30 days Squat Challenge

 

30 days squat challenge : 3410 squats - 7 rest days !

Our friend Margie came up with this brilliant idea of challenging our poor butts. We are officially at day 7 today ! and Yes.. the butt is feeling it.. and Yes I am enjoying it.  

The hubby doing his squats... only guy in this challenge

Squat is my running favorite work out just only because I have experienced the benefits of doing it.

 My IT band flared up after my first marathon in 2010. It was really bad. I could not go down the stairs and could hardly run a mile. 

Being a rookie to injury then, I took advices from various people and from google. I tried Active Release Technique ( ART) and was still very much injured after a few treatments. Then I heard my peeps raved about Arrosti and decided to try it. 8 treatments and hundreds spent and I was no better. 

I finally decided to see a PT and the prescribed therapy : squat. I was doing all forms of squat - squat, with stability ball, squat with exercise bands, squat on bosu ball. And it worked. I was out running after 2 weeks of squats. If I had knew that it was so easy, I would not have spent hundreds and suffered for 62 weeks. 

Last year, I developed this persistent pain on my heels which felt almost almost like plantar fasciitis.  So I started a series of exercise to strengthen my feet - go barefooted, picked up marbles with my toes etc etc. Nothing seemed to work. I finally saw a PT and he told me to do one legged squat. Bingo... the pain disappeared after I started the one legged squat routine.  

I swear by squat as the best exercise to complement running. It is not difficult to name 10 benefits of squats: 

1. Maintain mobility

2. Almost entire body work out - no other work out works more muscle than squats

3. Improve balance

4. Gain flexibility

5. Boost performance -  run faster

6. Maintain postures and movements similar to running

7. Develop core strength- stronger abs

8.  Increase endurance with stronger legs

9. Burn more fats

and the most important reason, as what my friend Jaxie puts it

10. We want it  to spring back when it gets smacked :)

__________________

An update on our training : Week 3 of serious training. Body is tired and legs are heavy...so I guess we are doing the training right.  And the good new is that we have pretty much stopped the habit of talking each other into NOT running :)

Hell's Hills 50K

The Hubby and I after race.. we looked fresh, dun we:)

"I do not feel Hell's Hill ready".. the hubby told me on Thursday. Nor was I. It was hard to be ready for the "race" when we did not taper at all. The intent was NOT to taper but to use it as our long training run for our race in September. We started our serious training 2 weeks ago and were both feeling the effect of the training. Our bodies were tried and legs were dead. Yeah. blame it on the long 3 months break.. it was hard trying to coming back. We could not finish our long run last week due to fatigue and so were kinda looking forward to this race as our long run. It is definitely easy to have 100 people doing a long run together: with us :)

The plan for this "race" was to run at easy-medium pace with the goal of NO faster than 7 hours. We learned our lesson in Nueces. We raced a little bit in that race and were too hurt to train for a week. As coach Gary always says.. "do not race if its not your race". So the plan was slow and easy.

Race day at 6am was not appealing at all ! We spent the night at Days Inn at Bastrop. The new sleeping arrangement did not go well with me and I was awake most of the night. I was about to fall asleep when the alarm clock rang at 4.45am.  The hubby did no better than me. 

But here we were, whether we like it or not, at the starting line. The 6am start means darkness and head lamp. The first few miles were done in the dark which was blessing in disguise. It forced us to start really slow and gave us time to wake the tired body. It was a while since I last ran in the dark with head lamp. It took quite while to get used to it. The first few miles were bumpy. It started out with flats which slowly lead to hills. We kinda run/walk the the first 3 miles. The darkness and hills made us go slow cautiously. The ground was very soft due to the rain earlier in the week and there were a few spots which were really muddy and wet and the shoes just sunk and stuck in the mud.  One of the runners in front of us fell in one of the bad patches. No major damage and everyone around had a good laugh including the runner himself. 

Day break was a welcome sight. The head lamp was getting irritating. By then, we were at almost mile 3ish and I was still feeling lousy. It was hard to get going. The will was there but the body was not responding. The thought of running for another 28 miles was blah.  I looked over at the hubby and he had the same painful look in his face. Good... there was one other out there suffering and not me alone:)

We continued to run together at an easy- medium pace. The plan was to brisk walk the hills and run the runnable portions. We caught up with 2 runners training for leadvilles 100 after mile 3. They were going at a very steady easy pace. We decided to run with them. The 4th and 5th miles were bumpy rides. Not exactly big hills but irritating bumps. 

