Still trying to shake it...ITB issues that is.

As you can see from my previous post, I was a having a bad week last week in terms of running. And the timing didn’t help matters at all. The weather was perfect, little rain and lots of sunshine. As if there is a good time for incurring an injury that puts a holt to your running activities, that statement didn’t make sense. But you know what I mean. It probably wouldn’t have bothered me the same as if the weather was terrible all week long and life on the home front was quiet. However, this was not the case at all. With some added pressure at work, and dealing with family issues(relatives), plus five days of ZERO running can really bring out the emotional side of me!

As with work, it’s all good, the pace has picked up, exciting things are happening and I am coping with the tempo rather well…but as you should know there’s always one that doesn’t adapt quick enough, therefore causing a few sputters.

Family, huh, the same culprits trying to cause a stir. Only this time they’ve succeeded in striking a sensitive nerve of mine. It’s all immature, selfish, spoil, and stupid; mind games by the same old THREE that seem have nothing better to do than keep tabs about gifts, invitations, getting ‘news’, cards, dinner invites…blah, blah, BLAH! I don’t have time for this nonsense and so I have always ignored it, used my fuel for rather more interesting and useful missions than idiotic family drama! Running has always been my release valve, but this was all stacking up over the course of last week each day because I couldn’t find another outlet. By Friday, I had it up to here(to my head), exhausted, almost lifeless!

By Friday, I was withdrawing pretty bad. My body, everything in my body was asking; where is the running? Where is the damn running to unleash this dirty load? All I kept thinking was about how I was going to handle the situation because even though I wasn’t responding to it or confronting the problem in any fashion, it was on my mind. I have had it! I was craving a run to think things through. I kept myself going by telling myself to keep busy. I made an appt for a massage later in the afternoon after work as another way to loosen up the sore ITB. My IT Band was feeling much better(Chiropractic seemed to help a lot) but I wanted to give myself at least another day to rest before doing a trial run on Saturday. But the time stood still and I’d caught myself staring at the walls of my office with pin-pointed pupils without blinking that afternoon a couple times before heading out for my appt….trying to stay positive about everything.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling fresh, pain-free, and energized. All signs pointing to a GO as far as running! I didn’t waste anytime. The dense fog and the chilly 37 degrees F didn’t deter me away from heading out before 7 AM. Those first few steps were bit a rough, uneasy, with lots of anticipation for fear of the pain showing back up before I hit the first mile. It was all relief. Each step I took gave me a warm euphoric feeling that made me calm and relaxed. Time flew by. The first hour felt like minutes. Finally, I was able to process my thoughts clearly. This unsure butterfly feeling that hung over me like a storm cloud began to lift. Every breath left more peace and quiet in my heart. Aw, this was comfort, my escape that transports me away far enough to see what’s going on, to see the whole picture to help me make the better decisions. Two and half hours later I was finally home, on the front porch stretching.

Sunday, I played it safe by cutting my recovery run short as soon as I felt the first sign of ITB trouble to the same leg. I was happy enough with three miles.

Today, I’ve been spending most of my ‘free time’ thinking about where my running life is and where I’m going with it. I’ll be the first to admit, I haven’t been the smartest with my running lately. In fact, I’m probably one of the worse when it comes to handling an injury. It’s either all out or nothing…it seems. Almost like a drug addict experiencing a relapse. Take this past Saturday in particular, I probably should have kept the mileage under ten miles or even half of that…but instead I took it to mere extreme by taking a full plunge until I was physically spent. Anyways, I’m still thinking, even with a (new)nagging injury, there’s still ample opportunity to do another 50K in a couple weeks…it’s part of my wish list on the sidebar there. As you might ask, had I had sufficient training…that’s probably a big fat N.O. But what the heck…it won’t be the first time I’ve done that.

Sidelined....

