This week I finally manned up (or acted like a grown-up, at least) and made a bunch of doctor’s appointments to address problems I’ve been having. I ended up going to three doctor’s appointments this week, which is more than I typically go to in a year.

The first two were for my back. A little over two years ago, I hurt my back. Since then I have dealt with chronic back pain. It’s always there, it’s just a matter of how much it hurts on any given day. Running doesn’t really affect it and it never hurts enough to impact my daily work/social life, so I didn’t do anything about it. But there’s no reason to live with chronic pain when you can do something about it, especially when it hurts just to breathe. So I finally went to the doctor. Lo and behold I’ve been living with three ribs out of place (partially dislocated) for two years. The rib heads are sitting slightly out of and/or above the joint where they line up with the vertebrae in my spine. I had x-ray’s done on Monday at my initial visit and received some preemptive treatment for it. Then I went back on Tuesday and had the ribs put back in. It may take some maintenance to get them to stay in place, but I’m on the mend!

On Monday I mentioned that I have been dealing with breathing issues for the past few months while running. Specifically, I have been having a lot of issues with wheezing. It started in January and I thought it was just a combination of the cold air, being out of shape, and the string of respiratory illnesses I had. Sometimes it would seem to go away, but I definitely never went a week without at least one wheezy run. Yet, I attempted to ignore it and keep running in the hopes that it would magically disappear.

This past Sunday I had to cut a 10 mile run down to 3 miles because it was literally like I was breathing through a straw. It sucks to cut a run short, but this especially sucked because it was a gorgeous day outside, my legs felt great, and I really needed the long run to prepare for upcoming races. So I finally made a doctor’s appointment, which I went to yesterday. My symptoms and the breathing test (spirometry) indicated that I have asthma. However, the doctor felt it is more of an exercise-induced asthma, since I never had it as a kid. She prescribed me an inhaler to use and I’ll have a follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks to see how things are going.

I’m lucky that both issues ended up being easily diagnosed and have straight forward treatments. Hopefully I have learned from this and will not let things go on for so long in the future. Probably not, but maybe.

What types of things do you procrastinate?
Do you ever use the “ignore it and it will go away” method?
Who else has asthma/uses an inhaler?

P.S. Happy April Fools! I really am missing a sock. I had the idea to make a ‘missing’ sign for it, and it was a happy coincidence that today is April 1st.

P.P.S. The hounds have been called in for the search. Nothing so far, but it’s definitely not in the washing machine….

This weekend was a bit of a rough one. Barry’s parents came up on Friday night to visit through Saturday. It was great to see them, but it was a really emotionally difficult visit (we very abruptly lost Barry’s 27 year old sister, Sara, about 3 weeks ago). However, we were able to enjoy some quality time together on Saturday and we took them to one of our favorite local restaurants – MK’s Pizzeria.

After lunch we drove around a bit (it was a cold, but really clear day). We ended up driving through the community of Hiwassee, and stopped to check out my favorite bridge on the New River State Park Trail. I called it a trestle bridge on Facebook, but my uncle, who is an engineer, said it is actually a through truss bridge. Now we all know 🙂

We said goodbye to Barry’s parents late Saturday evening. Overnight, it got down into the teens. My daffodils, which bloomed last week, were not big fans of the frigid air. This is how I found them yesterday morning.

But it actually turned out to be a really nice day yesterday, sunny and in the mid-50’s. Perfect day for a long trail run, which is exactly what I had planned. Unfortunately my 10 mile trail run turned into a 3 mile run (told you it was a rough weekend….).

I haven’t really talked about it on the blog, but I have been having a lot of issues with breathing while running the past few months. It doesn’t happen on every run, but I start wheezing really bad on some runs. Especially ones where I exert myself more, like a trail run. I think it has something to do with the string of sinus infections I had from September through January. My typical “ignore it and it will go away” strategy has not worked and I think yesterday was the final straw (which is funny because I felt like I was breathing through a straw yesterday). I’m planning to make a doctor’s appointment hopefully this week so I can get this figured out. It’s hard to run when you can’t breathe.

