Ending the hiatus at last

If you've kept up with this blog at all, you may be wondering what I've been doing for the last six months since the Tyler Rose Half. The short answer is: moping. I've been moping and feeling sorry for myself. I've gotten most of that out of my system now. I'll be posting some new fitness and nutrition goals next week.

For a more detailed break down of my six month pity party:

Race Day:

Aka, the "purpose" of this entire blog. It didn't go as planned. During our first 9 mile run (about a month from the half), I had some kind of physical break down where my hip gave out and my guts went crazy. I had to stop running about 6 miles when my gastrointestinal distress became so severe that I feared an imminent pants-disaster. We stopped at a gas station but I couldn't go to the bathroom. So, we tried to run again (because I'm hard headed) and that's when my hip just gave out. I didn't feel anything snap or pop, it just suddenly became loose and wobbly. I hobbled down to the nearest Dairy Queen and made it to the bathroom just in time. Then we hobbled back home about 3 miles. The next day I could barely walk. Awesome.

I made a lot of bad bad decisions that run. Looking back, I should have stopped for good the first time. I should've called a friend to come pick us up. I should've refueled better and eaten more carbs before the run. I should've kept up with my strength training, since I knew my hips were vulnerable to injury.

I basically rested for the next two and a half weeks, and then attempted some 30 minute walks along our normal running paths. Although I still had some serious hip discomfort, I was too bone-headed to give up. By the day of the half, I felt "well" enough to convince my husband that we should walk the half. So we did. It was incredibly cold (like, almost freezing). It was slow going, but my hip and my fear kept us from running. We did end up running the last mile, which was pretty encouraging. All in all, it took us about three and a half hours to cross the finish line... pretty abysmal. Because we got there so late, the race organizers had run out of finisher's medals. Ugh. We did eventually get them in the mail.

They looked like this:

After the race:
I didn't feel like running EVER again. I felt incredibly discouraged, stupid, and worthless (never mind the fact that I had just walked 13.1 miles after training for months, something that should have made me feel proud of myself). It just seemed so pointless. I spent about two months doing nothing aside from some karate and half-hearted walks. Needless to say, I put on a bit of weight. Then the holidays came, and I put on some more weight. Yay!

At some point, I decided to get off my butt and do something. I landed on this strength training program from Kara Goucher, courtesy of Tony Salazar. It's specially designed for runners and it is a beast. I made it through one full round (four weeks of increasingly heavy weights + one rest week), put on a lot of muscle, and felt pretty awesome about myself. During my first week of round two, I screwed up by not eating enough calories (again) which resulted in me almost passing out in the middle of a set.

Shortly after this experience, my husband and I traded various flu strains back and forth for about 6 weeks. Then I got a little depressed. Then, we had this ridiculous month of crazy weather changes that threw my poor joints into a tailspin.

Then I went out of town for ten days for a conference in New York. Then I got sick again.

Aaaaaand now I'm here. Sick and tired of being sick and tired, as they say. Last week, my husband and I started a new round of the Kara Goucher workout. Next week, I'm going to start a weird paleo food challenge called the Whole30 Challenge. So there you go.

Words of encouragement are welcome, as are any hilarious stories of failure that you might have.

Temporarily waylaid

Here's a quick and dirty update, since the blog has been kind of quiet.

August 25th, we had an 11.5 mile run planned. It was pretty disastrous, with major blood sugar problems, GI crises, hip pain, and gear issues. Also, the lingering after effects of my spring bout with bronchitis were present today; I struggled to breathe even with my inhaler. I couldn't get my blood sugar balance to a good point. I don't think I prepared nutritionally for the run very well (loooots of church casserole), so I'm going to have to try some different strategies for our next long run. I'm really at a loss for what kinds of food will properly fuel me on long treks.  So, the short description of this run is that it really really sucked.

We ran about 4.5 miles at a pretty slow pace, and then stopped in at the gas station on Loop and Paluxy. My tummy wouldn't cooperate at said gas station, so we started up again but had to stop shortly thereafter. We walked down to the Dairy Queen in the French Quarter parking lot where my tummy WOULD cooperate (in a very urgent way).

About 7.25 miles in, after 4/4.5 running and a couple miles of walking), Matt encouraged me to start up again. It was a pretty pitiful pace, but we did make it almost 2 more miles this way. Although it was miserable, I drew deep on my mental and physical reserves. I think it was a valuable experience. By the end of the run, my hips were screaming. I hadn't been paying much attention to my form while I was hobbling along, and I think I threw something out of whack. The issue is on the outside of my left hip, and it seems to be some kind of inflamed bursa or ITB issue. I experienced a lot of looseness in my hip, if that makes sense, where it kept trying to pop out of the joint while I was walking around during the following week.

I rested and did some light rehab (stretching, core strengthening, icing) for the next 10 days.

On Wednesday the 5th, I attempted to run around the indoor track on my lunch break at UT Tyler.  It started out okay and I kept up a decent pace (for me). However, about 3/4 miles in my hip starting seriously cramping up. I made myself finish the mile, just in case the discomfort subsided. It did not. It got worse. So, I stopped at 1 mile (10:30min pace) and grumbled back to the office.

This last Saturday, the 8th, Matt and I went for a real easy run along our normal 30 minute course. We made it about 2.01 miles in 23 minutes. My hip started cramping up about 1.5 miles in, but I was able to walk it out for a block or so. About 2 miles in, I had to walk again because the cramping/soreness had increased significantly. There was no coming back from this walk break; I was limping and grimacing the whole way home. And now I remember that I forgot to ice it afterwards.

That's where I am today. We'll probably try to run the easy 30 minute course today and hopefully the weather will stay nice. Last Saturday's run was supposed to be 12.5 miles, but we ran approximately 2. I'm not sure what is going to happen to our training plan, or the half-marathon itself.

We are registered for the Tyler Half, and on the suggestion of a fellow Daily Miler I signed us up for the Mellew Four Seasons Challenge. So, even if this first half marathon is a big ol' disappointment (which I reckon it will be), we'll have three more to train for this year. I'll be trying out some new strategies then.

For anyone reading this week, thank you. For anyone who takes the time to ask me, "How's that running thing going?", thank you. For everyone who commiserates with my misery and mishaps, thank you. I appreciate your encouragement more than you know. I'm grateful to be a part of this running community, even if my contributions are pretty pitiful.

Onward and upward, folks.

Redemption: A Joyful Run (Part II)

(Did you miss PART I?)

Monday's run went well... really, really well. Not only was it comparatively cool, which allowed us to run at a consistent pace of 10:49 (yeehaw!), but I maintained a great attitude throughout.

We made it a fartlek run (Swedish term for "speed play", or interval training), which you can learn more about from Coach Jeff Galloway here. Matt and I took turns on the cross streets picking a distant landmark to run to at a quicker pace. Running fast is one of my weaknesses, so I've really got to work on it. Fortunately, fartlek runs are AWESOME and FUN for me. On top of training my body to run fast and allowing me to run in child-like glee, fartlek workouts foster great camaraderie.

Matt likes them because he can break out of the slow pace we normally run; he also enjoys challenging me to defy my own expectations. We had a lot of fun, and Matt frequently expressed how proud he was of my performance. I won't lie, I felt pretty dang good.

We finished really strong, and managed to get home before 10:00pm. I'm still feeling the excitement today, but I'm also feeling a bit of tenderness in my shins (from Saturday) and hip connectors. Hopefully, I can stretch and work out the tightness before Wednesday's run.

The plan for this week (week 2) :

Monday: 30 min run (speed work, Azalea district)
Wednesday: 30 min run (I don't know what we'll do here... a regular run?)
Saturday: 4 mile run (East Texas Striders' Half-Marathon clinic, which is scheduled for a 3 mile run unless I can find someone else to run the last mile with me)

Attitude problems and first attempt at official course

First of all, I'd just like to say that I'm really looking forward to running in winter again. I am extremely sensitive to the heat and I lose a lot of electrolytes, even running short distances. Running in the summer for me is a Herculean task; running in the winter is a frolic (my husband hates it, though).

