I’m addicted to Ironman eating, trouble is…I’m not burning Ironman calories.  Oh well, I’m still looking pretty good at this point so no need to make any rash changes.  Although I will think twice about polishing off a box of Strawberry Fields with BJ after a pasta meal. I am putting some serious time in at the gym and liking my new found x-training workouts.  The boot is just a part of me at this point and I think I’m working it with my outfit choices.

Today I spent about an hour in the gym then to the pool for a 1/2 hour of pool jogging and 500 yards swimming.  I like the freedom of jumping in a swimming continously with no particular goal other than to get zen.  The Tiara Ditcher joined us today so my pool jogging felt more like Frogger as the three of us were in the lane together and I was dodging them.  Swimmers definitely move faster then pool joggers, there were a few close calls.  Made the time fly by.  Kristina and I hit the big slide at the east boulder rec today - pretty damn fun, I’ve been eyeing the slide for years and never hit it.  Today was the day, you get some serious speed coming down, it’s sweet stuff.

Hit Whole Foods for a $17 salad then our grocery shopping for the week.  Home for some serious laundry folding and now I think I’m going to attack the closet in my office.

BJ is kicking ass in his training….he fought through a huge workout yesterday.  I’m so proud of him.

Well actually it’s more like 100 pump chump - that’s me, the Ironman weight lifter.  Not my favorite thing in the world but I’m embracing it.  It’s hard for me to be inside, listening to classic rock on the boom box, lifting weights…1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10…next arm…1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.  And repeat with all the muscle groups of the body.  A little too mundane for this girl.  All in all, I am so grateful for what I can do.

Life in the Gumkowski household is good stuff…constant shout outs and support to my hubby who’s almost there, 7 weeks to go.  He will do it this time, he will qualify for Kona.  I can feel it.  He has the fitness, he has everything it takes….race day will be mental and if he can overcome mental barriers then he will do it.  I can’t wait - it’s going to be a great day, it’s going to be the race of his life.

Lots of great Skirts will also be in the house for IMAZ and I’m looking forward to meeting some of these cool ladies that I’ve been conversing with for months.  I’ll be volunteering; massage, body marking and my Skirt girl Mary is captaining an aid station on the run course so I”ll be hanging over there to support BJ and the rest of the incredible athletes that will be on their last leg (literally).

Good things to come….

Yeah, I got the boot.   At least for the next 2 weeks and 2 days until I go back to the doc.  Stress fracture, 4th metatarsal = no cape cod marathon, no running, no cycling, no kicking in the pool, no yoga, no weight baring activity.  All boot all the time.

What can I do?  Get back in the gym with the meat heads and pump some iron, swim with the pool buoy  and yes, you guessed it…pool jogging.  I know that some of you might be suspicious and wondering if I took a hammer to my foot just to be sentenced to another 6 weeks of pool jogging.  Well you can stop that crap thought right now.  Believe me, the last thing I want to hear 9 months after injuring this exact freaking spot is it probably never healed fully the first time and it’s fractured, sentencing me to a short term life of low carb, high protein bullshit.

I officially withdrew from the Cape Cod marathon on Friday and signed up to volunteer.  Since I have plenty of family and friends on the Cape my trip is far from a bust, it just means more wine and less suffering (at least the physical kind).    As Tony Soprano would say, ‘whateva the f$#%’.

Came home from work yesterday to find a surprise treat at the door for the kids.  Our friends Tara and Adam, affectionately known as T&A, must have been feeling quite generous and dog deprived when they bought a new polar bear toy for Harry and a pink barbie butterfly for Lhasa.  They got freaky with their new babies and then crashed hard a night of retarded Scrabble and Entourage.

Great day for a run, positive attitude, hydrated, fueled, ready to go….every step, intense pain in left foot that just got worse and worse and worse and worse.  The good news, I ran 4.5 miles in 40 minutes with extreme pain, the bad news I had to call BJ and have him pick me up around mile 5 - the pain was intense and stabbing, worse with each step.   Have an appointment with a sports medicine doctor on Thursday….we’ll have to just wait and see how the x-ray reads.

