New York, New York

On Wednesday I flew to New York City to meet up with Kim who was already out there for work. We were only there for a few days but we packed in as much as we could. Kim wore her Garmin on our all outings and we walked at least 4 to 5 miles every day.

But on Friday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed early after a late night on Broadway and took the subway to Central Park.




Hip injury be damned! I wanted to run in Central Park! As we were leaving the hotel another woman on the elevator looked at us in our running clothes and said, "Uh, you know it's raining, right?" Kim replied with "Cool."

Well, the weather certainly was cool! I was chilled during our entire one-mile warm-up walk. Thankfully Kim had an extra pair of gloves she let me borrow and taking in the sights of Central Park kept me distracted.

Finally, after walking for a mile, we started running. My hip actually felt pretty good although it took a bit for my left glute to start loosening up. Also, I could tell that I wasn't in the best running shape. But, even though we had several opportunities to cut the run short, I wanted to keep going.

I kind of regretted that decision when we had to tackle "Harlem Hill" which just keeps going and going around curves so you have no idea when it's going to end. But we kept up a pretty good pace and the run got easier after that.

Central Park is so beautiful. I wondered if I would get tired of running there day after day if I lived in NYC. We only ran the outer loop, though, so I'd like to believe I could make up different routes that would keep me interested. I'd love to spend more time exploring the Park in the future.

I was actually a little sad when our run came to an end! It was one of those runs where it took me 5 miles to really feel warmed up and get into a groove. But, we had places to be. Still, although my left illipsoas area felt sore afterward I felt good otherwise.

And I especially felt good after a chai latte and a New York bagel.



I'm so grateful I was able to run with Kim again and especially in such a great place. I'm still not 100% in terms of running but sometimes you can't can't pass up a run. Or a bagel.

Central Park Warm-Up Walk by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details

Central Park Run by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details

Twenty Four Hours

Two workouts in 24 hours? What's come over me?

This week Jason and I are trying out city living by spending the week in my parents' downtown condo.

Since this place is a ten minute train ride from my office I am enjoying working out after work and still being home by 6:45 PM. Which means on Tuesday night I went to a cardio kickboxing class in the studio a block from my office before heading "home".

I was feeling strangely uncoordinated during some of the moves but I still worked up a great sweat and left with my arms and glutes feeling like they got a great workout.

Then, this morning, Jason convinced me to join him in the fitness room in the building we're staying in. Do you know how awesome it is to have a fitness center a few floors down from your apartment? It's not very big but it wasn't too busy and I was able to snag a treadmill for 45 minutes. I used this workout I just put on Pinterest:

Source: sweettoothsweetlife.com via Erin on Pinterest

Whew! I was dripping sweat and I could really feel my glutes working.

At this rate, I'm never going to want to give my parents' back their condo.

A Different Routine

When I got home from work on Wednesday my original plan was to hop on my bike for my usual 50 minute routine and then do some strength training. I wasn't really feeling it, though. I mean, part of me wanted to do some cardio but the other part of me didn't.

And then I remembered: Hey, wait! I have that yoga Groupon that I activated! I had just enough time to eat dinner, change, and drive to the yoga studio for the 7:30 PM class.

It was a different instructor than last time and this one was more "Western" and less new-age-y. Fine by me. The workout wasn't quite as intense as last time but I still learned a few things.

Specifically, the instructor told us that sometimes when we find it difficult to do balance poses that means we have too much on our minds. She was right; when I focused on clearing my mind the balance poses were easier to hold. Except for Warrior III. I still needed to use the yoga block for that one.

Guess my mind wasn't clear enough!

Sadly, although my left leg felt okay during many of the moves it hurt like the dickens later. So today I decided to get in some cardio to try and loosen it up.

Over lunch I went down to the little gym in the basement of one of our buildings and hopped on the treadmill. Not to run, but to powerwalk.

I walked for 30 minutes at 4.3 MPH and then worked on stretching out my hip flexor. It's still sore but I'm happy I was able to get some movement in today. I also did some bird dogs, push ups (50 total in 5 sets of 10), leg lifts and stability ball bridges. I'm going to try and do this more often, I think. It's nice to get my workout done in the middle of the day.

Stretched Out

You may remember when we last spoke I was complaining of horrible hip/glute pain.  Well, I saw my PT last Thursday and she massaged the hell out of my sore area and I felt better almost immediately.  We’re not sure what happened but somehow those muscles got too tight. 

To be honest, I think my favorite part of PT is the massages they do.  I always feel better.

She also used the a strap to help “distract” my hip joint.

You can kind of see it being demonstrated in the above photo.  See how he has that black belt around her upper leg and then around his lower body?  Anyway, as he leans back it pulls the hip joint apart giving some relief.  Weird, but it works.

The other thing my PT did was give me a heel lift for my shoe.  Apparently my left leg is occasionally shorter than my right.

Which I then promptly wore home and went powerwalking on the treadmill for 20 minutes.  Then the bike for 10 minutes.

Stupid idea, by the way.  My left shin started aching again afterward.  My doctor chastised me on Monday.  Oh well, live and learn.  It went away as soon as I took it easier with the heel lift.

