(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - The 'bike porn' edition

Anyone looking for comfy cycling shorts for cross training days? Stop looking!

I'm pretty sure that I have found the perfect pair of cycling shorts: I'm in love with my new Scott Limited bib shorts! Too freaking comfortable! It's like wearing a onesie without the 'awkward looks' part. I actually considered ripping the pad out of the shorts, so I could wear it for running. Well, we'd already agreed that I'm the mayor of Nutso Ville, right?

Plus, these babies are sort of flattering (if you could even refer to cycling shorts as flattering...), and might be the only shorts that won't make me look like this:

Source

What's your favorite piece of gear for cross training days?

I'd like you to meet a very special someone

Trixie. :)

The single way to keep this frustrated runner sane at the moment. :) Isn't she pretty? :) And look, I even caved and got myself a pair of cycling shoes (brand: Scott: love that brand!). Still have to learn how to fix a flat tire, tough. ;)

As for the shin: I'm now waiting for the advice of the Sports MD. Will be calling them again on Monday to hear whether or not they came up with a plan. And yes, I'm still totally pain free. I can hop around on the leg without pain. Yep...weird.

Wordless Wednesday - The Naked Truth

The scan. Outcome: shin splints on the left leg (larger white spot) and signs of SF (small white spot) on the right leg. Note that I never had any pain in the right leg, and still haven't. Now my MD says that even a healed SF will continue to show up on a bone scan for months. I honestly don't know what to do know and who to believe... Plus, for the first time in years it makes me want to cry.

Things I don't get & Lessons learned

Things I don't get

My left shin (shin splints) feels 100% better. Yay. That I DO get.

What I do NOT get. The right shin, that apparently has a SF in it, still doesn't hurt (knock on wood). No pain when touching it. No bump on the shin. Even my Sports' MD and Sports' PT don't get it. At least, when you actually feel pain, you know when it's getting better. I don't. Not at all. And it's frustrating and makes me scared to even try running when I'm allowed to again. What if the shin snaps out of the effing blue when coming down a mountain?

Lessons learned (on this weekend's cycling sessions):

1. Cycling 32 miles a day - coming from a 3 mile base - will make your lady parts hurt. Enough said.

2. Cycling is fun. Seriously. :)

3. It doesn't really matter whether you're running in a skirt or cycling in a pink cycling jersey, the honking continues. That is, when on a bike, the honking actually scares the shit out of me! At one point I actually figured I must have been on the wrong side of the road or something.

4. Uphills will make your quads hate you.

5. A GPS on your bike is a godsend. No kidding. Especially with my navigation skills.

6. Wearing a helmet for 2 hours straight will give you helmet hair. Please check mirror before rushing out the door to meet a friend for drinks...

7. Moeben arm sleeves work as great on a bike as they do on a run.

8. Cycling is actually fun. Oh, I already said that? ;)

Confessions of an injured runner: I'm a wimp

I'm a wimp. No kidding.

One of the few things I am allowed to do with The Shin (not the shin that actually hurts. Nope...the shin that doesn't hurt at all and apparently has a SF...I'm a bleeping freak of nature), is cycling. And since I had already been looking for a bicycle for a couple of months now, this seemed the perfect time to get that plan going. So I did. I found Trixie last Saturday ( - yeah, I named my bike Trixie. Get over it.). [no worries, I will properly introduce her to you soon!] And went out for my first ride on Trixie yesterday (51.5K of hills) and for another ride today (48K of hills). And loved every minute of both of these rides.

However, I carefully avoided all the 'might be slippery' bits of the road today. Why? Because I'm a wimp. I'm afraid I'll crash and break something all the time (then again, apparently I don't need to actually crash to break something...). Okay...and it might have something to do with me spending several hours on YouTube last night, searching for 'how not to crash on a bicycle'. Guess what came up in the results? Correct, lots and lots of clips of crashes. After watching this one, I'm ready to wrap myself in bubble wrap.... That wouldn't be weird, right? Right?



Any advice on this one? ;) (And nope 'stop spending several hours on YouTube' won't help. ;))

Tribute to my cycling shorts...

Bye bye flappy arms

Further to yesterday's post on the ideal runner's weight and weight training...

...apparently weight training and squeezing some full plank push-ups into your work out regime works...kind of...

Try to ignore me doing the 'goofy - I'm trying to inflate my guns' face.

Okay, I'm no Arnold Schwarzenegger, but compared to how skinny my arms were a couple of months ago... I'm a happy camper! :)

To all the Disney Princess runners out there: have fun! :)

Weight issues

Runners and their physique. Apparently most non-runners, and even a lot of runners, believe that this is what a 'real' long distance runner should look like:

Photo courtesy of www.paularadcliffe.com
By the way: Paula Radcliffe rocks! Okay, on to what this post is about...

