Hocus Pocus

If you haven't seen the movie Hocus Pocus, can we even still be friends? I feel as though that's something someone who shops regularly at Target would say. Then again, that store is really speaking to me right now.

When I looked at the date today, I realized two things: I haven't written in over a month and I haven't run in over a month either. If you've been here since the last entry, I communicated that I'd be taking a mild writing hiatus because, well, I wasn't running, and I was about to do some traveling. Let's recap that, shall we?




The week after I got the news that I'd be benched from running, I was clearly devastated. I have never had a 'DNS' in my books. But you know what? Life goes on. I could have been stupid, ignored the pain, and kept going like most runners I see but I wasn't about to make things worse. I could have also still raced but that would have also been stupid. So, let's like, make a smart decision for once! For the love of taking care of your body! I made a promise to myself that I'd start my new life in Arizona with a clean slate, do all of the things I should be doing that I didn't before (warm-ups, stretching, foam roll, don't be an idiot) and I was keeping up with that promise. I even fell in love with yoga. My half marathon is officially deferred and now I sit with a credit that's good for two years whenever I decide what race looks good to me. Oregon is looking pretty legit (Mt. Hood) but, again, let's not jump the gun. We still have one race in the books that's officially 16 weeks away. Shameless plug:

https://www.thephoenixmarathon.com

So, what's happened between then and now? The family came to visit. We hung out around town for a few days and then set our GPS to Las Vegas for the weekend. We took in the sights, we ate good food, and we drank many beverages.

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  Bone Haus Brewing

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  Cuttings by Prisoner

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  Cabo Wabo

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  The Mirage Casino & Hotel

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  You know what this is

One of those things is not like the other. After Vegas, we flew to Michigan and stayed for a few weeks. If you aren't aware, Michigan is my home state. I spent the last 30 years of my life there (that makes me sound old, I'm only 31) and while I miss family and friends, I can't say I miss living there. From wheels down, the traffic was atrocious. My good friend, Tania, bless her heart for being so patient and driving to get us but also taking us to pick up Jet's for dinner because what else would you get when you haven't been home in 6 months? Also cats. Lots of cat time because I like to treat it as free therapy.

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Again, one of those is not like the other, but Dori is my granddog so she counts too.




Michigan was Michigan. Normal, crap weather 80% of the time. The humidity was high and the days were gloomy. My body felt as if it hadn't gotten sleep in a month and craved some natural Vitamin D. Let's be honest, I was eager to get home so I could start physical therapy and get things moving.

Going to a new physical therapist made me nervous. Not because I haven't done it before but because I was so used to going to the same person. It's hard to create a new, trusting relationship with someone you've never met before who you hope will carry you across the finish line pain-free. Thankfully, I absolutely love my new therapist. He is not only professional and knowledgeable but holds a good conversation and makes sure I'm having fun but also analyzes my form the entire time. We're now two weeks in and my knee is feeling good. Even after days of being on my feet all day, I wake up expecting it to hurt and it doesn't like it used to. While I'm not assuming I'm in the clear, all signs are pointing in the right direction. I've learned things I haven't before. Aside from the existing overpronation I deal with, I apparently also have fairly flat feet. Who knew? Time for a new analysis for shoes! And, let me tell you, I'm treating my home exercises as if it were a new religious practice to ward off evil spirits.




For now, we wait. We practice patience. We read. In fact, I just finished this book:

Super great read! I'd put it up there with Kastor's 'Let Your Mind Run'. It kept me entertained in a busy Detroit Airport while watching people go nuts over Chick-Fil-A (is this really still that popular?) or seeing Gate A76 find out their flight got changed to Gate A6, which happened to be on the entire opposite side of the terminal. That'd be a good speed workout.




Things are back to normal. Early morning alarms and eating normal food. Now it's just a matter of getting cleared to run again. For now, we wait.

Starting with a Bang

Fourth of July, a bang, get it? Ha...Okay so I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Maybe you traveled somewhere cool, spent it on a lake, went "up north" as us Michiganders used to do. I actually never did that but everyone else did. Here in Arizona, we traveled to Pine to get some mild relief from the 100 degree weather. It looks like the Upper Peninsula there, trust me. Tall evergreen trees line the roads and they even get plenty of snow in the winter. Anywho, let's do a training recap. Here is last week's line up:

So this is technically week 2. I didn't recap week 1 because I was still testing this plan out to see how it worked and if I'd like it. We're going to start here. If you really want to know how Week 1 went, you can just ask me! Now, if you read the previous entry, you know I told Garmin I wanted my long run to be on Saturdays so to have to wake up on Monday morning and complete a 90 minute run was not something to be jumping for joy over. Maybe it'll change, maybe it won't. I'm not opposed to getting it over with early in the week. We had gone to a concert the previous night (Every Time I Die, Mastodon), and didn't get home until about 10:30 PM. If you know me, that's well past my bed time. I opted for extra sleep and hit the Woodway.

These treadmills are godsend. We didn't have these at Lifetime back in Michigan. They had those dumb curved ones. Running on a Woodway almost makes treadmill running enjoyable. Almost. Lucky for me, no one else at the gym touches it because I think they are either afraid of it or don't know how to use it. I completed my run drenched in sweat but was happy to stick through the mental game that it is.

Tuesday was a simple 45 minute easy pace run. Thursday was a doozy. I haven't done any speed workouts since February. I was excited for this workout but also nervous. It was two blocks, 6x1 and 6x45 seconds with rests. I decided to not be a hero and walk all of my breaks. This helped me control my heart rate and simply not want to jump in the lake after the first set.

It's hard to fit all of the intervals in one screenshot but I'm happy with my paces I hit. I knew they wouldn't be consistent because it's been forever but I was cruising. Pat on a friggin' back for me. We finished the week off with a progression run on Saturday which I did on the treadmill. I will more than likely do most of my progressions on the treadmill because it's easier to push myself at a consistent pace. If your curious mind wants to know what I do on my days off of running, I do strength training and accessory work on Wednesdays and Fridays. On Sundays, I do yoga and core work. I also throw in core after my easy run on Tuesdays. Huzzah!

So far, things are going well. I like the feedback the plan is giving me and I'm still with in the 'confident' zone of finishing on my time goal. Obviously, it's early in the game but have to keep things positive! Shout out to Larabars for keeping me fueled. I haven't used gels in quite some time and I'm trying to focus more on fueling with real food. Larabars are also vegan and aren't full of BS ingredients! I also love eating pitted dates too. Easy to eat while on the run and doesn't make my stomach feel like a bag of crap.

A new, exciting announcement to make! I've been selected as one of the ambassadors for the 2020 Mesa-Phx Marathon! I'm very excited to be a part of this opportunity! I can't wait to run the course in February and have a blast. I remember seeing all of the hype about it and had major FOMO. I wasn't quite ready for any of the distances offered due to coming back from injury but I will definitely be toeing the start line determined to cross the finish! I'll be sharing a promo code soon that can get you $10 off race registration!

Okay, I saved the best for last, as always. Another new recipe! My husband gets credit for this one since he found it and cooked them. You guys, they are delicious! They were fairly easy to make and cook fast! We added in green chilies to spice them up a bit. Your sides are optional. I went with a Mexican corn salad. I think we determined that they'd be a little bit better if baked instead of grilled so opt for that option! You can find the recipe here.

We'll catch you back here next week when we recap week 3 of training!