What it isn’t!

Tuesday after work I suited up and tossed on my new Glycerin’s for a test run.  But sadly the run wasn’t to be.  I took about 5 steps and realized the my right shin is still too painful to run on.  It’s causing a limp that’s really pronounced and majorly annoying.  So I decided that after almost 3 weeks of very little running due to the pain, it was time to call the doctor.  I just feel like it’s not healing up very quickly and it’s time to see the doctor.

Some how, against all the odds, I managed to get a doctor’s appointment with my doctor yesterday after work.  The doctor was running about 40 minutes behind schedule when I got there but I decided to wait to see her because of the “super” storm that is supposed to arrive today (so far very disappointing as far as storms go).  After talking to the doctor she sent me for x-rays because she was concerned that it might be a stress fracture.  I was sure it wasn’t for no reason other than I didn’t want it to be that.  And it wasn’t.  The x-rays showed no evidence of a fracture.  Thank you power of positive thinking.  She’s sending me back to the sports medicine doctor and expects him to send me to physical therapy.  Yay.  Not.

I don’t know what it is about physical therapy but it makes me cringe.  I don’t know why other than the fact that I’m extremely lazy and I don’t want to do the work they want me to do.  But I’m going to suck it up and go.  I don’t have an appointment yet but I’m hoping for next week.  In the mean time it’s ice, rest and stretching.  But I guess that I shouldn’t complain since it’s just shin splints and not a fracture.  But I’m tired of being injured this year.  I just want to run.

I think it should be illegal to have brand new running shoes when your injured.  It’s pure torture to know they’re there and not be able to use them.  Soon, my pretties, soon.

Have you every been injured?

How did you deal with not being able to run?

My most recent race was on November 22 and it did not go well…not at all.  Despite the amazing California weather we’d been having that Saturday dawned cold, rainy and very windy.  I don’t know what the wind speed was but it was enough to rock my car while I was on my way to the race.  It took me over 2 and half hours to finish but I did finish.  I thought several times about just giving up (ususally while running with a headwind).  It was horrible.  Enough said.

This is the face of someone who is very miserable in the first couple of miles.

I’ve sat at home and thought about what I wanted to say about this race and other than saying that it was horrible, I couldn’t come up with a single positive thing about it.  I didn’t like the course, I hated that the pacers weren’t marked as to what pace they were running and I hated the weather.  It just wasn’t a good race.  The only up I could think of was that I didn’t quit and I finished.

I’m only smiling becuase I’m done and my mom is standing right at the end of the chute.

So now I’m without a training plan and no race in sight.  This race was so horrible that I’ve been considering whether or not I want to run half marathons at all anymore.  Not to mention the injuries.  Pulled groin, shin splints and weird aches and pains.  It’s been a hell of year.

For the month of December I will not have a training plan.  I’m running what I want when I want.  It’s December 5th and I’ve only run 7 miles this month.  My shins are still bothering me and I really want to take some time off from running to heal without taking any real time off.  For now it’s a wait and see type thing.

Hit the Road, Jack…

After deciding that I would attempt a road run for a possible half marathon in November, I hit the road for a run bright and early on Saturday morning…well, not bright since it was 5:45 in the morning and the sun wasn’t even up yet.

I did two laps around my neighborhood before I decided to venture out where there were less lights.  The plan was just to run and see how it felt.  I was seriously worried about being in pain but other than some pain in one of my glutes, I felt good.  It was hot out and as I always do with heat, I struggled.  But I managed to complete a full 5 miles without walking, even if they were slow miles.  But long runs are supposed to be slow so it wasn’t too horriable…or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

11:09 average pace.  It felt so slow since I’ve been running 9:30 or less on the treadmill.  Treadmill running is so much easier than running outside.  But the good news is that I know it doesn’t hurt so this week I’ll be able to pick up the pace.

Now I just have to find a balance between running on the road and hitting the gym.  It’s not something I’ve ever had to do before since I haven’t had a gym membership in more than 10 years.

So with what is now Week 1 of Half Marathon Training in the books, here’s the recap:

Monday:  (Treadmill) 3.5 miles, 9:25 pace for 32:59

Tuesday: (Treadmill)  Walk, various inclines for 62 minutes

Wednesday:  (Treadmill) 3.5 miles, 9:27 pace for 33:06

Thursday:  Rest Day

Friday: (Treadmill) 3.5 Miles, 9:17 pace for 32:29

Saturday:  (Road) 5.00 miles, 11:09 pace for 55:48

Sunday:  (Treadmill) 3.12 miles, 9:37 pace for 29:59

The Best Laid Plans and All That…

You know how they say that while you’re making plans, God is laughing? Or at least something like that?  Originally I had planned to run a 8 mile race (Rock the 80’s) in less than two weeks as part of my training plan for my next half marathon (Folsom Blues Breakout in October).  But with the groin pull all that (and as an added bonus my half I was supposed to run in May) went out the window.  Sorry paid fees, you’re gone.  Sorry 10 mile easy runs, you’re gone too.  Sorry endurance and outside runs, bye-bye.

