I need to come up with some new pet peeves…my kids don’t seem to care much about the ones I have now.
For students in my Wednesday night class on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: Handouts and Notes for Acts Chapter 18:18-28 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text during class tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!
I had the follow-up appointment with my orthopaedist this morning, and he recommended that I have an MRI to definitively see what is going on with my femur. Though he acknowledged that this could be a full-blown stress fracture that doesn’t show up on x-ray, his opinion is that the pain I’m experiencing right now is “Phantom Pain” or “Healing Pain” from the previous stress reaction.
He explained that this type of pain is real, but is not caused by a recurrence of the injury. It is instead caused by how the healed injury site interacts with the connected nerves. He said this often feels very similar to the beginning stages of a stress injury.
Whatever the case, I’m just glad we’re going forward with the MRI so I can at least have peace-of-mind regarding the path ahead.
Well, now that I’m back on the bench, time to start doing what is needed to get back off the bench again. To that end I have an appointment with my orthopaedist tomorrow morning to discuss next steps. Prayers for an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan would be appreciated. I’m still holding out hope that I’ll be able to run New York in November.
This afternoon I headed back to the pool for a riveting hour of aqua jogging. Every second I spend in the pool just helps me realize how much I miss running, and pushes me to stay disciplined and work hard to get back out on the road.
Cross Training
- Aqua Jogging >> 1 hour
- 100 Pushup Routine >> Week 4 / Level 3 / Day 1 – 120 total reps completed
– I repeated this day for the second time since I was not able to complete all the reps on either of my first attempts. It was a struggle in the last set, but I got ’em all done tonight! It’s interesting….I’ve been through this routine start to finish twice, and I’ve never had this much trouble with a single workout. Guess this means I’m getting old.
- Pullups >> 19 total reps completed
- In and Outs x 25 reps
- Seated Bicycle Forward x 25 reps
- Seated Bicycle Backward x 25 reps
- Crunchy Frog x 25 reps
- Wide Leg Sit Ups x 25 reps
- Hip Rock n’ Raise x 25 reps
- Pulse Ups x 21 reps
- Roll-Up / V-Up Combo x 25 reps
- Oblique V-Up Right x 25 reps
- Oblique V-Up Left x 25 reps
- Leg Climb x 24 reps (1 grab)
- Mason Twist x 50 reps
My little Sara singing the chorus to “Lord Reign in Me” before going to bed…We both LOVE this song!
by Olivia Agee
From the March/April 2013 issue of Christian Woman magazine…reprinted by permission.
Imagine two young men are at your door, tracts in hand, attempting to share their faith. When you ask why you should believe as they do, they respond, “Because the book of Mormon says so.”
Would this statement alone convince you to abandon your current beliefs and join the Mormon faith? Of course not, and neither would the words “the Quran tells me so” or “the writings of Buddha tell me so.” Yet many times we expect the mere words “because the Bible says so” to convert our non-Christian friends. Now, “the Bible tells me so” is extremely important in matters of doctrine and Christian living, but to non-Christians, those words are not convincing as a reason to accept the Bible as truth.
First Peter 3:15 commands us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (NIV84). Is this something we know how to do? The evidence is on our side; there are a lot of good reasons to believe that what the Bible says is true. But could we explain them to someone else? With these questions in mind, the following is a short summary of evidence that I personally find most convincing.
Problems With Darwinian Evolution
First, I do not find the evidence for life apart from a Creator to be compelling. Darwinian evolution is full of holes, the most notable being the lack of evidence for life originating from non-life (i.e., abiogenesis); for species evolving into other species; and for the human body developing its systems gradually by natural selection (i.e., irreducible complexity), which was Darwin’s own criteria for the failure of his theory.
This is awesome…Love how they just play it straight-forward, the way it was written. Enjoy:
Warning….venting ahead.
Well, after expressing my concerns about the “nondescript, dull, aching sensation in my inner-thigh” last night, I woke up this morning with aching and throbbing all the way up and down my upper leg and hip. This tells me there is no doubt that I’m back on the bench, and that I started running again too soon.
I’ve decided to go to the doctor, though I’m not sure if i’ll go back to my normal orthopaedist or seek a second opinion. Either way I’m incredibly frustrated to be back on the bench so soon. I’m also frustrated that New York is now in jeopardy.
I actually knew things were amiss last Friday when I had my bone density scan. It had nothing to do with the scan itself, but as I sat down for the study the back of my left leg hit the edge of the table and there was significant discomfort. I tried to brush it aside as “phantom pain” that many experience after a stress fracture, but deep inside I knew it was not good.
