This week ended up kind of being a restart. After recharging the week before, I felt like I was starting over with a new phase of training and goals. The week off was great, but I'd be lying if I said I was all healed up. A week off is obviously not going to heal an injury. The hamstring issue felt slightly relieved, but it's still there. I decided to run again anyway like any stubborn obsessed runner would do. It's like an addict falling off the wagon. Haha. But that being said, I did feel so much better in every aspect. February's mental turmoil is in the past, and I feel so much calmer. The warmer weather and Spring will do that to you. You'd think this injury would have me totally bummed out, but I'm just not. Readjusting my goals for the next month has really helped me be at ease knowing I'm not 100%. I ran mostly smart. Stayed off the road. Ran slow when I had to. Took a day off when I pushed too hard the day before. Kept the weekly mileage low. The BIGGEST thing I did, though, over the week was follow a 3-day Detox Diet Monday-Wednesday.
On the way to Doyle's the week before, I started thinking about how pudgy, bloated and gross I felt. Every April, I usually do some sort of diet change to get rid of that yearly March weight gain, but I'd never actually done a detox before. This time my goal wasn't about losing weight; I just needed a jump start. Three days isn't that long, but I can tell you I felt so much more clear-headed and healthy. You'd think only 3 days wouldn't do much, but I was amazed at how quickly I felt better. When I searched for detox ideas, I looked for a "detox for runners". I can't do the starving myself diet of water, lemon and maple syrup. I needed a detox that actually had FOOD in it. Looking back, it seems obvious what I needed to do, but I kind of needed a guide to follow so that I would complete the three days. So in my search I found Teresa Marie's 3-Day Detox. After perusing the website, I realized this was exactly what I was looking for. It wasn't free, but I decided to bite the bullet and spend the $19 for the program. It was worth every penny. While it comes with coaching, and you've read my blog and know how I feel about being coached, I obviously didn't use that feature. Haha. I also didn't see a need to ease into the detox a few days beforehand as suggested (see my previous blog post that involved beer and Cadbury Mini Eggs as my prep). I knew I could do it without that. When I gave up sugar in my coffee 10 years ago this month, it was decided the night before when I told myself, "Tomorrow, I'm going to stop drinking sugar in my coffee forever, and while I'm at it, I'm giving up all sugar for the next week." I woke up and coffee with just the usual half&half and marveled at how I could actually taste the coffee (thus beginning my fall into coffee snobbery). I ate absolutely no other kinds of sugar for the week. I lost 5 lbs. I never drank sugar in my coffee again.
I was living in Gloucester, MA temporarily at that time with just John and my dogs while Bryan was in Iraq. When I left there to move back to NH for the rest of the Spring, Summer and Fall, I felt like a healthy person again who carried John solo all over the Whites that summer and then ran my first race in 6 years that Fall. I felt like this detox diet was a mini version of that. And funny. Exact same time of year. Spring "cleaning" is a real thing!
So on Sunday night, I made the soup for the next day and got my juicer, blender and all of my fruits and vegetables together to take to work. I had two HUGE bags of stuff. I was about to be on a liquid diet for the next three days. No solid food. But, fortunately for me, it allowed one 8oz coffee in one of the smoothies a day. Not having coffee for a full 3 days could have been my downfall, since I drink about 32oz of coffee a day, but this ended up being all I needed. This really was quite a bit of work, and a lot of food that I had to make fresh 6 times a day. At work, I didn't have a lot of space, but I made due and followed through on the whole diet for Day 1. I was never hungry. The diet keeps you so full that you never get hungry, even though the caloric intake isn't quite what's sustainable in the long run. It's still around 1000 calories a day, though. This was perfect for me since I work my two 24-hour shifts on Monday and Wednesday when I'm most inactive. I was nervous about Tuesday, but found it very easy to stick with it. The only thing I deviated from the entire 3-days was one shot of espresso at Frontside Grind Tuesday afternoon. I took John after our walk and didn't want to sit there with nothing. The rest I followed to a T. I ended up learning that my lifelong sensitivity to bananas no longer exists. All of my life, I'd be doubled over in stomach pain after eating a raw banana. I'd keep trying every now and then, though, just to check since I actually like the taste of bananas, but always the same result of feeling SO sick to my stomach. I decided to give them a whirl again for this detox. I couldn't believe it! Not a single issue. No stomach pain. Nothing. Finally! After 41 years, I can now eat bananas!! Yay!
