Never too late...

"It's never too late, we've still got time, never too late, you can still be mine, it's never too late to change your mind"

I've been slack. Every night I've said to myself "tomorrow". And then slept. But not this morning, this Anzac Day morning.

Last night I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead - a film by Joe Cross about juicing and detoxing and rebooting your life. It was pretty inspiring:

When I was teaching, I suffered urticaria, an auto-immune condition - do you want to see a pic??? Of course you do....

freaking itchy - it was all over my body

I also suffered back spasms and migraines. I'm much better now that I'm not in a massive stress-inducing job, but I know that my body isn't too far off going that way. And I seem to go OK on the diet/fitness thing for a couple of months, then lose motivation and slip back into my unhealthy, so maybe a juice detox/kickstart every 3 months or so is a good thing.  I'll look into the juicing detox thing. I might get a juicer for Mother's Day. 

Anyway, this morning it was time to get back out there in the fresh (chilly 13C) air and lovely sunshine, with the puppy who has sadly been missing his walks/runs. After multiple wee and poo stops (him, not me) we did 5 min warmup, nearly 30 minutes of running (plus some strolls to catch the breath!), walked up the stairs from hell and ran back to the car. Done. Very happy with myself. 

Oh yeah - it's Wednesday....mmm:

75.4 kg - 166.2 lbs (don't you love my Lululemon socks?)

"And in my heart I will forgive you, I've got so much love to give you"

Weigh-in Wednesday

Oh. It's Wednesday again - already?

Probably just as well it's a weigh-in day, otherwise I would have nothing to post about and the blog comes dangerously close to being the most boring "get fit" blog ever, because no getting fit has been happening. I feel like I need to go to confession: "Father, it has been two weeks since my last run..." That's the old Catholic guilt trip coming out.

I don't know why I'm in a running funk. I just haven't been motivated or something. Part of it is my hip, which is still tight and is in desperate need of another massage. Part of it is I haven't done much of the hamstring strengthening I'm supposed to be doing to counteract the hip thing. Part of it is I've finished C25K and need something else now - City to Surf is too far away to be real. Part of it is...I can't put my finger on it...laziness???

I'm so lazy at the moment I couldn't even be bothered to take a photo of the scales. But trust me when I say it said 74.8kg (164.9 lbs) - I'll put it up on the table to the left. Well - what do you expect if you eat whatever you feel like, drink whatever you feel like and do no exercise? But this blog is about being accountable and so up it goes.

On the plus side, overall my pants are too big for me and I need those waist tie things to hold them up!

Still need to work on the double chin though...

Stay tuned loyal readers and see if anything actually happens this week!

The good, the bad and the ugly

The good:
Lots of lovely inspiring people! Kerry running the Canberra Half Marathon this weekend! Nancy get out and about (10km runs - woot!). Jo up to week 5 in C25K (and purchasing very "profesh looking" sports bra). Kylie running with the outdoor bootcamp pack. Marcella doing 5km time trials!

Climbing Mt Durras!

The bad:
Chocolate, wine, camembert, Peking Duck.

74.0 kg - 162.8 lbs

The Ugly:
Haven't run for a week! What's wrong with me?? New week, new start.

Stairway to heaven

"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold and she's buying a stairway to heaven; When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed, with a word she can get what she came for; ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven".

It's the Easter weekend - all the shops are closed (except Baker's Delight and the surf shops). Even better than the prospect of having to eat chocolate, is the fact that the local radio station is playing 400 of the best 80's songs all weekend! Get out the shoulder pads and ruched taffeta bubble skirts baby! (I do know that Stairway to Heaven was 1971, but wait for it...there is a reason for this song today)...

I've been walking with the kids:

After walking my running route - I think I killed my son...

took hubby out for a walk yesterday morning and then finally got out myself for a run:

A girl and her dog, ready for a Good Friday run

It was packed - our little seaside town gets overrun at Easter time with holiday makers, and given the unseasonably warm weather, they were out in force:

Oh, OK - so it doesn't look packed -
but there was surf school, yoga, boot camp,
 dog walkers, scooters and everything out there -
trust me

I took it nice and easy - no GPS or app telling me what pace I was running or how far I'd gone. Just me, the dog, my iPhone and running playlist, and poo-bags...OK, so I still had a bit of junk with me, but I didn't use my app.

When I got to the other end of the beach in the picture above, we found "the stairs". I have bad memories of these stairs - when I did boot camp a couple of years ago, the instructor sadist made us run up them several times! Max and I just walked up them this morning - with a focus on using my hamstrings to push me up and out of every step. I can feel I've got hamstrings now. Stairs will be a focus in my "rehabilitation". We've got some good sets around here!