Now to end on a good note. On Friday I bought some fresh cut flowers on a whim while I was at the store. I’ve got them in two different vases in our house – one on the kitchen counter and the other on the kitchen table.

They make me happy each time I look at them, like bringing a little spring into the house (despite the colder temperatures). What makes them even more special is that both vases were gifts, and the one on the left was handmade and hand-painted. Depending on how well I do with these, I think I may keep having fresh cut flowers in the house. Little things like that can help brighten your day.

Who else experienced a blast of cold air this weekend?
Do you ever keep fresh cut flowers in a vase just because?
What’s your favorite song lately? Mine is ‘The Heart’ by NEEDTOBREATHE

I have days, like last night, where I get home from work and I want to run. But the last thing I want to do is go back outside and be part of the world. Even on beautiful days (yesterday it was sunny and in the high 60’s) I sometimes choose the treadmill instead. Sometimes after a particularly long or difficult work day I just don’t want to be around people. So I hang out with Sven instead. Does that hint towards introvert tendencies?

I don’t really think of myself as an introvert. I enjoy the company of others, but only once I’m in that company. That is to say, when I’m at home I’m perfectly content with that and am happy to just stay there. However, once I’m in a social setting, hanging out with family and/or friends, I really enjoy it.

People run on the treadmill for all sorts of reasons and a lot of them make sense. The weather is unfavorable, kids/family situations, it’s unsafe to run outside by yourself, etc. But my reasons when I run on the treadmill usually don’t fall into one of those categories. I just like the solidarity of it and I like not having to go anywhere to do my run. It’s crazy, though, because I love running outside. And 90% of the time that is what I do. I think running outside is probably more beneficial than a treadmill and you get to see more stuff. But the treadmill is a timesaver and I also like watching my recorded TV shows while I run.

Maybe it’s just some kind of laziness, although I find it hard to associate laziness with any kind of running. It’s like telling a non-runner you’re going out for an easy 10 miler. There is such a thing, but not to them. In the end, a run is a run, and it’s better than no run at all. And if I am a bit of an introvert, or a home body or whatever, then thank goodness for ‘Sven’ the treadmill.

Would you ever choose the treadmill over an outdoor workout when the weather is nice?
Do you think a preference for the treadmill makes you an introvert?

Lately I have fallen back into an old habit. The phrase ‘old habit’ typically has a negative connotation, so you’re probably thinking I’ve begun an old, bad habit. But that’s not the case. This is a good habit, and I’m happy to have fallen back into it because it means I’ve earned my shirt!

Still don’t know what I’m talking about? I’m talking about finally getting back into a consistent running/workout routine. Specifically, I’ve started following a training structure similar to what I followed for my first half marathon, which subsequently was when I started running. It’s the same structure I’ve used for the past 7 years of running, except when I trained for my two full marathons. It feels good to be back in this routine, like putting on a pair of well-worn shoes.

This training pattern involves cross training on Mondays, running Tuesday through Thursday, a long run on Saturday, and rest days on Friday and Sunday. The only difference this time around is that I’m also including a short to mid-distance trail run on most Sundays as well.

Hanson’s training really skewed my view on running and training. It made me feel like anything under 30 miles a week, and anything less than 6 days of running per week, wasn’t enough. Somehow that translated into my doing little to no running instead. If anyone can figure out that logic, please explain it to me.

But I’m back to my old ways now, and am running 15 to 30 miles per week. Although I liked the training process for a marathon, and the weeks of hard work, it’s not a schedule I can keep regularly. This old schedule keeps me in shape for races, keeps running fun, and is a good fit for me overall. It’s the style of training that has carried me through seventeen half marathons.

You know what they say: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Do you have a standard workout pattern that you follow each week?