Week 12 – Take the Needle Off the Record

As per usual I’m linking up this post on the Weekly Wrap again this week from HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin – check out their blogs as well AND the links that others have dropped in the link up!

 

Basically the broken record my life has been the last couple of weeks needs to stop. So I’m taking the needle off the record now.

Here’s the recap. It’s not pretty so I’m not going to dwell too much and whoa-is-me throughout. It is what it is. I don’t feel great mentally but I am at the point of telling myself to suck it up and I hope that means better days are on the horizon.

Monday – Normal day at work, nothing really to report there. Skipped Runiversity training to finish my project and send it through to my instructor for feedback. No food logging, even though I did have good intentions. Water was good, doesn’t really seem to be an issue, but I may have mentioned that last week. Did some laundry. No alcohol.

Tuesday – Ok day at work but really, really tired. Had plans to run with Gerrit, Sjoukje and Ellen but it was postponed to Wednesday. Logged most of my food on paper, so things were a bit more in control at least on this day. Already received feedback on my paper and needed to make some corrections. More laundry. And folded a crap ton of it as well. What is it with the mountain of clothes that actually never seems to decrease? Changed sheets as well. Water intake was good, No extra activity.

Wednesday – work was fine, bit boring actually but I am the only one who can solve that (focus is hard right now with all the school stuff in my head so I don’t want to start any projects at work that require full brain power). Plan was to meet up with Gerrit and Sjoukje at 18:30 at Park Sonsbeek, so about a 20 minute bike ride for me. It was a gorgeous day and I really enjoyed the biking. Put my headphones on and listened to some of the new Depeche Mode album on the way there so was in a really good mood at that point. I arrived and Gerrit was already there, and Sjoukje arrived shortly afterwards. I threw my stuff in her car and we got started. The plan was to do around 6 – 7 KM max through the park. It’s quite hilly and no matter how you start, it’s almost an immediate climb. And this evening was no exception. Up, up, up the hill we went, more than 1KM and then finally we were able to descend a bit. We were almost at 2KM when poor Sjoukje tripped over a pretty big rock on the path!! Ripped through her legging and her knee, hit her elbow and palm and unfortunately she sprained her ankle! Such a bummer! We wanted to get her cleaned and get some ice on her ankle as soon as possible so Gerrit called his husband who immediately came to pick us up (they live really close by) Once we got her iced and cleaned up we went back to her car and my bike. I got my stuff out of the car but unfortunately I think my headphones fell out onto the ground. My bose headphones… the ones that actually stayed in my ears… gone. So not a great ending to the day. Poor Sjoukje though, she can’t run for at least 2 weeks! Food: not logged, Water: good, Activity: ok. No homework. Went to my friend Ilian’s bar on the way home and had 2 beers. Ron met me there as well.

Thursday – up early to go to the RugPoli. This was probably my worst day this week. Since we are still trying to figure out what the best solution is for my back, I expressed that it was really getting me down that I had no idea what I should be doing anymore.  I haven’t been to the gym for three weeks because my back was getting worse.  I had to do special exercises the last time I left the RugPoli and I only did them for 1 week (and not 2) because it was hurting my back again (there was improvement after NOT going to the gym).  I said I just want to know what I can do.  I want to get stronger and most of all I want and NEED to run for my own mental health.  My mechanical consultant (where I go they focus on MDT – mechanical diagnosis and therapy or the McKenzie Method ) is great and he really listened to what I was saying and understood where I was coming from so he suggested two things:  1)  That I be referred to a sports physio so that I can have a program designed for me and my current situation and … 2)  a sports psychologist.   While I was relieved and am absolutely open to everything I also felt very sad.  It’s like when you hold in everything and just try to be strong and then someone actually validates you.   So I cried a wee bit in his office and said I was open to both so he is going to get in touch with a few people and hopefully get me referred next week.   Once I was home I basically just felt very sad, pottered around the house a bit, did no homework (I took the day off to catch up on school stuff!) and felt zero motivation for anything.   I did get out of the house for a wee bit to cycle over to Starbucks to buy coffee beans and have a cappuccino.    No food logging, barely made it with my water, did a tiny, tiny bit of homework in the end, did laundry to add to Mt. Clothesji.  No alcohol.

