Thankful Thursday: What a difference a year makes

In the past year, I've gone from this:

That's a crack in my left tibia

And this:

Rocking Das Boot

To this:

My slowest 5k ever (May 28, 2012)

To this:

Finishing my first sprint triathlon (August 11, 2012)

To this:

My fastest 12 mile run EVER

And this:

And even this:

Who is this person???

I really believe it was all the hills in the Knoxville Half Marathon on April 1st last year that did me in so I consider that date my injury date - I waited a couple weeks to actually see a doctor - don't do this. Trust me.  I've been very reluctant to post anything related to the 1 year anniversary of being diagnosed with a stress fracture (or stress reaction, depending on which doctor I talked to).  I didn't want to jinx myself. This week I finally registered for the 25k that I had to DNS and spectate in my boot last year. I've been very cautious about verbalizing or posting any goals for my half on 4/13 or my "A" race half in May. I've been posting my training but goals have only been shared with a select few and even with them I'm scared to say a time goal out loud. I'm being cautiously optimistic. I'm also nervous as hell that something is going to go horribly wrong and I'll be right back where I was last year at this time, scooting up and down the stairs on my ass because I couldn't bear weight on my shin.

But here I am...taking a leap if faith...hitting POST...and celebrating how far I've come this year.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tri Training Week 9

A little look back at week 9's training.  Overall - a VERY good week.

Monday 7/2/12 - Scheduled OFF - Completed OFF (I'm trying to be a little better about taking rest days).

Tuesday 7/3/12 - Scheduled Run :40/Strength :30 - Completed B-double E-double R-U-N BEERRUN!  Today was the 2nd Grand Rapids Marathon beerrun and it just so happened to fall on one of the hottest days in history (I wanna say it was in the mid to high 90s when we ran).  I managed to finish 3.4 miles in 40 minutes and I skipped strength training that day.

Wednesday 7/4/12 - Happy Independence Day! Scheduled Swim :30 - Completed Swim :30 by swimming laps in my girlfriend's pool.  Still freaking HOT here and the pool temp was in the high 80s.  Not exactly a refreshing swim.  Also did some walking at the 4th of July parade and later to watch fireworks.

Thursday 7/5/12 - Scheduled Bike 1:00/strength :30 - Completed Bike 34 min (8.2 miles)/Strength :40.  Not sure why I cut the ride short today.  Maybe I spaced on it or something. No clue.

Friday 7/6/12 -  Scheduled OFF - Completed OFF

Saturday 7/7/12 - Scheduled Swim/Bike Brick (0:15/1:10) - Completed Swim/Bike Brick! I swam for 15 straight minutes in my friend's pool (so maybe 500 yds) and then biked 16.18 miles in 1:10 :)  I learned that my Ride Glide washes off a bit in the pool cuz the lady parts were a bit sore after the ride (sorry, TMI) but overall I felt great when I was done.

Sunday 7/8/12 - Scheduled Bike/Run Brick (1:00/0:30) - Completed Bike/Run Brick!!! This was one of the best workouts I've ever had.  The temperatures dropped and were in the low 70s when I started out - to the point I even felt a little cold on the bike for the first few miles.  I rode 13.5 miles in an hour and then hopped off my bike and off I ran.  REALLY RAN!!! I clocked the first 1.5 miles in just under 16 minutes!!! Oops - WAY TOO FAST cuz I pretty much died after that :)  Still finished 3 miles in 31:24 (10:24 average pace).  I obviously need to work on my pacing for these bricks so I don't go out too fast.  My shin really never bothered me at all, but was a tiny bit sore and my arch hurt A LOT on Monday, but overall and excellent workout.  Totally kicked my butt, though - I ended up taking a nap after dropping K off at track camp that afternoon.

To summarize:

Woo-hoo!!! I made it through the first week with scheduled brick workouts!  I also had a follow-up with my sports med doc on Monday and even though I'm not 100% healed from my stress reaction and I've started to develop some planar fasciitis-type issues, he's discharged me from regular checks.  I'm to continue to ice and roll, go to the chiro for active-release technique therapy, and progress my runs as tolerated.  We also spent a good deal of time talking about my 1/2 marathon training that will start in August.  Basically he put the kabosh on a 4-5 day a week running training plan and has encouraged me to look into the plans outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.  I used a similar plan when training for my full marathon, so I think I'll like it.  The gist is to run 3 quality runs per week (speed work, tempo, long/slow distance) and cross train 2-3 times per week. I picked up the book yesterday and hope to start reading today.  Come August I'll be ready to dig into my training for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon at Disney World!! :)

I also answered a few more questions about myself this weekend in case you missed it :)

This coming week is a nice, easy recovery week in my training and then I'm on vacation.  I'm hoping the time away does me some good mentally but doesn't put too much of a dent in my training because my tri is only about a month away - EEK!

