With new goals and a new direction comes a new blog. I hope you'll join me there!
She Runs This Life
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Sweet relief
Today was my first and only day of running this week. Despite my best intentions, circumstances kept me off the track.
When I started running seriously in 2012, I did so in full knowledge that I had a torn ACL in my left knee. I learned to run with the understanding that I had this fundamental instability, and no matter how strong I felt, the worry of injury resulted in substantial compensation by the right side of my body. I didn't always perceive it, but I carried myself crooked, heel-striking with my right foot and forefoot-striking with my left.
It wasn't really a problem, I figured, and I got by just fine.
Last summer, my bad knee forced my hand. I tore both menisci sometime in June, fought through my leg of a half marathon relay in July, and consulted with a surgeon a few weeks later. He had me in surgery by the end of the month.
After so many years of movement compensations and crookedness, it was a mixed blessing to have this enormous reset button, in the form of knee surgery. I had no choice but to sit down and heal. I had no choice but to begin again, this time with a repaired knee. I was back at square one.
Learning to move straight, each leg working as intended, was an eye-opening experience. Rehab went well, and I was back to jogging slowly in only a few months. I hired a trainer to help keep me on track after my physical therapy ended, and she was able to pinpoint the source of some of my long-seated problems. All those movement compensations had left me with an overpowered right quad and a strong, overly-effective left hamstring. My legs were, to some degree, opposites of each other. It was no wonder that, many months after my knee had healed, I was still favoring different legs for different tasks.
(To this day, I still step down with my right foot on the curb. I should learn to get over that.)
It should come as no surprise that what begins in the legs rarely stays there. "The leg bone's connected to the hip bone," and all that. Though I've managed to mitigate and repair some of the imbalance that I carry through my legs, I've become acutely aware of the problems that have taken root in my lower back.
Specifically: My pelvis hitches up on the right. Left unaddressed, it causes a pinching pain just to the right of my lumbar spine, and the muscles in that region are so tight that it's hard to lean to the left. I discovered this situation as I trained for the marathon last year; spending so many miles on the roads brought what may have been a minor issue to the forefront. I got weekly chiropractic adjustments for months, but finally had to give up my self-admitted chiro addiction around the holidays.
It felt a little worse every day. First, the tightness. Then, the tightness became pain when moving in certain ways. Last night, I could no longer lean to the left while sitting. Finally, this morning, standing square and upright made me wince.
And so today, it was time to reevaluate my finances (and my priorities). I called my chiropractor's office a handful of times this morning - they're "By Appointment" on Saturdays, so I was gambling on when they'd be in - and I cruised my sad little spine over as soon as they gave me the go ahead.
The relief was immediate. And amazing. So I went for a run.
I'm no preacher of the miracle of chiropractic medicine. I know there are people who don't appreciate the discipline, and there are people who have visited and perceived no benefit. For this body, though, it makes all the difference in the world.
TL;DR: When you find something that works, stick with it. The body is a fickle thing, and we all need what we need in order to perform our best.
When I started running seriously in 2012, I did so in full knowledge that I had a torn ACL in my left knee. I learned to run with the understanding that I had this fundamental instability, and no matter how strong I felt, the worry of injury resulted in substantial compensation by the right side of my body. I didn't always perceive it, but I carried myself crooked, heel-striking with my right foot and forefoot-striking with my left.
It wasn't really a problem, I figured, and I got by just fine.
Last summer, my bad knee forced my hand. I tore both menisci sometime in June, fought through my leg of a half marathon relay in July, and consulted with a surgeon a few weeks later. He had me in surgery by the end of the month.
After so many years of movement compensations and crookedness, it was a mixed blessing to have this enormous reset button, in the form of knee surgery. I had no choice but to sit down and heal. I had no choice but to begin again, this time with a repaired knee. I was back at square one.
Learning to move straight, each leg working as intended, was an eye-opening experience. Rehab went well, and I was back to jogging slowly in only a few months. I hired a trainer to help keep me on track after my physical therapy ended, and she was able to pinpoint the source of some of my long-seated problems. All those movement compensations had left me with an overpowered right quad and a strong, overly-effective left hamstring. My legs were, to some degree, opposites of each other. It was no wonder that, many months after my knee had healed, I was still favoring different legs for different tasks.