Speaking of Monday, other than 15 minutes of intervals on the stationary bike on Friday morning I didn’t work out again until Monday evening. 

What did I do on Monday evening?

I went to the gym!

I hadn’t been to the gym in ages.  I rode the stationary bike and did some planks and bird dogs before I went to the grocery store.  I wanted to do some push-ups, too, but eating a dinner comprised mostly of fiber and then trying to work my lower abs was not the best plan before a workout, FYI. 

On Monday I also led one of my coworkers in Workout 1 where I swapped out the one armed dumbbell row for upright rows. 

I was expecting to get a cortisone shot in my hip on Monday but it ended up not happening.  So the gym trip was a pleasant surprise since I originally thought I’d be laying on the couch instead. 

I think I’m doing a pretty good job of getting in workouts even thought I can’t run.  I realized yesterday that it’s been over a month since I went for a run.  And while I miss it, I’m still enjoying trying to figure out new and different ways to enjoy my workouts.  Speaking of which, I really need to cash in these yoga Groupons….

Climb to Conquer Cancer Walk Report

In lieu of a long run this past weekend, I spent 2.5 hours on my feet, walked almost 7 miles, and went from 7,000 feet of elevation to 9,300.



Since I started running, I've done almost 30 organized races. However, I've never done a walk-only, non-competitive event. I admit, I was expecting it to be similar to a race where everyone lines up at a starting line, some things are said, and a horn would sound. Instead, there was only the Welcome sign and no announcements. Save one:



Just kidding :-)

Jason, his mom, his step-dad, and I started walking up the mountain a little after 7 AM. The sea of purple shirts stretched up the road in front of us and down the road behind us.





The weather was perfect. Not too hot, mostly sunny, no humidity. A great day for walking.





In an effort to stay hydrated and ward off elevation sickness I'd been drinking water like it was going out of style. However, this meant I had to take advantage of the port-a-potties. Of course, so did quite a few other people. I told Jason and his parents to go ahead and that I would catch up with them.

I waited in line for quite some time and by the time I was done I was afraid I'd never find my family in the sea of purple. I started jogging but between dodging walkers and the elevation (8,000 feet...I passed the sign) I quickly decided just to speed walk instead. My calves and shins were protesting the incline but I pressed on. Finally I had my group in my sights and I jogged the rest of the way to catch them.

Around mile 4 Jason's mom decided that she needed to take a break. She'd had foot surgery about six weeks before and the walk was causing some discomfort. Thankfully the walk organizers have a contingency plan in place for this very thing.



Buses! Jason joined his mom on the next bus to the top and his step-dad and I continued walking. We talked about living in Chicago versus living in Flagstaff, about their most recent vacation, and their upcoming 5-month sabbatical to Italy. The last few miles went by so quickly that I could barely believe it when we rounded a corner and saw the sign welcoming us to Snowbowl, our final destination.



A few hundred yards later we were welcomed by a gaggle of cheerleaders and an official-looking finish line complete with a sign that I think should be at the end of every endurance event.



And just like at the end of any endurance event, it was time for food. Miraculously we were able to find Jason and his mom almost immediately and grab something to eat. Turned out that they had only ridden the bus for about a mile and then walked the final mile together and were waiting for us just on the other side of the finish line.

After resting for a bit, we got in line for the buses that would drive us back to our car at the foot of the mountain. Overall, it was a fun, no-pressure event. Not once did I think the distance felt long or even worry about how long we'd been out there. In fact, it almost went by too fast! Being part of the giant sea of purple full of everyone from people being pushed in wheelchairs, to people struggling to make it the entire distance, to people jogging by (yes, there were some people running), to groups of people walking and chatting and laughing while wearing shirts or carrying signs in memory or in support of someone with cancer was just part of the greatness of the event. My in-laws kept joking that I should go on ahead, that their pace would drag me down. But it wouldn't have been the same if I'd skipped the camaraderie or taken the time to enjoy myself. For some people this climb is all about a personal challenge. For others, like me, it's a chance to do something with the people I care about and have fun while doing it.

And it was certainly fun. If you ever need a reason to visit Flagstaff, I recommend this as one. It's not a big fancy race, but in some ways it's so much better.



*************************

Note: I was so busy looking for the "official" start of the walk that I didn't think to start my Garmin when we actually started, you know, walking. Hence the 5.85 miles instead of the just under 7 that Jason's GPS tracker recorded.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 8353 ft Location: Arizona Snowbowl Ski Area, AZ Elev. Gain: +1857 ft Date: 08/21/10 Up/Downhill: [+1902/-45] Time: 08:16 AM Difficulty: 4.3 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 5.85 miles Time: 2:02:32 Speed: 2.9 mph Pace: 20' 57 /mi Calories: 505 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 20' 58 +0' 01 2.9 -0.0 +242 ft 2 20' 04 -0' 53 3.0 +0.1 +292 ft 3 18' 17 -2' 40 3.3 +0.4 +351 ft 4 23' 15 +2' 18 2.6 -0.3 +351 ft 5 19' 36 -1' 21 3.1 +0.2 +314 ft end 22' 28 +1' 31 2.7 -0.2 +298 ft Versus average of 20' 57 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com