Back to Racing

Exciting news - I signed up for a race! On Sunday, March 30th I will be running the inaugural Philadelphia Love Run, a half marathon. It will be my first big race since my horrible DNF at Lehigh Valley in September.

I know that I explicitly said in recent posts that I would not be racing or signing up for races anytime soon. However, something miraculous has happened in the past two weeks. I have had little to no pain on all of my runs! Something finally just clicked and I am feeling at about 95-98% most of the time.

That said, I am still being very cautious and as much as I want to jump right back into marathons, I don't think that would be very smart. So, this spring I will try out a few half marathons and maybe some 10-milers. I will save my marathon comeback for the fall.

I am unbelievably excited to be working toward a goal again, even if its just to make it to the finish line feeling okay. Plus, hopefully this will make the rest of winter fly right by and before I know it, it will be race day.

Happy running!
 

Searching for Strong Once Again

I never know how to start a post after a long hiatus. So, let's skip the pleasantries and jump right in.

I AM RUNNING.

Not a lot and not completely without pain, but it's something. About four miles every other day to be exact. I am hoping to try five miles later this week.

After an ineffective round of PT in September and October, my doctor suggested that I try ART (Active Release Technique). The first few sessions left me feeling unsure and I considered abandoning it completely (especially since my insurance didn't cover it and I was paying out of pocket each time). Low and behold though, by session four I was feeling some relief. The Friday before Thanksgiving I ran my first mile on the treadmill and have been ramping it up ever since then.

2013 was a bad year. I spent more months on the bench or recovering from injury than I did running carefree and happy. But every injury is a lesson. This time, I'm adamant about starting off slow and taking my time. Hence, I spent several weeks just running two miles at a time and then slowly added and third and now a fourth. Part of the reason I am doing this is also because, as I said, I'm not running completely painfree yet. My piriformis still flares up depending on whether I'm on the treadmill or running outside and if I've really done all of my stretches and exercises the night before. It's not carefree running, but its running.

The biggest challenge of running after a long-term injury was rediscovering my strength. After sitting out for three months I came back to find my endurance shot to hell and my running crops a little tighter than I remember. Ten minute miles felt too fast (still do) and three miles on the treadmill seemed to take forever. I am still struggling to find my strong in the New Year and still working to make sure I can run without causing more pain or damage.

I have zero racing plans for 2014. Quite frankly, I'm too nervous to sign up for anything. For now, though, I'm happy just to be able to run and hopefully this year I will be smarter than the last.

The Last Eight Weeks

Hello! It's been a while. Last time I checked in I had just DNF'd my first race and was dealing with piriformis syndrome. Sadly, eight weeks later, I am still dealing with it. No running. No sitting. You get the idea.

2013 has been a rough year, at least on the running end of things. I've been injured or slowly recovering from injury more months than not in the past 365 days. The last truly good race I ran was the Baltimore Marathon last October. It's pretty much been downhill since then and believe me, it has left me questioning what I think my body is actually capable of vs. what my mind wants it to be capable of.

In any event, at least each injury gets easier to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely bitter everytime I see someone running and I have avoided reading other running blogs at all costs. Frankly, I don't want to hear about someone else's awesome marathon recap while I'm benched for the best running weather season of the year. Still, aside from one or two days during the last eight weeks, I've been okay with not running. Or at least, I've accepted it.

Luckily, this fall has been absolutely insane between work and school and life and while I would love to be running right now, at least I'm keeping busy. Here's what I've been up to the past eight weeks:

Physical Therapy
As soon as I DNF'd that race, I called the doctor and set up some PT appointments. PT has always worked for me in the past and I felt confident we could nip this thing in the bud right away. Unfortunately, PT has not really helped at all this time around, which has been very disappointing. They even tried a fancy treatment called Iontophoresis that involves driving anti-inflammatory into my butt with an electric field. I felt a little improvement six treatments later, but as soon as I tried sitting again the pain would come right back.

Standing (Lots and lots of standing)
The week after I DNF'd it was pretty clear that sitting only aggrevated my symptoms and caused a tremendous amount of nerve inflammation. At first, I tried sitting straighter and getting up frequently, but it was quickly apparent that any sitting, no matter how good my posture, was causing more pain. The problem here is that I work in an office at a desk that I need to be at for most of the day. But, where there's a will, there's a way. Solution - standing desk.

Unfortunately standing desks can cost $$$ and I wasn't about to ask my office to shell out for one. Luckily though, we live in the age of the internet and there are thousands of super crafty people out there. It didn't take long for me to find a quick, cheap standing desk hack. One trip to Ikea later and viola! Standing desk for $22.

My set up at work

The first week standing was hard and my feet were killing me (even though I was spending 50 miles per week on my feet running previous to this). Now, seven weeks later I am feeling just fine. My husband and I also bought a standing desk for home. All said and done, I have done little to no sitting the past two months and if I'm on the couch, I'm laying down horizontally. Even after this injury is over I will probably continue to stand since its better for you anyway. At this point though, I would just love to be able to sit in the car or go to the movies without feeling pain.

Graduate School
Coincidentally the semster started the week I had my injury. I have about 5.5 weeks left of my graduate program and have been working every weekend all semester to finish my thesis. I did this program in 2.5 years straight by taking summer classes. I'm literally counting down the days until December 10th when I will be DONE!

Work
My work coincides with the school year, so September and October are always slammed. Even if I was able to run, I wouldn't have time for lunch runs anyway, which had made the whole not-running thing a little easier to deal with.

Cleansing
I have always wanted to try a cleanse, but with all of the running I was doing, it was impractical to take in so few calories while I was burning so many off. I've done four cleanses over the past two months - an intense 3-day cleanse and three 1-day cleanses every couple of weeks. I don't know that I will be doing the 3-day cleanses that often since I feel like I can't work out at all during them, but the one-day cleanses are really nice and don't throw off your entire week.

I thought I would HATE the beet juice the most, but ironically it is my favorite and I could drink it every day

For those of you who are curious, I have tried three different cleanse companies so far - BluePrint, Suja, and a local Philadelphia juicer called Sip-N-Glo. If I get my act together I might just do a little omparative review.

