I survived the fast...and ran!

I did better than expected during my first Karva Chauth fast. I actually didn't eat anything all day until 9:20 p.m. I did, however, consume 5,000 cups of hot tea (plain black, not chai, with milk). It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I do feel very nauseous right now. I pretty much felt ill all night and this morning. I think it was the sudden ingestion of all that Indian food! But it was an interesting experience and I know I'll do it again next year. I have a whole year to recover, after all!

I managed to get up and run this morning, but only after Andy (half asleep) pointed out at 6:15 a.m. that I might as well run today, because I won't be able to during the hurricane. It was drizzling, but I slugged through and did 3 miles of fartleks with a warm-up and cool-down mile...5 miles total.

Run time: 00:48:46

Distance: 5.00 miles

Avg. Pace: 09:45 / mi

Best Pace: 05:55 / mi

Here are my mendhi decorated hands:

Today is Karva Chauth

Hindu women will be fasting today, for the well-being and longevity of their husbands. This is my first Karva Chauth after my marriage, so I thought I should give it a try. The problem is, I know I can't go without food or water all day. Food and water!!! I'd pass out! I don't know how my mom does it. The point of fasting is "the denial of the physical needs of the body for the sake of spiritual gains." http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa041600a.htm So, I'll do a sort of fast. No meat, only natural foods, like fruit. Hey, it's the best I can do.

Karva Chauth is celebrated nine days before the big Hindu festival of Diwali. Women fast from before dawn, until they see the moon, which is usually well past 8:30 p.m.

"Once the moon rises, the women see its reflection in a thali of water, or through a dupatta or a sieve. They offer water to the moon and seek blessings. They pray for the safety, prosperity and long life of their husbands. If the husband is present, then worship him with...perfume, flower, incence, lamp and food." http://www.truthstar.com/articles/karwachauth.asp

Five hours down....eight and a half to go!!!!!!!!

I have crepitus

Apparently, I'm not the only one. I found a plethora of FAQs online from young people like myself who have experienced clicking sounds emininating from their knees. Some of these people have had it forever, like me. It never bothered me (despite being midly embarassing) until I started trying to do some of these yoga poses. My knees just lock up, and until they "click" (crepitus), I can't move the darn things! It's really limiting my range of motion. Someone once referred to this as my "Rice Crispies knees." Snap crackle pop, Shalu's knees!

From what I've read, it's not really anything to worry about, unless it's associted with pain. Then, it could be a sign of osteoarthritis. Great!

Definition of Crepitus

Crepitus: A clinical sign in medicine characterized by a peculiar crackling, crinkly, or grating feeling or sound under the skin, around the lungs, or in the joints. Crepitus in a joint can represent cartilage wear in the joint space.

The term "crepitus" is taken directly from the Latin "crepitus" meaning "a crackling sound or rattle."

MedicineNet.com, http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12061
-------------
From one website: "The sound usually emanates from around the kneecap and is said to be due the kneecap cartilage rubbing against the underlying cartilage of the femur."

The Knee Guru. http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/html/dictionary/crepitus.html.

I blame Daylight Savings Time

I cannot get up in the morning!!! I used to bound out of bed at 6 a.m. without an alarm clock! Clearly, one of two things is happening: (1) Andy's inability to get out of bed before 11 a.m. is contagious; or (2) it's too freaking dark outside for my brain to wake up my body!!!! The alarm goes off and I peak out from under my night mask. Yes, it's still dark. Dark means sleep. I should go back to sleep. Where's Andy's arm so I can cuddle with it? I finally got up, but only after convincing myself that I would feel better after the run. That worked, but also, the fear of being overweight again is still quite strong! That usually moves me pretty fast.

My goal today was to run 5 miles. I managed 6. I still have to manage to fit in a tempo and a speed session this week. With the partial move to the parents' house this weekend, my long run might not happen (again).

Run time: 01:00:24

Distance: 6.04 miles

Avg. Pace: 10:01 / mi

Best Pace: 05:47 / mi

A Partner Yoga Session

Last night I had great, relaxing and fun, time doing partner yoga with Andy. I've been trying to practice the Wide-Legged Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana), but I'm not quite there yet.

(Side note on Sanskrit names: I can actually recognize the Hindi words in a lot of the Sanskrit names of poses. In Half Moon Pose, Ardha Chandrasana, for example, adha means "half" in Hindi, and chand means "moon." Neat!)