Saturday's run was no exception. At 90F, it was one of the cooler runs we've done this month (unfortunately). We ran the first part of the Tyler Rose Half Marathon official course (see our progress here). It's a heck of a course, all uphill and mostly in the sun for the first two miles. We also had to cross two pretty tricky intersections (Houston/Glenwood, Houston/Vine).

A little after two miles in, Matt's watch malfunctioned (we didn't realize it until about a mile later). We lost ALL of our time data. Neither of us had bothered to check the time when we started, so we had no way to extrapolate our actual pace. I did not handle this well at all. When he first broke the news, I was really confused... confusion then became panic, which turned into accusation, which slipped into despair. I very nearly quit within two blocks of him telling me, but finished in a petulant snit. I had not marked the miles very well, so we ended up running 3.11 (basically a 5k).

My attitude obviously hurt his feelings; some of the issue had to do with my tone (it's really really hard to sound sweet and obliging when you've been pounding up a steep hill for what seems like eternity). Most of it had to do with me taking him for granted.  That sucks.

He told me that it's hard enough for him to come out and run with me at a much slower pace, in adverse conditions he can't control (he's a treadmill runner), for a goal he never intended to set for himself (half-marathon race)... it's even harder when he feels like he has to persuade me out of a grumpy mood (almost) every time, or endure being griped at (near) constantly.

It's something I've got to work on, and stat. I don't have any excuse to treat my husband poorly, whether I'm aching and dehydrated from a tough run or dealing with elevated hormonal chaos. I definitely cherish his presence on the runs, even when things go wrong or I feel aggravated by communication breakdowns. I really don't know if I can reach this goal without him, but I sure know that I don't want to.

When we run, it's a rare opportunity for us to spend time with each other sans distractions. No electronics, no relatives, no strangers competing for aisle space, no traffic. I don't want to lose that or waste it.

In good news, I've raised $50 for myself:

Week long hiatus

Well, you've probably noticed that I've been awful silent this week. I decided to take the week off before transitioning to the half marathon schedule, as a kind of reset for my body.

Last week's runs (three days in a row) wore me down pretty good. I followed that up by attending a 3 day nerdy convention in Dallas, which involved walking the mile to and from the convention center multiple times a day and climbing lots of flights of stairs. Saturday night of the convention, I started experiencing a really scary knee pain. It seems to be mostly fine now. I've got quite a bit of overall fatigue which may be a product of something icky I picked up at the convention.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying some rest and trying to stretch a lot. I've had to sacrifice the $10 I would've "earned" this week, but I feel like I made the right decision. Next week jumps into the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon training program. Wish me luck!


P.S. Some pictures of me from the convention. I told you it was nerdy.

 

The Plan

Well, it’s time to commit… to a training program! Yay. I have 21 weeks until the race, so I set out looking for something which started out at an attainable base mileage (8-10) and progressed gradually (12+ weeks). Because I’m kind of injury prone, I wanted a training schedule which allowed for plenty of rest time and cross training. I am running for completion, not time, so I wanted to find a schedule which would prepare me without overwhelming me. For the month of May, I will be finishing up the last few weeks of coolrunning.com’s “Couch to 5k” program. I’ll be starting the half marathon training in June. Here are the training schedules I evaluated, in descending order of preference:

• http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/half_marathon.html

19 weeks (17 leading up to race, 2 after). Base of 8.5 miles plus “easy walk” of indeterminate length. Three rest days and an easy walk incorporated weekly. Runs during the week are about 3 miles each with a long run every other weekend. Longest run is 14 miles, tapers down to 5.
• http://www.fitsugar.com/half-marathon-training-schedule-beginners-2845222
12 weeks. Base of 9.5 miles, escalates up to 25, tapers to 14.5 before the race. Rest days vary, 2-3 (with or without cross training). Long run varies from 3-12 miles, tapers down to 5. Every week ends with an easy run.

• http://running.about.com/od/halfmarathonracetraining/a/runwalkhalfmarathon.htm

12 weeks. Base of 9.5 miles, escalates up to 23, tapers to 10.5 before the race. Includes 2 days for rest, one for cross training. Long runs are 3-12 miles, tapers down to 5. Week ends with recovery walk (2-3 miles).

