What a week this has been! My take-away from the last 7 days is that hindsight is not  20/20. My experiences have fostered more questions than answers this week. First - on a good note- I did pass my testing and am now a purple belt in taekwondo. One more testing period (8-10 weeks) and I'll be an advanced belt! Who thought this fat senior would ever get this far? lol I will have to admit that I had a rough time this week in taekwondo - just didn't feel good. My instructor babysat me though. She kept an eye out for me and kept reminding me to sit out if I didn't feel well. Like I'm going to sit out.  I made it. So I have been doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm taking my medications exactly as prescribed, I don't like that but I'm doing it. I'm taking my blood pressure almost  every day and it's been within the right range - a little at the top of the "okay" range - and I'd like it down a bit more - but not high by any m...

I am not sure why I am second guessing myself, I've actually felt really good on my last two runs. Last night I did a couple miles and then tonight I got in 4 miles. I could have gone longer both nights but time constraints and responsibilities kept tugging me off the treadmill. My first full marathon was horrible and I really  don't want a repeat of it at this year's marathon (or two -- yup, pretty sure I'm doing two of 'em this fall). I just dread the long run. Especially right now since I am limited to just the treadmill. And then of course this week I only ended up with 15 miles in all. And next week's schedule looks crammed full already. But- I have  to get at least a 10 miler in on Tuesday or Wednesday since I have a half coming up on July 14. I'm determined to do that 10-12 miles one of those days even if I have to break it up and do 3 4-milers or whatever. I've even thought about just jumping on and off the treadmill and seeing how many mil...

Okay - so I have to suck it up and admit that I overdid it yesterday. I actually made several mistakes that I have to correct going forward. I know I should not have run 3 days in a row and  even if  running 3 days in a row was okay - I shouldn't have gone for 6 and a half miles. Live and learn. I've been doing a lot of research about congestive heart failure and one of the signs of overdoing it is actually how you feel the next day. Well, I could tell yesterday afternoon I had OD'd on running. I did recoup pretty good though. However, today has been horrible. I am basically exhibiting all those  dreaded symptoms of CHF. I'm out of breath, have lots of chest pains and feel exhausted. I don't think I realized how much better I've been feeling overall; but it all comes back to me now for sure. With this new information I have a few things to work on. First of all, I need to get a solid marathon training plan instead of just flying by the seat of my pants. I wi...