Monthly Archives: November 2011

X-Rays Negative!

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Granted, if it’s a recent stress fracture it won’t show up on the x-rays, but when the clinic called to say that the radiologist didn’t see anything I asked if the fact that I was on my feet for 4+ hours with just the KT tape (and shoes, duh) and the foot didn’t hurt was a good sign, the doctor said that yes. In all likelihood if it was a stress fracture I would have been in pain after that long on my feet, taping or no taping.

I haven’t been out to run on it yet (Coach Jenny’s rule is 3 complete days, so since it first hurt Saturday, that means Sunday, Monday and Tuesday no running until Wednesday)…but I’m hopeful. (And thinking I’ll try yoga or a lower impact DVD later today – which means basically modifying a dvd that’s higher impact to make it lower impact. Hee! I need to move!)

Hopefully this is a good sign!

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Today’s schedule was basically 4 hours of working at the store – meaning 4 hours on my feet and walking around. Not necessarily a good thing with a sore foot. But I looked at my options.

First up, I pulled out my old Clarks with a more solid sole than the flats I’ve been wearing (plus they tie, so that adds a little support as well). Then I went to KT Tape’s website to see if there was a taping for the foot that looked like it might be good for where mine had been hurting. There was! So I taped up the foot as well.

GOOD NEWS! No pain in it all afternoon at work!!! Meaning that it’s looking more like it’s a muscle strain. Fingers crossed!!

I went to Jack Rabbit and got a new pair of Ravenna 2s because my older pair is getting up there in miles, and I think I need to go back to more supportive shoes at least on the long runs. Plus I love the two elasticized parts in the lacing that wrap really snug around my feet. They had them in my size, so I got them.

Came home and iced the foot. Will do that again in a moment and pop some more Aleve before bed. I’m going to take tomorrow off from running and see how things feel at the end of the day. Assuming they’re still feeling good, I’ll get up Tuesday and do an easy run.

Big guarded sigh of relief!

Ok…longest run ye- OW!!!!

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Yesterday was to be my longest run yet. 18 miles (plus probably a little more if my trend stuck).

I got up, I headed to Central Park so I could try and time it that my last 3-4 would be during Front Runners fun run. Started off and all was well…mostly. Slight twinges in my left foot…but it seemed to be only when I was walking. So I kept going. I mean, some twinges are going to happen. It wasn’t like an OMG PAIN STOP NOW kind of thing. So I went on. But by the time I got to the 102nd St transverse, it was starting to twinge during running too. So I thought I’d give the non-paves path around the Reservoir a try. No go. Still hurting, and starting to get worse.

I had to make a decision – continue on in spite of the pain and get the miles in…and possibly risk the marathon by doing worse damage; or stop at under 5 miles, RICE it and possibly seek treatment, and hopefully be able to get things back on track ASAP.

I went with option 2. Granted I was on the East Side of the park, so that would have made for an interesting bit of subway transitions until I remembered that I could get on the 7 at Grand Central.

I got home and immediately put my foot up (that stuffed manatee comes in handy at times) with frozn blueberries on it while I did some research. I found an urgent care place that a) takes my insurance and b) does x-rays, so I headed over there. Got in pretty quickly. At first the girl at the desk said that the x-ray machine wasn’t working, but turns out it was. The doctor was really nice. She didn’t see anything on the x-ray (not uncommon with a stress fracture…especially if it’s new), but a radiologist will study it on Monday and they’ll get back to me. Other possibilities include a bone contusion – particularly on that big toe joint since the pain seems to be radiating from that general area, or a strain/sprain of some of those foot muscles. At any rate, the current scrip is RICE it as much as possible this weekend. If the x-ray doesn’t show anything but the pain continues, it’ll be time to go to a sports med person and/or podiatrist where there will likely be an MRI and/or bone scan.

This morning it definitely seems better. I made two in-the-night bathroom trips where it didn’t hurt at all. But then when I stretched (nothing formal…just that “I just woke up and am stretching everything” thing) and pointed and flexed my foot, it hurt a bit. To me, that seems to indicate it may well be the strain/sprain thing. But we shall see. In reading about stress fractures, they can be asymptomatic until you start going on them and then the pain increases. So… We shall see.

I do have to work at Disney for 4.5 hours today. I’m planning on wrapping my foot in the painful area with KT tape (not sure if that’s officially on their site, but I’m going to give it a go) for added support.

