One down, two to go & a time of reflection

Yesterday I received the first of the series of three injections for my knee.  I expect to be running again  mid-February.  Until then, I apologize in advance for not doing much blog posting or reading. As many of you who have been benched understand, it's tough to read about everyone else's running adventures when you can't join in on the fun.

[FYI - I'll probably need to keep going back about every 8-10 months or so to repeat the series for as long as this continues to work. After that point, I'm not sure what will happen.  I'm not happy that my knee can't be 'fixed', but I'm happy to have a treatment plan that works well enough for now to allow me to do most of the things I want to do.]

In the past few weeks, I lost my motivation to focus on swimming and walking.  I just really miss running. And I guess that's okay.  Nothing wrong with taking a break, right?

Overall, it was a good year.  I started off with an unexpected 5K PR in February.  I had to give up plans to run a spring HM due to issues with my knee, but switched focus to shorter running events and triathlons.  Had another 5K PR July.  I had a blast at the inaugural Live.Love.Tri in August, the first all-women tri in NM.   I took a good ten minutes off my Patriot (sprint) Tri time in September, mostly an improvement in cycling.  I had a 10K PR in October.  Cycling training with Husband was successful and we capped it off with a strong 50mile charity ride with more climb than I thought I was capable of.  My knee held up until race season was over, and I'll be ready soon enough for next year.

Hope the New Year is a good one for everyone!!

not running -> not blogging

Still not running.  In fact, I'm still waiting on the insurance authorization for my treatment.  I think I'll call later today and find out where that's at.

Without running, and with the weather too cold for my liking for cycling, I'm at a loss for interesting blog topics.  Hence, this is my first post in over a week.  I can't think of a topic that you'd find interesting, so I'll leave you with a few random thoughts.

• One of my cats is over-weight.  In an effort to get her health back on track, I've switched both cats to canned cat food exclusively.  Rotating Natural Balance and Wellness brands at the moment.  I was also hoping to switch to an evening feeding to get my fat cat to stop jumping on my head in the morning when she wants to be fed.   Well, she still jumps on my head in the morning.  And now she begs for food at dinner time too.  *sigh*
• Son came home Saturday for winter break.  He will be here for 4 weeks.  He's not coming home for spring break and he's trying to get an internship in CA for the summer.  I will enjoy the time with him while I can.
• Daughter is on her third Christmas working in retail.  Her days off for winter break from school are filled with extra hours at work.  It's good for her bank account, but it doesn't seem like she's getting any real time off to de-stress from school.
• Husband & I are on day one of our two week break from work.  Ahhhhhhh.
• Yesterday I started taping in our bedroom to prep for painting.  Isn't that how everyone spends their time off from work?!  No? 
• I made a conscious decision to really scale back Christmas consumerism this year. I've complained about it for years, but was still stuck in the trap.  Not this year.  The result?  Much less stress.   More time reflecting on the true meaning of the holiday.  Wish I had figured this out years ago.
• It's snowing.  This is the third snowfall so far since November.  After an insanely dry spring/summer we certainly need the moisture.  I just wish it wasn't during the cold part of the year when the streets turn icy.  It also probably means that the inlaws are NOT coming down from Colorado this week.  Bummer.
• I bought a new phone about 10 days ago.  Upgraded from the original Motorola Droid to an HTC Rhyme.  Love it.
• I've started referring to our neighbors as Old McDonald.  Back in October, they build a shed and put up a little corral in the corner of their yard near our fence.  Then they bought chickens.  Including a rooster.  Uggg.  Then this week they brought home a burrows or donkeys or some such creatures.  I wonder what's next?
•  I held off on making Christmas cookies until my son asked specifically requested them.  I'd be happy not making them at all because I end up eating my weight in cookies.  But how could I say no?

Just keep swimming...

Got myself out of bed early and to the pool again this morning for another 800yds.  I'm thinking that next month I will increase the distance per swim, but for now 800yds is a distance that seems to be working for me.

