More Chiropractic Fun!

Well, I've officially decided not to do the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler race next weekend.  This makes me very sad, but I think it's the best decision, given my current physical state.  I was given the green light earlier this week to get on the elliptical or the bike and then do a test run this weekend, but this week I've just felt entirely wiped out and I've gone to bed early nearly every night (last night I turned out my light at 8:15!).  So I've done absolutely nothing work-out wise.  I will get out my running shoes for a test run this weekend and see how things go, but I don't think it would be a good idea to try to hammer out 10 miles next week.

I saw Dr. Beck again this morning.  It hurt.  A LOT.  Here's his latest work on my knee & ITB:

Soon, my entire leg will be one huge bruise

I did go ahead and sign up to volunteer at the Cherry Blossom packet pick-up on Saturday, which guarantees me an entry in to next year's race.  Hopefully next year I'll be ready and injury free!

I'm also still going to attempt to complete the Crystal Run 5k Fridays (each Friday in April).  Hopefully my knee will allow a 5k without significant pain!

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #6

"A picture of you when you were little"

I just loved wearing this outfit!  I thought it was German Lederhosen.  It was my favorite.

It hurts so good

Friday, I saw my normal chiropractor, Dr. Beck.  He worked on my knee and really dug in there.  Oh BOY, did it hurt!  I couldn't stop grimacing or groaning.  He made me sweat, it was so painful.  I asked him when I could run again, and his answer was, "when your knee starts to cooperate."  Boo.  Stupid knee.  I have a race in 2 weeks!  I also had Dr. Beck look at my back, as it was painful all day on Thursday at work, and I was up all night trying to find a position to sleep in that didn't hurt.  He told me I had a rib out.  So he did a little work on that. Ouch.

Saturday I finally redeemed my gift certificate for a massage that my boss and co-workers gave me for completing my half ironman in September.  The massage therapist, Darnell looked at me on the table and said, "Do you have scoliosis?"  I told him no, but that my chiropractor told me I had a rib out.  His reaction was, "Wow.  I've never seen anything that bad before - except on somebody who has scoliosis."   Great.  Then Darnell asked, "Are you an athlete?  Cause you look like you work out."  I told him briefly about my activity and also mentioned my knee.  So Darnell says, "Alright.  We're not doing the 80 minute froo-froo massage.  I'm gonna give you the athletes' massage.  And I'm not gonna charge you for it; I just hate the froo-froo."  OK.  Great.  Whatever.  I told him that I just want my body to feel good.

Darnell is a chatter.  He likes to talk about working out and nutrition and weight and races and competitions and gym time.  He kept asking all sorts of questions.  "What do you eat on your long runs or rides?  What do you eat before a race?  What is your recovery meal?  What is your favorite protein mix?"  I really just wanted to let my mind wander and relax for 80 minutes.  But I had to have a conversation the whole time.  :/

Darnell did some good work, however, and really spent time on my trouble muscles and stretched out my legs and hips.  At one point he was stretching my hammies and I told him that they were always tight.  He responded with, "Yeah, I'm sure they are, with those tree trunks for legs."  LOL!  I thought that was hilarious.  Maybe I should be slightly offended, but I just laughed.

Darnell also spent time working on my knee.  It was some good pain.  Afterwards, he told me I probably shouldn't do any upper body work because of my rib.  Ha.  So I can't run because of my knee, and I can't workout my upper body because of my rib.  Awesome.

Hopefully the combination of chiropractic work, Active Release Therapy and this 80 minute athlete massage will help my body out.  I don't know why I'm suddenly breaking down.  It's very frustrating.

When the dr. busts out some sort of stone and goes to town digging in to your knee and ITB, it really is pretty painful

Dr. Beck's work

I'm thinking all the time spent on my couch this weekend watching movies and eating Easter candy should do the trick.  I did spend a bit of time outside digging up 2 of my plants in my backyard and transplanting them to the front yard.  But that aggravated my back, so it was back to the couch for more movies and candy.  I win at life.

Scream of Delight

This was the perfect discovery at the end of a pretty awful week!  I can't stop laughing out loud.  HAHAHAA!

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #5
"A picture of something you're afraid of"

I'm totally freaked out by ghosts.  Looking through Google Images to find a suitable picture for this post caused my heart to start beating rapidly and me to get sick to my stomach.  I don't like to think about them, I don't like to read about them, I don't like to hear stories about them, I don't like to watch movies involving them, and I don't like to hear people discussing them.  Seriously.  They really honestly scare me!

Rock n Roll USA 2013

Nearly every weekend since January, I've met up with my friends, Sarah & Nikki, for long runs as we trained together for the Rock n Roll USA Half Marathon that took place on March 16, 2013.  We'd also loosely meet up during the week to workout together as well.   It makes such a difference with the level of motivation to workout and train when you have friends to do it with!  I looked forward to my long weekend runs, as I knew it would be a good time catching up with my friends and we'd cap off our runs with a hot lunch afterward.

