Tag: stomach issues

10K Thursday

10K’s and I have a rough relationship. 4 years ago today, I lined up at the start of my 1st 10k. It was my third race, I had previously run a 5k and a half marathon. Having run a half, I figured how bad could a 10k be? Umm, yeah. I actually had this post planned this week without realizing the date. Timehop can be so helpful sometimes. Or eerily psychic.I am smiling in this picture but this race was rough. I had planned on running it withNikeC but she was so much faster than I was. My training at that point was best described as non-existent. She pulled ahead of me fairly quickly. I don’t remembermuch other than I walked a lot and generally felt exhausted. At one point during an out and back portion, I passedNikeC on her way back and she cheered me on. I probably grimaced. She texted me a few moments later to let me know I wasn’t last. At that time in my racing, I was obsessed with not being last. So I hung on to the finish. I actually finished that race in the time goal that I set for myself -1:12 but was so disappointed. For some reason it made me feel defeated and irritated. I couldn’t understand how I had finished 13.1 miles 2 months previous. I felt fried. I think I took the next 2-3 months off- zero running. Looking back I am not even sure why, but that feeling stayed with me for a long time.

Don't I look ready to race? Ha! Pre-Talley — Don’t I look ready to race? Ha! Pre-Talley

A long time. That first 10K was May of 2011. My next 10K was June 2013. Every time I saw a possible 10k race before that, I thought hell no. I finally decided to try another one, granted getting a comped entry helped. 🙂 So early one June morning, I headed out to Talley Vineyard for attempt #2. I told myself anything around 1:05 would make me happy. Right before the start, my mother dared me to break an hour. The incentive? $50.00. I laughed. I also didn’t anticipate that running in a vineyard was more like trail running and I was not prepared for that. That said, I crossed the finish line in 59:11. Hell yeah!

I ran 3 more 10K’s in 2013- 57:17, 55:57, 56:21. I began to think I liked 10K’s. A little less crazy than a 5K but only half as long as a half marathon. I thought it could be my new favorite distance. I went into 2014 with this mindset. First up was the Heart & Sole’s 10K– 55:40. This still stands as my PR but it was rough. 5 of the 6 miles, I felt like my achilles was going to snap. I even stopped to stretch it out at one point. It hurt. Next up was Bands on the Run– 59:28. The race where I phoned it in. I was mentally not there and it felt rough. I also hadn’t put it together yet that humidity triggered my asthma and with a race on the beach you get lots of humidity. Oops. Then there was the disaster that was the HOB Fun Run 10K– 1:08:03. That September when I finally admitted I had to back off racing because my system just wasn’t tolerating it. Stupid stomach. So out of 7 10K’s run, 4 have been less than stellar experiences. Where am I going with this? This Saturday, I am running Bands on the Run again. I haven’t really raced a 10K since Heart & Soles’ and I don’t think this will be a real race. I have no idea what time to even shoot for. I am hoping to use this as a tune up for next month when I run Talley again. But I don’t want to phone it in either. The course covers pavement, the high school track, a dirt trail, soft pack dune sand and hard pack wet sand. I don’t think I could PR it even if I was in tip-top shape. That damn dune sand takes a lot out of you. 🙂 And that’s ok, I want to enjoy the scenery and the music this year and not feel frustrated with myself. That said, :59 and below would be awesome but we’ll see.

This popped up today too, is the world trying to tell me something?

Speaking of the beach, I’ve run 4 races on the beach but this time I have shoe options. So what do you think? My normal shoes, trail shoes or my lighter weight pair of shoes?

Thoughts on 10K’s? What’s your favorite distance?

Anyone racing this weekend?

Running on Atkins

On March 30, on doctor’s orders I started the Atkins diet. Yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking- “but, wait, all the yummy carbs!’. Ok, now I want a donut. Anyways, moving on. I may have spent one last weekend indulging in all the things I was about to lose. 🙂 I also bought one of the books, the newer ones- The New Atkins Made Easy. The original book was published back in 2003 and from the free preview I downloaded online, it read more like a science book. I didn’t want or need all that- I didn’t need to be convinced, I was doing this because I was told to.

If you’ve been reading awhile, you’ve seen me talk as nauseuam about my stomach and it’s stupid-ness (gastroparesis). This is not the first time I have been told to limit my carb intake, however this is the most severe it’s been. But as this current flare up has now gone on for almost a year, I made a sad face and told the doc I would do my best.