Lean, skinny. Long lean muscles. Nothing too bulky. As one of my co-workers mentioned today: 'You know, the runner type of physique. Slender.'. Okay...

Well, if that's the case, that would imply that I'm not a 'runner'.

Weight

First of all, I'm not skinny skinny. Nothing skeleton-like about this body. At least, not anymore.

When I picked up running in January 2010, and was stupid enough to kick start it by running 16 milers / 25Ks from scratch, I did lose a lot of weight. And I wasn't even overweight to begin with. I was pretty skinny when I started. I lost 11 lbs within 6 weeks. Weighing 116 lbs / 53 kg at 5'9'. That weight was too low for me. I looked unhealthy. Plus, a size 0 was too large for me at that point. Not healthy, at all. But, my body did look like the body I believed a runner should have. So, I figured, that was what was supposed to happen. However, I did not look healthy.

Strange thing about it: I did eat well. Where I probably went wrong is sticking to approximately 2000 calories a day, while I was exercising a heck of a lot more than I did before. Those 2000 calories just weren't enough for me - apparently.

Then I started paying attention to my calorie-intake. I just needed more. I did stick to healthy options, though. And my weight got back up to 127 lbs / 58 kg again. And it still is. Even though my mileage is a lot higher than it was when I picked up running. Plus I'm faster than I was at 116lbs. And I no longer look skeleton-like. Slim, yes. Skinny skinny, no.

And this brings me to building some muscles.

Muscles

Long lean muscles? Nope, never had those, never will. It's just not the way that I'm build.

I did gain a bit of weight by eating more and making healthier food choices. But, what really helped getting the weight back (and getting rid of the 'skeleton' look), is working those weights at the gym. Lucky for me, I don't mind working out, so spending a couple of hours a week doing core work and lifting weights, isn't something that would make me feel unhappy. ;)

The core work and lifting the weights didn't get me the long lean muscles I'd envisioned. Nope. Bulky is the word. I should have known this. Back in my competitive skiing days I had monster quads. I even wore two sizes up in pants, because of the size of those babies. Yep. So, bulky is what happened when I started working on those muscles.

And you know what? I don't mind. Stronger muscles will help prevent injuries (knock on wood!!!) - hopefully. The stronger core improved my running form. I feel better at my current weight. Plus, I look a lot healthier than I did. But, do I have long and lean 'runner' muscles? Am I skinny skinny? Nope. Not at all. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

What are your thoughts on 'the runner's physique'? Thoughts on weight and building muscles?

Bosu-ka! - How to use the Bosu Ball for strength and stability training

The Bosu Ball. Funny looking piece of fitness equipment. But, guess what, I like this ball! It makes a great work out and is a new way to add some 'shoosh' to your strength and stability training!

I've been using the Bosu Ball for my strength and stability training for a while now. I used to focus on just weights, but my PT advised me to try the Bosu Ball. And I'm glad she did!

For those of you that aren't familiar (yet) with the Bosu Ball, this is what it looks like:

Yeah, it's actually just a ball. Why didn't I come up with this thing?

You can do all kinds of exercises on this ball and even inflate/deflate it to toughen up your training regime. I'll just sum up my favorite Bosu-exercises below (in pictures). I did not have the chance yet to have photos taken of Miss Weirdo (me, in case you were wondering... ;)) on the Bosu Ball, so: Photo courtesy of Hubpages.

This exercise helped fix the The Calf and The Knee problem. Since I'm battling The Foot (stupid injury) at the moment, I have a chair or wall around just in case I tumble off the Bosu Ball when I'm doing exercises on the injured leg.

This is a great exercise for those of you that want to work on those quads. I actually place my leg a bit more backwards than the girl in the photo does.

This one is hard! But it sure works!

Squats! I usually do 3 sets of 20.

Well? What are you waiting for? Find yourself a gym that features the Bosu Ball!

In my opinion the Bosu Ball is a great piece of exercise equipment for runners. I truly feel that the strength and stability work benefits my training as well as my running.

Do you use the Bosu Ball?

Work out:

Cycling: 4K - 15 min

Stretching: 30 min

Elliptical: 15 min - 5K

Cycling: 30 min - 11K

Running: 15 min - 1.2K - 15% incline - walking

Weights/strength training: 45 min

Flexing it

Cycling: 20 min

Swimming: 60 min

Strength training: 20 min

The Foot. Who could've guessed that this nasty little thing could cause so much pain? I can't even do a single leg raise on my left leg. Gee... Frustrating. I feel completely drained and depressed, and I really don't want to not hold my head high.

