chimesblog

oooh I’m sooo excited!  I had a fabulous run yesterday and I procrastinated enough to make it outside *just* as the sun finally poked out of the clouds.  

I ran for 35 minutes, sticking with my plan of increasing my time by 5 minutes a week until I get up to a respectable distance (ie. 7 miles or so) then going by increasing miles instead and adding a day of shorter speedwork with intervals. Right now I’m running 2-3 days a week and crosstraining on the other 2-4 days of the week. 

Overall, taking the break from running has really helped me improve. I’ve stepped back and thought more about things I didn’t before like form and speed. I’ve realized the importance of crosstraining, stretching and strength training firsthand—rather than just reading an expert opinion on these matters and ignoring it.

Anyway, I think I’m going to bounce back in a good way if I continue to be strategic about running rather than just plugging away countless miles.  I’ve been paying more attention to my body’s signals lately. If I hurt somewhere — more than just a regular soreness — I take care to rest or pay extra attention to that when stretching or strength training.

Anyway, here’s yesterday’s awesome run.

I’m kind of excited to see the under 8 min/mi speed at the end. I don’t fully realize my potential. I’ve been running the same speed for so many years that it’s inherent like breathing or a heartbeat. I keep starting all my runs at that pace but realize I can go faster as I get warmed up. Maybe I should jog a 3-5 minute warm up, stretch, then turn on my nike+ for the real run portion?  Or is that being too competitive/anal? I don’t know. I’ve never really run competitively, but I might start once I get back in the game for good (as in more than 4 miles and 2-3 days a week). 

Also — I reset my resolutions on nikeplus.com to realistic goals now that I’m honestly recovering/recuperating (you know..only 7-8 months after the initial injury). This month: 20 miles. I’m only 7 miles short. I can definitely make it.  

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Okay, I’m sure most of you don’t get the title, but it’s one of my all-time fav SNL skits. Kevin Nealon is in the elevator with Michael J. Fox and starts asking him about Back to the Future…and starts singing “Gonna go back in Time” (the theme from the movie)…but more like “Tiiieeeme”.  Sadly, I can’t find it ANYWHERE online!  :( Here’s a pic in case anybody’s seen it though.

Anyway, I’m writing to update on my running injury status.

Last week I got to start my “return to jog” program.  I got to do .25 miles walking, .25 miles running, repeat.  And by running, I really mean jogging (10 minute mile).  

All has been going pretty well. I’ve been doing stair stepping, swimming, biking or elliptical 5-6 days a week for 30-45 minutes and then adding 15-30 minutes of another form of cardio and a half hour of stretching/strength training.  On days I get to run (for 15 minutes), that’s what I do for my additional 15 minutes of cardio.

Key element to recovery has been squats.  Even MORE than stretching.  Well, maybe not more, but just as important anyway.  I’ve become a squatting fool. I squat at work when nobody’s looking, using my chair.  I use the Bosu and squat at the gym.  Who would have thought?

 The reason I thought of the SNL skit was because today I was doing my return-to-jog program and I realized I feel similar to when I first started running.  I’m pretty much having to re-learn how to run — which is probably a good thing since I’ve developed several bad habits over the last 8 years (not stretching to name  a big one).  I felt the time warp hit me when I was like, “Man, I’m never going to be able to run 3 miles.” Several years ago that was my mantra. I remember the rush when I ran 3 consecutive miles without stopping.  I *never* would have guessed I’d run a marathon (although extremely poorly, but I still did it), a half marathon or even a 10K.  

I’m up to a mile, but not consecutively. I think I get to do that next week. I did a half mile with .25 miles walking in between. I’m back up to an 8.5 minute mile pace when I’m running.  It’s crazy because I feel so BEAT after running for just 10-15 minutes.  I forgot how different I feel after running versus any other workout. I can’t WAIT to get back into it.  In about 10 weeks I suppose, maybe, i’ll be back to halfway normal.  

Anyway, I’ve decided to be a complete tool and become my own cheerleader.  I’ve got 4 brand spankin’ new pairs of running shoes in my closet right now.  I’m going to trick a pair out and make them my “comeback” shoes.  I need to grab a new pair anyway b/c the cushioning should help with recovery (my old pair is past it’s expiration date).  I’ve got some paint, glitter, beads, etc. that I’ll probably get to sloshing on the shoes. Sure, it’ll come off, but it will be a lot of fun to look down and see how awesome my feet look in killer fancy running shoes.  :) It will remind me how much I want to be out and running (in case I EVER forget).

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FYI I started writing this yesterday afternoon (4/6/09).