So in brief- Atkins is a lifestyle change that believes that a lower carb intake will help weight loss and help with some recurring or long term conditions. This is where my doc comes in. He suggested it, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Atkins has 4 phases-

Phase 1- Induction- 20g carbs
Phase 2- Ongoing Weight Loss- 25g-50g- for some people higher
Phase 3- Pre-maintenance 60-70g
Phase 4-Lifetime Maintenance 80-100g

For perspective- the normal recommended intake for carbs is 180-300g.

At each phase, you can add in more foods that were previously restricted. Like fruit and some starchy vegetables among other things. Now Atkins is primarily geared towards weight loss, I didn’t really care about that so I started at the higher end of phase 2. Now I won’t complain about weight loss if it happens but that is not the end goal here. My goal was to aim for an average of 40-50g per day allowing 2 cheat meals a week that should not send my daily limit over 100. If I stuck to that, my weekly average would be around 64g of carbs. Why cheat meals? Because Pizza. I cut way back on the pizza intake but I am not cutting it out completely.

That's real food, maybe I can do this — That’s real food, maybe I can do this

I read the whole book but was slow in finishing it so sometimes I was a little misinformed. Like the time I was so proud during family dinner because I substituted broccoli for the pasta in Spaghetti. Too bad I didn’t realize that the sauce could hide a ton of carbs! Oops. It took me a while to join the website. But since it actually confuses me that’s not such a bad thing. I downloaded the app but really just stick to the Lose It app for keeping track of daily carb intake. I also decided to keep some notes about this little experiment was going.

Week 1-

Didn’t do the best grocery shopping, snacking is kind of hard. Also dinner is hard but not as hard as I thought it would be. I had a moderate headache for the first few days. Running felt hard but doable, so I just tried to take it easy. I was so tired, I had thought about cutting back on soda this week too but there is no way I would have made it through the week. It kept me from becoming a crazy person. I think I figured out how to eat out most everywhere except Mexican food. Friday night was an accidental/ intentional cheat at Taco Bell. I am usually not a fan but they had a new item that was pretty good but super carb heavy. Oops! In plus news, I dropped 5 pounds in 4 days. Not the point of this whole experiment but interesting none the less.

Weekly Average- 72g- not too bad

Week 2-

Started off so much better. I did a better grocery shopping the prior weekend so I felt more prepared. Monday and Tuesday were great, on track counting wise. Wednesday evening was my first weekly cheat meal but that was fine. What was not fine was the cheating on Thursday evening, Friday evening, all Saturday and Sunday lunch. Umm, yeah that was bad. So bad. I still had a headache most of the week but stomach wise I felt ok. I learned that if Lay’s are in the house, I have zero self control. But on the upside, I pulled off Thursday’s 11 miles on only 15g of carbs. This was the longest run since the dietary changes took places. Until this I wasn’t sure I could pull this off, let alone at the pace I did.

Weekly average- 106-going the wrong direction

Week 3-

Started the week out well, fell apart by Thursday. Why do I have such problems later in the week? I do feel like I feel better when I restrict more but it’s hard. I really want some damn potato chips. My mother asked if feeling better was all in my head and I said well that would work too. 🙂

Weekly Average- 90g

Week 4-

SLO race week. This was a problem. I felt conflicted between following the new plan vs the common consensus of carb loading prior to a race. I couldn’t decide what would be better. In the end I consumed more carbs than the past few weeks and it was not a good idea.

Weekly Average- 130g– Ouch

So that was month one. Even knowing that I need to buckle down and really commit to this to see if it helps, week 1 of month two has been a failure. I do fine while at work. I have actually started eating breakfasts again, I figured out snacks and I look forward to my lunches. I figured out how to eat at most of the restaurants I frequent. Even pizza, replaced a large pizza and bread sticks to share with a medium pizza and a salad to share.

This is awesome, have no idea where it came from but I want it.

I start each week with resolve but stumble hard by the end. Last week, cookie Friday proved too much temptation. I hadn’t really had many since Christmas but Friday I ate way too many. Ugh. I think the diet is helping but it’s hard to tell since I have no follow through by the week end. I have a little less than 2 months before I go back to the doctor, so I really want to try and stick to it to see how it goes. Plus I don’t have a half until mid July at the earliest, so now would be the time to figure this out. Beside the other alternative is some heavy duty antibiotics that will break the bank if my insurance doesn’t always kick in like they have warned me. Expensive like the cash price could be a down payment on a car. 😦 So Atkins and I need a little more time together. 🙂

So, thoughts?

Any tips on how to stick to this?

Ever have to restrict something?

March is Marchin’

March being over already feels like an April Fool’s joke. It cannot be time for a monthly recap yet!

But it is, so here we go!