Finding Other Ways to Workout
The really horrible thing about this injury, aside from the whole no running/no sitting thing, is that I can't bike or swim either. The nerves in my hamstring and butt become too irritated. This has been incredibly frustrating because I haven't really been able to do any cardio. I've resorted to a lot of strength training and try to fit in about 30 minutes a day, but 30 minutes of strength just doesn't compare to the amount of cardio I was getting in.

Finally a few weeks ago my husband and I bought our own heavy bag. We've been going to boxing class on and off for about three years and I've been wanting to set up a home gym for a while. Between all of the PT equipment I've invested in during my injuries and the foam rollers and hand weights I've bought over the years, turns out we have a pretty nice set up. The heavy bag has been great for getting some cardio in and of course, to take out my frustrations about not running :)

So that's pretty much been life for the last eight weeks. I am trying out ART therapy today after work and I'm optimistic about more positive results than traditional PT. I'll keep you guys posted!

Piriformis Syndrome: A Literal Pain in the Butt

First of all, thank you for the kind, supportive comments on my last post. Dropping from a race is never fun and certainly not something any of us set out to do. But, shit happens. I am 100% positive it was the right move and once I accepted that, I got over feeling sorry for myself pretty quickly.

On the car ride home from the race I was already furiously Googling to find out what my issue might be. After typing in my symptoms it didn't take long for me to land on Piriformis Syndrome, which the doctor confirmed for me this morning. The Piriformis muscle runs horizontally across the butt and the sciatic nerve can pass in front of it, behind it, or even through the muscle in about 10% of people.

Source

When the Piriformis muscle gets inflamed it can press on the sciatic nerve, which can cause pain to shoot down the back of the leg. All of this would explain the knot I felt in my butt during the race and the spiraling tightness moving from just below my butt down my hamstring. Piriformis Syndrome also explains why I was in so much pain just from driving in the car. While it can definitely be a running injury, Piriformis Syndrome can also be brought about by extended bouts of sitting (aka what I do every day at work and most of the weekends when I'm not running).

I still have no idea why the muscle got inflamed when it did. I didn't have a traumatic injury prior to Labor Day weekend when it started hurting nor did I tweak anything while running. The good thing is that I started stretching it as soon as I got home on Sunday, following some of the treatment exercises recommended online. Self-diagnosis is definitely something to be careful with, but in this case I just kept doing what felt good:

• Pigeon Pose has been great at relieving some of the tightness
• A great video about neural flossing for Piriformis Syndrome can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFtUgS69rPk&feature=fvw
• In addition, I bought this from Trigger Point. I have their foam roller and love it. Like the foam roller, this massage ball is no joke. I have been rolling it between the wall and my butt and it has relieved a lot of the tension.
• I've also been doing many of these exercises (below)

  

  The Figure-4 Gluteal Stretch  and Standing Hamstring Stretch have been especially effective
  Source

After two full days off, I ran four very slow miles on the treadmill on Wednesday. They felt good and I did ample stretching before and after. On Monday I will start PT again for what seems like the millionth time. But, I'm more than happy to go back if they can teach me a few new things and help make sure that I really kick this thing to the curb for good.

The most annoying thing about Piriformis Syndrome has just been that sitting makes me feel very nervous. This is sort of a problem since my job requires me to sit at a desk all day. I've tried to make sure I'm sitting straight with my feet flat on the floor, but all I really want to do is this:

Source



Source

Injuries totally suck, but thankfully I caught this one early. Also, if I'm going to have an injury, at least a butt injury is pretty funny. :)

D to the N to the F

I'm not even sure how to start this post. It's one I hoped I'd never have to write. Sadly I had to drop out of the Lehigh Valley Marathon yesterday around mile 13.5. My first DNF.

Looking back at this summer's training cycle, it hasn't necessarily been bad. The only bad thing about running this summer was that I felt incredibly slow and sluggish on nearly every run. I don't really attribute that to anything but the weather though. Summer heat and humidty + running just don't mix for me.

So, other than feeling like a sloth, running went pretty well over the past 12 weeks. I got through my long runs feeling fine. I haven't had any ITBS problems that plagued me over the winter and early spring. In fact I made it all the way into my taper until I started feeling some discomfort in my right hamstring. It started acting up badly on Labor Day weekend, a week out from the race. I first noticed the cramping after sitting on the couch all weekend and then again at my desk the next week. By Tuesday evening I was in pain just walking around and bending over to touch my toes. I began to get worried, but it wasn't really affecting my running, so I was still on board to run the race.

Wednesday night before the race I got a really awesome sports massage. The masseuse sat down with me for a full 10 minutes asking lots of questions about what was hurting. He spent a majority of the time on my right leg and by the next afternoon it felt like a lot of the kinks had been worked out. On Saturday morning I did a short shake out run for the race on Sunday. I noticed a little cramping after the 3 miles and once again began to worry if I would be able to run the race. After my shake out run, I drove two hours round trip to the expo to pick up my packet. Keeping my right foot on the peddle for that long was causing intense cramping in my hamstring and butt. I had to take 5 minutes to stretch out before I got back in the car after getting my packet. I spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and stretching the crap out of my legs.



Pre-marathon dinner: Red Snapper, brown rice noodles, and baby Brussels Sprouts that I got way too excited about when I found them

When I woke up at 4:30 am on Sunday things felt pretty good, but I couldn't help feeling like I was not going to cross that finish line. We drove out to the start line, about an hour a way, and I was already in a pissy mood. It was 90% humidity, which is really less than ideal marathoning weather. On top of that, I started regretting signing up for a race that I knew was going to take place mostly on a toe path along the river. Don't get me wrong, I love a good scenic race, but I've been doing almost all of my running lately on the toe path in Philly. The combination of the lack of crowd support and the swampy weather was making me none too happy, but I had already decided earlier that week to just use the race as a training run and not stress myself out about running fast. An opportunity to practice pacing after the disaster in May.

Don't let this smile fool you. Fake energy.

As soon as the race started and I began running I felt off. I wasn't in pain, but I could already tell my legs, breathe, and mind were not in sync. Some days you get going and you just feel awesome. Other days you just know you're not with it.

Sure enough around mile 2 or 3 I began to feel some discomfort in my right hamstring. It wasn't painful discomfort though. I tried to get my mind in the game, but I must have thought about quitting at least five times for every mile. Rarely do I deal with so much personal negative energy when I'm running and here I was wearing my don't-talk-to-me bitch face while everyone was pumped up and smiling around me.

