January 13th

Day 13 and back at it... tried and so far, so good... no pain, no discomfort... 15km bike ride (mountain bike) with hills like hell (to me, as this was my first time at such a thing) About an hour, like 45 minutes up and 15 down, LOL! And then we did a walk around the running circuit of the duathlon. Forgot to say this was to practice an upcoming duathlon although we were NOT able to do it as the group was going way to fast. We were the only girls and the boys had no intention of waiting for us... ho-hum... Gee-weez... those were some hills, man oh man... so we just walked although up to km 1 and then after km 3-4 (of 6.5) it can be ran. Great workout and injury free (fingers crossed). Thinking about signing up for the duathlon as the bike is quite technical and hard but hey... I think it can be done :p It's 6.5k/21.5k/2k... nice workout that fits in nicely with the training for my upcoming marathon :D

January 12th

Day 12. Feeling slightly better but still can feel the pull on my quads... some more core work. I don't want to stop!

January 11th

Day 11. Not giving up. Injured on both quads so... strength training it is!

January 10th

And so we go for Day 10... core work due to my injured quad. Oh well... could be worse and I haven't stopped moving! I will run that Marathon on March 17th, oh yes I will!

January 9th

It is Day 9 already... oh my... where does time go??? It's been a good day today! Did the ST circuit twice and ran 10kms :D The not so bright side is that I've injured (not as bad as the other one though, at least so I think) my other quad, the right one... torn/ruptured fibers again. Not as painful or big as a week ago on the left but definitely a tear :( There's no stopping now. Swimming comes, once again, in the picture... there's always a bright side to things :D

January 8th

Janathon Day 8... and I still keep moving! Yay! Loving it! I had my effort test today. Heart doc says my heart is perfect and I can train for my marathon no problem. All arteries, all veins, the heart, all parts, everything is perfect. So happy about it! I then did ST as follows: 25 mountain climbers 15x3 squats 15x3 tricep dips 15x3 hamstring "rises" 15x3 push ups 15x3 toe rises 15x3 lunges 30x3 crunches 15x3 back extension 10 burpees Moving indeed! And tomorrow... Janathon Day 9... bring it on!

January 7th

It was short. But it was. And it was good. Hubby back at work today. Me home with my 3 kids. Hardly had time but managed to squeeze a tiny tiny tiny run. A, might I add, painless run! Yay! It was short and pushed but it's more than nothing. Feeling good and wanting more. I'll stick to my marathon training schedule and just cross train on days off, woohoo! Swimming here I come! And ST too!

January 6th

Happy 3 Kings Day! Woke up to all the presents waiting... Kids had a blast :D I got some running gear and fitness stuff, yay! Some ST today. Happy, happy!

January 5th

Janathon Day 5 and amazingly enough my leg is healed, cured, uninjured... OMG... just like that... no pulling, nothing... I'm sooooo happy, needless to say! But I am playing it on the safe side, of course :p Today lots of power walking and again, and to my surprise, no pain, no discomfort... bliss! Bring it on! Nice, perfect 3 Kings present!

January 4th

It's Day 4 of Janathon already... still injured but about 90% recovered... this is almost a miracle! I was able to walk down the stairs in the "regular" way and not either backwards or one step at a time, starting with the "bad" leg. Hardly any pulling on the quad... so happy! Got my self some compression sleeves for the quads (I now have quads and calves... hmmm... I will look like a puzzle!) and new running shoes, the Brooks Glycerin 10 I had been looking for. Went to the store and there they were, staring at me... had to get them ;) So today I swam again... yay... it's a matter of not stopping. Helps with my sanity too ;) I dropped kid#3 at the gym for his training (other 2 were there already) and I went to the pool. Wanted to do 1500m but at 1150 my right arm started hurting/pulling just midway from the elbow to the shoulder. So I called it a day at 1250, which isn't bad for 2nd day in the water after about 3 moths :D So Janathon Day 4 is done... I keep moving!

January 3rd

Day 3. I'm injured. I can't run. I swim! Yes... dropped kids off and went to the pool. Only another swimmer there... how cool is that? An 8 lane, 25m pool, all to myself... wow! I got to choose lane and all, LOL! I didn't know how my thigh/quad/ITB would feel in the water, but I had no problems! Yay! And like with running... it took a while to get into it but feeling better and better with every stroke, yay! Yay for Janathon!

January 2nd

I'm injured. Torn/ruptured fibers on my left quad. Not nice. Not good. I've walked 1km and have done abs and planks. Will try swimming tomorrow! I've made an appointment to take an effort test, have an EKG, a scan and what-have-you. The feeling I had on my run yesterday wasn't good. Just want to know I'm ok to keep going. My first effort test 3 years ago was good, just want to make sure I'm still ok to run. After all I am training for a marathon. Better play it on the safe side... I do have 3 children!

January 1st

6:45am... the alarm clock goes. I doubt. Should I go or should I stay in bed. The doubt comes from having done 2 races the day before, 1 in the am, a very hilly 10k and one in the evening, a 5K, achieving a PB on both and feeling quite tired. I decide to get up and go. I get to the place, park the car and take the bus to the start (it's an it starts at one end and finishes at another one, kind of event). It's an 18km trail run. I start and feel bad from the very first meter. I am tired. But I keep going. The hills appear... OMG... soooooooooooooo long and soooooooooooo steep. I feel bad, pressure on my chest, dizziness... I decide to walk up the hill very very very very slow. I'm in the middle of the woods/trai on my own. By km 5.5 the first runner reaches me and then a few more. But that's all... there are NO MORE runners... Once I reach the "summit" I feel a bit better and decide I'll run downhill if I can manage. I combine running and walking. It is downhill now and it is really steep, I have to hold myself back. The terrain is uneven. I finally reach the town... not long to go. The last runner catches up with me at km 15... how upsetting... he set out 20 minutes after me and he's caught me... He says not much longer to go. I finally enter the bay and it's all downhill to the beach, where it all finishes... everyone's finished their swim in the sea, everyone's leavin already. I'm exhausted. Feet packed with blisters. But I've done it. I've made it. 18km300m after, I reach my destination. It's taken me longer than running a half marathon... it's taken me 2 hours and 36 minutes of extreme effort, but those kms are under my belt. It is a New Year. It is 2013 and I've started it exercising... can't think of a better way to start a year. I shouldn't have gone, my body was tired and so was I. I am training to run the Barcelona Marathon and by doing that trail run I've injured my left quad. Still thinking I'll do it again next year, but not the same way! Here's to lots of kms in 2013!