Tag: hurt

Week 22- That Stings

20.6 miles for the week. If you looks strictly at the number of miles run vs the plan- I nailed it . The details reveal a much different story.

Last week so up and down. Actually more down. I dealt with a possible leg issue, my sleep doesn’t seem to be getting any better, splinters in butt and then an ant attack. Oh and asthma issues. I’ve joke I should be called Calamity Runner instead of Slacker and last week it really fit.

Planned vs Actual

Monday- 1.5 miles / 1.5 miles
Easy running on Monday. It felt odd doing so few miles on a day off work but I was keen on sticking to the plan. The odd part was the twinge in my left ankle that started about 40 minutes after my run.

Tuesday- 1 up/down, 3.5 mile tempo/ 3.5 blow up
I headed back to the lake path figuring the flat, friendly, sandy trail would help me focus on my pace. Big dreams. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My left foot and ankle were pissed. I couldn’t get my breathing under control and I was nowhere near hitting my paces.

I had 2 failed tempo miles before I called it and walked it in. Then to add insult to injury I sat on a wooden bench to at least enjoy the sunshine and wound up with splinters in my butt. 😂

Wednesday- 1.5 miles/ 2.2 miles
I kept it super easy and honestly probably walked half of it. My ankle was angry but not as pissed as the day before. I was still very nervous about any running especially since I had a race only a few days away.

Thursday- 4 miles/ Zero
I decided rest was best and resigned myself to the red dot in Final Surge. I was supposed to go to a networking event after work but this was when the ant attack happened. I went to get gas as my car was on empty. As I was filling the tank, I decided to wash my windshield. Partway through I felt stings on my right foot. Look down to my right foot, ankle and shoe are covered in ants. I scream and kick the shoe across the gas station lot, I throw the squeegee too. Then I am hopping around on one foot trying to brush the ants off while the stinging turns to pain and of course my dress decides now is time to do a Marilyn Monroe impression. I flash all the workers in the auto bay. I finally got them all off, jumped in the car and drove straight home. I jumped directly into the shower but my foot was bright red with bites and swelled. Yay. I’ll spare you the pic I took- my toes are ugly. 😒

Friday- 1.5 miles/ more rest
Rest, rinse, repeat. Except today I felt like things were crawling on me. 🐜

Saturday-7 miles/ Road trip!
I knew my long run would be Rock N Roll San Diego this week which meant long run on Sunday and not Saturday. It was also a very long drive down. But I made it to the expo around 3:30. Picked up my stuff, did a little shopping- I forgot my water flask and Gatorade Endurance at home. Doh! I tried to turn in early to get as much sleep as I could. Haha!

Sunday- Rock n Roll San Diego
Race recap up soon.

How was your week?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 10

Oh, week 10, why you gotta play me like that?

If I ever train for another marathon, I swear I may skip week 10. Just go from week 9 to week 11, you know like they skip floor 13 for some high rises? Week 10 is cursed to be a hot mess. During San Francisco training, week 10 was the breaking point with Hanson’s and I spent the last weeks just trying to hang on and get through the race without making my leg worse.

This time- I managed to hurt everything. Right shin. Left shin. Pulled a left groin muscle. Popped/ pulled something on the right side of my back. Oh and had a panic attack on the side of the road. As for running? I pulled off a whopping, crawling 15.75 miles last week.

So let’s ~~whine~~ talk about what I managed to do-

Tuesday- 1.54 miles I headed to lake path after work, looking forward to bringing it back into play. The path being back means speed work is an option again and I was looking forward to going back to 4 days a week. However my legs didn’t get the memo. I knew right away something was wrong but I was hoping it would go away after a lap of the lake. My left shin hurt but the scary part was my right shin. I felt like something was loose under the skin- kind of like the muscle was pulling away from the bone. It wasn’t getting better, getting worse in fact so I called if after a lap. Grrr.

Saturday- Rain What do runners in denial of injuries do? Buy new kicks.

Sunday- 12.55 run/ 1.66 walk The plan called for 18 and that’s what I set out to do. However between all the rain of the week and all the pains I had been feeling, I was tired and not feeling it but I told myself to get over it. I forgot my pepper spray and had to turn around to get it. I had to change my route less than 1/4 mile in as there was a funeral at the cemetery and I try to not run past when there are actual services. I started out slow and it never got any faster. I was dragging around mile 7 when a passer-by leaned out their car window and yelled “good job” with a thumbs up. It gave me a second wind for about 5 minutes but also made me wonder if I looked as rough as I felt.

My legs were aching, my feet felt like they were swelling. It was 70+* and I was hot. I was so damn thirsty and I had 2 bottles of water in my pack. I stopped for a bathroom break around mile 10 and doused my hat and Buff in water. I kept trying to move faster but I just kept moving through quicksand. I couldn’t catch my breath and it just got worse. By mile 11 I was sitting on the side of the road having a freaking panic attack, crying.

I somewhat pulled myself together, ha, called my mom and asked her if she wanted to join me for my last miles so I would have some company. She said no and told me I should quit and she would come get me and give me a ride. I was stubborn and said no. I tried to suck it up and run on. At mile 12.55, I knew I was being stupid. My pace was in the toilet and my head still wasn’t right. I stopped my watch and decided to walk a shorter way home. That was still almost another 3 miles. I didn’t make it. I ended up calling for that ride.

I was so damn irritated with myself for not finishing 18 but I also knew that pushing on would have done more harm than good. As it was, I was limping, dehydrated and exhausted. I was done.

Now starts week 11… and I am filled with doubt and lingering muscle pain. Oh boy.