So to keep myself busy for 12 minutes on this bike I’m bloggig from my iPod.

Read: yay! A short entry!

So now that i’m well on my way to recovery, I finally made myself go out and buy swimming gear and go for a dip.

Got a pink (what else?) swim cap and goggles and a plain black one piece. I was ready to go.

Problem: how do I put on a swim cap?
Solution: ask a random girl with wet hair in the locker room — she’s a swimmer.

Apparently putting on a swim cap is harder than it looks. She showed me and 15 minutes later I was ready to figure out my goggles.

So 20 minutes later I made it in the pool. And, sadly, I had iPod withdrawl.

And lo and behold, swimming isn’t as easy as I remember. My stroke: breast stroke. Can’t do it. No frog kicking allowed during my rehab. Ok well um what else can I kinda do? Side stroke… Check. Freestyle… Check. Dog paddle? Mega check.

I alternated those few “strokes” for a half hour and went to the deep end to water jog and tread water for a while.

Then I went into the locker room to shower off — the guys’ locker room! Oh boy. Sadly I didn’t realize it right away. Only after I discovered my clothes weren’t where I left them did I realize there were men walking around.

Sooo I bolted. Into the right locker room his time. Shoot. Forgot my towel. Ran back out to get that and reminded the lifeguards that I’m not a swimmer… just a poor injured runner that has no business in the pool.

I snagged my towel, went into the LADIES locker room, showered off and started changing. The naked older lady next to me started talking to me (or maybe I started talking to her? I don’t know). We had a convo while we changed (and yes, I got naked in the locker room).  THEN I realized my underwear were missing. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except I JUST CAME FROM WORK!  

Frantically, I dumped my bag fearing that my underwear were somewhere on the 3rd floor of Old Main … or even worse … on the 2nd floor (that’s where the president’s office is!).  

FOUND ‘em!  That was kinda scary.

Anyway, after a very interesting experience… I went off and started biking. Wet hair and all.

Swimming=fun, but awkward … my body=tired.  This morning I felt like I ran 10 miles…except without the “my appendages are going to break off at any moment” feeling.

yay.  Hoping to swim tomorrow. I dunno tho.  I stayed home from work today because I felt reallly…. off.  I guess. I felt like crap when I woke up and continued to feel like crap all day. So here I am. in sweatpants. 6 PM and no shower today. I rule.

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Those of you who know me or who follow me on twitter know that I’ve recently had to quit running due to an injury and that I’ve finally started long past due physical therapy to help heal my injury and hopefully prevent it from happening again.

Here’s the whole story from beginning to end.

Last summer I was pulling 10-15 miles on weekends and days off work…so I decided, why not train for a marathon?

So I did, except I didn’t taper like I was supposed to. I ran 22 miles 3 weeks before, 10 miles 2 weeks before and 16 the week before.  Well, that was dumb. Tapering is supposed to let you recover while not making you lose the ability to pull that long of a distance. So the last 3 weeks of marathon training started making me hurt a bit, but I figured I’d be fine to run the race.

Race day came. 16 miles into it my left leg felt like it was going to fall off. I had developed a HUGE case of ITBS due to downhills, overpronating and mostly NOT STRETCHING properly.  This was my race. I wanted to finish. I didn’t care if I couldn’t run for a while afterwards. I WAS NOT GOING TO WALK.  I made it, in a ridiculous time of 5:48:something.  Sad.  I was running 14 minute miles by the 20th mile because I was so hurt.

And the kicker: after I got home, the Bears vs Vikings game was still on…so what did I do instead of stretching and taking an ice bath and starting some cold/heat therapy?  I watched the rest of the game. BIG MISTAKE.

Fast forward about 2 weeks (I got the stomach flu in there and we went somewhere for work..so fortunately I couldn’t run during the two-week period following the race).  I started trying to run again.  I was still injured.  I tried running 5 miles because to me, that was a short distance. I’ve been running at least 5 miles a day for about 5 years…so I figured that would be okay. It wasn’t.  I kept trying though and it made things worse.

Finally I read somewhere that short distances with speedwork would help heal my ITBS.  This was something new to me, but I tried it.  I managed to hit a 25 minute 5k and was pretty impressed with my speed. Suddenly my 10-minute mile average cranked up to an 8:30/mi average!  I didn’t think I could do that, let alone run a mile in under 7 minutes, but that’s because I never tried. Because of my venture into short distances and speed work, my ITBS  had gotten better.