Miles- 83.1

Races- Wine Country Half

Highest mileage moth of the year so far even if it’s not quite where I had hoped it would be at the beginning of the month. Had I hit my weekend long run like planned, I would have been closer to 95. Which is so close to 100!! But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Did anyone else grow up with that expression? I never understood the point. I mean I do but why say it?

Anyways, moving on. This was still a damn good month. I stuck to my training plan fairly well considering I started the month with some crazy tightness and hamstring issues. March also saw me run a pretty great race , for me, so yay! I survived a work inspection and filled in at another location. My stomach was its’ asshat self but I tried to not let it disrupt training too much. I managed to some mile paces that I haven’t seen in months. I can’t hold them for very long yet, but even just seeing low 9’s and mid 8’s on my watch is kind of awesome! Now to work on maintaining them.

That means continuing to stick to my training as closely as I can. SLO is now less than 30 days away and I am looking forward to race weekend. A little vacation time, hanging out with runners and running an awesome race. There’s a local 5K I want to run the weekend after next. Firehouse 5K, it kicks my butt every year, but it’s such a fun race. I usually hurt for the following week so I am glad that it falls a little sooner this year. 🙂 All that said, I am glad that I already decided to make SLO a fun race as opposed to a goal race. At last week’s appointment with my gastro, we decided that the most recent prescription changes were not working. So I have a shiny new diet to follow. More on the specifics later, but I had to say goodbye to a lot of things for the next few months. So very many things. I am still figuring things out, so right now all I know is that the last few days have been some hungry, tired days.

I had a scheduling conflict today so I moved my easy run of the week to Monday. Woof, that was hard. Not sure if it was because it was a Monday, or because my side still hurt a bit or if it was the dietary changes but it was hard. So much harder than easy should feel. I was also testing out my new shoes. While I love getting new shoes, the break in period is always interesting. While I think I am going to really like them, I had unusual aches and niggles throughout the run. I stopped every mile or so to stretch out. I am not really concerned by this because it has happened every time I have broken in a new shoe style. It usually takes a week or so of alternating shoes to fully adjust. But that is one reason I bought them a month before SLO.

How long do you usually take to break in new shoes?

What is your March highlight?

What are you looking forward to in April?

Well, that wasn’t the plan

Even though the extreme pain of Thursday evening eased, I still felt sore on Friday. Sore isn’t really the right word but it’s the closest thing to describe how my left side felt on Friday. I didn’t pay much mind to it throughout the day. Partly because the day was too damn busy and chaotic and partly because I figured it would go away by the end of the day. When the text messages start coming before your alarm, you know the day is going be a little rough. But eventually it was over and I was looking forward to a weekend of running and maybe a little shopping.

Saturday morning was a fundraiser for my mom’s tennis team. They were completing a walk-a-thon and each boy had to walk or run or crawl 20 laps on the track. One boy brought a unicycle! They had a few hours in which to do this so my original plan was to run to the school and then complete my 12 miler on the track with them. When my alarm went off, I could still feel that odd soreness before even getting up. So I chose to sleep a little longer and then just head straight to the school. I figured I would get in as many laps/ miles on the track that I could. They had the track for 3 hours, I was still hoping I could get in 10-12 miles. I didn’t really think they were going to be there that long and I was right about that. However I was overly optimistic about my goal.Running hurt. I walked a few laps and tried to run one. Ouch. Walked a few more and tried running another one. Still ow. Ok, fine I get it. I walked out the remainder of laps. So 5 miles walking done. I still hoped to try and run later in the afternoon. I ran a few errands and then had the afternoon free. I could have/ should have run but instead I took a nap. Naps are training right?

I’ve been doing the math and realized that if my Wave Rider’s wear like they usually do, I will need a new pair before the SLO Marathon. Even if they did hold up through April, I would be running the race in very worn down shoes. I’ve been hoarding the gift card I got along with my Heritage award for just this purpose so today called for a trip to SLO. My mom and I headed down for a day of shopping, yummy food and hopefully a good hike to end the day.