We are now one third of the way into the month and my swim total so far is 3200 against my goal of 8000 or 40%.  Just like in Finding Nemo, I just need to stay calm and keep swimming, and I will achieve my goal.

Not doing quite as well with the walking goal.  I've only walked 8.5 miles so far this month, which is 28% of my goal.  However, just this realization alone is likely to motivate me to get out there and walk the dogs today and tomorrow to get caught up.

In other news, one more full week of work and then I am taking two weeks off.  Work has been crazy busy, so I cannot wait!

Also, only 12 more days until the days begin to get longer again.  WoooHooooo!!!

Knee update

Orthopedic appointment on Monday went as well as can be expected.  Bottom line is that I have Chondomalacia patella  or essentially "worn cartilage behind the kneecap".  Also the beginnings of a slight bone spur, but nothing too serious.  The shots I get for treatment are basically replacement joint fluid which works to lubricate the joint and protect the cartilage. Unfortunately, this only seems to last for somewhere in the 6mo to a year range.  Right now I'm waiting on insurance to authorize the treatment, then will need to go in for another series of three injections.

BTW, he assures me that my knee issue isn't/wasn't caused by running.  In fact, he thinks running is great, as long as it doesn't hurt.  But when it does hurt, I need to find ways to be active that don't worsen the pain.  Which is why I'm focusing on swimming and running for December and January.

On that note, I did manage to drag my lazy butt out of bed on a cold 9 deg morning (which is a quite a feat in itself, let me assure you) and got myself to the pool this morning.  My goal was to get in at least an 800yd swim; however, I stopped and got out of the pool at 600 yds because at that point I was both bored out of my mind and having problems with my goggles.  Sat in the hot tub for a bit and quickly realized that I wasn't going to be happy ending it at 600yds at my total for the day, so I decided to suck it up and jump back in for another 200.  Yay me!

New Month & Progress to Goals

For those who read my November Tally post, you know that I said I was ready to stop pouting about my cranky knee and start getting active again.  We're one weekend into the new month, let's see how it's going so far.

I set a swimming goal of 8000yds this month.  That breaks down to ~2000 yds per week.  Or 10 swims of 800yds each (which seems doable) or 8 swims of 1000 yds each (which seems less doable based on my current swim habits).

So far I'm at 1600 against my goal, or 20%.  Not bad!  As long as I stay committed, I know I can achieve my swim goal.  The hard part is finding those times that work with my schedule when the pool isn't being used for an aquatics class.


NOTE:  I should mention that I find swimming laps to be incredibly boring, which is why I have a hard time staying in the water past 800 yds.  I'm pondering some sort of waterproof mp3 system  that allows me to listen to music while I swim.  If any of you have experiences, good or bad with this, I'd really appreciate hearing about it.  

I also set a walking goal of 30miles.  That breaks down to 15 walks up and down the hill (2mi route) with my dogs.  Or maybe 9 walks with the dogs and 3 longer walks of 4 miles.  It's aggressive, but also doable.

So far I'm at 6 miles against my goal, also 20%.   Nice!  This one requires more time investment, but it's easy to do from home.  And as an aside, I only count intentional fitness walking, not the walking that I do from the parking lot to my office, up and down the stairs at work, etc.

One last item worth commenting on.  I originally added yoga to my list of goals for December, but later crossed it off my list.  The truth is, I'm really not committed to doing yoga right now.   Plus I find that many of the postures bother my knee right now.  I'll revisit this in Jan or Feb.


How's the new month coming along for the rest of you?

November Tally

Numbers

• 32.3 miles by feet (11.3 miles running, 21.0 miles walking)
• 4 hill workouts
• one cranky knee
• one mysterious heel pain incident

Thoughts

• Worst exercise month in a long long time, and I'm ready to stop pouting and get active again.

Plans

• Orthopedic appointment next week
• Get to the pool and start swimming! 
• Do yoga
• Walk more regularly

Updated with December Goals:

• walk 30 miles!
• swim 8000 yds!

GAME ON!