Comments (13)

By kilax, July 19, 2011 6:46 am

I got extremely ill at work yesterday before my flight left for Louisville. I felt irritated,  dizzy, feverish and sweaty, yet had goosebumps and chills at the same time… and a few other symptoms that I will leave out. I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to sit on an airplane for an hour and a half (which turned out to be much more). I sent my symptoms to my sister and Steven, who looked up what I should do and some Urgent Care addresses in Kentucky and Indiana. I downed a bunch of water and miraculously made it through the flight. I was feeling so much better by the time I got off the plane, but I still went to Urgent Care, and sure enough, had an infection. Yay, antibiotics!

The whole reason I am sharing this is because I could not believe how much happier I felt when I got off that plane and was feeling better. I was almost giddy with excitement that I felt so much better, more comfortable and like a human being. I think I sometimes take my health for granted!

Comments (17)

By kilax, June 28, 2011 9:38 pm

It is AMAZING how much you can do during a workday evening when your commute is only 15 minutes. Ah, work travel. I normally get more sleep and a lot more free time than when I am home… but I am away from Steven. Sad face.

Anyway, today we finished work at 5:00, so I went to the Louisville Visitor’s Center (right next to our hotel!) grabbed a trail map and a brochure for bike rental and ran to the bike rental place. The lady gave me a (7-speed, ha ha) bike, a helmet (won’t ride without one) a map to get to a park, and I was off!

Right away on my ride I noticed a tiny little distressed bird laying in the middle of the trail. I was worried about him getting run over so I put him on a piece of styrofoam and moved him off the trail.

I placed him by a tree and that little bugger moved right back over to the middle of the trail and continued to squawk. He (and his body parts) were not around when I came back that way so I hope his parents found him.

I rode on trails then on to roads which mostly had bike lines, then I was on a pretty trail along a river:

I saw turtles sunbathing, lots of fish, other bikers and runners, and a cat and some dogs. I tried to get pictures of the turtles but they didn’t turn out. Sad face II.

The bike path lead to Cherokee Park, which has huge frickin’ hills in it. I saw LOTS of runners there. Go runners go! The park was beautiful:

An older bike rider (think 70s) actually showed me the way and we chatted for a bit while riding.

I rode back the same way and snapped a picture of the Louisville Slugger Field. Anyone know the significance? Andrew, do you still read my blog?

I rode around the riverfront a bit more when I got back. There are a lot of cool things along the riverfront – parks, memorials:

and water features…

This is a public fountain that people play and swim in! WTH?! I am TOTALLY going there tomorrow if it’s in the 90s again. FO SHO. No shame. I have my suit with me. I almost went in with my exercise clothes on today.

After I returned the bike I ran back to the hotel and had time to eat dinner with my coworker, talk to Steven on the phone and video chat and write this post (and make updates to the running club race website (!@#$^&$%*@&!!). Note: I still need to catch up on blogs, emails, and Facebook. Sigh. Maybe I didn’t get that much done after all?! At least I had fun! I would have kept the bike a lot longer if I didn’t have to eat dinner. I told my coworker I would be a half hour late for our dinner (well, meeting time to get dinner) as it was! Oops!

P.S. My black toenail started to come off at some point during this bike ride/run. Gross/exciting at the same time.

Comments (19)

By kilax, June 18, 2011 8:01 am

1. My Shaker Bottle – Brian recommended one for mixing protein powder. I didn’t think I needed one because I was using a spoon, but after many clumpy shakes, I bought one, and damn, it works really well!



2. Personal Training – I haven’t lost any weight because of my poor eating habits, but I am really enjoying my personal training sessions. I look forward to them each week!
3. Riding my bike outside – so much better than the bike in the gym, and a lot of fun. Yay, crosstraining! Pictures from my ride yesterday:





4. Not having anything planned for this weekend and the next one
5. Spending time with Steven – we haven’t been around each other much lately
6. Running Times magazine – I picked up a copy a few years ago and really didn’t like it. I needed something to read for a flight back in April and gave it another try and fell in love. I think it’s for a higher level runner than me, but it’s full of a lot of useful information, and interesting bios on runners.
7. Rain in the forecast – means less time watering the garden (our garden is a 10 minute drive from our house and we have to haul water back and forth from a basin to water our crops)!

I could also make a list titled “Things I am hating lately” but I am going to stick with the positive today. It’s Saturday, afterall!

What are you loving lately?

Comments (8)

By kilax, June 14, 2011 8:32 pm

My bike was still there when I got to the train station so I got to ride it home. Yay!

I got to take a closer look at the baby geesers in the park (normally we are driving by so fast).

And I got to ride on the new trail almost all the way to my house (note to Bobbi – the hills still suck on the bike):

Overall, the ride was about 3.5 miles and took less than 20 minutes. I will have to do it again. But bring sunglasses and bug spray. The bugs were getting in my eyes and biting me.

