Training Day 4 - March 18, 2010

May I whine for just a moment? Everything about today was difficult. It began when my eyes popped open with the pounding of the garbage truck snorting and banging just outside my bedroom window. Why is it trash companies, birds with shrill calls, helicopters and lawn companies with noisy gas fueled equipment choose 7 am to do their duty? Rude awakenings always make me feel so cheerful! Uh...NOT

Anyway, I dragged myself out of a perfectly cozy bed only to stand on two feet that felt like someone had been hammering on them all night. They didn't stop with my feet either. The sadistic buggers had a grand time mushing up my hips, back, shoulders and neck as well. It's difficult to start the morning with a sunny smile when you feel as though you've been beat up and your joints have turned to hot cement. That has pretty much been the story of my life every morning for more than 25 years. Since AS graced me with its presence, it has tested my strength in many, many ways. For quite a while, it took me about an hour to get get myself up and mobile every morning. Now it take more like 3 hours before I'm ready to get household tasks done or leave the house to run an errand. I used to work full time; now I'm lucky to keep up with my daughter on a shopping trip that lasts more than 2 hours.

Enough of that; on to the training news. My Asics started beckoning me early this afternoon, so I grudgingly began the process of putting them on. Did you know such a simple task as putting shoes on could be a challenge? Since I cannot bend over far enough to put my shoes on the normal way, I donn them by pushing my foot in, then prop my feet, one by one, onto a chair. In order to reach the laces from a standing position, I bend my knees so that I'm in a semi squat position to tie each shoe. That accomplished, I got Lucie and my water bottle, and off I went.

Once outside, it was a slow start. Experiencing more pain this morning than other days, it felt a bit like I was walking through knee high mud. I suspected I wouldn't get 2.5 miles done in the 45 minutes allotted, so I adjusted my focus from mileage to proper form, steady cadence and fending off the temptation to turn around and go back home! After about 20 minutes I felt better, my joints loosened up and it became easier to ignore the burning pain in my left hip and knee. You have to be stubborn to get anywhere when you have AS; this is not a disease for the feint of heart. Learning how to look past pain and concentrate on more positive matters is a skill I've picked up along the way. I thank God for that or I'd be in a real mell of a hess, as my Dad used to say.

There I was, 30 minutes into what was turning out to be a decent training, and THUD! "Oh s**t", I thought, "what just happened"? In the short moment that followed I gathered my wits and understood I had stumbled. I fell hard onto my left hip, scraping my elbow and lower leg on the way down. Talk about a rude surprise!! Determining that I hadn't broken anything, (I always worry about that since my low back and hips are fused,) I picked myself up and looked around. I don't know about you, but after an event like this, most women have the urge to look around them to see who witnessed them in the ungraceful act of falling. Thank goodness I was walking in a new homesite, so most of the construction dudes were either perched on a roof nailing down shingles or banging their hammers somewhere in the interior of the homes. All I had to worry about were the two landscapers off to my left. Can you guess what caused me to stumble? Some lame construction person had strung a gray string from a stick in the ground on the homesite across the sidewalk and onto another stick poked into the future location of some landscaping. The string being exactly the same color as the sidewalk went completely unnoticed to my eyes, and I caught my left toe squarely under the string, bringing me down with a very unladylike KA-WHUMP. So what was I to do? Well, I finished my 45 minute training, that's what. I had to ignore some hip pain, but I was certain I didn't break anything, so why not just push on?

I'm home now. We'll see what the outcome of the fall is when I get up in the morning. Either it will have put me into a flare (bad), or be nothing more than extra stiff and sore (good) when I once again put my feet onto the floor to begin another day.

My JIM training schedule gives me Fridays off, so I'll be posting again Saturday after team training. FYI, the entire Seattle JIM teams meets every Saturday morning to train together. Some walk, some walk/jog and some run. Saturdays are a good day to get to know the rest of the group, so I'm looking forward to meeting my mates. Check back here Saturday evening to read the latest. Keep movin' - rest is rust!

Training Days 1-3; March 15-17, 2010

Training Day 1 - March 15, 2010
According to the weather, this is a perfect day to begin training; a rare day in the middle of March when the the sun is shining, and there's just a smidgen of a breeze. I've got the much traveled Asics on my feet, a trusty bottle of Earth2O in my windbreaker pocket and I'm all ready to go. BTW, I think I neglected to mention that I'm WALKING this marathon, not running. My joints (and other body parts) just can't take the beating of a run unless there's a bear on my tail! I'll check back in about 45 minutes...after the walk.

Well, I did it. Wow! It feels great to get out there; my joints are screaming at me, but I expected that. The strange thing about AS is that it's absolutely necessary to keeping moving to avoid stiffness and reduce pain, but too much of a good thing is, well, too much. I tried to keep it reasonable today though, considering I'm just getting started. Bear in mind that for the past 9 months or so, the best I've been able to do with regard to exercise is take Lucie (my much loved dog) for a 15 minute leisurely trek around the neighborhood for a good sniff and a pee. Well, that and the routine stretches that all us ASers need to do every day to retain as much flexibility as possible.

Tomorrow is another day. I'll continue this missive at the conclusion of tomorrow's training session. Keep movin'--rest is rust!
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Training Day 2 - March 16, 2010
Ugh, lots of rain and wind today. My shins are a bit sore, but that worked out fine on my walk. After the first mile things smoothed out, so I decided to finish for the full 45 minutes. As I was walking, something popped into my mind--I wonder how many 57 year old women are willing to look like a dork just to achieve a goal. All the fitness magazines would lead us to believe that all the females are 25, lean, perfectly tanned, with flawless hair, coordinating crop tops and itty bitty shorts poured onto a size 2 body of perfection. Ha! Let's get real...
I'll check back in tomorrow--it's St. Pat's Day. Keep movin'--rest is rust!
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Training Day 3 - March 17, 2010
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green is the day and pooped is this sorry excuse for an "athlete". That's what they call us on the team. I know it's all to pump us up. My apologies to the real athletes out there. Did I mention I'm pooped? I walked up hill both ways for 45 minutes. My legs were cooperative, though. They've always been the strongest part of my body...even when I was carrying around a LOT of weight.

Anyway, I felt fairly motivated today. I walked the sidewalk along a busy street during the afternoon commute. Big mistake. I could have disappeared into an abyss of car exhaust, diesel fumes and dust. I managed to survive it, though, and felt invigorated as I turned toward home with the thought of a nice bucket of oats.

What's with the horse lingo? Beats me, it just entered my mind and the thought transmitted onto the page. Sorry about that.

The training schedule calls for 45 minutes again tomorrow, them I'm off Friday. Saturday is the weekly team training day. It'll be the first time I meet the rest of my JIM compadres. I'll blog more about that tomorrow, but for now I won't clog your brain cells any longer. Keep movin'--rest is rust!