Back With a Capital Vengence!

AM: 10 on the stationary bike.

PM: Massage. Rough life. 

5 months post-surgery this week and I am now feeling about as good as I was at about 2.5 months. I guess that is both a good thing (that I am getting better) and a terrible thing (since I regressed so much). Hopefully it is all ups from here on out. I am rewarding myself (for enduring these past 5 months of absolute joy) with a big trip in August, but I can't decide which to do. 

 1) John Muir Trail - I have wanted to do this forever and it looks amazing! My highly potential hiking partner just bailed so I am looking into doing it solo, but that might be pretty rough since I don't know what kind of shape I am going to be in a few months.

2) The Mont Blanc Circuit - Looks even more amazing. It wouldn't be as far and I wouldn't have to carry as much gear as the JMT and there is wine at the end of each day of hiking :) Will cost a ton, but whatever it is just money.

3) Machu Picchu - Have wanted to do this forever as well and I have enough Sky Miles to get there for FREE. August is kind of a crummy time of year to go there though.

Where should I go? Any other ideas?

AM: Bike & PT

PM: Bike, Elliptical, & Restorative Yoga

Rest day of sorts. 

AM: Stat bike.

PM: Memory Grove, City Creek, Aves loop on the bike. 

Biking, beers, and more biking in Park City. Got initiated into the real world of road biking today. Rode with peeps with matching outfits and even got yelled at by a car. Man in large truck yelled at me to get off the road and onto the sidewalk in not so nice of words. 

Went for a short hike on the BST tonight to watch the Super Moon rise. Wish I was in the desert with that huge of moon.

Hips are starting to feel normal again. Please, please last this time :)

Rode from Rose Park to Farmington on the Legacy Parkway. Averaged 17.5 mph. I have no idea if that is fast or slow.

I am starting to feel like there may be a little running in my future :)

"Hiked" to the Gateway and back from me casa. Guy selling Jazz tickets on the corner offered me a ticket in exchange for my coffee. He said my coffee was worth more so I kept my coffee. Then headed to the gym for some elliptical fun and watched the end of my first ever Jazz game. And if that wasn't exciting enough, I RAN a whole .10 miles on the TM :)

First migraine in months. Wonky vision how I haven't missed you :(

AM: Stationary bike.

PM: Legacy bike ride. Pretty sure it was into the wind both ways.

Officially on the up and up again. Got cleared for running today (again). I don't know how I could possibly ease into running any more slowly than last time, but I will try.

AM1: Elliptical

AM2: Bike & PT

Best day ever! Rode up Emigration for my first road biking canyon adventure and surprisingly made it to the top of Little Mountain. I guess I am not in as awful as shape as I think or maybe all that flat biking has paid off. I even chicked a total of 5 dudes on the way up :)

Still miserably full from brunch at Ruth's with a group of awesome FRBers, I went to a foam rolling yoga workshop dealy at the Avenues Yoga. Foam rollers are not just for IT bands - I had no idea you could do so much with it. Highly recommend this class for all runners. The instructor even made spinach smoothies at the end of class. I so want a Vitamix. Finished up the day with a fabulous dinner at Oasis, lots of beets and goat cheese - yum!   

Hiked around on the BST to get some sunshine. Hiking is so slow so I ran a baby bit. Couldn't help myself. Must be very careful though seeing as I already tripled my mileage from last week :)

It is official, I can start running again. But I have lots of rules... For the next week I can only run 2 X 5 minutes every other day on the treadmill. I need to stick to the rules and not go ape crazy so as not to have a repeat of what happened in March.

I am not exactly happy with the level of pain I still have, but at this point I have to be healed and just probably have a bunch of scar tissue that needs to get broken up. I can elliptical and bike as much as I want though with pain as my guide.

AM: RUNNING and PT

PM: Mellow ride on the Legacy to loosen up the legs after the BIG run this morning followed by pizza at Este to celebrate!!!

I am super sore in weird places from the big mile run yesterday. Can't wait to give it another go tomorrow!

Oh and I slightly impulsively bought a plane ticket to Switzerland today. I am going to give the Mont Blanc trek a go since I have been feeling pretty darned good these days. If I end up all lame again I will just go on a 2-week winery tour instead. Win win either way. I am also going to try and volunteer at the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc which would be awesome!!! The French call their aid stations refreshment posts - how cute is that? 