I want to lace up my shoes, refill my hydration pack, and get out the door! I want to greet and taking in the autumn nature. I want sail amongst the leaves along one of my favorite routes up 3rd Street, maybe even earn me a runner partner; a choc lab who sometimes greets me by running out of the trees as I start up the hill towards the lake. She’s such a good dog, runs either on my right or left side like she’s been with a runner before, and always meets me about the same spot. I even started packing a treat for her. Not very good with names so I started calling her Brownie(doesn’t sport a collar or tag). I may never know where she makes her home but I always look forward to her company, especially on days when I’m dragging. She’s my motivation factor. A comforting note is that I do know that she’s well fed and groomed by her muscular form, silky shiny coat and her happiness. And I bet she’s waiting for me…I just hope she’s patient and doesn’t give up on me as I normally run that route on Wednesday evenings. I didn’t this week.

Zero running since Sunday’s five mile recovery effort. I’ve been nursing an inflamed IT band. Stairs, hills, slopes, basically any walking surfaces that isn’t horizontal are my enemies right now. This really aches my heart especially after a strong run on Saturday. The burning friction on the outside of my left knee is not easing fast enough despite countless stretching every night since Sunday. And I’ve been sneaking in some at my office desk throughout each day. Monday was the worse day, limp, limp. I was walking normal again Wednesday, but the pain is still there. And today, the pain is almost gone, but when I did a few test jogs, Painful! Let’s see, I feel like I’m taking the right steps as suggested on numerous websites; no running, icing, new shoes, stretching to target the it band, but relief is slow.

Made an appt with my chiropractor after work today. I’m crossing my fingers that an adjustment to my hips will be the answer.

I need my drug(running). Give me a swift, trudging on my feet, autumn day! Give me a crispy air! Give me a hellish hill full of huff and puffing. Give me my magic run…just let me have my run back!!

I so want to come back through the sliding glass doors from a run and to hear my 3 yr old daughter look up at me and say something to the effects of “mommy, you’re all sweaty!”

A surprised PR!

Two words about yesterday’s race; rain and RAIN! With some wind and lots of leaves, a true autumn experience. But overall it was a beautiful race. The race took place south of Olympia at Millersylviana State Park. And out and back course with smooth rolling hills. By smooth I mean long gradual inclines and it would come back down in a friendly manner. A nice turnout too, it really put a boost in my mood to see plenty of familiar faces.

Took it real easy for the first few miles, 9:30 to 9:45 a mile pace, got passed by some people. And I had a new issue, my left IT band was hurting. I did the best I could by stretching it in the car, not easy. The pain was on the outer of my knee instead the typical shooting pains on the inner side of the knee due to the cartilage damage. The ITB syndrome was a surprise because I’ve really cut back on my weekly mileage since Portland Marathon and just purchased two new pairs of shoes a week ago to rotate. My hamstrings were on the stiff side as well, which was probably due to my return to spinning(cycling) classes on Thursday morning. I felt so better by the turn around point and that’s where I started working it, kicked up a gear a bit, passed the gal back that went by me before mile five. She asked me how many miles we still had to go as I was going by her. I informed her we were approaching seven miles…I think she was disappointed. Passed two more people before I eased up on a group of six mixed in with 3 full marathon runners and 3 half a$$ers like myself. Two of them were clothed in the Portland finisher’s shirt. I stayed with them for the next mile, they picked up the pace too when I caught them. I enjoyed the conversations and with four miles to go I decided to make my next move and proceeded to go by them. For about half a mile they hung with me(almost at my heels) before the Full folks(two guys & a gal) dropped back...which makes sense since they had to come back out again to finish off their distance. It must have been that gel I gagged down at the turn around point or the Thai food I had for dinning the night before giving me the boost because I never felt so good despite some headwinds and nonstop rain. Now, I’ve NEVER been in a situation where I was sort of leading a pack..mind you not a lead(er) pack, but none the less, still a pack. A bit nerve wracking to be honest! We passed a few more people as a group(a gal & 2 guys) as we approached the 10K turn around point(apprx 3 miles to go). The whole time I flirted with the idea of turning it up another notch and I even tested it twice, but the group stuck with me like glue. All the while the rain turned to a sprinkle, a nice change.

