Day 47: I spend time figuring out how to waterproof my cast...

Instead of the usual update about my training (which has been temporarily derailed until I figure out a way around this stupid cast thing), I thought I would entertain you with my tale of cast waterproofing.  I need to shower, mostly so that I don't offend my co-workers. I even have pictures...of the cast waterproofing procedure, not of me in the shower (pervs)...

Step 1: Start with leg encased in the Darth Boot.

Step 2: Gather Supplies...In this case, Painter's Tape(We apparently do not have any duct tape.  Thank Goodness there are no hurricanes or high speed winds coming to Indiana in the near future! LOL), Glad Press n/ Seal, and a Zip Lock bag. 

Step 3: Remove Darth Boot and expose awesome pink soft cast.

Step 4: Wrap cast, toes and part of leg in Press n' Seal.

Step 5: Place foot into Ziplock bag.

Step 6: Use Painter's Tape to seal the top.

Step 7: Try not to slip and fall and break the other leg or obtain a head wound while in the shower.


ChaLean Extreme...Awesomeness...

Those of you who have been reading along these past few months know that I'm doing ChaLean Extreme. I often complain about the Vomit Intervals workout, Chalean's sadistic love of Bowler Lunges, and the fact that she makes you do about 70,000 squats and lunges.  The whole time I've been doing it, I've been wondering what the payoff would be.  Other than a supposed higher metabolism from having more muscles and some sort of mental toughness, and maybe a more shapely (read: not atrophied looking) physique, I had been struggling with what I really gained from all the pain and suffering and one legged squat lunges and other manner of horrible torture.  Ok, it's not so bad, but still, it's an hour of my day almost every day that I could be sleeping.  Well, I finally figured it out.  It's not something they tell you in the infomercial.  It's the ability to stand for extended periods of time on one leg in the shower without losing balance, slipping, or falling.  No joke.  I don't have a shower seat in my shower.  It's a stand-up shower, separate from the tub.  It has the tiniest of ledges that I was able to sort of put the end of my hurt foot on, so I would not have to shower in full on crane position the entire time.

Other than that, I basically had 99% of my body weight balanced on my left leg for about 10-15 minutes while I shampoo, condition, face wash, wash, rinse.  i didn't want to have both feet on the ground for fear that would allow the water to stream directly down my leg and compromise the integrity of the Painter Tape seal I had created.  I thought my leg would get tired or that it would start to wobble or that it would be uncomfortable.  NO! My leg was like a rippled steal pillar of strength.  I can only assume that I have Chalean to thank for that because it certainly could not be from watching hours of General Hospital while eating ice cream (which may be what I did last night...).

Hopefully, Amazon will deliver my waterproof cast cover for swimming and I can get back to that.  Monday, I'll find out what happens next with my stupid cracked heel.  Ugh...

Jenn - Exercise...not for the weak boned...

Day 25-44: Crud....

Workouts: Running, Biking, Swimming, Chalean Burn Phase, Chalean Push Phase, Writhing in Agony

Curse the Plantar Fasciitis....

So, I was going along just fine.  Chalean Burn phase was winding down, I had just started the Push Phase, I was lifting heavy weights, I was starting to feel good running for longer without having to walk, things were going well.  Then, my foot started to hurt. 

The Workouts...

Day 26 was a hilly 20 minute run that felt pretty good along with the last day of Burn Phase.  Things were looking good.  Day 27 we headed up to Chicago for Lollapalooza.  We biked at the hotel and ran on a treadmill...things felt funny.  Then, after walking around Lolla for the rest of the day and evening, my feet KILLED.  Especially my right foot. Day 28 was swimming.  I was still struggling with the breathing.  The nose plug sucked but I just couldn't figure out how to exhale out my nose properly. We spent the rest of the day walking around Lolla again, and my feet didn't hurt quite as much. Day 29 we ran for 40 minutes.  It started pouring rain in the middle of the run, but we kept going.  I started to feel pain in the 2nd mile but I ignored it.  That was probably stupid but I kept running.  It rained again on us twice that day while we were at Lolla.  My foot hurt at the end of the night. Day 30 was driving back from Chicago so we were lazy. Day 31 we started the Push Phase of Chalean.  Big Heavy Weights!!! Day 32 we tried running 30 minutes.  I barely made it through two miles before I had to stop.  We biked 12 miles and that was no problem.  We also did Chalean.  Biking and Chalean didn't seem to hurt my foot, but running was killing it. Day 33 was Vomit Intervals.  Any part that involved Plyometrics hurt my foot.  Day 34 was filled with pain, so no workout.  Day 35 was some biking and walking around the State Fair.  The walking was rough. Day 35-42 has been biking, swimming, Chalean.  No running.  My heel has progressively been getting worse.  Big news on the Swim, though! I finally started exhaling out my nose! I'm not so good at it yet, but I don't have to wear the nose plug anymore.  It just happened on accident one day.  I was pretty pumped about it.  Otherwise, my heel has been hurting so much, I went to the doctor.

The Food...

