The Fallout.

July 23, 2013February 6, 2016 / racingthestates / 13 Comments

The fallout. Aka: The post marathon slump….depression….whatever you want to call it. You have all written about it and I chose not to believe it. But alas, here we are. And I can’t sleep, so here we are writing in the middle of the night when I have to get up early and teach bootcamp.

It’s been pretty much exactly two months since my marathon. I’ve been staying active. I was working out in school and running a little bit here and there. It helped that I met “the boy” and he runs with me! (I know, right!? A boy that runs with me! It’s brilliant).

About three weeks after my marathon, I did Tough Mudder, which I probably shouldn’t have done, and a couple weeks after that I did the Half on the 4th in Colorado Springs which turned out to be my worst run ever.

During most of this, I have been battling heel pain of unknown origin. It wasn’t immediately after the marathon, but around the time of Tought Mudder. At first I thought it was plantar fascitis. Thinking that the big tendon that runs under the arch of the foot was acting up, pulling at it’s attachment site: the heel. So, I rolled my foot on a lacrosse ball like all the advice out there says. In all fairness, I had already been doing this, but I started doing it more diligently.

The pain still was there. And to be straight, it’s not that bad of a pain. Just irritating. Honestly, I don’t even feel it that much when I run. It’s the before and after. It’s a dull pain; annoying really.

Not seeing any improvement, I started thinking it was achilles tendonitis. So, I started really focussing on foam rolling and stretching my calf muscles. Again, I was already doing this, I just started doing it even more.

Well, the pain is still there. I kinda took a break after the Half on the 4th, but you know us runners, we can’t stay off our feet. I’m also one of those people that just feels like I don’t get exercise unless I am running. I know and realize this is NOT true, especially considering I just graduated from personal training school, BUT that’s just how I have always been.

So, while I’ve been running here and there, battling this weird injury and wanting OH SO BAD to do more races, I have been taking my runs to the trails instead of pounding away on concrete and pavement, in addition to icing it daily, in the effort to help heal my heel. But it’s not just my heel that has left me in the post-marathon slump.I NEED another race to train for, but alas, I have not decided on one for a few reasons.

1. I have not money. 2. I have no idea what is going to be happening in a few months (let alone tomorrow) to be able to plan a race, EVEN a local race.

It sounds silly, but I just want to travel all around and run. Maybe silly is not the right word. It’s UNREALISTIC. I realize this dream is improbable, or at least improbable for the current time and life status.

Anyway, that’s my random Post-Marathon Fallout thoughts. If you couldn’t tell, my relationship with running right now is all over the place. I want to run, but I don’t. I want to run, but I can’t. OR I want to run, but it hurts.

For now, I am working on finding a personal trainer job. I still need to get the actual certification. There’s been a little bit of a mix up with that. My school offered a cheaper cost for taking the NASM CPT test (National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified, Personal Trainer). Well, the contact that my school had for them screwed up my account and I haven’t been able to even register for the test yet! Super frustrating.

Once that is done though, I should have no problem getting in the door somewhere. I am still coaching the women’s bootcamp and loving that still.

For you all, I am currently working on a series of posts for the races I did AFTER my marathon and BEFORE! I believe I missed a few recaps here and there. So expect to see my Tough Mudder Recap (not a great go at it this time around), the Half on the 4th (worst race for me yet!), The Sugarloaf 15k (remember, I did a race in Maine as well) The Dino Half (I broke my PR by a landslide AND placed in my age group thanks to an amazing pacer!), and I don’t think I ever got around to posting about the Erin Go Braugh 7.77K (waaaaaaayyyyyy back in March, geez!).

I’d also like to share with you my travels in Maine/Vermont and in the next week, I want to show you all the work out I have been doing since I haven’t been running that much; It’s a Man of Steel workout put out by the Superman movie that was playing not that long ago. It’s a super hard workout! So expect to see that as well!

Tuesday Newsday – 11/6

November 6, 2012 / racingthestates / 4 Comments

First off: GO VOTE!!! I don’t care who you support, but everyone’s vote counts and matters.

Anyway, I’m going to keep this short and sweet – hopefully!

I think my marathon training is back on! Last week, after my 16.5 mile run on monday and my foot “injury”, I took it easy, hoping my foot wasn’t seriously injured. I tried running on Tuesday, but it was still super painful.

Here’s what my week looked like:

Monday: 16.5 miles

Tuesday: 0.25 miles! Hahaha, and this when I cried out to the blogging world about my training mishap.

Wednesday: Rested and GRE (I got my scores back from the quantitative and verbal reasoning – I am smack dab in the middle, average. Still waiting on my writing scores). Halloween. I did this:

Yep, that’s me. I may or may not have a beer in the left hand.

And if case you guys are unfamiliar with zombie films…those guys are dressed up as Umbrella Corporation soldiers…from Resident Evil. This picture is pretty awesome. Just sayin’. Look up Resident Evil if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Thursday: New job OFFICIALLY begins. Not good. Bad, bad, HORRIBLE decision.

