What Marathon?

I just learned about the Yakima River Canyon Marathon on April 5, 2008. This seems promising. It's early Spring, not too close to Bloomsday or too close to summer. Hopefully, it's before the majority of hay fever season begins. I still have time to decide, I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has done that marathon.

I'm playing around with my workout schedule. Right now it looks something like this.

• Long run on Saturday.
• Easy short run and strength workout Monday.
  
• Short tempo on Tuesday.
• Longer mid-week run Wednesday.
• No run, strength workout only on Thursday.
• Easy run on Friday.

Today was a strength workout day. I was doing mountain climbers and one of the rubber floor pads flew out from underneath me and I strained my hip flexor on the right side. I don't think its bad - the next few days will tell. I guess the lesson learned is not to do this kind of exercise on any kind of flooring that could move on you! Most people don't have to be told these things, I seem to learn a lot of things the hard way...

Thanks for stopping by On the Way.

Why I try not to take ibuprofen.

In the late1990's I began to have one-sided headaches. In fact, I had pain more often than not. My doctor diagnosed me with TMJ (Temporomandibular joint disorder) and referred me to a specialist. Eventually I was fitted with a splint, which I wore 24 hours a day 7 days a week for months. I'm much better now, occasionally I have problems, but it's manageable, and I now I wear the splint only at night.

At the time, the only relief I could get came from ibuprofen--so I took it; I took a lot of it! The doctor encouraged me to take a lot of it because it did help. However, eventually this resulted in a stomach ulcer. So now, it is a rare event for me to take any ibuprofen. Generally, I do it only if I have some acute event. (Like when I sprained my ankle and it swelled up.) I could take it on a regular basis for a lot of chronic ailments, but I don't-- because of my stomach. But I believe there are other good reasons not to do it. I'm not a doctor, this is just my opinion after doing some reading, I'm just sharing my thoughts.

I read that the most common treatment for joint pain, NSAIDS (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,) actually accelerates the rate of degeneration in the joint! Some of the side affects of Aspirin and Nasaids like ibuprofen, piroxicam (feldine), naproxen (Naprosyn), tolmetin (tolectin) , and others are stomach upset, ulcer formation, headaches, dizziness, etc. On top of that, these drugs have the side effect of further degeneration of the joint cartilage. Experimental studies have suggested NSAID use is associated with acceleration of osteoarthritis and increasing joint problems. Now that motivates me not to take it! I don't want to making things worse for myself!
Thanks for stopping by On the Way!

Self Massage

Have you seen these foam rollers? I purchased a foam roller a year or so ago. It is an awesome discovery! It is great for my typically tight iliotibial bands, hip flexors and for anything else that is weak or is sore. It does wonders for me.

How to use it: Roll slowly over it, let your body relax over it. It is self massage! If you feel a sore spot--that's a tender trigger point--- stay there and work it for a few moments extra. These tender spots, are like knotted up tissue and can cause you problems if you don't address it! This knotted up tissue will create imbalance in your structural frame that could lead to injury.

It pays to pay attention to your flexibility as well as muscle imbalances. If you don't have one of these I encourage you to get one and use it. It can be done while you watch the news or a favorite show.

Thanks for stopping by On The Way!

Going somewhere?

Have you considered how we have opportunity daily, to show God and others--angels, people and demons--that we either believe the promises of God or despise them.

Really, we only have a short time on this earth to run with patience the race. (Ya know, when the race is over, it's over.) Someday it will be too late to prove our trust of God's promises!

From Amy Carmichael's "Resignation":

"They have "so few gifts," and they "cannot speak":

'Tis their "cross in life" to be timid and weak--

Alas that we call by such sacred name

Excuses, invented to save us from pain,

Far, far removed from the Cross and shame!"

Your Lower Back Pain (Part 3 of 3)

Your Lower Back Pain (Part 2 of 3)

Your Lower Back Pain (Part 1 of 3)

I had a great run this morning. The sun came out, I can't think of anything to make it better!
I leave you with 3 videos today I believe are excellent. If you've been a runner long enough you will experience a gamut of aches and pains. We should never just think we have to settle for them all. There are things we can do and should do to help ourselves. Check these videos out when you have a few minutes. They are worth the time.
Thanks for stopping by On The Way!

When do you like to run?

I've been trying to do some of my runs in the morning, before we start school. I have to admit, I've never been much of a morning runner. In college, when I was required to do two runs a day, I dreaded the morning one. My body doesn't feel like doing much in the morning...it just wants coffee.

