Thursday, May 17, 2012

Pains, Strains and other Ailments!

We all get them.  Pains. From running  I have experienced pain in the shins, the feet, the calves, the knees.    From doing weights I have felt pain in my chest, back, arms and butt. Usually that pain comes the next day! But, what happens when the pain comes and doesn't leave after a day?

As I have picked up my running a lot in the past few weeks I have experiences some serious foot pain.  I was diagnosed with tendonitis in my feet years ago. It had to do with weight.  It had to do with standing on my feet all day. It hurt more in the morning getting out of bed. Well, the pain seemed to return with all the running. But now the pain was more than it ever had been.

I did what any of us would do... I googled it! And the more I read, the more scary it got.  I read up on Plantar Fasciitis. It seemed to be exactly what I was experiencing. But, I read more.  Now it seemed like a heel spur. I was having some extreme pain in one area. Kept reading and researching and was thinking I was going to have to stop running, have surgery and get shots of cortisone. I didn't like those choices.


The first thing I tried was this great piece of equipment my gym has.  It is called the prostretch. You can find more info here: Prostretch
Medi-Dyne Pro Stretch
One of the people at the gym showed me how to use it and it was amazing.  It didn't take all the pain away, but it really helped.  

Next, I went to some of my facebook group pages that I have joined. These are groups for those of us who run.  I figured someone there would have advice, right?  Right!  I got some great exercises to try.  Here is a great page with some of them: Foot exercises. They started helping. Alot! 


I decided I was up for some 400's on the treadmill. No problem!  My foot don't seem to hurt at all when I run. ( I should just run all day, huh?)  But that evening I knew I pushed it too far.  I could barely lean on my left foot.  I iced it up.  Did the exercises and went to bed.  


The next morning I had such pain I thought for sure I had a heel spur. Went back to those great facebook groups and was told to buy some heel cups for my sneakers. So, after work and having a hard time keeping up with 10 3 year olds at preschool I ran into Walgreens.  Not only did they have them, they were on sale!  WOOT! I picked some up, went home and tried them on!  And NO KIDDING....the pain decreases by at least 85%!  I couldn't believe it!


It has been a week since the worst pain and I have been doing the exercises, using the prostretch, and wearing the heel cups when not working out and the pain is almost gone.  Mostly just in the morning when I get up. I have diagnosed myself with Plantar Fasciitis and it was a free diagnosis. I think it was just starting to progress to a heel spur and might have if I hadn't tried some of the things I did. 


I am excited that my 5K is only 1 week away!  And as soon as it is over, I plan on finding a 10K and a half to start training for.  The Princess half is my large goal!



Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Running Summary for Week of May 6th and more.

So, to keep myself honest and to try to keep a count of my miles for the year, I plan on doing an entry once a week listing my accomplishments for that week! I am catching up here and here is my log since I started the 5k: Own it training plan.

Week of May 6


May 8:    3.1 miles (10:39 pace)
May 9:    5.0 miles (1 mile warm up, 6 sets of 400's, 1 mile cooldown...avg page 12:12)
May 10:  3.11 miles (11:15) pace
May 12:  6 miles (10:30 pace)

Cycling on May 11 for 12.50 miles

Total miles for the week: 17.22 miles!


Week of April 29


April 30: 5.0 miles (Tempo run. Avg pace 12:00)
May 1:   3.31 miles (11:37 pace)
May 2:   3.01 miles (10:38 pace)
May 4:   3.44 miles (10:12 pace)
May 5:   5.02 miles (11:00 pace)

Cycling on May 3 for 15 miles

Total miles for the week: 19.8 miles!


Week of April 22


April 23: 4.00 miles (11:15 pace)
April 26: 4.0 miles (12:30 pace)
April 27: 2.70 miles (10:00 pace)
April 28: 5.02 miles (10:24 pace)

Cycling on April 25 for 15 miles

Total miles for the week of April 22: 15.72 miles!


Week of April 15


April 16: 4 miles (strides 10:55 pace)
April 18: 2.67 miles (11:15 pace)
April 19: 4 miles (400's 11:30 pace)
April 20: 3 miles (10:30 pace)
April 21: 5 miles (10:49 pace)

Total miles for the week of April 15: 18.67 miles!


Total through Week 4 is 71.41 miles!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Finding the Right fit!

After I finished my first training plan, the Couch to 5K, I took a little break from training.  It was summer, and it was hot, and I had a few trips to make up and down the east coast.  Once fall was on the horizon I started thinking more about what to do next.  I had finished two 5Ks and at that point and was ready to try something new.

I signed up for a 6K!  I didn't know they had them.  This one was called Real Girls Run 6K.  I thought is sounded neat.  Instead of taking on a new plan, my plan was to run 3 times a week.  Try to run at least 3 miles each run. So, that is what I did.  I tried a run or two that was longer, but not much. Once race time was here I felt ready.  I did walk a bit on the last 2K, but still finished in a decent time. I think that perhaps I should have tried running a few practice 6K!

