All it takes is all you've got

After reading April and Amber's blogs and contemplating ways to improve myself and feel better, I've decided to do go off sugar for the month of February.  Over the past few months I've seemed to get lazy in my resistance to sugar and have been consuming more often than I would like.  I don't think sugar is an evil which we should always avoid at all costs, but when I start seeing myself lacking moderation in my consumption, its time to stop that cycle. Wish me luck!

Biked 12.62 miles in 47:26

Aaron biked first, then I went at 8:00 am.  Sun was out and it was beautiful!  Felt great to get my heart and lungs pumping in the fresh air.

Went to the gym at 10:30 am and did about 30 minutes of core/hip work and 30 minutes of weight lifting.  Trying to get my hips strengthened.  Right hip flexor is still injured and weak. 

Biked 18.69 miles in 1:16 with 1,033 ft elevation change  Aaron rode the same route right after I got home, only he did it 3mph faster than me.  My hip is still weak and causes disruption in my daily routine of walking, squatting to pick things up, and standing on one leg at a time to put shoes or clothing on.

24 degrees this morning at 7 am when I hopped on the bike.  Sun came up over Standley Lake around mile 4 (SO beautiful). Despite wearing warm socks and biking booties, my feet started to feel cold around mile 8.  After a downhill in the shade near mile 10, my feet were painfully frozen.  I literally cried out loud three different times as I pedaled the remaining 8 miles home.  When I got home I cried again as I soaked my frozen feet in warm water.  My 3yo daughter came in to soak her feet with me and offer words of comfort as my feet regained feeling.  

Reminded me of the time I raced in Ames, IA for the NCAA Cross Country National Championships in November, 2000.  It was 4 degrees (-19 windchill).  My eyelashes, hands, nose, forearms and most painfully, my FEET were frozen.  After the race I went to the rental car to warm up and screamed as I regained feeling in my feet.  Frozen feet are really not my favorite thing. 

30 minutes on the stair-stepper, 20 minutes of dynamic stretching drills (lunges and skipping forwards, backwards, and sideways plus single leg squats and a bunch of leg raises.) 30 minutes of weight lifting.

My baby was really sad by the time I got back to the child care to pick the kids up.  She's sleeping now.  Poor girl, she was up twice last night puking.  Must have been something she ate?  Three loads of laundry later, I think she's feeling better. 

 I'm headed in for some more ART today, hoping to start feeling some improvement.  My hip has been pretty much in the same weakened injured state since last week.  No worse, no better.

Did 20 minutes of core/hip stuff this morning.  Later this afternoon, swam laps next to Burt's Mom.  She kicked my butt.  Thats because I'm a horrible swimmer. And obviously Burt's Mom has much more developed shoulders than me.  The picture gives her secret away.  My weak little arms couldn't move my body fast enough to stay warm enough to not be miserable.  I think my gym keeps their pool water unusually cold.  Counting blue tiles on the bottom of the pool with chills all over my body and water leaking into my goggles.  Fun.

I was attacked by a stomach flu bug yesterday evening. My stomach began eliminating its contents around 7:30 p.m. and didn't stop until after midnight at which point I was extremely thirsty and went to the kitchen to get some water.  The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor and Aaron was shaking me trying to wake me up.  I had a bump on my head, couldn't talk very clearly, and was sweating all over.  He carried me back to bed, got me a bowl, I puked some more and went back to bed.  He also got me some saltines and electrolyte drink and I nibbled/sipped a couple of times in the night.  I'm starting to get my energy back now, but I think I'm going to take a rest day.

Aaron was so helpful and caring.  His reward?  He's puking now. 

Yes, I seriously slept 10 hours last night.  Aaron left for Seattle yesterday afternoon so I didn't have anyone to hang out with after the kids were in bed. I was feeling tired probably from my illness and I didn't really feel like wasting my time watching a movie when I could be peacefully sleeping.  Also my baby was having a hard time falling to sleep so I just held her and let her cuddle with me in bed and the next thing I knew it was midnight and we had been asleep for hours.  I put her back in her crib at midnight and slept until 6am when she woke up for the day.

Went to the gym and decided my hip felt good enough to try running today, so I carefully ran 2 miles in 18 minutes.  My hip was slightly tight, but definitely improving.  Then I hopped on the elliptical and did a 30 minute workout.  Threw a random sampling of surges with 1 minute rest in between each; I think it was something like this: 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 30 sec, 1 min, 1 min, 30 sec, 1 min.  Just did what I felt up for in the moment.   It felt good to get my heart beating fast and the sweat dripping.  The guy next to me kept giving me strange looks when I did my surges as he observed my speed go up into the 13+mph range.  It was funny.  

Another funny moment was when one of the Bally's trainers, Margie took her step class out of the aerobics room to do lunges around the track. It was like watching a mother duck lead her ducklings through their first walk across a street.  Margie was smiling and waving at friends while doing her lunges in perfect form.  A couple of other enthusiasts were of similar cheery attitude while powering through their lunges, and then there were those few new ducklings who were in obvious pain, trying to simplify the lunges by doing some kind of penguin walk.  Good entertainment.

I also did some core/hip work and weight lifting afterwards. Great workout today!  Feeling happier about life.  Glad that I'm over my illness and on my way to being healed from my injury.  I'm going to see my ART guy, Richey again this afternoon and then I'll rest Sunday and pray I can run a little more on Monday.