Runjuries, happy birthday Duncan, plus the Luna Bar Giveaway!

23. December 2014 · 11 comments · Categories: injury, labradoodle, running, Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,

First let me just give a big shout out to my dog and wish him a happy 6th birthday! Y’all know how much Duncan means to me. He’s truly my best friend. (Well, except when he is misbehaving lol).

sock monkey

Sock monkey destruction

labradoodle gifts

Proud of his gifts but tolerating the hat

labradoodle birthday

Waiting patiently for me to give him the ok to eat his cookies

labradoodle

I’m 6 which means in dog years I’m older than my mom

Yesterday I kicked off my 2 week vacation with a relaxing morning with 2 of my favorites.

Two great mugs!

Two great mugs!

And then, late morning I decided to go for a run. I covered just over 5 miles.

thinking about running in place inside to avoid the cold and cloudy outside

thinking about running in place inside to avoid the cold and cloudy outside

OK so here’s the boring novel I’m about to share about “runjuries”. Feel free to skip if you want and go directly to the Luna Bar Giveaway instruction below =)

I was pretty banged up when I got home. My right piriformis (butt cheek muscle) has been a bit spazzy the last couple of days. My chronic tight left hamstring was SOOO tight and I could feel the tightness behind my knee and down the side of my calf. And the right knee! The annoying, frustrating mystery knee pain that started at the beginning of October decided to be a punk for the last 2 miles. Interestingly I really had no issue at all during our holiday windows run this past Saturday. While we covered between 6 and 7 miles we stopped frequently to admire the store windows and tree and also walked a lot too so I’m guessing the impact was much less than a normal run of that distance.

These “runjuries” are really disheartening. If I can’t make it through an easy 5 miler without lingering pain, how will I start marathon training in a few weeks? My first long run is usually 7 or 8 miles. That just isn’t going to happen the way I’m feeling lately. Not to mention, i feel like my usual mental health benefits of running aren’t happening because I’m to fixated on the physical stuff during the run that I can’t clear the cobwebs in my head like I’m used to.

So here’s my short term plan:

• Start icing knee 2X a day.
• Take ibuprofen for a few days straight
• Foam roll legs (especially quads, hamstrings and glutes)
• Strengthen core, hips, glutes, hamstrings and quads using exercise from PT and online
• Keep exercise low impact for 2 weeks. Try not to run but if i must run then only 1-3 miles on soft, flat paths.

Long term I’d like to get my running form/gait evaluated and probably get a new primary care doc who will be happy to send me to a PT who specializes in running mechanics and injuries. I’m also prepared to start my marathon training a few weeks later than normal and/or fall back to the half if i have to. The New Jersey Marathon is April 26th and a 16 week cycle would have me start on 1/4. So realistically if I can be healed by 1/18 I’ll still get 14 weeks of training in. And if I struggle at all, I can drop back to half training 10 weeks out starting mid February to give myself an extra month to heal. I’m saying all this like a mature adult. But I can tell you that if I am not healed or have to drop back to the half I’ll probably cry and feel sad and go through all those emotions. =)

Luna Bar Giveaway!

Gift from Luna

Gift from Luna

So about a week ago, Luna sent me a box of their newest, and now gluten free, bars. I have had 2 of them so far. The chocolate dipped coconut one was my absolute favorite. They are now gluten free! And Luna has offered to send a box of bars to one of my readers.

To enter just leave me a comment below about anything you want. (make sure you’ve added an email address when posting so I can contact you if you’ve won.). I’ll select one reader at random on Friday afternoon 12/26 so leave your comment before 9am (EST) on that day. This giveaway is only available to my U.S. readers as the bars can only be mailed to a U.S. postal address.

That’s it! I’m off to start baking now for Christmas Day. I’m bringing homemade brownies (yes! from scratch, not a mix) and my grandmother’s famous rum cake. It’s basically a doctored up yellow cake mix cake with rum in the batter baked in a bundt pan but the glaze has lots of rum and sugar and walnuts. OH SO YUMMY!

I won’t be reunited with my laptop until after the holiday so if I don’t post again beforehand have a very merry one!

2014xmascard

 

 

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And here we go again with the injury BS

04. December 2014 · 5 comments · Categories: injury · Tags: , , ,

I’ve been wanting to post this for 4 days now but I’m still in a little shock actually.

frozen green beans are my new fashion accessory

frozen green beans are my new fashion accessory

Truth:

Remember how I had a great time on Saturday joining that local running group for a trail run? Well about a mile into the run I rolled my left ankle outward (yes, the same one that kept me from running for almost 4 months earlier this year….the same one that was feeling 100% (finally) after months of physical therapy and missed races and cross-training).

Dramatic version:

It was probably a rock or a tree root under a bunch of leaves. I thought I caught myself and pulled my ankle back before any injury happened. I was actually saying in my head “whew! that was close”.

