Core workout

In my last entry I said hiccups and teeth chattering were early signs of my dystonia. I had both and they seem like spasms to me but not even the best dystonia doctor in the world would have diagnosed me as having dystonia back then. So even if you get the hiccups once a week or more, like I did, I would hold off on the worry until your head moves so much you're scared to see a barber. Why worry about something that will either happen or it won't but there is nothing you can do to stop it?

We started our core training this week and my tummy still hurts. There were about forty exercises written on a piece of paper and I saw one word I recognized as an exercise - pushups, the rest were in some sort of code or weird name that Coach Woj had made up like Superman, bridge, butt kick (not what you'd think but it did kick my butt!). We did 45 minutes of these and then started our normal workout. I tried to remember a few of the exercises so I could practice some since I was so bad at them. All that seemede to come back to me were the easy ones and the situps and pushups. So I did a couple quick sets of situps.

This Saturday was also the big dance recital for our girls. The oldest did three dances, each with about 5 other girls while the youngest only had 1 routine but was only dancing with 1 other little girl. They were adorable! Our 4-year-old looked absolutely tiny up on that big stage, their was a collective, "aaaw" from the crowd as the curtain rose.

This week Friday is the day I have been waiting for for about six weeks. I go to get my DBS settings checked and more importantly will get to ask about a possible infection. The lead on my left side is either infected or much closer to the surface than I'd prefer. I am skinny but they got the right one in fairly adequately. Behind my ear there is abou an inch where it feels like I am touching a rubber coated wire, it is that close to the surface.

Quote of the day: "Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use." - Wendell Johnson

I have done 5 marathons now and if you have ever done one you know how your body just craves rest afterward. Well, unfortunately I don't get to do that. I just finished the Bayshore marathon in May and now I am staring at another 18 weeks of training. It looks daunting! As daunting as the thought of running 26.2 miles sounds to a non-runner. I mean I just completed this process and now I have to do it all AGAIN!?!

The speed work and the hills are tough but the long runs are mentally tough. So I started out slow and easy Monday morning going 10 at a nice easy pace. Since I got calf cramps in past marathons including Bayshore I want to specifically address that issue so I am wearing some compression socks I got from the hospital after my most recent surgery. I have no idea why I kept them but now I am glad I did. You can buy some calf sleeves they're called but I wanted to do a little test first. So I took off for my first 10 mile run in what felt like pantyhose. I saw a friend of mine 5 miles in and much to my surprise she didn't laugh or even comment on them, not that I would have cared, I had just finished a very hilly stretch and was glad to be going downhill finally. First 10 miler in the books.

I was asked this week if my kids had dystonia. That was an issue for us, especially since my wife also has dystonia. My thoughts on this are: since I have primary dystonia and she has secondary dystonia it would be the same odds as me having kids with any "normal" woman (the quotes purely hypothetical since I know there is such thing as a normal woman! kidding, Robyn, what are you doing with that . . . OUCH!) Where was I, oh yeah, her reply is if they get dystonia who better to know how to help them deal with it than 2 parents with it also. As yuo can tell my wife is way smarter and deeper than me. (or is it I?) To answer the question - no. They are 4 and 6 now and show no signs of any dystonia yet. And believe me I look and I am sure Robyn does as the same. Every once in a while I will watch them closely to see if notice any hint that they might. For instance, when I was 6 I had the hiccups much more than other kids and when I was cold I would shiver to the point my teeth would chatter.

Quote of the day: "Live as if you'll die tomorrow, learn is if you'll live forever." - Gandhi

Gruelling workout

My training group runs meets at 6:30 PM and I got there at 5:30 after moving some cement from my cousins house yesterday so I decided to do a warmup lap around the lake, about 4.32 miles, or so I am told by all the Garmin wearers of my group. This item has becoming more of a runner's accessory than the iPod. A watch that tells you exactly how far you have gone and the time you did it in, some even give you maps that help you find your way home. Very handy, will have to look into getting one.

Then the actually training started, we were to start with a 2-mile jog to the park followed by 4-8 laps up a hill and then the same 2 mile jog back to the meeting place. This 2-mile jog to get there was easy until we hit the last half mile, which was all up hill, a slow incline that just kept going up. We did a few running stretches or exercises really because as you will find out I abhor stretching, more on that later. Now time for the real workout, a decent sized hill not too long but pretty steep, a great sledding hill in the winter. Coach wants us to run for about 50 yards to the hill and be near full speed as we hit the hill and hit the hill with everything we have and then coast along the top and down and start again (I will take my camera next time as I hear we will be doing this one quite often this summer). After 8 of the I was about ready to puke and we sill had to get back, and better yet I had to carry the water jug (those gatorade size jugs football teams throw over a coach's head) home for a comment I made about ice cream during the exercises. At least they emptied it first! I jogged back the 2 miles with that jug over one shoulder and in front of me and over the other shoulder, switching when I got sore. It wasn't that heavy but quite awkward to carry while jogging. They joked that I was the mobile aid station and asked for a drink. I told them they would have to get their drinks at the bar just like everyone else. Many of our crew like to hit a local brewery after the workouts.

I got home and I still had to empty the cement chunks out of my car and walk the dogs. What took me 20 minutes to put into the car, took me twice that to remove from the car. It is for a project for my backyard, we are trying to alleviate some of the dampness way in the back. The dogs were so pent up by now that I gave up after a quarter mile and just let the leashes go and ran along side of them. They know the only purpose of the leash is to keep me with four feet of them. The pull the leash taught and drag me down the usual route unless there is something interesting to smell. Last time I weighed them JoJo, a German Shepherd, was 63 pounds and Clancy, a Kelpie/shepherd mix, was 56 pounds, so 120 pounds of dog that sometimes wants to go 2 directions at once, or worse if JoJo smells a rabbit or squirrel she will go full bore after it and Clancy will freeze in the middle of the sidewalk. I usually end up trip over Clancy and jerking both dogs by the neck back to me, 1 from each direction. It is always important that I watch and see the rabbits and squirrels before JoJo and the small dogs before Clancy (he hates yappers as much as I do!)

Quote of the day: The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. -- Anonymous