Every day I'm strength training

I've been doing a lot of this lately:

 I've been biking to work and around town more, which is great. Although one day the hour bike ride home from work aggravated my IT band and caused some hip pain. But it's feeling better now.

Overall, my IT band is still a bit sore, but I'm running. Not at the levels to do serious marathon training, but at a level where I'm happy. I think the consistent strength training is helping me recover faster, and it certainly makes getting up at 5 AM four days a week worth it. I think at this point, the marathon is too soon for me to train and reach the mileage levels where I'll have a good race and not threaten injury. I don't have the base I was hoping for, and while 12 weeks out is enough for some people to train effectively, not a first time marathoner with a recent IT band injury. So I'm going to find some 10 mile training plans and kill it on the Twin Cities 10 Mile on October 6.  My plan last year prepared me pretty well, so I may go back to that one.

 It's getting to the hot point of summer, where my lunchtime runs may have to move inside or in the morning. Sam thinks it's hot out too.

Coming up:
TBD... probably more structured than I've been the last two weeks

past few weeks:
June 24 - Strength training; 2 mi
June 25 - Strength training; bike to/from work (20 mi)
June 26 - Strength training
June 27 - Strength training; 2 mi
June 28 - yoga
June 29 - biked to the Twins game
June 30 - 1 mi, biked downtown to the Pride parade
July 1 - strength training; biked to/from work (20 mi)
July 2 - strength training; 2.5 mi
July 3 - strength training
July 4 - rest
July 5 - strength training; 3 mi
July 6 - canoe trip
July 7 - 27 minute run with Sam (my Garmin wouldn't sync), yoga
July 8 - strength training; bike to/from work (20 mi)
July 9 - strength training; 2.5 mi
July 10 - strength training
July 11 - strength training; 3 mi

TCM training - Week 3

I went to my physical therapist on Monday, all set to describe my new left IT band issues, and she said, "Yeah, that happens sometimes." Well. Wonderful. It was supposed to be our last appointment, but she's extended our sessions through October and the Twin Cities Marathon, to help with this new issue and anything else that comes up.

I went for a test run that afternoon, to see where things were with my knee. I couldn't make it a mile without stopping in pain. It's really demoralizing to spend so long thinking about something and working towards that goal, only to be held up before training really even starts. This last week had 21 miles on the schedule, and I did 1 mile. On the other hand, I also woke up at 5 AM and did my strength training routines 4 days, additional strength training Nike Training exercises, and biked the 10.5 miles to work (up hill both ways!) on Wednesday. So it's not a complete waste, but not anywhere near the mileage I was hoping for.

After taking another rest week, I cautiously went out today to see how my knees/IT bands were doing. Success! I made it 2 miles without having to stop. There was some lingering pain, but nothing that forced me to stop. I'm cautious about running through the pain, and finished the two miles in good shape. So that was an awesome turn of events - I'm going to be laying off increasing mileage and will incorporate more rest days than I planned this week so I don't backslide. I was also reminded, by my good friend Matzke, about increased cadence and a shorter stride as to land midfoot instead of heel striking. I made a deliberate attempt to have fast turnover and shorter strides today also. I also need to be better about foam rolling, too. No consistency with that at all.

We'll see how this week goes, but today's run was enough to make me feel like I still have a shot at a good training cycle and preparing for the marathon. I also had an itch to do a sprint triathlon (YWCA Tri in August), but we'll see how that fits in if marathon training continues as planned...

Last week:
Monday: 1 mile, AM - routine 1
Tuesday: AM - routine 2, Nike Training workouts (Butt Buster and Ab Burner)
Wednesday: AM - routine 1, bike to and from work (round trip 21 miles, ~120 minutes). My abs were so sore on Wednesday, either from the Ab Burner or biking.
Thursday: AM - routine 2 (only one set)
Friday: rest
Saturday: biked around town
Sunday: rest

Week to come:
Monday: AM - routine 1, 2 miles (minimal pain!)
Tuesday: bike to work, strength training
Wednesday: Run attempt
Thursday: Run attempt or strength training
Friday: yoga
Saturday: rest or run attempt
Sunday: bike to yoga/rest

Week 2 of TCM training

Well, considering I had 18 miles on my schedule for training last week, I ran 1.75 of them. Awesome, IT band. Way to go.