Nevertheless, I've been doing morning runs, and they haven't been bad. I'm telling myself I'll grow to love them--we'll see. It is nice to not be worrying about reserving time later in the day for a run. Although today, there will be strength training later.

I suppose I can think of other advantages too, for instance, last week we had some hot days and the morning runs were done at a pace I couldn't of sustained when the afternoon heat turned on, so I considered that to be good. But will I think that morning is so great when the weather turns cold? Well, this is definitely a trial run thing for me.

I've noticed I think about different things on a morning run than I do when I run in the middle of the day or in the evening (my favorite). Obviously, the day has just begun so there is less analysis of "the day so far" and maybe more pondering of "the to-do list" for the day. I'm not sure I like that. Anyway I'm giving it a try.

I'm going to shake up the music on the Mp3 a little --out with the old and in with the new. Here is a Ben Harper song I'm adding. Enjoy.

What do you want?

How much effort does it take to save a little money?

I have six children. One is nearly 22 years old and has moved out of our house. The next oldest is nearly 18 years of age, and the youngest just turned 9.

I have chosen to stay at home with them and to home school them. It has been worth it all, but it has meant living on one income. There was a time in which I was very careful in planning grocery lists, devoting time to clipping coupons, and really paring our grocery bill down as much as possible. Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty sloppy about it. I had my reasons. It seemed like most of the coupons were for convenience foods that we couldn’t afford to eat- even with the coupons, or they were for unhealthy foods. Both are still true to some degree. On the other hand, there are still plenty of ‘deals’ to be found; and if I’m wanting something else badly enough I will find the deals so that I will have enough money to buy what I want. That's a pretty good motivator for any of us.

Finding the deals:

Wednesday my oldest daughter pointed out to me that Walgreens was doing FREE ink refills for just that day. We printed the coupon out (and there ended up being plenty more of them in-store), and on the way to church that day I dropped off my empty ink cartridge. We had also found a Johnson and Johnson coupon for $4.00 off a product from the internet, combined it with a Walgreens coupon and got an expensive body wash free.

I point out the “on the way” to somewhere part because that counts for something for me. If I have to make an extra trip I think twice before doing it.

I had planned to pick up the cartridge much later in the week (“on the way” again) but I ending up needing to meet someone the next day in that same direction so I stopped to pick the ink cartridge up on the way home. The cartridge, according to my pick-up receipt, should have been ready, but Walgreens was flooded with cartridges because of the free coupon, so mine wasn’t ready. The friendly employee filling cartridges (Thank you, James!) offered to fill mine while I waited 10 minutes or so. “Great!” I said.

I figured why waste the time. I grabbed the current Walgreens rebate book, I spotted several 'free' offers and started hunting down the ones I thought I could use. I found 4 items and spent $35.95. All of it will be rebated back to me. I also chose to have it rebated back to a Walgreens gift card for an extra 10%. (So I am actually getting the products and some money back!) It took no time at all to fill out the form for getting my rebates. Plus, the ink cartridge refill was a $15.00 value, and we had also found a Johnson and Johnson coupon for $4.00 off a product from the internet, combined it with a Walgreens coupon and got an expensive body wash free. (forgot to put it in the photo)

A tip. If you have younger children who need a boredom buster, have them clip coupons from the paper. Tell them you will share with them some of the savings from any coupon used. If you have an older child put them in charge of coupons and rebates, or share the duty with them. They will like sharing the savings too.

Meanwhile, I've got my eye on a guitar instruction DVD.... What are you wanting?

No One Told Me!!!!

If you’ve ever been injured before and thought you were about 90% recovered only to have it re-occur, then you know how frustrating it can be. It can be flat out heart breaking. I've had a couple re-occuring injuries. (ITB Syndrome and a sprained ankle) I’ve learned that one of the things we can do to help ourselves is to strengthen what needs to be strengthened and to stretch what needs to be stretched! Simple enough, but often we don’t do it.

I’ve experienced ITB syndrome (Iliotibial Band Syndrome) a couple times, once when I was in high school, and once in 2004 while training for a half marathon. When I was in high school I was told to rest, and I was fitted for orthotics; advice and remedy which was only half of what I needed to hear.

The second round of ITB was 3 years ago, this time, I was able to get better help. First, there is a lot of good advice on the internet now that I had no access to in high school. Second, I happened to read Alberto Salazar’s book on running where he mentioned his own battle with ITB syndrome. Salazar gives stretching and strength solutions (and also talks about the role of DMSO.) I had no idea how much stretching would have helped me in high school. I was used to stretching, but the IT band is hard to get to and no one showed me the stretches for it.

