Weekly Recap - MOAR RUNNING

Look at me, doing a weekly recap the day after the week actually ends! What a novel concept. I am all-together lacking the part of my brain that is in charge of organization (it was taken over long ago by song lyrics and pop culture trivia).

This week started kinda shaky but ended up being just fine. I battle some headaches Monday and Tuesday, that got much worse when when I ran. I rarely ever get headaches. I have no idea what caused it - but I think it may have been a little dehydration and possibly some salt imbalances. I became more mindful of my hydration and felt much better by Wednesday.

My week looked something like this:

Monday: rest. My husband had been away for 10 days and I really wanted to hang out with him, rather than go to a yoga class.

Tuesday: Headache all day. Finally decided to run at 7pm. Major fail, threw in the towel at 4.6 miles, 8:37 avg. pace.

Wednesday: 4 miles AM, around MGP (8:00 pace). Ran to the grocery store. 5.5 miles PM with the husband, 8:18 pace.

Thursday: scheduled rest day, but I had mileage to make up. 4 miles, 8:35 pace.

Friday: Friday was a ROUGH day. I got late notice on Thursday for step aerobics audition on Friday morning, and I was really nervous about it and stayed up late practicing my moves. I couldn't sleep - I maybe got 3.5 hours of sleep and then proceeded to really blow the audition. I was so tired and so deflated after that, but still had 12 miles on my training schedule. It was also very hot by the time I got to run (11 am) - around 85 degrees. I struggled hard to maintain a 9:15 pace for 11 miles before I threw in the towel.

And if Friday couldn't get worse - around 8 miles into my suckfest run, I dropped the mic cover that had just been given to me at the audition (I'll need it for the classes I start teaching tomorrow) and the breeze picked up. I chased after it, trying to dive down and grab it at least 3 times. I finally caught it (whew) but not after my calve muscles had totally seized up and my entire right side hurt.

Saturday: Recovery - 5 miles, 10:00 pace. I seriously cannot believe my husband and I ran that slow. It was moving day in Boston, and we live in college student central, so it was really comical to see the moving day craziness. I probably had to dodge 100 tube TVs and at least 15 mattresses. Also, my calves were so sore from my stumbling the day before (see above) - they felt like I had golf balls in them. Not cool. But I felt much better after the run was over.

Sunday: 20 miles, 8:56 average pace. The weather was gorgeous - maybe like 70 degrees. We took it easy and just cruised. I really wanted to pick up the pace and GO in the last 5 miles but my husband was not a fan, so we stayed even. It was SO nice to finally have a long run that felt really successful. I feel much better now about how I will fair at the main event in October. I still think it's a long shot to BQ, but like I told my husband, what do I have to lose? I am just going to put it out there and see what happens.

And that's a wrap! Total mileage for the week: 54 miles. Another new personal high.

Scenes from last week:

Bit the bullet and just ordered boxes of chews and gels. It's like our little personal running store.

Christen wears lipstick (actually lipstain if we are being technical). I always feel SO weird wearing lip color.

My fortune cookie. Don't worry, I don't get it either. Side note: I met some girlfriends for dinner one night, and my husband ordered $50 of Chinese takeout. He should not be left alone, apparently. Also, I ate Chinese food for 3 days. I won't complain.

Recovery drink of champions. I hate protein powder. Milk has protein, it's real food, I like it. Win.

My girl, Darla, ruining my throw pillows. When I bought those I totally envisioned them being her personal perch (/sarcasm). Good thing she's cute.

Cooking:

I also did some cooking this week as well (GASP, I know). I made the Fit Sugar recipe for zuchini carrot bread that I discovered through SUAR. It was awesome. I actually cut the sugar in half and it rocked. Down side? My husband now thinks I should bake all the time (he can probably count on one hand the times I've baked something in the 7 years we've been married).

I also made the Chicken Enchilada Slower Cooker Stew from Frayed Laces. It was so easy and SO good. I actually used Trader Joes' frozen Soy-cutash (because I did not have black beans, and I love edamame) and I added a jar of Muir Glen Salsa just because, and it came out delicious. Further proof that slow cookers are amazing.

Onto next week! MOAR RUNNING, now with a side of fitness classes! I predict soreness in my immediate future...

A post wherein I whine a lot

So I haven't posted in over a week. Sue me. :)

Truth be told, I don't have much to say. I am at the point in training where the mileage is increasing, and combined with brutal August temperatures and humidity, I am pretty miserable. I wonder daily why I'm doing this to myself.

Also, I briefly injured myself over the weekend. I made the classic mistake of switching shoes mid-training. I bought a pair of Brooks Green Silence on a killer deal - marked down to $49 and I had like $21 reward dollars, so they were uber cheap. I was really excited about how they fit and felt, so much so that I laced them up the day after I bought them and took them out for 5 miles of speedwork. Friends, don't make the dumb mistakes that I do. These shoes are moderately minimal, with an 8mm heel to toe drop. The shoes I do most of my training in, the New Balance 890 and the Nike Pegasus, both have a 12mm drop (although I swear the New Balance shoes feel lower than that).

So cute. So dangerous.