Yesterday I saw another MD. For a second opinion on the foot. To sum it up: I did not like the opinion of this second MD. Why?

The MD examined the foot and told me that the joints in my feet are more flexible than they should be in a normal person (okay, bring on the 'you're not a normal person'-jokes! I can take it...). Plus, there's some sort of cyste on my ankle (size of a pearl). Apparently lots of athletes (or semi-athletes like myself: ha!) have 'flexible feet'. I figured 'flexible' was a good thing. Well...guess again. The MD explained to me that this überflexibility could cause early arthritis. I figured that if that's the case I should just rest the foot for now, start building the mileage when it feels okay (for the record: it does NOT feel okay at the moment), and then add more strength training and replace one work out per week with swimming or cycling.

Uhm...nope. The MD wants me to not exercise (besides hiking and some strength training) at all. I repeat: no exercise besides hiking and strength training (no cycling, swimming, etcetera). In her opinion even walking around would be hard when I turn 40, if I don't. What the bleep? For the record: this MD is not involved in some kind of endurance sport herself. Nor did she understand what running means to me. Being silly me, I googled on the subject as soon as I got home, and did not find one article stating what she had told me.

Two days, two MDs, two completely different opinions. I'm clueless.

My sports PT told me to crosstrain for at least a week. And check how The Foot feels after that. And start building the mileage again (slowly) as soon as the foot is OK. I'll just go with her advice for now. After all...she works with athletes every single day.

Guess who's off for a swim tonight? ;) I might even take a few photos of me in my Speedo (or, what I'd like to call, 'the dealbreaker'). ;)

Any bloggers out there with 'flexible feet'?

"I like big butts and I cannot lie"

I'm not the girl to break a promise. So, as a bonus post for today:

The cycle shorts.

With the crotch pad (yeah, I know you're supposed to call it a 'chamois', but 'chamois' sounds like some sort of expensive moisturizer, and, let's face it, what's inside my cycle shorts is nowhere near as high class as an expensive moisturizer is...).

The front looks like short tights you could wear for running, right? Nothing weird about the shorts so far.

And there's the crotch pad. These shorts are a godsend for obvious reasons (no more 'butt blisters'), but somehow they do give you the feeling of wearing diapers for the first 5 minutes you have them on. On the other hand, these shorts do make my butt look more like JLO's than it normally does ('cause normally my butt looks as flat as the country I life in...).

Ofcourse I had to pair the shorts with these. What else would you wear for gym cycling?

That's how excited I was about hitting the bike. And about all the cross-training I'll have to do because of this stupid foot. More on what the second opinion MD said later.

Is sucktastic even a word?

Update on The Foot: triple sucktastic. Still hurts. I can stand on it (painfree), but walking and doing single leg raises with my left leg: ouchieouchouch impossible. My PT thinks that The Foot might have been the problem all along. That little sucker might have even caused The Calf and The Knee. Go figure. I already tried to ice it to a point where I felt the next step would be de-frosting it. The numbness was nice for half an hour, but didn't really help after that. I would NOT make a good doctor. Fact.

So, guess what?

I'll be hitting the bikes again. And the pool. For the time being, that is. Luckily, swimming and cycling are my new-found loves. ;) And my 78K schedule does not start till mid February and happens to have a high run/walk-ratio for the weekend long runs (5+ hours on Saturday's and 5+ hours on Sunday's - Yay!). Plus crosstraining makes your body stronger, right? Right?

Also I asked for a second opinion on my foot. And the possible foot/calf/knee thing. Tonight another MD will examine it. I really really want to know what this MD has to say on the foot-subject.

Oh, as a bonus, later today/tomorrow, I'll post a photo of charming me in my cycling shorts with crotch pad. Uhm, I mean 'chamois'.

Did you ever have some kind of foot injury?

Cycling: 30 min Strength training: 45 min Hill work (16% incline) (walking): 17 min

This is an intervention!

This is it! Enough is enough! We've had it!

We've been your faithful companions for almost 28 years now. And although we're quite funny shaped (too long, way too long), we've always been happy to have you as a 'human'. You might even say that we loved bragging about you. You always took good care of us. And we smelled nice.

However, some time around January of this year (2010, in case you don't remember), that changed. And we're not talking 'started painting her toenails black' changed. No, our 'human' decided to pick up running as a hobby. Let's just say that it went downhill from there...

