So, I went to see my doctor (who needs a blog name) and he grounded me. No running.

Three things. Choose the whine decibel you hear in your own head.

1. I have a half marathon in PHX on Sunday.
2. But I don’t wanna be grounded.
3. My hip really hurts.

Let it be known that I have ignored his doctors orders before. shhhh

Yes, I know he went to medical school. His letters do not make him the boss of me. I went to hippie school. I am in touch with my feelings and the universe.

If my feelings and the universe say its ok to run on Sunday, I will run on Sunday.

It’s not that I don’t value medical opinion or skill. If I ever get shot my doctor will be very important to me.

The rest of it can be skewed. Will I die if I run on a wonky hip? No. Will I risk further injury? Yes, but I risk injury every single day that my ass leaves the couch.

Starting with a wonky hip may increase the risk, but starting whole does not eliminate my risk of injury.

As much as I want to run, I am not an idiot. I understand that I could be out three months as opposed to three weeks.

This is also why I didn’t make a mileage goal for the year. We are ten days in, I have 5 miles under my belt and am grounded for the foreseeable future. This would be where my nerd brain tells me, that I’m already 50 miles short and I’ll never catch up ever especially of I lose another 75-100 miles. Give up!

One thing I’ve gotten a lot better at over the years is living for today. What gets me through today in a direction towards my goals. I want to run half’s and fulls and I want to do an Ironman. PHX is total BS against that goal, but it’s still a goal and I want to do it if I can.

That being said, if over the next five days you speak to a deity or feel the urge to lay hands on my ass, for heeling, feel free to do so.

I am using the hashtag in Twitter of #myhc it stands for My Health Challenge and there’s a website coming when my life settles down.

I wanted to explain that this is a very basic program for those who need success in their fitness and health. When I was a couch potato I would get so frustrated with hard bodies telling me to just get off my ass and go run for half an hour. Um, yeah? CAN’T asshole. I didn’t want to go to the gym. I didn’t want to hire some 20 year old who could eat Big Macs five times a week tell me that “looking good is easy”. Tell me that after you’ve had three kids and haven’t slept since you started worrying about Y2K.

As far as eating went, the thought of getting rid of all the yummy crap in my pantry and changing it for kale chips? What the hell are kale chips, they don’t even sound good.

There will be no excuses regarding being lazy and obstinate. I wrote that book.

While the pushup challenge started with ONE pushup and I endured more than a little ribbing. It changed my body and my life and I did complete the year with 365 pushups. It made me stronger and helped me realize that just one thing will go a long way, given enough time.

2012 will be the beginning of diet and exercise routines for millions of Americans. Most of them won’t make it to the end of January. Most will start with too much, too soon. Most will get injured or over scheduled and quit.

Not us.

I have designed a program for the very beginner. We will build up slowly. The goal is to be healthy for life, not lose 20 pounds before Valentines day. You will lose weight. Not Biggest Loser style, unless you are exercising 8 hours a day under constant medical supervision.

You’re “friends” will mock you. “did you do all three pushups today? wow you must be tired.”

But it’s OK. You can kick their ass next year.

Most of you will say, “That’s all?” Really???

Instead of dismissing it as “not enough” trust me, you will get stronger. If you do the work.

None of this will require a gym or special equipment. Just you. Willing to change your life.

If you are not a very beginner you can always ask me for personalized plans.

So, for those of you ready to change the rest of your life. Let’s start.

But first.

I have no official count as to how many did push ups with us this year. But every push up I heard about made me happy. Every push up done made someone stronger. If you did one or one hundred thousand, you have inspired ME. You people are awesome.

Now,

New year, new challenge challenges.

That’s right. We are doing multiple challenges. One year was clearly not sustainable. I quit about day 285. I still view it a success. I began the year being able to do 3 knee push ups, to end it early doing 285 push ups in one day. Not a fail by any means.

This year, we will be doing a combination of monthly, weekly and daily challenges. My personal goal over the course of the year is to be healthier 12/31/12 than I am today. To go to sleep each night, happier, healthier and stronger.

Because I feel that you cannot start a challenge un-prepared, I am announcing the January challenge now. You have 13 days to think about, finance, sign up, beg Santa for whatever it is that you need to start January 1.

The January Challenge is TRY SOMETHING NEW.

Try many things new.

Do something you have had on your “maybe someday” list and start it this month.

I can’t decide what that looks like for you. Have you wanted to try Belly Dancing, or rock climbing or take that freakin yoga class, or just get off the couch? That is what I want you to do for January.

If you do it, blog it. Take pictures. Take videos. If you’d like to share it with the class please email me. me(at)annieology(dot)com I will put it up here for the world to see. If you would rather it be on your own blog, send me the link and I’ll link you up here.

