Confessions of a reluctant runner, a DL 1/2 & PHM PTR. 7/5 race recaps and final thoughts

[mickeystoontown]

Cynthia, I hate to hear that you are having more issues and that you have been told to stop running until things are figured out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the "down time" will be shorter than you are expecting.

I wouldn't worry too much about what you said on the day of your appointment. Didn't you say that the therapist was also a runner? If so, I am sure that she understood your disappointment in the news that she had to deliver.

 

[Poolrat]

Yeah, that's super frustrating. Basically I have one side telling me to immobilize it and another saying that's the whole problem, it's locked up and needs to move. My gut says joints moving is better than frozen up.

My experience tells me to listen to the PT. They will keep you moving forward. Sometimes I feel the doctor will limit movement unless they are an athlete too and get it. PTs have always found the answer for me.

For me moving is always better. All the supporting structures need to stay flexible to do their job.

I hope an answer comes sooner rather than later. I know it is frustrating.

 

[eandesmom]

Yuck. I'm sorry to hear about your latest news. I guess you just have to go with what the PT tells you to do and hope for the best. The worst part is that you put all that effort into finding shoes that work for you, and then you follow what should have been good advice about using the braces, only to find out you're causing more harm.

The brace thing is really ridiculous and frustrating. Makes it hard to know if the shoes were even an issue but for now does seem safest to go with something more traditional

I hope the new shoes work for you and the PT gets things straightened out quickly!

Between the PT and the Chiro (using ART) we are making progress on loosening things up. The shoes...not quite there.

It really should not be so hard. Then again, they built an industry around it my chiro was telling me the initial tennis shoe design, which to a large degree they are all still based of to a degree had ZERO basis in science and foot mechanics.

Aw man, that really stinks about not being able to run (although i'm a treadmill girl, scared to run outside!) Hopefully everything heals quickly for your race in a couple months!

I admire you for that, I really don't know how anyone could do the treadmill on a constant repeated basis.

Why are you scared to run outside? I am grateful the PHM is still a bit away, I'd be freaking out if I was doing the WDW half.

Yay for meet ups outside of Disney!

The medals are awesome!

We had such a lovely lunch! Isn't that medal pretty?

Cynthia, I'm sorry to hear all of your woes with your running. I hope things improve quickly for you.

I'm glad you had a wonderful holiday and anniversary.

I feel like such a whiner! It is nothing compared with what so many deal with.

I did have a wonderful holiday, thank you!

Cynthia, I hate to hear that you are having more issues and that you have been told to stop running until things are figured out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the "down time" will be shorter than you are expecting.

Thanks Lisa!

I wouldn't worry too much about what you said on the day of your appointment. Didn't you say that the therapist was also a runner? If so, I am sure that she understood your disappointment in the news that she had to deliver.

I actually didn't say anything, I think it was more facial expression and body language. I can be a pretty open book at times, Jeff calls it "paragraph face".

My experience tells me to listen to the PT. They will keep you moving forward. Sometimes I feel the doctor will limit movement unless they are an athlete too and get it. PTs have always found the answer for me.

I've had pretty mixed results in PT. However it has not been with this particular PT. In the past they've gotten me to a point...but not farther and I wanted to go farther. So, we will see. The old PT's were athletes as well but that particular practice group does do some things a little differently. I think for this, the combo of PT with ART is a better fit versus the place I went before, even though they are fabulous too.

For me moving is always better. All the supporting structures need to stay flexible to do their job.

I hope an answer comes sooner rather than later. I know it is frustrating.

It's a balance between how much movement is good, versus too much. One of these days I'll get it right.

 

[Chilly]

The medals are great, although still wouldn't make me take up running.

Sorry to hear you've had more issues with running though, hope you get it sorted soon. How many running shoes is that now?

 

[eandesmom]

The medals are great, although still wouldn't make me take up running. Sorry to hear you've had more issues with running though, hope you get it sorted soon. How many running shoes is that now?

Too many!

