thoughts on running and injuries

Muscle-wise, I came out of the half in good shape. My feet didn't do so great - specifically, the outside of both feet, near the pinkie toe, and to some extent the balls of my feet. I have a history of stress fractures, so I'm really hoping I'm just experiencing some inflammation and soreness, rather than a fracture. I did a light walk/jog on Monday, and tried to do about 2 miles on Tuesday, but my feet were painful in that alters-your-stride way - it was clear that it wasn't something I could train through.

I did try to train through my stress fracture a couple of years ago. It was the first semester of law school, and I was running a lot - not that much mileage per run, but I was running 3-5 miles per day, both for stress relief and fresh air. I had a number of foot/leg problems that fall (including neuropathy down the outside of my right leg that made it impossible to lift the front end of my foot! long story), culminating in the fracture. I woke up one morning, put my feet on the ground, and tried to walk forward - and almost fell to the ground due to the excruciating pain in the ball of my left foot. It was totally nuts and seemed random to me. The best I can figure is that the fracture - of the sesamoid bones - came on gradually, but reached the breaking point on a run one evening, then got inflamed and sore overnight. Partly because I'm stubborn, and partly because I just really needed the stress relief and fresh air, I kept running, several weeks more, until Christmas break, when I finally saw an orthopedic doc. He told me that it was pretty hard to break the sesamoids, and that I probably had sesamoiditis, but he wanted to take x-rays to be sure. He was stunned to discover that I had, indeed, broken the sesamoid bones. He kept asking if I'd had an accident, or fallen - that sort of thing. I kept saying no - I just run a lot.

I ended up taking a few months off (also because I was finally diagnosed with the neuropathy, and the neurologist said if I didn't take it easy, I could kill of the nerve for good), then came back slowly on a treadmill. That was over 3 years ago, and I've been very careful about my mileage and monitoring my feet. My previous stress fractures were in my heel - when I was about 7 and was running around in cowboy boots! - and in the side of my left foot.

So I'm hoping that I haven't ended up with stress fracture #4. I'm not sure what makes my feet so fragile - I've never broken any other bone. I do have very low-volume feet, which might play into it. My feet are just not very substantial - I can never keep dress shoes on my feet, for instance. At any rate, between stress fractures and blisters, I'm pretty sure I'd be better off chopping them off and getting some prosthetics! (just kidding ... I think)

It seems like most runners have injury stories like this, though - and they almost become a point of pride with us. Maybe it shows we're tough - more likely it just shows that we're stubborn! There is certainly a point when you think about the fact that we pound our feet and joints on pavement repeatedly, day after day, something that can't possibly be good for us.

Pretty much everyone in my family has run or jogged at some point. My dad jogged until his knees couldn't take it any more. Same with my mom. My mom did a few 5k's in the early 80's - she actually won her age division in the first race she ever ran, and received a mug that's decorated with pictures of running shoes and the curious phrase "le jogging" (is that French for 'jogging?' Really?). But, again, they ended up quitting because their joints couldn't take it anymore.

My uncle is the only other person in the family who's done high-mileage training. He's always been a fitness freak, and is a wake-boarder and snowboard instructor. He's not afraid of injury, but when my parents told him about my half marathon the other day, he apparently was very adamant that I not continue with high mileage training. He said he regrets ever doing that much damage to his joints. I'm a little flabbergasted by that.

I'm not going to stop running any time soon. I know that for sure. I suppose it's all food for thought, though.

For now, however, I have put myself on the injury list and will be doing my favorite kind of cross training: riding my horse (which is actually great for your legs and core). I'll probably try to start running again next week, if my feet are feeling better, and I'll do most of my running in the park, on trails, rather than pavement. I'm going to try to focus on speed work, rather than distance, and return to 5k and 10k races. Hopefully all that will give my feet and other joints a chance to rest and heal ... and give me a chance to thinking about my running future.

Lexington Half Marathon

Well, after an extended hiatus from writing here, I'm back.

After training off and on for the remainder of 2009, I started 2010 with the goal of training for my first ever half marathon, aiming for the Lexington Half Marathon in Lexington, Kentucky. Up until this point, the longest I'd ever run was 6 miles, and the farthest I'd ever raced was a 4 mile trail race. So ... I was pretty excited, but also a little nervous about whether it would be possible to fit in all those training runs in what might be very bad weather.

The winter did end up being pretty nasty and cold, but I was able to stay on schedule. While I did have to do a lot of running in pretty cold weather (teens and twenties), I only had to run through snow a couple of times. For the most part, it was just cold. A few times when it was icy I did my training runs in the gym on the treadmill, but those were few and far between.

I was also very worried about getting injured from the mileage increase, due to my tendency to develop stress fractures. My main problem ended up being blisters, however - that and black toenails on the second toes of both feet. The blister problem has partly resolved through the use of Asics blister powder - it's good stuff.

