Ladybug Studio

Foot follow up…

Good news on the foot front! I had a follow up with my podiatrist yesterday and new x-rays showed that the questionable bone is in good shape now. The hematoma on the top is still painful, but getting better. He gave me an Rx for an ointment that should help too. (wonder why he didn't do that when I first saw him three weeks ago?)

Even better news - I was able to play tennis on Saturday! Though at first, it didn't appear that I would be playing as there were puddles on the court when I arrived. An early morning shower threatened our fun. But it's amazing what one can do with a towel. Seriously, I saw one of my friends dragging a towel over the puddles, spreading them out, so I tried it. Incredible! With the sun and a breeze, the courts dried quickly and soon we were all playing happily.

I hadn't played in seven weeks so I wasn't entirely sure how I'd do. Since I have been biking and CrossFitting, I wasn't worried about my physical condition, I just wasn't sure how well I would hit. But it went well and I far exceeded my expectations.

When I got home from tennis I had a quick lunch then headed to the 1:00 CrossFit class. Tom thought I was insane, and he could be right. It was really hot at the gym, but I was proud of myself for going. I might be just the tiniest bit addicted.

Why?…

From the comments I have made here, one might start to wonder why I do CrossFit. I'm often talking about this hurting and that aching. With my lower back still sore from doing 75 deadlifts on Wednesday afternoon, I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure. But the more I do it, the more I like it.

The gym, or as CrossFitters say, The Box, ain't purty. It's just an open space stocked with basic gym equipment including pull up bars, rings, ropes, rowing machines, medicine balls and weights. There is no smoothie bar, no air conditioning and no mirrors. You won't see perfectly coiffed people in shiny, trendy workout clothes lightly toweling the sheen from their faces.

No, you will see men and women wearing basic shorts and t-shirts, dripping with sweat, chalk handprints marking their clothing, tattoos decorating their bodies. Sweating profusely is expected.

To some degree I don't fit the description. I wear running skirts and I have no tattoos. But the sweat and the chalk handprints? Yes, I've got that going on. I'm even cultivating some nice callouses on my hands.

I think what I like best about my gym, and what keeps me going back time after time, is the people. Allie, the owner, is super passionate about CrossFit. One conversation with him could motivate the least athletically inclined person. All of the athletes that train there are approachable and supportive. In the air is a feeling of friendly competition and camaraderie.

I'm challenging my body in entirely new ways and I'm proud of myself each time I do a little better than the last time.

Yesterday, for example, the WOD called for 5 rounds of 400 meter run, 15 overhead squats. I wasn't pleased because I hate running in CrossFit. Because we're always on a timer and I am so very slow. To make matters worse, we were starting to feel the effects of Hurricane Irene and bands of rain were washing through. So, yes, we ran in the rain. Which motivated me to do more running and less walking. Which I considered a big achievement. My overhead squats improved, too. I powered through the final set. Knowing that I was almost done helped also.

Running in the rain wasn't that bad, actually. It certainly kept me cooled off. For the first time ever, I arrived home from my CrossFit workout looking forward to a hot shower.

No pain no gain?…

If that old adage is true, then I made some great gains this weekend, if the amount of pain I'm feeling is any indication. Between CrossFit and bicycling, I'm moving pretty slowly today.

Friday's workout wasn't too bad. For time: 30 snatches. It's probably the most complicated lift and I have to relearn it every time it comes up. But the move started to feel better and I think I'm finally beginning to get it. Though, I may have overdone it during the warm up as my lower back was feeling a bit tired and sore when I got up on Saturday. That pain is gone now, so I know I didn't harm anything.

The Saturday workout is why I'm walking like a crippled person. Three rounds for time: 12 muscle ups, 75 squats. One round of 75 squats would be more than enough, but three sets? That's a total of 225 squats! Insane. Even more insane, I did each and every one of them. I can't do a muscle up, so I did ring rows instead.

I attended the 1:00 workout because my yard work plans were ruined by an early rain. I had just gotten the extension cord plugged in and was heading into the garage for the electric clippers when it started to sprinkle. I pulled the electric things under cover and assessed the situation. It continued to rain, getting harder every minute. Looks like the plants in the front will stay unkempt for another week.

