Just a little pre-race drama

Well, it wouldn't be a taper without something going wrong, now would it? And of course, it always has be injury related.

Over the past few months, I've had some low back issues on my long runs.  It tends to tighten up after I've run about 10-15km, and I have to stop and bend over to stretch it out every 30 minutes or so to loosen it up, and then it's usually a little tight and sore for a few days after. However, on all my long runs, I was able to work through it and it didn't stop any of my training. 

So last Sunday, I ran about 14 km and although my legs still felt heavy, my back was fine.  Sunday afternoon, I did a bunch of yard work.  Monday and Tuesday, I felt fine but I was busy so I didn't plan to run again until Wednesday.

Wednesday morning I woke with a really stiff lower back.  The more I moved around, the tighter it got.  Even walking was painful and by bedtime, I couldn't even lay on my back, it was so sore. It felt ok as soon as I got up on Thursday morning, but again, as soon as I started walking around, it locked up and hurt a lot. I could see my hips were out and I couldn't even stand up straight - my whole body was listing to one side.

I managed to get a chiro appt after work Thursday and Melanie did some ART and a low back adjustment, and said my SI joint was definitely wonky and inflamed. She taped it up to see if that would help hold my back in place so it didn't slip out again but that evening it was still hurting.  Melanie said to keep the tape on for 3 days if I could, and not to run until Sunday.  If it hurt to run, I was to stop.

I've had this before and it usually takes a few days to get back to normal. However, Friday was no better and I was still in a fair amount of pain. I went to work in the morning, but called a sub and came home for the afternoon so I could do the hip stretches and ice it some more.

Today is Saturday.  My back was no better this morning so I've been trying to rest as much as I can so as not to aggravate it any further.  It seems to feel a lot better if I lay on my back with my knees bent.  I've been stretching and trying to stay off my feet and this evening it seems to be marginally better but definitely not good enough to be able to run.

None of my usual tricks seem to be working and even the stretching seems to annoy it a little. I know it's my SI Joint but I can't help but think my spondylolisthesis is also playing into it somewhat.  Anyway, I am trying to stay optimistic.  Tomorrow, I'm going to see if riding the trainer might loosen it up a bit and see if that helps. I'm afraid of doing anything that will make it worse and affect my race next weekend.  So who knows, this may be a two week taper of doing absolutely nothing.

My fear is that I'll still have some residual pain next Sunday before I even start the race. I already know it's going to hurt mid way in the race and I know how to deal with that, but starting in pain, is another kettle of fish altogether.

So - keep your fingers crossed that it suddenly releases in the next couple of days and that I can get out and do an easy 5k some time this week without any pain.

Erik says if worse comes to worse, we may just have to find another marathon in the area some time before the end of June. R&R Seattle and the Edge to Edge Marathon on Vancouver Island are both possibilities if necessary.

But really, I'm not going to go there yet - I'm really just hoping that in a few more days, I'll be fine again.  In the mean time, no more lifting or yard work or house work.

Not an update

I should probably post an update soon.

All is well, I've been busy.  Training has gone pretty good - big focus on getting the running in, not so good at getting the cross training in. Shins are fine, low back is iffy but ok.  I survived the 34km long run last week and I'm into taper now.

Race day is May 27.  Abbotsford Run for Water Marathon.  Cross your fingers - my goal is to finish.  Under 5 hours would be nice but not guaranteed.

Happy Mother's Day!

Not the best week but...

I knew coming into it, that this was going to be a tough week for training, and it was. I had a ton going on at work and at home, so I scaled down the training plan and decided to focus on sticking to my run schedule - the rest will be what it is.  What I didn't count on is catching a gastro bug that is going through my school right now.

Thursday's run was good - I decided to bump it up and do the Furman FIRST tempo run - 1.5km warm up at 6:40/km, then 5k at 6:20, and 1.5 km at 6:40.  Only problem was I forgot my Garmin so I had to use Runkeeper on my iphone which meant I really didn't have much of a clue as to my current pace, and subsequently, I ran faster than I was supposed to, a lot of the time. I was pretty sore the next day and things were too busy to jump on the trainer that night anyway so I figured it was just was well that I had an extra rest day for my sore feet/ankles/calves. (Why does speedwork always hurt so much???)


