Shin Splints

I'm pretty positive I have shin splints, which has happened before when I've started running.  My buddy and I were still planning to go to kickboxing tonight, and I was going to tell the teacher I couldn't run, only it turns out she pulled something in her back the other night.

And she's 22 and teeny, so it's not just because I'm old and decrepit and overweight.  This is some intense stuff and we need to be careful.

Which begs the question, what kind of ridiculousness does he put his "Elite Training" class through?  I can't even imagine.

So we probably won't go tonight, which is a shame, because I wanted to get in the workout and, despite the pain, I am really enjoying the kickboxking/Cross Fit experience.

Here's a couple of questions for you:  have you had shin splints?  How long did it take you to get over them?  When you started running/walking again, did they come back?

So Basically I'm Doing Cross Fit...

I think I signed up for Cross Fit Lite without realizing it.  Not that I'm opposed to that.  I've been intrigued by Cross Fit for a few years, but never signed up because the locations aren't that convenient, it's really expensive, and, frankly, it's pretty intimidating.

However, kickboxing definitely incorporated some Cross Fit elements last night.  We showed up and the teacher had us run around the parking lot a few times.  He got on my case for walking part of it, but, the fact is, if my shins are hurting in that splinty kind of way, I stop running.  Since I've managed to injure myself enough to have to stop working out for a few weeks each of the 4 or 5 times I've tried Couch to 5K, I'm probably excessively cautious when someone asks me to run. 

(My feet are the flattest ever (as told by a man who has fit many, many feet with running shoes).  Even in specially-fitted shoes, my alignment is just wrong.  So I walk a lot, but I don't run.)

Anyway, then he had us do sets of walking lunges and suicides and butt kicks.

Finally, we went back into the gym and had a good look at what were obviously 3 sets of stations he'd set up for us to do.  No kicking, no boxing.  For the first 35-40 minutes of the workout, we did weight lifting and body weight exercises.

First circuit:

- 10 box jumps
- 10 push ups
- 50 jumping rope (slightly humiliating fact I confirmed last night - I cannot jump rope)
- 10 100-lb deadlifts
- 1 lap around the parking lot
- 10 tricep dips on the punching bag base
- 30 rope bounces(?), alternating arms (I don't know what you call them.  You pick up 2 giant ropes like they use on big sailboats and swing your arms up and down, making the ropes bounces in waves)

Repeat.  I got through two sets of those because I was in the 2nd group to go, whereas my gym buddy only had to do 1.  Which means I'm better than her, right?

Second circuit:

- 20 step ups and toe taps (20 each leg)
- 50 bicycle crunches
- 50 jumping rope (again, humiliating)
- 10 rows per arm (picking up one end of the 100-lb barbell)
- 1 lap around the parking lot
- 5 incline push ups (with our feet up on the base of the punching bag)
- 20 rope bounces, arms together

Got through that circuit once.  Everyone was pretty dead after that, but then he rolled out the punching bags and we did some boxing, which is fun.  Though, even then, he's all about the cross training.  Because we did  3 minutes of jab-cross, followed by a minute of burpees.  Then did 3 minutes of backhand-hook-hook, followed by a minute of mountain climbers.  Which, ow.  Plus, we did a lap around the parking lot following by toe taps on the base of the punching bag, twice.

This morning, as usual, I'm not really feeling it yet, except my upper back muscles are really, really tight.  I expect the pain to show up at around 3 PM.

Not Eating Enough?

I've read a couple of posts recently about the similarities between signs of adrenal fatigue and starvation.  A lot of people are being diagnosed - or self-diagnosing - with adrenal fatigue.  Here's a tidy definition:

Adrenal fatigue is a collection of signs and symptoms, known as a syndrome, that results when the adrenal glands function below the necessary level. Most commonly associated with intense or prolonged stress, it can also arise during or after acute or chronic infections, especially respiratory infections such as influenza, bronchitis or pneumonia. As the name suggests, its paramount symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep but it is not a readily identifiable entity like measles or a growth on the end of your finger. You may look and act relatively normal with adrenal fatigue and may not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet you live with a general sense of unwellness, tiredness or "gray" feelings. People experiencing adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, colas and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to prop themselves up during the day.  (Source)

I think I might be unwittingly starving myself, ever so gradually.  After this past weekend, these articles have really hit home as I try to figure out what the heck is wrong with me.  This weekend was ridiculous.  After 7 hours of sleep Friday night, I dragged myself to the pool and swam a crappy 2500 yards. I felt so, so very tired.  I got home and prepped some things for a party we hosted Saturday night, and then I took a 3-hour nap. 

I don't nap unless I'm sick.

Sunday I woke up after 8 hours of sleep, feeling ok.  I made it through church and then Evensong, but by the time we got home, I was dragging. I fell asleep on the couch at 8:45 PM.  Jason told me to go to bed and I protested that it was too early.  Then 15 minutes later I decided he was right.  I woke up on my own this morning at 5 AM, had a good swim, and so far today I'm feeling pretty awake

So we all know that I had the flu, followed shortly by shingles.  Suffice it to say, my body has not been at its best.  I think I'm well past the shingles fatigue period, since I think I had a pretty light case of the shingles.  I think my issue might be lack of fuel, especially as I'm starting to get more regular with my workouts (and adding more intense things like kickboxing).

My nutrition guru friend has told me before that if I'm not losing weight and I'm eating clean and working out, the problem might be that I'm not eating enough.  Logically, in my brain, I know I have to eat enough to fuel whatever I'm doing.  However, I also know that my job consists mainly of me sitting on my bum typing on the computer.  So I'm much more apt to follow the adage of keeping my calories low, even while I amp up my workouts.

That's a surefire recipe for stressing out my body and packing on/retaining weight.  I am nothing if not metabolically efficient.  On the savanna, my people could totally outlive your people.

So the other night I found this BMR calculator. I really like that it has several different activity inputs, so you can really tailor it to what you're doing each day.  I entered my stats for today, and just to stay alive (ie, my BMR), I need 1739 calories.

I've been kind of sporadic lately with logging food, but I usually eat the same general diet, and after tracking calories for YEARS, I know I average around 1400-1600 calories per day.  Including the days when I kickbox or swim.  As other people have noted, the World Health Organization defines starvation for women as 1800 calories per day. 

(Think about that if you're only fueling yourself with 1200 calories per day...)

For the next few weeks, in addition to focusing more on being active, I'm also going to focus on fueling my body.  I'm going to be more diligent with logging my food, and my goal is to eat at least to my BMR every day.

The Kickboxing Pain Cycle

After 3 kickboxing classes, I've identified a specific cycle of recovery pain:

1.  Tuesday night, 7-8 PM:  Kickboxing class.  PAIN.

2.  Wednesday morning, 6:30 AM: Wake up, feel a tiny bit achy, think, "Huh, maybe that wasn't so bad..."

3.  Wednesday afternoon, 3:00 PM: "...Why can't I move my shoulders anymore?"

4.  Wednesday night, 8:00 PM: "I hate stairs!"

5.  Thursday morning, 6:30 AM: "I don't remember getting run over by a truck, yet here we are."

Followed by sucking in of breath and slight shrieks every time I have to move all day Thursday. 

Remember how I was going to swim this morning?  Yeah, no.  I'm going to go for a short lunch walk and hope my legs don't fall off in the process.

Despite all of this, I'm loving the kickboxing!  Probably enough to keep paying for classes after our Groupon trial is finished.

May! & Challenge Update

Today the weather has decided to say it's sorry.  The first of May is beautiful with not a cloud in the sky!  Growing up in Tucson, I never realized how rare a cloud-free day could be.

I went for a long walk at lunch and really didn't want to come back inside at all.  I was talking with a friend yesterday about how if I knew then what I knew now, rather than go to law school, I would have become a park ranger.  Or a scuba instructor.  Something that would let me be active and outside!  The complete opposite of a lawyer.

You know it's bad when your legs ache from NOT moving around.  At least today I'm in pain because of last night's kickboxing class.

Speaking of which, I'm long overdue for a challenge check-in.  I had kind of a bad week last week where everything kept getting in the way, but I did try to walk as much as possible. 

So here's how it's going:

• April 19, Day 5: 1-hour swim
• Day 6: 45-minute swim
• Day 7: 40-minute walk
• Day 8: 1-hour swim
• Day 9: 30-minute walk
• Day 10: um...nothing
• Day 11: Nothing (was supposed to kickbox, but everything conspired against me)
• Day 12: Nothing (was supposed to swim.  Again, fates, conspiring, etc.)
• Day 13: Drove a lot and walked some.  We drove teenage girls to Albany and then Jason and I went to Lake Placid where we walked all along the main street and in shoppes.  So I got 8000 steps, despite spending about 11 hours of my day sitting in a car.
• Day 14: A solid amount of housework, including carrying multiple loads of laundry from the 2nd floor to the basement and back again.  I also spent some quality time in the hammock recuperating from the previous day's trip to Albany.
• Day 15: Over 90 minutes of walking
• Day 16: 1-hour kickboxing
• Day 17: 45-minute walk

All told, I think I'm at around 66% compliance with the 30 minutes for 30 days challenge.  Not awesome, but better than nothing, right?  I mean, I could have just been sitting on my bum every day, not even thinking about how I should be out there moving.

Tomorrow I plan to swim, Friday I'm planning to hit the strength training class, and Saturday I'll swim.  At the very least, this week is shaping up to be much better than last week.

(If you want to donate to my St. John swim, The Rhode Island Quaghogs' page is at http://www.active.com/donate/B2B2013/quahogs)

At Least I Made It To the Pool!

I didn't actually get in the pool, but I was there, darn it! 

My swimming buddy canceled this morning because she wasn't feeling well and I flirted with the idea of not going, but convinced myself to get up and go.  Which I did. 

Only when I got to the pool, it was jam packed.  There were 2 super fast women in one lane, and I knew if I got in with them, I would drive them crazy.  All of the other lanes were full of people swimming soooo slooooowly.  Like, casually doing breaststroke slowly.  I knew if I got in with them, I would have to keep stopping and trying to pass people and I would go crazy. 

So I stood there for almost 10 minutes, holding my kickboard and goggles, hoping someone would get out.  A guy who I've seen there before and who swims at about my pace came out of the men's locker room, quickly made the same assessment of the other swimmers as I had, said "I don't have time for this", and walked back into the locker room.

I finally gave up too, and drove home.  What I should have done was brought my sneakers with me so I could have hopped on the elliptical instead, but I hadn't thought to do that.

So I walked halfway to work, and I'm planning to walk home tonight.  Not as good as a swim, but at least it's something.

Quahogs!

It's official, we are fundraising for our swim in St. John!  If you're interested in donating, check out the page for our team, The Rhode Island Quahogs.

What's a Quahog, you ask?  First of all, it's pronounced coe-hog.

Second, it's a giant clam and in Rhode Island you can often find their big white shells on the beaches. 

Quahog clams are used in Stuffies, a Rhode Island specialty.

Quahog is also the fictional town in Family Guy, which is set in Rhode Island and takes on new layers when you actually live in Rhode Island and know the people here.

(I kind of love that when you do a Google image search for "Quahog" you get a pretty even mix of pictures of clams and scenes from Family Guy.)

So the Rhode Island Quahogs are set to dominate!  Or at least finish.  Our team has had a series of illness and injury setbacks this Spring, so when we finish those 3.5 miles, I'm just going to be happy that we did it, no matter where we fall in the line-up.