So I attended the workout instead. After I got home and had a quick lunch, I headed outside for different yard work. The flower beds on either side of the house were full of weeds and looked atrocious. I spent close to two hours on that task, enjoying my audiobook as I worked. I had to douse myself with Deep Woods Off to keep the mosquitos at bay. They have been really bad this summer.

Sunday morning was our usual bike ride from Cocoa Village. Just Alex, Jeanene, Tom and me this week. We decided to do the same route as the past two weeks, but adding a few miles to the end. Time to start building up the mileage if we want to do any centuries this fall!

We did end up picking up one more for our little group. As we were headed down the southernmost part of Tropical Trail, we saw Matt riding in the opposite direction. We all yelled and he turned around and joined us for the rest of the ride. It went pretty well and I felt good all the way to the Village. This put us at not quite 40 miles, so Alex, Tom and I turned around and rode a few more miles south, accompanying Matt for a short while of his ride back home. We were going into the wind and I momentarily regretted my decision to ride further. After we had gone about four miles, we turned once more and headed back to the village, with the wind at our tails, having totaled 48 miles.

The fact that I can hardly walk today? Not too much of a surprise.

I gave the boot the boot…

Yesterday I decided that I'd had enough of that damned boot and declared that I was done with it. I wore it for a solid week, which I totally think was a waste of time. That bone would have broken already if it was going to. The boot was just a major inconvenience, and expense, I'm sure.

It was liberating to go bare again! Well, I did wear one of the two pairs of sandals that don't hurt the top of my foot. I like them and resent them at the same time, an odd combination. I attended a CrossFit workout in the afternoon, too. It was great to get back to the gym. I'm surprised at how much I missed that place.

The WOD cracked me up though: For time, run 5K. Despite my divorce from the boot, I'm still being careful of my left foot, and running clearly wouldn't be a good idea. So Allie had me row 5K instead. At first that scared me. I've never rowed a long distance like that before and had no idea how it would feel or how long it would take me. But I settled into a nice pace and kept it up for 28 minutes and 46 seconds. Allie told me that anything under 30 was good, so that pleased me. It wasn't as bad as I had feared, though it did get boring at times. I wish I had known to bring my iPod and listen to my own music or an audiobook.

Oh, and I did fine in the warm-up as well. Powered out the 10 pull ups and 10 ring dips with ease. Guess it's time to change to a band with less assistance.

Another weekend bites the dust…

The weekend scurried on past, as usual. The fact that I had to work during part of it didn't help matters. Our office has been really swamped for a while now and the word overtime has been hovering in the air like a bad smell. It finally materialized last week so I put in some extra time on Thursday, Friday and also on Saturday. Only eight hours total, but I'd still rather have my personal time.

On Saturday evening Tom and I went to the We Made History Shuttle Program Celebration at the KSC Visitor Complex. The event was open to current and former space center employees. Our $5 tickets included food, ice cream, entertainment, activities, giveaways and access to the Shuttle Launch Experience ride, IMAX theater, Star Trek exhibits, etc.

It was about like I'd figured: hot, crowded, and annoying.

I didn't actually want to go, but when I mentioned the event to Tom he was fairly enthusiastic. Which surprised me. This sort of thing isn't really his bag. But I think he thought it would be nice to see some of the people he used to work with. So I purchased tickets. I also purchased tickets for Carl since it was so easy for me to do it on center (he was laid off on July 22 along with Joy). He ended up bringing Jo, Rachel and Tori.

The drive there was our first clue that we were in for a crowded evening. Long before we reached Space Commerce Way we found ourselves in stop and go traffic. I had heard that 8,000 tickets were sold and I believe it. We were directed to the very back parking lot and had to hoof it quite a long way to the entrance. I wore my stupid boot, so this was not fun for me. The first thing we did once we finally gained admission was head for the food.

There was barbecue pork and chicken, macaroni and cheese, chips, rolls and watermelon. I've been striving to eat well and lose weight pretty seriously recently so I was disappointed when the advertised chicken breasts were nowhere to be found. I was disappointed again when I couldn't find any bottled water to drink, only sodas. But Carl found a bottle for me so that settled me down. Eating was uncomfortable, trying to keep from dripping barbecue sauce on my clothes while feeling sweat trickling down my back. I dressed in the lightest, coolest top I own, but it was still miserable.

