Week 8: The Last Comeback

Week 8, this was a GOOD week! I didn't do much cross training or anything like that, but It was my first full week off from work. One more to go before I return for Summer School... and I'm going to try to make the best of all my time!  This week I stayed busy, so busy I never got in a second blogpost. I thought for sure this blog would pick up this summer but... what can I say? I'm too busy living! Here's how the week went!

Monday: 2 Miles 11:00/mi
Since I ran on Sunday, this was my first back to back run so I reduced the overall cumulative time from the 30-40 minutes of walk/running to 25 minutes or so. 5 minute walk, 2x7:00 run, 5 minute walk. I followed up with some lifting but not much. I've been doing some very specific breathing work for my pelvic floor since I seem to have my breathing backwards still. When you inhale your pelvic floor should come down and when you exhale it should go up. When I think about it I can get that pattern going but when I'm moving I've been doing "check in's" and notice I'm reversed more often than not. I'm really not in a position to be lifting too much until I get this under control so Breathing and "kegal type" exercises have been my main form of strength training. I wont say that I'm doing kegals because when I saw the pelvic floor PT, I'm in a constant state of Kegal, so I've found a few things I'm trying out to see if it sticks. I'll share once I have a better grasp on it. Additionally I've been doing the band drills. I also put some goblet squats, and single leg dead lifts in this time but reduced the weight by 10-15lbs 

Tuesday: OFF
You'll notice I've been doing less cross training lately as the running has increased. I just want to be sure I'm not doing too much. I'm not too concerned about my fitness (Nobody remind me of that marathon I signed up for!) I get into shape really fast. I just need to stay healthy. Every day I do the band drills and I've been foam rolling the CRAP out of my abs to help with that groin pain. It's been a lot less significant but still present. I also got an internal tool to properly access the pelvic floor. Sounds more exciting than it is... it's actually pretty painful, but since I've started using it I feel a little better. I'm also pretty sure the orthotics are helping my groin/pelvic floor pain, too because on days I've worn them less (now that I"m home I'm barefoot in the house if I forget to put my orthotics on) I've been more sore. The Podiatrist thinks I may have some permanent dysfunction, so I'm okay with it... just trying to get it as insignificant as possible. 

Wednesday: 3x10:00 run 1:00 walk (with 5 minute walking warm up and cooldown
I hit the railtrail today. It was really humid but fortunately it wasn't too bad in the train since it is completely covered. The Horseflies were loving my walk breaks but I just dealt with it. My groin felt really really good on this run but my right calf  was a smidge tight. I thought of this as a good thing since all my PT assessments highlighted my left calf pulling because it was compensating for my right... so any slight fatigue on the right side was a good sign for me.... a sign that it's working. Now the key is to properly adapt the muscles.... which I feel I've been doing really gradually and appropriately.... perhaps more gradual than even necessary at first (sooo many days of 1 or 2 minute intervals!) but it'll hopefully pay off! 

Thursday: 4.73 Miles of trails. Lots of stop and go due to technical trails
I was excited to have this week to regroup. My kids still had daycare 3 times a week so on those days I had a little bit of freedom so I could feel like "Caitlyn" before and not "Mom" or "Mrs. Germain" ... I got to be myself and fully embrace my own personal time. When I first had kids I was so concerned about the effect daycare would have on them having been raised in a house where I had a stay at home mom. I felt so much guilt for having to be a working mom. My debt left me no choice.  I'm still so so so happy we managed to keep the girls home for the first years of their lives, but now that we've settled with a daycare that is consistent and reliable, it's so freeing. The girls really love it there (Maebel legitimately pushes me out the door when I try to give her one more kiss). These few days made me a better person. My work burns me out so much and, also due to my debt, I work summer school so I never get that full break that most teachers get... so a few days being able to catch up on laundry, take a nap, watch whatever TV I want to, eat my food without anyone begging at my feet, or go for a run wherever I want (within reason) and get to stretch and breathe after (literally... like those breathing exercises) is refilling up my tank that's been on E since January. 

On my run I ran in the more technical trails that branch of of the wide railtrail bed that I run on frequently. When I popped out of the narrow paths to cross the bridge, I saw my 91 year old grandmother walking with my mom! ​It was such a surprise! I walked with them for like 10 minutes. I wasn't really attached to any specific running workout, I just knew I was doing two runs in a row so this being the second run, it had to be more relaxed. The trails keep me inspired but also slow, and my gramma helped keep me inspired and slow too. At 91 years old, the 10 minute walk with her was way more valuable to me than any run and I'll always remember it! 
I picked the girls up after school and Raea was asking for the gym. I took her to my moms pool instead and fed them at her house. Another win! No mess to clean up at home! 

