Full Knee Revolt (aka 107 days left to train)

Greetings blog following friends…

Bad news.  My knees are in total revolt.  There have been many memos, a mediator, and after 6 long days of negotiations the knees have won.

What does this mean?

Well, it means that WALKING is the new plan.  For the time being I’m going to take some time off of running, at least 2 weeks (then I’ll give it a try again).  While it totally bums me out, because I really had my heart set on running, I’m going to walk instead, brisk and long walking.

Here’s the new plan for next week:  Walk 30-45 mins as my knees allow.  If I can do 45 mins, then that’s what I’ll do, if my knee(s) are being jerks then I’m just going to do 30 minutes.  And if they’re really being jerks then HELLO Gazelle Glider for the next few weeks.

So, I’m bracing myself for the possibility of walking the 10K.  I’m walking around a 15 minute mile now, and with any luck I’ll be able to walk that 10K in an hour and 45 minutes.  That seems doable.

So that’s the update.

Boo.

Michael Weston (aka Day 16)

Most of you know how much I love Michael Weston (of Burn Notice for those of you who live under a rock) .  And by “love” I mean obsessive-crazy-over-the-top love (for a fictional character)… I wish I were Michael Weston — a bad ass [burned] spy with a heart of gold.  Oh ya.

I often think about what Michael Weston would do in any given situation…and in this running scenario he would do it and do it hard (that sounded dirtier than I meant it).

And so I have decided to work out like I was going to take Fi’s place by Michael’s side and need to kick some ass and perhaps run a lot…and maybe if I were lucky get to spend the night in his loft…if you know what I mean.

This running thing isn’t so bad (shhh! don’t tell Amanda I said that) — I credit the Chi Running philosophy and the leg drains.  They are pretty fantastic, plus you get to lay down for 3-5 minutes, and I like that a lot!

So my knee is still hurting, it makes crunchy noises now which is a little disconcerting.  There’s a chance that I might be run walking this 10K sucker come Oct. 24th, but I’m going to keep on trying…keep on going…because Michael Weston could be beat up, dripping with blood from a gunshot wound, get run over by a car all the while in the dizzying Miami heat and that man could run a 10K no problem…and kick some ass along the way!

Ooooh that I were Michael Weston…

Ouch (aka Day 6)

So today was a running day — an alternating running and walking day.  My knee still hurts, in fact everything hurts, just not as specifically painful as my left knee, I tried to run and accept the pain as much as I could, and then backed off and went to walking…

I hurt all over the place.  And I’m still waiting for a memo from my Left Knee.

I don’t have anything clever or funny to say today it seems…so I will refer you to yesterday’s comment by Geraldine.

She cracks me up!!!  And she’s doing the plan too…Which is rad.  So a shout out to you Gege!  We’re going to be RUNNERS (or so the plan says).

Have a good Friday my friends and get out there and do your fitness thing this weekend!  You know you wanna!!!

Lower Body Revolt (aka Day 5)

Have I mentioned that this sucks?  Well, just in case I haven’t mentioned that yet, it does.  But that’s the price that must be paid right?  The suck payment?  And if I deposit enough sucking into my account then I am going to be able to invest in endorphins right?  That’s what I’m counting on here.  That someday this all feels good.  My fit friends say they like being sore, I, of course look at them like they’re CRAZY, because that’s a crazy thing to say and a crazy thing to like.  I’m banking on that mythical runners high (which I have to admit I think sounds like bullshit) because that sounds like it might make this all more fun.

And so, until then….I went off to the pharmacy yesterday in an attempt to appease my pissed off left knee, and picked up another ice/hot pack, (so now I have 2, one can be hot and one can be cold or both can be cold or whatever my body wants), Icy-Hot, Advil Liqui-Gels, some new squishy sporty socks and a stopwatch.  Pretty sexy stuff right?

You’d think my left knee would be grateful for all that stuff, for all of the attention, and for the heartfelt apology memo:

Dear Left Knee,

Please accept my heartfelt apology for not sending you a special request for this new running thing.  I get the sense that you’re unhappy.  I really want things to work out between us and am willing to work with you moving forward and I need you to get on board.  So, Left Knee, what’s it going to take to make that happen?

Sincerely,

Laura

So far, no response.  But I’ll keep you posted.

Luckily today was a walking day — and because my knee is being such a jerk I decided to use my low impact Gazelle Glider (yes that Tony Little contraption — don’t make fun, that thing is rad) so before the Gazelling for 30mins, I stretched out my quadriceps and did some other stretches and the low/no impact made things better, but still a little hurty.  The Chi Running book talks about warming up your joints before running and stretching after, but I think I may need to do both before and also stretching after.  This body needs all the help it can get!!!

I think the leg drains are saving my life in general, but my shin muscles (not in a splinty way) are definitely feeling the work out.  And my inner thighs.  These guys have not been working for quite some time so it’s a bit of a shock.  Who am I kidding…this whole thing is a bit of shock!

So my knee is still unhappy and being loud about it.  Jerk.

Perhaps I’ll get a memo soon…

This Kinda Sucks (aka Day 3)

I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna…

…but I gotta…(long pause) … so I’m gonna  (because I am writing this friggin blog and now I totally have to because people will know if I don’t.  Damn it.  Who’s idea was it to tell everyone about this.  Damn it.)

And that’s pretty much how it went in my mind this morning.

All I really wanted was coffee. Mmm. Coffee. Coffee is my favorite thing… I love coffee more than A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G so I have decided to play this game with myself: I can’t have coffee UNTIL I go and do my training. Which is supposed to motivate me.

This will power thing is pretty hard.

At least it was just walking this morning. JUST WALKING. Chi Walking requires focus and form analysis and all kinds of stuff, so it’s not “just walking” it’s walking with a lot of intention. Which makes walking more challenging.

But it’s done and now I’m sipping a cup of yummy coffee. Mmmm. Coffee, I love you SOOO much.

In other news, I talked to my mom this morning and she said she would start training to walk the 5K!  Which is awesome!!! Go mom!!! You totally rock.

What Was I THINKING? (aka Day 2)

What the hell was I thinking?  Running?  Me?

ME RUNNING?!?!?!

This is what my body had to say about the whole thing:

Dear Laura,

We got the memo that you’re planning on running.  We are unfamiliar with that term.

Sincerely,

-Your Body

And so I ran the 1 minute and walked the 90 seconds…and I did that for as long as I could (which was about 4 times of that and then the 90 seconds started to get longer and longer and the 1 minute got shorter and shorter…so I didn’t quite manage the plan) which seemed like forever.  I mostly did it though…and that’s what matters right?

I did do the leg drains and the stretching and I’m sure that’s going to help.

I’m a little worried about how I’m going to feel tomorrow!!! (HELLO Advil & Traumeel)

And so it’s done.  Only 131 days until October 24th.