See Morella Run

[ladymorella]

Been fairly sick for the past 4 - 4 1/2 years. Been climbing out of the hole for the past 14 months or so. Sometimes I fall back in as one does. I go through phases/waves of symptoms which makes things interesting as I never know what to expect. I kind of have to just rearrange things to focus on my strength at the time. Things have been more consistant so I am trying to rebuild my life. Things to work on:

 

Keto: I am on a keto diet per my doctor. I have been on it since Feb 5 with a couple slip ups. My calories have been at 2000-2200. I was at 2000 and upped it to 2200. I am undecided on if I want to stay there. I am trying to lose weight, but I seem to notice a performance difference at 2200 calories. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hate this diet. It is super hard to adhere to, slip ups are huge set backs, and I don't lose weight on it. 

 

Mobility: I have been having a lot of muscle issues. It is sort of always unclear as to whether it is part of a symptom or not. I go to a crossfit style gym so predictability of your soreness is not something I have. I did this last challenge and I definitely noticed a difference. So I need to do at least 5 minutes daily. I can always do more if needed. Starting is the hardest part anyway. 

 

Supplemental Exercises: I have been having some issues with my left quad/knee. It has been fairly elusive as to what the issue is. I've had to change my workouts a bit due to them. So no squatting motion at all. And I go to a crossfit style gym and there is never squatting in CrossFit right? Yeah  Also I sprained my right ankle a little less than 2 years ago and it still gives me problems despite 2 rounds of PT. So my goal is to try to work on some of the leg weaknesses I know of. My goal is to do supplemental exercises 3 times a week. It doesn't have to be a lot, but at least something. Likely options: wall sits, monster walks, lateral banded raises, VMO weighted leg raises, glute bridges, hamstring curls, and something I have been calling dorsiflexion heel raises. 

 

 

To-Do List: Due to sickness I am quite a bit behind on regular maintenance sort of things and have piles of papers and such I want to attend to. So I have a list of things that need to be done and hope to chip away at it. I discovered last challenge that I am super motivated by a fake point system. I have various points assigned to things some as low as 1 point and some (one?) as much as 25 points. My goal is to hit 125 points. If I do I get an item valued at about $10. For a bonus if I get to 175 points I get another item valued at about $25. (Or trade in both in for 1 item at $35.) I have been looking at bluetooth speakers. It would be handy sometimes, but not really something I would normally buy myself. This started the next day after the last challenge. 

 

Extra:

 

Run:  I am training for a 5k at the end of April. Which may or may not be a 5k. The first year it was a mini-Tri and last year it was a 5k. However I think they will stick with that as it is easier to organize and more likely to have participation. My coach made up a running program for me and I have been adhering to it. This will be my 3rd week on it. First week went well, but last week both runs seemed more difficult than normal. Heavy legs the first run and super sore and sluggish the second run. I may have to cut back on my other workouts. My current workout schedule has me working out 4 days in a row, which might be too much. I seem to be  a little slow on recovering. I will see how I do this week before I make a decision. My goal in this run is to beat my previous PR which is 37:26. I am sort of hoping my nephew will do this run too and I would like to come in closer to his 31:00-ish time. We shall see what I can do. I would be happy with a 34 honestly. 

[ladymorella]

I started this yesterday I guess as it makes it easier to track for me that way.

 

3/18/18

Keto: Got this. Macros ok. 

Mobility: 1/3 Got this. Actually did 30 minutes of it as I was pretty sore after Thursday's workout and Saturday's run. 

Supplemental Exercises: Got this. Did some Glute bridges,  hamstring curls, and vmo raises. Maybe not the best mix.  

To-Do List: This item actually started the day after the last challenge. I had a very productive weekend and am already at 25/125. Hopefully I didn't make this too easy. I have thought of adding one point for every meal prep done. Now I am unsure of that. 

Run: Runs will be Wed and Fri (or Sat.)

 

3/19/18

Keto: Got this. Macros ok. Protein slightly high. 

Mobility: Got this. 

