On My Way Back

I ended up resting for nearly two weeks due to pain from my metatarsal stress fracture. I did ride my bike, do the elliptical and also lift weights, but it wasn't quite the same. I felt ready to run on Wednesday, until one of my dogs decided to bite my foot. Yes, that foot, in the same damn spot. Go figure. Fortunately, the spot where she broke the skin is on the side of my foot, and the top is just bruised, so it wasn't as bad as I initially thought. By Saturday, I couldn't wait any longer and I decided to do a test run of a mile. Well, it went pretty well so I decided to do two. I went back and forth today about what to do and I ended up running 3 miles. The first 1.5 didn't go great, I felt very blah and sluggish. I was wearing my old Brooks and I decided to take a half hour bike "break". I gave myself a pep talk while on the bike. When I finished that, I went in a changed into my Newtons. The next 1.5 miles went off beautifully. A little bit of "discomfort" shall we say, but not really pain. I am aware of that foot, whereas the left one I am not. But I think as long as I ice, elevate and don't overdo it, I should be ok. I intend to take this week fairly easy- I am going to do a couple of easy runs, 2 or 3 miles each and then a 5K on Saturday (with no crazy expectations, just good old running fun). After that, I will re-evaluate and see if I can start adding back in some speed work and long runs.

To Run or Not to Run...

I am faced with a dilemma. I went to the podiatrist to figure out what's going on with my right foot. I had a feeling all along about it, and unfortunately I was correct. I have a stress fracture in mt foot. Crap!! Looking back at my blog, I was complaining about the same issue before Thanksgiving. I am guessing it started then, but I rested a bit and it must have healed, and happened again a couple of weeks ago. He said it has started healing (apparently they don't show up on an xray until that starts to happen). He was surprised that I have continued to run through it, but as I explained to him, I have a goal in mind, and when I am determined, I don't let a lot of things stand in my way. I also have what I consider to be a high threshold for pain. So anyway, he basically told me that I can keep running, but that I need to reduce my mileage and wear a more heavily padded sneaker. I also shouldn't wear heels while it is healing, which isn't a huge issue for me. I also have a nice painkiller/anti-inflammatory to take. I can do all of those things- I even have a decent pair of Brooks Glycerines that I was fitted for about a year or so ago, which haven't been used much. But everything I read on the Internet tells me not to run at all, that I can do more damage and end up with a break. The last thing I want is to make things worse. I can deal with missing a couple of weeks of running- I can easily hop on the bike or the elliptical, maybe take a swim in the pool. But more than that and I can forget about the half marathon in May. After I saw him I had myself pretty well convinced that I could drop it down to two runs a week instead of four. Now I am not sure that I should run at all. I go back in 3 weeks to see how things are, and if it isn't better, I may end up having to wear a removable boot, which at that point I imagine running will be out of the question. So it seems logical to me to rest for the next week (or 2 or even 3), get in some cross-training and hope that it heals quickly. That would still give me 11 weeks to train. Plus some programs I have looked at max out the long run at 10 miles. I've already hit 6.5 and I would hope that I could still do that even if I took some time off, as long as I keep up the other cardio workouts.

A Successful Week

I had planned to take a few days off this week and save my runs for later in the week due to my nagging right foot pain. I was hoping that some rest would solve whatever the issue is. I did some cross training on the bike Monday and Tuesday, as that didn't bother my foot much and I wanted to get some activity in. Plus I am hoping to improve my performance on the bike, as I am considering doing some rides this summer. I took Wednesday off since I had plans with friends and ended up taking Thursday off too due to a nasty headache. But, I got myself up early on Friday morning to get my 3 miles in at the indoor track. Yes, it was very cold and very snowy but I made it there and had a great tempo run- in fact, it was my fastest training run ever. Maybe running at 5:30am isn't all that bad. The unfortunate thing is that my foot didn't feel any better. Not worse, but definitely not better as I had hoped and expected after 4 days of rest. I actually have an appointment with a podiatrist in a couple of weeks to see if they can figure out what the issue is and how to make it go away. Saturday I did my long run- 6.5 miles, which is the longest I have ever run. It went pretty well and I was happy to see that it took me 1 hr and 15 min... this means that my goal of completing a half marathon in less than 2 1/2 hours is possible. I am halfway to a half! And today, I had an easy 2 miles to complete, which was just that- easy. It's nice to be able to say that.