So… We shall see what happens. I think I’m going to get a new pair of Ravennas as well and maybe try the more supportive shoes for the moment leaving the neutral ones for shorter runs. (My old Ravennas are in the 300-400 mile range, so probably time for new ones.)

Fingers crossed and pixie dust!!!

Prospect Park Track Club Turkey Trot 5-Miler

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I did this race last year and had a really good time. I hadn’t done as much running in Prospect Park at the time, so while familiar, it wasn’t overly familiar. That could have been a good thing or not. I’m still figuring that out. It’s a really fun race, and they’re strict about a 2500-person cap. And the swag is usually something beyond a t-shirt. This year it was a buff. And the advantage of a 9am start in my borough where the subways, if on a Sunday schedule, at least aren’t dealing with construction?

Of course I was signing up!

I signed up almost as soon as I knew registration was open. I was the 411th person to sign up (they assign bibs in sign-up order, and I was bib 411) – probably the only time I’ll have a bib number that low (unless I sign up immediately next year and beat that number)!

I set te alarm for 6 so I could eat something and get ready. Gear: my new running skirts pumpkin dot capri skirt, my long-sleeved Brooks Run Happy shirt, my Girls Rule socks, Moving Comfort Fiona sports bra, my new Brooks Defyance 4s, and my Garmin 210. Food: before leaving I had a Gingerbread Clif Bar and some water; pre-race I had a pack of Chocolate Outrage GU; and on-course I had strawberry-lemonade nuun. I was set! Because the subway station at the corner of the park where I’d usually get off for this is closed in the Coney Island direction – and my other usual option is completely on the other side of the park with no cut through – I opted to do a few transfers. Still got there pretty early, even with trying to figure out which would have been the “front” of the Q-train that was recommended on the race website. Hung out with Bernd – a Front Runner who also did it last year – and then headed out into the sun so I could check my bag (I wanted sun before I took my sweatshirt off). At that point I met up with Elke, Dave, Amy and Patty (more FRNYers) and we all headed in our own way to the start.

There aren’t any corrals – just get where you are and await the start. The horn sounded and we were off. We started with a short loop, taking the road that cuts through the middle of the park and going around, so it was a while before we hit The Beast. I knew I’d started out fast when I hit the first mile marker and it was just under 11 minutes. I hadn’t intended to start out fast, but since I’d taken M-W off from running my legs wanted to go. I tried to reign them in, even walking during a run segment here or there so I wouldn’t blow up. Still, I felt really good throughout. When I got close to the end, I decided to push it and just go. First time I’ve felt like I might puke from pushing. I didn’t, but I felt kinda good that I did push that hard! :)

My final time was 57:17, so it was slightly slower than last year’s 56:57. But I’ll definitely take it. I felt good throughout, and going “just” 5 miles is definitely something that’s getting easier. And that’s a good thing!

Overall a fun race and one I think I’ll be looking forward to every year for the foreseeable future.

T-Minus 8 weeks!!!

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OMG!!! 8 weeks until the Walt Disney World Marathon – AKA my first full marathon!!!!!

I’m alternately excited and terrified!!

Overall I’m feeling good. I did 15.35 miles yesterday and generally felt ok. So it makes next weekend’s 16 miler slightly less terrifying. Yes, yesterday should have been 14. But I’m going by foot time more than anything. And 13:52 is very hard to digitalize, so I just round to 14. And since I’m doing WELL if i go as slow as 13:52 for an average pace, I’m likely going to end up going a little further distance-wise. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It’s not like I’m steaming through the long runs. My average pace yesterday was 13:41.

I’ve been assured that I’ll be fine. I’m putting in the training and I just need to trust that. I know intellectually that’s right. It worked for my half marathons for the most part (ok, it worked…there were other things that training couldn’t prepare me for that happened). It’s just scary!

8 weeks!! Or 56 days!! Or 1344 hours!! Or 80,640 minutes!! Or…ok, never mind. We’ll just leave it at that! :D

Guess what I did?????

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Remember when I was even more of a baby runner than I am now and I hated the hill in Prospect Park so much that I named it The Beast? And then how this summer I decided to go left rather than right and discovered that The Beast has an even more Evil Twin on the other side? (Clearly I knew it was there, but going down I didn’t realize how brutal it is going up.) And how every time I attempted to go left since that first time I’ve had to walk Evil Twin?