As the miles ticked by I made myself stop thinking about a possible injury DNF. "If I think its getting worse, I will stop," I told myself. Instead of  thinking about my leg, I focused on how bored I was. Bike path, toe path, more bike path, more toe path and over and over and over. I was basically just running angry the whole time.

Around mile 10.5 I noticed my leg acting up a little more. By mile 11 I realized that I was not going to finish the race without really messing my body up. The cramping was into my butt by then and both knees were hurting. I finally made the decision to DNF at the halfway point and amazingly, after spending five days leading up the race wondering if I would make it and spending the previous 11 miles hating everything about the race while also fearing I would have to drop, once I finally made the decision I only felt one thing - relief. All the back and forth in my head stopped and it just got quiet. Dropping from a race was a weird experience. I ran through the halfway point and then just pulled over to the side and stopped running. Just like that it was over. I found race official and eventually got a ride to the finish line to meet Mike.

Even though I was absolutely sure I had made the right decision, I still cried like a baby because I felt like a failure. Part of me wonders if I would have kept running if I wasn't injured. I was already having such a bad time that the thought of running another 13 miles on the toe path seemed even worse than trying to run through an injury. This is my third big race in a row that I've gotten injured during or right afterwards and I'm beginning to feel cursed.

The good news about all of this is that at least I finally have enough self-discipline to know when to stop. There are several other races I am excited about running this fall and finishing a race I wasn't even enjoying would not have been worth it.

The Latest

Oops, its been awhile. The last month and a half has been a whirlwind. Weddings, summer class, vacation planning, work, work, work, etc, etc.

When we last spoke I talked a little about my leg pains post River Towns Marathon. After taking one full week for recovery immediately after the race I had a good running week. Then, the next week I started having IT Band pain in my left leg (typical left leg!). The pain didn't start until between miles 4-6 and everytime it started I stopped running shortly thereafter. After 3 runs of this happening I finally cooled my jets and took five full days off. Since then I haven't had any pain. I also went back to PT and haven't been running "normal," but no pain is no pain. And hey, I can totally deal with 6 weeks of lesser running when I've spent 6-7 weeks with no running with my last two injuries. I caught this one in time and nipped it in the bud.

After spending about 3 weeks on the treadmill I went outside this Saturday for 8 miles. Man, were they tough! The first few miles felt like the worst, but by the end I think my body had re-acclimated to road running. The good thing is that since I never really stopped running, I haven't lost much endurance. That's nice, because I have a marathon in 12 weeks and no time to waste!

Since I've been such a bad blogger I may as well catch you guys up with some pics of the last 5 weeks.

I actually put on real people clothes for a few big events:



My sister's college graduation!

 

For a wedding

More wedding

Another wedding. PS. Don't wear black when its 90 degrees and an outdoor cocktail hour

I ate some yummy food:

Bean sprouts belong on everything



 

I went running in NYC:

 

I like to call this one "the first humid day of the summer when you realize how much things will suck until October"

 

All in all, things have been good here in Philadelphia. 

The Non-Marathon Birthday Weekend

If there was one thing I definitely wanted to do the weekend of my 27th birthday, it was run a marathon. Unfortunately, after last week's River Towns Marathon, I developed some right leg issues and had to forego this weekend's race.

Right leg aside, my recovery actually went picture perfect and all of the residual soreness went away by Tuesday. I doubled up on PT exercises and foam rolling, slept every night in my compression shorts and sleeves, iced all of my aching parts, and even got a sports massage on Wednesday.

I did run 3 miles on the treadmill on Thursday and while they weren't explicitly painful, they just didn't feel right. When I woke up Friday morning my right quad definitely felt inflamed and at that point I decided to drop out of Sunday's race. It was a really hard decision to make, but when I started bargaining with myself about how I would let myself start the race, but promise to drop out if it started hurting, I realized I shouldn't be running in the first place. My races this month were all about having fun, but how can I have fun if I spend a whole race worrying about whether something will start hurting too much? If you think there is a good chance you will DNF, save yourself the prolonged injury and just back off.

I have a doctor's appointment this Thursday and hopefully we will get things sorted out. I've never really had a right leg problem before. It's always in my left. And this time the pain isn't in one specific place. It comes in waves of tingling and moderate spurts of pain over the top and interior side of my quad and sometimes in my IT band right above the knee. I'm still continuing all of my hip strengthening exercises that solved my IT band pain in the winter and I've also been rolling out my lower back, which has helped immensely. I'm thinking it might be nerve related, but we shall see.

Despite my running plans being ruined, I still had an awesome birthday weekend. I had some fun shopping and then Mike took me to my favorite Philly restaurant, Audrey Claire.

Dessert was from Crumbs Cupcakes:

Overall, a great weekend. And, marathon or no marathon, I still got to run one last weekend, so I can't really complain!

Monster May - The Game Plan

Even though I've been running again for a full four months since my injury, I've only done one race between now and then. Though I would have liked to have raced more (so many good March and April races!), I decided to give my body ample rest and recovery time. I think it ended up being a good decision. Not only do my legs feel great, but mentally I am raring to go! I can't wait to toe the start lines and get race season into full gear.

I have three big events in the next 25 days (aka Monster May):

5/4 - River Towns Marathon
5/12 - Delaware Marathon
5/26 - Dirty German 50k

Ideally, I'd love to PR the 50k (my current PR is 6:10). I don't care so much about PR-ing in the marathons. That is what the fall season will be for. Really, I just want to have a lot of fun this month, practice my pacing, and get some new race bling.

As big as this month seems in terms of racing, I keep thinking about last October when I ran 270 miles, PR'd a marathon, ran back-to-back 20 milers, and did a 50 mile weekend. And I did all that without getting injured. So, I feel pretty confident going into this month with regards to staying healthy. Nevertheless, injury prevention is still a top priority.

Overall, I'm pretty good about keeping an injury prevention routine, but I will be tweaking some things this month:

- Right now, 5-6 nights a week, I foam roll, do a varied set of PT exercises and stretching, and complete 250-350 reps of core work. This month I am going to make sure these things are happening every single day, no exceptions.

