Everybody needs alittle time away...

Sometimes a vacation is exactly what the holistic alternative practitioner ordered. Since I took a vacation from blogging as well as teaching last week, here's a wrap up of my seven days off.

On Saturday Tristan and I took a walk with a wolf named Cree at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge. We learned tons about wolves and wolf packs. It was fascinating and I have even more appreciation for wolves. I support the reintroduction of wolves and wish they would bring them back to the Adirondacks.

Cree howling to his friends while Tristan watches.

On Sunday I ran in the Adirondack Distance Festival Half-Marathon. I finished in 2 hours and 45 minutes, much slower than I've done in the past. Despite all my springtime intentions, I didn't get much training done this summer, so I was happy to finish. And it was a pretty good way to spend my birthday.

All the volunteers at this water station sang "Happy Birthday" as I ran by.

On Monday Tristan and I drove down to New Jersey. Tristan went to stay with his grandparents for a few days and I spent the time with Sheri, who has been my very best friend for over fifteen years. It's been a couple of years since we've seen each other and we had lots of catching up to do. While I was there I got to take some yoga classes at One Yoga and Wellness Center in East Windsor, NJ, the yoga studio where I did my teacher training. And I had lots of fun with Sheri:

A haircut and henna dye for a new look.

A new pair of Vibram Fivefingers for me and a great 3 mile run with Sheri.

Homemade vegetarian sushi rolls!

The best part of vacation was a chance to reconnect.

I'm missing Sheri's company already but I know she'll always be there, even when we get busy and lose touch for awhile. And until the next time, there's Facebook and Skype.

I'm back teaching in the studio and looking forward to the start of Advanced Yoga Studies. There's a great group ready to get started with me.

A Half-Mary and a Smile

When I decided not to register for any triathlons this year and just do the Adirondack Distance Festival Half-Marathon, I set a goal for myself to get faster. My training runs were faster than last year and I felt ready to run today's half and better last year's time.

Knowing that I could have done it makes me feel really good, even though I didn't.

For the first time, I had someone to run the race with. Mark, a friend and former ultramarathoner, decided to get back into running this year and trained for the same race. Our schedules were different so we didn't do any training runs together, but we enjoyed supporting each other on Facebook and when we saw each other around town. Our training paces were pretty close, so we agreed to run together.

I could have run faster if I'd pushed hard, but, in the end, running with Mark became more important than the time. I didn't want to run fast by myself. I wanted to finish the way I started, with my friend.

Unseasonably warm weather, one week after unseasonably cold temperatures, slowed our pace a bit. 80 degrees is a bit warm for a fall marathon, and there were a number of people needing ice baths at the end. (At least last weekend's 30 degrees cooled the lake for all the runners who jumped in.)

I didn't push. I didn't melt in the heat. I only got a couple of small blisters, which I didn't feel until we were almost done. My bad knee isn't even sore. And I had the most fun I ever had running 13.1 miles.

We finished in 2 hours and 22 minutes, which is a decent, middle-of-the-pack time.

Thanks, Mark, for keeping me company. I'm smiling in the race pictures, thanks to you.

One little letter

March was a long, difficult, busy month getting the new True North Yoga studio ready to open. Then April and May flew by. Class sizes are growing, slowly, and the summer workshop schedule is just about complete. In just over two weeks I'll be heading to Wanderlust for a weekend away with my husband, my son, and yoga. Everything has been falling into place except for one small detail – me.

All these plans were contingent on me being able to get out of bed in the morning. Over the past months that's gotten harder and harder to accomplish. Unexplained body aches, difficulty sleeping despite nearly constant fatigue, a bizarre viral rash on my toes, and nasal allergies followed by a serious sinus infection and cough have brought me to the doctor more times in the last three weeks than the number of times I saw him during all of last year.

I'd stopped training and expected to walk the Adirondack Half-Marathon, the only race I got around to registering for. I'd tried to get back to running, but each time I started I end up hurting all over by the end of the first week. If the muscle pain was where I'd expect it to be, I'd chalk it up to muscle recovery and keep going, but the pain was more general and moved around during the day.

I couldn't figure what was going on with my body. The sinus infection created so much pressure in my head that even yoga had become frustrating. It's getting better with an antibiotic, but not going away fast enough for me.

Tuesday morning I had blood drawn to, as the doctor says, “rule out some things.” I was sure I'd thought of all of them - Lyme, Epstein Barr, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, even cancer.  My imagination went crazy, but I missed the easy answer.

The doctor's office called on Wednesday. Everything was normal, except – my vitamin D is too low. The doctor recommended taking a supplement.

15 minutes of online reading confirmed it. Vitamin D deficiency can result in muscle aches, fatigue, low immunity and depression. Sound familiar?

