chimesblog

Maybe.

Just maybe I’m back.

And I can thank my fabulous former roommate for running a marathon last month — 20 minutes faster than she anticipated even!

What am I talking about?

For those of you who’ve forgotten, I used to love running — in fact, that was the ENTIRE purpose for this blog in the first place. It used to be called “Life plus running” and be over at blogspot.com. Then I obsessed over it and ran a marathon. Then we broke up for a while. And then running was a huge pain in the ass because I had to be strategic about it, so it became a chore instead of a beloved pastime.

But now //

// I think it’s fun again*.

And I can blame my old roommates. Both of them. One of them got married and the other came and stayed with me for the evening before the wedding. Danielle and I used to run together a lot in the 4 years we lived together. That’s how I got my start. In fact the last time I ran any significant distance with anybody was a 7 mile run right before the marathon 2 years ago with here.

What better way to get back in the saddle than by enlisting the help of a friend to make running fun again?

So we ran about a 10K. I haven’t run more than 3-4 miles in at least a month. In fact, I hadn’t run AT ALL for 2 whole weeks. And the weird part? I didn’t miss it a bit. Not ONE tiny bit. I was actually DREADING our Saturday run so much that I put it off until we absolutely had to go in order to get the rest of our stuff done before the wedding that evening.

Then it started again. That feeling. The almost giddy feeling I used to have every day knowing that when all my work was done that I got 45-60 minutes ALL TO MYSELF (and, let’s face it, 5 years ago Slipknot was there too). My time to relax. My time to think things out. My time to pound the pavement and bust out all the bad feelings I felt before I made it home and they eeked out into the rest of my life.

Sunday I RAN my errands. I had to pick up a prescription, and guess what? HyVee is on my 5K route. So I ran a 5K. THE DAY AFTER I RAN A 10K.

The thought of being injured again made me very wary of running two days in a row since the PT lady told me not to do that 2 years ago when she released me back into the wild after 3 months of physical therapy. But I’m lifting and training specific muscle groups now. I’m seeking chiropractic care once a week. I’m being SMARTER and I know my body and my limits now.

So all that being said? Yeah. I think it’s back. I ran a mile yesterday too — 2 laps backwards in fact — which makes 3 days in a row of running. Not of running significant distances like before, but the victory here is that I want to run again. It makes me happy. No more hours plugging away at boring cardio machines or workout videos. I have the option to run. Whenever I want. And most importantly I have the drive to run again.

Where am I going with this? Nowhere in particular. I haven’t set any weird crazy goals for myself — except not to get injured again and to continue to enjoy being outside running like I used to. And of course, to get some of the awesome gear associated with running.

*Sorry for the weird typography … I’ve been reading  the typography bible and I’ve been wanting to try some new things for separators.]

Share on Facebook

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.  

Share on Facebook

Yeah. I’m at work. I’m waiting for a rather large file to save…so sue me. I don’t have much else to work on today, so I’m taking a 5-minute blogging break.

AND GO!

I realized today that I haven’t updated about my running injury lately (new blog followers: I ran a marathon last year, hurt myself, but continued to run a ridiculous amount for months following — just finished physical therapy in May).

My hip is doing a lot better, but it probably could be even better if I spent as much time stretching/strength training as I should … truth be told, those activities don’t burn many calories, so unfortunately, they’re always going to be last on my list.  I’ve been doing a lot better at them though — 20 mins a day devoted to stretching… that’s kind of a lot.

I still have an issue with pain when driving or sitting for an extended period of time. I’ve modified a lot of my daily activities to be done standing up … but am I supposed to go through life never sitting?  I’m really just avoiding the issue rather than making it better.  I don’t know. I’m probably always going to have problems.  I wish it would just go away, but really, it hasn’t even been a year since the injury really flared up … so being able to run 2 miles at this point without pain is a lot to ask.

speaking of  — I’m up to 2 miles again — or 20 minutes, which is more like 2.25ish.  That’s nothing compared to the numbers I was pulling daily last year at this time (7-10 on weekdays and 12-15 on weekends) … but that’s okay. progress is progress. I’ll never run another marathon (it’s kind of a pain in the ass… really?  yeah.), but I hope to do a half marathon again AND kick up my speed a lot.

Anyway, my 5 minutes is definitely up.  That’s all for now!

Share on Facebook

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).

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

today I had an amazingly short but awesome run — set 2 PRs: 8:06/mi and 26:03/5k.

— but —

NIKE PLUS DECIDED NOT TO RECORD THIS INFO!!!  It’s on my iPod, but the workout data from today decided for whatever reason that it did not want to send to nikeplus.com. GRR.

the last two weeks I’ve been watching my average pace per mile on nikeplus.com go from a sad 10:45ish to a little less embarrassing 10:25ish.  Mind you, the 10:45/mi pace was built up over nearly 300 miles and the amount of miles I’ve ran in the past two weeks barely add up to 30, let alone 300.

a month ago i didn’t think i could hit a 9:00 mile.  now i’m running those regularly for 5mi< runs. the most i’ve run since the marathon tho is 6 miles, which is sad, but i’ve got an injury, so i’ll deal with it so i can keep running for years rather than months.

anyway. annoyed. i was pretty proud of those times even tho they’re seriously slow compared to most people and nike+ apparently agreed. grr.

Share on Facebook