- Last year I was all about high mileage all the time, even between and leading up to races. As nice as it is to say I've run such-and-such number of miles every month, I've realized I rather do the races and run less in between, than not even make it to the start line because I overdid it. The next few weeks will consist of a lot of short, slow runs leading up to race days and several forced recover days afterwards.

- I will also be adding in more cross training. Now that the cold weather has finally ceased, I can bike to work without my toes freezing off. The biking should also help take the edge off my calorie burning desires since I won't be running as much during the week. Who knows, maybe I will even get back to the pool.

What makes up your weekly injury prevention routine?
 

The Latest

I haven't been posting a lot lately, if you've noticed. Every few days I start formulating something in my head and then I get lazy and feel like its not enough to warrant a full post. So, here is a mixed bag of updates and things going on:

1. I've officially "graduated" from physical therapy

After six weeks of PT, I had my discharge session this morning and passed my final evaluation with flying colors. As I should have assumed, my problem was much bigger than just a simple IT Band issue. My body was literally off balanced and out of whack. I'm surprised I was even walking around okay. I've learned a lot in the past six weeks to help me move forward and stay in check. And, as much as I like my therapist, I really hope I don't find myself back there anytime soon.

2. Nike is sending my sister to Japan

At the beginning of this year my sister applied to join Running for Relief, a program sponsored by Nike and Tomodachi to aid with earthquake and tsunami recovery in Japan. A few weeks ago she was offered one of the 12 spots for Americans! She left today and will be spending the next 5 days helping with recovery, learning about Japanese culture, and running in the Nike Nagoya Women's Marathon (she is running the half). I'm going to make her write a guest post when she comes back.

Picture she sent me of all her swag. If you run with Nike, you have to look the part!

3. I updated my running shoe collection

A few weeks ago I realized that my Kinvara 3's were going to expire soon. As my go-to shoe I planned to replace them, but I usually rotate at least two pairs of shoes at a time so I set my sights on other shoes to fill the void.

I've been wanting to try the Newton Distance for awhile, having heard good things about them. At $155 a pop they are pricey, but I will shell out money for the right pair of shoes. Unfortunately, after visiting four different running stores, I couldn't track down a single pair, and I'm reluctant to order them online without trying them on (even if I can send them back).

For now, I'm giving up on the Newtons. Instead I re-ordered the Kinvaras as planned and also tracked down a first generation pair of Brooks PureFlow. I've gone through 3 pairs of PureFlows before this. They are a great shoe if you are looking for a minimalist profile with some cushion. They did come out with a new version in January, but I'm not entirely convinced by the updates. For one, my usual size 9 felt super big when I tried them on in the store and they did not have an 8.5 for comparison. Secondly, I think they the lacing update makes them look like clown shoes. And lastly, there is not a single appealing color (no, I don't like pink and yes, I'm vain and picky about show color). Overall, not a fan. It worked out okay for me though, because I was able to get the first generation Flows on sale for $30 less.

Who says you have to upgrade?

4. I finally feel like a "real runner" again

Last week I ran 41 miles including a 15 mile long run on Sunday. 40 miles is about my bare minimum for feeling like a real runner. *Please note that this is a personal judgment of my personal running. If you run 5 miles a week and call yourself a real runner then that's fine by me.

During my long run on Sunday I added in two massive hills in my neighborhood that used to be part of my weekly routine, but that I've since avoided in recovery. I fell in love with the hills in my neighborhood last summer. It felt good to be back, but boy did they hurt! The ups and the downs really killed me and I will spend the rest of this week keeping things flat so I don't overdo it.

They just never ever ever look as tough on camera

5. Real running means a real drain on my bank account

I'm thrilled to be running again and feel back to normal. The one good thing about being injured, however, is that it tends to seal up my bank account really tight. I don't buy any running clothes or shoes and I don't really sign up for races when I can't even run a mile. But now that I'm back my paychecks are already being spent in my head weeks before I get them. This race and that race and these shoes and those shoes (see number 3 above). Not to mention that spring is around the corner and so suddenly everything at Lululemon is cute again and I must have it now.

Size 6, ahem, when you get a chance

6. I'm getting stoaked for spring race season

I have my first race of the season next weekend: The Rock 'n' Roll USA Half Marathon. I originally signed up for the full, but there's no point in re-injuring myself. I'm well prepared for the half (for distance, not speed necessarily) and I'll tackle a full after a few more months. Patience is key.

The warmer temperatures are also making my giddy for Ragnar Cape Cod in May. I already started scoping out other recaps and looking for pictures or running along the beach. I cannot wait!

My Kind of Weekend

After seven weeks on the bench and six weeks starting from scratch on the treadmill I finally had a sort-of-back-to-normal week. I have approached my recovery very cautiously. That means no insane, out of the blue mileage increases, plenty of rest days, and no huge goal races to throw my priorities out of wack.

I spent the first four weeks of recovery running every other day. Weeks 5 and 6 I added two days in a row. Last week, week 7, I finally had a full five day running week and it felt long overdue. For several years I've kept a pretty consistant running schedule of T-W-R-Sa-Su, with the addition of a sixth day here and there. This is my base. My comfort zone. And I knew once I got back on this schedule I would start feeling like myself again. 


Happy happy 5 days per week

Not only did week 7 bring back my old schedule, but I also left the treadmill behind for all but one day and ventured outside. I admit, I was actually starting to like the treadmill after spending six weeks on it, but there is no workout comparable to hitting the pavement or trail for a few hours on foot. I built more muscle on my legs last week than I did with the 100+ miles I have put on the treadmill since New Years. My first two runs outside were really, really difficult. I had gotten so used to the belt on the treadmill pushing me forward that I forgot what it was like to do it of my own volition. By the third run, however, I was starting to feel really comfortable again.

The shining moment of last week was not, however, just the 5 days of running or ditching the treadmill, but getting through my long run on Sunday in spite of both these things. Instead of driving down to the gym to use the treadmill for double digits, I woke up, put on my compression socks, laced up my Kinvaras and ran out the door for 13 glorious miles. I had no idea how my body would react. Not only would it be my longest run since November, but 6 miles further than I had run outside in a single stretch and after 4 days of running that week already.

