dull, dull, dull

Just a quick update to let anybody who reads the blog know I'm alive, lol. Not much to say 'cause I'm just not in the mood to blog. However, I did find out the cause this morning of my ever so constant companion of jaw achiness.

This little baby right here was left in after my jaw surgery last month & had been slowly working its way out. yuck, gross, ewww. But now hopefully I will be in a better mood within a few days.

Ankle update--still a bit swollen but I have no problems walking. It's a kind of stiff but I've been stretching it as much as possible & hope to resume running sometime this week.  Here's what it looked like last Monday.

We did get snow & I made my first ever snowman--don't laugh!!! well maybe just a little, lol

Is that supposed to pop like that?

Nothing new here work wise :), which is a good thing I suppose, lol.  The only thing half-way interesting this week was when the guy in shipping at Gadsden asked what the company said about my bumper. When I told him that they were ok with it but I would lose my safety bonus for the next year, his reaction was "But you couldn't even see that rack, that's not fair."  The good news is that the plant is actually making an effort to keep the area in front of the docks cleared out now.

Workout recap

Monday--1 mile walk with Elsie, 15 minutes stretching & core test = 31 pushups, 36 squats, & 71 situps consecutively. Not bad considering it was at the end of a VERY long day

Tuesday--4.07 mile run in 37:59 at Breaux Bridge, LA. Still tired & it was windy

Wednesday--3 mile run in 27:43 at Pearsall, TX. Very windy & humid. Core workout was done immediately after run
pushups 75 (14/18/14/14/15) last setup should've been 20 but was tired & face planted at 15 :(
situps 120 (21/27/21/21/30)
squats 97 (16/22/17/17/25)

Thursday--7.64 mile 30 minute spin on trainer (turbo!). 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes all out effort

And that brings me to today (Friday).  I'd decided that I wanted some miles in on the trails so we headed out to Riverside Park mountain bike trails (James rode his mountain bike while I ran).  I have complained before that our trails are very technical and I hadn't taken into account the heavy rains we've had all winter.  Quite a bit of the trail system has been washed out or is completely blocked off by debris, yuck.......

Despite that I was still having a great run up and down the hills, through the creeks, and over the rocks.......until mile 4.91..........I came down on an unstable rock that was covered by leaves and as that stupid rock shifted, so did my right foot. Problem is the ankle tried to go an opposite direction of the toes along with this very ugly pop. 

OUCH. 

Instantly sat down and was just sitting there with my right knee pulled up to my chest trying to catch my breath.  In the meantime, James has caught up to me and is trying to hand me the bottle of water because he thinks I'm just sitting there admiring the view of the quarry, LOL.  I know I've mentioned it elsewhere but can't remember if I have here, but when I hurt myself severely, I might utter one curse word but then go immediately quiet. No tears, no nothing--just quiet. If I'm talking then I'm not injured too terribly, lol.

Once I can talk enough to let James know what's wrong, he of course wants to carry my fat arse out of there.  Not happening if I can help it though, lol......Once I decided nothing was broken, got up found a stout branch to use as a walking stick & we hiked back to the pickup that thank gawd was only .56 miles away :).

Anyhoo, I am now using RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and hoping that the swelling will be down by morning, if it's not then I'll head to the doctor's office.  What really pisses me off is that Sunday is the first race of the state RRCA Grand Prix season so if I don't make it then there goes any chance of iron person status in 2010.

Pics of the ankle and briar scratches, lol. Oh and what happened to me today is a very good example of why you don't go trail running solo....

HTFU

So yeah, I need to htfu & get back into gear with my life.  Made a bit of progress with it this week, although it's been a struggle and I haven't picked up the guitar to practice in 2 weeks. That's going to change with the next one though.  As a friend pointed out I need to quit moping around and just do something, lol......

Work week was ok, nothing spectacularly bad to write home about thankfully. No major trailer issues, a couple of run of the mill traffic jams, just the same old-same old.  The only weird thing was one of my co-workers sitting in his truck blowing his air horn at me and yelling out the window for me to come over to his truck before dawn. Not ever, ever going to happen, I don't care if we do work for the same company and it was on our Laredo drop yard. I am not walking over to some strange guy's truck........If he wants to talk, he can get his lazy ass out of the truck and walk over to where I'm standing with the security guard. 

Oh!!! It was warmer!! About darn time, our temps were running approx. 30F below normal, brrrr.  Even with the warmer temps there was still ice in shaded areas though on Thursday, very unusual for us in central Arkansas.

I seem to have a bit of a streak going with my workouts, the 6th has been the only day that I haven't done any kind of workout so far this month. Let's see if I can keep it going :)

Monday
1.08 mile walk with Elsie & core--SPS Trifecta (63 pushups, 112 situps, 89 squats)

Tuesday
4.21 mile run in 38:54. Hills!!!

Wednesday

4.39 miles in 39:09. 10 mph winds. New route for me at Salado, TX. Not a good one, too many dogs (I was almost bit by a small one) and the motorists don't believe in giving you any room :(

Thursday
Core--74 Pushups, 127 situps, 103 squats

Friday

3.27 miles at home in 28:43. Very tired

Saturday

Core--87 pushups, 141 situps, 112 squats

Sunday

10.02 run in 1:36:30. Tired, my socks wouldn't stay up so took them off after 2 miles. Roads & trails were wet so I now have blisters on my right foot. Stomach issues = 2 bathroom stops. 9 mph wind gusts. One of those runs where you just survive it, lol.

Finally remembered to make an appt to have my hair trimmed Friday and while I was there asked my stylist to straighten it for a change. Top pic shows the color I put in Saturday before last and bottom pic shows how long my hair is getting :). It's going to be tough the next few months in the growing out process because it's the length I absolutely detest.....Like my stylist said this is the point where my hair goes out instead of down, lol. Curly hair is funny that way.

