August 29, 2011

The Half was on Saturday and it went amazingly well! My original goal with this was to beat my time from last year, but I got a little nervous with my foot pain and I think I said I wanted to do at least 1:50. I was so happy that I was able to beat my time from last year and the thing that even made me more happy is my foot hasn't bothered me for one second!! I have known that good shoes were important, but I never could have imagined it could cause that kind of pain! I am SO glad I went and got new shoes. It seems to have done the trick. I am pumped for the whole marathon in less than three weeks!

August 24, 2011

I got up and ran 8 this morning. It went pretty well. Monday my run was pretty slow but I did try to add some hills for training. On Monday I was close to 9 min miles but today I averaged just over 8 min miles. Like 8:15 or something if I remember right. My foot is feeling good as well which is really encouraging to me! I can't wait to see how Saturday goes. I have been so nervous where my run was slower on Monday and then with my foot I just have worried I wouldn't be able to do it and come off not hurting but today I am confident I can!

August 22, 2011

So training has gone down hill way too fast :). I ran a 3.6 on Friday just to see how my foot would handle the run. I was planning on doing 10 on Saturday, but woke up to thunder and lightning and went back to bed. I really am wishing I wouldn't have done that now because I am a little freaked out. I was talking to my husband and I said you realize the half is next Saturday right? He got this surprised look on his face and said so you pretty much blew training this week huh? I was like uhh yeah! Seriously! Which it is just dumb to be worried because I seriously could still run a 13 in my sleep but I really wanted a PR and now I have set my goal at 1:50. That sounded a little over confident but really a 13 shouldn't be a big deal at this point but where I pretty much haven't ran in a week and a half it just makes me nervous but running is a mental game right so if I tell myself it will be easy it will right? Any way, my plan for the rest of my training totally depends on my half on Saturday. If I can come off my 7 today, my 8 on Wednesday, and the half on Saturday with little or no pain then I think I will try and push a 18 - 22 the following Saturday, if I come off hurting I think I will try and just run under 15 and pray that the 26 doesn't kill me. At this point, I would rather run and be a little slower than expected then not run. I am really open to every one's opinions, so if you are a runner or know somebody that knows somebody that runs I seriously would like to know what they would do. You see I have this trianing schedule and no where on it does it account for an injury so where do I go now that I am not on that training schedule?

August 16, 2011 -- Foot Pain Update

So from Sunday's post I am sure you gathered I was pretty bummed about my foot. I had decided to get up Monday morning and make a Drs appointment. I really didn't know what else to do but I knew if it was a bad injury that running on it would only make it worse. Well when I woke up Monday my foot was feeling so much better. It felt more like the aches and pains you have if you are on your feet all day. I decided to go another route and go get new shoes. I went to Runners North and the guy out there was great. We tried on some different shoes and did some running and I am feeling confident this will help. I will be honest I did a little fasting and praying on Sunday. I know this is an answer to my prayers. To some that may seem something crazy to fast and pray for but this is something I feel like I have worked so hard for! I am still doing tons of icing and elevating when I can. I really wanted to get out on a run today but my husband told me not to. I am going to give it a few more days and see how I am feeling and then probably get out and see how it feels maybe Friday or Saturday. I am going to forgo running my 22 at least for now. If I continue to feel this good I will do the half in a week and half and see how I feel after that. If I feel good enough I will try and do a 22 the week after that. I hope I can do the 22, but if not as long as I can run the marathon I will be happy :).

August 14, 2011

So I am starting to wonder if I have lost my mind. My foot started feeling better towards the end of the week and I was going to try and get out Thursday but had a schedule conflict so I decided I would just run 12 on Saturday. I was camping so I just ran down the canyon for 10 miles and then back up for two. The 10 miles felt great and I was hitting some nice times on my miles. My foot was hurting but not unbearable so I decided to keep going. There was a couple of times I got some sharp pains but they were short and I felt like I would be ok. The last 2 miles up hill about done me in but I finished and in a super good time that got me all excited for the half in two weeks. I got back to camp and relaxed and tried to elevate as much as possible. I stuck my foot in the river for a minute but talk about frost bite :). When I got ready to leave early afternoon, by foot was sore but I wouldn't call it pain so I was pretty excited. We decided to go to the fair that night and that was a big mistake. My foot was killing me by the time we left and I seriously wondered if I would make it to my car. We got there, I got home elevated and iced my foot. Today I woke up and this is when I realized my stupidity. I haven't done much down hill running. I am talking very little. In fact, it is something I had planned on doing a little more so the Half didn't kill me. Well I got out of the bed this morning and I don't know which hurts more my foot or thighs. OUCH! I am seriously so sore and I had to laugh at myself a little. I didn't want to look like a wimp at church so I was trying so hard not to limp but I don't think it worked :(. I honestly at this point don't know what to do. Everyone keeps telling me to go to the doctor but I guess I am scared he will tell me something is really wrong. I can live not doing the half, and in fact have kind of told myself it might not be the best idea but to not do the marathon seriously brings me to tears. I feel like I have worked towards this for a year. I knew after the half was over last year that I wanted to do the full. I even toyed with trying it last year but didn't feel like that was the best idea. I tried to keep my running up all winter so when I started out I would start strong. I have felt so good after all my runs and minus some (what I feel is normal) soreness and tiredness I have felt great. My foot has never hurt in the past and it didn't hurt during the 20 miles. So why after? Why after I was rested and should have felt great. I don't know whether to go to a doctor because I honestly don't like medication. Don't get me wrong I know it has its place but I don't feel like it is natural so I don't want to go and just get drugged up. If there is something really wrong, I can live with that but I worry that they will just say try ibuprofen or something and that isn't going to fix it. I feel like that will mask the pain and even maybe set me up for further injury. I wish someone would just tell me what to do. I have asked a few runners and of course they really don't know what the pain is like so they can't tell me what to do. I am relying pray at this point. Wish me luck and pray that I will get better so I can do the only two races I have planned this year ;).

