An update on my foot. Well, the pain hasn't gone away. It's basically the same as it has been for the last week. Slightly better than the first day I had it, but not gone away like I'd hoped. I haven't run now for a week and a half, which really sucks. I really don't want to get behind on my training, but if it turns out that this is a stress fracture, then I really do need to stay off the foot until it is healed.
The bright side is that my half marathon is still one month away, so there is time to get back up to speed. But only if I finish healing, like...now.
The frustrating thing for me right now is that the foot specialist my coach recommended can't see me for two weeks, which is ridiculous. I have an injury now, not in two weeks. I suppose next time I should plan my injury in advance when the guy is available. Can you tell I'm pissed off?
Anyway, all I can do right now is stay off the foot as much as possible. So no running. I still need my foot to get to and from work, and to move around while at work. A pair of crutches might help me keep the weight off it, but again, not until I can see a doctor. I'm going to try swimming to keep in cardiovascular shape in the meantime. Tomorrow will be my first opportunity to try it out. I hope it works out.
Ugh!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Pain in my foot
Just in case anyone's wondering why I haven't updated my blog since Saturday, it's because I haven't run since then.
I've had two pains in my right foot - one in my heel and one where my little toe meets my foot. Same pain both places. Dull pain when I put weight on it, especially barefoot. It's not gone down much in the last few days, and I'm not even sure I'm going to run tomorrow morning, though I really really want to. We'll see.
My coach didn't think it was anything serious a couple days ago, though I'm going to update her today and see what she says.
Very frustrating.
I've had two pains in my right foot - one in my heel and one where my little toe meets my foot. Same pain both places. Dull pain when I put weight on it, especially barefoot. It's not gone down much in the last few days, and I'm not even sure I'm going to run tomorrow morning, though I really really want to. We'll see.
My coach didn't think it was anything serious a couple days ago, though I'm going to update her today and see what she says.
Very frustrating.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday morning 9-miler
Statistics:
Distance: 9 miles
Time: unknown*
Observations:
Well, I'm glad we get started at 6:30 AM, because it's supposed to get up to 90 today. Our path today took us south down the lakefront path from North Ave. almost to Soldier Field, and back. It's a nice, scenic route right along the lake for sections, but also a lot less shady than the northbound path we'd been taking on previous weeks. I went through a lot of water and Gatorade today, but finished ok. I was definitely more spent today than I was for the Soldier Field 10-miler a few weeks ago.
The path itself is more narrow than the one we'd been taking, and it's bounded often by rails and walls, so we had to go single file for several sections and were on our toes for other runners and bikers. But all in all, it wasn't too difficult to negotiate the people.
Definitely glad it's over, though. I'm gonna eat some jambalaya and rest for a while.
*BTW, for some reason my GPS couldn't get a fix on the satellites. I guess the skies were just TOO clear. ;) So it only recorded a little over 6 miles of our run. I think it missed the first 3 miles, but you can still see the full length of the route on the map since it caught the entire return trip.
Next:
Monday - 45 minutes
Distance: 9 miles
Time: unknown*
Observations:
Well, I'm glad we get started at 6:30 AM, because it's supposed to get up to 90 today. Our path today took us south down the lakefront path from North Ave. almost to Soldier Field, and back. It's a nice, scenic route right along the lake for sections, but also a lot less shady than the northbound path we'd been taking on previous weeks. I went through a lot of water and Gatorade today, but finished ok. I was definitely more spent today than I was for the Soldier Field 10-miler a few weeks ago.
The path itself is more narrow than the one we'd been taking, and it's bounded often by rails and walls, so we had to go single file for several sections and were on our toes for other runners and bikers. But all in all, it wasn't too difficult to negotiate the people.
Definitely glad it's over, though. I'm gonna eat some jambalaya and rest for a while.
*BTW, for some reason my GPS couldn't get a fix on the satellites. I guess the skies were just TOO clear. ;) So it only recorded a little over 6 miles of our run. I think it missed the first 3 miles, but you can still see the full length of the route on the map since it caught the entire return trip.