The breakdown of the program is basically juicing three times a day, making whey protein smoothies three times a day (although one could easily go with a different protein powder for a vegan diet), one vegetable soup and tea. And water, of course. I was completely hydrated throughout the 3 days, a first for me in a long time. I kept track of times and recipes as I went along. Even though, I wasn't in it to lose weight, the program had a box to keep track. I did NOT lose weight on this program.
Monday- 122.5lbs. 4.5lbs over my goal race weight. Not bad, though, considering I have gained some muscle from my upper body workouts. So much so that my bras, sports bras and CMS singlet are now too tight in the chest...and we know that's not from the boobage area. Haha. I was excited to be eating super healthy today. I didn't feel much difference, but it was only day 1.
Tueday- 124.5lbs. I woke up feeling very refreshed. I was 2lbs heavier, but who knows why. Water weight probably. Didn't matter. I just wrote it down. My bloated stomach was gone, though. I hadn't seen that in about a month or so except on occasion when I was dehydrated. Seriously! Today was the first day I didn't have that afternoon extreme fatigue in I don't know how long. My energy level was crazy high all day. I had no problem forgoing my usual beer, but I often take 3-day breaks from drinking beer without an issue. I made a new soup today of basically carrots and butternut squash. It was SO good. Absolutely no problems falling asleep and staying asleep all night.
Wednesday- 123.5lbs. I had no trouble waking up at 4:30am. I felt SO good. My mind felt so clear. Almost all of my belly fat was gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I'm not fat, but I did have some love handles going on. It's weird how good I felt after only 2 days. I felt like the sludge was gone. I felt thinner, even though I hadn't lost weight. I seriously think the clear mind was the most significant change.
Thursday- 122.5lbs. Back to where I started. No weight change, but a huge change in how my body felt. I didn't want to stop the diet! But who says I had to? Just because the strict 3-day diet was over didn't mean I couldn't incorporate this into my regular diet. I continued my breakfast with a juice and smoothie, but I also had a whole wheat tortilla and a cup of coffee. I have to say the coffee tasted funny with the first few sips, but after that, I was like, "Mmmmmm." I love coffee. :)
Even though I ate out a few times and drank beer the rest of the week, I also continued with the juicing and smoothies multiple times a day. I've also decided to follow the full diet on Mondays and Wednesdays at work, with a few extra snacks thrown in to keep my caloric intake at the minimum by body needs. I haven't felt this great in awhile, and I'd like it to continue.
I took this one to prove that I do in fact have a huge boot-eh!
So, yeah, I posted these photos of my posing with my messy clothes strewn about behind me. Oops. Haha. I took these for myself to see my progress with getting fitter and healthier. I debated putting these in my blog since it really isn't me to show off in an Instagram-ish way, but I figured I would just do it. It's more covered than my bathing suit photos, but it's the posing that I feel silly about. Anyway, whatever. I felt it fit in with the post and was a good way to share my progress at almost age 41. I still have a ways to go, though. I will never look like a track star or a fitness model, but I can definitely still improve.