It’s been 4 months since I got hurt at my last race, which was still an awesome race and I’d totally do it again but this time without the injury.  I’m feeling amazing but my confidence has been shaken.  I use a lot of negatives and past tense when I talk about my running.  I used to run half marathons, I used to run outside.  I remember running 10 miles like it was no big deal.  Negatives, negatives, negatives.

But lately, the last week or so, I’ve been turning my thoughts forward.  I’m feeling amazing but I still haven’t run outside so that leaves a lot of doubts about what I can and can’t do.  The half I’d planned to run next month is not going to happen.  That’s a fact.  I just don’t have enough time to train the way I like to.  And I’m not willing to push it and get hurt more/again.

So now I’m turning my thoughts to November, specifically the 2014 Davis Turkey Trot (1/2 Marathon).  It’s far enough out that I could start with my long run this Saturday with only 4 miles.  Now here’s where my confidence is rocky.  I’d need to run outside, on the road, like a real person does when training.  It means stepping away from the treadmill where I know I can run 99.5% pain-free and putting myself out there.

The last time I ran outside was 8 weeks after my injury and I was in so much pain that I could barely make a mile and then it was a 13 minutes or so pace.  I’ll be honest with you and myself…I’m scared.  I’m scared it will hurt.  I’m scared I won’t be able to do it.  I’m scared I’ll have to walk.  I’m scared people will see me.  I’m scared.  I have a nice safe gym membership until the middle of October and by then it’ll be dark.  Dark is like a blanket.  No one will see me fail and I can fail in private.

Fail in private?  Really?  Wow, I’m defeating myself already.  I’m basically saying that I can’t do it.  That’s terrible.  I’ve never been that kind of girl.  I’ve always been the type that when you say, “Girls don’t do…,”  I do whatever it is that girls don’t do!  And never tell me not do something or say that I can’t because I will.  And let’s face it.  I’m going to have to face running outside, in public, on the ground at some point.  My gym membership is going to end and then it’s face the music.  So I think I’m going to tackle this one straight on.  Saturday will be an outside run.  I will have to get up early so I can run before it get’s hot but it’ll be worth it.

Pro’s and Con’s list for running outside:

• Pro:  It’s outside
• Con:  It’s outside!
• Pro:  Wind in my face
• Con:  People will see me!
• Pro:  Interesting scenery
• Con:  Might be painful
• Pro:  If it hurts, I can go back to the gym
• Pro:  It’s not boring
• Pro:  Checking out new neighborhoods
• Pro:  The sun on my face
• Pro:  Crunchy leaves
• Pro:  The park
• Pro:  Trails
• Pro:  Weather of all kinds, except wind
• Con:  Wind

I think the pros out weigh the cons.  This Saturday is do or die.  Outside run at 6am!  Be there…or be inside at the gym…

Monday Weekly Recap…

It’s Monday…again.  Yay?  The start of the new work week is my favorite time to look back at the previous week and see how training/recovery went.  As a side note, I think it’s almost time for me to drop the “injury recovery” from my vocabulary.  I’m feeling awesome and have very little soreness before, during and after my runs.

Recap:

Monday:  3.1 miles, 9:58 pace

Tuesday:  Walked on the treadmill at various inclines

Wednesday:  3.10 miles, 9:37 pace

Thursday:  No gym, no run rest day.  Ran errands with the family.

Friday:  3.11 miles, 9:38 pace

Saturday:  Walked on the treadmill, 5% incline

Sunday:  5.96 miles, 10:24 pace – progress intervals:  5 min warm up, 15 min run, 2 min walk, 17 min run, 2 min walk, 19 min run, 2 min walk.

Sunday’s run may have ended like this:

And I may have gotten a little sunburned but it was totally worth it!

It was a weird day…

Yesterday was a weird day.  I went to work as normal, started my day, took my breaks, ate lunch…the normal stuff.  But I had to leave early to take hubby to the doctor’s office to have an upper GI done.  Since they knock you out for this, he needed a driver so my main job was to hang out in the waiting room and then drive him home.  No biggie – for me.  But since his appointment was at 3:30 it meant that I had to get my run in before.

I left work at 1:30 to head to the gym.  It was so weird being there during the day like that.  I felt like the only people in the gym at that time of day are people without jobs.  Or as my hubby pointed out, people who work nights, shift work…ok I get it.  Plus it might have been people who were working out on their lunch breaks.  Judgement rescinded.  Thanks dear.

But that’s not the weird part and I totally regret not getting a picture of it but while I was at the gym working out, the local PD was putting the Rite Aid in lock down.  I don’t know what was going on but I suspect by the show of local law enforcement that they may have gotten robbed because there were a lot of cops and they had the parking lot shut off.  I’d noticed a lot of cops in the parking lot was I was on the treadmill but I didn’t realize that it was like that until I was leaving.  Fortunately the Rite Aid is at the other end of the parking lot and I was able to leave no problem but man howdy, there were a lot of cops there.  I’m pretty sure it was all of the local PD and a few state cops also.  I really need a police scanner.

Since my time for working out yesterday was under a serious time restriction, I somehow managed to pull out a sub-30 5k.  I’m pretty sure I was jumping up and down.