So if you are/have been injured, rest, but find out what you can be doing actively to help yourself on the road to recovery.

My rehabilitation and recovery journey as an adult, is mostly absent of professional help (professional physical therapy etc.) not because it is not beneficial or desired; but because it's expensive. I do not encourage any of you to do it this way. If you can afford help—get it!!!

Thanks for stopping by on the way.

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Sing Alleluia - Jennifer Knapp and Mac Powell

How does running glorify God?

Congratulations to everyone who finished Ironman Wisconsin yesterday!! I spent more time than I probably should of watching on Ironmanlive, but I just couldn't help myself (smile). Hey, I cry more during ironmans than I do at weddings. I watched, then went to an evening church service and then came back to catch the end. Love it!

I did my first (sprint) triathlon in 2004. This year, I ramped up the training all spring and much of the summer aiming for some more triathlons. I realized sometime in July that it just wasn’t gonna happen for me this year. Not because I didn’t want to –but because I just couldn’t afford to. At that point, I backed off the cycling, swimming and running to focus on building a foundation of strength.

A side-note: I’ve really gotten pumped about kettlebells. I started training with them, instead of on the machines at the gym, and it’s been fantastic – awesome! Not only is it fun, but I’m getting better results. It’s a shorter workout (if I desire it to be), and I can do it at home without the extra travel time to the gym and back. I’m hooked!

Anyway, towards the end of summer I started to have a little pity-party about missing triathlons this summer. I had to have a little talk with myself about my attitude toward disappointment. Rather than focusing on what I was missing, I should look at what I could do instead. My mind immediately focused on ‘Marathon.’ Why? Because I’ve been running on a regular basis for years, and although I’ve covered the marathon distance of 26.2 miles numerous times in training, I’ve never actually registered for an official one and done it. It’s about time!!

So this blog marks the beginning of official marathon training for me. I made the decision too late for the Portland Marathon this year. I really want to take the time to prepare because---that’s half the fun! I have yet to pick one, but it will be a spring 2008 marathon. The ones I know of are the Eugene Marathon May 4 and the Newport Marathon May 31. I really don’t want to do the Eugene because it’s the same weekend as Bloomsday in Spokane and I’d like to do that. I tried to go last year and couldn’t find a hotel room big enough for my whole family. Joyce Meyer was there the same weekend and the rooms filled up fast!!

Now, on to my topic today. I am a Christian. All this focus in my life on running and triathlons, blah, blah, blah...It begs the question. "How does it glorify God?" I've asked myself this because I believe we ought to put everything in our lives to this test, not to be over-spiritual or ridiculous but to make sure we are spending our efforts, time, and money right. It's about stewardship. Our formal theology too often differs from our personal practical theology.

Society begs us, "Be your own best friend, be true to yourself, you're worth it!" which in turn, boils down to thinking about yourself and worshiping yourself. God, if he is regarded at all, is set apart for "emergency use only." Everything in society has value based on it's ability to bring us personal pleasure. That goes for God too. Too many people do not have God as their goal, He is just one of the tools for getting to the goal. For instance, if, we "praise the Lord" enough, we'll get whatever we want. God help us! Let's praise God because that's what He deserves.

I don't want my life to reflect that God was a self-help program for me. I want my life to glorify God. I'm not a fast runner anymore, if I ever was, so it's not about breaking some new record for me. I believe the athletic life and discipline it takes, reflects the Christian life in so many ways. It's hard for me to be disciplined as a Christian and let the athlete in me be lackadaisical. That is no judgment on others. There are many ways we are called to serve the Lord, and for me, this is one of them. When I run, everything in me cries out praise to the living God, I am reminded "in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28)

"When I run, I feel His pleasure."-Eric Liddell

Thanks for stopping by on the way.

Wanna Play?

I made a friend today. I took my son to the skateboard park and I had just made myself comfortable on the grass when this golden lab came running to me with a partially full water bottle for a game of fetch. Somehow it was an exclamation point on enjoying the present moment.

I'm on the way

Hi, my name is Lori and you are reading my first post, thanks for stopping by. My blog will be focused on fitness but a lot of ‘life in general’ will be included, because after all, it’s a blog. I will share about my goals and dreams, running, triathlon, family, Christianity, kettlebells, music, homeschooling, and prayer. Not necessarily in that order. This blog is for me more than anyone else, but it will hold me accountable to my dreams to have a few of you peaking in on the journey.