I've been reluctant to write anything about my continued progress  in the past weeks because I'm afraid of cursing it. But now I'm ready to write. First, an anecdote: Sunday I went to  boot camp  (I don't know what to call it anymore) for the fourth time in three weeks, which is a great accomplishment considering I wasn't able to go at all for about seven weeks straight. And of course I'd lost some strength during that time away, and I prepared myself for that fact, initially. But after being back for a couple of classes, I expected to be able to do what I could do pre-injury, and when I couldn't, I got really frustrated. I had a rough start to the morning: I woke up late, almost didn't go because I felt like crap and had no motivation, but Tim talked me into going, even though I made us both late for the warm-up run. So when I then tried to jump into the first team drill, going head-to-head with a woman who was stronger and faster than me--injured...

Flatwoods 18 Over two weeks ago, I had decided I wanted to do my 18-miler at  Flatwoods . Perhaps it was the previous weekend's tough (and steep) bridge run that had set my mind on the flattest possible terrain. Tim and I had gone to Crossboot the night before, which could have meant heavy legs and sore muscles for the morning's run, so I didn't have high expectations for a stellar run. The main running trail consists of a paved seven-mile loop plus a few extra miles to get from the two park entrances to the loop. The park also has dirt trails that cut through the wooded areas surrounding the paved trail, but I mainly run on the pavement. The park is actually called "Flatwoods Wilderness Park," and I've heard stories about some such wild things that exist in the woods. I've seen lots of deer--I actually saw three beauties cross in front of me Saturday--otherwise I've only seen snakes, rabbits, squirrels, and birds. But I've been told that eight...

Clearly I've gone through a decent range of physical/emotional feelings the past few weeks. Oct. 30 : I went to Crossboot, as I usually do on a Wednesday night, and, like usual, I pushed myself through a tough workout. When I woke up the next morning, I could barely bend my arms because it was too painful. Washing my hair, brushing my teeth--everyday things I never think about caused tear-inducing pain. (I didn't notice any particular moment of pain during the previous night's workout, but I did push hard to get through some plyo-push-ups and did about a ton of dips.) I went to work but then scheduled an "emergency" massage to have the upper backs of my arms worked on--my triceps, but also down to my elbow. That helped a little bit, but when I woke up the next morning still in significant pain, I began to get a little worried. This was beyond sore-muscle pain. When Saturday came and I woke up for my first long run since my marathon, I got about a mile in and could...

This past week was a rather tumultuous one. I started out with two evening runs, which I hadn't done since switching to mornings , and they were both done in what felt like cooler, breezier weather. That part was exciting; but my pace was still slower than it used to be for weekday training runs. I was still proud of myself for pushing through the six and nine miles. But I wanted to feel stronger. So for my Wednesday night Crossboot class, I decided to ride my bike to class. I hadn't yet ridden it there since moving to a new location, so I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take. And instead of leaving early, to be on the safe side, I left with what I thought be enough time and turned over the pedals as quickly as I could on my large, weighty single-speed bike, for six miles, which took about 40 minutes. When I finally got to class, the workout began. I was doing just fine on the warmup and nine-minute ab set, and then when we got to the main set, something happened. ...

This past weekend's long run was supposed to be my "recovery" long run from the previous weekend's 20-miler. I wasn't expecting any magic, but my performance still fell below my already low expectations. Part of the reason for my shoddy run, I'm certain, is because my quads were still terribly sore from the previous Wednesday night's Crossboot class. It's been a long time since I've finished a CB workout that left me in crippling pain for days afterward, so I wasn't expecting it this time. And I have a feeling most others who took the class weren't in as much pain. The problem is that my legs--particularly my thighs--are not very strong, so when I did a wall-sit for about six minutes straight, just to start out the class (which was followed by weighted squat jumps and other quad-burning exercises), I should have known I was in trouble. In fact, I should have backed off. I should have chosen to do my reps with a weight lighter than 20 poun...

*This post was begun weeks ago, but I stopped about halfway through, got busy with life, and didn't post for the remainder of training. ------ Last week was a great week of training. I did almost everything I wanted to, aside from Ashtanga on Sunday, but I also realized that I need to have a rest day. My body was asking for it. I hate to sacrifice that yoga class, but if I'm going to be in the kind of training shape I want to be in, it's a sacrifice that must be made. Week 4: 1/14/13 - 1/20/13 M:  3.1 mi (E) T:  5 mi (P) W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  4 mi (E) F:   hot yoga (XT) Sa:  8 mi (LSD) Su: rest Weekly mileage: 20.1 Key: (E) = Easy; (P) = Pace; (LSD) = Long Slow Distance; (XT) = Cross Training On Monday, right after work (or perhaps a teensy bit before the end of the work day), I left to meet my friend Cameron at Trout Creek for a trail run. I've been wanting to do more trails, and she was sort of familiar with this one and knew of an approxi...