For me, I’m doing a lot of new things. Thanks to the Groupon/Living Social deals I have a few things already bought and paid for that I will be trying out. Some things I just have wanted to try, but most excited I am to go to Roller Girl boot camp. That’s right. I want to try the whole roller derby thing.

so,

Dear Santa, bring me some skates.

p.s. For those of you who need specific instructions such as “do four push ups today” or “go run a mile” never fear. I will have those as well. But you have to wait. Now, go do four push ups and run a mile.

Until next time. Be awesome!

This is how I’ve spent my last two weeks.  Feet up.

Somehow wearing shoes injured me.  To the point I could barely walk.

I went immediately (five days later) to the doctor.

Side bar

You know how you want to support businesses owned by people you know?  Well, I have acquaintances who are married to doctors.  I try to time my visits to when the stranger is on duty, but apparently doctors take vacations or something and got the husband of a friend.

Who put my foot in his lap and chatted with me about running and awesome things and shoes and blah blah blah.  The whole familiarity with doctors is weird.  I have several friends where putting my foot in their husband’s lap would be unacceptable.  This is also why I go to chiropractor that is not a friend of mine.  At one point said chiro was on top of me with his knee in my back (I exaggerate) while we discussed whether he and the Mrs were coming over to dinner later.  I decided that from then on out, male friends would not be allowed to jump on my back and made further chiro appointments with other docs.

Anyway

I got my foot x-rayed and my, I have sexy foot x-rays.  No visible breaks.  I was mostly worried about a stress fracture.   It was decided that I either had soft tissue damage or had dislodged my medial sesamoid.  Either way, stay off it for a couple of weeks and re-evaluate.

I HAVE VEGAS IN A MONTH.

was all I could think about.  The last two weeks I should have run about 75 miles, and I was sitting on my butt.

Luckily, three days ago, the pain broke and I have been walking hitch free since.

I took off my orthotic shoes this morning and am back in sandals.  And if I ever contemplate wearing real shoes again.  Please stop me.

I will be running Vegas in three weeks.  Probably slow again.

I would quit racing, but after Vegas I need to run three more races to fill my next frame.  So, I won’t give it up just yet.

Side bar

I apologize to my Twitter friends for boring you with yet more tales of said injury.

This was my fourth half marathon.  My first half was this race last year.  The Harbor Half.  It is an out and back race, so I get to see all of my fellow runners.  Most of them had gone out and back and met up with me starting at about mile 4.5

4.5 was a special mile for  me.  Not only did was I on my pace of 12 minute miles, but there was a dolphin pacing me. True fact.  Just a little dolphin swimming next to me.  It was a very cool, only for Annie moment.  (or an hallucination, whatever)

For those of you me who are math geeks, you’ll notice I ran 4.5 miles, the leaders had run 8.5 and as much as I like to profess that “I am my own runner” and “I don’t compare myself to others”  I do.

I do not, however, compare myself to the “sat around for years and years mom’s with forty eleven kids”   I compare myself to 20 year old boys and the girls who can utilize the “shelf bra”.  Seriously.  Shelf bras?  Come back when you go through puberty.

I’m not bitter.  Really.  I am.

The first six miles were great.  Somewhere between 6 and 6.5 my hip started to hurt.  It kind of felt like a pulled muscle, but not really.  I could have stopped at 6.5 and that would have been ok.  But, I figured I could work it out on the road.

I didn’t.

This race is run mostly on a causeway and once you get back on the bridge, you are pretty much committed for the next four miles.  That happens at roughly mile 8.  At which point I was still “fine” I wasn’t but I am nothing if not committed or should be. So, up the causeway I went.

As the miles ticked by, they got farther apart, surely I hadn’t slowed down that much I had. The bridge, that is a 324 foot climb over half a mile began at mile 11.  Coming over the bridge I ran it in 13, returning it was 20, and by the time I crested it, I was ready to curl up into a ball and cry.  My hip was killing me.  I was convinced that I was DFL but again.  I wanted to finish.

Tech Support and the kids were waiting for me at the finish.  I cried a bit in a text to him, he encouraged me to tough it out, and he & the kids would walk out on the course to meet me.  I was coming down the bridge and they were underneath it.  I was so happy to see them.  It got me through the next mile, where I met up with them and they walked me in.

Five miles of pain. Two of agony.  I still had my second best finish. I was not last.  There was at least one 80 year old behind me.

After an afternoon two days of self assessment.  I determined that my pulled muscle was just another manifestation of my nerve impingement from awhile back.  It started with some strange sensation, graduated to feeling like I’d sat on a cold penny, and then went away.  It came back around mile 6 feeling like a muscle pull.