Today I ran it!!

Ok, not 100% consistently because I do run/walk. But I never dropped to a walk in the segment when I started up Evil Twin and even more important, I went back into a run after my walk segment ended!!

I’m so proud of myself right now!!

I do owe a big thanks to Martin and Tom at Marathon Talk for getting through it. They were discussing the NYC Marathon and Mary Keitany’s performance and talking about how yes, she did essentially blow up, but she was courageous enough to go for it knowing that blowing up was a possibility and how sometimes you just have to take a chance. I really wanted to conquer this hill at least once, but I as starting to doubt my ability to do it yet. Then I heard them say that about how sometimes you just have to take a chance, and I decided what the hell. I was going for it. And if I blew up, well, I’d limp my way to the subway, but at least I’d know I tried. So I went for it, and succeeded!!

Hooray!!!!

coming soon: my review of my new toy: a Garmin 210W (I’m still working out the user kinks and don’t want my error to color anything, but overall I love it!!)

Food!

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Disclaimer: I’m by no means an expert. I’m just a regular girl trying to figure things out – at least what works for me.

Food’s always been a weakness of mine. I love it – unfortunately not always the stuff that’s good for me. My waistline (and stretch marks) shows it. I’ve worked really hard over the past year and a half and have consciously dropped around 30 pounds. It’s more since I moved up here in 2006…but I wasn’t keeping track to really know…but I’d say since then I’ve dropped at least 50-60 pounds.

I’m still about where I was last year, and I know that’s all me. On The Biggest Loser this week they were discussing how long it takes to re-train your brain, but how easy it is to UN-re-train it. And that’s so true. I’ll be great for a few weeks, keeping my eating pretty healthy (ok, some Lean Cuisines in there, which isn’t great, but there are times when I need convenience, and it’s better than some of the other options out there), not so much eating out, etc. And then I’ll get take-out. Or eat at a fast food place. And no matter how healthy I try to be with it (“Oh, it’s grass-fed beef! And organic cheese! And the fries are cooked in olive oil! It’s ‘healthy’ fast food!” – yes, I’ve justified several meals at Elevation Burger that way), it so easily pops me back into the habit of getting takeout or eating out.

Now, I get it. It’s a lifestyle change, and there needs to be wiggle room in there. And yes I have gotten better at making healthier choices. But the fact remains, it does reset my brain back to the previous mindset that makes it ok to do take-out or eat out more frequently. And for me, at least right now, it’s not. I need to be more careful.

Even with what I eat that’s not take-out. Example – if I get tortilla chips and make “nachos” with chili and cheese, even low-fat and measured to the ounce, that can set me off on a take-out or junkier foods run. (I purposely do not use “binge” because it’s not in one sitting but will be over days or weeks.)

So I’ve been evaluating things and looking at options. I know a lot of people swear by weight watchers, but I’d rather see nutrients, calories, percentages than operate off these nebulous “points”, so I’m sticking with MyFitnessPal.com for now. And while we’re on percentages, a podcast or two back on PacePerMile (check it out…it’s gotten a lot better lately) their nutritionist was talking about average ideal percentages for carbs, protein and fat. I figured I’d give that a shot and see how it worked – I can manually set things on MFP, so that’s cool. Only little problem was that the percentages (65, 25, 15) added up to more than 100% and MFP won’t let you do that. So I decided that to start I’m going to try 60, 25, 15 and see how it works.

So far it’s going well. I mean, have I gotten it perfect yet? No. I’ve been slightly over with fat (only by a high of 7, but since it’s really low anyway it’s not a deal killer). Slightly under with carbs and proteins. But I’m learning and I’m getting better. I may gradually increase the carbs and decrease the fat (not to below 10%…you need some fat to exist), but we’ll see.

I will say this… Even with just 2 days at a lower fat percentage I feel slightly leaner. I feel like I look slightly leaner. Maybe it’s all in my head. I mean, yes I’ve dropped a couple of pounds, but that’s likely mostly water as my body corrects itself from my bad eating of late. Still, I guess even if it’s mental, that mentality thing helps. I mean, I got carrots, bananas, and lettuce at Trader Joe’s just now in addition to oatmeal, almond milk, light cheese, and veggie sausage (another in the “I’m trying it” series).