Friday: OFF
Friday was a scorcher, and I was in a bad mood pretty much from the start of the day. I've mentioned it here a few times, but my debt has me stressed. Specifically my foot debt in this instance. I thought I had paid for all the orthotics and treatments (three pay period in May means "extra" money) but I didn't realize that the Xrays I got weren't covered by insurance. They are covered when I go to the ER (but I pay a fee for the ER) but in a specialist office I have to reach a deductible first... so I got slapped with that bill on top of the usual's that occasionally get me upset, those pesky student loans. I've been more invested than usual in the presidential candidates due to the fact that I'm a hardworking person who had to get a masters degree in order to do a thankless job where rates of Autism continue to increase and I am  a specialist....and expert in a field that is undervalued and underpaid... and even if I had a perfect credit score I can't get a house because my debt to income ratio... ugh... come on, give me a break. There's been more chatter than usual about the debt crisis because I am not alone. I'm not asking for cancellation (but hell, I wouldn't argue either!)... but when you make a mortgage payment on a loan that is more interest than principal, someone is a criminal, and it's not the person who has past due balances. Anyway, I met Matt somewhere... He's been off working all week taking advantage of me being home he's been away... and what was supposed to be a good night ended up... Meh.... But we still went to the lake and a food truck festival, and the girls seemed to have fun. I wish I had my phone at the lake because they were so adorable! But, it was in the car overheating.  
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Saturday: 5.4 miles
We rebounded Saturday. We got off to a lazy start (which I loved! No dance!) The girls slept in so we slept in and phew! I ran out of melatonin earlier in the week and keep forgetting until I go to bed... Placebo or not, as a result my sleep has been terrible so the sleeping in was needed. Our friends were having a Baby Reveal party, and so we had to make a 2 hour drive to their house. Matt did his run before we left but I opted to do mine at a halfway point during our drive. So while I ran Matt took the girls to get "girl" and "boy" balloons and I ran on the Minuteman Trail. It was really nice! I have run here before but not this particular section. I always like running somewhere new. I did 2x2 miles of running with a 2 minute walk between and I felt good! My paces have been surprising me because I just started running, but I'm fit and I think if I can stay injury free I'll surprise myself even if the main goal is just to qualify for Boston. My hip still bothers me (do I write this every day!?) but I can manage it. There's a possibility it's permanent to some extent, and when I heard that I was both relieved and motivated. Relieved because I can stop worrying about working so hard to get it to 100% and instead focus on how to strengthen the areas that pick up the slack so that they can handle the extra load... but I'm motivated because challenge accepted... Permanent you say? I'll show you!... two polarizing feelings but it sort of gives me freedom to stop looking for answers if I am too tired and just move on to the acceptance phase... but on days where I have extra energy, I can still see what sort of progress can still be made. Again, it's only a dull pain most of the time (like wobbly and unstable)... but I think the orthotics have even helped a bit by stabilizing from the feet. 

We found out our friends are expecting a girl! Which is super exciting since we have two girls! On our way home they both fell asleep for a while. We got home at 7:30 and I was like "crap, there's no way they are going down now!"... So we randomly decided to grab our Jammies, some bug spray, dinner and go to the Drive In in the next town to see Toy Story 4. No spoilers... but we did enjoy it. I love the ending of Toy Story 3... so a 4th didn't seem necessary, but it did not disappoint... and still pulled on those heart strings like the previous one. Go see it!

Sunday: 3.88Miles 5 minute walking warm up, 30 minutes consecutively, take cover!
Another day of mixing Showers with running. Literally. First I went to my cousins Bridal Shower. It was really nice and I loved all the food. I threw my gym bag in the car just in case I could get a run in before coming home. The day was scattered thunderstorms and so I was just going to go when I saw an opening. The Shower was at a country club, and right when it was ending a thunderstorm was also ending. I figured since there weren't any golfers out I could just run around the course until I heard more thunder and then whatever I got in I got in. This is my second set of two days of running in a row so I wanted to be more flexible depending on how my body was feeling. I felt really good (other than the fact that I ate dessert(s) 5 seconds before I changed to run) so I just went for 30 consecutive minutes. More consecutively than previous runs but less cumulatively. At this point I've gone a little rogue from the walk run program because I'm just about graduated from it and the marathon is 10 weeks away. I don't want to start training soooo  gradually that I run out of room to gradually increase the mileage when the volume starts getting higher. I figure overtime it's safer to make the quicker increases now... especially since I've spent a month walk/running with no adverse or red flag days. I just really needed these orthotics and it's more obvious now that I have them. Hindsight. What can you do? As soon as I finished my 30 minutes I got in the car. Not ideal because I didn't want to tighten up, but the thunder had started again during my last 5 minutes and I felt like I was pushing my luck a bit. I didn't feel like dying. At home I made sure to do all the drills and foam rolling at night. (and glute bands!) 
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Overall it was a really good week and a good month. Here is my progression and totals for the month of June. I have PT on Monday and Tuesday (It's actually Monday right now and I just left PT, but no spoilers! More information later!) and I'm hopeful!  
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