(To this day, I still step down with my right foot on the curb. I should learn to get over that.)
It should come as no surprise that what begins in the legs rarely stays there. "The leg bone's connected to the hip bone," and all that. Though I've managed to mitigate and repair some of the imbalance that I carry through my legs, I've become acutely aware of the problems that have taken root in my lower back.
Specifically: My pelvis hitches up on the right. Left unaddressed, it causes a pinching pain just to the right of my lumbar spine, and the muscles in that region are so tight that it's hard to lean to the left. I discovered this situation as I trained for the marathon last year; spending so many miles on the roads brought what may have been a minor issue to the forefront. I got weekly chiropractic adjustments for months, but finally had to give up my self-admitted chiro addiction around the holidays.
It felt a little worse every day. First, the tightness. Then, the tightness became pain when moving in certain ways. Last night, I could no longer lean to the left while sitting. Finally, this morning, standing square and upright made me wince.
And so today, it was time to reevaluate my finances (and my priorities). I called my chiropractor's office a handful of times this morning - they're "By Appointment" on Saturdays, so I was gambling on when they'd be in - and I cruised my sad little spine over as soon as they gave me the go ahead.
The relief was immediate. And amazing. So I went for a run.
I'm no preacher of the miracle of chiropractic medicine. I know there are people who don't appreciate the discipline, and there are people who have visited and perceived no benefit. For this body, though, it makes all the difference in the world.
TL;DR: When you find something that works, stick with it. The body is a fickle thing, and we all need what we need in order to perform our best.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Getting my goals off the ground
Now that I've settled back into my workout routine, as it slowly becomes my pre-marathon-training running routine, I've decided it's high time that I iron out my race schedule for the year. I had a handful of goals in mind, and with a little more experience under my belt from last year, it was fairly easy to pop some races onto my calendar.
So, Happy New Year to me, here's what's on tap for the coming months:
One week into the new year, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling ready. I've got this.
So, Happy New Year to me, here's what's on tap for the coming months:
February
5K
March
10-mile
April
Half marathon
June
10-mile
Marathon
July
Half marathon relay
October
10K
5K
10-mile
It may be evident, at a glance, that I'm extremely fond of the 10-mile distance. From the first race I ran over that distance last year, I was hooked. I found that I tapped into this beautiful, euphoric feeling after mile 6, but I was prone to crashing physically and emotionally around mile 11. Running 10-mile races was simply the most enjoyable experience with the least amount of stress. Now that I've thoroughly deconditioned, I'm curious to see if that experience repeats.
The half marathon will be special; I'll be racing in my hometown for the first time, save for an untimed 5K years ago, and I'm excited to see the city through a different lens.
June looks more daunting than it is. The 10-mile - a repeat of my favorite 10-mile from last year - occurs on a day in my marathon training schedule when I'm supposed to run 12 miles, and I'll have two weeks of taper before I take on 26.2.
October is going to pose its own unique challenge. I've signed up for an event that calls for a back-to-back 10K and 5K on Saturday, followed by a 10-mile on Sunday. After having two marathon training periods under my belt at that point, I don't anticipate it'll be physically distressing, but there are so many ways that I can play it. Do I conserve early and have lots in the tank for the 10-mile? Do I live in the moment and put in strong efforts on Saturday? We'll see....!
October is going to pose its own unique challenge. I've signed up for an event that calls for a back-to-back 10K and 5K on Saturday, followed by a 10-mile on Sunday. After having two marathon training periods under my belt at that point, I don't anticipate it'll be physically distressing, but there are so many ways that I can play it. Do I conserve early and have lots in the tank for the 10-mile? Do I live in the moment and put in strong efforts on Saturday? We'll see....!
One week into the new year, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling ready. I've got this.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Heart rate woes
When an otherwise active person trades in their shoes for a spot on the couch, the first thing to go is aerobic fitness. And boy, does it go. It only takes a week or to for the inevitable backslide to begin, and every subsequent week makes a return to activity that much harder.