Stretch, strengthen, and yoga day. I am trying this whole listen to your body thing and I don't think I was quite ready to give running another go.

Since everyone has been whining about sprinklers lately... This morning I was enjoying my coffee and reading a magazine at the bus stop when out of nowhere I get blasted with a hose with similar water pressure of a fire hose which literally gets my pushed out into the street earning a few angry fist pumps from one insensitive driver. Woman responsible for said hose is laughing her @ss off and as I am trying to wring out my pants and jacket I get swarmed by bees. Yes bees and I am scared to death of bees. My grandmother just sent me this lotion called Bee Nectar and it smells like smarties and obviously it is called bee nectar for a reason since the bees are not swarming anyone else at the bus stop. I put my sopping wet jacket over my head and hoped for the best. The only good thing to come out of this morning is that my fellow bus stop peeps who have never once acknowledged my existence in the last 2 years acknowledged me today :)

AM: Some biking followed by 2 X 5 minutes on the TM

PM: A big hike up to the chocolate shop - feel like that should count for something. I can officially, totally, completely, comfortably sit cross-legged again - yay!  

Make sure to check out the REI sale that starts today. It is serious!!! 

AM: Stationary bike and elliptical

A bike pedal debacle kept me from making it up to the Jeremy Ranch Road so I rode up Emigration instead. Can't wait until I can run; bikes are too complicated. I got to the top of Little Mountain slightly slower than last week because my left quad was on fire. I think this is good sign since it may indicate that I am actually using that leg now.  My left quad is still noticeably smaller than the right. Then b-fast at Ruth's - I hope we can keep this up all summer :)

PM: My prescribed 2 x 5 minutes on the TM. Felt lame for going to the gym on such a beautiful day, but it was only for 15 minutes and I am trying to be a compliant patient. That makes 3.4 miles this week, which is up from 0.1 the following week. On the up and ups for sure!

Fun multi-sport day! Rode with Andrea on the Jordan River/Legacy parkway and then sucked it up horribly at the bowling alley with a group of fun FRBers. Then against my better judgement I tried to play soccer during the eclipse and am paying for it today :( I can still see though cuz we had those special glasses :)  

2 x 5 minutes of running. Darn those 10 minutes go fast. Can't wait until I get approved to do just a tad more :)

Memory Grove, City Creek, Aves bike loop. Can't wait until I can run this sucka! 

AM: Mega workout at PT this morning. Did these new airplane things, which made my legs have seizures. Can work on upping the running to 2 x 10 minutes this week - YAY! This is really going to work out for me this time...

PM: 2 x 7 minutes of running on the TM followed by Restorative Yoga at Mudita. Felt pretty rough towards the end of the "run" and probably should have stopped a little early. Hopefully I was just sore from the big workout this morning.

Anyone want to head to the REAL game on Tuesday? I have an in on 10 buck tickets.

AM: Stationary biking. My glutes are so sore from yesterday's mega PT day... it kinda feels like someone took a sledge hammer to the both of them.

PM: Quick ride around the Aves. My legs feel like crap - like fatigued, rather than pain and it is awesome!

2 x 6 minutes of running on the road. Breaking the rules, but I don't exactly have access to a treadmill.  

2 x 5 minutes running on the road. Breaking more rules, but tough! 

Tooled around on my ma's bike. Miss my bike :(

So stiff from miserable travel day yesterday. Can't say I have ever thought this before, but I can't wait to get back into my routine. I was starting to make some serious progress!!!

Ummm helloooo! Who knew there was a Culver's in Utah? Looks like I never have to go back to Wisconsin to get my fill of fried cheese... Ooooh and my fave flavor of custard is scheduled to make an appearance on June 7 - stoke!

AM: Stationary bike. CANNOT wait for bike ride tonight!

PM: Gorgeous night on the Legacy. Got stuck in the middle of a sea of spandex-ed guys and tried to hang for a good 3 miles. Got worked - it was awesome! 

So you want to run forever? This article, Long May You Run, made me very happy and hopeful or maybe it was the 1.6 miles I crushed this morning - ha!

AM: 2 x 8 minutes of RUNNING - yippy!!! 

PM: Elliptical and well-needed restorative yoga

Uber stiff still. Stationary biking.