It would be cruel not to take these pretties out for a run

Fortunately my body responded very well. Sure it was tough, but it felt good. So good, that I found myself pushing the pace and ended up averaging 9 minutes miles. A far cry from my old paces, but considering I've been doing 10 minute miles since I started running again, I'm going to call that a huge win.

I spent the rest of Sunday in my pivot shorts and compression sleeves on the couch doing homework. Maybe not my perfect weekend five years ago, but now it sounds like just about the best thing ever.

Another running weekend bonus? Dessert anything

 

Climbing Back Up The Ladder

Being injured is a lot like falling off a ladder. You may only fall down a few rungs or your ass might hit the ground. Either way, eventually you find yourself climbing back up agsin to where you were, maybe even hoping to go further this time around.

Being injured and recovering from injury each have their unique challenges. When you're injured you agonize over when you might be better and how you might get there. When you're recovering you fear having a setback. Luckily I'm fully into recovery now. Five full weeks into it. Five weeks that I've been running again. When I fell off the ladder though, I feel all the way to the bottom. I start with one mile, then two, then three, etc, etc. It's terribly slow and it feels like you will never get back to where you were. Patience is of the utmost importance.

Now five weeks after that miraculous one mile test run I'm feeling more comfortable with the miles, but there are some other things I have to deal with. There are certain rungs on the ladder that I have to face up to one at a time.

1) Back-to-back runs

Once upon a time I ran six days a week. While I'd like to get there again, I'm more interested in getting back to base, which would be running on Tue, Wed, Thurs and Sat, Sun. Finally, after 4.5 weeks of running every other day I finally ran two days in a row. It was the most terrifying 4 miles of my life, but it turned out fine. Last spring when I was injured I started running multiple days in a row after only two or three weeks, but this time I felt more hesitant.

2) Getting off the treadmill

Never before in my life have a logged so many treadmill miles. In fact, in the past five weeks I've only logged treadmill miles. 55 of them in January and 35 so far this month to be exact. I think before this the longest consecutive run I'd ever done on the treadmill was 5 miles on vacation when it was too hot to run outside. Last Sunday I peeled through 8. While that might be a little much for my attention span, I've actually started to like the treadmill for shorter runs. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to hit the road again, but I'm terrified of it. The treadmill is my safe haven. My cushy, bouncey, speed-controlled running home. Outside there are pavement, hills, uneven surface. Insanity!

3) Wardrobe diversity

The first week I was running again I wore compression shorts during every run. Whether or not they were really keeping my IT band in line, mentally they made me feel secure. Fast forward to today and I'm still wearing those damn shorts during every run. They are awesome (seriously, you should try them!), and they were a staple of my post-run recovery during JFK training, but I have got to stop relying on them. Just like the treadmill, I don't feel safe without them. Mentally, however, I know I need to let go (not to mention all of my Lululemon clothes are feeling neglected).

It's hard to know when your body is ready to move to the next level, but the lesson is that if you never try, you'll never know. Obviously there was a time when these three things came easy to me. One day they will again.

What have you struggled with during recovery from injury?

On Being Back

Hello there! Nice to see you again. After taking a five week break from blogging and nearly an eight week break from running I'm happy to be back doing both again!

I won't go into all of the horrible details of the past two months. Suffice to say that while I almost (emphasis on the almost) enjoyed the first few weeks of my running break after JFK, as soon as my semester ended and I found myself with loads more free time and my inability to run put my mood in the dumps. What I thought was runner's knee ended up being a nasty case of ITBS. I start PT next week, but I'm already feeling better after I revisited many of the PT exercises I learned in the spring when I had shin splints. Apparently weak hips is just my thing. The road ahead is still long and I'm not running very far or very often, but baby steps will turn into big girl steps in no time at all.

I've done a lot of soul searching about what I want 2013 to bring. In 2011, my first full year of running (and my first year of racing) I signed up for and ran 12 races, peaking with my first marathon in November 2011. Last year, I signed up for 18 races, but only ended up running 10. A spring injury forced me to abandon my first 50 mile attempt in the spring among other races. While I did eventually make it 50 miles, I spent most of the year being overzealous and trying to take on too much, too fast. Hence the injuries.

So this year, while I really, really do want to tackle another 50, I'm giving myself a break. Or, rather, I'm giving myself a different sort of challenge. Instead of focusing on distance, I want to focus on speed. Particularly speed in the marathon and 50k. I want to PR both distances at least once if not twice during the year.

Ready to start adding more to my rack

My spring set up includes a March marathon and a May 50k. There will probably be more additions later on, but I'm trying to do a "less is more" kind of thing, so holding back is also a goal. Not signing up for a 50 miler was really difficult. I had been scoping out the Finger Lakes Fifties 50 Mile in July for quite some time. Afraid that I would actually commit to it once I was completed recovered from my injury (when my arrogance was back), I conveniently booked our annual summer vacation for the same weekend. If I still feel like I'm missing out on July 6th when I'm frolicking in Europe, then something must be really wrong with me.

I will revisit 50 miles in 2014. Until then, bring on the speed!

How Many Pills Does It Take To Get a Runner Going?

As I deal with this knee thing, every day I'm constantly questioning what I can do to get better and stronger. This of course includes resting and icing and working out other muscles that can support the injured area, but in my case (and probably some of your's as well) it also includes a daily regimen of supplements. A part of me feels like I'm being a responsible runner and making sure I get all of the nutrients I need to be healthy. The other part of me worries about what sorts of chemicals I'm really putting in my body and whether its worth it. Right now I take a multivitamin, fish oil, calcium, and glucosamine supplement every day. That's just enough to make me feel like I'm slightly overdoing it.

The bigger problem, however, is not the supplements, but the pain meds. I sort of touched on this in my JFK recap, when I felt forced to take pain meds during the race, which I religiously never do. Even though I try never to take it during or before exercise, however, I have been taking it a lot afterwards. In fact, last week I realized that I have probably taken at least one Ibuprofen after my workouts every day for 5+ months since JFK training started and definitely more than one a day since my knee issue. It just became a standard part of my day and I didn't think twice about it.

As I was mulling over my discomfort last week the NY Times coincidentally published an article about this very predicament. Likewise, Runner's World has a small paragraph in their January 2013 edition about what recovery methods should and should not be employed.

NSAIDS - "Skip it!"