Supplemental Exercises: 1/3

To-Do List: 27/125. So honestly I am trying to clear my DVR so I can cancel cable. So up to 48 possible points of this is from clearing my DVR. I have a lot of Olympics on there still and have been going through that. I lucked out an 2 recordings were just Figure Skating. Um, cheating? Hmm, more like a loop hole. I didn't watch it, but I have removed two recordings off my DVR. I feel a little conflicted about using this as an item to get points for, but I think I am over extending myself a bit and this will allow me to give myself permission to sit on the couch and get some rest. And canceling cable is a big goal, with a huge pay off. 

[The Battle Chef]

For your mobility, are you following any of Kelly Starretts' methods? (assuming so since CrossFit and all).

[ladymorella]

18 minutes ago, Azukmul gro-Dragnar said:

For your mobility, are you following any of Kelly Starretts' methods? (assuming so since CrossFit and all).

I've never had a subscription, but loosely, yes. My gym has mobility classes and I think those are based more on something else. The old teacher though got her stuff almost exclusively from MobilityWOD which is where I learned a lot. I have Supple Leopard and Ready to Run too. I tend not to do so much banded stuff as until yesterday I didn't have a big diameter band. Mostly just foam rolling and lacrosse ball. My ankle has been acting up after a trio of calf exercises, change in running shoes (Nanos ), and 14.3 so I am going to have to pull out the VooDoo Band. It gets buried a lot, but I think I saw it somewhere yesterday. I mistakenly made the decision to not get the year subscription to Mobility WOD at the beginning of the year special. I kind of regret it now. 

[ladymorella]

3/20/18

Keto: Got this. Macros Good.Calories were high. 2400ish. I ordered a different burger and didn't realize how many more calories that it had. 

Mobility: Got this in. 

Supplemental Exercises: 1/3

To-Do List: 27/125. No progress.

 

Today at the gym we did Cindy. I don't have pull ups yet so I used a band for 3 reps and I can't squat so I did sit ups instead. I have been doing push ups from my knees, but can pump out about 5 regular (sometimes saggy) ones on occasion. When we started the work out I decided to go for a smaller band than I thought I would need since we have been doing a lot of work to help our pull ups. I had the other one there "just in case," but happily I never needed it. Then when I went to the push ups I decided to see if I could do one or two rounds regular and I could switch to my knees if need be. I finished round 1 no problem. Round 2 went well. Round 3, holy cow am I really doing this? 4-3-2-1. Round 4 3-3-2-2. Round 5, holy crap I have no excuse to not be doing push ups the regular way for the rest of this work out. This work out? No, no excuse to not be doing push ups in a workout. I took a long time on the push ups, but I got 9 full rounds in and 9 reps. Holy cow. I have never done real push ups in a workout before and I just did...95?!? Now they were pretty saggy, but I think over time I can fine tune that. I kind of wish there was  a video to make sure I wasn't doing some weird thing that I somehow thought was push ups. What?! I figured I could do some in the next workout that called for them as we have been working on the muscles that are used in push ups, but wow!

 

In my last running workout I realized that I am making a mistake by running at night and in the afternoon. The run will start at 7-9 am most likely. I am not much of a morning person and my morning workouts are terrible. So I am going to aim to wake up early for my Wednesday's runs so that I can start figuring out what I have to do to get my body woken up for a serious morning run. Let's hope I can accomplish it tomorrow. 

[ladymorella]

3/21/18

Keto: Failed. I have a lot of problem when one of my favorite carbs shows up on a plate unexpectedly. I did good and got a burger without a bun and got a salad as a side. What comes with the salad? A crossaint. Who does that? UGH!! I love crosssaints. It's one of the few breads I still like (the other major one being biscuits.) I think I managed to only go 10 g of carbs over, but it is hard to tell.

Mobility: Got this in. 

Supplemental Exercises: 1/3

To-Do List: 26/125. It appears I am really bad at adding. In my previous posts 25 is actually 23 and 27 is actually 25. So today I have got one more point. Which equals 26. 

 

Today I did manage to wake up early and get my running workout in. I had some short intervals with 2/3 walking. Worked out great for a first morning workout in a while. My body adjusted pretty quickly. I think the walk helped a lot. I may play with that some in my warm up routine. Currently I am doing the shortest loop I can which is .4 mile and I run the last half. Then I do a few drills in the back yard before heading out. The workout went well. My legs feel heavy still. I felt good after the run and then at noon I had a huge energy crash that I never recovered from. 