Friday: Work – Why do I have such bad luck with the work force!? Guys, this is awful! I feel so stupid for quitting my last job! I’m really not this fickle/hard to please, I swear…this new job is a mess – and I had no idea when I accepted it. The week I started, the owner fired the lady that suggested/hired me, took back all the promises she made me regarding hours and pay, and is asking things of me and my co-worker that we can’t do or are untrained to do. Her business is awful, and she has horrible quality of medicine (DO NOT take your pets to her if you live in CO). This all blindsided me…she had a whole different story when she offered me the job, so, NO, I did not know any of this going into it and feel like I burned bridges getting here.

Sorry for that outburst. I did trying running again this day. Since I got off after dark, I ran 5.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym. No pain!!! I was ecstatic!

Saturday: Rest day/Mess day at work. Does that rhyme?

Sunday: Guess what!?! I did 18 miles! Thanks to all of you who commented on my last post! You all gave me the motivation and encouragement to keep going! I’m sorry I didn’t reply to you all, I promise I will, but all of you have awesome suggestions and said basically the same thing. The running/blogging community is awesome. I may make some bad decisions in the work force, but joining the blogging world was a fantastic decision.

My 18 mile run was alright. I made it halfway without walking. At the turn around, I walked, ate some energy chews, fixed my shoes, drank water and then picked my pace back up. I did walk a little bit on the way back, but that’s ok, right? You know, I had my normal distance aches and pains that everyone gets, but my foot pain didn’t return….until the next day! WTF!? The WHOLE run: nothing. No pain on top of my foot. The rest of the day, post-run: no pain. Went to bed: no pain. Woke up: wtf, my foot hurts! Super strange. Not sure what it is. I have been doing the tennis ball rolling trick and that seems to help ease the pain, but not alleviate it altogether.

Anyway, I’m still going to keep on with training and plan to do my marathon (assuming my foot is normal). But this week, I have some pretty important decisions to make about my career….I’ve been thinking about a career switch….involving health and fitness….I’m considering becoming a Personal Trainer! My idea: Become a personal trainer, get my running coach certification down the line and also eventually get my masters in nutrition INSTEAD of conservation biology. Thought? Questions? Concerns? For those of you that are already personal trainers, can I ask you questions???

So much for being short and sweet.

Tuesday Newsday 10/30

October 30, 2012 / racingthestates / 12 Comments

So, I don’t know how to explain this….I feel like a complete idiot. And frankly, I don’t even want to put this in my blog, but I have to.

Here it goes: I’ve been behind in marathon training by about 3 weeks. I have no idea how it happened, it just did. I must’ve counted wrong way back in the beginning when I picked my starting day and never checked it. I just assumed I counted right, and went on my merry way. I think I must’ve been counting only 16 weeks back instead of for the 18 week training program I selected.

Don’t make fun of me TOO much.

SO, here, I thought I was on week 10, but as I was looking at the calendar I noticed that November starts this week, which at first I was like, WOW only a month away from my marathon…..

…But then I started realizing…if I was only a month away, I should be doing my 20 miler soon….and that’s not right, I just did a 15 miler a couple weeks ago…..

Sure enough, I counted, re-counted, and triple counted about 500 times and I started out horribly wrong.

In actualality, I am SUPPOSED to be on week 13 of my training. UGH.

Am I allowed to blame this oversight on my level of stress from work, the GRE and life???

So, needless to say, I was feeling pretty down…and I was contemplating giving up. Here’s where I need all of YOUR help! Has anyone else done this, or am I the only silly one? What would you guys do? Give up? Aim for another marathon?? I really want to do this one…but I’m scared I physically wont be able to.

This is where I’m at running wise last week, based on where I thought I was:

Monday: Rest day. I did rest; this day was leftover-feeling-sick day anyway.

Tuesday: 4 miles. Complete.

Wednesday: 7 miles – not compete..12 hour shift at work

Thursday: 4 miles – not complete…12 hour shift at work..AGAIN. And I don’t run at night, by myself. My neighbor isn’t the best for alone running at night…. Hint, hint: I need a running buddy.

Friday: Rest day, but I did 4 miles. Yes, I ran actually.

Saturday: rest day.

Sunday: Was SUPPOSED to be a 17-miler…but when I got home, and put on all my running stuff, I was checking my calendar and that’s when the realization hit me that I was completely behind. So, It crossed my mind that maybe I should just do the 19 miler that I was due for if I had counted right. But by the time I figured out what was going on, I ran out of daylight, and frankly, I don’t want to right in the dark, by myself. I’m scared to. So, I ran 4 miles instead.

Feeling pretty defeated and down about it all, I ended up getting Monday off from work as well (mostly to study) but I decided to challenge myself and see how far I could run.

That brings us to yesterday: Monday, I ran 16.5 miles (I walked the remaining half mile back home, so technically I did 17 miles, if you want to count that) but I hurt my foot pretty bad. AHHH! I literally was crying part of the way home. The top of my right foot was killing me! I’m so worried that it might be a stress fracture….so I took some anti-inflammatories, and iced it, hoping for the best. So, now, on top of being behind on my training schedule, my foot was hurting.