I've been eating half like crap and half good.  Of course, at the State Fair and Lolla, I ate like butt.  When I'm home, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Not that it matters either way, because I don't lose or gain weight.  I stay somewhat the same.  Actually, I think I put on like 3 lbs. But that might be muscle.


The Feelings...

My foot hurt so bad by the end of last week that I made a doctor appointment.  I thought I could just wait it out, it just kept getting worse.  The pain had started on the left side of my right heel, then as that got worse it moved into the bottom, and as I favored it more, caused the right side to start swelling.  The doctor took some x-rays (after pressing all around my heel rather painfully with his fingers).  He suspects that the evile Plantar Fasciitis is at work.  But he also thinks he saw micro-fractures in my heel.  The swelling on the right side of my ankle is most likely due to over use of those ligaments and tendons as I've been favoring my foot.  This has cause the tendinitis.  For the next week, I have a giant pad strapped to the bottom of my foot to provide arch support.  If the heel pain continues, he'll confirm micro-fractures with an MRI.  I can still swim and bike, since those activities don't cause me any pain (other than the normal kind) and I can do Chalean as long as I skip the squats. No running for now.  If the heel does have microfractures, I'm out 4-6 weeks.  Which means, potentially, no triathlon for me.  That's not an option.  I refuse to allow that.  So, I'll have to see if I can just walk the 3 miles.  At least, that way, it will be really easy to beat my time next year.  I'm not sure yet how this will affect Tough Mudder training.  For now, I'm just going to focus on swimming and biking so that I can kill those two events.  Or, at minimum, not drown. :)

Next Workout: Bike 15 miles

Jenn - I'm falling apart...

Day 24: The Day the Gym Annoyed the Crap Out of Me...

Workout: Chalean Burn 2, Bike 10 Miles, Fight off the GIANT spiders that have blocked my front door

The Workout...

Boyfriend didn't have a chance to show me how to fix the tire on my road bike before running off to NYC for work.  I suppose I could have surfed the interwebs to find the solution to this problem, but that would require a level of motivation that I'm not ready to commit to.  Plus, I wouldn't want to go ride by myself since I'm such a total spasm and could very likely end up stranded with a head injury, so I was forced to go to the gym to try and get my bike on. Turns out, the gym SUCKS for that sort of thing.  I figured I would use one of the spin class bikes, since that would be most similar to real life.  By "most similar" I mean "not sitting straight up like on a stationary bike".  I was all set with my bike shoes and such, only to realize my clips don't work with the pedals at my gym.  Also, the spin bikes don't have any way of telling how fast, far, or long you've been riding.  I was annoyed, but fortunately had also brought a pair of sneakers, so I was able to ride one of the other exercise bikes.  There were a couple of different types, so I picked one that had me in the riding position closest to my actual bike.  10 miles on that thing seemed like forever, but it was only 30 minutes, which made me suspect that it was also wildly inaccurate.  I could barely get my heart rate up over 125 bpm and I doubt greatly that I was really going like 20mph the whole time for real.  Overall, it was not the most satisfying experience.  I did that during lunch.

After work, I did Chalean Burn 2.  I can always count on Chalean to kick my butt.  Bowler's Lunge still makes me pray for the sweet release of death.  I do love/hate Chalean, though, because I always feel like I did a real workout when I'm done with her.

The Food...

I'm not going to lie.  I've been eating like crap since Boyfriend has been gone for work.  When it's only me that I need to cook for and prepare stuff for, I totally get lazy.  I did make some homemade hummus, which was basically all I had for dinner.  I had a sub and fries for lunch and I haven't been eating my snacks or enough veggies.  I haven't eaten a ton of junk, either.  I just haven't really been eating enough, most likely, so I feel sluggish and more tired.  I did learn that mixing Muscle Milk Light Chocolate Protein Powder with bad work coffee IS HORRIBLE.  Don't try that at home if you don't want to be sick.  It's vile. And as someone who will eat or drink almost anything, that's saying a lot.

The Feelings...

Between softball, running, and Chalean from Day 23, my legs were feeling destroyed even before I started any workouts for the day.  The biking on a weird stationary bike did not help matters, because I think I was using slightly different muscles, so I spend the rest of the day with stiff and sore butt muscles.  One of my co-workers did find it entertaining when I went over to say hi and was standing there unconsciously grabbing my ass.  After Chalean, I thought I might have to amputate.  I took a hot bath to try to ease the tightness in my quadriceps.  My cat, Morpheus, creepily stared at me the whole time.  It was a bit unnerving.  I will say that, despite my aching tight muscles, working out in the middle of the day fills me with energy (er, maybe too much).  I was practically bouncing off the walls for the rest of the afternoon. It could also have been the Mountain Dew I drank at lunch.  I'm not sure. Maybe the combination of the two.  I'll be glad when Boyfriend gets back because I need him to motivate me and also to sleep.  I haven't slept well the past few nights without him.  This whole "work" thing is cramping my style.  Lollapalooza is this weekend, so we'll see how that factors into our training schedule.  We will be able to do the Friday (Day 27) workout before we drive up to Chicago. Saturday (Day 28) is supposed to be a swim day, but I'm not sure if there will be a place to swim.  We may have to make that up on Monday after we return.  Sunday (Day 29) is the first day of the Push month, but we should be able to do that at the hotel. It's also a run day, which we can do in the city.  That might be fun!