The weather was awesome and the food was yummy as always. My stomach was not cooperative for a hike, however. This was more of the usual though and less of the odd soreness. Which is probably partially my fault. I start a new diet with lots of restrictions tomorrow so I may have indulged a little too much this weekend. Oops, but not really. I had to say goodbye. 🙂 So the hoped for hike didn’t happen. I did clear 10,000 steps on my Fitbit though and that is only the second time I have done that outside a day with a run. Yeah, I need to work on that. 🙂The highlight of the shopping was the new shoe purchase. Aren’t new running shoes always the best? I knew exactly what I wanted to try on so that made it fairly easy. Per usual, the Running Warehouse was packed on a Sunday afternoon. There were already numerous people being helped and a few waiting. I checked out all the pretty shoes while waiting. So very many colors! I guess being a familiar face is helpful because one of the employees was able to grab the shoes I wanted to try while he was getting another customers. Score! I tried the Wave Rider 18 and Wave Inspire 11. I still love Mizuno. 🙂 I had 2 pairs of Wave Inspire 9’s that I loved but just could not get behind the 10’s. I never even bought a pair they felt so off. I’ve been in the Wave Rider 17 ever since and am on pair 3. I was nervous I wouldn’t like the update for the 18. I liked the fit and feel, nothing felt too different, I just liked the feel of the Inspire’s better today. In fact the only real issues I had with both pairs was deciding which to buy and the shoelaces. The laces seem short, so I may be changing those shortly. It’ll be interesting going to back to a support shoe after being in neutral for so long but I think it may be a good thing. I picked my shoes and was in and out of there fairly quickly, double score! Now I just can’t wait to take them for a run!

And I need to get back on track with training. This was not a shiny week, it happens right?

How was your weekend? Did you race? Or run?

Shoelaces? Do you like them longer or shorter?

Why Worry

Warning- this was a little disjointed before last weekends’ race now it may seem even more so.

I’ve been a little all over the place lately. I don’t think I’m in a funk at the moment but I feel it getting closer. Maybe that’s why I fixated on this damn song so quickly. It’s not like it’s awesome but it’s been bouncing around my brain and finding ways into this blog and my Instagram over the last month. I need to figure this out so I can branch out the music options a bit, hehe.I’ve been so tired lately and things just ache. My head, my legs, my ankle, etc. My stomach responded to the new medication for a bit but then decided that was just a trick. Even I am sick of talking about my damn stomach. But on that note, I see my gastro again next week so maybe we will try something new, fingers crossed. Oh, I dream big, don’t I? 🙂

As for my aches and pains in my legs, I know it’s not overuse. Despite my goal of 1000 miles this year, my mileage has remained average and steady. Like I wrote in my February recap, I am not going to break myself to hit some arbitrary mileage number. It wasn’t until writing that statement that a light bulb lit up in my head. Even then, it took a while to turn on. Kind of like the way the original compact fluorescent bulbs used to warm up slowly? That was me. But once the idea was there I couldn’t shake it. I fought with myself on every run because while part of me realized it was something I needed, it also made me feel like a quitter. That or I was admitting defeat. A part of me still feels that a little bit.

Where I am going with this? Re-assessing goals. I set a goal to break 2:00 in the half this year and I am not changing that goal. It will happen this year but it is no longer my goal for SLO. While I am loving my training plan for the sense of direction that it gives me, I am not 100%. SLO is 37 days away now and I still haven’t figured things out stomach wise. I almost skipped Wine Country because I was afraid it might interfere with the goal to break 2:00. I finally decided that was not a good enough reason to pass on one of my favorite races. Turns out, running it was the better choice.

I’m also changing my plans for SLO because I want to have fun that weekend. I want to enjoy the expo and not worry about how much walking I am doing. I want to enjoy the ambassador meet and greet and meet all the new ambassadors. We are tentatively planning to all do dinner that night and I would like to not worry about how what I eat will affect a huge goal the next morning. I want to enjoy the amazing scenery and crowds that are a part of this race. Don’t get me wrong, I am running that half to the best of my ability and I will have no complaints if I PR. But whether or not I do will not color my view of that weekend or my performance in a negative way. I had enough of that in 2014.

I love running and want to continue to improve but I am not going to lose the fun that I find in it as well. So, yes, a part of me feels like a quitter taking a step back. I also think this made more sense before I pulled off a 2:06 at Wine Country. However I made the decision to push my goal back before registering for Wine Country. So maybe the reason I ran it well was because I wasn’t stressed. Maybe I put forward my best time since October 2013 because I finally remembered that one of my strengths running wise is in not stressing. Well and being healthy, but I think I’ll actually break 2 before they figure out what’s going on with my stomach. Ha! I am sticking to my training plan because I want to improve as a runner long-term not just for a short-term goal. This way I won’t want to cry when I am nowhere near the prescribed pace for 400 repeats. Give me some time and I will nail those paces. Before last week I was nervous about the hills at SLO- now- bring em’ on.

So, tell me your thoughts?

Good choice- bad choice?

Is this quitting or being smart?

Do you have another song co I can get this one out of my head?!