 

My shoulders and lats are definitely starting to get really sore. It will be interesting to see how bad it is tomorrow. Dang Cindy! Still worth it. 

 

There is a chance I am going to have to modify my supplemental exercises goal. I fear my energy crash might be from increasing my workout load too quickly. So I don't know about adding more in. I think I will try to just do monster walks and lateral band raises for now. 

[TGP]

boy your quietly but surely doing your own thing 

and wow.

what a big program you have right now!

 

well done.

 

Just out of curiousity do you do hill work with the runs?

 

btw; I view pushups like bees and mosquitos.  tolerable- but only in small numbers.

95 pushups is very hardcore.

[ladymorella]

3 hours ago, TGP said:

boy your quietly but surely doing your own thing 

and wow.

what a big program you have right now!

 

well done.

 

Just out of curiousity do you do hill work with the runs?

 

btw; I view pushups like bees and mosquitos.  tolerable- but only in small numbers.

95 pushups is very hardcore.

Yeah, I guess I am use to talking to myself. Haha to much solo dataroom work. 

 

No hill work. I am on the baby running plan. Short intervals on Wednesday. Yesterday was 10 rounds of:

20 sec easy run

20 sec mod run

20 sec hard run

2 min walk 

 

(This was the easiest wed workout so far. Next week will increase the times of the runs I believe.)

 

Sat will be 10 min easy run and 1:30-2 min walk. 

 

I don't think I could handle hills yet. Being able to hold my form for more than 5 minutes is new. 

 

Bees or mosquitos is a good way to look at pushups. My shoulders would have appreciated fewer. 

[ladymorella]

3/22/18

Keto: Got this. Macros Good.Calories were good. 2200ish. I managed to bring my lunch to work too. 

Mobility: Got this in. 

Supplemental Exercises: 1/3

To-Do List: 29/125. No progress. Turns out I am an idiot and could count originally. I somehow missed a column on my tracking sheet. Sigh. 

 

Quite the day. Woke up feeling good and able to concentrate well which was great as we have been working on a project at work which requires me to learn a new system. It has been difficult with the brain fog and energy problems. Sometimes super stressful to learn a bit before the deadline. Today I was making some progress when I noticed an issue. It looks like there might be a big flaw in our design and might sideline the project until we pull off another project that I was hoping to do at the end of the year. 

 

Feeling a little worn from the weeks workout, but got through the gym workout anyway. Tomorrow is a rest day. My body can use it. I will probably do a couple supplemental exercises though. 

 

[ladymorella]

3/23/18

Keto: Failed this. Macros off. Carbs too high. Calories about 100 over too. Didn't plan well.  

Mobility: Got this in. Mostly a lot of pigeon pose, but then some couch stretch. Then a little stretching for the ankles and voodoo band for the right one. 

Supplemental Exercises: 2/3 I didn't do much, but I have felt kinda worn out this week so I don't want to push it much. 

To-Do List: 30/125. Slowly chipping away at this. 

 

Felt pretty good today. Decent energy and got a ton of work done today at work. I was making good progress at things and had a brain to organize everything in my head. This morning my call for work said that we wouldn't need to do the other project first. Then by the end of the day it was back to we probably will need to do the other project first. Sigh. Again I have to wait to next business day morning to know for sure. 

 

I have been having issues with muscle twitching for the last week or so. Kind of annoying. I tried adding magnesium to see if that would help. It doesn't seem to be helping. Maybe it needs more time. 

[vibrantnotions]

On 3/20/2018 at 1:32 AM, ladymorella said:

To-Do List: 27/125. So honestly I am trying to clear my DVR so I can cancel cable. So up to 48 possible points of this is from clearing my DVR. I have a lot of Olympics on there still and have been going through that. I lucked out an 2 recordings were just Figure Skating. Um, cheating? Hmm, more like a loop hole. I didn't watch it, but I have removed two recordings off my DVR. I feel a little conflicted about using this as an item to get points for, but I think I am over extending myself a bit and this will allow me to give myself permission to sit on the couch and get some rest. And canceling cable is a big goal, with a huge pay off. 

