time off for good behavior

So I was surprised last nite at my PT appointment, where she said that I really didn't need to come back, that I have made good enough progress!! Surprised, since that was only my 4th visit, and the doc had prescribed 6 weeks, 2-3x a week. I just need to keep stretching and icing, which I can definitely do on my own. And I'll probably visit the sports doc again to confirm that all is well with that leg...

Now, I just need a game plan for building back up. I do intend to incorporate more cross-training this time around-after all, if that was what contributing to this injury recovery progressing faster than expected, then I was obviously doing something right!! (In addition to other benefits-I can now do push-ups without needing to be on my knees for the first time in god knows how long...and a lot of tightness in my legs has gone away.)

I think I will celebrate with a 15-minute easy treadmill run at the gym later :)

colors that follow me

This picture, circa 1987. Who knew 20 years later, that I'd still be part of a team that wore red, white and black?

A coupla IM conversations I had today inspired me to dig up this picture and post it...and you know who you are that said I was a Flyer cheerleader...well guess I got an early start!! :)

Disclaimer: At that age group, there were no "tryouts"...first who signed up got in!! I sure as hell was not acrobatic-I still to this day cannot do splits or cartwheels...but I did have spirit (even "most enthusiastic" one year)

(and I think my dad made the selection of my favorite pro football player)

OK, let the Bring It On jokes begin... :-p

my new toy arrived today!!

yay...I got my new laptop a week earlier than I thought I would!! Boy does Dell have super-fast shipping for free...

And I can't believe I got this computer for half the price that I got my previous Dell laptop for...and that was 4 years ago!! I did order it around the time that Apple made their little laptop announcement...wonder if PC manufacturers cut their prices in response?? If so, I ain't complaining :)

baby steps

I ran today! For the first time in almost 3 weeks. OK, it was only 1.35 treadmill miles...not impressive, but at least it was something...

At my previous PT appointment this past Friday, it seemed there was progress made...the pain had significantly subsided and the muscle definitely felt much better when it was being massaged...looked like it was healing nicely. The physical therapist then had me try "running" on a trampoline for 2 minutes...and gave me another minute when i said it was still feeling fine. She told me that if there was no pain later that day or on Saturday, then I could try a short run.

So I did, today after a spinning class. Set the treadmill for 10 minutes at about 10m/m...after 3 minutes it felt fine, so bumped it up to 9:30...bumped it up to 9:00 for another 3, and 8:30 for the last minute...cooled down for 3 minutes at 10:00. And everything feels fine!!! yay...

Guess my XT routine for the last coupla weeks did the trick (spinning 3x week, yoga 3x week, PT 1-2x week)...that, plus the PT exercises I have to do daily (3 calf stretches 3x/day, 60 calf raises/day) helped rid some of that horrible tightness from my legs...I'll still keep this up for the next coupla weeks but start adding in a loop of the rez here and there...

But-I would be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about coming back to group runs. I do miss the social factor-but I'm afraid of getting myself back into the same vicious cycle i was in before...I'm too slow, I can't hold on to the pace comfortably, so I either have to get "dropped" or try to speed up and risk re-injury.

one step at a time, i guess...

in non-running news, I hope this is the last blog post i write on this computer-as my new laptop should be arriving any day and this keyboard is driving me crazy!!!

different, but the same

well this was interesting. this past weekend, me and my Flyer teammate NC decided to take on a duo of Jewish singles parties...each one with a decidedly different vibe to it.

The first one on Saturday night, was held at an Equinox gym in midtown...the premise was to get fitness-minded Jewish singles together. And no cover for women, so hey, why not? And honestly-I think it was a good idea in theory. But I think the end result was kinda underwhelming. First off-the only hooch there was wine samples. (Good thing I already had a mojito and a glass of white wine at dinner.) At least it was free, but hey...you need more alcohol to induce mingling!! I'm sure people would even pay for it. Second, the only food available to guests was fruit. Obviously the organizers have never spent much time around runners. And not surprisingly-the crowd was mostly female (well duh...of course, thanks to the free cover!) and the males there...kinda meh. (And of course, I ran into someone I know-a male friend of my friend's sister who i met at the Matzo Ball. There-my "jewish singles are a small world" moment of the night.) Our favorite was the one guy who kept trying to convince us we were drunk and slurring our words. Who knows, maybe he was on to something...after all, we excused ourselves from uncomfortable conversations quite a few times that nite to sample yet another type of wine, til we sampled them all and by then it was time to call it a night.

