane that sometimes has leaves on it."

Point is... this morning we were watching the guys race across London to see who could get to the airport first. One was driving a car, one was riding a bike and one was piloting a boat down the Thames.

Dudes. The bike WON.

It was priceless.

(Just as I was posting this, I heard one host say... "My car's on fire, but in a very specific place.")

Rolling Over

My sprint is in two weeks, and I thought I was going to be ok(ish)...

- my knee is back to normal
- my wrist is still stupidly painful, but surprisingly allows me to ride my bike
- my left foot had been almost back to normal

Note the past tense regarding the plantar fasciitis.

Got up last night to feed Baby Bear and discovered the sharp pain and limping had returned. Was too upset to sleep, so thought long and hard about what to do.

PT Chris has been saying for weeks I shouldn't do the race because it's too risky with all the half-healed injuries. Around 3:30 this morning, I finally accepted she's right.

So, I'm applying for a medical rollover for my triathlon.

Part of me is sad - it will be the first time in 4 years I haven't done this race, and worst of all, it means I don't get a triathlon this year.

But my overwhelming emotion is relief, so I guess I'm doing the right thing.

I'm giving myself more time to heal, and more time focus on a reasonable plan for finishing my goal race in August.

But I'm still reeaaaaally bummed.

Epiphanies, Plans and Little Piggies

I ran 4 miles today.

Farthest ever. I suppose I should admit I had a couple of walk breaks, but in a good, (mostly) planned way, so I'm not ashamed.

See, I had an epiphany.

I have accepted that I will need walk breaks to make it through the half marathon. I was just trying to figure out how to do it without making myself crazy with beeping watches and walking in seemingly random spots. (I think I might be too OCD to do like a run 10 walk 2, because I simply can't bring myself to do it. It's not tied to mileage, and for whatever reason my hardwired little brain can't deal with that.)

Anyhoo. I was sayin.

I had an epiphany that turned into a plan. I was going to walk the aid stations anyway... so I'll make my 2 minute walk breaks start at each aid station!

(I realize many of you are now saying "um, yeah. DUH." You'll have to forgive me, my mind has been otherwise occupied of late.)

The obvious flaw in my plan, of course, is if there are not aid stations at each mile. But that's ok, because I plan to carry my own bottle of Nuun and there will surely be mile markers.

Oh, and it does seem to be true... if I can force myself to keep running past the half hour mark, it seems to numb the suckage and things get a bit easier.

Today's 4 miles (with walk breaks, which obviously increased towards the end) took about an hour (mile 1: 14:30, mile 2: 13:48, mile 3: 15:27, mile 4: 16:36). So, worst case, I figure I can do the half in about 3:15... sucky, yes.... but I'll take it.

Regarding the numbed suckage... even though I had to walk a bit more in that last mile, when I hit my driveway I didn't actually need to stop. That's HUGE for me. I could have run a bit more, but am trying to reign in the mileage increases and not get hurt more, plus my 'this little piggy had none' toe got another squishy blister that needed attention.

Do you have any idea how cool it is that the reason I stopped running was that my squishy blister was grossing me out, and NOT because I my heart was going to, ya know, burst out of my chest?

General Status, Blogger Hookup & Gratuitous Cuteness

General Status
I wish I had more to report besides my astounding mediocrity and continued battles with injury, but alas, I do not.

Basically I'm doing as much as I can to train... which at the moment is barely 1-2 times a week. Pathetic, I know. But it is what it is and life goes on.

Lest I despair too much over my impending failures to PR (and *gasp* to potentially DNF), I keep reminding myself of two things:
- I'm not going to do myself any favors by training through injuries, so I've got to chill
- Baby Bear is only going to be this amazing little package of baby goodness ONCE, so quit worrying about my races and enjoy him

Blogger Hookup
We stopped in Wisconsin on our way to visit family in Minnesota this weekend for a quick visit with the always fabulous (and temporarily on blogging hiatus) Wylee. As luck would have it, the newest member of her family happened to be there too!

Just to prove once again how amazingly sweet she is, she wouldn't let me go without a bouquet of lilacs cut from the outrageously beautiful trees that surround her charming home. They're my absolute favorite and made the hotel room feel a million times more welcoming.


Gratuitous Cuteness
Baby Bear doesn't seem to feel the same way about Martha Stewart as his momma.

Will Work for Chocolate

So, newsflash. This whole running thing? I suck donkey balls.

Big chocolate salty ones.

Just gutted out a crappy 3 miles on the treadmill. It's a glorious 60 degree day with no wind to speak of, and I'm dreamilling because I can't justify pounding the pavement with all my current injuries (hey guess what?! my shoulder started acting up again too! that brings the total number of simultaneously non-cooperative body parts to 4! 5 if you count the blister on my 'this little piggy had none' left toe!)

I've already accepted the June sprint is a wash. All I want to do is finish... my grand plans for finally finishing a sprint in under 2 hours are so out the window. (Although I will admit if I can't beat least year's pregnant time I'll be seriously ticked at myself.)

I'm having massive doubts about the half-marathon in August. I'm a month into my training plan and already nearly 2 weeks behind in the scheduled mileage. I'm doing what I can when my injuries allow it, and it's already starting to feel like that won't be good enough to get me through 13 miles.

I was already assuming I'd have to walk the aid stations at a minimum. Today I accepted I'd probably end up doing some version of a run/walk race. If you'd asked me a couple months ago I'd have said no way, but now I'll be thrilled if I can even pull that off.

My doctor insists that the effects of the pregnancy hormones on my joints should have long since worn off, and feels that can't possibly be related to my sudden onslaught of injuries. But I can't believe for one minute the pregnancy didn't have something to do with this. I'm doing barely any real training and falling apart at the seams.

On the bright side, I found something to help motivate me to get through the little training I can manage. Even though I'm barely scraping out 2-3 miles right now, it takes me so long I'm burning over 500 calories and very much feel the need for planned recovery nutrition afterwards.

Enter my latest impulse purchase...

I balked a little at the $23 price tag, and I was a little nervous because the last Clif recovery product I tried (orange mango) made me gag, but I've gotta say they NAILED it with this one.

Worth. Every. Penny.

Good enough there will likely be days I'll do the damn workout just to have the chocolate milk recovery goodness afterwards.

(Oh, and I recommend going ahead and mixing it with milk instead of water. YUM.)