I went out for my three miles on Monday, cautiously optimistic about the state of my left IT band. I could barely make 1.75 miles, which may or may not have ended in an epic sobfest on the trail that runs along the river in downtown St. Paul. My sister says the only thing I get emotional about is running (it's true). So I had a good 45 second cry, then sucked it up and started doing hip/glue strength training exercises.

I think I need to be more consistent about strength training. I do it regularly when I can't run, and then get sloppy when I start upping my mileage and training. I started getting up a half hour early four days a week to do a mix of core and glue/hip exercises. This is to go on top of my regular training, and really be a habit that sticks with me regardless of what I'm doing.

I'm seeing my physical therapist tomorrow morning, and hopefully she'll give me some insight as to what happened with my left IT band.

Last week:
Monday - 1.75 miles
Tuesday - Routine 1 in the morning, more strength training at noon
Wednesday - Routine 2 in the morning, went to the gym with my Bolder Options mentee and we rode bikes and lifted some weights
Thursday - Routine 1 in the morning, some stair running and stretching at noon
Friday - off
Saturday - indoor rock climbing with Andrew
Sunday - Biked 50 minutes to and from yoga, 1 hour vinyasa yoga class.

Week to come:
TBD

Oh hey, IT band

So I wrote my last post Thursday morning pre-run. I went out at lunch for 3 miles, and lo and behold, at mile 2.5, my LEFT IT band starts feeling irritated.

For fuck's sake.

I spent all winter/spring rehabbing my right IT band/glutes/hips, and on literally week one of marathon training, the other IT band gets irritated. I would laugh if I weren't so pissed off. Is this a thing? Alternating IT band problems?

So I'm going to take it easy and make sure I do my hip/glute strengthening physical therapy exercises equally on both sides, and try to keep up with the marathon training program as best I can.

Thursday - 3 miles, irritation set in at miles 2.5.
Friday - Supposed to do 3, but rested and just did a 75 minute yoga class.
Saturday - 4.5 miles. Irritation set in at around 3 miles, stopped, stretched and massaged my left IT band. It kept me going for another 1.5 miles, but the distance between stops kept getting shorter and shorter.

Here's the plan for next week:
Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 3 miles
Thursday - cross training
Friday - 3 miles and yoga
Saturday - 6 miles

We'll see how much of that actually gets done, but I'm going to try.

Bacher out.

Week 1 of Twin Cities Marathon training

I've decided to use this space to track my training for the Twin Cities Marathon. It would be the 4th place I'm tracking (in addition to my running log, my mileage calendar at work, my run/strength training calendar at home), but hey, what's one more?

This is after last year's Twin Cities 10 Mile race, which has been my best race to date. I trained well, I felt strong during the race, I had negative splits and ran pretty aggressively the last 6 miles. While I'd like to think I can repeat that level of performance, 10 miles isn't 26.2. It's an entirely different ball game and I'm not kidding myself. My IT band issue flared up again last winter, and am still shaking off the last lingering effects of that.

I've modified the Green Bay Marathon training plan for this race. The first 3-4 weeks are similar in distance to what I've been doing the past month, and this gives me a level of confidence in my base training. I was worried that my IT band injury was going to leave me at 0 at the beginning of the training plan. I've got 7-8 weeks of base training, in addition to the first 3 weeks of the marathon training. The marathon plan adds an additional day of running per week, but since the daily mileage is similar, I'm not worried about it.