After several rounds of phone tag we managed to get together with Joy. But she soon found many people to talk to, so we headed off to the Shuttle Launch Experience ride. At least it was air conditioned inside. The line was short so we were soon inside cooling off. After the ride we attempted to find Joy with no luck. So the six of us went to see the Star Trek exhibits. The first one, by the IMAX theater, was of the original series. There was quite a line to sit in Captain Kirk's chair. Next we visited the second exhibit, which featured items from the Next Generation. All of it bored me pretty much. I'm not a sci-fi fan and never watched either series. I've just sort of absorbed it, like second-hand smoke, while in the room as Tom was watching it.

The girls were craving ice cream so we searched out the ice cream cart. The line for the free ice cream was about a mile long, and we quickly gave up on that idea. After a bit more wandering around (saw the space station streak by overhead!), we decided we'd had enough. The mosquitos were making a meal out of Tom, so it was more than time to leave.

Sunday morning we got up at the crack of dawn for our weekly group bike ride. No, I didn't wear my boot so don't tell my doctor. We had five show up: Me, Tom, Alex, Dallas and Greg, my coworker. We rode 40 miles and kept up a pretty good pace during most of it - around 18 mph. The last 3-4 miles I hit a bit of a wall and had to let the boys go on ahead. I was toast. While I wish I could have finished stronger, I do feel proud that I maintained that pace for as long as I did.

In the late afternoon, Tom and I headed to Melbourne to have dinner with Matt, Vicky and Dallas. We had agreed to meet at Shell's, but I wanted to do some shopping at the mall first. As we arrived at the mall we saw Matt and Vicky driving there too, apparently with the same idea. Sadly, they informed us that the mall was closed. I forgot that it was Sunday. Boo. But we all still had dinner together and that was very nice. Good food and good company. Perfect ending to the weekend.

Fashion footwear…

My visit with the podiatrist on Monday afternoon was a bit disappointing. Could have gone worse, but I'm still unhappy with the result: a big, cumbersome, heavy boot. I'm supposed to wear it for two weeks. This is day three and I'm already sick of it.

The diagnosis? Nothing broken, but the third metatarsal looked sort of shady on x-ray. The doctor wants me to wear the boot to protect that bone from actually becoming broken. The lumpy, sore area on the top of my foot is a hematoma. Apparently, when the injury happened, there was some internal bleeding. The blood pooled there, then after time started to solidify. Since that's the part that actually hurts, I'm anxious for it to heal, but it's going to take time. Ice and compression will help too.

Naturally, I can't participate in any of my activities and that's really got me down. Though my CrossFit trainer agreed that I can still do upper body work (i.e. pull ups, modified push ups) and assured me that he and the other trainers would work with me on that. However, a couple of days off sure do turn me into a lazy person. I'd much rather go home and lay about.

I'm not wearing the boot at home though. For one thing, I'm supposed to ice the foot often, which can't be done with the boot on. For another, I'm just not gonna do it. So I'm very, very careful moving around the house. But seriously, with all of the jumping, running, stomping, bicycling and whatnot that I've been doing for the past three weeks, if the bone was going to break, I think it already would have.

Since I don't imagine anyone is going to want to read about my boring day spent tromping around like Frankenstein's monster, posts around here are likely to be few and far between.

The boot I'm wearing is so big, you can't even see my toes!

 

Things are heating up…

Monday again, dagnabbit. Much too soon, as usual.

I didn't go to CrossFit on Friday as I had planned. After that dizzy spell on Thursday night I was still feeling a little off kilter and decided that doing an extreme workout in the crazy heat we've been having would altogether be a bad idea. So I went home and lounged around instead. I didn't feel too guilty about it either, so I guess it was the right thing to do.

On Saturday I skipped tennis again, unfortunately. I headed outside right after breakfast, in hopes of beating the heat. But it was already scorching hot. With plenty of chores to choose from, I decided to wash my car as it was looking embarrassingly nasty. I managed to keep that chore to just under two hours, with frequent stops for drinking cold water and toweling off sweat.