View from inside the Mt Kearsarge North fire tower
I finally had to make the decision to stop running this week. On Monday, I was still in it. After my run on Tuesday, I knew I had to stop. It was just too painful. I wasn't upset about it either since it just isn't fun to run in pain. I decided to give myself a week off and then try again. This would turn out to be the most relaxing, stress-free week. I realized on Thursday that I had needed more than the physical break; I needed a mental one, as well. No stress about when and where and how many miles for my next run or stressing over making sure I had time to get it in. It was the perfect week for it, too. I already had a no-race weekend, and I wanted nothing more than to just be on the trails in the mountains. Most of the trails are still snow-covered so I was able to get out and hike them and not worry about slip-sliding in the snow slush. I rejoined The Mill gym at Purity Spring for the rest of the month. Not sure how many times I will use it, but it was $30, and I used all $30 worth already. I also did more strength training, as well. Just mixing it up. We had a lot of beautiful days this week so I got out with John for walks. All around, it was a pretty awesome week. No regrets. Of course, I would rather not be injured, but you do what you gotta do. So, I got in 8.2 miles this week and 29 miles of walking/hiking. Plus aqua jogging, swimming, elliptical and strength training. This girl does NOT sit still. Haha.
I did have to make the hard decision on the Salomon Trail Running Festival at Pineland 50 mile. There's just no way I'll be ready for it. I don't see any long runs in my future enough to get me ready for a 50 mile or even the 50K. So I dropped to the 25K. As far as Cranmore goes, this will be better since it's the following weekend. When I signed up for the 50 mile in early October, Cranmore wasn't on that date yet. I would be destroyed for Cranmore if I tried to do the 50 with no preparation. I really don't think I would have finished it had I tried. So it's a smart decision, but I'm still bummed about it. I had all of these ultras planned for the this year, and they've all been thwarted. The Ragged 75 counts, though, since the 3rd day is a 50K, so I won't be totally out from ultra racing. I will probably also do is the RI 6 Hour Ultra, but it's the week after Baystate, so it will just be a slow fun run through the woods. Oh, and speaking of. The RI 6 Hour 2.0 is now a trail race! More info is here!
I'm going to wait until the Fall to make a decision on that. So, it looks like my ultra plans for 2017 have dwindled, but it's really ok. I have so many other awesome races on my calendar anyway. Just hoping the hamstrings hold up.
So as far as all of the other upcoming races, I'm still planning to do them all. I have no idea what kind of condition I'll be in, but I'm still showing up and giving them a go. It pains me a little not being a 100% at Sleepy Hollow, but what can I do? Oh well. Like I said, the Mountain Series isn't my big goal this year anyway.
Monday, April 10, 2017- Slow day. Walked 2.2 miles on the treadmill. Figured the rest after Doyle's would be good. One 911 call around 5pm and then another at 5am the next morning. Wakefield had three 911s literally back-to-back-to-back starting at 3am which woke me up. So much chatter and more tones pretty much lasted until well after 4am. I felt like I had just fallen back asleep when the toned dropped for our call at 5am. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017- Got back to the base around 8am and rushed home so I could get my run in. Even though I wanted to be on trails, they were still so iffy. I decided a run on Potter Rd in Center/South Conway would be a nice compromise. Dirt and not busy.
The run felt ok starting off. I ran into Frank Holmes and Chris Ballou right off the bat. They were in the middle of an 8 mile loop from Eaton Beach. I hadn't seen either of them in forever so we chatted a couple of minutes then I carried on. The first mile was good, then I turned onto the unmaintained section of Potter Rd. It was still covered in snow, but some tire ruts made it a little better. Very slow. Probably about 3/4 mile through this section before I hit the other side where it was maintained again.
Unmaintained part of Potter Rd
Once on the other side I continued on to Brownfield Rd to turn around. 4 miles, almost exactly. This is where the hamstrings just started aching! I couldn't help but slow down. I knew right then that this was it. This was the run that was going to make me stop running. I just wanted to stop but had to run all the way back. I was happy for the even slower section of the unmaintained road again. This was mostly downhill so it was a little bit harder to get a grip underfoot. By the time I hit the dry road again, I was really hurting. Getting to my car brought such relief. 8.2 miles of mostly pain and suffering. Haha. 1:07:08.
I went home and sat on my porch in the sun having coffee while I waited for John to come home. Green things are growing! Spring is here!