I think it's up to 8!, 9 if you include the fact I bought a 2nd pair of one (still have those, was using them for the gum but am not now).

I tried 3 when I first started. Kept that 3rd pair for over a year., actually about 16 months. Well actually, keep that model, I did buy a 2nd pair of them once I hit about 450 miles which was about 100 too many on those shoes.

Since then it's been 5 more including the ones I currently have. 5 different brand, 8 models. Yikes.

Good news is I've only had to pay for a total of 3, the rest has been exchanging (which someone's means a refund and sometimes I have to pay the difference).

I agree, medals while cool aren't enough to make one start of running. The experience of running a Disney race though, that does for a lot of folks.

 

[KatMark]

I haven't seen you around in awhile and just wanted to check in.

 

[Poolrat]

I agree, medals while cool aren't enough to make one start of running. The experience of running a Disney race though, that does for a lot of folks.

The medal helped me..... Really it was others and peer pressure sort of..

I probably will run another again but the 5K or 10K. Enough to participate but not enough to impact my day at Disney.

 

[eandesmom]

I haven't seen you around in awhile and just wanted to check in.

Crazy crazy busy! All work stuff and not much sleep but I am here. Sort of. Last night in Hawaii and pretty wiped out. Multiple late nights and uber early mornings. Super productive but wow, I may sleep the whole flight home. Still have some work todo tonight and in the morning but am hoping for one more run before I go. I considered the gym tonight but oped for a pedicure instead, my feet are trashed from walking all over town!


,

The medal helped me..... Really it was others and peer pressure sort of.. I probably will run another again but the 5K or 10K. Enough to participate but not enough to impact my day at Disney.

I'd do one of the 10's around a family trip. The half takes up more time or away than I'd want ideally for a family trip but a 10 would be fun and I could maybe get Jeff and Eric to do it wrh me. Except that'd be pricey lol!

I do hope the shirt is cool. The rare occasion I really like a race shirt, I wear it a lot!

 

[glennbo123]

Hang in there. I just had surgery to repair torn meniscus, which was 3 years in the making. I finally decided that it just wasn't going to get better on its own.

 

[Poolrat]

Hang in there. I just had surgery to repair torn meniscus, which was 3 years in the making. I finally decided that it just wasn't going to get better on its own.

So That's where you have been..... Hope all is healing nicely.

That is is EXACTLY how I felt about the shoulder and 1 year later it is SO much better. Now I just need to get Everything stronger.

 

[eandesmom]

Hang in there. I just had surgery to repair torn meniscus, which was 3 years in the making. I finally decided that it just wasn't going to get better on its own.

I've heard good things about that surgery, hopefully it went well and you are on the road to recovery! Getting old is such a drag.

So That's where you have been..... Hope all is healing nicely.

That is is EXACTLY how I felt about the shoulder and 1 year later it is SO much better. Now I just need to get Everything stronger.

Don't we all!

 

[eandesmom]

Quick training update. I need to do a big update on my other TR but darn it, I kind of forgot about the fact that there is no wi fi over the ocean. Makes it hard to do work on the plane! Not that a DIS update is work but if I can’t see the pictures online, it is a little hard.

As seems to be my norm, it was a mixed bag this past couple of weeks.

Training wise here is what it looked like.

Tuesday 12/2: Braved the Treadmill. AKA the DREADMILL. Lol. The good news is, I did not die! Or fall off which is my real fear. I followed orders and did 1:1 intervals. Which frankly were a giant pain in the you know what. Each minute I would press the button to increase the speed and then a minute later to decrease. It is hard to go too fast in those minutes if you ask me as as soon as you get your speed up, you have to take it back down. I do see the benefit of interval training, I just don’t think it is for me, it is far too high maintenance. The even better news is....my ankles did not get worse while I was doing it. The left one still felt tired and sore, but not "more"” sore, which was important. The dreadmill did bother my shins a little, which is normal for me and part of why I don’t like it, Unfortunately as I ran, I could feel the left callus forming hard and fast. Crazy how it happens. Which means I had to concur with PT, that the shoe was too narrow for the orthotic.