The aid station at about Mile 5 was very much welcome. We did not stay long at the aid station. Refilled our water, grabbed a few banana and continued to the chase with the 2 runners. We stayed with them about 2 miles after the aid station and decided to pass them as they were running a tact too easy.So it was me and the hubby in the trails.. trying to motivate each other. The thoughts of dropping to 25K popped out. Yeah.. we were feeling so bad that both of us wanted to drop to 25K. We talked about it and finally decided to chase the 50K instead. The 2 loops course just made it easier to entertain the thoughts of dropping to 25K. 

We were ok once we decided that it would be a 50K run. There was a renewed energy and more motivation as needed for another 18 miles. Miles 5 to Mile 10 was the best stretch of the course. Not exactly bumpy. It had a lot of switch backs but were all runnable. We picked up pace significantly during this stretch. 

It was a relieved to reach the second and last aid station on the course. We knew that we were about 4.7miles out from the start/finish line. The last stretch of the course was a mix of flats, switch backs and bumps. No actual big climbs like Nueces but the switch backs and bumps were a drain on efforts.

We made it to the start/finish line in 3 hrs 24 mins. Not too bad considering how crappy we were during the first half of the course. 

The second loop was started with renewed energy. We probably did the first 5 miles faster than the first loop. The sun came out after mile 20 and it started to get a bit hot. But no complains here. Hell's hills is known not for the hills but the heat. We were lucky that the weather was great in the morning. We did not get the sun till mile 20 ! A welcome change from last year. 

 

Mile 20 to 25 was done at an easy-medium pace- not to push too hard and also not to walk. So we were running easy-medium pace. I had to drown in a pack of gu to keep the energy though. By then, my feet was started to hurt. I could feel the top of my feet swelling and it was starting to hurt. I continued to keep running and try to push the pain out of my head. We ran through a few streams and I intentionally soaked my feet in the stream and let the cold water run through the shoes into the feet. The cold water made the swelling more manageable. 

We hardly see any soul in the second loop. We passed a few runners early of loop 2 and hardly see anyone in the course after that. It was very much the hubby and I together in the trails. We talked and sang and kept each other motivated. The hubby said that it felt as if we were running away from the "walkers" ( think walking dead !) Totally isolated... totally just us. 

It was not until mile 24 that we saw other runners. I was so happy to see them that I shouted to the hubby " I see humans !". Yeah.. finally some souls.  We could see 4 runners ahead of us running to the last aid station. We caught up with them at the aid station ( mile 25ish). 

We left the aid station and passed a few runners... then it was us alone again. I was running in front when I heard the hubby shouted " hey Rabb".. I turned back and saw our friend Scott Rabb chasing the 50 milers. He was an elite runner and was into his home stretch for the finish. Rabb smiled and waved at his and he was gone in a second. ( For the record, he came in second for the 50 milers)

It was the hubby and I again pushing the home stretch. My feet was hurting and I was trying hard to focus. I took another pack of gu and continued the home stretch. We looked at our watch and knew that we could probably hit our goal of 7 hours if we pushed a little bit. We try to pick up pace but not too much. 

It was a relief slight to see the camp site. We knew that we were about half mile to finish. I looked at my watch. We were 8 minutes from 7 hours. I knew we had this. The hubby and I decided not to sprint  but to take an easy slow jog to finish.

We cross the finished line together 6 hrs 58 mins on my watch. 

Another training run done and another medal ! And it was awesome to spend 7 hours "us" time with the hubby in the trails :)

Who says you cannot run with bad lungs !

My friend Kristen called me on Saturday morning in a frantic state. She was doing a 5K race when her lungs seized up ( asthma!) and she had to slow down and walk/run to finish her race. Yes asthma attack is very frustrating during a race. I have done many of my races with sub optimal lungs capacity and these experiences are certainly no fun.

I had asthma when I was young but it went away when I was 12. However, it came back to haunt me when I moved to San Antonio three years ago. The attacks gets really bad during spring/summer. Apparently, my lungs do not like something in the air in San Antonio. I have lived in many places without problems. This is the only place that is triggering my asthma. I am very allergic to San Antonio. Period. 

