Why I Run

I decided that today I would make a list of reasons why I run, because I think sometimes I need a little reminder. I got up at 4:30am today so that I could get in an "easy 3 miles". But, as luck would have it, it was anything but easy. I was tired, my left shin was bothering me, and the blisters I ended up with after a wet 5K on Saturday and a long 7 miler on Sunday decided to re-appear. Ironically, my stress fracture seems to be much better, and isn't really causing any problems for me right now. But I felt very tired, and it was just a slow, uninspiring run. I cut it short to two miles and did some weights instead. Not too big of a deal, since I had a two mile run scheduled this week anyway, but I just felt like I couldn't go any farther, which kind of sucks when the long range goal is 13.1. I know that I am still easing my way back after my injury, but I can't help but feel disappointed and a little bit concerned that I have taken on something I can't do. Anyway, back to the reasons why I run:

I run for my health. Running helped me lose 17 lbs & I have never felt better. I want to be as fit as possible.

I run for the challenge. Hey, running is hard, and who doesn't love a good challenge?

I run to reach goals. I love the feeling of running faster & further. I'm very competitive, if only with myself.

I run for the fun of it. Let's face it, the Turkey Trot is hilarious, and even more so now that I don't hate it.

I wouldn't say that I LOVE to run, but I don't HATE it anymore either. I hate when it doesn't go well, like today, but I had some great runs last week that reminded me why I do this. I know I will have some better runs coming up and some bad ones along the way too. That's what it's all about, right?

A Fantastic Run

I am definitely back! I have run the last 3 out of 4 days and I feel really good. No pain, other than from the bruise on top of my foot. I have been feeling great during my runs, with lots of energy. I am still keeping my mileage down, just to make sure I don't come back too fast. Yesterday I did 2 miles, at a 10:30 pace, which is my fastest training run ever! Not only that, it is only 2 seconds slower than my best race! So with a a 5K on tap for Saturday, I have to admit I am feeling very excited. I feel like I should be able to PR with no problem, provided that it isn't a snowstorm again and the roads are clear. It is so nice to run pain-free- hopefully it lasts!

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!