So with only a handful of miles logged since my October races, I knew January would be more work than fun.
Today marked my second run back on a program; this year's focus is Grandma's Marathon at the end of June, and my chosen training plan calls for 18 weeks of serious training. That gives me until mid-February to ensure that I have a strong enough base that I can jump directly into a four-day, 19-mile week. Last year's program was a lighter one, calling for only three days of running (with ample cross-training), so this new plan is going to be a major step up.
February 15th. My calendar is marked. The real stuff begins.
My gym has a 1/10 mile track, and I knocked out a 2-miler there on Thursday. The run felt good, very possible, so today, I stepped up to a 5K. The track was clogged with New Years Resolutioners, so I opted for the treadmill.
This is the part where I remind myself that progress isn't linear. Progress comes in fits and starts, and today was nothing like Thursday. I never quite clicked into a rhythm, and I found myself winded and walking frequently. Feeling a bit amiss, I checked my heart rate. And I checked it again, because I didn't believe it.
Within a mile, despite walk breaks, I found myself over 170bpm. Before my second mile, I was peaking at 188bpm. I wasn't setting any new speed records; on the contrary, I was shooting for my old, slow, reliable pace of last year. Today, that pace was too much. My 5K run became a 5K mostly-walk as I tried to keep my heart rate under 150.
It was humbling to spend so much time walking, but ultimately worthwhile. Instead of turning out the 36-minute 5K I was expecting from my current fitness level, performed at a moderately-hard effort, I turned out that same relative effort for the better part of 47 minutes. It's hard to be ashamed of sweating for longer than I was intending.
Running by effort is the name of the game when it comes to training. Today was a great reminder of that.
So with only a handful of miles logged since my October races, I knew January would be more work than fun.
Today marked my second run back on a program; this year's focus is Grandma's Marathon at the end of June, and my chosen training plan calls for 18 weeks of serious training. That gives me until mid-February to ensure that I have a strong enough base that I can jump directly into a four-day, 19-mile week. Last year's program was a lighter one, calling for only three days of running (with ample cross-training), so this new plan is going to be a major step up.
February 15th. My calendar is marked. The real stuff begins.
My gym has a 1/10 mile track, and I knocked out a 2-miler there on Thursday. The run felt good, very possible, so today, I stepped up to a 5K. The track was clogged with New Years Resolutioners, so I opted for the treadmill.
This is the part where I remind myself that progress isn't linear. Progress comes in fits and starts, and today was nothing like Thursday. I never quite clicked into a rhythm, and I found myself winded and walking frequently. Feeling a bit amiss, I checked my heart rate. And I checked it again, because I didn't believe it.
Within a mile, despite walk breaks, I found myself over 170bpm. Before my second mile, I was peaking at 188bpm. I wasn't setting any new speed records; on the contrary, I was shooting for my old, slow, reliable pace of last year. Today, that pace was too much. My 5K run became a 5K mostly-walk as I tried to keep my heart rate under 150.
It was humbling to spend so much time walking, but ultimately worthwhile. Instead of turning out the 36-minute 5K I was expecting from my current fitness level, performed at a moderately-hard effort, I turned out that same relative effort for the better part of 47 minutes. It's hard to be ashamed of sweating for longer than I was intending.
Running by effort is the name of the game when it comes to training. Today was a great reminder of that.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
My, it's dusty around here!
The Great Hiatus of 2013 gave way to an even Greater Hiatus, encompassing all of 2014. But while my writing lapsed, my goal setting and dedication to this path didn't.
Well, not for long, anyway. Here and there, but never for very long.
The best way for me to kick off this New Year is with a wrap-up of what everyone's missed while I was busy not writing. Major life changes (like a surprise knee surgery and marriage to the Geeky Runner) aside, my life has revolved around fitness in one way or another. I returned to school in Fall 2013 to gain a Fitness Specialist education, and in November 2013, I became an NASM Certified Personal Trainer.
The gig wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and I spent only nine months concentrating on that career path, but it brought me to bigger and better things. Most importantly, it kept me focused and on track for all the fitness goals I had in mind.
2014 was a year of running, and it was a year of racing.
You see that word up there, right under "October"? Yep. I finished a marathon. 26.2 miles.