Back to my Wide-Legged Forward Bend. I've been doing a variation of this for years, especially after running, to stretch my hamstrings. But I could never quite get my head all the way to the ground. Finally, exasperated by my inflexibility, Andy decided to help me. After years of martial arts practice, he's surprisingly limber, although a little rusty. ;) So we went through a series of poses he used to do to warm up. They were almost all yoga poses! We did:

Camel pose
Bow pose (need to work on this!)
Half Lord of the Fishes pose (my favorite)
Hero pose
Half Moon pose
Wide-Legged Forward Bend
Tree pose
Bound Angle Pose
Wide-Angled Seated Forward Bend
Head-to-knee pose
Reclining Hero Pose (I sucked at this!!)

After about 30 or 40 minutes, I was able to to a full Wide-Legged Forward Bend and touch my head to the floor!!!! Awesome. I was so amazed. I suggested we do this every day. At Andy's blank stare, I revised my statement: how about we do this once a week?

Only 18 miles this week

It rained this morning, but I still managed to get out there for a run just after 6 a.m. It helped that I didn't realize it was raining until I was already out there...my goal was just to run 3 or 4 miles. Three miles later, I felt great and thought, Maybe I should do 7 miles. I finally felt like myself again, like I was actually leaving the ground with each step, and not dragging my feet. I know it was because those fartleks yesterday woke up my legs and reminded them what it feels like to run a little faster!

I did 5 miles, but only because I wanted to get back early to make pancakes for Andy before he took off for work. I made it back just in time. :-)

I didn't even hit the 20 mile mark this week, but it's okay. I'll do better next week.

Run time: 00:47:27

Distance: 5.01 miles

Avg. pace: 09:29 / mi

Best pace: 07:01 / mi
________________________________________
WEEKLY TOTAL 10/8/05 - 10/15/05: 18.23 miles
________________________________________

Yoga Asana of the Week: Legs-up-the-wall

In my quest to become more flexible, and thereby a better, stronger runner, I have resolved to learn one new yoga pose, or asana, each week. Of course, I'll start with the easy ones, being as completely inflexible as I am (my hips and calves give new meaning to the word "tight").

For the past couple of weeks, I have been finishing my daily stretching with this pose, the Viparita Karani, or inverted action. Basically, it's the legs-up-the-wall pose. I have noticed a HUGE difference in how my legs feel, especially after a long or hard run. No more dead lead legs, and no more cramping.


I love feeling the blood flowing down my legs and back through my body. It's also very relaxing. If I want to just meditate and release the pressure in my calves, I scoot myself a little away from the wall. If I need to stretch the backs of my legs, I come in a little closer.

Next week: Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)

Mama...mama....get up...it's 6 a.m. Time to run. Are my yummies ready???

My quads hate me right now

After a very very long time, I did some fartleks today. (For my friends and family who have no idea what I'm talking about, "fartlek" is the Swedish word for "speed play". The way it works is you pick a point in the distance--eg., a tree, stop sign, building, etc.--and run as fast as you can, not quite all-out, but almost, to that point. Then you slow down and recover and pick another point and do it all over again! Fun, huh?)

And then, after about 3 or 4 miles of that, your quads start to hate you like mine do right now. I was very sluggish during my first sprint, but after that it felt great to just let loose and run as fast I could, which didn't feel quite as fast as I used to be. I managed a little over 4 miles of fartleks, with 2 recovery miles. I don't know if my legs will be cooperative enough to let me run again tomorrow. If not, I'll have to settle for a 13 mile week. Blah.

Run time: 01:01:24

Distance: 6.00 miles

Sleep wins

Sleep won out over getting up at 6 a.m. to run. It didn't help that I had the day off. Maybe I can get a short run in around dinner time tonight. Otherwise, I'll have to run Friday and Saturday. I'm debating whether I should follow Runner's World's advice about doing a long run every other week instead of every week. That way, I wouldn't feel pressured to try to squeeze in that 10+ miler.

Buddy engaging in some physical activity.

Here he is doing some bicep curls with his enemy, Sockie.

Tempo, and some junk

It wasn't exactly my goal for today, but somehow I ended up doing a 20 minute tempo run! I started out running a little faster than normal (or, more likely, my usual first mile pace...not the sluggish 10 min/mi I've been putting in lately). I decided to venture "out of the compound" and hit the streets. It was D-A-R-K! I think my swiftness was attributed to the fact that I just wanted to get off the pitch black road onto the (somewhat) safer sidewalk. By then, 1/2 mile into my run, it was too late to slow down and I just kept going! Hey, I can turn this into a tempo run! So I did.