Phoenix joined me in the sun.
After John came home and I got cleaned up, we went back to Potter Rd for a walk with the dogs. The road isn't closed, but there's so little traffic that I wasn't worried about the dogs being free...or John walking way far behind me. Haha. We saw one car. It was such a nice walk. The dogs were loving it.
That small black speck in the background is John. haha
We walked 2.6 miles total, then drove to Frontside Grind. It was happy hour, so I decided to have a beer. John got a mango smoothie. We sat outside in the sun soaking it up. What a beautiful day!
John pretending to drink my beer
Phoenix wanted to bark at people so she went back to the car. You can just make out her sad face through the window. Haha.
Back at home, I got in 20 minutes of upper body and abs then took John to ninja class. So a pretty fun, busy day. Wednesday, April 12, 2017- Bright side about taking time off from running: no 4:30am wake-up for a treadmill run. Yay! I slept in until 5:30am instead and then worked out later on in the afternoon upstairs doing Zuzka Light's workouts again. I did the same 550 Killer Rep workout as last week. Such a good addition to my workouts. Works the entire body and just with body weight. After that one, I jumped right into one of her 15 min Fat Burn workouts. HIIT training type workout. I really liked this one. Got the heart rate up. I discovered that I have no problem in the hamstrings if I jump straight up, so that made me happy since I could complete the whole workout. The only things I have trouble with are leaping type jumps and lunges. I can still do lunges, but I can only go about half way down to where it only works the lower hamstrings. I felt great after this. Solid workout. Finished up my blog then got out back for a mile walk on the trail behind the building. It was completely clear! Finally!
Only one call early in the night, then I slept the whole night through. It was awesome.
Thursday, April 13, 2017- I was super excited about Thursday! I had a nice hike planned! Mountains! Yay! Haha. I went to The Mill first and got in the pool to aqua jog. The pool was pretty full, but there's room for 4 people to use it...unless you're an asshole who won't move over and purposely kicks me twice as he swam by. Total douche. He purposely moved over closer to me when I got in and kicked me twice in the arm. No sorry. A dirty look instead. I've been in there when 4 people have easily used the pool, but this guy didn't like it I guess. Fortunately he got out after 10 minutes and shot me a dirty look when he got out of the shower. Wtf. Anyway, I planned 45 minutes to aqua jog, but right around 30, it started to bother my hamstrings. (This is HIGH hamstring- the tendons- the attachments in the glutes, and it's bilateral, in case I haven't been clear on where this injury is exactly. It is NOT piriformis; doesn't match the symptoms.) I switched to swimming freestyle just using my arms for the last 15 minutes. This felt great. They make those leg buoys for this, but I honestly didn't need it. My butt is so buoyant that it was its own buoy. No lie! Hahaha.
I quickly changed clothes then drove up to Hurricane Mountain Road with Spot and Phoenix for a hike up Black Cap Mt. This was SO wonderful! I've been needing this! It wasn't super warm due to the wind, but the sun felt great. The footing was soft, but I didn't post hole at all. Microspikes helped, but they weren't necessary.
Hurricane Mt Rd
Funny pic with Spot
Phoenix on the Black Cap Trail
Crazy windy. I could only hang out for a minute.
Snow is melting like crazy!
The hike was 5.8 miles total and took about 2hours45minutes. It was slow going in the soft snow on the way up, but I didn't care. It just felt good to be out there. Stopped back at Frontside again to use my free drink card for a latte and muffin. I was starving! I felt so rejuvenated and relaxed. This is when I realized that I had needed a mental break from running. I love racing, obviously, but with it comes stress and not just on race day, but from all of the training in order to perform well on race day. And if I'm in pain along with it, it's just no good mentally. It was time for a break.
Latte at Frontside Grind
I stopped at the nail place on my way home to get my nails done, then once home, I jumped right into my upper body and abs workout. Like I said, I do not sit still much. 17 minutes. I'm pretty amazed with the results I'm seeing still. I honestly don't think I would have stuck with this if I hadn't found Zuzka's workouts.