On to the half marathon! Sunday was cold, rainy, and windy, and despite trying to arrive at the venue early, I ended up having to hop out of my boyfriend's car and jog about a mile to the venue in order to make the start (it was the first ever half marathon in Lexington, and the organizers hadn't anticipated the traffic issues - everything else ran pretty smoothly). That ended up being a pretty decent warm-up, and I had a few minutes to kill before the race actually started.

My goal was to start as slow as possible. With 13 miles ahead of me, I wanted to get into a good rhythm and not worry about speed or pace. I have a pretty sharp competitive instinct, but I had worked hard to get myself into a mindset to ignore the runners around me and focus on the pace I needed. I maintained that pace through the first 2-4 miles, feeling pretty good and relaxing as the miles unfolded. In my training runs, I learned that I don't really hit my stride until around mile 4, and that was the case on Sunday as well.

The race followed scenic Kentucky roads past gorgeous Thoroughbred horse farms for the first 4 or so miles, then we turned into the Kentucky Horse Park for a slightly hillier loop. By the time we reached the halfway point, I was passing other runners pretty consistently and still feeling great. I didn't let myself really increase my pace until around mile 8, then a little more around mile 10, and I really opened up the last mile. After a good sprint to the finish, I felt great - not really out of breath; tired, but also energized. Success!

My time ended up around 2:15 - roughly a 10 minute mile pace for the whole 13 miles. My initial pace was something between a 12-13 minute mile, so I'm really happy that I averaged out at a 10 minute mile pace. Like I said, I was really rolling for the last 5 or so miles, and I'm really proud of that.

I didn't have a time goal - really, I just wanted to finish under 2:30 - so I was thrilled with my time and effort. Another of my goals was to stop at each hydration station long enough to drink a cup of water or gatorade, then run on - and I did this as well. While running, I ate 3 Shot Blocks around mile 4, 3 more Shot Blocks around mile 8, and around mile 11 I tried to eat a pack of Goo Chews ... I was only slightly successful, because my hands were so numb at that point that I had a terrible time trying to open them! Note to self, definitely.

I definitely became a fan of both the Cliff Shot Blocks and the Goo Chews while training. I can't stand gels, so the chews are my alternative. Also essential to my training was my Nathan Elite water bottle and holder - basically the bottle straps to your hand so you don't even have to hold it, and it has nice pockets for holding your key or snacks.

All in all, the half marathon and training experience went really well. I'm definitely feeling some foot pain today, but with ice and anti-inflammatories I hope I'll be back in action sooner than later.

trepidation

So, tomorrow I head to Louisville, where I'll be spending the next couple of days taking the bar exam. All day Tuesday and all day Wednesday to be exact. I'm going to put in a run tomorrow morning before I get organized, pack, and head up there, because I won't have time to run Tuesday or Wednesday. As terrifying as the prospect of taking the bar is, at this point I just want to get it over with.

I have a lot of races I'm looking forward to on my calendar. This Saturday, partly as a celebration of being done with the bar, I'm doing a tiki torch 5k ... it's at night on the same cross country course where I've been running the XC challenge, and it's ... lit by tiki torches. I guess this is the month for night races, because in a couple of weeks I'm doing the Midsummer Night's Run. My last race in August is the final leg of the XC challenge. I improved a lot from the first to second leg, so I'm hoping I can improve again.

I'm also hoping that once my schedule gets more routine, I'll be able to amp up my running again. Last September I was running 100 miles a month, which is an all-time high for me. I'd also like to do longer races, since I might actually have the time to train for them once law school and the bar are behind me.

For now, though, that's the main goal - get the bar behind me. Start my new job. Get back into a routine. Spend time with my horse. And, after 3 years of law school, get my life back!

shenanigans

Last Sunday I ran to the park to do my usual 4 mile trail run. The trail goes around the circumference of the grassy fields and comprise most of the park - it's an equestrian complex, in addition to a few other things - and is mostly a mowed grass path, although you have to cross pavement a couple of times. Normally I run so early in the morning that there's really no one else there, although there's a dog park, and also a ton of soccer fields as well. Last Sunday, however, I reached the park and saw that every soccer field was in use by the youth league, and parents jammed the sidelines.

Maybe it's just me, but I like a bit of solitude on my runs. So instead of turning left towards the soccer fields, I decided to turn right and find a route on the other side of the park. This worked out well until I reached the water crossing - I mentioned this is also an equestrian complex - which is usually pretty dry, but that day was full, about ankle high. Not wanting to soak my socks and shoes, I turned left, hoping to find a perimeter trail in that direction. No such luck. I found a gravel road, which I ran up, and then found the two dressage rings, but there was no trail in sight. Even worse, now this guy who was walking his dog was looking at me like I was nuts, I was in full view of the soccer crowd, and I'm too damn stubborn to admit that I had sort of gotten lost (not so much lost as off-track). Ahead of me, I could see where I wanted to go. The only problem was that it involved running downhill, jumping a ditch, then running uphill - all through un-mowed field grass that came up above my knees.