On Februrary 2nd, I started training for the Drake On the Roads 1/2 Marathon. This was to be my “comeback” race and with my newfound speed, I could definitely break my PR and finish in under 2 hours (I was looking at a 1:45:00 time — last year I finished in 2:08:something).  My knee quit showing symptoms of ITBS and my hip only hurt when I did my longer mileage on the weekend…but I thought that was normal.

Well, my hip started to hurt during the week too.  And it started to hurt on days I didn’t run.  SO I started cross training…like I should have done a while ago.  That actually made things worse because I cranked up the resistance and elliptical machines aren’t built for my little short body.

Finally, I took a week off work and drove 3 hours to my parents house. That is usually my running haven. I can run hills…out in the middle of nowhere…on gravel. I love it.  I can run 15 miles uninterrupted by traffic.  Well I was planning to do just that, when I got hit by an old lady, had to file a police report and only ended up running 7 miles before my hip decided I couldn’t take it anymore (unfortunately, not related to being hit).  I took a day off and ran 6 miles 2 days later, didn’t really stretch and drove home. I thought my leg was going to fall off by the end of my drive. Driving is probably the worst pain of all I’ve experienced lately.  It hurts more to drive than it does at the end of a run.

I got home, didn’t run for a few days and decided that Sunday was going to be my last run for a while. I jogged an easy 2 miles and tried to enjoy it.  It was a beautiful day, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

That next Wednesday I finally went to the doctor and they referred me to a physical therapist. Yay. Finally. I’m going to be normal again.  It’s just going to take some time.

So here I am. I started PT last week and already I’ve seen a great improvement. It’s been 2 weeks today since I’ve ran. It was really hard the first week, but now I’m starting to get used to it. Yesterday I used the elliptical for the first time (with less resistance and going forward instead of backward) and it *almost* felt like I was running. It was like I was flirting with running’s less attractive sibling.  Close, but not quite.

A lot of my hesitance to quit running came from my fear of weight gain.  I’m little, yes, but that’s because I work at it. Take away my exercise regime and I’m screwed.  Fortunately, I haven’t gained weight. Actually, I’ve lost 2 pounds. I’ve been working on lifting with my upper body and apparently other exercises burn more calories for me since I’m biomechanically fit for running because that’s pretty much all I’ve done for several years.

I’m really getting into cycling, but I know I’d like it more if I was outside. I *might* get a new bike this year, but we’ll see. I’m waiting for my PT bill. I’m also trying to save for a new car (hoping to get one about a year from now).  I just bought swimwear yesterday (side note: I’m a germ freak. I hate pool water).  I’m hoping to add swimming to my cross training.  I would train for a triathalon, but there is no way I’m ever swimming in a non-chlorinated body of water…so that’s out.

So I’m surviving, but I miss running. Fortunately it seems like the weather KNOWS that I quit running. There has probably only been 1-2 days since I quit that I would have wanted to be outside running. It’s been excessively windy on nice days, rainy and now super blizzardy out. Yes, I’ve been known to run in adverse conditions, but I’ve never run in rain, I hate running in wind AND I don’t run while it’s snowing this hard.

Yay for me. I’m hoping my comeback will be sometime this summer. I’m going to shoot for the Des Moines Marathon (half) in the fall for sure. I don’t think I’ll ever run another full marathon. It’s just not worth it to me. Plus, my race is the half. I can get a really good time in that race if I try and 13.1 miles isn’t going to kill my body. 

So for now, I’m just going to be on the sidelines jealously cheering people on who are able to go out and run a few miles.  Seriously. I speed-walked down my usual short route (Kingman to Polk and back — 4 miles) the other day and I saw a bunch of people running. I had to hold back the urge to cry and the urge to cheer them on. I’m sure they would have been totally confused and/or pissed at my gesture, but whatever. I’m a has-been..well more like a never-was since I never was that good. Maybe I can be good or at least in the upper-half of average this next time around.

So that’s that. You’ve got all the details now.

EDIT:

I can’t believe I wrote this post today (of all days) without mentioning my friend Devin who passed away a year ago today and inspired me to run my first half marathon. He wasn’t  a runner, but he was very inspirational and was kind of a dare-devil. I was wavering between running it and wussing out…and I could just hear him say, “For Christ’s sake, Calee, quit being a pussy and DO IT already.”  So I did it.  And since then, on days that I didn’t want to go out, I would think of him.  I thought of him during the last few miles of my race and I’m thinking of him today. It’s snowing. I almost feel like he has a part in it.  Maybe not, but it seems like a prank he might pull to throw us all off.  Either way, I miss him.  I was out running a 13-mile run last year when I missed the call from my friend about his death.  I was probably running when he died.  It just makes sense to keep running now.

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