• http://www.marathonrookie.com/half-marathon-training.html

10 weeks. Base 13 miles, escalates up to 26, tapers to 22. 3 rest days per week. Long run from 4-12 miles, tapers to 8.

• http://www.halfmarathons.net/training_tips_schedule_beginner_runners.html

12 weeks. Base of 16 miles base, escalates up to 29, tapers down to 22. Two rest days. Long run varies from 4-12, tapers to 6.

 

So the final contestants are: Jeff Galloway and Fit Sugar. The upside of Jeff Galloway’s plan is that it perfectly fits my timeline (I will have 17 weeks from the conclusion of the Couch to 5k program till the race); the downside is that it can be really confusing with its long runs every other week. Another plus for the Galloway plan is that it allows for the most rest time and cross training, which will help keep me from getting even though I might intellectually prefer a more rigorous schedule. The schedule also incorporates Galloway’s “Magic Mile” (a pacing technique).

I appreciate Jeff Galloway’s contributions to Runner’s World, and I know he’s guided a lot of beginning/slow/injury prone runners to success. With that in mind, the winner is Jeff Galloway! (Yaaaay)

Feel free to leave me a comment about your experiences training for a half. I’d love the encouragement!

May 7, 2012: The day I decided, on a whim, to run a half marathon.

 So how did I get here, anyway?

An innocuous Facebook link from a friend: “Who’s with me on this if I sign up?” A half marathon, in my very own city, five months away. A distance I have dreamed about running since I stumbled through my first mile.

I have never run a distance anywhere close to 13.1k. I’m not even particularly good at running, period. As a child, I looked like a runner – long and lean, I was the fastest girl in fourth grade. But then puberty happened. Suddenly, I sucked at running, and I hated it. I was not “built” for it. I was an intellectual. Blah blah blah.

My adult relationship with running began when my husband and I started dating in 2008. He was one of those “runners”, a bizarre subgroup of people I never expected to understand – much less associate with. I started running to spend time with him. It was a miserable, painful, and discouraging experience overall; I would push through the initial agony of starting a running regimen, achieve a modicum of success, and then get set back by injury or illness (a pulled groin, strained hip flexor, fibroid pain, bronchitis).

In spite of all this, something kept bringing me back to running: that ephemeral “high” that runners talk about, eyes glazed and distant. It’s a feeling of freedom, potential, and childlike glee; of absolute purpose and orientation. It is a defiant howl against every voice that has ever told me I’m too fat, too lazy, too defeatist, too much of a victim. I have only experienced it as a fleeting echo, typically bookended by frustration and weariness. I am determined to unlock it for good – to become “a runner”. 

But why a half marathon, you loony?

I don't know. I have never run that far before. I think in my heart of hearts, I just want to know if I can do it... and the only way to make myself train for it is to sign up for a race.

Down to the nitty-gritty.

Over the course of this long halting journey, I have learned a few things about myself. 

1. I am a social runner. I do best when I am running with other people. My husband is the ideal running partner. Fortunately for me, he has agreed to join me (somewhat skeptically) on this crazy venture. I'm also blessed with some running friends who are more boneheaded persistent than I am.
2. I am injury prone. I have to progress really gradually, and I do best when I incorporate some kind of low intensity calisthenic strength training like yoga or Pilates. I hate weight training, but it may be necessary to stay safe and fit when my schedule does not allow for fitness classes.
3. I need a goal, namely a race. This is the best way for me to “make” myself run, because I’m cheap and I flourish under structure. So, having a race marked on the calendar gives me both incentive and timeline. My first race was a Susan G. Komen 5k; since then, I have run two consecutive Warrior Dash races (we missed the third one, this past April, because I came down with a horrible case of bronchitis). It has basically come down to one race a year since I started running.
4. I need a schedule. See number 3.

So, soon to follow... a couple of training plans I'm looking at, and all that jazz.

Past races

Susan Komen Race for the Cure (Tyler, Texas) 2009, North Texas Warrior Dash 2010, North Texas Warrior Dash 2011