This week is going to be interesting. I have four runs scheduled. In fact, I think I have four runs every week until May to get ready for the half marathon, which I registered for yesterday. I can easily do two on the weekend, as my husband runs both weekend days as well. It's the two during the week that can sometimes challenge me. I have plans for two nights this week and I need a rest day tomorrow. So, I decided to do one on Tuesday night and one on Thursday morning. A morning run is the only way I can work it this week, and so be it. We are toying with doing the Penguin Run 5K on Saturday, but if the roads are like they were for the 5K last weekend, I will be running that at the gym instead!

Everyone Has a Bad Race Sometimes

Everyone has a bad race sometimes.... this is what I needed to learn this weekend. Since I started running this past summer, each 5K I have run has gotten progressively faster. The Snowball Run 5K was this past Saturday and I really thought about not doing it. It was snowing like crazy and I figured the roads we were running on would be snow covered. On top of that, my right foot has been bothering me again and I wasn't sure how it would go. But, when the time came to get dressed, I decided to soldier on. I probably should've stayed in bed. There were not a lot of people there, so naturally my fear of being DFL (dead f****** last) crept up. Looking around me, I felt like it would be close. The first quarter mile was ok, but then all of a sudden we turned into a nasty wind. I found myself inhaling snow. I tried putting my neckwarmer over my mouth, but then my sunglasses fogged up and I couldn't see. If I took off my sunglasses, I had snowflakes in my eyes. It was not good. We were running on side streets, which had not been plowed, so it was like running through quicksand (or what I imagine that to be like). My legs were burning pretty early on and it was just ugly. No matter what I did, I couldn't go any faster. I even tried "skating". At the halfway point, I knew it was just a matter of finishing. I saw my husband jogging towards me at the 2.5 mile point and I was ready to go right to the car, but he pushed me to finish. It was the worst race I have run since the summer. It was not as bad as my first couple, and as he pointed out, those were run in perfect conditions. So I suppose it is a testament to me getting stronger. It also helped to read someone else's blog who ran this race too, and she said it was the worst conditions she had raced in, so that makes me feel somewhat better too. Oh, and I wasn't last :) I may have been beaten by people I felt I should have been able to pass, but I wasn't last.  

On Sunday, I had a 6 miler scheduled. With it being so cold and miserable, I had no choice but to run inside. I thought about shortening my run, as I was feeling pretty dejected from the day before and my foot was pretty sore. I managed to do 3 on the treadmill while watching a movie on my phone. Once I decided I had enough of the treadmill, I went to the indoor track. I ended up running the remaining 3 miles. The last mile or so was pretty tough, as my foot was really hurting. I probably should have stopped but now I felt like I was on a mission to prove that I can run. I finished my 6 miles within 3 seconds of my goal pace, so I am pleased with that.

Unfortunately, my foot went from bad to worse. I'm not sure exactly what's going on- I suspect it's more overuse pain. I have been icing it and I am staying off of it for at least the next three days. I have three scheduled runs that I can get in even if I wait until Thursday. If need be, I will skip one. It isn't worth making my foot worse at this point. So I will get in some cross-training and keep the pressure off of my foot.

Back on Track

I had to make some adjustments to my schedule this week, due to some soreness in me left calf. It was something that had come up back in November, disappeared and then reared its' ugly head on Tuesday. I had a decent run on Tuesday, but had to sit down in the middle to massage my calf. Still, I completed my run and faster than scheduled. I decided to take the next three days off to rest my leg. I couldn't tell what was going on but I was concerned that the calf pain was actually shin splints, as I almost felt like I had a bruise on my shin. I moved my tempo run to the weekend and eliminated a cross-training workout. My run today was scheduled to be 5.75 miles. It was so cold outside and snowing on top of it, so I decided to run at the indoor track. It went really well today- I felt great most of the time. The last mile was tough, but I got through it and completed my run about 9 sec/mile faster than my target pace. I decided to do some weights afterwards since I felt good and had rested for the past three days. On tap for tomorrow is my rescheduled tempo run. I am not super excited about it- I find tempo runs to be the most difficult. But it's an important part of my training, so onward I will go!

New Year, New Challenges

Now that January is here, I am even more focused on my half-marathon training. My plan is to run the Rochester Flower City Half Marathon on May 1st. I have 17 weeks, which is a bit longer than most training plans call for, but my husband designed a plan for me to continue what I have been doing all along. The idea is to get me up to running 24 mile weeks, with a long run of 12 miles, by mid-April. When I started this, I was running 5-6 miles per week, and right now I am at about 12-13, with my longest run at 6 miles. In addition to my 3-4 runs/week, I am also going to continue to cross train and do some strength training, twice a week. These elements are really important, and it seems like all of the blogs I have been reading mention that this is a goal that has not been attained, so I feel like it is something I really need to pay attention to. This will give me 1 or 2 rest days each week, but depending on how things go I may re-evaluate. The last thing I want to do is burn out!

Another new challenge for me has to do with nutrition. I am a fairly healthy eater most of the time, but this past week at home has been difficult. Too much chocolate, meat, alcohol and whatever else. I can feel it affecting my running too- today I ran 3.5 miles, but this was after breakfast out (a buffet, no less- bacon, eggs, french toast, cookies). I completely understand what it means to suck wind after today. I completed the mileage, but it was painfully slow. I have not been having nearly enough fruit, veggies and water. I am back on track tomorrow, as I head back to work. In addition, my husband and I decided that we are going to try out some new (and maybe some old favorite) recipes. I will cook on Friday night and he will cook on Saturday night. The plan is to try to new and healthy meals to add to our repertoire. The other part of this is that we are trying to save money for a big vacation in March, and the way we plan to do this is by cutting out a lot of the extras we have been indulging on, like eating out and shopping. I think we have a good plan and I know we can stick to it if we try really hard.

Where I've Been and Where I'm Going

Since it's New Year's Eve, I feel obligated to write about what I've done and what I am looking forward to. First of all, I have to thank my husband for his persistence. If it weren't for the random day in August when he came home from working out of town and asked me why I wasn't working out, I might not be writing this right now. I didn't really have a good reason, as I had already done couch to 5K. I just didn't get any further than that, and kind of gave up all together. So, the next morning while he was getting ready for a run, I asked him to wait for me. And I went out and ran 3 miles. I haven't stopped since then. In the past 3 1/2 months, I've managed to run 157 miles. That's not really a lot, but for a non-runner-turned-runner, I feel pretty good about that. I've done six 5Ks and two 8Ks. I have consistently gotten faster with each 5K race. 3 miles is no longer a chore for me- it's actually pretty easy now. And this is only since August.I have been adding mileage so that I am running longer distances. Today I ran 5 1/2 miles without stopping- I never did that before. I've lost 16 lbs, and gained muscle and strength. I love shopping again and love the way my clothes look. Running is of course only partially responsible for this- a good diet is a big part as well.

So where am I going? I have a few more races on tap for the coming winter months. Just trying to beat myself each time. I don't care about the other people around me, other than that there needs to be someone slower than me. I want to run a sub 30 minute 5K. Not going to be easy, as I would need to run under a ten minute mile, and I have only done that once, for one mile. I am also getting ready to start seriously training for a half marathon. All of these training run have been getting me closer to that point. My plan is to run my first one in Rochester on May 1st. My goal: just finish, however long that may take me. If it goes decently well, I will plan to run the Buffalo half later that month, and eventually I want to finish under 2:30. Not speedy by any means, but again, for a non-runner turned runner, not an easy task. I want to stick with it. I've invested a lot of time and money into running, and I have no plans to stop any time soon. I'm happy with how far I have come and intend to take this as far as I can.