Weighing, running and working out the kinks

Ya know what? I'm tan. I'm a bronze chicky for the first time in a long time, because I have not missed an opportunity to get out in the sunshine. I haven't been stupid about it, like back in the day when baby oil and iodine were the suntan oil of choice. No, I'm dousing myself with SPF 30, and getting outside! It feels good. It's another way that I am physically different.

Other changes come a bit more slowly. I weighed in on Friday of last week and it said 210.6. That's down .8 from the previous week, but then again, my weigh-in the previus week was on Wednesday. So that's less than a pound in more than a week. Not the preferred result, but I'll take it.

I have to admit, it's a struggle lately. I feel hungry pretty much all the time. So I try to squeeze in as many workouts as I can - walking at lunch, and being active most nights - in an attempt to compensate for the food. Still, most days, I am over my calorie allotment. My goal, lately, is just to not go over by too much. That seems doable.

Running, too, has been a challenge. With the Muddy Buddy (and subsequent recovery) followed by Showcase weekend and the rehearsals leading up to that, it was hard to find the time to stick with the program. But there is good news; I have definitely improved where endurance is concerned. I am now running seven-minute intervals (last week it was six) with two-minute walk intervals in between. I head out in my neighborhood, and basically turn around when I'm about 16 minutes into the workout. Walk two, run seven, repeat. Last night I did a little under two and a half miles in roughly 37 minutes; this is progress. As I like to say, I will always be among the slowest of runners, but I will also always be faster than everyone still on the couch. And when you factor in the run intervals, that means that in 37 minutes, and a little more than three full run intervals, I ran 25 minutes. Yeah; that's huge. (I have to admit, though, the last five were tough!)

I'm having some hip pain, and I think it's my IT band pulling on the hip itself. So there's more foam rolling involved, in addition to my calves. Sometimes I swear I spend more time warming up, stretching and cooling down than I do actually running. (This is not necessarily a bad thing.)

Physical therapy continues to go well, but I hate that I can't run the way I'd like to. My Achilles causes me to alter my gait, and this is likely taking a toll on the rest of my body. Next week at physical therapy, we're going to do a video gait analysis, and see where we stand. Or rather, run.

Goals as we continue this week:

• Get in two additional runs at the 2:7 interval, and see if I can progress to 2:8 next week.


• Two strength training classes.


• Two yoga classes.


• Stretch twice a day.


• Foam roll once a day, twice for the IT bands.


• Planks - one minute a day.


• Return to daily push-ups, as many as I can do.

That's a lot. It's also doable. HIT IT!