The weekend was good at the G’s….  Worked on Saturday then hit the gym for quality time on the elliptical, then some push-ups and lots of stretching.   Yeah I busted out 30 girl style, I can barely lift my arms today and once I do get them up it’s painful to get them back down.  I think next time I’ll just do 5 or so.  Rode next to BJ for the 6 mile run following his 117 mile bike and hard swim in the a.m. with Craig.  He looked strong but needed to be pushed - I’m glad I was there for him, it was fun.  Plus I hadn’t seem him in a while so I just talked his ear off which I think made the time pass quickly.  Last night, we indulged in our favorite Gumkowski original, buffalo tempe pizza accompanied by a few seasonal beers and a salad.  Another good bout of self care before bed. Sunday started with a casual morning of listening to music and drinking coffee.  We followed this up with a 38 mile ride out east, so great to spend QT with my man, I miss him so much.   We are just so busy but when we do spend time together it’s simply the only place on earth I want to be.  Lunch, some work, long walk with the kids, delicious steak on the grill with roasted potatoes, grilled red peppers and salad.  Then we hopped on our bikes about 8pm and headed up for ice cream.  I got a 1 scoop sundae of which I ate all the whipped cream…thank god for BJ, he’s a sure thing for finishing my ice cream anytime.  Back home to bed to ice the foot, which is doing better, still feel like I need to train through this phase, listening to what’s going on each day.  A quick date with my biofreeze and it’s lights out for this chickie.

Seriously, what the foot people?  About 3 weeks ago while still running in my too narrow, not enough cushion for me Mizunos I started to feel pain while running on the outside part of the bottom of my left foot.  Didn’t think much of it.  After a 15 mile run last week the pain went to a new level.  I started to feel sharp nerve pains through my toes and a very localized pain under my foot near my little toe.   Then I ran a hard track set a few days later which took it up another notch.  Hmmmmm, wasn’t sure what the hell was going on.  The symptoms when not running very much mimicked pain I’ve experienced before when I had a stress reaction in my 4th metatarsal.  I iced, massaged and used my foot rubz ball all week in prep for the Bolder Backroads.

During the race my foot warmed up and it felt good - dull pain but definitely did not get worse.  Ran 17 that day and was in alot of pain afterwards.

I had the foot massage from hell (a gift from above) on Wednesday where my therapist worked all the fascia in between my metatarsals.  Big progress was made.  I ran on Thursday virtually pain free with out much backlash following.

Yesterday I ran a hard 6 with pain almost every step, it definitely warmed up after 4 miles and felt the best during the last few miles and after the run while still walking around but then as it cooled it started to get painful.  I spent about 2 hours last night self caring myself…..rolled out my whole body on the roller, massaged my foot, stretched my foot, iced my foot etc. etc.  As of right now it’s freaking painful….I’m back to where I was after the Backroads race.

I’m noticing everything - when it hurts, how it hurts, what makes it better, worse, is it hot, it is cold, stiff, painful, not painful etc. etc. etc.  I can not figure it out but I will keep trying.

This is something that I feel I need to keep training through, my gut is telling me that I will run the marathon but that this won’t necessarily be 100% healed until afterwards.  I have a stablizer this week then a 20 mile run a week from tomorrow.  I think I’m going to have to put a hell of alot of effort back into it to keep things at bay over the next month.

Two years ago I ran the Boulder Backroads (boulder marathon…whatever they are calling it, from a marketing standpoint they need some help with their identity  - too many logos, too many fonts)…At any rate, 2 years ago I ran the Backroads half for the first time, it was also the first time I had ever run 13.1 miles, the first time I had ever run more then 10 miles.  I finished the race in 2:21:56, I felt like my right leg was going to discinegrate, I felt like it did when I ran my first marathon.