Every time I get injured or have a hard workout I always hear "ice, compression, anti-inflammatory, rest." But is taking Ibuprofen really the answer to reducing inflammation? Or rather, is it worth reducing inflammation if might cause more serious problems down the line? For me, the answer is no, its not worth it. So late last week I made an executive decision for myself not to take it anymore.
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My immediate next question was "what can I do to reduce inflammation around my knees (or other injured areas) without taking meds?" Not surprisingly the answer was just a Google search away. Just a sample of the many articles here, here, and here. A number of different foods appear on any one list, but there are a few that keep coming up. Mainly:

- Broccoli (and other cruciferous greens)
- Salmon
- Ginger
- Green tea
- Olive oil
- Blueberries (and berries in general)

Obviously these are all good things to eat anyway, but now that I know they double as good anti-inflammatories I will be upping my intake on all of the above. Luckily these are foods I already incorporate into my daily diet. Broccoli and brussels sprouts are like candy to me and I have green tea every morning and ginger tea every night. So maybe I am already doing a lot to keep inflammation down. And who knows, maybe the Ibuprofen wasn't even helping because I was already eating the right foods.

Load 'em up!

Do you take supplements every day? What are your thoughts on anti-inflammatories?

Rehoboth Beach Marathon: Spectator Report

Confession: I was actually signed up to run this race. I know, I know. Its only three weeks after JFK. Stupid, right?

I was actually hoping to decide about signing up for this race the week of, since it is a small event and doesn't usually sell out. After the whole NYC Marathon debacle, however, runners were scrambling for races and I had to make a decision fast or risk losing a spot. So about two weeks before JFK I paid the $130 knowing that there was a good chance that I either wouldn't be ready or wouldn't feel up to running the race. After Baltimore I really had marathon fever though, and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to run 26.2 one more time in 2012.

Well, we all know what has happened since JFK. A big bunch of nothing! But while I'm cooling my heals and taking a running breather, my husband was still ready to roll with Rehoboth and had been keeping up on training pretty decently. So, at 3:30 am Saturday morning we headed out the door and made the drive down to the beach.

Even though I wouldn't be running the race, I wasn't too bummed to be missing out. Thankfully I was super sore from hot yoga on Thursday and the idea of moving my legs that much sounded terrible. Secondly, Mike has supported me on countless numbers of races, and I really owed it to him to be there and support him from the bench. I was excited to cheer him on and finally have a day that was all about him.

Up for 4 hours and it still dark out

As I said, this race is pretty small. Only about 1800 runners split evenly between the full and half marathon. I think they ended up over selling a little bit after welcoming some of the displaced NYC runners, but it was still way smaller compared to the other two marathons I've done in Philly and Baltimore.

We arrived around 6 am, picked up our packets, and headed back to the car so Mike could change and fuel up. The weather ended up being perfect. It was fairly warm out in the low 50s, but the overcast sky and ever-so-slight mist coming down made for perfect racing conditions.

Super nice Brooks long sleeve tech shirts. And you bet your ass I'm wearing mine even if I didn't run. 

I have actually never spectated a race from beginning to end, so I was really excited to see the elites up front. All guys of course. 

The race ended up starting about 7 minutes late, which was kind of lame. They also didn't seem to have nearly enough port potties for the field size. I don't know what the required ratio is, but I think I saw 10 or less port potties at the start for 1800 people and the lines were about 50 people long.

Finally the race got going, I waved Mike goodbye, and started walking down to meet him again at the 5 mile marker.

It wasn't long after I got there that the first half marathoner came through. He was totally alone with the next guy at least few minutes behind. I ended up seeing him finish the race. He ran a 1:12 half and the second place male was a full 5 minutes behind! Ridiculous.

Mr. So-speedy-it-makes-me-nauseous-to-think-about

Mike rolled past me at mile 5 just under 40 minutes, right on target. He ran his first marathon just two months ago in Baltimore and ran a 3:39:58. His main goal going into Rehoboth was just to set a PR and also pace himself through the first half better.

After mile 5 the runners took of north along the beach and then through a park. It sounded really pretty and serene especially with the fog and mist coming down. I didn't see Mike again until he finished. I stuck around the finish line to see the winners come in and spent some time huddled in the Starbucks across the street. I'm usually great about paying attention to race day weather, but as a spectator I totally dropped the ball and was freezing my tuckus off outside!

When the clock hit 3:20:xx I commandeered a spot right before the finish line with a great view of the runners coming in. Mike may have been skeptical about his running time, but I had a feeling he would come in sooner than expected.

Rounding the corner to the finish!

Mike's final stats: 3:36:40, 8:12 pace and a 3+ minute PR!

In case anyone is curious about how he pulled off two marathons in eight weeks, he took the first week after Baltimore easy, then did five more weeks of 15-20 mile weekend long runs, and a two week taper.

He had really doubted that he would beat his Baltimore time especially after no sleep the night before. I was sad not to run, but thrilled that I got to support him and be there to watch him set a new PR. Of course, after this race his marathon PR is almost a full 10 minutes ahead of mine. The gauntlet has been thrown!

Is It Worth It?

I've been doing a lot of thinking since running JFK two and a half weeks ago. I'm still dealing with knee pain. I tried running 3 miles on Monday and it started to ache at mile 2.5. I biked to work on Monday and Tuesday, which I think was good and bad. Good because I felt like my quads were getting stronger. Bad because bending the knee that much doesn't help anything. This morning I tried to run again, felt pain around mile 2, gave up a half mile later and walked home sulking.

The thinking I have been doing is about whether or not I really want to continue running ultras. Well, I want to do them, but I'm just not sure I want to deal with the aftermath. On the one hand its nice to have a goal race to train for and who knows how many miles I would really put down every week if I didn't have a 50 mile race looming in the back of my mind. On the other hand, in exchange for running so many miles in one day I have to give up miles on other days.

I love to run. I would run at least 10 miles every day if I could. The problem with loving to run so much, however, is that when I have to back off of running because of that big goal race it makes me hate that big goal race.

Other than laying down 50 miles in a single day on November 17th, I feel like I haven't really run much since October. Between a three week taper, which I hated, and the almost three weeks I've spent recovering/injured, which was okay at first but now officially sucks, I've lost a month a half because of JFK.