How was your week of healthy living? Tell me one thing you did this week to make you stronger, faster or healthier...

Tri-Training Tuesday Weekly Recap

I feel like a bad blogger since I haven't written anything since Thursday, but I also feel if you don't have anything to say, you probably shouldn't say anything.  I had ideas for posts this weekend, but they just never came to fruition.  Bottom line - the beginning of summer break has been crazy busy.  This past week I also went a bit overboard in my training and now I'm paying for it.  I have no clue what today's workout will hold, I just know my leg is pissed and I'm supposed to up my runs to 2 miles this week.  Somehow, I don't think that's happening.

Anyhoo...here's how training panned out this week:

Monday 6/11/12 - Plan: REST. Instead, I swam 800 yds in 23 minutes and biked 6 miles in 30 min - my first ride on my new road bike :)

Tuesday 6/12/12 - Plan: bike 30. Completed an 18 mile bike ride (10 while Pete ran at 6.3 mph and then 8 more fast when I got home with a 13.7 mph ave), then ran 1.25 miles in 12:50 (10:16 pace!).

Wednesday 6/13/12 - Plan: swim 20. Completed 800 yds swim in 26:20.

Thursday 6/14/12 - Plan:  run 25/strength 30. Completed 15 min on ellip arc trainer (stupid .7 miles) then ran 1.5 in 15:16 (10:10 pace!). Finished with 36 min legs & abs.

Friday 6/15/12 - Plan: REST. Biked 11.5 miles while Pete ran (6.3 mph)

Saturday 6/16/12 - Plan run 30. Completed 1/2 mile walk, 1.63 mile run in 16:15 (9:57 pace - holy crap!) then 1 mile walk.

Sunday 6/17/12 - Plan swim 20. Completed swim/bike brick. 20 min swim (about 600 yds) then 6.1 mile bike with 14.6 mph ave.

This was a crazy week of training, on a week that was supposed to be a "recovery" week.  Oops. Like I said, I'm paying for it now with a really sore shin.  I saw the chiro yesterday and he pretty much lectured me about my body's crazy tolerance for pain (or maybe stupidity) that tells me everything is fine when it really isn't.  I think he pushed the injury spot a lot today to remind me what it will feel like if I don't use some common sense.  Needless to say, other than walking around the mall shopping on Monday and floating in the pool, I respected Monday's rest day.

Before you all leave me to enjoy this beautiful summer day, please go give my girl, Angie, some love over here at Real Women Tri.  She absolutely kicked ASS in her last half iron and this is her first blog post about the experience.  Angie convinced me to run my very first 5k and has helped me with training for pretty much every race I've done since then.  If I hadn't run that first 5k back in 2006 I wouldn't be writing about marathons and training for a tri today.

Do you have anyone who has inspired you to try something new?

Fitness Friday: Goals ADJUSTED

Back in December 2011 (was that really over 4 months ago?) I set what I thought was a pretty reasonable goal for myself for this year.  My goal was to run 12 races in 2012.  It looked something like this (changed a bit from my original plan because of kid commitments, but this was the latest version):

January: Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disneyland, CA 1/29/12

February: (nothing planned - continue to train for Knoxville)

March: Kent City Ridge Run 15k 3/24/12

April: Knoxville Half Marathon, Knoxville, TN 4/1/12 

            Striders 10 mile 4/22/12

May: 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k, Grand Rapids, MI 5/12/12 

           Down & Dirty Mud Run, Chicago, IL 10k 5/20/12

June: Sunburst 10k 6/2/12

            Kalamazoo Klassic 5k 6/16/12

July: Coast Guard Festival 10k (date not published yet)

August: Millennium Sprint Tri 8/11/12

September: Fitbloggin 5k, Baltimore, MD (wasn't likely)

October: Grand Rapids Half Marathon 10/21/12

November: Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon 11/10/12

December: undecided but probably some random Jingle Bell 5k

I completed the Tinker Bell Half in January and started having issues with my calf/shins. I skipped the March race because of pain but finished the Knoxville Half in April and then this happened:

And then I ended up in this:

for the record-it's way too hot today to be dressed like this

I was skimming Facebook last night and came across this picture:

That would be the awesome 35th anniversary bling that I won't be getting on May 12th.  Or ever because they'll go back to their plain medals next year.  I'd actually had a couple of really good days this week and then one stupid picture ruined my mood and my entire night.  I thought I was done being upset with myself, but I was wrong.  I'm still very disappointed that my body decided it wasn't strong enough, I did something wrong and it failed. (Now before you get all squinty eyed on me - it's true.  I clearly did something wrong in my training or that stress reaction would not have happened.)