Saturday I woke up feeling really run down and by late morning, I was wishing I hadn't eaten any breakfast. I spent much of the day hunkered down on the couch, ate very little all day, and finally started to perk up only slightly on Sunday morning. By late afternoon Sunday (now), I am starting feel a little more like myself and I'm torn about whether I should attempt to get my 2 hour run in now, or give myself another day of rest and try to do it after work tomorrow. I'm still a little nauseous and fatigued but I might be able to do it - I have not decided.  I just took some more acetaminophen for my head and I did have a little lunch so maybe I'd be ok.  I'm just not sure what the best course of action will be.

As for the diet, things are going pretty well in that regard. I was actually down a pound early in the week and now over the last 2 days, I've lost another, but I won't actually count that until I feel well enough to eat a couple of full meals.

**UPDATE - At 5 pm I was feeling MUCH better so I pushed myself and got out and did the whole 15km.  Yay!  Here's the Dailymile report. 

So this week's plan?

Mon - trainer (or my missed 2 hour run)
Tues - appt after school, quick dinner, then class at 7:30-9:00...
Wed - meetings until 6:30ish, then dinner. Not sure if I can do anything, maybe trainer in evening?
Thur - (45-60 min run)
Fri - strength and trainer?
Sat - long run (2:00)
Sun - swim and weights

Another Update

As a followup to my last post, my training has gone really well over all. I did do the planned swim and strength workout on Sunday, Jan. 22, including the PT stuff to strengthen my glutes (walking lunges, step ups, and one legged leg press), but once again, my quads and glutes were trashed for 2-3 days afterward and I had to adapt my run on the Monday.

I had a hectic week with appointments on my usual run days (Tues/Thurs) so I switched things up and planned to run Mon/Wed instead.

Here are how things went:

Mon (23) - 3km treadmill, 3 km elliptical (adapted due to soreness)
Tue (24) - Rest day
Wed (25) - Great run - hilly 6.8km in 45 min, snowy/icey in spots, but decent pace
Thu (26) - Trainer - 29.6km in 1:02 - much better pace. 30 min 80rpm, 30 min 90 rpm
Fri (27) - Busy day - no time to train
Sat (28) - Long run in the snow, 14.5k, 1:45
Sun (29) - Gym (pool busy) - Rowing 30 min 5.6 km, strength machines

On Sunday's strength workout, I tried something different. I cut back to two sets of 12 rep of the leg machines, and in a couple of cases, cut back one notch on the weight.  I did the PT exercises as well, but also cut down on the number.  Subsequently, I was able to run, relatively pain free on Monday. I think I will continue with this reduction of those specific exercises until I build up a little more strength.

This current week is a very hectic one at school.  I will not be able to train every day but I will endeavour to get my runs in. When I ran on Monday, I went a little longer so I could hit 100km for the month, for the first time, and I made it!  101 km for the month of January!  I felt pretty good on the run, and had a pretty good pace once again.

I didn't get my training in today, but I do plan to run tomorrow again. I'm not sure if I'll get anything done on Friday, but everything should be back to normal on the weekend.  I guess I'll just consider this a 'rest' week. :)

Mon (30) - 63 min. run, 9.4 km
Tue (31) - rest day (too busy)
Wed (1) - full stretch and some strength and PT work at home

And the rest of the week?

Thu (2) - I plan to run 45 min
Fri (3) - 1 hr on trainer or nothing
Sat (4) - 1:45-1:50 - 15km, 6:49 pace
Sun (5) - Swim and weights



So now that I've managed to hit a 100km running month, let's see if I can do that every month until May.


Weight/Diet

My weight has fluctuated a bit but seems to moving in the right direction, however slowly.  More interestingly though, I pulled out my measuring tape and found I've lost at least an inch on the waist, hips, upper thighs etc so I am definitely feeling 'slimmer' even if the scale isn't showing big changes. This positive trend will help motivate me.  I am really finding it tough to keep updating Sparkpeople with my meal info so I can track my calories, for more than a day or two, but I will continue to try.