Toward the end of January, I got the flu.  It knocked me out for about 5 weeks.  In that time, I ran twice - the first run was only 3 miles a few days before the flu hit.  The second time, I attempted to run while the flu was in full force, and I only made it half a mile.  I had to drop out of a marathon relay race I had signed up for in mid-February because my body still was not back to normal energy-levels.  I didn't run again until Feb 24th.  And for some insane reason, I thought it would be ok to log 9 miles.  NINE miles, after running nearly nothing for 5 weeks and my body being super weak.  It was not the smartest decision.  My body HURT.  It was not ready to jump back in with that sort of demand.  I should have started off easier and worked my way back up.  The problem was that I didn't have much time!  I was afraid that if I didn't put in the long miles, I wouldn't be ready to run the half marathon in a few weeks. The next weekend, I put in nearly 12 miles.  This time my body really let me know that it was not happy with me.  My left knee started hurting a LOT.  And my ankle/foot.  And my right hip.  Oh my.  I had to limp for a few days.

The next weekend (the weekend before the race) I only put in 5 miles.  But those 5 miles were brutal.  My knee started hurting almost right away, and it was a slow, painful 5 miles.  Again, I had to limp around for a few days.  Now I was really nervous about the race.  I decided to make 2 appointments with my sports doctor (who saw me regularly through 2012 as I trained for my half ironman) so he could hopefully work his magic on my knee and make me better for Saturday.  Unfortunately for the both of us, he got the stomach flu and was out for my Thursday and Friday appointments.  I saw some whack-job physical therapist on Thursday, who could somehow diagnose things that were wrong with my body just by touching certain areas.  For example, she was touching my shoulder when she asked if I had twisted my right ankle at any point.  Uh, yeah.  That is the ankle I had achilles problems with a few years ago.  Then she asked if I had been coughing a lot - which I had (for days and days) when I had the flu.  It was truly bizarre.  But a little bit awesome.  The only problem was that she didn't really fix any of the issues.  She just told me that they were there.  Friday I saw a regular chiropractor and he cracked my back, then worked on my IT band a bit.  But that's it.  He told me I could wear an IT band strap to see if that would help during the race..

Here's me demonstrating to Sarah (in white) what Dr. Booker did to my thigh

I felt I was ready for the race, if my knee would just hold up.  I decided to stick to Sarah's pace and run with her (Nikki was on bedrest; she was about to give birth at this point), as I didn't want to go too fast out of the gate and cause a problem.  I felt AWESOME.  We kept up a conversation and I was sticking in my Zone 2 heartrate.  Well, around mile 1.5, I started feeling my knee..  Uh oh.  Then mile 3 it started to really hurt.  I kept up with Sarah until around mile 5.5, when there was a hill.  Then it was just way too painful and I had to walk.  I stopped to stretch, then walked the rest of the way up the hill.  I would try to run once I crested the hill, but wouldn't make it very far before I had to stop to walk again.

Cruising at about mile 5

Me totally oblivious to the camera

Turns out I would end up walking the rest of the race.  SEVEN and a HALF MILES.  I don't think I've ever hated walking so much in my entire life.  It is truly frustrating when you have properly trained for something and cannot do it.  There were times that it was so painful to even walk that I wondered if I would be able to finish the race at all.

I had a bad attitude and hated my body for the rest of the race.  I got mad when somebody would cheer, "You are looking strong!"  Uh....  no I'm not.  Why would you say that?  I'm obviously limping and scowling. But then I would be surprised by the kindness of others who asked if I was ok and if I needed anything.  They would tell me to keep with it, and good job for not giving up.  Those were the comments that really meant something, and that gave me a shot of feeling good.  I really struggled with holding back the tears of frustration and disappointment each time I had to completely stop walking due to the pain.

Walking.  Walking.  Walking.  More Walking.

 When I finally DID cross the finish line, I didn't feel any sort of accomplishment.  I was glad it was over, and relieved that I could finally stop.  My overall feeling was of annoyance, and the same question was asked over and over in my head: "WHY?!"

WHY?!

My grimace as I cross the finish

 My official finisher's photo really speaks volumes about how I felt about this race.

Ridiculous

I have the Cherry Blossom 10-miler (3rd year in a row I was selected out of the lottery!) in less than 3 weeks.  We'll see if my doc can work his magic in that time so that I'm ready for it.  Crossing fingers!!

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #4

"A picture of something you want to do before you die"

I want to go on a ziplining/repelling/canopy tour in Costa Rica.

Stress Effects

2012 was pretty stressful.  But luckily I was working out constantly, training for my half ironman.  While holding its own special stress, this daily physical exertion actually helped to keep me from losing it and going completely crazy.  2013 doesn't have me with as intense of a training schedule, but I found that having a daily schedule to stick to, as well as getting my home life organized, are additional things that help me to be better able to deal with stresses that turn up.

I just came across this info-graphic for stress.  What a complete body-wrecker stress is!  Yesterday, I opened some pieces of mail that immediately stressed me out.  As the evening evolved, I got a pounding headache, my heart was racing, I felt sick to my stomach, and my anxiety was increasing.  I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I decided to go to bed early.  Just as I was dozing off (around 9pm), my home phone rang with a telemarketer.  I was extremely irritated and was not a nice person on the phone.

My, how quickly stress can force everything out of whack!  Must work on new additional ways to manage this...

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #3

"A picture of somewhere you'd like to travel"

Map of European States

Anywhere visible on this map is somewhere I'd like to travel.  Also, anywhere in the Caribbean.

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #2

"A picture of a crazy night"

"The Awakening" - National Harbor, MD - April 2011

My friend Michelle and I snuck past the fence in the wee hours of the morning to take pictures with this sculpture and nearly got arrested.  We batted our eyelashes at the officer and pretended that we didn't know we couldn't go past the fence, and the officer decided not to cuff us.