This week was as close to normal as I've been for months. I went to spring track with my GTD friends Tuesday night, got up at 4:10 am to meet Hank for our 4:30 am jaunt on Thursday am, long run with Hank, Annie and Dave bright and early Saturday am for 10 miles and today, for the first time, I race two days in a row. I enjoyed a nice 5 miler with some speed tucked in at the end on a really beautiful Sunday morning - my favorite.
This week was a turning point in the sneaker department. I've been wearing the Asics 21XX series for years. They are what I started in and although I tested other brands/models in the past, I always came back to these - they just felt right. I also have some Lycos inserts I use with them. When I landed myself in PT back at the end of February, one of the first things my PT girl said was - you might want to think about a different type of sneakers. This made me cringe.
I HAD tried other sneakers and I was afraid going into something new would just result in some other new injury but it started to make me think. She felt I had two much support with both the stability and the inserts but that's all I ever knew. It is also the opposite of what my chiropractor was telling me. Question is - who do you listen to?
Well I decided I don't just listen to one person but take all of the data/feedback I get from everyone and make my own decisions based on how I feel. The plan was to reevaluate the sneakers after NYC Half and Doyle's 5 miler.
So come this week, my last PT visit arrived (YAY!) and we analyzed how I run. Well I kind of felt like a disaster as she critiqued my form and showed me that although I classic overpronater, the 2160s were just pushing me over the edge and also, my body may just be too used to them resulting in other problems.
I took myself to Runner's Alley in Nashua (http://www.runnersalley.com/) and called ahead to make sure someone would be there to assist me and really analyze what's happening when I'm running. I spoke to and met with BJ and Renee who were both awesome. Surprisingly the first pair of sneakers they brought out to me were Asics Nimbus model. I just figured I'd jump to a completely different brand but in the end after trying out some Asics, Brooks and New Balance - I felt best in the Asics and that's what I brought. After 5 miles in them today, I think I made the right choice so the goal will be to transition - maybe completely to the Nimbus and keep the 2160s for the long runs for additional stability for those longer days. All feels good now though and that couldn't make me happier.
Weekly Mileage: 28 miles (hoping to go up from here!)
Speed: 3 out of 4 days with speed worked in
Showing posts with label injury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label injury. Show all posts
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
NYC Half Complete - working my way back
Headed into Sundays race I was apprehensive. I had sent my PT girl a note about declining an invite to run an 'easy' 5K (to benefit her fundraiser - I chose to donate instead of signing up for the race knowing I wouldn't be able to put a lot behind it) prior to leaving for NYC. She responded saying it was 'probably better' and that we'd get me in good shape for the next big race. Oh no, I wasn't talking about NYC half like she thought but it made me think - did she really not think me run/walking this half was the best idea? She hadn't let on. Now I'm paranoid.
My plan was to run 10 minute/miles and walk through all the water stops. Easier said than done - I am not capable of this - physically and mentally. I drove down with Dan and Tom who I hadn't seen in awhile so it was good to have the 4 hour drive to catch up. They did the Gina exchange to my cousin Mary who I spent the night with getting some quality cousin time. That night as we sat there watching a movie, I swear I felt the area of the injury aching and it occurred to me that maybe I should bail out. That's just not me and I was there - I was doing it.
So bright an early we set off for the race meeting up with Dan and Tom and Mary walked us to the corrals (she easily snuck in). It was great because I could keep all my warm clothes on (it was chilly!) and then hand back to Mary and start the race. The only modification I made was to drop back a corral which was fine because I had company with Dan although soon after the gun went off he went to run his race.
I started off very slow as I was told and very quickly the first water stop was there - I walked through it as I was supposed to. It wasn't easy. Every time I stopped at a water stop I had the very supportive volunteers yelling "C'mon, you can do it". I wanted to say "Yes, I can do it but I'm not allowed to do it as I'd like to" :)
It was a different experience running this race 'easy'. I was far more aware of my surroundings and spent a lot of time focusing on those around me and the spectators. The course was actually kind of difficult: rolling hills for 6 miles through Central Park, out towards and into Times Square, a right down 42nd street and then to the water towards Battery Park/World Trade Center area.
I kept my pace but realized I was progressively getting faster. I still tried to keep myself conservative but every time I'd look down, my watch showed a slightly faster pace. So I pressed it to see if I'd feel anything, nope - nothing. No pain at all. As I continued, I tested little by little and still no pain. It was coming to around the mile 9-10 marks and well, my stomach started to hurt. There it is! An 'old' typical pain - something other than this injury hurting. As stressed as I get when my stomach hurt, I was thankful it was the stomach hurting and not the injury - that in fact felt great.
As the last water stop approached I considered not stopping for it because, well - my stomach was really bothering me but I felt like if I didn't stop, the Running Karma Gods would make me sorry I had broken my promise.
As we made our way past the 12 mile mark, we went into a very long tunnel - it was scary long and all I wanted to do was get out of it - so again, I picked it up. Coming out of the tunnel I could see the '800 feet left' sign, a 400 feet left sign and so forth. Well, I picked it up here - I was almost done, nothing hurt and I truthfully just lost my head. It was awesome and I was really overcome with emotion as I made my way to the finish. I had just hoped I could skirt in under 2 hours having come back from injury and keeping my '10 minute mile' - well that ended up at a 8:27 pace for a final time of 1:50:37 - definitely not my best half by far but not my worst. The best part? No pain.
I arrived at my chiropractor and PT visits today - happy but cautious because I hadn't followed directions - both Mika and Jess were very supportive and happy I had done so well. I have been downgraded to 1 X week PT and the bad calf essentially felt equal to the good half.
I even got to run over 6 miles today @ 8:01 pace - it seems like things are headed in the right direction. Fingers crossed it's only up from here! I have running every other day for the next two weeks. In terms of racing, Doyle's 5 miler at the end of April is up next. I'm sure I won't be in top shape by any means but I'm excited just to be back in the game!
My plan was to run 10 minute/miles and walk through all the water stops. Easier said than done - I am not capable of this - physically and mentally. I drove down with Dan and Tom who I hadn't seen in awhile so it was good to have the 4 hour drive to catch up. They did the Gina exchange to my cousin Mary who I spent the night with getting some quality cousin time. That night as we sat there watching a movie, I swear I felt the area of the injury aching and it occurred to me that maybe I should bail out. That's just not me and I was there - I was doing it.
So bright an early we set off for the race meeting up with Dan and Tom and Mary walked us to the corrals (she easily snuck in). It was great because I could keep all my warm clothes on (it was chilly!) and then hand back to Mary and start the race. The only modification I made was to drop back a corral which was fine because I had company with Dan although soon after the gun went off he went to run his race.
I started off very slow as I was told and very quickly the first water stop was there - I walked through it as I was supposed to. It wasn't easy. Every time I stopped at a water stop I had the very supportive volunteers yelling "C'mon, you can do it". I wanted to say "Yes, I can do it but I'm not allowed to do it as I'd like to" :)
It was a different experience running this race 'easy'. I was far more aware of my surroundings and spent a lot of time focusing on those around me and the spectators. The course was actually kind of difficult: rolling hills for 6 miles through Central Park, out towards and into Times Square, a right down 42nd street and then to the water towards Battery Park/World Trade Center area.
I kept my pace but realized I was progressively getting faster. I still tried to keep myself conservative but every time I'd look down, my watch showed a slightly faster pace. So I pressed it to see if I'd feel anything, nope - nothing. No pain at all. As I continued, I tested little by little and still no pain. It was coming to around the mile 9-10 marks and well, my stomach started to hurt. There it is! An 'old' typical pain - something other than this injury hurting. As stressed as I get when my stomach hurt, I was thankful it was the stomach hurting and not the injury - that in fact felt great.
As the last water stop approached I considered not stopping for it because, well - my stomach was really bothering me but I felt like if I didn't stop, the Running Karma Gods would make me sorry I had broken my promise.
As we made our way past the 12 mile mark, we went into a very long tunnel - it was scary long and all I wanted to do was get out of it - so again, I picked it up. Coming out of the tunnel I could see the '800 feet left' sign, a 400 feet left sign and so forth. Well, I picked it up here - I was almost done, nothing hurt and I truthfully just lost my head. It was awesome and I was really overcome with emotion as I made my way to the finish. I had just hoped I could skirt in under 2 hours having come back from injury and keeping my '10 minute mile' - well that ended up at a 8:27 pace for a final time of 1:50:37 - definitely not my best half by far but not my worst. The best part? No pain.
I arrived at my chiropractor and PT visits today - happy but cautious because I hadn't followed directions - both Mika and Jess were very supportive and happy I had done so well. I have been downgraded to 1 X week PT and the bad calf essentially felt equal to the good half.
I even got to run over 6 miles today @ 8:01 pace - it seems like things are headed in the right direction. Fingers crossed it's only up from here! I have running every other day for the next two weeks. In terms of racing, Doyle's 5 miler at the end of April is up next. I'm sure I won't be in top shape by any means but I'm excited just to be back in the game!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Making Progress
I've been in PT for just over a week now and been needled 3 times (2 X the calf and 1 X in the glute). Things are improving although I think yesterdays calf needling was particularly intense. This is in anticipation of my half marathon I'm still hoping to 'be part' of on March 18th (NY City Half). I say part of because I will be unable to run this true to Gina Style i.e. losing my head in running from start to finish as fast as I can.