The first two years in San Antonio was more than frustrating. I did not know how to manage this monster and it ended up almost ruining me. 

The first year was not as bad as the second year as I was running indoor a lot on the dreadmill. However, my lungs got tight whenever I run outdoors. I did the San Antonio half marathon in 2010 with 5 puffs of inhaler. It was an awful experience. My lungs felt like it was exploding throughout the run. But I still did a sub 2 hours half which was not too bad. 

The second year was really bad. I was training for my first marathon and was running outdoor a lot. My lungs got really bad and I struggled a lot in my running. I was at the doctor's office almost every other week. I am a complicated case. My rescue inhaler does not work when I have an attack.  The doctors had to prescribe prednisone to make me better. I was happy with the first few doses of prednisone as they appeared to make me better and stronger. However, I started to get more frequent attacks and the doctors had to prescribe higher and higher dosage of prednisone. I began to feel really sick with each dose of prednisone. They made me wide awake at night. I started to loose control of myself. I got depressed and cried and got angry easily. My colleagues learnt to stay away from me when I am on a dosage as I snapped at people.. involuntarily of course. The medication was controlling me ! I have 2 steroids injections and at least 6 dosage of prednisone in 2011. I could hardly function without the prednisone. 

I was still running a lot as I was training for the marathon. The prednisone made me feel really awful but they also make me last longer and run faster in my runs. It was like double edged sword. I am not sure whether I was running faster because they clear my lungs or because they are steroids

I did my first marathon in Nov 2011 and completed it within goal time. But I have always wonder whether that was the results of prednisone, ie steroids. May be I should say that I was "fueled by prednisone" :)

2012 was a turning point for me. I was still being fed prednisone for the first half year of 2012. I started to do research on prednisone. The more I read the more I got worried. The evil of prednisone scares me  Finally, in August 2012, I decided that to be predisone free. I figured that I could die of an asthma attack or predisone overdose. I rather die of an asthma attack. 

Of course, I did not die of asthma. I learned to manage my conditions. I did a lot of research on asthma and had tried every single method of stopping/preventing an asthma attack available on google. I have tried turmeric tea, apple cider vinegar and coffee. I went on supplement spree and bought a whole pantry shelf of supplements including magnesium, B12 and quercetin. Yes. I went crazy searching for a nature way to control my asthma. 

I found that chopping onions and drinking coffee helped to relieve my symptoms and I have been sticking to them. We never run out of chopped onions in our house.

I also learned to run with my condition. Running at lower heart rate make me last longer when my lungs are bad. Yes. I am still running on days when I have my attacks. I grasp for air and wheeze as I run. My doctors would probably freaked out if they had known. But I am so used to running in such conditions that it does not bother me anymore. And I think I have more significant improvement. I used to run 9.40-10min pace on bad days. I could easily manage a 9.30 pace these days. I did the Nueces 50K with probably 80% lung capacity. I managed and I conquered. 

But yes. I do get frustrated. Very frustrated. And there are days where I throw tantrums when I get frustrated. The hubby learned to managed me as well. He will have a pep talk with me every Tuesday before we go to track " Remember, it is all about efforts. Do not get frustrated if you are slow.If you continue to train in sch conditions, you will be really fast if we find a cure for your lungs".  That poor boy probably has enough of my tantrums.

My lungs are still not at its best. I have 2 bottles of prednisone sitting at home. They were prescribed last two months when I see my doc. However, I have yet to open them and I am trying not to. I told my hubby that I will only take them only if I am in a life threatening situation. 

I had to do a lung function test before doing the skin test last month and the nurse almost freaked out when the results showed me at 80% lung capacity. They had to do an immediate nebulizer treatment before conducting the skin test. 

The allergy tests  showed me as allergic to dust mite, palms trees and cockroaches. The allergist does not think that these are triggers for my asthma and we are still monitoring and trying to figure out the triggers. However, the hubby and I took no chance and we did all precautions at home to minimize dust mites. We bought sprays for dust mite and "sterilized" the whole apartment.

I am currently seeing an acupuncturist as well. I figured that I have nothing to lose since I am rock bottom. She can only get me better. The last 2 treatments with her have been awesome. I felt much better and could almost breathe as normal person last few days. I am very much encouraged to continue with the acupuncture treatments.  

Well...Who say you cannot run with bad lungs ! I have ran many races in my condition. As long as you learned to manage.... you can !