Oops

The bad news: 0 miles can be logged for this week. The other day I dropped a 45 lb barbell on my ankle at crossfit because I'm an idiot.


The good news: I went to Crossfit twice. Tuesday we did the Crossfit Total, where we try to find our 1 rep max of the back squat, press, and deadlift. Friday we did a modified "Josh" which was 21-15-9 reps of overhead squats and pull ups (ie 21 OH squats, 21 pullups, 15 OH squats, 15 pullups, 9 OH squats, 9 Pullups). Both workouts kicked my butt so even though I didn't log the miles, I did gain some muss-kulls.


So currently both Bill and I are out of commission. I can still put weight on the ankle though, so I don't think it's sprained or broken. I'll just take it easy for a few days and see how it feels. Ugh. Frustrating.

New Ankle

So today I woke up starving. I'm actually working from home today (more on that in a sec) so my original plan was to sleep in a bit and go to the 7am Crossfit class (Ha yes, sleeping until 6:30 is considered "sleeping in" on a Monday for me). But nope, neither of those things really went to plan. My body was tossing and turning all night. I think the 9 miles run right before bed left my body on a weird adrenaline/endorphin rush that it just wouldn't kick. That being said, I finally just got out of bed around 5:30 to get a snack. Although I was wide awake, 7 am crossfit wasn't in the cards either because of my sore legs. Oh well, today is actually a rest day according to the plan anyway...


I'm working from home today for a very exciting reason! Bill's getting a new ankle! Well sort of. Here's a story:
Once upon a time, there was a boy who used to be a really great runner. All through high school he played sports and hiked and did lots of activities outside. In college he started training for a half marathon. He ended up running his first half, the Run to Remember, in 2009 in 1 hour, 40 something minutes on a very hot day. He also completed several 5ks in the 21 minute range. The boy was a speed demon. Anyways, he really really loved running and decided to pursue training for a marathon.

Now, the tragic flaw of the situation is that he loved running so much that he was also very stubborn about pushing himself. During the spring of 2010, his ankle started to really bother him while running. He didn't pay much attention though, and continued to run and run. Finally the pain got to the point where running just wasn't an option and he decided to go on a break. Weeks without running turned into months without running, and the ankle still hurt. Finally, he went to the doctor for some xrays to find out that the ankle had actually been broken! Over the course of those months of rest, the broken bones in the ankle had actually refused in a way that just wasn't right. Ever since, it has hurt the boy to walk, hike, bike, and especially run. The doctors said that nothing could be done and this made him very sad.
One day though, in the fall of 2012, the boy decided to try out a a new doctor, who was very well known for orthopedic surgery in the Boston area. This doctor, to much excitement, said there were options! New surgeries had been developed, and not only that, this doctor was one of the best in the world at them. Although this particular ankle issue was very rare, the doctor performed the surgery 3+ times a month since he was one of the field's leading specialists. Hooray!

So yes, that boy is Bill and today Bill will be undergoing ankle surgery to fix his fused bones. The surgery is tough and the recovery is long, but I am VERY proud that he is voluntarily doing this with hopes to be able to once again do what he loves. Although he still may never run again on the new and improved ankle, he should be able to do regular activities like hiking, walking, biking, ellipticizing, etc without pain.

Good luck Bill!!

Not So Lazy Sunday

So last night was lovely. Bill and I stayed in with sushi takeout (Taipei Tokyo in Davis Square = amazing) and watched Good Will Hunting. As per usual, I fell asleep about 45 minutes into the movie.

This morning I woke up naturally around 8. Every Sunday we go to yoga taught by our friend Jenna in Ball Square at 10am. I knew I had 9 miles on my schedule for my day and my original plan was to go before yoga and then end at the studio for an hour of stretching. At 8am though, I just wasn't feeling it. SO instead, I dove into one of my new paleo cookbooks (more on this another time) and baked up a batch of paleo Morning Glory muffins. mmmmm!

Once they finished, we were off to yoga for an awesome hour of stretching and twisting. I love Jennas classes. Always a good mix of heated flow and deep stretching.

After yoga, we hit up the Ball Square Cafe for brunch. I had never been before but had heard nothing but great things...and man were those great things right. I got an artichoke and tomato omelette with grilled homefry mash and the table shared a bowl of fruit. YUM. I was stuffed.

I had then planned to do my 9 miles after brunch, but I needed a while to digest. A long while. I ended up coming home, cleaning the apartment, watching an episode of mad men, doing 2 loads of laundry, and taking a nap before I finally got out the door.

But when I did get out the door, I felt awesome. Tonight was one of the best runs I've had in a very very very long time. I've been in a running rut for months. I've been doing it, but I definitely haven't been enjoying it. I actually don't remember the last run I've enjoyed since.... my half marathon in Washington DC... last march. heh. But tonight turned that all around. I felt happy and strong for every step for all 9 miles. The sun was setting and Boston was gorgeous.

So one of my New Years resolutions is to be more laid back about my Type A personality  Confession: in 2012 I felt like I was in a bad mood all the time (I know, a pretty terrible thing to say but  true). In college I used to love loading my schedule up with classes, extracurriculars, sports, work, friends, etc. When I entered the fulltime working world, I think I assumed I would have even more time to dedicate to everything I wanted to do, but I was very wrong. Last year, I felt so pressured to complete every task on my plate, that I forgot how to enjoy doing a lot of the things that I loved to do (like spending time with friends, and running, and just plain old relaxing). My hardwork did pay off in some ways ( I ran 4 half marathons, got an awesome promotion and raise at work, and did some fun traveling), but I also felt like I missed out on actually enjoying a lot of the little things along the way.

So although I kind of did a lot today, I also feel completely relaxed. I didn't do anything because I felt pressured to accomplish it. I did all this stuff because I wanted to. This will be a mindset I'll have to remember during the next few months of marathon training. No one's making me do this. I'm running it because I want to. Cheers to that.

For serious

Ok. I'll start blogging now. Seriously.

First things first, I made a new training plan. It is a mix of the original Hal Higdon plan + crossfit. So far it's going....pretty well. I haven't really stuck to it since I haven't been doing crossfit since I went home for Xmas, but I've more or less stuck to my prescribed weekly mileage

Ta da! The distances in bold are what the training plan calls for, and below it I write what I actually did.

As you can see, it hasn't been going great but I am proud that
1.) I actually did a 7 mile run the week of Christmas at home
2.) I actually woke up, manned up, and ran a 10k on New Years day. I somewhat regretted signing up for the race at ~10:30 New Years Eve night when I knew I'd soon have to cool it with the Angry Orchard Ciders...but man was a happy to do it. Bring it on 2013!

Tomorrow is a 9 mile day. HA. We'll see how that goes. The plan is to start the 9 around 8am, then end up in Ball Square area for 10am yoga with friends.

Aaand I'll be starting my crossfit membership up again on Monday. yippee.