Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I Think the Universe is Trying to Tell Me Something...

...or else my body is just falling apart.

Last week I made it through Week 1 of Operation: Get Froggy Jogging with my legs (and soul) intact.  Granted, I was slightly worried that I was going to puke by the end of the last day's cardio... but I didn't.  So all was well.  Even my aching muscles were far less achy by the end of the week.

I took Monday off, and yesterday I did some simple strength training at home.  Today I hauled my ass out of bed with the idea of getting to the gym and back before the Fresh Direct guy was scheduled to arrive.  As I hustled my yawning self into the city to go to the gym and attack the first cardio session of Week 2, I noticed that my right hamstring felt a little tight.  Nothing major, just a little muscle tension.  I figured that my warm-up would work that tension right out and I'd be good to go.

Well I made it through 5 minutes of moderate walking with no trouble, and the first 2 minute power-walk was also problem free.  But the minute my right leg hit the ground after bumping the treadmill up to jogging pace, I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring.

Not oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-die-I-can't-walk-watch-me-crumple-and-get-dragged-under-the-treadmill pain, mind you... but still not pleasant.  I continued for about 5 more seconds, waiting to see if the stabbing sensation would subside, and it did not. So a mere 7 minutes into my workout I had to call it quits and head over to the mats to give a light stretch to my aching leg before changing back into my street clothes and exiting the premises no more than 20 minutes after I had entered.

The positive end of this incident is that I now had time to run the few errands I wanted to run in the city and still make it home in time to greet my Fresh Direct delivery.

The bad news is... well... my fucking leg hurts!  And until this situation rectifies itself--which could be a few days, or a few weeks--my workout plan has been put on hold.  And since this is an incremental plan, if I take too much time off, I'll have to start all the way back at the beginning!

So is the Universe telling me that training to jog is simply a bad idea?  Or is this just an extension of my body's latent desire to completely fail me?

I've been running on empty for weeks now.  I have a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings and I spend most of the day in a daze--I only manage to really rouse myself when I go to my internship and the gym, otherwise I am mentally and physically wiped out.  Yet at the same time, my insomnia is worse than ever and I find it increasingly difficult to fall asleep.

I went to the doctor on Monday, and his initial diagnosis was... ready?  "A sleeping problem."  No shit Sherlock, tell me something I don't know!  They're running some blood tests to see if it's anemia (my guess) or thyroid (my mom had it) or some other treatable issue that's leaving me so drained.

Until I know more, the score currently stand at: Body - 2, Froggy - 0.
 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

THat happened to me when I started running. Don't push it, just try to walk every day and stretch it out. Eventually your legs will get used to it. :) I think every muscle in my legs rejected running at first!

B said...

I second what Ashley said.

I also recommend you drink more water. I've heard that helps make a huge difference.

And me? I'm scared as shit to do week 2 cardio 1 tomorrow.

3 minutes of jogging?!

aaaaaaahhhhhh

the frog princess said...

Yeah, I won't push it. I'm just annoyed at being put on hold like this. My visions of being taut and toned by the end of October are slipping right out the window :P

And I do drink a ton of water. Other than coffee first thing in the morning and the occasional soda if I'm dragging, it's pretty much ALL I drink!

Well, that and beer. But I've been pretty good about that lately :)

Z said...

Hope that count turns around soon, and your leg feels better!