Sore knees

I continue training towards my 5k goal but at the moment my knees are getting in my way. Perhaps it is the change of season but wow, do my knees hurt. It makes me grumpy. Of course, when this happens there is a little voice in the back of my head that says "remember how bad it got a few years ago..." and that makes me get a little panicked. It's quite stupid really but sometimes I find it hard to shut off. I also wonder if my knees are telling me I'm not getting enough sleep? Again, all in reference to a few years ago when not getting enough sleep set off a pattern that took months to fix. All this talk of sleep reminds me, it's time for bed. I stayed up WAY too late last night watching the Steelers eek out a win over Baltimore.

How to get around the "Sarah Palin Phenomenon"

From Sean Quinn at "fivethirtyeight.com"

“Sarah Palin is very likable. There’s nothing wrong with liking her. But this isn’t a zany sitcom where a friendly, plucky Everywoman with dangerous ignorance on foreign policy gets to be vice president. Americans don't deserve someone too scared to do a press conference. Fun for a TV show, but running the country doesn't permit second and third takes when you mess up the scene."

This is the most intelligent thing I've read about how to get to people who are reacting viscerally to Sarah Palin. Go read the whole thing.

Post-trainer thoughts

Yesterday my trainer, Grace (MTG), asked me how I had been feeling after my workouts. I said I had been a little sore the next day but nothing terrible. Then she informed me that it is time to increase the amount of weight I'm lifting. I'm a little nervous. Right now by the time I finish, for example, doing the one-armed pec fly I feel like my shoulder is about to break. The concept of more weight is rather daunting. But I have to say I trust MTG completely. She certainly knows what she is doing and she knows exactly how far to push me. Of course, after last night's workout and more crunches than I have ever done in my life, I'm sore.

As to progress towards 5k - the plan for the next month is to workout on Mon/Thurs and walk at least 45 minutes W/Sat. I plan to walk on the treadmill on Wednesdays because I am just not a morning person and by the time I get home and have dinner it is too dark :-( to walk outside now. I can walk outside on weekends and the half-mile circuit at the cemetery is a good place to do it. I saved enough Coke Points to get a $100 Nike.com gift card so I am designing a custom pair of shoes at NikeiD.com. I have wide feet so I have a limited number of styles to choose from but I'm having fun. I think I have to go try on a pair of the style I want to get before I actually buy them on the website.

A goal

I have a goal. I would like to walk a 5k next Spring. I've been working out with a trainer for 3 months now and I've started walking on my own. Today I walked 1.5 miles (in 80+ degree weather and high humidity...I'm sort of an idiot that way.) I have larger goals than the 5k but one step at a time. I'm going to try to chronicle my walking here because I'll never write it down anywhere else. Today was a pretty good walk - my left foot was sore and my upper back got sore towards the end (the Rack of Doom [TM Kate Harding] causes the problem when exercising - if anyone has any good sources for LARGE sports bras with good support please leave a note in comments.) I think I need arch supports and that will probably help the sore foot. I spent the afternoon making tomato sauce from 9 lbs of tomatoes (CSA) and I still feel ok. My knees are a little sore but it isn't too bad.