Checkups and Step-Backs

      6 Comments on Checkups and Step-Backs

 

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Well, this week hasn’t been very exciting for me…it’s my “step-back” week to prepare for my half-marathon tomorrow, so I’ve hardly done any exercise at all!  In fact, this morning, since it was the first Saturday I didn’t run in something like 4 months, I slept in until 11am!!!  It only amounted to about 9 1/2 hours of sleep, since I went to bed at 12:30am, then got up for an hour at 8am, then my stomach was bothering me so I went back to bed at 9am, but still…sleeping until 11am?!  I felt like a sloth, ha ha!

It’s so weird not to be exercising at all. I did strength training Wednesday night, and then my last run Thursday morning, a simple two-miler. I’ve only earned 20 activity points this week so far! But I haven’t notched down my eating quite as much as I should, just because I want to make sure that I have plenty of fuel for the race tomorrow. I’ve actually dipped into my weekly points, which is something I never do, but I figure I’m allowed to go off plan a little bit to prepare for a big race.

Back on Tuesday, I had my annual appointment with my OB. Love those, right? 😉 As soon as she walked into the room, the first thing out of her mouth was, “Well, I see you’re still skinny!” That made me smile, even though I don’t necessarily feel that way. But she’s known me since 2001, when I was quite a bit heavier, and so for me to look the way I do now, even almost 2 years after the last time she saw me (yes, I was a bit overdue), is obviously a plus in her book.

She started doing an exam, and the first thing she said when she touched my stomach was, “I see that your stomach muscles are tighter; have you been doing ab workouts?” I was shocked that she noticed that, but in fact, I started doing ab workouts after the last time I saw her, and I’ve been doing them for over a year and a half. When I told her I had been doing them, but I had stopped a couple of weeks ago to focus on more cardio, she told me not to stop. I told her that it felt like the ab workouts hadn’t done any good, because I’ve gained 10 pounds since the last time I saw her, and I’m positive it’s all in my belly, since my pants don’t button as well as they used to. She was surprised to learn that I was 10 pounds heavier (guess she didn’t look at my chart!), but then she told me that I’m over 40 now, and that women between 40 and 50 do tend to gain weight, as much as 10 to 50 pounds, and it does tend to hang around the midsection. Bleh, that’s not what I wanted to hear. :/

So she told me to continue with the ab exercises, and she also strongly encouraged me to do strength training. When I told her I was already doing it twice a week, she told me to add an extra day if I could. She said the running is great, and it’s obviously doing well for me, but she has seen many women in their 50s who are runners that get osteoporosis of the arms, because they focus so much on their legs, and their arms suffer for it. She suggested some simple exercises with dumbbells that I could do quickly one day a week in addition to my other training.

When we were done, she told me that overall she thinks I look great and am very healthy, and she’s very pleased. She also told me not to worry too much about the extra weight. I told her I was worried because I had been at 113 successfully for over a year before I gained 10 pounds, which started after my first marathon. She said that she understood my frustration, but she also said that while it was certainly admirable to want to try to lose the 10 pounds, she told me to keep keep my focus on being healthy, and not to try to fight my body’s natural metabolism if it felt too hard.

I left the appointment feeling better than I did before I went, because it’s nice to have a doctor give you praise (I’ve certainly been on the other end of that spectrum!), but I’ll admit I was l still confused and unsure about my long-term weight goals. However, the week before running a half marathon is really not the time to make any drastic changes, so I’m going to put it off until after I run on Sunday, and eat my fill of burgers and fries on Sunday night. 😉

In other news, guess who had his first hockey game of the season last night?

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Man, I love that kid.  Although I didn’t love him quite as much when he came out of the locker room before the game and informed us that he had forgotten his mouthguard, even after we had reminded him of it before we left and been assured that it was in his bag. :/ There went another $20 at the pro shop.