So we’ll see what happens. :) I’m feeling good about this.

And in running fuels… GU definitely wins big time with their Peppermint Stick energy gel!! It’s not too sweet and not too hot. It is DELICIOUS!!! Wish it wasn’t just around seasonally. (Seriously, who decided that peppermint should be exclusively Christmas?? Thank goodness Starbucks keeps it around year-round!) I’ve heard rumors that one of the gel makers does a vanilla gingerbread, which sounds great as well…but I’ve not been able to find it. But I’m definitely stocking up on the Peppermint Stick GU! YUM!!!

Inspired. And terrified.

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So Sunday was the ING New York City Marathon. For the second year in a row I spent the day at Mile 24 where Front Runners New York run the fluid station. This year we added a cheer zone and I sort of co-captained that. We made it fun with costumes and so forth.

We were there from the time the first elite wheelchair racer came through

until the “support ends at this vehicle” vehicle came through.

It’s so inspiring to see everyone coming through. The elite wheelchair athletes are so focused – and in some cases they get so close to each other it’s incredible. The elite women came through just as the eventual winner (Dado) and second place runner (Deba) were beginning to close in on the eventual third place runner (Keitany). The elite men FLAT FLEW by. Geoffrey Mutai whizzed past going insanely fast, and it was at least 30 seconds before we even saw E. Mutai (2nd) and Kebede (3rd). G. Mutai’s time? 2:05:06. Now that’s just silliness!

Impressive silliness though. VERY impressive silliness.

And speaking of impressiveness, check out this guy…

I wish it was clearer so I could look up his bib. But I swear the roar of the crowd as he ran by was incredible. And I don’t think there was a dry eye around. (I’m welled up now as I’m typing this!!) It makes me appreciate all my runs, no matter how painful they are. It’s all about perspective.

Once the elites were through the masses started coming through. Based on what I’ve seen the past 2 years, Mile 24 seems to often be the spot where people realize they’re actually going to do it. We see the full range of emotions – joy, pain, determination…and yes, we can even see anger already when people realize they’re not going to make their goal. At one point in a glance across the course I could see literally every one of those emotions and more. Cheering all day was easy!!

Of course we also had to do crowd control as people insisted on moving out into the course. Even worse letting their little kids wander out and even sit down. It’s bad enough in general, but there comes a point in the day where the runners are totally blinded by the sun. I spoke with one father about moving himself and his sitting-on-the-ground child back, headed on down the line, and found them back out in the street on my way back. At this point I could see the sun the runners were running into so I just looked at the father and said “Turn around and look at what they’re running into. They are blinded and most definitely cannot see your child sitting on the ground. You’re putting them AND him at risk for serious injury!” When he saw the sun, he promptly picked up the child and moved back.

Also had to inform a few people that smoking is NOT allowed inside NYC parks. Yep, you read that right. People out spectating a marathon and so into it they kept pressing into the road were lighting up when runners would be passing within feet of them. IDIOTS! Thank goodness it IS illegal in city parks. And there were plenty of cops around so that had there been problems I could have gotten one.

When it got to the point where the 10:10 start wave was hitting 5:30 I was like “My people!!!!” since my stretch goal for Disney is 5:30. I’m guessing I’ll be closer to 6 in actuality, but I can dream. These are the people who we really got responses from – some were trudging along and yet when we called their name they looked up and smiled and started trying to push a little more. :)

A lot of people had their names on their shirts, which was great! (And oh the men I saw who needed Body Glide, Vaseline, and/or Nip Guards…it was painful to see the red spots on the shirts. OUCH!) However… Many of the people who did this also had their ears stuffed with ear buds. Now really…what’s the point of putting your name on your shirt to have people yell for you if you’re going to be plugged into music and not aware of it. I started purposely looking for those without earbuds/earphones to yell for, especially as I could tell my voice started to go.

Still, cheering for 7 hours was totally worth it. It inspired me to “werk!” (as one of our signs said) through my training for Disney. And yet it also terrified me seeing how some of the people limping through looked. I want to be confident I can do it. I know I need to be confident…it will just be an adventure for sure!

Oh, and if you ever wondered about the aftermath of a fluid station at a huge marathon?

Yeah…it’s a mess.

So January it’s Disney…and (most likely) next year? NYC!