I'm running the Women's Half Marathon in Nashville, TN at the end of September. I'm all signed up and everything. What's cool is I got a free interactive training schedule when I signed up. And is it sad and too girly of me to be really excited about the finisher's medal? It has a removable necklace charm, so I can actually wear part of my medal whenever I want! So officially it's me, my niece, my mom, and four of my sisters, partying like it's 1999.
So what does this mean for me? It means relearning how to listen to my body while simultaneously telling it to shut up and run. It means working really hard while clearing my mind and rejuvenating my drive. It means a really weird form of therapy and meditation. It means big bursts of serotonin and other happy hormones. It means torturous running. And loving it.
What does it mean for you? Lots of rambling blog posts from me. Lucky you.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Up and down . . .
What an up and down year this has been, and that includes my running life as well. I started running and though I knew I needed to go slow, I just pushed too hard. I also started wearing my New Balance Minimus shoes while I pushed too hard, and yup! I got injured. I'm almost positive I have a stress fracture. It fits all the symptoms and descriptions I've read. It might also be a torn/stressed tendon, but my gut says it is the former.
While I am still a firm believer in minimal footwear, I just did too much too soon, which is what all of the minimal footwear literature emphasizes over and over. I also think that the particular shoes I bought were just not right for me. I wear nothing but minimal footwear all day long (when I'm even wearing shoes), as I wear pretty flat sandals, very thin ballet flats, and sometimes my good ol' chucks. That's the extent of my daily footwear choices. But when I'd wear my NB Minimus, even just for a walk or to the gym, my leg would ache again. That told me it was the shoes as well as the over doing it. I should have just gone for the fivefingers. I just didn't want all the stares.
But that brings us to today. My leg is feeling really good, after really taking it easy with only cross training and weights with no running and taking bone calcium supplements for quite a while. And it comes just in time. I was thinking of bailing out of the half marathon I had planned for the end of September, but somehow my sister and I have convinced the women of my family to do it. So, three of my sisters and my mom will be walking the Nashville Women's Half Marathon, and my niece and I will be running it. They are all paid for and signed up. I will be on Friday. So, there's no backing out now!
Do I think I can train to run the whole thing by the end of September? To be honest, I've very doubtful. But I'm going to do what I can. It's been hard to readjust my goals. In January, I had time goals and strategies. Now my goal is to finish it, and hopefully run the whole thing. It's tough starting all over. A year ago I could run 6+ miles quite easily and it was even fun. Now I struggle to finish a mile without breaking and while it is really frustrating, I am trying to focus on the fact that I have done this before, so I can do it again.
This week I am giving my leg a test run with harder cross training, mostly spin and maybe some elliptical. Next week I jump back into running - SLOWLY this time, so I don't get hurt. The good thing is my stride has changed. I used to hear a thunk thunk thunk thunk as I ran, and with my ear phones on, I heard it very loudly in my ears. Now it's a light pat pat pat pat, mostly landing on my midfoot. I know this will help me avoid injury as well.
So, the journey begins again . . . let's hope this is the last beginning for a while and I see it to the end this time. Half in Sept, full in the spring.
While I am still a firm believer in minimal footwear, I just did too much too soon, which is what all of the minimal footwear literature emphasizes over and over. I also think that the particular shoes I bought were just not right for me. I wear nothing but minimal footwear all day long (when I'm even wearing shoes), as I wear pretty flat sandals, very thin ballet flats, and sometimes my good ol' chucks. That's the extent of my daily footwear choices. But when I'd wear my NB Minimus, even just for a walk or to the gym, my leg would ache again. That told me it was the shoes as well as the over doing it. I should have just gone for the fivefingers. I just didn't want all the stares.
But that brings us to today. My leg is feeling really good, after really taking it easy with only cross training and weights with no running and taking bone calcium supplements for quite a while. And it comes just in time. I was thinking of bailing out of the half marathon I had planned for the end of September, but somehow my sister and I have convinced the women of my family to do it. So, three of my sisters and my mom will be walking the Nashville Women's Half Marathon, and my niece and I will be running it. They are all paid for and signed up. I will be on Friday. So, there's no backing out now!
Do I think I can train to run the whole thing by the end of September? To be honest, I've very doubtful. But I'm going to do what I can. It's been hard to readjust my goals. In January, I had time goals and strategies. Now my goal is to finish it, and hopefully run the whole thing. It's tough starting all over. A year ago I could run 6+ miles quite easily and it was even fun. Now I struggle to finish a mile without breaking and while it is really frustrating, I am trying to focus on the fact that I have done this before, so I can do it again.
This week I am giving my leg a test run with harder cross training, mostly spin and maybe some elliptical. Next week I jump back into running - SLOWLY this time, so I don't get hurt. The good thing is my stride has changed. I used to hear a thunk thunk thunk thunk as I ran, and with my ear phones on, I heard it very loudly in my ears. Now it's a light pat pat pat pat, mostly landing on my midfoot. I know this will help me avoid injury as well.
So, the journey begins again . . . let's hope this is the last beginning for a while and I see it to the end this time. Half in Sept, full in the spring.
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