Weekly Rundown- Ups and Downs
Oh, the drama! Anyone who has a senior in high school at this time of year knows what I mean. It was a stressful week, but all will be resolved soon! Meanwhile, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get to it! Monday Day off. I love my day off. Tuesday 5 mile trail run. I preceded this run with squats and deadlifts- not my preferred order, but that’s just the way my schedule works. Weirdly, doing lower body strength before a run has been working pretty well for me. I wouldn’t do it before speedwork or a long run, but for a shorter run like this it seems to work just fine. Oh, on this trail run I saw another runner with a hydration pack…*foreshadowing- this would have been nice to have on my Sunday run* Wednesday 3 mile run, followed by pull-ups. As I mentioned earlier this week, I had to get this all done early because I had a mammogram scheduled. Luckily the mammogram (and ultrasound) showed that everything is fine, so I can forget about my breasts completely for another year- er, I MEAN I can start doing monthly self-exams. Yes, that’s what I meant. Thursday Day off of running. I did some bodyweight lower body strength and the “ten down” pushup workout. I mentioned this on my birthday, but today I did it in a much more structured way. First off, I did all tricep pushups. I call them that, but my son informs me that it’s really just pushups with correct form. None of this placing your hands wide! That would be too easy. You start with a set of ten and work your way down- set of nine, set of eight, etc. with one minute rest between sets. On the last one I went extremely slowly and held the down position for a count of ten. Well, that doesn’t sound so hard does it? HA! I was so sore the next day. My shoulders were sore, my arms were sore, and the muscles all around my ribs were sore. As a matter of fact, three days later I still have some lingering soreness. My son said “now you can do eleven down!” What??? Can’t I just stick with ten down for now??? Sheesh. Friday 3 mile run. None of this grueling and ridiculous strength work- just an easy, pleasant run. Saturday A 3 mile run followed by Runner’s Touch exercise.. This was also a pretty easy day, and it was a good thing considering what was coming up the next day… Sunday Ah, a nice ten mile trail run. OR SO I THOUGHT. This run was another adventure. First off, right near the beginning I saw a deer! Maybe that doesn’t sound too exciting, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one in this area. Then… I got lost. I’ve had really good luck with exploring these trails and always coming out in a familiar place, and today my luck ran out. I took a chance on a trail that, after a couple miles, became un-runnable… I had to turn around and it added several miles onto my run. To be honest, there was a brief couple of moments where I wasn’t sure exactly where I was, and I also tripped over a root and FELL. Luckily just had a few scrapes. So… it was hot. I was thirsty. My wounds were stinging. And I realized I was going to run about 13 miles instead of 10. But you know what? It was awesome!!! Maybe I didn’t feel awesome every step of the way, and at the end I had to pull out some mental tricks to get me through it. Here’s where having some water would have been nice! But it was an experience, and luckily my foot held up well. To be clear, I had hidden a water bottle the night before around the five-mile point. So I didn’t run with NO water- that would be crazy! It was 81 degrees when I finished (why did it feel like 101?) A few gulps of water at five miles didn’t quite cut it for this run. But I survived and am hydrating happily now. Ever inadvertently run way farther than you intended? –I guess three miles isn’t really that much. It could have been worse! Hope everyone had a great week!
So How’s That Plantar Fasciitis Going, Anyway?
Plantar fasciitis has to be the most mysterious and frustrating condition known to runners. When I checked my log, i realized I first started feeling something in my left foot last April– in other words, almost a year ago. At the end of September I stopped running for a few weeks and got a series of shockwave treatments. Since then I’ve been running while coping with various degrees of pain, while also experimenting with some treatments on my own. Just in the last couple of weeks I’ve finally been able to say I feel some improvement, and I want to share three things that have been making a difference. I wrote this post about the Somatic Movement exercises in Sarah Warren’s book. I did the routine for plantar fasciitis every day for three weeks, then did them every other day, and am still doing them a couple times a week. I believe that they helped, but it’s hard to say for sure. It’s not the type of thing where you finish the routine and say “Ah! I feel looser already!” The exercises are meant to re-set the nervous system over time. Warren says that PF stems from tight muscles in the low back, and after doing the exercises for a couple weeks I could feel a new level of relaxation in those muscles. My low back gets very tight when I work, and I’m able to recognize that now, and relax them periodically throughout the day. I think this is making a difference. Thank you to Judy! She was kind enough to bring my attention to her foot compressions which she describes in this post. You stand with a ball under your foot, and instead of rolling, you just lean into it and hold it for a bit (ninety seconds or so.). I do this at night while I’m reading, and I hold five different points. This feels great while I’m doing it and great when I finish. Impossible to know for sure, but this is another thing I think is helping. Okay, I have no explanation for this one. It was a Monday, the day after a ten mile run and my foot was hurting as I got ready for work. On a whim I pulled out these old Newton running shoes, put them on and… the pain was instantly gone. I wore them to work that day (yes, I wear running shoes to work!) and have been wearing them every day since. I don’t know what it is about them- I always wear running shoes to work. I was switching between Altras and New Balance- the Altras have a zero drop and the New Balance have a 10 mm drop. Maybe the 3 mm drop on the Newtons is the perfect height? I don’t wear Newtons for running, but now I’m considering it. Right now I switch between Hokas and New Balance 880s for running and the Newtons for everyday walking around. My foot is happy. I can’t say my plantar fasciitis is gone. It still hurts when I get up in the morning, but not as much and not for as long. It never hurts while I run. although sometimes I’ll feel twinges in my achilles on that side. The big question has been, can I heal this completely without taking any more time off from running? The jury is still out… but right now I’m feeling optimistic. What was the most frustrating injury you’ve had? – (I’m not even sure if this is mine- there have been so many!) Do you wear running shoes during the day, other than for running? – (All the time since the pandemic started! I’m not sure my feet will fit into anything else at this point.)
Midweek Mashup
I got out on the trail for a five-miler yesterday because this morning I have a mammogram scheduled- UGH! I don’t want to have a mammogram! However, last year at this time my sister was diagnosed with colon cancer. She’s cancer-free now, but it wasn’t a fun year for her. I got a colonoscopy in July (my first one- it actually wasn’t that bad) and am now going for my overdue mammogram. Early detection!!!! Very important. After last week’s post where I showed some EYE-OPENING photos of my poor running form, I’ve been focusing on running tall and not crossing over my midline. However, I know that often what I think I’m doing doesn’t correspond to what’s actually happening, so I read some articles about different drills you can do. Some ideas include finding a white line (on a road, or preferably a track) to use as a guideline, and stepping on the outside edge of the line with each foot rather than the middle, and also increasing your cadence- the idea being that if you’re moving your legs faster, there’s less time for extraneous movements. (By the way, you shouldn’t try to do any of these things for your entire run- just short segments. You’re activating some new muscles and need time to get used to it.) This article had some good tips and exercises. Who else has read The Push? I finished it last week and can’t stop thinking about it- which to me is a sign of a good book. But sad- so many layers of sadness in this book. You know how, as a mom, you have moments where you wish you had done or said things differently? Reading this book reassured me that, actually, I’m doing a pretty good job! But what about the ending? I didn’t like it. I wish it had remained ambiguous, OR, if the story continues with what you think has happened, I wanted to hear more about it. I wanted either more, or less. Anyone else feel that way? Last but not least, WAFFLES! I made these maple teff waffles on my birthday. Yum! You can see presents in the background… the most exciting one was a NEW PHONE!!!! My last was one about five years old… so we can finally expect some decent pictures around here! Ha ha… we’ll see about that. Are you good or bad about getting regularly scheduled screenings like mammograms? (I’ve been bad in the past but am changing my ways!) If you read The Push, what did you think of it? Is there another book you read recently that was good?
Weekly Rundown- Aging Up!!!
Happy March 21st- it’s my birthday! Since my birthday doesn’t often fall on a Sunday (obviously) I’m making the most of it this year! And… I can’t wait to start competing in my brand new age group… But first, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the weekly rundown. Here’s how birthday week went down! Monday: Day off. As always. Tuesday: 3 mile run followed by lower body strength- walking lunges, Runner’s Touch exercise, and single leg squats. My neck issue was acting up again and I was afraid to do anything involving a barbell, so I did what I could. Sigh! Wednesday: 5 mile trail run with my husband! He’s a teacher and was off this week for spring break. We went out to my new favorite trail in the Everglades. Followed this run with Gauntlet Plank workout. Thursday: 3 mile run and that was it! Friday: Day off of running and I decided to suck it up and do lower body strength, with weights. It’s not like I love lifting weights so much (or at all) but the one thing I’ve learned- the hard way- is taking too much time off will result in crazy, horrendous DOMS when you finally do it again. So I did squats and deadlifts, plates on the bar. My neck dealt with it okay. Saturday: 3 mile run, followed by pullups. Everything I said in the last paragraph applies to pullups as well (btw I do them banded) so that’s motivation for me to get them done. Sunday: AHHHHHH! The big birthday run! I ran from my house to the beach, which is 10 miles. When I got there I jumped in the ocean, and my husband was there to pick me up. Maybe next birthday I’ll run to the beach and back… but a ten mile run is my current limit. I actually felt amazing on this run and could have kept going, but I felt some twinges in my achilles (on the side of my plantar fasciitis) so ten miles was perfect. We’re so, so lucky to be able to run west to the Everglades and east to the ocean! And then… 55 pushups for my new age! I did “ten down” which was a set of ten, set of nine, set of eight, etc. down to one, which equals 55. My son bullied me into doing tricep pushups for the last few sets, and doing the last one super slowly, holding it for ten seconds before pushing back up. And then it was time for waffles! Lots and lots of waffles. Anyone else love birthdays? Hate birthdays? Do you like to do a special run on your birthday?