So, it looks like I’ll be spending a LOT more time in the pool, which is AWESOME! Can’t wait! *sarcasm*
Beast Mode….Off
Today’s Run
Today marked the second day from week 3 of my “Return to Running” program, which includes:
- 3 to 5-minute walking warmup
- 3 x 10-minute run / 1-minute walk
- 3 to 5+ minute walking cooldown
I decided to run this afternoon on the Vaughn’s Gap cross-country field at Percy Warner park in order to have a slightly softer surface for my legs. Just like yesterday, my legs felt a little heavy at the beginning, but felt better with each running interval. When I started there was full sun, and it was quite warm. However, the clouds and wind quickly rolled in as a storm front is moving into Middle Tennessee:
In total I finished 30 minutes of running and just over 10 minutes of walking for a total of 4.18 miles completed.
- Miles: 4.18
- Time: 40:25 minutes
- Pace: 9:41
- Shoes: Saucony Kinvara 3 (#7)
- Route: Vaughn’t Gap Cross-Country Course
Even though I felt pretty good during this run, I have been experiencing a nondescript, dull, aching sensation in my inner-thigh for the past several days. This has caused two reactions from me so far:
- One part of me is prone to panic – My mind starts racing with questions like…Have I injured my femur again? What if I really did have a stress fracture, but it just didn’t show up on the x-ray, even after 4-weeks? Did I start running again too soon? Will I ever be able to run/train again like I used to?
- Another part of me thinks I’m just being paranoid – I can hop on my leg without pain. It doesn’t really hurt when I’m running, just feels “funny.”
All of this has left me very frustrated and uncertain about what to do. I would hate to keep running on it if there really is an injury. On the other hand, since there is no real pain, I hate to go back to the orthopaedist and have him look at me like I’ve lost my mind. At this point I’m leaning toward laying off from running, and then making a decision next week about what to do next. So confusing.
Cross-Training
- None
Today’s Run
After a rest day yesterday (Day 14), today marked the beginning of week 3 of my “Return to Running” program, which includes:
- 3 to 5-minute walking warmup
- 3 x 10-minute run / 1-minute walk
- 3 to 5+ minute walking cooldown
This marks a 10-minute increase in running time with less overall walking, so I was interested to see how my legs would respond. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon in Nashville, and I completed this run on the Harpeth River Greenway. My legs felt tired and heavy at the start, but loosened up quite a bit with each of the 3 running segments. I ended up feeling quite good by the end. In total I finished 30 minutes of running and just over 10 minutes of walking for a total of 4.36 miles completed.
- Miles: 4.36
- Time: 40:27 minutes
- Pace: 9:17
- Shoes: adidas Energy Boost (#1)
- Route: HR Greenway from Nature Center
Cross-Training
- Elliptical >> 30 Minutes
- Balance Squats x 25 reps (each leg)
- Calf Raise Squats x 25 reps (2 x 20lb dumbbells)
- Wall Squats – 90 Seconds
- Step-Back Lunges x 15 reps (each leg with 2 x 20lb dumbbells)
- 3-way lunge x 15 reps (each leg)
- Chair Salutation x 2 (30 sec each)
- Toe Roll Iso Lunges x 20 reps (each leg)
- Groucho Walk – 45 seconds
- Hip Hike 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
- Monster Walk with Band 2 x 12 reps (each leg)
- Clamshells with Band 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
- Toe Flexor x 60 reps (each leg)
- Dorsiflex Raises x 75 reps
Today’s Run
Today was my rest day from running before beginning Week 3 of my “Return to Running” program tomorrow. Two weeks down, 8 to go!
Cross-Training
- 100 Pushup Routine >> Week 4 / Level 3 / Day 1 – 113 total reps completed
– I repeated this day since I was not able to complete all the reps on Monday. I crashed again in the final set today, and fell short of the 120 reps. Plan to repeat it again on Friday. - Pullups >> 18 total reps completed
- In and Outs x 25 reps
- Seated Bicycle Forward x 25 reps
- Seated Bicycle Backward x 25 reps
- Crunchy Frog x 25 reps
- Wide Leg Sit Ups x 25 reps
- Hip Rock n’ Raise x 25 reps
- Pulse Ups x 20 reps
- Roll-Up / V-Up Combo x 20 reps
- Oblique V-Up Right x 25 reps
- Oblique V-Up Left x 25 reps
- Leg Climb x 24 reps (1 grab)
- Mason Twist x 50 reps
Beast Mode…ON!