Vitamin D is made in the body with sun exposure. A long winter followed by a dark, rainy spring could certainly account for the low level of vitamin D in my body. It was such an obvious thing, and I never thought of it. If I had, I would be getting ready for a half-Ironman instead of sitting around crying because everything hurts. Frustrating, but there's still that half-marathon on the schedule in the fall, so I'm going to take my vitamin D (and magnesium, because magnesium aids in vitamin D absorption) and get outside (whenever we've got some sun) for my runs.  And do lots more Sun Salutations.

Lake George Triathlon

My last triathlon of 2010 has come and gone. During the weeks leading up to the race I got bored with training, it started getting cold and I told myself I was never racing in September again. Then the race came and I had fun and now I'm sad my season is over. All that's left is Sunday's little half-marathon...

The Lake George Triathlon is an Olympic-distance race. The swim is .9 miles, the bike course is 24.8 miles and the run is 10K (or 6.2 miles). I finished in 3 hours, 30 minutes and 20 seconds. I'm happy to report that, while I'm still solidly at the back-of-the-pack, I improved on last year's time by 24 minutes.

They say that you can't win a triathlon in the swim, but you can definitely lose one in the water. My race must have been a lost cause! According to my training log, I've spent a whopping 3 1/2 hours working on my swim this year (and that includes the two sprint-distance triathlons I did earlier in the summer). I didn't even deserve

to get in the water with that little training. One thing (maybe the only thing, except my friends) that I miss about New Jersey is having a pool nearby. Our closest YMCA pool is a 45 minute drive, if it's not snowing. Even if I could afford the membership, I can't find a way to fit a couple of swims a week into my schedule. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that. With proper training I might figure out how to swim in a straight line instead of going off-course 5 or 6 times. Anyway, I managed to do the swim in 39 minutes, two minutes faster than last year. I was not last. And I enjoyed it. If it wasn't for all those people knocking me around as they passed me, it would have been a nice swim on a sunny day in fall.

Since the bike course nearly did me in last year, I was determined to conquer it this year. I felt

like I rocked the bike. I was loving every minute of it, even the hills. Unlike the swim, I've done lots of bike training this year - more than 800 miles on the Schroon Lake hills. I felt really strong the whole ride. The only thing holding me back is my bike. My vintage Schwinn 10-speed just can't compete with bikes made within, oh, the last decade. (My bike was made when I was still in middle school. Yeah, it's that old.) Her tires are too fat to fit properly in the transition racks. And she's heavy. Despite her limitations, my classic baby and I managed to shave 20 minutes off last year's time to finish the leg in 1 hours and 36 minutes. That's huge. But I still want a new bike.

The run was what it was. I ran the 6.2 miles eight seconds slower than last year, in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 34 seconds. Consistent, if nothing else. My knee hurts every time I run now, and I was very careful not to push too hard. It would stink to injure my knee training for the half-marathon and then not even be able to run that race because I blew my knee out in the tri. I took it slow (obviously) and was just happy that I didn't have to stop and walk. Although I'm considering switching to walking. It might be faster.

I finished faster than last year. I was not last. I can still walk. I met all my goals.

When it comes right down to it, while I like to imagine myself getting age-group hardware someday, I'm not at all attached to the idea of winning. I set goals for myself, trying to improve my bike time for instance, to make training more interesting, but I participate in triathlons because they're fun and I get lots of satisfaction out of completing the race, not because I have any expectation of winning. (Besides, it's easier to find your times when you're on the last page of the results.) So next year I'll tackle a longer distance for the challenge of finishing and the joy of training. And because it's a good excuse to get a new bike.

Downhill Battles

Image via WikipediaI am less than three weeks out from my first half marathon and my right knee is giving me lots of trouble. It's okay for five miles, then it starts to hurt. I've noticed the pain always starts when I'm running downhill and lessens when I run uphill. After weeks of repeatedly running uphill to build endurance and speed, it would figure that the downhills would do me in. I don't think I have enough time to fix it before my races, so I guess I'll be the only one running hard uphill and jogging as slow as I can downhill.

Off-season training should be interesting. How can I run downhill on my treadmill?

Life seems to be a downhill battle lately. I have had a hard time grounding. Even long runs, which always seemed to bring me down to earth, haven't settled me down the past couple of weeks. When I try to sleep, I am either having very strange dreams or I am laying in bed wide awake, buzzing with energy, but without the strength to sit up. It's all I can do to roll from one side to the other. I've tried cutting back my training, thinking it was muscle fatigue, but it made no difference. Yoga helps me ground a bit, but it doesn't last. I've been trying to meditate as much as I can and, while I can sit for 30 or 60 minutes at a time, once I move back into the day-to-day stuff I start to buzz again.

It would be great if I could focus all this energy on my to-do list, but it's very scattered and I find it difficult to do even small household tasks without getting tired. The excess energy isn't making it into my muscles. It just makes static in my head.

