Thursday, September 24, 2015

Question Of The Day...

That moment when your Orthopedic Surgeon says "If I don't see you before your marathon Good Luck and have a wonderful trip!" (aka I'M CLEARED TO RUN!!!!)...
So the big "Question Of The Day" was: Should I attempt 15 miles this weekend or should I stick with the 10 miles that I'm scheduled to run? (since technically this is supposed to be a taper week). Is it still considered a taper week if you're not tapering from a long mileage run? The last really long run I did was when I got injured (20 miles on August 2nd). Since then I've run 10 miles once (or was it twice?) but it has been almost two weeks since my last 10 mile run. And I only have two weeks (pretty much) until Chicago, i.e. only two more LR opportunities.

I was talking to one of my best friends today and got the "don't do anything that will put you at risk for another injury" lecture. But I was battling between the logic of that and the underlying fear that if I don't attempt a longer distance my legs won't be ready for 26.2 miles in 2 weeks. So I did some more research and came across THIS POST that challenges the "mandatory 20 miler" claim for marathon training. The article AND the comments provide an interesting perspective and actually made me feel better about not being able to get another 20 miler (or anything close to that) done recently. It is important to note that the post does mention running up to 3 hours (which on a good day would probably take me to 15 miles). That being said I'm not sure there is much benefit to doing that 2 weeks before my race (in light of how limited my training has been recently).

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Wordless Wednesday (well, not really..)

I was going to do a "Wordless Wednesday" post (you can already see how well that's going to go)  but so much has happened in the past week that I figured a bunch of pictures without explanation would be more annoying than entertaining. So instead this was going to be more of a "mostly pictures with a few clarifying words/comments" kind of post (that didn't work out either).

Last week I celebrated my 300th blog post, but I haven't posted a thing since then (not here anyway. I am on IG daily though @thisismyfaster). My absence from the blog is not without good explanation. Work has been very busy, and I started teaching online again, and I've gotten into a running/cross training rhythm that I'm hoping will continue but keeps me in a constant state of tiredness (well that and the fact that I've been staying up late to watch episodes of BlueBloods on Hulu+).

Anyway, I've been back to running after my mandatory week off. I ran for 3 miles last week Friday...

Then on Saturday I did a 5K walk with my brother-in-law Gavin and Kai...

Thursday, September 17, 2015

N*U*M*B*E*R*S

This is my 300th blog post!!!!!!! 
I started blogging about 14 months ago and it really has been an amazing experience! A lot of people encouraged me to blog but my brother-in-law Del was probably the most insistent. So we all have him to thank for my regular musings on the world wide web...thanks Del!!!. Since I started blogging I've gotten 26,724 page views from 10 different countries (thank you all for checking out my blog!!!)

About a year before I started blogging about it, my running journey began. It has been quite a roller coaster ride over the past 26 months. Trying to find ways to improve and get faster. Doing research on almost every single aspect of running. Developing a greater appreciation for my iPhone camera so that I have pictures to accompany my blog posts...you know the usual runner/blogger stuff ;)
I wouldn't have started this journey had it not been for my twin sister Sanya. She has always been the athlete between the two of us and I've always been in awe and proud of her. I wouldn't be a runner today had she not inspired me to start so...thanks San!!!!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Pins & Pools...

I tried acupuncture for the first time yesterday afternoon. It was different. I definitely felt relaxed, but some of that might have been because of the ambiance and the "happy thoughts" I distracted myself with...
Acupuncture is one of those "cumulative effects" therapies so I'm going to keep an open mind and continue to go and hopefully I will see improvement in my pain level. Since the steroid injection to my right hip I haven't had any pain, but I still feel a strain in that area when I do certain physical therapy exercises.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Swimming & Serenity...

If you follow my Instagram page you probably already know that I have to take another week off from running... (if you don't follow my page (and you want to) you can click HERE). A lot has happened this week and I've kept IG more updated than the blog so I'm just going to do a quick recap to get everybody caught up...                                                                                                                               source
My last post was on Saturday (9/05) when I did my 10 mile long run that wasn't really a long run. Then I ran 1 mile on Monday; 1 mile on Tuesday morning; and 5 miles on Tuesday evening...

Wednesday was a rest day (because of the evening run on Tuesday) and I went back to see my Orthopedic Surgeon (Dr. K) on Thursday morning. I was hoping to be given the "all clear" for longer distances but I was still having some lingering pain. When Dr. K did his assessment of my right hip he expressed some "concern" regarding the amount of pain I had to my greater trochanter area (basically the side of my hip)...
The most concerning part for him (and me) was the degree of pain considering I had only done 10 miles on Saturday and hadn't done more than 5 miles since; and Dr. K expressed general reservations about my ability to complete the 26.2 mile distance without a more invasive intervention.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Long Run I'm Not Calling A "Long Run"...

So technically 10 miles could be considered a long run. Technically. But since I stopped several times to stretch and hydrate I didn't feel too bad about ignoring my doctor's "no long run" orders. Overall the run was great (only a little painful), but I think my endurance level for time on my feet has really suffered because of all the reduced mileage weeks. I hope I will be able to build up enough endurance with swimming to help off-set the decreased running endurance in time for Chicago (which is in 35 days)...

I also think the fatigue I felt was exacerbated by the humidity...
I was silently complaining about the humidity during my run this morning because my running singlet was drenched and sticking to my stomach. Which, while great for highlighting my 2-pack abs, was really annoying. But, although running in humid Summer weather mostly sucks, there are a few things that could possibly be seen as positives:

Friday, September 4, 2015

Friday Favorites...

The Friday before a long weekend has got to be the greatest thing ever!
I was so excited about having three days off that I agreed to go shopping on Saturday AND Sunday with Kai (as you can imagine she is excited about that too).

Apart from the three day weekend I have a few Friday favorites to share:

1. Virtual Race Medals...
A virtual race was on the list of 15 New Things for 2015 so I'm excited about getting it done. It's not my first virtual race (I did the Hug-A-Runner 5K with Mary last year) but it's the first one I've done with a medal...and the medal (as well as the cause) is amazing!!!

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Motivation and More Miles...

Yesterday I went to physical therapy and this was hanging on the wall...
I love that they find creative ways to provide motivation :)

And then something amazing happened this morning...I ran 5 miles!!!

It wasn't pain free but it definitely wasn't as much pain as previous runs which is a great sign! I also managed to have negative splits again today...

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

The Year Of The Full: Chapter 9- Four More Long Runs & Four More Months...

I ran today! I took my time, did 5:1 intervals, kept myself mentally distracted once the pain started and got through 3.1 miles...

I'm really loving the negative splits I did today...

It was ridiculously humid and I was drenched with sweat by the end of the run but I was all smiles anyway...