Twenty minutes and 2.5 miles later I was almost exactly back where I started and dying for water. Then, I felt as though my lungs might collapse. Any hopes of doing another lap were quickly crushed as I envisioned myself falling down on the street somewhere far away from home. I did laps around the parking lot instead.

Okay, so those last 5 miles were "junk" miles, in that the 20 minute tempo was true training and the other 5 miles were just to pad my weekly total to get it up to where I want it. So what???? Another 5 miles means another 40-50 minutes that I get to spend in the fresh air, exercising, clearing my head and enjoying the only time I truly do enjoy being alone.


10/12/05

TEMPO RUN:

Run time: 00:20:02

Distance: 2:21 miles

Avg. Pace: 09:03 / mi (1st lap: 9:33; 2nd lap: 8:40; 3rd lap: 8:19)
_________________
5-MILE RUN:

Run time: 00:52:49

Distance: 5.01 miles

Avg. Pace: 10:32 / mi

Best Pace: 7:36 / mi
________________
TOTAL: 7.22 miles

Mission: Accomplished

I ran 11 miles this Saturday, bringing my weekly total to 22 miles for last week. Not bad. Of course, I haven't run since then....

The big wedding was this weekend so I didn't get any running in at all. Hopefully I'll be able to drag myself out of bed tomorrow. My goal for Wednesday is 7 miles. Thursday I'll try to do some fartleks, 6 miles total. That leaves my long run for Saturday again.

10/8/05

Run time: 1:53:46

Distance: 11.00 mi

Avg. Pace: 10:20 / mi

Best Pace: 05:42 / mi
________________________________________
WEEKLY TOTAL 10/1/05 - 10/8/05: 22 miles
________________________________________

Heeeere's Buddy!!!! (He's such a poser!)

This weather sucks...

I was supposed to run 4 miles today (yes, the 4 miles I didn't run yesterday). At the sound of thunder at 6:15 am, I said forget it. I want to run, but I have no desire to be struck by lightning.

Yesterday I made the decision not to run in the Howie-in-Hills 1/2 marathon this October 30, which I've been looking forward to for months. If we're going to clear out of our condo before they tent it for termites, there's no way we'll have time if we're away that weekend. I wish there were another way.

So now that I have no immediate race goal, getting my mileage in suddenly doesn't seem so....urgent. But I miss my long runs! I miss the feeling of running 12 miles. I miss the feeling of my legs turning into jell-0. I miss laying around with Buddy, taking naps and icing my achy muscles.

Maybe the weather will co-operate tomorrow morning and I'll be able to squeeze in a relatively long run. This Sunday we'll be in St. Pete for L&J's wedding, so I probably won't be able to do my Sunday run. If I can get in 10-12 miles tomorrow, I'll be happy.

I'm off to look the upcoming race calendars...there has to be a 1/2 marathon out there for me! Howie-in-the-Hills will have to wait until next year.

Finally, I'm running again

After running 30-35 miles per week with an injured ankle, it was only inevitable that I would have to cut back on my training. Way back. The vacation to Bennie & Gary's did it. I slept and slept and slept and re-discovered bike riding. But the last thing I wanted to do was run.

Finally, on our last day I managed to slug through a 10 miler. It wasn't pretty. At least, the last 2 miles weren't. After that, my weekly totals were embarrasing: 5 miles, 7 miles, 0 miles.

I don't know what happened that finally got me motivated again. (Expanding waistline, maybe??) Whatever it was, I'm glad, because I realized how much I missed it. And that every year or so I go through this slump. I also realized that rest and a break from running are not bad words.

Yesterday my goal was to run 4 miles. It was relatively painless, except that I was sure it was going to rain. So I had my hat and long sleeve tee on. Not too comfortable in 80 degrees and 99% humidity. I had enough in me to eek out another mile. Had to take the hat off, though. Not too bad. My pace is way off still....what happened to my 9:15 average????

10/5/05

Run time: 0:50:31

Distance: 5.00 miles

Avg pace: 10:08 / mi

Best pace: 06:57 / mi

My goal today was to run 4 miles...of course, two seconds before the alarm went off, Andy slung his arm over me and that was the end of it. Cuddle with Andy or run? The former always wins out! So sad...I still have two days to make up for it.

I've created a blog!

Andy (the husband) will kill me! I've created a blog! Hey, if the people at the HH website can do it, so can I!

Really, I just wanted a space to stick my running journal so I wouldn't have to write by hand...and also a place to show off our little Buddy, the African Grey parrot who lovingly calls me "Mama" (or, when he's hungry: Ma-maaaaaa!)

More later...