Well, stubborn as I am, I decided to pretend like I did that very thing every single day. I just kept running, into the field. The grass was so high that I had to really pick my feet up, and my dog was bounding through it like a deer. We reached the ditch, which was overgrown with some kind of vine that snared us both as we attempted our leap over. Unfazed, we found our stride again and galloped up the field to return to the path I should have been on all along. I had quite an audience, let me tell you. My dog, of course, was delighted.

It's good to have an out-of-the-ordinary run every once in a while. Audience optional.

rain running with the pooch

I promised my dog I'd take him for a quick run today ... of course then it started raining and didn't stop. I swear my dog understands English and knew what I'd promised him - or else he just knew I hadn't taken him running yesterday and he was due for a run! Finally the rain slowed to somewhere between a mist and a drizzle, so I took him for a quick jog. Dog heaven!

My dog has two hobbies - napping and running. He's a big dog, but not at all hyper in the house. When I adopted him from a shelter, he could walk on a leash ok, but I had to teach him to run with me. It didn't take him long to figure it out (once he got over initial nervousness about cars or people coming up behind him), and before long he followed the commands "right" and "left" as we ran, so, although he was on the leash, I could just let the leash go slack and not worry about directing him. He's a great running partner - always ready to go, and able to run for miles with a smile on his face!

The picture's from February '08, shortly after I got him. I took him to the farm where I keep my horse so he could have a good run in the snow. Happy dog!

cross country 5k challenge, race 2

Ran the 2nd leg of the Cross Country 5k challenge last night.

The first leg was in June, and it was blazing hot, even at 7 in the evening. The course isn't technical - it's mainly grass - but it's extremely hilly. It's a fun, but challenging course. Last time the sun really got to me, since I usually run bright and early in the AM, before the sun's really up. I actually had to walk a couple of times last time, and came in with a time around 32 minutes - about 4 minutes higher than my previous worst 5k time! Still, I came in 3rd in my age group (25-29 y/o women), which I guess speaks to the difficulty of the course.

Last night it was warm, but not nearly as hot, and it was overcast, so no bright sun. I set a pretty slow pace for myself, because I was afraid I would have to walk again, but it ended up being a breeze. The hills were still challenging, but without the sun to psych me out they weren't a problem. It's still a hard course, and even running the whole time, I came in at 30 minutes and change. So better than my last time, but I set my pace so slow that it affected my overall time. Also, I got a really bad stitch in my side - first time I've gotten a bad one in a long time, since I switched up my stride/breathing rhythm and figured out how to stay properly hydrated. So, that shortened my stride a lot. Not making excuses, though!

I ended up 2nd in my age group. Actually, the girl who won my age group passed me at one point on the course, and she was breathing like a freight train - one guy even asked her if she was ok - and I didn't think she'd make it much further before walking, so I let her go. Won't do that again! But overall I'm happy. My goal was to run a faster time this leg, which I did, and not to walk, which I also accomplished. Winning any kind of award is a bonus.

I'll probably be running the same course - it's a great cross country course, and allegedly the hardest in the state - a week from this Saturday (the Saturday after the bar exam!). There's a 5k race at 8 pm lit by tiki torches! Sounds like a lot of fun, plus I like the course, and that'll be another chance to run it before the last leg of the Cross Country Challenge, which is towards the end of August.

My boyfriend, who has taken up running since we've been dating, has been having serious problems with shin splints. It's definitely because he basically started running by joining me on my 3 mile runs 3 times a week, which is a little much for a beginner runner. He's a trouper, as always, and is determined to keep running in races with me, even if it means strapping ice to his shins afterward. Hopefully by scaling back his runs and building up again we can get the problem taken care of, though.

As for me, my running shoe problems continue. After my Asics Nimbus 9 died (so sad), I got the Nimbus 10's, which proceeded to eat my toenails. I actually lost one toenail due to a bad blister. It was recommended that I go up a size in them, so I did that, but was still getting blisters on my toes. I had heard good things about the Nike Zoom Vomero 4, so I figured I'd give them a try. I hadn't worn Nikes since I got a pair of the Pegasus and they tore my feet up. But the Vomero has lots of cushioning, which I need (prone to stress fractures). Well, I've put about 10 miles on them, and I've got blisters on the sides of my feet, just like with the Pegasus. When I have a chance I'm going to call the folks at Road Runner Sports and see what they recommend. Luckily they have a no questions asked 60 day return policy!

At any rate, stiches and blisters aside, last night was great and a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the last leg a month from now, and also looking foward to a great 5k season this fall.