Ugh.

I could not be more depressed right now. Our 10-minute run on Wednesday was fine. My knee felt pretty good...toward the very end I started feeling like if I had gone much further it might have started hurting, but it didn't hurt from 10 minutes. We didn't get to do our 15-minute run on Friday because we decided last-minute to take a trip to Cincy to see Steve's grandma, because she probably won't be with us much longer. So we did our 15-minute run today (Saturday). Just as I had suspected on Wednesday, those 5 minutes past 10 started to hurt. It wasn't excruciating pain like last week when I first felt it, just a real ache. So when we got home I did a good amount of stretching for the IT band, and did some strengthening exercises too. No good...the more I walk around on it the more it's hurting. I just went to the basement for something and felt the same old pain doing the stairs. There's no way I can do 7-minute intervals x 6 tomorrow.

I'm so frustrated I want to cry. In fact, I have been crying. Times are really tough for us right now, and running is the one thing I have to look forward to and to feel good about. I just want to feel sorry for myself that the one thing that brings me joy right now may be taken from me. I don't know what to do...

Fingers crossed!!

Well, I'm placing my trust in Internet information! Lol. I am 95% positive the issue with my knee was coming from the iliotibial band, which is a big band of fibers that runs from your butt down the outside of your thigh & attaches just below the knee to the tibia.  The symptoms described were mine to a T: pain on the outside of the knee, especially when going up & down stairs. Anyway, we decided to push our runs this week to Wed Fri Sun to give my knee a few days off to heal. In the meantime I've also been learning stretching & strengthening exercisese to prevent that from happening again. So...fingers crossed that solves the problem!  I have no pain at all anymore & I've been doing the stretching. I'm also going to improve our warmup before we run.  Up to now we've just been walking a couple blocks to a certain point & then starting to run...I'm going to start doing a good little stretching & calisthenics-type warmup before we leave the house so my legs are more ready to go. Then I'm going to stretch really well when we get home. No more half-assing the non-running stuff!

So tomorrow we run 10 minutes straight...shouldn't be bad as long as my knee behaves. Gotta fit the workout in amidst a flurry of house cleaning to prepare for Thanksgiving! I am so excited to have my family over!! It's going to be a great day :)

Well shit...

Today really kicked my butt! We were all set to do 6 intervals of 6 minutes each...I got through the first 4 no problem. In the 5th, my right knee started to hurt a bit & then got so bad I wasn't even able to finish that interval. Had to stop with 1:40 left, then walk through the 1-minute walk break. I tried to start running again at the beginning of the 6th interval but only made it about 30 seconds. After walking for several minutes, Steve got me going again just long enough to make up the time I missed. It hurt pretty badly just walking the cooldown back to the house. 

Steve, on the other hand, kicked ASS today!!! He only did the first 2 walk breaks, then ran through the rest PLUS ran an extra 6 minutes with me at the end. So he ended up running 33 minutes without stopping!! He could have run a 5k race today!! He was awesome! :)

Monday we only have to do a 10-minute straight run, and then a 15-minute run on Wednesday, so I'm hoping that'll be easy enough on my knee that I'll be back in good shape by next Saturday's run. It is way too early in the game to be having this kind of problem, damn it!

Well, short post today because we've gotta hop in the shower & get our Christmas tree up!! w00t!!

BIG dreams!

So, on Saturday we ran 7 intervals of 5 minutes each. Steve did so great!! He decided to skip the last 3 walk breaks...so he ran for 18 minutes straight. I followed suit for the last 2 walk breaks, so for me it was 12 straight. It was raining the entire time, and by the time we got home we were drenched through every layer of clothes! Not to mention the several times I stepped right into puddles, so my feet were squishing in my shoes. But it was still wonderful! We ran the equivalent of more than a 5k, only with a few walk breaks...so now we know we can do it!

We are both so proud & envious of our friends who ran a half marathon the same day in Valpo. Next year we will be there too!! But we have a LONG way to go before then. We just got home from driving a 10k route around town (6.2 miles), and that's really far...and a half marathon is over twice that distance. So we're dreaming really big right now. But that's good...it's our motivation to keep going & to keep pushing & to stay committed.

We decided to host our family Thanksgiving this year & I'm SOOO excited about it! I think it'll be a really fun time and I'm excited for Uncle Tom and Aunt Jayne and the boys to see our house & meet the puppies. Steve's making 3 different types of stuffing, and I'm making green bean casserole and an eclair dessert...not to mention a bunch of appetizers, most of which are not Thanksgiving-y at all LOL (nacho cheese dip & hot seafood dip, for example!) It's gonna be awesome!

Well....back to work. One of my professors has asked me if she can put an activity I designed on the website to share with the other TAs, so I have to format an instruction sheet for it. How exciting! (no, seriously!) Steve calls me the Marco Rubio of the French department...he's an up-and-coming Republican politician. Grampa would be proud :)

Building up, slowly but surely!

None of these fonts are girly enough for me right now ;) 

Gosh it feels good to get in shape! Today we ran 5 intervals of 5 min running/1 min walking. I love discovering new things together, like how your legs feel really heavy at the beginning of the run but they get lighter as you go.  We're starting to get to the point where we doubt the necessity of the 1 minute of walking in between intervals, because it seems like it would be easier to just keep the momentum going. But it's easy to see how the schedule builds you up gradually to running it all without stopping...and that means it's important now to take the breaks & let the schedule work to build our endurance. It's pretty ingenious.

