CATCHING UP....

So I've been MIA. The cycling commute is kicking my ass!! I'm doing 25 miles per day on average (40 K for the metric folks). I'm definitely feeling it in my legs on the Friday. I believe most of the time the wind is in my face and when it's not I am FLYING! Rain or shine I am on my bike and not looking back at my time on the bus/subway. And I've lost like 7 lbs so who could complain about that?!!

I've been seeing the new physio and just started having some great results with the cold laser treatment on top of icing like crazy and stretching. I had my first run PAIN-FREE since November 2007 yesterday!! A blissful 5K with Rocky. It was wonderful. I'm feeling the foot a little right now but continuing with the treatment and hoping to see continuous improvement. Physio is SURE I will be able to run the Niagara Falls half on my Birthday and that made me very happy. I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And the 'stupid foot' problems might be coming to an end...

Leaving you with a pic of Rocky and the tulips who are just out in our front yard.

I hope all the Mississauga runners are having a great time!

TRAINING WITH A STUPID FOOT ~ WEEK 3~

Training is going well but I've been asked if my foot hurts... no it does not hurt BUT it doesn't feel quite right... sigh... is that a BIG problem?? It is really tight and it goes up my calf too, so I am stretching a lot and massaging too...

Otherwise it's been a great week. Nutrition is back to a normal level and I lost a couple of pounds this week.

Here's last week in Review
Monday: 40 mins run with my Dad

Tuesday: Bike speed session . Same as last week but a lot easier so I am ready to ramp-up the 'speed intervals this week.

10 mins warm-up

10 mins speed session (30 sec hard/30 sec easy)

10 mins cool down

Wednesday: We got hit with 30 cm/12 inches of snow. My parents left for a trip so I was in charge of all the shoveling by myself.... 2h30 of shoveling later I was too exhausted to run!

Thursday: 2h of shoveling, 25 mins run on the treadmill and I wanted to die the whole time (shoes were great though!). Finished it off with a long strenght training... I was sore from shoveling so this wasn't my smartest idea LOL

Friday: 1h shoveling (and totally done!)

Saturday: Long ride on the trainer; riding easy for 55 mins then 15-30 sec pick up climbing out

of the saddle (hard!)

Today: 'Long' run well if you can call 3 miles like that which was totally AWESOME!

Most of the streets where plowed and I wanted to test how fast I could go, still comfortably hard.

Mile 1: 11:27 min/mile

Mile 2: 11:34 min/mile

Mile 3: 11:26 min/mile

I am so very happy with this run. =) I was afraid I didn't have it in me cause I am running with my Dad often and the pace is really slow (for me, not for him). I want to run 12 min/mile at ATB so better get started. I did a 20 mins cool down on the trainer when I came back home. I'm really liking the indoor trainer.

Have a good week everyone!

AU REVOIR, GOODBYE, AUF WIEDERSEHEN 2008

Very happy to see this one go.... It has been a very hard year for me both physically & mentally.

I was hyper stressed from January to April working on finishing my Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry. This is my proudest life accomplishment so far and something that was really hard to do. I was very hopeful for a great year after my thesis defense but it only went downward from there.

I moved back home, I struggeled to find a job, I was injured and could barely run (just enough to keep my sanity). Then 2 months and a half ago I had to stop running completely, became really depressed and started packing on the pounds (again! I had lost 60 lbs in 2006)...

I had envisoned something different for my life once I graduated from grad shool.

Now, with 2 job possibilities in front of me and a foot that is not so f*cked anymore, I am looking at 2009 with a more positive eye. Good things happen to those who wait they say... I waited long enough, it is my turn, 2009 be kind with me!

Thanks you all for always coming back to read my posts. I appreciate your support through my 'stupid foot' injury!

Happy New Year everyone!

p-s I've just started a new training plan, I'll talk about it in another post! =)

INTENSITY...

I miss the intensity that running has. I miss running as fast as you can and stopping out of breath. I miss coming back from a long run in the cold with ice on my hat. I miss training for marathons. I miss the runner's high.

I've been doing a lot of cross training but it does nothing for me. I am becoming faster in the pool but still don't feel like it is a big deal. I bought a new kick ass bike and I am often thinking about accidents and deaths while riding it... LOL Fast bike = crashes in my head.

I've been doing my best to be PATIENT, and be CONTENT that I don't have cancer or another illness. But somedays it is just not making me feel any better.

I've got a plan... not sure it will work but I am going to do it anyway. Santa came early this year and I just received the Christmas gift from my folks.

The plan is to find a marathon training plan that has runs in minutes. And to follow this plan but on the bike. I am hoping that an increase in training volume will help me fight the runner's blues and lose some weight ( which I desperately need to!) What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?

PS. send some good vibes my way tomorrow afternoon, I have an interview for a chemist position at the City of Montreal!

ETA: Strength training is kicking my ass. I took Laurel's advice to just stick with it... I did it Sunday and yesterday and I AM SORE. I'd love to get ideas of what others do, so I can alternate exercices. This is what I did:

3 sets of 20 reps 1 min in between sets

1. Squats
2. Standing bent-arm lat with elastic band
3. Step-up
4. Calf raises
5. Push-ups
6. Seated Row
7. Squats with elastic band
8. Abdominal with twist
9. Bicep curl with elastic band
10. Outer thigh exercise with elastic band
11. Inner thigh exercise with elastic band
    

The =( and the =)


=(

No running for another 2 months...... ='(

well I can try 10-15 mins once a week near the end of the 2 months to see how i feel... f'ing hell!!!

It can take 6-9 months to get a bone scan appointment and since I don't have insurance I can't go to a private clinic as it would cost 600$+ ...