Key: (E) = Easy; (P) = Pace; (LSD) = Long Slow Distance; (XT) = Cross Training Week 5: 1/21/13 - 1/27/13 M:  5 mi (P) + yin yoga (XT) T:  6 mi (E) W:  rest R:  6.1 mi (P) F:   hot yoga (XT) Sa: 11mi (LSD) Su:  yoga in the park (XT)/ swing dancing Weekly mileage: 28.1 Week 6: 1/28/13 - 2/3/13 M: 5.69 mi (E) T:  rest/ swing dancing W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  5 mi (P) F:   9 mi (LSD) Sa:  rest/ swing dancing Su:  3   mi (E)/  yoga in the park (XT) Weekly mileage: 22.69 Week 7: 2/4/13 - 2/10/13 M:  4 mi (E) T: 4 mi (P) W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  6 mi (P) F:   CrossBoot (XT) Sa: 12  mi (LSD) Su:  donation yoga (Bella Prana) Weekly mileage: 26 Week 8: 2/11/13 - 2/17/13 M: 6.32 mi (E) T: 4 mi (P) W:  mini strength workout R: 6 mi (P) F:   CrossBoot (XT) Sa:  8 mi (LSD) Su:  yoga in the park (XT) Weekly mileage:...

I gave myself a deadline of this past weekend to decide whether I would try to run the marathon, now 20 days away, or forgo it in favor of more recovery. After a week of more concerted therapy efforts , more rest, and lots of reflection, I've decided to go to DC and "do" the marathon. Whether that means running, walking, or a combination of both, I feel confident I'll be able to finish within the time limit and, more important, not further injure myself. Throughout most of the day Saturday, I was almost certain I would not go. I was feeling the same sort of background pain in my calf, in addition to other pains in my body--right IT band, left piriformis, right back-of-knee, achy shoulders--and I felt like my body might never feel good again. I was pretty despondent, despite getting to spend the day with my sister, mom, and niece. In fact, I've noticed an increase in depressive symptoms during the past week, in particular, even though I've tried my best to...

I've gone through quite a range of emotions over the past four days of rest from training (Thursday through Sunday). Thursday, the first rest day, was fine, as I usually have one day of rest in a week, anyway. But Friday was greatly frustrating. My leg wasn't feeling any better (I know, I know--I hadn't even given it two days of rest), and tiny seeds of doubt about running the marathon had planted themselves in my brain. To add to the frustration, I learned rather inconveniently that my gym membership on campus had ended and was in need of renewal. So when I arrived to take a Muscle Madness class and was told I needed to renew (which I hadn't been notified of), I lost my civility and started mouthing off to the desk attendants (who were, in fairness to me, pretty much the opposite of helpful). Instead of helping me, they told me I could renew over at a kiosk. I wasn't prepared to make the decision to renew, and I didn't want to pay the daily fee of $10. So ...

Last week was basically an anticipatory build-up to my second 20-miler, which I initially wasn't planning to do, as that meant I'd end up with three total before the marathon. But I was feeling good enough to do it, and in a way I think I was still riding the success of the first one . Also last week, I got two more CrossBoot classes in--one was a morning holiday session (for Labor Day), which are notoriously brutal sessions, and the other was my normal Wednesday night class. I feel really good when I can get two classes in per week; although, in the immediate days following, my legs don't feel great when I run, but I think in the long run (no pun intended), I'm getting stronger and even a bit faster. I wasn't as good about doing morning runs last week, and in fact, I fell two miles short of my weekly mileage because my Tuesday run, which I switched with my Thursday run, was a painful one (and should have been six miles). For pretty much the first time this t...

Since I joined the Tampa CrossBoot fitness group back in December, I've done a lot of things that were previously outside of my comfort zone. But I've also seen and felt a lot of results. One of the more recent endeavors I've undertaken with this group is the weekly fitness at-home challenge. The purpose of the challenge is to encourage members to work beyond their limits, keep a fitness commitment, and enter to win a prize.  The first challenge was presented by one of the group organizers, Whit, in her Fitnasty newsletter. The challenge was to do 100 air squats (a squat without holding any weight) per day for seven consecutive days. I felt confident I could do that, even if I had to break up the 100 into two sets of 50 throughout the day, so I began. This challenge went by without too much difficulty; the most difficult part was remembering to do them. In fact, I even had to squeeze in 50 squats at a friend's party when I realized midnight was approaching and I h...

In an effort to allow my persistent running injuries to heal but not abandon training altogether, I've taken on a couple of new endeavors. The one most outside of my comfort zone is Tampa CrossBoot . This is a type of training that, to quote the website, "embodies the camaraderie and team effort of fitness bootcamps and the strength and conditioning concepts of CrossFit." But since that doesn't tell you much if you're already unfamiliar with those two types of training, here are some highlights from my first class: I forgot how to jump rope. I paid for this memory lapse with 20 burpees (the penalty for each mess-up was 5 burpees. You do the math). I've since bought a jumprope so I can practice. Mountain-climbers are not meant for Floridians. I kind of liked getting dirty. All of our exercises were done outside at a local park. It felt good to not fear the dirt. I couldn't do everything (or all reps), and that was okay. People really did work at their...