I’ve come a long way baby!  With a little worry about pain in my left foot (which now is alot more then a little pain) I headed up with a race plan and a time goal.  My foot warmed up (ahhh, soft tissue issue no broken bones) and I felt excellent.  I stayed solid the entire race, I felt that my form was the best its ever been and my focus was focused.  In order to meet my goal I needed to put the blinders on and go.  BJ was at every corner and rode next to me for the last few miles.  It was awesome and totally unexpected - his training is all consuming and to see his beautiful smile out there was so wonderful.

Held Z3 pace for about 10 miles then took it up for Z4 for the last 5K - felt good to push it and put out the effort.  Finished in 2:07:10.  My goal was 2:10 so I am very pleased with my time.  Remember folks, it’s all relative.

Next stop - break 4:30 at the Cape Cod marathon.  Sunday was a good showing of what’s possible nex month.

The end of the quarter is coming - Thursday, September 18th at 9pm I will be back on the radar for 2+ weeks. Medical massage, I love ya, I couldn’t live without ya but you’re killing me!

This is just one class.  How the heck did I do this 4 nights plus weekends for 2 years?

Ran 15 miles on Monday, continue to feel great.  Back in the Asics Nimbus, can never buy another pair of Mizuno’s they are not for my paws.

Looking forward to Sunday, I feel like a caged animal waiting to be set free so I can RUN!

I think my last post mentioned that the next two weeks would be really difficult to manage…well, that is now officially confirmed.  Don’t expect much posting from this Skirt until I get my school work finished. Thursday the 18th will bring this quarter to a close and I have no idea where I’m going to find the time to do everything I need to do before then.  Sleep deprivation will most likely be the answer.  Anyway, I’m ‘in it’ but like every other high pressure situation in my life, it can always be worse and I will make it through giving 110% the whole way.

Had a great race (for me) on Saturday at Tri for Your Cause - placed 5th in my age group.  I was in 3rd place until the run, I was passed by one woman within the first mile of the run and the passed by another woman in the last mile of the run.  I was going as fast as I could, they were just stronger runners then I.  Next year, I will be faster!  I’m pleased with my time in all three disciplines and I definitely put it out there.  It was a great day for me.

Signing off, need to get on flashcardmachine.com so I can study the ever so lovely gang of contagious skin diseases that are out there.  Don’t be trying to slide a big ol’cold sore by me, I won’t have it cuz I don’t want it.

Impetigo anyone?  Nothing like a crusty rash to dream about tonight.

It’s the Salem Witch trial part deux over here as the cow continues to hang from the tree out back.  Broken back, snapped neck, udder in tact.  But hey it’s been a busy weekend around these parts and its good for the soul to be ‘wt’ once in a while.    We celebrated Kristina Palooza on Saturday at our house, I had a blast - I hope everyone else did too.  I love throwing parties, I think the kids definitely had fun playing together.  I feel bad because we have nothing kid in our house, except Harry.  So unless they are into playing with him the whole time, there’s not much to do.  But they all marched in with their toys, jammies, special occasion shoes and proceeded to play all night long.  Contagious giggles and big smiles.   Lots of fun!

Sunday came too early.  It was a study day for me, workout day for BJ and dog dayz day for the kids.  Over to Scott Carpenter with the kids, it’s so freaking fun.  Lhasa is the social one, Harry is all ball.   We go every year, it’s a tradition in this house. Before and after dog dayz I studied, napped and studied.  So much more to go, the next two weeks I’m going to be b’s to the w.  I’ll get through it, no problem just have to focus and work hard.

Monday morning BJ and I headed over to the res for our long runs, I had 13.5 and BJ 23.  We’ve been doing our Monday runs together (kind of, not really) but it’s still cool to see him out there when he’s lapping me.  Today I did the Backroads 1/2 course, I really love that course.  I can’t wait to do it again, I’m going to try and break 10min miles.  Yikes, we’ll see….I’ll do my best.  I know that’s nothing for so many people but for me it will be a challenge.  But you have to go for both, quality and quantity.  I know that the quality of my run will far surpass my last BB half and I”m assuming as a result of that my time will be better as well.  We’ll see, I have so much more experience now.

Tomorrow will bring a small swim, big day in my practice and studying in between.  Fired up to jump back into life but man has two days of naps treated me nicely.