How was your week? Tell me something good!

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 3

If I had one word to describe this week, it would be ouch.

If I used more words, ouch would likely be followed by a couple of colorful expletives and then some more ouch.

Work was stressful and busy. I ran but it didn’t go well. I bought new running shoes, oh and I cut most of my hair off. Surprise!

The plan-

Week 3

Life-

Monday- PT/3 miles It was a day off from work and part of me really wanted to run the 6 miles of speed work that was on the plan for the week. Part of me was also really feeling the 15 miles I had put on them in the previous 2 days and wanted a rest day. I compromised and stuck with the plan and headed out for 3. I should have gone with the rest. My legs were not having it. Not even turning to my long run run/walk intervals helped. I probably shouldn’t have run the same day I had a PT appointment with traction. I ended up just walking it in.

Tuesday- Rest Insanely busy work day plus I was listening to my legs.

Wednesday- 2 miles Another busy day and mentally, I did not think I could handle the treadmill. I changed into my running clothes at work but was talking myself out of it the entire drive home. I was thisclose to bailing entirely but instead I parked my car and a headed out for a dark few miles. Things were a little stiff but I chalked it up to all the uneven sidewalks I have to run on at night and figure I run a little differently in the dark.

Thursday- 4 miles -400’s On the lake path, my typical 400 pace ranges from 7:55-8:15. On this night, due to some very poor treadmill math, I was running these 400’s around 9:45. And they were kicking my ass. I normally love 400’s. Not tonight. My legs and back were not agreeing with the treadmill at all. I called it at 4 miles because an ache in my upper left leg started to turn into pain. I hate treadmills. Particularly bouncy ones.

Friday- Rest/ PT exercisesI wore compression socks all days and my for the most part, I felt ok.

Saturday- 9 miles/ PT exercises I wanted 11, should have quit at 5. The plan was to run from home, do my 11 and finish at the high school where my mother was having tennis practice then she would give me a ride. I was super achy and stiff the first 2 miles but sometimes it can take until mile 4 for me to loosen up so I kept running. By mile 5, the aches had turned into straight up pain and I knew I was in trouble. So I took a shortcut and hobble-ran my way to the high school stopping occasionally to stretch as best as I could. Once home, I iced, and stretched and foam rolled as much as I could.

Sunday- Rest I did wander around SLO and do some shopping. My left leg is still not to happy but I was able to walk without pain. But certain muscles and bones are making their presence known if that makes sense. I stopped in at the Running Warehouse and made the leap into a new pair of shoes. I’m moving around too much in the Adidas right now no matter how many pairs of socks I wear. Fingers crossed these help.

18.19 miles for the week. 5 short of where I should be. But it’s early days and I am not going to freak out yet. No, I am not. If I repeat it enough, it’s true right?

How was your week?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 1

Well crap, it’s real huh, now that it’s in writing. 😜

This week went almost exactly like I planned. Notice I said like I planned and not according to THE plan.

Plan-

Week 1

Life

Monday 5 miles / PT exercise- I couldn’t waste a perfectly good day off so I moved Wednesday’s 5 miles to Monday. It just made more sense. I also finally found the sluggish feeling I had been expecting to feel on Saturday’s and Sunday’s run. Then again it has also been a while since I’ve run 3 days in a row. Other than sluggish, it was a pretty solid 5 miles though. Could have done without the buzzard spectators though. Back off buddies.

Tuesday- Rest/ PT exercises. Nailed it. Work was crazy busy so that’s all I had the brain power for anyways.

Wednesday- 3.1 miles/ PT exercises Slow, sore, treadmill miles. Man, my back was so not happy so I was really glad I switched Monday and Wednesday around. I was also very surprised by how empty the gym was. I had been expecting to find a crowd but instead I was able to find both a parking spot close to the gym and a treadmill easily. What gives? That is highly unusual for January 3.

Thursday- Physical Therapy I had another session of lumbar traction, this time with increased tension. Is that what it’s called? While it felt good, I was super sore too. I took easy the rest of the day, doc’s orders.

Friday- Rest If only that word was an accurate representation of how Friday’s actually go. 🤣

Saturday- 8.3 miles/ PT exercises First long run of training! Just to play things smart and to be nice to my back, I was keeping to my intervals of run 1 minute, walk 1 minute. Also helped that my watch was set to that and I was too lazy to fix it. My pace was keeping pretty steady in the mid 11 range, which I was more than fine with and my plan was to pick it up for a fast finish. Everything was working great up until mile 6.5. Then I felt AND heard something pop on my back near my left shoulder-blade and came to a screeching halt. Literally. I was ripping off colorful words in multiple languages and probably sounded like I was screeching. Are you freakin’ kidding me? Now, this is unfortunately an injury that I am familiar with. This is the 5th time it’s happened, first time while running though. Usually, it leaves me with restricted mobility on my left side for 3-5 days, how the hell was I going to get back to my car let alone finish running??

I ran a pace that didn’t jostle me too much and stopped multiple times to stretch. Stretching would have gone better without my Orange Mud pack on, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get it back on it I took it off. I made it back to my car and stretched as best as I could before driving home. Grrrr.

Sunday- Rest. Damn shoulder. Running actually seemed to help it a bit because it didn’t seem as bad today as it was the last time this happened. Which oddly, was almost exactly a year ago. So I rested and worked on some deep stretching with my foam roller.

16.42 miles. Other than the damn shoulder, the miles are exactly how I thought this week was going to go, so yay for that! I had originally thought about making up Thursday’s run on Sunday but again, shoulder.

How was your week?