I woke up today, not as sore as I thought I would be from the actual run, and my foot doesn’t hurt to walk on at all…but then again, yesterday it didn’t either…only when I was physically running.

Here’s my idea about training, assuming my foot is un-injured: Pick up from where I’m supposed to be..if I started correctly. That means this weekend I would attempt a 19 miler, then the 20 miler the following week, and then taper….

So…HELP! Give me some motivation…or advise…what would you guys do??? Should I just continue training from where I’m supposed to be??

Lastly, the GRE is tomorrow…and I’m extremely nervous for it…but afterwards….I’ll be dressing up like this again:

Sexy Zombie??

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!! Stay safe, and eat lots of candy….Oh, come on, you’re all runners! You can afford to eat a piece or two…or 10!

Generic Post About Running

May 11, 2012February 6, 2016 / racingthestates / 8 Comments

So, I don’t have anything too specific to write about right now. I guess that’s what’s called writer’s block. Probably because I’ve been super stressed about stuff going on in real life – and I don’t like feelings, so I won’t get into that. (I guess this blogging/running is not real life….??? I don’t know why I said that. lol) Anyway, this is just random stuff about running from this week.

First off, I feel even more like an actual runner. There’s been a lot of posts and tweets starting off with the phrase “you know you’re a runner if…” and you fill in the blank. Well, I read one the other day that was “you know you’re a runner if…you don’t know your toe is bleeding until you take off your shoes and socks.” I actually experienced this for the first time. And, I laughed! My socks had a big blood stain, and I laughed. Its so gross, but I laughed. Don’t worry, nothing major…I still have all my toe nails attached. In fact, one was digging into the side of another toe, and I have a nice small puncture wound. I think this officially makes me a real runner. Anyway….

I finally went to my doctor for my hip. Well, a new doctor. I hate picking new doctors, but I had to with renewed insurance and not living near my old doc. I had a general physical done and told him about my running woes. Of course, my hip isn’t hurting at the moment, nor has it hurt in about a week….I felt like a car: they never make the noise you’re hearing when you take it to the mechanic. I also wanted him to check out an old injury from a sprained ankle I got last october (I sprained my ankle playing soccer – my own teammate kicked a ball really hard into my ankle – and even though it doesn’t hurt when I run or anything, it is still more stiff than normal and does hurt when I sit on it funny like in yoga or something).

That ligament – the circled one

As far as my hip goes, he said I have normal range of motion and to keep an eye on it…basically to contact him when “my car starts making the noise again.” My ankle though, he did say it is more stiff than the other one and told me that I probably injured/tore my anterior talofibular ligament (don’t worry I included a picture) which is the most common injury with sprains. He gave me some exercises to make it stronger and I stopped by physical therapy to pick up some resistance bands. Even though it has been a while since the actual injury, he still said it is repairable and I can make it stronger and thus – not hurt. So, we’ll see how all that goes.

Since I don’t have a race this weekend, I’ve just been taking it easy on running. I took monday off, but ran tuesday, weds, thurs and will run today. I actually woke up feeling shitty yesterday morning and wasn’t going to run, but as the day went on I felt better and my running shoes were mocking me so decided to lace them up and run. My runs have felt great all week, but it is getting hot outside mid afternoon; I might have to start setting my alarm to run earlier in the day even if I do get off work late.

On a side note, I picked up two running books at the store. One is the the “Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running” (I love the magazine – I subscribe – and always get good advice from it, so I figured the book would be good). I mostly got it to see what they recommend specifically for women and because there are some training programs in there…..I *think* I’m going to start training for a full marathon!!! I’m still debating, and it seriously scares the shit out of me to start it. Mostly because I hurt after running a half..how in the world can I double the milage!?! Plus, right now I have the time to train, but what if I get a new job? Will I still be able to get in all the needed runs?? So it’s not set in stone yet, and I need a good marathon to set as my goal. Since I want to do a Rock and Roll series marathon, one of those might be my goal – either the Colorado one (late september) or to cross off Nevada from my list: the Strip at night (Early December)!!! Let me know any tips for training for a FULL marathon….any and all would be greatly appreciated.

I also got “50/50 – Secretes I learned from Running” by Dean Karnazes. He pretty much inspires me…he DID do all 50 states, in 50 days, and all full marathons! I’ve already started it (I’m only one chapter in) so I’ll let you know how good it is! But don’t look for my review too soon….I’m reading about 5 books at once. No joke.

Lastly, my Mom told me that Albuquerque, NM is actually HIGHER than Denver and is about the same elevation as Boulder, CO…so my PR is super awesome, and makes me ready/motivated to kick even more ass at the Bolder Boulder end of this month!!!

Ok ok, even more lastly: I got an email yesterday from the Horsetooth Half about official race photos. I’m actually probably going to purchase one because I think I look ~~bad-ass~~ er ~~in pain~~…fuck it: BAD ASS! Here’s the proof from online: