From Urology to Intervals...Nothing but the Truth

Rolling away for a week in D.C



Starting this week off by dropping my  baby girl (not so baby at 14 years old) off at the Middle School to catch the bus for Washington, D.C. was quite a crazy start to a Monday morning. Just when I was feeling a sense of relief that her sassy mouth would be gone for 5 days, I realized that I love her and her witty humor more than ever before. She forces me to step up my parenting game from day to day because she is opinionated and hard headed on most accounts. Not sure where she gets that : / hahaha. The truth is...it is Wednesday (2 days later) and I miss her bunches. Thankfully, her teacher (Ms. Fowler) has kept me spoon fed with a few pics along their travels.



Ms. Fowler (Audra) and Katie



Monday ended up being a crazy kind of day from beginning to end. After seeing Katie off at the school, I returned home and knocked out about 3 miles in the neighborhood with a run/walk. No better way to relieve stress than to leave it out there on the pavement with the morning sun beating down on you :) Working out once the sun rises is not my idea of therapeutic since I don't do HOT and STEAMY very well but I did it anyways. After my shower, Dannah and I headed out to make a day of running errands and doctor's appointments. I won't bore you with crazy details but will just say that the urology (kidney/bladder) visit with the nurse practitioner in the afternoon was freakin' awesome.

I won't deny that this nearly 40 year old bladder has been struggling. Poise pads for long runs and squeezing my knees together when I cough..yep, this has been my well kept secret for several years now. In thinking that weight loss or a little fairy would simply take it all away one day, I had continued to ignore the obvious need for help in the 'ole urinary department of this vessel that God has given me. Long story short, I am the proud owner of my very own "pessary". To save face, I will just say...it is working for now :) Ran 3 miles this AM with no "accidents". I have an appointment scheduled for a cystoscopy and urodynamic study in August. And NO, I am not looking forward to it but it is the next step in preparing me for a more permanent solution to this problem such as a sling procedure later this year. I plan to have the actual surgery following the next 1/2 marathon in November since I can't train for 6-8 weeks after the surgery. Until then, the pessary will just have to suffice. Can't believe I am really writing this for the world to see...but if you know me at all...you will know that I have very little reservation in talking about natural body functions (i.e. passing gas, pooping, or urinating). It must be a nurse thing..hahaha.

Nothing really all that special to share with the world for Tuesday. Outside of working and shopping for groceries, the day was quite uneventful. I do need to share that my hubby had a great idea for snacking last night. We worked together in the kitchen to throw together a nice bowl of fruit complete with fresh strawberries and pineapple and diced Pink Lady apples. He and I agreed that all it was really missing was grapes but we forgot to pick those up on the grocery run. Either way, we enjoyed it!

Today, Wednesday, started with my workout at the Downtown Y. I am excited to say that I managed to run 3 miles on the treadmill this morning without taking walk breaks according to the summary from the Matrix machine this AM. This was the 2nd time in the last 30 days that I managed to dedicate myself for that amount of time without getting bored on the "dreadmill". Sure wished I could do that outside! The humidity and inclines seem to slow me down to a crawl and make my heart rate tip into the high 170s. David mentioned that I should focus on interval training outside instead of running with intermittent un-timed walks. That is probably my best plan since I really want to be able to run a 5K completely in the great outdoors by the fall. So...that is my plan. My eating has been in check so far today but this week has been sort of hit and miss. I keep bending my elbow too much and too frequently. : ( I must dedicate more time to logging my food with the My Fitness Pal app. I have no good excuse other than being too lax with my dedication to calorie counting. Perhaps I will get my butt in gear this week :)

This is a snapshot of my workout this AM. I did wear my Garmin and the footpod as usual but there was a bit of discrepancy in the numbers. According to my Garmin, I didn't complete a full 3 miles...more like 2.79 miles. I think I probably ran the full 3 miles since my foot pod is calibrated with run/walk on the indoor track there. The calorie count was crazy off though. My Garmin said that I burned about 380 calories but the Matrix noted  491 when I completed the run before the cool down. Who the heck knows which is correct ?! I will error on the side of caution and say 380 is more accurate.

I will plan to exercise in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow at home instead of driving in to the gym. I am going to plan to do intervals of 4 minute run with 1 minute walk for a total of 45 minutes (9 interval sets). I would love to have a running buddy at the Y that enjoyed getting outside on the city streets/sidewalks but I don't have anyone yet. Until that day comes, I will just stick to running outside at home in those early morning hours. Let's put this interval theory to the test!