Next:
Monday - 45 minutes
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
45-minute "easy" run
Statistics:
Distance: 4.3 miles
Time: 45:22
Observations:
Our group run tonight was supposed to be 45 minutes at whatever your long run pace is. If you do the math, you'll see that I did more of a 10:30 pace than 11:00. But, the good news is that I was pretty consistent. I ran 22:30 out, then turned around, came back, and stopped my recording. It took me about 10 seconds to actually turn off my recording, so I was pretty good at keeping the same pace on the second half of the run.
The odd thing is that I was more tired after this run than I was on Saturday after running 8 miles. I'm going to attribute that to going through a full day of work. Even if my job isn't very physical, it takes energy out of you.
Anyway, that's all for today. I'm hungry, and the water's boiling for my spaghetti.
Next:
Saturday - 9 miles
Distance: 4.3 miles
Time: 45:22
Observations:
Our group run tonight was supposed to be 45 minutes at whatever your long run pace is. If you do the math, you'll see that I did more of a 10:30 pace than 11:00. But, the good news is that I was pretty consistent. I ran 22:30 out, then turned around, came back, and stopped my recording. It took me about 10 seconds to actually turn off my recording, so I was pretty good at keeping the same pace on the second half of the run.
The odd thing is that I was more tired after this run than I was on Saturday after running 8 miles. I'm going to attribute that to going through a full day of work. Even if my job isn't very physical, it takes energy out of you.
Anyway, that's all for today. I'm hungry, and the water's boiling for my spaghetti.
Next:
Saturday - 9 miles
Monday, June 14, 2010
Extra, extra!
I don't have a scale at home, and I generally don't keep close track of my weight. However, while at a friend's house this weekend, I used his scale and weighed myself to find that I actually weigh five pounds more than I did when I started running/working out this year.
I don't feel like I'm eating more, and I'm certainly burning more calories with all the running, and yet I gained five pounds. I'm kind of hoping that it's because I'm adding muscle while reducing fat. Muscle is more dense than fat, so if I'm trading one for the other, I could gain weight from that.
Still, kind of disheartening.
On top of that, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to run tonight. My legs are still somewhat sore from Saturday morning's run, and running too soon is just going to prolong recovery. On the other hand, I can't be skipping my Monday run every week, can I? Maybe I can get into the habit of swimming at the gym instead of running on Monday, so I still get my cardio done but without the impact that running is causing to my legs. That might be the best thing to do.
I don't feel like I'm eating more, and I'm certainly burning more calories with all the running, and yet I gained five pounds. I'm kind of hoping that it's because I'm adding muscle while reducing fat. Muscle is more dense than fat, so if I'm trading one for the other, I could gain weight from that.
Still, kind of disheartening.
On top of that, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to run tonight. My legs are still somewhat sore from Saturday morning's run, and running too soon is just going to prolong recovery. On the other hand, I can't be skipping my Monday run every week, can I? Maybe I can get into the habit of swimming at the gym instead of running on Monday, so I still get my cardio done but without the impact that running is causing to my legs. That might be the best thing to do.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Muggy run, but done
Statistics:
Distance: 8 miles
Time: Approx. 1:30:00*
*It looked like rain this morning, so I didn't take my gps/phone with me to track my route/time. We were on an 11-minute per mile pace, though, so figure about one hour thirty minutes.
Observations:
This was a gut-check morning for me. I went to Ribfest last night, ate yummy pork products, and drank beer. Didn't get to bed until about 12:30, and I didn't sleep well, either. So getting up at 5:30 this morning was pretty ugly. I felt like a mouse trying to push a car through molasses. Plus, the weather was 75 and very humid, the combination of which made it the most challenging weather we'd have to face yet, and I wasn't looking forward to that.
But I made it out of bed, scraped together my stuff and carted myself off to the train to get down to Old Town for the run.
The run itself started out as expected. I was sweating a lot, trying to keep my fluid intake up without running out too soon. Thankfully, Fleet Feet had a water/Gatorade station set up about 1.5 miles in to our run, so we could also top up our bottles there. Also thankfully, the weather gave us a bit of a break. It was very overcast, and looked like it was threatening rain. A breeze came up from the lake that was about 10 degrees cooler than the ambient air. It didn't last but it helped.
The path was crowded today, too. CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) started their training today, so we frequently had to contend with other groups and stay alert. Really, though, the groups aren't so much of a problem. They know path etiquette. It's the single runners, or the groups of three that take up the whole path and don't know that they should collapse down when overtaking/being overtaken by another group. Add to that mix the bikers trying to thread the needle between two packs, and it makes for a crowded path. We got through it without incident, though. Like I said, just being alert is really all there is to it.