I don't think it's cheating. Those little "easy tasks" that clog up your to-do list can combine into an powerful "too much" feeling.

 

On 3/23/2018 at 2:30 AM, ladymorella said:

Quite the day. Woke up feeling good and able to concentrate well which was great as we have been working on a project at work which requires me to learn a new system. It has been difficult with the brain fog and energy problems. 

Brain fog is the worst!

 

On 3/24/2018 at 2:17 AM, ladymorella said:

I have been having issues with muscle twitching for the last week or so. Kind of annoying. I tried adding magnesium to see if that would help. It doesn't seem to be helping. Maybe it needs more time. 

Magnesium actually helps my brain fog symptoms a bit. Especially around my menstrual cycle when they get even worse.

[ladymorella]

4 hours ago, vibrantnotions said:

Magnesium actually helps my brain fog symptoms a bit. Especially around my menstrual cycle when they get even worse.

Interesting i haven't seen that mentioned before. I wonder if it helps me. 

[ladymorella]

3/24/18

Keto: Failed this. Macros off. The day went differently than planned had to eat at a concession stand as I was starting to feel ill. So I had nachos. I think I was at 76g  for my carbs. Calories were fine. 

Mobility: Got this in. Did some ankle stretches, couch stretch, and some stuff for the hips

Supplemental Exercises: 2/3 I was really hoping to get this done, but my day went differently than planned so I didn't get it in. 

To-Do List: 31/125. 

 

As I mentioned before I realized that running at night wasn't very good practice for running the 5k in April. Since I am not a morning person and exercise much worse in the morning I am trying to do my training run work in the morning. Or at least closer to it so I can try to figure out a routine. Yesterday's run was 10 min easy run and 2 min of walking for 4 rounds. The first round went fine. Each one got harder and harder. I think maybe I started off too fast. There was some wind so I don't know how much that affected it. Last Sat. was 8 min run and 2 min rest and I ran/walked 4 miles. Yesterday I only went 3.7 mile. I was a little disappointed about that, but I got the run done. I think I am going to skip a gym day this week. I think I am not as recovered as I should be. 

 

Yesterday I got my run done then went off to go see my old team play rugby. I had just planned on going to that one game, but I ended up staying for the big match up at 7 p. So I ended up sitting through 4 rugby games. Not the greatest for my hip flexors it seems. I think the last game did them in. I think sitting for so long and then being cold (tensing up) didn't help. I left the fields with the left hip flexor being pretty sore. It was hard to drive home as lifting my leg for the clutch hurt a bit. I am a tad worried about it, but it is too early to know anything. I don't want to freak out an over stretch it so I will limit how much I do with it. 

 

My doctor wants me to try out infrared sauna to try to help with symptoms. I have my first appointment later today. We shall see how it goes. Sauna sounds terrible I've never done it before. 

[ladymorella]

3/25/18

Keto: Got this. Macros good. Calories were good too at about 2100. 

Mobility:  Got this in. Did about 15 minutes. Could have used a bit more, but it'll have to do. 

Supplemental Exercises: 2/12 Didn't do any today. Failed to get them all in this week. 

To Do List: 39/125

 

Started off the day with not enough sleep. I went to my nephew's race which had an early start. I went to do the infrared sauna. It was about as boring as I thought it would be. The lady said you could bring your phone in, but I don't trust that. I may try bringing a book in next time. I have no idea how in the world I am suppose to know if it helps with the lyme stuff. 

 

Got home and decided I wanted to try to prep at least a couple meals for the week. I ended up getting distracted and made chicken stock. Seems to have come out well. I did manage to get back on task and made a keto chili. So I have 3 meals for the week. I may throw 1 in the freezer though. 

 

I worked on the back yard some, but took a while to settle on a task. I had a lot of trouble all day sticking to a single task. I started to pull weeds in the grass, then decided to rake up the citrus on the ground and got maybe 1/4 of that done. Then I started to hula hoe the weeds in the gravel, then finally settled on getting rid of the huge cactus in my flower bed. Which is great cause I went out there to water the grass. I only was going to do a little easy yard work since I was really tired and didn't feel like I am recovering well in the last two weeks. Instead I hacked at this cactus for 2 1/2 hours. For those of you without cactus experience, it is heavy. It soaks up water. Water is heavy! So literally I picked the most labor intensive item I had on my to-do list. The good news is I got all the "branches" cut off and disposed of. I just have the main stalk left. I ran out of light so I left it. I might try to take it down tomorrow. It has a lot more needles so it will be fun.

