Recap of the past 2 weeks

Sorry guys, I disappeared for a couple of weeks.  Between wedding stuff, work and other things, I've been super busy... not a great excuse! 

Let's start with training week #3 - how did I do??

Week #3 went great!  Because of other commitments, I ended up not sticking to this order, but thats okay.  I ran 6.00 miles on that Friday from work to home.  It was pouring rain and it was a tough run, but I did it.  Not only that, but on Sunday, I did my 4 mile run and I ran the entire time.  I was very proud of myself and was so pumped that I actually ran 4 whole miles - thats such awesome progress and I felt great after the run.  It definitely helped that it was about 20 degrees cooler than it had been in the past 2 months, but it doesn't matter because I was still able to do it! 

Also, the 3 mile run I did on a treadmill and it went pretty terribly.  I don't know what it is, but I hate the treadmill.  I can only run for like 10 minutes and then I feel like I'm dying of boredom/exhaustion.  Even though I'm going slower than I do when I'm running outside, it still feels harder.  Does anyone else ever feel this way??

So with the overall high from week 3, I was pumped to start week 4.  My legs were sore from running 10 miles between Friday and Sunday, but I was actually excited last Monday to go for another run and see if I could do the whole thing again.  

Here was the plan for week 4:

Not bad, only adding an extra mile to the 1st run, but otherwise, basically the same as week 4.

Here is what happened on week 4:

Whaaaaaa???  Such a confusing week!  What happened?!?

I think I sprained my ankle. You know how I said my legs were sore after running on Friday and Sunday?  Well my ankle was very uncomfortable, but I assumed it was because of running so much.  On Monday, when I went for my 5 mile run, about 0.76 miles in, my ankle was in a lot of pain and I decided to stop running.  The only reason its 1.3 miles is because I had to walk back to my apartment.  I tried running a couple more times hoping that it was just very tired, but every time I took a step, I could feel my ankle/foot hurting.

On Tuesday, I had to go see a client in the evening and then on Wednesday we had our tasting for our wedding, so I had to take those days off anyway.  I rested my ankle and figured that it was still probably muscle soreness/tiredness.  Or maybe I needed new shoes...

On Thursday, I laced up, got back to running and went for 3 miles.  It continued to be uncomfortable, but I pushed through the run.  See, the thing is, I don't trust myself when I'm sick or injured.  I'm never sure if I'm genuinely injured/sick (unless its obvious like I have a fever), and so I tend to just believe it's all in my head/I need to push through it.  There is no visible swelling, so there is no proof that I'm injured, other than discomfort.  And I'm a baby, so I'm uncomfortable when I run anyway. 

I decided on Friday morning to buy an ankle brace to see if that helped relieve some pressure so I could run on Friday afternoon.  I put it on and it instantly felt much better.  Not perfect, but much much better.  I decided not to run on Friday and take a couple more days off. 

When I got home and took off the brace, there was some bruising by my ankle, which wasn't noticeable before.  I don't know if the compression increased blood flow and made bruising more apparent, but based on the improvement with the brace and the bruising, I'm pretty sure it's an ankle sprain.

So what does that mean for my half marathon training?

No more running for at least a week.  I am going to go on a bike for an hour as often as I can - at least 3 times a week, because I don't want to lose the cardio base I've built up.  It really sucks going on a stationary bike for an hour.  It's just very boring, even while watching TV, listening to music or reading on my phone.  After this week, I'll see how my ankle feels and do a short test run.  If it feels good, I'll try a longer run, and then just pick up where I should be.  I might have to tweak my schedule or add an extra run when I can to keep adding the mileage, but I'll worry about that once I'm back to running.  Who knows, it could be a week, it could be a month, so there is no sense planning a schedule when I don't know what will happen.

Icing my ankle

 How have you handled injuries/setbacks?  Do you prefer running outside or on the treadmill?