My take aways from the race.

• Finishing always feels good.  Even when the rest of the people have gone home and showered and ordered pizza and watched a football game.
• It’s nice to see familiar faces when you are hurting.
• I can keep going even when I feel like quitting.
• Running Jelly Belly’s must accompany me on all halfs.
• I may have to rethink Gatorade on halfs when the temps are high
• People who run really fast miss the dolphins.
• Regardless of how slowly you run a half marathon, you did something that 6 billion others didn’t.
• I love running

Every race is different.  You I can always train more.  I just love it and can’t wait for more.

And by perks and goodies, I mean T-shirts that don’t fit. Coupons to places you will never eat, and bags that have an obnoxious picture on them.

Sunday, I ran my seventh official race.  Each time I have received a shirt, of which exactly zero fit.

Race one.  Medium shirt.  Kind of fits, but of course is a guy cut shirt.  So, I look like I have run out of clothes and am dating a smallish man who runs.  I’m not.

Race two.  Medium shirt.  It is exactly 12 sizes larger than the medium shirt I received a month earlier.  I, and all of the many smalls can fit into it.  I contend that it is not a medium.

Race three.  I learned my lesson and ordered a small.  And it was.  It was so small it only fit the girls who had no girls.

For those keeping score, that is three races, and three shirts that do not fit.

Race four.  It was a hugish type half marathon.  I figured that there were 30,000 runners, they’d for sure have girl cut shirts and ordered a medium.

Wrong.  Another too big shirt.

Race five.  I did not pre-register so I got to pick the size that was most closely approximated my size.

Race six.  Another hugish type half marathon.  So, I ordered a small.  It was still too big and once again I look like I’m dating a small guy who runs and I’m wearing his clothes.

Race seven.  This is the second time I’ve run this particular race.  As you’ll recall, it was a repeat of race number three.  Last year I ordered the small, which was too much so.  Being one to learn from my mistakes I ordered the medium.

I guess times are hard because they didn’t spring for the girl cut version this year.

Sigh.

What do you do with all your race shirts?  Really.  I want to know.  I can’t bear to part with them.

It also marks the day I’m officially changing the rules for me.

The goal remains the same, 365 push ups on day 365.

Lately I have been finding it impossible to have any sort of life doing several hundred push ups a day.

While it generally only takes 20-30 minutes to complete the push ups, it is a complete work out. It is now racing season and I really want to run half marathons, the problem is I cannot do an intense arm workout and an intense run on the same day. So lately, I’ve been doing high volume low intensity pushups, and running and studying for my personal trainer certification an going to nutrition school. Never mind the many small children who feel it necessary to eat, EVERY DAY.

So, what can I cut? School is non refundable, so not that, personal training test has already been paid for and only good for two more months so not that. Feeding the kids “Kid’s Cuisine” while telling the rest of the world to eat actual food seems stupid. There are two half marathons paid for in my future, not that I couldn’t give them up, but I don’t want to. So tweaking the push up thing is the most logical choice.

Because intensity and volume are inversely proportionate I plan on doing some high intensity low volume arm work on arm days and stick to high volume low intensity once a week.

Other things I’m working on,

Hand stands: I can do handstands, no longer using the wall for balance but more as a guide to keep me from over rotating on the initial upward movement. Goal is to be able to lift my legs up to handstand position without needing to kick up and stop the momentum.

Pull ups: Still working on those. I can do them with an assist strap, but feel I’m getting weaker by over training my arms with push ups. Hopefully dialing it back will help the pull ups. My goal is to be able to do one unassisted pull up by the end of the year.

Running: Still run most days of the week. Although it is harder to get them in without my treadmill, that has a fold in the belt. Fortunately it is now cool enough to run outside and my wet Luna’s are in the mail. I cannot run in wet weather with my current Luna’s so I did order another pair without the leather top. Also, they’re black so also more formal.

It will be hard not to diss my running. I have improved. A LOT. But I’m nowhere near where I want to be and so I have it in my mind that I suck. Even though I’ve improved my speed by 1 mph this year and can run longer/farther blah blah blah I want to be better. And I want to be better NOW. I just want to be better, although I didn’t want it badly enough to run outside when it was 105. So, I can’t complain. My goal is Vegas half in under 2.5 hours. Thats the first Sunday in December.

That about covers it. I think. Now carry on with your day.

Are you hanging in there?  Are you struggling?

It’s OK.

This is not about perfection.

If you miss one or a hundred here or there, it is OK.

I have not done every prescribed push up.  As the numbers get bigger and bigger, my goal remains the same.

Day 365

The days leading up to that are to prepare me for that day.  Some days are great.  I can do all the push ups in 20-30 minutes.  There are days when I can barely eek out half of them throughout the day.