Day 25: I'm sneaking this in here because I totally skipped Vomit Intervals this week and I don't want to feel totally bad about it.  But I feel I should mention it so that I can feel a little bad about it.  I was just so tired yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to push play.  I am ashamed. :( Forgive me.

Day 26 Workout: Chalean Burn 3, Swim 300 yards, Run 20 min

Jenn - See you at Lolla!!!

Days 19-23: I have been remiss in my blogging...Sorry Nerm...

Workout(s): Day 19 - Chalean Burn 3, Day 20 - Off, Day 21 - Bike 8 miles, Swim 300 yards, Day 22 - Off, Day 23 - Chalean 1, Run 30 Min, Softball

The Workouts...

So things got a little upside down last week.  We were totally on track and then Thursday (Day 19) started our downward spiral into a Skip/Catch-up pattern.  We did the Chalean Burn 3 in the morning and all was well.  I had a hard time waking up, but once I got moving, I persevered.  Burn 3 is lower body hell.  All the crazy lunge/squat/calf raise stuff I've described in previous blogs.  It totally killed my legs.  We had the minions that night and since they would be gone on vacation with their mom for the next two weeks and Boyfriend would not see them, we decided to push the bike out a day...Enter Friday (Day 20), a day in which we decided to do NOTHING.  We felt horrible about it, but we got over that and rented Sucker Punch and enjoyed a night of not abusing ourselves.  It is weird to take a whole day off of working out.  We've started getting used to one and two workouts a day, that the off days make us feel confused.  Saturday (Day 21), we had planned on painting the master bedroom this weekend, so we got up early to get in the bike and swim workouts we were supposed to do Thursday and Friday.  6.5 miles into the 8 mile bike ride, my tire blew.  It was totally dead to me.  Neither of us had thought to bring any spare tubes, so I started slowly walking back (those stupid clipped bike shoes are not so great for the walking), while Boyfriend road like the wind home to get the car to pick me up.  He was secretly excited because this was his first opportunity to see how my bike would fit inside his new Xterra.  With the front wheel take off, the bike fits very nicely upright and in the trunk.  With the back seats down and the bike bar attached, we will easily be able to fit both our bikes upright in the back of that car.  It's pretty awesome.  It did derail my bike ride though, so that was less then awesome.  After that, we headed over to the gym to bust out our 300 yard swim, so we could head over to Walmart and get our paint.  But that's a story for another blog...We spent the rest of the day walking around. Does that count as exercise? Sunday (Day 22) was spent prepping, painting, and decorating the master bedroom, so there just wasn't the time to get in the workouts, which pushed out a day again.  Monday (Day 23) was rough, but I was determined to not totally skip the workouts.  I ran at the gym during lunch.  It. Was. Awesome.  9 minute warm-up then 3min run/1 min walk intervals for the remainder of the 40 minutes.  I'm starting to get used to running on my toes and I tried listening to music with a quicker tempo so that I would take shorter strides and increase the speed of my leg turnover.  I thought that would make me more tired, but it actually made it easier to run at a faster speed without increasing the effort.  I was able to run the 3 minute intervals at 6.5mph or higher, up until the last interval when I lost all energy and the will to live, so that one I have to do at 6mph.  These are like lightening fast speeds for me. Each 1 minute walk interval I did at 2-4% incline.  I had softball after work.  It was like the freaking desert outside.  I'm still not hitting well, which is starting to aggrevate me.  I just can't seem to hit a ball that gets pitched to me at like 1mph.  And we lost.  But, I still managed to get home and get through Chalean Burn 1 (this week is the last week of the Burn Phase).


The Food...

It was the weekend, so we ate more take-out then we should.  We still tried not to be total gluttonous pigs, though.  Monday, after softball, I totally gave in and had three awesome $1 chicken tacos with some teammates, but I felt pretty ok about it because I skipped the sour cream (not on purpose, they forgot to give me the sour cream I asked for and I didn't bother to ask again because I was too busy cramming tacos in my mouth).  It's hard this week to eat the way I normally do because Boyfriend is in NYC for work and I just don't have the discipline to structure my eating if it's just for me.  The fact that I'm actually doing the workouts without him here to, er, remind me how much I love it, is good enough.  It's been like a week since I've had any M&Ms and I'm getting the shakes...

The Feelings...

Last week I was feeling pretty good.  By Monday, I was feeling pretty tired and sore again.  I don't stretch enough.  My ankles feel sore from running on my toes, but I'm hoping that's just them getting stronger.  Running was great on Monday, until I started getting a side cramp about 32 minutes into it. I struggled from there.  I also fear all this running on my toes is going to make my giant 14 inch calves even bigger.  Boyfriend loves to point out how big my calves are (in proportion to the rest of me).  This will only give him more ammunition.  Fortunately, I'm not ahead of him in the workouts and after day 24, I will be all caught up and back on the normal schedule.  Assuming we can keep it with Lollapalooza this weekend...

Jenn - Homemade Hummus for dinner is DELIGHTFUL!!!