Nothing bothered me for the rest of the day. Ironically even my sore knee was feeling good. Sunday though I noticed I felt sore. And by Sunday evening I realized I was limping! And to add insult to injury my knee was super irritated too. The entire peroneal tendon/muscle hurts (from ankle bone to just below the knee on the outside of my leg) but the ache is concentrated to about 3″ above my ankle bone on the outside of my leg. I’m SO angry with myself for allowing this to happen. But I’m even more frustrated with my body for failing me time and time again. I just want to live a life filled with fun, active things but I keep getting hurt. Yes, I’m guilty of not having the diligence to stick with strength training but really?! This is now the 3rd time this punk ankle has taken me down.

he always makes me feel better

he always makes me feel better

Reality:

I’m actually embarrassed for being so bent out of shape over this when my friend’s mom is dying of cancer and another friend’s mom is fighting normal daily living tasks because she has ALS. This is not a life threatening issue but yet I will be honest and tell you I have been consumed with sadness, frustration, depression but mostly fear by this injury and how it will most likely force me to bail on a 5k this Saturday and possibly a hike my boyfriend wanted me to join him for on Sunday.

I’m trying not to get ahead of myself and only concerning myself with doing what I know will help me heal. Icing, rest, compression, elevation and avoiding being on my feet too long. I also have a bottle of Chardonnay that I’m going to drink (for medicinal purposes of course).

If I am still injured in 2 weeks and miss the race I have scheduled for 12/13 I will basically lose my guaranteed entry for the 2015 NYC Marathon that I’ve worked pretty damn hard this year to secure amidst injury and missing races. So no, I won’t die if this happens but I’ll be pretty sad.

And if this becomes another prolonged 4 months of healing kind of injury I can only think my beloved NJ Marathon 4/26 might not happen. OK, OK, I said I wasn’t going to get ahead of myself.

Reality is I’ll live….but until I know more I’m just gonna have to work through this pity party because honestly it’s not flattering and it’s not productive. I’ll keep you posted.

If you haven’t been reading this little blog for long here are a few links around my previous injury…

when I first realized something wasn’t right

Finally going to the foot doctor

Finding out the doc wanted me to refrain from running longer

The reason I share this type of post is twofold: for one I need to vent and it’s cathartic for me to get my feelings down. But the more important reason is that I know injuries plague so many of us and I’m sure some of you can resonate. So consider this a virtual support group. And please do share your injury stories with me in the comments.

 

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getting a grip-10 things I love to do other than running

14. May 2014 · 4 comments · Categories: injury, labradoodle, Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , , ,

OK,

I realized there’s no point in going down into that pit until I actually know what I’m dealing with. So today on my lunch break I decided to be proactive and search for articles that pertain to injuries and grief. God I love the Internet! Look at this great article.

And tonight I was reminded that other things make me just as happy as running:

We all know I experienced some major grief after my husband died (and frankly I think it sort of complicates all losses in my life hence me being a drama queen over this foot ailment), so if I could get through that, surely I could get through a few missed races.

So I thought I’d take a positive spin on this all and present to you a list:

10 things I love to do other than running

1. Hang with my dog

good morning

good morning

2. Eat sweets

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3. Enjoy a sunset

Sunset and a doodle

Sunset and a doodle

4. Take pictures

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5. Wear a Tiara

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6. Laugh so hard that I cry

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7. Drink wine

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8. Stop and smell the roses carnations

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9. Drink Coffee

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10. Hug a friend

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Question:Tell me what 10 things you would still enjoy doing if you couldn’t run.

 

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When small stuff feels like big stuff

27. June 2013 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

That mild groin pull from yesterday…well by last night it was really throbbing and sore. Today I made the decision not to run again. Ugh! It felt like having to make a decision to move cross-country to take care of an ailing great aunt or something. I actually cried last night as I bargained in my head “if it doesn’t hurt in the morning then…”. Well this morning my friend texted me at 7:30am (I’m off from work on Thursdays and would normally be running at that time). He asked if I felt like going to IHOP for pancakes. Well look at how the universe works? My favorite “i feel sorry for myself” food is pancakes! So I immediately said yes and off we went. I went with just regular pancakes. A stack of 3. (450 calories without butter or syrup). Something happened somewhere between the last pancake bite and our drive home…I realized that:

a) there are people with truly debilitating ailments right now. I remember how a fellow blogger is in the midst of an extremely long flare from Crohn’s disease.

b) not being able to run DOESN’T mean I can’t be active at all

c) those pancakes were delicious.

So I decided to get into my running attire (like a true dork i put on the exact outfit I wore to my most recent marathon where I PR’d), strap on my Garmin, drive to my favorite running route along the beach and……WALK! That’s right I walked out the small-stuff-that-felt-like-big-stuff-but-was-really-small-stuff! And I sweat probably just as much since it was 82 degrees with a 1,000% humidity. I am lucky that this injury is still mild enough that it isn’t causing me to limp or anything so that I could walk.

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After a lovely 4.25 miles and a few quick inhales of the intoxicating honeysuckles, i was on my way home feeling more in control and less stressed about the not being able to run stuff. I’ll do this again on Saturday and once more next Tuesday and then hopefully I’ll be back in action for next Friday when i’ll be visiting the Left Coast for vacation!

So my words of wisdom today are this—have a moment or two to acknowledge what it is that making you anxious or stressed. Feel it for a bit. For me it was the good cry before bed and the simple act of friendship with conversation over breakfast that got me to feel it. But then grab hold of that feeling and squash it like a bug by coming up with a plan. A good solid plan to stop the downward spiral. For me that plan was a long walk. I might not have been huffing and puffing but it was the best mental workout i’ve had in a while. And that is sometimes more important that the physical part.

Question: Where is your favorite place to go to unwind or decompress? 

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