And we tried again on Sunday night...this event was one that apparently attracted a more "Euro" Jewish crowd, and was held at a nice bar in midtown. The music was great, the dancing was fun. But the men...oh. mah. gawd. Quite a few of them were pretty aggressive-this was like some of my better JDate emails come to life. (oh, and of course we had a "jewish singles are a small world" moment of the night-we did recognize a couple of guys from the night before...one even remembered my LV bag.) NC and I had to rescue each other quite a bit by either hitting the bar or just going elsewhere til we both had enough!! I think the best thing that we got out of the night was free chocolate :-p

Well, at least we went into these without expectations...all in all I was fine with what it was...and what it usually is-a good time with friends, with stories to tell afterwards! :)

damn those resolution people

OK, I just called up NYSC to get my name on the class list for tomorrow morning's spin class at 9:15...so we're talking almost 24 hours in advance.

And I wind up #5 on the waiting list...WTF??? C'mon, isn't everyone supposed to be sleeping in on Saturday morning?

And this seems to have been the trend for the entire month. Yep, it's the onslaught of the "resolution people"...the reason why I get shut out of spin classes or have to wait forever for a cardio machine when people don't want to follow the 30 minute limit (and then give me a look when I remind them of said limit.)

I do respect the fact that people want to make changes for the better...but for those of us who work out year round, it is a little frustrating when routine gets interrupted due to people who most likely will give it up after a month. And the gyms don't seem to meet the increased demand for that time either...

In previous years it hasn't bothered me-but this time around, I'm more dependent on the gym than before!! (Thank god I never canceled my membership...)

they tried to make me go to rehab, but i said 'no, no, no'...

(ok-not *that* type of rehab. but i just couldnt resist using that as a title.)

I had my first PT appointment yesterday, which honestly wasn't too painful. Some deep tissue massaging of the calf-which did hurt meaning that even though the pain has really subsided, there is apparently still a bit of damage there...I just sucked up the pain as 1. I know it needs to be done to get this thing to heal and 2. I felt worse pain when I had Active Release done on my plantar faciitis (there were times that the pain was so bad, that the doc gave me a pillow to clutch onto at those times.) After that was some stretches (which I will need to do at home 3x a day), some foam roller action (which I should do at the gym), some ultrasound and icing. And I guess this will all be repeated in the weeks to come...

And the PT told me to just keep up with my cross training-which has been a mix of spinning, yoga, elliptical and upper body weights-as long as nothing aggrevates my calf. And honestly-right now the only sore part of my body is my arms...I think yoga definitely gives them a better workout than the weight machines do!! My first week on the running DL has passed by surprisingly fast...and even though the pain seems to have gone away, I don't think I'd want to chance running just yet. I'm fine to give it another week...honestly, the next couple of weeks are packed socially between birthday parties and work events which will keep me quite busy...

In non-running news, Magnolia Bakery will be opening on the UWS in a few days!!! Forget about rehab...i will need cupcake intervention instead!!!

what i've learned in the last few days

a bullet point list...

• Cigna has the crappiest.network.ever. It took me several tries to find a PT that accepted my insurance. Next year I think I will spring for the extra $5 per paycheck and get the PPO plan. But nevertheless, with the help of a co-worker, I did find a PT and my first appointment is Wednesday. Wish me luck.
• Maybe I needed to have someone tell me not to run for 2 weeks. The calf pain has definitely subsided, most likely because I've been a good little girl and stuck to cross-training. I do still feel tightness there though-which will hopefully be nipped in the bud with some PT.
• Surprise, surprise, yoga is actually a great workout. I have been hesitant to try it, as I have done Pilates before and that had just bored me to tears-and I expected yoga to be more of the same. I did a couple of hatha yoga classes at NYSC in the last few days and they are actually more intense than I thought-I definitely had to work at it!! But I think this and spinning will keep me sane while on the running DL and even off the DL too!
• On the topic of spinning, my Flyer teammate SW teaches a kick-ass spinning class. She subbed today for one of the classes i usually take and didn't disappoint. Highly recommended!
• But even though I'm getting into this cross-training, I'm still feeling out of the loop socially. Yeah, I got a little envious hearing about a great "run to food" that happened this past weekend. I know there will be other runs...but still, just because I can't run right now doesn't mean I want to be antisocial...I can still do non-running things...I dunno. I'm tired of feeling left out.
• How great has this season of The Amazing Race been? I can't wait for next week's finale...GO TK and Rachel!! (yeah, I like the nice teams)

Now if you excuse me, I think I need to make a prayer to the snow gods for a snow day tomorrow...or at the very least, a delayed opening :)

i knew i'd be next...

With so many of my Flyer friends having gone on the DL in the last year...I knew I was getting off too easy. I was wondering when the injury bug would bite me. Well bite it did, this week.

Things, running-wise were pretty decent...mileage was good, had a coupla recent fun runs (Midnight Run and this past Monday's downtown run to beer!) and the weather was like April in January!! Then Tuesday...it happened. Nice evening, threw on my running shoes and shorts and headed to the park. While crossing CPW (with the green light)-there was a biker who was running the red light and waved at me to get out of the way or get hit-so i sprinted to get out of the street and felt a shooting pain and tightness in my left calf. There was no way I could run on it-so thank god I didn't get far, I just walked home and Advil'ed and iced the calf, and the next day got on the phone to find a sports doc that would take me today. Don't know if this was an isolated incident, or if there was an injury brewing and this sprint triggered it, I just knew I had to get it looked at sooner rather than later to minimize time on the DL, if any.