This week so far:
Sat/Sun - off. I decided to take a break and sleep in before 18 weeks of long early weekend runs.
Mon - 3.5 miles, hills. In St. Paul, there's some big elevation gains from the river up to the Cathedral (260 feet). The route follows the last half mile or so of the Twin Cities course, so I like to imagine that I'm finishing the marathon when I do this route.
Tues - 3 miles, and I did some of the physical therapy/strength training routine from my physical therapist and a few yoga stretches for my hips.
Wed - Strength training. I've started using this Nike Training Club app to vary my strength training, since I was getting a bit bored. I'll let you know how I like it. I did the 15 minute Ab Burner workout.

Plans for rest of the week:
Thurs -3 miles, easy. I have to learn how to run easy - every run tends to turn into a tempo run and I have to give myself a break some of the time.
Friday - 3 miles, easy, plus yoga. I actually think my IT band re-flare up from mid May was because I had not gone to yoga for three weeks in a row.
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - rest

just because i can

We're all moved into our new place and putting the finishing touches on a few things, like hanging pictures, etc. Plans are in the works for an awesome island for the kitchen, ala Erich. I'll have to post a picture of the table he built (once Andrew gets all his computer stuff off of it) and the rest of the place. 

I really wish Sam would act happier and more pleased with our new place.

 

No appreciation for what he's got. Except for a very, very dirty tennis ball and a stick. He had a stick in the sun and a stick in the shade, and would move between the two to chew on them.

Also, this is Sam trying to play Andrew's harmonica:

I went to my physical therapist yesterday. He did a deep tissue massage (so good!) and put some kinesthetic tape on my leg from below my knee up to my hip. I went out for 4 miles today (longest run since March 4), and it seemed to help somewhat. The first half felt great; the second half I could feel irritation in my knee. I did some stretches and iced it, and I don't feel any pain or soreness right now. So we'll see how it goes. I'm optimistic for my prospects - I'm on the fence about trying the Cellcom, but I think I'll be in good shape for the Bellin. Either way, I was so excited to be running today. I was running and felt tired and thought about turning around early, but then reasoned that being tired means shit. I can keep going if I'm tired. If it was painful, that's a different story. But tired? Keep going, just because I can.

Anyway, time for a nap. Bacher out.

holding pattern

Soooo, my IT band is still on-again, off-again irritated. The IT band wrap didn't help so I'm just resting, not running and doing strength training. I don't know where that puts me for the Cellcom, but I'm hoping I can do a run/walk thing and still participate. Any thoughts of improving on last year's time are out the window... now it's mostly a hope that I can do it at all.

We are moving to a new apartment in less than a month! I'm quite excited. Of the list of things I wanted in a new place, it meets 90% of them - two bedroom, fenced in backyard, non-coined operated washer and dryer, plenty of counter space... just no dishwasher. But I can live with that. I'm anxious to move and get out of this current place... a backyard! Room to invite people over! A dining room!

In preparation for the move, I've been sorting through my stuff and decluttering. I found my old high school journal yesterday, which was sort of fascinating. I'm slightly amused at the things I found important enough to write down and how different my interests were then compared to now (for example, I was talking with an old high school friend a few weeks back and she thought it was amusing how I would do anything to avoid gym class in high school but now I'm a runner). It also seemed like each day was either THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE or omg, life is SOOO terrible. I never felt like I was particularly moody and I felt like I was pretty even-keeled emotionally, but that could be my current outlook projecting back on how I imagine I should have been. But I suppose at that point, I was invested in my friends or the shit I did at school, and investing yourself in something can lead to being hurt. Maybe I've made better choices now (and had better options) about the people I surround myself with and the activities I choose to do, but I haven't really felt emotionally distraught now the way I seemed to feel frequently back then. Or maybe I deal with them better. Either way, it's certainly interesting to have my feelings stored and preserved in that fashion compared to just regular hindsight.

I've been feeling like I waste too much time online (specifically on Facebook), so I went through and deleted pretty much anyone who wasn't family or a past roommate (with some exceptions). I really don't care about random people I used to know and what they're doing... if I did, I would know about it, right? So already I can tell I'm spending less time on there. It took me like 3 hours to delete nearly 400 people... my hand felt like I was getting carpal tunnel.