What would I really prefer to have? 6 weeks of regular running back in my life? Or a challenging race completed and checked off my list? Truthfully I don't know. I love challenging myself with ultras, but right now, honestly, I just rather be running.

Sidenote: This post will probably be completely null and void as soon as I'm uninjured and start wanting to feel like a badass again who runs 50 miles.

November 2012 in Review

11 months down, one to go!

Mileage Recap

A year ago - November 2011: 148

January: 181.21

February: 86.84

March: 6

April: 89.59

May: 128.43

June: 137.72

July: 200.1

August: 177.48

September: 230.85

October: 270.09

November 2012: 152.91

Interesting thing #1: I ran more miles this November than last November even though this month I only ran 17 times and last year I ran 21 times.

Interesting thing #2: A third of this month's mileage was done in a single day. Crazy.

Cross Training Recap

109.55 miles road cycling
1 boxing class

A pathetic month of cycling for sure but for good reason! For one, its not worth putting the extra strain on my knees. Secondly, its freaking cold out man! Do you know what you don't do when you cycle? Warm up. 30 degrees, no thank you.

I finally had the energy to go back to boxing. I went three days before JFK, which meant that I was monumentally sore the next day and even still a bit sore at the starting line. I think I needed the extra core strength though.

What went well

Um duh, I ran 50 freaking miles! Looking back JFK still seems so surreal, like an out of body experience. I wish I could ingrain it in my memory more, but when I think about the last five months I start thinking less of the actual race day and more about all of the training miles I put in. That's where the work comes in. Waking up early 6 days a week to run in the summer humidity or the crisp fall breeze. Trudging through 20+ miles every weekend. Sure, I'm proud to have crossed the finish line, btu I'm also proud of the 20 weeks leading up to it.

What didn't go well

The knee thing. Luckily I have actually "enjoyed" not running much in the past two weeks. I put that in quotes because I'm actually not sure if I really don't care about not running or if I'm just too busy to care. I have a feeling that next week after I turn in some of my papers and have a breather that I will be dying to run again and be super dramatic if I can't.

The rest has been good though, both mentally and physically. Imagine if I trained for two big races a year and put in five months of training for each. That's 10 months a year in training. So a break is nice every so often and I appreciate not feeling like I have to get up and run at 5 am before work.

That said, I did run one whole pain free mile this morning. I diligently rested my knees all week. I even stopped crossing my legs when I sat down to remove any stress on the knee cap. I iced, I stretched, and adding quad strengthening exercises. All in all the knees feel good. Running one mile probably isn't enough to tell whether they are really good to go, but its a start!

December 2012 Goals

I've got nothing planned for December. Its wide open, which I really think I will like. I think I am going to start a new training cycle in January so I want to relax this month as much as possible. Goals are to:

• Continue resting when I feel my body needs it
• Core work, stretching, and PT exercises every night
• No specific mileage goals
• Start finalizing spring 2013 racing schedule
• Enjoy many holiday treats
• Get to the pool
• Go to a yoga class

High Word Count Not High Mileage

So I'm having some knee issues. Surprisingly (or fittingly) its not the knee I effed up at JFK and continued to run 40+ miles on. That knee feels great. It's the left knee. It's always the left. Silly weak left side.

Anyways, I had my first post-JFK run last Wednesday, four days out from the race. I ran 4 super slow miles (11+ minute miles for real son) and felt pretty good other than some fatigue in my legs. The next day, Thanksgiving, I set out to tackle 6 miles at no particular pace. The first 4.5 felt incredible. The last 1.5 I wanted to die. Both of my knees where screaming with sharp pains and it even hurt to walk around the rest of the day. On Friday I tried to run and made it half a block before turning around. On Sunday I felt better and I was having no problems walking so I tried to run again. I felt pretty good until mile 1.5 and then the discomfort started, which turned into more discomfort, which eventually turned into pain. FAIL.

Normally not being able to run irritates the shit out of me. My mood goes to crap. I start threatening in my head to quit my job and sit home and sulk. Luckily this is not my first time to injury ballpark. I think the first injury is always the worst. I was out for a full six weeks in the spring, gained a bunch of weight, got depressed, and overall was not a happy person to be around.

Obviously I hope that I'm not sitting out for 6 weeks this time, but if it ends up being one or two I can't get that upset about it because 1) I did just run 50 miles and should give myself a break and 2) "Luckily" for the next 14-15 days I have some other things that need attention. Things that really have not been getting attention due to JFK training. Those things would be homework. Specifically two 25 page papers, a 30 minute powerpoint presentation, and a final exam that needs studying for.

I take absolutely no pleasure knowing that I will definitely be spending at least the next 8 days of my life sitting in front of a computer working on these (goodbye weekend), but I'm treating it like an unwelcome 25 mile run: It will suck. It will feel like its taking forever. I will get frustrated and want to take a break. But I will do it.

Hopefully after all of thats over my body will feel fully recovered and allow me to start racking up the miles again. Until then its research, write, ice, stretch, roll, research, write, and repeat.

The Pattern Revealed: JFK 50 Recap

The Pattern:

A year and a half ago I was training for my first half marathon and it couldn't have gone better. On race day I was on target to meet my sub-2 hour goal until I hit the last 0.5 mile, which ended up being a monster hill and I just couldn't handle it. I finished, but behind schedule. Six months later I ran my first full marathon. Again, near perfect training, but that didn't stop me from developing an odd quad cramp at mile 7 (mile 7 man!) that again ruined my time goal. So I really shouldn't have been surprised when things didn't go exactly according to plan for my first 50 mile race. The first time is, apparently, never the charm.

The Recap:

My sister, husband, and I drove down to western Maryland from Philly on Friday afternoon, picked up my packet, checked into our hotel, and got dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant. Miso soup, avocado rolls, and salmon teriyaki is just what I needed.

I slept surprisingly well and woke up on my own around 4 am, feeling a little anxious, but still not nervous. I ate a banana and bagel with jam and we were out the door. My race day outfit had been pretty cemented, but when we walked outside the hotel and saw frost I was having second thoughts. We drove to Boonsboro High School for the pre-race meeting and I put on a warmer zip up with plans to change into my lighter long sleeve later in the day.

