Embellished Truth & Polite Fiction

First off? You’d think the swimmer side of me might be a *little* excited about this.. Not so much. Pray for Ames, she’s drowning… along with many other cities in Iowa. SO. MUCH. RAIN. Seriously. It seems as though Iowa made a resolution this year to try and steal the title of ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’ from Minnesota. All that water paired with the excessive heat we’ve had? It literally feels like Iowa is melting into one gigantic puddle.

Are we underwater? No. We live on a hill, we’re good.

So, last time I posted I informed you that I had started running. How is that going? It was going very well! Until my ankles decided to rebel against me. Stupid ankles. As it turns out, I have tendinitis.

It is likely due to a case of TMTS – too much too soon. So I am now sidelined. I’m very very frustrated. I finally found something that was actually helping me to lose weight and slim down and now I can’t do it… for at least a couple weeks. So that sucks. I also have very small feet and most ankle braces start at a size 7. So I’m having trouble even finding a brace small enough to fit my ankle. It seems that only my local grocery store is willing to support people with midget feet. Who knew?

Sigh.

I’m hoping that by Novemberish I might be able to swing my own YMCA membership so that I can swim as much as I want, but until then I will be limited to 2-4x a week. The Gazelle is good for getting the sweat going and working some muscles, but it doesn’t really get the heart rate up like I need.

Enter the trike.

I know. You’re jealous. And really? Who could blame you?

I happen to be balance impaired. No, I don’t fall down a lot. I just can’t balance a bike. I also can’t roller skate, skate board, or coast on a scooter. However, I can roller blade and ice skate. Yeah. Figure that one out. Anyhow, I’m married to cyclist. So he bought me this here beauty so I can have my own set of wheels now that our kids are learning to ride bikes. I’ve had it for almost a year now, but haven’t ridden it all that much – mostly just up and down the dead end portion of the street that runs behind our house.

I pulled out the trike yesterday, dusted the webs off (seriously, we live in Iowa.. there’s always webs on stuff… there will probably be more webs on it when I get it out tomorrow), and hopped on for a spin. I rode it up and down The Hill (a favorite of our kids as well) behind the house 5 times – coasting down (which was actually a good work out for my quads since I had to brake the whole way down to avoid flying off the end of the street into the ravine at the end) and then pedaling back up ( O M G.. ow). We also happened to have Bible study last night, so we had a nice family ride. J rode his bike with the girls in tow, riding the trailer, Aidan and KJ rode their bikes and Torrin rode his scooter while I led the pack on my bad ass three wheeler. Yeah baby.

My butt hurts.

So now I have a sore butt and sore ankles. SCORE. It’s all good though, I got to swim at 6am this morning and that made it ALL better.

I have not yet managed to get myself a new pair of Vibrams (but my birthday is coming soon… anyone want to get me a present??).

The holes in my current pair have grown a little. One is all the way through. But it really doesn’t matter. They are still serving their purpose – protecting the soles of my feet from the streets and sidewalks. I am actually considering heading out unshod when I start up again. Mostly because it will keep me slower and more aware of my stride and what I’m stepping on. In other words, slower and more careful. But I’m undecided because I do run mostly late at night and I can’t see what’s out there ahead of me all that well in the DARK. Duh.

Whatever.

I have another week of resting and icing, compressing and elevating, to figure it all out.

I’m going swimming today! That automatically puts me in a good mood. Or a better mood anyway.

So I was reading more articles a couple weeks ago, and I noticed that a couple of them said ‘running is the best way to lose weight’. I thought, ‘Really? Then perhaps I ought to try that!’ So I am. I am now running 3-4 times a week. I do need new shoes though. Because my Sprints:

… are getting quite worn out. I would really like to get a pair of Bikilas:

… to replace them. Since, you know, they’re designed for running and all. But I may just go with the KSO Trek:

… since I can buy them online or in the store. I’d be a happy girl with either. Yes, I did post about my funky Vibram 5 Fingers foot wear over a year ago when I got my first pair of Sprints. I have LOVED them. Best shoes I’ve ever worn! I wear them everywhere and anywhere. The only time I didn’t use them much was during winter (though I did occasionally slip them on over toe socks and wear them around the house). In fact, I’ve worn them so much, that I’ve nearly worn all the way through the sole.

The second time I went for a run, Lisa and I went to the high school that we swim at and used their track. WHY is the track made with BLACK rubber? Seriously. It was SO HOT. So hot that I burned my feet through my shoes and got some *lovely* blisters on the balls of my feet. It was joyous. NOT.

Overall, I’m enjoying running. It’s been a nice challenge. I liked using the Gazelle when I first started, but aside from the sweating, it wasn’t really very much of a work out. I didn’t really get out of breath, and I didn’t really get sore past the first couple of days. It’s a little too easy, I guess. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. I don’t know. But my swim work outs have been awesome, I always manage to get some anaerobic exercise in and really start to feel the burn in my whole body, so I know it’s doing me some good. And of course, running is strenuous. It hurts. It hurts my lungs the most. Don’t get the wrong idea here though.. I may say ‘I ran 2 miles this morning’.. but I actually walked about a third of it. I’m not that good yet.

When I ran on Monday, I conveniently forgot that I had twisted my ankle by stepping on one of my darling children’s toys. Well, said ankle reminded me as soon as I started running. Ow. Still, I managed to get through it and do my 2mi (3.3K) in 27min which was only 2min longer than when I was not ‘injured’. So that’s not too bad. I’m getting cozy with an ice pack right now in hopes of getting it to settle down before swimming tonight. Then, perhaps, I can go for another night run after the kids are in bed. We shall see.

So… progress? Well, the husband and I have been eye balling my body and waiting for changes to appear. They have. They are small, but they are there. My arms and legs look leaner and I look a little slimmer through my rib cage. All my blubber is gravitating toward my belly area. I still have plenty around my hips and thighs and some on my back and arms as well, but it’s slowly working it’s way to my mid section. The last time I measured my hips, waist, bust, and arms there was no change. That was a couple weeks ago, I think. Maybe less. But I can’t measure today because my adorable little people have misplaced my tape measure again. Joy.

BUT. I stepped on the scale yesterday and it read 171.5! I almost threw a party right there in the bathroom. But I know better. It will likely go back up in the next day or two. Which is why I have sworn off the scale until next week. I started out at 175. In the first 2 weeks I went up to 178 – which I think had more to do with what time of the month it was than anything else. Especially considering during the next 2 weeks I went back down to 174-175 and stayed there for nearly 3 weeks. The lowest number I had seen on my scale in the last 6mo up until yesterday was 173.5.

So now part of me is looking forward to seeing what it has to say next week.. and a much bigger part of me doesn’t even want to know. Honestly, though.. I’m much less concerned with what number comes up on the digital platform than I am with how my clothes fit and how I look. If I could start fitting into some of my smaller clothes, now THAT would be PROGRESS. And then I WOULD have a party in the bathroom. Or maybe somewhere else. Perhaps  I should stay off the scale for 2 weeks. Or more.