Comments (18)

By kilax, May 26, 2011 6:26 pm

I had my first in-home meeting with my personal trainer (Brian of Essential Fitness) today to get all of my initial measurements – weight, body fat, body measurements, etc. I am so so so excited to be working one-on-one with Brian! We set up our first appointment for next week. I can’t wait.

It’s funny though. For someone who runs so frickin’ much, I sure do have a high body fat percentage and am well overweight. This is NOT a surprise to me, nor was Brian saying anything about this to make me feel bad.* Nor am I too worried about it! The whole point of me hiring a personal trainer is to get more fit, right? Of course I know I have room for improvement.

And that is the weird thing about me. When I see these high numbers and know I am in the overweight BMI** category, I don’t feel discouraged, I feel encouraged. I like knowing I have room for improvement! I know I haven’t reached my peak health and fitness level. I am just odd – I know most people would be upset if their body fat percentage was where mine is, but when I see those numbers, I think “Let’s work on bringing them down!”

So, we’ll see if that happens!

*This is my commentary, not his.
**Not that I take BMI that seriously.

Comments (22)

By kilax, May 19, 2011 12:04 pm

My doctor called me* with my EKG results today and they were different than what I was expecting. She said my heart beat is on the slower side (I was totally expecting it to be high, as I often feel like it’s very rapid). A typical heart beat is 60-80 beats per minute (bpm) and mine is about 53 bpm. She said this is not unusual for women in good shape (me?) and we discussed my exercise routine. I even saw this on wikipedia:

The typical healthy resting heart rate in adults is 60–80 bpm, with rates below 60 bpm referred to as bradycardia, and rates above 100 bpm referred to as tachycardia. Note however that conditioned athletes** often have resting heart rates below 60 bpm.

So, I am not worried. At all. However, she does want me to have a consultation with a cardiologist, to make sure that my exercise level is why my heart rate is lower. So, time to make another appointment… yay. Looks like I will be meeting my health insurance deductible again this year!

If you are interested in seeing the actual EKG, here it is. Click to see larger!

Maybe I was doing the thumbs up too early? (This picture is from Friday’s appointment).

*Actually, I called to ask if she even had them yet, then she had to track them down, then she called me.
**I don’t think of myself as a “conditioned athlete” but this makes me feel better.

Comments (30)

By kilax, May 12, 2011 5:23 am

Tomorrow I get to do one of these – an electrocardiogram (EKG):

image from here

Has anyone ever had an EKG before?

At my annual appointment, my doctor noticed that my heart was skipping every few beats, so she ordered an EKG to make sure I don’t have an irregular heartbeat. I wouldn’t be surprised if I do – my mom has heart flutters from time to time (I think?) and her dad apparently had some heart issues.

I do notice that my heart seems to be pumping really fast and hard lately, but I think that might just be from stress. And I have noticed this before – my heart racing – in 2009 and again last year.

I’m sure there is nothing wrong with me, but I will be interested to see the results. Of course, they will have to get sent back to my doctor before I hear anything about it. Ah, the doctor waiting game. Maybe I can ask the nurse to give me some insight tomorrow during the test.

Comments (27)

By kilax, May 11, 2011 12:22 pm

I’ve been talking to the personal trainer (Brian, from Essential Fitness) who runs the weekly strength class I take about doing one-on-one sessions in June. We have class on Tuesday nights, and that schedule won’t work for me in June-August* so I asked him about one-on-one sessions, and I think they will be affordable! And he will come to my house! All I have to do is walk downstairs in workout clothes (and move the couch so we have some room to work).  

It’s time to get buff**!

I wore these Sugoi Midzero Arm Warmers during my race on Saturday. The one I still haven’t written about. At this point, I am hoping the race photographer puts up some photos for me to use since no one was there taking any.

I am excited. I really like working with Brian. He is energetic and creative with workouts – you never do the same thing twice. And I have a lot to work on. I wonder how far I will get with two sessions a week?

Have you ever used a personal trainer? Did you like working with them? Did you have any specific goals with them?

I want to:

• improve my core strength – I can do at least 10 pushups in a row, but my form is probably all off
• learn how to do crunches correctly
• tone up my arms (my bat wings)
• strengthen my lower legs to aid in running
• slim down my lower legs (I kind of have lower legs that look like drumsticks so that would be nice)?

I am naturally muscular, but my form stinks when it comes to strength training. It would be great to have someone there telling me what to do!

*for a really stupid reason – I like to attend the free “Events in the Plaza” concerts run on Tuesday night by the Lake County Forest Preserve District. Steven and I sometimes make a picnic and go. I know – DORKY! Anyone want to come?
**Oops, don’t want to scare Steven off – toned! Not buff.

Comments (1)

By kilax, April 30, 2011 12:17 pm

The winner of the Nike + Sportband is Kim. Kim, please email me your address and I will send it your way!