Tristan's Occupational Therapist has been working with him on "slowing his engine down." We've been giving him crunchy and chewy foods, practicing push-ups against the wall and sun salutations, and compressing his joints every night before he goes to sleep. He had a successful first day of school. I breathed a big sigh of relief when he got off the bus with a smile on his face. Now I hope he will have a successful second day and not start his own race downhill.

The problem with downhill is you get rolling and it's hard to slow down. It's great when you're racing, but life's not a race. There is no finish line at the bottom of the hill, just the valley before the next climb and, looking back, lots of things you missed while you were flying down at full speed. I'm going to take it easy on my knee so my first half marathon won't be my last, even if it means finishing last. I'm going to continue to try to ground my energy and focus on tasks for short bursts so I can slowly accomplish what I need to. And I'm going to try to guide my son so he can slow down and not miss out on everything there is to learn in second grade.

Now, if I could just get one good night's sleep...

A Day of Firsts

Image via Wikipedia

It all began on a Tuesday; this Tuesday, in fact.

Today was the first day of 21.5.800. So far, so good. I stayed up until midnight last night working on Monday's to-do list, which I was determined not to let spill into today. As a result, I had to drag myself onto my yoga mat, but I got there. After three rounds each of Surya Namaskar A and B, I worked my way through the standing poses at the beginning of the primary series, which is as far as I am going until my annoyingly tight hamstrings decide to let go a bit. I realize I could add more asanas while continuing to work on the trouble-makers, but what I'm doing feels like enough for now.

Even after I made it to bed last night I didn't sleep well, so I spent most of the day fighting the tired feeling. I really would have liked to join my classes in Savasana, but who'd wake us up? Despite the fatigue, I did the grocery shopping and squeezed in a run after my Lake Placid class.

The "run" was actually a walk-run-walk. It was the first workout in my new half-marathon training plan which, counting backwards 16 weeks from the September race, started today. When else would it start? (Remember what I said in my previous post about synchronicity?)

It was fun walking and running in Lake Placid. I got to tap into that Ironman-training energy. That's probably how I made it back to Schroon Lake without falling asleep at the wheel. (Just don't ask me how I got my yoga pants on over my running shorts while driving 55 miles per hour down Route 73. Hey, I was running late.)

Back to 21.5.800. While my son was doing his homework, I sat down at the kitchen table with my laptop and wrote about hiking. I did 814 words. 814 disjointed, random words. If this writing thing is going to result in anything coherent, I think I need a plan. Or an outline.

That would be a first.

Fuel for the Journey

After finishing my first triathlon last June, I got it into my head that I could do the Lake Placid Ironman. Yes, I know completing a sprint distance triathlon does not mean I'm ready for 140.6 miles. I won't be doing an Ironman this year. Instead, I've got my sights set on 2012 - the year my daughter graduates from high school and I turn *gasp* 45. (Oh, and there are some rumors floating around that the world will end, or begin, in 2012, or pot will be legalized that year thus ushering in the Age of Aquarius, or something like that. In any case, it will be an interesting year.)

I'd worked out a plan to get me there - more races and a season-finishing half-marathon this year, a half-iron distance triathlon and a full marathon next year. All I had to do was start training.

Just as soon as I could move.

You see, my body hasn't been very cooperative lately. I've been dealing with fatigue and joint pain, my head has felt cloudy, and I've been in a pretty lousy mood. The colds I've gotten have wiped me out. I haven't been training, nor have I been cleaning, writing, unpacking (no, I'm not finished yet) or anything else I would like to be doing. Even yoga has been painful. I almost quit. I was ready to crawl into bed and stay there.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on the circumstances) I am stubborn. I couldn't just give up. Since we started focusing on my son's food sensitivities I have learned lots about the way food can affect your well-being and I wondered if my body was getting what it needed.

One of my favorite Twitter follows is @holisticguru, a funny, feisty triathlete and brilliant holistic health counselor whose tweets often include tips on healthy eating. In her blog, Tri & Live & Eat Better, she shares some good healthy recipes as well as her triathlon adventures. She really seems to know what she's talking about (and I was dying to find out if she was as funny in person), so I called her.

As a result of that phone call, I have begun a new journey towards a healthier diet. With just a few adjustments to what I've been eating, I am already feeling better. Since the beginning of April I have been able to stick to my triathlon training plan, and I can teach yoga without feeling like I'd like to take a nap while the class is in Savasana.

I have learned quite a bit about food in the past few weeks, and I'm starting to look at what I put in my mouth in a whole new light. What the food can do for my body is becoming more important than how it tastes or what cravings it satisfies. Food is fuel for all the activities I want to jam into my life.

I can't take a drive through the scenic countryside without gas in my tank. How can I run through the the woods unless my body is similarly fueled?

Thanks to some very good fuel, I am excited about biking and running. I can't wait to get out there and move. If I can stick to my training plan, there's nothing to stop me from meeting my goals. You can look for me at the finish line.

Oh, and there are 46 high peaks just waiting to be climbed...