I did finally relax the rest of the evening. Had some great beers. The Libby from Scott Mason and the Cereal Milk from Tony Wild. I have some good beer friends. Haha. Phoenix and I shared a bowl of popcorn while watching Office Christmas Party. I really try to make the most of my Thursdays; it's the only free day I have!
She LOVES popcorn.
Cereal Milk from Long Live Beerworks. I still haven't had PVDonuts, and it's killing me!!
ME WANT PVDONUTS!!
Friday, April 14, 2017- I had plans and not much time to fit it all in, so I didn't sleep in this morning. Got up, dressed and made my coffee to go. It was almost thwarted by Bryan who wanted to drop off John right then so he could work an extra shift. I think not. I kind of felt bad, but then I didn't. He's supposed to have John until 2pm, and I'd taken John 3 of the last 4 Thursday evenings/nights with no reciprocation, so I didn't feel obligated to do him that favor, especially when I had plans to hike up Mt Kearsarge North!
First, I had to hit The Mill. No pool this morning since it's water aerobics, so I got on the elliptical. I had no idea how it would go, but based on my last injury that was in my glute, I had a feeling I would be fine. I was right! No pain whatsoever with the elliptical! It works the lower hamstrings only so I was good to go. Followed the hill workout setting for 45 minutes. 5.1 miles. It felt great to be pouring in sweat by the end. I changed quickly in the locker room filled with all of the old ladies talking about church and Easter, then drove back to Hurricane Mt Rd to the Kearsarge lot. Only two cars in the lot meant it wouldn't be crowded. Yay. I was psyched to find most of the first mile completely clear of snow!
I was able to take my microspikes off for awhile, but then the trail became 100% covered again as we climbed toward the open granite and would stay that way to the top. It was really solid, so I didn't post hole at all today either.
I moved along pretty quickly and got up there in 1:27, about 30 minutes slower than I would usually run it. Exactly what I expected. There were three women in the fire tower as we got up there, but they came down as we were about to go up, so we had the tower to ourselves. Phoenix didn't really care much for the fire tower and walked around nervous the whole time before finally lying down in the sun. This is Spot's old stomping ground since she was born here in the Valley. She was still a puppy her first hike up Kearsarge in April of 2004.
Definitely not thrilled
Just chillaxin'
I like this photo because it got Phoenix in the background
She relaxed for a minute
Phoenix with Mt Washington in the background
We stayed up at the top for 15 minutes then headed back down. Took right around an hour for the walk down. 5.9 miles total. It was so what I needed. Got home around 1:15pm, 45 minutes earlier than I have to be. John and his dad were already there. I sat out in the sun for a long time soaking up rays. It's tan time!
My lunch. haha.
Since I was on day 4 of strength training, I decided to do a shorter 12 minute upper body and abs workout today. Still an ass kicker every time, but I can't believe how much stronger I am than I was just 4 months ago.
So the reason Chill is looking at me like this in my beer pic is because I had to take a beaver head away from him. Chill and Spot found a dead beaver on Tuesday, and this would become the Dead Beaver Saga through the weekend. I think Spot ate it and proceeded to vomit overnight two nights in a row. Gross. All that was left was this damn beaver head that sat in the yard forever. The dogs kept trying to fight each other for it, and I was fighting the dogs to take it away. It was so gross. Finally, after 5 days with dead beaver drama, the beaver head disappeared from the yard. Some wild animal hopefully took it away overnight.
Saturday, April 15, 2017- Yet another beautiful day!! I hated going to the gym, but I needed to get on the elliptical. Dragged John along. Did another 5 mile workout in 45 minutes, but I did the random program which was much more difficult than the hill one. Once again pouring in sweat. I actually took a quick shower this time, then John, the dogs and I drove up to Black Mt to ski! What's that, you say? Yes, ski on April 15th. The latest Black Mt has ever been open. It was close to 70 degrees and the snow was slush, but it was so much fun to get out there one last time this season. After our runs, I let the dogs out to run on the ski slope, then John and I had drinks on the deck. It was so nice.
Beer made by the Moat just for Black Mt.
I had planned to walk the dogs on the way home, but I decided to just wait and take them up Heavenly Hill when we got home. I wanted to check out the trail conditions. I couldn't believe it. The trail was almost completely clear. Yay!! Where there was snow, there were moose prints. The elusive moose that I've still never seen! The clear trail is a mess with leaves, but it will clear up the more I use it now. The log book was finally melted out. It was cool to see the last entry was John's in November. Oh, and, yes. I have terrible handwriting. Should have been a doctor.
Heavenly Hill log book
Spot at the lookout.
I was sweating my ass off.
When I got back down, I made John make his own pizza. It was great. He kept saying he was hungry, so I kept saying, "Well, then, come in the kitchen and make dinner." He put it off until he was so hungry that he gave in. Haha. I proceeded to eat Cadbury Mini Eggs for dinner. I was gearing up for a detox starting Monday, so I decided to eat an entire bag between today and the following day to get that sugar craving out of my system.
John's pizza
Nice old school IPA that Kevin Tilton brought me back from Colorado.
Sunday, April 16, 2017- Plans. I always have them. I have to be doing something especially when it's so nice outside now! Woke up. Had coffee then got right to my Zuzka Light workouts. The 550 Killer Rep one again, followed by another 15 Min Fat Burn workout. This time the 15 minute workout was ALL burpees. I never knew of so many different ways to do burpees. To say I at least did 200 of them during those 15 minutes might actually be on the low side. That was a hard workout. I'm really digging these 15 minute workouts.
I showered, then John and I hit the road to the Southern Maine Coast. We were finally going to check out Mt Agamenticus in York. It was 80 degrees by the time we got down there, so I was happy I picked an easy hike to the top. John was pretty warm and sat in the shade at the summit when we got up there. So many people! I walked around a bit and ran into Patty Loubris, which was pretty neat. I hadn't seen her in a long time. We talked a bit then I went back to John. We took a selfie then made our way back down. Haha.We took the Ring Trail both up and down since it's a loop, and fortunately, the way down had much more shade. My GPS locator shut off on my phone at the top so it didn't get the full mileage, but I think it was around 2 miles. Nothing crazy. I can't wait to come back here and explore the trails on a long run.
John was dying to get in the ocean so we drove down to Long Sands Beach in York. The place was packed with people and dogs. The water was frigid, but that didn't stop John from going in.
He said it was cold, but then proceeded to sit in the water at the water's edge for at least 45 minutes building a sand castle. I enjoyed just sitting in the sun and feeling sand under my bare feet. It seems like it's been so long!
John finally got cold so we walked back to the car. The water in the car was so warm that John used it as a shower to clean off the sand and salt.
We were both starving at this point, so of course, we had to go to York River Landing where we sat outside overlooking the river and enjoying as much of this amazing weather as possible.
Steak tip wrap. So good. Marshal Island 20 Gauge IPA.
I was sad to see such a great week come to a close and started thinking about how so many friends and acquaintances would be running the Boston Marathon the next morning. Part of me wished I could be there, too, but after seeing the forecast, I didn't wish to be there too long. It looked like it was gearing up to be identical temps to 2016 except with a tailwind instead of a headwind. No thank you. After two hot marathons last Spring, I was happy to do without this year.
I finished off the Cadbury eggs, then got to work prepping for my 3-Day Detox Diet. I had decided to do some sort of detox the week before and found one for active people that looked great. It was a lot of prep, but I needed something to give me a boost. I have been feeling so gross for the last month and was craving sugar and heavy carbs. I wanted something that I could do to make me feel better. With it only being 3 days, I knew I could do it, but I was still nervous. I guess I would find out soon enough!