Me and Caitlin at the start line

We walked the half mile or so to the start line and then I began looking for Abbi and Alyssa. I found Abbi pretty quickly and we were mid-conversation when the starting gun went off and all of a sudden we were running.

Abbi and I starting the race

The race is split into three segments: 15.5 miles on the Appalachian Trail, 26.3 miles on the C&O, and 8.4 miles on the roads. We had a steady 2+ mile climb to get to the AT. The cold temperature kept me moving pretty steadily and I only walked once or twice near the top because I feared I was going out to fast. This is also about the time I lost Abbi in the crowd. It felt good to finally get on the trail and it didn't seem any rockier than the trail I had been running on near my house.

At mile 3 something we hit a paved section in the woods. If you want to see a picture of this hill check out Alyssa's recap. Not a single person was running this part and I was leaning over my things trying to catch my breath. After I reached the top and got back on the trail there was a lovely gentleman telling us that we were at mile 5.3, which may not seem like a big deal in a 50 mile race, but I remembered from the elevation map that we peaked around mile 5 so I was happy to know that the hilly part was pretty much over.

I was bounding through the woods at a pretty good pace, passing a lot of people, and feeling like a rock star. The 9.3 mile aid station came in no time at all and then it was just a 10k to the Weverton, where we would exit the trail and I would see Mike and Caitlin again. 6 miles didn't seem bad at all, but the course got rockier and rockier and after I tripped a few times I sufficiently scared all of the confidence out of myself. I probably wouldn't have had as many issues if I had done more training on trails, but it was what it was.

It was around mile 10 that I also began noticing my right knee hurting a bit. I had first noticed it around mile 8 as I was bounding over logs and leading with my right leg. It began to bother me more so I tried to slow my pace and not tweak it anymore. The last two miles on the AT I thought were a real killer. The rocks were so sharp that even in my trail shoes my feet were aching. I kept almost twisting my ankle and I was near tears a few times because I was so frustrated. Finally I reached the famous switchbacks and I could hear the crowd in Weverton. I was impatient to get to the bottom, but I had to keep it slow so I wouldn't break my neck.

If you love rocks, this trail is for you

I was so excited to see Mike and Caitlin. After a swig of Gatorade and some animal crackers I grabbed Mike and we were off to tackle the canal portion. I also took an Advil here, which is important to note because I never ever take pain medicine while running out of fear for my health. From here on out the plan was to just focus on getting to next aid station, which were spread 2.5-4 miles apart, and take something to eat and drink at every single one. It felt great to get on flat terrain and not have worry about constantly looking down to avoid the rocks.

We started going at a pretty decent pace. By mile 16 I realized how sore I actually was. How many 20 mile runs did I do in training and I'm sore by mile 16? What the hell!? We hit the next aid station at mile 18 and that's when I realized my knee might turn into a real problem. I had already been running about 10 miles on it with some discomfort, but it was clearly getting worse. We continued to run, stopping maybe every 10 minutes to walk for a minute, but I noticed that it starting hurting more to start running again, so I tried to keep running for as long as possible until I couldn't take it anymore. Mike was great about just talking my ear off and keeping me motivated, but around mile 23 I started to break down into tears a little bit. Soreness I can take, but the knee pain was becoming excruciating.

The next spectator/crew point was at mile 27. At that point I was feeling better since I knew I was over the halfway point and I had fewer hours of running left than I had already done. Mike and Caitlin were absolutely brilliant at this aid station. It was like Nascar. In 2 minutes they had my shoes switched along with my chip tag through my laces, my bib removed, my shirt changed, and my bib re-pinned.

Mike stopped pacing me here and Caitlin jumped on course. My spirits were immediately lifted since I hadn't seen my sister in a few months and I knew we had tons to catch up on. I told her about my knee and asked her to just talk to me. I felt much better for the next couple of miles, but by mile 34 I was deteriorating again. My mind was so wrapped around the physical pain that I felt much more exhausted than I think I should have been. I started slurring my words at one point and lost all energy to talk.

At mile 38 we saw Mike again and I took another Advil. My spirits were lifted slightly knowing that the canal portion was almost over. Oddly enough it wasn't the monotony of this section that killed me, but the focus on my knee. We reached mile 41.8 about 20 minutes after 3 pm, which meant we had to wear the so-called "vests of shame." It didn't really bother me to wear it. I rather not be hit by a car if I was going to be out after dark.

There was a good sized hill getting off the canal that we walked up, but after that so called "scary" rolling hills were a piece of cake and we ran all of them. Out of the entire race I felt my best during these last 8 miles. My knee pain was by no means gone, but knowing I had single digits left plus the fact that now my whole body was in pain which made the knee stand out less, made getting through it a little easier.

At mile 44 a girl caught up to Caitlin and I and it turned out to be Alyssa! I was so so happy to see her! I knew we had similar time goals going into this race, but since I hadn't seen her on the canal I figured we wouldn't end up getting together. Caitlin left me at the last crew access point at mile 46. I gave her and Mike a hug and then Alyssa and I headed off for the finish line. I think I would have been okay doing these last 4 miles on my own, but I wouldn't have turned down Alyssa's company in a million years. 30 minutes flew by and all of a sudden we saw the 1 mile marker. As we made the last right turn and heard the finish line crowd it was so surreal. Somehow I managed to sprint the last .1 miles and I flew across the finish line.

Final Stats: 9:53:15 - "A" goal success!

Alyssa and I flashing our gold medals - we also came in top 10 in our AG, which is pretty cool!

OMG I'm never getting up again

Before I wrap this thing all up let me just take a moment to say that Mike and Caitlin were by far the best crew/pacers I could have ever asked for. Without them I seriously question whether or not I would have even finished. I am forever grateful for their support.

I shed a lot of tears during this race, both happy and sad. I definitely did not expect to feel so physically challenged and it remains to be seen if I have caused any long term damage to my knee or if it will subside in a few days. What I do know is that I ran 40+ miles with what ranged from manageable to excruciating amounts of pain far worse than I've ever encountered over such long period of time. Truth be told I was hoping to come in with a sub-9:30 finish time and while I should be no means be disappointed (after all I did run 50 freaking miles) it was definitely not a perfect race day. 

And what does this mean? It means that the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to open up my computer and start looking at 50 mile races for the spring, because now I have something to beat. Bring. It. On.