Weekly Update

Training

I had a pretty successful week of training and got all my workouts in, with a few minor adjustments.  It was a miserable week of weather with a severe cold snap that gave us highs of -14C to -18C  (0F), wind, and snow, and a wind chill of -30C.  Needless to say, I did my two weekday runs on the treadmill. 

Mon - Trainer for 60 min
Tues - Treadmill for 45 min and 3X12 reps on 7 upper body machines.
Wed - Unplanned rest day - tired. Decided to ride trainer on Friday.
Thur - Treadmill 45 min and 3X12 upper body weights again
Fri - Trainer 60 min
Sat - 90 minute run outside
Today - I'm heading to the gym in a while to swim and do all weights.

By yesterday, the cold snap had broken and although we had a dump of snow on Friday night, I drove down to Gyro Park to run along Abbott and the boardwalk. It was pretty messy and slow going until I hit the bike/walk path which had been ploughed and then it was easier, although a little slippery which slowed my overall pace.  The air temperature was a balmy 0C so the run itself was quite lovely.

Since the previous week's run had only been an hour (instead of the planned 75 min), I was making a fairly big jump so ran easy and took planned one minute walk breaks every 20 minutes or so. In addition, I had to walk frequently when moving back and forth from the road to sidewalk in some sections where the sidewalks had not been cleared.

My Newtons are pretty useless in snow because of poor traction and open mesh in the uppers so I wore my Pearl Izumi Peak XC trail shoes.  They have much better traction and are very comfortable but my shins are a little sore today because I haven't worn these shoes for a long time and my legs don't like switching shoes very much. I'm hoping that I'll feel fine for my short runs this week. If not, I'll only do one mid-week run.

This upcoming week has some challenges that will force me to move my workouts around somewhat because I have after-school appointments on Tuesday and Thursday which are my usual running days.  I'm going to try to move my runs to Mon/Wed but I'll to wait and see how my legs feel on Monday.  If they're still sore, I may do the elliptical instead and only run on Wednesday. Tuesday will have to be my rest day because I'm busy all day right up until I get home at 9:30pm.  Other that than, I plan to ride the trainer for an hour 2 nights this week and hit the gym for upper body work once of twice.


Strength Work

I've been pretty dedicated to using the new machines at the gym for the past 5-6 weeks and I've been showing some progress and starting to feel stronger. I've been able to increase the weight on all of the machines at least once since I started. The struggle has been with the lower body workouts.  I found that if I do lower body weight training on the same day that I run, I am sore for several days after and have trouble doing my next run.   If I do lower body weights on alternate days, I'm still sore the next day and it affects my run (and no, the weights are not too heavy).

I tried something different this week - since I was the the gym for the treadmill anyway, I did all of the upper body machines right after my run so that I was at least getting strength work in.  Today, my plan is to do all the machines after my swim as usual, which includes the single and double leg press, walking lunges, step ups, and leg extensions. Since my legs are a little sore from my run yesterday, I'm hoping today's workout doesn't further impact my upcoming runs.  I keep hoping I will get to a point where I will have built up my strength enough that a workout will not have a serious affect on my running. It just goes to show how weak I am in some areas of my hips/glutes.

Diet

My diet sucked this week.  I was too busy/lazy to record my calories and subsequently my diet suffered.  I tried to eat reasonable portions and stay away from crap but there were several times when I made bad choices.  All it takes is an extra 100-200 calories a day to mess up my weight loss plan and I suspect when I weigh in tomorrow, I'll be up a half pound, instead of down a full pound.

Therefore, I'm committed to counting calories all week, and in addition, I'm going to cut back my cals another 100 per day to 1500 since it looks like even with training 45-60 minutes a day, 1600 calories is maintenance, not weight loss.  Eating only 1500 calories a day will be hard for me but I can do it.

For the past 2 weeks, I've planned out the week day dinners and have done all my shoppoing and food prep on Sunday.  I've found this has REALLY helped keep my organized and on track. I've been recording what we have for dinner each night on my iCloud calendar so now it's nice to look back to get ideas for the upcoming week.

And so another week begins - I hope your training is going well!