August 8, 2011 Part 2

Ha ha! I spoke too soon. I got up to do a few things and my foot is hurting already. If you have any suggestions I am open to anything!

August 8, 2011

I ran my 20 on Saturday. It was a little harder than I expected but I finished and I ran the whole time. I started out strong and it was nice and cool so I couldn't have asked for better conditions. My goal was to finish under 3 hours. I figure if I could do the 20 in 3 hours that would give me an hour to play with 6 extra miles. I met my goal so that was good! My SIL road her bike with me again and I really needed the encouragement the last mile and a half. When I am done and looking back it always cracks me up how hard that last mile to two miles is. I know that my body is tired and stuff but it really is the mental game at the end that gets me. I know I have such a short time yet I want to quit so bad. I was really tired on Saturday after the run. I know I need to get a few more calories in me during my run. I tried to do a granola bar this week and that wasn't happening. Trying to chew that and swallow was just too hard. I only had one bite so that didn't help me much. I think the gew is the way to go. I will just have to do small amount but at least I don't have to chew :). Later that day my foot started hurting. It started hurting a lot. I tried to stay off of it as much as possible but that is hard with little ones. Yesterday was not any better I was hoping after a nights rest it would feel better but it hurt all day. I tried laying down and icing it as much as possible. The ice definitely helps but once I am up for very long it is hurting again. This really makes me nervous. My knees hurt some but they have always hurt but this is so out of the blue. It didn't hurt while I was running at all or even when I finished. It was hours after I was done it started hurting. I decided to take some ibuprofen last night to see if it is just inflamed if that will help. Taking medicine always makes me nervous because I don't want to mask an injury with meds. I iced before going to bed and this morning it doesn't hurt at all. I am going to take it easy today and hope I can keep running this week. If not I feel like I am far enough into my training that I can take off a few days and let it heal. I would much rather not run a few times and be a little slower than not be able to run at all :). Wish me luck I have a 22 in two weeks and the half is in 3 weeks!

August 2, 2011

Wow! August already and the half is only 3 1/2 weeks away. I am not worried about it all since I have done several 13s now and I ran an 18 not last Saturday but the Saturday before. I really had planned on sitting down and writing right after I ran because it was so amazing. my SIL road her bike with me the whole way and it was seriously so great! My friend also joined at mile 8. Having so much support is so wonderful. I am so thankful to those that have supported me and helped me a long the way. My 18 went extremely well I think. I had Powerade waiting for me again at like mile 9 and 16. My SIL also brought a gew (how ever you spell / say that) along for me. I only did half at a time. I did the first half about 10.5 and it wasn't too bad. Both my support riders told me to take it and drink water so that is what I did. I took more at mile 12.5ish and I thought I was going to puke. I obviously didn't get quite half the first time so the second time was more than a mouthful causing me to gag but I was able to keep it down. After my first drink of Powerade I seriously felt so good. I think it was at mile 11 I told my support team. I can't believe I have ran this far and I feel great and can still talk! About 16.5 miles my body really started feeling it. I tend to get really crampy, like menstrual cramps, on my long runs. That definitely hit and my hips were really hurting by the end. I came home and loaded up on chocolate milk and let water run over my legs for a few minutes. I don't know if you have done that before but I HIGHLY recommend it. I read it in one of my runners newsletters and I can't believe how much it helps. Having the cool helps slow the blood flow and makes it so the blood doesn't puddle in your legs. It is hard to describe but it feels so good and my legs felt like a million bucks after. Ok maybe not that good but there is definitely a difference.  My right knee has been hurting a little after my runs. I have been trying to ice it some to try and help it. I hope it will heel itself so it doesn't cause me any problems during the rest of my training. Over all I feel like training is going well. I have a 20 on Saturday that I am looking forward to!