What dreams have you been pursuing? – Sub-30 5k

Have any of your dreams come true lately? – Yep!  Sub-30 5k!

What’s your next dream?  – I don’t know, I never really thought I might be able to do this one.  But I guess it would be getting back to road running and completing a sub-30 5k on the road.

New Month, New Chances for Progress

The first run of the month is in the books.  

Ran a 5k this morning without head phones.  It was torture.  Got to the gym and discovered that my Bluetooth headphones had no juice.  It made for a tough run but I got it done. First run for the month of September is in the books.

August Run Summary:
Total miles run: 72
Average run distance: 5.13
Average Pace: 11:26
Best 5k: 30:04

Overall it was good month. There were a few set backs over the course of the month but over all it was forward progress in some way.

Woe is Me…Treadmill Runs

Treadmill, treadmill, treadmill.  You know what I’m sick of?  The treadmill.  You know what keeps me coming back to the treadmill?  Being able to run.  I haven’t tried running outside since I joined the gym but I’m ready to back outside.  I miss fresh air, I miss keeping tabs on the goings on in my neighborhood.  I miss scenery.  But I’m not there yet.  Soon, my pretty!  Soon!

So after taking Tuesday off from the gym, I woke up yesterday morning (late again but that’s a different story) full of energy and more like myself than I have been in a while.  I increased my intervals on Monday to 13:2 x’s 3, 8:2 x’s 1 with 5 min warm up and 2 minute cool down.  I’m back in the 10/11 minute range including the walking.  And I’m feeling really good about it.

I hit the foam roller hard last night after my run.  I might have screeched a little bit when I hit a couple of really tight areas.  I’m pretty  sure I sweated it up more rolling then I did on my run but I’m feeling much looser today than I have been.  Stupid hip flexors have been really tight.

Magg lent her support during the rolling by letting me know that unless she can sit on my stomach, she finds foam rolling to be such a bore.  Yawn.

What’s awesome this week:

• Rest days
• Library books
• lasagna
• A clean house

What’s awesome for you this week?

What I Think About When I Think About Quiting…

Last week was a tough week in life but a great week in running.  My runs were faster, longer and harder in a good way but life was exhausting.  After napping quite a bit on Saturday and a little on Sunday I felt like I’d gained some ground and was almost level again energy wise.  Sunday’s run was a little slower than the runs earlier in the week but honestly, I wanted to conserve some of that new-found energy.

Monday…woke up late for work.  Barely had time for a shower and breakfast and definitely didn’t have time to do my hair.  So I bunned it and did the best I could do.  Got through work and headed to the gym.  It should have been an easy workout with just walking on the treadmill at an incline but I decided that I would go ahead and do Tuesdays planned workout which included adding an additional minute of run time to each interval and decreasing the walk sections by a minute.

I won’t lie.  It was tough.  It was the kind of run where you wonder why you do this, why are you torturing yourself.  It wasn’t that I was running too fast or that the additional minute was too much.  It was that I’ve been pushing too hard.  I’m not ready for back to back runs.  They take too much out of me right now.

When I got up this morning, after tossing and turning all night and not being able to get comfortable, both my legs hurt.  My thighs were tight, my groin was sore and even under my butt check on the pulled goin side was sore.  TMI, sorry.  Not to mention my ankle.  My left ankle has been compensation for my injury and is screaming for relief.  It hurts.  Rotate my ankle at all and it’s crying.

I know that I pushed myself way too far yesterday and today I’m paying the price.  I’m so tired that I didn’t really wake up until 10:45…and I started work at 7am.  I’ve drank an entire pot of coffee by myself.  And I’m still drinking it now.  Normally by this time of day, I’m finishing up my 11k steps for the day but today, I’m not even at 40%.  And the last time I had a full rest day with no gym at all was almost 2 weeks ago.

I think it’s time to pull the plug and take a full rest day.  Hello Tuesday rest day.  Not nearly as fun as Sunday Run day but it’ll do pig, it’ll do.

Yesterday was wear your KT Tape to work day.  Did you wear yours?  Mine was the ever fashionable KT Pro in Pink, applied last Wednesday.  As a side note, I’d like to say that yes I did wear shoes work and yes I walk around my office without them all the time.  I will blame my hippy mother for that one.  I’d also like to note those muscley calves.  Wooo baby!

Truth.

Running Recap…

Typed a whole lovely post this morning and poof, gone.  Grrrr.  So here it is in a nutshell since I don’t have the patience to do it all over again.

Weekly Workout Recap:

Monday:  5.48 miles at 11:19 pace

Tuesday:  62 minute walk on the treadmill at various inclines

Wednesday:  5.58 miles at 11:07 pace

Thursday:  62 minute walk on the treadmill at various inclines

Friday:  5.69 Miles at 10:54 pace

Saturday:  62 minute walk on the treadmill at various inclines

Sunday:  5.58 miles at 11:07 pace

 

I looked just like this, wild hair, tutu…no boots but you get the idea. Running an 11 minute mile is nothing amazing or out of this world or record shattering for most people but for me and my recovery this is awesome!!