The PT girl looked me point blank in the face and said "If you run this race like 'normal', you WILL set yourself back". She made her point. Boy did she make her point. That is the last thing I want. Being injured is more work than being healthy and more time consuming! I asked her "Well, what pace is that?" "9 minute miles" - well then 9 min/miles it is. Truthfully I just want to register for the Toronto Marathon as to not let it fill up like every other good marathon does these days. I can't do it until I'm out of the woods with this episode and back on track in terms of speed work, racing etc...but I've really learned from this experience.
I learned who to go to for what type of advice - that's for sure. Not everyone has all of the answers- it's more about asking a lot of different experts: coaches, chiropracters, MDs, physical therapists and fellow running friends what to do and how to do it - putting it together and figuring out how that works best for my body.
This running game is constant learning. Until I get the OK from the MD March 6th, I've been elliptical-ing my little heart out (and a biking 3X week). I feel good though, my body feels strong and I've been eating really well and drinking (booze) much less (although with 4 beer taps in the house it's impossible to go cold turkey). Hoping all the stars align for when I can final get back to the roads and run like 'normal'.
The PT girl looked me point blank in the face and said "If you run this race like 'normal', you WILL set yourself back". She made her point. Boy did she make her point. That is the last thing I want. Being injured is more work than being healthy and more time consuming! I asked her "Well, what pace is that?" "9 minute miles" - well then 9 min/miles it is. Truthfully I just want to register for the Toronto Marathon as to not let it fill up like every other good marathon does these days. I can't do it until I'm out of the woods with this episode and back on track in terms of speed work, racing etc...but I've really learned from this experience.
I learned who to go to for what type of advice - that's for sure. Not everyone has all of the answers- it's more about asking a lot of different experts: coaches, chiropracters, MDs, physical therapists and fellow running friends what to do and how to do it - putting it together and figuring out how that works best for my body.
This running game is constant learning. Until I get the OK from the MD March 6th, I've been elliptical-ing my little heart out (and a biking 3X week). I feel good though, my body feels strong and I've been eating really well and drinking (booze) much less (although with 4 beer taps in the house it's impossible to go cold turkey). Hoping all the stars align for when I can final get back to the roads and run like 'normal'.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Sitting on the Dreaded Running Shelf
Here I sit on the running shelf. I don't think for long but really, every day feels like an eternity.
How did I get here this time? Well, I had never quite returned to 100% normal after my tibial stress syndrome that was born in April 2011 but had managed to pull off a few PRs despite not being 100% throughout 2011.
As mentioned previously in this blog, I took it easy in the November-December timeframe w/o issues - aside from those from just being 'lazy' i.e. running but not with any rigor, speed, appropriate cross-training.
However starting January 1, I started to amp things back up - for a few weeks they were fine but then I started to experience a nagging bruise like feeling in the same area the injury had been. I ignored it for awhile hoping it would go away but no, it didn't and just progressively started getting worse.
Almost 2 weeks ago, I was really really trying to alleviate this issue with stretching the area (both calfs) very diligently. Well, I overdid it and got myself a nice calf strain on top of the issue. Well, given that it's the middle of February, I felt it more important that I heal up and right so not to blow my entire year.
Mika (chiropractor) made the assessment that my hips are weak so I've incorporated a lot of cross training exercises to try to alleviate some unnecessary pressure being put on this injured area when I run. It's improving but next day on the rounds is still to be determined. Until then, it's elliptical city for this girl!
How did I get here this time? Well, I had never quite returned to 100% normal after my tibial stress syndrome that was born in April 2011 but had managed to pull off a few PRs despite not being 100% throughout 2011.
As mentioned previously in this blog, I took it easy in the November-December timeframe w/o issues - aside from those from just being 'lazy' i.e. running but not with any rigor, speed, appropriate cross-training.
However starting January 1, I started to amp things back up - for a few weeks they were fine but then I started to experience a nagging bruise like feeling in the same area the injury had been. I ignored it for awhile hoping it would go away but no, it didn't and just progressively started getting worse.
Almost 2 weeks ago, I was really really trying to alleviate this issue with stretching the area (both calfs) very diligently. Well, I overdid it and got myself a nice calf strain on top of the issue. Well, given that it's the middle of February, I felt it more important that I heal up and right so not to blow my entire year.
Mika (chiropractor) made the assessment that my hips are weak so I've incorporated a lot of cross training exercises to try to alleviate some unnecessary pressure being put on this injured area when I run. It's improving but next day on the rounds is still to be determined. Until then, it's elliptical city for this girl!
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