This is what my race calendar looks like now:

January: Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disneyland, CA 1/29/12 - DONE

February:  

March: 

April: Knoxville Half Marathon, Knoxville, TN 4/1/12 - DONE             

May: 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k, Grand Rapids, MI 5/12/12  - this will be my first official DNS to be immortalized on active.com forever. I hadn't registered for Kent City or Striders - score one for procrastination.

           Down & Dirty Mud Run, Chicago, IL 10k 5/20/12 - I'm still doing this but switching from the 10k to the 5k and walking the whole thing and probably skipping most of the obstacles.

June:  

July:  

August: 

September:  

October:  

November: Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon 11/10/12 - I'm registered and going no matter what

December:  

I've been talking with a couple friends about still doing a sprint tri this summer, but I'm reluctant to sign up for anything not knowing what my running capabilities will be (and I refuse to walk the 5k portion, especially knowing how fast the people are in this area - even running I'll be at the bottom of the pack).  Needless to say, I won't hit anywhere near 12 races this year.  Maybe 6 if I'm really lucky and they won't be done to nearly the level I would like (my only 2 races completed this year were terrible as far as time goes but at least I had fun).  I'm also terrified to sign up for any races now knowing that I could have to back out if I get hurt again.  I hate wasting money and seeing that DNS after my name is going to suck out loud - I don't want to see that ever again.  Maybe it doesn't matter to some of you but it does to me.  I've never been a quitter and it feels like quitting.  In fact, it feels worse than quitting because it feels like I didn't even try. 

Tara said to me on twitter last night: Hey!!! Knock that off. You are injured. Focus in healing. Then get the bling!  I understand but it's not because ur lazy & just not running...be nice to urself so you heal faster. 

Believe me.  I'm trying.  But some days are HARD.  And now I'm adjusting my goals.

Update On My Brokenness

I finally heard from my sports med doctor this afternoon (actually one of his nurses who just read parts of the report to me but couldn't answer any questions - not really helpful).  According to the MRI, I have a "mild stress reaction" rather than an actual "stress fracture".  So...I really DON'T have a stress fracture?  What the Eff is a "stress reaction"?

All the nurse could tell me is that he wants me to continue with the current plan of care (non-weightbearing NWB on crutches as much as possible, boot on when I'm up and walking around, cross-training you mean carting my 150 pound fat ass around on crutches isn't cross training enough???) and see him again on Monday at 2:00 to generate a "plan".  So, I have to go into the weekend not really knowing anything more than I did on Monday.  I don't know if a "stress reaction" is better than a "stress fracture".

Thankfully my husband is a medical librarian and he found me this from Brigham and Women's Hospital Department of Rehabilitation:

"The lesion of MTSS is a result of a hypermetabolic state within cortical bone. Bone is in a phase of chronic remodeling as a result of persistent and increasing strain on porous bone. [1] Bone in athletes participating in running or jumping sports may have difficulty remodeling at a rate fast enough to adapt to the changes from mechanical loading. Ideally osteoblasts fill the tunnels left by osteoclasts, however in pathologic situations the porous bone inadequately accommodates to continued loading and microfissures may result and possibly progress to stress fracture. [1] It is know that the bone-remodeling sequence at the start of an exercise program commences approximately 5 days after stimulation and that the bone is weakened for the first eight weeks. Jones et al graded this stress reaction from normal remodeling (grade 0) to stress fracture (grade 4), with mild, moderate and severe stress reaction in between. [7]

Prognosis:
The recovery time for periostitis or medial tibial stress syndrome is three to four weeks. Patient with stress fractures typically resume unprotected activities in 4-6wks and impact activities in 2-3 months. Adequate healing and the resolution of symptoms determine the rate at which the resumption of activities occurs with the impact activity. [1][10]"

To me, this means that maybe things aren't as grim as I'd originally feared. Or maybe I'm just still in denial.  Whatever, I'll take it.  

Bottom line, I'm still essentially NWB through the weekend (and I actually asked for orders for one of those scooter thingies because the crutches are reducing me to a blubbering mess and fraking up my already messed up shoulder).  I *might* be able to walk the 10k Mud Run on 5/20 but I'm not holding my breath (Please don't hate me Erin and Ali if I can't do it - I'm already disgusted enough with myself).  If I could drop down to the 5k I would feel more comfortable going against doctor's orders and doing it. Not sure if that's an option though.  I *should* be able to start training for Disney Wine and Dine in August and plan to run/walk it.  

