Running Goals

After putting my post together last week, and thinking about my fitness goals, I realized that I had never written about another big accomplishment I had made in 2011: running a 5K! I actually ended up running two: the Bucktown 5K and the Hot Chocolate 5K. The Bucktown race was a smaller Chicago neighborhood race through my very own hood (the course went just one street from my house!) and the Hot Chocolate was a much bigger race that went through the loop downtown--with chocolate at the end, of course.

My friend Becky encouraged me to run--that and the sweet, sweet goody bag jacket. We had fun encouraging each other since it was the first time racing for both of us, and even though we didn't actually train together, it was good to have someone to talk to that was working at the same pace.

For my training (yes, you don't go from barely running to three miles), another, more advanced, runner friend had recommended the Hal Higdon "Couch to 5K" program. I didn't follow it exactly, but it was a great guide to slowly build up endurance. The best part of racing was challenging myself to beat my first time in the second race--which I did!

This year the goal is to work up to running a 10K and maaaaybe a half marathon! Up and up!

Yogi New Year

Hoo-boy, it has been a while since I updated the ole blog. First off, Happy New Year! I've never been much of a resolutionary person, but it is a nice time to reflect and check in with yourself.

I suppose you could say that is exactly what I was doing for most of December--after all of the parties and surviving a nasty respiratory virus. I took all the time between Christmas and New Years off work, giving me 11 days off in a row (including a couple unpaid days since I had to sacrifice the last of my sick days for that virus). That's the longest I've been away from the office since I started this job (seven years ago, but who's counting). I actually considered going in for a couple of hours for those unpaid days, but I'm glad I didn't. I think I was actually afraid of being bored (or being alone with myself, if you want to take the therapist perspective)! It took me a couple of days to get used to letting myself just relax. Usually when I have time off, I'm always trying to get stuff done, clean this, fix that, and I did some, but I really just wanted to let myself unwind. I feel like I'm running ragged most of the time, like I'm always going places and doing things because I have to instead of want to. I've always been a pretty high-strung person, but my energy level took a big dip when I turned 30, so I've been trying to manage that for the past year (both mentally and physically).

I spent most of my time off at home alone (the bf was at work most of the week) on the couch, and it was nice. I didn't talk to friends or family much, and we even dodged the holiday travel stress bomb. I let myself watch a lot of TV without feeling guilty about it (which was A LOT of the month between being sick and hungover and staycationing). I went to the gym a couple of times and by the end of the week I wished that I had been taking advantage of the free classes that my gym offers--but I guess that's just the realization that the time off was intended to show me. So I hit up a yoga class on Friday afternoon, something that I've been encouraged to do for a long time by my therapist (for the mind benefit) and my physical therapist (for the body benefit), and I loved it. There's always that first-class-hump to get over, but now that I'm over it, I'm hooked and I hope to go at least once a week. I was crazy sore after that first class, but I already hit up another class a few days later, and was encouraged by the instructor to keep coming, which was pretty cool.

Now that we're back at work, I've had a little bit of a hard time adjusting back to the daily grind, but I try to stay positive and think that if nothing else came from my break, I enter 2012 with a clearer mind and a new found fitness goal.

Little did I know I was working on my beach bod all winter...

Last September I started having back spasms, even if I didn’t know they were spasms at the time. I was in pain, lots of pain. I would get these sharp pinches in my lower back that would just not let go. It hurt to stand, it hurt to sit, it hurt to lay down, it hurt to sleep. I finally saw my doctor and she told me my options: chiropractor, physical therapy or massage therapy. I chose to start with massage since I figured it was just a knot that needed to be worked out and I’d feel better in no time. Plus I’d be getting massages paid for by insurance, right? Yay! But these massages were anything but relaxing. Once my massage therapist focused in on my problem area, it was an hour a week solely on that spot, and it hurt. She told me it was going to be a long process. I had problems that went beyond that one knot. I got worse before I got better. I almost gave up. After another visit to the doctor (a sub as my regular doc was on maternity leave by this time) after an especially painful spasm, and I was given a scrip for muscle relaxers. I never filled it.

The place I was sent for treatment was Universal Health Institute, a health center that focuses on more holistic care. I’ll always be thankful that my doc referred me there instead of pumping me full of drugs and shoving me out the door.

After a couple of months of massage, I was ready for physical therapy. Since that knot was the result of years and years of weak muscles not supporting my spine correctly, we had to figure out exactly where I was weak and bulk me up. Just a few simple exercises once a day, and I slowly started to notice strength and bulk in muscles I didn't even know were there...between my shoulder blades, my hips, my glutes. My clothes started fitting differently, my posture improved, but best of all, I wasn’t in pain anymore. I felt strong.

Six weeks later (that’s how long it takes to build new muscle), I started chiropractor visits. Slowly, over the months with my MT, PT and chiro, we worked backwards through years and years of back pain, long ago pains and twinges that I had completely forgotten about--we’re talking some that took me all the way back to high school. Muscles just kept overcompensating for other muscles that should have been supporting me until they just couldn’t anymore, and ended up spasming.

The twice a week visits seemed like a lot. I felt like I was spending all my time (and money) there, and wondered if I would ever get better since we always seemed to be uncovering new issues. Up until a few weeks ago when I suddenly “graduated.” I didn’t need them anymore, at least that’s what they told me. Of course I’m nervous that I’ll get lazy, that I’ll end up right back where I started, but my PT gave me the tools to stick with it. Over the months that she worked with me, she taught me all kinds of simple exercises of varying difficulty for each of the muscle groups I need to maintain (plus other areas to work on), so I won’t get bored doing the same routine all the time. And of course, the folks at UHI are always there if I need anything. I’ll still be in occasionally for tune ups with my chiro and MT, and to just say hi.

All it takes now is my own motivation. And I’ve done really well so far. I still do push-ups, bridges and ab work every day, even when I don’t hit the gym. I’m at the gym 3 to 5 times a week maintaining, plus I’ve started running (instead of elliptical), which I love. I’ve always hated running. I even took a zero half the days in my high school “weight training” class because they required us to run a mile every other day. Now I have a goal to eventually sign up for a 5K.

I know it’s only been a couple of weeks out on my own, but I’m confident that I’m going to keep it up. I’ll never forget how much pain I was in and I don’t want to feel like that ever again if I can help it. Plus, I look amazing. I’ve always been really thin, but usually too skinny to feel confident in certain clothing. But now I’m gaining muscle weight, and filling out in all the right places. I have a butt!