I loved how light they were, and how the upper fit my bony, thin, narrow foot so well. I declared the run a huge success and packed them in my suitcase to head to an out-of-town wedding. Saturday morning I woke up in VA with a slight pain in my right foot, specifcially on the outside edge of my foot, almost directly below my ankle. It wasn't terrible, and anyone who runs a lot knows that little aches and pains are just part of the game. I am not a hypochondriac so I got up, laced up my shoes, and went for a quick 2 mile run before we had to hit the road again to get to the wedding site.

My foot got progressively more sore throughout the day, but I had cocktail attire to wear, and I was not going to show up to the wedding in flats. So I put on my very sensible 2.5" Easy Spirit peep toes (don't laugh, they are cute AND comfy) and partied the night away.

Who doesn't love a good wedding photobooth? Torture shoes not pictured

By the time we got back to our hotel room my foot hurt pretty bad. I got some ice and iced it for a while and went to sleep. I woke up at 5am and tried to get out of bed, forgetting about my foot, and doubled over in pain. From my awesome google skills, I determined that I angered some tendons in my foot:

The lower arrow marks the spot of OWWWWW

The peroneus brevis and/or the peroneus longus, to be exact. We spent almost all of Sunday driving (11 hours, FU thunderstorms!) back to MA. And I spent the day limping in and out of gas stations on the ball of my foot. I got cups of ice along the way and put my foot on ice for quite a lot of the ride. I got home and wrapped it up, kept it elevated, and took Aleve for the better part of 2 days. By day 4, 95% of my pain was gone. It was nothing short of miraculous.

RICE works, ya'll

So this all meant that I had to totally skip last weekend's long run - 18 miles. It also meant that I missed Tuesday's 7 miles as well. And now that I am able to play catch-up, it is hotter than an MFer outside and it's like 99% humidity. Not exactly ideal. Which makes me a super angry person. Oh, and did I mention that I'm supposed to do 20 miles this weekend? FML.

Marathon training in August sucks. Why am I doing this again?

On a not-complaining note: I have become an absolute Olympics junkie. I love all of it. Even synchronized swimming and table tennis. It also means that we've been staying up until midnight watching it, making it impossible to get up early to run. So I guess I'm to blame for most of my misery.

So the lesson here is apparently:

1) never switch shoes mid-training, and
2) stop staying up so damn late.

Learn from my mistakes!

And the medical advice says...

So, I saw a doctor today about my chest pain. They did an EKG and she said it looks pretty normal, and she is going to have the cardiologist review it. The little EKG stickers pulled off my self tanner so now I have white squares on my arms, legs, and chest. Cute.

My favorite part: being told to 'just relax' after being hooked up to a zillion wires

She thought she heard a slight heart murmur, but she thinks it's harmless, but scheduled a cardio echo just to be sure. I'll go back for that next week. She kept saying, "it's probably nothing" even though I assured her I wasn't freaking out.

cardio echo

No lumps/cysts - so the verdict is - she thinks it's muscular. She said I shouldn't lift weights or do strenuous upper body work for a while. Not sure how I feel about that, because I really like lifting weights and I really like yoga (especially arm balances). *super sad face*

So I was sent home with some lidocaine pain patches. At least she didn't tell me to stop running. We would have had words if it came to that.

I ran 8 miles this morning. Finally got up and went early. Not quite early enough - the goal was 10 - but I ran out of time. I'll squeeze in 2 more later today.

I was entertaining the idea of running a 4th of July 5K tomorrow - because I am never one to miss an opportunity to wear a red, white, and blue running outfit - but I may not. Perhaps I'll just wear my outfit anyway for my 4 miles recovery run.

To seek medical advice or not, this is the question...

So, I've been having some bizarre pain since May. I will preface this to say that I go to the doctor maybe once or twice a year, so I am not one to run out and see one every time I have an ache, pain, or sniffles.

On Mother's Day, I went to the gym with my sister while I was in Mississippi. I got on a treadmill to run, and within the first quarter mile, I felt a sharp pain on the far left side of my chest. Not like a heart palpitation - but more in my chest wall (pretty close to my armpit, in the area where the strap of a bra would meet the cup). I kept running, and I think I ran about 7 miles that day on the treadmill.

It hurts right here. 

For weeks after, it still hurt. Not in an excruciating way, but in way where I definitely notice it. I notice it while running, I really noticed it when I tried to strength train my upper body. It also bothered me if I was trying to sleep in certain positions.

Then I took my accidental run sabbatical for the first 3 weeks of June. And I can't say I noticed it then. I finally got back to running and going to the gym last week. I did a good strength session on Thursday - bench press, rows, flyes, overhead tricep press, nosebreakers, bicep curls. And the next day, bam, the pain came right back. , just as bad as it was on day one.

As I type this right now I can feel it. It's really annoying and I can't understand what it might be. Strained chest muscle? Some sort of tendon/connective tissue issue? (ha, that rhymed) Or something worse? I will also add I can feel it on inhale and exhale (more so on exhale).

I just don't even really know how to describe it to a doctor, and I feel like they are just going to tell me take ibuprofen and not workout, which isn't really an answer to me.

Any ideas?

Update: I schedule an appointment to see my primary care physician next week. I still feel silly about it, but I guess I wanted to be smart. I am not optimistic she will be of much help - she is very nice, but has doled out some rather antiquated advice to me before (like telling me I need to drink 3 glasses of milk a day).