 

I have definitely decided that I need to skip a workout this week. We are doing 18.5 tomorrow so I think I will skip that one. I can't squat anyway so thrusters are out. I would prefer to skip Tuesday so I don't have two rest days in a row, but I believe Tuesday will be an upper body workout with rowing or negative pull ups. This is high on my priority list as it seems to be really good to keep neck/shoulder pain away. 

[vibrantnotions]

That cactus sounds daunting. My only experience with them is wee house plant ones. 

 

Glad you are prioritizing in some rest! All the work doesn't do you much good if you don't get some recovery time in. <3

[ladymorella]

11 hours ago, vibrantnotions said:

That cactus sounds daunting. My only experience with them is wee house plant ones. 

 

Glad you are prioritizing in some rest! All the work doesn't do you much good if you don't get some recovery time in. <3

It certainly wasn't a house cacti. It was probably 4 ft tall. 

 

This morning I realized that it was pretty silly to note yesterday about how dumb it was to work on the cacti when I knew I needed rest, but then I followed it up with deciding I will skip the gym today, but finish up the cacti. Really? Oi, apparently I'm not very good at this rest thing. I got home and tried to go straight to bed, but I ended up getting a call and so I will have to try again in a bit. 

[MattSkywalker]

Gotta say it's cool that you're gardening. I did it for one season; it was calming and also felt great to eat some food I grew on my own. Wish I had time to do it again. It's a good hobby!

[ladymorella]

4 hours ago, MattSkywalker said:

Gotta say it's cool that you're gardening. I did it for one season; it was calming and also felt great to eat some food I grew on my own. Wish I had time to do it again. It's a good hobby!

Yeah, I find working in the yard more calming. It's nice to be outside when it's not super hot out. 

[ladymorella]

3/26/18

Keto: Macros good. Calories good. However I kind of caved and was super tired for dinner and made popcorn. Fortunately I was low on carbs for the day. Not great.

Mobility: Got this in just barely. Mostly light stretching.

Supplemental Exercises: 2/12

To-Do List: 40/125

 

I skipped the gym as I said I would. Turned out to be a great idea. I was so exhausted yesterday partly cause I got woken up from a call from work multiple times in the 2 am hour. I got off work at about 6:30 or so and got home and went to bed. I had a little trouble falling asleep as I kept thinking of things I forgot to do that had to be done. Finally fell asleep in the 9 pm so that was good. 

 

3/27/18

Keto: Macros good. Calories good.

Mobility: Got this in . Used a golf ball on my feet, used a massage stick on my legs, lacrosse ball for glutes and the start of the lower back. And a couple static stretches for my hips. 

Supplemental Exercises: 2/12 I had have to lower my expectations on this to 2 times a week. I don't feel it is a good idea to add these in most days with the way my body feels. 

To-Do List: 40/125

 

I got my calories and macros today. It was a bit of a challenge as I felt hungry most of the afternoon. Also I went to dinner with a friend at a sushi place. Fortunately I resisted and had a salmon salad. Still felt super tired today. I will only hit the gym two times next week too, unless something changes in the next couple days.

[TGP]

thats a great win with the salmon salad.

 

the new peril for me has been easter candy!  anyone in your life making it a little hard to stick to a good diet (in that way)?  I mean, they MEAN well.... but

how is Chocolate and Empty Fat inducing calories necesary to celebrate Easter?  

 

anyways it sounds like you doing great this challenge. GJ

[ladymorella]

3 hours ago, TGP said:

thats a great win with the salmon salad.

 

the new peril for me has been easter candy!  anyone in your life making it a little hard to stick to a good diet (in that way)?  I mean, they MEAN well.... but

how is Chocolate and Empty Fat inducing calories necesary to celebrate Easter?  