There is a correlation to the rest of my life.  This summer has been very stressful on me.  I have not taken care of myself mentally.  When I am having a bad day, I notice that the push ups are harder.

Nutrition is also very important.  Keeping up with my protein intake is vital at this point.  Protein feeds your muscles.  If you are trying to do 239 push ups and you haven’t fed your muscles, it is not going to go well.

Please get your protein from something other than protein bars.  Those things are filled with sooo much sugar to get them to taste palatable, you aren’t getting a net gain.  Beans, and grass fed beef have been fueling me lately.  Pork is also good.  Real food. I try to get about 130 grams of protein throughout the day.  Which is a lot more than what is the minimum recommendation.  I am taking my advice from the book “You are Your Own Gym”.

If you are eating right and aren’t stressed out, but still having trouble, let’s look at some of the strategies I am using to get them done.

Remember, this is not about perfection.  I have gotten remarkable results just by doing the best I can manage that day.  Which, in all honesty, is some days they don’t get done.

The point that I realized this was completely doable is when I discovered ladder sets.  On day 365, using ladder sets, my max number of reps will be 19.  Fresh I can probably do 30 push ups.  So, a rep of 19 is doable.

As a reminder a ladder set is starting with a rep of 1, then climbing the ladder and coming back down.  A ladder set of six looks like

• 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 2 1

Today I am doing a 15 rung ladder with repeats on the 7s.

• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Which is a lot of push ups.  239 to be exact.

There are days I can get them done in 20-30 minutes.  Today is not one of those days.  I have had a bad week.  I traveled yesterday.  I ate 5 Oreos last night.  It is raining and I would like to take a nap.

Today, that ladder is going to take all day.

I have learned to be ok with that.   If at some point I realize the benefit does not outweigh the effort, I will stop doing them.

Another trick I use when they are feeling particularly difficult, is I get off the floor.  I start the lower reps on the floor.  As they get more and more difficult, I raise my hands to higher surfaces.  A chair, a table, a counter, even the wall.  You are still working the muscles.

Consistency and time are in your favor.

This was day 30.

This is day 229.  And I readily admit to not doing them all, doing them on the wall.  Etc.  I am still in love with that arm, achieved through not being perfect.  Just consistently imperfect over time.

btw, it is the same arm.  The top was flipped around in photo shop.

Start with one.  Be consistent.  Do your best.  Give yourself a break.  Be awesome.

Now, go do something.

Then…

Life happened, as it seems to often do. By the time I got done running errands, cleaning, and most importantly socializing, (Had a date with my A tier friends to see The Help) I had run out of day.

I got home just a tad before midnight. Curfew baby. The day was officially over. Cinderella was sitting on a pumpkin in the middle of the road.

We can call it dedication, or being accountable, or whatever you will, but I wanted to run. Needed to. It’s back. my need to run.

I’m already jonesing for a fix tomorrow.

#runstreak day 7 is in the books.

See, I have a shirt that says 13.1 proving that I do.

Or, I did until the end of racing season, which for me was the end of April.  I ran the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville at the end of April.

By the time I returned south, the thermometer had gone north.  And, I don’t love running that much.

A week ago, I decided if I was going to race this season, September thru April.  I’d better get going.

Having not run in three whole months, I figured I’d be starting from scratch.  To my surprise, after a warm up, I started running and just kept going.  I had only set aside 30 minutes, figuring it would be a tortuous 30 minutes and I would be begging for it to be over.  But no.  I warmed up, then ran, without walking, for 20 minutes. Apparently it’s like riding a bike.

Thus began my run streak.  I’m not sure there are any official rules for a run streak, but I am saying any day I run a mile or more will count.  I am on day seven.

Since the kids are still home, it’s hard for me to get in a long run at home.  Despite threats of making them orphans again, they constantly compete for my attention and cannot handle letting me have 90 minutes to ignore them while I am in the room.  So, for the next eleven days, my runs will be on the short side.

After that.  It’s on.  I plan on running the Harbor Half in October again.  Isn’t it a little late to start training for that?  Probably.  But I am already farther along in my fitness than I was last year, so the Harbor Half will likely just be part of my training for the #stripatnight in Vegas in December.  I may even do the Rock n Roll event in San Antonio in November.  May.  I have to balance my running events with budgets and family constraints too.

And traveling.  And push ups.

Speaking of which.  I will be going to New York and DC in a few weeks.  Looking very forward to a run in Central Park and around DC.

My first race this season will be the local 9/11 memorial 5K. It will probably be my only race before the Harbor Half.   I know not all of you run, unless chased, but some of you do.  Anybody looking forward to any races this fall?