 

[ctt template=”3″ link=”4KT18″ via=”yes” ]Week 12: seriously time to take the needle off this broken record #weeklywrap #mentalhealth #getittogether #sweatpink[/ctt]

Friday –  Better day, but not “great”.   Did loads of studying.  Food was way off.  My stepdaughter came over around 3pm as she had an interview at the Art Academy here in Arnhem (she didn’t get to the 2nd round – twice now rejected for that school which is a bummer).  I cycled to Runiversity in the evening and the run actually gave me a bit of a boost.  Cycling home was good too, but a bit chilly (we are fooled by the sun here sometimes, then in the evening it’s quite cold).  Had a beer after a post-run snack, then I went to bed.  No food logging, water good, activity good, hoovered the floors as it seems the cats are shedding everywhere these days.

Saturday –  School all day.  Was not an easy day either, but I can tell my instructor is  really prepping us for exams now. I really am on the fence about sitting exams.  I think I will end up doing them, even if it means throwing another EUR 95 away if I should fail.  After school I met up with my friend Kate, who lives near Amersfoort (where I go to school);  I haven’t seen her in more than a year so it was good to catch up.  It may seem that I’m always busy (I am) but my friends are spread out around the country so if I’m already somewhere where I can meet someone, I try to do it.  Doesn’t help local non-running friends, since if I’m booked up for school or training or homework then it’s hard to find the time to make a date.  At some point things will calm down (she says, for the 872nd time…).    Kate and I had a drink and dinner and a really nice catch up.  Then it was time to go home.  I arrived back in Arnhem at 10:15pm where my husband was waiting for me at a local bar.  We had a couple of drinks and talked about stuff (mostly stuff that is bothering me and my future and how to transition from “office worker ordinaire” to being more involved in sports and sports care.  Even though I’m a certified sports massage therapist I don’t have my own space to massage and I don’t have much extra time to massage.  I’m not registered yet either.  The course I’m doing now would make me more attractive on paper for, say, a physio’s office or an athletics organisation but without the experience it will be tough to prove myself.  So it’s tough right now.  This is still why I want to sit exams and hopefully pass but I can’t just quit my job and start doing this 100%.  This girl’s got bills to pay and right now my office job pays those bills (and the trips I take and the 41 vacation days a year… so let’s face it… no way I can just go from one to the other).   Anyway, it was so nice to just hang out with Ron for a couple hours.  We are so busy, sometimes we just don’t have chillout time together.   When I arrived home I found a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me on the living room table.  Just because.  He is so sweet!   No food logging, water good, walked around quite a lot in Amersfoort.  Had three gin and tonics (which for me is a lot!!).

 

Sunday –  We finally changed time so we are also now on daylight savings time!  We had a nice little lie-in, ate breakfast and decided we’d go for a bike ride.  It was so lovely out!  We pretty much stayed in our area, but still almost 40KM of a loop around the city we live in.  In the middle of the ride we stopped for coffee at a pancake house so I had to have a pancake (these are not like American pancakes; they are bigger and usually thinner and quite dense).  So good!  We saw heilan coos and horses and the sun was shining and it just completely brightened the mood! Lots of hills too so a bit of a workout.

 

 

 

 

Once we were home it was a bit of relaxing and Ron then made a lovely dinner for us.

No food logging, water good, no school work, no house work.

This week I did arrange a couple of things:  Liverpool flights are purchased(YAY!) and…  I bought Depeche Mode gig tickets for the show in ROME on June 25th!  Totally excited for both!   Still have to arrange Dublin flights and am watching the price for flights to Las Vegas for the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon in November…  Not sure about it as I had tentative plans for Bilbao in October but uncertain that will be happening this year.  We are definitely going to Chicago in October so I need to be realistic and responsible about the LV decision.  So… that one is still open.

I’m super grateful for the job I have right now, the vacation money we receive and the two bonuses.  Without those, Pinky would be traveling most places that are reachable by car and train…also not a bad life of course!

************************

Week 11 summed up (March 20 – 26)

Food logged: 0/7 – though there was an attempt one day haha!
Water: 7/7
Activity: 3/7 but no gym
School: 4/7
House: 5/7
No Alcohol: 4/7

13 is my lucky number, so bring on the new week!

How was your week? Is the weather finally shaping up where you are at? Do you have a mountain of laundry at home? Have you ever run with someone who was injured during the run?  Have you ever been to Rome?