And the verdict? A calf strain-as I suspected. It seems that my left calf is still showing signs of my old injury-there's still quite a bit of tightness there and my Achilles. So-running hiatus for 2 weeks, PT 2x a week for 6 weeks, stretch, possibly new orthotics (only if my insurance covers) and replace my current running shoes which, in his opinion, had too many miles on them (over 300.)

And funny enough-I'm actually not bummed out. I think in a way, if it had to happen-I'm glad it happened now and not during marathon mania season-as I think that's what made dealing with my previous injury so hard. I can still cross-train, which is fine with me as there are several spin classes that I have grown to really like, and I think I will use this opportunity to do different things (e.g., swim, try out yoga.) Plus I think I have a much better support system now than I did 2 1/2 years ago-and I'm grateful for that.

And on that note, special shout out to the downtown crew-you all know who you are if you're reading-when I sent a mass email asking for a doc recommendation, quite a few of them wasted no time in giving me recs and encouragement. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. Hope to see you all back on the roads soon-but if not, definitely at the bar!! :-D

vanity has no place in cold-weather running. or does it?

yeah yeah yeah we've come across the first real cold snap of the year. (not hard, considering this is the first week of January.) I'm sure yesterday, NYSC and other assorted gyms across the NYC metro area were filled with more than just the "resolution" people.

Me, I debated going for a run outdoors-specifically for that reason, I'm sure I'd have to wait forever for a cardio machine, or that the spinning classes would be full, etc...so I went to Engineers Gate to see if any other Flyers were showing up for the group run. If there were, great, if not-or if the ones there were planning on going too fast for me, at least I had my iPod so I can just continue on as long as I was out there.

Thankfully, a couple of fellow bloggers were there and we did the lower 5 nice and relaxed. It was actually a very nice night to run (despite both thermometers near Columbus Circle reading less than 20 degrees)...

...and I do partially have the apparel to thank for that!! Looks like the layering job I did was just right-and actually looked pretty sharp too :) This Sugoi jacket (in red) and tights (both of which I got on sale-especially the jacket, no way was I paying full price for that!!), and under the jacket was this top in black (I got that majorly on sale too-thanks to being a Flyer) and a black long sports bra, also wore my Mizuno gloves and I decided to pull out my old Midnight Run 2004-2005 black fleece cap :) And that combo was almost perfect-might have been able to use another layer on the bottom, but I dealt with it.

For good cold-weather pieces, I always look for good deals on the high-end gear...it's so worth it. Shop around, both online and in the stores...some of the NYC are especially kind to the local runners and give discounts!! :)

2008-off and running

is this 4-day weekend over already? can it really be time to go back to work tomorrow? man, time sure flies when you're having fun...

so I did do the Midnight Run to kick off the new year. Beforehand, went to a pre-party at DM's apartment along with some other Flyers and FOF's. Some highlights of the pre-party:

• everyone getting quizzed about if they knew of a certain 70's metal band. only one other person said yes.


• me bringing up yankees.com on the computer. my reasoning... "oh yeah, i saw some spyware-like thingie with a mets logo, i need to fix it" :-p


• our hostess' official stuffed bear being given beer and photographed with it


• lots of good music, from the 80s to the JT-era


• lots of wine and champagne


• lots of laughs and fun

(Ok...i guess the first few, you had to be there to appreciate.)

Some others stayed behind to kick off the new year indoors, but a bunch of us (including Crazy Bandana-head) headed to the park to start the new year running. We made it there with barely enough time to get to the start...but its not like we were racing this or anything! :-p None of us were really in costume, though i added a running skirt to my ensemble, and all the girls in our group were wearing "happy new year" tiaras. While we lost Crazybandanahead and one other before the start, the remaining 5 of us stayed together for the whole 4 miles and had a good time...running easy, hi-fiving spectators, blowing on noisemakers, sipping champagne out of water bottles (oh wait...that last one was just me :-p )

this morning, i meant to join the flyers for a morning run, but the rain, and the fact that i didnt get to sleep til after 3 led to that not happening. did join them for brunch at Arte Cafe (though i was limited to only 1 Bellini, as they dont have the unlimited brunch drinks during the week!) but crashed afterwards, so a run today didn't happen!! (actually-do i count the midnight run as mileage on 12/31 or 1/1? hmmm...)

so, a good start to the year so far, hopefully will lead to a decent year. or at least a better one than 2007, which i wasn't sorry to say goodbye too. though i will admit, even though 2007 started off extremely rocky, at least it didn't end that way...

and resolutions? sorry. don't believe in em :-p

now playing: "pocketful of sunshine" ~ natasha bedingfield