I’ve mentioned that I’m not overly excited about this team’s prospects, but I’m happy to say they didn’t do as badly as I expected. Although they lost 4-0, they didn’t get pummeled, and honestly, I consider that a win! 🙂 Jamie had a couple of miscues, one of which unfortunately let in a goal, but that’s OK; it was the first game, and they are brand-new team still trying to learn how to work together.  Toward the end of the game, poor Jamie got hit with a puck, a hard shot right to the heel. It was strong enough that it bruised up the next morning:

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He’s been hit with a puck before, but I’ve never seen him bruise like that from it!  He had 5 miles on the schedule today for his 10K training, but I told him to just run if he could, and to stop if it hurt. He actually made it 2 miles!

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I was so proud of him for not wimping out! I even told him that he earned his new mouthguard by toughing it out and not whining. 😉

Later, he went with me downtown to pick up my race packet. The pick up point was at the Renaissance Center, which is also the headquarters of General Motors. It was pretty neat.

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It was my first time at the Ren Cen since I was a kid, and it was fun, although a bit challenging to actually find the expo! Once we were done, Jamie got a picture of me outside, ready to run 13.1 in the 313!*

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That’s the picture I decided was good enough to post, but Jamie will be disappointed if I don’t post the one that he composed.

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He was flat on his back on the ground to take that shot, and he was so proud of how he got the Ren Cen and the flags in there. Although I think it makes my hips look huge :p , I do like the fact that I feel almost Amazonian with that angle, ha ha!

Tomorrow morning at 8am, I’ll be running my fifth half marathon.  (Huh.  That still boggles my mind.)   I’m nervous, because I seem to have told a bunch of people that my goal is to beat my best time of 2:09:04, which I ran almost 2 years and 10 pounds ago. 😮 So now I feel all this pressure because people know.  (Like Meg, who even felt the need to text me yesterday :p )

But while I may be nervous, I’m also excited, because you know what–I love running!  I also love that I have great friends who also enjoy running, and that we’re all in it together. Toddra, Ann, and I are carpooling, and I know we’re going to have a great time!  I’m hoping to see Meg when I’m there, too.  The weather is supposed to be clear and cool, and although the wind coming off the river worries me a bit, I’m really looking forward to a great day.

And now, it’s time for bed, where I will go curl up with Jamie’s 8th grade history book and enjoy a nice relaxing read before I drift off to sleep.  Yes, I am the geek who reads my kids’ history books for fun, ha ha!

I’ll be back in a few days with a report.  Thanks so much for reading!

*If you’re not from Detroit, that line probably didn’t make sense. The city of Detroit’s area code is 313, so sometimes we refer to the city as “the 313.” Do you other big cities do that?

6 thoughts on “Checkups and Step-Backs

  1. Des @ Finding the Skinny Geek Within

    Aww hope you did well with your race yesterday! I’m glad you had a positive experience at your OB/GYN and that she took the time to really speak to you about some things and you felt better after the visit.

    BTW, you look stunning in your pictures especially the ones Jaime took!

    Hope his heel heals quickly!

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Aw, thank you for the nice words. That picture Jamie took made me laugh but I love his enthusiasm, so that’s why I posted it. 🙂 His heel is much better, thank you for the nice thoughts! And thanks for commenting!!

      Reply
  2. Meg B

    Bummed we didn’t get a chance to meet up. Tell Jamie I was in a wedding where the professional photographer did the same thing to get a cool shot of the bridal party with the rec cen behind us. Sorry about the lost mouth guard!
    And ouch to the hockey injury! Jeff has been bruised in the same spot from stopping a puck. I thought that’s why they had sticks?!?! 😉

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      That’s a neat story about the wedding…I will tell him! LOL at your last comment–what is WRONG with these hockey players! 😉 I hope I get to see your husband play some time!

      Reply
  3. kayse

    I hope your race went well! I ran my 6th half this summer and I’m not sure where the time went either, I still feel like a newbie! We do the same thing here, AK is 907. And yes I meant AK not Anchorage, our entire state is the same code, not a lot of people up here… You do look awesome by the way, its hard when we have seen a lower number but hopefully you find your body’s happy spot and can maintain that rather than always chasing the last couple pounds – regardless of what that weight is! Best of luck!

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      That’s cool about the 907! Now I will always remember the area code for Alaska, ha ha! Thank you for the nice words!! And thanks for commenting!!

      Reply

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