I had a sleepover at Gramma's house last night, that was fun :)  I went there for supper when I got done with school for the day and we got to visit for a couple hours before I had my first rehearsal for Illumination, which is the ensemble I'm singing in with the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra, from 8-10.  It was really great to see some familiar faces from back when I took voice lessons & to get to sing in an ensemble again. I'm excited about the concert! Then I went back to Gramma's and we chatted a little bit, but it wasn't long before I was yawning so we hit the hay.

School's going pretty well...I'm finally caught up on all my grading, which is a relief. Of course, now they're taking a test Friday so there goes not having any grading to do! I'm doing really well in my 3 classes...pretty sure I have As in all of them. The best part is that the finals for each of them are projects that I turn in or present the last week of class. So the only thing I have to do finals week is give the final to my 202 classes & finish grading.

Our anniversary is going to be a short but sweet affair this year. The night before it I have my LCSO concert & the day after Steve has his final exam for his tax prep class. Oh well!  We're still going to head into the city & have an expensive dinner at a steakhouse....haven't decided which one yet, though.

Back to work!  This Saturday, we're running 7 intervals of 5 minutes each. That means 35 minutes of running, which is about how long it should take us at the end of this to run a whole 5k!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel....oh wait! We already picked out a training schedule for a 10k to start as soon as we get to the 5k level :) :) Man are we crazy!

P.S.

I totally want to run in Disney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon next Sep 30-Oct 1!! WE CAN DO IT!!

Running is an investment in our health...yeah, that's right...

Phew! We just got home from Fleet Feet Sports in Schererville, and I will not talk about how much money we just spent on running gear...Steve got new shoes (which he needed so badly!) and a pair of gloves, and I got a new sports bra (which I needed so badly!) and a long sleeved shirt & gloves. We definitely need to look at this as an investment in our health and future, because invest we did! But I'm so excited to run tomorrow, and it's mostly because I can't wait to see how Steve's shins do with better shoes!! He's going to be feeling so much better I think. Maybe one day I'll be able to get some shoes...but for now the ones I have are perfectly fine. They're very new still, since I just bought them for the Avon Walk in June and didn't really do much with them since then until we started training 6 weeks ago. Even though they're walking shoes, I haven't had the least bit of pain or discomfort. Maybe for Christmas... :)

On the weight loss side of things, I got measured for my new sports bra & and I'm a 34 D! Who knew?? A while back I was told I was a 36 DD, which was probably true at the time, but having lost 20 pounds things have certainly changed. But Lordy, it's hard finding bras in that size...they assume that just because you're a bigger cup size you are also bigger around...so to match a 34 with a D can be tough. But what a problem to have! :)

Steve is making hungarian goulash tonight...it's simmering away in the kitchen right now & it smells yummy! We're pairing it with either whole grain pasta or brown rice...think I'll do the rice myself. Yay for getting in shape and eating yummy healthy things!!

Team Becker, kickin' ass!

w00t!!!! On Wednesday we ran 10 minutes straight, and today we ran 15 minutes straight! That might not sound like much, but we are super stoked! The 10 minutes seemed almost too easy...I even remarked afterward that I felt like we hadn't done enough that day. However! Today, it was tough enough getting to 10, let alone 15! It was a tough run, and I learned a good lesson about taking it easy in the beginning so I can finish strong. It didn't feel like I was pushing too hard, but around 9 minutes I had a hard time imagining 6 more! Then I hung back at a slower pace for a few minutes, and was able to resume my pace for the last couple minutes.

On a life note, Steve drove down to Purdue with me & we had dinner at Blue Nile, then went shopping for a while when we got home. I got a nice new dress for my event with the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra in December & a new pair of running pants! Great day :)

We're gettin' there!

We're getting there!! We just got back from running 6 sets of 4-minute intervals, phew! I'm really surprised that I have no trouble breathing...I don't really have any pain either, knock on wood. There's a slight twinge in my right knee from time to time, but we sort of slacked on our glucosamine last week w/everything that was going on so we're just now getting back on track there.  Not that I have any idea whether that really helps or not, but from a few other people's experiences I've read about online, they never really knew whether it was helping until for some reason they stopped taking it for a while and saw a difference. So we figure better safe than sorry. As far as I can tell there aren't any reasons not to take it...no health issues.  I'm really excited for (or dreading, I can't tell) Wednesday. It'll be our first what I call "experimental run," where instead of doing intervals we try to run steadily for 10 minutes! I think we can do it!

Otherwise, things are all right...slowly but surely getting back on track. I got a good chunk of my grading done this weekend, and as long as I'm diligent about doing the rest next weekend, I should be doing great school-wise.  Gotta take tonight to get a couple homework assignments done while Steve's at his tax class, one of which is writing a test for my level.  Man does that suck. I already did one draft of it, but I've been told I took too much stuff from the past semesters' exams...so I guess I have to go back & change some more.  It's so silly; all the prior tests look exactly the same just with different character names & slightly different sentences. But whatever!

Anywho! Next post I'll be blogging about how our 10-minute run went :)  Wish us luck!!!