On the plus side, the 8 miles wasn't that hard, really. Sure it took a long time, but I feel good about my pace, and can sustain it through the whole run without difficulty, which is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not going to say it's easy, because it's certainly tiring and sweaty, but neither am I destroyed at the end of the run.
Oh, and I tried the Gatorade "recovery 03" formula drink (strawbetty/kiwi flavor). It's got protein added, which would help with muscle recovery after a run. Also, it's awful! Tastes really bad. I'll stick to protein-rich food after my runs, thanks.
Next:
Monday - 45 minutes (about 4 miles probably)
Distance: 8 miles
Time: Approx. 1:30:00*
*It looked like rain this morning, so I didn't take my gps/phone with me to track my route/time. We were on an 11-minute per mile pace, though, so figure about one hour thirty minutes.
Observations:
This was a gut-check morning for me. I went to Ribfest last night, ate yummy pork products, and drank beer. Didn't get to bed until about 12:30, and I didn't sleep well, either. So getting up at 5:30 this morning was pretty ugly. I felt like a mouse trying to push a car through molasses. Plus, the weather was 75 and very humid, the combination of which made it the most challenging weather we'd have to face yet, and I wasn't looking forward to that.
But I made it out of bed, scraped together my stuff and carted myself off to the train to get down to Old Town for the run.
The run itself started out as expected. I was sweating a lot, trying to keep my fluid intake up without running out too soon. Thankfully, Fleet Feet had a water/Gatorade station set up about 1.5 miles in to our run, so we could also top up our bottles there. Also thankfully, the weather gave us a bit of a break. It was very overcast, and looked like it was threatening rain. A breeze came up from the lake that was about 10 degrees cooler than the ambient air. It didn't last but it helped.
The path was crowded today, too. CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) started their training today, so we frequently had to contend with other groups and stay alert. Really, though, the groups aren't so much of a problem. They know path etiquette. It's the single runners, or the groups of three that take up the whole path and don't know that they should collapse down when overtaking/being overtaken by another group. Add to that mix the bikers trying to thread the needle between two packs, and it makes for a crowded path. We got through it without incident, though. Like I said, just being alert is really all there is to it.
On the plus side, the 8 miles wasn't that hard, really. Sure it took a long time, but I feel good about my pace, and can sustain it through the whole run without difficulty, which is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not going to say it's easy, because it's certainly tiring and sweaty, but neither am I destroyed at the end of the run.
Oh, and I tried the Gatorade "recovery 03" formula drink (strawbetty/kiwi flavor). It's got protein added, which would help with muscle recovery after a run. Also, it's awful! Tastes really bad. I'll stick to protein-rich food after my runs, thanks.
Next:
Monday - 45 minutes (about 4 miles probably)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Chip runs, Blackhawks win!
Statistics:
Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 45:45
Observations:
After all the craziness of last night, I completely forgot to write up my run report. For those unaware, last night was the NHL finals Game 6, and if the Blackhawks won that game, they'd win the Stanley Cup!
I had my group run scheduled for 6:30, and basically the deal is you just run for the prescribed time, not any set distance. My group was supposed to do a 45-minute run. It's not as organized as the Saturday runs, where they set specific pace groups. This was just a less formal run.
So I set out following some people that seemed to be on pace with me. I didn't know anyone in the group, but I eventually partnered up with a girl named Cory that was running at my pace. So that was nice, to have someone to talk to during the run.
It was pretty hot, at about 80 degrees and sunny. I had forgotten to bring my fuel belt, and I forgot to drink any water at the start, so I had to resort to the water fountain on the course. I ended up just fine, but I'd have been in less discomfort if I'd had more water. Live and learn, I guess.
Anyway, when I get back to Fleet Feet, the Blackhawks game is on their TVs so I watched a few minutes before I met up with Jess and her friend. I hitched a ride with them back to my neighborhood to watch the rest of the game. And the Blackhawks ended up winning, so that finished out the day pretty nicely. Congrats, Hawks!
Next:
Saturday - 8 miles
Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 45:45
Observations:
After all the craziness of last night, I completely forgot to write up my run report. For those unaware, last night was the NHL finals Game 6, and if the Blackhawks won that game, they'd win the Stanley Cup!