Perfect Fit

Cam used to work at the 92Y so we get a lot of mail from them.  He happened to get a postcard from them about an event: Perfect Fit.  For 2 days, the 92Y opened its doors to the public for a free fitness event. This included lots of free classes, access to their equipment and my favorite part: free frozen yogurt from 16 Handles.
Well, its free, so this fits my requirement for keeping it cheap in the city.  Did I feel bad because this was an event aimed at getting new members? No, not really.  They wouldn't be so open if they didn't expect people who were just looking for a free workout.
To back up a few minutes... or weeks... Cameron and I made a deal that if he went to a yoga class with me, I'd try a spin class with him. (See "Oops!  I did it again")  He has taken 2 yoga classes with me, so I definitely owe him a spin class.  We've been trying for weeks to get into the SoulCycle Community Class on Fridays, but you have to sign up as soon as the class opens up, and right now I haven't figured out when that is! Regular classes at SoulCycle are $32 for a single class, and FlyWheel is $30 for a single class, so those are definitely cost prohibitive.  No one really offers a Spinning to the People class with accessible rates probably because it is expensive to have spin equipment!
Cameron's latest suggestion was for me to rent a bike and go bike riding with him along the Hudson River.  I think that sounds like a great idea, except I actually have a fear of bicycles.  To be honest, I did learn to ride a bike later than most children, but I was fine riding bikes as a kid/teenager.  Then when I was about 20... Cameron and I went for a bike ride around my parent's neighborhood and I had a panic attack.  An actual panic attack - this isn't like when most people say they nearly had a panic attack or freaked out.  I had Panic Attack Disorder at the time, and suffered from poorly timed panic attacks.  One was on a bicycle.  I haven't been back on a bicycle since.  Honestly, it doesn't bother me like 95% of the time, except that cycling is one of my fiancee's favorite hobbies and I cannot participate in that with him. When he presented that as an option, I was suddenly very determined to find a spin class!  I am most definitely not ready to get back on a bicycle in the middle of NYC where cars, people and other bicycles will get in my way and make me nervous.
Fortunately, that suggestion coincided with viewing the schedule for the 92Y event.  They offered spin classes!  Yay! I can stay on a safe indoor bike.
I got to the Y first because I also took an Absolute Ab class before hand.  I kind of loved the Y.  It reminded me of the Montclair Y I used to go to with my friends in high school (back when it costs $135 for a year if you were a student) for Tae-bo classes.  I loved that there was a track overlooking the gym and that there was a pool.  It all felt very oddly suburban in the middle of the UES.

The 92nd Street Y Mack Gym - looks like a high school gym!!

The Absolute Abs class was okay.  The instructor was a male trainer, and I was surprised that I liked him.  At first it felt like he was a drill sergeant, but I warmed up to him quickly as I felt like he knew what he was doing.  We did some great lower ab exercises - raising and lifting your legs with control, which was very very hard for me.  Clearly my lower abs are weaker than I thought, so I really pushed myself through these exercises because I really need them.  The class was in the middle of what looked like a high school gym (with a track above it) which was nostalgic also.
After that, I met up with Cameron and we went to the spinning class.  It was me, Cameron and about 6 other people total.  The instructor spent 15 minutes teaching us how to set up our bikes and taking us through terms you'd normally hear during a spin class.  After that, she conducted a 30 minute spin class.  It was hard! I have to say that I mostly feel cycling in my legs, which indicates to me that I have weak legs, but I'm not entirely sure.
The instructor apparently studied music, so she kept getting distracted and would play songs to see if we recognized them.  She was peppy and energetic, but after a while, the music thing got a little old.  Although, looking back, it did distract me from cycling because I was listening to see what the next song would be.
I have never taken a spin class, so I really have nothing to compare it to, but as an exercise class... I think I'd try spin again.  I liked that you control the resistance so while we're all doing the same thing, we can adjust it for our own levels.
When we got out of the spin class, I was pumped for my free 16 Handles... only to discover they had cleaned that up and finished!!  Considering they still had classes going on at the time, shouldn't they have continue the 16 Handles until all the classes had finished?  Who wants ice cream before they go exercise?!


Have you tried spinning?  Do you prefer cycling or running?

First Run with the Inhaler

Did not happen... there were 7 people in line for the treadmills when I got to the gym. 7!! Thats absurd.

So I went up to the "secret" bike area.  On the way up there, I realized that while trying to remember to use the inhaler, I forgot to grab my headphones.  A year ago, I would have been like, "thats a good excuse to go home." but I was not wasting those two puffs of albuterol.

I decided to go on a spinning bike.  I've never been on a spinning bike, so word of advice... if you haven't either, have someone show you how to adjust it or look it up online.  I wasn't quite sure how to do it, so I guessed...  it felt okay and I looked like the rider in the picture, so that's a good sign.

I had a GREAT ride.  Not having headphones kind of sucked, but overall it was a really great ride.  I think the inhaler actually helped - I felt like my heart was pounding, but I could breathe.  It was one of the best workouts I've had in a while, maybe ever.  In the past, which I didn't realize might be wrong, the limiting factor was that I felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen to my lungs and I had to slow down.  Today, the limiting factor was that I was frequently pushing my max heart rate or my thighs (which are weak) were exhausted. I think that's a good sign?

In other news, I decided to do crunches.  I did 100 crunches total - a combination of regular crunches, reverse crunches, bicycles and oblique crunches.  So we'll see how that supplements the variety of classes I'm taking.

Happy Tuesday!  That means its almost Wednesday, which is practically Friday! :)