Insomina prevents early morning workouts...

So last night was one of those nights where I could hear every noise in the house, every thought in my head and everything that occurred last night.  Those nights are NOT conducive to an early morning workout!  But that's OK, because I really wanted to do a longer bike ride.  Those are easier to do at night when I have more time!

Tomorrow, I will let you know how far I made it!

Apparently the noise an alarm clock makes, makes a difference

[caption id="attachment_1582" align="alignright" width="300"] An Alarm Clock. An invention of Satan if there ever was one.[/caption]

You, my dear readers, have undoubtedly seen me write about how I would like to get up and work out in the morning.   In addition I am sure you remember my posting about how much I enjoy my sleep - and consequently I do not get up.  I had purposely picked the most obnoxious alarm that my phone has - as it is impossible to ignore.  Made sense to me as the first step to working out in the morning is to hear the alarm.  This is followed by hitting snooze until my wife's alarm goes off, then I turn my alarm off and just listen to hers every 8 minutes.  I do enjoy my snoozing peacefully (in 8 minute segments.) This process continues until I have limited my morning to exactly enough time to get up, get dressed and go to work.

After my lovely wife mentioned

Running and Biking Oh My!

Couple of days to catch up on.. But since I haven't posted about them it must not have happened right?



I decided that it was finally time to face my fear, strap on my running shoes and head out the door.  I won't lie - I have been scared over trying it for a couple of reasons.  I have been worried that I would run, and find that I developed excruciating pain in  - which occured around mile marker 2 on that 3 miler I did about a month ago.  I  also was dreading going out running - enjoying it -  and then being in agony the next day.  A definite sign (if it occured) that running anytime soon was going to be a pipe-dream.

Back at it! Did you miss me?

[caption id="attachment_1568" align="alignright" width="300"] Thanks for all the help Joe![/caption]

So, I have been quite quiet as of late!    The good news is that it isn't due to any unforseen disaster with my Mother in law's heart surgery.  She is doing AWESOME!  They kicked her out of the hospital earlier than planned, as she was doing so well!  She was glad to be home early - that is for sure!  My brother-in-law Joe stayed up there with her to help take care of her.  We headed up every night with food and to visit.

Friday we brought Joe down to the Philadelphia Airport so he could fly home to Texas after being away from his wife and kids for so long. His coming up certainly made life easier on my wife and I (thanks Joe!)

Sometimes a change of perspective helps us see what is important.

So for the last 24 hours I have been in the Cardiac Care Center of Wilson Memorial Hospital while my mother in law had a valve replacement done.  The surgery went well and she is recovering nicely.  In fact, the surgeon called it "Text-Book," as everything has gone according to plan.



While here, we spoke with someone whose husband

New Shoes! New Shoes!

Yesterday's workout was the cardio recovery Insanity DVD.  As the name suggests it is a "recovery" day, so the workout was a bit different.  Instead of a fast paced high intensity workout, the pace is slower with controlled movements.  Apparently Shaun T's definition of "easy" is a bit different than mine as I couldn't even manage to do all of these workouts without taking breaks!

If I had thought I was in good shape, this would definitely have cured me of that misconception.  I have a LOT more work to do on my core strength - fortunately Insanity has a focus on that very thing!  It was a lighter workout however as I am not in a whole lot of pain today. I do like the amount of stretching in the program as I need that!

So the best part of the workout? MY NEW SHOES ARRIVED!

The Insanity Continues with a pending shoe delivery!

So last night, I popped in the next DVD for Insanity.  The flavor of the day was Cardio Power Resistance!  Granted I had a break that Shaun T. hadn't worked into his schedule, but this one seemed significantly easier than the Plyometric Cardio Circuit.  My primary thought is that as I am a runner I have pretty strong hamstrings, while I know my quads aren't all that.  This workout seemed to be more focused on hamstrings than quads (based on what was getting tired/sore.)

As if to support this - I am only sore today, not in agony and walking like an 83-year-old man.

Some of the exercises: 
Power Jumps - down to  a squat, jump up with your hands over your head, then land softly
Hurdles - Run in place, then on Shaun T.'s command jump as if you were going over a really short hurdle

I have never been so happy to see my Mother in Law.

So, my son's latest Parlor City Boy Chorus concert was last night

Well, before the concert I rushed home after getting the kids so that I could get a workout in.  After a quick change I grabbed a water bottle and tossed in the Plyometric Cardio Circuit DVD.  I was able to keep up, though I took Shaun T. seriously when he said "take a break as you need it," but a quick swig of water is often enough break to let you get back to it.

The nice thing is that it starts with the warm up, and then repeats it speeding it up.  Just starting this routine out - its nice to be able to actually have the opportunity to figure out what the heck it is you are doing!   I won't lie however, it was rough and it hurt.  It demonstrated to me how week my hip flexors are as I tried to continuously get my knees higher than my hips.  I can certainly see the work on my Quads and Glutes really helping my hill running later on!

About 30 minutes into it, the most wonderful thing happened.  My mother in law showed up as we were all going to the fore-mentioned concert.  So unfortunately I had to stop and go shower so as to be ready to go on time.  30 minutes out of 42ish complete - not bad for a first run!

After the concert we got home, and my night splint had arrived for my plantar faciitis.  I have to try a couple of things to make it fit better - so I don't have a lot of opinions on it yet.  I will say that even walking around at the concert hurt.  My wife said that while I was sleeping the Zoe Cat would jump on me and she could hear me groan in pain.  So if anyone is reading this posting and trying to decide whether or not to do the Insanity workout, keep the cat out of the bedroom.

I am off to a day of hiking and camping with the Cub Scouts, so I will not be doing any Insanity today.  But will be back at it tomorrow!

Insanity

So, in theory I am "allowed" to start running again this weekend. The Podiatrist said I could give it a shot. This leaves me running in the "improper" shoes however, and my new (although still not what the podiatrist ordered - it is closer) shoes will not be here until next friday.    I have stated I am going back to exercising - even if I can't run - so it raises the question of WHAT to do?

Well, some of you may remember (that is if you are the one person that read my blog back then), that I once thought about doing P90X or Shaun T.'s Insanity.  At that time, in the long long ago, I did the fitness test for Insanity.

I hurt for four days.  I mean, I hurt ALOT for four days.  I decided I wasn't insane enough to continue.

Visit with the Podiatrist

So I posted a brief bit on Facebook about what the podiatrist had to say, but I have been crazy-busy so I wasn't able to get back here until today.

First, I expected one of two (From what I have read online) standard Podiatrist viewpoints toward the Vibram Five Fingers.

1)  These things are horrible. No one should ever wear them (or walk barefoot) as our feet should be in shoes that make them work properly.  They are just begging for injury because they don't let your foot work like it should.

2) They are ok, and there is nothing wrong with wearing them, but

May Day, Beltaine and new beginnings

Today is May the first of two thousand and twelve AD.  May the first is also known as "May Day" or Beltaine. (bear with me, we will get back to the running information after a couple of paragraphs!)

According to the Wikipedia entry on Beltaine:

Bealtaine was historically a Gaelic festival celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Bealtaine and Samhain were the leading terminal dates of the civil year in medieval Ireland, though the latter festival was the more important. The festival regained popularity during the Celtic Revival and remains observed in the Celtic Nations and the Irish diaspora.

According to Nora Chadwick, in Celtic Ireland "Beltine (or Beltaine) was celebrated on 1 May, a spring-time festival of optimism. Fertility ritual again was important, in part perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun, symbolized by the lighting of fires through which livestock were driven, and around which the people danced in a sunwise direction"^[1]