I had my group run scheduled for 6:30, and basically the deal is you just run for the prescribed time, not any set distance. My group was supposed to do a 45-minute run. It's not as organized as the Saturday runs, where they set specific pace groups. This was just a less formal run.
So I set out following some people that seemed to be on pace with me. I didn't know anyone in the group, but I eventually partnered up with a girl named Cory that was running at my pace. So that was nice, to have someone to talk to during the run.
It was pretty hot, at about 80 degrees and sunny. I had forgotten to bring my fuel belt, and I forgot to drink any water at the start, so I had to resort to the water fountain on the course. I ended up just fine, but I'd have been in less discomfort if I'd had more water. Live and learn, I guess.
Anyway, when I get back to Fleet Feet, the Blackhawks game is on their TVs so I watched a few minutes before I met up with Jess and her friend. I hitched a ride with them back to my neighborhood to watch the rest of the game. And the Blackhawks ended up winning, so that finished out the day pretty nicely. Congrats, Hawks!
Next:
Saturday - 8 miles
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Got me a fuel belt!
Statistics:
Distance: 5 miles
Time:54:33
Observations:
I ended up not running yesterday with the group. My knees had been feeling kind of weird on Friday, so I was a little concerned about that. Plus, I ended up having to work on Saturday morning, and it was gonna be iffy if I'd be able to get home, shower, change, and get down to work in time. So I went today instead. I'd have preferred to run in the evening when it's cooler, but there's a Blackhawks game coming and I'm not missing that!
So I went out today at 11:00 instead. Weather was upper 60's, so not horribly hot, empirically, thought the sun was out, and it definitely felt hot. I picked up a new Fuel Belt this week, so today was my first day to try it out. Long story short, I like it. It feels comfortable on me, with the adjustable velcro that lets me make it just the right length. It's the 4-bottle version, which will hold four 8-ounce bottles for 32 ounces. I split them, half Gatorade and half water this time. The water was nice to have because I could splash some on my head and neck to cool down.
The good news is my legs felt fine after resting last week. No shin problems at all, and that's a big relief. So the rest did good for my legs. But I think I paid for it a bit in fatigue. Part of that is surely the heat and sun, but I think some of that was the fact that I hadn't run in 7 days (besides the 1-mile aborted attempt I made on Monday). So just for that reason, it's good to have the first run behind me so I can be back in the habit of running again.
Next:
Monday - 45 minutes easy run
Distance: 5 miles
Time:54:33
Observations:
I ended up not running yesterday with the group. My knees had been feeling kind of weird on Friday, so I was a little concerned about that. Plus, I ended up having to work on Saturday morning, and it was gonna be iffy if I'd be able to get home, shower, change, and get down to work in time. So I went today instead. I'd have preferred to run in the evening when it's cooler, but there's a Blackhawks game coming and I'm not missing that!
So I went out today at 11:00 instead. Weather was upper 60's, so not horribly hot, empirically, thought the sun was out, and it definitely felt hot. I picked up a new Fuel Belt this week, so today was my first day to try it out. Long story short, I like it. It feels comfortable on me, with the adjustable velcro that lets me make it just the right length. It's the 4-bottle version, which will hold four 8-ounce bottles for 32 ounces. I split them, half Gatorade and half water this time. The water was nice to have because I could splash some on my head and neck to cool down.
The good news is my legs felt fine after resting last week. No shin problems at all, and that's a big relief. So the rest did good for my legs. But I think I paid for it a bit in fatigue. Part of that is surely the heat and sun, but I think some of that was the fact that I hadn't run in 7 days (besides the 1-mile aborted attempt I made on Monday). So just for that reason, it's good to have the first run behind me so I can be back in the habit of running again.
Next:
Monday - 45 minutes easy run
Thursday, June 3, 2010
No running til Saturday
I checked with my running coach about the pain in my shins, and she recommended I refrain from running for a week, so I won't be running until Saturday morning's 5-mile run. The pain was most likely from not taking enough time to recover following the longer 10-mile run I did Saturday. So I just needed a few extra days to recover from that. There won't be any huge increases in mileage from here on out, so hopefully that means that recovery won't take me away from running my scheduled runs in the future.
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