STUPID FOOT!


=)

The doctor thinks it is healing properly and just needs time.

She doesn't think the bone scan will reveal anything.

So yeah good and bad but I still can't run.

So, I am going to invest in a bike trainer sooner than later. My little stationnary bike is a pain in the ass, I cannot control much of the resistance on it anymore. It starts to makes a screeching noise after 1h even without putting resistance. Sucks ass!

Oh well, keep on trucking eh?

Have a good week-end!

PS. May the wind be at your back tomorrow Laurel! I will be rooting for you at the Philly marathon (and hopefully track you too!)

PAY BACK IS A BIT*CH

I went shopping with my Dad today, found him a pair of fall running pants and a long sleeve tech shirt =) We walked for a few hours and now I'm getting some sharp pain in my foot every 20-30 secs. It is intense and driving me totally crazy. I tried heat.. didn'T work. Tried ice didn't work either... sigh... I will run Rum Runners but I SWEAR ON MY BLOG that is my last 'stupid stunt'... for awhile which means no Detroit half unfortunately =(

WAKE-UP CALL

About how bad is the medical system in Quebec (I don't want to generalize by saying Canada but I think so too)

I went to the clinic this morning to get my foot checked. It is still constantly hurting, and I had to start taking ibuprofene everyday now. I knew the double header this week-end was not my most fantastic idea but it was what I wanted to do. And with lots of ibuprofene I enjoyed both races.

Right now, I AM SO ANGRY. They screwed up my case at the clinic and *forgot* to follow up some results from my radiography in April!!!

THEY KNOW SINCE APRIL THAT I HAVE A HEEL SPUR.

WTF YOU PEOPLE!!

DO YOUR JOB!

I AM SO FREAKIN MAD.

All summer, I did the best I could to deal with this "unknown" pain in my foot and they knew since way back what I had.... The podiatrist thought it was neuromas so I researched neuromas... seemed to make sense went on board with it. But I knew he wasn't a doctor and wanted to get this checkd before I have a 2nd cortisone injection (apointment made for October 14th).

Having a hard time dealing with this right now.

I AM MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

AS READY AS ONE CAN BE!!

Monday, one of my friend who was a swim coach for many years gave me a private class! She had great little tips to improve my form and my breathing. I already feel like my style is a lot smoother. She that said for someone who never took swim classes and pretty much imitated other's people swim my technique was awesome which made me very happy.

Crotchy is back to normal. Alleluia!! So I was able to do 10K on the bike in about 30 mins today (taking things slowly to get back at it lol). Thanks for your support and for laughing at me... no biggies I love to entertain you guys!!

Tomorrow morning will be the last run with my Dad before the Big week-end races. I was thinking of getting my Dad some sort of special present for the race but I don't know exactly what to get him...

Today, while he was away shopping, I prepared signs for the Big Race. My Mom and my Aunt are coming to cheer us so I wanted us to be able to see them from far away. I'm definitely as excited as he is for his racing debut =)

Here are the signs (I do hope my Dad will not look at my blog before the race as this is a surprise right now!!). Obviously they are all in French since we are French lol

This one says: Roger 'Don't fucking stop'

Roger 'don't let Sonia win!'

Hurry up Roger, the beer will be warm!
P.S. Do not look up foot injuries or foot surgeries on google image as you get some pretty nasty stuff you might not ever want to see.... I spared you guys on this.... believe me!!!!

POST CONTAINING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE... PEOPLE WHO GET OFFENDED EASY SHOULD NOT READ...
















You were warned!

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!

Seriously that felt good to let it out.... so my back is still hurting but a lot less than yesterday so I'm happy about that. I'm doing the heat/rub all day today too so hopefully my back will be all good for my first sprint try on Sunday!

WHAT PISSES ME OFF IS MY STUPID FOOT.... so I just learned that my insurances covered the cortisone injection (YES!)!! They paid 140$ out of the 210$ it cost me so I tought I would just set another apointment for a 2nd cortisone injection to solve that new problem (the neuromas) BUT THE BAD THING IS that I called the clinic they can only give me an apointment in September and my insurance ends August 31... so I am totally pissed off. At my insurance for taking so much time to reimburse me, at them for being so busy and at myself for not knowing that miraculously this would be paid by my insurance... I also haven't run or biked or swim since Friday so I'm going a little insane here... in case you haven't noticed lol

I'm out, sorry for the negative post!!

GUESS WHAT??

Little trip to the podiatrist today, where I learned that I have MORE foot problems, this is seriously getting old...

It has a huge name too: Neuroma of the calcaneal branch of the posterior tibial nerve. Some sort of cysts on the nerve which is pretty rare according to my podiatrist... they are going to adjust my orthotics to remove pressure from the cysts (putting wholes where the cysts are). I have 2 on the foot where I had the cortisone injection and 1 on the other.... If this doesn'T work seems the solution is a freakin cortisone injection!! I am so pissed!! This hurts like hell, is expensive and I don't want to have another one! I freakin' sucks that this problem was hidden by the PF too...

Today's workout
I went for a 30 mins jog easy this morning, 2.5 miles were done. It was almost 10AM by the time I got out so way too hot for my own like... Rocky tought so too!! I just came back from the pool, 1000m in 27 mins. I wasn't in the mood, it was really hard to get into it...

psstt I have started shopping for a new bike 'insert shameful expression'...

SCRATCH THAT....

I was up around 5AM as my foot started to bother me... put on the strassburg sock again.. I really just want to cry, this is pissing me off. I've seriously had enough of this. I won't be running on it today like I had planned...