My fourth and last week of base building training started out normally, but my legs were really beginning to feel the effects of running four times a week, especially my left hip, which was in pain starting a mile in to every run. I took an Advil before the three-miler on Wednesday, and told myself to just get through it at any pace and I could have the next day off (from running, at least). When I woke up Thursday morning my shoulders felt funny, and upon stretching I felt an intensely sharp pain in my right shoulder. Moving my shoulder at all in any direction hurt badly. I did a bit of Googling and figured out that I probably had a pinched nerve, called in sick to work, and rested on the couch all day. I alternated between icing and heating my shoulder, which seemed to ease the pain, and I obviously missed my workout that day. On Friday I still felt some discomfort and had a limited range of motion, but I felt well enough to go to work. I skipped my scheduled workout again.
Saturdays are rest days, which I was grateful for, so I rested in hopes of being well enough to run the next day. I had signed up for the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders Fourth Sunday Run to celebrate finishing the base building phase, and I really wanted to run it since my friend Megan was going, and I thought I could set a 5K personal record. When I woke up Sunday morning, I had my full range of motion back with no pain, so I ran! My legs felt well rested since I had taken three days off, and I kept up a pretty good pace (for me, at least). My first goal was to beat my previous PR, which wasn’t difficult since I’m now in much better shape, and my secondary goal was to keep my overall page under 12 minutes per mile. I did both – I came in at 37:18, beating my previous PR by almost a full minute, and with an average pace of 11:48 per mile. The second mile was actually the slowest (I can see mile splits now that I have a fancy-pants Garmin Forerunner), which is great because it means I saved plenty of gas for the end of the race.
I still don’t know what was wrong with my shoulder, maybe I just slept on it funny? My body has a interesting way of telling me when to take it easy…like when I had Bell’s Palsy a few years ago…
base building week four
Monday – 45 minutes elliptical
Tuesday – ran 2.5 miles
Wednesday – ran 3 miles
Thursday – rest
Friday – rest
Saturday- rest
Sunday – ran 5K (3.1 miles)
Mileage total for the week – 8.6
Friday, 4/20/12
breakfast – smoothie (banana, blueberries, 2 Tbs rolled oats, hemp protein powder, 1 date, spinach, almond milk)
AM snack – orange Emergen-C, apple, 6 almonds, coffee with vanilla soy creamer
lunch – Indonesian Vegetable & Tofu Scramble, chile-lime roasted sweet potatoes
PM snack – 5 cups plain popcorn
dinner – Barbecue Pinto Beans & Portobello, coleslaw pasta salad, chocolate chip cookie, 12 oz MGD 64, 12 oz light beer, 6 oz red wine
daily points used: 28
weekly points used: 17
Saturday, 4/21/12
breakfast – smoothie (banana, strawberries, mango, kiwi, rolled oats, orange juice, Vega One, spinach), coffee with hazelnut coconut creamer
lunch – salad (leaf lettuce, broccoli, carrots, bell pepper, 1/2 cup chickpeas, 2 Tbs goddess dressing, bacon flavored chips)
dinner/baseball game – buffalo tofu sandwich on a wheat bun with lettuce, tomato and Sanctuary dressing, carrot & celery sticks, 1 oz ruffles potato chips, 12 oz MGD 64, 36 oz light beer, 6 oz red wine
daily points used: 28
weekly points used: 22
Sunday, 4/22/12
breakfast – half a sprouted wheat English muffin with 1 Tbs each almond butter with roasted flaxseeds & blueberry preserves, iced coffee with soymilk
AM snack – smoothie (banana, cherries, hemp protein powder, sprouted chia powder, maca powder, pomegranate juice)
lunch – chickpea salad (red onion, celery, relish, reduced fat Vegenaise) on a low carb tortilla with lettuce & tomato, carrot sticks
PM snack – cantaloupe, multigrain pretzel nuggets
dinner – baked beans, coleslaw pasta salad, 10oz red wine
daily points used: 28
weekly points used: 6
non-existent points used: 4
The Vegan Weight Watcher 
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