I think these pictures of my dog are funny:


Bacher out!

life updates

A few updates for you:

1. My IT band is still slightly irritated. It feels fine when I'm doing my regular things, work, etc. I've tried running a bit (since I thought it was more completely healed than it seems to be), and after about a mile, it gets a bit painful. Not as bad as before, but not at the point where I'd like to be. I'm going to try a more active recovery, where I run but not as far or fast as I was going. Which is a bummer.

2. We are moving! To somewhere TBD. Still looking, which is a pain in the ass. But both Andrew and I agree - we are ready to be out of our apartment. Our perfect place has a good set of criteria... whether we meet all of them or not is another story. My guess is we'll have to compromise on something - number of bedrooms, state of appliances, price - but it really depends on the place. If anyone knows of a 2 bedroom duplex/apartment with a backyard (preferably fenced in), dishwasher, non-coin operated washer and dryer, within 4-5 blocks of a bus line that goes to DT St. Paul (preferably in St. Paul), let me know.

3. Sam peed on Andrew's leg this morning. My dog is kind of dumb.

That's it. Bacher out.

i hate my IT band.

I'm so pissed.

My IT band started acting up on Sunday. I wasn't sure that's what it was, but a little internet sluething today pretty much confirmed it. I ran my 7 miles on Sunday, then iced it Sunday and Monday nights when it started feeling sore. Then today it felt pretty good for most of the morning, so I decided to head out for my 3 mile lunchtime run. Stupid IT band got irritated on the run and I had to take an easy pace. It felt sore but not super painful on my way back to work, however, after I sat down for an hour (and I'm guessing my muscles tightened up), standing and walking around was pretty painful. Limping may or may not have been involved.

So I've pretty much benched myself until this gets itself worked out. Planning on ice and rest, mostly. I'm just mad because I was really rocking the training up until this point. I hit 98% of the training runs, am getting much faster than I used to be, and generally feel solid about Cellcom training up until this point. So it's just frustrating to get some solid training in and then have to rest due to injury.

So let's hope it heals quickly and I can get back on my training plan.

maaason!

Look at who I met last weekend!

My new nephew, Mason! He's the cutest thing ever, even with his old smushed Irish hitman face. I'm looking forward to seeing him next month when we go back to Green Bay and probably giving him a present, since I have no other children to smother with love.



Indy did his best Mason impression.

Sam chewed on both of Indy's toys in retaliation.

Sam will cuddle with pretty much anyone.

I did my six miles this morning and it went pretty good. I don't have any timed proof yet, but I'm certain I'm faster than before and absolute better at finishing strongly. It felt awesome to bang out six good miles and feel like I could do another few. I've been running during my lunch hour, which is fantastic. I feel like I concentrate much better in the afternoons after I've run and the day goes by so much faster. Now the mileage on weekday runs are getting to the point where I can't run the miles during my lunch break, so I'll be back to running in the morning again. It's a bit of a bummer, but I joined a gym across the street from my work, so on non-running days I'll head over for strength and cross training.

Ok. I'm going to go. Bacher out.

twenty-seven

Today is my birthday! I'm 27 today, which puts me squarely in the "late 20's" category.

I went running over my lunch break and thought about how grateful and lucky I am for many things:

• The physical ability to run three miles. To run three miles and feel awesome. The ability to do so on my lunchtime, in the sunshine, without a coat, in February, on my birthday.
• My gentleman and my dog.
• My other family members who really enjoy celebrating birthdays.
• The company of good, old friends.
• To be able to celebrate future birthdays with my new nephew.
• That I am an awesome guacamole maker.
• The delicious birthday meal I'm looking forward to tonight.

January is definitely over.