It’s amazing what goes through your mind as you observe other’s breathing, their strides, and how they respond when one makes a move. I could say it’s like reaching a whole new plateau. Things are bit shaky. And I know that we’re a bunch of ‘middle of the packers’ who happened to come together on a course where the conversations had eventually died off, things were getting serious, and we all had on our game faces. After the 10 mile water stop, I made the ultimate decision to shake things a little to see what we were all made up. Dropped the pace down to 7:30ish a mile pace. I regretted the decision at first, the pace was a bit blistering for me and I thought for sure I was gonna be toast before we reached the next mile marker. The gal and one of the guys fell off the pace and so it was just two of us. The concentration on the breathing helped a lot and telling myself to let the downhill do the work, to relax. Before you know it, we reached mile 11 and I had still had plenty left in the tank so I held onto the pace as we face another slight incline before coming back down to some railroad tracks. This is where the person that was keeping me company started to fade but I pressed on. I did the best I could by sucking down some water with one mile to go where the volunteer told me the two females up ahead were in position 2nd and 3rd overall for the half marathon. I could tell the 3rd place gal was really slowing down so I overtook her right after the water station. But the next gal took some work, even my breath became very labor some. It didn’t help when she glanced back with a ½ mile to go and she started pumping her arms and working it. I finally chased her down as we entered the campground and we went stride for stride for about a hundred meters when I finally dug deep but she wasn’t giving up as I could hear her footsteps and breathing right behind me. The reason why I wanted to make up some ground on her was because I’m NO sprinter! No can do! I try but that’s where I get passed a lot when it comes down to a sprint fest. Luckily, I must done good putting some distance between us because she didn’t come back to challenge me at the end. I don’t know my exact finish time because I forgot to stop my watch and I think the race clock at the finish line read 1:50:2#(?), which equals a new PR by a minute or so! Woohoo!

It wasn’t exactly easy stretching in the cold wet weather. I chill so fast that I have to make sure to change into dry clothes right away. I thought I was going to pull a muscle or something from shivering so bad while I was changing my clothes. And I only stuck around for a few minutes chit chatting with some people I haven’t seen in quite a while. Most of them did the 10 miler too, probably smarter too. And I’ve never had chili beans that tasted so good in my life! I savored every bite it as I dished myself a bowl topped with shredded cheese and corn tortilla chips that was provided by the race coordinators. Mmmm!

The birthday party was a success. The house was nice and clean when I returned home from picking up the cake and some bread from a favorite bakery of ours after leaving the race scene. We had someone, only this time, come clean our home so I wouldn’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I took a few minutes to relax and unwind before I got to preparing two different kinds of lasagnas; vegetable and meat. Steamed veggies, and a fresh garden salad completed the menu. It was a big hit, some asked for the recipes.

And I just got done with a five mile recovery run…in the rain. Very cleansing.

3-0 and 1/2 in the works for this weekend

My hubby’s birthday is this weekend.

It’s a major one…you know the BIG 3-0.

That’s means, yes, I’m older than him. What do they say?

“My old lady!”

I still remember a time when my grandpa used that on grandma. He almost took a big purse to the side of the head. But I think she spared him the bloody blow because I was in their presence. At the time, I didn’t understand why it rubbed grandma the wrong way.

So far he’s(hub) handling it well… for all I know he maybe spoofing me. He’s not having panic attacks about turning 30, sort of like someone else did. It didn’t help at the time when the hub and everyone else…mostly younger friends asked me how it felt.

But I got over it real fast. I think the guys handler it rather well. It’s just like another passing day for them.

So this Saturday evening is reserved for the celebration. Normally, we would go out to dinner at a nice restaurant, but this time I have decided to craft up something with my own hands in our kitchen and invite family and friends over to our house for dinner, cake & ice cream.

But you have to know that I planned this very carefully so that I could participate in a half marathon in the morning in Olympia, about 45 min drive from our home. It’s one of the low key local events that most runners enter for training purposes. Plus it’s fun to mingle and catch up familiar faces at these events. Beside the birthday boy won’t be around most the day anyways. He’s after some wild game with his grandfather.