The stairs of doom

Ran back to the car, except I finished a bit early to walk for a cool down. Then my a mum of one of the kid's friends blitzed past me in her running skirt (hey, I've got one of those too) and her Vibram Five Fingers (my poor feet need more padding than those!).  If I had have known she was behind me, I would have kept running. Until she passed me! As everyone does - I'm slow. But I'm out there.

I wanted to take it easy, and basically just "wog" along this morning. I did that. It is still very warm here (21C this morning) and my face was nearly as purple as my top at the end (no photo - lucky for you!). I forgot to bring a towel this morning, so I had sweat dripping in my eyes as I tried to drive home. And then we spotted Miss Five Fingers kilometres down the road. One day, that'll be me - I'll be able to run the whole way. Just watch.

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now, it's just a spring clean for the May queen; Yes there are two paths you go by, but in the long run; There's still time to change the road you're on; And it makes me wonder..."

 Fargone Beauties version of Stairway to Heaven 

Quick Wednesday Weigh-In

I nearly didn't do it this morning - I was expecting not good things. But in the interests of accountability (injury or not), I hopped on the scales:

That's a blurry 73.6kg - 161.9 lbs!

Woot! I'll take that loss!

Hurts so good!

"Hey baby, it's you,Come on girl, now it's you, Sink your teeth right through my bones, baby, Let's see what we can do, come on and make it up..."


I went to see the local massage therapist today. She specialises in sports remedial massage, myofascial trigger points and dry needling. I expected some serious pain!

First we talked about the pain I was experiencing in the front of my hip and the tightness in my butt (where else can you talk about such things??). Then she had a feel of my hips, standing and sitting (first talking dirty, then feeling me up! Lucky she's a professional...). At first she thought one of legs was longer than the other, as one hip was higher than the other. As I bent down, my left hip was not moving well.

But the funny thing ("mmm, that's interesting"....can never be a good comment), when I was laying down, my legs were the same length - so that meant it was muscular, rather than structural! Making progress!

Then she tested my hamstring strength. Or lack of - both are pathetic, but my left leg is virtually non-existent!! This is the leg they took hamstring tendon from for my Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction! And, I have to sheepishly admit, I never really did those hamstring strengthening exercises 3 months after the operation 8 years ago....and I'm paying for it now!

She did lots of trigger point massage and also dry needling which apparently works quicker and is less painful than manual massage. So bizzare - at times it even felt a little electric current through my muscles as they twitched and carried on.

My hips were more level after that and had better motion. And I am free to run - listening to my body, walking when needed. Lots of hamstring strengthening. Keep on stretching my hamstrings, hip flexors, quads and glutes, so the muscles don't shorten up. She recommended using stairs (lucky we live near the beach and there are some doozy sets of stairs) focussing on using the hamstrings to push me up.

She was SOOOO good! I felt real confidence she knew of what she was speaking and she was very confident we can 'fix' this and get me running!! "Everyone should be able to run", "Running makes the rest of your life better", "How good do you feel after a run" - she won me over!

So, a little pain, a lot of gain! See you out on the footpath, baby!!!

"Hurt so good, come on baby, make it hurt so good, sometimes love doesn't feel like should, make it hurt so good"

A Pain in the Butt

This running thing is a pain in the ass. Literally!

Again. It's back again. I get to 30 minutes, run a couple of times a week and it's back! I was doing so well - building up slowly and I haven't suddenly increased mileage or pace. So frustrating. Stupid 42 year old body.

I seem to have a very tight piriformis muscle. It has been hurting since Thursday and the pain radiates through to my hip flexor region. This injury stopped me from running for 3 months last year. And on Thursday, the dreaded pain returned.

So, I didn't run on Friday like I planned. I didn't run yesterday and I didn't run today. I might take the dog for a walk later this afternoon. All I was trying to do was run consistently. Not fast. Not far (less than 5km!). Just run.

Maybe running isn't for me? Maybe my body just isn't cut out for it. It peeves me no end to read stuff like Run Fat Bitch Run - which espouses just getting out there and running. I get all enthused and motivated and then this. Again. I'm not just having a whinge at little aches and pains. It hurts. All the time. I obviously have some weirdo biomechanical imbalance which I haven't addressed properly because it keeps coming back.

I'm not the only one - Beth at Shut Up and Run has it. Her answer is to drink margaritas in Mexico - sounds like a good plan to me! Mollie at Eat Run Read has it.

So. What to do? I LOVE running. It's like nothing else. My dog loves running with me. My immediate plan is to keep walking. And get serious about the foam roller and the stretching and strengthening exercises I have for hip flexor problems. I'm going to give it another shot. If I nip this in the bud before it gets too bad maybe I won't have to start again from the beginning. Because I honestly don't know if I can do that. Again.