After that race, dh wanted to try an 8K. It sounded cool being at an amusement park and you got a free ticket to come back in the spring. So, I started running a little further on my runs. I was doing between 4-5 miles on my long runs and 3-4 miles on my easy runs.  I can't say training went perfect.  The race was the first weekend of December and there was Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas planning all in there. Not too mention trying to plan on January trip to Disney. I completed the race and I wasn't last and I was happy.

I took off about a month before really I started back running 3X a week.  I downloaded a few training programs I thought I would try. I thought I would try  Jeff Galloway 10K training program. It was pretty basic and easy to follow...and follow I did not.  I didn't have a race to train for, so I really just couldn't get into it.  It was a simple enough plan! It just didn't fit me.  I needed something with more variety.  And some of the runs were shorter than I had been running.  So, again I just went with running 3X a week for 3 miles at a time and doing weight training 3X a week with dh.

It wasn't until a parent of one of my preschoolers I teach introduced to the book Run Like a Mother that I finally started formulating a plan.  I borrowed the book and laughed and really connected with much of the content of the book.  It was a real eye opener.  The parent told me they were just releasing a new book, Train Like a Mother. So, I ran (drove, really) to Barnes and Noble and bought the book. As soon as I started reading it and checking out the 5k and 10k plans I just new I found the right training plan.  The shoe fit!

The best part of the training plans they have is that they include 2 for each distance. The first plan is best for someone who just wants to finish the specific distance.  The second plan is for someone who wants to kill it! I like that the plan includes more than just run 3-4X a week.  It includes things such as strides and tempo runs!  And even has days where they suggest a "fun" workout!  (I recently had one of those days and did Just Dance on the Wii for an hour!) I like the different runs because it gives me something different to do than just run 5 miles. I have to think about time and distance.

My next race is just weeks away...running the same race I ran for the first time in and I really hope my training pays off.  3 more weeks of training!  And one of them includes a 7 mile run!  I am nervous and excited!

To check out more information on Run Like a Mother: Another Mother Runner
And they are on facebook too! Run Like a mother

Sunday, May 6, 2012

I have several blogs (most I forget to update), so I thought about starting one to share my running on.  I haven't been running my whole life...not even half of my life.  I only started running back in October of 2010. My husband thought I was crazy...he thought I would ruin my knees.  But, I wanted to loose weight, find a good workout to help get me back in shape, and I have always wanted to run.  I always would see others running down the street and wish I could do it.  The most I have ever run was probably the mile run you must do in high school and I am sure it didn't go well!  Probably took 15 minutes to finish. I just didn't think I had it in me. And that was back in 1992!

Fast forward to October 2010.  I saw some friends on Facebook discussing Couch to 5k and wondered what it was all about. I found this great webiste : http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml and started reading. The first week had only 60 seconds of jogging broken up by 90 seconds of walking!  Surely even I could do that! On a brisk morning close to Halloween I decided to try it out.  I even downloaded a great music mix I found here: http://runningintoshape.com/ that has Carli telling me when to walk and when to run! And she provided great motivation!  I love Carli!  Without her I don't think I would have made it past week 3!

Week 1, 2 3 and 4 went pretty well.  Week 5 was killer!  I got stuck there for an extra week or two. That is when dh decided to join me. Yep.  He was intriqued!  And, he figured he could jump right in at Week 5.  I decided to redo Week 3 with him and once we hit week 5 that time I was ready!  As the holidays hit, some of the weeks didn't get done and by mid-February I found myself starting back over at Week 5. The hardest week! Dh and I decided to sign up for a 5k and that really is what motivated me from then on.  I HAD to finish the 5k!  And, I didn't want to be last.

The day came and YES!  I finished it and was not even close to last.  I did walk a little and told dh to go ahead and leave me. It was warm and humid and I forget my headphones, but I did it in 35 minutes! I finished at the front of the second half of runners! I ran 3 more races in 2011.  I ran another 5k that was alot harder.  It was an all-terain race that included road, trails, gravel and 2 HUGE hills! I finished in 35 minutes too, a few seconds faster than the other 5k.  I did a 6k and did it in 39:45! That's a 10:43 pace! And finally in December I ran an 8k at Busch Gardens.  I hadn't been training as much and had never been to the park so I looked around a bit, but finished in 58:16. And I WASN"T LAST!

I made a bunch of friends on Facebook and they have really motivated me and inspired me to Just keep running!  (Dory inspired!) Now, I am coming up to the anniversary of my first race...the Chick-fil-A 5k and dh and I are registered again.  My goals have changed this year.  I don't want to just finish and I don't want to just not be last.... I want to PR!  I want to give it my all!  I have started a more intense training using Train Like a Mother (http://anothermotherrunner.com/) and I am ready to beat my first race time! And...I am planning on running my first 10k this year and my first half marathon in February 2013!

So, keep reading, follow me, inspire me and I hope to inspire you. If I can do it....ANYONE can do it!