Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Alzheimer's Statistic of the Week

Alzheimer's is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States.

www.alz.org

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Alzheimer's Statistic of the Week

Every 70 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease.

By mid-century, someone will develop Alzheimer's every 33 seconds.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Right Lower Leg

Well, I went to the doctor on Monday afternoon. Based on where the pain is, he said that it's more than likely a stress fracture. The x-rays didn't show anything yet. He said this is normal; that you can't see anything on the first x-ray. I go back in 3 weeks for more x-rays. Then, the doctor will compare them. Hopefully, the x-rays will show something then. If not (and if I'm still in pain), then I will have an MRI done. Based on those x-rays/MRI, we will discuss how long I will be sidelined. In the meantime, I am to do NO RUNNING.

I am planning on being a spectator at the Germantown Half Marathon this weekend and cheering on a couple of coworkers.

Obviously, I will probably not have many schedule/recap updates in the near future. But, I do plan on still posting a quote of the week. I will also begin posting an Alzheimer's statistic of the week.

Based on what the doctor said this week, here is my quote of the week:
"Love hurts, love scars, love wounds..." -Nazareth

Monday, March 15, 2010

Recap of Week 3/8

On Monday, I did upper body strength training and ab work. I decided to once again do my upper body exercises using dumbbells. Doing this seems to work really well for me.

Tuesday, I ran the scheduled 5 miles. My pace was 10:47. I was pretty happy about that.

Tuesday night, my legs felt sore from the past weekend’s 10 mile run. I had John rub them for me. When he was rubbing them, I noticed a very tender spot on my lower right leg. It was pretty painful when he touched down on that spot. I decided to go ahead and test it out on Wednesday to see if I was able to run.

On Wednesday, I ran the 3 miles with no problem. Afterwards, I did the lower body weight machines. While doing the calf extension machine, I noticed the soreness in the same area as the night before.

Wednesday night was awful. As my 80 pound dog was climbing into bed, he stepped on my leg…in the exact spot that had been bothering me. It was very painful. I decided to forgo my Thursday run. When I woke up on Thursday morning and got out of bed, I had difficulty putting weight on my right leg.

It had been on and off pain from Thursday through Saturday. I decided to not do anything until Sunday. On Sunday, I had the goal of doing the whole scheduled 11 miles. Realistically, I was going to run as far as I could without pain. Unfortunately, that was only 1 mile. I was in a lot of pain!

I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for this afternoon. Once we determine the cause of my pain, I will go from there. I was planning on running the Germantown

Monday, March 8, 2010

Training Schedule and Quote for 3/8 - 3/14

Monday - Upper Body Strength Training + 15 minutes of ab work (Like last week, I will do the exercises with dumbbells. When doing upper body work, I work on my triceps, biceps, chest, back, and shoulders.)

Tuesday – 5 miles

Wednesday - 3 miles + Lower Body Strength Training + 15 minutes of ab work (I haven’t decided whether to do the lunge/squat routine from last week or go back to the weights.)

Thursday – 5 miles

Friday – 1 hour Cross Training + 15 minutes of ab work (My cross training will consist of 30 minutes on the bicycle and 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.)

Saturday - Rest

Sunday – 11 miles

Total mileage for the week: 24 miles


Quote for the week: "You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face." - Gatorade

Recap of Week 3/1

On Monday, I ran my long run of the weekend. It was only 6 miles because of the step back week. It went really well. I didn’t have any pain in my ankle, so the 3 days of non-running really paid off.

Tuesday, I went to Nashville for the Alzheimer's Association Day on the Hill. It went really well. There were about 100 advocates from all the chapters in TN. We were there to talk to the representatives and senators about early onset Alzheimer’s. Most were very receptive of what we had to say. Training wise, lots of walking was involved!

Wednesday, I ran 5 miles. The run went fine. Afterwards, I did 15 minutes of ab work. Once again, I did my new ab routine. Ouch, it really worked my abs.

Thursday, I ran 3 miles. For some reason, it was horrible. I had no desire to run them, but I struggled through. I found this very odd, since it was only 3 miles. After the run, I did lower body strength training. I started with traveling lunges with dumbbells, followed by squats, then a 30 second wall sit. I did this routine 3 times. It ended up equating to 25 lunges on each leg, 30 squats, and 3 30 second wall sits. On Saturday night, I could still fell it in my butt and thighs.

On Friday, I did upper body strength training. I did my normal upper body exercises, but with dumbbells instead of barbells. It is amazing how much harder the exercises were with dumbbells. With barbells, your stronger arm does more work than your weaker one. With dumbbells, they both have to do the same amount of work. I also did 15 minutes of ab work.

Saturday was my rest day.

Sunday, I ran 10 miles. It was absolutely beautiful in Memphis. It was sunny and in the 60s. I had a great run! I was very sore afterwards though.

Total mileage for the week: 24 miles

Monday, March 1, 2010

Training Schedule for 3/1 - 3/7

Monday - 6 miles
Tuesday - Cross Train (I will be in Nashville for the Alzheimer's Association Day on the Hill all day. Since I will be doing lots of walking, this will be my cross training for the week.)
Wednesday - 5 miles + 15 minutes of ab work
Thursday - 3 miles + Lower Body Strength Training (The lower body strength training this week will consist of wall sits, squats, and lunges. )
Friday - Upper Body Strength Training + 15 minutes of ab work (Usually, all of my upper body strength training is done with a barbell. This week, I will be doing the same exercises only with dumbbells instead.)
Saturday - 10 miles
Sunday - Rest

Total mileage for the week: 24 miles

Recap of Week 2/22

I was sick on Monday, so I didn't do any workout.

On Tuesday morning when I woke up, my stomach was still upset. I contemplated not working out again, but finally decided against it. I'm glad I did. I did a 5 mile run, and it went really well. For the first mile, my stomach hurt. After that, there were no problems at all.

On Wednesday, I did my 3 mile run. I wore pants to the gym, and it was miserably hot. After my run, I did lower body weights and abs. I varied my ab routine from what I have been doing the last couple of months. It is going to take a while to get used to the new routine.

On Thursday, I had a 5 mile run scheduled. I woke up that morning and hard a hard time walking. My right ankle was pretty sore. I decided to forgo the run that day. Instead, I did my strength training that had been schedule for Friday. I only did upper body weights though, because I had done abs the day before. I also decided to not do the cross training to rest my ankle. During my upper body exercises, I decided to increase the weight on my bench press. I am still sore today!

On Friday, my ankle was still a bit tender. I decided to do my run anyway. After the first 2 miles, I thought about stopping because pain also started in my knee. I ran a bit longer, and most of the pain went away. So, I finished all 5 miles. Bad idea! All the rest of the day on Friday, my ankle was throbbing. I was very glad that I would have 2 days of rest before my next run.