Hope you’re all having a great & fun Fall running season

Plagued by migraines

Those of you who never experience or rarely have migraines I truly hope that you never will. It’s the pits, totally! I had my bouts with one over the weekend. It starts with a mild headache from the back of my head, then eventually pulsates through my head coming out right above my eyes. Well, my attack began Sunday morning as soon as I woke up, dashing my plans to enter a 10K run out on the coast about an hour drive from where we live. It sounded like a fun event to do. According to the course description, part of the course was beach and through cranberry bogs. And the weather was perfect too, clear day…well except for the morning fog. I decided to pop in one of my pills that is suppose to relieve the worst migraines which by far has been ineffective for me since I picked it up from the pharmacy last spring, but I thought I give it another try. You never know why, right?

The kid and I downed a bowl of cereal, banana, and glass of juice, I had three hours until race time. But by the time I made arrangements to meet up with an aunt who lives in that town so she could hang out with the kid(the spouse is out of town on weeklong hunting trip), gathered my gear and stuff, my head was throbbing. I kept imagining this vision like a blood vessel was ready to burst any minute in my head. It’s that kind of pain. Truthfully, I was in denial until I was walking out to the car…there was no way this was letting up anytime soon. So instead, I called it off, gave the aunt the sad news, she said she’d come out instead, but we all met at grandma’s instead. So later in the day it got the best of me, brought me to my knees over the toilet. Applying heat pad to my neck and forehead only brought more nausea.

To this day, I’m not exactly sure what triggers it. I know that I started getting them after I was involved in a bad car accident almost ten year ago. Going to the chiropractor helps sometimes, but they’re hard to get a hold of on weekends. And it’s been awhile since I’ve been to the chiropractor. I always try to get some decent sleep and eat more healthy food. One thing I know for sure is most perfumes are not my friend, plus strong scented lotions too.

Anyhow that’s my sad tale over such a gorgeous weekend here in rain country. Other than that I managed to push out 7.5 miles Sunday evening. It was my revenge against the migraine. The first two miles are bit rough(pounding pain in the head), but eventually it smoothed out. The route took me two miles out of town to this park with a two mile trail loop around the lake. I got out a bit late and so I was pushing for time and distance to make the most of the daylight I had left. So I start doing the loop around the lake, about half mile into it, I pass another female jogger running in the opposite direction dressed in a black running attired(black Capri & black long sleeve top), and ipod gadget, her blond hair tied back. We wave ‘hi’ and go about our business. Well like a half mile later, here she comes again! I was stunned! I looked at my watch and quickly do the math, I’m doing about 7:45 min pace. WTF! I continue my run puzzled because she didn’t have the sprint blazing pace or flying running form. So I wondered how this could be possible. And there is no other way to access this trail. A river borders one side of this lake so there’s a section of boardwalk path. The only other way is to go across the lake…not possible. Half mile later, there she is again! And I pick up my pace substantially and proceed to do the 2nd lap and same thing happens again, again, and again while my lungs are almost screaming. The last time she goes by me, I notice that we have the same shoe. As I was going by the parking lot, I notice that she’s already back at her car stretching. I couldn’t help myself. I stopped and ask her how many laps she’s done and how fast. She tells me four and it took her almost 40 minutes! Just then I look down at her shoes and notice that they’re different. I give her a confused look. She then chuckles and tells me that she’s waiting for her twin sister to finish up. “Aha! Gotcha!”

Post Portland

Recovery is going well, moving forward from Portland marathon. Done zero running since crossing the finish line Sunday until this morning. Covered three miles slowly and patiently around the neighborhood before I headed out for work. It was a great way to awaken my quads especially. The soreness left my body by Wednesday but I've been busy diving into work life and spending some extra time with the kid gathering pumpkins, harvesting the last bit of vegetables, and so forth.

In thinking about future races, I think I'll stick with the shorter stuff throughout this winter time. The 45 minute commuting each way to work and back eats up most of my daylight time and I'm not a big fan of running in the dark alone. And I'll make an attempt to take advantage of running during the lunch hour once or twice a week depending on the weather and my work pile.

Seattle half is the next big race on my reschedule during Thanksgiving weekend. I might also enter a few local run events between now and then to give me that extra boost to stay in the game so to speak.

Again, thank you so much for bearing with me about the move. I really didn't want to do that, but I hope this will be my home for good.