I'll know more after my appointment on Monday.  Just keep thinking good healing thoughts (for both my tibia and my heart).  In the meantime, I'm going to try to channel Dora and "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming."

Thankful Thursday: Healing

Today I'm giving thanks for the chance to heal. 

1. I'm thankful for all of you who read and commented on this post yesterday and on twitter over the past few days.  I really love the support and encouragement you have all given me.  Not to mention just letting me cry and bitch when I need that, too.  I definitely know who my friends are.
2. I'm thankful that I was able to sorta finish Stage 1 of the New Rules of Lifting for Women, even if I couldn't do all the moves at the end because of the risk of making my fracture worse, I could definitely tell how much stronger I became over those 6 weeks.  If you want to see how I did, I recapped it here.
3. I'm thankful for doctors who take you seriously and are also runners (my "doctor" is a PA who also runs marathons). I have a referral to a sports med specialist on Monday and I will be going to a sports med PT.  Even though I'm not some elite athlete, they recognize that getting back to running IS important to me and so far no one has told me I need to give up running completely.

What are you thankful for today?

Broken

After a couple months of pain, trying to work it out on my own and with ART from my chiro, and no running for the past 2 1/2 weeks, I decided enough was enough and yesterday I got an x-ray.

See that little vertical line and bump the arrow is pointing to (I know the pic is crappy - I took a pic of the computer screen with my phone)?  That would be a stress fracture in my left tibia (confirmed by radiology this morning).  In all likelihood, I've had this for at least a few weeks to a couple months (probably shortly after running the Tinker Bell Half at the end of January) and running the Knoxville Half Marathon on April 1st was the nail broke the camel's back, or in my case continued to break my left tibia. 

I'm sad.  I spent a lot of time crying yesterday once I got home from the usual business that is my life. (BTW: Standing for a couple hours at a HS track meet in the freezing cold does NOTHING to make a stress fracture feel better.)  I started crying on the drive home from my girl's track meet as I was reading all the supportive tweets from my friends (shut up, I wasn't technically tweeting and driving - well, I was but whatever). I pretty much didn't stop crying until I fell asleep last night.  I'm crying again now.

It's stupid, really.  Why am I so upset about this?  It's not the end of the world.  It's certainly not a death sentence. It's not like I'm ever going to be the type of runner who wins a race or makes money at this.  So why would I be so upset about missing one (or 3 as that's how many I've paid for/registered for in May) races?  Because this is MY THING.  It's the one thing I do for me.  I've been seeing real improvements in my endurance and my speed. I thrive on the race atmosphere and I'm a self-proclaimed Bling Whore. I need it for stress relief. It's become my drug.  I'm absolutely horrified at the thought of continuing to get fatter until I've gained back all the weight I managed to lose.  I'm terrified of losing all the fitness I've gained. It makes me sick to think I'm going to have to start back at square one. I'm scared I will always have pain when I run and it will make me want to quit.  I don't want to be a quitter (as evidenced by the fact that I ran a fucking half marathon on a fucking stress fracture).

I have an appointment on Monday with a sports medicine doctor.  He must be good because he's the sports med doc affiliated with several of the huge races around here.  My doctor has also recommended physical therapy but I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't get scheduled until after my appointment with Dr. K. I want to get this moving. Monday seems so far away.

I really don't know where to go from here.  I spent a lot of time chatting with Kirsten last night (luff you so much, girl) and she knows how I feel (badass ToughMudder on a broken ankle).  I need to dust off NTC and focus on arms and abs.  Bike and swim when I can.  Eat EXTREMELY well.  Not sink into the abyss.  Maintain as much strength and cardio fitness as I can so when I'm given the go-ahead to start running again, I don't fucking die.  

I still have high hopes (probably foolish ones) of being able to at least walk the River Bank Run 5k on 5/12 (since the 25k is most certainly gone for me at this point and running the 10k or 5k isn't likely either). Even more foolish hopes of being able to finish the Down and Dirty Mud Run 10k with Erin and Ali on 5/20 (there are no time limits & you can skip all but the last mud obstacle if need be).  I had goals of a kick-ass Shrinking Jeans 10k on 5/28.  How the fuck am I supposed to run these races if I've been told "no running until 100% pain free?" I'm not.  I just know I have to be healthy for Disney's Wine and Dine in November.  I just hope I can maintain some decent level of fitness in the meantime.

The moral of the story?  If something doesn't feel right - please get it checked out.  If the recommendations from one doctor aren't working - get a second opinion.  Please don't be me.