I stop short of saying that I ran a marathon, because I did a lot of walking. A whole lot. But I completed it under the six-hour cutoff and on my own two sore, aching feet. Even as I was climbing painfully over the worst of the hills, I knew I would do it again. And even as my muscles seized after crossing the finish line and I hobbled stiltedly, whimperingly to my car, I knew I would absolutely do it again.
Looking forward to 2015, there's a lot I hope to accomplish. After the marathon, I took what I hoped would be a brief break from running. Despite having two shorter races ahead of me, I didn't really resume running. I instead discovered just how much I'd been eating when, in the absence of meaningful, consistent physical exercise, I packed on fifteen pounds. My pre-marathon 165lbs was all gone. Yikes.
I'm no believer in New Years Resolutions, but a switch flipped in me this morning when I rolled out of bed and felt that forgotten Need To Run. So I did.
The races on my schedule this year begin in February with a 5K and peak with my second marathon in June. A handful of other races decorate my calendar at this point, including a weekend in which I'll run a 5K and 10K back-to-back, followed by a 10-mile the next day. I'm excited to have a baseline on many distances, established in 2014, and to have the opportunity to improve on them this year.
So much to do. So many places to go.
Best of all, I'll be doing it all with my husband. The Geeky Runner was with me for every single race this year, waiting for me at the finish line, his own medal already around his neck. (One of these days, I'll catch him.) Our plans diverge somewhat this year; he's taking aim at some trail races, while I recently discovered that my dodgy knee has trouble with extreme terrain. So it'll be me at the finish line for him this time.
Here's to another year. Bring it on!
Well, not for long, anyway. Here and there, but never for very long.
The best way for me to kick off this New Year is with a wrap-up of what everyone's missed while I was busy not writing. Major life changes (like a surprise knee surgery and marriage to the Geeky Runner) aside, my life has revolved around fitness in one way or another. I returned to school in Fall 2013 to gain a Fitness Specialist education, and in November 2013, I became an NASM Certified Personal Trainer.
The gig wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and I spent only nine months concentrating on that career path, but it brought me to bigger and better things. Most importantly, it kept me focused and on track for all the fitness goals I had in mind.
2014 was a year of running, and it was a year of racing.
April:
10-mile
Half marathon
May:
25K
5K
June:
10-mile
July:
Half marathon relay
5K
August:
Half marathon
September:
5-mile trail
October:
Marathon
Half marathon
Half marathon
November:
5K
You see that word up there, right under "October"? Yep. I finished a marathon. 26.2 miles.
I stop short of saying that I ran a marathon, because I did a lot of walking. A whole lot. But I completed it under the six-hour cutoff and on my own two sore, aching feet. Even as I was climbing painfully over the worst of the hills, I knew I would do it again. And even as my muscles seized after crossing the finish line and I hobbled stiltedly, whimperingly to my car, I knew I would absolutely do it again.
Looking forward to 2015, there's a lot I hope to accomplish. After the marathon, I took what I hoped would be a brief break from running. Despite having two shorter races ahead of me, I didn't really resume running. I instead discovered just how much I'd been eating when, in the absence of meaningful, consistent physical exercise, I packed on fifteen pounds. My pre-marathon 165lbs was all gone. Yikes.
I'm no believer in New Years Resolutions, but a switch flipped in me this morning when I rolled out of bed and felt that forgotten Need To Run. So I did.
The races on my schedule this year begin in February with a 5K and peak with my second marathon in June. A handful of other races decorate my calendar at this point, including a weekend in which I'll run a 5K and 10K back-to-back, followed by a 10-mile the next day. I'm excited to have a baseline on many distances, established in 2014, and to have the opportunity to improve on them this year.
So much to do. So many places to go.
Best of all, I'll be doing it all with my husband. The Geeky Runner was with me for every single race this year, waiting for me at the finish line, his own medal already around his neck. (One of these days, I'll catch him.) Our plans diverge somewhat this year; he's taking aim at some trail races, while I recently discovered that my dodgy knee has trouble with extreme terrain. So it'll be me at the finish line for him this time.
Here's to another year. Bring it on!
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