Birthday Bacher out.

sam the reflective

Sam and I go running together and we have a pretty good time. Sometimes we'll go in the morning before work and it's usually still dark out. I worry about my own visibility, wearing black pants and a purple jacket (even with all the reflective features they boast). I've been wanting a reflective vest for a few months now, but just haven't found the right one at the right price. Sam, being much shorter and blacker than I am, is even more of a visibility nightmare. Cars may not be looking for him and he may just blend in with the background. I usually head downtown since the sidewalks are clearer in the winter than anywhere else; downside is that people don't usually expect or look for runners and their black Labs.

Guess who is now more visible at night?

He's my school crossing guard.

Some more Sam:

Having a pretty rough day.

A goofball in the car on the way home from Wisconsin over New Years.

Opening his Christmas present. Hint: It was an antler and what seems to be the most promising non-destructible toy yet.

turn that frown upside down

Last week was shitty. Our car died and had expensive repairs, which meant I wasn't able to go to Green Bay for Erich and KT's baby shower. Boo.

This week was extra shitty. The car didn't get done until Monday, so we actually paid for it on Monday and that drained our bank account early in the week. A frozen bagel got the best of me, aka, I sunk a dull knife deep into my left ring finger in an attempt to cut in half a frozen bagel (a pre-cut bagel at that). It may have caused more damage than I originally thought. Huzzah!

I remember the end of 2009, thinking I was glad for it to be over because that year sucked. I feel the same way about this January. Let's just skip ahead to February, which is clearly a superior month as I was born during it.

January: Go blow yourself.
February: Don't suck like January.

Bacher out.

food and boots

Andrew and I went over to a friend's house to make sushi on Friday and I realized two things:

1. The Asian grocery store by my apartment is AWESOME. Great prices on veggies, a thing of tofu for .99 cents, plus a huge tank of catfish. I am doing as much grocery store shopping there as possible. I don't think they sell peanut butter, though.
2. I want to move to a bigger apartment (preferably a house/apartment where it's the entire floor of a house) and have a big table to have dinner parties.
   

I made this dal palak recipe last night, which was so good. A decent amount of spiciness for both Andrew and I; since I usually like this spicier than him, it hit a good middle ground for both of us. As I'm trying to eat less meat overall, Indian food is a good source for recipes. They have so much delicious vegetarian food.

After trying them on in November, I finally bought these boots:

Way to go, christmas money! I've realized I'm less likely to make larger purchases for myself regularly (as opposed to little things frequently that often add up to the price of one of these larger purchases) and instead use gift money/present opportunities to make a larger purchase - boots, running shoes, iPod, etc. When I graduated from college, Erich and KT said their present was either going to be an iPod or all the Scrubs dvds. I chose the iPod because I figured I'd be less likely to buy that on my own as opposed to all the Scrubs dvds (which I have been buying randomly over the past few years or so - usually whenever I see one for sale at a used store). I figure it's good to recognize that about yourself. Plus those boots are hot. I'm excited to wear them.

Ok. Time to go. Bacher out.

irresolute

I really dislike New Year's resolutions. Maybe since I associate them with falling off after 6 weeks, I don't think they're useful or effective. I always think, "Oh, well that's something the person won't really keep up through March," or that they only half-heartedly want to accomplish it. On the other hand, I don't necessarily think that about goals. I feel a person can set a goal and they have a fairly good chance of achieving it. It's the same thing, just a different word, so I don't know why I have those connotations. Increasingly, I feel the need to reassess and set new goals at year end, which is deliberately something I really didn't do before. Blame it on some type A personality shit.

Last year, I wanted to cook two new recipes a month and learn how to cartwheel. Trying two new recipes a month was pretty successful - here's a catalogue of some recipes I've tried this year and enjoyed. I have some new ones in my recipe folder too. I'm not making an intentional goal to try new recipes this year since I feel it's stuck with me pretty well and I have lots of inspiration to try new recipes. Don't they say it takes 6 weeks for something to become a habit? Well, I think I've got this down. In fact, tonight I'm making roasted butternut squash and bacon pasta.

Cartwheeling? Nope. Still don't know how.