Once my car was finally clean, I took a brief popsicle break, then got back to work, this time on the yard. I headed down the west side of the house as there was still a touch of shade along the edge close to the wall. Not much though and I spent a lot time squatting, bending and crouching in the sun while yanking up weeds. Sadly, my shirt edged up a little and my bottoms edged down a little, exposing a strip on my lower back. Pale skin that hasn't seen the sunshine since 2000. Lobster red is not a pretty color.

After a cold shower and a hot lunch, I spent a lot of time lazing, catching up on my Tivo recordings. Watching the Tour for three weeks really put me behind schedule on most of my shows.

On Sunday morning we got up an hour earlier than we have been for our weekly group bike ride. It was so hot on our ride last week that we all agreed that we should start earlier. We had a smaller group this week - just Alex, Jeanene, Vanessa, Tom and I. Even Dallas bailed on us. We had a good ride regardless, doing both sides of River Road. Tom, Alex and I also did the Charlie & Jake's extension, which adds about 10 more miles, just shy of our original plan to do 40 miles.

The rest of the day very much resembled Saturday, with showering, followed by eating and lounging. Even took a nap this time. There were errands to run in the afternoon, dinner at Sonny's with Tom, then freelance that ran much too late (due to procrastination).

Here we vertigo again…

Yesterday I had a "well person" visit with my gastroenterologist. They are doing away with charts and moving everything to computers. They're not exactly thrilled with it yet, but I'm sure it will be better in the long run. As a result however, it's taking a lot longer to see patients. I'm usually in and out of there in 30 minutes, but yesterday's visit took an hour. And since there was nothing wrong with me, it all felt like a colossal waste of time and copay. I did get to sleep an hour later that morning, but I don't think that made up the difference.

In the afternoon I had a manicure and pedicure appointment with Kai. I was actually too tired to enjoy it though. I didn't feel much like chatting so I'm sure Kai didn't get much out of it either. At one point during my pedicure I started to feel dizzy, like I was falling to my left. (that seems significant - always to the left) I was okay to drive home, but I have to say it was a somewhat miserable drive. When I got to the house, I stumbled out of my car, stubbing my freshly polished toe on the doorsill, removing about a quarter inch of polish from my right big toe. Sassafras!

I headed straight to the couch in the spare bedroom and laid down. If I tried to sit up, the world started spinning again. I watched TV until I felt a little better, then I got up and had dinner with Tom. But I never really felt 100% and still feel a little off today. Wonder what on earth is causing it? It's been a while since I've had any dizzy spells, I thought they were over. Can't say I missed having them.

Foot news…

It was a no-go with the orthopedic doctor. They are booked solid and the earliest appointment available was August 22. Next I tried the primary doctor, but they don't have x-ray on the premises. Finally I called the podiatrist, whom I haven't seen since 2006. I have an appointment now for Monday at 2:00. I guess I should have started there in the first place.

Agony of de feet…

So I'm becoming a little bit concerned about my left foot. It still hurts quite a lot. I realize that dropping a 5 lb. weight on it's going to cause some damage and take longer to heal than I would like. But it was feeling much better. Now it's starting to feel a little worse and it's sort of lumpy on top. I'm not sure what's going on in there and as much as I HATE to do it, I think I might need to see a doctor.

Now just which doctor is a good question. I think I have one for every single part of my body. Including a podiatrist, which would seem like the best one of the lot, but it's been so many years since I saw him. No, the one I'm most confident in seeing is the doctor who did the surgery on my trigger finger a couple of years ago. He's an orthopedic surgeon, so he does feet, too. As I recall, he's a tennis player himself and completely understands about people wanting to be able to continue doing their sports and suggests non-invasive treatments as a first option.

I just don't want to end up wearing a cast or some sort of brace - or egads! Having surgery! At least I can ride my bicycle, run, and participate in CrossFit. Wearing shoes is my primary problem.

I did call his office to see about setting up an appointment, but the office was closed for training. However, the message indicated that the office would be open tomorrow so I will call again in the morning. I just hope this doesn't cost me an arm and a foot.