Wednesday 12/3: Went to PT and Chiro where they did see some improvement again. Not earth shattering but enough for me to get cleared to go back outside with strict instructions to keep it at 30 minutes or less. AND do my exercise before and after running (UGH). So we went out that night. Ok run, all things considered but did reinforce the fact the shoes were definitely too narrow, I hadn’t been hallucinating the night before. 3.49 miles @9:27 pace.

Thursday 12/4: Was a crazy work day with an evening event.
Friday 12/5: Headed BACK to the running store after work and exchanged shoes yet again. Tried on more shoes while there, so much fun, different shoes on each feet, testing on the treadmill, in jeans…NOT. Not my idea of a fun Friday night lol. I think honestly the darn orthotics are just a real issue to fit inside any shoe. All the shoes I really like…they don’t fit in. The one shoe I'd like to try in a wide, they did not carry in stock. The one pair of wides I did try…No Bueno. Once home we went out for a run. Overall I think the shoes felt decent. I can’t say they are shoe nirvana but I guess I need to get over that idea. I ended up with the Asics Gel Excel 33. Which is what I’d originally planned to buy way back when but every time I tried them on, the heels felt way too wide. Basically they are the neutral shoe version of what I ran in at the DL half (Asics Gel Electro 33). I’ve grown to really like the lighter shoe and no seamed upper and it was weird to try on a couple that were more like my old shoes that I wore all of last year. They just felt like so much shoe! But there is one other that could be a back up option, as well as the New Balance but in a wide.. Sigh. I do think, and have suspected this for a long time, that the left orthotic needs tweaking. I did re-lace them today and we will see if that helps anything. My ankles again did not get worse while running, which was good. Shins hurt a little but I think that was residual from the treadmill. Because it was late, I did less than the allowed 30 minutes. 2:74 miles @ 9:27 pace.

I am not going to post pictures of those shoes yet either. I may still order the New Balance 890’s in the wides but since they were back ordered until 12/8 I figured I’d give these a shot first. I will likely know before the 8th what I think and if I want to order in the others. I’ll deal with the left orthotic next week.

I am hoping I can pick that pace up on the week night runs, I am going to have to for the intervals and temp runs. I tend to run slower in the dark so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Saturday 12/6: Squished in 30 minutes at the gym which I really did not have. Barely made my flight!

Sunday 12/7: I got up and ran a 5K race in Honolulu.
I really went back and forth on this one. I did not make it to bed until about 2am Saturday night. The flight was incredibly turbulent so it was a longer than usual flight thanks to tradewinds. Then it seemed to take forever to find my hotel. Not that it was actually hard, it was just dark and super easy to miss. So I did. Several times! I was totally paranoid a cop would pull me over for going round and round the block at that hour. Race start was at 7 but they wanted folks there at 6am for day of registration. It did not seem quite close enough to walk plus at that hour, it was dark out and that did not seem prudent. So I drove. And parked. Did not see any kind of registration table but did see a group of runners. Went over and stood nearby. 6am passed, at 6:05 someone apologized for being late and mentioned that the lot was full and that was why they were late. Someone else said "oh yeah, there is a 5k here today". Which clearly told me that yes there was a 5K but it wasn’t starting where I was parked! I really debated bailing, I was very tired, but finished my coffee and drove around and found the actual race start. I knew the week would be nuts and I’d be really mad at myself if I did not do it. I wouldn’t have another chance for any running, or likely exercise at all, until Thursday. It was 6:15 but they let me register anyway. I went back to my car to hang out for a little bit and also hit the restroom across the street. The sun was just coming up, pretty!



