For the complete story please review my previous blogs on this subject:
Week 12
Day 78 (Thur) – I had a nice walk at work today. It was a bit chilly but nice enough to get
out on the track while making my way to the onsite medical clinic; to pick up a
pillow they’d promised me on Tuesday. I
miss running on the track, I have good speed work memories on it.
Day 79 (Fri) – Today was the last physical therapy visit
before seeing the doctor again: The
therapy session itself went very well, no big change really, but I did make
sure to ask my therapist if she had any concerns about my returning to
running. Of course she said I had to
take it easy and carefully, good but needless advice since I’m not going to
risk myself. She also suggested that I
stretch, foam roll, and ice after each run even if I don’t feel like I need
to. Considering how tight my IT bands
are without feeling it on a general basis, I will follow her advice on post run
care.
The easily recognizable Ragnar course signs are up around my
neighborhood, it’s almost torture seeing them; the 2012 event I had
participated in was during a painful time in my life, especially considering
how things turned out in the end, but the weekend of running and race fun still
calls out of me.
Day 80 (Sat) – This week’s ChiRunning lesson 7, first of
three on one of the most important subjects ever, was about breathing; belly
breathing to be specific. One of the
minor subjects touched on during this lesson regarded breathing in through the
nose and out through the mouth. It’s
very easy to do in a relaxed setting but not so easy to do when you are
exerting yourself. To me, this will be
the hardest part of this week’s lesson to master; I’m a mouth breather when I
run. I push myself when I train and when
I race; I don’t like to back off in a race and the point of training is to push
your limits which means I have to breathe deep.
I can, and do, belly breathe usually but inhaling through the nose when
I’m running hard doesn’t feel like I can get enough fast enough.
I put today’s lesson to practice at the Las Vegas Heart
& Stroke walk/run 5k today.
Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth worked great for speed
walking; I was able to keep up with the oxygen demands my body made, I only
slipped up when my mind wandered. I
honestly didn’t intend to do another walking race after feeling so frustrated
after the last two events but since my company paid for the registration I
decided to participate. I intended to
just use this walk for a decent half hour (plus) of exercise and light cardio,
not to “race” in any sense.
I really enjoyed myself at the race; the course was a new
downtown route (to me) with a few decent hills and there were plenty of interesting
things to look at (including a daylight view of The Smith Center for the
Performing Arts and the World Market Center).
It kept my mind busy and challenged my body enough so that I didn’t fret
over not being able to run, I just breathed and hustled. The entire morning was pretty fun all around:
Charlene and my nephew Eli come to keep
my company and encourage me and we were able to meet and chat with Mercedes,
JC, and Ryan of the Mercedes in the AM radio show on Mix 94.1. Starting a race with a smile on your face is
a great way to set the mood.
Day 81 (Sun) – I wasn’t sore from yesterday’s walk but I
wanted to take today off as much as possible just to rest up from the long
week. I rode the exercise bike for a
while and got in a good bit of foam rolling and stretching afterwards. The balance of the day I took care of
household necessities and watched football.
Not the most exciting day but I didn’t need any more of that anyway.
Day 82 (Mon) – I spend the entire workday inside, from dusk
till dawn (dark to dark including bus riding time). The wind was whipping and nasty at the site I
wasn’t going outside without it being an emergency (thankfully the wind died
down before the end of the work day when I would be heading for the bus
stop).
My home physical therapy session was the only good work and
physical effort I got in all day, and the warmest I felt since I got out of bed
in the morning.
Day 83 (Tue) – I worried this morning that it would be
another bad weather day and that I’d be stuck inside again but it ended up
being somewhat reasonable. The weather
was nice enough at times that I got in a nice mile of walking during one of the
breaks in the wind. I did try to
concentrate on the ChiWalking breathing technique during the walk; it worked
well except for the times the wind spiked and stole my breath. heh
Day 84 (Wed) – Happy Veteran’s Day. It was great to be off today; I go to sleep
in a little, get my home physical therapy done early, and get things ready for
going to California. I packed my door
mounted resistance tube “gym” after PT since I’ll need to use it Friday. I also packed my green therapy band too so I
could do the vast majority of the same exercises in the hotel room. It’s important to me the get these exercises
in, I’m not going to back off just because I’m not at home.
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