The running was bad enough. Callous all over the place. Toenails growing yellow and falling off. Not to mention the smell. But we could cope with that. I'm not saying we were happy campers. No, definitely not. But we were willing to give you your 'moment'. Honestly, we were just waiting for this 'thing' to pass, and for you to sell your running shoes and start wearing heels again.

You made it pretty clear to us that that was not going to happen. You know how we feel about that.

And now you've added swimming to your training schedule. You just had to hit that pool, didn't you? The running alone triggered us enough as it is, but you had to stretch that torture as far as you could.

The straw that breaks the camel's back...

So, consider this an intervention. We've had it! Things will have to change!

These are our demands:

- weekly pedicures;

- at least 2 rest days per week;

- every run will be followed by a foot rub;

- the same goes for every swim;

- every time a toenail tends to fall off, you'll contact your GP about this.

In case you did not give in to these demands by 1 AM next Friday, we will go on strike. How about that, Silly Girl?

Oh no, you didn't!

It happened... The thing I swore would never happen. The thing I knew with absolute certainty (if there is such thing) would never happen. The thing that just would never happen. Period!

But it did...and within 9 months after me swearing I would never do it.

I registered for my first triathlon.

OK, pick your jaw up from the floor. I'm not kidding.

Some of you (Kevin @ http://halftriing.blogspot.com/) already saw this one coming. I didn't. Hit me by surprise.

So, what happened? Cycling is what I did for the commute to work, right? And swimming is what I would solely do to keep me from drowning? Or when recovering from an injury, and with the sole purpose to get back to running as soon as possible?

True, all true. But then I got seriously injured, and was forced to spend hours per week on the bicycle and in the pool to recover faster and not lose a lot of fitness in the meantime. Guess what, I actually liked it more than I could've thought when I started the cross training. The blisters on my butt caused by cycling in my running shorts (Big mistake. Big big mistake...) didn't cause a hatred towards cycling. And even drinking half the pool learning this bleeping freestyle stroke couldn't make me not love swimming.

And then - before I knew it - I registered for my first tri. The way my mind works...

So, there you have it. Silly Girl Triing. Just for once. In July 2011. And just to figure out whether or not I like triathlons. I'm not saying that I'm going to change the name of my blog. I love running too much to do that. And with these ultramarathons coming up next year, the triathlons will just be in my schedule for the 'fun!' element. For now. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if I - in a couple of years from now - find myself registered for an Ironman... Again...the way my mind works...

Oh, and yes, ofcourse I also registered to meet the hot guys in Speedos. Duh...

It ain't gonna look pretty...

Due to the calf injury I'm stuck with cycling and swimming for the time being. And yep, the PT said I can't pick the one I prefer (cycling - obviously), I'll have to stick to both. So, I'm spending the hours I used to spend on the road (on 'in between training cycle weeks' or 'slow weeks'), on a bicycle or in the water now. 6 fun hours of cross training a week...and 2 hours of strength training to get those muscles going.

I'm okay with the bicycle. I'm Dutch. I was practically born on a bicycle. Cycling on one of those bikes at the gym, working it out at 100 rpm, and reading a book / watching TV while I'm doing that, is perfectly fine with me. No biggie there.

But this girl does not like to swim! Never has. Don't get me wrong. I can swim. But in my opinion, swimming is something you do to keep yourself from drowning, not something you do for fun. Honestly, I don't even like going down one of those slides at the pool. Getting water into my ears...Yeugh (okay...in my defense, I did have serious medical ear problems when I was little, and to this very day getting water into my ears still hurts).

Well, to make a long story short and not to bore the heck out of you, I decided to put on my big girls pants and just get into that pool - last Wednesday. And although I suck at the cool crawling thing you see at triathlons (I'm taking swimming lessons to learn to get the speed in for the next couple of weeks - apparently my crawling would suit an 8 year-old...thanks swim instructor...), it wasn't that bad. At all! Only down point...I was wearing a two-piece (I don't own a bathing suit), and let's just say that that wasn't the best of ideas.

So, since I'm dedicated to come out of this torn calf injury thing stronger than I could have imagined before, I will hit the shops for this beauty:

Yep, it's a Speedo...gross! And I will look like a hippo in it...gross!

And one of those (the water/ear thing will continue to be an issue):

I know...old-fashioned. This girl likes her gear 'retro' - get over it.

Plus one of these (chloride and contacts - not the best combo...):

Yep, that's how dedicated I am: I'd even wear a Speedo! ;) Anyone up for pictures? ;)

Did you ever have to stick to swimming/cycling due to an injury? If so, did you bounce back stronger than you could've imagined?