I've got a few I've been kicking around for this next year:

• 100 books in 2012. I kicked 75 books in 2011's ass (currently on number 102 for 2011) and I think I can do it again next year.
• 3 half marathons - Green Bay in May, Red, White and Boom in July, and one more in the fall. I wanted to do two last year and only did one, mostly for financial reasons.
• Cut out meat one day a week, for health and environmental reasons. Probably Mondays.
  
• Progress on our net worth, specifically through building savings and paying down our smaller debts. I know goals are more likely to be accomplished if there's a specific, measurable goal, but we haven't sat down and figured that out yet. But those are the things I think we can hit, based on some initial calculations.

Good? All right. Bacher out.

a letter i wrote

Dear [Reverend 1] and [Reverend 2];

Please remove my name from the membership roll.

I feel the need to explain my decision as [church] had been a formative place in my youth. The Methodist Church's stance on gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people is completely at odds with my understanding of the world and God's involvement and love of humanity.

The God I know does not want people to completely shut off an important aspect of one's self simply because of whom they love. If we are to be full people, engaged in the community around us, we must be true to ourselves and embrace and love ourselves. By proxy, the institution of the church should accept and welcome the community as full people, some of whom may love people of the same gender.

If we are created in God's image and loved as such, then GLBTQ individuals are created in God's image and loved by God as well. While the Methodist Church finds homosexuality to be incompatible with Christ's teachings, I find the alienation, exclusion and disdain of GLBTQ individuals to be incompatible with Christ's teachings.

The Methodist Church is sorrowfully behind on accepting GLBTQ populations and it's embarrassing to hear that the WI Conference took 4 days to discussion to agree to begin a dialogue on the topic.

Thank you for your stewardship of a church I once called home; however, I cannot be a member of an organization that blatantly discriminates against a class of people and is blind to Jesus' call to welcome and love all people.

Thank you.

P.S. Jesus practiced radical inclusion. I hope you can do the same as a reconciling church.

more sam

What a silly dog.

Then we decided to watch a video:



I am easily amused.

this is my dog

Dinnertime.

Setting up the Christmas tree.

Sam hides out behind the tv.



Sam is a careful listener.

The end.

the monies

So... I turned into a budgeting/financial crazy person today.

I finished breaking down our spending for November compared to our budget, budgeted our Christmas presents, switched the autopay of the remaining bills over to our new credit union, cleaned up my Bank folder on my computer, and made a net worth spreadsheet (including columns to update next year). My spreadsheets are all quite pretty, if I do say so myself. The contents are a little rougher (hello, giant negative net worth), but I suppose in order to get ahead, you have to figure out where you are first.

Don't worry. I resisted color-coding the spreadsheets. Still, I am all over this shit.

Also, Sam is sleeping on the couch next to me and his face and legs are twitching and spasming like he's a robot.

babies and stuff

A note to the world:

Many people I know are pregnant or have birthed. That's awesome. Babies are cool. I'm especially looking forward to my new nephew, Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All Mason Badass Bacher and have grown fond of watching videos of Hattie (one of the Lincoln Roberts-Days) do things like roll over and be bounced around to silly noises.

However, I am totally content with a gentleman and a dog. We do pretty well, the three of us.

Not that anyone asked... just that babies seem to be all around and in people these days, and they seem super excited about it, whereas I am super excited about the homemade sesame chicken I made for dinner tonight.

That is all.

Book update:
I did get a Kindle. It is awesome. In fact, it increases marital hand-holding a significant percent as now I can lie in bed, hold the Kindle with one hand and hold Andrew's hand with the other. No more rationed hand-holding! I am also at book #95 for the year and 100 looks to be very good. I may even shoot for 104 - an average of 2 books per week.

Purging update:
I'm 95% done with the original purging plan. I used the last bottle this week - buffalo sauce that I poured over chicken wings in the crockpot. I have one bar of soap left, which will probably be opened this weekend. Still working on the tea lights though... there were a lot of those.

All right. Sesame chicken time. Bacher out.