So it's my day off work, and I had grand plans to sleep in, relax, and get myself ready to host Thanksgiving at my house. Yes - I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year - first time for everything, right? I'm surprised, though, because I'm not even a bit nervous about cooking for 11 people. All this experimenting I've done with cooking over the past year has really given me a strange confidence in cooking new recipes! I've never in my life cooked a turkey (just watched my mother and grandma cook theirs), and I've only made one of the other side dishes I'm planning for that day. Yet - no nerves whatsoever. In fact, I'm excited! (For anyone who knows me well, the thought of me being excited to cook for 11 people is mind-boggling.) But seriously - I can't wait to show everyone how awesome my healthy cooking can be! Sad, I know - but these are the kinds of things that get me stoked nowadays. :o)
Anyhow, instead of sleeping in, I've been awake since 6:00am, tossing and turning, and finally got out of bed at 7:30. Not only were there a thousand things running through my mind about Thanksgiving, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, etc., but I couldn't stop thinking about the impending doom from the car service shop that was headed my way this week. My husband's truck died on his way to work yesterday, and my dad and I were able to figure out that the fuel pump is bad and needs replacing. Now my dad is pretty handy when it comes to fixing cars, but he just doesn't have the right tools and equipment for this job, so we had to take it in to the shop. Ugh. If there's one thing I hate, it's the thought of car service shops. Especially as a girl. Those service guys automatically assume they can pull one over on you because you're female. Never mind that I know how to change my own oil, rotate my tires, identify headers on a hot rod, etc etc. I must obviously lack car knowledge because of my gender, right? (Read with heavy sarcasm...) Grrrr. My dad also estimated for me that the repair would probably cost anywhere from $400 - $800. Ouch. Not something I'm looking forward to, especially right before the holidays.
On top of all that, I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't fall back to sleep. I'm not sure exactly what I did, but at some point yesterday or in the last couple days, I must have over-done something, and injured a muscle in my abs. I first noticed it last night. I had run really hard on the treadmill yesterday evening and not had time to properly cool down and stretch, since I was trying to be on time to pick up my husband from work (the other joys of the truck being out of commission). Later last night, I got ready to do my exhaustion test for the Hundred Push Ups Challenge after completing Week 2. I got in plank position, noticing that my abs felt tighter and more sore than usual, but didn't really think anything of it. Until I got to push-up number 4 and felt a stabbing pain in my right side mid-ab muscles. I held myself up for a few seconds and took a deep breath, then attempted another push up, only to feel the same stabbing pain. I'm not talking sore muscle pain here, folks. I can deal with that and push through it for a few push ups. I've never experienced this before. So I tried to make the safe choice and postpone my exhaustion test. I laid down to stretch out my abs and vowed to try again the next day. Maybe I just needed some rest and was over-doing it with the push ups challenge, the hard run today, and a plank a day. Unfortunately, the pain has yet to go away. It's not that I feel it every minute of every day, but normal activities like going from sitting to laying, laying to sitting, or bending at the waist to pick something up produce the same sharp pain. So while I'm tossing and turning in bed this morning, I got the stabbing pain in my abs every time I tried to move myself into a different position. It just wasn't working. So I got out of bed, even though I feel like a zombie right now. I have more than enough to do this week to keep me busy, but a nice day of sleeping in sure would have felt nice.
On the positive side, my run yesterday was fantastic. I was in a hurry because I knew I had to pick up my husband, so I set the treadmill to a pretty decent pace. I was feeling good, and about a mile in, I went to check the time and realized I didn't have my watch on, my cell phone was upstairs charging, and there wasn't a clock anywhere in the basement. Crap. I started racking my brain to remember what time I'd ventured downstairs. I knew it was after 7:00pm, but how far after that? I needed to leave the house by 8:00pm, but I also wanted to get in 3.5 miles, and I'd already used up 5 minutes on warming up before starting my run. So I settled on the fact that I'd started my warm up at 7:15pm (a nice conservative guess in my opinion), and from there realized I needed to hurry if I planned on changing out of my sweaty workout clothes before leaving the house! So I kicked it up a notch, and every time I got tired, I reminded myself that I really really wanted to get in 3.5 miles (since today is supposed to be the day I transition to 3.75 miles), and that I was limited on time. There was no room for slacking. Too bad if I couldn't breathe or my legs were tired. And you know what? It totally worked! Haha! I finished 3.5 miles in record time, hopped off the treadmill without cooling down, skipped the stretching (I know I know - both mortal running sins! don't kill me!), and ran upstairs to change and head out the door (still sweating, actually). But despite the rushing around, I felt awesome. It was a great run, I was exhausted and worn out, which meant I was smiling and refreshed.
Hopefully I can get over whatever is aggravating my ab muscles ASAP now. I am a firm believer in resting if you're injured, but I'm making such good progress in my running, planks, and push ups that I hate to see it all disappear. :o( Think happy, healing thoughts for me! I'm off to the grocery store and to run some errands. Hoping to get outside and run today too, since it's supposed to be in the 50's! (Heat wave - lol!) Have a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment