Keeping Pace

Keeping Pace

Archives for August 2011

the tackling of waning enthusiasm

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With football and school in full swing, both YaYa and my plates are full of much to do. Once more, morning comes too early and dinner comes too late. Already, YaYa is feeling a little overwhelmed, I take note of YaYa’s waning enthusiasm and how he tackles the issue.

After Monday’s tutoring session he asked me if he could skip football practice if he had too much homework. He was feeling like his weekly tutoring session had interfered with his completion of homework. I reminded him how much longer he used to struggle to gain understanding of his assignment, let alone get it done. I also reminded him that he had two solid hours to get the bulk of the work done before practice. He took a deep breath and we drove home.

After dinner, I told him how proud I was that he’d taken the initiative to ask his math teacher if he could take his pre-test to his tutoring session so he could get help on the questions he’d missed. He smiled and said “thank you.” And then he got to work.

Morning came, and YaYa was complaining of a new little aches to add to his long list of aches and pains. It’s part of the tackle football package. Again, he asked if he had to go to practice. Loading my bike into the car for my new bike commute from his school to work (instead of from home), I reminded him of his commitment to the team. At the same time, I reminded him that I’d need extra lead-time to get to the school on time to pick him up IF his aches and pains were SO BAD that he couldn’t possibly attend practice.

Of course that call never came. At the end of practice, YaYa was caught up explaining (or trying to) some of the plays and, with excitement, a few possible shifts in his assigned positions. Instead of asking if he might skip football, he described conflicting feelings for missing it due to our plans for a backpacking trip during the 3-day holiday weekend. I listened, acknowledged his feeling of wanting to be two places at once, and was thankful for the renewed interest which allowed him to finally tackle his waning enthusiasm.

Then, we went home to tackle dinner and homework.

a leap of faith

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“Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.”
~ Margaret Shepherd

It was early in the morning and I was feeling a little apprehensive about my planned 70 mile ride. A recent modification in my planned long ride progression changed the weekly increments from 5 mile increases to 10 mile increments. It seemed doable except I hadn’t really riden 60 miles in fell swoop. My 60 mile ride was spread across 2 days. Remember? I wondered how my body would handle the planned distance.

I was wasting time on FB and Twitter, trying to find the needed motivation to help me begin my ride. It was the quote above that got me thinking. Faith, eh? Could it be as simple as having enough faith in myself that would allow me to pull it off — regardless of the prior distance? I knew the answer. I just had to prove it.

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Well?

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You know how, when you take on a new hobby or sport, you can sometimes get all gun-ho-let’s-go about it? It’s easy to do. Perhaps you stick with it. Perhaps you get burnt out. OR perhaps you take it to the next level, and the next, and the next until…you get injured. There is such thing as too much of a good thing.

Let’s say it’s a sport we are speaking of. Maybe, after you body scolds you for overdoing it, you give up your new-found love. Maybe you make adjustments and return to the sport with a wiser, more balanced, approach. OR maybe you ignore your body’s complaints, tell it to man-up, and continue what you’re doing.

We’ve all done it at one point or another. For me, my plans for the Boston to Big Sur Challenge took priority over the wiser, more balanced approach to running. A careful look at my exercise log reveals many entries where I complained of discomfort and/or pain (although mild) in my right ankle. And although I don’t regret moving forward with my [possibly] once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something truly fabulous, I wonder if a change earlier in my training might have prevented me from having to break from running for so long.

It isn’t always easy to discern impending injury from the little aches and pains of taking on a new sport or, in my case, taking marathon training up to the next level. Things most likely would have been different if these little complaints were more obviously signs of impending doom.

Now, with no reason to push through, I find myself backing off from running with only the mildest of complaint when, on my bike, I clearly feel the sore, fatigued muscular complaint of my low back. I know that my prior injuries to the area — the automobile accident (rear ending) of 2006 and bulged disc injury during my 2nd pregnancy — leave the area more vulnerable to subsequent injuries. Still, I focused on the ankle even though I felt, deep down, that there was nothing wrong at all with my ankle.

And…was it warranted?
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assess and reassess

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When I was in my teens, I couldn’t be bothered with changing into running attire for any run less than 6 miles in distance. It wasn’t that I refused to run anything shorter; I just would not change out of my street clothes to do so. Generally, runs shorter than 6 miles functioned more as transportation rather than the purpose of fitness goals. This was because I hated waiting for the bus more than I was opposed to the change in clothes. Oh, and I didn’t sweat.

These days, I find myself dressing-the-part for runs as short as 2 miles. Sadly, this about as far as I am allowing myself as I come off my self-imposed restriction from running. As a result of the time off, I’m so out of practice that it takes an embarrassingly long time to get ready-to-run. I must laugh at myself, so that I don’t become frustrated instead.


At this point in my return, I be sensitive to the fact that every distance run is worthy of acknowledgement and careful preparation. Likewise, every tug, niggle, and questionable feeling in my foot and ankle get equal acknowledgement. With that in mind, I have an appointment to have my ankle reassessed before I extend my runs any further. Please keep your fingers crossed that i will be able to move forward in my efforts to get back running on a regular basis.

All Caught Up

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On the return leg of a post-work ride, another cyclist rode up beside me at a light. I gave my customary “hey,” thereby acknowledging his existence and fishing for a read on how gun-ho he would be when the light changed to green. Much to my surprise, the response was “Hi Julie.” I immediately recognized his voice to be that of Mark, a dear friend and ex-boss. Mark commutes to work 4 times each week — 30 miles in each direction. As intimidating as that is, I really wanted to get caught up on the goings on in his life.

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When the light shone green, he took off and I, seizing the moment. I kicked it into high gear and peddled madly so as to stay with him. Chatting as we went, we kept the quick pace as light after light signaled us to keep going. The streak of green lights was jaw-dropping long and my legs were starting to feel the confirmatory burn that signals a killer workout. It was awesome.

 

When we were all done catching up on life and business, we snapped the all-important photo, and went our separate ways. Still caught up in the moment, I rode off feeling all-inspired, and purposely passed my turn for a few more miles of steep hills — just because.

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