Slumpy

I have found myself in a funk that I just can't seem to shake this year.......Not sure if it's the weather, the impending 41st birthday, just general mid-winter blues or a combination of it all.  No enthusiasism for anything including running, although once I get my rear out the door I feel great & thoroughly enjoy it. It's just the process of trying to get moving that seems to be the problem.  On the other hand most of my other friends, online and in real life, seem to be enjoying phenomenally good moods.  Leave it to me to have to do the exact opposite of everybody else, LOL.

Work-related news--our new CEO seems to think moving away from a major customer is the best direction for the company to go and quite a few of my co-workers are cheering that decision.  All I can think is "dumb-asses". Do they not realize that the if the 20-25% of us that are pulling dedicated loads for this major customer is thrown into the mix of the otr drivers that their miles will continue to decrease?  Specializing may lead to occasional slumps but competing for the same general freight loads as every other company out there is not a good thing either.  There needs to be a mix of the two if it's a larger company like the one I work for.  Sigh, but what do I know? After all, I'm JUST A DRIVER.  Never mind that it's by choice and that if I truly wanted a desk job I could have one. I'm not limited by a lack of education, just a lack of interest in office politics.

My truck still has the warn engine light on, it actually came back on within 25 miles of leaving the International dealership, sigh......seems to be running ok, although a bit less power than what it had before leaving it there. They still need to figure out what the problem is though before this turns into something big.  Took my truck in Friday morning to have the steer tires balanced--for some reason the powers-that-be decided that Frank couldn't have the tire supplier balance the tires before putting them on trucks, geez--and they found a small bent place on the inside of the left rim.  This would have never been an issue if they'd let Frank do his job properly.  Anyhoo, I should have new steer tires again when I leave out tonight.

This brings me to another work-related issue, I love, love, love the fact that the shop foreman we have now at my home terminal listens to ME, instead of staring at my boobs (or lack thereof, lol) and necessitating James having to tell them what I need to have done to MY truck. 

Good news is that my mouth finally went from downright hurting to aching to yay my jaw doesn't hurt on the 11th day after the gingival graft.  Dreading the next round of that this coming spring since he will do the remainder all at once.  We just did the one before Christmas because my dental insurance was almost maxed out for the year.

Weekly workout recap
Monday--Core workout (SPS Trifecta)

Tuesday--1.25 mile hike up the Pulaski, TN water tower hill (near the end of which I slipped on some ice and fell in a creek. Temperature was 11F, not a good thing, LOL
3.06 mile run at Gadsden, AL in 26:48--bit of spare time before 2nd pickup

Wednesday--rest (very long driving day though)

Thursday--5.07 miles in 45:29 at Pearsall, TX. chilly and very, very windy. 13 mph winds with gusts up to 28mph.

Friday--Core (SPS Trifecta)

Saturday--spin on the trainer. 8.17 miles in 35:17. 10 minutes easy, 20 hard, 5 minutes cooldown

Sunday--9.17 mile run in 1:24:11 at home. 20f when I left out midmorning. The bicycle trail still had snow and ice in spots and judging from the shoe prints, there had only been 3-4 of us out there since last Wednesday night (when the snow fell).  Today I met one of the Kenyan runners from Harding, he was the same one I saw last Sunday too.  We seemed to have been the lone rangers for running outside today, lol.

Running mileage is still just under 20 miles a week although that should change with the coming one :). It's been a bit disenheartening to be doing less miles in the whole month than what I did in a week's time this past fall.

2010 Off and Running

So I started the New Year off right!! Went to a party at a friend's house that was close enough to walk to and from so James & I were both able to have some alcoholic libations :). No having to worry about who was going to be a designated driver, yay!!

Great time was had and this is the first time I was up and awake to see the new year in for ages.....

We left out around 0130 so it was a bit after 0200 before I was in bed.......The problem was that I had to be back up at 0600 to get ready to meet at Cabot for our club New Year's Day Run at 8 am. eeep.........

Had a great run though, I ended up with 5.8 miles and so enjoyed getting to talk with my friends in person. I have missed that immensely. Sometimes I wish we could move to Cabot but then I'd be away from my cycling friends :(. And I really do enjoy living in Searcy.

After a bit of breakfast, the night prior finally caught up to me and I ended up going back to bed for another couple of hours sleep. Needed to be prepared for Kelownagurl's 100km trainer ride challenge, lol

Oh the challenge.........James asked me afterwards didn't I know better than to accept a challenge from a Canadian? LMAO!!!!! Except for a couple of trainer sessions, I have not been on a road bike since the first weekend or so of September. And I forgot the chamois butter for the first half of the ride. Yep, I have some welps today on my ass......will not make the mistake again, OUCH..

I was very, very slow by the way :(. Excuses--yeah, I have excuses, lol!! I did run that morning, I was still a bit hungover, and I had dental surgery earlier in the week. So that's my story about why it took me almost 5 hours to ride 62 miles on the trainer :). Oh and I forgot to clear out all my screens on the bike computer so the time does include the eleven miler from September. Yeah, the last road bike ride was only 11 miles.

Advantages to riding the trainer--you can lay your head on your arms when it's unbearable and still keep spinning, you can tweet......umm that's about it.

Disadvantages to riding the trainer--it's hellaciously boring!!!!!! I watched a couple of movies and that helped a bit but still.....No coasting and no downhills to rest. You either spin or you don't get any mileage in.

Afterwards, I pretty much collapsed on the couch to watch the Star Trek 2009 movie. Oh, can't rave about it enough, it's a must see, even for non sci-fi fans. C'mon who didn't watch the original Star Trek series in the endless re-runs when when you were kids? I am going to buy the dvd now because it's a definite re-watch :)