The timing chip was a kind I had never seen before. A Velcro strap that went around your ankle. At about 6:50 they herded us over to the race start, a few blocks away. It was a small race and so literally about 5 minutes before the start the police actually closed the street for the start. It was pretty cool. The race was a memorial race for a local woman who had been huge in the running community. Her son spoke, as did the local running club president. Thankfully, they gave course instructions, some would be on the street, some would be on a path and that path would be uneven so we needed to watch our footing. After that, we were off. This was a gun start with a chip finish, a first for me. In a small race you see the same people pretty much the whole time. I felt like I chased 3 people most of the race and one guy and I kept trading spots as he was doing intervals. It was a nice little race, basically it was at the base of Diamond Head, just off of the beach and ran around the Honolulu zoo. At the end we waited for the results and it turned out I placed 2nd in my age group.

There were only 2 in my age group

LOL!

See, small race



It was cute, they'd print the results as they came in and filled up a piece of paper and then staple them to a board for everyone to crowd around and see.

But hey, I got a medal! And a tee shirt. Which sadly isn't tech and that bums me out as it is super cute. I don't care for the unisex cut tee though so not likely it will see much wear.





The pictures with myself and the other runners turned out a lot better but oh well. I had SO much stuff in my pockets as I was solo and had my other set of lenses with me, I felt a little like a pack mule!

Still, I had a great time chatting with the winner of my division who was also there from out of town (San Diego) and doing her first “solo” out of town race as well as the winner from the division above ours. It was a RRCA race (road runners club of America) and apparently was a state title race, meaning that folks could place as "champion" for their age brackets with RRCA for the state of Hawaii. The woman we were chatting with in the division above ours won! Pretty cute. She was adorable, all set to do the Honolulu Marathon the following weekend (as it seemed about half of the participants were). My stats weren't earth shattering, 39 out of 89 and 2nd in my bracket @ 27:35 which is a 8:45 pace. Slower than the race in the ankle braces lol but most importantly, the ankles felt good throughout. The left one is still perpetually tired and a bit sore but it is never “more” sore during or after running and the pain has become more general versus fixed in one spot which apparently is actually a good thing. I did feel the humidity. I did not run with earbuds as I knew it would be a small race but ugh I hate hearing myself breathe! And boy did I feel the breathing with that humidity at 90% even though the temps were not high at all. The results are on track with where I should be pace wise on a tempo run so that is good. Those start this week.

Mon – weds were insanely busy with work, I drove all over the island, a fair amount of it in the dark and spent a lot of time in Starbucks working in between. I did not get much sleep. However, I did eat some great food though and got some fun xmas shopping done. I also was able to visit one of my cousins, even if it was only for 20 minutes it was great to see her!

I did however officially start my PHM training plan yesterday!

My first day of the plan called for interval runs. 4x400. Which is running .25 miles, 4 times and timing each .25 interval. You can walk in between and it is not specified how long but a common answer I got from folks when polling was walking as long as you ran in between. The plan I am trying to hit calls for my 400 time to be 1:56. That means it should take me 1:56 minutes to run a quarter mile. They are supposed to be hard and very fast.

For some reason I did not think to translate that into what that meant in mile pace.

I did a quarter mile warm up from the hotel to get myself down to a less congested area to run (basically back where the race had been). I ran my intervals as fast as I could and definitely welcomed the walk break in between. Over the 4 intervals, my pace averaged 8:14. Which sounds good, right? Yeah. I figured out that 1:56 is actually a 7:44 pace.

Holy cats.

Not.Even. Close.

I guess it is a good thing I never figured that part out ahead of time or I might not have done it at all. Now I am pretty committed, it is late enough I cannot really change plans too much. I am feeling a wee bit stressed that my miles have been so slow between work, injury and the fact that my plan did not start till this week. Ann and Mary Ellen are literally running circles around me right now but I try to remind myself that I picked Sigh. In theory the more I do these, the faster it will be. I have 9 more interval runs to do but some will be 800’s (half mile) and some 1600’s (mile).

Ugh.

I was lame. Honestly. I did a a .25 mile warm up, did those intervals with walks in between and then did another half mile after that to cool down. All told probably not even a 3 mile run. Instead I decided to go out for breakfast at a restaurant located near the end point of my run.



Hey, how often can you get blackened ahi eggs benedict with a view?



Unfortunately at PT it was pretty obvious what little progress had been made, had regressed. Not, I (and they) actually think from running but more from the travel, lack of exercise and PT. I am allowed to continue with the 30 minute plan and need to be uber aggressive with some specific exercises and the dreaded foam roller over the weekend. Realistically I have a week before I need to up the miles. I'd hoped to do it this Sunday but it can wait until the following. Even though running doesn't really seem to be making it worse, PT doesn't want added stress. It's a frustrating injoyr as it really doesn't hurt that much! Frustrating that something that feels so mild seems so major to them.

It can't wait a whole lot longer though.

I had originally hoped to be out of town this weekend celebrating my sisters birthday but the reality of everything that is on my plate right now at work, the fact I am hosting my dinner club’s holiday party on Monday, being gone all week and being sleep deprived…I just could not do it. Instead I’ll clean the house, catch up on laundry, and maybe do an informal run Sunday night.
There is a SUPER Funny writer/cartoonist/blogger called The Oatmeal. He writes about all kinds of things, including running a series about the Blerch
If you have not read his stuff, even if you don’t run, you might want to check this out. It is flat out hysterical and has turned into a cult following.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running

The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances

He is local

He is from the area and is "hosting" an informal 5/10K on Sunday night. An ugly sweater, wear battery operated xmas lights and eat cookies after kind of event. I'd hoped to do the 10 but guess it will have to be the 5.

Sounds like fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other Disney news…

We were supposed to attend a DVC event on Saturday that was here in Seattle. It sounded wonderful! But after an insane work week, trying to get ready for my Hawaii work trip and client gifts here in Seattle, and the 1000 xmas card project between the 2 markets…I just could not do it. I figured paying my bills and finishing the decorating and doing some grocery shopping for the gang was more important. Super sad about missing it though.

I did however have my PHM costume arrive and I am super excited about it. I need to play around with some of the “parts” to see how they will work best but overall it is super cute, light, fits well and I like it a lot. So much that if I do a race this month that I am considering, I may wear part of it as well….it could easily be seasonal, aka christmasy!

Life should continue to be nuts for about a week and then…sigh, the slow down and I can get caught up on life as well as the DIS!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Two steps forward, one step back. *sigh*

So sorry that there seems to be little progress with the PT. Hope you sort out the orthodics and that the new shoe is working out better than the others. If not, I hope the New Balance works out.

Congrats on the medal.

Life/work is crazy here too. Seems to be every year we just speed up more and more around public holidays. I really don't understand why we seem to want to get things done "before Christmas" when there is no reason for the pressure...other than people taking time off.

 

[KatMark]

I truly don't know how you do it all...you amaze me.

Beautiful pictures in Hawaii and loved the food porn.

 

[Poolrat]

All I can say is


At least the ankles are not getting worse ... you are maintaining but I know it is frustrating not to be able to do more.

I know you will solve this and be ready for PHM.

 

[eandesmom]

Two steps forward, one step back. *sigh*

Yeah, it felt like 2 steps back as that kind of travel does a number on my neck too.

So sorry that there seems to be little progress with the PT. Hope you sort out the orthodics and that the new shoe is working out better than the others. If not, I hope the New Balance works out.

Congrats on the medal.

Well, there was progress with PT prior to the trip, but that kind of running around, in heels, for days, with limited ability to do the PT on the road (did some but not all) did a number on my body overall. Ankles, neck, etc. Bad bed and pillows didn't help.

The shoes seem good so far. I think I have about 20 miles on them so far so it's a bit early to really tell. I need a longer run to have a better idea but so far so good and hopefully I have a longer run this sunday. Got provisional clearance this morning.

The odds of a medal are high in a small race like that, I knew there was a chance going in. Didn't expect there to be only 2 in my age bracket though. Not sure that mattered much, my placement would have been the same in pretty much all brackets, 2nd or 3rd lol. At least up to age 60 that is.

Life/work is crazy here too. Seems to be every year we just speed up more and more around public holidays. I really don't understand why we seem to want to get things done "before Christmas" when there is no reason for the pressure...other than people taking time off.