 

anyways it sounds like you doing great this challenge. GJ

Oh man. Chocolate is hard for me. Fortunately I am capable on only eating 1 or 2 bites. There hasn't been any Easter candy at work yet which is odd. 

 

I did get an unexpected package at work that had a thank you note and some Almond Roca candies. However one has 6 carbs so it can be worked in if I am careful. 

[Xena]

On 3/25/2018 at 2:16 PM, ladymorella said:

As I mentioned before I realized that running at night wasn't very good practice for running the 5k in April. Since I am not a morning person and exercise much worse in the morning I am trying to do my training run work in the morning. Or at least closer to it so I can try to figure out a routine. Yesterday's run was 10 min easy run and 2 min of walking for 4 rounds. The first round went fine. Each one got harder and harder. I think maybe I started off too fast.

 

1. I'm super impressed with you for getting in the morning runs. Great job!

2. I'm laughing a little to myself, because of course I've done the same thing. When I do intervals, I usually try to do the first one a little slower than target to ease into it. You will definitely feel it if you start too hard!

3. But...sometimes it just feels terrible but you can hold onto the pace better than you think you can. If it feels too hard, try slowing down...and if it still feels too hard, slow down a bit more. You often aren't slowing down as much as you think you are. Even if you have to start to walk (in addition to the planned walking) as long as your heart is working you are still getting plenty of benefit.

 

(I know you know all this, I'm just saying it in solidarity!)

[ladymorella]

3 hours ago, Xena said:

 

1. I'm super impressed with you for getting in the morning runs. Great job!

2. I'm laughing a little to myself, because of course I've done the same thing. When I do intervals, I usually try to do the first one a little slower than target to ease into it. You will definitely feel it if you start too hard!

3. But...sometimes it just feels terrible but you can hold onto the pace better than you think you can. If it feels too hard, try slowing down...and if it still feels too hard, slow down a bit more. You often aren't slowing down as much as you think you are. Even if you have to start to walk (in addition to the planned walking) as long as your heart is working you are still getting plenty of benefit.

 

(I know you know all this, I'm just saying it in solidarity!)

I appreciate the advice. I actually don't really know this stuff. I have always just done classes for most of my structured workouts. In the past when I tried to improve on my running the 3-4 times that I have tried I basically have just gone out and run with at least half the time my goal being trying to beat my best time. Which now I know isn't the way to improve, but I think that thinking slips back in. Those sort of thoughts were going through my head on the last run on the second round and beyond. "I know my coach said to just chill on the long runs it's really not about speed" "But maybe he doesn't know just how slow my slow run is" "what pace should I be aiming for?" "Is running so slow is just practicing for a bad pace for my 5k?"

 

I think your tips about going slower on the first round is a good one. I am also going to do a different route, because I think I kept somewhat sub-consciously trying to see how close to the mile mark I could get to before having to do the walking interval. If I don't know where a mile is I think it would be better. I will have nothing to judge my pace on.

[ladymorella]

3/28/18

Keto: Macros good. Calories good. 

Mobility: Went to mobility class. 

Supplemental Exercises: 3/12 - I did some monster walks and some lateral band raises. Man something in my hip really needs these. It starts to burn in no time. 

To-Do List: 44/125

 

This morning was suppose to be my morning run. Last night for about 3 hours before bed I had some weird cramp in my glute. So that kind of shattered my resolve to get up early to run. I woke up and probably could have got it in, but I had no resolve to do so. The cramp was gone, but I wasn't sure if it would be better to give it a little bit more time just in case. I am going to do it tomorrow instead. It has to be done tomorrow morning or I have to do my workout and the run one after the other, or I lose my Friday rest day, which is not ideal especially when I am seeming to have trouble adjusting to the workload. I will set up my interval timer and set out my clothes and shoes in a few minutes so that everything is ready in the morning as I have a gut feeling it will be a struggle again tomorrow. 

 

At work it turns out that we do have to start a new project before we can finish the original project. The new project can't be started until June most likely. This is very frustrating to me. I don't mind doing the other project, but waiting so long is not ideal at all. On the plus side though getting a vacation in should be easier now. I will figure out a week to take off in April. 

[Xena]

One day off seems ok. And great that you are setting yourself up for success on the makeup run.