So very true!

I'm going to get done what I "have" to get done but am not going to kill myself on anything else. Which may be a bad thing, I am surpisingly unconcerned about how clean my house is for my dinner party tonight. It's certainly presentable but...

I wouldn't eat off my floor.

I truly don't know how you do it all...you amaze me.

Beautiful pictures in Hawaii and loved the food porn.

I don't do it all, I pick and choose. I skipped my sisters weekend out of town to get my life back in control and it was such the right call. I feel like a new woman this morning!

All I can say is


At least the ankles are not getting worse ... you are maintaining but I know it is frustrating not to be able to do more.

PT/Chiro felt like they got a lot worse while I was in Hawaii but I made progress again over the weekend so that was super encouraging. I feel better, overall, today for sure. Fingers crossed it stays on track this week, I'm going to be on top of it, got upgraded to new/different HEP so that's good and a provisional ok to do the 12K on Sunday assumign things stay the same or get better so I went ahead and registered.

Darn it, I want a Christmas red tech shirt. LOL! But it is SUCH a cute shirt.

I know you will solve this and be ready for PHM.

Sure hope so! It won't be for lack of commitment and trying that is for sure.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Sorry you've been having so many challenges, but hey, a 5k in Hawaii isn't a bad consolation prize........

Hopefully things keep improving leading up to the PHM! Looking forward to joining you..............to take pictures of you and MEK running......

 

[CarolynK]

Is "ugly sweater" a new thing or am I just out of the loop? I'd never heard of it until recently, our local bar had a contest - and if you don't own one (or "think" you own one) apparently you can buy one online?! So funny!

Too bad you had to miss the DVC event.

 

[eandesmom]

Sorry you've been having so many challenges, but hey, a 5k in Hawaii isn't a bad consolation prize........

Well, doing it on 3 hours of sleep plus jet lag was less than ideal but it was my one chance all week so I had to take it! Helped make up for the 12, 17, 12 hour days that followed as well as the 5 hours I put in later that day lol.

Hopefully things keep improving leading up to the PHM! Looking forward to joining you..............to take pictures of you and MEK running......

Yes, hopefully I will be running and not walking!

Is "ugly sweater" a new thing or am I just out of the loop? I'd never heard of it until recently, our local bar had a contest - and if you don't own one (or "think" you own one) apparently you can buy one online?! So funny!

I've not idea how long its been around, for years my little sister had an ugly sweater party but I think the idea of ugly sweater runs is probably newer than that although not exactly "new". I actually saw the best tech shirt, it "looked' like an ugly sweater but is a tech shirt. Sadly they sold out of it when it went on sale and their new version has their logo blasted all over it. It's overpriced as it is so I couldn't justify it before though I'd have worn it but the new version is far too branded for me

I did order a xmas tech shirt that came yesterday and I LOVE it! I'll wear it around the house all xmas season and run in it too. Of course AFTER I ordered it they came out with a version that has the yeti in a santa hat, I'd probably have chosen that one but really do like the one I got.

Too bad you had to miss the DVC event.

I was bummed about that, it sounded really fabulous. I didn't like the fact they wanted folks there an hour before the start time, that seemed excessive.

 

[MEK]

I know you are frustrated not to be running further distances, but you short distance times are really impressive. Focus on the positive.

I'm doing the long runs, but they feel pretty torturous right now and I have to remind myself that the sheer distance will not seem so crazy once I am in an actual race surrounded by people. Right now it just seems endless. ugh. We each have our own struggles.

Love the pics from Hawaii and its so cool you did that local race. How fun. I had a similar experience when I did my 10K race. Super small and this young girl kept stopping to walk. I would pass her and then she would regain her strength and just fly by me. It happened at least 6 times during the last couple of miles. Turned out to be a good, yet frustrating, distraction.

I have a day off today so I'm just about ready to start stretching and hit the road. I think its going to be more mild than usual so I'm HAPPY!